[gerdm07]

My initial thoughts

- Memphis was too selfish and Hernandez was too unselfish. Memphis is young so that is acceptable and expected after a big game on Tuesday.
- Janucaj, if given the chance, might grow into being a very good AM. I think his problem is he wants to defer to others too much and not take on the responsibility of creating an attack. Someone needs to tell him to take charge and he is that good.
- I like Mata but his lack of speed really hinders his play and defenders really play on that. They know they can pressure him because even if he gets behind them they can catch up if he tries to dribble. This make a defense's job so much easier.
- I'm still confused of our formation. When BFS is playing so far up it really can't be a 4-2-3-1. With Mata's positioning it really isn't a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3. I think our lack of identity of a formation creates many situations where a player should be there supporting the ball, but isn't. Maybe I'm naive but I think a symmetrical formation is the best unless you have some really creative players. I would really like to see 4-3-3

Memphis....Rooney....Janucaj
.......BFS..............Herrera
.................Schneid
Shaw..Blind......Smalling....Darmian

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

To think some people said they were happy with this squad as it is. Fecking LOL

 

[JTW95]

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.

No denying he is at fault for sticking Januzaj in a position where he clearly doesn't play his best football.

As with Rooney, nobody expected him to start off so shit. He is our 3rd all time goalscorer and will be likely be our all time goalscorer in the next few years. Yes Rooney is on a slump you can't really blame LVG for expecting goals to come from one of our highest goalscorers ever?

No denying we need another striker, so if we fail to sign one at the end of the window and we keep failing to score, then yes, we probably can start blaming LVG. But lets give it a few weeks. It is still early days in the season.

 

[Riz]

Negatives
- Failed to capitalise on opening 20 minute domination.
- Did little between 20-75 minutes.
- Memphis bit selfish (not that much of a negative, think he needs to be just in the right moments).
- Rooney not up to standard for 4th match in a row.
- Missed opportunity to pull away from rivals with Arsenal playing Liverpool.
- Tried to do an Arsenal too many times and walk it in, remember Chicha in particular trying to complete a 1-2 with Mata in the box, should have just turned and shot.
- Missing that spark in attack.

Positives
- Clean sheet again, yet to concede in league. Defensively sound.
- BFS starting and getting closer to match fitness, thought he was a big influence on our opening 20 minutes.
- Created much more chances than vs Spurs or Villa.
- Rooney looked slightly better.

Overall a disappointing afternoon, should really be beating this Newcastle team at home. Still if we put that kind of performance in again I can see us winning more often than not, just need to be more cohesive and decisive in the final third.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

No denying he is at fault for sticking Januzaj in a position where he clearly doesn't play his best football.

As with Rooney, nobody expected him to start off so shit. He is our 3rd all time goalscorer and will be likely be our all time goalscorer in the next few years. Yes Rooney is on a slump you can't really blame LVG for expecting goals to come from one of our highest goalscorers ever?

No denying we need another striker, so if we fail to sign one at the end of the window and we keep failing to score, then yes, we probably can start blaming LVG. But lets give it a few weeks. It is still early days in the season.

If my some miracle he gets his record. I hope we then sell him. We have suffered too much from sentimentality.

 

[Catt]

To think some people said they were happy with this squad as it is. Fecking LOL

We look good in defence so far and are very strong in cm. You don't have to look hard to find that most think we need more upfront.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Brugge really messed up on Tuesday. Newcastle remembered the script by sitting deep. Still though the number of chances we created hints at an improved ability to break down defences. Time will tell.

 

[Dr Fink]

My initial thoughts

- Memphis was too selfish and Hernandez was too unselfish. Memphis is young so that is acceptable and expected after a big game on Tuesday.
- Janucaj, if given the chance, might grow into being a very good AM. I think his problem is he wants to defer to others too much and not take on the responsibility of creating an attack. Someone needs to tell him to take charge and he is that good.
- I like Mata but his lack of speed really hinders his play and defenders really play on that. They know they can pressure him because even if he gets behind them they can catch up if he tries to dribble. This make a defense's job so much easier.
- I'm still confused of our formation. When BFS is playing so far up it really can't be a 4-2-3-1. With Mata's positioning it really isn't a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3. I think our lack of identity of a formation creates many situations where a player should be there supporting the ball, but isn't. Maybe I'm naive but I think a symmetrical formation is the best unless you have some really creative players. I would really like to see 4-3-3

Memphis....Rooney....Janucaj
.......BFS..............Herrera
.................Schneid
Shaw..Blind......Smalling....Darmian

Memphis too selfish? Too slow by far and we now know he has no left foot and can't take corners. He will adjust to the PL I hope.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

We look good in defence so far and are very strong in cm. You don't have to look hard to find that most think we need more upfront.

