[Faetheshire86]

The fact has is playing them and has given them new contracts, then they owe him and the fans a performance.

Mourinho's job is to formulate a plan and then get 11 players to execute his plan on the field. Going by his own words, he failed at the second part of that tonight.

Some people will say that it's down to those 8 individuals who didn't perform. Some will say it's not a coincidence that 8 players all under performed and that the problem is with either the plan or Mourinho's ability to motivate/train the players.

My point is, regardless of what side you fall on (and honestly the answer as always is probably somewhere in the middle), those 8 under performing players are all players that Mourinho has selected. They were the guys he thought could execute his plan and he was wrong. Some might say they aren't good enough, but there were 7 players available tonight that Mourinho bought and more than 3 that he has given contract to, ie. he believed they were good enough to stay. So if only 2 of those guys are good enough, then the failure is ultimately his.

 

[ravi2]

For far too long, yes!

Thats too bad

 

[Hugh Jass]

Good to get the win. Performance could have been better. You would swear we were playing Spurs or Bayern Munich.

 

[Josep Dowling]

It’s all a bit dejavu of the last few months of LVG’s reign. Not playing well, not creating anything attack wise but being very clinical with one or two chances we get in a game.

It does feel like the players have given up for the season.

 

[TMDaines]

We seem to have real difficulty getting in the opposition box. Not checked the stats, but it feels as if other teams have far more touches in our box.

BT mentioned tonight that over our three home games this week, we had six shots on target and five goals. That’s ludicrous.

 

[James Peril]

It’s just the consequences of playing the way we do. We can’t go from defensively stable to blitzkrieg from a game to another, no team does it like that. Impossible. When one of our players gets the ball, he touches it, looks up, takes another touch, looks forward, thinks about what’s safe and passes it squarely to another play in the same position - but without penetration or risk. All of that takes 4 seconds. At City, that would be four passes, at least one through the first chain of press, trying to open space. All about speed and quickness, which we lack entirely.

We have no space to attack in because we are very, very slow and risk adverse, based 100% on the fact that we want to be defensively stable first and foremost.

 

[redmanx]

Maybe I just forget too quickly, but are we more boring now than under LvG or Moyesy?

Watching paint dry is far less boring than watching a Van Ghastly team play football

 

[promisedlanchiao]

Ok performance with factors from the sevilla game affecting them. Not pretty but good win and a trip to Wembley!

 

[Velvet Revolver]

It’s just the consequences of playing the way we do. We can’t go from defensively stable to blitzkrieg from a game to another, no team does it like that. Impossible. When one of our players gets the ball, he touches it, looks up, takes another touch, looks forward, thinks about what’s safe and passes it squarely to another play in the same position - but without penetration or risk. All of that takes 4 seconds. At City, that would be four passes, at least one through the first chain of press, trying to open space. All about speed and quickness, which we lack entirely.

We have no space to attack in because we are very, very slow and risk adverse, based 100% on the fact that we want to be defensively stable first and foremost.

This! Our players take too many touches to either control or decide what to do next. All the while being completely static.

The attacking players are all waiting for the ball but dont make any runs. Once the ball is sent away from the defense the wing backs stop moving forward. This means there is no width, the wingers have to cut inside and get central.

There were so many instances today where a simple cross from the flanks would have sufficed, but instead, the player stopped, cut inside and passed sideways.

Example 1: Martial gets the ball he looks to his left - shaw is not making an overlaping run, he decides to cut inside and is immediately met with 3-4 players who are compact and there is no space. Not only does it remove the space for the attacker to work with but it also allows the opposition to organize their defense

Example 2: Ball is squared on to Valencia who drives down, there are no one opposition players in sight. Instead of a first-time cross, he decides to cut it and take few touches and passes. Needless to say, the chance is gone.

I dont know if this is bad coaching or players not reading the situation or players unable to make decisions or all of these combined. We gave the same excuse when LVG was at the helm. Seems like a pattern developing!.

Having said that both goals today were simple football- precise delivery & well-timed run, no rocket science involved.

 

[redmanx]

Meh performance. I expected more. I wanted us to do to Brighton what Liverpool did to Watford but this is the reality we have under Mourinho. He would rather protect a lead rather than keep going and add a second, third and fourth. Very boring to watch. Just like the LVG days. With the players we have we should be smashing teams 4/5 nil. Through to the semis but I'm not confident. If we get Spurs next round I don't think we'll beat them playing like we are now.

