What to take away from todays win?

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We beat a bogey side
We beat a top 6 rival
Right back is sorted
Center back is sorted
The right flank is finally alive
McTomominay needs a natural double pivot partner. Hopefully Fred or Garner

Pereira & Lingard, Martial & Rashford switching roles works

Its nice to see we are learning tactical pressing. We need to be patient as the lads master it. It will be inconsistent


James will be a weapon

Absolutely agree. Hopefully Fred comes good as with a decent striker Chelsea could easily have been out of sight by half-time.

Much tougher tests ahead and we'll know more after the Wolves game. Glad to hear Ole coming out and saying we need to improve a lot.

Great to see the attack firing but we need to lose the sloppiness and show an ability to retain possession and control the game in midfield.
 

Dec9003

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I don't know if it's been mentioned already, but one thing to take away from the match is how quickly things change in football.
As the transfer window finished many of us were feeling very down about a team that we felt lacked quality.
Now after a 4-0 win we look at the side in a totally different way.
Hopefully the positivity around the fanbase can be kept throughout the season, even when we struggle.
 

overtheborder

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What to take away from the first game? First goal is important (based on a single game). Not sure how the game would have gone had Chelsea got the first goal but the goal must have bred confidence.
 

Ade_

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We are moving in the right direction with the right type of players and style of play, however, our midfield does worry me a lot. Against more accomplished teams we will learn a lot more about where United really are at this point, more so than this game.
 

Isotope

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Chelsea had 18 shots (7 on target) to United 10 (4 on target), and they had better ball possession.

We were ruthless but Chelsea were the dominating (away) team.
 

GamerKurisu

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Wan Bissaka looks great
Mcguire solid
De Gea back to his old self
Andreas did nothing other than his assist
Rashford is better from the left than Martial and Martial is a little more lazy, so makes sense to play Martial through the middle
Lampard is naive and looked a little out of his depth
 

Ali Dia

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Chelsea had 18 shots (7 on target) to United 10 (4 on target), and they had better ball possession.

We were ruthless but Chelsea were the dominating (away) team.
We were playing a lot on the counter. At least with a solid defence we can soak up pressure and pop the ball into midfield faster. We are still 2 or 3 players away from a really good team.
 

GDaly95

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Wan Bissaka looks great
Mcguire solid
De Gea back to his old self
Andreas did nothing other than his assist
Rashford is better from the left than Martial and Martial is a little more lazy, so makes sense to play Martial through the middle
Lampard is naive and looked a little out of his depth
I disagree with the bolded.

Rashford is fairly abysmal when it comes to decision-making. He almost always makes the wrong decision from wide positions - imo he becomes half the player. He is however exceptional at making runs in behind the defence in central positions, as we saw with his goal. Martial doesn't do that. Martial could also never lead a press because he just doesn't do enough off-the-ball running.

So imo, Martial is better out wide. It brings his excellent close-control dribbling more into play too. I will admit though that Martial tends to be more clinical than Rashford so you have to weigh it up really.
 

Amarsdd

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Chelsea had 18 shots (7 on target) to United 10 (4 on target), and they had better ball possession.

We were ruthless but Chelsea were the dominating (away) team.
Chelsea had more shots, but the thing is about 10 of those were from outside the box when they ran out of ideas.
And we do have to improve ball retention, esp. going by the first half. But I think, some of it was down to the nerves. The whole team seemed to be very very nervy, even for some parts after the first goal in the first half. You could even feel the nerves in the crowd. But after a couple of minutes in the second half, we controlled the game in and out of possession.
 

Raven96__

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What to take away? As a neutral person who watched the match, take the following:
-excellent start, nearly a dream one.
-chelsea are in shambles but they had a very nice first 15 mins.
-new signings looked good
-pogba had a bad first half but very good second half
-its too early to judge, dont get carried away, we will have a better picture after 10 games.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Longstaff and Sancho in January, then, by the summer, Mbappe will be chomping at the bit to join the party. After that, years of domination...
Sancho didn't want to join us in the summer so I don't want him in the future. I want players who want to be a part of our climb back to the top. Not players who will only join us when we are back...
 

yamo123x

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Positives

-3 points
-Clean Sheet
-Impressive debuts for Maguire and AWB
-Debut goal for James
-Pogba had great 2nd half with 2 assists and looked happy(ish)
-De gea did well

Negatives

-Big worry is that Midfield still looks short and unable to dominate possession against more technical teams
- Too many flicks from the front guys needlessly giving away possession particularly in first half
-Where was the pressing/ aggression we saw pre-season?

