Subbed on and hardly noticed him, though he wasn't on for long really. Way too early to judge him, I'm sure he'll be a good signignonce he starts playing for more then 10-15 minutes for them. Him and coutinho are really good but the rest in their midfield and attack are very average at best.
Premier League Matchweek 2 | 14th-17th August
- Thread starter RedMachine03
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
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Fair enoughThat's an insult. I'm a United fan
. In that case, no they're way more boring. At least I can watch United just because I like themRiding an elephant shooting at infidels somewhere in the Himalayas.
They have had the hardest and easiest and we had the two in between
It depends on how you look at it
I would like to have gotten Stoke away out of the way
Instead we have them on Boxing Day and you know that's gonna be Not fun at all
Benteke and Coutinho are going to be a handful for most sides this season. Not much threat from out wide for Liverpool but still early days for Firminho. Impressed with Bournemouth - they need a win to get them up and running.
Stoke away is a myth, read up ffs.
Early on...its results that matter. Thats why I am glad we have max points. Once Rooney gets his mojo back and we get our final signings in, we should be good. I expect Liverpool to be better this season. Their next fixture will be very interesting.
Bournemouth are gonna fade quickly though being likeable like this.
They need a lethal striker.
They need a lethal striker.
Coutinho with his 5 worldies a year wont be that big of a deal, he is no Suarez. Benteke is a goal scorer but only if you let him have the ball.
Fixed your post
Not if the Bovril is flowing.
Say what James? Special atmosphere woot?
Birmingham tradition that......Why I was brought up thinking that is beyond me
Yeah but they are moving away from the physical long ball game. Besides look at our record @stoke last few years we have done alright.
Yeah, true. Don't expect they'll be too close to us though. They'll challenge for the top 4 but probably fall 5-10 points short, while we'll challenge for the title I think.
Arsenal should win 2 or 3 nil next week
I see they've brought out the A team for Liverpool tonght, studio analysis from Lee Dixon and Andy Townsend...
Slept through the whole thing. It's been a busy weekend...
Looks like I saved myself some trouble.
Looks like I saved myself some trouble.
Very diplomatic from the Bournemouth manager after that officiating!
This must be crushing Carragher
Lee dixon making good point that Bournemouth was naive not getting into the assistant and refs face about the goal and new interpretations.
Nah he should have complained. Ref's need to be berated sometimes.
SGE in a Bet Victor Ad?Nervous about a home game to club brugges? Why? Have a bit of faith
Behave. Im hoping for a few goals tomorrow to liven us up.
Yea i believe you Brenton,you didnt see a goal,so you dont know was it offside or not haha
BR and Ramshock....don't want to take anything for granted...
will have to record it...working...but my mate will be texting me.
will have to record it...working...but my mate will be texting me.
Wouldn't Coutinho have been offside even last season before the new rules? Don't see how the linesman can be excused tbh. Guy standing about 5 yards offside, ball is crossed into his area and he tries to score... that's always been offside.
Yeah fair point. The linesman must have seen that Coutinho was in an offside position but got his interpretation of the rule incorrect. If Bournemouth had got the ref to go and have a word with the linesman they might have made the correct call in the end.
Exactly. People going on about the new and old rules are missing the point that attempting to shoot is always interfering with play.
The 'new' part is when a player with his position distracts an opponent, while not necessarily shooting or attempting to shoot the ball.
Benteke was a proper beast for us today. I'd like to see us play 4-4-2 with a diamond if Sturridge returns to fitness (shouldn't be too long now). All things aside, this means losing at Arsenal next week wouldn't be a drama as long as we beat West Ham at home the week after that. Same story as United so far really: play bad, still win. I'm not complaining though, it can only improve from here on.
When I look at Liverpool all I can just think of is what an absolute beast Suarez was in 13/14 to get them 2nd and almost to a fecking title.
Liverpool-Bournemouth
-Liverpool played 20-25 minutes of quite good football in the first half but were otherwise poor.
-Bournemouth looked like they knew each other really well in that their back 6 played out of trouble with passing triangles to transition to offense when the ball was flying without real ownership around the midfield. Their CMs are small, thin passing and moving type, so you can se how they scored so many goals last year and how they should be entertaining if a bit porous this season. The LB, Daniels, had a good game going forward.
-Shame Bournemouth seem to have spent much of their summer budget on King and Tomlin as their options at the 10. King, as always, struggles to get involved in games when his team aren't just countering and Tomlin looked like he ate a smaller player who didn't pass enough either. Was he this square at Boro? Can we loan them Pereira if he's not going to play much? Seems like he'd walk into their team as a 10 and fit it quite well since they look to play it around rather than hit crosses. The game was there for at least a draw with any sort of contribution over the 90 minutes from that spot, because...
-Ritchie, their RW, looks very good. Quick, good first touch and he'll score some long-range goals this year. I know he scored a lot of goals last year, and if this is how he generally plays, I'm not sure why Prem teams like Everton, Newcastle and Stoke who have already started Kone, Obertan and Walters out wide this year didn't go hard after him.
-For Liverpool, Benteke-Coutinho looked really promising with the former's knockdowns and the latter just being brilliant for the first hour before he faded.
