Daily Bits and Bobs

Can Mikel get our mojo up and running at Old Trafford?

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Man Utd have hit a bit of form, or at least that’s what their most recent results would suggest. The 6-1 thrashing by Toots woke them up perhaps because since then, they’ve not lost.

OGS has a squad full of creativity and pace. Rashford, Fernandes, de Beek, Greenwood – the list goes on but defensively, they can be really average. They are struggling at Old Trafford, having taken just one point from their last three fixtures.

A statistic for you which beggars belief really as Man Utd top the league for penalties being awarded. They’ve had 37 since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over. Admittedly, that number comes from all competitions but even so, its way more than most. Certainly Arsenal’s grand total of 9.

37 Man Utd
24 Man City
22 Chelsea
16 Liverpool
15 Leicester
14 Toots

Those attacking players I’ve already mentioned are clever in the box, or cheats and I’ll leave you to form your own opinion but with Mike Dean officiating our game this afternoon, he’ll only need the slightest of invitations to point to the spot. I can see him now, eyes bulging, full of excitement. Even if his decision is wrong, there’s no relying on VAR to intervene. Maybe he’ll surprise us, maybe he’ll be fair because that’s all I ever hope for, fairness.

 

 

If Mikel Arteta replicates the kind of tactics Arsenal deployed at The Etihad and Anfield, our players need to be careful.

What would be refreshing though would be to see Arsenal come out of the blocks with a bit of attitude. Instead of immediately switching into safe mode, get at them. Set the pace, our pace and not theirs. Put their defence under pressure instead of sitting back and allowing them all the time in the world to do as they please.

 

 

 

 

Mikel Arteta has been reflecting on history. The good old days when this fixture brought the best out of both sides. The worst too on a few occasions.

I think it’s one of the best rivalries in the Premier League. The history of this clash is huge. I remember times between Arsène and Sir Alex, and the confrontations between players. They were fighting for the league and it was always really, really tight. It was probably the biggest clash in the Premier League and I’m excited to go to Old Trafford.

 

I want to believe we’re getting closer to getting the win there. For sure our mindset is going to be to go there and win the game. That’s the approach that we’re going to have and the gameplay we’re going to put in place to go there on Sunday.

 

Are we closer to winning at Old Trafford? I’m not convinced we are. Arsenal might be better at defending so I’d like to think we won’t take a pasting but, broken record I know, in attack were static, slow and quite timid. An injection of pace is much needed and that doesn’t necessarily mean a change of personnel. Pepe, Auba and even Lacazette aren’t slow but I think the midfield need to move the ball to them quicker. Our attacking transition needs speeding up.

I’m hopeful that Thomas Partey will greatly improve this but as we’ve seen before, whoever wins the ball just outside our own box, looks up to see no out ball. The slow, sideways passing begins again and of course, any momentum we might have had, has gone. The opportunity to get at a disorganised and depleted defence gone with it. Which is probably why David Luiz so often bypasses the midfield and goes long with his pass to Aubameyang.

Perhaps Mikel will be tempted to play Auba centrally today, putting him up against Maguire who he’ll roast with his pace.

Mikel on how he adds creativity and freedom…

That structure is just to limit our opponents to certain things when we lose the ball. The other structure can flow. We have so many different patterns to try to attack these situations, depending on the formation that they play, and the value of spaces.

 

That will be in different things. It’s more about our aggression, when we have the ball, our purpose, our aggression, our runs in behind. When do players take someone on and think, ‘I have to make something happen’? We want them to think about themselves, not him or him, we want them to take accountability. They need to want to put the ball in the box more often, because this is what top teams do.

 

If the other team want to defend the box, make sure they’re defending the box all the team, and that we’re being very aggressive in the final third. It’s something we haven’t faced so much since I arrived here, but I think it’ll happen more and more

 

OGS isn’t going to deploy a low block, of that we can be pretty sure. If we take the game to Utd, we can win. I don’t mean go all gung ho as that would be stupid but a balanced plan between defence, midfield and attack. Defend strongly and keep the rest simple. Be less predictable and more precise. Move the ball around quickly and accurately. Win the midfield battle and the game can be ours.

That’s my pre-match waffle over..

See you in the comments.

 

 

 

 

rico

54 thoughts on “Can Mikel get our mojo up and running at Old Trafford?”

  1. ScottfromOz says:

    Morning all.
    Damn, a win would be handy right now.
    Points aside, it’d add confidence to the squad and a win v a Top 4 side away from home hasn’t happened since 2001 or so 🙂 🙂
    Ok, slight exaggeration, but it feels that long.
    Auba central-100% I would, Rico.
    He will destroy their useless big CB!!

  2. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico.

    I must say that I’m not looking forward this afternoon’s game. Bogie team, bogie venue and a bogie referee to boot, up the a**e frequently and heavily if I had my way 😉

    Luiz is out injured so we have Gabriel and, probably, Mustafi with one of Tierney, Xhaka or Kolasinac as a make shift back three.

