PL W FA Premier League

Everton 0:2 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Mon, 01 January 2018

Except we've played Pogba in this role before and he's been just as hit and miss as when he's played in central midfield.

He'll have one game whre he's the best player on the pitch, a couple of weeks later he'll be back to pratting around. It isn't anything new until he starts playing well with some hint of consistency.

His problem hasn't been his position. It's his lack of maturity in how he plays. He only seems able to focus properly for the odd game.

He does lack maturity in his game. I cannot disagree with that. However, that immaturity is more glaring when he plays in central midfield, a position which requires you to be switched on for the full 90 minutes. He neglects his defensive duties and they are more costly in central midfield than in attacking positions. May be he'll mature in time and can shift back like Scholes did, but until then I think we need to relieve him of those duties and let him play as an attacker who helps us in the final third and can occasionally to do the dirty work like Rooney used to.

I think we'll start seeing more consistent performances from him if he is played in this role regularly.
 
Martial did nicely as a 9 in this game. Why is it laughable to play him ahead of out-of-form Lukaku? What has Lukaku done in the last 10 games he started as a 9, aside from providing assists to the other teams?

His tendency was to go wide and come in rather than go to the box. It worked yesterday but won’t be useful in the long run. We don’t have a choice now as we have lukaku injured but fully fit, it’s a no brainer.
 
Interesting to note that Matic is the lowest rated player and Pogba the highest. Wasn't the plan to include a more defensive midfielder into the side to release Pogba to play further forward? And isn't that what happened last night?
 
Interesting to note that Matic is the lowest rated player and Pogba the highest. Wasn't the plan to include a more defensive midfielder into the side to release Pogba to play further forward? And isn't that what happened last night?

What correlation does that have? Matic shouldn’t be the lowest rated player because he freed Pogba who played well?

Frankly matic needs a rest. Has been playing non stop due to non availability of others
 
What correlation does that have? Matic shouldn’t be the lowest rated player because he freed Pogba who played well?

Frankly matic needs a rest. Has been playing non stop due to non availability of others

You've answered a question with a question. I just thought the ratings were wrong and that Matic's positional intelligence was being underrated. My experience is that he isn't a match winner but more of a team player. He will get behind the ball and head off most attacking midfield moves from the opposition.

Who else would play in that position?
 
...the bare minimum surely for even a sunday league team? Does Mourinho deserve credit for having a plan?

Seems I was in the minority that wasn't happy with that first half judging by the replies I got. Some peoples standards are very low now it seems.
 
I haven't had a look at the player ratings, they are, like all of our comments, entirely subjective. I watched much of the game, and actually felt that we played with more freedom and purpose, due to the fact that expectations are quite low, we haven't been impressive, Mourinho is as glum as anything, and we seemed to play as if we have nothing to lose, well to a degree.

In my opinion, Matic, Pogba, Rojo, Shaw, Jones and Lindgard all excelled. I'm pleased for the team and the fans. Rojo has a good, positive energy about him, a bit of a warrior.

However.. and I am not bringing a downer on things, it highlighted a few things as games do. I actually think Martial, aside from his finish, had a very poor game last night. I worry about him, because I think he is looking for an ideal role, and the ideal goal all the time. It was a great goal, but he always wishes to score like this (open body up, right-foot into other corner..) and maintaining this will just limit his potential. His game must evolve if he wishes to be a No 9 for a club like ours. He doesn't look focused to me and his decisions need to improve. This is important for him and the club.

Lindgard was busy, and positive. He brings energy to the team, and it's interesting that he has more of an impact that Miki, Martial, Mata, Fellani.. because he can run from the middle third, to the final third, commit players, move them, out of position etc. None of the four mentioned either cannot or do not do this. And they have no excuse because they all have licence to. I hope Lindgard can find that maturity his game needs. He's nearly 25 years old!!!

Pogba was terrific, fabulous for the game of football, a joy to watch. I can't see why he gets his criticism, so much is placed on his shoulders, every time he plays. Miki, Martial, Mata, Fellani etc need to help Pogba sometimes rather than continually wait for him to dictate and shine.

