[Canagel]

Any news on Matic? He didn't have a good game by his standards but we completely lost control when he went off. It's vital he is ready for Arsenal.

 

[Infra-red]

Any news on Matic? He didn't have a good game by his standards but we completely lost control when he went off. It's vital he is ready for Arsenal.

No news yet, but looked like he might have strained his groin. Let's hope not!

 

[P-Nut]

Good game and the goals scored were mostly beautys. Both of Youngs were world class strikes, Martial clinical and Lingard with a lovely run on the break.

Think I’d go mostly the same team at weekend depending on injuries. I know people will be calling for 3 man midfield, but Lingard closes down space well so I’d have no problems with him playing in the hole again.

 

[Kraftwerker]

Great result.

But I f*cking hate conceding goals. Especially cheap ones.

Shame, as the back three were doing great until late in the game.

 

[Dominant]

Seriously how crap was lukaku?!?

 

[Borys]

To be fair only Martial of our 4 strikers seems to be in good form.

 

[GM K]

I'm a bit undecided who should win the balloon d'or. Young, Lingard, Messi or Cristiano. Very hard to pick.

 

[Jazz]

Thats 2 games in 3 where we've scored 4 goals.
Its ridiculous quite frankly.
We obviously took our foot off the gas to conserve energy imo, its the smart (and risky) thing to do.

Yep. I finally took a good look at the December fixtures and it's brutal. We do have to conserve energy where we can, it's just finding the right balance, which is pretty difficult.

 

[nesty]

Sexy goals, sexy football. Sexy.

MOTM is between Young and Lindelof.

Bad points: Lukaku is having a stinker.

 

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Veredict: Sometimes I want to hug all the players. Sometimes I want to bash everyone of them in the head. With a big hammer.

Plus:

* Ashley Younguinho - What a free-kick.

* Martial - Played well and is always nice to see him scoring. Needs to sort out his decision making.

* Matic - You only see how good he is when he is subbed. Team went to crapland after he was gone.

* Mourinho's face after Young's free kick.

* Mourinho trying to kill Rashford for something

Cons:

* Lukaku - Didn't played bad, but that miss... Jesus Christ.

* Herrera - Was all over the place. What happened to you?

 

[Wilt]

Suck on that you pessimistic sods.

Exactamundo!

 

[James Peril]

Great game! Finally felt like watching Manchester United again, no matter the little meltdown at the end. It wouldn’t have happened if Matic was not subbed, that I’m pretty sure of.

Watford were incredibly bad tonight and not just because we were good, in all honesty our goals weren’t because of great play - but we just exploited it good. We should have kept it going, had Lukaku scored 4-0 we could have cruised to 6-0.

Lukaku.... well..... best not to say a lot. That miss is just arrogant and bad, and he doesn’t really fight enough for me. Must really get to grips and take this seriously, now he’s just there. Should have bagged a hat-trick tonight, couldn’t have asked for an easier game to play.

 

[Tincanalley]

Took the foot off the gas.

Lukaku’s wages should be deducted.

Give a bloody break.

 

[Camy89]

Clinical in the 1st half and controlled 3/4 of the game well. As soon as they scored the penalty, we started to just try to absorb pressure, and time and time again that bites us in the ass. So happy Lingard scored the 4th to nullify them.

Pretty certain had we not got that one, it would've been 3-3. Especially with Rojo about.

 

[Roosney]

Still doing the Lingard flute riverdance celebration.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

Lovely result, we looked potent again after the weekend. But what were we playing at letting them back in? Lukaku should have score his chance, but from about 65 we just sat back and invited them onto us. I know it is Mourinho's way, but we could have battered them further which would have been a great boost going into the next two games.

 

[Ban]

Someone has a gif of Jose going ballistic with Marcus?

 

[TMDaines]

Fortune sure did favour us tonight.

 

[Blind]

A strange game of individual moments from unlikely sources and sleepwalking for large spells of the second half, not something I'm expecting every week like. Young's free kick has got to be the best free kick we've scored in a long time, sensational.

 

[Tincanalley]

Circus performance in the 2nd half. Fergie would hairdryer the living piss out of them.

Playing bit shit but still getting 3 points says a lot of good about this team, too.

True for you.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Enjoyable match - we had some great moments of play notably the last 30 minutes of the first half.
After Martial and Matic went off we retreated too much and could have cost ourselves.
Special praise to Lindelof who had his best game so far , Young MoM and Martial very good. Pogba and some good moments.
Even Lingard played well for the most part but a few times I could have ... , never mind - not today.

Efficient first half, wasteful second half

Some players are off form though especially Rashford, Lukaku and Herrera and Valencia seemed a bit below par in his last couple of games. Rojo made a silly tackle for the penalty

 

[Irish_Red]

Absolutely delighted with the win. Some great individual performances, namely Lindelof and Ashley Young both of which played out of their skin. Pogba and Martial excellent also.

I hate being negative after such an excellent win but can't help thinking that some of the goal gloss over our lack of cohesion as a team however. It seems like players are only switched on 100% when defending our box and when we inevitable hoof the ball clear its job done.

