[Getsme]

£250 million in two seasons.

Christ...

?

 

[Hamadovich86]

I thought we did ok. We created a number of chances and could have gotten a better result. People underestimating psv are idiots they are a good team and it was always going to be a challenging group. Now it's even more difficult because of the loss. Wolfsburg at home and CSKA away will be really tough too.

Despite all of this all I can think about is poor Luke he was doing so well and then this shit happens. Clearly the team found out about the extent of the injury at halftime and came back shaken up. Hope the boy makes a speedy recovery.

 

[soapythecat]

Embarrassing?

LVG needs to go?

We have some cretins who support us.

You missed Martial is a pub footballer. That's a beauty, even for the Caf.

 

[Dr Fink]

Woeful in the last third, no cutting edge. We got what we deserved against what is really average opposition. A poor, poor start.

 

[UnitedBoy]

I'm not too critical of that performance. Shaw was probably going to score, and I trust smalling/blind to stop any attacks.

Unfortunately a big injury like that seemed to have a psychological effect for a period, even when repay scored. But you often see matches die out after incidents like that.

The injury also meant blind was moved wide. I can't tell whether rojo is shit or there just isn't a connection between them, but certainly wasn't as solid.

I think the most disappointing aspect is mata, I'm a fan. But looked massively out of position in his favoured. But to counter that, martial, depay looked lively and having 2 wingers was fun to watch.

 

[itso 7]

We performed very well, one could argue our best so far, but lapses in defense, failure to take our chances, the ref failing to send off Moreno and shit substitutions did us in. After Fellaini came on the ref might as well had signaled for full time because we were pretty much done as an offensive force, I really didn't understand Mata playing the full ninety either! The performance itself was very encouraging with Memphis and Martial combining well, BFS bossing it but it all came to n aught because our best chance since falling behind went to an out of form player with no balls.

 

[kafta]

Nothing like the caf after a defeat.

Sack vangle, sell martial!

On a serious note, i like what i saw from Martial. Weird to see Darmian have a bad game, and of course looking at the bigger picture, nothing matters more than getting luke fit again.

 

[RedDevil@84]

We were wasteful with our chances and that was our doom. I dont think that had anything to do with Shaw injury.
We made some lapses (we did the same last season too) and they took their chances well.

Anyways the performance only encourages that this team can do better and better.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We should use Wilson and Pereira instead of Young, Valencia and Fellaini.. Youth over average players!

If Fellaini has been ill, why not have Wilson on the bench instead of him? Seemed barmy to me.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

You missed Martial is a pub footballer. That's a beauty, even for the Caf.

We could have won this game easily. The performance wasn't bad at all until he brought Fellaini on, then it went wrong. Martial and Memphis linked really well. Gutted for poor Luke.

 

[Dans]

Is it me, or was Schweini completely MIA in that second half?

 

[Moonred]

Had enough chances to kill the game off.

 

[Dans]

If Fellaini has been ill, why not have Wilson on the bench instead of him? Seemed barmy to me.

Even if he wasn't ill...............

 

[Parma Dewol]

Like quite a few others, I didn't think we played too badly. Had more than enough chances to win the game.

For the first time in a long time, it looked like we were going to lay siege on their goal for the last 20 minutes, and I was genuinely confident we would get to 2-2, and then maybe even pinch a late winner.

We were looking good, moving the ball relatively quickly and creating decent opportunities, but then Fellaini came on and the game just fizzled out. Not blaming the player per se, but our tactics after the substitutions seemed confused. The players seemed to go from knowing what they were doing to having no clue, and that was worrying.

Massive pressure for the Wolfsburg game now. Must win.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Not really concerned with the result, I'd still expect us to top the group.

More gutted for Shaw.

 

[Tincanalley]

Truly gutted for Shaw but that was pretty crap apart from about 10 minutes. I'm fed up of hearing we were better etc.... we lost just like v Swansea ... Very bad day all round and pretty sure more days like this to follow this season unfortunately. It's not knee jerk either the same things are being said about us week in week out. Sooner or later something has to drastically improve. Toothless.

