[DomesticTadpole]

Hello there mr. Glass always empty.

Was happy with the result, but was nowhere near happy with the performance. Was not actually unhappy with the lineup, but there were players who badly under performed and a couple who are just not up to the standard we need. He doesn't just need a DM he needs a RB as well. Thank goodness DDG is back to his best because we needed him last night. The DDG of the last couple of seasons would have let some of them in. Then they would have been out of sight. Pogba I don't know what to think with him. I mentioned elsewhere, that he is either brilliant or invisible. Trouble is the brilliant performances are not frequent enough for me. Sancho showed some good signs. Mason needs to track back and help his RB out a bit more. It left Dalot completely exposed.

 

[Tom Cato]

I don't really like playing "what ifs", but its easy to argue that AWB playing over Dalot makes this game incredibly different. Villareal are not trolling their way past him like they did Dalot. Fair play to Villareal, they found a player that they could exploit the hell out of.

Funnily enough, this game ultimately ended up being fairly even, and a win wasn't undeserved.

Shots on target, 7 v 7
Shots attempted 15 v 14
Pass accuracy Manchester United: 90%
Pass accuracy Villareal: 85%
Possession: 55.7% Manchester United 44.3% Villareal

Heatmap says that the majority of Villareals effort came down the left midfield and left wing, which is true because Diogo Dalot is still feeling shameful about his performance last night. Manchester United focuses effort primarily down the left flank and central, which also makes sense because of Sancho and Telles.

Villareals last matches include 2-2 v Atletico Madrid, 0-0 v Real Madrid, 2-2 v Atalanta, 1-1 v Chelsea and a thrashing of Elche in La Liga.

They're not a poor football team. Its ok to accept that we beat a team that has recent history to prove they can compete with anyone. Until recently they had also not lost a game in Europe in their last 16 outings.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

How long are Maguire and Shaw out for? Will they be back after the international break?

 

[Desert Eagle]

A win wasn't undeserved.
You know you're scraping the barrel with double negatives like that.

We were incredibly lucky to win last night, even the players and manager have admitted to playing poorly. We've played terribly for 4 games in a row now and we're approaching a tough run of games. Make or break time.

 

[Bestietom]

3-5-2 in some Champions league games.

----------------- --DeGea-------------

Lindelof---------Varane-----------Maguire

AWB---------Pogba ------McTominay---------Shaw
-------------------------------Bruno------------------------

--------------------Ronaldo-----------------Cavani--------

Some might say Greenwood or Sancho for AWB If we need to attack more.

 

[largelyworried]

This is something that Fred & McTominay both do well as a pair. Its always easier to see from the stands, but they take up good positions that prevent teams from getting out as easily as Villareal did last night and that's why Ole persists with them. Pogba is a wanderer. No amount of coaching could ever curtail his natural instincts, and people are going to have to accept that a Pogba in a two will see us cut open easier by a team with Villareal's quality. It isn't Scott's fault, and a new CDM is not going to solve that unless they can be in multiple places at once.

Lots of people will put this down to poor coaching because that's the buzzword right now, but its half the story. Our issues are as much down to balance as they are coaching, and these two things do overlap to an extent so I'm not absolving anyone of responsibility, but ultimately we have a problem controlling games without McFred, and when they play they present us with other problems.

Its true that our midfield options are not what we need. Equally, the midfield we put out yesterday was hard to understand. McT as a lone pivot with Bruno and Pogba ahead? That doesn't sound like a natural combination on paper and that's how it turned out. If felt like rolling a dice and hoping for the best.

Ultimately, we can't change our midfield til Jan at the earliest, maybe next summer. Ole & his team have to make the most of what we have. We will never have a dominant world-class midfield with our current options, but equally, I think we should be doing better than we did last night with the players at our disposal. Certainly, there's no reason to be outdone by Villareal, given that man for man we better them in many positions.

 

[Tom Cato]

A win wasn't undeserved.
You know you're scraping the barrel with double negatives like that.

We were incredibly lucky to win last night, even the players and manager have admitted to playing poorly. We've played terribly for 4 games in a row now and we're approaching a tough run of games. Make or break time.

