The Official Manchester United Thread (Vol 11)

[Gone a bit AMG]

GTO-3R said:

uk66fastback said:

Spin it on its head and ask yourself how many Utd players Eddie Howe would have in his team. You’d be surprised I reckon …

In a heart beat he would take:

Rashford
Casemiro
Eriksen
Verane
Martinez
Shaw

We were st yesterday but there does seem to be a massive over reaction..

There’s always a massive over reaction on here. Newcastle were better prepared, at home and smarting after we beat them at Wembley. We are still 4th but we’ve played more football than any other team in Europe and Eriksen and Casemiro are hugely missed when they are out. Plus Eddie Howe had fewer players away on international duty. Hence them being better prepared.

ETH can’t prep players if they are away and let’s see if we can put that 4-0 shambles right on Wednesday.

[Cie]

GTO-3R said:

uk66fastback said:

Spin it on its head and ask yourself how many Utd players Eddie Howe would have in his team. You’d be surprised I reckon …

In a heart beat he would take:

Rashford
Casemiro
Eriksen
Verane
Martinez
Shaw

We were st yesterday but there does seem to be a massive over reaction..

Indeed. People forget how bad we were and that we’d have to be patient to get back to where we want to be.

[bstb3]

I don't think you can underestimate the impact of missing Casemiro, Eriksen and a mobile no.9 up front to be honest. I know it's easy, seems like an excuse, but it doesn't prevent it being true.

We've been shocking in midfield for years prior to this season. Unsurprisingly, once that was addressed, we looked much better - up until the Reading cave troll took out Eriksen. After that Casemiro did a job of holding us together as best he could, but once he is out we are back to square one - and lo and behold we struggle in a tough away game.

That's compounded as we can't even play past the midfield to anyone up front, since WW isn't really putting enough pressure / hold up play and certainly not offering anything for the opposition CB's to be afraid of - so they can push up and only really need to worry about Rashford. That puts the squeeze on our midfield even more, and crap happens. You also then have DDG, nervous in possession at any time, who hasn't got a midfield to try to pass to, or long ball option on. So he has to go short, every time, which brings pressure. It's a completely toxic mix with Eriksen and Casemiro both out, and until we can get it sorted with replacements it's not likely to get better.

At this point I honestly hope ETH just trusts either Martinez to move forward to DM or brings Mainoo in. We are so desperately crap on the ball in there otherwise. Playing Bruno deep doesn't work. Playing McTominay doesn't work. With Fred anything can happen and poor Sabitzer hasn't got a chance to adapt playing alongside such chaos.

[franki68]

Gone a bit AMG said:

There’s always a massive over reaction on here. Newcastle were better prepared, at home and smarting after we beat them at Wembley. We are still 4th but we’ve played more football than any other team in Europe and Eriksen and Casemiro are hugely missed when they are out. Plus Eddie Howe had fewer players away on international duty. Hence them being better prepared.

ETH can’t prep players if they are away and let’s see if we can put that 4-0 shambles right on Wednesday.

I don’t think so ,since Barca we have looked pretty poor tbh.
I don’t buy the ‘tired ‘ nonsense either .

[LF5335]

franki68 said:

I don’t think so ,since Barca we have looked pretty poor tbh.
I don’t buy the ‘tired ‘ nonsense either .

Players are getting injured more easily, or carrying small knocks because they’re playing every 3-4 days. It tires you out, it’s not nonsense. Rashford clearly isn’t fit, but has to,play, so his injury has less time to recover and / or gets worse. This is possibly true of quite a few players.

We got it wrong yesterday, you’re right we’ve not been great since Barca. Maybe this kick up the arse it what we need to try to improve for the remaining couple of months of the season. Brentford on Wednesday will be crucial.

[franki68]

LF5335 said:

Players are getting injured more easily, or carrying small knocks because they’re playing every 3-4 days. It tires you out, it’s not nonsense. Rashford clearly isn’t fit, but has to,play, so his injury has less time to recover and / or gets worse. This is possibly true of quite a few players.

