Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
He was sitting deep thats why, did a very good job of covering stones when he stepped out, intelligent
LOL. Stones only did that in the last 20. Prior to that, Gibbo was simply sitting too deep.
He was doing it all game, gibbo was doing the barry role, almost being the 3rd centerback at times, keeping things ticking
Exactly 30 minutes into the game! lol
He was the guy who won the ball back which led to us getting the OG and then after our goal it was McCarthy again who robbed Fellaini of the ball setting us on a 4 v 2 which we should have done better with considering it took us another 3/4 passes and allowed all of Utd to get back.
Its always good to see differing views on games because although he didn't do much in terms of passing it about or winning numerous tackles for me he was more important for us getting back in the game than Gibson and although i like Gibson i felt he was a big part of the reason we were so bad at pressing Utd throughout the 1st half.
Numerous times in the game McCarthy pressed a player on the ball not always to tackle but just to apply the pressure and he would turn around and 2 or 3 Utd players were in on the defence and you could see him gesturing as if to say where is the next press coming from. I've gone with 1 particular moment just after the 2nd half began to give an idea of what i am on about.
This is what i talk about when i say McCarthy for me didn't have a particularly bad game he was let down by those around him or the manager and the tactics that were set for each player either were completely different or individuals aren't listening to what they're being told.
This was shortly after the 2nd half started gibson is a good 10-15 yards inside our half at this moment.
Within 20 seconds, McCarthy is then the one who gets back and makes the block from the Rooney shot.
Seconds later he presses on to Rooney again helping Barkley and both turn around and look to say why are you all so far back, at this point Gibson isn't even in picture he is sitting in next to Jags and Stones causing Cleverley to drop in leaving the whole left side open.
It's that reason for me why we started to see Stones be the one to step out of the back line and Gibson slotted straight in at RCB and allowed Stones when we had the ball to basically be a midfielder and it improved our play, we started getting at them with pace, we were winning the ball back earlier, keeping them in their half all because we had more energy in midfield to break the lines.
Back to McCarthy though as far as i have seen he matched Gibsons stats but also contributed 2 blocked attempts on goal, his passing was obviously worse as no can defend how bad he is on the ball
Its easy to criticize him but he did a lot of unnoticed work yesterday but is viewed on his failed attempts at winning the ball back and not helping us from a passing point of view. I agree with most as well that he has been below par this season but it's wrong to ignore what he actually brings to the team even when he is being viewed as having a bad game, he's the type of player who is at his best in a team who presses and chases a game like we did in the 1st season, the FB's played so high up we had to press high but now the team setup is always so far back and it prevents what he is good at.
