[SadlerMUFC]

Leicester City 1:0 Man Utd - Iheanacho (24')

I wish I knew how to screen shot and post but pause this on the first replay after the goal as soon as Fred takes a touch. He touches with his left foot to try and control. He should be passing it with his right to AWB who is wide open with his first touch. This is basic football. If you are blaming Maguire then you either have an agenda or you don't understand football. You can't take a touch in that situation. this is the basics of playing from the back in this situation. As soon as Fred takes a touch he's done. But it was a good pass with outlets that need to be a first time pass...

 

[Coxy]

It's not an excuse, the performance is literally what I expected though. We're a good team who needed a week off desperately. This game came too soon for us and at the perfect time for Leicester. Energy levels are sometimes all that is required to make the other team 2nd best in every department.

Nothing to do with energy levels. They played like a team - we didn’t.

 

[Asger]

Can't understand why Ole let his first team play as hard as they must in all previous games just to sacrifice the cup by using 2nd team in quarterfinal (due to exhaustion of first team players). A ManUtd with no clear campaign to follow.

Chelsea and City could rest their star players. its just shame how far away our squad quality is to those two teams.

 

[Ludens the Red]

19:51Richard Fay
Solskjaer defends team selection
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended his team selection in tonight's defeat.

I’d fecking love to know what goes on behind the scenes in our training sessions.

 

[Solius]

Nothing to do with energy levels. They played like a team - we didn’t.

We were poor but It definitely has something to do with it. We played 5 games in the time they played one. They were fresh as anything.

 

[gazbradley]

Second best pretty much everywhere today, lots of reasons/excuses why but ultimately they just looked like they wanted it more. I was surprised bruno didn’t start or at least come on at half time when we looked so flat, seemed an odd game to rest him for. Watching ndidi & tielemans today can’t help but feel they’d be an improvement on Fred and matic/mct

 

[Sandikan]

Bruno and Shaw rested was a real kicker. I can't understand it myself and it keeps those questions over Ole in the big moments rolling on and on.

This is the bit that is inexplicable. Rest the key player and the most in form player, right when we don't play for 2 weeks.
I think we've got a big problem with VDB. In our team he just looks like a pass it back to the guy who passed it to him merchant. Can we use him any better when he plays in the same position as our best player?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I’d fecking love to know what goes on behind the scenes in our training sessions.

Maybe the players would as well as it doesn't seem to involve them.

 

[Sandikan]

I’d fecking love to know what goes on behind the scenes in our training sessions.

"Right lads, best two lads need a rest so they're fit for internationals"
"Matic needs to play against one of the most mobile midfields. Throw in VDB who has been like a timid lamb for us so far. Brilliant".

 

[Forevergiggs1]

We were poor but It definitely has something to do with it. We played 5 games in the time they played one. They were fresh as anything.

We've played 6 since the start of march, they've played 4. Still not ideal for us but manageable.

 

[Solius]

We've played 6 since the start of march, they've played 4. Still not ideal for us but manageable.

Since March 6th they’ve played one game and it was a walk in the park at home against a demoralised Sheffield Utd. Since March 6th we’ve played 4 times including one abroad.

 

[bosnian_red]

Nothing to do with energy levels. They played like a team - we didn’t.

It 100% does... We looked tired and leggy on the pitch. Our touch was heavy throughout, a common thing that happens when you aren't fresh. They were first to every 50/50 - something that happens when one team is fresh and the other isn't. Leicester is a very good team and full strength and equal fitness it would be a tough game. Instead, we rested Bruno, Shaw and were missing Rashford, while many of the others on the pitch weren't fresh, we just had a tough Thursday night game in Milan, while they had all week to prepare after a 5-0 win last weekend vs Sheffield, which followed another full week after they beat Brighton on March 6th. In the same period, we played City away, Milan home, West Ham home, Milan away and now Leicester away. So not only adding in 2 very tough europa league games with so much more travel and less rest time, but also the quality of opponents in the last 2 weekends and much tougher games. Nothing about this game was a surprise because of all this. It would've been a pleasant surprise if we managed to put in a dominant performance, but imo it was unrealistic to expect one given all this, and given that Leicester aren't far behind us overall in player quality and in many positions (particularly midfield) have better players anyway.

