[Hoof the ball]

On a note for Chelsea, I was quite impressed by two responses to our man-marking of Fabregas.

• Oscar is improving as a player. He dropped in deep to pick up the ball whereas Fabregas dragged his marker to the no.10 position
• If Oscar/Fabregas were man-marked, Cahill was more than confident on multiple occasions to bring it past the half-way line

The reason I note this is because it's precisely what our system under van Gaal requires in order to build from the back. If Blind is pressed and our midfielders, we need to be looking at dragging the markers away and encouraging Smalling/Rojo to bring it forward. It's the only way you can guarantee an escape route for pressing.

 

[footballgirl07]

Absolutely, he's an asset going forward. But I'd rather have a full back who is better at defending.

I find this confusing as he kept Hazard quiet for nearly all of the game down our right. Didn't give him a sniff when around our box and put in some great blocks and challenges.


Lost of positives from today all over the park. Getting that last minute goal was huge to build on, especially with the next game at City. Only negative would be Rojo performance but with more game time and hopefully, we can get more than one game out of a defensive center pairing before one gets injured, he should settle better. Distribution needs improvement.

 

[Acole9]

That goal will give us a massive confidence boost going into the against City. If we play like we did today and all our important players stay fit we've got a good chance against them.

 

[Galactic]

Pretty sure a lot of people on here thought we'd get battered too...

Not me. I was quietly confident that we were going to play well but have to admit that i was not so confident of a win. I predicted/hoping for a draw and a good display of attacking football. But this draw felt like a win. Especially since Chelsea were already thinking of the 3 points.

 

[Raoul]

That goal will give us a massive confidence boost going into the against City. If we play like we did today and all our important players stay fit we've got a good chance against them.

Agreed. City are a bit wobbly at the moment and definitely ready for the taking.

 

[surf]

Good game, draw was a fair result. Excellent from Gea, Smalling and Shaw in defence. Looking forward to Herrera and Rooney coming back.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

we where very predictable going forward to day, get ball pass it out to the wing, cross it in.....

bit more solid at the back thou. still hope we go back to the diamond next week, with herrera back.

 

[Red Dreams]

we had enough chances to win it. any other day those were going in.
they were happy with the point before it started and in the end we were happy with the point when it ended.

 

[XdanielredX]

Smalling solid, Rojo ok little bit shaky, alround decent performance though, especially the first half

 

[XdanielredX]

And remember we still have Rooney, Falcao, Herrera, Jones, Young, Carrick plus more all to come back from injury/suspension, that's quite a decent bunch of reinforcements

 

[CuCullhan]

ohhh give over... Reading some here and According to every corner of the media and some who just have too much to say. We were supposed to be bashed today. Was only the how many that was in question.
To come out and play like that and get a deserved point out of it. They must all be feeling sick. 19-9 shots, 7-4 on target, 51.4% possession 13-7 interceptions, 85.3%-82% passing acc, 74.6%-71.1% pass in opp half, 30-17 crosses, 93.3%-81% tackles won, same amount of clearances . So it was no fluke. Yes they did their whole kill the game when 1-0 up thing and we were chasing shadows for that 10 minutes after they scored which made them seem more impressive. Apart from that it was even Steven and i would argue we shaded it.
I don't understand some people sometimes. Even if we won the game they'd surely find cause to complain

Enjoy it for what it is lads, we are still not out of the woods. So be happy! Even just a little bit.

GGMU

 

[ManUSarge]

I am the only one not dazzled by our performance? We are still too slow and unproductive on the ball, it is amazing how often we take the ball backwards. No penetration.

No. I thought we played poor and on another day would have handed the Chelsea we played today a loss. As much as I have my red tinted specs on I thought the referee was calling everything for us. The only ones that actually stood out as having a good match are Fellaini and Shaw. ADM was a shadow of his former self and was being constantly de-possessed and his confidence fell to the floor. Januzaj, I think, slows us way down and his age and inexperience are shining quite brightly. Rooney will be a sight for sore eyes which even his greatest detractor should even be able to say. Mata has not done himself any favors. I'm glad for Fellaini and would be ecstatic if he kept this up and forced the manager to pick him. I don't understand those who constantly say he isn't Man United quality...well he was our best player on the pitch today. His header led to the equalizer and he put a lot of pressure on Fab and Matic. Well done. On to City.

