[RedDevilRoshi]

Well thank feck the scoreline still reads 0-0

We’ve been all over the place since minute 1. Just can’t keep possession of the football, particularly in midfield. Adama is playing like a man possessed. Just running through us like a knife through butter. I’m just glad their end product is shit because we couldn’t complain if we found ourselves 2-3 down here based on that showing.

 

[Judas]

what was Fernandes mad about at the end with the ref?

Hopefully his own performance.

 

[Infra-red]

Can you imagine if we played like this against City?

We'd only have 20% possession against City, which would actually help us a lot.

It's games where we are expected to build the play where we are absolutely clueless.

 

[el3mel]

A little bit of a shame all honestly that Sancho isn't going to have an explosive start with us like say Bruno when he signed. It seems we'll have to wait for some time before he regains fitness and adapts to the league's pace.

 

[r0663664]

I see players making runs but our midfield are so blinded to pass. Our midfield just don’t cut it.

 

[SirMattlives]

Wish we had an enforcer to win a couple of those crunch tackles to quieten everything down. Not sure why Donny is not given a run here, poor Fred looks completely exposed. Still think we can win this but I’d like a couple of goals as a cushion for the likely manic press they will engage in near the end.

 

[jderbyshire]

Take James off, Matic on. Mive Pogba up and shift Sancho to the right.

I just think it's a bit fast and physical in the middle for Matic. He struggled against Southampton.

I would put Donny in for his fast thinking and one touch play... But there's more chance of James putting in a decent cross than that happening.

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Cant wait to see Ronaldo in this team!

If he watched that he’ll be tearing up his contract.

 

[joedirt87]

well the good news is United survived without conceding. Man really poor stuff from the midfield, the wide players. Looked like Pogba finally dropped a bit to help in midfield but then he just gives the ball away. bring on another midfielder to help control the game.

 

[Andycoleno9]

I must read a different Cafe where there's currently about a dozen DM threads full of people whinging that we haven't signed one this summer, due to a lack of depth.

I was just wondering how changing the manager would change that. It's quite the contrast to the current state of play.

Ffs, man. We have one of the best teams in league, covered on every position with top class players and you are saying thst because we don't have top class dmc we can't play decent football? Is that what you are saying? There is no club in the world who don't lack quality on some position but they still look good.
And these are Wolves. Midtable club.

 

[sp_107]

Phelen in suit, we will win this match

 

[Godfather]

The problem is we are getting overrun in midfield because we consistently allow Bruno not to play there and do what he wants. Some games we have to tell him to play midfield

This. A second striker role for him with only Pogba and Fred in mieifled is suicidal

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

Ole has a superstar team out there. He has enough resources to work around our weakness in midfield, a weakness he's known about for years now. This is on him and his coaching.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Very poor half but Wolves pressing was intense and unsustainable. Only Varane, Maguire and Shaw gave a respectable showing. Midfield and attack look like strangers. Credit to Wan Bissaka for the incredible goal line clearance but apart from that he showed why we need Trippier.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Yeah hard to watch that half. Hopefully something gets changed or else gonna be long 2nd half if our best hope is just hoping wolves tire

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Not even Ronaldo could save us from this dross. Our midfield is an absolute mess.

Oh yea. We've been brought back down to earth.

 

[Sylar]

Think we need to take off one from Sancho and James, bring on somebody in the middle like VDB and put Pogba out left

 

[Blood Mage]

The fecking state of our midfield. I honestly think we need to go 3 at the back to make up for it. Lindelof is our best passer from deep anyway.

 

[jesperjaap]

Yet again, first half showign why we should ave signed TWO central midfielders this summer.

Pogba - Seriously, play him on the left or sell him. Pace of the premiership he simply doesnt have the discipline on or off the ball to consistently be relied upon. Saw moments of his quality mixed in yet again with moment of not trackign back, not trackign runners or gettign caught on the ball in dangerous areas

Fred - Simply doesnt have the speed of thought or quality of pass to play that role, worked hard but caught out time and time again

And wtf is Daniel James doing getting minutes still? Honestly think he is one of the worst players I have ever seen in a United shirt, absolutely clueless when he has the ball. I think it says enough that I almost feel sorry for him as he is out of his depth....but no, simply a disgrace to the shirt in terms of quality

On the positive side, though he has been pretyt average, is obvious the quality and calmness Varane brings to the defence on the ball and off it, no doubt at all we would be behing now if Lindelof had of started.

Doesnt matter if you put Ronaldo or Cavani up front, if we cant control the midfield and create opportunities, we wont win football matches, sign a central midfielder ffs.

I would take off James at half time, move Sancho over to the right, Pogba to the left and give VDB an opportunity

 

[Shark]

Is there any team in Europe other than us that can look like CL contenders one week and relegation fodder the next?

It's a theme under Ole. Whenever we should have momentum we rarely ever do. He'll pull off results when we're under serious pressure.

 

[El Zoido]

Just a poor game of football. We’ve been bad, Wolves had a purple patch but haven’t been much better really. 0-0 is right. Just a bad game, need to be a lot better in the second half.

