[fergieisold]

You enjoy watching us because expectation has dropped. So many have accepted we are not very good anymore.

Mourinho got second and people weren’t happy. Now being shit and we can’t even qualify for the Champions League is ok for most fans. I don’t get it.

No, the football is better. Results maybe not but we are playing better football.

everything now rests on whether we take this new approach and start moving up the table.

 

[Im red2]

I would get Julian Nagelsmann in as manager the guy is better than Klopp, but he will need backing from the club and that could be the biggest hurdle

 

[RedMilo]

Not really upset, as it was expected. The running of our club is the big problem, and its clear we don't have the money to get us anywhere near challenging for at least 3-4 years, if we only spend £50m net every season, then we have to hope the youngsters come through. There is hope with Williams & Greenwood.

Shout out to Fred, I thought he was absolutely brilliant again. On the other hand, Lindelöf was really poor. James & Perreira dont have the desired quality, but we are relying on these players at the moment.

Pogba will no doubt be sold in the summer, I just hope they invest the money wisely and none end up in Glazers pockets...

 

[Gambit]

No, the football is better. Results maybe not but we are playing better football.

everything now rests on whether we take this new approach and start moving up the table.

As well as getting some luck and relief from our injury issues.

 

[Ace of Spades]

The average coach was 5 minutes away from beating them a couple months ago.

The problem was obvious that we lack quality, and with the amount of injuries that we have it is hardly a surprise that we lost. Realistically, I think most knew we were going to lose, and any level headed person would look at the form and think a draw is best that could be got in the circumstances.

The annoying part is that now that we have got rid of some of the deadwood, we need to replace them and Woodward and company keep fecking things up. Sell Matic and get some CMs in, pay the money needed to get Fernandes, the amount of sloppy moments from Periera was ridiculous.

 

[Gordon S]

Ole and a lot of United fans will be thrilled by that result.

Because we showed fight, or character or some other shite you say to counsel losers.

Why on earth would anyone at the club or any fans be thrilled by the result??

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Liverpool also dominated the first half against us, even more so than Spurs. Then second half started and they went to another level. We had a good 20 minutes spell in the second half, but it was nothing that showed an equilibrium between our best controlling moment and theirs. It was mainly due to Klopp changing their system to combat the changing tide and close out the game. Spurs frustrated Liverpool was and was well organized, even though they weren’t significantly better than us today. They were unlucky to not draw that game after that Lo Celso miss

They didn't dominate the first half. We started well and ended well. We also had very good chances. More notably, Pereira and Martial.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Cant help bit feel some pride about the fight in the team. It's the minimum we should expect to see but that doesnt means it's always there.

The pub I just left was full of Liverpool fans,and they were faaaar from comfortable. You have to take your chances in these games and we didn't, and let's be honest they are a fair bit better than we are right now.

People will call that a loser mentality or some other crap, but it's just a realisation about where we are right now. I still believe there are many reasons to be encouraged. I like this team.

Proud to lose 2-0 to your biggest rivals.

 

[jem]

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer speaking to Match of the Day: "The players gave us everything. Today we hung on a bit at the start of second half, but the last 25-30 mins we pressed them and pushed them back. I'm disappointed with conceding from a corner and with the last kick - but very many positives.

"I felt in the second half we performed really well against a good team and at a difficult place.

"We didn't have quality with our finishing or last pass. Fred was absolutely top and David de Gea. As a team we worked together as a unit.

On Marcus Rashford's back injury: "Rashford will be out for a while. He got a new injury against Wolves. We'll not see him for a little while.

"We're always looking at chances to improve the squad - with Marcus out for a while we have to look at it closely."

Listening to Ole's post-match interviews is a bit like listening to Ty on AFTV.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Why on earth would anyone at the club or any fans be thrilled by the result??

Look throughout this forum mate, loads of them are happy.

 

[momo83]

Keane slagged off Jose the entire time he was in charge, now he’s saying he needed more time? How did David Moyes need more, he lost the dressing room.

You give a manager time if you see progress, they have to earn that time. Simply giving a manager time does not mean things will suddenly come good. Do you know why Guardiola got time at City even when he finished 4th? Because he had a track record with Barcelona and Bayern and their football massively improved. Klopp won titles with Dortmund and other than their defensive errors the football was getting better and then he made the change with Van Dijk and Alisson. Ole doesn’t have a track record.

