[Dr. Funkenstein]

I've only played amateur games, and in school football, but it gave me enough experience to appreciate a football match.

That's the point. I appreciate also how the match is played, the whole match, how an individual or a team deals with the battle part of it, the fight over the whole 90 minutes and stoppage time, especially mentally. Not only the football skill, the beauty of the game, but how you react to the development of the match and to the strenghts and weaknesses of your opponent. Tennis players who hang in there and just manage to win their service games, and than use a little lapse of concentration from their opponent to take a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak to win the set. Boxers who feel when their opponent is tired and has a weak moment and take advantage. Even darters who don't score that well but put in a few demoralizing 180's on the moments that count.

Read your opponent, read the moment, feel the opportunity to kill off the match. That's a skill to and is a mental skill that turns good football into silverware. I was very disappointed to see that this skill was lacking totally.

Some of you in here think that wolfsburg are sunderland, they are a very good side and we were better over 90 mins, but it was never going to be simple and clean.

I know, Wolfsburg can give any team a difficult evening, it's not been easy prey for Bayern either. The hardest part was done very well, getting on top again after the early goal, the easier part, staying on top and punch them out, was messed up as soon as we got on top.

Yea we spent too long on the backfoot in the end but that being said they couldn't break us down and de gea didn't have much to do, if you think this LVG team is going to dominate possession against teams in the CL as easily as it does teams in the PL you're dreaming. Completely different ball game in europe.

How you're not content with that win is beyond me.

The problem is that no one understood what was needed after the last goal. Wolfsburg was in the ropes, the best option was to go for the K.O, the second best option was to wear them down further with keeping possession and let them do the running. The worst option was to immediately relieve the pressure and suddenly lose possession often because of not beeing as patient as before the last goal. They helped Wolfsburg back in the match by their reaction to the last goal, we got on the backfoot on our own initiative.

A team that gets a reaction to a change in score this very wrong will not win many matches against equal sides. Close matches are decided by things like that and we were lucky it didn't yesterday.

 

[Danillaco]

Rooney is becoming a growing problem, especially if his poor form continues.

He's awful for sometime now, but what worries me is that Schneiderlin was way off mark. He's the protection in our defense and was below average yesterday, showing no control or dominance. In their first goal he was twisted too easy on the wing.

That impacts a lot in how we played the last 30 minutes, we need him to step up to his Southampton form again. He's vital in CM.

 

[Libano]

In retrospect, I really like what I am seeing. Wolfsburg are no pushovers but tactically on a level most Premier League clubs are unable to match. But we were the better side. And we are winning the close games this season. And it's not winning ugly like last season but playing some beautiful football with a selection that still has to find its groove and get to know each other. In other words, there is massive upwards potential.

What do we need now? Most of all, consistency. Being able to play our game 90 minutes and not retreating unnecessarily like yesterday. We need to learn to play with a calm head and not concede balls so easily. There was a lot of panic football going on in the last 25 minutes yesterday. That's pure inexperience - it feels safe but actually you're affording your opponent way more time on the ball and exhausting your resources running after it and plugging holes. Look at Bayern, they never lose their calm when in possession around their own box. We will get there soon, too.

A word on Rooney. He's a passenger at the moment yet we're still winning games. They should run fitness tests. If they come out ok it's the head for sure. That's something that can be fixed with time. I can understand Van Gaal who keeps selecting him just to infuse confidence into him, something he sorely needs. I would not give up on Rooney, either. He's potentially world class, once he finds his feet again he'll be of great value. I am certain he will come good for us somewhere this season. Have faith!

 

[Red-Jeff]

Great 70 or so minutes and hung on for the last 20 against a very good team that threw everything at us but created very few clear cut chances. We need to finish better and keep our composure a little better towards the end of the game. Overall I am really happy with the direction United are heading and extremely pleased with this result, we'll see how many short memories there are when we have inevitable hiccups this season.

 

[Shimo]

Didn't know Mike had such a high-pitched voice.

His voice certainly doesn't fit with who he is on the field right now was my first thought hearing him in that interview lol.

 

[Lewis.no.9]

Im so damn relieved we won his....nail biting stuff. And that Ref was a fecking car wreck. What an absolute Camel Bollock.

