[Frank Grimes]

Fair enough. He has had a poor game. I thought you were making an absolute statement.

No he's still young and has some good qualities. Jury still out on him but personally I'd have Sancho ahead of him (when unavailable) in the pecking order every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[VP89]

In what way? What has he done that has been bad? He hasn't had any chances but has come deep and linked up and held the ball up well. What is stinker about that?

Caught offside too easily a couple times, had a good header scuffed, I didnt think he needed to try and buy that penalty shout vs Zouma. He could have stayed up and chested the ball, it was never a pen but he was trying to draw him in for one.

So yeah, a couple reasons.

 

[Bebestation]

....and at the same time supporting English club? Makes sense

It's true. They just always say to buy foreign players - when arguably this generation of English players is the most spread across different leagues aswell.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Interesting that Fred ,of all people, has recently been the one to break down compact teams with his passing.

 

[SNes]

Have Mcfred passed the ball forward yet?

 

[Roboc7]

Moyes has approached this as cautiously as expected which has meant we aren’t leaking chances as usual but look pretty inept going forward.

 

[Ayoba]

I was so bored that I fell asleep for the last half an hour. Did I miss anything?

We're 4-0 up and liverpool have been suspended from the league due to doping.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Not creating enough. Zero shots on target.

 

[FreakyJim]

We're hopelessly shite.

 

[sparx99]

A true DM who is technically solid, reads the game well and would provide a solid base for the rest of the team to play round.

Not spectacular but very capable.

Rice would be an upgrade but i can’t shake the feeling that for £70-100m it wouldn’t be ‘worth’ it. Are there two players around Europe we could get for a similar outlay? Tielemans has 18 months left on his contract so could be had for a reasonable fee in the summer. Add in a DM from Europe and we would still have change.

The conversation when we got Maguire similarly compared him to Smalling. He may be better but £80m better?

 

[lawliet354]

Bruno was great. Excellent work ethic and positioning??????????

If that's your criteria for a playmaker to have a good game then okay, he's been great.

He made 1 good cross to ronaldo and missed tons of passes by rushing things as usual, still the only player in the team capable of creating chances though

 

[Withnail]

He hasn't scored a free-kick in 5 years? Wow.

Well no that's hyperbole. He's actually scored two since the start of 2017/2018 season.

 

[steffyr2]

Nice control but we look toothless at creating chances

We're slow. Midfield stops, looks around, thinks a bit and then passes the ball forward. Good news is the ball goes to a Utd player. Bad news is West Ham players are all back and set by the time the pass happens.
The players need to pass to each other.

 

[KennyBurner]

Yes

Mctominay has dominated him this game. Although both don’t excel at passing, Mctominay still dominates him there.

 

[Red_toad]

Maguire was better but still looked very panicky to me.

When did he panic? Seen him do 2 excellent interceptions, 1 bad long pass, other than that pretty solid keeping it simple and no panicking what so ever. Maybe it’s just you looking for issues that just aren’t there.

 

[Ayoba]

Competitive game, but we've been the better side, West Ham barely had any attacking play in and around our box.

Think we'll win if we play this way in the second half.

Much better than recently but our midfield duo of McSauce and Fred are just not up to snuff. Best I have seen us for quite a while in various areas. Still low on quality and in the final third. Should be ahead if Greenwood wasn't such a hungry hungry hippo.

Thanks lads!

 

[the_cliff]

Are you only fixated on Ronaldo? There are other players on the pitch you know..just remove them "I hate Ronaldo glasses" and you'll see them too

Oh 100%. But Ronaldo is one of the problems. I'd have Ronaldo and Elanga off tbh.

The reason why I mentioned him in that moment is cos he just gave the ball away.... again....

 

[Manny]

Good first half. Strong in midfield and defence but the forwards need to sort themselves out.

Mason should have done much better with those two shots in the first 10 minutes. Got to make the most of those.

 

[Lentwood]

Rice would come straight in and improve us so much in midfield. Basically similar to Scott McTominay, but many levels above.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Scrappy game though. No one has been particularly bad just erratic. Need to show more composure and intelligence in the box. There's also some instances where Elanga has come far too central.