We have no midfield yet Ole can’t identify a single midfielder we can bring in to improve the team? Sells Lukaku who’s now one of the highest goal scorers in Europe with Inter whilst Martial still hasn’t got double figures.

You hire the best manager you can get in. Carragher is right no players improve with us.

was so obviously just defending a mate

 

[Shakesy]

I've lowered my expectations so much that this was quite an impressive display by the lads. I just wish I could somehow forget what the squad is worth and how much they're earning.

 

[Godfather]

Agreed, and you're right Liverpool are an outstanding team. Which is exactly why it makes no sense for everyone to lose their shit after a defeat at their place, especially with key players missing. Were people actually confident of a win?

Rashfords injury aside it's not been a bad weekend. Everyone else dropped points and we've now our toughest fixture behind us. Beat Burnley and Wolves and we will be closer than 5 points from 4th I predict. Then a nice break and hopefully some players back. It's far from doom and gloom.

Well the doom and gloom as you call it has more to do with the fact that we have an absolute paper thin squad, that we refused to adress in the summer and refuse to adress now again and it bites us in the arse. Why is our shit squad some kind of excuse for Ole when he is also responsible for that? Throw out player after player without getting anyone in could only ever lead to the result we had today: Looking at two teams you wouldn't believe play in the same league. This whole club is completely rotten and now Rashford is fecked as well because we overplayed him.

 

[Im red2]

Wtf

Which part do you disagree with? Sacking Ole, taking Woodward away from all to do with the football side of things, or hiring Luis Campos as DOF

 

[r3idy]

Keane slagged off Jose the entire time he was in charge, now he’s saying he needed more time? How did David Moyes need more, he lost the dressing room.

You give a manager time if you see progress, they have to earn that time. Simply giving a manager time does not mean things will suddenly come good. Do you know why Guardiola got time at City even when he finished 4th? Because he had a track record with Barcelona and Bayern and their football massively improved. Klopp won titles with Dortmund and other than their defensive errors the football was getting better and then he made the change with Van Dijk and Alisson. Ole doesn’t have a track record.

We have no midfield yet Ole can’t identify a single midfielder we can bring in to improve the team? Sells Lukaku who’s now one of the highest goal scorers in Europe with Inter whilst Martial still hasn’t got double figures.

You hire the best manager you can get in. Carragher is right no players improve with us.

Because of course Ole goes out of his way to publicly show his shopping list. Fair to say most fans were glad to see the back of Lukaku towards the end and for good reason. No effort, no fight and not prepared to get in shape. Great, he is ripping up trees in a bang average league at best.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Keane speaking more sense than anyone out there regarding United right now.

He absolutely wasn’t. He had no answers for any reasonable questions Souness and Carragher asked him. ‘I don’t know how the club is run’. He was defending a mate in Ole and nothing else.

 

[Bilbo]

Proud to lose 2-0 to your biggest rivals.

Proud to watch a team fighting for each other yes. I'm not stupid enough to have gone there expecting a win today. To have done so would be not seeing the reality of our situation

 

[crossy1686]

Whats he saying?

I'll try and paraphrase:

• Solskjaer is more or less getting the most out of this group of players
• Rashford is a big miss
• United have a young team that are inconsistent but there are positives with some of the players
• Martial showed today why he's just not good enough to play for United
• Some players (Pogba) don't want to be at the club and are a nuisance. Evra suggested Pogba wanted to go in the summer but United wouldn't let him. Also said players only come for the money and not the badge now.
• Manager needs time to build something as at the moment sacking him wouldn't solve anything, said this about all the managers United have had since SAF. Said one year is not enough time for anyone to make something out of a team in as bad a shape as United.
• Carragher said United have appointed poor coaches since SAF which is why they've been so bad, Keane lost his shit about this.
• Went on to say it recruitment is the issue as is swapping and changing managers every season or so.
• Said Klopp would have been sacked before his third season if that was the case. Said he came from a big club that play in front of 80,000 people and won league titles in a big league and underachieved with Liverpool when he arrived but was given time to put in place his vision.
• Said it's absurd that everyone now thinks Liverpool hold all the answers and United are amateurs in regards to the way the club is run.
• Said if United are run so shit then why did it take Liverpool 30 years to have a solid run at the title and for United its been 7 years.
• Said he isn't defending Ole because he's a friend or a former team mate, said he thinks all the manager should have been given more time and the squad should have been ripped out like what City did for Pep in his second season after underachievement in the first.
• Said he felt the performance was good but he wasn't happy with the result due to the expectation on United, but he said he's not too disappointed because no one was expecting United to win anyway and gave a good account of themselves.
• Reluctantly said Liverpool were a brilliant great good team because they find a way to win.

