Everybody is praising Henderson and Skrtel and others for their energy and fight they displayed today under pressure. However, there is another side to this - we were under so much pressure in part because we could not keep the ball at all in the 2nd half, could not even get a 5 minute period of possession going. Why was that? I see 2 main reasons:
1. Gerrard faded again in the 2nd half and dropped too deep. It's very hard to keep possession when both of our CMs are stuck so deep. I think Gerrard doesn't trust his mobility any more, he is not confident that he will be able to get back to a defensive position quickly enough when we lost the ball, so he just goes into this "safety-first" mode and when your main playmaker does that, it becomes much harder to keep possession.
2. We have too many players with unsure touch and inconsistent passing and that really shows under pressure. Yes, Henderson has a lot of energy - but it would be helpful if he could also keep the ball under pressure. Skrtel hoofed the ball constantly. Gerrard played quite a few wayward passes in the 2nd half, Enrique and Aspas gave the ball away a lot too. Sterling only worsened the situation when he came on. I was pleasantly surprised by Wisdom though, he really tried his best not to give the ball away cheaply. Alberto had an excellent cameo as well, good movement and calmness on the ball - but to be fair, this was already when Man U already lost their edge.
I think the lesson from today's 2nd half (as well as 2nd half against Villa) is that we need more players capable of keeping possession under pressure and not prone to giving it away cheaply. We won today, but can't put ourselves under constant pressure for 45 or more minutes and expect to keep many more clean sheets. We missed Allen (I don't care if you disagree) and most of all we missed Suarez who is excellent at holding onto the ball even when he is isolated. Also if we could bring on someone like Moses instead of Sterling, we would be able to cope with the pressure better. We are top the league, but there is a lot that needs to improve if we want to keep winning.
1. Gerrard faded again in the 2nd half and dropped too deep. It's very hard to keep possession when both of our CMs are stuck so deep. I think Gerrard doesn't trust his mobility any more, he is not confident that he will be able to get back to a defensive position quickly enough when we lost the ball, so he just goes into this "safety-first" mode and when your main playmaker does that, it becomes much harder to keep possession.
2. We have too many players with unsure touch and inconsistent passing and that really shows under pressure. Yes, Henderson has a lot of energy - but it would be helpful if he could also keep the ball under pressure. Skrtel hoofed the ball constantly. Gerrard played quite a few wayward passes in the 2nd half, Enrique and Aspas gave the ball away a lot too. Sterling only worsened the situation when he came on. I was pleasantly surprised by Wisdom though, he really tried his best not to give the ball away cheaply. Alberto had an excellent cameo as well, good movement and calmness on the ball - but to be fair, this was already when Man U already lost their edge.
I think the lesson from today's 2nd half (as well as 2nd half against Villa) is that we need more players capable of keeping possession under pressure and not prone to giving it away cheaply. We won today, but can't put ourselves under constant pressure for 45 or more minutes and expect to keep many more clean sheets. We missed Allen (I don't care if you disagree) and most of all we missed Suarez who is excellent at holding onto the ball even when he is isolated. Also if we could bring on someone like Moses instead of Sterling, we would be able to cope with the pressure better. We are top the league, but there is a lot that needs to improve if we want to keep winning.