We got it wrong yesterday, you’re right we’ve not been great since Barca. Maybe this kick up the arse it what we need to try to improve for the remaining couple of months of the season. Brentford on Wednesday will be crucial.

There is a lack of quality ,Weghorst is a championship player,mctomminey is useless,sancho is an under 17 player who can’t cope physically with the prem,Antony has one foot .Dalot despite a good start to the season is awful .
Liverpool managed to do ok last season despite playing every 3 days ,we’ve done well In the past playing every 3 days ,how many games less have arsenal played this season 4 or 5 ?
If players are not rotated that is down to the manager so
That’s why we cannot accept tiredness as an excuse nor does ETH talk about it because he knows it’s his choice to play the same players repeatedly .

[57Ford]

franki68 said:

…Antony has one foot…

It was painfully obvious twice yesterday when he was well clear of Burn and could have put it on a plate for Rashford with any kind of cross with his right foot. He had to stop and turn around to retain possession which gave them chance to get back.

[GTO-3R]

57Ford said:

It was painfully obvious twice yesterday when he was well clear of Burn and could have put it on a plate for Rashford with any kind of cross with his right foot. He had to stop and turn around to retain possession which gave them chance to get back.

I'd rather Pellistri be given a go on the right. At least he runs at, and around defenders to get a cross in much like Garnacho.

[LF5335]

franki68 said:

There is a lack of quality ,Weghorst is a championship player,mctomminey is useless,sancho is an under 17 player who can’t cope physically with the prem,Antony has one foot .Dalot despite a good start to the season is awful .
Liverpool managed to do ok last season despite playing every 3 days ,we’ve done well In the past playing every 3 days ,how many games less have arsenal played this season 4 or 5 ?
If players are not rotated that is down to the manager so
That’s why we cannot accept tiredness as an excuse nor does ETH talk about it because he knows it’s his choice to play the same players repeatedly .

I was agreeing at the start, but then things changed. I was clear yesterday tht McTominay isn’t good enough and didn’t get swept up in the international goals hype, I’ve also been critical of Weghorst recently. The rest fair enough too.

Comparing us to Liverpool and Arsenal is poor.

Liverpool were a matured side built by a manager over 5+ years. They’re crap this year, because he hasn’t refreshed it, but that’s a different story. We can’t be compared to a team that’s won the big trophies in recent years. A lot of self belief and flair comes from that, we simply haven’t got anywhere near that level yet.

Arsenal, whilst they haven’t won much recently are in the 4th year of the same manager and have been through some pain it that time. He’s built a reasonable team (although I still think they’re over performing). They’ve played 11 games less than us this year btw, 3 in the FA Cup, 6 in the Carabao Cup and 2 in the Europa League. That’s virtually a third of a PL season, so quite a big difference.

[franki68]

LF5335 said:

I was agreeing at the start, but then things changed. I was clear yesterday tht McTominay isn’t good enough and didn’t get swept up in the international goals hype, I’ve also been critical of Weghorst recently. The rest fair enough too.

Comparing us to Liverpool and Arsenal is poor.

Liverpool were a matured side built by a manager over 5+ years. They’re crap this year, because he hasn’t refreshed it, but that’s a different story. We can’t be compared to a team that’s won the big trophies in recent years. A lot of self belief and flair comes from that, we simply haven’t got anywhere near that level yet.

Arsenal, whilst they haven’t won much recently are in the 4th year of the same manager and have been through some pain it that time. He’s built a reasonable team (although I still think they’re over performing). They’ve played 11 games less than us this year btw, 3 in the FA Cup, 6 in the Carabao Cup and 2 in the Europa League. That’s virtually a third of a PL season, so quite a big difference.

11 is big difference fair enough .But you can’t play Bruno every minute of every game and complain about tiredness this is a managerial issue .Did he need to pick strongest teams in some of the cup games as an example .
And rashford has just had a two week holiday as did some others .

