A system where we don't over rely on him to defend and be aware of runners.Can you explain to me a system where Pogba does not pass the ball to the opponent? You ARE making excuses for Pogba. While blaming Ole for him playing bad.
A populist viewpoint, but I'd disagree.AWB was our worst. 0/10.
We would make top 4 this season again even Under Ole and with these players, but if we aspire for better than that squad needs further additions and may be change of manager.We badly need a new CB, a new winger and preferably a new manager too. Delighted with that hilarious win though it's made my weekend, but yeah we ain't making top 4 with our current setup.
Imagine thinking that you deserved a point here. Ole.. common. Hearing that worries me.Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talking to BT Sport: "We got away with one. Maybe one point we deserved, we didn't deserve more.But the character deserved more.
"Last season we had too many draws, so that is a big plus for us. You have to be happy Jose is not here to measure the goal posts.
"They are a difficult team to play against. We don't have the legs and sharpness but we will get there. We have plenty of work ahead."
They can try I suppose. Game’s only been over about an hour. Still time for them to change their mindsCan they take our 3rd away retrospectively as the FT whistle went before?
Serious question
Agree about the fitness. We're clearly behind there and need some work.Our fitness seems to be off, but there are surely bigger problems. How we constantly let one Brighton player stand all alone on the backpost. How we can’t find ways through their pressure, we just move it slowly at the back until we get pressured then just give it away. Our attackers are isolated and have to pull off magic tricks on their own to ger things done. Our staff needs to up their game, soon!
Not with how we've played so far.We would make top 4 this season again even Under Ole and with these players, but if we aspire for better than that squad needs further additions and may be change of manager.
100%Fantastic way to win a game.
Our performances need to improve and I am confident they would, not concerned about Spurs , Everton or Chelsea let's revisit everything once atleast 10 games have been played things would be more clear by then.Not with how we've played so far.
We're behind Liverpool, City and Chelsea easily.
Spurs and Everton have also shown more than us too.
We'll be lucky to get top 4 again.
I don't agree. Brighton had plenty of chances and missed them. We scored 1 more than they did, misses don't count. Neither do offside goals and we had two of those as well, so were much better at hitting the target than them.Completely undeserved.
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Our next 5 league games is Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton.Our performances need to improve and I am confident they would, not concerned about Spurs , Everton or Chelsea let's revisit everything once atleast 10 games have been played things would be more clear by then.
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It's simple, Ole always pick his starting 11 when they're available no matter if they're match fit or not.Once again, our starting XI was questionable even if it looked better on paper. 4 of our 11 consisted of players who lacked match sharpness and/or fitness.
Why select these four players in Premier League matches? Why didn't we go with a midfield 2 out of Fred, van de Beek, and McTominay? Why didn't we go with one of Dalot or Fosu-Mensah at right back? In this case, regardless of who we have on the bench, we should look to have the fittest possible starting XI in the Premier League and use the League Cup to let the players gain their fitness and sharpness. For whatever reason, though, we are taking a risk by going with players who aren't fit and sharp enough in the Premier League. Heck, we could have even had van de Beek in place of one of Greenwood or Martial given that he's sharper than those two.
- Wan-Bissaka: no pre-season, no international football, and played 2 matches in 5 days
- Maguire: played 3 matches in 7 days
- Matic: no pre-season, no international football [retired], and played 2 matches in 5 days
- Pogba: no pre-season, no international football, lack of training due to COVID-19
When you find that two of the players who aren't fit enough are in our midfield, then that would explain why we struggled to take control of the match. We gave Brighton way too much space to play around us, and they rarely felt under pressure on the ball. The fact that we had our players spread out to try and create spaces failed us miserably; there were several occasions where Brighton's players outnumbered us and forced us back as a result. We played way too many long balls towards the middle, too, instead of to the flanks. If there are no short-passing options available, and everyone's spreading out, the best long pass to play is a diagonal out to the flank, not a straight pass through the middle, especially when the forwards aren't dropping deeper to drag defenders away.
However, we weren't all that terrible. In the second half, we saw glimpses of what made us so good, but it was too little too late. We made great use of the space on the left, and our counters left Brighton worried. The players played in shorter distances with each other and were able to combine better as a result. However, after ~15 minutes, the players started to fatigue, and we started to get sloppy on the ball. Martial, especially, was starting to become more prominent, but he fatigued quickly. Greenwood also got tired and is also receiving way more attention from the opposition. Rashford and Fernandes were bigger threats in the second half and kept Brighton in check. Fred also did a good job when he came on and allowed us to play on the counter whenever we kept the ball.
Our defending in the wide areas was absolutely diabolical. Brighton had an easy time putting the majority of crosses into the box. Their wide were barely closed down, and they were given way too much time to put the ball in. Shaw's typically good at these 1-on-1 battles, but instead of closing down the crosser, he kept hanging back to stop any potential overlapping pass. It didn't help that he had Matic (not fit) and Rashford (not tracking back well) to work with, but he still could have taken charge and attempted to close down the crosses. Wan-Bissaka was in an even more problematic situation; he had barely any football, he had less rest than most of his teammates, and he had barely any support from either Pogba or Greenwood.
TL;DR:
- Ole: Questionable selection and lack of adaption to the team's lack of fitness and sharpness
- We had moments in the 2nd half, but fatigue brought us back down
- Terrible defending of wide areas again
Not very often in recent years. Playing poorly and getting points is a far more frequent occurrence.Shots against the post and bar are shots off target. Poor performance? Yes, but we would normally lose games like this.
And to the United fans saying its not deserved, how many times did we play well and drop points?
I like this take. If we'd have hit the frame five times and lost this forum would be critical of our player's poor finishing.I don't agree. Brighton had plenty of chances and missed them. We scored 1 more than they did, misses don't count. Neither do offside goals and we had two of those as well, so were much better at hitting the target than them.
Woodwork doesn’t save goals. Take the woodwork away & the shots would have resulted in goal kicks. Woodwork potentially helps the attacking teams as the shots often get put back into play.can we add in VAR and the woodwork for the MOM ratings?
I really enjoy those wins, when I know that we usually play much better and that our future is bright (challenging for titles etc.).Performances like this don't do much for fans confidence (and they certainly don't help with our stress levels) but personally, for me, they are the ones I take most post match enjoyment from. The opposition fans will hate it despite the (justifiable?) criticism, I'm really going to enjoy the rest if the day!!
Chris Kavanagh