 

[tjb]

We try to control games and slow things down ( building up slowly from the back) when we literally don't have a single midfielder capable of simply making decent passes ( Pogba doesn't count). it means that unless we get the ball through the left flank when Shaw is playing or incredible magic from Bruno, we create no chances. Has nothing to do with our attackers.

The midfielders are so passive that Maguire, a defender, is tasked with the majority of our build up...which of course comes from deeper and is slower ( as he's a defender for a reason). Simply running around like a headless chicken isn't enough, and we don't even really win the ball back quickly enough.m

 

[Bastian]

Thought we looked OK for the first 5-10 minutes.

Was annoyed that Ole didn't react immediately at HT, as we were lucky to go in level. Not because Leicester were good, but because we just weren't at it. At all. And all that talent on the bench and a break coming up.

Not that I would have expected us to win the cup or anything. But that was needlessly terrible.

 

[Red00012]

Thought we looked OK for the first 5-10 minutes.

Was annoyed that Ole didn't react immediately at HT, as we were lucky to go in level. Not because Leicester were good, but because we just weren't at it. At all. And all that talent on the bench and a break coming up.

Not that I would have expected us to win the cup or anything. But that was needlessly terrible.

I think i posted during that time that we had started well, I was tempted to delete it after 10-15 mins in or else I was expecting to be tagged

 

[Sea-Cow]

Hopefully the Portugal manager will do us a solid and rest Bruno. He has been poor for months.

Hopefully we can get some rest and come back fresh in a few weeks. This was so disappointing, and doesn't fill one with hope for the Europa League.

 

[Eric's-collar]

Should be looking in other dugout tbh

 

[Bastian]

I think i posted during that time that we had started well, I was tempted to delete it after 10-15 mins in or else I was expecting to be tagged

It would have been true enough. It's just like our many many periods within a season, ranging from shocking to brilliant. But we started OK, not as well as we did against Milan, but it's surely been worked on a bit given we've tended to start asleep and then wake up after conceding.

But despite that few minute opening spell, I was pretty worried that the team selected would struggle. I really don't like the Fred-Matic combo. And against a hard working team our forward line left a lot to be desired.

I'm also questioning whether Telles was the right move. He's decent, but it's not like he'll dramatically improve. At least Shaw is seriously improved (as a result?).

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Since March 6th they’ve played one game and it was a walk in the park at home against a demoralised Sheffield Utd. Since March 6th we’ve played 4 times including one abroad.

SU wasn't a walk in the park for us. Since March 6th they've also played Brighton. The difference was our 2 games in the El. We've played 4, Leicester 2.

Of course it will have an effect but we've had plenty of time to rest players which wasn't used. Leicester were without 3 or 4 definate first team starters. People can complain about our schedule all they like and they'd be right but we're not Leicester City. We have a far better squad than them. The secret is using it wisely, something I think we still haven't mastered.

 

[Scotch]

This is what I can’t take. We have far better players than Leicester City. We are downgrading players like Martial and Fred in our minds because they are playing terrible football under a poor coach.

We have a far better first team than Leicester and a vastly superior squad.

This undervaluing of the squad to protect the manager needs to stop. Standards need to return to the club.

"Far better"...... behave!!

An on form De Gea gets in over Kasper, granted.

None of your CBs get anywhere near the three that played for us tonight. Your finding out that the reason Maguire looked so good for us was because he had Evans beside him.

I like AWB but he doesn't get in ahead of Ricardo and Shaw shouldn't be in the same convo as Castagne and that's not even taking into consideration that James Justin was miles above both before he got injured.

Bruno gets in over Maddison but not by a whole lot but other than that, no Utd CM gets near Tielemans and Ndidi and that includes Pogba.

Up front, Vardy offers more than any striker you have, even when he's not scoring, the fear he creates in defenders creates the space for Nacho who would admittedly lose his spot to Rashford.

When it comes to wingers, you have us beat.... all barring Barnes who has been better than every Utd winger this year. Easily.

Utd are probably the biggest club in the world and dwarf us in almost every aspect but when it comes to the quality of our starting 11 versus yours..... We have you beat IMO and even if you argued otherwise, there is absolutely NO CHANCE that you have "far better" players.

