[Chairman Steve]

Please let the performances pick up again after this. They’ve been worryingly bad lately, like we relapsed back into the 18/19 post-PSG phase and the first half of the 19/20 season.

Hopefully a week off for the big hitters ready for Chelsea next Sunday, and they’ll have the unenviable task of facing A.Madrid in midweek.

 

[Summit]

Totally uninspiring performance. Not going to lie, very concerned by the direction we are going in. We look totally rudderless and make the same mistakes every game. We won out today thanks to random isolated moments.

Seriously, just be happy we won. In fact you should be happier when we win like that, cause that's been missing in recent years. Regards to the direction we're going, I'm not sure what you're on about here? We have clearly improved and you really can't say otherwise.

 

[Red Royal]

Job done, after recent run that will do just fine. Need to build the confidence up. Martial os becoming a real issue though. Only start James OR Greenwood on that RW spot until Amad proves he is ready.

 

[90 + 5min]

Job done. After some periods of sloppy play it became easy.

Matic best player today.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Just thankful for the result as the first half performance could have turned into a loss. Martial needs to be properly dropped for a few games now. He isn’t doing enough to play any minutes. Greenwood did better in the central role. He’s a big reason why our attack looks so poor.

 

[Skizzo]

Maybe 2nd placers as well.

nah I think city are earning most of their points by playing well.

 

[GazTheLegend]

Wonder if Juan Mata comes on with instructions to get the ball to (insert whoever the youth player is) that comes on with him.

de Gea had a poor game but made some good saves at times, usually because he messed up a catch or a kick. We were ridiculously sloppy and look very, very tired. It's crazy how much better we look with Bailly and Henderson on defensively though.

Up front, I thought all our front three were a bit selfish. If we are being honest, we've escaped one here through a mixture of poor goalkeeping and decent finishing by James and Rashford. Newcastle were the better side first half and started the second the better team too.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Really happy with how we controlled the game after we took the lead, we’ve struggled with that but we actually got our foot on the ball and didn’t give newcastle a kick.

 

[Gordon S]

We are an enigma. We were painfully poor but still managed to win comfortably in the end.

Not sure why Martial starts ahead of Greenwood? Mason seems to be in good form atm.
Happy for James, feels like there is a good player in there somewhere. Hopefully he can gain confidence and improve now.
Great for Shola to get a run out! Our management seems to rate him highly.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Seriously, just be happy we won. I fact you should be happier when we win like that, cause that's been missing in recent years. Regards to the direction we're going, I'm not sure what you're on about here? We have clearly improved anfmd you really can't say otherwise.

Weve mainly only been winning like this the last two years..

 

[Red Royal]

nice dive for the pen

Seriously??

 

[always_hoping]

Comfortable home win which hasn't happened enough this season.

with 13 games to play 2nd in table, 6 points ahead of Chelsea in 5th and 9 points ahead of Liverpool in 6th i think most United fans would have taken that before this season started.

 

[redzombie]

good second half, then again I was Slabbering by that point.

 

[Rustyspider13]

Not pretty, but an important win with a depleted midfield. The moment Matic and Fred realized they were good enough to attack Newcastle without worrying about the defense, we won.

Good composure from James for the goal. He still needs better and quicker delivery from the right but his head is in the right place so can't fault him. Shaw was good as usual, Bruno padded his stats again

Unfortunately for Martial, I think he has taken James' place as our most ineffective attacker. There is a real danger of him being sold this window. Glad Shoretire got his debut, wish it was in front of the crowd.

 

[Summit]

Weve mainly only been winning like this the last two years..

Nah. We've been either great and won comfortably, or dogshit and lost/drew

 

[Feed Me]

Seriously, just be happy we won. I fact you should be happier when we win like that, cause that's been missing in recent years. Regards to the direction we're going, I'm not sure what you're on about here? We have clearly improved anfmd you really can't say otherwise.

I’m happy we’ve won. But I’m also worried by the malaise across our performances for a number of matches in the league now. We don’t play with any consistent method or rhythm and are always porous at the back. Virtually every game is a slog. We are second with a fairly average points tally. I don’t think we are anything more than a fairly run of the mill outfit.

 

[lost7]

Against low blocks we are so mediocre. That first half was honestly shocking

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Just shows maybe we all needed to be a bit patient with Dan James.

 

[RedIan]

Really poor for 60 minutes - hangover from Thursday nights in Europe?

Last 30 minutes we found some energy And started to play. Shaw motm, matic was very good on the ball last 30 minutes. Created teh 2nd goal and set up Rashford to win the penalty..... James gaining some confidence back.

Martial poor form just seems to get worse. time to give Mason a run until martial shows hes worthy of a place in the team.

Vital 3 points more important than overall poor game.

 

[bsCallout]

Against low blocks we are so mediocre. That first half was honestly shocking

They didn't even play a low block.

 

[Berbasbullet]

We are an enigma. We were painfully poor but still managed to win comfortably in the end.

Not sure why Martial starts ahead of Greenwood? Mason seems to be in good form atm.
Happy for James, feels like there is a good player in there somewhere. Hopefully he can gain confidence and improve now.
Great for Shola to get a run out! Our management seems to rate him highly.

Neville has a point regarding your first sentence, we just randomly wake up and turn it on. From the second goal until the end we were great, before that we couldn’t string two passes.

Is it a sign of mentality, coaching? I have no idea.

 

[Deery]

Good win in the end up, think James was probably our best player, nice for the lad given all the stick he gets. Don’t understand why Jenas give it to Shaw would liked to have seen him get the motm award.

