We've taken four points from Chelsea (H) and Wolves (A). These two fixtures last season netted us one point. Sure we probably feel like we should've won tonight but we've got to look at in context at the same time. The changes that Ole is trying to implement are there to see already.
Manchester United (Part 2)
It wasn't a bad pen. A good save I reckon.
Great save but WTF Pogba, Let the man on form with pens take them, not your own ego.
Great save but WTF Pogba, Let the man on form with pens take them, not your own ego.
Having watched, and seen the exchange between the two on who was going to be taking the penalty, Rashford didn't actually look that confident in wanting to take it.
Great save but WTF Pogba, Let the man on form with pens take them, not your own ego.
Having watched, and seen the exchange between the two on who was going to be taking the penalty, Rashford didn't actually look that confident in wanting to take it.
I remember Wynton Rufer talking about penalty taking. His belief is that the player who wins the penalty should not take a penalty, he feels there is too much emotion and adrenalin pumping through a player to allow them to be cool and clinical in the taking of the penalty. The confidence angle from players is sometimes blurred by players egos who might believe they are prepared and good enough but in that instance confidence doesnt equal sharpness of mind and body
Add to that, if my memory serves me correctly, Rashford had just shanked a free kick as well. I'm not surprised he didn't take it.
I feel sorry for Rashford, all this debate has done is increase the pressure on his next one.
Add to that, if my memory serves me correctly, Rashford had just shanked a free kick as well. I'm not surprised he didn't take it.
I feel sorry for Rashford, all this debate has done is increase the pressure on his next one.
That is why he is paid around 250000 pounds a week.It is part of the job.
Great save but WTF Pogba, Let the man on form with pens take them, not your own ego.
Having watched, and seen the exchange between the two on who was going to be taking the penalty, Rashford didn't actually look that confident in wanting to take it.
I remember Wynton Rufer talking about penalty taking. His belief is that the player who wins the penalty should not take a penalty, he feels there is too much emotion and adrenalin pumping through a player to allow them to be cool and clinical in the taking of the penalty. The confidence angle from players is sometimes blurred by players egos who might believe they are prepared and good enough but in that instance confidence doesnt equal sharpness of mind and body
Sound reasoning. The situation just seems a bit odd to be honest. Rashford won the penalty in the Chelsea match and he leathered it past Kepa after pretty much just grabbing the ball after being fouled and putting it on the spot before Pogba could get a word in. Don't understand why just a week later he wouldn't be confident enough to step up?
Anyway, Crystal Palace in a few hours up at Old Trafford. Picking a United win, I think I went 3-0 with the score, but just eager to see us come out and control the game after Wolves away earlier in the week.
Cahill should not be on the pitch.
If VAR can't rule on that.... but is going measure every marginal offside down to the nearest millimetre count me out. What a waste of time. Finally get in behind a team sitting extremely deep and referees fudge us.
Can't really explain that 1st half, but if i had to sum it up in one word, thar word would be - woeful.
No tempo, no cohesion, too much dallying on the ball and no decisiveness. Without knowing the exact stats, we've had about 70% posession for no shot's on target, and then a long ball header for Palace from Schlupp to Ayew and we're down 1-0, which could easily have been 2-0 not long after.
Pogba seems almost uninterested and is looking generally frustrated, and how Lingard keeps getting starts is beyond me, it's a little ridiculous. Don't know what Pereira did after the Chelsea game, but surely he has to be starting agead of Lingard.
I hope OGS gave them a serve during the break because that first half performance was bleak!
Martial through on goal and held back AGAIN. VAR has now ignored two blatant red cards.
Lingard off, there is a god!
Dan James now given a yellow for diving after get kicked in the knee.
So to recap:
1. Cahill last man foul on Martial not given as a red
2. Martial turns last man outside box, gets pulled back all the way into box no penalty or red given
3. Dan James carded for diving after getting fouled on edge of box
Absolutely disgraceful and what a waste of time VAR is.
F U C K!
And piss off with a yellow card for James for simulation, clearly got him on the knee!
... another penalty not given.
Grabbing people who've beaten you is OK apparently. VAR has no issues with it.
Sigh
To a previously toothless Crystal Palace, and at Old Trafford no less...
Pretty hard to take that one...
I refuse to be consumed in negativity against the players - sure we started off slow and conceding was terrible but we lost because of the referee. What a disgrace.
I refuse to be consumed in negativity against the players - sure we started off slow and conceding was terrible but we lost because of the referee. What a disgrace.
The only thing I will say about the players is that Lingard cannot continue to start. He might be energetic and up for the high press and chasing down everything he can, but he offered next to nothing going forward, turning the ball over too much in the process. Go back to Pereira (I seriously don't know why he hasn't started since opening day v Chelsea) starting in that advanced play-maker type role sitting in behind Martial, with Rashford and James either side of him.
I get that the referee and some decisions looked at through VAR were perplexing, which will surely be up for review at some point this week. The one decision that really pissed me off though was James being booked for a dive in that second half when it was clear he got kicked in the knee...
In saying that we were profligate in front of goal. Considering the amount of possession we had, it felt, and looked like we ran out of ideas going forward a lot of the time. We knew what Crystal Palace were going to do, they were always going to sit deep and keep it tight and hit us on the counter and they executed that pretty much to perfection.
It's disappointing either way it get's cut up, but we need to dust ourselves off and move on to Southampton down on the South Coast next week, get back on track and look to pick up the 3 points before the International break.
Agreed re Lingard, I think he was just being given a "final" opportunity - even the commentator could smell blood and started criticising his end product. I'll be very surprised if Pereira doesn't start next week.