 

[Dec9003]

Not been a bad half so far from both sides. The way West Ham sit it’ll take something special to break them down but we are capable of that. Rice is a top, top player, I never understand when people say he’s average.
I think eventually Rashford will have to come on, maybe Cavani too, I’d take Ronaldo off if he isn’t up to much in the second half. Rashford will run at their defence and get them facing their own goal ideally.

 

[VivaJesperBlomqvist]

My God. I am having to listen to Keys and Gray analyse the game while watching people in the match day thread say Bruno was poor. What did I do to deserve this today...

 

[KennyBurner]

Nice control but we look toothless at creating chances

@Smores what do you think might be the reason?

 

[laughtersassassin]

Elanga not up too much. Same as first half in the last game

 

[IhabX7]

Get VDB on for once. Prove us wrong at least. Elanga off for Martial/Rashford.

 

[DWelbz19]

Not creating enough. Zero shots on target.

Pogba can’t come back soon enough.

 

[lost7]

Btw, anyone who seriously thinks McTominay or Fred are better than Rice are clueless. Just look at Rice's movement off the ball, it's outstanding. He reads the game incredibly well and has had a number of interceptions because of that.

A Rice, McTominay Bruno midfield would be interesting to see. Or even better, an upgrade on Scotty with the other 2 (someone like Tielemans)

 

[Blood Mage]

Honestly there's clear evidence of coaching and tactics now. It's just that we seriously lack technical quality throughout the team. McTominay and Fred aren't bad players but it's depressing watching them play together, their passing is so average. Ronaldo is looking like a 36 year old right now too which is sad.

 

[D. Grayson]

Yep I think Ronaldo is finished unfortunately. Physically not up to it anymore unless the ball is dropped to him for a tap in.

I am not the biggest Ronaldo fan, but he has looked pretty decent today.

 

[Random Task]

We are showing signs of an improving side.

We're inconsistent at the moment. We were excellent against Villa for 50-60 minutes before we ran out of steam, then turned it on in the second half against Brentford after a poor first half, another good first half against West Ham today. We're getting there, slowly but surely. Whatever we're doing on the training ground is working.

 

[GaryLifo]

We have control over the game which is great. We don’t look like scoring which is less great.

I think this sums it up nicely.

We're playing much more like I was expecting us to play under this manager.

If we get a goal and force them to come out, we may well get a couple more on the break.

 

[pacifictheme]

Martial was crucified here for far better.

Not saying ronaldo hasn't been poor of late but martial has scored more than ronaldos 14 goals twice ever, those were obviously over full seasons as well.

Ronaldo has the benefit of usually being clinical and a reliable goalscorer whereas martial has pretty much flattered to deceive his whole career so I am sure you can see why Ronaldo may get more leeway.

 

[Red Dreams]

Mctominay has dominated him this game. Although both don’t excel at passing, Mctominay still dominates him there.

He needs a good DM next to him and we will be solid in midfield.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

Rice is an unbelievably good, throwback of a defensive midfielder.

Pair him with McTominay and a Verratti/Frenkie type conductor and you have one of the best midfields around.

 

[Judas]

Maguire was fine minus that daft long ball. People want him to be dreadful so often on here.

Massive second half, we just have to win.

 

[Hughes35]

Some much better passing and pressing. No cutting edge though. Harry Maguire has been excellent which is good to see.

Subs could get the game changer..... Rashford, Sancho or Cavani could be game changers.

 

[Adam-Utd]

West ham are a good side defensively, why are people expecting us to blow them away?

 

[Ali Dia]

But why not? He's doing everything you expect from a man up top by himself. The problem is midfield and wingers can't pass the ball.

He doesn’t put enough pressure on the defenders. He doesn’t hold the ball up. He’s not been clinical at all recently. He doesn’t run the channels. Those are all essential for a lone striker. We keep having to play a long ball over the top or a cross. It’s toothless

I agree the ball to him has been crap but he could have a goal.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Rice is class and is probably the best option for DM we can get.

 

[Foxbatt]

Ralf looks very unhappy. I think Rashford is going to come on for Greenwood. We are not going to keep control with McFred no matter what.