Yep, you got the result right.

I genuinely feel like I've watched a different match to many people in here tonight ... So much doom and gloom on here. You all should go and work for BT Sport FFS. We've suffered far greater 'embarrassments' in Europe whilst being a far better team.

This. Cheers.

 

[sunama]

Reading the newspaper headlines - I just can't understand how Moreno escaped without a card.
That result was so frustrating.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

Is it me, or was Schweini completely MIA in that second half?

Well just off the top of my head he set up the best chance of the game for Mata.

Glad to see a more level headed response from people today. Some of the comments last night were pathetic.

 

[LonelyFire]

There was a lot to like from last night. Definitely positive. No idea how we lost but that's football. Scholes, for once, was actually right in what he said post game.

Gutted for Shaw. Work your arse off to get into peak condition and that happens.....no justice. Don't get me started on the ref.....or Mata.

 

[Barca84]

I thought we were mostly excellent and the result really harsh. We wuz robbed but thats CL football

There are clear signs of Depay and Martial giving us that pace and incisiveness up front we've been lacking. Really promising.

Schweinsteiger was immense.

It's so deflating seeing us have only Fellaini to resort to with 20 minutes left. Underwhelming doesn't begin to describe it.

We'll get out of the group

 

[junglemusic]

We played some good football last night with some good possession. But, again, we lacked the final product.
The worst thing for me was the state of our bench; As Michael Owen pointed out, we had no one on the bench who could change a game or inject something different in to the match.
I feel so sorry for Fellaini, he's a square peg in a round hole at our club, and is too often used as the scapegoat.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

This might have already been said - I'm not reading through twelve pages to find out but don't underestimate the power of psychology...

The injury that Shaw suffered tonight was absolutely horrific. From what I can see it was a compound fracture - his bone was sticking out of his sock. He's a young lad and a friend/colleague to every person who was out there on that football pitch in a black and orange shirt. They might be professional athletes; they might get payed a lot of money to do what they do, but I'm quite certain that every United player out there was suffering with him as he no doubt lay in a hospital bed wondering if he'd kicked his last ball for Manchester United.

Don't get me wrong - we have excellent medical facilities and in ~6 months time maybe he'll be back kicking a ball again and maybe he'll still have a career at the top level of the game; but to continue playing that match and put what happened to one side is nigh on impossible. I'm absolutely certain that the injury had an influence on what followed.

Yes we could have still gone on to win the match. Yes I'm disappointed and I'm sure many other people are too. But we're all guilty of pretending that football happens in a vacuum... It doesn't - and tonight is the kind of night where we'd do well to remember that. Here's hoping we can bounce back at the weekend.

Edit: I've just seen the post above mine! Glad I'm not the only one!!!

Aye, people finally seem to be switching on to this a bit more it seems.

 

[RedSky]

There are worse games to lose in the CL. It's not ideal but we do have another 5 games to play and that was on paper our hardest away game.

 

[Blodssvik]

All those great chances we supposedly had must not be included in the extended highlights and I also don't remember them. I recall Smalling, Mata and a few half chances by Martial and Memphis.

 

[GeneralGattuso]

Could Darmian do anything more for first goal though? He he handlocked with his opponent. But he got outmuscled. Sometimes there's just a stronger guy out there and if everything falls right for him, you can't do anything about it.

If the man you are assigned to scores at a set piece, you didn't do enough. It wasn't the worst crime and it happens but for the 2nd goal there is no excuse.

 

[sajeev]

I think we played quite well. Attacked quite effectively for the first 70 minutes.

The injury to Luke Shaw just shows how much luck (rather dependence on others' decisions) plays a role in football. He was playing really well, made a fantastic run and was poised to score when a reckless mistake by the opponent injured him, putting him out of the game for a long time. And then the referee again erred, ensuring that we didn't have the advantage that we should have had.