And Villareal aren't lucky we're not putting 3 in the net in the 2nd half? You can't argue one way.

But you know what, we won the game so crawl back where you came from.

 

[nokoya]

Incredible poor performance, can't believe it Dalot was so easy to beat. And seems Ole put McT on DM but in the last 30 mins when we are under attack, he seems tired just like people jogging around to our penalty box, and doesn't have any desire to put some pressure.

MoTM: DDG
Having the desire to play: Varane

Others seem to lack the desire to play. If we keep this mentality against Everton this weekend, surely we will be beaten.

 

[Desert Eagle]

And Villareal aren't lucky we're not putting 3 in the net in the 2nd half? You can't argue one way.

But you know what, we won the game so crawl back where you came from.

I'll go where I please and post what I want, you sensitive little crybaby.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I don't really like playing "what ifs", but its easy to argue that AWB playing over Dalot makes this game incredibly different. Villareal are not trolling their way past him like they did Dalot. Fair play to Villareal, they found a player that they could exploit the hell out of.

Funnily enough, this game ultimately ended up being fairly even, and a win wasn't undeserved.

Shots on target, 7 v 7
Shots attempted 15 v 14
Pass accuracy Manchester United: 90%
Pass accuracy Villareal: 85%
Possession: 55.7% Manchester United 44.3% Villareal

Heatmap says that the majority of Villareals effort came down the left midfield and left wing, which is true because Diogo Dalot is still feeling shameful about his performance last night. Manchester United focuses effort primarily down the left flank and central, which also makes sense because of Sancho and Telles.

Villareals last matches include 2-2 v Atletico Madrid, 0-0 v Real Madrid, 2-2 v Atalanta, 1-1 v Chelsea and a thrashing of Elche in La Liga.

They're not a poor football team. Its ok to accept that we beat a team that has recent history to prove they can compete with anyone. Until recently they had also not lost a game in Europe in their last 16 outings.

That's a good point to be fair.

They're a team brimming with confidence and zero pressure against them. People still look at them like lowly Villarreal, but they're better than a lot of traditional big clubs.

As you say Danjuma was a huge threat for them, our defence lacked pace which didn't really help.

I think playing Varane on the left was a bit of a mistake, we should have swapped him and Lindelof and asked Varane to help cover Dalot's side. These little tweaks seem missing from our coaching staff.

 

[Devred]

There has to be be another option other than Dalot. Decent on the ball, shite without it.

 

[Bilbo]

I'm the same, he goes between brilliant to invisible.

Starting to think if he wasn't about wouldn't be a issue having to get him on the pitch every game no matter where it is, and then if he doesn't start him you are 100% going to get his agent and then the media making a big scene about it.

He just doesn't do enough when he in the middle for me

For sure. You can never have too many matchwinners in your team and he definitely is that, but he is still too streaky a player for me. Pogba is never better than when he has something to prove. Leave him out for 2 games and he'll come back and be brilliant for 2 games, but he doesn't seem to be able to sustain that mental intensity that brings out his A game. Bruno and Cavani bring that every match. Pogba doesn't.

 

[Bilbo]

Dalot - He had a bad night - and is rightly taking some flak. The winger had him beat everytime, hands down. So why didnt we do anything to prevent that? Why didnt our winger drop in and double up or the CB push over to offer cover? It's really really simple yet we spurned chance after chance and just did not try and prevent it.

We did switch Sancho and Greenwood for a spell in the first half. I suspect this was to try to mitigate that situation, but when you have a full back that's being beaten that easily or leaving that much space there's not a lot that a winger can do short of playing full back himself.

 

[justsomebloke]

Another irritating watch, very lucky.

Couple of positives - we didnt cave in and actually worked till the last minute and got the win. Most teams just surrender there. Cavani - inspired sub. His work rate just rubs off on people.

If we were being outplayed or completely dominated i'd accept it. Our shortcomings are pretty plain to see - yet we keep doing them.

Dalot - He had a bad night - and is rightly taking some flak. The winger had him beat everytime, hands down. So why didnt we do anything to prevent that? Why didnt our winger drop in and double up or the CB push over to offer cover? It's really really simple yet we spurned chance after chance and just did not try and prevent it.

