[The Purley King]

Martial and matic very very poor.
Hard to function when 2/3 of the spine is pony.
Pogba did well today but we lacked control in The 2nd half.
Far too casual across the board when we equalised we seemed to think the 2nd would just follow.
Greenwood or Cavani to start as CF next game please and sancho to start as well please.
Do not want to see martial anywhere near a team sheet.

 

[Scarlett Dracarys]

Why did Ole fiddle with last week's lineup that delivered 5 goals?

Because it's United and he has to. How else are we going to have an emotional rollercoaster ride of a season?

 

[Ludens the Red]

Can't believe Ole was shouting all through that first 20 minutes telling the players to miss all those chances before their goal.

Then to cowardly make the exact sub the Cafe spent half time whinging about and then nearly had a stroke when it hadn't been made immediately before the second half began, only for us to some how get worse going forward than when the woeful Martial was part of the front 3.

Baffling management.

You’d be looking at why we barely created chances from open play against one of the worse sides in the league.

You’d also ask why the feck we were in a position to have to make that sub so soon after half time when it was patently obvious Martial had no business being in the line up in the first place.

We were terrible going forward with Martial on and terrible going forward with him going off. Again I’d ask why that is? I wouldn’t be trying to use that as some sort of point scoring to support Oles performance today. That’s borderline retarded.

Maybe start the guy you spent 72 million on and let him build match sharpeness and get used to his team mates like an actual smart thinking coach would do.

I don’t know how many more times these Fred-Matic combo and Martial Cf experiments need to happen before someone pulls him to the side and says “mate this doesn’t fecking work”.

He’s a fecking bang average manager mate. Surrounded by bang average coaches.
If you can’t accept it and feel the need to sarcastically respond to criticisms of him I suggest you put me on ignore because I’m going to complain a lot about him and them this season.

 

[Zlatanator]

After Greenwood's goal, we had this 15-20 min spell where we absolutely dominated, during this period they simply moved the ball like we are leading the game, this allowed them to breathe and they came back after that. It was really strange to see how we switched off in a matter of minutes.

 

[GledTheRed]

Title challenge over, had a fun week while it lasted.

 

[BulgarianDevil91]

After overcoming the initial frustration, I am now even more frustrated.

Had we scored at least one goal early at the start, this would have been a totally different game. We let them get a grip of it and our poor midfield partnership contributed to them actually taking control of things at a certain point. I even think we were lucky not to lose with Soton missing some big chances as the game progressed, most notably De Gea's save against Armstrong.

As the saying goes, we can't win them all, and after failing to materialize our early chances, we barely got a draw.

Also, people saying Soton are weakened in defence doesn't seem fair to me, as their new composition is far more agile and mobile, compared to Bednarek/Vestergaard.

On to Wolves!

 

[Giggsy9099]

Why start 2 defensive midfielder against Southampton? If that is not parking the bus I don't know what is.

 

[Crustanoid]

At least we didn't lose.

Not good enough today. Did not deserve the win. Fans back in the grounds will help teams against us.

Also the difference between Burnley's / Norwich's level of effort yesterday vs Southampton's today shows you what a lack of integrity and professionalism these teams have by raising their game so much against us but then proactively aiming to lose to City or Liverpool. Every. Single. Week.

 

[marktan]

Sign a wide forward that's more of an AM and a CB we don't even really need and what do you expect?

Our defences from last season were:
- Need a fast dribbling right winger to run at the opposition and stretch their fullbacks
- A DM that's good on the ball
- An attacking RB

We got none of those.

 

[Roosney]

Got to love a Sunday kickoff and see your team's not up for it. Lifts the mood really well.
*Checks which day our next match is

 

[::sonny::]

If you don’t win games like this you can’t win the league

Confident for the next season without mcfred, bissaka, martial

/thread

 

[Hammondo]

We need a Carrick type player, put Mctominay next to him (box to box), bruno in front.

 

[lloyd2wayne]

Soo Frustrating after a 5 star performance last week.

 

[mancan92]

We drew that purely down to our midfield and defence. For some reason both decided to conspire to make sure our attackers didn't see the ball for the last 20 minutes of the match. I cannot count the amount of passes we just threw away. We need a DM urgently and get Varane in the team.

 

[Dobba]

You’d be looking at why we barely created chances from open play against one of the worse sides in the league.

