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Manchester City 3:1 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sun, 11 November 2018

Bilbo

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The fact we signed Fred had no bearing on the lack of CB's. It's not that we ran out of money, the club just vetoed the CB's the manager wanted
I'm not convinced. Harry McGuire fits the profile. Sure, if the prices reported are true he would have been overpriced, but then who isn't these days.
 

Bilbo

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Ask Woodward. He readily spent on Fred. Then refused to spend on required defenders. And he doesnt have a 'we cant afford it' excuse
I think it's time that we all stopped making excuses for the manager. I'm not yet in the camp that wants him fired right now, but I am firmly in the camp that thinks he is not doing a good enough job.

Ferguson won multiple titles with squads full of the type of player that you think are killing us.
 

sunama

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Sadly, yes.. :(
Making money though only takes you so far. Eventually brand will get hurt in the long run.
I've been hearing that for 5 years, but so far, profits are at record highs. Given this, I don't see Woodward worried. If/when our profits fall, Woodward will look to act.
Personally, I think Jose will be gone in the Summer.
 

sunama

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The fact we signed Fred had no bearing on the lack of CB's. It's not that we ran out of money, the club just vetoed the CB's the manager wanted
So why didn't Woodward tell Jose to give him new CB targets who are younger/cheaper? I mean, this is obvious, isn't it?
 

ravi2

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Sadly, yes.. :(
Making money though only takes you so far. Eventually brand will get hurt in the long run.
As soon as the Glazers determine that the profits are about to nosedive they will sell for 4B+
The only put in .5B so this makes financial sense plsu they never cared about the club anyway, we are nothing more than another one of their investments that they will buy low and sell high
 

AndyMUFC

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We were poor and lucky that we managed to get back into it through Ederson being daft. They weren't even that good for over half of the game but were still comfortably the better side. Obviously the Juve game being days before wasn't ideal preparation but one shot on target and that being a penalty is not good enough for a United side in a derby.

It didn't look like a line up capable of giving them a good test without Pogba and that proved to be the case. They can handle not having De Bruyne but we have nobody of a similar profile to replace him.

The gulf between the two sides is pretty surreal to be honest.
 

charlenefan

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So why didn't Woodward tell Jose to give him new CB targets who are younger/cheaper? I mean, this is obvious, isn't it?
Price wasn't the problem, Woodward said it himself 100m was there had we been able to get Varane. Inter say they rejected an offer from us for Skriniar who they obviously wouldn't go to 100m for because he wouldn't bring in shirt sales

It's not on Mourinho that we didn't get a CB in the summer (it's on him that those he has bought aren't good enough but that's another debate)
 

peridigm

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Man united goal difference -1

Man City goal difference +31
The derby result aside as we expected a loss but this is one of the many reasons Jose needs to go. We're miles off and not doing any better than 3-4 matches ago. Results against New Castle, Everton, Bournemouth and that major bit of luck at Juventus proves absolutely nothing. 12 points back after 12 games with -1 GD sums up our play.
 

Ban

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I've been hearing that for 5 years, but so far, profits are at record highs. Given this, I don't see Woodward worried. If/when our profits fall, Woodward will look to act.
Personally, I think Jose will be gone in the Summer.
Probably. Do we trust Ed with the next manager?
 

Sterling Archer

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As one of the most difficult games of the season, if not the most difficult, this is not the defeat we should be most worried about. The next few games are winnable though and we need to win all of them.
I really appreciate what you've written here .It helped bring me back to a calm . The loss hurt but seeing some of the mindless criticism here was really boiling my blood.

One of the key take aways from this match is the role of attacking players. Every single one of this, admittedly brilliant City side dives into tackles , chases second balls and plays with the grit of a side trying to compensate for technical ability with effort. It's admirable. And yet on this forum we sit arguing that Martial is too good too track back. That Jose expects too much defensive work of his attacking players. A sincere feck off. City's high paid 'mercenaries' show more desire and willingness than ive seen across our squad since we had SAF to give the hair dryer treatments. Worse yet our fans here seem to think that's acceptable . I blame the executive staff. And equally question some our fans with their criticism. Just as much as attacking is part of our culture so is hard feckin work. The latter is a foundation to build on and the former icing on the cake. Yet so many want the cherry on top before we get the basics right.
 

The Purley King

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Jose gut it badly wrong in midfield today.
Matic is done. Fellaini is fellaini (although was less shit than the other two today) and herrera was badly off the pace.
No creativity there whatsoever.
Team wise there was so little fight it was embarrassing. Fully deserved loss.
 