Central Midfield - It literally hurts my eyes watching Pogba play central midfield. He's just a passenger, he is never in the right position and so defensive naive. McTom is left on his own and takes most of the flak, but the issue is pogba. Mctom is average and will always offer a limited performance, but when he's on his tod with runners he's got no hope.

Sancho - I'm not getting the fact we whack him on the left. We've been crying out for a RW for about 50 years and now we've signed one we dont play him there? Is our go-to position for players we dont know what to do with LW? We tried endlessly to play Dan James and Rashford on the right when they both suit the left better - now with Sancho he's the opposite. Bizarre. I do understand Greenwood is playing well off the right, but either rotate or sub off?

Team Shape - Disjointed. Pogba and Fernandes we're constantly too high and we were so slow to play the ball out we were always in trouble. I've said this a million times and i'll keep saying it - our use of the ball from the back is abysmal. It's painfully slow, painfully predicable. Our CM (Usually McTom and Fred) are very limited passers of the ball, and Mctominey often just hides from the ball rather than showing for it. McTom gets on the ball when it's an option, but he rarely works to find himself in space. All our passes are laboured with no urgency. We have world class attackers - but no link. Still amazed Donny cant get a look in. He's surely worth a go considering how poor the rest are?

All in all - a bad night that just highlights the same old errors. Even Varane is stooping to our lazy level.

But we won - hooray! Take them all as they say, a wins a win.

Irritates me as we are a few changes in our play to clicking and then we will go on a good run. Higher intensity, better passing from the back and we aren't far off. CM is by far our biggest issue but we have to put up with that as Ole loves McFred and Pogba will always slot in somewhere despite his flaws. Fred and Donny would work for me, i'd love to see us try

On Sancho being used on the left: I actually think that makes some sense right now, when Greenwood and Sancho is both part of the starting XI. Simply because Greenwood is significantly more effective on the right than he is on the left, while Sancho is much closer to being equally good on either side. He played lots of games on the left for Dortmund last season, and did very well there.

 

[justsomebloke]

We did switch Sancho and Greenwood for a spell in the first half. I suspect this was to try to mitigate that situation, but when you have a full back that's being beaten that easily or leaving that much space there's not a lot that a winger can do short of playing full back himself.

When you've a right back who is simply unable to handle his winger and gets beaten one-on-one more or less every single time it's not easy to mitigate, true enough. It also had a lot to do with how open we were to the counter due to our posture when we lost the ball high, with the Villareal midfielders repeatedly being left open in possession deep in their own half, and consequently able to quickly start things off with incisive passes forward.

It did seem to happen a lot less in the second half - though I could not notice any obvious adjustment in how United played. But maybe there was something I didn't catch there.

 

[Tom Cato]

I'll go where I please and post what I want, you sensitive little crybaby.

Since you took time out of your day to actually insult me, not sure who's the sensitive one

 

[Bilbo]

Its true that our midfield options are not what we need. Equally, the midfield we put out yesterday was hard to understand. McT as a lone pivot with Bruno and Pogba ahead? That doesn't sound like a natural combination on paper and that's how it turned out. If felt like rolling a dice and hoping for the best.

Ultimately, we can't change our midfield til Jan at the earliest, maybe next summer. Ole & his team have to make the most of what we have. We will never have a dominant world-class midfield with our current options, but equally, I think we should be doing better than we did last night with the players at our disposal. Certainly, there's no reason to be outdone by Villareal, given that man for man we better them in many positions.

Its something that many Cafe posters have been begging for. Hopefully they now realise it doesn't work with this personnel.

There's no doubt we should be playing better than we did last night, but Villareal are a wily team. Without Dalot in there that game looks far more like the cagey matches we usually have with them. The handing out regular chances made it look worse than it was, and every team struggles to score against them so I was expecting a very tough night and any kind of win would have done. Atalanta don't look as strong as Villareal IMO and I'd fancy us to get home and away wins against them.

 

[Godfather]

Its something that many Cafe posters have been begging for. Hopefully they now realise it doesn't work with this personnel.

There's no doubt it could work if properly implemented.

