[Sultan]

I think it was a strange atmosphere last night with the Queen's passing.

I wouldn't try to analyse the game and performances too much.

Most of the players are of foreign origin and can't have been thinking of the queen whilst playing. The fans had nothing to shout about and were subdued due to the performance.

The game pretty much-mirrored performances from last season.

 

[Borys]

I think it's really unlucky Real is the first team we faced in this competition. I mean Erik played the same team for 4 games and now he needed to rotate, not only because of next game coming quickly but also because we need second string team to get up to speed.

If anything this game shows how important it is to have the whole squad match-fit. I wouldn't read much more into it.
EDIT: clearly regular players (Eriksen, Dalot, even Elanga) were our best performers so that tells you something.

 

[trevor newnham]

The atmosphere was awful and whether that affected the players, we will never know. I don't think the game should have gone ahead really but obviously with supporters on their way, they couldn't call it off. Respect to the RS supporters for their respect during the minutes silence. No one really covered themselves in glory. Casemiro gave the ball away a bit but he needs minutes. Antony was shackled well. I'm not going to slash my wrists over the result, same way I don't think we are going to win the League after 4 wins.

 

[Josh 76]

I think it's really unlucky Real is the first team we faced in this competition. I mean Erik played the same team for 4 games and now he needed to rotate, not only because of next game coming quickly but also because we need second string team to get up to speed.

If anything this game shows how important it is to have the whole squad match-fit. I wouldn't read much more into it.

Good post

 

[pascell]

With all our top 4 rivals in Europe, it may be not!

Did Europe prevent our rivals getting top 4 last season?

 

[Lee565]

We really do need at least another 2 midfielders brought in even if one is for the sake of being the back up option to fit ten hag style because fred is clearly not good enough for a side looking to control matches, take eriksen out of the side and we nobody to orchestrate things from the middle of the park

 

[MrBest]

Badly need a striker, we controlled the game and did nothing with it. Poor decision by VAR. Its still the start of a rebuild, we need defeats to learn how to win properly. Bring on Palace.

 

[McTerminator]

I don’t know what you lot watched, but I thought we played well and suffered due to Ronaldo up front being completely incompatible with our style of play and a terrible refereeing performance.

I can live with that.

 

[Tom Cato]

Such a weird game. It was like we werent playing football, but rather just existed on the pitch

 

[GueRed]

Didn't really look like scoring which is disappointing.

 

[troylocker]

Not a good overall performance from us. We had decent control defensively through out the game, and their goal should never have been given, but what a mess offensively. I think Eriksen and Bruno were our best players. Elanga had a couple of good involvements, Fred and Antony were meh and Ronaldo was absolutely horrendous. Couldn't control the ball to save his life, has completely lost his pace, walked around in offside position a lot, fell deep when we needed his presence in the box and completely lacked rythm, fell to the floor from the slightest touch, lazy when pressing and in general looked more like a 40 year old than a 37 year old. Worst player on the pitch. That was painful to watch.

 

[romufc]

Yes a poor decision but I think its a result we needed. We have been poor all season in the attacking third. Its clear to see Ronaldo is not going to be of any help to us this season, he does everything in like slow motion. His age is definitely caught up to him.

 

[Green Yellow Red]

Finally giving full focus on Ronaldo's play lastnight.. i can come to conclusion:

Great finisher : yes
One of best the game has seen : yes
Strong mentality : yes
Self belief : yes
Pace to beat defender : no
Physicality : no
Poacher instinct : no
Clever move in 6 yard like striker : no
Draw defender and make space for other : no
Patience and wait for opportunity in striker position : no
Come down to mid : yes
Sprint back to own position once possession gained : no
Ruthlessly go head to head with defender : no

With the age and old legs .. he has to adapt and start being clever than thinking i have done in past and can do it again. Yes he still can but not in previous style and swag .. be poacher and fecking stay in 6 yard box specially when Eriksen and Bruno are at third half and looks up to see if they can cross but the legend is no where to be found.

 

[cyril C]

Ronaldo is totally finished isn't he. Sad to see.

