[It's Only A Game]

So many players had a dreadful game, but I don't think we started the match all that badly. We seemd to get sloppier and less imaginative as the first half progressed. The second half was just a complete abomination.

As usual, nearly all our problems stemmed from lack of width, or more accurately, no effectiveness out wide. The system clearly relies on overlapping fullbacks, but Young and Valencia were beyond useless today. I could hardly bear watching the ball being floated out wide to them time and time again, only for them to stop, pull the ball back, come up with a few stuttering attempts to move with the ball and then pass it backwards.

The ineffectiveness of these 2 players in our system is the root of all our problems in my view. They cause our play to be very narrow and congested, they allow opposition defences to flood the central part of the pitch because there is little danger from out wide, they consistently slow down attacks and, of course, they repeatedly lose the ball or cross it to anywhere other than where our attackers are positioned.

I am more supportive of Mourinho than many on this forum, but if he fails to replace these two next season I will start to lose faith. I'm not fussed about how many other players are bought or sold this Summer, but I can't face another season with these two square pegs bringing every attack to a juddering halt. Thanks for the loyal service Tony and Ashley, and I look forward to seeing you as club ambassadors someday soon.

 

[wolvored]

Throwing on random attackers without having any identity as an attacking force is pointless.

Mourinho will never change, but he did throw the kitchen sink at the bottom club and still lost. Whats the answer sack him? Who is available?

 

[el3mel]

Throwing on random attackers without having any identity as an attacking force is pointless.

I think Mourinho main lineup then management of the second half was absolutely terrible today.

However, having all your attackers on the pitch, losing 1-0 and sill no urgency at all was also a fecking disgraceful attitude from the players.

Mourinho and his players should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[simplyared]

Today's defeat at home to a team that's only won 3 games all season and handing the title to city, the way we did is sooo hard to swallow. We could field the best players on the planet and would still struggle imo. We are so unentertaining and boring to watch it's fecking painfull. 2nd place means feck all turning out that rubbish. No difference from LVG's days. Mourinho's not going to change and for what it's worth (which is absolutely nothing of course) I have seen enough of the man. His pre and post press conferences are embarrassing. His total lack of expression and passion on the sideline is agonizing to watch.
Truth is we've got class players in the likes of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku and Rashford all grossly underperforming. Martial seems to have given up. Matic is the only one who is playing well on a regular basis. I want to be entertained when watching our team and because our manager doesn't appear to have a footballing philosophy which includes entertaining the fans, then I hope he isn't our manager for the 2018-19 season.

 

[Fitchett]

That was without doubt our worst performance of the season, which is saying something, when you consider some of the cr*p that's been served up. Apart from De Gea and Lindelof, I wouldn't be bothered if all the others never wore a red shirt again. Totally unacceptable to stroll for 90 minutes and lose to a poor West Brom side, who only had one meaningful chance. Even after going behind, there was no urgency at all. I really do question my sanity in buying a season ticket year after year, after suffering so much dross in the post Ferguson era.

 

[TMDaines]

Throwing on random attackers without having any identity as an attacking force is pointless.

Yep. Mou had the worst game out of anyone today. It’s hard to spin it any other way than that he panicked and bottled it by throwing our midfield away and sticking more and more forwards on. There was plenty of time in the game for us to win it with just a few tweaks (cough: a change at right back). It was 0-0 ffs against the bottom side in the league.

I can’t get my head around him subbing Herrera at half time if he had any inclination to pull Pogba off too shortly thereafter. That was baffling. He’d rather not play with any semblance of a balanced midfield than continue with Pogba and Herrera.

 

[Fitchett]

Don’t think I’ve ever seen OT empty like that. It was also dead. No ‘ATTACK, ATTACK,ATTACK!!’ Chants, just people playing on their phones and walking out the door.

Trust me, there were 'ATTACK,ATTACK, ATTACK!!' chants in the second half

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Trust me, there were 'ATTACK,ATTACK, ATTACK!!' chants in the second half

Must have been because it emptied out that we couldn’t hear it through the telly. Just seems that usually that would have been going till the final seconds to get the equaliser.

 

[Thebaldingbob]

We should be beating teams like this by four goals! Shocking half hearted display.