But Bruno was nowhere close to a number 8 yesterday and also Pogba was too far up the pitch. Looked more like a 4-1-4 at times.

 

[MrBest]

I don't really like playing "what ifs", but its easy to argue that AWB playing over Dalot makes this game incredibly different. Villareal are not trolling their way past him like they did Dalot. Fair play to Villareal, they found a player that they could exploit the hell out of.

Funnily enough, this game ultimately ended up being fairly even, and a win wasn't undeserved.

Shots on target, 7 v 7
Shots attempted 15 v 14
Pass accuracy Manchester United: 90%
Pass accuracy Villareal: 85%
Possession: 55.7% Manchester United 44.3% Villareal

Heatmap says that the majority of Villareals effort came down the left midfield and left wing, which is true because Diogo Dalot is still feeling shameful about his performance last night. Manchester United focuses effort primarily down the left flank and central, which also makes sense because of Sancho and Telles.

Villareals last matches include 2-2 v Atletico Madrid, 0-0 v Real Madrid, 2-2 v Atalanta, 1-1 v Chelsea and a thrashing of Elche in La Liga.

They're not a poor football team. Its ok to accept that we beat a team that has recent history to prove they can compete with anyone. Until recently they had also not lost a game in Europe in their last 16 outings.

I really like your post. Dalot was a liability yesterday, and touche, Villareal exploited the left side of the pitch. I wouldn't personally read into statistics, in the first half most of our shots were from outside the box, in the second, we didnt really trouble there keeper. On the flip side, de gea had to pull of some outstanding saves to keep us in. When you are at home and your keeper is man of the match, there is a big worry.

We can blame Dalot but Ole's tactical naivety put pressure on us from the start. For 70 plus mins, they killed us on the left and Ole didn't change anything at all to stop that. It is his job to read what is going on and make some tweaks in game to stop it. Its almost as if he is playing football manager, letting the game run and hoping for a moment. We were incredibly lucky last night, played terrible, we are not utilising the talent we have. As an example, we hoofed long balls up the pitch in the first 45, hoping bruno ronaldo, sancho or greenwood would provide a moment.

I can accept a bad performance here and there, especially in the champions league but this is becoming a consistent theme this season, to date. Of the 6 games we played in September, we won 3 and lost 3. This resulted in a cup exit, two home defeats and one clean sheet. When you spend 450m plus in 3 years, you need to be doing much much better. The pressure is on Ole this year and rightly so. We need to play better and sort out coaching out, it's basic.

 

[Hercules]

One thing I don't get is that why so many of our games are having dramas late in the second hal

West Ham away:
Scored in the 89th min, conceded a pen in injury time.

Villa at home:
Conceded in the 88th min, earned a pen in injury time but missed.

Villarreal at home:
Scored a late, late winner.

Are we taking the games casually or subs are improving us? If it's the latter then we need to make some hard calls, maybe start Lingard instead of Sancho.

Also, Bruno has been shit since the West Ham game.

 

[Bilbo]

When you've a right back who is simply unable to handle his winger and gets beaten one-on-one more or less every single time it's not easy to mitigate, true enough. It also had a lot to do with how open we were to the counter due to our posture when we lost the ball high, with the Villareal midfielders repeatedly being left open in possession deep in their own half, and consequently able to quickly start things off with incisive passes forward.

It did seem to happen a lot less in the second half - though I could not notice any obvious adjustment in how United played. But maybe there was something I didn't catch there.

We tightened up in the second half. Pogba was slightly more positionally aware and Lindelof (who had another good game) seemed wiser to it.

Funny thing with Ole is that he routinely makes strong tactical adjustments at half time but rarely seems to change anything during a half, besides substitutions. He gets a lot of undue criticism for 'in game management' and I think this is mainly down to him not being the type who frantically gesticulates on the touchline, but he does positively influence games in his own way quite regularly.

 

[Bilbo]

There's no doubt it could work if properly implemented.

But Bruno was nowhere close to a number 8 yesterday and also Pogba was too far up the pitch. Looked more like a 4-1-4 at times.

