[#07]

We played nothing like them, not even a little.

Yeah tribute acts tend not to be anything like the real thing. There are Elvis impersonators in Blackpool that look more like the real deal than we do.

 

[mav_9me]

First half was terrible. 2nd half was much much better, completely controlled the game. 2nd half was good enough to win.

It will be a miracle to make it to top 4 without a consistent striker and only one real proper midfielder

 

[Red00012]

1) Rashford should have scored. It's harder to miss from 6 yard free header.

2) Fred's miss was even worse. It was empty net from 8 yard. FFS. How was it possible to miss?

3) Ronaldo and Sancho both should have a penalty can't believe the referee and VAR missed it.

On another day it could be a comfortable 4-0 win.

It wasn’t a empty net

 

[GMoore23]

So a whole first eleven should have been rested?

At home to Omonoia with Newcastle, Spurs and Chelsea all in the space of six days coming up.

I think he should have.

 

[Litch]

Leave the moaning to others, Newcastle have already shown they are a capable side this season a bit like wolves and Leicester sides previously. Many had us losing, we didnt. We are still 3 or 4 players away from challenging top four consistently

 

[arthurka]

It wasn’t a empty net

Sorry for a Brazilian player starting for his national team this counts as an open goal.

 

[Litch]

So many negative nellies here. Thought we were comfortably the better team. Finishing was poor admittedly and Antony seemed to want to pass or cross to Ronaldo exclusively but other than that we looked alright.
If the ref or VAR had seen fit to give us any of those 3 or 4 penalty shouts then it would've been a routine win.

Certainly wasnt us being outplayed as some predicted.

 

[Strelok]

Shocking ref and I don’t understand how that Sancho tackle wasn’t referred to the ref to go to the monitor

Same here. He got hit in his leg. I can't believe VAR did feck all and still do not understand why.

 

[Waywestofthere]

kept them quiet in the 2nd half. Looked like (should have) scoring at the end twice. A hell of a lot better than most of last season.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

At home to Omonoia with Newcastle, Spurs and Chelsea all in the space of six days coming up.

I think he should have.

Might not have stopped Eriksen and Rashford being ill, depending what and where they caught their illness. Wouldn't have unsuspended Scott T.

 

[Litch]

Sorry for a Brazilian player starting for his national team this counts as an open goal.

So because you are Brazilian, it should make a difference? Strange comment

 

[Litch]

kept them quiet in the 2nd half. Looked like (should have) scoring at the end twice. A hell of a lot better than most of last season.

How quickly some fans forget.....

 

[Drz]

I am oddly pleased with the clean sheet.
I think I just don't trust in the players that comprised our squad last season to expect consistently good performances.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I think Bruno deserves to be dropped. Like de Gea and Shaw before him, he appears to be suffering from lack of competition and his performance level has declined.

 

[Giggsy13]

Let’s not overlook the piss poor officiating. What is a penalty is the question everyone should be asking. Sancho was clearly fouled in the box and it was a stonewall penalty. More and more this league embarrasses itself with the terrible standard of officiating. Pawson is fecking useless as they come.

 

[Shiva87]

kept them quiet in the 2nd half. Looked like (should have) scoring at the end twice. A hell of a lot better than most of last season.

And just inching towards ETH's first 10 league games in charge. Lots of hope here!

 

[Josep Dowling]

5-7th position this year

It’s shocking having spent £250m this summer and £150m last summer that we are still no where near. Don’t think we will ever get to the top again as the club blows so much money and doesn’t improve.

 

[reddevilz007]

We don’t put Zidane Iqbal in because he’s an absolute novice who isn’t ready for the responsibility of playing at this level yet. Hope that helps.

Bruno has looked like an absolute novice for a while. Stop the fanboying.

Hope that helps.

 

[gerdm07]

One thing that was clear to me throughout the match is that Fred was worst player on the pitch. He couldn't think quickly, couldn't execute accurate passes, he couldn't come up with a good first touch under pressure, and couldn't read the game well.

Surely he will not be a starter for Brazil in the WC?

I swear someday we are going to start scoring goals.

 

[Esquire]

We don’t have a deep squad, we missed Martial and Eriksen. Shame for Rashford at the end, though Fred should’ve scored the chance he gave him. We’re a ways away from being a top side yet, need to be patient.

Agree with you. We didn’t play too badly but obviously not well enough to win. ETH is generally getting the wins but we are so clearly in a process. Fighting for 4th sounds right.

Forwards

Antony may have cost 100m but he blatantly is not the finished article and needs to acquire some measure of right foot crossing to make himself truly dangerous.
Sancho has very little chemistry with Shaw, the number of overlaps by Shaw where Sancho becomes more threatening was virtually non existent.
Ronaldo had no cause for complaint when he was subbed.
Rashford, I root for him but man he is not a CF. Just not clinical enough.

Mids
Casemiro clearly is overwhelmed at times by the speed of the PL. Hope he continues to adjust.
Fred forget it. Like many said he needs to go. Just not United material. He is dogged but just doesn’t have the physicality, speed or technical ability to make it here.
Bruno was underwhelming and inconsistent.