 

[KekiZeki]

I don't normally agree with Keane lately, but at least he understands the need to stick with the manager. We should stick with Ole.
For me, the discussion of "is he good enough for Untied"was over once he was given a contract and it was clear he isn't a caretaker manager anymore. After that we need to give him a chance.
Get another manager in, start it again, but in a year and a half we're having the same discussion.

Keane can be a bit of a pr**k at times, but at least he has his own opinion and doesn't jump on the bandwagon.

 

[PieCrust]

Didn't even bother to watch. Wife decided that we we're having friends over and I didn't argue. Looks like I spent my time better than the rest of you.

 

[Bilbo]

Well the doom and gloom as you call it has more to do with the fact that we have an absolute paper thin squad, that we refused to adress in the summer and refuse to adress now again and it bites us in the arse. Why is our shit squad some kind of excuse for Ole when he is also responsible for that? Throw out player after player without getting anyone in could only ever lead to the result we had today: Looking at two teams you wouldn't believe play in the same league. This whole club is completely rotten and now Rashford is fecked as well because we overplayed him.

It was necessary to cull the squad in order to move forwards. Was a brave decision to make. It's only one season for crying out loud and it's been far from terrible. You just cant see that because you're emotional after a loss

 

[crossy1686]

He absolutely wasn’t. He had no answers for any reasonable questions Souness and Carragher asked him. ‘I don’t know how the club is run’. He was defending a mate in Ole and nothing else.

He specifically said he wasn't, even went on to say he'd tell Ole if it were the pair of them that he needs to do better and find a way to win more games.

I find it incredibly tiresome that people all of a sudden think ex Liverpool players know what's best for Manchester United as a football club, despite spending 30 years in the wilderness and being our arch rivals, and any former United player is just "defending their mate". Laughable really.

 

[fps]

Surprised Keane wasn't pressed on his comment that Martial simply isn't good enough.

 

[crossy1686]

Carragher talking about Liverpool winning a back to back league, before even winning this one, and winning another Champions league next season is fecking sickening. I hope the United players are watching that on repeat.

 

[Fussball13251]

You know that Dijk is dangerous inside the box, so you shove him off balance. This United team is "too nice".

 

[FootyGirl88]

I'll try and paraphrase:

• Solskjaer is more or less getting the most out of this group of players
• Rashford is a big miss
• United have a young team that are inconsistent but there are positives with some of the players
• Martial showed today why he's just not good enough to play for United
• Some players (Pogba) don't want to be at the club and are a nuisance. Evra suggested Pogba wanted to go in the summer but United wouldn't let him. Also said players only come for the money and not the badge now.
• Manager needs time to build something as at the moment sacking him wouldn't solve anything, said this about all the managers United have had since SAF. Said one year is not enough time for anyone to make something out of a team in as bad a shape as United.
• Carragher said United have appointed poor coaches since SAF which is why they've been so bad, Keane lost his shit about this.
• Went on to say it recruitment is the issue as is swapping and changing managers every season or so.
• Said Klopp would have been sacked before his third season if that was the case. Said he came from a big club that play in front of 80,000 people and won league titles in a big league and underachieved with Liverpool when he arrived but was given time to put in place his vision.
• Said it's absurd that everyone now thinks Liverpool hold all the answers and United are amateurs in regards to the way the club is run.
• Said if United are run so shit then why did it take Liverpool 30 years to have a solid run at the title and for United its been 7 years.
• Said he isn't defending Ole because he's a friend or a former team mate, said he thinks all the manager should have been given more time and the squad should have been ripped out like what City did for Pep in his second season after underachievement in the first.
• Said he felt the performance was good but he wasn't happy with the result due to the expectation on United, but he said he's not too disappointed because no one was expecting United to win anyway and gave a good account of themselves.
• Reluctantly said Liverpool were a brilliant great good team because they find a way to win.

Awe thanks, i appreciate you taking the time to write all that x

 

[crossy1686]

Surprised Keane wasn't pressed on his comment that Martial simply isn't good enough.