 

[BigDunc9]

To all the people who call any team who dares to play well against United game raising cnuts, is now ok for the Chelsea fans on here to call United game raising cnuts ?

 

[KeninDC]

William is the best.

 

[Galactic]

To all the people who call any team who dares to play well against United game raising cnuts, is now ok for the Chelsea fans on here to call United game raising cnuts ?

To be fair, we did raise our game but it was our first 'big' game and we're a new team/in transition. We'll see this team's true level near the end of the season I suppose. I hope we'll play like this (hopefully better as well) consistently cause we are a club that historically plays like that i.e. attacking, pressing football and never say die attitude.

 

[Gannicus]

I would have been pleased with the performance overall even if we hadn't scored the equalizer. Results u.timately matter most, but there were a lot of positive performances today. Team sprit was fantastic.

And let's not forget to give the fans their due credit. Well done!

 

[Freak]

I'm fairly disappointed by the result. We had a brilliant first half and should have put a couple of our chances away. Our second half was rubbish up until the last 10 minutes.

 

[Mani]

Well earned point,Di Maria need to be played centrally at least against top teams.Performance of Smalling and feillani was good in the match.over all confidence of the team should be high,this was second in a row that we had come back from brink of defeat.

 

[MUFC > Everyone]

Enough with the "Oh if Falcao were have played we would have won it". Van Persie played his best game of the season and Falcao has not shown that he could have done any better in terms of hold up play or finishing. Yes he's a great finisher but has def looked rusty since coming here. No fault to him, time will show his class but he has shown me nothing to confidently say that he would have buried a few chances to give us the victory. So let's not knee-jerkingly say Falcao would have got us the 3 points when he has barely had a shot on net while being with us and his only tally being a tap in.

 

[sglowrider]

William is the best.

Is william some football savant?

 

[Dylan94]

Anything that we got from this game and the derby is a positive at this moment in time. Today we played well and the result was fair for both teams.

 

[rover]

actually this is a very weird game.

when we didn't have the ball in possession, we used fellaini and mata to go up for high press to their defenders, limited their build up play through their midfield, and we got diMaria, vanPersie & januzaj to stay deeper to cover.

when we got the ball in possession, we delivered the ball to the two flanks and relied on the individual quality of diMaria & januzaj to break through. basically we gave up to build up our play in the central area since fellaini and mata wouldn't give much help in such play.

 

[Rafabio]

Fair result for both sides.

Back to you in the studio Jim.

 

[Dargonk]

Good performance from the team I thought. Before the game I was fully expecting us to struggle to cope at times, but for the most part we looked solid. We still gave away a few silly possessions deep in our half that could have been punished that needs to be cut out, but for the most part we handled things fairly well, or at least better than I expected.

I did feel Di Maria and Adnan both didn't have the best of games, not bad games, just not great. Fellani I thought did well again, and ristricted things again and then was able to collect and lay off the ball high up the pitch fairly often. Powerful header at the end that allowed RVP to score as well. RVP looked hungry again this game, hopefully a sign he may be coming out of his slump. Hopefully the goal at the depth helps with that was well. Possibly having only the single striker out there today helped us balance wise.

 

[Scrumpet]

I don't suppose anyone has a clip of the challenge Oscar was booked for? Looked almost identical to Rooney's red. Was surprised to see that from him.

 

[legball]

I thought we did quite well, in general. Rafael, however, scares the shit out of me.. He's such a liability at times! Not talking about the Drogba goal now, but in general. Poor positioning and rash challenges.

It's just your feeling though. I didn't see him being a liabilty today but this as become a cliche among many pundits, so it's often taken for granted. He got a yellow very early on but was composed throughout the game. You're scared because that's how you want to feel about him.

