[Crashoutcassius]

I think with full fitness and the additions we can get next summer, games like today would result in 2 or 3 extra goals on the break. Hard to do much going forward with today's 11...

 

[Shiva87]

We must have been watching different matches - I thought he was abysmal (except for that early free kick, something he does seem quite good at.)

I forgot about that. That free kick was good indeed.

 

[kiristao]

We're in an injury crisis?

We're missing Shaw, Pogba and Martial.
Maybe we just have no depth and shows we invested terribly this summer....

Injury crisis

It is a crisis isn't it? It would be for most teams if 3 definite (including 2 of your best players) and 1 almost definite starter is injured. How well Liverpool would do if Salah, Mane, Robertson and Origi were out injured.
Our lack of summer investment is a different topic but losing those players is definitely a crisis for us.

 

[Shiva87]

We’ve seen a lot of Andreas. He doesn’t have great pace. His movement is mediocre. He’s not super physical. His passing is average. He’s not great in 1v1 situations. His shooting is decent, but not exceptional. He isn’t great at keeping possession.

I doubt he starts for almost any other team in the PL. He is a back end squad player at best.

I agree that out of the shit sandwich of Mata, Lingard and Andreas, he MAY be the best. Lingard has certainly had more moments for us, Mata was very good for us but can’t really play in the PL anymore. Should be in Italy.

Given what Ole has to work with, I don’t blame him for playing Andreas, but we won’t sniff top 4 if he plays regularly.

I'm not saying he is a long term solution. I just thought he deserves to start there ahead of Lingard and Mata based on today's performance.

In the long term, we need a much more complete no.10. There is a big gulf in quality between him and someone like a Dybala (who we clearly wanted but he didn't give us the right message), or even a Madison.

 

[Superden]

I am peed of as much as the next man with regards our transfers and how the club is being run...but come on folks...a 1-0 win against a side supposedly on the up and with several players who many on here would prefer to what we have...got to take that. If our team is a crap as is being made out then ole must be a genius.

 

[Shiva87]

I am peed of as much as the next man with regards our transfers and how the club is being run...but come on folks...a 1-0 win against a side supposedly on the up and with several players who many on here would prefer to what we have...got to take that. If our team is a crap as is being made out then ole must be a genius.

If I'm not wrong, there was a poster who said he would take 8 of the Licester starting XI over ours.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

It is a crisis isn't it? It would be for most teams if 3 definite (including 2 of your best players) and 1 almost definite starter is injured. How well Liverpool would do if Salah, Mane, Robertson and Origi were out injured.
Our lack of summer investment is a different topic but losing those players is definitely a crisis for us.

Of course if Robertson and Mane were missing it'd effect them.
Mane scored 22 league goals last season compared to Martial's 10
Roberston made 11 assists last season, Shaw made 4.

You're comparing quality players with our hot and cold players here...
Also, football is a squad game. If Mane, Robertson and take your pick of one of their CMs were missing from a game, they'd cope a lot better than we would

 

[Superden]

I watched the game today without taking a look at the forum as I normally would. Have to say enjoyed it much more. The negativity is normally toxic.

 

[Okey]

Phew! Perfect day completed with Citeh losing. Not that we're competing with them but who doesn't love seeing the enemy lose? We got 3 hard fought points. Clean sheet. In a game many were honestly expecting us to lose with the injury situation. I'll take that. On to the next one... As for how we played, well nothing new there hey?

 

[Van Piorsing]

We've already become a cropper in 2 of our 5 games this season when leading 1-0. Today we just didn't create enough clear cut chances, again this has been a problem the last few games.

We shouldn't be fading in games so badly as we did today this early in the season, something isn't quite right there.

This fading thing even against mid table clubs could be sign of no real leaders in the team emerging. I have no problem with clearing out squad from deadwood but not providing leaders in God knows how many transfer windows in a row is damaging every season. The only world class leaders in last years were Schweini and Zlatan, but they were way past their best and couldn't be active in their tasks.

Also no real game changers, seems like every quality team needs them the most and it's mandatory to bring some fear into opponents. This is why such unexperienced but strong player like James looks miles better than half of our squad.

Last thing is the balance, Jose made the team bit old, while Ole is trying do something close to Ajax 95. Going in two extremes with age of the squad, perhaps United could use something in the middle and also think about adding one commanding player in his best years ?

We certainly don't look like we'll be scoring many goals.
That Chelsea game was a real oddity!

Come to think of it, Chelsea could easily kill us if only they were able to convert their two quite easy chances in the first half.

 

[kiristao]

Of course if Robertson and Mane were missing it'd effect them.
Mane scored 22 league goals last season compared to Martial's 10
Roberston made 11 assists last season, Shaw made 4.

