[Ramshock]

Rooney thought he was motm

 

[carlosp]

This is going to be the best defence in the League(Smalling included).

 

[Mr Smith]

Came along leaps and bounds in the second half, which I thought we might given that Bournmouth overexerted themselves in the first. Really good way to start the season; our defence looks very solid and while our play going forward still needs some work, it'll improve once Pogba comes in and the players get more used to the system. Most interesting tactical features of the game were the use of Fellaini as a destroyer, which appears to be the role Mourinho has carved out for him, Mata's positional freedom allowing Valencia to charge down the right, and the Rooney/Ibra/Martial relationship, which will be key to our attacking play. Pumped for the next game, which I'm not sure I've felt for a long time.

 

[skidmark]

Fellaini, Bailly, Zlatan, Martial and Herrera all had good games.

Martial? I thought he added very little at all, and was asleep for their goal too. The others, yes, totally agree.

 

[Jacko21]

Valencia much improved. I've been hugely critical of him, but credit where credit is due. Ironically, it was Shaw that was caught out a couple of times and Blind had to cover.

Cue the, 'I've always rated Valencia at right back' commentators.

Bailly looks something else. Minus a couple of crazed lunges, he looks perfect.

Really encouraging start. Controlled, measured performance with more purpose in attack. Annoying to concede, not reflective of our defensive domination.

 

[Oneunited26]

What could give us the advantage is a couple of things

The manager is not over complicating things, which is key and the players like him. Jose said we need to help zlaten out by getting the ball to him, so you can tell there is a statement of being quicker from A to B, devastating on the counter, a balance tom the team and we have upgrades to our team.

We are playing our best keeper, and we have the best keeper in the PL, while at city guadiola decides to drop his keeper, so we do have the advantage of knowing the key pieces of our team start.

Seems Jose has also learnt allot from his second spell at chelsea, and possibly its made Mourinho a better manager, especially the handling of mata seems brilliant

 

[Champagne Football]

On thst evidence we can look forward to an enjoyable season for first time since 2013

 

[DevilRed]

Its actually scary looking at how much talent and depth we now have.

We have 2 quality players for each position which is exactly the kind of squad SAF used to have when we challenged/won the CL.

The likes of Fellaini, Mata and Herrera are excellent squad players to have once Pogba and Mikhataryan ease into the first eleven.

 

[Ecstatic]

When you watch the first 30 minutes, we can't say Fellaini has made a very good performance IMHO

 

[Ole90+3]

Surprised at the lack of pace in the team considering we expected Bournemouth to have such a high amount of possession.

It seemed we set up for counter attacking but with no pace - didn't really make sense to me.

Maybe Mourinho wasn't expecting Bournemouth to be so competent in retaining possession than they were.

 

[Ecstatic]

On thst evidence we can look forward to an enjoyable season for first time since 2013

No, since Charlton & Best

 

[Shiva87]

Not Martial's best, but definitely an improvement over the last few weeks. Some good signs from him today.

I thought Martial had a good game. He was very good with his use of the ball and was involved in 2 out of our 3 goals.

Rooney - That was so typical. Everything seemed to break around him. But I guess if he gets a poacher's goal like that, the complaints can wait.

Herrera had a great game. Looks like Mourinho is going to suit him.

 

[Nik70]

Good team performance. Quite tight in the first half but we played quite well in the second half and our defence was very well organized. The whole back line got good ratings from me. Bailly my MOTM. Fellaini and Herrera did well in midfield I thought. Zlatan a beast up front. Rooney probably our worst player but was in the right spot for that second goal. Martial looked really good at times but more often looked like he couldn't be bothered.

 

[Raw]

What is this I'm reading? 7 shots on target in an away game? What is this wizardry?

 

[kundalini]

Decent performance, assisted by Bournemouth errors. Bailly impressive, Blind too. Thought Herrera and Fellaini both played well. Valencia a threat. Shaw our worst performer and even he improved a lot after a shocking first half. Attack not always convincing yet came up with 3 goals and a great chance for Rooney after Zlatan's flick.

 

[spwd]

"I thought it was wayne"

Do you think that was a pisstake from Zlatan

 

[carlosp]

Valencia much improved. I've been hugely critical of him, but credit where credit is due. Ironically, it was Shaw that was caught out a couple of times and Blind had to cover.

Cue the, 'I've always rated Valencia at right back' commentators.

Bailly looks something else. Minus a couple of crazed lunges, he looks perfect.

Really encouraging start. Controlled, measured performance with more purpose in attack. Annoying to concede, not reflective of our defensive domination.

Yeah, Shaw actually got a negative score on Squawka.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It was an excellent result, away from home. The performance improved as the game went on. Smalling might struggle to get in this side. Just play 4-3-3 Jose so Wayne does not have to play. It was a tricky away start to the season and they won it relatively easily. Just enjoy it and stop finding things to moan about.

