[hellhunter]

That Ronaldo Pen is a reach

Reach around, you mean

 

[Bobski]

A fully fit Pogba?? That ain't happening at this club even if we pay him Saudi money a week. I swear the less he plays the better he becomes to some of you.

He will play if he is fit, he is not Donny, for all he is frustrating he is still a world class talent.

 

[KennyBurner]

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.

If martial commanded all the penalties he won we won’t be having theses annoying conversations. The facts are Martial is better for us leading the line than Ronaldo.

 

[arnie_ni]

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.

There's been a few times he's had time to control the ball but has stuck his head on it losing possession as well but he's defended well when asked

 

[Nordmore]

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.

Agreed Maguire has been solid but he needs to stop thinking he's the new Scholes.

Agreed on the subs too. Think second half Ralf will bring Cavani and Rashford on. For who I don't know. Our front three have been pretty wank but considering the level of pressing we've done imo it should be Ronaldo first.

 

[Red Dreams]

He could have killed him.

he was trying to molest him

 

[DWelbz19]

A fully fit Pogba?? That ain't happening at this club even if we pay him Saudi money a week. I swear the less he plays the better he becomes to some of you.

Right…

 

[Ali Dia]

Fred has been very good today; key to our dominance. McTominay has been fine, but sloppy passing - only 81% accuracy so far. Midfield has been fine.

The forwards need to offer a lot more than what they are.

Midfield been a bit sloppy but effective. People expect them to play a perfect game but say nothing about the forwards having no chemistry on any given day. The forwards must be so happy that everyone keeps blaming Fred and McT for their average displays over this season

 

[Buster15]

Such a frustrating first half. There were glimpses of craft in the first few minutes but in truth we’ve created nothing against a side we should be smashing. We may nick a goal in, but we may also walk out of this wondering how the feck it came to this.

Don't agree we should be smashing WH. They are a pretty tidy side and our equal in the PL at the moment.
Rice very impressive shielding his defence.
But completely agree we should be able to win at home.

 

[Andycoleno9]

I don't like terms soft or stonewall penalty. It is a,penalty or it is not. Zouma put his hands around Ronaldo. It is a penalty.

 

[the_cliff]

Reach around, you mean

He wanted to give him a hug.

 

[GMoore23]

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.

Who'd have thought, Michael Owen on the Caf.

 

[Shimo]

Am very happy with that first half. This is where RR should have started from day 1. Having control of the game, not giving the opposition any real chances is the base. Getting that sorted with the players we have is exactly what we need. We have a lot of attacking talent and getting them to play off of that base then can be the next step. Having control of the game will often mean that other teams will tire and that more chances will present themselves.

Do think perhaps Elanga should come off - I know Martial isn't high on everyone's christmas list but, having a player that can hold up/dribble past players will help push them further back or at least Rashford perhaps.

Ronaldo I think has been done a good job as a CF, dropping deep at times. Do see him scoring this half.

 

[dinostar77]

If martial commanded all the penalties he won we won’t be having theses annoying conversations. The facts are Martial is better for us leading the line than Ronaldo.

Still on this? Martial cannot and doesnt understand how to play upfront. Shearer and Dion Dublin both called him out on motd and motd2.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Rashford for Elanga in the 60th minute.

 

[VinzentFTW]

Didn't we have like 5 shots on target to 1 in the first 20 odd minute

Are you calling that chances ?

 

[Ranchero]

I've watched Rice carefully that half, he has broken so much up and looks a real class act and a leader. He would be ideal for us, just a shame he is going to cost 100mill.

One dimensional. Way way overrated. He is a central defender allowed to go a bit more forward. Midfielders have to have nous, a football brain, look for and deliver the killer pass and pitch in with goals. He is the midfield Wan Bissaka. But he is improving.

 

[sparx99]

Gary Neville will have you believe the premier league is stronger than ever. These are the teams in 4th and 7th and the standard was championship level.
Never seen two teams so incompetent at passing the ball. Simple passes going astray, overhit, underhit.

These two teams both qualified from their CL and EL groups pretty comfortably.

 

[Rightnr]

Everyone comes running out.. Greenwood walks. Yeah, seems like Rashford has rubbed off on him a bit too much.

