Manchester United defended like a handball team, says Arjen Robben

Arjen Robben has criticised Manchester United's defensive approach during Tuesday Champions League 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, comparing it to the sport of handball.

Robben, speaking to the German media, said: "It was not easy, as our opponents didn't leave any gaps. We wanted to play football but they tried to stop us. The English were just playing on the counter and have played very defensively, it was almost like in handball.

"But when you go a goal down you have to be pleased with a draw. 1-1 is a very good result that we can take home with us and then we just have to finish it off next week."

Team-mate Toni Kroos agreed, saying: "It was difficult: we were dominant all the time. It's very difficult to play against a team that consistently has all its players around their own penalty area."

Philipp Lahm said Bayern were confident of a positive result: "We wanted to win here, but if you come back from 1-0 down you can be satisfied. It puts us in a good starting position."

Pep Guardiola, who also criticised the red card shown to Bastian Schweinsteiger, said: "It's not easy when you want to control the game and there are nine players in the box, eight, nine players there. So it's not easy. But we controlled the game."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/02/manchester-united-handball-arjen-robben

Best Xaviesque impression  

If anyone knows what sort of ball United played, it would be Robben

Actually, if the opponent consistently has 8 or 9 of their players in or around their own penalty box, shouldn't that make it somewhat easier to "control the game"? Perhaps it makes it more difficult to win the match but it shouldn't hurt a team's ability to control the tempo, possession, and general play.

Xavi is that you?

jibers wrote:
Xavi is that you?

Robben is posessed by the spirit of Xavi, only took one season and Pep has done it 

he hasn't 'critizised' Utd at all, he was asked about the game and said it was hard to create more as they defended with so many people in the box.

hardly controversial, is it.

Don't see anything wrong with a team playing however they want. Surely Bayern don't expect Man Utd to try and outplay them.

Plus it's normal to have 8 players behind the ball when defending.

You got your away goal, Robben.

If they want to go through, they will approach the 2nd leg differently.



...........Or maybe not? This is Moyes we're talking about.

I think our fellow dearest poster Sree is stuck in a time warp, possibly around 2008 or 2009. Took in the match in full and Man Utd defended deep and in numbers very well which was pretty shocking considering their delightful form this season.

Not sure why Robben or Kroos felt the need to be all Xaviesque but I can assure them, playing on the counter is actually a very legit way of playing football.

bit dissapointed that the guardian would join into such shitty journalism, tbh.

How is 'it's not easy' a criticism of the opponent?
That's EXACTLY the kind of putting words in mouth that Pep scoffed at the Guardian journalist at the press conference for

Robben quite sullen over the fact that United saw through his excruciatingly predictable play and rendered him a passenger vs one of the worst defences in the Premier League.

Pep heel turn.

exactly, BB.

That's Jamie Jackson from the guardian, trying to insinuate that Pep means Utd played 'negative', and Pep was pretty clear that that's not what he was saying or would say.

He thinks United didn't leave any gaps? United can't even park the bus properly. That was only level 5/10 bus parking. I'd like to see Robben's reaction when he faces proper defensive walls like Chelsea 2009, Inter 2010 or Atletico 2014 with this style of play.

They didn't park the bus as much as they watered the lawn, players slipping all over the penalty box

Tbh he said nothing wrong. English journalists know *bleep* all tbh. Stuck up *bleep*

I've said it in several threads already this week, but league vs league nonsense (i.e. things along the lines of generic stereotyping, whole league bashing, or childish name-calling) should be kept to the RB section if posted at all. Bringing them up in threads in the General Section, especially those threads not directly related to legitimate discussion about different leagues (and no, CL match threads and the like don't fall into that category) will from this point on result in punishment.

Shut up Robben

Fußball wrote: He thinks United didn't leave any gaps? United can't even park the bus properly. That was only level 5/10 bus parking. I'd like to see Robben's reaction when he faces proper defensive walls like Chelsea 2009, Inter 2010 or Atletico 2014 with this style of play.

This.

A better version of this Man Utd couldnt even hold off Madrid (albiet with 10 men) in their efforts to park it.

please we had madrid right where we wanted them until shady corrupt turkish ref ruined the game plan

Fußball wrote: He thinks United didn't leave any gaps? United can't even park the bus properly. That was only level 5/10 bus parking. I'd like to see Robben's reaction when he faces proper defensive walls like Chelsea 2009, Inter 2010 or Atletico 2014 with this style of play.

he did face inter in the CL final that year .

some say he never left his house that day.

Quotes taken out of proportion and spinned by lazy journalists.

Nothing to see here.