What did Ole get wrong today ?

[Raoul]

I don't see anyone who he could have brought on that would benefit us in any way ?

All his options were defensive.

We needed fresh legs and new ideas. James, for one, would’ve come in handy earlier. Amad as well. Rashford was clearly off all night and Ole should’ve recognized this and made a change.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Nothing in my book, maybe rashford off for greenwood but can't deny rashford gets a goal when playing poorly and is an experienced peno taker.

Only real thing that went wrong is we weren't really good enough to break them down consistently, didn't take our chances. Same story of oles whole reign, which has improved but not to the point that it doesn't exist.

 

[TMDaines]

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[Jon@thon]

Seems there are only 13 players Ole truly trusts if you look at the starting 11 plus the 2 on the bench who get plenty of game time in Fred and Henderson, so only 1 outfield change he could have made. That said I just can't fathom how, or why, Rashford stayed on. Fine, give him the benefit of the doubt to continue in the second half for 10-20 minutes but should have been hooked at that point and PP moved to the left and Fred slotting with Scott.

All season we've struggled to breakdown teams who sit back so what happened tonight was nothing new. Let's just hope we can find a solution for next season.

 

[DickDastardly]

Come on Vida.

First of all, Rashford.
Haul his ass off at 60 min mark. Not in the game.

For who? Who ever.
Get Pogba on the left, put VDB in.
Or get James on the left. He could cross it at least.

Then, get Greenwood closer to the goal.
Don't take him off ffs.

Widen them. Get Bruno in the game more. Change him to the side.

And, the last - get fecking Henderson on for the pens.

In short - a lot of fecking things!

 

[lilcurt]

Literally since the starting whistle, every single decision from that point he got wrong.

Not making subs, not managing to rally to team, making the wrong subs.

He has no future, we sack him how in 6-months or 12-months. Purely a matter of time.

 

[The Purley King]

I gave rashford 1/10 for his performance
Gave the ball away every single time he had it and missed an absolute sitter (even though it was prob offside )
Should have been hooked at half time

Mata for rashford at 45 min see how it goes and then look at vdb and diallo
Seeing how the game progressed vdb may have been a decent option even though I have not t rated him at all this year
Ole has his favourites, which is a bad managerial trait to have

 

[Hugh Jass]

If we were a good enough team, against Villareal (no disrespect) it should be a tough but controlled 2-1 or 2-0 win. Bar the first twenty minutes of the second half we were atrocious. It was a horror show tbh. Very worrying.

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

Oh yeah the final thing that made me laugh or cry was Ole scrambling around on the back of a fag packet in the 119th minute writing down what looked like his penalty takers. I mean, we are a multi billion pound business and it looked like something from Sunday league football.

 

[Devil may care]

Not starting Axel and not making subs sooner, especially Rashford not being brought off, Amad or James couldn't have done worse.

 

[buckooo1978]

80 mins on he needed to change things

strangely Pogba was our deepest midfielder and McTominay was pretty box to box

He should have attacked and persisting with Rashford was disappointing

fine margins but will he learn?

Donny/Mata/Amad all good at weekend I thought

 

[spiriticon]

I don't see anyone who he could have brought on that would benefit us in any way ?

All his options were defensive.

Then he fecked up his bench selection innit?

 

[Nick7]

He played for penalties with a keeper who is pretty well known to be shite at penalties.

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

1) I was surprised he left no ace on the bench he could bring on. That should have been Greenwood. Okay Fred may have not been fully fit but then he could have used Matic next to McTominay with Pogba off the left. Villarreal just sat deep and aren’t very quick so Matic would have been fine in this game.

2) What happened in extra time was scandalous. We had 30 minutes to win the game but either the team was gassed or we were way too cautious. We completely wasted that period doing feck all and Ole not changing it up is a real black mark on his management.

We literally didn’t appear in extra time. It’s like it didn’t happen. Quite surreal in fact.

 

[VidaRed]

No they weren’t. Fresh legs were required. Amad, VDB could have made a difference. The full backs should have been replaced. Hell even Elanga was worth a shot.

Sub Rashford after an hour, put in James/Amad early and try to go for win in normal time. If, he was going to pussy his way into a penalty shootout, then at least sub your strongest GK in.