 

[Devil may care]

The team shape looks more compact and structured than usual, we aren't just getting ran through, the issue is lack of cutting edge up top, whether that's the movement or lack of creators I'm not 100% sure.

 

[UncleBob]

The perception of control is a bit interesting. West Ham are happy with a draw here, playing deep and aiming to hit us on the counter, they aren't pressing us high up the pitch and are happy to allow us to have the ball until we bring the ball forward and they close us down easily. The few times we've come close to creating something, is when we win the ball back up high. Our control isn't really worth much

 

[mancan92]

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.

So basically he wasn't terrible then. Brunos cross was great but it was fired in so still a difficult chance. Zouma did foul him but it's was 50/50 and still would have a been very hard chance and would of been created by Ronaldo making a great run in behind anyway. Yet those are the only things you mention but don't mention the link up or the hold up play which has been good.

 

[kidbob]

He will play if he is fit, he is not Donny, for all he is frustrating he is still a world class talent.

No he is a talented player who somehow manages to be consistently worse than a much less talented Jordan Henderson. World Class isn't ability, it's performance and he has performed at a less than great level for us consistently.

 

[FreakyJim]

See you all after the second half torture.

 

[GifLord]

He goes down way too easy. As soon as he feels a slight touch he just dives.

 

[the_cliff]

I don't like terms soft or stonewall penalty. It is a,penalty or it is not. Zouma put his hands around Ronaldo. It is a penalty.

The thing is. How many times would there be pens from corners free kicks if you give that ? There'd be 10 penalties a game if you give them for such weak shit as that.

Stop killing our game. Football is physical, Ronaldo dropped like a stone.

 

[Superunknown]

I don't like terms soft or stonewall penalty. It is a,penalty or it is not. Zouma put his hands around Ronaldo. It is a penalty.

It's amazing how even after all this time, with all this tech, with all of the possible education that could have been passed on to referees, that there is still a massive grey area around penalties.

 

[lysglimt]

Defensively - that was the best we have been all season. Going forward, not so much

 

[RedPed]

Come on United. Just get the points in the bag.

 

[Glorio]

The team is improving, however we definitely have a CF issue. Just not sticking at the top end of the pitch. Midfield has actually been good

 

[Andycoleno9]

Damn, our standards really dropped. We are playing even game vs West ham at OT without creating decent chances and most of us have a feeling that we are good today. Depressing really

 

[Irrational.]

He goes down way too easy. As soon as he feels a slight touch he just dives.

If that was Salah, there’s a good chance it’s a pen.

 

[laughtersassassin]

We need more creative players.

Really need to try integrate Sancho asap imo

 

[OrcaFat]

I've watched Rice carefully that half, he has broken so much up and looks a real class act and a leader. He would be ideal for us, just a shame he is going to cost 100mill.

Yes. I think the fees being speculated are getting people’s hackles up. If you forget about the fee and just assess his qualities, he is exactly what we need. People think we can get the same quality for £40m and I can’t say this isn’t true but I’ve yet to learn who these players are. Probably they do exist and I wish we would stop wasting time and buy one of them.

 

[sebsheep]

Maybe I should've phrased it more succinctly; people claiming that's a pen are the reason diving is so remarkably commonplace in football when compared to other sports.

Ronaldo had a foul given against him for the same thing just after. Refs are happy to give them as free kicks, which means they consider it to be a foul. They just don't given them as penalties that much, I doubt VAR would have overturned that. Diving being commonplace is related more to there being more to gain than lose in a lot of situations. Besides, whether or not you see it as a penalty there Ronaldo didn't dive.

 

[Foxbatt]

If our forwards play as a team instead of three individual players.

 

[redom]

That was some good groundwork in the first half, kept control and made them work hard to close the spaces and keep us out. If we maintain that in the second half I would expect the spaces to start opening up as they tire and with some smart subs we can capitalize.

Of course that all goes out the window if we don't see a similar type of control in the second half and considering the variation we've seen between halves recently who knows how we'll come out.

 

[DavelinaJolie]

Yeah I think this is the best so far under Rangnick, I'd pull Ronaldo for Cavani.

 

[Vidyoyo]

I have a good feeling about this half

 

[Hammondo]

Attacking 4 dogshit in attack yet again but as ever the focus is on the midfield 2.

I thought we did much better in midfield, I thought west ham's midfield struggled against us, which is saying a lot.