We desperately need at least one wide player. What we would do for a Leroy Sane type, out wide, and prepared to go outside his marker, and stretch the game. We play too narrow and it's tough. We rely too much on inspirational moments (look at the Watford victory... Ashley Young was inspired), and you can't win games, week in, week out on inspiration. We still do not have an attacking strategy and that's a concern. But.. I am so pleased with a performance where we seemed a little brighter and played with fewer inhibitions.
 
Seems I was in the minority that wasn't happy with that first half judging by the replies I got. Some peoples standards are very low now it seems.

I thought the first half was bad too. Passing was sloppy, a lot of loose first touches and little attacking play. It was s fairly even game and I was worried about where a goal was going to come from.

They found an extra gear though in the second half which was pleasing to see. Hopefully the win will bring back some confidence and we'll start games a bit more like that from here on.
 
Interesting to note that Matic is the lowest rated player and Pogba the highest. Wasn't the plan to include a more defensive midfielder into the side to release Pogba to play further forward? And isn't that what happened last night?

I don't get why Matic was our lowest scored player yesterday. I thought he played his typical powerful, controlling game.
Having said that, I dont think anyone deserved a lowest score, it was a good team effort. I just hope it wasnt a knee jerk reaction to the boos they get at the end of the southampton match.
 
He does lack maturity in his game. I cannot disagree with that. However, that immaturity is more glaring when he plays in central midfield, a position which requires you to be switched on for the full 90 minutes. He neglects his defensive duties and they are more costly in central midfield than in attacking positions. May be he'll mature in time and can shift back like Scholes did, but until then I think we need to relieve him of those duties and let him play as an attacker who helps us in the final third and can occasionally to do the dirty work like Rooney used to.

I think we'll start seeing more consistent performances from him if he is played in this role regularly.

I'm not convinced. Yesterday for example he was tracking back even though he was more advanced...because he was actually switched on and focusing on the game.

When he goes back to trying to cruise or show boat through a game it'll be just as noticeable, as it has been in the past.

We've played him in an advanced role, he's not turned up, and it's stifled the whole teams'sability to play effectively.

If he can play well consistently he can play in a midfield two or in front of a midfield two. It just comes down to where he is needed more...problem there is we are still short of quality midfielders. It's not as simple as just moving him ahead of the midfield if it means the midfield is McTominay and Fellaini, for example.
 
We were much better in this game, although Everton were far weaker than I thought. We should have put the result beyond doubt much earlier but it was good to see us being much more fluid and therefore much less predictable. Great showings in particular from Pogba, Rojo and Lingard and we must must buy pat least one proper full back. I reckon Lindelof will be a very good CB but he can't hack it at FB (and why should he?). On a negative: what the hell has happened to Matic?
 
We were much better in this game, although Everton were far weaker than I thought. We should have put the result beyond doubt much earlier but it was good to see us being much more fluid and therefore much less predictable. Great showings in particular from Pogba, Rojo and Lingard and we must must buy pat least one proper full back. I reckon Lindelof will be a very good CB but he can't hack it at FB (and why should he?). On a negative: what the hell has happened to Matic?

Matic is playing well. The problem we have is that we both expect and need our better players to almost carry the team at times. With the exception of Carrick who offers so much to the team and club, Matic and Pogba are a class above any other centre midfielders we have. Yet due to the lack of consistency and effectiveness of our 'attacking players'.. we need Pogs and Matic to provide so much, every game. I am sure Matic could benefit from a rest... but who comes in ? Fellani?

You ask what about Matic... what about Herrera? The guy plays like a robot. What has happened to the positive, driving force of a player we saw last season?
 
We were much better in this game, although Everton were far weaker than I thought. We should have put the result beyond doubt much earlier but it was good to see us being much more fluid and therefore much less predictable. Great showings in particular from Pogba, Rojo and Lingard and we must must buy pat least one proper full back. I reckon Lindelof will be a very good CB but he can't hack it at FB (and why should he?). On a negative: what the hell has happened to Matic?