 

[jungledrums]

Decent performance, assisted by Bournemouth errors. Bailly impressive, Blind too. Thought Herrera and Fellaini both played well. Valencia a threat. Shaw our worst performer and even he improved a lot after a shocking first half. Attack not always convincing yet came up with 3 goals and a great chance for Rooney after Zlatan's flick.

I thought Shaw was okay! One silly error aside, he didn't do a whole lot wrong.

Edit: Looking at the graphic above, perhaps I had my blinkers on given he's my fave. Maybe was caught out of position a few too many times. Actually, come to think of it, the goal was somewhat his fault. Sell Shaw!

 

[Nik70]

What is this I'm reading? 7 shots on target in an away game? What is this wizardry?

Unheard of in recent times...

 

[MDFC Manager]

Rooney thought he was motm

What?!

 

[mu4c_20le]

Great way to start the season

 

[lysglimt]

Thank God I am not an attacker in a 50/50 ball with Bailly. Good performance....

 

[reddevil702]

Agree about Henrik. But can't see fellaini not being displaced by Pogba. I think it'll be Pogba plus Carrick in most games.

I thought so too but it seems there's something Jose likes in Fellaini, and he only helped himself today. I mean it was Carrick who was dropped even after the mistake from Fellaini last week so we'll see.

 

[26andahalfyears]

I would say the key to our win tonight was Bailly and Blind's partnership. They were rock solid at the back and always made important tackles and interceptions. They were not clueless at all with the ball and always knew exactly what they were going to do and where they wanted to move the ball forward. Fantastic performances from the two.

 

[Rory 7]

@Downcast thanks for the shout out. I thought I timed my post to perfection

 

[.Phil1968]

Great result good to get off to a good start and what a squad we have this season.

 

[siw2007]

Very good win for first game of the season. Thought we were poor in the first half with Bournemouth looking confident and relaxed on the ball while we were hoofing it long, but we were fortunate that we got that goal. We were very good in the second half, maybe it was that the cherries faded in the heat but Rooney and ibrahimovic got more time on the ball we killed them off.

Special mention to Zlatan who looked awesome in second half. Rooney looked better in the 2nd too. Bailey had a great game and thought Mata played well too. Shaw looked a little rusty and was a bit slow to read the game but hopefully he'll get there.

Looking forward to Friday night now and hoping Pogba gets in from the start.

 

[129104946]

Classic performance by a Mourinho team and I think it shows a lot about what we can grow to expect this season. I think it also shows why so many people were rightly disappointed/upset/mad/etc about our play since SAF left.

 

[Michael T]

Great result and fun to watch, bring on Pogba and lets enjoy the ride. Loving it! Hopefully we'll be top of the league from week one too!

 

[ColvaleGoa]

Loved it when Zlatan went for a header in the first half off a Valencia cross and Flattened two of their defenders. Gif if possible please @GifLord or @Olly !

This team will be tough to bully and Zlatan definitely brings in a fear factor and him scoring today would have done his reputation no harm!

 

[Jacko21]

Daley Blind's foresight and ability to intercept the ball before the attacker can turn, never fails to make me smile.

He's so nonchalant about it.

 

[LouisDanGaal]

You know what was weird? like really weird about this game? Around about the 85th minute I was gutted there was only five minutes left, seriously I haven't had that for a long time.

Last season if we had a good lead we would just pass it about the back until the final whistle. If it was a close game we would be holding on and hoping ddg could produce the goods and if we were losing we would be hoofing it up to fellaini. Today we carried on going forward trying to get more goals.

Bailly two MOTM in a row, its a bit early to call, as darmian also made a terrific start but he does look a different level. I think he may already be our best defender and hes only been here a month. Will get sent off a few times though.

Now its just the countdown to pogback, can't wait.

 

[Catt]

Wtf was that motm award? Perfume? What happened the booze?

Obviously the PL is sponsored by Zlatan's perfume.

 

[Waywestofthere]

LvG out.

 

[Globule]

I think it also helps that it was quite a hard-fought win and that we were chasing Bournemouth around when they kept possession well at times. Our pre-season wasn't great, so getting games like this under out belt early will benefit us in the long-term.

 

[Ecstatic]

@Downcast thanks for the shout out. I thought I timed my post to perfection

Yeah, 1st post so perfect post in terms of timing.

 

[Globule]

LvG out.

It's just not a match or post-match thread without this.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Can you imagine a spine of Smalling, Bailly, Fellaini, Pogba, Ibra. We'd bully everyone!

 

[Pscholes18]

Can we get some interviews posted if possible? NBCSN cut off the Mourinho half way through.