[TJSF]

Sack Mourinho, Sell Rooney.

 

[dogrob]

Deary me we have played 5 games and people are already going ballistic, I have no doubt that the manager knows what he is doing and things will turn around.

 

[revel911]

His best games for Dortmund actually were from the right coming in, so it's not a problem playing him there. The problem seems to be that every player we buy of quality - Di Maria, Memphis, Schneiderlin, etc. - seems to turn crap and fall far short of expectations. I cant understand why this keeps happening. How we're still relying on the likes of Fellaini, Young and Carrick is baffling.

When we play them in incorrect formations and systems, it's to be expected.

I still feel Memphis is feeling that as well, he was playing at PSV as a 4-3-3 winger and now we get mad he can't defend

 

[MattyB1986]

To say Rooney is not a midfielder then actually play him there was absolute madness. He is experimenting too much and it isn't his style at all.

Mate, I don't hate Rooney.. I haven't been in here all the time on every thread slating him. But today I saw what everyone who does and thought, damn, they have a point. Was the worst performance I've seen from him. Every time the ball was played to him he lost it. How can you build an attack when your focal point of an attack gives the ball away constantly? then there's Fellaini.. How can you build a counter attack when you have a slow, immobile dm who is the link out of defence to attack? no cohesion whatsoever.

 

[NYAS]

Comparisons with Tuchel is strange. They had a system at Dortmund, working system and players who knew how to play it, Tuchel came and just did some changes, tweaks so to say.
Not that I'm excusing Mourinho but we're in disarray and have been for 3 years now. No quick fix I'm afraid.

What's your suggestion? To sack him?

It's not strange at all. Dortmund are more direct now.

He's supposed to be a world class manager. How long should we wait for him to have an impact? What's acceptable if not 3 months?

I'm not suggesting anything right now. I'm pinning the blame on him. If this continues for the next month then yes, sack him.

Or would you have a manager in charge who is incapable of stopping all the consecutive losses? Do you want to just write another season off because the manager supposedly needs time?

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Total average rating 4.3

 

[revel911]

Did anyone else feel that Young was an upgrade to Valencia at RB?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Total average rating 4.3

That's generous.

 

[bucky]

It's not. Fellaini has no positional awareness. Which is why him playing as a holding midfielder won't work. He's played well in terms of winning the ball back and in possession, but for both goals, especially the first one, he's out of position and covering an area that should be covered by the centrebacks. The second one is doing him no favours either, but that goal is mostly on Pogba's and Smalling's positioning, which he has to cover for.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Total average rating 4.3

I think that's generous today

 

[Ban]

It's not strange at all. Dortmund are more direct now.

He's supposed to be a world class manager. How long should we wait for him to have an impact? What's acceptable if not 3 months?

I'm not suggesting anything right now. I'm pinning the blame on him. If this continues for the next month then yes, sack him.

Or would you have a manager in charge who is incapable of stopping all the consecutive losses? Do you want to just write another season off because the manager supposedly needs time?

Then every new manager needs time.
You'd sack him as early as next month?
What then?
Who should manage us?

It seems our problems lie a lot deeper than just with the manager.
Maybe we're destined to fall to mid table mediocrity.

Dortmund comparison is wrong I must repeat.

 

[shabin_d_great]

every one who posts like " its just 5 games", "jesus, not panic" etc are just trying to look cool and appear knowledgeable. We are in a mini crisis.. need to accept and embrace that..

 

[SalfordRed1960]

I'm a bit more worried that Mourinho seems to be blaming referee decisions, luck, and individual mistakes for these defeats rather than recognising that our performances in the last 2 matches have been very poor all-round and did not deserve any result.

He has always done that, nothing new.

It s also a bit of a myth that we actually played well in the first 3 games. as with LVG we got results, but we were not very good. We have now played 3 teams that press and we got found out. Jose does not have a plan B, his subs make absolutely no difference, other than maybe someone like Rashford coming on and deciding to have a go.

How 3 managers on the trot can continuously pick Rooney is amazing. Though LVG would be big enough to drop him, but he didn't. Now Jose has seen the poor performances, but continues to play him. Pogba and Ibra getting a bit of a realiyy check, as is Eric (been poor for the last 3 games as well)

 

[Thiim]

It has all turned sour really fast. However, their first goal should've not counted as Martial was clearly fouled. Then Pogba hits the bar, where the margins are really small and it could just as easily have gone in. We defended really poorly for their second and after that it was just frustration all around. I'm really disappointed with Smalling and Rooney and I don't think either deserves a place in the team. I honestly feel like Rooney will never be properly dropped and we just have to wait for him to retire before we are relived of the horror of having to endure him playing in center midfield.