Liverpool are below us in the Prem and out of the FA Cup, they've won feck all for years. Yes, at times they play exciting, cavalier football, but most self respective scousers would exchange that for an FA Cup, Europa League Cup or League Cup (or whatever its called now) which, oh, bugger me, we've won those in the last couple of seasons. The days of Fergie, Keane, Cantona, Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Ole Gunnar, Ronaldo, et al have gone and we have to come to terms with that; we'd all like to see those days return but they've gone; now we need to win the FA Cup and really put in a decent challenge for the Prem next season; at this moment in time winning is everyrthing as we cannot afford to be also rans any longer; if being top of the tree again means we are boring for a spell, so what? There are at least 18 teams in the Prem who would swap places with us right now.

 

[marukomu]

Half time was good.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I thought we looked way more positive than Sevilla and our players actually tried to pass the ball around and find the openings. We didn't create too much, but you can't expect players to instantly click when we change the team up every game. Continue with this team and see how it goes. Mourinho's post-match reaction was overly dramatic imo.
There was no need for the negativity.

 

[RedMilo]

Just got back from the game, a 2 hour journey has taken just about 4 hours and had to be dug out by police as got stuck on A6 between Buxton & Stockport - scary stuff.. I thought the game was an improvement on the Sevilla showing but far from a response. The main thing was the result, we are through. Shaw looked unfit but didn't understand the Mata substitution as I thought he was linking play quite well. Just heard JM hanging his players out to dry in the media, another act of petulance on the managers part - cant stand the bloke..

 

[pjaya]

If SAF still incharge and those player play like that.... there definitely will be boots flying ala bootgate 2

This time I think mourinho is correct.... the players let him and fans down. No fire in their play.

 

[eat_grass]

Booo! Hiss! I'd rather lose an exciting 4-3 than win like that! Booo! Hiss!

Am I doing "shitty fan" right?

The players are clearly trying (especially Lukaku -- great performance again), and the manager is making all the moves to get them rolling offensively. Something just isn't clicking yet. But a win is a win.

 

[eat_grass]

Just heard JM hanging his players out to dry in the media, another act of petulance on the managers part - cant stand the bloke..

Which part?

 

[stevoc]

Liverpool might be scoring a lot of goals, but they still haven't anything since 2012. And we might be playing the worst football, but we have won 3 trophies since Ferguson has left. Five points above them and still have a chance to win a trophy this season. What would you rather have, good football without trophies or boring football with trophies and better league position?

You're right they haven't anything since 2012, will they anything before 2022?

 

[marlowe78]

I took a walk after the match (the sun was out here) and had a good dinner to reflect on things and to my disappointment, I feel far less excited about reaching Wembley compared to when we beat West Ham two seasons ago.

With so much talent in this squad, I find it depressing just how bland our football is. It feels like our games are played in a vacuum, where Mourinho's tactics are what determine the game rather than what the players' qualities can actually produce. It's a fact of the sport that players sometimes just don't fire or get it right on a particular day but our play has been insipid for most of the season and I have a hard time blaming the players for that. At the moment, we seem to have an entire attacking squad out of form except for Lukaku and motivation seems to be taking a gradual nosedive over the last few weeks.

We deserved to win today on the balance but no one had a particularly good game except for Matic, Lukaku, and Romero. Justice was served on the goals, since both Matic and Lukaku have put in the work recently to deserve them.

Outside of these guys, you had a few okay performances and others who were poor. I thought Bailly and Smalling were fine, while Valencia looked foolish more than once. The Shaw substitution was bullshit IMO, I though he was fine in the first half before getting hooked for Young.

Needless to say, our attack was much better in the first half before it went to pot after the break. We showed good patience in the first half when dealing with Brighton's low block and Matic made a superb cross to set Lukaku up for the header. The second half, to be honest, was shocking to me in how poorly we went forward. In chasing the game, Brighton tried to open up play and gave acres of space for us to move the ball through...yet our passing was all over the place and our runners couldn't seem to hold onto the ball for very long.

After some bright moments in the first half, Martial became very poor. Mata also became a non-entity. Lingard was nondescript pretty much the entire time he was on. McTominay I thought gave a pretty decent performance. Yes, he gave the ball away a couple of times but considering his age, I think he was no worse than anyone else on the pitch.

We're through to the semis, so in that I can't complain but having watched this dreck and then seeing Jose trash a lineup that he himself set out (not that I disagree, it was poor), you wonder what direction we're really going in...

 

[eat_grass]

The "Mourniho's tactics are to blame" brigade better hope not too many people watch this video, because it exposes their ignorance in full:

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

The "Mourniho's tactics are to blame" brigade better hope not too many people watch this video, because it exposes their ignorance in full:

Sorry, but did you see the game against Sevilla? We were clearly set-up to hoof the ball to either Lukaku or Fellaini and bypassed midfield, ending up in us not being able to string 3 passes together. This is just Jose Mourinho's side of it. I could just tell you that he is a poor attacking coach and that he doesn't know how to transfer his ideas properly to the players.

