[Mcking]

Not true. We looked like a far better side, ready to own them - almost entire first half, up until Bailly got carried out on a stretcher and then their first goal came in. Things just went downhill from there.

In retrospect, I can see why Ole wanted three central defenders in this game. Lindelof and Maguire both made too many mistakes and could have used Bailly backing them up.

Plan was not bad. It didn't work.

We never looked like the better team at any point in the game. We were all over the place, and they kept swarming forward with the ball. We couldn't get out of our half in the first half.

 

[Jazz]

Think we are being kicked to pieces at times. People saying Bruno dives, James dives etc so refs letting them get away with it. Maybe we need to give others a taste of their own medicine or Ole needs to quietly bring it up in a press conference, but doubt it will help us much.

The problem is if we start to play dirty, we'll get punished. We can't win with the propaganda. The press is always like this with us and will always be. It's irritating but we just have to do our best and keep it moving.

 

[Denis79]

Outplayed, we looked so poor.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

With many of our players tired, I think we should have played a defensive, in-your-face, physical kind of game with a physical second string side akin to Jose's matches. That way, skills are less important. An average player could do well in that style. Chelsea were expecting to press , so if they encountered a team that sat back they would be slightly surprised. We should have played on the counter and parked the bus. Sometimes semi-finals are won in an ugly fashion like that. This is all hindsight of course.

Yeah that's what I was hoping we would do. Then you can bring on key players for the last 15 to steal it if need be.

This way we were rubbish and 3 of our key players all played over a half of football.

 

[DevilRed]

Clearly the whole squad is feeling our schedule at the moment. Please keep in mind that the last month or two has been fantastic for us. We have run over everyone. Last two three games however has clearly showed that the players are VERY tired.

It can be seen in all the moronic, indivdual errors made today, and the overall workrate. Even Fernandes looks battered. I am not sure what Ole could or should have done different today. This forum would have complained either way. Its just how this forum functions. Two months of very good performances all forgotten about after one loss against a solid team that had 48 hours more rest in the middle of the worst schedule we have seen in decades.

Nah mate. Most of us sensible posters will realise that OGS and the players are doing fine. Just that today everything went against us. Lets not forget our opponents for some reason had 5 days to prepare.

In hindsight, of course we should have fielded Romero, TFM and probably Mctominay instead of DDG, Brandon Williams and Fred.

But OGS was right to rotate the players and take advantage of five subs if we were still deadlocked or trying to chase a game. The only issue is that Bailly went down and we had to revert back to a 4-2-3-1. That left us a bit open at the back and lindelof with yet another mistake cost us at the stroke of halftime, which is the worst time to concede.

 

[cian68]

Team selection was a joke. Performance was a joke. De Gea is a joke.

 

[MadDogg]

I'm not sure why some people are blaming Ole for resting players and some other people are blaming him for not resting enough. We were always going to rotate a bit because we just have so many games with barely any time between them, but we weren't going to play a full second string.

We played our strongest possible defence (plus Bailly) and rested half of our midfield/attack. It was always the most likely scenario and the only question was which of the midfield/attack he was going to leave on the bench. Unfortunately because of injury we had to bring Martial on early, and then Pogba and Greenwood came on around the expected time. I'm sure the plan was always going to be to bring those three on around the 60th minute to give them a bit of a break.

De Gea is the one I'll say Ole got wrong. He's not far enough ahead, if he's ahead at all, of Romero to warrant dropping Romero from his cup spot. And that ended up costing us.

 

[Berbaclass]

Feck the BBC. Interviewed Chelsea players and Lampard but not Ole. I want to hear what he has to say.

 

[NewGlory]

We never looked like the better team at any point in the game. We were all over the place, and they kept swarming forward with the ball. We couldn't get out of our half in the first half.

You must have watched a different game than the rest of us did.

 

[spiriticon]

We were outworked from the 1st minute to the last. Nothing more to say.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The problem is if we start to play dirty, we'll get punished. We can't win with the propaganda. The press is always like this with us and will always be. It's irritating but we just have to do our best and keep it moving.