 

[Ludens the Red]

"Right lads, best two lads need a rest so they're fit for internationals"
"Matic needs to play against one of the most mobile midfields. Throw in VDB who has been like a timid lamb for us so far. Brilliant".

Since March 6th they’ve played one game and it was a walk in the park at home against a demoralised Sheffield Utd. Since March 6th we’ve played 4 times including one abroad.

This is true but it’s always going to be the case. We’re a club usually involved in a number of cups by time February and March come around and we WILL play against teams with more rest.
The alternative and the only way to avoid this would be to ensure we’re out of all the cups by March.

 

[Red00012]

It would have been true enough. It's just like our many many periods within a season, ranging from shocking to brilliant. But we started OK, not as well as we did against Milan, but it's surely been worked on a bit given we've tended to start asleep and then wake up after conceding.

But despite that few minute opening spell, I was pretty worried that the team selected would struggle. I really don't like the Fred-Matic combo. And against a hard working team our forward line left a lot to be desired.

I'm also questioning whether Telles was the right move. He's decent, but it's not like he'll dramatically improve. At least Shaw is seriously improved (as a result?).

I was content going in at half time with the score at 1-1 , thinking we’d come out in the 2nd half like we did Milan but it never happened . We could barely get on the ball inside the 1st 10 mins before they eventually scored .

 

[Utd heap]

"Far better"...... behave!!

An on form De Gea gets in over Kasper, granted.

None of your CBs get anywhere near the three that played for us tonight. Your finding out that the reason Maguire looked so good for us was because he had Evans beside him.

I like AWB but he doesn't get in ahead of Ricardo and Shaw shouldn't be in the same convo as Castagne and that's not even taking into consideration that James Justin was miles above both before he got injured.

Bruno gets in over Maddison but not by a whole lot but other than that, no Utd CM gets near Tielemans and Ndidi and that includes Pogba.

Up front, Vardy offers more than any striker you have, even when he's not scoring, the fear he creates in defenders creates the space for Nacho who would admittedly lose his spot to Rashford.

When it comes to wingers, you have us beat.... all barring Barnes who has been better than every Utd winger this year. Easily.

Utd are probably the biggest club in the world and dwarf us in almost every aspect but when it comes to the quality of our starting 11 versus yours..... We have you beat IMO and even if you argued otherwise, there is absolutely NO CHANCE that you have "far better" players.

Good god mate. You were the better side today and fair play to you but what a load of bollocks.

Its cheered me up a bit that has.

 

[Scotch]

Good god mate. You were the better side today and fair play to you but what a load of bollocks.

Its cheered me up a bit that has.

Ok, so what did I get wrong? Make your case....

 

[mu4c_20le]

Utd are probably the biggest club in the world and dwarf us in almost every aspect but when it comes to the quality of our starting 11 versus yours..... We have you beat IMO and even if you argued otherwise, there is absolutely NO CHANCE that you have "far better" players.

So why'd you lose to Arsenal? Hilarious player comparisons aside, it only takes two decent games to have your heads up in the clouds again...

 

[nimic]

Shaw shouldn't be in the same convo as Castagne

Proof if we ever needed it that you don't watch United except when they play your lot. Shaw has been the best left back in the league this season. He's easily having his best season with the club. Puts the rest of your comparisons into valuable context.

 

[arthurka]

Ok pogba is fine. But what about bruno, shaw and cavani ? Cavani was already well rested.

Fact of the matter is Ole wanted to play with 2 dm's through the middle.

Two useless dm's to be fair. Fred, Matic is all in Ole. Diabolical stuff from them.

 

[Scotch]

So why'd you lose to Arsenal? Hilarious player comparisons aside, it only takes two decent games to have your heads up in the clouds again...

Why did you lose to Sheffield Utd? I'm not sure of the point your trying to make here.

Proof if we ever needed it that you don't watch United except when they play your lot. Shaw has been the best left back in the league this season. He's easily having his best season with the club. Puts the rest of your comparisons into valuable context.

I'm not saying he's not but we are talking about the starting LWB for the #1 ranked national team in the world here and as for best LB in the league? I could clearly reverse your comment in regards to when James Justin was fit. Easily our POTY and a fair chunk of those came at LB.