 

[seaNNN]

Must have been because it emptied out that we couldn’t hear it through the telly. Just seems that usually that would have been going till the final seconds to get the equaliser.

They were loud and clear on my tv round about the 70th minute or so iirc.

 

[Jamie Shawcross]

I was at the match and I have honestly got to say, its the very WORST performance I have ever seen from us at home, personally. I can't even think of a reason, an excuse. The worst part is, West Brom were poor! To go from the derby comeback to that abject performance is inexplicable. So disappointed in the team. Its us lot that have to deal with the humiliation. Learned a lesson today, don't just turn up expecting to win

 

[tentan]

I can't believe Utd just beat the team in first then lose to the team at the bottom. Shocking, some of these players need to go.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Unacceptable.

Every other week is another 'worst ever performance' from this team.

Our fullbacks are garbage. Couple of good games here and there but a big reason for our impotence. Since the comparisons don't stop...there's a reason City has gone thru a half dozen of them .

 

[Williams1960]

Mourinho will never change, but he did throw the kitchen sink at the bottom club and still lost. Whats the answer sack him? Who is available?

Simione, carlo, pochettino, tuchel .

This is man United. We play like stoke under pulis .

The wins vs spurs and city were wonderful results. But on the whole awful to watch.

I've said it before we are papering over the cracks .got a lot of undeserved wins this year .

Come next year, every team will get stronger. City are brilliant .Liverpool are finally looking the real deal. Spurs if they keep their top players look like challengers. Arsenal will bounce back.

We too will get stronger on paper. But when you have a system that makes Paul pogba and sanchez look like championship players, something is wrong. Very wrong.

More wrong that the manager bought them spending a fortune and can't utilise them properly.

Old Trafford was a joke today. Awful atmosphere and empty after 80mins.

I stayed behind as usual and mourinho was getting a fair amount of flack from our own fans . Some even swearing and no one condemned it .I don't like that kind of stuff but we pay good money to watch our team play. When we play like this week in week out, it's woeful .

 

[ravi2]

I suppose that the 100million dollar question

But I'm sure Jose doesn't tell them to give the ball away regularly and look disinterested in proceedings

That is a fair point

 

[nainaisson]

I've noticed that whenever Mourinho's United win a "big game", be it a cup final or an important game against a rival, there's a huge drop-off in performance in the following game. It doesn't seem to matter how bad the opposition is - United either lose or draw the game.

A drop in form after an important game isn't unique to United, but they seem to suffer the most of any team I've seen. They almost become unrecognizably bad.

 

[sglowrider]

This and Seville were the worst performance this season. I actually fell asleep watching them play against West Brom -- not happened since the ol' LVG days.

 

[meamth]

The tantrums here are funny really. "Sack Mourinho, clear all the players".

We won against City and Liverpool, we are setting sights for next season. Foster had a great game, credits to West Brom.

This is one of those days where motivation is hard to come by. Messi & Co. can't even perform against Roma ffs. If we have that team with Messi, the caf will still be asking for clear outs.

In spite of that dire performance, I'm fine with the season we're having.

 

[marukomu]

The thing that disappointed me the most was the counter attack. We were decimating teams earlier in the season with it but it was non-existent. When ever we got one it was slowed down and they then had 8 players in front of us. We then bring our two fastest attackers on when we are 1-0 down with no space ahead of them.

 

[Turkleton]

Foster made two good saves I can remember but it's not like we were constantly attacking his goal was it? West Brom didn't play particularly well apart from solidly parking the bus.

Against City we had a decent second half but let's be honest we were lucky to win that. We only managed five shots in that game, the same as against Liverpool. With so few chances being created we're expecting a level of efficiency from our strikers that is not realistic. It might work in a few matches but it's not a reliable way of getting results.

 

[Freak]

Mourinho is the right man to take us back to the top. Some of these players, however, are still too immature and are lacking mentally. There is still work to be done this summer.

 

[catmandeu]

I think many people and even Jose said we lack width. I think however that we lacked quality width, our crosses were dire and most importantly when facing such a packed defence, our players should try to force errors. I think Herrera is very smart player to draw that foul and also martial as soon as he came . We should try to incite players to draw fouls in dangerous places . I know it's a negative tactics but every thing is fair in love and war.