Overall far more positives, wolves away next game will be a big test to show where we are. I hope we can not allow them to outwork us again
 

Andycoleno9

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Positives
1) Defence was very good
2) Finishing
Negatives( or as people like to say- "moaning"):
Staying back and waiting for counter attacks should be an option, not plan A. Our midfield is non existent in terms of passing and keeping possession. We just sit back and wait. Other teams will punish us because managers will read us and will not allow that we kill them with counter attacks. Especially if they score first.

Personally i am worried what i saw. We played similiar last season when we allowed teams at OT to run the show. Wolves game will say am i right or wrong. If we again allow other team to play then it is not good because as i said, sitting back and waiting for counters as plan A is not a long term solution.

And where was that famous pressing??
 

shabadu84

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- We should have enough talent in the front and the back to handle most of the league.
- Happy with 4/5 of our back line, Shaw needs to step up or be kept on a short leash. Dalot could do a job there or at least push him for a place.
- Obviously, our midfield is lacking severely beyond Pogba but they will at least put in shift getting up and down the field and that can potentially paper over some cracks until we get some help.
-We need someone to step up and do better in terms of reading the game in midfield, however, or we will have to over-rely on the defense and attack and that is only going to get more difficult as the season wears on.
- Our counterattacking tactics will serve us well against the teams that are on the front foot. We looked very fluid on the counter in the 2nd half, albeit against a young/naïve Chelsea team.
- It's still TBD whether we can develop a gameplan to breakdown parked buses or possession-based teams, which is something we have regularly struggled with post-Fergie. We mostly relied on individual moments of brilliance to get us points in those situations but that can't be sustained going forward.
- The team spirit is night and day compared to this time last year and that can make a huge difference to how the season feels. Last year was miserable from the moment we kicked a ball in preseason and Mourinho's firing was a mercy killing for all. The expectations are low this year (at least from the outside) so maybe we can enjoy the good days more and not dwell as much on the bad ones as long as the whole of the team is showing progress.
 

Josh 76

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Positives
1) Defence was very good
2) Finishing
Negatives( or as people like to say- "moaning"):
Staying back and waiting for counter attacks should be an option, not plan A. Our midfield is non existent in terms of passing and keeping possession. We just sit back and wait. Other teams will punish us because managers will read us and will not allow that we kill them with counter attacks. Especially if they score first.

Personally i am worried what i saw. We played similiar last season when we allowed teams at OT to run the show. Wolves game will say am i right or wrong. If we again allow other team to play then it is not good because as i said, sitting back and waiting for counters as plan A is not a long term solution.

And where was that famous pressing??
Wolves game will be like last year. They will sit back and let us have the ball. This is our biggest problem. The full backs will be key. They will need to over lap. Maybe this is a game for Mata. Lingard and Pirerra don't have the ability to break down a 'low block' defence.
 

11101

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Great start but a lot to work on.

Midfield needs to close down quicker and prevent the balls played behind Shaw and AWB. Wide men need to track back.

Strikers need to be more direct when they're not on a counter attack.

Pereira needs to impose himself more on the game and allow Pogba to push forward a bit. Chelsea were passing freely around their midfield.
 

Tom Van Persie

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Positives
1) Defence was very good
2) Finishing
Negatives( or as people like to say- "moaning"):
Staying back and waiting for counter attacks should be an option, not plan A. Our midfield is non existent in terms of passing and keeping possession. We just sit back and wait. Other teams will punish us because managers will read us and will not allow that we kill them with counter attacks. Especially if they score first.

Personally i am worried what i saw. We played similiar last season when we allowed teams at OT to run the show. Wolves game will say am i right or wrong. If we again allow other team to play then it is not good because as i said, sitting back and waiting for counters as plan A is not a long term solution.

And where was that famous pressing??
You couldn't bring yourself to praise Ole despite him getting it tactically spot on yesterday especially in the 2nd half. :lol: Where was the famous pressing? I must've dreamt our forwards forcing Chelsea defenders into mistakes. :rolleyes:
 

USREDEVIL

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Takeways for me:

Team is in good physical condition.
AWB is a beast, there's no doubt about it. The only spider i love.
Maguire is also a beast. I also really like his no-nonsense approach at the right times. He's got a good head on his shoulders...
Pogba, a little bit sloppy but he essentially made two goals for us. Tighten up but still amazing quality.
Overall, we should have been better in the first half, they won most of the battles in midfield and controlled far too much. But after that we came on and were clinical.
 

