[arthurka]

This - media making out that we were hanging on. City had a lot of the ball but didn’t create many clear chances. Granted we only created 1.

Woeful tactics and set pieces cost us. I’ve never seen a team get so many lucky rebounds or deflections. That’s about 4 in the last 4 games

Fergies teams say Hi..

Teams that set up with 8 players around your box often pick up the leftovers.. We can only hope that Mou commits two upfront ..

 

[Ban]

If City were missing De Bruyne do you think the performance level would have dropped to the same degree as our own?

It would have hurt them but the tactical framework would have remained and they would still have dominated. The message we've been given today is 'No Pogba, no hope' when we come up against a good side.

We played exactly the same way that we would have expected a league 2 side to face them. 10 behind the ball. Try to nick something on the break.

Sorry, I don't agree, missing Pogba is a huge miss. We can talk about being realiant on him but tactical framework wouldn't be the same.
As for KDB missing, we don't know that either. He's a very important player for them.

 

[Fully Fledged]

I agree with every word said.

 

[AndyMUFC]

That was so disappointing as I expected us to be really up for it but it just never really happened.

They weren't even that good either to be perfectly hoest. We showed them too much respect in the first half, where our inability to keep the ball and counter was again infuriating and they scored from two set pieces which should be their biggest weakness and our biggest strength. Gave ourselves a lifeline with the equaliser but came out and gifted them a second.

Looks like we're playing for second place already now anyway.

 

[unitedirish1985]

Main reasons why we lost.

1 Very poor tactics from Mourinho (started very deep so we gave them space to play. They didn't create much against our parked bus although we created nothing, but one error and it was 0-1. Got a lucky goal and we raised our game slightly in the second half. Although they could have killed the game on the counter as well. The main plan in the end hoof it up. Park the bus plus hoof it sum our game up and it is not enough)

2 Lukaku not being sharp ( in big games you need your big man to score the chances. Lukaku didn't and it made it harder)

3 Peps tactics ( he set it up a big more tactically today and they could find a lot of space to use. Also changed to a more defensive team in the end to get the points. Not revolutionary, but it helped them keep us out and deal with our hoof balls. )


Positives

Young, Rashford, Smalling and Valencia played very well. We got a lot of very good players and individually the difference is less between us than it is between the managers.

I have to agree. The gameplan today was an egregious insult to the history of of this great club. I counted at least 30 occasions whereby we hoofed the ball up the field yielding less than a 1% success rate. It was highly frustrating to watch it incessantly attempted. We played like we were stoke. Commentators and the cognascenti of the footballing world will contend there is a gulf in class between the two manchester clubs. Whilst one wouldn't argue against the fact city are the better side, united are much better than their showing today and when united had to play after conceeding the first goal, we showed glimpses of the qualities our players possess.

The fault had to rest with Mourinho. He has his players believing against the top 6 that we are inferior and thus we must play the long ball strategy to win. This mentality is clearly institutionalised into the players and they fear trying to play and are anxious in possession, what Gary Neville deemed correctly a hot potato style of play.

I think many would argue, we would much prefer united play with flair and panache and lose 3-0 , than the long ball, hope for the best approach employed today. Mourinho's hubris and belief in his system will blind him to the realities, it doesnt work for Manchester United.

 

[stu_1992]

Very poor first half especially. We were always gonna lose the possession game today but we really showed nothing at all in that half until the goal. Good job by Rashford to take full advantage of that.

Second half I thought we looked a lot better, but unfortunately the quality wasn't there. Lukaku should have buried the chance he had in that half, and you could argue Mata should have scored the follow-up however that one on particular was a great save by Ederson.

Shame to concede the goals in the manner that we did. Not at all what I would have expected and actually we did quite well at containing them from their usual game. They really didn't get much joy in creating chances. Their second goal is a bit of a freak, but again Lukaku should be doing better there and he'll not look back on this game fondly (though who in red will?).

11 points is quite daunting even at this stage, but I guess all we can do is focus on ourselves now.

 

[Infra-red]

Pretty much as predicted. They're not a great side, but they are significantly better than us. Given the Chelsea result, I'd say this more-or-less wraps things up re the title. Question now is will they go unbeaten/break the points record.

As for us, top 3 finish should be the aim.

 

[Dans]

Herrera is just a diving cheat, who has the same application to fall down as the Man City players, but is too poor to get anywhere near their squad. It was funny how our manager & Klopp were both getting worked up by totally correct penalty decisions by their respective refs, as they saw the opposite to the vast majority.

