This season was always going to be a free pass for me. But if he persists with Fellaini and sitting back and defending against the top teams next season, that'll be unforgiavle. We should be aspiring to go toe to toe with the best teams and outplay them. Even Liverpool manage to do that ffs.
Is Mou still 'The Special One' for you all?
- Thread starter Edgar Allan Pillow
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He will need to spend £1bn to be special at this rate
Dont agree with this. Away from it is good tactics. At home, maybe yes, but away from home we have to be conservative.
Yeah and Liverpool get destroyed at home by Palace and Swansea.
Let's not get too dramatic.
Only time I recall us being that negative was the 1st leg at Barcelona in the CL during the 2007-2008 season.
It was just awful tonight. I don't mind us being conservative and setting up to hit teams on the counter, but we showed zero intent to attack for 99% of the game.
Why? Why cant we match other teams playing away? Thats how you win leagues playing to win
A good point, a loss would have been a disaster so for me, Mourinho got it right tonight.
We've a lot of games under Ferguson more negative than today. Remember the away game at city when they won on gd?
Playing like we did tonight was the only right strategy considering how depleted our squad is and the fatigue. This is not FIFA.
Atletico Madrid.
Typical Mourinho performance against a "superior" team. IIRC you often saw the same style in Barca vs RM games.
He did right today I thought.
There was intent to counter, just wasn't the execution. The amount of times Herrera won the ball in the middle of the park and played it to Fellaini only for him to send the ball backwards with his first touch was countless.
This would have been a completely different game with Pogba imo. He would have been able to play his way out of the press, which is one of his best traits, would have been able to win the ball back without having to headbutt players and could have played balls over the top into space, abusing the pace we had. Carrick was sat too deep and doesn't have the legs to get forward, so that's to be expected. Herrera was too busy doing a job on their attackers and Fellaini couldn't play a through ball if you gave him 15 minutes on the ball.
I'll happily take that point, thought we'd lose before the game started given the state of our squad.
There's being conservative and then there's being excruciatingly negative. Martial was playing as a full back and Valencia didn't get forward once which is what you might expect in an away leg against Bayern or Real Madrid but not a City side who are only a point above us.
We beat Chelsea just recently whilst they beat us 4-0 in Stamford Bridge. Even Peps Barcelona team lost 3-1 to Inter Milan away from home. Being away from home makes a huge difference and its psychological. Barcelona lost 4-0 to Psg in Psg and then hammered them at home. Can you see the pattern?
It is naive to think we will match City in City. The performance was the perfect one bar Herrera not scoring in the first half and Fellaini getting sent off.
We're the best team in the league on away record so not sure how people can whine 
May not be pretty but gets the job done, pretty much what we expected no?
May not be pretty but gets the job done, pretty much what we expected no?
The long unbeaten run is looking better now.
And he's starting to get to his usual level with the big games. Good win v Chelsea, and good result in the circumstances tonight.
Let him have another recruitment summer, and have his best team out, and we'll see a better performance still.
And he's starting to get to his usual level with the big games. Good win v Chelsea, and good result in the circumstances tonight.
Let him have another recruitment summer, and have his best team out, and we'll see a better performance still.
It's effective but bloody hell it's uninspiring. A point is a good result tonight, sadly City are just better man for man so I can understand the decision not to engage in a fight on their terms. It's just depressing as a Utd fan because we used to be the buccaneering, ballsy team. Now we are painfully pragmatic.
I thought he did fine tactically today. Especially with all the injuries
Carragher and Neville seem to be impressed with it
Carragher and Neville seem to be impressed with it
Considering how much of a boost a win today would have been, surely no-one can be happy with our approach to the game?
It's a good point but not a point you're proud of. Unnecessarily negative tactics. We played like bottom-table team.
It's a good point but not a point you're proud of. Unnecessarily negative tactics. We played like bottom-table team.
He's making do with what he has. After the summer if he's still persisting with the likes of Fellaini, Darmian etc. then he has to take responsibility for their failings.