It did I agree. Bruno is one of those players I wouldn't try to reign in though. Let him be him. He needs a double pivot behind him IMO

 

[stevoc]

Not when you compare the PL to La Liga.

Villareal are a decent side mate.

 

[justsomebloke]

We tightened up in the second half. Pogba was slightly more positionally aware and Lindelof (who had another good game) seemed wiser to it.

Funny thing with Ole is that he routinely makes strong tactical adjustments at half time but rarely seems to change anything during a half, besides substitutions. He gets a lot of undue criticism for 'in game management' and I think this is mainly down to him not being the type who frantically gesticulates on the touchline, but he does positively influence games in his own way quite regularly.

He certainly did yesterday, with his substitutions especially. And I'll own up yelling from the couch for Ronaldo to be taken off. Was wrong about that, wasn't I.

 

[stevoc]

Don't attempt to use common sense. Just don't.

Yeah I keep forgetting what this place is like recently.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Others seem to lack the desire to play. If we keep this mentality against Everton this weekend, surely we will be beaten.

You honestly think Bruno, Ronaldo, Cavani (when he came on) didn't show any desire to play/win? None at all?

Come on now.

A poor performance doesn't mean we hammer the players for everything.

 

[stevoc]

Had plenty today. Would hate to see what they’re like if they had any more.

Goal threat as in good finishers, their striker isn't great. That was his first goal in a while last night.

 

[justsomebloke]

Goal threat as in good finishers, their striker isn't great. That was his first goal in a while last night.

People quoting their league position miss the point that they are actually unbeaten in La Liga this year. Unfortunately for them, they have also won just one game. Five draws - four of them clean sheets. also drew with Atalanta, so yesterday was their first loss of the season, at least in LL/CL.

What that adds up to is a very, very good team defensively, not so much offensively. Which fits pretty well with what we saw yesterday. But they are obviously a tough opponent for anyone.

 

[Ixion]

You can say they're a decent side and we should have expected a tough game but we were shit defensively. Not because they cut us apart but because we had gaps you could get a cruiseship through, players not offering support to each other, not tracking people etc. Chalking up last night's performance to them being a good side is only telling half the story.

 

[Bilbo]

He certainly did yesterday, with his substitutions especially. And I'll own up yelling from the couch for Ronaldo to be taken off. Was wrong about that, wasn't I.

He was spent so it would have been an understandable change. Cavani once again showed what he can add to this team, so it'll be interesting to see how we use him going forward.

 

[stevoc]

People quoting their league position miss the point that they are actually unbeaten in La Liga this year. Unfortunately for them, they have also won just one game. Five draws - four of them clean sheets. also drew with Atalanta, so yesterday was their first loss of the season, at least in LL/CL.

What that adds up to is a very, very good team defensively, not so much offensively. Which fits pretty well with what we saw yesterday. But they are obviously a tough opponent for anyone.

Yeah they're a tough nut to crack, anyone saying they're not a decent side is spouting silly bollocks to play down the win.

You can say they're a decent side and we should have expected a tough game but we were shit defensively. Not because they cut us apart but because we had gaps you could get a cruiseship through, players not offering support to each other, not tracking people etc. Chalking up last night's performance to them being a good side is only telling half the story.

Indeed but I think we can chalk that one up to having 3 of the first choice back 4 out and one of the replacements being Dalot. How does last nights game go with AWB, Varane, Maguire and Shaw at the back?

I suspect they wouldn't have caused as much troubles offensively yet we still have to rely on a cracking goal and/or a late winner to beat a very well organized, well drilled defensive unit.

 

[UpWithRivers]

I'm firmly Ole in and I thought we were absolutely terrible. At same time lot of our issues defensively was Dalot. Hard to deny, every attack and chance they had he got burnt or wasn't there.


It's not a big collective group of folk who just all think the same way. The FIFA bit is laughable.


Just enjoy the win, how could you not

If a teenager plays FIFA and just throws decent players on, he'll lose plenty. We haven't got top 4 places, a few semis and a final by pure luck and individual moments.

We've won some games when fortunate absolutely and there are times when our gameplan is really difficult to see. And last night, we were fortunate that De Gea kept us in the game BUT it's not just throwing players on a pitch. Last night we tried to play with one of McFred and seemed to be looking at a strategy where the front five would dominate/score...