Completely agree with him to be honest, I've felt that way since Mourinho but you couldn't say anything against him back then without being in the 'cult of Jose'

 

[gerdm07]

The guys stuck to the task and did their best, I don't find myself being angry at any of the players or the coach.

There is a gulf between the 2 sides right now but still football is generally a game of fine margins and on another day we could've got something, however the opposite is also true of course and we could've easily shipped 4+

Hopefully we respond well and continue to kick on as a club

Those are my thoughts.

Positives:
- We fought till the end. That's a mark of a team that will fight for the club and manager
- We responded in both halves after Liverpool's pressing and good play and actually controlled parts of the match.
- Fred and Matic played well and fought in midfield
- Greenwood and Mata looked sharp

Negatives
- Andreas is still not good enough
- Was disappointed with James' two passes to Martial which could have resulted in goals. Those were not difficult balls to make and his execution was really poor
- Don't understand why Martial felt he needed to blast his best opportunity

I don't think I've ever seen a team that has so many forwards so good at receiving the ball with their back to goal and absorbing pressure. Mane, Firminho and Salah are excellent at receiving the ball under pressure, shielding and keeping the ball. And they are so good with flicks and cushion passes to a running teammate. I wonder if this is good coaching or just great individual play. I think it's more the latter.

 

[Godfather]

It was necessary to cull the squad in order to move forwards. Was a brave decision to make. It's only one season for crying out loud and it's been far from terrible. You just cant see that because you're emotional after a loss

It wasn't necessary at all. If you can't replace them keep them. How has it helped us that we threw out Herrera and Lukaku without getting anyone in? It's dumb and idiotic squad building. You also don't throw out half of your employees in a business if you can't keep up with work without them.

Not to mention that Ole himself is completely overwhelmed with the job at hand but he also doesn't help himself by trimming down the squad to it's bare bone.

 

[Josep Dowling]

What is he saying?

Said the manager always needs time. So Carragher said ‘so you thought José needed more time’ to which he said yes. The same manager he slagged off when he was our manager. He also said Moyes needed more time, anyone who defends Moyes doesn’t have a clue in my mind, completely out of his depth and proved by the fact is done feck all

Asked who’s to blame at the club he simply said ‘I don’t know’. Well thanks for that insight Keane, it’s pretty obvious it’s a combination of average players, an average coaching staff and a board that can’t get transfers done.

He was defending Ole with every argument. Blamed Pogba again, when he hasn’t played for month. Him wanting to leave if true is not going to affect us that much. He is constantly blaming the wrong people.

 

[Foxbatt]

Those are my thoughts.

Positives:
- We fought till the end. That's a mark of a team that will fight for the club and manager
- We responded in both halves after Liverpool's pressing and good play and actually controlled parts of the match.
- Fred and Matic played well and fought in midfield
- Greenwood and Mata looked sharp

Negatives
- Andreas is still not good enough
- Was disappointed with James' two passes to Martial which could have resulted in goals. Those were not difficult balls to make and his execution was really poor
- Don't understand why Martial felt he needed to blast his best opportunity

I don't think I've ever seen a team that has so many forwards so good at receiving the ball with their back to goal and absorbing pressure. Mane, Firminho and Salah are excellent at receiving the ball under pressure, shielding and keeping the ball. And they are so good with flicks and cushion passes to a running teammate. I wonder if this is good coaching or just great individual play. I think it's more the latter.

That is good coaching. What I saw was that individually our players can go toe to toe with Liverpool players. What they have and we do not have is good coaching.they know what their team mates will do once they have the ball. Ours do not know what they will do. Imagine our team with a fantastic coach? They will be competing for sure.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Because of course Ole goes out of his way to publicly show his shopping list. Fair to say most fans were glad to see the back of Lukaku towards the end and for good reason. No effort, no fight and not prepared to get in shape. Great, he is ripping up trees in a bang average league at best.

Bang average league. You do realise we are trying to sign a player from the Portuguese league and they want similar money to what we paid for Lukaku?

If the Italian League is bang average what’s the Portuguese league like? Conte has created a very good Inter team in one summer, they would hammer us if we played them.