Only thing he did right was to put out the XI which he did, everything after that was a disaster. But, we already know his in-game management is absolutely abysmal.

Amad for Rashford.

By extra time he had an eye on penalties and probably didn't want amad and vdb to bottle the pens.

 

[Knux]

Our bench was hopeless from the start, and has been for the whole season.
Im sure we would’ve seen subs if he had Mahrez, Sterling, Stones, Aguero, Jesus and Gundogan on the bench. But thats not the case.

 

[Giggsy13]

At 60 minutes take off Rashford and Bring on VDB or Mata, to allow Pogba a move to the left. Taking off Greenwood who has been our best forward for a few months was criminal.

 

[spiriticon]

He played for penalties with a keeper who is pretty well known to be shite at penalties.

Yup. At the end he was subbing for pens, and he didn't have the balls to use one to take De Gea off.

Fail.

 

[MadMike]

Come on Vida.

First of all, Rashford.
Haul his ass off at 60 min mark. Not in the game.

For who? Who ever.
Get Pogba on the left, put VDB in.
Or get James on the left. He could cross it at least.

Then, get Greenwood closer to the goal.
Don't take him off ffs.

Widen them. Get Bruno in the game more. Change him to the side.

And, the last - get fecking Henderson on for the pens.

In short - a lot of fecking things!

Pretty much this.

I would have also been tempted to bring Mata or Amad on for Pogba to see if they can unpick the defence. Get James left for Rashford to try to stretch them.

 

[pcaming]

If I was Donny I'd be in his ear first thing tomorrow. How can you not make a sub? Then you bring Fred instead of players that would assist in breaking down the wall in front of us...

Did he not see the donut shaped attack and realise someone needed to be in there?

 

[Dan_F]

The team set up was correct, in fact any combination of our squad should have enough to beat Villarreal. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Mata, who isn’t good enough for us, goes to a team like Villarreal and becomes are starter (hypothetically, I know he won’t go there).

He probably should have bought fresh legs on sooner, or taken off Rashford instead of Greenwood, but are we really believing those are the root causes of us losing tonight.

He could have bought on Amad, who might have scored us a winner late on, but honestly, it would still be a massive worry long term. The team just doesn’t play well.

 

[Mystry]

Not learning from the back end of last season where he did bother replacing tired players. Or figuring out by now that Rashford is hopeless on the right. He could have made a bunch of different choices, chose none for most of the game and it cost us.

 

[laughtersassassin]

1. Taking Greenwood Off

2. Maybe should have got the fresh legs in earlier.

3. Henderson should have came on for the penalities. Said it before the game

4. Rashford had to be taken off. Worst player on the pitch.

5. Hasn't sorted our inability to defend set pieces all season.


I think he got the first 11 correct. And the subs to bringing in Telles and Mata as well.

Overall think the coaching staff are a large part to blame.

 

[Irwin99]

I think people might be right about the subs and to be honest the pattern of the game wasn't really dissimilar to a lot of our games this season: crap first half, then the spirit of the comeback kings comes to the fore and we start to overwhelm the opposition with energy and pressing; we get a goal and then take it from there. Problem was that the momentum fizzled out. Their manager introduced subs and disrupted the rhythm and balance of the game that was swinging our way.

 

[Rustyspider13]

Rashford for Fred earlier. That's the big one. Rashford didn't perform tonight. I understand Fred and Maguire's injuries fecked our usual plan but Mason was a threat all game and should've been on the pitch no matter what.

We know our squad players aren't great but at least they could've run. The extra time was completely toothless. He settled for the penalty shootout but didn't being Henderson on either when everyone knows how bad DDG is at penalties.

So yeah, a few mistakes. But it's easier for us to say that in hindsight. Next season he has to learn to trust his players more and has to make some bold decisions to take the next step. He is the boss and needs to act like it.

 

[Diabovermelho]

He should have gone with McFred, Pogba as LW, and Greenwood RW. If Fred wasn't ready to play 90 min, then take him of at HT or 60min mark. Especially because we always need goals at second half.

But considering the lineup he choose, he should've took him off. It was criminal to substitute Greenwood and not Rashford.