Sadly, this year is all about getting back into the top 4, which should be just about within our reach.

 

[RedElf]

Getting concerned now. We have assembled together a team of strangers, and as each game passes we seem to be going backwards. No cohesion, we seem to be all over the place. Offensively nearly as poor as last season.

 

[Verminator]

Deary me we have played 5 games and people are already going ballistic, I have no doubt that the manager knows what he is doing and things will turn around.

Just like the last two?

 

[montpelier]

Did anyone else feel that Young was an upgrade to Valencia at RB?

Think Valencia is playing quite well, tbf. All a bit relative, and I don't think either is a title winning RB. Obvs, they weren't originally FBs at all, but here we are, .

 

[Dazzmondo]

I'm sure Mourinho told Pogba and Fellaini to mark the area in front of the D. More likely the players failing to perform their role properly. Awful defensive shape in both cases though.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Getting concerned now. We have assembled together a team of strangers, and as each game passes we seem to be going backwards. No cohesion, we seem to be all over the place. Offensively nearly as poor as last season.

I just think this is too big a squad for what Jose wants. I have said before he usually plays his players until they nearly drop. Here he is resting players and trying players out etc. Not his style at all. He would rarely rest anyone at Chelsea. I think we have given him a problem he doesn't want by not getting rid of Rojo, BFS etc.

 

[FCBarca]

A familiar refrain in his post match comments citing the referees

 

[NYAS]

Then every new manager needs time.
You'd sack him as early as next month?
What then?
Who should manage us?

It seems our problems lie a lot deeper than just with the manager.
Maybe we're destined to fall to mid table mediocrity.

Dortmund comparison is wrong I must repeat.

Yes our problems do lie deeper, but see the thing is, the manager is the only one at the club who has control over the solutions to those problems. If the players have a fragile mentality, is Ed Woodward responsible for solving that? It's Mourinho. If players underperform, and they still keep playing, it's on Mourinho.

I don't want us to sack him. I said if he keeps losing games like this and has the team performing this badly for another month, where we mostly play two games a week, what else would you do? You understand that means around a month and a half of losing game after game.

 

[Reddevildans]

Why are we so terrible at set pieces? We're a huge team and don't seem to have any set piece threat. Sack them all.

 

[RedDevil-85]

Disgusting performance,again.
The city loss broke our back it seems,players mentality is weak as feck.
So many poor performers today and we still have problems all over the pitch.

Rooney - Terrible,shockingly poor.He has had a whole week off,comes back into the team fresh and delivers a performance like that! Must be dropped.
Pogba - He has been very poor bar the Southampton game.He should have a better partner in midfield but also needs to step up himself.
Martial - Looks totally out it and has done for a good while now,dont know what his problem is but he should be dropped/rested.

Defence is still poor and cant even mark players properly,sloppy goals conceded.

Mourinho must take action and drop the players who doesnt perform.
I read that this was the first time Mourinho has lost 3 games in a row since his Porto days,dont know if true or not but our new season has taken a turn for the worse.I hope we pull it together and i trust Mourinho to figure it out or else it will be a long season yet again.

 

[montpelier]

Fellaini ''playing well'' = adequate at absolute best except when he scores & we win, when it's all so unexpectedly wonderful, all previous sins are forgotten.

Through the middle there, you've got a 3 of Fellaini-Pogba-Rooney linking through to a central attacking 'threat' of Rooney-Zlatan. We're losing the collective battle there against practically anybody in all departments. Unless we can make it a bit of a whingeing clog-fest then we might have a chance. But that's how fecking basic it is.

 

[togg]

It's the slow draining of the hope that I had at the start of the season that is so dispiriting. The rising realisation that this season might be slightly similar to the last three is very demoralising. I think there is much more wrong than throwing new managers, players or money at the problem. It feels like the soul of the club has been ripped out and everyone is behaving like headless chickens.

There is absolutely no way a 'Jose out/sack' campaign should even begin to poke it's nose out. It's only five games/September etc and the guy won the League a couple of years ago. You don't just disintegrate as a talent that easily. I reckon we have to put our expectations totally on hold, get behind the manager and team and support them in beginning to turn this around and get it right. I reckon it's going to take a number of seasons to rectify the problem.

