[arnie_ni]

That is defending Smalling style!

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Nice how half the pitch is cut off. Wider shot and you'd see the unopen man in thr middle he went to mark

 

[Jonno]

I suggest you rewatch it, they slaughtered him on his defensive qualities and praised him on his attacking abilities, (Rio even said something along the lines of he should be played to his strengths i.e attacking as he was brought in for so much money) if I am bored enough later I will pull up the whole transript for you.

Funny that, he played in a 3 man midfield tonight, ie with the freedom to attack and play to his strengths and looked clueless.

So maybe naive posters on here don't quite realise the insight Mourinho has on a daily basis at training to analyse whether a player is in form or not. Mourinho was reluctant to play him, and in hindsight, rightly so.

 

[Jonno]

I suggest you rewatch it, they slaughtered him on his defensive qualities and praised him on his attacking abilities, (Rio even said something along the lines of he should be played to his strengths i.e attacking as he was brought in for so much money) if I am bored enough later I will pull up the whole transript for you.

I've never doubted his attacking ability, but unfortunately he is a passenger, they also said all the big sides in the world know how to retreat and compact themselves when they lose the ball. Lampard went on to say Pogba is a passenger in these instances. Doesn't matter if you play for Mourinho or Pep, everybody still has a duty to defend. I see KDB defending when they lose the ball. Pogba has a lot to learn whether that be under Mourinho or any other manager.

 

[Janson]

What?

The Lukaku handball, before he scored.

 

[edgar allan]

Think jose came for a clean sheet, he got it. He backs united to win at home, its an okay result, dint think they had a clear cut opportunity apart from a header. United had one good chance for lukaku. Our defense is very very poor, Valencia was running backwards as soon as their winger had the ball. Lindelof is shite.

The second half was certainly better than first one, there was some good build up between Sanchez/Pogba/Lukaku for a couple of moves. Our midfield crisis has worsened with Herrera getting injured. Mctominay must be laughing at perreira.

I would suggest Perreira is muchhappier away from this.
Any creative player is going to struggle in this team

 

[afrocentricity]

The Lukaku handball, before he scored.

'Kinnel you're about half hour late mate. I thought we had concede...

 

[Janson]

'Kinnel you're about half hour late mate. I thought we had concede...

Hahaha sorry. I can now inform you that we didn't concede.

 

[Javi]

I really liked Sevilla's passing. The players always seemed to be concerned about playing it to the best suited angle for the receiving player, making his job easier. Escudero had a good game as well, although he wasn't needed much defensively. Obvs. they lack a goalscorer.

 

[glazed]

Agreed. His scissors would beat your rock, and his rock would beat your paper, and his paper would beat your scissors. And vice versa.

His hands would move so fast it would just be a blur.

 

[Water Melon]

We were very lucky not to concede and taking into account our games preceding the second leg, I am expecting another borefest at Old Trafford with Sevilla scoring first. We seem to play with 0 effort, we look knackered and totally disjointed. I can see things go really sour for Jose if we are beaten by Chelsea and Liverpool.

 

[ti vu]

That is defending Smalling style!

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This is what I keep mention about Smalling and Blind have tendency of playing opposition onside for no reason.

It's not the biggest issue we have but we can't move on to next level with our CBs have all kind of different issue ( each to their own) like this.

Nice how half the pitch is cut off. Wider shot and you'd see the unopen man in thr middle he went to mark

The angle for an easy pass to the Sevilla player you mentioned were narrowed by Matic then McTominay tracking back. Smalling is too far to this player yet not close enough to his inital mark. For him to lose coordination of where he is and his mark had a clear attempt on goal like this, he definitely needs to take partial blame. Valencia is another one. He recently standout as sore thumb as not anticipating for when his teammate in defense failed his job. I meant he might be the least expected to deal with it, but he should have helped sometimes. Valencia has been caught out just standing still not tracking back at all for more than couple of occasions in recent games.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Nice how half the pitch is cut off. Wider shot and you'd see the unopen man in thr middle he went to mark

Smalling looking like a FIFA glitch there,