[devips]

Is Martial expected to be our Hazard? It looked so from the game yesterday. A kind of free role starting from the left.

 

[el3mel]

Agreed.United seems out of idea as to how to get through a packed organized defense.Thus forcing them to desperate long shot.

I think Griezmann is a very good player to break down a tight defense.But still, we need player around him that can complement his pass and run movement.I know some of our players like Mkhi and Mata can do it but still, they are not used to do it regularly as a team.

So I think, maybe Mourinho needs to include mini game like 5 a side into their training routine to let the player accustomed to movement in tight space and built up the understanding between the player.

I think people are exaggerating the inability of breaking a parked bus. If you have a parked bus of 10 players in front of the goal with no spaces you'll always struggle to create open chances. This is when set pieces, individual skills and long range shooting come in handy. The real difference between this season and last one is we're taking advantage from corners and scoring from them, opening the goal. Chelsea has been doing this all the previous year IMO, depending on individual skills and set pieces to open the game first then hit them with more goals.

You can't keep creating clear cut chances or 1 vs 1 with the keeper when there are 10 men combined in a small compact space in front of the goal. We're not unable to break their defense. It's the normal thing IMO.

 

[prtk0811]

We look much more dangerous to score in a mid 3 than in mid 2 where pogba needs to stay deep to control the mid and counter attacks. Our goals and impact have come when we have subbed on a midfeilder.

 

[leontas]

I think people are exaggerating the inability of breaking a parked bus. If you have a parked bus of 10 players in front of the goal with no spaces you'll always struggle to create open chances. This is when set pieces, individual skills and long range shooting come in handy. The real difference between this season and last one is we're taking advantage from corners and scoring from them, opening the goal. Chelsea has been doing this all the previous year IMO, depending on individual skills and set pieces to open the game first then hit them with more goals.

You can't keep creating clear cut chances or 1 vs 1 with the keeper when there are 10 men combined in a small compact space in front of the goal. We're not unable to break their defense. It's the normal thing IMO.

I think the difference is Leicester knew we would try to attack through the middle of the park so we were afforded space on the wings. The issue is that we didn't really take advantage of this space with Valencia and Blind. They didn't really add much to our offensive play and their crossing was average at best.

 

[el3mel]

I think the difference is Leicester knew we would try to attack through the middle of the park so we were afforded space on the wings. The issue is that we didn't really take advantage of this space with Valencia and Blind. They didn't really add much to our offensive play and their crossing was average at best.

I agree that's one of the problems. Valencia annoyed me to no end today with him unwilling to beat any player or try to do a decent cross. I'm surprised Lukaku is the lowest rated player of this game in the forum. Valencia was the worst on the pitch IMO. Blind is very slow to take defenders on and his crosses are mediocre. Some are talking about Shaw but in his best days he was the type of the back that makes overlaps with the winger with his sprints well but his crosses are mediocre to terrible IMO.

Next summer we need to focus on renewing the full back area.

 

[Roosney]

Just found out it's international break. That's depressing and even more so when your national team is Finland.

Fixed.

 

[Saad138]

The problem with Valencia is that whenever he has a chance to cross he just blasts it in the box hoping that it will find a utd player and I've noticed that more often than not his blasted crosses are easily blocked. Should've gone for aurier but now that spurs are likely to get him we should try for trippier who is excellent crosser of the ball. Don't know how good he is defensively.

 

[Saad138]

And why is lukaku taking penalties ? He should be the last player on penalty duties. Everything about his penalty was wrong. Schmeichel was already parellel to ground before lukaku even struck the ball which he failed to spot and went the same way. Also the first rule to take penalties to keep the ball grounded so it's more difficult for the keeper to reach it. He failed to do even that. There were so many other players on pitch who were better penalty takers like Mata, Pogba and Martial to name a few. Heck even Rashford will take a better penalty than him

 

[royboy16]

Philippe Jones motm.

Nice to see agent P at work again at the end of the match.

Who's his new client ?

 

[Acole9]

Who's his new client ?

I think it might have been Mahrez.

 

[#07]

Felt like watching a proper Mourinho team. There was never really a moment where I thought we'd lose.

Could have done with more width and running. I am still keen to see Rashford right, Martial left. It was good in the short time we had it going.

Shout out to the manager, his subs came on a did the business.