.. it didn't work but we won. And the subs (not just random players/formation) were a key part of why.

Im not one that thinks Ole is a PE teacher and maybe saying a teenager playing FIFA was a bit too far but I have no other words to describe it. Please show me any top team that plays like this. It was a disgrace. I have never seen anything like it except at Oles United. In what way was that working? Sure you can say the game plan was for the front players to dominate but if thats the plan then its schoolboy thinking.

Specifically -

1) Firstly we has an unknown back 4 - ok thats a valid reason. But pushing Dalot and Telles so far was suicidal especially with no cover for Dalot. Plus we did nothing to correct it. It just happened over and over and over. Surely someone needs to say Dalot stop pushing up so high or Greenwood drop back for a bit and cover we are being slaughtered here.
2) The balance is all wrong. No top team has ever won anything without a balanced side. You cant just put together a sht load of attackers and say dominate the game. Proof? Last nights game.
3) Players in the wrong position - McTominay is not a DM and Pogba is not a double pivot. Some are saying we played 4-3-3. I didnt see that. Pogba and Bruno were too far forward. But lets say it was a 4-3-3 then in that case Pogba, Bruno, McTominay midfield doesn't work. Proof? Watch last nights game.

Tactically nothing worked in that game. Nothing. It was all basic 101 of football errors. You should never have a top team in a situation where an average team just runs through them over and over and over again. You should not have a team with talent such as Pogba, Bruno, Greenwood, Sancho, Ronaldo and none of them have a good game. None of them. Its crazy sht.

 

[Reapersoul20]

If it's not James, it's Fred, if it's not Fred, it's Jesse, if it's not Jesse it's Dalot.

No tactical analysis, just scapegoat scapegoat scapegoat.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Im not one that thinks Ole is a PE teacher and maybe saying a teenager playing FIFA was a bit too far but I have no other words to describe it. Please show me any top team that plays like this. It was a disgrace. I have never seen anything like it except at Oles United. In what way was that working? Sure you can say the game plan was for the front players to dominate but if thats the plan then its schoolboy thinking.

Specifically -

1) Firstly we has an unknown back 4 - ok thats a valid reason. But pushing Dalot and Telles so far was suicidal especially with no cover for Dalot. Plus we did nothing to correct it. It just happened over and over and over. Surely someone needs to say Dalot stop pushing up so high or Greenwood drop back for a bit and cover we are being slaughtered here.
2) The balance is all wrong. No top team has ever won anything without a balanced side. You cant just put together a sht load of attackers and say dominate the game. Proof? Last nights game.
3) Players in the wrong position - McTominay is not a DM and Pogba is not a double pivot. Some are saying we played 4-3-3. I didnt see that. Pogba and Bruno were too far forward. But lets say it was a 4-3-3 then in that case Pogba, Bruno, McTominay midfield doesn't work. Proof? Watch last nights game.

Tactically nothing worked in that game. Nothing. It was all basic 101 of football errors. You should never have a top team in a situation where an average team just runs through them over and over and over again. You should not have a team with talent such as Pogba, Bruno, Greenwood, Sancho, Ronaldo and none of them have a good game. None of them. Its crazy sht.

Dont disagree with a lot of it. Just the FIFA point (which youve said was a bit OTT)

Last night was a poor performance for lots of the game, no getting away from it.

One thing, to say Villarreal are average isn't exactly fair. Think another poster said they've drawn with Atletico and Real and haven't lost in Europe for ages?

We were set up wrong last night and we've got to balance defence v attack especially when Maguire, Shaw and AWB out. Last season's final showed Maguire's impact to the team.

But (and not denying the overall performance), first ten mins ok, chunks of second half ok, about the same number of shots, same shots on target, more possession. They were absolutely the better side over 90 but I'll try and be glass half full .. we won, we had some good points (De Gea, Cavani, Sancho looked 'ok', will improve with games) and hopefully Ole learns ... no McT by himself, right wing has to help Dalot, Pogba has to be disciplined or dropped

 

[JJ12]

11th in La Liga.

