[Paul the Wolf]

Frustrating, but started very well, had Rooney's goal been allowed as it should have been, would have been a completely different story. Again in little danger defensively other than a couple of break aways which were well dealt with and the header off the bar in the first half
Creating plenty of chances in the last 2 matches which people were moaning about in the first couple of matches.
Depay had an average game after a brilliant match against Bruges but is young and inconsistent like Januzaj.

We do need to sign a top class forward before the end of the window to have a really excellent chance of winning things.

 

[Will Singh]

I was trying to be positive but his does hammer it home really.

It's not good enough. We had these games under Moyes and I blamed the players a lot rather than the manager but the new manager has spent a ton, should we still be so far from a decent attacking unit really..

I don't want to say this as it killing me but we are missing Di Maria!

 

[Nights]

You nailed it.
In our first 3 games - all teams tried to play/score against us. They lost.
In today's game - once they parked the bus (PTB), for all our possession, we could not score. We saw exactly the same thing happen last year. No matter what players we use, we struggle against the PTB tactic.
It does amaze me that LVG hasn't come up with a plan specifically to deal with the PTB tactic, because we will lose a lot of points, against the PTB tactic, if we don't find a solution.

There's a reason it's called parking the bus. If it were easy to break, teams wouldn't do it. There's no "way" to deal with it, just have to find that bit of inspiration to get the goal. We don't have a Messi/Ronaldo type that'll bail us out, and our only X-factor in that situation - Fellaini - was unfortunately banned today. I think if he were in the game at the end, we probably would have snatched a win with a messy goal mouth scrambled header with elbows flying.

 

[Wumminator]

We battered them and looked really good.
Liked it.

 

[Freak]

You nailed it.
In our first 3 games - all teams tried to play/score against us. They lost.
In today's game - once they parked the bus (PTB), for all our possession, we could not score. We saw exactly the same thing happen last year. No matter what players we use, we struggle against the PTB tactic.
It does amaze me that LVG hasn't come up with a plan specifically to deal with the PTB tactic, because we will lose a lot of points, against the PTB tactic, if we don't find a solution.

We do have a plan for the PBT tactic though - Fellaini. He just wasn't available today.

 

[Name Changed]

Frustrating, but started very well, had Rooney's goal been allowed as it should have been, would have been a completely different story. .

It. Was. Offside.

 

[K2K]

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[Di Maria's angel]

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You are very welcome.

 

[K2K]

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[caid]

I missed the 'great start' so all i saw was zombie passing really.
We just moved the ball too slowly. Improved a good bit after carrick came on but it was still far from fluid.

Newcastle defended well and were tough to break down but there's too many players searching for a bit of form and trying to settle in our front 4.
Mata was decent again, memphis had a bad day and rooney and januzaj were anonymous.

Anyway, just one of them results.

 

[OldRed73]

Was I the only one who made money on the game?

 

[Michael T]

Some great football at times, but what an utter waste of two points at home - talk about frustrating to watch. Not scoring in that first half was a master-class in itself!

 

[legball]

We don't have Messi. But you play your best team. Why the hell would we play two defensive midfielders at home to Newcastle? Why the hell would we play two defensive midfielders away to Aston Villa? We need an attacking player who may unlock something in the middle instead of the constant passing out to the wing which culminates in pointless cross after pointless cross to absolutely nobody in the box who might win a header. I can understand a cautions defensive midfielder partnership against a big side, but against a relegation threatened side, it's stupid.

Remind me what Mata, Rooney, Januzaj and Memphis are? The fact that your favourite player didn't make it to the first team should maybe tell you a little bit that he's not this great saviour you think he is. The team we had out there was our best team, so, I don't know what you're going on about. We had serious issues with the final ball and decision making but all you're doing here is moan about things that really won't have made any difference today. I'm yet to see this Herrera that constantly "unlocks" defences, he's dynamic, moves it around very well and scores goals, but if you think his game is based on unlocking defences then you know very little about your "best" player, the best player we have at unlocking is Mata, and he was there for 90 minutes, he couldn't do it. Get over yourself.

 

[legball]

Carrick hasn't been our best midfielder this season. That is typical Michael has a great year, then has a Moyes year, has a great year, then not been great so far this year.

Well, I didn't say this season though, did I?

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Horrible performance, and illustrates how lucky we are to have 7 points. We've played like relegation fodder for four games.

Correction.

Horrible attacking. It shouldn't be a surprise we have 7 points. Our defence more or less looks solid, but we unfortunately lack that cutting edge in attack. We either move Rooney back to #10 and get a forward or we move Mata to #10 and get a RM. We look toothless at times, and those who blame it on Rooney needs their eyes/brain checked.