3 Chances within 25min, Rashford would have been hat-trick. Pity that Chelsea didn't go after him.

 

[Maticmaker]

Poor performance all around really, bright sparks were Eriksen in first half and Martinez in second, end off.
I know why managers say they make changes for these types of games, but surely 2 or 3 maybe rested, but when you make 6 or more changes, at once, then surely you cannot expect anything like a decent performance. SAF use to do it as well. It never made sense to me, but that's probably why I am not a Football manager!

I suppose I am old school, I think 'never change a winning side', unless through injury obviously, is a maxim for any manager who wants to win everything.
When the first team stops winning, replace the poorest performers, whoever they are, and give the second stringers a chance. Professional footballers are trained and disciplined athletes, they don't need rest, at least not 6 at once. When I go to a match and see these kind of 'mass' changes I feel as though I've been duped, have not got my money's worth etc.

I felt for Marcus last night, don't know if he was injured, but he had just hit his best form for months against Arsenal and he gets dropped/replaced, cannot help but think this would have been a perfect game for him to underpin his confidence even further?

 

[spiriticon]

Most of the players are of foreign origin and can't have been thinking of the queen whilst playing. The fans had nothing to shout about and were subdued due to the performance.

The game pretty much-mirrored performances from last season.

To be honest, I don't think the fans were up for it from the start. It's was quiet all night.

The players remain professional of course, but there was no 12th man last night.

 

[BlueHaze]

Maybe not the team as it is today but the team in Feb/Mar could well have taken strides forward. I’m sure we’ll get enough from games against Sheriff and Ominoia anyway but the season is long and we could have a trophy to play for towards the end of it. Not to mention it could help ETH get a first trophy in the bank to shut people up.

Fully agree but this squad will not win anything. We have a handful good players. No striker, and Ronaldo is absolute trash. To start challenging for titles ETH is gonna need a lot more players than this.

Do not forget we are months away from a WC and when injuries start kicking in this squad is going to be exposed for the mediocre bunch they are.

 

[DevilRed]

Don’t write them off yet. A lot of these guys need time to get back to match fitness and sharpness.

ETH has always taken time to embed his philosophy at a club. He started slow at Ajax too. It takes time and more importantly we need to get the right personnel in.

for starters we’ve got to get rid of fred in midfield and Strengthen in that area again. Lindelof and the like should also be sold off.

 

[SuperiorXI]

It was a really poor and weird game, the penalty decision was shocking but we shown nothing to get back into the game.

 

[Zed 101]

Our passing out from the back last night was so painful, the lethargy of Maguire, Lindelof and DeGea, was making me cringe, like they are playing in treacle, just like the 1st 2 games, stop doing it you are simply to slow and not good enough on the ball FFS a better pressing side would have had us on toast

 

[Maik2022]

I like ETHs logic behind decisions. It all makes sense to me, which i rarely say about coaches. With all the rotations, Cr7 as a starter and the tight schedule, this could happen. I still like it.

 

[Random Task]

I wouldn't read too much into the result as most of the team last night were squad players lacking match fitness.

If anything, it serves to highlight the strength of our first team players and how important it is to keep them fit. Rotation is a necessary evil.

Keep being positive, the revival is real

 

[DevilRed]

Fixtures suspended.

Time to regroup and get some intensive training under the belt for these lads. We need a lot of it for us to start properly implementing ETH's tactics.

Works in our favor. Hopefully Martial recovers too.

 

[James35]

The next game v FC Sheriff is massive now, lose that we could be buggered.

 

[antohan]

After rewatching the game, there were a few things I noticed:

1. We were actually really good at making sure the game was played in their half, particular in the first half. Even when they had possession, it was within their own half, something the possession stats don't really say.

2. Ronaldo has lost more than a step now. What's bad about this is that his movement, quickness and sharpness were all major facets of his game.

3. We really missed the intensity from our Centre Halfs.

Everything else was pretty irrelevant. They didn't deserve to win, but we didn't create as much chances as we should have either.

Are you ok?

 

[Offside]

Can’t get over that penalty decision. Everyone always goes on about PL refs but I always find the refs in Europe to be worse.

 

[jackal&hyde]

Poor game by us with a few players obviously not up to speed yet, Ronaldo and even Casemiro you'd expect more. Poor performance on one side, the penalty decision was shocking.