 

[Kidders]

My line up prediction had Darmian and Herrera instead of Blind & Mata so maybe I was subconsciously crititcal of those two, however having watched the re-run this morning they did'nt play very well did they ?
Blind left some gaping holes at the back and had Leicester used Mahrez more we could have suffered, his crossing and corner taking was very poor, and his pace, well what pace, speed is an important part of the modern game which brings me to Mata, I am coming to the conclusion that if we continue with 4-2-3-1 we need a better 'mix' behind Lukaku, Mata & Mkhitaryan occupy the same areas to often, and although I appreciate Mata's off the ball movement it does'nt penetrate the opposition defense enough because of his lack of pace.
One other critism, Valencia's crossing, say no more.

 

[K2K]

We have our weaknesses but this place is just overly negative.

All our rivals have major flaws too, even City who are praised at the start of every season but are often very flawed.

Valencia's crossing was poor today, but having him in at RB allows us to play a non conventional winger on the right. He is defensively solid too which a lot of full backs fail at.

 

[dasty]

Still think we're a full back and possibly a winger away from being considered favourites for the league at this stage.

So who should be considered as favourites for the league if we are not one of them? Liverpool? City? Chelsea?

 

[togg]

Certainly a little dig from Mourinho at the atmosphere at OT today. Was anyone there yesterday? If so what was it like? Or why was it quite quiet a lot of the time? I hope it improves because he is delivering what we want in terms of results and goals. Perhaps everyone is/was just fearful, especially when we didn't score in the first half, for that moment when it hints we could be slipping back into monotony or a lack being able to put the ball in the back of the net.

 

[Bestietom]

Yes, we were dominant and should have won by more... But still a weakness showing on the left side...

We are losing the ball, time and again on the left hand side, and we will get caught out with the top teams, if we do not address it....

Perisic would be Ideal here, he is a workhorse also, running up and down the wing all day..

 

[kiristao]

Good result against a decent looking Leicester side but the performance left a lot to be desired for me.

- I wasn't aware that today's game was actually Manchester United vs Paul Pogba vs Leicester. He had what, 8, 9 hollywood shots on goal in the first half? Before presumably being told to grow up and start playing for the team at half time...and how many of these shots went into the goal or even forced a save? None! At one point he could also have played Blind in but instead he kept hold of the ball for an extra 2 seconds for literally NO other reason than to pose about like a complete prick, and THEN passed Blind the ball when it was too late. Showing off was genuinely more important to him today than his team winning the game of football. Even with someone like Gerrard, at least all the egotistical hollywood crap is with the intention of trying to in the game and take credit for it, rather than just aimed at the camera having time to show your shit haircut to everyone. When is he going to start growing up?

- Where did Blind go during that 10 minute spell where Leicester kept getting in down our left? Unless he was off the pitch getting treatment, it's time to stop playing him in any game where him vanishing into thin air for no reason might be an issue.

- Every time Lukaku got the ball he tried to do the right thing, and nearly every time it went wrong.

- Slightly concerning that we struggled to create a chance against a defence who left someone standing completely still on the penalty spot unmarked, from a corner...and then didnt stop the ball getting to him even though it arrived there at foot height. An organised team who are difficult to break down simply do not do this. Our issue was more that our attacking play was shite. It was 90% aimless balls into the box or in the general direction of Lukaku, and 10% Pogba thinking he was playing Fifa 18.

Still early days for me. I'll take that result. A lot of people saying it would have been a draw last season...but that performance and a missed penalty would have resulted in a draw a good percentage of the time today as well. Rashford was good when he came on...our defence despite being chaotic on occasion looks a lot more organised than the likes of City, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc. We do have a semi control on things which gives us a platform to win games even when we're not playing so well.

So that we get more posts like these from Noodle, we need to bring back the ratings thread

 

[royboy16]

I think it might have been Mahrez.

Maybe he had asked Pogba about Serie A ?

 

[Saf94]

And Blind still can't take a decent corner

Did you miss last week's game where he set up Bailly's goal against Swansea with his corner to Pogba?

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Genuinely don't think I could be happier with these first three games. Yes there is always room for improvement, but realistically speaking I can't really see how things could have gone any better.

 

[Bestietom]

My line up prediction had Darmian and Herrera instead of Blind & Mata so maybe I was subconsciously crititcal of those two, however having watched the re-run this morning they did'nt play very well did they ?
Blind left some gaping holes at the back and had Leicester used Mahrez more we could have suffered, his crossing and corner taking was very poor, and his pace, well what pace, speed is an important part of the modern game which brings me to Mata, I am coming to the conclusion that if we continue with 4-2-3-1 we need a better 'mix' behind Lukaku, Mata & Mkhitaryan occupy the same areas to often, and although I appreciate Mata's off the ball movement it does'nt penetrate the opposition defense enough because of his lack of pace.
One other critism, Valencia's crossing, say no more.

