Manchester United

I thought Shaw had flopped last season but he seemed to be hitting his stride this year so a big shame for him. Who steps up into the united side for him now? Broken leg is about 3 months at least isn't it?

Rojo

He will more than likely miss the rest of the season.

That sucks, hard tackle, a foul at a glance but certainly didn't look that brutal. 

If you believe Graham Poll, then it was a penalty and a red card.

I can understand how the ref might have thought the tackle was okay at that speed and from his position

We have a private NZ Referees page on Facebook. This popped up today for discussion. Every referee that has posted on this has this a foul and a minimum yellow card. I am one of the ones advocating red because it's DOGSO (not serious foul play for the severity of tackle)

I agree with Poll and what I find odd, is that not one player even looks for the foul.

Luke Shaw - post-op leg.

Jesus that looks nasty. Hope he has a good recovery.

He seemed to be on a steep upwards curve in his performance too. Awful luck. 

Same player got a yellow later on, and also got the Ufea player of the day. Shocking.

It's a huge foul; this is the exact reason we did away with the "chop" tackles. I thought the ref had no courage all game to be honest, could have happily fizzled over.

People say the player that made the tackle looked remorseful etc, then 45 minutes later he went studs up against Ashley Young for his yellow card. Complete load of shark.

Had an interesting debate about that tackle on another forum, where some people (Man Utd fans) were claiming it to be the worst tackle of all time, and I was trying to defend it. Howard Webb was also doing some punditry on BT Sports over here and agreed with my opinion (although obviously they are just opinions). For me, it was full blooded tackle and an unfortunate accident - his leading leg won the ball fairly and his trailing leg was bent back under his body (in exactly the opposite position to the scissors position that someone else mentioned). It just so happened that his trailing leg caught Shaw while his foot was planted, and that is what caused the damage. They were both travelling at velocity and it the contact happened to happen at the split second that the most damage would be done.

In a contact sport like football there is going to be collisions and there is going to be accidents, and not everyone is malicious or worthy of further punishment.

Looks like this bloke is just a thug.

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/video-moreno-puts-another-player-on-stretcher-after-studs-up-challenge/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-moreno-puts-another-player-on-stretcher-after-studs-up-challenge

"He's not that sort of player."

Of course not, Just coincidence.

What a waste of money...

De Gea fourth best keeper in the league too

The only good thing about the game today was the three points. LVG now comes out and says we can challenge for the title. Perhaps he should watch the games I've seen this weekend-- Chelsea/Arsenal, City/West Ham, Stoke/Leicester and a couple more. We would need to sign  three world class players for that to even get close. Smalling has been OK for the last few games but is still pants. Carrick  is too slow and keeps giving the ball away and Mata ( as long as he keeps scoring) will never get dropped but disappears for 80 mins, never attacks the fullback ( and he is meant to be a wide player) only goes sideways or backwards.Southampton knew our weakness and played well for 30 mins. Had it not been for De Gea we could  have lost.

Too much procrastinating with the ball for mine,a lot of passes but most of them aren't leading to anything.Martial looks promising but the defense is still a worry.Its the first time ive seen Darmian look shaky,but hes pretty much played every game so maybe he was tired.We also look very small in front line,Van Dijk stood next to a few of them in the tunnel before the game and looked about a foot taller than most of them,so we virtually have no attacking threat in the air if Fellani doesnt play.The positive is we won,but I dont know if theres enough improvement in them to challenge for the title.

We played well today. Smalling has been playing Superb and hasn't put a foot wrong.

What did Chelsea/Arsenal show you? They both looked absolute pants. Leicester is riding a wave of form that will end soon and West Ham can't play at home. 

People need to get real and grow some patience.

I am being realistic. Smalling has been playing better than he did last season, but that would be easy. What Chelsea/Arsenal showed me is that if I were selecting my team from the three sides, how many would I pick. Smalling would not get in ahead of Koscienly or Cahill.

Memphis would not get in ahead of Sanchez or Hazard. I would probably take De Gea as he is great.

Just to give to where I am coming from. I watches a game from about 2001/02  yesterday played at Spurs. We were down 3-0 at half- time. The players in the team we had were world beaters and could actually play. Final result, 4-3 to Utd.

City have a far better side than we do. Yesterday, Southampton knew our weakness and had us under the cosh early and later on in the game.

If you remember, Smalling was responsible  for one of the goals. I have been a supporter for over 50 years and the one thing I am not is negative. I just say what I see-- and I have watched the game twice already.

Great passion Leggy. Love it. But can't say I agree with your read on the situation. I'm certainly not stoked with where we're at but it ain't as bad as you make out.

Smalling has been one of the form CBs of the Premiership so far, neither Hazard or Sanchez were any good on the weekend and our rotated midfield has started the season well. Yes, they need to play more penetritive passes but they are still adjusting to their forwards' runs - remember there's many a new combination there and things are definitely getting better.

For what it's worth I'm not sold on Darmian just yet. He was at fault for both goals against PSV - the second after he gave the ball away and was then caught out of position. Definitely worth persisting with though.

Real pity about Shaw. Hopefully who ever LvG settles on between Blind and Rojo can do the job both defensively and in linking with Memphis. Very encouraged about Martial's early performances.

