[Sassy Colin]

That's probably why football and statistics don't always work. I don't think Guzan had nearly as many big saves to make as De Gea.

Even so, if the keeper has to make a save, it's a genuine goal scoring opportunity. In the same way De Gea stopped 8 goals going in. Guzan also stopped 8 goals going in. Our finishing wasn't good enough yesterday.

 

[El Zoido]

I'm in the minority but I thought the ref got the red card right. Agbonlahor basically went in as hard as possible. Personally I can't see any justification for ever going in that hard on a ball you don't control. It's dangerous, this is how Ramsay broke his leg. Agbonlahor would have probably won the tackle had he not spent that split second winding up to leather it as hard as he possibly could and nearly snapped Young in half in the process. It's excessive and unnecessary force.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Only positive for me was Falcao's goal. He's the type of player that (when fit) if scores one or two, he's liable to go on one hell of a run. Has to start every game now.

 

[Shark]

Young swinging in terrible crosses from the right when Villa were down to 10 men was fecking horrible. Just want to get this game out of my system really.

 

[POF]

Considering the form of the teams right behind us (like Southampton finding their mojo by raping Everton or West Ham not losing any steam), the last thing we needed was a shitty result like this one.

Some of our players should be ashamed of themselves for not going to the jugular when Villa went down to 10 men.

Do you honestly think Southampton or West Ham will finish the season ahead of United?

 

[Minimalist]

Watched the 2nd half. Didn't think United were terrible but just a bit sloppy and lacking a decent level of creativity. Some players did well (Falcao, Young etc) but others like Mata played worse than boys down the park.

Not too fussed but I accept it is 2 points dropped. Nothing to panic about though. On another day we win 3-1 comfortably.

 

[Member 55725]

I'm in the minority but I thought the ref got the red card right. Agbonlahor basically went in as hard as possible. Personally I can't see any justification for ever going in that hard on a ball you don't control. It's dangerous, this is how Ramsay broke his leg. Agbonlahor would have probably won the tackle had he not spent that split second winding up to leather it as hard as he possibly could and nearly snapped Young in half in the process. It's excessive and unnecessary force.

Completely agree. He went in with the intention of hurting Young, winning the ball would have been a bonus.

 

[Woodenlung]

Do you honestly think Southampton or West Ham will finish the season ahead of United?

I didn't think it was possible for United to finish 8th last season. We're still not a great side now either.

I'm not sure that West Ham or Southampton will finish above us, but I think it's entirely possible that we miss out on top 4.

 

[sunama]

Do you honestly think Southampton or West Ham will finish the season ahead of United?

He probably does.
The problem is that Moyes has lowered expectations considerably.
So much so, that fans are now worried about teams like West Ham or Southampton.
Personally, now that we have a World class manager, we dont need to worry about lesser teams.
The only teams I am concerned with are: Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. These, along with us, will probably make up the top 5 this season.

 

[Amir]

Even so, if the keeper has to make a save, it's a genuine goal scoring opportunity. In the same way De Gea stopped 8 goals going in. Guzan also stopped 8 goals going in. Our finishing wasn't good enough yesterday.

Di Maria taking pot shots that make the keeper's job easy isn't really a case of bad finishing, but bad decision making.

 

[Kakeru]

Do you honestly think Southampton or West Ham will finish the season ahead of United?

Considering how Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal have been shite of their own while Southampton and especially West Ham are still holding the line, I would not rule anything out. What matters for United is to keep winning and stop throwing points away, especially when the opposition is down to 10 men.

 

[itso 7]

LVG has to take the blame because the dropped points were down to his shit substitutions, keeping Mata on for the ninety when he was doing his best Cleverley/Joe Allen imitations, taking off Van Persie when we needed a goal and starting with Fletcher (what did he really expect?). Teams like Villa are there for the taking but not when you blunt your attack and yesterday we had the slowest attack in the PL because we played the three of Mata, Falcao and Van Persie, we had zero intensity and made it too easy for the Villa defence.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

I didn't think it was possible for United to finish 8th last season. We're still not a great side now either.

I'm not sure that West Ham or Southampton will finish above us, but I think it's entirely possible that we miss out on top 4.

Firstly we didn't finish 8th last season, petty but there you go, if you think that any team other than City or Chelsea at the moment are capable of finishing above us- sorry can't see it - after they play Stoke, Chelsea play W Ham and Southampton so either Chelsea drop points or the others do.
We have just won 6 in a row (which no other team had done before City this weekend), and the world has ended because we drew a match, at least the expectations are getting a bit higher
United have drawn or lost to worse teams even when we were walking away with the league throughout history. An average performance and an average result, get over it

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

I really hate this "playing from the back" nonsense, what is even the point of it? It just seems all we do is waste time by doing it when we could actually be attacking the opposition. Maybe our players would benefit from going back to the high tempo game plan we had under Fergie?

 

[2 man midfield]

I really hate this "playing from the back" nonsense, what is even the point of it? It just seems all we do is waste time by doing it when we could actually be attacking the opposition. Maybe our players would benefit from going back to the high tempo game plan we had under Fergie?

The thing that annoys me is we'll spend 5 minutes playing it around the back 4 before hoofing it anyway. This could either be evidence that the philosophy is not quite permeating all the way through yet, or that we miss Blind who is a lot better at receiving the ball from the defence.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

The thing that annoys me is we'll spend 5 minutes playing it around the back 4 before hoofing it anyway. This could either be evidence that the philosophy is not quite permeating all the way through yet, or that we miss Blind who is a lot better at receiving the ball from the defence.

Spot on, exactly. We also seem to be gifting the opposition at least 1 chance per match by not even passing it around correctly.

Passing game works for teams like Barca and Bayern because 90% of the time they keep the ball moving around the opposition box, but we end up keeping the ball by our own box a lot of the time.

 

[sunama]

Passing game works for teams like Barca and Bayern because 90% of the time they keep the ball moving around the opposition box, but we end up keeping the ball by our own box a lot of the time.

Indeed.
But you need to remember that the players we rely on to confidently bring the ball forward (from defence) - Blind, Shaw, Rafael - are all injured.
Wait till we at least get Blind back. He is absolutely vital for our tactic to work.
Valencia and Young can also bring the ball forward - the problem we had on Saturday was that Young was switched to the right and all his attacks went straight into the hands of the opposition goal keeper.

On Saturday, I think Rooney and Fletcher were the guys we were relying on to attack through the middle. But this attack never materialised even once. Normally, Herrera is the guy who does this. The less said about Fletcher the better (most of us believe he is not Premier League material).

It's only 1 game, though. We got a point. We lost no ground to Liverpool or Arsenal (who we are competing for 3rd with).
Lets move onto the next game.

 

[POF]

Considering how Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal have been shite of their own while Southampton and especially West Ham are still holding the line, I would not rule anything out. What matters for United is to keep winning and stop throwing points away, especially when the opposition is down to 10 men.

A draw away from home against a mid table team is disappointing but not a disaster. I firmly believe that if Agbonlohor wasn't sent off United would have won the game. It negated the move to play Di Maria up front as Villa dropped deeper and reduced the space and brought their fans into it which is never a good thing with a weak referee.

I would be amazed if Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal and Liverpool don't finish in the top 5 this season (probably in that order). Southampton and West Ham won't last the pace. United lost no ground on Arsenal and Liverpool this weekend so no lost ground in the top 4 race.