Rafael Benitez

[ChrisMcQuillan]

I really do think when mitro is back we will be a totally different team. At the moment all the ball has to go to feet...it's really easy for the opposing defence to judge what we are going to do. I reckon with Galloway in to replace dummett, one more winger and another striker in the mitrovic role we will be sorted

 

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Agree with this.

 

I think he'll bring back some belief as well with us having a proper focal point to the top third.

 

 

Agreed.

 

However, we're still playing as if he's on the pitch, though. If he breaks a leg, or gets suspended for 3 more games this season, I can't see us going up.

 

We need another striker of his mould - a targetman - to cover ASAP.

[olliemort]

I really do think when mitro is back we will be a totally different team. At the moment all the ball has to go to feet...it's really easy for the opposing defence to judge what we are going to do. I reckon with Galloway in to replace dummett, one more winger and another striker in the mitrovic role we will be sorted

 

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

 

 

Agree with this.

 

I think he'll bring back some belief as well with us having a proper focal point to the top third.

 

 

Agreed.

 

However, we're still playing as if he's on the pitch, though. If he breaks a leg, or gets suspended for 3 more games this season, I can't see us going up.

 

We need another striker of his mould - a targetman - to cover ASAP.

Exactly when we pissed the championship last time we had a good mixture of forwards...I mean even shola looked decent. Your just not going to get away with playing midget strikers up front by themselves in this league. The defenders are mainly big old fashioned style bastards and along with that the referees don't give free kicks or yellows as easy in this league. Need another player similar to mitro but who will play more than half a season and is a proven goal scorer. I think ings would be perfect but I could well imagine there Is premier league sides interested also

 

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[Yorkie]

Yep, Carroll, Shola, Ranger, Harewood - all physical strikers (Nolan could hold it up, too) and a massive reason for why we dominated teams. Good service from both wings and big lads up front. With Lovenkrands providing the other half of the big man/little man, we were well balanced.

 

Mitrovic might do well but we're gonna be struggling-on all year if we don't get someone to replicate Ritchie on the other side.

[Minhosa]

Yep, Carroll, Shola, Ranger, Harewood - all physical strikers (Nolan could hold it up, too) and a massive reason for why we dominated teams. Good service from both wings and big lads up front. With Lovenkrands providing the other half of the big man/little man, we were well balanced.

 

We're gonna be struggling-on all year if we don't get someone to replicate Ritchie on the other side.

 

 

Aye, this is vital.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

Yep, Carroll, Shola, Ranger, Harewood - all physical strikers (Nolan could hold it up, too) and a massive reason for why we dominated teams. Good service from both wings and big lads up front. With Lovenkrands providing the other half of the big man/little man, we were well balanced.

 

Mitrovic might do well but we're gonna be struggling-on all year if we don't get someone to replicate Ritchie on the other side.

 

Definitely. Deliveries coming in from Jonas/Enrique on one side, and Routledge/Simpson on the other side, but we could also play with Nolan through the middle.

 

This team has nothing like that, bar Ritchie, and play exactly as you'd expect in that situation. Tapping the ball side to side, with only Shelvey occasionally trying something different.

 

We need Shelvey playing further forward in a more free role, with Hayden propping it up behind. We need another Ritchie on the other side, but most importantly we need someone up front with presence, with Gayle/Perez/Armstrong playing off them. Mitrovic will give us that, but him coming back is not going to magically rebalance the entire team. The midfield needs set-up differently. We're getting outplayed and outnumbered despite playing three in the middle against teams with two. They have more balance, more movement, and until we find that we're not going to succeed.

 

Shelvey/Hayden or Diame/Hayden should dominate most any midfield in this league. The players, yes, have to shoulder some of the blame as their mentality and attitude is piss poor, however they need to have options in front of them. The last two games they've had none.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Send up the De Jong signal.

[Darth Crooks]

Send up the De Jong signal.