You’d also ask why the feck we were in a position to have to make that sub so soon after half time when it was patently obvious Martial had no business being in the line up in the first place.

We were terrible going forward with Martial on and terrible going forward with him going off. Again I’d ask why that is? I wouldn’t be trying to use that as some sort of point scoring to support Oles performance today. That’s borderline retarded.

Maybe start the guy you spent 72 million on and let him build match sharpeness and get used to his team mates like an actual smart thinking coach would do.

I don’t know how many more times these Fred-Matic combo and Martial Cf experiments need to happen before someone pulls him to the side and says “mate this doesn’t fecking work”.

He’s a fecking bang average manager mate. Surrounded by bang average coaches.
If you can’t accept it and feel the need to sarcastically respond to criticisms of him I suggest you put me on ignore because I’m going to complain a lot about him and them this season.

Sorry for being sarcastic, Leroy. I hope to one day reach the posting standards required of someone who uses the word 'retarded' because someone dare's to hold a differing opinion to theirs.

 

[Resch]

Good coaches know how to influence a match. Ole knows how to kill it. We were lucky not to loose. 1:1, 20 minutes to go, 2 substitutes left, and the team got ice cold. No positive influence of the bench, Ole with no idea how to push his team to the limit. Instead of fresh energy, Ole killed the momentum. He is just not good enough coaching a team on the field.

 

[Kush]

Why did Ole fiddle with last week's lineup that delivered 5 goals ?

McTominay is carrying some injury which meant he couldn't start.

Not sure what we expected with a midfield of Matic-Fred and a Martial up top who was moving like a retired pro. Just diabolical stuff, subs were equally bad.

 

[Foxbatt]

You can play Varane but it's not going to be any better when your midfield players drop into the central defense and you have one midfield player who is not very good in passing the ball left all alone by himself.

 

[Goku1983]

Pathetic midfield performance, and it is not the Glazers who pick this shite team. Donny, Sancho and Varane on the bench... you are having a laugh, Ole.

Lingard should not even be in Utd and he is our ace sub.

Donny should just put in a transfer request, he is better than all of Fred, Matic, McTominay, Lingard.

Agree with all this Varane I can just about forgive maybe he wants to start Varane at home or mayb hes not quite ready for some reason. But Sancho should have started and also VDB with Matic they destroyed Everton in a friendly I dont understand Oles problem with VDB im genuinely starting think Ole is blind we can all see thinga he cant i.e Donnys quality and the desperate need for a DM!

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Once we equalised there seemed a lack of desire to go on and win the game, more bothered about not losing it.

 

[freddie the red]

It's dejá vu all over again and I don't mean pre 2013

 

[mitchmouse]

Good coaches know how to influence a match. Ole knows how to kill it. We were lucky not to loose. 1:1, 20 minutes to go, 2 substitutes left, and the team got ice cold. No positive influence of the bench, Ole with no idea how to push his team to the limit. Instead of fresh energy, Ole killed the momentum. He is just not good enough coaching a team on the field.

been saying this since the day they gave him the job full time

 

[yipthatman]

But the league has long moved on from the days you can win it, while still losing 6 games and drawing loads.

I think this season will be even closer between the top teams personally

Once we equalised there seemed a lack of desire to go on and win the game, more bothered about not losing it.

It almost felt expected that we would score another. As if they forgot that they have to actually work for it.

 

[georgieworst]

Caf in meltdown, 2 games into the season.

Take a chill pill guys. We have 60+ games left.

60+games to prove just how far from winning the league we are.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

McTominay is carrying some injury which meant he couldn't start.

Not sure what we expected with a midfield of Matic-Fred and a Martial up top who was moving like a retired pro. Just diabolical stuff, subs were equally bad.

Think the Martial one was the most baffling. Mason is the nearest player we have to Cavani as a forward, he scored last week. Keep him as striker.

 

[TEX_RED_DVL]

Martial continues to look bereft of confidence as he was last season.

It's not lack of confidence, it's just plain lazy. He offers nothing up front no movement.

 

[glazed]

Everyone going into meltdown need to get a grip.

It's not about meltdowns and euphoria. It's about consistency. We don't have it with that defensive midfield.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

One point closer to securing top four.

 

[mitchmouse]

You’d be looking at why we barely created chances from open play against one of the worse sides in the league.