Even after that, we recovered after a while to create a few chances which we should have put away. Where there is a clear paucity is the lack of options on the bench. Hopefully, it will be rectified by giving opportunities to players with potential to perform rather just on the basis of experience. If that turns out to be the case and we learn from this, I think we should just chalk it off as a bad day, and hope the best for Shaw

 

[drdoityourself]

We had them pinned down and then the decisions to put Fellaini and Valencia effectively killed our flow. I have nothing against Fellaini as an option but it wasn't the right move. Valencia can not be considered an attacking option, he's a fine option as a back-up rightback but nothing more. Our options from the bench are worrying to say the least.

 

[Mark_GrumpyLion]

Shit night, bad subs and overall should have won the game. The injury to Shaw makes it much worse I think.

 

[Manchester_Man]

Some bad displays by Fellaini when he came on and Herrera who was anonymous but for me Mata was terrible.

What is he, our second biggest transfer?! And he is such a sh*thouse. Both in this game and in the Swansea game he had chances to score and a player of his caliber should be doing a hell of a lot better. He is always backing out of situation where he might get hurt (which I think at this level is inexcusable). His best position may be no.10 but we cant keep him on the right, he is too slow, too chicken sh*t and is wasting excellent chances week in week out.

 

[marlowe78]

Is it me, or was Schweini completely MIA in that second half?

I think he played his best half as an attacker so far. He was playing more forward and I think his distribution was excellent. He and Herrera were actually posing a threat from two areas of the pitch, which is another reason why I can't understand Herrera was taken off. Bringing Fellaini on absolutely killed our momentum.

 

[acrebo]

It doesn't matter if we were outplayed or not, we lost the game and are now behind PSV and Wolfsburg. If we have a similar decent performance in some of the remaining games but lose, no one will care that we deserved more than nothing from them. I'm worried now because losing the first game of the group stage already makes it tough to qualify, if we lose to Wolfsburg now we will find it extremely difficult and even if we beat Wolfsburg it will still be tough. We have this tendency to lose/draw games in which we play decent football and it's even more worrying. If we could lose yesterday we could basically lose to anyone in CL.

Well if we continue to have these decent performances in defeat then, yeah, it becomes an issue. But 19 times out of 20 we win that game comfortably, it was just "one of those nights" and we had plenty of those under SAF too.

I'm not saying that it's concerning we've started with a defeat but history generally suggests that you can qualify from the Group Stages with 10+ points. So we can afford to lose a couple games, and we've arguably played our toughest game again the Dutch champions who are currently cruising and full of confidence. I know it's not THAT straightforward but I have no concerns yet about not qualifying. PSV are a poor side and, if nothing else, beating them at OT puts us back on an even keel, even if Wolfsburg run away with the group. Simply put, there are far too many permutations to think we won't qualify.

The more I think about it, what a massive mistake to bring Rojo on as CB. There's no reason why he couldn't have slotted in at the less risk LB position, maintaining the Smalling Blind partnership that seems to be working so well.

 

[Sarni]

Well if we continue to have these decent performances in defeat then, yeah, it becomes an issue. But 19 times out of 20 we win that game comfortably, it was just "one of those nights" and we had plenty of those under SAF too.

I'm not saying that it's concerning we've started with a defeat but history generally suggests that you can qualify from the Group Stages with 10+ points. So we can afford to lose a couple games, and we've arguably played our toughest game again the Dutch champions who are currently cruising and full of confidence. I know it's not THAT straightforward but I have no concerns yet about not qualifying. PSV are a poor side and, if nothing else, beating them at OT puts us back on an even keel, even if Wolfsburg run away with the group. Simply put, there are far too many permutations to think we won't qualify.

The more I think about it, what a massive mistake to bring Rojo on as CB. There's no reason why he couldn't have slotted in at the less risk LB position, maintaining the Smalling Blind partnership that seems to be working so well.

I'd say that we absolutely cannot lose any of the next 2 games, if we do and the pressure piles up I think we'll be as good as gone the way we behave when we're having it tough (we hardly ever come from behind these days). 10 points could be enough given how tight this group is but I'd say we should be aiming for 12-13 points minimum.