 

[Willow]

I'll just pop this in the rafa thread, from .com

 

Don't panic!

 

United's demoralising start to life in the Championship has raised questions as to whether hopes of promotion and/or silverware are already fading this season.

We're glad to report that all is not lost and defeats in the opening two games reduce but don't extinguish prospects of an instant return to the top flight.

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992, no less than nine second tier clubs have endured similarly poor starts but recovered to gain promotion - four via the playoffs, three second places and two title winners.

Newcastle fans, players or officials in need of inspiration look no further than 12 miles down the road - with the mackems twice lifting the Championship trophy despite a shabby opening sequence of results:

 

Slow starters:

 

2012/13 Crystal Palace (playoffs) L L L W

2008/09 Burnley (playoffs) L L D D W

2006/07 mackems (champions) L L L L W

2004/05 mackems (champions) L W D L D L W

2001/02 West Brom (second) L L D W

1998/89 Bradford City (second) L L D L W

1995/96 Derby County (second) D L D L W

1994/95 Bolton (playoffs) D L L W

1991/92 Blackburn (playoffs) D D L L W

 

PS: It's also worth recalling that our 2009/10 season in the Championship ended in title success and an 11 point gap ahead of runners-up West Brom - and a massive 23 points in front of third placed Nottingham Forest.

United were promoted with 102 points, but Blackpool took the final playoff spot (and would gain promotion) with 70 points - 32 less than the black and whites. 

That campaign also started slowly, with an unconvincing 1-1 draw away at the Baggies.

[JH]

Mitrovic is a great option and he's an going to be an obvious talent in this division but the longer we are without him, the more we are relying on him already. That's an awful lot of pressure and it all it needs is for one big centre half to push him too far, and we'll be without him for another month or whatever.

 

We need another goalscorer, a Plan B as it were. One proven at this level would do - look at Villa, I'd probably have moved for exactly who they've now got up front.

 

We're also crying out for more creativity. Somebody to match Ritchie on the other side, or a 09/10 Enrique for one of the full back positions - ideally both.

 

Things will click for Benitez, I have no doubt of that. Like people keep saying, he is a dozen competitive games into a club that has been rotten and mismanaged for the best part of 12 years. It is going to take time but I feel like we should be placing more emphasis on attack rather than defence. We're clearly poor defenders but we're also playing with no confidence, which is leading to more silly mistakes.

 

If we play with a bit of flair, really take it to a team and get a couple of decent wins under our belt, the rest will start to come together IMO.

[TRon]

I really do think when mitro is back we will be a totally different team. At the moment all the ball has to go to feet...it's really easy for the opposing defence to judge what we are going to do. I reckon with Galloway in to replace dummett, one more winger and another striker in the mitrovic role we will be sorted

 

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

 

 

Agree with this.

 

I think he'll bring back some belief as well with us having a proper focal point to the top third.

 

 

Agreed.

 

However, we're still playing as if he's on the pitch, though. If he breaks a leg, or gets suspended for 3 more games this season, I can't see us going up.

 

We need another striker of his mould - a targetman - to cover ASAP.

Exactly when we pissed the championship last time we had a good mixture of forwards...I mean even shola looked decent. Your just not going to get away with playing midget strikers up front by themselves in this league. The defenders are mainly big old fashioned style bastards and along with that the referees don't give free kicks or yellows as easy in this league. Need another player similar to mitro but who will play more than half a season and is a proven goal scorer. I think ings would be perfect but I could well imagine there Is premier league sides interested also

 

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

 

 

 

I know it's tempting to think this way because having a big lad up front definitely makes it easier to hoy the ball forward and it might stick, but surely it's not as simple as that? If it were, then clubs could  have just bought big hard championship centre backs for the premier and Torres and Michael Owen would never have become stars. How big was Andy Cole when we got promoted under Keegan? Does it mean that championship defenders could stop Barcelona with their midget strikers?

