[Inter Yer Nan]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

 

[Catt]

I actually know that. Was just teasing slightly based on your gorgeous, loose-fitting tagline.

Yeah I worked hard for that one so it was well deserved.

 

[Catt]

Thanks @Tincanalley

 

[McGrathsipan]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

And his teeth will be ground down too.

 

[Robertd0803]

That save from David de Gea was just incredible.

 

[PlayerOne]

A game like this from time to time in tough away games to get a result is fine. You just can't manage United and don't win the top honours playing like this.

It's not just the defensive nature of the game tonight for me, it's the lack of process and evolution of the team. We seem to be going backwards and it's very frustrating.

We played like this at times under SAF, but I didn't moan about it because you know he will get it right. I just don't have much faith in Mourinho right now and that performance tonight doesn't help.

 

[SuperiorXI]

Crap game, good result, we'll dick them at OT. Happy days.

 

[Sarni]

Typical away European performance. We had dozens like that under Fergie.

 

[buckooo1978]

we are shit really under Jose

throw more money at the issue and hopefully the players will work out somne sort of attacking system

 

[crossy1686]

Do you really get the sense we are improving or moving forward as a team? Do you sense us evolving and perfecting our system and way of playing?

We are improving but we are disjointed. We have better players than we had last season but we also have a lot of inexperience. Rome wasn't built in a day, this forum was unanimous at the end of last season when people said a top 3 finish this year would be progress.

 

[Raoul]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

Its been like this for four years. We haven't broken 65 league goals since Fergie left.

 

[Tincanalley]

Smalling and De Gea

 

[Carlsen19]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

And we will turn him to shite like we’ve done with Di Maria, Sanchez, Pogba etc

 

[Keeps It tidy]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

We were't really toothless in the final third we just rarely had the ball in the final third.

 

[royboy16]

I don't think they'll score at OT.

But if they do... We're in huge problems.

Even if we score first I hope we won't defend the deal cause one their goal and we're out.

I fear another Celta Vigo moment at OT,hope I'm wrong.

 

[Safa Boy]

Difficult to believe that we can play such boring football with some of the attacking options we've got. Most of us blamed LVG for the borefest he dished up, so it's only fair to do the same with Jose.

 

[buckooo1978]

Typical away European performance. We had dozens like that under Fergie.

we controlled games under Fergie... how many opportunities did we give up?

 

[crossy1686]

Why? Its a cup game - the best way to approach cups is to take it one game a time.

Regardless of if its Sevilla, Barcelona or WBA - Jose was always going to be more cautious in the first leg than in the return.

And I don't know why you're so upset about the result/cautious performance. We played a side with one of the best home records in Europe.

I'm happy with the result. That response was to another poster who I thought said he 'didn't care if we went through'. He meant 'as long as we went through'.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Its been like this for four years. We haven't broken 65 league goals since Fergie left.

Shocking and looked nailed on this season to do it with something crazy like 20 goals in our first 6-7 games.

 

[witchtrials]

Nope. If we were 3 points behind City there wouldn't be a whisper of what style of football Manchester United should be playing.

Then I don't get your comment about United fans being "broken" by Liverpool and Spurs. Genuinely can't tell if you're saying we care about style of play or not.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Fairly typical European away performance, I don't know what you lot are getting so upset about.

SAF would have played it exactly the same way and been delighted to come away with a draw.

 

[reddevil702]

I think signing Sanchez and putting him on the left has destabilised things when he should have replaced Lingard or Mata.

How Jose hasn't tried Sanchez on the right is crazy to me. He's willing to try Martial after being our best player leading up to the signing but not Sanchez. Instead of creating a system that suits our top players, he's locked in on a system that doesn't seem to suit any of our players. What player can we really say are in-form atm?

 

[Raoul]

Shocking and looked nailed on this season to do it with something crazy like 20 goals in our first 6-7 games.

We still have a good chance of doing it this year, but it wouldn't be by much. Getting 65-70 is somehow viewed as an improvement these days. By contrast we were getting in the mid 80s during Fergie's last few years.

 

[Leftback99]

44 shots conceded to Huddersfield and Sevilla in the last two games compared to 11 taken ourselves. Horrendous.

Theres no obvious fixes either. I can easily see us losing the next 3 games to Chelsea, Palace and Liverpool.

 

[crossy1686]

Typical away European performance. We had dozens like that under Fergie.

Sorry, there's been mass amnesia around these parts. People only remember us battering Roma 7-1.

 

[Jaap]

Typical away European performance. We had dozens like that under Fergie.

Makes me wonder why that is?

Surely under Fergie we had some sort of intensity in attack & not just sit back and defend. This is so dull.

 

[crossy1686]

44 shots conceded to Huddersfield and Sevilla in the last two games compared to 11 taken ourselves. Horrendous.

Theres no obvious fixes either. I can easily see us losing the next 3 games to Chelsea, Palace and Liverpool.

We'll never win the shots at goal trophy at this rate! Fix it Jose!

 

[Dec9003]

We were horrendous tonight. I don't understand how anyone can be happy with that kind of performance. How can anyone watch this football and be entertained? I want to be proud to be a united fan, to be proud of our city and our club, but feck me Mourinho makes it difficult at times.