Also, the lack of subs. Don't care if our bench was weak, there was enough players that could've changed the game, and sometimes when you just try something different, it could be enough. Villarreal were freshier at Extra Time, because Emery had 5 subs already!! Are you telling me that those 5 players were better than the starters? No, but he did it anyway.

But for me, his biggest mistake, was De Gea. No problem for him starting, but he should've taken him of before penalty shootout. De Gea can't save a penalty, it's his defficiency, and the manager must know that.

I honestly don't believe we're gonna win any title under Ole. What a shame.

 

[OLLY ORANGE]

Lack of changes and variation during the game.
No supprises as we have a limited in play manager.

 

[TheGame]

By extra time he had an eye on penalties and probably didn't want amad and vdb to bottle the pens.

Still not a good enough reason as game was there for the taking. If that was the case, they should have been made earlier then.

 

[spiriticon]

Yes the bench is weak but what does that matter when the quality players on the pitch can't even fecking run anymore?

Get some fresh legs on!

 

[BorisManUtd]

Always expected to see only one of Rashford and Greenwood to start tonight, then the other (more probably Greenwood) to come on at some point later in the game and make impact. We actually went with both of them in starting 11 so didn't have real options from the bench, perhaps van de Beek but don't think he'd bring anything significant.

On subs: Greenwood deserved to stay on the pitch and Rashford to get subbed off I think as he was poor for most of the game. I didn't like the subs at all actually, felt like Ole was only thinking about penalties and never about actually winning the game in ET. Subbing on James instead of Doni was maybe a mistake as well, James biggest impact is when we're playing on counters and we weren't doing that. But that's probably less important and certainly isn't a reason why we lost.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

He got arrogant as he clearly went for the penalties in the extra time. He thought he had penalties sorted. He might have seen something in the training with player's confidence in taking penalties. But it's never the right approach specially from a team that played as well as we did in the second half.

 

[KrasHammerhand]

I would have started Henderson. I expect De Gea will be leaving in the off-season, but now Henderson is going to be pissed as well that he didn’t start. Given everyone scored I can’t really complain about who he left on for the penalties. When you leave it to penalties it is a complete crap shoot. We lost.

 

[Red_Aaron]

It was good to see an aggressive line up but in hindsight it badly affected our ability to make good attacking changes.

Fred looked perfectly fit when he came on so I think he could've played meaning one of Pogba, Rashford or Greenwood from the bench

I think the biggest issue for me though was once again a slow start. Its dogged us all season and continues to be prevalent. Seriously how hard can it be to get into the players heads that we need to be aggressive right from the off. Don't let up, push them back. Take risks, take shots, try forward passes - it builds pressure on them and momentum for us. All season we've been too slow out of the blocks

We allowed them to set the tempo and we immediately lost probably half the game from bullshit tactical tricks by them. Frustrating

 

[JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo]

This club shouldn't play for penalties. It blows my mind that Ole doesn't take risks considering it was Fergie entire process

 

[AndyMUFC]

The half an hour in extra time mainly. We were just knackered, and I know our options weren't the best but at least try something.

 

[sp_107]

Bailly-Lindelof pairing.
Leaving Rashford on when he wasn't offering anything.
Leaving it too late to freshen up the team and seeing us fade into anonymity.
Not having the balls to throw on Hendo for the shootout.

nailed it

 

[JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo]

I was excited by the starting line up. However we couldn't handle the low block and it cost us. We havent learned a thing in all these years.l against sitting teams.

Emery proved his merit yet again. Made his subs during the game itself, changed the full backs to make sure we couldn't catch them out.

We had no response to this and then ended up playing for fecking penalties.

 

[McGrathsipan]

I don't see anyone who he could have brought on that would benefit us in any way ?

All his options were defensive.

Then he got his team building wrong for the last two years.

 

[VidaRed]

Then he got his team building wrong for the last two years.

He hasn't been supported in the transfer market.

 

[Dec9003]

When he took Greenwood off and put Fred next to McTominay we lost control of the midfield. That pairing doesn’t work, it simply doesn’t. I don’t really rate either of them, but when you put them together our centre backs spend more time playing between themselves than trying to get the ball up the pitch. We complain when he doesn’t make a sub but when he does he made us worse imo.