 

While Mitro is going to give us a useful option, we need to look at our football build up play and fix that first. I don't think having a big lad up front is going to fix what's going wrong there.

[Sima]

I'll just pop this in the rafa thread, from .com

 

Don't panic!

 

United's demoralising start to life in the Championship has raised questions as to whether hopes of promotion and/or silverware are already fading this season.

We're glad to report that all is not lost and defeats in the opening two games reduce but don't extinguish prospects of an instant return to the top flight.

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992, no less than nine second tier clubs have endured similarly poor starts but recovered to gain promotion - four via the playoffs, three second places and two title winners.

Newcastle fans, players or officials in need of inspiration look no further than 12 miles down the road - with the mackems twice lifting the Championship trophy despite a shabby opening sequence of results:

 

Slow starters:

 

2012/13 Crystal Palace (playoffs) L L L W

2008/09 Burnley (playoffs) L L D D W

2006/07 mackems (champions) L L L L W

2004/05 mackems (champions) L W D L D L W

2001/02 West Brom (second) L L D W

1998/89 Bradford City (second) L L D L W

1995/96 Derby County (second) D L D L W

1994/95 Bolton (playoffs) D L L W

1991/92 Blackburn (playoffs) D D L L W

 

PS: It's also worth recalling that our 2009/10 season in the Championship ended in title success and an 11 point gap ahead of runners-up West Brom - and a massive 23 points in front of third placed Nottingham Forest.

United were promoted with 102 points, but Blackpool took the final playoff spot (and would gain promotion) with 70 points - 32 less than the black and whites. 

That campaign also started slowly, with an unconvincing 1-1 draw away at the Baggies.

 

I wouldn't class that as a bad result, they finished second and we were away from home.  I thought it was a good result at the time and you can't really draw comparisons as Fulham will not finish 2nd this season.

[Figures 1-0 Football]

I'll just pop this in the rafa thread, from .com

 

Don't panic!

 

United's demoralising start to life in the Championship has raised questions as to whether hopes of promotion and/or silverware are already fading this season.

We're glad to report that all is not lost and defeats in the opening two games reduce but don't extinguish prospects of an instant return to the top flight.

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992, no less than nine second tier clubs have endured similarly poor starts but recovered to gain promotion - four via the playoffs, three second places and two title winners.

Newcastle fans, players or officials in need of inspiration look no further than 12 miles down the road - with the mackems twice lifting the Championship trophy despite a shabby opening sequence of results:

 

Slow starters:

 

2012/13 Crystal Palace (playoffs) L L L W

2008/09 Burnley (playoffs) L L D D W

2006/07 mackems (champions) L L L L W

2004/05 mackems (champions) L W D L D L W

2001/02 West Brom (second) L L D W

1998/89 Bradford City (second) L L D L W

1995/96 Derby County (second) D L D L W

1994/95 Bolton (playoffs) D L L W

1991/92 Blackburn (playoffs) D D L L W

 

PS: It's also worth recalling that our 2009/10 season in the Championship ended in title success and an 11 point gap ahead of runners-up West Brom - and a massive 23 points in front of third placed Nottingham Forest.

United were promoted with 102 points, but Blackpool took the final playoff spot (and would gain promotion) with 70 points - 32 less than the black and whites. 

That campaign also started slowly, with an unconvincing 1-1 draw away at the Baggies.

 

I wouldn't class that as a bad result, they finished second and we were away from home.  I thought it was a good result at the time and you can't really draw comparisons as Fulham will not finish 2nd this season.

 

It wasn't a bad result, but we looked quite crap in that game iirc.

 

I think both Huddersfield and Fulham will do okay this year, they'll be mid-table/pushing for the playoffs imo.

 

In the grand scheme of things, we're two games in. I never take note of the table until after 10 games, because it doesn't usually take shape until then.

 

Was it Man Utd under Fergie who had a period of starting really badly? But then won the league anyway.