He's looked a little stale of late, no surprising since we have so much depending on him.

He still oozed class for most of the game yesterday but he did give the ball away far too often by his standards
 
Interesting to note that Matic is the lowest rated player and Pogba the highest. Wasn't the plan to include a more defensive midfielder into the side to release Pogba to play further forward? And isn't that what happened last night?
Matic should not have been the lowest rated player. But who should? - it was good all round yesterday.
 
another important aspect of that win yesterday is that it has put some of our resident scousers back in their boxes.

After their late winner yesterday they were already assuming they would be level on points with us by the end of the day.

Let's hope the united lads have gotten that poor patch of form out of their system now and go on a long run of wins.
 
We don’t all the time when we are in that shape, there was a big tactical shift yesterday as to how it’s normally played.

Pogba played more on the left like he did at Juventus. We should stick with a 3 man midfield although I would like someone different to Herrera. We tend to have more possession when we play with 3 in Midfield.
 
Just watched the replay after keeping myself from knowing the score all day.

1. The player line up pics from Sky are terrible. They look like they’re readying up for a gang fight. Especially our back 4.

2. Brilliant performance from us. Actual ability to work the ball with passing and movement shown.

3. Looked better without Rom. Maybe less inclination to hoof a ball knowing we don’t have a big man upfront? Also allowed more interchange among the front 3.

4. Lingard is putting Mkhi to shame.
 
Lets not get too carried away by this win - Big Sam was clearly "sending a message to the Board" by resting key players and bringing in useless squad players like Niasse for that game. Sigurdsson didn't even come on as sub!! I'd forgotten Aaron Lennon was still playing
 
Mourinho having a pop at Scholes, yet did exactly what Scholes said we should be doing in 2nd half with regards to Pogba
 
Funny that no one really gave us credit for a win at Goodison. Something Ferguson struggled with. Most have blamed Everton’s poor performance. We were outstanding and nothing should take away from that performance.

Now we need to consistently play like that.
 
Interesting to note that Matic is the lowest rated player and Pogba the highest. Wasn't the plan to include a more defensive midfielder into the side to release Pogba to play further forward? And isn't that what happened last night?
Exactly :D No one seems to realise that the reason Pogba was free to go forward is because we had Matic and Herrera covering him in case we lose a ball. I think that's the midfield 3 we should stick with.
 
Exactly :D No one seems to realise that the reason Pogba was free to go forward is because we had Matic and Herrera covering him in case we lose a ball. I think that's the midfield 3 we should stick with.

It's definitely the way to go. We just need to find a better replacement for Herrera and our midfield is sorted.
 
That team yesterday was it. There was no-one else to pick. Smalling on the bench had only five minutes in him. This performance was bright, courageous, committed, with tired legs. No lethargy. Clean sheet. No injuries. Worthy of celebration, congratulations, bodes well for the rest of the season. Anyone moaning after that -
 
The game and tactics highlighted what I've been saying for players in certain positions/systems.

In my opinion the following team is one that should excite all United fans.

De Gea
Bailly - Jones - Lindelof
Fosu-Mensah - Gomes - Matic - Pogba - Shaw
Lukaku - Martial

Not only a great team now but a great team for the future, long term. Leaders like Bailly, Jones, Matic, Pogba and Lukaku. I imagine that is a very young team on average too.

Problem is I don't think we'll ever see this under Mourinho.
 
Pog-tastic!
Hoofball is dead!

Up yours Jesse-haters!

:devil:

I’m not a Jesse-lover but credit where it’s due. that boy has been playing well and deserves to start until someone else plays better.
 
That's more like it, an enjoyable watch for most of it unlike the awful Southampton match. I know we have a lot of injuries and a suspension but hopefully this can give us a bit of a morale boost.
 
Solid performance and a great win in what is usually a tough fixture. We were much better in the 2nd half than the 1st but were the superior team through most of the game and entirely deserved it.

