Mourinho throws subbie at LVG, confirms zonal marking, forms other sentences with additional words

“We need time, I cannot tell you that we are going to start the season at 100 miles per hour, I cannot say that. The previous manager had different ideas to mine. I am not saying they were wrong, but if you are a right-back or a left-back and every time you have the ball you think you have to pass to your central defender, it is going to take time to adapt to new solutions.”

“It might be easier for us to bring in 20 completely new players and start again from zero,”

“I want my players to get the ball and look straight away for solutions in the space between opponents’ lines. In training, when they don’t do that, you can stop, explain, repeat and so on, but in a real game the ball comes to you and you have no time, your reaction has to be automatic.

“We are also trying to switch to zonal marking and that is also difficult if you have had two years of man-to-man. My central defenders have been chasing the opponent even when he goes 15 or 20 metres back down the pitch. I am not saying that system is wrong, I am simply saying it is not my way to do it. I keep telling the players we play zonal now, you don’t follow the man and that way we stay compact as a team, but I only have a short time to change ideas that have been put in over two years.

“Maybe I should say: ‘OK, let’s carry on playing the same way, because changing will take too long’, but I feel I have to change this and not be afraid. I make the decisions and the players are working really hard to go in my direction, but it will take a little time.”

“It is not new in my career. Everywhere I have been I have had to cope with that situation. It doesn’t matter where I am, everyone expects big things, it’s nothing new and to be honest I am comfortable with it. I like to create expectation at clubs, I like the players to feel it. Sometimes in my career I have created unrealistic targets, because by doing that you can push the team to new and unexpected levels. Winning the Champions League with Porto or Inter, for instance.

“Both were unexpected and very risky objectives to aim for and maybe winning the championship in the first season at Manchester United is a little bit of the same. But I like that. People can analyse it as arrogance if they choose, that’s not a problem for me. I think we should be setting difficult targets for ourselves.”

“We have not played enough matches, and a week of no work in China was really bad for us. Some of my players still need minutes on the pitch.”

“We want to be dominant, but not necessarily by trying to have a huge percentage of ball possession. The important thing is to be dominant in the last third, so as to best use the quality of strikers like Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. I don’t think those two are suited to a counterattacking style, so we will have to think of something else.

“I don’t have a particular way of playing football that I take from club to club, because you find yourself with different players at each club. What a coach must do is read the situation each time and adapt a game to suit the qualities of his players.”

https://www.theguardian.com/football...louis-van-gaal

Originally Posted by Switching Off

https://www.theguardian.com/football...louis-van-gaal

For a min there i thoughf he meant zonal marking on set pieces. Hate that shite. Simply getting the CB to not chase down the opposition striker into their own half. Glad that its being put to a stop

"It might be easier for us to bring in 20 completely new players and start again from zero”

He's definitely got the measure of the current squad

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

For a min there i thoughf he meant zonal marking on set pieces. Hate that shite. Simply getting the CB to not chase down the opposition striker into their own half. Glad that its being put to a stop

If he's going zonal marking on set pieces, then we're going to concede a shit load of goals.

Zonal is a disaster in England, especially..united...

Worried a bit here..

Originally Posted by Sparky***

If he's going zonal marking on set pieces, then we're going to concede a shit load of goals.

yeah, i'm not a fan of it either, but our defence was a shambles last season, so i suppose this is where you have to trust mourinho's experience.

i like the way he is talking us up though. just like a united manager should do.

My central defenders have been chasing the opponent even when he goes 15 or 20 metres back down the pitch.

Originally Posted by Buck

Blind can sit or wander....unsure of your point.

I like that he's trying to make us more compact but it's going to be very difficult when our defenders for the last two seasons have been instructed to push up to the half way line.

It's partly the reason why we looked so abysmal defensively last year when other teams really came at us and we fell apart. Defenders being pulled all over the place and leaving huge spaces.

He's right though, i think we'll start the season very slowly. We've had the most players at summer tournaments out of every team in the league, they look nowhere near match fit yet. I can see some hysteria in the first 5 games or so.

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Zonal is a disaster in England, especially..united...

Worried a bit here..

Yeah cos man marking was so terrific under your boy lvg.

Two biggest games of the season, wolfsburg away, west ham away. Take a look.

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Blind can sit or wander....unsure of your point.

He was prone often to what Jose described. I understand since he's not a natural defender and he was trying to carry out Van Gaal's instructions of winning the ball high. Hopefully with Bailly we have someone with the physical qualities needed at the back plus he's looked assured on the ball.

Blind would make a fantastic midfielder. After Zlatan he has the best technique and his passing range and weight of passes is superb. In addition he's got the intelligence to run the game. When our midfield last season was creating £#%&! all of note it was frustrating to see Blind wasted at the back.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I like that he's trying to make us more compact but it's going to be very difficult when our defenders for the last two seasons have been instructed to push up to the half way line.

It's partly the reason why we looked so abysmal defensively last year when other teams really came at us and we fell apart. Defenders being pulled all over the place and leaving huge spaces.

He's right though, i think we'll start the season very slowly. We've had the most players at summer tournaments out of every team in the league, they look nowhere near match fit yet. I can see some hysteria in the first 5 games or so.

Yep. I'm concerned we're simply not ready for the season. We've had two games with our full squad and any promising moments were offset with us looking very rusty.

Tomorrow feels more like a pre season game that usual because we need those minutes and that intensity more than anything else.

I expect Leicester to look sharper and edge us out. If it gets us ready for next week though, I won't be overly arsed.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I like that he's trying to make us more compact but it's going to be very difficult when our defenders for the last two seasons have been instructed to push up to the half way line.

It's partly the reason why we looked so abysmal defensively last year when other teams really came at us and we fell apart. Defenders being pulled all over the place and leaving huge spaces.

He's right though, i think we'll start the season very slowly. We've had the most players at summer tournaments out of every team in the league, they look nowhere near match fit yet. I can see some hysteria in the first 5 games or so.

You're talking shite

We played so deep let year it was unbearable and part of the reason we didn't create much

Originally Posted by Buck

He was prone often to what Jose described. I understand since he's not a natural defender and he was trying to carry out Van Gaal's instructions of winning the ball high. Hopefully with Bailly we have someone with the physical qualities needed at the back plus he's looked assured on the ball.

Blind would make a fantastic midfielder. After Zlatan he has the best technique and his passing range and weight of passes is superb. In addition he's got the intelligence to run the game. When our midfield last season was creating £#%&! all of note it was frustrating to see Blind wasted at the back.

Reppd

Originally Posted by saffers

Yeah cos zonal was so terrific under your boy lvg.

Two biggest games of the season, wolfsburg away, west ham away. Take a look.

We didn't play zonal.

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Reppd



We didn't play zonal.

Obvs meant man marking, dont evade the main point. Lvgs united was destroyed on set pieces time and time again.

Originally Posted by saffers

Obvs meant man marking, dont evade the main point. Lvgs united was destroyed on set pieces time and time again.

Course you did....


We're weren't great defending or using set pieces, agree..,

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Course you did....


We're weren't great defending or using set pieces, agree..,

You deserve a steel chair smashed through your skull for that post and that signature

good nite

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Course you did....


We're weren't great defending or using set pieces, agree..,

Lot of anger on here tonight. Must be the heat.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Lot of anger on here tonight. Must be the heat.

How you holdin up after CODs threat to kill you?