SteveJ

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2020 derby:

COMMENTATOR: "I see that City are fielding 26 players..."
CO-COMMENTATOR: "Still, their play is wonderful."
COMMENTATOR: "Indeed. Three cheers for City! "
 

sunama

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He should have stuck Fellaini as CF and got Fred on and slung everything into their box.
I'd have done that.
Make Fella our CF. Hoof long balls to him, so he can chest them down and give the ball to Rashford/Martial. Basically, this would've bypassed the midfield completely and put pressure on their defence.
 

sunama

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Jose gut it badly wrong in midfield today.
Matic is done. Fellaini is Fellaini (although was less shit than the other two today) and Herrera was badly off the pace.
No creativity there whatsoever.
Team wise there was so little fight it was embarrassing. Fully deserved loss.
Agreed on all points.
 

2 man midfield

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Can we just all agree that Fellaini isnt as trash as people think?

Wish the rest of our players had your attitude.

Edit: And after seeing this game, maybe some of them should had some of your passing too.
He's either not as bad as we used to think, or the team around him has dropped to his level. I'm leaning more towards the latter.

We used to have some players who weren't half bad technically, great in fact. Nani, Rafael, Evans, Kagawa etc. Of course if you sell them all and replace them with half a dozen cloggers who run around like 60-a-day smokers then yeah, he probably doesn't stand out quite as much.
 

sunama

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Not sure if this has been posted, but just in case it hasn't....

 

jderbyshire

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Gulf between the sides was obvious.

  • One side was positive, creative, etc... the other was incapable and tried to defend for their lives.

  • But it doesn't matter how many men you keep back in your box... if they can't defend well, we're gonna concede.

  • Smalling has always had the physical attributes to be a top defender, but not only does he lack technical skill but he can't read the game.

  • Don't we have any creative midfielders other than Pogba? (Fred? Pereira?) Without him, we don't have a clue. We played with three defensive midfielders today, so it's no wonder that our only goal came from a penalty.

  • City are simply a different class from us - we are so clearly the inferior team and it's heartbreaking to acknowledge that. We're beating them in terms of revenues and profits, but not on the pitch, not in the league table. Why?

  • It's only November, I know, but let's face it, any fantastical title aspirations we may have had are gone. It's all about Top 4 now. I thought Spurs were having a lackluster season... today I realised they were 7 points ahead of us.
 

Irrational.

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I'd have done that.
Make Fella our CF. Hoof long balls to him, so he can chest them down and give the ball to Rashford/Martial. Basically, this would've bypassed the midfield completely and put pressure on their defence.
Yep - I can guarantee Fellaini would hold the ball up better and compete aerially much more competently than Mr Universe 2018.
 

JG3001

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There’s nothing enjoyable in the way we play. How a team so expensive can play so bad is baffling. We don’t look like a football team, it’s painful to watch
 

baskinginthesun

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Not sure if this has been posted, but just in case it hasn't....

Obviously disappointed but, stood up for his team, it seems. Didn't really throw anyone under the bus and just put it down to a couple of mistakes. Thought he handled the questions well.
 

RedAlways78

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Post match interview he thinks we played well but made mistakes? I agree with made mistakes but I don’t see how we played well.
 
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RedStarUnited

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I really appreciate what you've written here .It helped bring me back to a calm . The loss hurt but seeing some of the mindless criticism here was really boiling my blood.

One of the key take aways from this match is the role of attacking players. Every single one of this, admittedly brilliant City side dives into tackles , chases second balls and plays with the grit of a side trying to compensate for technical ability with effort. It's admirable. And yet on this forum we sit arguing that Martial is too good too track back. That Jose expects too much defensive work of his attacking players. A sincere feck off. City's high paid 'mercenaries' show more desire and willingness than ive seen across our squad since we had SAF to give the hair dryer treatments. Worse yet our fans here seem to think that's acceptable . I blame the executive staff. And equally question some our fans with their criticism. Just as much as attacking is part of our culture so is hard feckin work. The latter is a foundation to build on and the former icing on the cake. Yet so many want the cherry on top before we get the basics right.
You can not compare Martial playing a whole game as an auxiliary left back to a City player closing space high up top. Im sure if you asked Martial or any attacker where they would rather be defending from, they will tell you from the top. Our strategy as a team is to allow the opposition to come on to us, it's a strategy that I just can't accept to be honest.
 

Mike Oxard

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There can be no complaints. They are much, much better than us in pretty much every position bar the goalkeeper. We have to dust ourselves off and start all over again. It’s only 3 points.
 

Scholsey2004

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You can not compare Martial playing a whole game as an auxiliary left back to a City player closing space high up top. Im sure if you asked Martial or any attacker where they would rather be defending from, they will tell you from the top. Our strategy as a team is to allow the opposition to come on to us, it's a strategy that I just can't accept to be honest.
Agreed. I'm finding it more and more difficult to bother watching our games, which in a spectator sport seems a pretty fundamental problem.
 