It doesn't help that we keep changing our attacking players for each game, or playing players out of position. We can't expect them to click when they aren't playing consistently. Especially young players like Martial and Rashford, who are great talents, but will have drops in form here and there. They need to play to develop that consistency.

 

[Nori-]

It's like theres a constant circus around Mourinho and he willingly adds fuel.

He should stop calling out players, going on 12min rants or taking jabs at other managers and focus on getting this United team actually playing some football.

It feels like this is all to distract people from how badly we are actually playing.

 

[Raees]

This is masterful siege mentality stuff by Jose. He's completely distracted the media from the Sevilla game and got us into FA Cup quarters with no fuss.

All the attention is on him, and he's deflecting pressure from Pogba and Sanchez hopefully they return to form. Some harsh words spoken but can't wait to see the players respond with some fire in their belly.

Am I doing it right?

 

[kouroux]

I just know one thing, the season cannot end soon enough.

 

[automaticflare]

If SAF still incharge and those player play like that.... there definitely will be boots flying ala bootgate 2

This time I think mourinho is correct.... the players let him and fans down. No fire in their play.

Get over Ferguson ffs man

 

[Savvas Themistocleous]

The atmosphere and specifically was some of the best in recent memory. I could distinctly hear the songs being sung. Proud of the crew representing at the stadium.

 

[ti vu]

Strange. He was happy with the attitude after Sevilla.

My guess is after a defeat, the players were upset enough and they were supposed to understand it themselves.

This is another game where we (everyone interested in the club) want to see the reaction. And this is not exactly the reaction we want. We won the game, but the display doesn't show the bounce back needed after a bad result. This is the same issue that we faced after the defeat to City. We threw away points feeling pity about past result instead of bouncing back

 

[eat_grass]

Sorry, but did you see the game against Sevilla? We were clearly set-up to hoof the ball to either Lukaku or Fellaini and bypassed midfield, ending up in us not being able to string 3 passes together.

We were set up to attack Sevilla, and did so for the first ten minutes with interlinking play. That's when Lukaku's best two chances in the first half took place. But because United failed to convert either of them, Sevilla were able to gain a foothold in the game and grow in confidence, and United reverted to their defensive mentality. Even still, Fellaini ended up with two great scoring chances, one which was saved by the keeper, and another that was blocked by a defender.

You're wrong in your analysis of the game.

This is just Jose Mourinho's side of it. I could just tell you that he is a poor attacking coach and that he doesn't know how to transfer his ideas properly to the players.

Yeah, the manager that set the goal scoring record in La Liga with Madrid "is a poor attacking coach and that he doesn't know how to transfer his ideas properly to the players." He's managed to win four European trophies, and dozens of League titles, but is a poor attacking coach.

It doesn't help that we keep changing our attacking players for each game, or playing players out of position. We can't expect them to click when they aren't playing consistently. Especially young players like Martial and Rashford, who are great talents, but will have drops in form here and there. They need to play to develop that consistency.

It's not ideal, I agree. But playing them in a single position for long stretches -- even in spite of bad form -- didn't work either. How many people were cutting themselves in anger over Rashford not being benched during his long stretch of bad form? I get sick of hearing "this is United blah blah blah," but in this instance it's true: this is United, where carrying kids on the pitch for long stretches isn't an option. So you mix and match and look for something that works. Again, it's not ideal, but it's something that's worked before.

 

[Kostov]

Our team is consisted of very unintelligent individuals. Sometimes you watch them and think this guys don’t share half a brain between them.

 

[Treble]

Our team is consisted of very unintelligent individuals. Sometimes you watch them and think this guys don’t share half a brain between them.

You are too harsh, Kostov.

 

[AngliaRed]

Was it the trial for the L stands singing section?

Was probably the most noise I’ve heard from our support at OT in ages. Sounded really loud, lots of old chants and a good new Mctominay one. Lets hope the club keep it moving forward.

 

[Kostov]

You are too harsh, Kostov.

Luckily I slept on that, if I expressed my opinion last night it could have been worse.

 

[togg]

Hmmm, I don't think I've ever reacted so 'meh' to getting into a semi-final as I did last night. Bit sad really. Glad we are there, but to be honest, if we keep playing like this, that is as far as we're going to go. I'm actually, for the first time, looking forward to the summer break!

 

[vidic blood & sand]

Fell asleep. Just found out Matic added a second. Nice one.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

Booo! Hiss! I'd rather lose an exciting 4-3 than win like that! Booo! Hiss!

Am I doing "shitty fan" right?

The players are clearly trying (especially Lukaku -- great performance again), and the manager is making all the moves to get them rolling offensively. Something just isn't clicking yet. But a win is a win.