Not to bothered by the result though. We will qualify and regardless of the game, it's good we gave minutes to some players that will be vey important for the season.

 

[Ramshock]

we were shit but how the feck did VAR allow that penalty?

 

[Hughie77]

It was a flat performance, it wasn't the best they put out there strongest 11. I think ETH picked the right 11, it was just they couldn't get going enough there was moments Elanga had them on toast, but the final pass just didn't happen.
We let them more into the game in 2nd half, but we shouldn't have conceded the pen in a million years. I still don't know how the Ref and VAR guy both Italians came to give a pen when everyone could see it comes off his upper leg knee part onto his arm that wasn't in a unnatural position.

It's something the club needs to point out to Uefa and ask for a explanation of how it was given. It stinks big time.

UTD didn't deserve a win didn't deserve to lose either. Let's go next round of games

 

[Foxbatt]

I know that Ronaldo is not going to hit his heights but he also needs game time to get into the groove. He didn't have a pre season.
He is not going to go before the next January transfer window so we need to get the best out of him. It doesn't mean he is the first choice right now but he needs more than 10 mins sub appearance.

 

[Tony247]

Need a CF.

 

[Handré1990]

I fell asleep during the break, but I thought we pressed pretty well and mostly dominated that first half. I’ll have to admit I’ve not watched us since before x-mas, because of personal issues, but I thought yesterday (first half) really started to look like something.

We kept winning the ball up high by chocking their out balls. If Ronaldo hadn’t lost every semblance of a goal threat, or one of the (three?) cutbacks from Elanga found anyone but Fred I’d fancyus cruising this game. I might just be talking out of my arse though.

I’ve just found some joy watching us again, despite our nightmare start.

 

[Handré1990]

I wouldn't read too much into the result as most of the team last night were squad players lacking match fitness.

If anything, it serves to highlight the strength of our first team players and how important it is to keep them fit. Rotation is a necessary evil.

Keep being positive, the revival is real

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[gerdm07]

- The PK is one where the ref should not call and let VAR decide. By blowing the whistle VAR could not overrule because it was not a clear and obvious error. Refs on the sideline hesitate calling offside and let VAR weigh in, refs on pitch should do the same thing in the box.

- Ronaldo actually looked sharp in everything except when given chances.

- We should have won given the chances we created, just wasn't our day to score.

- I can't believe Fred starts for Brazil.

- Sancho needs to play with more of an edge, he seems to want to do the minimum in so many 50-50 balls that he usually loses out even though he gets to the ball first.

- Casimero looks really good one moment and really sloppy the next. I hope he becomes more consistent.

- Maguire looked pretty good.

 

[GregM40]

Was like watching a random game from last season, very flat. Ronaldo, sorry, looks done to me, completely off the pace. Maguire seemed to slow play down every time he had the ball. Biggest positive is the lessons Ten Hag learned from watching it.

 

[Josh 76]

- The PK is one where the ref should not call and let VAR decide. By blowing the whistle VAR could not overrule because it was not a clear and obvious error. Refs on the sideline hesitate calling offside and let VAR weigh in, refs on pitch should do the same thing in the box.

- Ronaldo actually looked sharp in everything except when given chances.

- We should have won given the chances we created, just wasn't our day to score.

- I can't believe Fred starts for Brazil.

- Sancho needs to play with more of an edge, he seems to want to do the minimum in so many 50-50 balls that he usually loses out even though he gets to the ball first.

- Casimero looks really good one moment and really sloppy the next. I hope he becomes more consistent.

- Maguire looked pretty good.

What game is this reference to ?

 

[Josh 76]

I know that Ronaldo is not going to hit his heights but he also needs game time to get into the groove. He didn't have a pre season.
He is not going to go before the next January transfer window so we need to get the best out of him. It doesn't mean he is the first choice right now but he needs more than 10 mins sub appearance.

So we need to start him more and change a wining formula so he can get match fit ?

 

[gerdm07]

What game is this reference to ?

Care to be more specific?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Something getting a bit lost in the analysis is how bad Sociedad were. Their first half performance was one of the worst opposition performance I’ve seen in a very long time.

 

[sglowrider]