You're comparing quality players with our hot and cold players here...
Also, football is a squad game. If Mane, Robertson and take your pick of one of their CMs were missing from a game, they'd cope a lot better than we would

I am comparing our 4 players with 4 of theirs with similar importance to the starting 11 not the quality of the 4 players. If they missed 4 of those that I mentioned, they would also struggle.
My point is that a loss of such 4 players is a crisis for all teams other than maybe City.

 

[Suv666]

AWB, Maguire and James look proper players.

Ole has spent wisely. Give him more cash and a couple of windows he'll make us decent again.

 

[fps]

I watched the game today without taking a look at the forum as I normally would. Have to say enjoyed it much more. The negativity is normally toxic.

I agree with the sentiment. This could also apply to internet commentary on anything in general.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Ole has spent wisely. Give him more cash and a couple of windows he'll make us decent again.

At least the transfers look to be well planned overall. The clearout should continue, but hopefully we get the replacements as well this time.

 

[Michael T]

Injury crisis overcome.
Penalty not missed.
Youngsters getting game time.
Home win.
Three points.
Clean sheet.
Top four.

 

[Asger]

We must have been watching different matches - I thought he was abysmal (except for that early free kick, something he does seem quite good at.)

Andreas was fine when he moved to am role when Mata was subbed off. He is not a winger, should only play as am of mc.

 

[Sandikan]

Phew! Perfect day completed with Citeh losing. Not that we're competing with them but who doesn't love seeing the enemy lose? We got 3 hard fought points. Clean sheet. In a game many were honestly expecting us to lose with the injury situation. I'll take that. On to the next one... As for how we played, well nothing new there hey?

Surely in the context of city being the only team who can stop liverpool, city losing isn't actually that great any more at all.

 

[Random Task]

Injury crisis overcome.
Penalty not missed.
Youngsters getting game time.
Home win.
Three points.
Clean sheet.
Top four.

Nice summary of events.

 

[Bobski]

How many pens are we going to end up with this season btw? Crazy start to the season in that.

 

[ship50]

Maguire, James and AWB are good additions to the team. De Gea made some crucial saves. No attacking threat from the right or center. Midfield struggled to control the game though McTominay played his heart out. Good three points in a match I thought we would lose.

And I saw Fred.

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

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[C'est Moi Cantona]

Ole's teams are so fuking boring!

What happened to the criticism Mourinho used to get? ole's teams suck ass

Becasue Jose was supposed a top manager, he was given lots to spend, and expectations were sky high, so anything below that was always going to criticised.

Ole is a punt, people will always be more sympathetic towards him, and the squad depth has been reduced to levels where it is hard to judge how good he is, so he is going to be given way more leeway.

The bottom line is expectations have been lowered from the Jose era, the have just been quite clever in getting so many to be happy about it.

 

[Casanova85]

I'll take it.

Penalty scored, 3 points vs a Top8 club and 2016 champions, not a goal conceded.

If only we had scored one of those penalties...we'd have 10 now, right up there with City, and fewer "doom and gloom" hyperboles.

Anyway, worried about the Spurs and Chelsea. They played well today. 4 goals vs Palace...makes the 1-2 all the more painful.

 

[Okey]

Surely in the context of city being the only team who can stop liverpool, city losing isn't actually that great any more at all.

Honestly, I'd rather have Liverpool win this one. They will eventually anyway. Might as well be the one that stops Citeh winning 3 in a row. My level of nausea will be same either way. These are horrid times for a United fan indeed...

 

[Jeffthered]

I only heard a brief report from BBC FiveLive, suggesting that the game was pretty poor and both teams struggled in the last third. Neither Keeper was really tested.

I take the three points, because we will need them for top six. But we are a very fragile and quite average team, and squad. Ole keeps going on about 'we're moving forward as a team...' (he said this today post-match) and of course he has to say so, but it's clear that we lack an identity under his management. Adopting a 'high-press' tactic, is not an identity, and does not make a manager.

I haven't a clue what Ole is trying to do there. Which worries me.

 

[Maticmaker]

Very good result, we kept at it, every player looked like he wanted to be out there, McTominay looking more confident in himself, the three new guys continue to show value for money, all in all a good day at the office for the team.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Good result, but we play some truly dire football at times.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

i don't recall us winning a game before and being so unexcited by it

 

[Casanova85]

People saying "we played horribly-we're going nowhere" while neglecting the fact that we played with mostly bench players and Matic in MF.

3 points. Zero goals conceded. Move on.

 

[bosnian_red]

I only heard a brief report from BBC FiveLive, suggesting that the game was pretty poor and both teams struggled in the last third. Neither Keeper was really tested.

