[siw2007]

Should have buried them in first half, but a mistake and a wonder goal later, the game turned on it’s head. 2nd half, their big strong men battered our smaller players, having said that, Mata and Lingard didn’t do themselves any favours.

Kind of expected result considering it was an 11 cobbled together and a little unbalanced too.

 

[captaincantona]

Great game to watch. Brilliant from Rangnick. Invaluable experience for those young players and what a great motivator...new boss...real chances.

No team is going to look solid with Matic at Centre half and Donny and Mata holding the midfield- but we survived 90 minutes, saw some really good talent coming through, rested our first team, saw enough of Amad and Elanga to know when and where they could be used, saw enough of Jesse to confirm Amad and Elanga should be taking his minutes.

Remember this was a nothing game- the lads who played needed this run out. The young lads fought for every ball - Amad works very hard. Great decision from the boss.

 

[minoo-utd]

This VDB we kept yelling for him to take a chance, he looked such terrible and wasted a very important opportunity. Good for the young lads to have their first C.L debut.
Only Mason who should play regular for us. Other senior players were just lost. Overall a game to forget from Ralf and all the focus on the league now.

 

[Redfrog]

What is Mata still doing here? Seriously what a waste of space and lack of ambition from him. Signed for us even though he played 15 times in the last 4 years.

Credit to Ole for keeping the deadwood without any intention to play them and he's supposed to have rebuilt the squad.

He is stealing a living. I would do the same if I could.
I don’t Know how we gave him a new contract. This club is so dumb. It’s not even like he was a great player for us. Apart from Juanfield he did nothing here…but he has a blog and is a nice guy.

 

[justsomebloke]

A certain consensus here, for once. I'd just add that I think perhaps Mata deserves a little bit more credit for a number of excellent long forward passes, and Elanga for a number of very good runs.

 

[Roane]

Absolutely delighted with that. Not sure what folk expected. These young lads were never give a say Rooney like performance. They've nit been near the first team. Neither have the likes of Mata.

Felt like a tour game.

 

[Artimities]

So my take:
Henderson- about to be expected
Mason- great strike and good hustle at times
Mata- great with the ball, non existent without it and too weak To really body anybody up
Lindgard- great hustle but mentally gone from the club
Matic - not good to be honest. I’m not a fan of his to be honest
Baily- about to be expected
AWB- proved he is a competent backup
Diallo- good energy and a worthy sub for games going forward
VDB- made a crucial mistake but otherwise played his ass off the rest of the game
Luke Shaw - hustled but I am liking Telles and Dalot more at the moment. Would like to see better conditioning
Elanga- best surprise of the day. Proves he is in the team sheet as a solid sub going forward.
Subs… subs… but at least they didn’t concede another goal

 

[Harry190]

The Matchday thread was an absolute disgrace to be honest, but that's to be expected. The entitled, spoiled, whiny nature of our forum fans is really something to behold, particularly when its in its full toxic swing. You'd have thought we had prime Rooney-Ronaldo-Park etc playing given what they seemed to expect, all the while we had a few players making their -competitive debut-, Matic playing at CB, Juan Mata as a 6, and an inexperienced Amad and Elanga trying their best to impress, all in front of some seriously weird refereeing.

Greenwood MOTM, some players we knew were good had ok games, nobody bar Mengi and maybe some moments from Amad was particularly impressive, but it was pleasing to see Charlie Savage out there if only to hear Robbie well up. Matic had a poor game and almost lost us the game by himself, unfortunately.

Posting quality has gone down the drains. It's become downright nasty these days. Wishing injury on United players.

 

[SamVimes]

Disjointed performance as expected with the team that was put out.
However I am confused by the whole team selection. What was the purpose of it? Ragnick has talked about the right players in the correct position. But Matic, DVB, Lingard Mata all played out of position. Mengi then comes on as a left back. What was he expecting to happen?

 

[Stobzilla]

A certain consensus here, for once. I'd just add that I think perhaps Mata deserves a little bit more credit for a number of excellent long forward passes, and Elanga for a number of very good runs.

