I'd like to think Slimani in for the utterly shite Perez although I wouldn't be surprised to see an unchanged team start.
With Rafas history of mass changes every game,I hope he keeps the changes to a minimum for this one. Slimani for either Gayle or Perez.The team against the mancs deserves the chance to carry on the excellent work, imo.Who thinks Rafa will make wholesale changes as normal?
I'd like to think Slimani in for the utterly shite Perez although I wouldn't be surprised to see an unchanged team start.
I see this as a totally different game tactically, so I'd expect changes. Bournemouth are going to press from the front right across our back four, so we'll have to do something to counter the problems that causes. I can see us going long more often, and using width more sparingly. Don't see us having much of the ball.
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I never said Man Utd sit back and defend, I just said it's a totally different game tactically.
Mourinho's teams don't tend to press games from the front - his sides usually set up to control/flood the midfield, keep possession, and grind teams down. His style depends on an effective central midfield 2 or 3, and he didn't have that against us, hence Pogba and Matic getting the hook after 45 mins. Mourinho's usually happy to take this approach to get a single goal and then see the game out without offering a huge amount of attacking intent beyond that. I think a lot of people know this about him, and it's a common complaint from fans of the clubs he manages. It didn't work against us because Shelvey and Diame took the initiative in midfield and controlled the game by repeatedly making tackles, winning the ball back, breaking up play, or just pressuring them into making mistakes. We won the midfield battle, and that won us the game.
There are a small handful of teams that use a 'high press' (a de facto front 3 closing down the opposition back 4) in the PL, with Liverpool being the team that's the best at it (arguably Spurs are the best, but we'll see what the league looks like in May) and Bournemouth are another one of those sides. So, different tactical approaches might be needed against two teams that set up totally differently, and Rafa has a tendency to mix things up so I fully expect changes. There's no point just setting Shelvey and Diame up to close down their centre midfield players instantly like we did against Man Utd if we can't get the ball out of the feet of our back four and into midfield to begin with. For me, that's what we have to figure out - how to use the ball effectively from the back when under pressure.
Yeah, but if we play the way we played against Manu,it would be us doing the pressing, tackling ?? What would be your team Andy?
Again, that's not what I thought I was saying, so apologies if I've not been clear again. What I'm trying to get at is that in terms of style Mourinho's happy to see out games at 1-0. I'm not saying their results are 1-0. Setting up in a way to boss the midfield is primarily aimed at stifling opposition chances, and when you dominate possession in that area of the pitch, chances will (or should) always come your way. The results in games against teams that set up that way are responsive to typical match dynamics - if Man Utd are 1 down, they use the ball more proactively to create more chances. If they're 1 up, they probe and take chances as they're presented. With the quality Man Utd have, they're capable of hurting anyone, but they aren't set up to mauraud and get lots of goals. The important stat to look at as evidence of what I'm saying isn't the goals they score, it's the goals they concede. They set up to keep clean sheets, but that doesn't mean they look gift horses in the mouth when opposition sides pile players forward because they're chasing a game. They have a team that's loaded with pace, which gives them tons of opportunities to punish sides on the counter, so they're able to hurt them both with and without the ball. But the number of goals they score isn't really the issue I'm talking about anyway - scoring goals and pressing from the front are two totally different issues. I'm talking about the difference in the pressing game between Man Utd and Bournemouth, not the number of goals they score. Both sides present very different problems, so I wouldn't expect us to go out with the same game-plan, particularly given that we're talking about a manager who is known for making changes.
An interesting game .. Both Burnley and Manure were gash and underperformed and palace were , well palace.If Martial hadn't of had clown shoes on and our goalie playing a blinder it could easily have been a predictable defeat.
If Bournemouth get about us and scrap it out I can see a lose , but at this stage anything can happen .
I would hope that we approach the game with the same attitude as we did against manu. If we do and everybody plays their part, then we should get something out of the game, heres hoping.