Not too sure, iv seen quite a lot of posters in here that they are happy with squad as it is, even someone say we have had the best transfer window.

 

[Ixion]

We're 5 points up on last season after three games so that's something. It's obvious we're lacking up front and there is still time in the transfer window and money to spend so hopefully we can do something about it. When Felliani is back that will if nothing else give us another option.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Brugge really messed up on Tuesday. Newcastle remembered the script by sitting deep. Still though the number of chances we created hints at an improved ability to break down defences. Time will tell.

We weren't able to break teams down 12 months ago with Butthead in charge, and we are still in the exact same boat.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We look good in defence so far and are very strong in cm. You don't have to look hard to find that most think we need more upfront.

We have bodies for the midfield, but he is not using them correctly, far too defensive. The defence looks good, but we didn't need DM's today.

 

[Catt]

Not too sure, iv seen quite a lot of posters in here that they are happy with squad as it is, even someone say we have had the best transfer window.

Can't be many and think most would agree we do. As far as the transfer window goes we did buy well but we're lacking that striker to get us enough goals.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Can't be many and think most would agree we do. As far as the transfer window goes we did buy well but we're lacking that striker to get us enough goals.

That's my opinion to and seems you agree but I'm talking about the head in the sand crew who have been influenced by too much Paddy Crerand.

 

[Catt]

We have bodies for the midfield, but he is not using them correctly, far too defensive. The defence looks good, but we didn't need DM's today.

Agree we didn't against Newcastle but we are strong there and we wont see many teams running through the middle for fun.

 

[OldRed73]

Luckily Leicester dropped points too

 

[Catt]

That's my opinion to and seems you agree but I'm talking about the head in the sand crew who have been influenced by too much Paddy Crerand.

Ah good old Paddy. He probably thinks Rooney is enough and will hit 25 this season. I'm happy we look good defensively and better (on paper at least) in midfield than I can remember and although I think Rooney and the team will come good, we need somone better. Who is the question though.

 

[Sunny Jim]

I find thw whole melt down bit puzzling. We played well today.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

You actually remind me a lot of us in Joses first season back. Reminded me of the Game at Home to West Ham/Norwich. Weird how the opposite of what was expected has happened and you actually have an organized defence but woeful attackers.

 

[Jazz]

At least we have Wednesday to bounce back, instead of a whole week off to think about a shit result like last season.
Nothing we can do about this result now. Let's just concentrate on finishing Brugge on Wednesday and at least drag our arses into the CL proper.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Memphis too selfish? Too slow by far and we now know he has no left foot and can't take corners. He will adjust to the PL I hope.

He can definitely take corners. His delivery has been very good mostly. Our corner delivery now is miles better than it's been since RVP was taking them in 12/13.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Too slow, can't break teams down at this level playing like that.
We can buy a whole new forward line but if we play at a snails pace we're still going to have issues.

 

[Sultan]

Defence and midfield functioning sweetly. Smalling, Shaw, Depay and Darmian are in superb form. Today the problem was too many individual mistakes in the final third. Depay was particularly guilty. Rooney doesn't have a clue at present and his confidence looks shot.

 

[Man of Leisure]

Really don't ever wanna see Valencia or Chicharito come on late when we need a goal.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The thing with Wayne now is, he used to be able to get onto crosses and passes that you didn't think he could get on the end of. He would come up with a moment of brilliance. Now he needs others to lay things on a plate for him. That isn't happening, so he is wandering all over the place. Then when we do actually break there aren't enough people in the box to get on the end of stuff. It was only at the end of the game we sent everybody forward and tried to snatch a goal.

 

[sammsky1]

Defence and midfield functioning sweetly. Smalling, Shaw, Depay and Darmian are in superb form. Today the problem was too many individual mistakes in the final third. Depay was particularly guilty. Rooney doesn't have a clue at present and his confidence looks shot.