Going forward we refuse to play short passes to the centre of the park unless it is too Pogba or unless Matic drops back between the centre halves to pick the ball up. This leads to long balls to Lukaku and Martial which get more hit and hope and less aimed at them the longer the match goes on with us in the lead.

Even when we do have space to play the casualness of some of the players is staggering. Ashley Young (who had a great game by the way) passed the ball out of play when he and Rashford were 2 on 1 with the full back. Herrera blatantly refuses to take a second touch and look forward even when in tonnes of space in the middle of the pitch. I counted three times during the match where the ball went right back to the keeper from the full backs, rather than trusting the centre mids with a short pass, only to see the ball return from De Gea right back to the spot it was passed from. Personally I'd rather lose the ball there trying to do something than giving them a 50-50 chance to win possession in the same spot from a hoof from De Gea.

Apologies for dampening the mood with some negativity after the win. Can't emphasize enough how important it was for us to get another 3 points. Definitely an extremely positive occasion, just can't help feeling that as a team performance it was more of the same from the past few weeks. Individually it was fantastic but it would be naive of us to expect people like Young and Lingard to produce moments of individual brilliance week in week out (it hasn't been happening in the previous few games).

If we can't settle on a style of playing that actually encourages some team play, braveness and inventiveness going forward then I can't see us getting anywhere near challenging for a title unfortunately.

 

[Redlyn]

Most annoying moment of the game -> Lukaku missing that sitter. Just needed to lift it over the keeper or something but just daddled and daddled. FFS. We should probably try a Lingard, Rash, Martial front 3 soon.

 

[fellaini's barber]

Chuffed for Lindelof, I had totally given up on him

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Should have had the game well and truly finished before the first Watford goal. Yet again we paid the price for taking the foot off the gas when cruising, and it could have really come back to bite us.

Four excellent goals by United - high quality for all of them.

Young and Lingard were outstanding. Lindelof was very good and looked composed in a back three; Smalling also very good.

Lukaku had a hellish night and is clearly struggling for confidence.

Overall important win in what could have been a tricky fixture. We simply couldn't afford to drop away points tonight.

Huge game on Saturday at Arsenal. We need to do something against the bigger sides.

 

[Nate Dogg]

If i was Mourinho i would seriously consider Richarlason.

 

[reddevil702]

Great game and I think this formation really gets the best out of Martial, he's just class and seems like he's ready to move to take that next step.

 

[R'hllor]

You need to be really special to turn 0:3 game into that but win is a win,that whats important.

 

[TMDaines]

Chuffed for Lindelof, I had totally given up on him

But why? He was coming from a far softer league where his side win without much effort every week and was considered a top prospect. There’s no shame in taking some months to get going at his age.

 

[cyberman]

@Jazz
I think the problem with conserving is we almost have to be rigid by default. Great movement over a game tires you out but if you take that movement away from Martial, Lingard, Pogba and overlapping Young and Valencia then it takes away aspects that lets them stand out.
Its a good problem to have but its awkward to manage.

 

[minoo-utd]

Really don't know what happened to Herrera, the min he came on we lost control in midfield, gutted we don't have good backup for Matic and Pogba now,and really hope Lukaku pick him self up after poor performance.
Lingard did absolutely good today, not just the goal which calmed things down but his movements in the entire or most of the game, think we will see him instead of Mikhitaryan and Mata.

 

[royboy16]

Really enjoyed that and we scored 4 again.
A win against Arsenal would be nice.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Great win.

Starting to pull away a little from a few rivals.

 

[Jazz]

@Jazz
I think the problem by conserving is we almost have to be rigid by default. Great movement over a game tires you out but if you take that movement away from Martial, Lingard, Pogba and overlapping Young and Valencia then it takes away aspects that lets them stand out.
Its a good problem to have but its awkward to manage.

Oh agree with you. It is pretty hard to manage something like that.

The schedule is pretty awful though. I just don't think this is good but I guess money talks with the powers that be.

 

[Tincanalley]

A few things apres match. What was the reaction of Jose about after Youngs freekick goal? I played back the file uploaded by @GifLord still cant figure it out. The second half was a containment strategy, almost like practicing for when you have to kill a game, just for the future, as it were. And Lingard and Young seem to benefit a lot from Zlatan being back. They have their mojo, whereas it only seems to increase the anxiety for the likes of Lukaku. Even though Rojo made a few mistakes, one of them costing a goal, I still like him.

 

[TheReligion]

Seriously how crap was lukaku?!?

I'm not sure you understand football..

He got two assists and didn't play as bad as people are on about here.

 

[Crimson King]

That's sort of the problem though.

Everyone hits a bad patch of form. Rooney's started about 3 years ago!

We have to hope he turns it around soon, but you know we'll probably play conservatively in the next 2 league games, which won't help his cause at all.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

I only had a minor heart attack when they scored the second, nothing serious.

don't you have your mobile defibrillator at arms reach? That's what I do. Also, I ensure there is a feline within kicking distance at all times.

 

[Imran Mamdani]

first half was ecstatic - second half not so. probably taking it easy for the upcoming games and saving some fitness but that was close.
3 points in bag - no complaints. bring on city and arsenal.

 

[Maradona10]