 

[#07]

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Scholesy's right, Van Gaal is overplaying how good we were. Our lack of commitment to attacking in stoppage time was ridiculous. No urgency, no risk, I could see the ref getting ready to blow and I knew we wouldn't go for one last attack. It's all about caution these days.

 

[Name Changed]

Remind me what Mata, Rooney, Januzaj and Memphis are? The fact that your favourite player didn't make it to the first team should maybe tell you a little bit that he's not this great saviour you think he is. The team we had out there was our best team, so, I don't know what you're going on about. We had serious issues with the final ball and decision making but all you're doing here is moan about things that really won't have made any difference today. I'm yet to see this Herrera that constantly "unlocks" defences, he's dynamic, moves it around very well and scores goals, but if you think his game is based on unlocking defences then you know very little about your "best" player, the best player we have at unlocking is Mata, and he was there for 90 minutes, he couldn't do it. Get over yourself.

It's our best team if we are playing away to City, not at home to Newcastle. You said it yourself, we had serious issued with the final ball and decision making. Herrara can change that. We do not need to dms against the dross of the lower half of the Premier League. And there is nothing to say that we can only play one player who can "unlock" a defence. By the way, Mata has a brilliant understanding with Herrara and between them they have a habit of combining and unlocking defences.

And remind you what those players are? Attackers. That's what they are.

 

[SirAF]

Looking forward to the day LVG walks out the door.

feck sake

 

[lem8sh]

feck sake

Is there some rule that you can't dislike LVG?

 

[SirAF]

Is there some rule that you can't dislike LVG?

Obviously not, it is just odd. You're entitled to it though!

 

[Red-Jeff]

Easily the best attacking display of the season. We were very unlucky not to score and if we had I'm sure the moaners would be singing a completely different tune. Frustrating ? Definitely. But we played well. Those last 20 mins we were very dangerous and in total control.

They would just moan about something else Some of the feckers on here are so miserable at times that I wonder why they even watch football!

 

[Jerch]

Scholesy's right, Van Gaal is overplaying how good we were. Our lack of commitment to attacking in stoppage time was ridiculous. No urgency, no risk, I could see the ref getting ready to blow and I knew we wouldn't go for one last attack. It's all about caution these days.

We thrown 9 mans into the box when we had a corner which lead to their 3 on 2 attack...

edit: In or on the edge of the box

 

[legball]

It's our best team if we are playing away to City, not at home to Newcastle. You said it yourself, we had serious issued with the final ball and decision making. Herrara can change that. We do not need to dms against the dross of the lower half of the Premier League. And there is nothing to say that we can only play one player who can "unlock" a defence. By the way, Mata has a brilliant understanding with Herrara and between them they have a habit of combining and unlocking defences.

And remind you what those players are? Attackers. That's what they are.

It's reductive thinking to suggest one player can suddenly change things, we did have more than enough to win the game. It's not our best team because Herrera is not playing? How many times do the best players get benched? He's not as good as you're making him out to be.

 

[Offside]

"You need to beat Newcaste at home to win the league" - it's true to an extent but it's also very early in the season. He himself played in a home draw v Newcastle in the first game of the season not long ago where we finished up Champions.

He was talking as though we have never drawm at home before ever. Result isn't everything. Performance was much better today.

 

[Michael T]

Correction.

Horrible attacking. It shouldn't be a surprise we have 7 points. Our defence more or less looks solid, but we unfortunately lack that cutting edge in attack. We either move Rooney back to #10 and get a forward or we move Mata to #10 and get a RM. We look toothless at times, and those who blame it on Rooney needs their eyes/brain checked.

Yes, I really felt for him when his goal was disallowed - would have been a very different game had that counted.

 

[Name Changed]

It's reductive thinking to suggest one player can suddenly change things, we did have more than enough to win the game. It's not our best team because Herrera is not playing? How many times do the best players get benched? He's not as good as you're making him out to be.

He's far better than you are making him out to be. Most of the fans seem to be screaming for him to play more. The fans at the ground were singing his name because they wanted him on. They didn't want to see Valencia come on.

Today was ideal for him. Nobody is suggesting that one player can change absolutely everything, but one player can sure make a difference. And Herrara, as proven before, can make a difference.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Well, I didn't say this season though, did I?

He was good when he came on, but slows it down. As someone else said if he had actually started he likely wouldn't have been as good. Maybe this is how it has to be with him now.