It would be great to see Gomes there, kind of weird we haven't already, but us fans often forget that we don't see these players day in day out at training. So maybe still a bit more work for him to do.
The ref had a poor game and there were some bad decisions but the fact is we are not good enough. Possession at 70% with 20 odd shots. Palace had 5 shots and scored 2. This team are not good enough to challenge for the top 4 as I have mentioned so many times. A lightweight Manager and coaches who I feel are out of their depth.
The alarm bells should be ringing as in the last 2 games we have got 1 point out of 6 and have conceded 3 goals. Our midfield is pretty weak and our front 3 could not strike a match. As I have no high expectations this season I can handle finishing mid table if Ole starts doing what he promised to do and that was get rid of the dregs and uses all that young talent he has. Lingard would be lucky to get in any other EPL side, more like Championship sides.
I meant to add that we have only won 3 out of the last 15 games in all competitions. Says it all.
Send Lindgard our way, he'd tear up the league.
Send Lindgard our way, he'd tear up the league.
If you like porno :)
Agreed re Lingard, I think he was just being given a "final" opportunity - even the commentator could smell blood and started criticising his end product. I'll be very surprised if Pereira doesn't start next week.
It would be great to see Gomes there, kind of weird we haven't already, but us fans often forget that we don't see these players day in day out at training. So maybe still a bit more work for him to do.
I wish Pereira would get the sort of leeway Lingard has had. Pereira hasnt exactly set the house on fire but all he ever gets is a game here and there but never a run to get himself set. I do think there is a very good player in there but just needs a fair chance from a string of games, something he really hasnt had.
So looks like Martial and Shaw are out this weekend. I'm desperately hoping they'll use Dalot and Greenwood as replacements, but I can guarantee they'll go with Young and Mata.
So some of you in here must be glad to see Smalling and Sanchez have been loaned out to Italian clubs (possibly not to return)...
Zlatan for January? would play a role off the bench?
Zlatan for January? would play a role off the bench?
"Zlatan does not trial sit on the bench"
Zlatan for January? would play a role off the bench?
God no.
Be interesting to see how we come out against Southampton, hopefully Ole's been breathing fire on the training ground this week because we need a reaction and a performance this week. To be fair though, Southampton look half decent at home and I reckon they were unlucky not to grab a point against Liverpool the other week, so not going to be a cakewalk - although I wouldn't mind a game like was played at OT between these two sides in the latter part of last season.
I seriously hope Pereira get's a start this week, really need something else in that midfield, and Lingard is not that something else.
Nice early kick off too to start the weekend. Looking forward to it.
Still a little bit early in the piece, but Daniel James could be one of the signings of the season. Another wicked finish into the top corner, and considering the fees paid nowadays, looks great value for money.
Pretty average first 10 or so minutes but since then, we've been all over Southampton. Looking a lot more balanced and composed today.
So so many unforced errors. So many passes with the wrong weight or behind players. So many poor crosses or wrong options taken. There needs to be even more players replaced, a gut job of epic proportions needed. So many players simply not at the level needed. A long long way from being able to compete for a title and top 6 looks out of reach already relative to the player performances seen so far.
Need 11 players who can play football for 90 minutes. Each player misplacing 3 passes each isn't good enough.
That was absolutely terrible. Very few positives.
Also our set pieces are appalling. We've signed potentially the best header of the ball in the league and we haven't found him from a corner once.
Thought the first half we looked up for it and deservedly were in front at the break despite a lot of breakdowns in the play and misplaced passes and unforced errors where we ended up giving the ball away needlessly as has been mentioned in previous posts.
Second half, and again that was just disappointing. Not too much more to say really, no zip, minimal urgency, bereft of ideas going forward, and ultimately dropping another two points. James was a bright spark and was a good outlet on that left hand flank. Easily our best player on the day. Pogba doesn't look like he wants to be there, a shade of himself considering what he started putting out when OGS first took over the reigns, he had a really poor game - Loose control, turned the ball over on too many occassions (several turnovers at the backend of the first half within a couple of minutes alone) and just, as I say he doesn't look happy to be out there.
A big job to turn it around. Unfortunately looks like we're going to be well off the pace again this season, even the top 6 looks a little aspirational for us at this stage...
So so many unforced errors. So many passes with the wrong weight or behind players. So many poor crosses or wrong options taken. There needs to be even more players replaced, a gut job of epic proportions needed. So many players simply not at the level needed. A long long way from being able to compete for a title and top 6 looks out of reach already relative to the player performances seen so far.
I am going to change my pick for the top 6 as I doubt we will get close.
Not enough Lindgard this week!
So so many unforced errors. So many passes with the wrong weight or behind players. So many poor crosses or wrong options taken. There needs to be even more players replaced, a gut job of epic proportions needed. So many players simply not at the level needed. A long long way from being able to compete for a title and top 6 looks out of reach already relative to the player performances seen so far.
I am going to change my pick for the top 6 as I doubt we will get close.
Im going to join you with a change as well. I remember Andreas from the U20 WC we had here a few years ago and he looked amazing although even then inconsistent. I really wanted him to succeed but I just cant see it now. He has all the great footwork and movement and does so many things so well but then he can be so far out of tune with whats going on. That can happen in the same game too. I honestly thought with the teams we were playing in the opening 6 games we would be in the top 2 or 3, thought it would be the sort of gentle fixture start that would be a catalyst for a good season. I now think from what I have seen from the last 3 or 4 games its going to be a tough season to watch. Im probably going overboard now but this feels like the weakest Utd squad since befoe Fergie arrived.
We haven't got the squad to get anywhere near the top 6.