Have to agree with you on all accounts @Kidders...We are still weak on the left side, and Valencia tries to kick the ball through players...He just cannot cross for his life..

And Yes, we either play Mkhitaryan or Mata, but not both..

 

[MrSingh2002]

So who should be considered as favourites for the league if we are not one of them? Liverpool? City? Chelsea?

I'd say City. They have the squad and they're still integrating all the new signings while doing enough to get the points. I think it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't strengthen in those positions now when we have a chance of doing well this season.

 

[ManuMou]

Blind has been good to very good in the three Premiership games. He almost scored in one of the last two games.

Our outperformance significantly "masked" his mediocrity.

He has been average to good. Definitely not very good.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

I'd say City. They have the squad and they're still integrating all the new signings while doing enough to get the points. I think it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't strengthen in those positions now when we have a chance of doing well this season.

Have you watched them? Lucky to get a point at home to Everton, and VERY lucky to get the win at Bournemouth yesterday. For all the people moaning that we struggle to break down packed defences they look worse...and that is supposed to be exactly where their strength lies.

 

[Pavl3n]

Good result against a decent looking Leicester side but the performance left a lot to be desired for me.

- I wasn't aware that today's game was actually Manchester United vs Paul Pogba vs Leicester. He had what, 8, 9 hollywood shots on goal in the first half? Before presumably being told to grow up and start playing for the team at half time...and how many of these shots went into the goal or even forced a save? None! At one point he could also have played Blind in but instead he kept hold of the ball for an extra 2 seconds for literally NO other reason than to pose about like a complete prick, and THEN passed Blind the ball when it was too late. Showing off was genuinely more important to him today than his team winning the game of football. Even with someone like Gerrard, at least all the egotistical hollywood crap is with the intention of trying to in the game and take credit for it, rather than just aimed at the camera having time to show your shit haircut to everyone. When is he going to start growing up?

- Where did Blind go during that 10 minute spell where Leicester kept getting in down our left? Unless he was off the pitch getting treatment, it's time to stop playing him in any game where him vanishing into thin air for no reason might be an issue.

- Every time Lukaku got the ball he tried to do the right thing, and nearly every time it went wrong.

- Slightly concerning that we struggled to create a chance against a defence who left someone standing completely still on the penalty spot unmarked, from a corner...and then didnt stop the ball getting to him even though it arrived there at foot height. An organised team who are difficult to break down simply do not do this. Our issue was more that our attacking play was shite. It was 90% aimless balls into the box or in the general direction of Lukaku, and 10% Pogba thinking he was playing Fifa 18.

Still early days for me. I'll take that result. A lot of people saying it would have been a draw last season...but that performance and a missed penalty would have resulted in a draw a good percentage of the time today as well. Rashford was good when he came on...our defence despite being chaotic on occasion looks a lot more organised than the likes of City, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc. We do have a semi control on things which gives us a platform to win games even when we're not playing so well.

You must've watched some other game.

I agree about the Pogba bit, but as far as keeping possession and moving the ball quickly. 2 of his shots were very close and one was on target. Yes he had 6 shots in the first half, but with the time and space he found himself he should take shots.

Our defense looked really solid for the bigger part of the game. Of course they would push for an equalizer with 10-15 min to go and of course they would put us under pressure. They are a good team going forward. Jones was quite solid.

I think you're one of the few who are so disappointed with the team. Of course there are still areas to improve, but I think you're too harsh.

 

[ManuMou]

I think people are exaggerating the inability of breaking a parked bus. If you have a parked bus of 10 players in front of the goal with no spaces you'll always struggle to create open chances. This is when set pieces, individual skills and long range shooting come in handy. The real difference between this season and last one is we're taking advantage from corners and scoring from them, opening the goal. Chelsea has been doing this all the previous year IMO, depending on individual skills and set pieces to open the game first then hit them with more goals.

You can't keep creating clear cut chances or 1 vs 1 with the keeper when there are 10 men combined in a small compact space in front of the goal. We're not unable to break their defense. It's the normal thing IMO.

Agree. Great post.

I would add that width is also one of few effective solutions.

Martial & Mata provide almost no width at all. So the job is down to fullbacks, but they were so average/bad yesterday

 

[Bestietom]

Cannot understand why Mkhitaryan is not taking corners and even some Free kicks...This guy is like Beckham, where he can put a ball on a sixpence...

He gets the right weight and the right height, when passing long or short...Give the ball to him sometimes when we have set pieces....Games are won and lost this way..