I don't think it is that bad at all, but I was prompted by LVG's saying we can challenge for the title. It is quite possible as one of the things we are doing is keeping possession which makes it hard for other sides to get the ball. However we move the ball too slowly. When Southampton pressed thay did it quickly and our back four ball watched.  To win the league you  need to be very strong right down the middle. We are not. You also need players that have the class to change the game We have Schweinsteiger who I think is the best signing ( for the money) in the league this season.I would rather be in this position with LVG than under Moyes, but to even think about the title is premature.

Good debate! I'm probably slightly more optimistic but I wouldn't discount some of your concerns Leggy. Could still go either way, I'm just hoping combinations start to click soon and we lift again. On Smalling I think he's been very good which has surprised me so hopefully he can maintain that. Our midfield on paper should dominate most sides in the league IMO so it's imortant that they start to back that up. Schneiderlin showed his class this morning

How would you describe Rooney at the moment? and where and what do you see from him this season?

Fair enough. Hardly a title challenging performance this morning but the good thing is no one else is all that convincing.

The main reason for my optimism is that midfield. It's an area we have ignored for so long so I'm stoked we finally recruited there. And recruited well. I genuinely believe the title winners have the best midfields - last year Hazard was superb along with Fabregas and the year before Toure and Silva were the difference. All four of them will be back to form soon so we need to be there or thereabouts soon ourselves. But no doubt Schweinsteiger and Sneiderlin have the ability to dominate every midfield on the league along with the help of Herrera and Carrick every now and then.

Rooney will come right. Especially with the pressure off now seeing Martial scoring and Memphis has shown his class in Europe and it's only a matter of time before he replicates it in the league.

And finally don't underestimate the midfields affect on helping the defence. The job is so much easier when you're not giving the ball away willy nilly and the midfield is stopping the really dangerous balls coming through the middle.

Not saying we're suddenly a shoe-in for the title but it's not out of the question. And at least we're not fudgeen Liverpool.

I think Rooney will come right. Not the quickest anymore but still has a fantastic football brain.

The patient and methodical build up is exactly how LVG wants us to play and yes, it is not on the same level for excitement as SAFs era of style but it is (generally) effective too. When the combinations start to click up front, there should be more excitement and more goals. You cannot underestimate the impact of new players coming in (Depay, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Martial) and learning the movements of them. I would say that if we played a group of players that have been there for a year plus, then we would see more fluidity and sharpness in attack. 

Rooney is doing what he does best in recent years and is doing his job while not taking the credit. He has played below Ronaldo, Tevez, and RVP in recent years and has managed to come good each time. His work ethic and leadership is still vital. 

I know most of you aren't fans, but do you think Ashley Young should be getting more time on the pitch? Haven't heard anyone mention him here either.

Up until recently I thought he was a waste of space, but under LVG is one of the most improved players.   I would play him instead of Mata because of his pace, his defense and his ability to take players on.

A pretty disjointed 1st half with lots of poor passing. Scoring either side of half time was game over. We did the job with a few playing well, but still not right. I thought Valencia and Young on the flanks looked good( although Valencia was full back - he got forward well)

The test will be next week. Still a hell of a long way to go.

I quite like Valencia at fullback. He's not the worlds most natural defender, but has plenty of pace and strength to make up for it. Thought Darmian looked very good at left back. This is where he has mostly played for Torino in the past.

Smalling is playing the best football I have ever seen him play. Given that he is alongside a player who is not a natural CB, he's doing all he can and he seems to be on a consistent run. Daley Blind is a massively technically gifted player and he plays the ball out amazingly well from the back, but is still a little too lightweight for my liking.

Memphis has been my biggest disappointment so far this season. He often looks lethargic and doesn't seem to interested in trying to take on his defenders at pace. Martial plays in the manner that I thought Memphis would play, quick, strong, good with the ball at feet and most of all seems to have the desire to want to play.

It's a pity Schweinsteiger is getting on a bit. I would love for him to play every game. He reminds me a lot like Scholes, seems to constantly find the ball in space and just moves it along, but also has the knack for that killer little reverse pass or ball. Even under pressure from defenders I haven't seen him give the ball away yet.

All in all, things aren't looking too bad. But we are going to have to pray for a injury free season. I don't think we've got the depth particularly in the backline and the forward line to make it through the season if we pick up too many injuries.

I agree with all your comments. Schweinsteiger has  more class  than any other EPL player.

Pretty decent analysis from what I've watched of your lot this season.
Agree about Valencia, he's been very important for you guys over the last few seasons, right backs seem to have gone in and out of form, but he always seems to do a job. 

Did not see the game but have seen the goals.  I will watch the game later on today.  It just confirms what I have been saying for a year-- the back four are not good enough. They might be OK players but as a unit they have no idea how to defend, they ball watch and the communication appears to be poor. All the people that thought I was being unfair to Smalling should watch the game again. It would appear that after the first 25 mins we got back into things. Have had a look at the team selected and one has to ask how Carrick was selected. Will have a better idea later on today.

I am not worried at all. This time last season we were seventh and had a lot less points. 

There are another 30 games to go and those thinking their team are ready to take the league are a little premature. All in all I can see City winning this as they have the best squad by far.

The Arse just re-wrote what you writ IMO. Should have won by 6.

Must have been one of Arsenal's best performances in quite a while. I don't think anyone could have stood up to the pace and precision they played with to be fair. If they can maintain that form people should start to take them seriously.