Cantonagotmehere

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Bummer. We have a long way to go but United will get there.

If I have to watch a match with that Arlo guy and Le Seax (Sp?) again I might chop my ears off. Feck them to the moon
 

hobbers

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We've got so many players who are absolutely shite with the ball and it just looks so comical when you play them all against City.

Smalling, Young, Matic, Herrera, Lingard, and then Lukaku when he came on... all of them absolute garbage with the ball at their feet under the sort of pressure City showed. They were humiliated again and again. Obviously we already know that Smalling, Matic and Lukaku are hopeless with the ball in any situation really, even under no pressure. Fellaini is pretty shite with the ball but these other guys make him look like Pele.

Building any sort of coherent attacking team is not going to be possible with a spine of players that are so fundamentally bad at basic ball control, weighting their passes, or even just simple awareness of what's going on around them.
 

izec

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We got taught a footballing lesson to be honest, almost felt like watching Barca against us years back in the CL final again. We are so far behind them, it isnt even funny.
 

Foxbatt

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The only thing I can say is that Jose needs to go. I know it may not be a quick fix but at least get someone who can get the players to play football. Losing this way is unacceptable. I can can accept losing but at least try to play football and lose. Not like this shite.
 

The holy trinity 68

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Our form of late has been very good, we were expected to lose to Chelsea, Juve and City, yet the results of the 3 games is DWL, which is decent.

Other than today, we have been doing well lately, I wouldn’t worry too much from today. They are the best team in the country. Hopefully we can go on a good run after this set back, as every other team is easier to play against than City.
 

Pfmpd

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When are united going to get shut of mourinho, break the Bank for poch?

You actually have a team there that wants to attack, join in with the teams that are doing what clubs should be and play attacking football.

Is it purely because the club doesn't want to pay through the nose to change managers?
You need to do something or you will not get top 4. Which has now become your biggest target in recent years.
 

Sterling Archer

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You can not compare Martial playing a whole game as an auxiliary left back to a City player closing space high up top. Im sure if you asked Martial or any attacker where they would rather be defending from, they will tell you from the top. Our strategy as a team is to allow the opposition to come on to us, it's a strategy that I just can't accept to be honest.
Why can't you accept that?

Do you think that on paper our team is better than City's?

If you're going based on team spirit and whatnot, do you think our team that almost lost to Newcastle and Bournemouth is ready to challenge a record breaking City side?

Genuinely, did you really think a front four of Rashford, Martial, Lingard and Fellaini is going to cause trouble for this Man City side?
 

Canagel

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Why can't you accept that?

Do you think that on paper our team is better than City's?

If you're going based on team spirit and whatnot, do you think our team that almost lost to Newcastle and Bournemouth is ready to challenge a record breaking City side?

Genuinely, did you really think a front four of Rashford, Martial, Lingard and Fellaini is going to cause trouble for this Man City side?
He could've gone high pressing with midfield of Herrera, Fred, Periera/Mata and front line of Sanchez, Martial, RAshford.
Why did he pick two statues in midfield against the most mobile midfield in the PL?
He had the tools to press and play a different football and if we lose we lose but don't act like we didn't have options. There was only one team trying to win the game.
Newcastle had more shots at Etihad than we did I was reading somewhere.
 

Ekeke

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So why didn't Woodward tell Jose to give him new CB targets who are younger/cheaper? I mean, this is obvious, isn't it?
We obviously kept trying with our targets but didnt find ones the club were happy to spend the money on.

Woodward spoke of spending £100 million on Varane, but given the way Bailly and Lindelof played at the start of the season it really wouldnt have taken much money to sign someone better than their level of performance.

But I guess we didn't know that they were going to play so poorly at the start and maybe Jones would have been fit to come in
 

Tyrion

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Probably. Do we trust Ed with the next manager?
There is a director of football coming next year (afaik).

I'd say let him decide on Jose's future and start building a squad that suits the next guy.
 

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Score Predictions

155,221,85
  • Man Utd win
  • Man City win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 16% Man City 1:2 Man Utd
  • 13% Man City 3:1 Man Utd
  • 10% Man City 2:1 Man Utd
  • 10% Man City 1:1 Man Utd
  • 8% Man City 2:0 Man Utd
  • 7% Man City 2:2 Man Utd
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  • 2% Man City 5:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Man City 1:3 Man Utd
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  • 2% Man City 0:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Man City 3:2 Man Utd
  • 1% Man City 1:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 0:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 5:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 4:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 1:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 4:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 1:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 5:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 3:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Man City 5:4 Man Utd
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Match Stats

  1. Man City
  2. Man Utd
Possession
65% 35%
Shots
17 6
Shots on Target
5 1
Corners
5 1
Fouls
12 12

Referee

Anthony Taylor