 

[Loony BoB]

Shaw had to stop Bruno after the whistle. Bruno will get sent off at this rate. Yes, question the ref. Don't do it to the point of penalising our own team. He's got two cards this season and both of them are for verbal offences, not for bad play. He'll get a reputation if he's not careful. I wish we'd mic up the refs sooner rather than later so this kind of thing is public and the players learn to avoid unnecessary cards. It really grinds my gears when our entire team suffers because of one player not holding his god damn mouth.

Fred has been abysmal. But would I take him off? I don't even know, at this point I feel I'm more tempted to take off Bruno before he sees red. Move Pogba up, put a player capable of playing defensively in alongside Fred. Maybe Matic. Pogba has actually not been bad, but all of his highlights so far have been attacking.

Fred has been the worst player so far but I genuinely worry about Bruno knowing when to bite his tongue.

 

[Redlyn]

Ended the half better. But overall really poor first half. Midfield being the biggest issue. McT for James would certainly take us up 2 gears but even as it is we should be doing better. I hope we push on as we ended the half.

 

[morbidsaint]

The refereeing is world class compared to our own performance... Stop spending energy on the referee.

No, i'd say its about equally shit. That freekick against Varane was more of a freekick FOR Varane and not against. Dean is shit, and has always been so. But no, it doesn't excuse our awful first half. We can buy all the Ronaldo's we want, but if we come out with Pogba and Fred as our CM, we will still struggle to beat any team.

 

[Dinghy]

Subs for the second half will be Lingard, Matic and Lindelof.

 

[Devil may care]

Ole has to make a change, they are just running through us, either a direct switch of Pogba off for Van de Beek, or take one of the wingers off and move Pogba wide. Thankfully Wolves can't finish as they've cut through us easily.

 

[Superunknown]

VDB needs to get an opportunity here. That midfield can't get any more toothless anyways. I want to see Pogba moved to LW, Sancho to RW, James off, VDB+Fred in midfield.

It's worth a try, because what we're currently doing isn't working and I can't see any reason why it would suddenly start working in the second half.

We need to get the ball and keep it. We seem to be unable to control possession. When we get the ball, we lose it quickly and just aren't creating enough.

 

[Kaizane]

The more I watch Fred, the more I'm shocked he's a footballer. He's been painfully exposed as a the sole holder. He causes nothing but panic on the ball because he's terrible on it. One of the key parts of anchoring the midfield is being able to instil calm and being able to dictate the pace of the game, and all he does is cause chaos and speed it up, causing everyone else to panic. That first 5 minutes set the precedent and it's obvious the team don't trust him to have the ball so they go out wide to bypass him, where there's no space to run into.

James is doing OK but I would take him off, put Pogba on the left and put VDB next to Fred so we have a platform to build from in the middle because we Fred alone we have nobody to link defence to attack and it's painful to watch.

 

[Lentwood]

Mike Dean is absolutely desperate to help Wolves, every "probable" foul in our favour hasn't been given and yet they get a freekick every time they fall over. Classic "homer" refereeing performance, playing up to the crowd and the atmosphere.

Fred is just a shambles. Offers nothing. Can't pass, tackle, head or dribble. Pointless. The trouble is, Wolves know it, so they are showing our CBs the pass into Fred knowing that its high-risk.

James also pointless on the right. Has some attributes on the left but as bad a RW as I can remember us having.

Pogba, dreadful. Fernandes always on the floor and AWB, despite a fantastic clearance, has also been poor

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

I see our players are fired up because of Ronaldo...
Right.

 

[Godfather]

Varane and Maguire have done very well by the way. Could have been worse the way we have been overrun in midfield

 

[caid]

I feel like its good to get these kind of problems early, while theres still time to address them. We've played Matic-Fred, Matic-McTominay and Fred-Pogba together last two games and all combinations have been pretty dire. Wan Bisakka has been hopeless too, I think i'd sub him. See what Dalot has to offer.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Take off James and bring on Cavani and move Greenwood over to the right.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Pogba works best with a reliable player beside him, not Fred. Its clear for the whole world to see except Ole. He must have dirt on Ole or something.

He can’t play midfield!

 

[Mercurial]

Varane is good.
How long before Dean retires?

He should take Oliver with him when he does.

 

[M Bison]

Unpopular opinion: James was better than Sancho in that first half.

agreed on both counts, Sancho was dreadful gobsmacked at how poor he’s been.

 

[ha_rooney]

Keane’s right - we rely on individual brilliance too much. The overall performance is so poor.

 

[eire-red]

We've been so casual on the ball, it's so frustrating to watch.

I think maybe van de Beek for James, and get Pogba in that inside left position and Sancho on the right.

Sancho has been poor, but he can still deliver a moment of quality that James does not possess. Pogba in that unorthodox left sided role will give Semedo and the back 3 more decisions, as Sancho has been outnumbered and outmuscled.

 

[NewGlory]

Sorry pep.
Bloody hell, ease up on the arrogance.

What arrogance? Just trying to help. If you spend less time mouthing off here, and more time watching the game, you may see obvious things and not be so confused.

 

[EngimaMK]

Matic doesn't have the legs, granted, but he will keep hold of the ball and be much more purposeful than Fred ever can be