I think both CSKA and Wolfsburg away from home will be tougher than yesterday. Wolfsburg are better than PSV and CSKA team has more experience in Europe. Of all our away games yesterday was the easiest and we lost it. The fact that it was a decent performance makes it even more disappointing for me.

Personally for some reason I feel we won't make it through.

 

[Lewis.no.9]

whilst Im not at the sack Van Gaal right now stage, Ive got to say his staunch fans are ridiculous.

one moment its "His style is tailor made for the UCL, we are going to do great in it this year" Pre UCL. Then after last night and PSV basically exposing the same weaknesses we have, as Swansea and many other teams in our league have done, then their stance changes to "Well UCL are always tricky and last night was a tough game etc"

I mean come on. Thats shocking red tinted van gaal support and an obvious way to bend the rules to suit their agenda of backing him if ever I saw it.

PSV arent a good team lets be blunt here. And teams like Swansea etc should also be getting steamrolled with the team we have. The way he is going its going to take him longer than his 3 year contract to get players clicking and thats ridiculous given way lesser managers (on paper at least) are doing better with way lesser squads, with way lesser budgets and backing, and argubly with more pressure on their shoulders given Van Gaals job seems 100% secure regardless. I think had this style/management been present at lesser clubs he would be getting roasted by everyone and easily either have been fired or be on thin ice.

 

[do.ob]

whilst Im not at the sack Van Gaal right now stage, Ive got to say his staunch fans are ridiculous.

one moment its "His style is tailor made for the UCL, we are going to do great in it this year" Pre UCL. Then after last night and PSV basically exposing the same weaknesses we have, as Swansea and many other teams in our league have done, then their stance changes to "Well UCL are always tricky and last night was a tough game etc"

I mean come on. Thats shocking red tinted van gaal support and an obvious way to bend the rules to suit their agenda of backing him if ever I saw it.

PSV arent a good team lets be blunt here. And teams like Swansea etc should also be getting steamrolled with the team we have. The way he is going its going to take him longer than his 3 year contract to get players clicking and thats ridiculous given way lesser managers (on paper at least) are doing better with way lesser squads, with way lesser budgets and backing, and argubly with more pressure on their shoulders given Van Gaals job seems 100% secure regardless. I think had this style/management been present at lesser clubs he would be getting roasted by everyone and easily either have been fired or be on thin ice.

I think you might be overestimating the squad. None of the attacking players would come close to a top team's starting XI.

 

[Lewis.no.9]

I think you might be overestimating the squad. None of the attacking players would come close to a top team's starting XI.

or are you underestimating the players to defend Van Gaal?. So he has had 3 Transfer windows since taking on the job, spent ALOT of money turning around loads of players in the process, yet our players arent good enough to play for top clubs?.

Isnt that still Van Gaals fault then?.

 

[Dans]

I think he played his best half as an attacker so far. He was playing more forward and I think his distribution was excellent. He and Herrera were actually posing a threat from two areas of the pitch, which is another reason why I can't understand Herrera was taken off. Bringing Fellaini on absolutely killed our momentum.

I need to rewatch re Schweini.

As for Fellaini, well, whenever he gets brought on it kills the game, except when we play Brugge at home.

 

[do.ob]

or are you underestimating the players to defend Van Gaal?. So he has had 3 Transfer windows since taking on the job, spent ALOT of money turning around loads of players in the process, yet our players arent good enough to play for top clubs?.

Isnt that still Van Gaals fault then?.

I never praised van Gaal's transfers. But Depay and Martial won't suddenly turn into world class players just because you were expensive.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I need to rewatch re Schweini.

As for Fellaini, well, whenever he gets brought on it kills the game, except when we play Brugge at home.

If the ref had blown the whistle when he should have done Fellaini wouldn't have given us that breathing space. We were damn lucky there.

 

[Dans]

If the ref had blown the whistle when he should have done Fellaini wouldn't have given us that breathing space. We were damn lucky there.

I agree, but let's not get everyone debating the topic of when a ref should blow again!

Regardless though, Marouane did get his head on the end of that cross.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I agree, but let's not get everyone debating the topic of when a ref should blow again!

Refs seem to cause nothing but debate.