 

[Dante]

We need to take more pot shots from outside the area. Opposition defenders find it far too easy to sit back and make last ditch blocks. If we started being a threat from 30 yards out, they'd have to come out more often. The threats we pose are far too predictable.

 

[walkinhop]

Correction.

Horrible attacking. It shouldn't be a surprise we have 7 points. Our defence more or less looks solid, but we unfortunately lack that cutting edge in attack. We either move Rooney back to #10 and get a forward or we move Mata to #10 and get a RM. We look toothless at times, and those who blame it on Rooney needs their eyes/brain checked.

It is hunger and movement that i don't like. If he won't be as brutal as he was a few years ago, then he should learn how to position himself in the box. He is ok at receiving the ball to feet but aint tall enough to be a target man in the air. He doesn't offer that much at the moment.

 

[legball]

He's far better than you are making him out to be. Most of the fans seem to be screaming for him to play more. The fans at the ground were singing his name because they wanted him on. They didn't want to see Valencia come on.

Today was ideal for him. Nobody is suggesting that one player can change absolutely everything, but one player can sure make a difference. And Herrara, as proven before, can make a difference.

And so too can all the players that were there today.

 

[OneUnited24]

We battered them and looked really good.
Liked it.

Its how i saw it. But its funny, against Tottenham when we won we only had one shot on target and people were saying "i would rather have a good performance then a boring win". Now after a good performance the same people are saying its appalling we didnt score...

Its still early in the season and performances are improving. It'll click soon enough

 

[Kag]

The result is poor but the football was better than the two league games prior.

Newcastle at home should always be a comfortable win. It's not the end of the world, however.

 

[Raw]

So we've conceded 4 on target v Spurs, 2 v Villa, 1 v Brugge and 0 v Newcastle.

At least there's some improvement there

 

[Van Piorsing]

That was pretty predictable outcome to be honest. You can't just dump half of attacking formation (RVP, Di Maria, Nani, Falcao) and then just throw whole goal scoring responsibility on Memphis because Rooney is a sacred cow.

 

[Name Changed]

And so too can all the players that were there today.

But they didn't, and weren't, so maybe a change in the middle might have made a difference, rather than the stupid, pointless substitution of Valencia for Darmian.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

In the first half, especially the first 20-25 minutes, we looked really good, had some decent chances, and I guess at that's when we had to capitalize. Unfortunately, we didn't, and Newcastle started to gain confidence from there.

Second half, Newcastle defended very well. They were deep and compact, and we really struggled to create anything. We did get into some good crossing areas, but our crossing was really poor today. Either under-hit or over-hit.

Overall, I think we did enough to win the game. We had good chances, especially from Memphis, Hernandez and Smalling, but we just it just didn't happen. I think had we scored, especially early on, we would have won the game convincingly. It would have meant Newcastle had to come out, thus leaving us more room to counter and create chances.

I do still think we need width on both sides, though. We need to stretch teams, especially against teams that are going to defend so narrow. Get two wingers and put Mata down the middle.

 

[siw2007]

Really frustrating result in the end. I don't think Newcastle could have done anymore in regards to defending so well done to them. We started the game playing really well with some fantastic quick passing with Schweinsteiger being the fulcrum of the play. Unlucky to get the goal ruled out, I don't know if it was offside or not but we should have made that pressure count. The game went dead for us for a while and did well to put some late pressure on. Defensively we look imperious but Rooney, Januzaj and Depay went missing when we needed their ability to break down Newcastle. Mata tried hard to create something but felt he didn't always make the right call.

The performance was okay but we should be getting 3 points here. Also think we are missing that world class forward who can decide games like this as you can put as much pressure on as you like but if the defensive team are playing well then you need some inspiration and I don't think we have that.

Onwards to Brugge and hope we get the job done.

 

[JTW95]

Newcastle lose every away match. Thay're fecking shite despite throwing bodies everywhere.

We played two defensive CMs for 94 minutes against them at home.

We need a fecking striker to partner Rooney up front.

I reckon LVG is not faultless.

I am not saying he is faultless but we had our chances to win today. LVG can't put the ball in the back of the net.

 

[legball]

But they didn't, and weren't, so maybe a change in the middle might have made a difference, rather than the stupid, pointless substitution of Valencia for Darmian.

It might, and it might not have made any difference, that's the point. I'm done.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I am not saying he is faultless but we had our chances to win today. LVG can't put the ball in the back of the net.

He knew that we had problems up front, Januzaj will never, ever be a prolific goalscorer and Rooney is on a terrible slump, not just this season but at the end of last season when we could have done with some goals from him.