That's why I said it probably wouldn't do us much good. First foul and someone will get their marching orders. We have gone a bit nice again. It is great when things are going well, but if it is a battle, you have to battle back.

 

[Rash Decision]

The last few games probably did some damage to the fear factor we had built up in the prior matches after the restart. West Ham are in great form and will be optimistic. We need to pull ourselves together quick. Still got enough to smash them if we play well.

 

[Berbaclass]

I'm not sure why some people are blaming Ole for resting players and some other people are blaming him for not resting enough. We were always going to rotate a bit because we just have so many games with barely any time between them, but we weren't going to play a full second string.

We played our strongest possible defence (plus Bailly) and rested half of our midfield/attack. It was always the most likely scenario and the only question was which of the midfield/attack he was going to leave on the bench. Unfortunately because of injury we had to bring Martial on early, and then Pogba and Greenwood came on around the expected time. I'm sure the plan was always going to be to bring those three on around the 60th minute to give them a bit of a break.

De Gea is the one I'll say Ole got wrong. He's not far enough ahead, if he's ahead at all, of Romero to warrant dropping Romero from his cup spot. And that ended up costing us.

Because he did things by half-measures. He 'rested' players then threw them on anyway when we couldn't win.

Not subbing off Bruno once again was so poor from him.

 

[PogBruno]

Where was the urgency when we are 2 down, all we did was to pass backwards

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I'm not sure why some people are blaming Ole for resting players and some other people are blaming him for not resting enough. We were always going to rotate a bit because we just have so many games with barely any time between them, but we weren't going to play a full second string.

We played our strongest possible defence (plus Bailly) and rested half of our midfield/attack. It was always the most likely scenario and the only question was which of the midfield/attack he was going to leave on the bench. Unfortunately because of injury we had to bring Martial on early, and then Pogba and Greenwood came on around the expected time. I'm sure the plan was always going to be to bring those three on around the 60th minute to give them a bit of a break.

De Gea is the one I'll say Ole got wrong. He's not far enough ahead, if he's ahead at all, of Romero to warrant dropping Romero from his cup spot. And that ended up costing us.

I would rather he played Ighalo than James, he does nothing. Ighalo would have give their defence something to think about.

 

[morbidsaint]

Nah mate. Most of us sensible posters will realise that OGS and the players are doing fine. Just that today everything went against us. Lets not forget our opponents for some reason had 5 days to prepare.

In hindsight, of course we should have fielded Romero, TFM and probably Mctominay instead of DDG, Brandon Williams and Fred.

But OGS was right to rotate the players and take advantage of five subs if we were still deadlocked or trying to chase a game. The only issue is that Bailly went down and we had to revert back to a 4-2-3-1. That left us a bit open at the back and lindelof with yet another mistake cost us at the stroke of halftime, which is the worst time to concede.

100% in agreement. I forgot to mention that its time for de Gea to, at the very least, be benched. He can't just get away with such awful performance, yet again. I've defended him so far, in hopes he would find a way back to his old self, but he seems to be even further away now. Clearly, the supporting way of dealing with his problems hasnt worked, so its time for the kick up the ass.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

Blessing in disguise, we can concentrate on top 4 now.

What’s the blessing? Our confidence will be dented, regular starters that were rested ended up on the pitch anyway and our entire first team looks exhausted. Also with Chelsea being dirty cnuts I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve given a few players niggly injuries.

 

[red woppit]

That was perfect. At least we know De Gea will not be in goal next season except maybe as a backup. Knee jerk or whatever but, so far I've given him benefit of the doubt but, he is beyond done here after that.

No bloody clue why Ole thought he'd be overly smart and change the starting keeper for the FA cup, which manager does that? Slap in the face to Romero and i'ts come back to bite him royally in the ass. He better shoulder most of the blame for this one. And no it's not Ole out, he just needs to learn not to be too cute again. Move on to the the more important game which is on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, if after the last 3 games, we don't start like a house on fire, then there is something seriously wrong. No way can we afford such slow starts.