 

[Utd heap]

Ok, so what did I get wrong? Make your case....

I mean the suggestion that Shaw, Pogba and the Utd front 3 wouldn't get in the Leicester side is probably a stretch even for Brendan himself.

Let alone the Maguire / Evans comparison. And as Utd fans we have seen plenty of both.

But its a game of opinions so enjoy your win.

 

[Crustanoid]

Hopefully the Portugal manager will do us a solid and rest Bruno. He has been poor for months.

Hopefully we can get some rest and come back fresh in a few weeks. This was so disappointing, and doesn't fill one with hope for the Europa League.

Will probably play Bruno 2x90 minutes and injure him. Twonk

 

[Maluco]

"Far better"...... behave!!

An on form De Gea gets in over Kasper, granted.

None of your CBs get anywhere near the three that played for us tonight. Your finding out that the reason Maguire looked so good for us was because he had Evans beside him.

I like AWB but he doesn't get in ahead of Ricardo and Shaw shouldn't be in the same convo as Castagne and that's not even taking into consideration that James Justin was miles above both before he got injured.

Bruno gets in over Maddison but not by a whole lot but other than that, no Utd CM gets near Tielemans and Ndidi and that includes Pogba.

Up front, Vardy offers more than any striker you have, even when he's not scoring, the fear he creates in defenders creates the space for Nacho who would admittedly lose his spot to Rashford.

When it comes to wingers, you have us beat.... all barring Barnes who has been better than every Utd winger this year. Easily.

Utd are probably the biggest club in the world and dwarf us in almost every aspect but when it comes to the quality of our starting 11 versus yours..... We have you beat IMO and even if you argued otherwise, there is absolutely NO CHANCE that you have "far better" players.

You are a Leicester fan so obviously you will rate your own players.

GK is even enough. Maguire is a better CB than Evans for me, despite how slow on the turn he can be. I would put the CB options as United being slightly ahead, although I admit Leicester have decent options.

AWB is better defensively than anyone you have, including Pereira and Shaw is a level above any of your left backs in every sense. He has been the best in the division by a distance this season and I don’t think that’s even debatable.

Pogba and Bruno are far better footballers than anyone Leicester have in midfield. A different tier altogether ability wise. I would take Ndidi to partner them.

And as you say, take out Vardy and we have far better options for attacking positions. Vardy is also aging now and can’t produce as consistently as he did before.

On top of that, our squad has far better depth. We are better, a tier above Leicester. That isn’t me being arrogant. It’s perfectly natural that we would be and should be.

The biggest difference is that you have a far better coach, and as such, the gap is much smaller than it should be.


GK Schmeichel

RB AWB
CB Evans
CB Maguire
LB Shaw

DM Ndidi
CM Pogba
AMC Bruno

LW Rashford
CF Vardy
RW Greenwood

That would be my combined team, and Vardy is 34 years old, there is little difference between Evans and Lindelof or even Schmeichel and one of our own GK.

While I admit that you could choose Pereira, or maybe Barnes, for United, Shaw, Maguire, Pogba, Bruno and Rashford are indisputable, and only really Ndidi is for Leicester.

 

[Dr Fink]

Simply awful. Too early for Pogba to start. Why does Ole think Donny is a Bruno stand-in? Play him where he can be involved all the time, next to a proper DM. Fred and Matic were shocking. We need an upgrade. Ole brought on Cavani and the team gave him f*ck all to feed off. Martial is an utter waste of time.

 

[redmanx]

I know emotions are running high, but I find this a bizarre comment.

I agree; all of Leicesters players played out of their skins, many of ours didnt turn up. Thats why we lost.

 

[r0663664]

I don’t understand what is this argument about who players are better. Whether is it Ole, Roger, Klopp and Pep will chose a player that they will trust to make a difference. If Rogers feels that Vardy has not threat than Rashford, I am sure Vardy will be picked. Pogba may only in on the bench due to inconsistency. There are a lot of discussion that the players are tired, that’s not an excuse. Ole has many players who are fresh and hardly plays but why do we lose. Tiredness is just an excuse for some fans trying to find excuses for losing. Martial has done anything this season to be in the squad, he should be sent to the reserve. That’s all I have to say.