 

[redshaw]

With Lukaku taking penalties, I understand the criticism, should've been Mata etc but we'll probably need Lukaku in a shoot out so he needs to get accustomed to taking them under pressure.

 

[ManuMou]

You must've watched some other game.

I agree about the Pogba bit, but as far as keeping possession and moving the ball quickly. 2 of his shots were very close and one was on target. Yes he had 6 shots in the first half, but with the time and space he found himself he should take shots.

Our defense looked really solid for the bigger part of the game. Of course they would push for an equalizer with 10-15 min to go and of course they would put us under pressure. They are a good team going forward. Jones was quite solid.

I think you're one of the few who are so disappointed with the team. Of course there are still areas to improve, but I think you're too harsh.

Agree with the Pogba's.

We need this kinda of CM, not every CM has the talent to do that. Sometimes he overdo it, but that's part of the learning process. He will learn and his decision making will improve over time.

 

[MkPaul]

Probably would have been another 4-0 win if Lukaku scored his pen.

 

[Eckers99]

Certainly a little dig from Mourinho at the atmosphere at OT today. Was anyone there yesterday? If so what was it like? Or why was it quite quiet a lot of the time? I hope it improves because he is delivering what we want in terms of results and goals. Perhaps everyone is/was just fearful, especially when we didn't score in the first half, for that moment when it hints we could be slipping back into monotony or a lack being able to put the ball in the back of the net.

Maybe I've got low standards but I thought the atmosphere was pretty good for the most part. Started well, the usual mid half slump but then woke up again 2nd half. Some sustained chants of 'something tells me...' and a general buoyance. I've heard much worse over the last few seasons, put it that way.

 

[Bobcat]

I love Tony for a lot of reasons, but we really need a new rightback (and a leftback).

Both him and Blind found themselves in good crossing positions several times yesterday, but both lack the quality delivery we need.

Especially seeing Valencia blast it right into the first defender for the millionth time is getting old

Edit: And Pogba needs to grow the feck up, and stop trying to show off

 

[Di Maria's angel]

@noodlehair Come on, dude. How can you extract some many negatives from that performance?

 

[Shuriken]

Lots of stuff to take away from this one. Most of it has been said by others.

I just want to chip in about two things:

Mikhi & Mata occupy too much of the same space, despite doing a good job of interchanging positions etc. They shouldn't always play together, at least not against opposition that will sit deep and pack the centre of the pitch.

Since our wide attackers tuck inside so often, we really need better offensive support on the flanks by our fullbacks.

 

[jackofalltrades]

A very solid performance, with 20 minutes of attacking excellence in the first half. They defended very well, prevented us from opening up the centre and kept us around 25 yards out bunging in crosses for the second half. Another clean sheet and a save by DDG at the very end which prevented a nervous last 7 minutes.

 

[Ban]

@noodlehair Come on, dude. How can you extract some many negatives from that performance?

Isn't that what he's famous for?

 

[Ban]

Blind is pretty average player he cost us many games last season against chelsea and under LVG against west ham involved in conceding 2 goals which ended us in 5th position. I am sure there are other games where he cost us points can't even deliver a cross nowadays.

Can you enlighten me, don't remember those occasions. Really. Many games and you mentioned only 2.

 

[MrSingh2002]

Have you watched them? Lucky to get a point at home to Everton, and VERY lucky to get the win at Bournemouth yesterday. For all the people moaning that we struggle to break down packed defences they look worse...and that is supposed to be exactly where their strength lies.

That's true but they're getting to know each other. Could be very different in 4 or 5 games.

 

[barmyarmy]

Can you enlighten me, don't remember those occasions. Really. Many games and you mentioned only 2.

1.Against city at OT last season.
2.Against Stoke last season in 1-1 draw it was his miskick that led to stokes goal.
3.Against WBA during LVG stint leaving Rondon in acres of space for an unchallenged header.
4.Against Watford again he had poor game which De gea bailed him out with lot of good saves.

I can't remember more but I am sure there are few more games too in which he was really poor. I have nothing against him he is a decent squad option.

 

[Pavl3n]

1.Against city at OT last season.
2.Against Stoke last season in 1-1 draw it was his miskick that led to stokes goal.
3.Against WBA during LVG stint leaving Rondon in acres of space for an unchallenged header.
4.Against Watford again he had poor game which De gea bailed him out with lot of good saves.

I can't remember more but I am sure there are few more games too in which he was really poor. I have nothing against him he is a decent squad option.

I am sure you can add West Ham's last game at Upton Park. He had a dreadful game back then.