Argh could have been so much better day with LC losing.

To be fair, Romero didn't cover himself with glory against Norwich, but I take your point. It's obviously impossible to know whether he would have performed better, but De Gea certainly looks like he's playing Henderson into next year's team.
..

 

[Backrow Singer]

All this ‘we are man united’ bravado is such a load of crap.

Manchester United currently finishes 5th or 6th. That’s what we are.

Until we become a top 2 team with a squad capable of competing on all fronts, that’s what we remain.

Getting back to that pinnacle takes time and we are on that journey.

And if we brush defeats like today under the carpet, that’s exactly where we’ll stay. You might be happy watching a team like that, fair play to you. I personally want more and to do that, we need to learn from games like today because there’s a hell of a lot of lessons to learn from that.

 

[TMDaines]

1st loss in 20 and we're in crisis again, whereas inconsistent Chelsea are now the second coming with this 'young, inexperienced' squad. The BBC narrative is sickening, everyone loves to take a swipe at United when we're down. The commentary is more frustrating than the game itself.

Yes. That was absolutely results-oriented commentary today. Keown at the end was praising Lampard for changing the system coming into the match, after pillorying Ole for having done the same first half!

 

[wolvored]

Really disappointed. De gea at fault for first 2 goals. Play Romero for the rest of the season. He's probably at a higher level than De Gea now. The squad simply isn't good enough. Take the usual starting 11 out and we struggle. I think if we can get a result at West ham we will have done well. We have struggled since Southampton and I'm not overly confident we will beat them. Moyes will want to stop us at all costs. 2 draws will see us 4th at least though.

 

[DeGea]

I suppose the silver lining is (if there is any!) that this defeat does not change the bigger picture that the FA cup is and remains the third most important objective of the season. The most important of course is to qualify for champions league respectably, and that is via top 4, followed by qualifying for champions league by winning the europa league then only winning the fa cup. I think most of us expected that it is very difficult to achieve all 3 with our current squad and where we are in the rebuilding phase, and if one were to be sacrificed it would be either of the cups (I do personally think the Europa League is more valuable than the FA Cup at the moment as it allows Champions League qualification. Less sentimental value of course compared to the FA Cup).

I just hope the players and Ole realise this and not feel too down after today, and regroup for West Ham.

 

[tombombadil]

I'm not quite sure why people are surprised Ole did what he did. He's done this formation and taking Romero out multiple times in the last 2 seasons. And nothing wrong with that.

The main problem, has always been the recovery + preparation time and the referee. That tilted the game in Chelsea's favor. De Gea making errors was unpredictable and just added icing on the cake.

 

[DevilRed]

100% in agreement. I forgot to mention that its time for de Gea to, at the very least, be benched. He can't just get away with such awful performance, yet again. I've defended him so far, in hopes he would find a way back to his old self, but he seems to be even further away now. Clearly, the supporting way of dealing with his problems hasnt worked, so its time for the kick up the ass.

The biggest mistake OGS made was not trusting Romero today. He played all the cup matches, so why was he left out?

That was magnified with the DDG error. Now OGS has put alot of pressure on DDG to perform well in the next critical match, rather than take him out the firing line.

Poor selection in hindsight.

 

[Ole'sattheWheel]

On the whole it was just a strange game in my opinion. The Bailly injury followed by the soft goal made half time feel very odd.
Even after The De Gea Blunder™ for Mounts goal I strangely felt like we could go on and win it if we got our best players on.

Then Chelsea had their tails up and comfortably won in the end.
I'm not bothered about going out really but as others have said I'm abit more concerned what this means for player fitness for WHU

 

[MadDogg]

Because he did things by half-measures. He 'rested' players then threw them on anyway when we couldn't win.

Not subbing off Bruno once again was so poor from him.

There's a huge difference between playing 35 minutes and playing 90. It was only 2-0 when we bought them on so it wasn't completely gone.

I do agree with Bruno. He probably should have come off after they scored the third.