Jose gets 10/10 with his lineup. Pogba allowed to shine again in a 3-man midfield instead of having to drop back and double with Matic. There are flaws to Herrera's game but hopefully everyone sees now how important he is by playing as one of the deep-lying MF that allows Pogba to stay forward and create. We looked a completely different team and it brought good things out of the attackers around him. Martial and Lingard with two superb goals that made me jump off of my chair.

We should have been ahead way earlier. Mata was especially unlucky and deserved another goal with how well he's played for the past week. I think on balance, he's been our best player over the holiday period. Defensively, I was pleased with Shaw, who made a few important tackles during that 10-minute span when Everton were pushing for an equalizer.

We still need wingers badly, but a great response after such a lifeless game against Soton, what happened there? Hope for a strong result against Derby to keep the positiivity going.
 
What correlation does that have? Matic shouldn’t be the lowest rated player because he freed Pogba who played well?

Frankly matic needs a rest. Has been playing non stop due to non availability of others

We need help here very badly. Either sign a DM in January or trust McTominay more. Matic is laboring for sure, and it's not his fault.
 
Matic is playing well. The problem we have is that we both expect and need our better players to almost carry the team at times. With the exception of Carrick who offers so much to the team and club, Matic and Pogba are a class above any other centre midfielders we have. Yet due to the lack of consistency and effectiveness of our 'attacking players'.. we need Pogs and Matic to provide so much, every game. I am sure Matic could benefit from a rest... but who comes in ? Fellani?

You ask what about Matic... what about Herrera? The guy plays like a robot. What has happened to the positive, driving force of a player we saw last season?
As much as I love Herrera's passion for the club, I've never seen him as a driving force or as good enough for United (with the odd exception every now and again). If we are ever going to truly push for the title again he is the sort of player we should not be relying on
 
The game and tactics highlighted what I've been saying for players in certain positions/systems.

In my opinion the following team is one that should excite all United fans.

De Gea
Bailly - Jones - Lindelof
Fosu-Mensah - Gomes - Matic - Pogba - Shaw
Lukaku - Martial

Not only a great team now but a great team for the future, long term. Leaders like Bailly, Jones, Matic, Pogba and Lukaku. I imagine that is a very young team on average too.

Problem is I don't think we'll ever see this under Mourinho.

No Lingard, with the form he is in?
 
It's definitely the way to go. We just need to find a better replacement for Herrera and our midfield is sorted.

TOTALLY AGREE

I’m not a Jesse-lover but credit where it’s due. that boy has been playing well and deserves to start until someone else plays better.

ONCE AGAIN I TOTALLY AGREE, ALBEIT THROUGH GRITTED TEETH !

As much as I love Herrera's passion for the club, I've never seen him as a driving force or as good enough for United (with the odd exception every now and again). If we are ever going to truly push for the title again he is the sort of player we should not be relying on

JOIN THE CLUB, I'M ACTUALLY GETTING FED UP WITH HIS ANTICS, BEING PASSIONATE DOES'NT DISGUISE THE THE LACK OF QUALITY.
 
Nice to be happy about a result again after the last few stupid draws.

Nice to win at Goodison as well considering how much we normally struggle there.
 
Enjoyed that . Watched it again tonight a little more balance in the midfield 3 which makes us look alot better . I like the way the 3 upfront were linking up too . Much better IMO
 

Man of the Match

Paul Pogba image Paul Pogba 81% of 753 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

6.9 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 529 ratings.

Score Predictions

177,103,131
  • Man Utd win
  • Everton win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 17% Everton 1:1 Man Utd
  • 15% Everton 1:2 Man Utd
  • 14% Everton 0:0 Man Utd
  • 11% Everton 0:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Everton 0:2 Man Utd
  • 8% Everton 2:0 Man Utd
  • 7% Everton 1:0 Man Utd
  • 5% Everton 2:1 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 1:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 0:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 3:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 5:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Everton 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Everton 0:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Everton 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Everton 4:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Everton 1:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Everton 2:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Everton 1:4 Man Utd
Compiled from 411 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Everton
  2. Man Utd
Possession
40% 60%
Shots
12 21
Shots on Target
0 6
Corners
6 6
Fouls
11 10

Referee

Andre Marriner