Extremely disappointing and I think this match is a microcosm of our season. Benitez was cautious, as he has been far too often this season and selected Lucas to partner Mascherano, over Aquilani who performed excellently against Portsmouth. Now the Mascherano / Lucas partnership has not worked all season, therefore I don’t see why he is still persisting with it when Aquilani did so well the last game, even if he didn’t think Aquilani was tough enough in centre midfield for this type of game, Gerrard could have been used in the position.
We started well, with a superb header from Torres. However after that moment United controlled the game and looked the only winners bar a couple of chances for Torres, which he should have probably done better with.
As fans we can cope with losing. But what we won’t accept is what we saw today, a lack of hunger to press United in possession – such as closing down Fletcher for the cross to Park to score the second. We also won’t accept the lack of intent to win the game and that for me comes from the manager and how he sets up our team rather than the players. Look at Glen Johnson, when he first came to the club he was bombing forward, beating opposition full backs for fun and causing havoc, but it seems Rafa’s cautious approach has robotised him and he’s playing within himself, as are Gerrard and many other players.
Torres and Gerrard were feeding off scraps again today, as Mascherano and Lucas, as a combination did not control the game.
That is what Benitez wants, the centre midfielders to be disciplined, break up play and control the game – well they didn’t control the game and they haven’t bossed many games all season, as in possession they are not good enough to spot the passes quick enough or more importantly implement these passes – that is where Alonso has been missed and we have two players who can offer this in Aquilani and Gerrard, however our manager doesn’t play them, due to his cautious approach.
It was funny, when Benitez brought on our better players, attacking-wise – Benayoun and Aquilani in particular and to a lesser extent Babel – we actually created some chances in the last few minutes and looked a very good team and one that would hurt United. However it seems this only occurs when we are behind in games when Benitez shows more attacking intent and urgency to win games. The players today showed no urgency, they were jogging round the field, rather than running their bollocks off to try and salvage something from this woeful season and trying to get the three points to keep us in the hunt for fourth, which now seems very unlikely. That is unacceptable!
What we need is a change and that starts from the manager who is accountable for this awful season. The side needs a manager that will get Torres, Gerrard, Aquilani, Johnson etc playing football, attacking teams and looking to win every game. United could have been beaten today, as this isn’t a great United team, however our cautious manager went there and showed them far too much respect in my opinion. You have to earn all the points in this league and being attacking pays off as one win and a loss is better than two draws and we have had far too many draws the last three seasons, due to Rafa picking the wrong, cautious team.
Our players need to play with more freedom and not be scared to try things in the final third, as that is how you break teams down by being creative, not being efficient. Babel needs to be told to run at teams and scare the shit out of them with his pace, rather than constantly worrying about losing possession or how his defensive position will look on pro zone to keep his place in the team. Johnson should be encouraged to get forward, as he is a huge threat when he does, we need to stop playing two defensive midfielders and play Gerrard or Aquilani alongside Mascherano, see less graft of Kuyt and more craft of Benayoun...
For me the mentality is all wrong and it was highlighted today with our approach to the game. It was far too reactive, worrying about United, rather than letting United worry about us, being pro active. This is a microcosm of our season and Benitez’s helm, he is too cautious and domestically this approach has cost us and this is shown with only one title challenge in six seasons... that for me is not good enough with the players we have.