Are you a ball boy at old trafford or something?
We're second in the league as a result of cowardly negative football. The players are clearly unhappy at being restricted and unable to express themselves.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Awful game, good win.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

The "Mourniho's tactics are to blame" brigade better hope not too many people watch this video, because it exposes their ignorance in full:

Nonsense.

A team as strong as ours shouldn't have to park the buss one game, attack another game etc
We should be good enough to bring our attacking game to every match, and leave the burden on other teams to try and deal with it.
Changing tactics all the time just confuses players.

 

[Offside]

The "Mourniho's tactics are to blame" brigade better hope not too many people watch this video, because it exposes their ignorance in full:

Nonsense. All that shows is him deflecting blame. His tactics, stubbornness and Man management are a major problem.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I don't disagree with this, but at the same time, the situations feel very different.

It's not that Woodward won't have a plan, but rather he'll be very, very reluctant to have to enact it. It'll take much more that what we're currently seeing for anything to happen.

Mourinho will have this summer to make sizeable changes. If said changes don't bring about change and yield success, then a decision will have to be made. But as it is, Mourinho is clearly steadfast in his belief that it is the players who'll be shown the door before he is. He's no fool, he wouldn't have said what he has done in that post-match interview without being confident of how the chips will fall.

He will have seen Valencia not being able to play two games on the trot and destroying every attack we make. That he felt he had to bring Ash on when he obviously wanted to give him a bit of a rest

Nonsense.

A team as strong as ours shouldn't have to park the buss one game, attack another game etc
We should be good enough to bring our attacking game to every match, and leave the burden on other teams to try and deal with it.
Changing tactics all the time just confuses players.

We haven't really been that swashbuckling side for years. How can we be when we have nobody who isn't constantly injured to play it out from the back, we do not have functioning fullbacks in an attacking sense and the right side when Mata plays is completely pointless. Until that changes we will be lopsided and easy to deal with. You have to have threats from everyside.

 

[Mockney]

It’s great how the two players he’s recently singled out for praise scored. That’s good man management.

It’d probably be even better if he hadnt made everyone else at the club feel like shit.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

We were set up to attack Sevilla, and did so for the first ten minutes with interlinking play. That's when Lukaku's best two chances in the first half took place. But because United failed to convert either of them, Sevilla were able to gain a foothold in the game and grow in confidence, and United reverted to their defensive mentality. Even still, Fellaini ended up with two great scoring chances, one which was saved by the keeper, and another that was blocked by a defender.

You're wrong in your analysis of the game.

What i saw was players afraid of playing the ball on the ground. We had no players who could actually retain possession. We had 5 mins in the start where we played with some intensity, as a home team would normally do, but the game settled quickly and Sevilla took control in midfield. We had one chance in the first half with Fellaini, but that was really it. The Lukaku chances wasn't even chances, one was a punt from out the box and one he didn't even get a touch on. You could see our main plan was to get it to Fellaini. I don't think de Gea passed it to our defenders once, he always kicked it up to Fellaini. The game was lost with the players chosen and the tactics we had deployed for the day. Introducing Pogba to midfield with Matic and Lingard was just a car crash waiting to happen, we have seen that several times this season.

The players was certainly not without blame, but the manager has to take most of it.

Yeah, the manager that set the goal scoring record in La Liga with Madrid "is a poor attacking coach and that he doesn't know how to transfer his ideas properly to the players." He's managed to win four European trophies, and dozens of League titles, but is a poor attacking coach.

It was a stupid comment and i take it back. What i meant is that it easy to spin it this way for Mourinho, and simply say that the players are not doing what he wants. I don't see what was so different from this Brighton game and to all the other matches we've won. Plenty of times we have needed some special quality, wether that's from a Martial/Matic/Lingard screamer or a cross into the box for Lukaku to head in. I don't remember too many swashbuckling team goals this season.

I'm not even complaining about the way we played, i thought it was fine against Brighton. We won that's what matters. Mourinho didn't think many of the players did too well though.

It's not ideal, I agree. But playing them in a single position for long stretches -- even in spite of bad form -- didn't work either. How many people were cutting themselves in anger over Rashford not being benched during his long stretch of bad form? I get sick of hearing "this is United blah blah blah," but in this instance it's true: this is United, where carrying kids on the pitch for long stretches isn't an option. So you mix and match and look for something that works. Again, it's not ideal, but it's something that's worked before.

The perfect situation was when Martial and Rashford was battling for that LW spot. One of them played a bad match, then the other got the chance and vice versa.
Alexis Sanchez came in to the side which resulted in Martial and Rashford getting shunted out on the right. I do hope that Mourinho can get something out of our attackers, because he said himself that he won't buy any in the summer.