Thoughts on Manchester United

I think sometimes far too much emphasis is placed on technical ability when we talk about control in football. I think a cohesive system/patterns can offset a lot of that. A certain level is obviously required for dominant control, but I think it’s overstated at times.

I just don’t think Akanji is more technical than Maguire/Lindelof or that Haaland is levels above Højlund or that Doku is above Rashy, etc. I think we do have the technical players who are capable of playing an efficient controlled system.

So why don’t we?

Is it the managers system? Is it players poor form? Is it poor instructions ? Is it players not following instructions at all?

I don’t know and I don’t care to speculate. What I do know is that we rank:

10th in field tilt (51.24)
9th in posssession (51.42)

Zero control.

So it raises questions, do you think Fulham and Brighton have more technical players than us or is their relative control mainly due to their coach’s approach?

Last year, we ranked:
7th in field tilt (54.11)
6th in possession (53.85)

“More” control…. Major drop offs though.

Last year Brighton finished 3rd in field tilt (63.03) and 3rd in possession (60.25). They lost key players and are now rank 5th in field tilt (57.04) and 2nd in possession (61.17)

Why is that? Is RDZ more consistent in his approach or are Brighton players simply better than ours?

This isn’t directed at anyone or anything in particular. I just had a thought and needed to write it out.

I just don’t understand our aversion to controlling games. It makes no sense and I desperately need this boondoggle to end.