-Defensively, Clyne handled Gradel very comfortably. Gomez looked a promising enough player and the CBs either did alright or the Bournemouth strikers had bad movement. Tough to tell that on TV, as always.
-But their midfield is predictably terrible. Without Allen or Lucas out there it's just a bunch of idiots with good offensive instincts running around at CM. And neither of those players is a panacea. A player like Carrick or Thiago Motta would completely change their team, I think. I think this sort of thing will cost them the chance to make a real run at a top 4 spot. I'm not sure who the realistic buy would have been to solve that. The Bundesliga fans here were bigging up Xhaka as that kind of player.
-Mignolet tried his best to make a mistake on set pieces/crosses to lead to a goal, but was unlucky. Against better aerial opponents he will hurt them.
-Liverpool played 20-25 minutes of quite good football in the first half but were otherwise poor.
-Bournemouth looked like they knew each other really well in that their back 6 played out of trouble with passing triangles to transition to offense when the ball was flying without real ownership around the midfield. Their CMs are small, thin passing and moving type, so you can se how they scored so many goals last year and how they should be entertaining if a bit porous this season. The LB, Daniels, had a good game going forward.
-Shame Bournemouth seem to have spent much of their summer budget on King and Tomlin as their options at the 10. King, as always, struggles to get involved in games when his team aren't just countering and Tomlin looked like he ate a smaller player who didn't pass enough either. Was he this square at Boro? Can we loan them Pereira if he's not going to play much? Seems like he'd walk into their team as a 10 and fit it quite well since they look to play it around rather than hit crosses. The game was there for at least a draw with any sort of contribution over the 90 minutes from that spot, because...
-Ritchie, their RW, looks very good. Quick, good first touch and he'll score some long-range goals this year. I know he scored a lot of goals last year, and if this is how he generally plays, I'm not sure why Prem teams like Everton, Newcastle and Stoke who have already started Kone, Obertan and Walters out wide this year didn't go hard after him.
-For Liverpool, Benteke-Coutinho looked really promising with the former's knockdowns and the latter just being brilliant for the first hour before he faded.
-Defensively, Clyne handled Gradel very comfortably. Gomez looked a promising enough player and the CBs either did alright or the Bournemouth strikers had bad movement. Tough to tell that on TV, as always.
-But their midfield is predictably terrible. Without Allen or Lucas out there it's just a bunch of idiots with good offensive instincts running around at CM. And neither of those players is a panacea. A player like Carrick or Thiago Motta would completely change their team, I think. I think this sort of thing will cost them the chance to make a real run at a top 4 spot. I'm not sure who the realistic buy would have been to solve that. The Bundesliga fans here were bigging up Xhaka as that kind of player.
-Mignolet tried his best to make a mistake on set pieces/crosses to lead to a goal, but was unlucky. Against better aerial opponents he will hurt them.
Liverpool attacked okay (goal was obviously illegal but overall enough stuff to get a goal considering the fluff by Coutinho and Benteke hitting the bar) and defended fairly well deep but their midfield was outplayed for almost an hour against a promoted side away from home.
I'm not sure Rodgers has the players to fix that right now. He'll have to find a way to make a C+ midfield look like a B+ like Ferguson did once Scholes was no longer a non-factor.
This performance should send him and Henry running to the transfer market to sign a DM who can pass the ball a bit.
Good analysis.
Except I thought Mignolet did OK. Yes he missed one cross, most keepers have a moment sometime during a game, however for the rest he held on well, collected the ball well, kicked better, punched OK and was generally sound throughout. He probably stayed back because Lovren/Skrtel were often deep in the box and keepers who come out too much get headers nodded past them. He never looked troubled and overall he was very solid.
Bournemouth were Bournemouth. Some lovely passing moves (highest possession stats in the Championship lasts season) and superb full pitch pressing, especially upon our FBs. However they are going to find it tougher to score in the PL with the forwards they have. Many fans under-estimate them however they will get more reward against teams in the lower half of the table and they could survive, I hope they do as they are a genuine footballing team. Unlucky against Villa, where Bournemouth were clearly superior, and unlucky again today where they probably deserved a point.
I don't think anyone played poorly for Liverpool but some could have had better games, made fewer mistakes (which in Skrtel and Lovren's cases if they do the same against Arsenal will be punished) and the team lacked cohesion (understandable with 5 new 1st teamers) but it's early days and there's much much more to come from this team when they get up to fitness and become better acquainted.
Outstanding : No-one
Good : Benteke, Milner, Coutinho (not his day but still good), Henderson (when he went off injured we lost control), Gomez, Clyne (MoM), Mignolet, Moreno (nice attacking cameo, he's a far better LM than LB).
Average : Lallana, Firmino
Made mistakes but overall just about OK : Ibe, Can, Skrtel, Lovren.
The parts are all there, they just need to come together with better fitness, awareness born of familiarity and tactics from the management. The most obvious weakness is midfield where we are missing a more defensive-minded player and I don't believe that player to be Can, though Rodgers obviously does long-term.
New Years Day, cold, windy day at Stoke
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30600756
One of our worst performances of the season. (And February the season before http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25892829 )
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