Originally Posted by Section_31
Lets got one thing straight, at no point did I say tactical play was absent or an afterthought for the Mancs, but that they win the premiership based on a simple style of football, a simple style of football which has seen them come unstuck in the past when playing in Europe.
Fergusson and Maureen don't even have a reputation in their own profession as being tactical masteminds or of even being particularly arsed about coaching (Fergusson has always employed a number-2 for this and let them establish their own methods) and yet both have built sides which have won the premiership, what does that tell you?
When was the last time you watched the Mancs or Maureen's chavs and thought "That's fucking clever, I see what he's done there."?
Maureen's tactical subsitutions amounted to throwing a defender up front for the last twenty minutes, while Fergusson's usually involves taking two strikers off and putting two more on.
I remember when we got stuffed 3-1 by the mancs about 12-13 years ago and we got fucking BATTERED by them. Pallister scored two headed goals during a time when James was just starting to have his 'wobbly' spell.
Their second headed goal involved four manc players standing on the edge of the box ready to sprint and then all running into the box when the ball was swung in, James started shitting one and flapped at the ball, and then - goal.
That summed up the way Fergusson thinks to me, so simple it's fucking brilliant.
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I don't think it's simple at all mate. He had a goalscoring machine up front getting on the end of everything, in Van Nistelrooy, and completely overhauled the way they wanted to play to give them more fluidity and movement because he thought tactically it was to easy todefend against; hence moving to the situation where there is no real centre forward just lots of attacking players floating about all over the place. I looked at that and thought "That's fucking clever".
He come to anfield and sits playing a cagey game now, a very cagey game. It's horses for courses and it's not always if you score one we'll score two.
And Benitez used Mourinho's own concept of himself as a tactical manager by challenging him to do something special in our matches; Geremi playing at right back and that bizarre diamond midfield in the FA Cup was a direct result of Mourinho being a manager who liked to make tactical moves that impressed.