The brain left foot won't ever leave him, his legs have just gone though.

 

[rakesh289]

Mata was horrendous, couldn't pass and couldn't find the runners, too many unforced errors.He destroyed every chance we had going forward that went through him.
VDB is definitely not a 6, especially with Mata for company.Too many unforced errors apart from the goal but a much settled 2nd half.His only option is to wait for his chances and take them but today the midfield was too disjointed to judge him imo.
Lingard - Rusty performance but could have ended up with 2 assists and a goal if we kept our composure in their box.Looks like he wants out.
Amad- Rusty, tried his best but he definitely needs a loan to step up to senior level.He needs to get used to playing against grown up players and understand he doesn't have the pace to run past players at this level, his best chance is his footwork.

Mata should be let go, he has dropped off massively in the last couple of seasons. He was atleast a good impact sub but don't think he can even do that anymore.

 

[largelyworried]

I see why he did what he did. A day off for a few key players, a few others stretch their legs. If he'd played a strong team, played well and put four past YB (who were crap) could that have given us more momentum? Time will tell. A strong high tempo performance this weekend will put that thought to bed.

 

[HailtotheKing]

I think it was incredibly hard for them. An entirely new system that they’ve learnt over five days, a team that hasn’t played together so no partnerships and the rain was absolutely bucketing it down.

Agree. Thing that pissed me off most was AWB just sauntering around instead of sprinting back. I don't see him starting again for a while unless we have injuries. Don't know how badly hurt he was at the end, either.

 

[justsomebloke]

The brain left foot won't ever leave him, his legs have just gone though.

True. He does some good things, but he can no longer impose himself on a game overall.

 

[Pjisared]

What happened in the second half, we looked gassed after about 50 minutes, we seemed to turn into pre Carrick united. Constantly giving the ball away, in defense we were a mess. It can only be the training and coaching. We cant press and play high intensity football for 90 minutes.
That said Mason looked a class act. Matic, Wan Bisaka and Lingard awful. Good experience for the youngsters

 

[Random Task]

Throwing a group of fringe and youth players together is unlikely to provide a positive outcome. Happy with Greenwood's goal and Mata still has great vision, little else to shout about beyond that.

We're through to the knockout stages and that's all that really matters.

 

[GledTheRed]

Puke performance

 

[V.O.]

No, seen him in pre season and a couple of times for Derby and it's very easy to spot that he's destined for the championship.

He might very well be, most aren't going to make it at United, but going in on his positioning when he's played half an hour of competitive football for us out of position and on the wrong side is just massively premature.

 

[captaincantona]

Bizarre opinions in here I have to say...why so negative? it literally didn’t matter at all what the result was. Playing an experienced core was to try and retain the ball better but I think the weather and rustiness played a key part.

Lots of loose passes and dodgy first touches...but also good minutes in a high tempo game mean those players are much better placed to step in if required.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Mata, Lingard, Matic and AWB were all shite.

 

[captaincantona]

Puke performance

Fuking hell...What an awful post.

 

[Pickle85]

Pretty much all of the youngsters looked very nervy - don't think any judgements can be passed on them for this game. Just good to get it under their belt. Thought mengy looked good by and large (except for the slip). Amad had flashes but also (I think) also showed why folks screaming for him to start more regularly are being premature. Lingard was awful, Matic very meh and nearly lost it for us at the death. I thought Mata was fine but just can't keep up, even if the mind is willing. Wan Bissaka was awful, I thought, and needs upgrading or replacing with Dalot if he steps up regularly. Mason looked a cut above and should be starting ahead of Rashford now. Dvb with another performance that reminds us why he doesn't start more regularly for us atm than he does. Could come good but, again, all the moaning and griping about his lack of game time is a little silly. Hendo was fine.

 

[Roane]

Biggest disappointment for me was dvb. Just felt he hid instead of going to receive the ball.

Had some good touches too but doesn't make himself available

 

[DeGea]

Love seeing Rangnick’s post match interview. He looks annoyed especially with the fact that “I told the players to not pass to the first line of press but they still did it and we conceded the goal from that”.