Also, we should try shooting from distance as our link up play was not working. Deflections might give us some chance in such situations .

Jose was also unable to draw opposition towards our defence and release long balls.

 

[simplyared]

Throwing on random attackers without having any identity as an attacking force is pointless.

Strongly agree with this!

 

[antsmithmk]

The thing that disappointed me the most was the counter attack. We were decimating teams earlier in the season with it but it was non-existent. When ever we got one it was slowed down and they then had 8 players in front of us. We then bring our two fastest attackers on when we are 1-0 down with no space ahead of them.

We didn't counter attack. Because West Brom didn't attack. We always struggle when teams come set for a 0-0. It makes their lives even easier if they nick one via a set piece.

 

[Sagittarius13]

What pisses me off is that how can we give a great performance like last week at Etihad and next weekend we suck, there are no guarantees, and that's why City are champions now, because they showed consistency, something we lack, they beated the team supposed to be beaten and we still lose at home against low table teams, that is a problem we've had since Mou arrived.

Sorry for bad english.

 

[Chairman Woodie]

The tantrums here are funny really. "Sack Mourinho, clear all the players".

We won against City and Liverpool, we are setting sights for next season. Foster had a great game, credits to West Brom.

This is one of those days where motivation is hard to come by. Messi & Co. can't even perform against Roma ffs. If we have that team with Messi, the caf will still be asking for clear outs.

In spite of that dire performance, I'm fine with the season we're having.

Glad I'm not the only who feels that way. United have had their best season in the PL since Fergie retired; returned to the CL (likely to qualify for next season too), and are in the FA Cup SF.

It's a step up from last season when United were hovering between fourth and fifth in the PL, and ultimately sacrificed any chance of a top four finish to win the EL.

I'm looking forward to next season, hopefully under Mourinho.

 

[el3mel]

Simione, carlo, pochettino, tuchel .

This is man United. We play like stoke under pulis .

The wins vs spurs and city were wonderful results. But on the whole awful to watch.

I've said it before we are papering over the cracks .got a lot of undeserved wins this year .

Come next year, every team will get stronger. City are brilliant .Liverpool are finally looking the real deal. Spurs if they keep their top players look like challengers. Arsenal will bounce back.

We too will get stronger on paper. But when you have a system that makes Paul pogba and sanchez look like championship players, something is wrong. Very wrong.

More wrong that the manager bought them spending a fortune and can't utilise them properly.

Old Trafford was a joke today. Awful atmosphere and empty after 80mins.

I stayed behind as usual and mourinho was getting a fair amount of flack from our own fans . Some even swearing and no one condemned it .I don't like that kind of stuff but we pay good money to watch our team play. When we play like this week in week out, it's woeful .

You say we are United then you want Simeone ?

 

[JohnnyKills]

We didn't counter attack. Because West Brom didn't attack. We always struggle when teams come set for a 0-0. It makes their lives even easier if they nick one via a set piece.

This. We always struggle when teams sit back against us. Mourinho, the man famed for parking the bus, doesn't know what to do when anyone does it to him. His only solution has been throwing on Fellaini and lumping long balls but (thankfully) he can't do that any more.

If we had a playmaker like one of the Silvas we'd be so much more effective.

 

[wolvored]

Simione, carlo, pochettino, tuchel .

This is man United. We play like stoke under pulis .

The wins vs spurs and city were wonderful results. But on the whole awful to watch.

I've said it before we are papering over the cracks .got a lot of undeserved wins this year .

Come next year, every team will get stronger. City are brilliant .Liverpool are finally looking the real deal. Spurs if they keep their top players look like challengers. Arsenal will bounce back.

We too will get stronger on paper. But when you have a system that makes Paul pogba and sanchez look like championship players, something is wrong. Very wrong.

More wrong that the manager bought them spending a fortune and can't utilise them properly.

Old Trafford was a joke today. Awful atmosphere and empty after 80mins.

I stayed behind as usual and mourinho was getting a fair amount of flack from our own fans . Some even swearing and no one condemned it .I don't like that kind of stuff but we pay good money to watch our team play. When we play like this week in week out, it's woeful .