This was a another negative masterclass from our manager, booting the ball up front to one static lump, then later a second past it one. I see Lindaoaff was as useless as ever when coming on, but obviously liked by Mourinho as he boots long balls up the pitch. De Gea made two quality saves again today. I shudder to imagine where we would have been the last few years without him.

As others have mentioned, bring in Poch, he at least knows how to play football.

Hard to disagree with any of that.

 

[Bilbo]

Sorry, I don't agree, missing Pogba is a huge miss. We can talk about being realiant on him but tactical framework wouldn't be the same.
As for KDB missing, we don't know that either. He's a very important player for them.

Of course it's a huge loss for us, but the point us we lose one player and it leads to us putting out the performance that we saw today. If City lost De Bruyne do you think they would have played 10 behind the ball?

All it shows, for me, is two things. Our manager doesn't believe in our players (or himself) and despite us having (many claim) a huge squad of talented players, we are still a long way off.

 

[NFM]

Forget tactics, managers, possession, etc etc, this match was decided by United making one more major mistake in defence. Before Lukuku made that mistake, the match could have gone either way. City had more possession again in the 2nd half, but United had more confidence than in the 1st half because of scoring the equaliser so quickly. City were more wary. However that mistake changed the match.

It was a schoolboy howler of a mistake, it shouldn't happen in a top match.

 

[Dans]

Hang on a minute! People were saying that City aren't even considered as rivals?? Let's get a little perspective here. Chelsea lost away to West Ham. Liverpool drew at home to Everton and Arsenal managed a late draw away to Southampton. Shit happens!

We lost at home to City by two stupid goals. They really weren't that brilliant, though they were better than us. We got hammered more by Arsenal but managed to put our chances away and nobody complained. It just wasn't our day today. We're still safe in second and have a good run of games coming up. I still believe that City will drop points.

They haven't been that brilliant. Everybody else has just been patchy...much like when Chelsea won the league last season.

All the whining...for feck's sake!

That all means shit when you consider that today was our chance, at home no less, to make a challenge. We came up severely short. There's not a single positive we can take from this game. Even De Gea's great reflex save moves him further out the door.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

I agree with every word said.

The Tate dishing it out there.

'It's killing me; it's killing me dad'

 

[Ban]

Of course it's a huge loss for us, but the point us we lose one player and it leads to us putting out the performance that we saw today. If City lost De Bruyne do you think they would have played 10 behind the ball?

All it shows, for me, is two things. Our manager doesn't believe in our players (or himself) and despite us having (many claim) a huge squad of talented players, we are still a long way off.

They wouldnt have put 10 players behind the ball but maybe they wouldn't be so good as they are when he's in the team.
We dont have a huge squad of talented players, just a big squad and we need more additions.

 

[Sing you a song]

I'm prepared for many to disagree but honestly believe Lukaku will turn out to be a poor buy, by December we will be desperate for Zlatan to be back and that just should not be the case.

The above was part of my post on November the 7th so sorry to be proved right . I was gutted when we spent all that money on him in the summer , he is nowhere near good enough to lead the line but because of that enormous price tag we are stuck with him his hold up play for such a big guy is pathetic , his 1 st touch is dreadful and he is an absolute liability when helping out the defence .Today not for the 1st time we saw that he is just not good enough .

 

[kthanksbye]

Sky Italy: "massive brawl in front of the locker rooms at the end of the game".

Anyone got more on this?

 

[Acole9]

We got it wrong from the start I think Mourinho thought Guardiola would believe we're playing 3-5-2 so decided to be clever and change the formation. It backfired, the 3-5-2 would've been ideal for this fixture. City were a huge threat going forward but he looked completely hopeless, I know both their goals were scruffy but ours was just by pure luck really. We've spent so much money and in attacking areas we're still poor at times.

 

[minoo-utd]

Lots of panic happened today, Hate to say it but we were scared alot with our full squad we can compete yes but the main issue is not we don't have the balls to attack top teams and play our football with bravery, a manager issue?

 

[CA_vampire]

We lost the game because our most important players did not perform:

1. Pogba wasn't even there. And yes, he is responsible for that red card, and he should take blame for this loss.

2. Lukaku gifted them two goals.


In my opinion, this is adequate explanation for what happened. With Pogba, we are a different team. And if Lukaku scored for us instead of assisting the opponents, we could have won.

What can we do better next year? I think that we need another star player. And hopefully, Pogba and Lukaku will be more mature and confident.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Lots of panic happened today, Hate to say it but we were scared alot with our full squad we can compete yes but the main issue is not we don't have the balls to attack top teams and play our football with bravery, a manager issue?

I think Mourinho is too defensive yes.