The truth is we all know there is a lot to do but we aren’t as far along in the ‘process’ as we thought we were earlier in the season .

[57Ford]

GTO-3R said:

57Ford said:

It was painfully obvious twice yesterday when he was well clear of Burn and could have put it on a plate for Rashford with any kind of cross with his right foot. He had to stop and turn around to retain possession which gave them chance to get back.

I'd rather Pellistri be given a go on the right. At least he runs at, and around defenders to get a cross in much like Garnacho.

Yes, inverted wingers are all the rage but they do have to be able to mix it up a bit else they are easily neutralised. As I’ve said before, I’m sure it’s being worked on in training with Antony.

[LF5335]

franki68 said:

11 is big difference fair enough .But you can’t play Bruno every minute of every game and complain about tiredness this is a managerial issue .Did he need to pick strongest teams in some of the cup games as an example .
And rashford has just had a two week holiday as did some others .

The truth is we all know there is a lot to do but we aren’t as far along in the ‘process’ as we thought we were earlier in the season .

I think we’re agreeing, just from slightly different angles, or misunderstood points. Bruno for example, I thought you me at that being tired was nonsense, whereas it makes sense that he is and rotation would definitely have helped there, especially in matches that were dead rubbers like the second leg against Forest. It’s just the lack of squad, that means there really isn’t anyone to step into that role.

Rashford is definitely carrying a knock. I’m not sure that he should have played, as he was very ineffective and his injury could be made worse. Remember a couple of years back when we lost him for a huge chunk of a year due to the back injury and continuing to play him. Then what that did to his form the following season?

[G-wiz]

One shall be mostly swerving MOTD2, this week.

[G-wiz]

Spurs are applying pressure now too on us,
Spurs FFS, the spineless jessies.

[Athlon]

5th due to our terrible goal difference.

Well done Everton for getting the draw. Three teams on 50 points !

[Paddymcc]

bstb3 said:

I.

That's compounded as we can't even play past the midfield to anyone up front, since WW isn't really putting enough pressure / hold up play and certainly not offering anything for the opposition CB's to be afraid of - so they can push up and only really need to worry about Rashford. That puts the squeeze on our midfield even more, and crap happens. You also then have DDG, nervous in possession at any time, who hasn't got a midfield to try to pass to, or long ball option on. So he has to go short, every time, which brings pressure. It's a completely toxic mix with Eriksen and Casemiro both out, and until we can get it sorted with replacements it's not likely to get better.
.

This pretty much sums up Sundays performance. Such a disjointed performance, no midifeld wanting the ball, the ball not sticking up front, passes into front men going anywhere but their intended targets.

I was hoping he would stop this Weghorst nonsense and play rashford through the middle, there's enough cover for the wings.

Even trying Martinez at no6 while Casemiro is out. He can play some really good passes through the lines.

[GTO-3R]

We've got 2 games in hand on Spurs so no panic from me yet. Tomorrow nights game is a big one!

[Gone a bit AMG]

GTO-3R said:

We've got 2 games in hand on Spurs so no panic from me yet. Tomorrow nights game is a big one!

Exactly. Spurs are a basket case at the moment. Brighton can’t be ignored and a decent win for Liverpool tonight against Chelsea will kick them on. It’s open but we are in a decent position. Certainly better than anyone expected given our start to the season.

[LF5335]

Gone a bit AMG said:

Exactly. Spurs are a basket case at the moment. Brighton can’t be ignored and a decent win for Liverpool tonight against Chelsea will kick them on. It’s open but we are in a decent position. Certainly better than anyone expected given our start to the season.

Yep. There’s still effectively 1/3rd of the season to go for us. All of the teams (probably apart from City) in the fight for a Top4 finish will drop points between now and the end of the season, including us. Don’t forget if we manage to win the Europa League then we’re in the CL automatically.

[simon800]

Will we score our first premier league goal since February tomorrow, that's the question.

3 blanks in a row. Will Wout start? He's becoming a meme!