 

[charleysurf]

It's just your feeling though. I didn't see him being a liabilty today but this as become a cliche among many pundits, so it's often taken for granted. He got a yellow very early on but was composed throughout the game. You're scared because that's how you want to feel about him.

No, he's scared because Rafael really is a liability. Good going forward, but he's a poor defender.

 

[The Mitcher]

No, he's scared because Rafael really is a liability. Good going forward, but he's a poor defender.

A poor defender who kept Hazard largely quiet.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I was very pleased with the performance and result.

 

[ricky-romeo]

fellaini is a pleasant surprise.

 

[kouroux]

Bet you're fun on a night out.

 

[bosnian_red]

No, he's scared because Rafael really is a liability. Good going forward, but he's a poor defender.

Rafael is an excellent one on one defender. Van Gaal said today in fact Rafael is one of the best defenders but lacks height, which is his only downfall really. He's rash at times but even that's overstated. The one thing holding him back from the top right backs is his injuries(something that I feel like I have to say with every one of our players) , if he gets past them then he's the ideal right back to have.

 

[legball]

No, he's scared because Rafael really is a liability. Good going forward, but he's a poor defender.

He's not a poor defender. You're always too extreme, it's funny.

 

[Micha]

Anything that we got from this game and the derby is a positive at this moment in time. Today we played well and the result was fair for both teams.

Simple as that.

 

[The Man Himself]

ohhh give over... Reading some here and According to every corner of the media and some who just have too much to say. We were supposed to be bashed today. Was only the how many that was in question.
To come out and play like that and get a deserved point out of it. They must all be feeling sick. 19-9 shots, 7-4 on target, 51.4% possession 13-7 interceptions, 85.3%-82% passing acc, 74.6%-71.1% pass in opp half, 30-17 crosses, 93.3%-81% tackles won, same amount of clearances . So it was no fluke. Yes they did their whole kill the game when 1-0 up thing and we were chasing shadows for that 10 minutes after they scored which made them seem more impressive. Apart from that it was even Steven and i would argue we shaded it.
I don't understand some people sometimes. Even if we won the game they'd surely find cause to complain

Enjoy it for what it is lads, we are still not out of the woods. So be happy! Even just a little bit.

GGMU

True. An hour or so after the game, I read the game stats and was bit surprised to find them so heavily in our favour. While watching the game, chances seemed pretty even.

 

[Shimo]

Was happy with the game - personally my head dropped after their goal but, thankfully the team didn't. We matched them and while either team could have won, during the game I thought we were better and that's not been something I've felt about us in a big game in a while.

Don't get why people are so critical about Rafael being on Drogba, that was planned obviously since it went on all game. With our smaller lineup, especially compared to them, the coaches / manager had that going in. Sure Fellaini on that one corner could have maybe come and helped but, things happen so quick that those things will happen in a game.

 

[chriswt]

RVP's goal might prove to be the most important goal this season if it now sparks belief and a cohesion we've seen glimpses of.

Still, we've seen enough false dawns to place too much hope on it, but here's hoping anyway.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

A point was the least we deserved. Not surprised that the stats favor us. I don't think we were brilliant or anything but there wasn't much to choose between us and Chelsea. Next week will be much harder

 

[rover]

there is no way anyone would plan to have rafael to mark drogba in corner kick. i guess his target man was supposed to be costa. both are brazilian of same size, costa can't trick rafael. according to the post match interview lvg said that there was communication issue between rafael and fellaini. apparently they failed to switch on field when drogba had replaced costa to start. smalling or even deGea can step up to call

 

[charleysurf]

Was happy with the game - personally my head dropped after their goal but, thankfully the team didn't. We matched them and while either team could have won, during the game I thought we were better and that's not been something I've felt about us in a big game in a while.

Don't get why people are so critical about Rafael being on Drogba, that was planned obviously since it went on all game. With our smaller lineup, especially compared to them, the coaches / manager had that going in. Sure Fellaini on that one corner could have maybe come and helped but, things happen so quick that those things will happen in a game.

They did get very scrappy after the goal so they did lose their heads a bit. And the equalizer didn't really come from an intense period of United domination or anything. But it came, and thats the main thing.