So we can all agree Leicester are shit too. Based on 6 fecking games….

 

[Godfather]

It did I agree. Bruno is one of those players I wouldn't try to reign in though. Let him be him. He needs a double pivot behind him IMO

The more I watch us the less I agree. I don't want to blame him for how disjointed we look but I'd like to see how he'd do in a more strict role in a 4-3-3. I think he would do well and our midfield wouldn't be overrun as easily

 

[justsomebloke]

Im not one that thinks Ole is a PE teacher and maybe saying a teenager playing FIFA was a bit too far but I have no other words to describe it. Please show me any top team that plays like this. It was a disgrace. I have never seen anything like it except at Oles United. In what way was that working? Sure you can say the game plan was for the front players to dominate but if thats the plan then its schoolboy thinking.

Specifically -

1) Firstly we has an unknown back 4 - ok thats a valid reason. But pushing Dalot and Telles so far was suicidal especially with no cover for Dalot. Plus we did nothing to correct it. It just happened over and over and over. Surely someone needs to say Dalot stop pushing up so high or Greenwood drop back for a bit and cover we are being slaughtered here.
2) The balance is all wrong. No top team has ever won anything without a balanced side. You cant just put together a sht load of attackers and say dominate the game. Proof? Last nights game.
3) Players in the wrong position - McTominay is not a DM and Pogba is not a double pivot. Some are saying we played 4-3-3. I didnt see that. Pogba and Bruno were too far forward. But lets say it was a 4-3-3 then in that case Pogba, Bruno, McTominay midfield doesn't work. Proof? Watch last nights game.

Tactically nothing worked in that game. Nothing. It was all basic 101 of football errors. You should never have a top team in a situation where an average team just runs through them over and over and over again. You should not have a team with talent such as Pogba, Bruno, Greenwood, Sancho, Ronaldo and none of them have a good game. None of them. Its crazy sht.

Personally I think the really puzzling question is why people can't deal with something that's not working in an individual game or a short period (and that has not largely been a problem for long periods with the same players and same manager) as what it is: Something that is currently not working as it should, and is in need of fixing. But instead treat is as proof of the sort of shocking and general deficiencies that would have led to entirely different results over the long run than the ones we have actually received. Beats me.

 

[Bilbo]

Personally I think the really puzzling question is why people can't deal with something that's not working in an individual game or a short period (and that has not largely been a problem for long periods with the same players and same manager) as what it is: Something that is currently not working as it should, and is in need of fixing. But instead treat is as proof of the sort of shocking and general deficiencies that would have led to entirely different results over the long run than the ones we have actually received. Beats me.

Going down a rabbit hole here but I think the new social media, 10 second video generation struggle to watch full football matches these days. People nowadays are checking their phones, posting on the cafe, on whatsapp, flicking between games etc.

What you end up with is a combination of finding 90 minutes of United a bit of a chore because it isn't constant entertainment mixed with highlights of other teams that erase all the dull stuff, and the resulting opinion is that United are boring and all the other sides are brilliantly consistent and consistently brilliant every single time they take to the field.

 

[Champ]

Wasn't a great performance last night, but by near enough every metric that's used to calculate the balance of these games shows that it was very very even.

So we didn't play particularly well, yet weren't outplayed by a team notoriously difficult to beat and ended up winning.

I'd say that's probably a sign of a good team right there. Getting the job done by any means.

 

[stevoc]

Personally I think the really puzzling question is why people can't deal with something that's not working in an individual game or a short period (and that has not largely been a problem for long periods with the same players and same manager) as what it is: Something that is currently not working as it should, and is in need of fixing. But instead treat is as proof of the sort of shocking and general deficiencies that would have led to entirely different results over the long run than the ones we have actually received. Beats me.

Because some can't wrap their head around looking past the last 3-4 games, everything that has happened before that is forgotten. Look at the amount of people that are writing off Sancho based on a few games in a new league.

And of course there is the Ole out brigade, last night was their big night. I reckon more than would admit hoped we would lose as they thought 3 home defeats in a row would mean Ole getting sacked. Some in here sounded properly gutted last night, I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't in the RAWK thread.