Andycoleno9

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You couldn't bring yourself to praise Ole despite him getting it tactically spot on yesterday especially in the 2nd half. :lol: Where was the famous pressing? I must've dreamt our forwards forcing Chelsea defenders into mistakes. :rolleyes:
Yes, lets put another thread about Ole. What are we RAWK now? What is next? Banning people who don't praise Ole for every single thing? Can i say what was wrong in my opinion? Or i must say that this was masterclass? Staying back and waiting for counters against B Chelsea team with new manager at Old Trafford.
And did i just said ( and in one other thread) that defence was great, decision to play Martial on no9 was great, HIS signings all were excellent. What do you want from me? To build him a statue?
But yeah, lets pretend that everything was perfect
 

Decomposing In Paris

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Positives
1) Defence was very good
2) Finishing
Negatives( or as people like to say- "moaning"):
Staying back and waiting for counter attacks should be an option, not plan A. Our midfield is non existent in terms of passing and keeping possession. We just sit back and wait. Other teams will punish us because managers will read us and will not allow that we kill them with counter attacks. Especially if they score first.

Personally i am worried what i saw. We played similiar last season when we allowed teams at OT to run the show. Wolves game will say am i right or wrong. If we again allow other team to play then it is not good because as i said, sitting back and waiting for counters as plan A is not a long term solution.

And where was that famous pressing??
Who ever said it was Plan A? We might just not be good enough for Plan A.
 

trevor newnham

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a good win but not to get carried away. Equally I am not going to start moaning about Pereira and Pogba. There will be days when they do something extraordinaryt. lindelof will make a mistake or Maguire. You have to judge a player over several weeks, not just one game. I like the energy Pereira, Lingard bring. They will run and run, then bring on james, gomez and greenwood to torment a tiring team.
 

ChaddyP

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Chelsea had more shots, but the thing is about 10 of those were from outside the box when they ran out of ideas.
And we do have to improve ball retention, esp. going by the first half. But I think, some of it was down to the nerves. The whole team seemed to be very very nervy, even for some parts after the first goal in the first half. You could even feel the nerves in the crowd. But after a couple of minutes in the second half, we controlled the game in and out of possession.
One of Chelsea's "shots " were from a drop ball that went straight to de gea I think
 

amolbhatia50k

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Positives
1) Defence was very good
2) Finishing
Negatives( or as people like to say- "moaning"):
Staying back and waiting for counter attacks should be an option, not plan A. Our midfield is non existent in terms of passing and keeping possession. We just sit back and wait. Other teams will punish us because managers will read us and will not allow that we kill them with counter attacks. Especially if they score first.

Personally i am worried what i saw. We played similiar last season when we allowed teams at OT to run the show. Wolves game will say am i right or wrong. If we again allow other team to play then it is not good because as i said, sitting back and waiting for counters as plan A is not a long term solution.

And where was that famous pressing??
Sitting back was Mourinho's thing. Ole had us pressing Chelsea in the opening game. Was a different matter that our passing was terrible for large parts but the tactic and intention was there for anybody who bothered to notice. .
 

buckooo1978

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I take away very little - that was a shit Chelsea side and there will be proper tests starting with Wolves. My big take away was that Chelsea might finish 7th or 8th. I think Wolves look more solid.

We looked quite nervous for the first half and were very sloppy in possession

as far as United I felt that

1. Solskjaer's team was good - no Matic, No Smalling, No Jones, No Rojo..... he's picked the right players and not brought experience into his decision making - you can guess who will be making tracks in 12 months

2. Wan Bissska was solid enough and he will be hard to beat. In contrast Shaw was poor I felt. Looked for the easy option in possession and was caught out of possession a number of times. That channel between the impressive Maguire and Shaw will be an area to watch.

3. Midfield was non-existent in terms of controlling the game. We will be dominated in lots of games but that might suit our counter attacking style of play

4. Rashford and Martial did well to score - they were frustrating for periods with flicks that rarely came off. Pogba was poor in the first half and very wasteful . Put some of this down to a nervy start but we need to improve in possession.

5. We've not much defensive strength from the bench. In the second half I was wondering what we could possibly do to tighten up midfield and control the game. Matic was on the bench but I dont think he would have coped well with Mount's movement. We dont have many options there - Tuanzebe an option to play as a DM?

6. Attacking options are good. Mata, Greenwood, James, Gomes and Chong will offer a good bit of variety from the bench.
 

Nikelesh Reddy

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Realistically, what sort of conclusions can we make about todays demolition of Chelsea?

The defence is sorted for years?
Has De Gea returned?
The front three, whilst inconsistent, looked very happy today.
Keeping Pogba was a master play from Ole (although may yet lose him).
The midfield is still weak so we may see a repeat of two seasons ago.
Bench strength is lacking.
Pressing? Not so much. Seems like we might go forward with high energy counter attacking football?
I think that it’s a bit naive to draw any such conclusions from this 1 game.Its a great result,we were impressive in the 2nd half and I”m going to be buzzing until next Monday,but let’s not draw too many conclusions.We were poor in the first half and we were ripped apart by Chelsea from the flanks a couple of times...

Let’s just take it 1 game at a time this season...Thats the most prudent way to approach this season...
 

PepsiCola

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That we are winning the league.

We have the best back 5 in the league.