 

[gerdm07]

When asked about potentially replacing Marcus Rashford this transfer window, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replied:

“We've had many injuries for big players this season. It’s just an unfortunate situation we're in. We might look at some short term deals as well that could take us through to the summer. We don’t desperately need a striker, if the right one is there and it fits for us... we’ve got players who are champing at the bit.”

What's wrong with that response?

 

[Bilbo]

It wasn't necessary at all. If you can't replace them keep them. How has it helped us that we threw out Herrera and Lukaku without getting anyone in? It's dumb and idiotic squad building. You also don't throw out half of your employees in a business if you can't keep up with work without them.

Not to mention that Ole himself is completely overwhelmed with the job at hand but he also doesn't help himself by trimming down the squad to it's bare bone.

In years to come we will look back at this season as the period when it all started to come together again. I believe that. Past caring about whether anyone else does, apart from the club

 

[fps]

Completely agree with him to be honest, I've felt that way since Mourinho but you couldn't say anything against him back then without being in the 'cult of Jose'

He's now being judged on his own merits as a centre forward at least, and I feel he missed two years of development due to Lukaku's signing. I don't think he's the guy to pin your hopes on but I do think he's one of the least of our problems despite the missed chance today. A talented player, who is improving, fix the midfield, wide forward and full-back positions first, for me.

 

[dogwithabone]

Whether it’s good enough is debatable but it’s a while since I’ve seen us virtually share the possession stats at Anfield. I thought we were very good, bordering on excellent, at certain times today but there is clearly a creativity and ruthlessness issue that needs addressing before we can begin to be taken seriously as a re-emerging football club.

 

[FootyGirl88]

 

[crossy1686]

What's wrong with that response?

Nothing, we're at that point in the manager cycle where everything the manager said is ridiculed

 

[HJ12]

Keane slagged off Jose the entire time he was in charge, now he’s saying he needed more time? How did David Moyes need more, he lost the dressing room.

You give a manager time if you see progress, they have to earn that time. Simply giving a manager time does not mean things will suddenly come good. Do you know why Guardiola got time at City even when he finished 4th? Because he had a track record with Barcelona and Bayern and their football massively improved. Klopp won titles with Dortmund and other than their defensive errors the football was getting better and then he made the change with Van Dijk and Alisson. Ole doesn’t have a track record.

We have no midfield yet Ole can’t identify a single midfielder we can bring in to improve the team? Sells Lukaku who’s now one of the highest goal scorers in Europe with Inter whilst Martial still hasn’t got double figures.

You hire the best manager you can get in. Carragher is right no players improve with us.

I think we need to keep some perspective though, as we were missing 3 key players in an already threadbare squad. I'm by no means advocating for Ole as the man for us, but the criticism needs to be fair at least.
Jose deserved to be slagged off after the performance against Liverpool last year, which I think people are forgetting was far worse than today. Think it was 65% possession to Liverpool and 36 shots conceded then? We were well and truly run over that day.
Agree with your point on Ole not having a track record and therefore making a case for giving him more time is a lot more difficult, but saying Carragher is right that no players improve with us is plain wrong. Fred has been miles better than he ever was playing for us before. Rashford's reached he's best level for us, and Martial is showing more movement then previously, although disappointingly his finishing let us down today.

Lack of transfers in midfield is the board's fault. Ole should call them out on it to ramp up some pressure instead of being the diplomatic, Mr nice guy all the time.

 

[thepolice123]

Those are my thoughts.

Positives:
- We fought till the end. That's a mark of a team that will fight for the club and manager
- We responded in both halves after Liverpool's pressing and good play and actually controlled parts of the match.
- Fred and Matic played well and fought in midfield
- Greenwood and Mata looked sharp

Negatives
- Andreas is still not good enough
- Was disappointed with James' two passes to Martial which could have resulted in goals. Those were not difficult balls to make and his execution was really poor
- Don't understand why Martial felt he needed to blast his best opportunity

I don't think I've ever seen a team that has so many forwards so good at receiving the ball with their back to goal and absorbing pressure. Mane, Firminho and Salah are excellent at receiving the ball under pressure, shielding and keeping the ball. And they are so good with flicks and cushion passes to a running teammate. I wonder if this is good coaching or just great individual play. I think it's more the latter.

Thats one thing I observed too. Their holdup play is absolutely immense. But its a combination of both. Salah and Mane are deceptively strong. The quality of the ball delivered to them matters too. Usually it is lofted and acurrately delivered.