    A couple of predictions..Partey booked for his first tackle and red carded before halftime. United to get two penalties.

    Lacazette to have a goal chalked of by VAR for having his nose in an offside position.

    Manchester United defender Alex Telles has tested positive for Covid-19 and so misses the game while he self-isolates.

  3. rico says:

    If the plan is to defend Scott, we’ll need his pace on the break. I hope we don’t just sit back though, they’re not that good.

  6. Cicero says:

    If my comments above sound a bit negative I’m sorry. It’s the way I’m feeling right now. The new lock down has finally put paid to our last chance of a holiday this year. Our trip to Sri Lanka, rearranged from March was due to start next Friday. So that’s 750 quids worth of holiday insurance wasted on top of the £2,500 holiday cost which we are struggling to get back from the holiday company.

    Oh well, at least England won the Six Nations so that’s something to lift the gloom of a miserable wet and windy Norfolk morning.

  7. frednerk says:

    Afternoon Rico and All
    Looking at both squads not a lot of difference in my opinion
    I would think Micky will play it tight and deep and try playing through them keeping possession will be vital if both Fernadas and Pogface play together we have enough up front if it opens up so should match them as far as 11 V 11 goes But…
    That little doughnut with the whistle and the Mancs skills at getting spot kicks seem to nag away at me

  11. Limey says:

    Afternoon Rico/everyone
    Nice preview, I always view this game with Trepidation, it’s like the Spurs away game – I’d take a point right now. Thing is they are not a great team and if play well we can win. We shall see.
    COYG

  27. ScottfromOz says:

    When was the last time we won a game 1-0 due to a penalty?
    Dean had no hesitation giving but I wonder if he’d have done the same ore VAR days 🙂

  28. andrewh1313 says:

    I’m not usually superstitious but I was scared to post during game, seeing how well we were playing, I thought as soon as I said it, we would concede. So many good performances, so compact, and they hardly had a sniff. Gabriel, Elneny, Partey, Tierney, and master coach. And, won’t have to hear ‘five years and 29 games or whatever since…..’. Brilliant, open the bubbly!

  30. rico says:

    Who cares Scott? 😆

    Ha ha Andrew, I started worrying when Mikel brought on every defender on the bench. So many players put in super performances. We started well and the rest followed.

    Elneny and Partey were superb, Gabriel too. Bar set now.

  33. rico says:

    Yes Jm, I just missed it.

    I too thought Gabriel would get a second booking but thankfully, and for a change, we had Lady Luck on our side.

  34. Adam says:

    Really pleased with Mikel and the team. Superb performance with several players being mentioned in despatched.
    Even Mike Dean was ok.

  35. allezkev says:

    Well done Andrew.

    I guess the narrative will be that this result doesn’t count as Man Utd aren’t top six anymore.

    A great defensive performance, Holding and Gabriel were brilliant.

    I noticed that Holding hit Rashford hard a few times, not sure if all the time he lost from his career due to that tax avoider was on his mind before the game?

    Elneny and Partey were superb.

  38. allezkev says:

    If I was to be hyper critical, then I would have a moan about our finishing, because we worked some really good opportunities but wasted them, if we’d been sharper it could have been 3-0.
    But because of our record up there getting any win is fantastic, so there is a sense of relief as much as enjoyment, but a bit of me thinks we missed a rare chance to really give them a good seeing to….

  42. andrewh1313 says:

    Agree rico. Keane said they should have ‘smashed’ one of our players, be up for it. Ridiculed Cahill’s praise of the ‘new messiah’ Arteta. Repeatedly asked Cahill, how many games have Arsenal lost. Awful man, bitter. I wanted Cahill to compare Arteta’s FA cup win within 6 months with Keene’s pis* poor managerial record.

  46. Limey says:

    Enjoyed that.I couldn’t quite believe it when Mike Dean pointed straight to the penalty spot,even then I thought VAR would overturn it.
    I thought Holding and Gabriel were outstanding.Arteta had his tactics spot on.
    As far as OGS goes it’s definitely a case of
    We want you to stay
    We want you to stay

  48. allezkev says:

    Yes Rico he’s had his time , great but filthy player, useless manager, average coach, a bit of a dinosaur really, if he was playing today he’d be sent off every week.

    I actually thought that Tim Cahill had his number and was laughing at him, I like Cahill, Arsenal should have signed him when he was at Millwall.

  52. ScottfromOz says:

    Tim Cahill-well, another example of an Aussie legend, though he ranks second here hahahahahahaha
    Seriously, Tim is an example of a player with decent talent who made the very, very best of what he had due to good old fashioned hard work!!
    A proper legend imo

  53. rico says:

    Morning Scott, all.

    Ask again in March Kev. Lol

    I too always liked Cahill. It was clear yesterday that he respects Arteta from their Everton days..

    New post up now

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