I take the three points, because we will need them for top six. But we are a very fragile and quite average team, and squad. Ole keeps going on about 'we're moving forward as a team...' (he said this today post-match) and of course he has to say so, but it's clear that we lack an identity under his management. Adopting a 'high-press' tactic, is not an identity, and does not make a manager.

I haven't a clue what Ole is trying to do there. Which worries me.

I feel like people just say this because it's something so unquantifiable and entirely subjective that they pretend like they dont know what Ole is trying to do just because they dont like it. It's perfectly clear what we are trying to do. Saying shit like we don't have identity is ridiculous when in fact, this is the first time in a while that we actually do.

Theres plenty of valid reasons to criticize Ole if you want to. But saying you read a report of a game where we beat a very good side and then decide to criticize the manager even though you didn't watch the game is pretty laughable.

 

[Scholsey2004]

Joint best defence in the league. We still don't score enough goals though. That's going to hurt us going forward if we don't find solutions. Nice to get three points from a tough side though.

 

[rotherham_red]

I watched the game today without taking a look at the forum as I normally would. Have to say enjoyed it much more. The negativity is normally toxic.

Also it doesn't help that 95% of the forum are clueless mouth breathers.

 

[NinjaZombie]

The thing about rebuilds are, you have to stick through shit performances without knowing for sure if it'll all come good in the end.

Still, 3 points.

 

[Scholsey2004]

i don't recall us winning a game before and being so unexcited by it

We ground out plenty of stale wins in the glory days. That's not a problem. The problem is that with our attack you can't rely on us scoring often enough to really move up a level from there. We could really use angel gomes coming of age but ole obviously doesn't see him as a real option yet so there doesn't seem to be an obvious personnel change to improve us in that area.

 

[Scholsey2004]

Very good result, we kept at it, every player looked like he wanted to be out there, McTominay looking more confident in himself, the three new guys continue to show value for money, all in all a good day at the office for the team.

When McTominay first came through I thought he was just one of the lads who gets a few games with us before moving elsewhere like McNair, Blackett or Gibson. He's looking more and more one of our main guys now though, admittedly in a side that's not one of our best historically speaking.

 

[dev1l]

Today I had a chance to watch the much lauded Ndidi (over here).
He works hard and he recovers lot of balls....but his first touch is atrocious.

 

[Scholsey2004]

Ugly. Hardly any organisation in attack, just solo run and run and expect tom pass 3 defenders.

Absence of a real creative orchestrator in the attack. The defence looks fairly sorted now at least.

 

[Dr Fink]

A horrible game to watch. Hardly anything to get us in the stands going. We started off ok, then just drifted away. Created very little and had no cutting edge. A good 3 points under the circumstances. A draw was a fair result in all honesty.
James was good first half, Perreira awful, bar the free kick. Rashford was shocking and has gone right down in my estimation. His contribution was poor. Maguire was solid and Wan Bissaka is just great. Matic is the new Ray Wilkins (RIP) - every pass sideways. McTominay had energy and was a positive. Mata played in his favourite position and did ok.

Yes, there is a lot of negativity on here, but to some extent it is warranted. I still can’t work out our game plan. We are crying out for a quality striker. Take Pogba out and we have no one who can pass. I’m with Ole still, for now.

 

[Jimmy_Bond]

A horrible game to watch. Hardly anything to get us in the stands going. We started off ok, then just drifted away. Created very little and had no cutting edge. A good 3 points under the circumstances. A draw was a fair result in all honesty.
James was good first half, Perreira awful, bar the free kick. Rashford was shocking and has gone right down in my estimation. His contribution was poor. Maguire was solid and Wan Bissaka is just great. Matic is the new Ray Wilkins (RIP) - every pass sideways. McTominay had energy and was a positive. Mata played in his favourite position and did ok.

Yes, there is a lot of negativity on here, but to some extent it is warranted. I still can’t work out our game plan. We are crying out for a quality striker. Take Pogba out and we have no one who can pass. I’m with Ole still, for now.

Think that's a fair assessment from someone who's obviously paid to go and watch the game. Think you've been a bit harsh on Rashford due to him not having any service but other than that pretty spot on I'd say.

 

[Scholsey2004]

I'm not saying he is a long term solution. I just thought he deserves to start there ahead of Lingard and Mata based on today's performance.

In the long term, we need a much more complete no.10. There is a big gulf in quality between him and someone like a Dybala (who we clearly wanted but he didn't give us the right message), or even a Madison.

If we could parachute a player like maddison into this side he'd make a big difference. I think dybala is more of a Rooney though. More second striker than assist maker. Re Pereira he does work hard. Very limited quality though, especially considering how highly rated he was as a kid.