 

[Tapori]

We have to stop that zombie left-side not crossing
EVERY time it's stop-pass back.

The amount of missed passes into the thirds and slow switches of play out to the right when James or Wan-Bissaka was free.
We were very lethargic in tempo. Too many touches. Not moving the ball quickly enough and exploiting the gargantuan gaps and space.

 

[Summit]

I’m happy we’ve won. But I’m also worried by the malaise across our performances for a number of matches in the league now. We don’t play with any consistent method or rhythm and are always porous at the back. Virtually every game is a slog. We are second with a fairly average points tally. I don’t think we are anything more than a fairly run of the mill outfit.

So we're second? Upto now better than the other 18 teams? Only city better so far in the league.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Nah. We've been either great and won comfortably, or dogshit and lost/drew

So it is something we are turning some of the bad performances into wins.

 

[Flexdegea]

Mental that we are top scorers in the league and have been banging them in across Europe too.....playing with basically a man down up front all season with Martial playing.


Can't get my head around it. Just keep thinking if we had a real talent in his place we be still in Europe and prob neck and neck with city.


Should be main priority during next transfer to bring in real quality up front to start games.

 

[Plant0x84]

Looked to me in the first half like we’d been set out to sit back, keep it tight and not concede early, which kinda worked. The upshot of that was Newcastle were emboldened and made to look quite good with there high press.
After that it was just a case of wearing them down as the mat CJ went on.
Cavani injury is ill timed as Anthony definitely needs a rest. He was dire today. We missed McSauce as well. I’ll take the points.

 

[bosnian_red]

Comfortable enough in the 2nd half (though we started it poorly). Not sure there's much else to say here. Martial was annoyingly invisible today, as a striker he has to be in the box way more often. Other than that, pretty standard all around. James had a good game which is good to see. Matic had a very good 2nd half. Fred was sloppy. Defence was alright.

 

[Tapori]

I'd also start James against Chelsea.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Very happy with Rashford's goal. He needs to do that more, just cut in and blast it!

 

[OrcaFat]

Surprised by the negative comments about the performance. We had 72% possession and scored three goals.

Newcastle defended resolutely which, of course makes it hard to carve out a boat load of chances but we worked some good openings.

Once again, we looked short of quality in midfield when pressed but, let’s face it, we have the players we have; we’ll have to wait until summer for upgrades.

 

[Summit]

So it is something we are turning some of the bad performances into wins.

Ya, that's my point I'm arguing against the fault finders

 

[Mr Smith]

Some will complain about the poor quality of the performance, but it should be remembered that most of this team played 3 days ago in Turin. I think it's very encouraging that we were able to win comfortably without playing that well. Job done, move on.

 

[Rightnr]

Weve mainly only been winning like this the last two years..

Spot on. This reminds of the season Mourinho got his 'best achievement ever'. And what happened the season after? We we back to being mediocre and missing top 4.

But of course opinions such as this are villified because we shouldn't look beyond our nose and all perspective is unnecessary.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Really poor for 60 minutes - hangover from Thursday nights in Europe?

Last 30 minutes we found some energy And started to play. Shaw motm, matic was very good on the ball last 30 minutes. Created teh 2nd goal and set up Rashford to win the penalty..... James gaining some confidence back.

Martial poor form just seems to get worse. time to give Mason a run until martial shows hes worthy of a place in the team.

Vital 3 points more important than overall poor game.

Playing somebody into form may work for some players, but I think Martial needs taking out of the starting lineup. Playing him is not helping him or the team.

 

[Okey]

Winning without playing well...the stuff of champions! Seriously though, 3 points the only positive from that game. Forgettable.

 

[sidsutton]

Another rousing performance from the boys in red.

 

[wolvored]

Wonder if Juan Mata comes on with instructions to get the ball to (insert whoever the youth player is) that comes on with him.

de Gea had a poor game but made some good saves at times, usually because he messed up a catch or a kick. We were ridiculously sloppy and look very, very tired. It's crazy how much better we look with Bailly and Henderson on defensively though.

Up front, I thought all our front three were a bit selfish. If we are being honest, we've escaped one here through a mixture of poor goalkeeping and decent finishing by James and Rashford. Newcastle were the better side first half and started the second the better team too.

Couldnt believe the lineup I was thinking why does Ole change the defence from an assured defence to a nervy one. Thought we were gonna cock this up. Luckily Newcastle ran out of steam.

 

[Feed Me]

So we're second? Upto now better than the other 18 teams? Only city better so far in the league.

I think it’s a very average field this season, and think many others would agree. Looking at underlying performance indicators, I see a number of issues still. There were periods of the game today where we looked absolutely bereft of energy or quality. Our season has been a mass of such indifferent performances pockmarked by gritty victories, although lately they have dried up. I would personally be more convinced if we could just put a series of consistent performances together.

 

[Lentwood]

Not a great performance but every win in the PL is hard-earned, especially after a European away game midweek.

Again, you can see some of the issues that will hurt us.

De Gea has to come out and help the CBs with the goal. Not sure I agree that he should have saved the shot but the cross had no pace and was looped high, Henderson would have come and punched or claimed that.

Still not convinced by Fred as a regular starter. Has his uses in big games or away games but poor passing forwards against weaker sides.

Martial absolutely anonymous but nice to see Rashford have one of his better games and I actually thought Dan James did OK, mixed it up at times driving infield second half and was keeping the width on the right.