Rashford and Martial will score 20+ goals each this season.

Pogba will have over 40 goal contributions this season.
 

RedB4ndiT

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Wan-Bissaka's ceiling is best defensive RB in the world. If Ole can help him going forward, he could be the best overall RB in the world! He's only 21 so what a steal by us!
 

Michael T

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Sancho didn't want to join us in the summer so I don't want him in the future. I want players who want to be a part of our climb back to the top. Not players who will only join us when we are back...
Fair enough, mine was a bit tongue-in-cheek as a post to be honest. Would be nice to see Longstaff arrive in January though. However, if the Glazers ate reading this then buy all three!
 

Infra-red

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Pereira and Shaw are not very good.

Maguire is very good.

Lingard runs a lot but cannot do much else.

Wan-Bissaka needs to improve his passing/attacking play, but everything else is great.

Pogba is a complete liability in a midfield two (we have known this since 2016).

Martial might have turned a corner - looked like he was really up for the fight yesterday.

We will struggle to have more than 50% possession vs any of the big 6, but we'll give all their CBs nightmares with our pace in behind.

Chelsea will concede a lot of goals this season if they continue to be so naive defensively.

It's amazing how much a good result can lift even the most depressing of moods.
 

zenith

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We have an awesome new defence that will only get better with time

Mctominay is great but he'll need a defensive player to support him because he is not enough as our only DM

without pogba, we have zero creativity from midfield

Martial and rashford can be incredible on the counter but we need them to be fit and on form throughout the season to have any shot at top four
 

VictoriaRed

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I want our midfielders to turn more often and not always take the easy backwards pass; incredibly frustrating. Pogba needs to do a lot more. Don't get me wrong, he does world class things, but he needs to do it more whilst not getting caught in possession. He lost the ball way too much today.
 

90 + 5min

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I would answer that with win, clean sheet and good production infront of the goal.

Other then that we were not as good as scoreline says and have to step up a lot if we want points from Wolves. Lucky in first 45. Better in second 45. Poor defending from our forwards/midfielders and Ole must work on that this week.

But as I said in another thread. First game. Hard opposition. It can get better.
 

SadlerMUFC

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I want our midfielders to turn more often and not always take the easy backwards pass; incredibly frustrating. Pogba needs to do a lot more. Don't get me wrong, he does world class things, but he needs to do it more whilst not getting caught in possession. He lost the ball way too much today.
Between poor first touches and being dispossessed, Pogba lost the ball 11 times yesterday!!! That doesn't even count some of his passes that were picked off. He was awful. Yes, he had two assists so that masks it a bit, but he was bad. Really bad...
 

ValenciaRocks

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Realistically, what sort of conclusions can we make about todays demolition of Chelsea?

1) The defence is sorted for years?
2) Has De Gea returned?
3) The front three, whilst inconsistent, looked very happy today.
4) Keeping Pogba was a master play from Ole (although may yet lose him).
5) The midfield is still weak so we may see a repeat of two seasons ago.
6) Bench strength is lacking.
7) Pressing? Not so much. Seems like we might go forward with high energy counter attacking football?
1) Don’t want to get too carried away but judging from this performance, the defence has dramatically improved - they still have time to understanding each others roles/posistioning.

2) It was a big surprise when he seemingly fell apart last season - I believe the world cup may of impacted his confidence. He will feel more confident now with this new look defence though I’m sure.

3) Again, they still need time to adjust to each others game. Definitely much sharper and look more hungry. Martial even ran a bit :lol:

4) He’s still clearly our most talented midfielder, would of been a disaster to of let him go. He’s remained relatively professional since this international duty comments. One can only hope that Madrid have another disaster season. He looked so much fitter in comparison to last season too.

5) Agree that we were crying out for a Carrick type player who can control the tempo of games. Mctominay did an average job but you can’t question his attitude.

6) I actually think our bench is fine. We have lots of pace off the bench but perhaps a dominant midfielder to help us preserve a lead wouldn’t do us any harm.

7) I think this was due to the way Chelsea played. They were pressing high up the pitch and as a result it made sense for us to hold off a bit and pounce - which obviously worked in our favour! But it is clear as daylight that the whole team has much more energy and fight in them. The last 15 minutes or so was testament to the fitness improvements that Ole has prioritised this summer.


Overall, we have to be pleased with our performance, if a bit rusty to start with, we can be pleased to see the posttive team ethic. We finally look like a team that wants to play for the manager, the fans and their team mates.

:devil:
 

PieCrust

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What to take away from the first game? First goal is important (based on a single game). Not sure how the game would have gone had Chelsea got the first goal but the goal must have bred confidence.
Honestly, I think we would have gotten overrun had that first Abraham shot goes in vice hitting the post. Chelsea was dominating and it didn't look like we had any ideas.