 

[Stretender]

And if we brush defeats like today under the carpet, that’s exactly where we’ll stay. You might be happy watching a team like that, fair play to you. I personally want more and to do that, we need to learn from games like today because there’s a hell of a lot of lessons to learn from that.

Ole might have got things wrong tactically. But the boys did not seem to want it more than Chelsea. We pretty much lost every 50-50. Move on to next game

 

[sammsky1]

And if we brush defeats like today under the carpet, that’s exactly where we’ll stay. You might be happy watching a team like that, fair play to you. I personally want more and to do that, we need to learn from games like today because there’s a hell of a lot of lessons to learn from that.

This was a worthless cup game of zero consequence to our future ambitions, played with unique handicaps which meant we had virtually no chance of winning.

Nothing to learn here at all except squad depth and making sure we rest player better.

 

[b20times]

Maguire 80m? We've had our pants pulled down. Against lesser teams he plays like Bobby Moore, against better teams he plays likes Roger Moore.
Poor performance all round.

 

[Shiva87]

Just seen that Bailly was rushed to the hospital via helicopter. I really hope he will be ok...

That's terrible. I hope he is okay

 

[red woppit]

100% in agreement. I forgot to mention that its time for de Gea to, at the very least, be benched. He can't just get away with such awful performance, yet again. I've defended him so far, in hopes he would find a way back to his old self, but he seems to be even further away now. Clearly, the supporting way of dealing with his problems hasnt worked, so its time for the kick up the ass.

Don't know what De Gea's problem is really, he makes some incredible saves, then seems to lose concentration. His performances are certainly giving cause for concern.

 

[Berbaclass]

There's a huge difference between playing 35 minutes and playing 90. It was only 2-0 when we bought them on so it wasn't completely gone.

I do agree with Bruno. He probably should have come off after they scored the third.

It was gone mate, we offered nothing going forward today. You could see from the early minutes that we just weren't at the races today.

 

[TMDaines]

De Gea has choked when it most matters what, three years running now? Enough is enough, he needs replacing. Henderson and Romero duking it out would be ideal, if we can possibly find someone to take David off our hands.

I’d be inclined to agree, but who is going to consider taking De Gea off our hands?

Romero is an injury prone 33. He has had periods of unavailability in recent years and will need to be replaced soon too probably.

I love Romero and his clean sheets record, but I think the best bet is to have De Gea and Henderson compete for #1. If neither of them can stomach that, then you sack the arrogant one off, and stick with the other and Romero. If both accept it, then we go with the two of them and thank Romero for his service. Either De Gea then improves or we have one of the top five keepers of the season ready to go in his dream job.

 

[DevilRed]

At least some of the regulars got a slight rest and didn't over exert themselves.

Thats the silver lining I suppose.

Next match is so crucial to our entire season. It literally boils down to us being "successful" this year.

 

[JohnnyKills]

We looked knackered and they looked fresh. Not sure what other conclusion you can draw.

Should have played a reserve side today.

 

[Berbaclass]

Is there just me who thinks we lose that game anyway even without DDG making those errors?

We just never turned up.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Lose lose today. Didn’t rest key players much. Lost as well as a poor performance riddled with errors today. Couldn’t have gone much worse tbh.

 

[MadDogg]

It was gone mate, we offered nothing going forward today. You could see from the early minutes that we just weren't at the races today.

I'm sure the hope was that once we bought Pogba and Greenwood on we would kick into gear. It didn't happen but it was the obvious decision to make.

 

[Stookie]

Pissed away a great chance for a final. Chelsea are average and United made them look half decent because they were so poor and devoid of ideas on every part of the pitch. Anyone who thinks United are close to challenging wants to give their head a shake. It’s a shame we can’t have a zero score on the player ratings. Bruno gets a 1 for the pen.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Chelsea looked a lot fitter, also the amount of gammy fouls they committed.

Really poor, very disappointed.

We need to make sure we have a fast start against West Ham! Because we need to win by 3 clear goals to make sure we have a 2 goal cushion v Leicester.