 

[Redlyn]

Somehow YB managed to cobble together 5 points and 4 of them are off us.

Is this how it's going to be? Good 30 mins with lots of energy and then huff and puff at the end of the match?

 

[Denis79]

Loved to see the youngsters come on, mixed performances but liked it nevertheless. I think Amad showed most promise smong them. Greenwood was my motm also thought Bailly had a decent game. A bit dissapointed with VDB as this was his chance to fight for a starting spot.

 

[V.O.]

Somehow YB managed to cobble together 5 points and 4 of them are off us.

Is this how it's going to be? Good 30 mins with lots of energy and then huff and puff at the end of the match?

It's how it's going to be for the first two games, yeah.

 

[Siorac]

Biggest disappointment for me was dvb. Just felt he hid instead of going to receive the ball.

Had some good touches too but doesn't make himself available

He had the most touches in the game, from both teams. You can say he wasn't particularly impactful with the ball but he definitely didn't hide.

 

[Belisarius]

I had fun watching that game. Interesting to see so many of the youth players.

Greenwood / Bailly - looked like men among boys. The two best players on the field.

Van De Beek / Matic / Mata - I thought they all played pretty well but they looked like players who were used to playing further forward than they did today. Which they were. Taking too many chances near our own end. Maybe not so much Mata.

Henderson - Good to see him come out to punch a corner kick away. Didn't like when he ran over to the side-line then played the ball back into the middle of the field.

Heaton - Fun to see him get his debut after all this time.

Lingard - Made some good runs in the first half but never got the pass. Disappeared as the game went on.

Wan Bissaka / Shoretire - Both tried hard but looked really lost or clueless out there. Not surprising for Shoretire but really inexplicable for Wan Bissaka. Maybe he was nervous trying to impress a new manager. But, based on today, Dalot will be the starter for a while I think.

Shaw - Nice run and pass for our goal. Played okay. Didn't really seem interested. Wonder if he thought this game was beneath him.

Elanga / Amad - Both made some good runs. Disappointed neither of them did more with their partial breakaway chances. Both showed potential but did not look ready for first team.

Mengi - Seemed to me to be the best of the youth players out there today.

 

[delerium]

What happened to Wan-Bissaka? He used to be better than this. I hope he returns to form, at the moment it is Dalot's to lose.

Few players need bulking up to be at the level required in PL, but it is normal for youngsters. I think the future is looking bright for Amad and Elanga, not sure yet about the rest of the youngsters.

All in all, a win would have been nice, but good to see many youngsters getting experience - Rangnick can now make more informed choices for the future.

 

[Zapata]

Greenwood should start instead of rashford on Saturday

 

[VidaRed]

 

[captaincantona]

Somehow YB managed to cobble together 5 points and 4 of them are off us.

Is this how it's going to be? Good 30 mins with lots of energy and then huff and puff at the end of the match?

You can’t be serious...

 

[Devil may care]

About what you'd expect with all the changes, I mean last 30 minutes we had Matic at CB, Mengi at LB and a midfield duo of Mata and Van de Beek, it wss pretty unorthodox but I didn't feel like we were struggling, we had chances and they're not a very good team.

Mason and Bailly were the standouts for me and I thought Mengi did well out of position, the rest were just ok bar Matic and AWB who were poor.

 

[Zapata]

Boring to watch but it has to be expected on to Norwich

 

[Bastian]

That goal was on all of AWB, Matic and Donny. AWB with a loose header into the danger area, then sells himself attempting a challenge, Matic with a pass to Donny in traffic and Donny does the same. Loads of mistakes in a few seconds.

 

[::sonny::]

The son of Robbie Savage

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[Alemar]

Rangnick was less than impressed with VDB, considering his comments about the goal conceded…

 

[Roane]

He had the most touches in the game, from both teams. You can say he wasn't particularly impactful with the ball but he definitely didn't hide.

I thought he did tbh. It was more when our player had the ball. He didn't make space to receive it.

 

[VidaRed]