You’d also ask why the feck we were in a position to have to make that sub so soon after half time when it was patently obvious Martial had no business being in the line up in the first place.

We were terrible going forward with Martial on and terrible going forward with him going off. Again I’d ask why that is? I wouldn’t be trying to use that as some sort of point scoring to support Oles performance today. That’s borderline retarded.

Maybe start the guy you spent 72 million on and let him build match sharpeness and get used to his team mates like an actual smart thinking coach would do.

I don’t know how many more times these Fred-Matic combo and Martial Cf experiments need to happen before someone pulls him to the side and says “mate this doesn’t fecking work”.

He’s a fecking bang average manager mate. Surrounded by bang average coaches.
If you can’t accept it and feel the need to sarcastically respond to criticisms of him I suggest you put me on ignore because I’m going to complain a lot about him and them this season.

I'm with you on this - so many here never take of the red-tinted glasses.. can be seen by the predictions: they say we are going to win every game

 

[mav_9me]

Of course everyone is going to overreact. The good thing is we controlled the game for large portions. My feeling was that we waited far too long to haul off Martial, then took off the wrong midfielder, losing control of the game.

Greenwood should have been central. Sancho actually did have an impact when we were on top. He was combining really well with AWB, looking for one twos. Unfortunately we didn't stay on top for long, so as a result he spent most of the time defending.

For those who don't know, sancho drifts, Bruno drifts, pogba drifts, Greenwood drifts. We didn't win, noone's happy about that and yes, our build up was slow. Hopefully Varane has an impact on this and we sign a partner for Fred. It wasn't all bad and other teams will draw against teams.

We wont sign a CM and that's why it is going to be real bad.

In Jan 2020 winter window, I said if we don't sign a creative midfielder we are fecked. Thank god we got Bruno.

We are in a similar position (not as bad cuz now we have a team good enough for top4) but for the title, no chance without a new CM.

 

[wise_old_man]

You can't compare our team with MCFC's team. They are the standard and we are not close.

I thought we aspired to be like City.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I guess I prefer the early reality check rather than the euphoric fantasy.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Same problems as a last year. You have to be at 100%. You cannot not try one half and then try another half. You cannot flick a switch.

This does not bode well for the season.

 

[Siorac]

Well, we had a good 25 minutes so there's that.

If even Jesse fecking Lingard is ahead of Van de Beek then let's just sell him.

 

[MattofManchester]

It seems we are not allowed to play badly or draw away nowadays. We drew (and lost) many games like this under Sir Alex too…

Oh, go off with your excuses. We need points whenever we can because City go unstoppable mode after a while.

You'll keep making excuses every time we do this while it costs us points.

Last season, Sheffield, Arsenal, Palace, Everton, Fulham.
That's 13 points.

This season, Southampton already.
Keep making the same mistakes, how many will we drop this season?
That's the problem. Different season, same problems.

 

[Neo_Mufc]

Think the Martial one was the most baffling. Mason is the nearest player we have to Cavani as a forward, he scored last week. Keep him as striker.

He said something along the lines of "He had a good game against them last year".

 

[r0663664]

Does Ole know this team? We were struggling in the last 15 mins. Greenwood always start well and will fade from 75 mins onwards. Greenwood should have started at the top and sub out with options on the bench maybe VDV and Bruno as false 9. I cannot understand why Ole keeps insisting on Martial? A 33-34 yo Cavani is 2-3 times player he is.

 

[Woodzy]

There are players still making this team that should have been gone 2 years ago at least.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Credit to Pogba though.

When pretty much every other player was struggling he was the only one sharp and trying to make things happen.

Great assist for the goal.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

Positives:

• Pogba was very good.
• Bruno did well, and was committed as usual.
• Greenwood had moments of real class.
• De Gea came up with a big save when it was needed most.

Negatives

• Both Maguire and Shaw had their worst games in a long time
• Matic offered absolutely nothing and clearly can't cope with a team that presses even semi-competently
• We're not a team that presses even semi-competently
• AWB really poor today - he's becoming a 50/50 player. 50% chance good, 50% chance shit.
• Martial was brutal and actively handicapped our play
• Complete lack of any presence in the box, even after Martial went off. That McTominay ball fizzed across the 6 yard box in the 89th minute with nobody anywhere near it said it all.