 

[Luffy]

It was a boring game to watch. We had no cohesion as a team going forward, and no purpose in our attacks. It wasn't even an assured performance in defense either, which was more reactive than it was proactive. But I don't think Mourinho will be displeased, with the result at least. And rightly so.

What were most frustrating though were the individual mistakes, especially in the final third. Whenever players found themselves in promising positions, or made the appropriate runs forward, their teammates didn't seem to pick up on those. But most of the time there seemed to be a certain listlessness in even attempting those cutting runs.

Lukaku's game was littered with mistakes. His shot had too much power on it, his movements on and off the ball too predictable, and his control literally too heavy-handed (pun intended). Yet early in the game he did threaten to threaten by keeping the defenders on their toes with his smart positioning and incisive runs. But after the missed "sitter" he quickly faded out. Maybe it's a confidence problem?

But this performance by no means should be his cross to bear alone. It was an all-round underwhelming performance, and had De Gea not been on his A-Game as usual, we would have conceded. Come to think of it, perhaps that would have stung us into action from our torpor.

And it wasn't even a mess that I can attribute solely to the style of football we played today. Sure, our performance has suffered this season due to the way the players were deployed and asked to play. But the seemingly apathetic attitude among some of our players is nothing new. Do heavily defensive tactics, as has been utilised by us during the last four years enervate players? Or players playing at the highest level at least? Not according to Simeone, and Allegri. Does having a collection of players with no leaders have something to do with that? Or should Jose be blamed for not only using these tactics but also failing to make a team out the collection of individuals that we have? Who the hell knows...

 

[sp_107]

5 years ..3 Managers ..500mil plus on players

It would be nicer if the fans have been treated with better football than this dull stuff!

 

[Catt]

It's not just the defensive nature of the game tonight for me, it's the lack of process and evolution of the team. We seem to be going backwards and it's very frustrating.

We played like this at times under SAF, but I didn't moan about it because you know he will get it right. I just don't have much faith in Mourinho right now and that performance tonight doesn't help.

We are not playing like a team.

 

[TMDaines]

Its been like this for four years. We haven't broken 65 league goals since Fergie left.

Some good stats on Twitter post match. Not scored multiple goals in our last 15 games against Spanish teams. We better hope they not score!

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Sorry, there's been mass amnesia around these parts. People only remember us battering Roma 7-1.

Or beating Milan 3-2, Roma 2-0 or that away leg against Schalke.

 

[Oldyella]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

Yup. Thats exactly what we need. Heaven forbid we actually coach the players we have, just spend more money on the attack.

 

[Chicharito_]

We are toothless in the final third. I think we are going to get Griezmann in the summer.

It get's to a point where you have thrown enough money at players and you start to look at the system/coaching/tactics. If we add Griezmann to the team right now I don't think it would make a big difference, we just added Sanchez and look worse going forward than before.

We have the talent up there, we just need to work out how to use it!

 

[crossy1686]

Then I don't get your comment about United fans being "broken" by Liverpool and Spurs. Genuinely can't tell if you're saying we care about style of play or not.

I was saying that no one cared all that much about the style of football we were playing as long as we are winning. At the beginning of the season when we were clicking and beating teams 4-0, no one was on here banging on about our football. Then City ran away with the league, Liverpool and Spurs are playing well also and now everyone cares about the way we play all of a sudden.

My point is, if City were playing like that are currently and only a couple of points clear at the top no one would be clamouring for us to play the same way. Hence, City have broken people on this forum.

 

[Tincanalley]

Pogba gets lowest rating. This place is a joke.

 

[diplomat]

They're really not though are they? Why don't you count all the trophies Spurs, Liverpool and City have won over the last 4 years and look at how many we've won. Same in Spain.

Again, I think you should go back and read the original message before you start saying I compared anyone to anyone.

Same in Spain? The best teams in Spain by a mile - Barcelona and Real Madrid - with the best football on the pitch, have been winning almost everything for a long time. Atletico have won the league once in I don't even know how many years (definitely more than 15) and even that season, they were performing on an exceptional level, had some remarkable match-winners and world class players, and had a manager with loads of energy, passion and something to prove. That Atletico side worked their bollocks off, especially in such supposed tight and hard games. We as a team are consistently slacking, not running enough on the grand scheme which is shown by the fact that Manchester United's squad has ran the least amount in the whole Premier league.

I was talking about dominating Europe, which means dominating over all the other top teams. Yes, you compared us to Atletico, otherwise why would you even bring them up? In European competitions, a lot more often than not, the best teams have shown a lot of amazing football on the pitch.

 

[juggernaut1986]

Interesting bit is they are 5th in the table but have a negative goal differential (-4).

Their negative goal difference is a result of their pathetic away form (8 losses in 13 games). They have lost only one game at home all season in all competitions.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Only De Gea and McTominay played well today. Jose gave up the chance to get an away goal. It's on him if the 2nd leg doesn't work out.

This. Scoreless draw away is nice and all, but only if we win. We could just as easily lose 1-0 at home if we play like this again.

 

[stepic]

We wouldn't need to win. A score draw would be enough. It's a bad result for me. 0-0 favours the home team and not the away team.

I wouldn’t want to have to play away and be forced into scoring. 0-0 is fine. We are at home, we have the crowd, we can win it. We will win it.