[The College Dropout]

Draw away from home to team that finished 2nd is a good result ffs

[DJ_NUFC]

Keyser Saivet

 

Not enough love for this one.

[Gallowgate Toon]

Some wider comments from him after the weekend:

 

“We have to improve in defence because we are making mistakes, we have to improve in the middle and move the ball quicker, and we have to improve in the final third because we were not precise.

 

“We didn’t have enough good movement and the right patterns to our play.

 

“We didn’t do what we’ve been doing in training sessions during the game.”

[AyeDubbleYoo]

All spot on as usual.

[Kanj]

when he gets it right...beware.

 

[SEMTEX]

How do those quotes directly relate to playing Vurnon Anita on the wing? Where is the explanation for that? Fucking useless Rafa.

[nufc4eva]

How do those quotes directly relate to playing Vurnon Anita on the wing? Where is the explanation for that? f***ing useless Rafa.

I think Anita is supposed to alter the patterns of play, dropping inside and allowing Janmaat to overlap while playing triangles with 2 defensive mids and attacking mid, with out and out winger the other side and also covering Janmaat runs.

 

Not that I like the idea, but I kind of get it.

[mrmojorisin75]

How do those quotes directly relate to playing Vurnon Anita on the wing? Where is the explanation for that? f***ing useless Rafa.

I think Anita is supposed to alter the patterns of play, dropping inside and allowing Janmaat to overlap while playing triangles with 2 defensive mids and attacking mid, with out and out winger the other side and also covering Janmaat runs.

 

Not that I like the idea, but I kind of get it.

 

i said this myself in a couple of threads, anita clearly isn't being told to play wide at all...in his time with us we've seen he's able to get up and down and put a quality ball in from wide, but he's not even trying to do that, he's consistently coming inside and facing up for the ball into his feet

 

or at least that's what he did the entire time he was on the pitch saturday

[Dave]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-pours-cold-water-11747173

“It’s not just about the division, you know that when we play at home teams will be organised and play deep. They will play counter-attack.

 

“It’s nothing new that we should expect. It’s just more that we need to play with confidence to break down these teams.

 

“We need to do what we do in training sessions that we aren’t doing in the games.”

 

“We were nervous and we gave the other team the belief they could do something. Obviously, the two goals are something that’s difficult to explain.

 

“But the team still have to better. The second half was much better but still not enough to win this type of game.”

 

“Now we have to start again. We can blame each other or anyone but it doesn’t matter, we have to work harder and play better and be sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the next game.”

 

[TRon]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-pours-cold-water-11747173

“It’s not just about the division, you know that when we play at home teams will be organised and play deep. They will play counter-attack.

 

“It’s nothing new that we should expect. It’s just more that we need to play with confidence to break down these teams.

 

“We need to do what we do in training sessions that we aren’t doing in the games.”

 

“We were nervous and we gave the other team the belief they could do something. Obviously, the two goals are something that’s difficult to explain.

 

“But the team still have to better. The second half was much better but still not enough to win this type of game.”

 

“Now we have to start again. We can blame each other or anyone but it doesn’t matter, we have to work harder and play better and be sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the next game.”

 

 

He says it so diplomatically but I see veiled threats to his starting 11 in almost every sentence.

[Andy84]

The start we've had seems to be a mixture of nerves, adjustment to the Champ and Rafas tactics for the new players, maybe even the weight of expectation imo.  I don't think the squad is that deficient, plus I can see us bringing in 2-3 more, the early season loss of Mitro is having an impact also. 

 

The one thing we should be reassured about is having this bloke as manager, he's a winner.  His record shows that his teams win matches and he will be working very very hard to put it right as I'm sure the players will be.  Having quality in the dugout and on the pitch usually shows through and I think it will sooner rather than later.

[afar]

All spot on as usual.

 

It'a hardly difficult, we are crap all over the pitch. Not rocket science.

[loki679]

I for one will welcome our new proper football man overlord.