It's not the result and it's not the performance. So early in the season, you can't judge any of these things accurately.
You can get an idea of the current manager's set-up though. That's what worries me.
It's been said before:
1)Deep defensive line (pressing starts much later as a team unit, save for hopeful solo raids instead of coordinated pressing), pushing up with the ball I think not good enough (this not exactly clear cut though, we haven't exactly dominated games so far to gauge how well we push up)
2) Narrow with the ball (focus on interplay through centre, hence the seeming preference for Maxi), wings not defended properly without. Naturally you can decide to 'vacate' the space on the wings a bit and put more emphasis on the centre against teams who you judge weak on the wings / good in the centre / concentrate on the centre, but the way we have done it is clearly a mark of incompetence rather than a tactic. More importantly, it's madness to employ it consistently as part of your set-up, generally, you need to be solid defensively on the wings for most teams you come up against.
3) A persistence with Gerrard as part of a two, and Carra being first choice.
The third bit's done to death so fuck it, but the first two seems a clear mark of how Hodgson sets his teams up. Someone who's watched Fulham a lot more can probably confirm. Some might argue these are valid tactical choices and European Cups have been won playing like that, but I don't fancy these methods. I prefer a team with a consistent intensity that overloads its opponents to the point that they break, both mentally and on the pitch. Which is what United did today. We used to play like that / attempt it. Doing that requires the opposite of what seems to be the current manager's set-up.
The approach today reminded me of Houllier's Liverpool. (not meant in a derogatory sense). Big difference though - we had Sami Hypia. Two of Berba's goals wouldn't have happened if that was Sami he was up against in Carra's position.
I wouldn't class a few nice middle third passage of play drills which obviously showed on the pitch today and a switch to a different set piece marking system (which may or may not prove effective over the season) as any kind of significant achievement . Other than that, early on, I don't see much of a gameplan to be honest. It seems a bit like ambling along.