 

[noodlehair]

Didn't think that much of our performance but it wasn't awful either. I was fairly confident we'd turn it round at 1-0 once we got into our stride. It was just how we reacted to going 2-1 up that dragged it down. We seemed to just panic, with over 20 minutes left. Can't be doing that really.

Schneiderlin looked a bit out of his depth but it looked like nerves and naivity more than anything. He was doing things that he clearly knows and is better than. Hopefully he will learn.

Every time a team is good enough to attack us, Blind at centreback does not look like a clever idea at all. Also thought it was strange Darmian getting so much praise considering we had problems defending his side of the pitch for the entire game. I mean he's not really a left back so fair enough, but he wasn't that great there...they got a goal from running at him and kept getting ballls in with barely a challenge from his side of the pitch!

On the plus side, Martial again was excellent, and Smallling. Mata has been a lot better for a few games now. It was a pretty enjoyable game also I thought. Both teams looked good in parts.


There is a very noticable difference in the quality of our performance when Schweinsteiger is on the pitch, compared to when he isn't. He seems to mmake everything work and fall into place. As soon as he's not there it's just a bunch of players running around.

 

[gerdm07]

- Darmian played did well especially since he was up against Draxler most of the night. He is a player and he would be a great no 10 for us.

- Most times it seems we are playing with two passengers in attack - Rooney and Memphis. It's crazy that we have scored as much as we have the past two weeks with two players who hurt the attack more than they help.

- I love how Martial dribbles towards defenders, the short quick steps and always keeping his foot near the ball. I've always wondered why more players don't do this especially players with quickness. Rooney could learn something there if it's not too late to learn something.

- Smalling is our true captain. He just seems like a man among boys during some spells. If he continues with this play he will be considered for player of the year.....for the league!

- I am a bit worried with Schneiderlein as I thought he was a better player. I really wish he could do more one-touch accurate passes but it does not seem to be within his skill set. If the last two weeks represents his best we might need to go back to the market. I sincerely hope he turns it around.

 

[fishfingers15]

Didn't think that much of our performance but it wasn't awful either. I was fairly confident we'd turn it round at 1-0 once we got into our stride. It was just how we reacted to going 2-1 up that dragged it down. We seemed to just panic, with over 20 minutes left. Can't be doing that really.

Schneiderlin looked a bit out of his depth but it looked like nerves and naivity more than anything. He was doing things that he clearly knows and is better than. Hopefully he will learn.

Every time a team is good enough to attack us, Blind at centreback does not look like a clever idea at all. Also thought it was strange Darmian getting so much praise considering we had problems defending his side of the pitch for the entire game. I mean he's not really a left back so fair enough, but he wasn't that great there...they got a goal from running at him and kept getting ballls in with barely a challenge from his side of the pitch!

On the plus side, Martial again was excellent, and Smallling. Mata has been a lot better for a few games now. It was a pretty enjoyable game also I thought. Both teams looked good in parts.


There is a very noticable difference in the quality of our performance when Schweinsteiger is on the pitch, compared to when he isn't. He seems to mmake everything work and fall into place. As soon as he's not there it's just a bunch of players running around.

That's almost high praise coming from you Noodles

 

[Mockney]

It was a really, really fun game for 70 minutes. I watched it with a Chelsea fan who thought it was brilliant entertainment. We should've scored about 4 in the first half alone. The last 20 however, were abysmal, but that seems to be a problem for us, mentally.

We should be winning games like that 3-1, which we could easily do, but somehow the only games we do win 3-1 are ones like Liverpool where we get "shocked" into doing it after getting way too complacent. We probably would've won that 3-2 if they'd equalised, tbf, but we have an odd habit of shifting from dominance to playing like we have 9 men once the initial objective is reached.

It also tends to cloud the judgement when the last period is rubbish. Fergie teams used to always end strong, which would have the opposite effect of obscuring average performances for large parts of the game. We've been genuinely good at times this season, but I can understand why people get the impression we're dodgy when we end games so poorly.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Finally just got to watch the game after travelling
Have read some of the comments afterwards but must have watched a different match according to some
How did Valencia get the blame for the first goal? Even watching at normal speed it was Blind and Schneiderlin's fault. though we were worse there with Young, weird
After their goal we played some nice football for an hour or so but seemed to shrink backwards and invited pressure although where the panic was I didn't see it apart from a couple of shots, odd

Anyway, Mata and Smalling very good, followed by Schweini Martial and Darmian