 

[Leftback99]

You are a Leicester fan so obviously you will rate your own players.

GK is even enough. Maguire is a better CB than Evans for me, despite how slow on the turn he can be. I would put the CB options as United being slightly ahead, although I admit Leicester have decent options.

AWB is better defensively than anyone you have, including Pereira and Shaw is a level above any of your left backs in every sense. He has been the best in the division by a distance this season and I don’t think that’s even debatable.

Pogba and Bruno are far better footballers than anyone Leicester have in midfield. A different tier altogether ability wise. I would take Ndidi to partner them.

And as you say, take out Vardy and we have far better options for attacking positions. Vardy is also aging now and can’t produce as consistently as he did before.

On top of that, our squad has far better depth. We are better, a tier above Leicester. That isn’t me being arrogant. It’s perfectly natural that we would be and should be.

The biggest difference is that you have a far better coach, and as such, the gap is much smaller than it should be.


GK Schmeichel

RB AWB
CB Evans
CB Maguire
LB Shaw

DM Ndidi
CM Pogba
AMC Bruno

LW Rashford
CF Vardy
RW Greenwood

That would be my combined team, and Vardy is 34 years old, there is little difference between Evans and Lindelof or even Schmeichel and one of our own GK.

While I admit that you could choose Pereira, or maybe Barnes, for United, Shaw, Maguire, Pogba, Bruno and Rashford are indisputable, and only really Ndidi is for Leicester.

It's really not as clear cut as you say. Combined XIs don't tell the story. You end up leaving out Tielemans to play Pogba when the main thing Leicester have over us is a well balanced midfield. Pogba and Fred (or any of our others) isn't as good as Ndidi - Tielemans. Their full backs are also very good, Justin in particular was playing as well as anyone else before injury. AWB might be great defensively but so what if he offers nothing going forward compared to Leicester's.

 

[Maluco]

It's really not as clear cut as you say. Combined XIs don't tell the story. You end up leaving out Tielemans to play Pogba when the main thing Leicester have over us is a well balanced midfield. Pogba and Fred (or any of our others) isn't as good as Ndidi - Tielemans. Their full backs are also very good, Justin in particular was playing as well as anyone else before injury. AWB might be great defensively but so what if he offers nothing going forward compared to Leicester's.

I also left out Henderson, Telles, Lindelof, Bailly, VbD, Martial etc... for us.

I am just arguing that the story it tells is one of better coaching and management. We have the players in my opinion. We just don’t have the coaching and the system like Leicester do, but we have better quality throughout the squad.

 

[sunama]

Chelsea and City could rest their star players. its just shame how far away our squad quality is to those two teams.

Man for man, our squad is better than most (except MCFC). We pay the highest wages and pay the biggest transfer fees.
The issue is lack of coaching and no coherent game plan.

We park the bus in many games and hit on the counter.
We play like underdogs, parking the bus.

Last season, at least we made semi finals, this season we have gone backward.

The crazy thing is that many fans will focus on getting top 4 in the league. I would ask, "What obsession do people have with top 4? Are we the Arsenal of 10 years ago?"

 

[sunama]

Gets us into Pot 1 if we win it, more chance of lots more money, that's if we get out of the group stage of course.

Do fans seriously think we can win the Europa League?
This is one of the hardest trophies to win and Ole has a 0% success rate of winning English and European trophies.
I think I stand more chance of winning the lottery than MUFC have of winning the EL. And I don't even buy lottery tickets!

 

[mu4c_20le]

Why did you lose to Sheffield Utd? I'm not sure of the point your trying to make here.

You aren't as good as you think, and you'll do well to finish top 4. Vardy is your Bruno, without him you're hopeless. Play Arsenal 10 times and I think they win more often than not.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Do fans seriously think we can win the Europa League?
This is one of the hardest trophies to win and Ole has a 0% success rate of winning English and European trophies.
I think I stand more chance of winning the lottery than MUFC have of winning the EL. And I don't even buy lottery tickets!

For crying out loud. We have as good of a chance as anyone. We just knocked put two of the front runners and have a nice draw in the quarters.

Its certainly not beyond the realm of mankind to suggest we will win it.