He literally did this all the time with Chelsea. Some of you must have only started watching Football this season.
We attack and go toe to toe with City today and we get thrashed, remember we have no Pogba, Mata, Zlatan, Smalling and Jones.
I am very happy with this result
We attack and go toe to toe with City today and we get thrashed, remember we have no Pogba, Mata, Zlatan, Smalling and Jones.
I am very happy with this result
How many times they won the league over the last say 10 years?
You are not giving City the credit they deserve given in is in City. We would play the exact same against Bayern and Madrid or Barcelona. But if we were at home we would attack. Dont give out to me that is simple football. Any game away from home in the PL or CL is difficult.
I really hate this fake 'purism' around these days. It's a very recent phenomenon. Before people started thinking it made them a connoisseur of football by noticing Barcelona play well, you really didn't get people moaning if every single game wasn't pretty.
One day we'll win a match 6-0 and someone will complain they didn't "feel" it, and then pass out on a fainting couch and a butler will call for the smelling salts. We don't play like this all the time it's few and far between when it makes sense and needs must. Some would be better swapping football for looking at pretty pictures.
One day we'll win a match 6-0 and someone will complain they didn't "feel" it, and then pass out on a fainting couch and a butler will call for the smelling salts. We don't play like this all the time it's few and far between when it makes sense and needs must. Some would be better swapping football for looking at pretty pictures.
Don't worry Mourinho knows how to win league titles
Once
This. They would have cut us open. Just cant make some people happy.
On the bright side a point today means we can still win the league .
There isn't a single team in the premier league that would take a league title away from Barca or Madrid, Atleti in the last few years have. You don't win leagues by being stupid and going away from home and exposing space when half your squad is depleted. If we tried going gung-ho we would have allowed so much space and they would have punished us. Fellaini and Carrick are much too slow to make up the space they would have left.
I agree.We're the best team in the league on away record so not sure how people can whine
May not be pretty but gets the job done, pretty much what we expected no?
I don't know, I appreciate the result and I understand that we need to conserve as much energy as possible for the Europa League. I just feel that our approach to play today was not entirely logical. EVERYBODY knows their defence is terrible, and with our 3 in midfield we SHOULD have outnumbered them there and controlled the game. Why not use our pace and try to get in behind their defenders as much as possible today?
Ahh, whatever. So long as we do well in the EL I don't mind that much. From the outside looking in 0-0 vs City is an OK result.
Ahh, whatever. So long as we do well in the EL I don't mind that much. From the outside looking in 0-0 vs City is an OK result.
Reminds me of his 13/14 season back at Chelsea. It's clearly not the team he wants, especially going forward, but he's able to get the most out of it defensively, and lay the groundwork for the second season. In which he's won the league at every club he's been at.
This a 100%.
I dont agree. How abot if Citys goal had of stood? We would never have pulled a goal back Playing 10 at the back only opens it up to being attacked over and over. When we got the ball back it was a hoof hit and hope tactic. Im not saying go gung ho, but I would hope we were better than doing that. I hope after the summer transfer window we neever play like that again.
It's always going to happen and as both teams improve their sides which we hope we do.. this will continue. You can all moan but Fergie did the same thing. Cost us the league one year too with Kompany.
But still gives us top 4 in our own hands and Liverpool will probably draw against Watford regardless.
But still gives us top 4 in our own hands and Liverpool will probably draw against Watford regardless.
At home yes. Not away from home with missing players.
Even so if we had Pogba and Zlatan, he would have played the same way and correctly so.
It's a good point but can't really warm myself to the result after all the other games where we've dropped points.
Tactics were spot on today. We came in to an away fixture against a top 4 rival with three important players out, against an opponent at full strength. We were very fortunate to come away with a point. Had we attacked more, City would've almost surely thrashed us 3-0, especially when you factor in the red card.
Exactly
Which is why we were set up not to concede.
First manager since Fergie who I feel has a plan to develop us long term and who I can see is making progress game to game. He has made us hard to beat, more windows will help at the other end.
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