Im not a Mourinho fan myself, but Simione is similar to Mourinho with his defence first tactics and hes at Atletico. It would take an awful lot of money to persuade the club to let him go even if he wanted to come. The same with Pochettino who is at Spurs. I think the other 2 are out of work. Ancellotti would be in with a shout. He did well with Chelsea. Tuchel I know has been successful in Germany and both play attacking style of football.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

After sleeping on it. I would have still played Herrera but in a two with Pogba and played the extra attacker. Just think three in midfield was overkill. Matic has been flogged to death. I know Jose likes to keep the same team, but players have different fitness levels. He has to address the fullback issue and get in proper attacking fullbacks or better defensive ones and at least a top class right winger. That right side is useless in the attacking sense. Also this team need coaching properly. You can take that last line how you want.

 

[wolvored]

Foster made two good saves I can remember but it's not like we were constantly attacking his goal was it? West Brom didn't play particularly well apart from solidly parking the bus.

Against City we had a decent second half but let's be honest we were lucky to win that. We only managed five shots in that game, the same as against Liverpool. With so few chances being created we're expecting a level of efficiency from our strikers that is not realistic. It might work in a few matches but it's not a reliable way of getting results.

Yes this is the problem. A win is a win, but when you analyse it and see how few shots we have, its not sustainable. Even yesterday the Baggies struck first and it was quite a while before our first shot. Compare that to the other top teams who have lots more shots than we do.

 

[NinjaZombie]

I've noticed that whenever Mourinho's United win a "big game", be it a cup final or an important game against a rival, there's a huge drop-off in performance in the following game. It doesn't seem to matter how bad the opposition is - United either lose or draw the game.

A drop in form after an important game isn't unique to United, but they seem to suffer the most of any team I've seen. They almost become unrecognizably bad.

This.

It's the attitude of some of these players. There are some who are just not mentally suited to playing for a club with the expectations of United.

Raising your game against the league leaders and then losing a home game against WBA is not on. The sooner Mourinho identifies the players who switched off for this game and get rid, the better.

If it's Mourinho himself who has this attitude, then we're fecked.

 

[koop]

Can we make a request to go into each game 1-0 down? We seem to actually start attacking then. I use the term 'attacking' very loosely.

If the consequence for losing a game was no wages for a week, I'm sure we would win games like this :-)

 

[sugar_kane]

Jose’s comments about tricks and flicks etc were spot on, Mata and Sanchez were playing like it was a charity match.

It didn’t work the first time and it didn’t work any of the other ten times.

They had a simple job to do and they were more interested in trying to play like Brazil.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

One of those games where it would be unfair to single any one player out for criticism.

They were all crap.

 

[Rash Decision]

Disagree with this. I think most fans will be satisfied with attractive football with the odd trophy thrown in. Shouldn't be too much of an ask.

I suppose this depends on what you mean by the "odd trophy". A PL title every few years? Definitely. An FA Cup / League Cup every now and then but without a PL title? Have doubts about this given how we mock certain rival clubs.

 

[Silas]

Didn't understand the subs at all. Why was Mata kept on? Why take off Herrera if you planned to take off Pogba? Why take off Young then have Martial basically fill in as a LWB? Didn't seem like he had much of a plan other than throw on all his attackers.

 

[marukomu]

We didn't counter attack. Because West Brom didn't attack. We always struggle when teams come set for a 0-0. It makes their lives even easier if they nick one via a set piece.

There were 2 or 3 occasions when we had them and we just slowed it down completely.

 

[Josh 76]

Im not a Mourinho fan myself, but Simione is similar to Mourinho with his defence first tactics and hes at Atletico. It would take an awful lot of money to persuade the club to let him go even if he wanted to come. The same with Pochettino who is at Spurs. I think the other 2 are out of work. Ancellotti would be in with a shout. He did well with Chelsea. Tuchel I know has been successful in Germany and both play attacking style of football.

Simmone is similar to the Mourhino of 2005, not the present Mourhino. He is such a great coach and can play both defensive and high press. The balance is perfect. He is similar to Klopp in he identifies players for his system, rather than buying players just because they are 'world class'. He is young, passionate and hungry. We missed out on Pep and Klopp, but we can't make that mistake with Simmone.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

The calls for Simeone are hilarious!