It has been the same since his Real Madrid days cause his Chelsea team was so bloody negative too. We all remember his 0-0 against Moyes at Old Trafford when he parked the bus. His win with bus against Liverpool that worked, but also knocked out by Atletico Madrid much due to being too defensiv.

Something did happen with him that changed him into becoming more negative. Might have been that 5-0 against Pep when he got totally outclassed tactically.

 

[Dans]

I'm prepared for many to disagree but honestly believe Lukaku will turn out to be a poor buy, by December we will be desperate for Zlatan to be back and that just should not be the case.

The above was part of my post on November the 7th so sorry to be proved right . I was gutted when we spent all that money on him in the summer , he is nowhere near good enough to lead the line but because of that enormous price tag we are stuck with him his hold up play for such a big guy is pathetic , his 1 st touch is dreadful and he is an absolute liability when helping out the defence .Today not for the 1st time we saw that he is just not good enough .

He'll score plenty more goals is my guess, but his work for the team lacks and he has very little finesse. We have to play for him which makes us a little predictable. If City can stunt us so easily, I don't want to think what our next CL opponent might do.

I always thought Morata would be a better fit - he offers a bit more in terms of build up play.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

We lost the game because our most important players did not perform:

1. Pogba wasn't even there. And yes, he is responsible for that red card, and he should take blame for this loss.

2. Lukaku gifted them two goals.


In my opinion, this is adequate explanation for what happened. With Pogba, we are a different team. And if Lukaku scored for us instead of assisting the opponents, we could have won.

What can we do better next year? I think that we need another star player. And hopefully, Pogba and Lukaku will be more mature and confident.

You remember it was the same story last season with Pogba in the big games.

I think we would have been very similar with Pogba. I think it is more people want to find hope in Pogba since he didn't play. He could not carry us. We mised him yes, but it would have still been a similar type of game.

 

[JohnnyKills]

We lost the game because our most important players did not perform:

1. Pogba wasn't even there. And yes, he is responsible for that red card, and he should take blame for this loss.

2. Lukaku gifted them two goals.


In my opinion, this is adequate explanation for what happened. With Pogba, we are a different team. And if Lukaku scored for us instead of assisting the opponents, we could have won.

What can we do better next year? I think that we need another star player. And hopefully, Pogba and Lukaku will be more mature and confident.

Or we replace Lukaku with Rashford.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

We fecking gifted them that. Let in some stupid goals and too many players shat themselves under a bit of pressure from the likes of Sane, Silva and Sterling... They're all bloody tiny, and we're worried about them bullying us off the ball? Give me a break.

 

[JohnnyKills]

He'll score plenty more goals is my guess, but his work for the team lacks and he has very little finesse. We have to play for him which makes us a little predictable. If City can stunt us so easily, I don't want to think what our next CL opponent might do.

I always thought Morata would be a better fit - he offers a bit more in terms of build up play.

Agreed. Lukaku doesn't look like a long-term starter for us. He may be gone within a couple of years, back to a team in the tier below.

 

[freeurmind]

Disappointing result, our 2 in midfield were never going to be able to cope with City's 3, we looked very nervous at the beginning. Another big game where it seems the side only seems to go out and execute the game plan after about 40 minutes. Central midfield and full-back are such areas of concern for us. Another disappointing big game for Lukaku, consideration should be given to giving Martial a run as the centre-forward.

 

[marukomu]

Just woke up to this. Really busy 15 hour day today so no way I could watch it.
I dreamt that we lost 2 - 1, and it happened. I also dreamt that I was trapped in an elevator wearing a leotard.
Not looking forward to today.

 

[minoo-utd]

Can't blame Lukaku, he was so unlucky if he scored that chance some here would say different words, again city was some kind of lucky team, but what it really hurts me is that we just can't look so scared and almost panicking with every touch today, hope we learn and we need to bounce back right after this game which i see a bit difficult for the players but we don't have any other option but to believe that some how things might change and City's luck runs out, we need to progress mentally not on the pitch IMO we have such great squad and can still beat any one if we have the enough confidence which we really lack against top teams, hope just hope city draw a couple of games that will make us challenge again but as i see how it's difficult I hope at least we keep and grab that second place and finish the season as runners up so maybe next season with few ins and outs we can be favorites. Still 22 games to play and who knows I believe in football and still didn't lose hope on Jose but lots of things and ideas he must think about it again.

 

[Bilbo]

They wouldnt have put 10 players behind the ball but maybe they wouldn't be so good as they are when he's in the team.
We dont have a huge squad of talented players, just a big squad and we need more additions.

