Manchester United vs Perth Glory (Sat 13th July, 12:00 UK time)

Poor opposition. Was just attack v defence for most part but happy there were some good performances, especially from new and young boys.

Most notable factor was the more aggressive pressing game we tried to implement. Am happy with that.
 
That second half was entertaining. Nice link up play between the youngsters and Mata/Pogba. AWB was great!

Can't wait to see James play with these players instead of the first half eleven.
 
SteveW said:
It was a shame. He needs one to go in after missing a few
Click to expand...

It'll come. He played very well despite clearly letting nerves get to him. He's a natural finisher so when he learns to compose himself he'll be fine. The lad's only 17 afterall
 
Just caught the last 5 mins, How the did we play?

Any positives in terms of style?
 
siw2007 said:
Poor opposition. Was just attack v defence for most part but happy there were some good performances, especially from new and young boys.

Most notable factor was the more aggressive pressing game we tried to implement. Am happy with that.
Click to expand...
That's what we'll face for about 80% of the season. It was good practice of playing against the teams in the prem that will turn up and intend to stop us playing.
 
Dazzmondo said:
It'll come. He played very well despite clearly letting nerves get to him. He's a natural finisher so when he learns to compose himself he'll be fine. The lad's only 17 afterall
Click to expand...
Absolutely. He's a great finisher. Just needs one and I'm sure goals will flow.
 
Some nice touches - Wan Bissaka looked rock solid and we definitely have some real talent in our squad - but our offense is still way too static and unimaginative / impatient - and our finishing a bit sloppy. Even though they really parked the bus we should have created more - too many long shots and low-percentage solo runs when there were better options - and we should have scored twice more probably with the chances we did produce. Not much to judge from to be honest - a bit lackluster from both teams which is to be expected of course (with the exception of fifteen minutes or so towards the end when they lit up a bit) - and looking forward to see more.
 
Chong does not look ready. I really hope he goes out on loan to get some game experience. Gomes is incredibly gifted, we have seen it since he was 16. Greenwood also looked great. He just needs to get that first goal and the rest will start rolling in. Decent work out against a team that had 11 behind the ball. Tempo was there most the time. AWB did great, James had some good runs. Martial look terrible.
 
"If" I was to take something from today about how we should look going forward, our front 3 would be James, Rashford and Gomes. Of course it's early but they were the most dangerous players. Perhaps Gomes in the #10 with Pogba and McTominay holding and Greenwood on the right. I would really like to see a high energy midfielder to play beside Pogba to win the ball back and distribute to Pogba. If we were going to spend a ton of money on a player then I wish we could test Chelsea's resolve and make a big offer for Kante...
 
Glad to see we started with a win anyway. Looks like some of the younger players impressed which is good but it's hard to draw conclusions from such games. Hopefully we have no injuries and can continue to build fitness.
 
Liked a lot of the things I saw. The way we were winning the ball back was impressive and it looks like we’ve really been working on playing in tight situations with people around. We were pushed so high as well. At one point Smalling and Rojo were so high they were almost sitting on the oppo’s 18yard line. Jose would be pulling his hair out seeing that.:lol:

Probably still need a bit more creativity and intensity in that final 3rd but was basically a back 9 by Perth so wasn’t too bad.
 
First half was a bit of a snooze. Second very enjoyable. Wan-Bissaka the stand out performer.

I liked the look of the 4-2-3-1 with Lingard/Mata as the #10.
 
Fracture90 said:
Ye, ye, whatever you say buddy.
Click to expand...
:lol: Yeah let’s go with that. I wasn’t aware of that universally understood expression that would have been out of place in any other context. Sarcasm isn’t for everyone I suppose.
 
We played really well in the second half.
Good, attacking football. It's clear to see what they've been working on and Solsjkaers vision for his side.
Gomes, Greenwood, Garner and James were all really impressive I thought.
Only bad performance was probably Matic, just looks too slow now.
 
Revelation - our players can run forward towards the oppos goal.

For the first time in six years we looked like United and not a bunch of crabs siding towards the touch line.

Let’s hope it lasts.
 
Chong could do with a season loan to one of the English lower league teams.
Sure there's a Championship side or Division 1 team that could offer him consistent gametime.
 
All in all, this match contained a lot of good and a lot of stuff that wasn't. Too many sloppy back heels and low attacking individual attacking work rate in the first half. The second 11 was clearly a lot better.
But great to see the youngsters do so well that they did. I think AWB is an immense signing, he still has a lot to prove, but he still looks what we need at the RB position.
 
the hea said:
45 minutes in an pre season friendly and he already looked like our best right winger in about 5 years.
Click to expand...
I like that he’s two footed which makes him really really unpredictable. Idk he reminds me of Pedro on Barca days.
 
SadlerMUFC said:
"If" I was to take something from today about how we should look going forward, our front 3 would be James, Rashford and Gomes. Of course it's early but they were the most dangerous players. Perhaps Gomes in the #10 with Pogba and McTominay holding and Greenwood on the right. I would really like to see a high energy midfielder to play beside Pogba to win the ball back and distribute to Pogba. If we were going to spend a ton of money on a player then I wish we could test Chelsea's resolve and make a big offer for Kante...
Click to expand...

So Martial shouldn't be in the team going forward because he didn't perform when played out of position in a pre-season game? Ok
 
Loved what I saw from AWB, can see him becoming a fan favorite quite quickly. He's gotta be the best defender on the squad already
 
Fully Fledged said:
That's what we'll face for about 80% of the season. It was good practice of playing against the teams in the prem that will turn up and intend to stop us playing.
Click to expand...

There will be a lot of teams packing the defence against us, but probably with a better counter attack as Perth’s were pretty non existent. Will need to see how we defend against a better side, can’t imagine AWB will have too many problems, looks rock solid 1 on 1.
 
Happy with the performance in the end. It wasn't a test, in that we didn't have much defending to do, but we had to break down a low block and that's something we really struggle with.

Actually, we really struggled at times today and it's the reason why we still need more creativity in our side and must move the ball much quicker against sides that are happy to just defend.

Going forward, I'm hoping we see more of the 4231 formation we saw today.

To me, it is the most balanced formation, and the formation we used for the majority of the season when we came second under Jose.

Obviously we still need to add more players, but I'm encouraged with the energy and pressing our players showed, along with some good bits of interplay.

What we need to do is start wide, though. Teams are obsessed with scoring the perfect looking goal by going through the middle and being intricate.

Irwin and Webber touched on it post match. James got in behind numerous times in the first half because he stretched Perth's back line. This gave the full back a choice to stay tight to the centre back or push over, leaving a gap in between full back and centre back for James to exploit. For whatever reason, we started to play narrow and unless we scored the perfect goal, our game became very predictable.

Second half, we pretty much played the same. Difference is, we had pass masters like Pogba and Mata on the pitch and Gomes and Greenwood, who are good in tight spaces. This meant that we could play that intricate football.

It all depends on the way we want to play, but good signs. Hopefully the high pressing doesn't stop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.