How does it compare to our previous great defences: Parker, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin and Neville, Vidic, Rio, Evra ?

Why do you think Rooney is so out of sorts? He looks like he is trying hard and obviously cares a lot. Is it a rapid decline in ability or simply rubbish form?

 

[Paul the Wolf]

It. Was. Offside.

IT WAS NOT

 

[DomesticTadpole]

How does it compare to our previous great defences: Parker, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin and Neville, Vidic, Rio, Evra ?

Why do you think Rooney is so out of sorts? He looks like he is trying hard and obviously cares a lot. Is it a rapid decline in ability or simply rubbish form?

The midfield is not progressing as such, it has provided more protection so the defence can function properly. However it is still isolated from the forward line. We could still chose a midfield that is protective but add the linking element as well.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

IT WAS NOT

Sorry it was offside, close but offside.

 

[Ixion]

IT WAS NOT

His upperbody was beyond the defender, you're offside if any part of your body you can score with is beyond the 2nd to last opoonent so yeah he was offside. They showed a clear angle of it at halftime on BT, his body was definitely ahead of the defender.

 

[Sultan]

How does it compare to our previous great defences: Parker, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin and Neville, Vidic, Rio, Evra ?

Why do you think Rooney is so out of sorts? He looks like he is trying hard and obviously cares a lot. Is it a rapid decline in ability or simply rubbish form?

I'm not sure. It's probably a combination of issues. Playing with new players, confidence, and he doesn't seem to have that burst of pace a top striker needs.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

His upperbody was beyond the defender, you're offside if any part of your body you can score with is beyond the 2nd to last opoonent so yeah he was offside. They showed a clear angle of it at halftime on BT, his body was definitely ahead of the defender.

He was not offside in France

 

[Scorpy]

Failing to win after a run of wins is always disappointing, because deep inside people always expect us to just keep on winning like in a video game. I can't say I'm not disappointed for similar reasons. Ending a run of wins is always a rather bitter pill to swallow.

However, these type of games are always going to happen. Sometimes things are not working and you just have to accept it, no matter how shite it is. We had a dominating period in the first 25 minutes of the game that we really should have capitalized on. Then we didn't really create anything of note in the next 50 or so minutes, which was really disappointing. We lacked urgency and that pissed me off the most. Then we missed 2-3 sitters and the luck once again wasn't on our side when Carrick's deflected shot went just wide of the post. When Chicharito missed his chance, I knew we weren't going to score today. We need more pace in the team, so that really should be addressed this month with a transfer. Mata is a very creative player and I value him, but we need another option on the wing when things aren't working out and Valencia certainly isn't. Januzaj and Memphis are very talented players, but are still too incosistent. Memphis was repeatedly going past Mbemba as if he wasn't even there but made bad choices afterwards on multiple occasions. At the moment he's fecking up the easier things and pulling off the difficult ones, it's strange. I said to a friend of mine before the game that people will expect Memphis to play every game like he played against Brugges, which isn't going to happen - at least not yet. That's why we need something extra in our attack. We can't just rely on a 21 year old to suddenly show some unbelievable consistency.

The huge positives are the midfield and the defence. We haven't conceded a goal in the Premier League so far and it's brilliant to see. The key to a successful title challenge has always been being defensively solid, so we're on the right path. If we had some more luck on our side today, things would have been different, but that's football. Sometimes quality isn't enough and you need a bit of luck as well. I'm not saying we're as good as the best teams in the world, but even a team like Barcelona can destroy their biggest rivals and then lose at home 1-0 to a team like Celta Vigo, for example.

I was fecking livid in the second half, but after the game you see things differently when the result is a fact. We should have won the game as we were the better side, but Newcastle deserve a bit of credit as well. MacClaren changed things in the middle of the first half and Newcastle became a more tactically sound, compact team and grew into the game. I think they will be better this season and will create some problems for the top sides. It's still two points dropped, but it's far from the end of the world for us.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Failing to win after a run of wins is always disappointing, because deep inside people always expect us to just keep on winning like in a video game. I can't say I'm not disappointed for similar reasons. Ending a run of wins is always a rather bitter pill to swallow.