It's not as simple as saying we need more additions. Who out of our team today can we say is a poor player? We have a lot of good players.

What we do not have, and it pains me to say it because I really like the guy, is a coach that can make this squad better than the sum of it parts.

 

[Fully Fledged]

The Tate dishing it out there.

'It's killing me; it's killing me dad'

It's killing me as well.
To see us set up with 11 players behind the ball at home is soul destroying. Now I know they didn't make anything themselves in the match and if not for 2 mistakes by Lukaku we would have probably gotten away with a draw. The thing is that without those 2 mistakes by Lukaku we probably wouldn't have come out of our own half for the entire match. This isn't Man Utd.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

It's killing me as well.
To see us set up with 11 players behind the ball at home is soul destroying. Now I know they didn't make anything themselves in the match and if not for 2 mistakes by Lukaku we would have probably gotten away with a draw. The thing is that without those 2 mistakes by Lukaku we probably wouldn't have come out of our own half for the entire match. This isn't Man Utd.

Considering we just lost a derby at home, this ending any hope of the title, I feel okay. I think it's because I'd resigned myself to defeat the moment Pogba was sent off at Arsenal and had time to adjust. Strange, but I've been far more upset in many occasions.

 

[Stetcg]

Herrera booked for diving when it was a 50/50 pen IMO.

Jesus nothing for a blatant dive....apart from pure incompetence from mummy's boy Oliver or is it more evidence that he is an A B U ?

 

[Fully Fledged]

Considering we just lost a derby at home, this ending any hope of the title, I feel okay. I think it's because I'd resigned myself to defeat the moment Pogba was sent off at Arsenal and had time to adjust. Strange, but I've been far more upset in many occasions.

It's not the defeat that bothers me. I could take losing if we were prepared to show some bottle and actually give them a game.

 

[Bilbo]

Considering we just lost a derby at home, this ending any hope of the title, I feel okay. I think it's because I'd resigned myself to defeat the moment Pogba was sent off at Arsenal and had time to adjust. Strange, but I've been far more upset in many occasions.

I said to my brother (arsenal) before our game last week that I don't care who wins as long as I get to see a good game of football. I feel the same about today. Which United fan is going to be able to defend us when we get wound up over the next week.

Today we laid down against our closest rivals. On our own pitch. I felt like chanting 'hoof' myself sometimes. It really was a complete and utter lesson and I feel that these 'tactics' we employ do as much damage (if not more) to our players confidence as Moyes famous "we should aspire to be as good as City" speech ever did

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

It's not the defeat that bothers me. I could take losing if we were prepared to show some bottle and actually give them a game.

We couldn't get the ball for most of the game, which makes it look as if a team isn't trying. However, you actually work much harder trying to win it back. I don't think we bottled it so much as we were frustrated by having so little possession. We need players who can dominate the ball, like Pogba, and then make things happen when we have possession; but you can't do anything when you can't get the ball. Guardiola teams are masters in dominating possession.

 

[sammsky1]

Herrera booked for diving when it was a 50/50 pen IMO.

Jesus nothing for a blatant dive....apart from pure incompetence from mummy's boy Oliver or is it more evidence that he is an A B U ?

Rashford booked for bouncing a ball!

 

[iportman]

Shocking performance and against these, wrong formation just playing two in mifield. Just goes to show how far behind the oil rags we are and what a damming verdict and we should have Pep npot Jose !

there is not a lot either pep, god or anyone else could do with having a squad that has smalling , young , Herrera and lingard as starters . We were left a pile of stinking dung by Sir Alex which was added to by Moyes and the dutch loon . City are shopping in Harrods while we are shopping in the Pound shop under the Glaizers with the occasional embellishment such as Pogba to keep the natives on board while they cream off the profits.

 

[Utd7]

Hate to say it but city are in another galaxy right now. They’re likely champions elect when you look at their next few fixtures into 2018. Mostly comfortable wins for the exception of Spurs and Liverpool.

 

[sammsky1]

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

there is not a lot either pep, god or anyone else could do with having a squad that has smalling , young , Herrera and lingard as starters . We were left a pile of stinking dung by Sir Alex which was added to by Moyes and the dutch loon . City are shopping in Harrods while we are shopping in the Pound shop under the Glaizers with the occasional embellishment such as Pogba to keep the natives on board while they cream off the profits.

I don't think it's we're in a pound shop: just look at the money that has been wasted since Fergie finished. We've spent massively; much more than Fergie was ever given. Trouble is we've squandered much of it.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

I also forgot to mention how cold it was at the game today. It's been a long time since I remember feeling so cold at Old Trafford.