 

[Stookie]

I usually watch every United game either live or on the telly, however by some quirk of fate I've managed to miss these 3 this week so can't really comment on the performance. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing!

 

[togg]

I usually watch every United game either live or on the telly, however by some quirk of fate I've managed to miss these 3 this week so can't really comment on the performance. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing!

Stookie...start watchign them again...for goodness sake!

 

[Welsh Wonder]

Fellaini was good statistically but the stats don't show the huge space left where the deep midfielder should be for two of their goals.

 

[Harry190]

Fellaini was good statistically but the stats don't show the huge space left where the deep midfielder should be for two of their goals.

That was Pogba watching the play happen without getting in.

 

[Stookie]

Stookie...start watchign them again...for goodness sake!

Togg, I promise to watch the next one

 

[JohnnyKills]

Fellaini was good statistically but the stats don't show the huge space left where the deep midfielder should be for two of their goals.

Yeah that was my impression in the City game too

 

[EvilChuck]

I was at the game today. In amongst the watford fans but the united fans were loudest until the second goal so credit to them for that.

United were really good for the first 2 thirds of the pitch, but the final 30 metres it was all too easy to defend. Small passes and no movement, and then eventually a diagonal ball to valencia. Watford werent really that good, a lot of long balls that were easily defended, the issue came when we didnt defend them well.

Watford played a very high line as well, the pace from Martial and Rashford was null and void when they play deeper rather than at least one bear to Zlatan. Any time he did get the ball he had to wait for support which then gave watford time to get back.

Its a shir result. But the performance wasnt that bad. Just a few tactical tweaks and we arent far off where we want to be

 

[revel911]

I'm sure Mourinho told Pogba and Fellaini to mark the area in front of the D. More likely the players failing to perform their role properly. Awful defensive shape in both cases though.

Yeah that was my impression in the City game too

Again Pogba. Even if you don't want to admit that Fellaini was good or not please at least admit that the large holes both Pogba and Rooney leave are ridiculous

 

[In Rainbows]

Ignoring the performances and judging the qualities of the players, it's easy to see how unbalanced the midfield is.

Pogba isn't going to control the middle of the park spraying passes all day long. He will drift in positions in order to look to create at times, or to help spray passes around. He's not going to give you energy looking to get stuck in or to be on the ball 24/7 like a Gundogan. To put Fellaini next to him when he is slow, and also can't control a match with passing is just dumb. So already with a midfield of those two you are missing energy and control. To top it off, Fellaini isn't a true DM either.

In the EL, we had Pogba, Morgan, and Herrera. Herrera brings in the energy that is lacking. However, Morgan is also not a guy that can anchor the midfield by being that guy demanding the ball constantly to control the match with his passing.

You add in Rooney who is not creative, is ponderous on the ball, and makes simple mistakes, etc... it's just bad for the whole team. It's no wonder the team looks bad.

At this point, I want Pogba, Herrera, and Carrick. Carrick is old, but at least he gives you that missing component in midfield right now. Herrera will give you energy that will help attack, defend, and link up. You can still improve that midfield obviously as Carrick is old and Herrera can get sloppy, but I think that's the best we have right now. You could try Blind too of course.

I absolutely do not think a combination of Pogba and Fellaini will work even in a midfield 3 because the 3 guys (carrick, blind, bastien) who you would think would be that passer we need are all slow. That would be horrible defensively.

 

[JustinC00]

Game needed Carrick and Herrera not Rooney and Fellaini. There is a reason why the last 2 years our best games have usually come with Carrick

Jose will continue to pay for it until he realizes that.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Fellaini was good statistically but the stats don't show the huge space left where the deep midfielder should be for two of their goals.

IMO, he can't protect the back four well enough to play at CM, nor does he have the required passing. He's effective when he you play him off of a striker, where he can play knock downs and hold the ball up. However, he'll never be picked at United to play there. I don't see why he's a regular starter at CM when Carrick and Schweinsteiger are being frozen out.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Again Pogba. Even if you don't want to admit that Fellaini was good or not please at least admit that the large holes both Pogba and Rooney leave are ridiculous

Yep completely agree with that too

 

[Bruno8]

We need to balance our midfield a bit Carrick/Herrera or Carrick/Pogba will work much better. Problem is Pogba, Rooney and Martial have been very poor. Our tactics have been too rigid, something LvG was criticised for.

 

[Ace of Spades]

That was so shit.

 

[RoadTrip]

Pogba needs to stop worrying about his hair and start worrying about his performances.