However, these type of games are always going to happen. Sometimes things are not working and you just have to accept it, no matter how shite it is. We had a dominating period in the first 25 minutes of the game that we really should have capitalized on. Then we didn't really create anything of note in the next 50 or so minutes, which was really disappointing. We lacked urgency and that pissed me off the most. Then we missed 2-3 sitters and the luck once again wasn't on our side when Carrick's deflected shot went just wide of the post. When Chicharito missed his chance, I knew we weren't going to score today. We need more pace in the team, so that really should be addressed this month with a transfer. Mata is a very creative player and I value him, but we need another option on the wing when things aren't working out and Valencia certainly isn't. Januzaj and Memphis are very talented players, but are still too incosistent. Memphis was repeatedly going past Mbemba as if he wasn't even there but made bad choices afterwards on multiple occasions. At the moment he's fecking up the easier things and pulling off the difficult ones, it's strange. I said to a friend of mine before the game that people will expect Memphis to play every game like he played against Brugges, which isn't going to happen - at least not yet. That's why we need something extra in our attack. We can't just rely on a 21 year old to suddenly show some unbelievable consistency.

The huge positives are the midfield and the defence. We haven't conceded a goal in the Premier League so far and it's brilliant to see. The key to a successful title challenge has always been being defensively solid, so we're on the right path. If we had some more luck on our side today, things would have been different, but that's football. Sometimes quality isn't enough and you need a bit of luck as well. I'm not saying we're as good as the best teams in the world, but even a team like Barcelona can destroy their biggest rivals and then lose at home 1-0 to a team like Celta Vigo, for example.

I was fecking livid in the second half, but after the game you see things differently when the result is a fact. We should have won the game as we were the better side, but Newcastle deserve a bit of credit as well. MacClaren changes things in the middle of the first half and Newcastle became a more tactically sound, compact team and grew into the game. I think they will be better this season and will create some problems for the top sides. It's still two points dropped, but it's far from the end of the world for us.

I was surprised he didn't rest Memphis today. He looked like he was running on empty by the end of the game.

 

[DatIrishFella]

Just thinking about the game there and we were really unlucky not to come out of that with a convincing win. It was a good all round performance, but Newcastle were dogged, we were unlucky. Still, can't help but imagine what it's like to have a Sergio Aguero esque type player in your team. Someone who can score from nothing.

 

[Sultan]

How does it compare to our previous great defences: Parker, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin and Neville, Vidic, Rio, Evra ?

Those were great partnerships.

Too early to say with present defence. I don't particularly feel they have been tested in the games played. The goalkeeper is definitely not up to United standard.

 

[Scorpy]

I was surprised he didn't rest Memphis today. He looked like he was running on empty by the end of the game.

He completely disappeared in the second half and should have been substituted for Young. Problem is, teams resort to crosses and hoof balls in the final minutes and we had no one to cross to. Fellaini would have been invaluable in the last minutes of todays game, but on the other hand Shaw, Darmian and Valencia (too late for him, but still) should really work on improving their crossing abilities. Shaw's crosses rarely went past the first Newcastle player they met and it reminded me a bit of Evra's latter seasons.

 

[Spoony]

Defence and midfield functioning sweetly. Smalling, Shaw, Depay and Darmian are in superb form. Today the problem was too many individual mistakes in the final third. Depay was particularly guilty. Rooney doesn't have a clue at present and his confidence looks shot.

Defence was never going to be tested by Newcastle and the midfield wae always going to have majority of the ball. We played a poor side that came to Old Trafford and parked the bus. We looked clueless in the final third the only part of the pitch where we needed proper quality today.

 

[Sultan]

Really don't ever wanna see Valencia or Chicharito come on late when we need a goal.

After watching Darmian over the last few games Valencia looks so out of his depth a fullback. Chico is an instinctive box player nothing more to his game.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

He completely disappeared in the second half and should have been substituted for Young. Problem is, teams resort to crosses and hoof balls in the final minutes and we had no one to cross to. Fellaini would have been invaluable in the last minutes of todays game, but on the other hand Shaw, Darmian and Valencia (too late for him, but still) should really work on improving their crossing abilities. Shaw's crosses rarely went past the first Newcastle player they met and it reminded me a bit of Evra's latter seasons.

You wonder if they practice crossing or just keeping possession. Our shooting is no better. They should get Beckham in the teach them a thing or two. He wasn't quick but could swing a cross in from miles out and get in right on target. Those were the days. He also practiced and practiced.