Def
Varane and Martinez solid starters.
Shaw wasn’t bad but he is what he is at this point in his career and won’t make be an offensive force.
Dalot is just a stop gap this year everyone can see we need a new RB.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I think the ref has cost us the game. At least 1 of the 2 penalty decision should be given. Ronaldo goal should be valid too, if the ref wasn't blind.

 

[glazed]

Agree with you. We didn’t play too badly but obviously not well enough to win. ETH is generally getting the wins but we are so clearly in a process. Fighting for 4th sounds right.

Wasn't that bad. Felt a bit van Gaal with the lack of imagination or quality up front.

 

[GaryLifo]

We edged it. Should have scored second half, but I think we'd have lost that game last season if Newcastle had come and played like that. 9th

 

[Litch]

And just inching towards ETH's first 10 league games in charge. Lots of hope here!

10 games, one window and people are completely unrealistic where we should be in our development

 

[Member 58925]

I think the ref has cost us the game. At least 1 of the 2 penalty decision should be given. Ronaldo goal should be valid too, if the ref wasn't blind.

Ronaldo was strolling about 2 yards offside

 

[Shiva87]

10 games, one window and people are completely unrealistic where we should be in our development

And we look like we know how to defend. Last season there were too many of these games that we lost because our players got overran!

 

[Ahmer Baig]

What is the use of having youngsters on the bench if you don't want to play them? Must be very frustrating for them watching same crap every week.

 

[Litch]

And we look like we know how to defend. Last season there were too many of these games that we lost because our players got overran!

Spot on but thats not good enough for some morans. Honestly where do people think we should be in our development? Some fans are an absolute joke....

 

[United492]

Didn't see it, but against what is likely to be one of our rivals, I don't think it'll be the worst point we get this season. May have lost this type of game in recent seasons. We badly need a serious alternative to Ronaldo though. Just go and get Toney in January.

Sounds like the ref had a mare.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Leave the moaning to others, Newcastle have already shown they are a capable side this season a bit like wolves and Leicester sides previously. Many had us losing, we didnt. We are still 3 or 4 players away from challenging top four consistently

We are always 3/4 players away from competing, even with spending so many millions. Maybe it’s about time we stopped wasting £100m on one player.

 

[Jev]

I would probably have expected him to add a bit more shape and creativity to our possession play by now.

We're still really struggling to create chances from open play and generally only create from counters. We still look very short of ideas with very few runs and patterns emerging when we have the ball. That's an area I anticipated he would improve and it would be nice to see some development soon.

 

[Edwards6]

The Van Gaal comparisons are ridiculous, can't people remember with him how many games we used to struggle to create any goalscoring chance.
We played quite well today and had enough chances to win it, just couldn't put them away

 

[ZainCRse7en]

Why is our so called number “10” bruno just so painfully hard to watch? He just runs and runs like a headless chicken and lacks any control to his game whatsoever. Abysmal.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Didn't see it, but against what is likely to be one of our rivals, I don't think it'll be the worst point we get this season. May have lost this type of game in recent seasons. We badly need a serious alternative to Ronaldo though. Just go and get Toney in January.

Sounds like the ref had a mare.

They shouldn't be, not at this stage. They are yet to really spend big. It was an opportunity squandered. It feels like we are trying to run through treacle again.

 

[Hammondo]

Yeah tribute acts tend not to be anything like the real thing. There are Elvis impersonators in Blackpool that look more like the real deal than we do.

There is nothing to suggest we are trying to be like them though.

 

[arthurka]

So because you are Brazilian, it should make a difference? Strange comment

Please read it again, he is one of the 11 best Brazilian players apparently.

 

[Ronaldo's Love Child]

I'm done wasting my time watching this lot on TV until I see some semblance of a plan out there on the pitch.

We've all been through Covid, Brexit, Ukraine/Russia and a cost of living crisis. Some of our players earn more in a month then we will earn in our entire lives.

I want escapism and entertainment when I watch my team and it's a given that I expect every single one of those players to put a shift in.

• Bruno behaves like he's a prime Roy Keane or Pirlo. Orchestrating his teammates around the pitch. Berating them when they are not on his wavelength. Arguing the toss with every referee decision and ignoring his teammates when we have possession as he's too busy feigning injury on the ground when he feels he's been wronged.
  
  It also appears as if he is the sole reason we're sticking doggedly with this 4-2-1-3 formation. We've tried different players and even different managers yet we persist trying to make this formation work for us.
  
  
  
• What is the point in spending millions on wide players such as Sancho and Antony when they have clearly been instructed to cut inside every time?

 

[#07]

There is nothing to suggest we are trying to be like them though.

Its admittedly closer to Pep's more modern set of tactics, with the way our wingers go wide and let the full backs invert. However, the patient play around the box, seeking the high percentage chance rather than a long belter is very Barcelona. Our players seem content to go side to side like a seesaw looking for that one pull back in space. Sometimes you just need someone who will 'do a Messi': Just create a relatively low percentage chance for themselves and score it to open up the match.

PS) Dare I say it looked a lot like Van Gaal at Barcelona. Only difference is we don't have prime Rivaldo.

 

[Litch]

Please read it again, he is one of the 11 best Brazilian players apparently.

Still makes zero sense given 11 players play in different positions with different attributes. Explain what the nationality has to do with it?

 

[MrBest]

We would have lost this game a few months ago, striker is badly needed, at least the defence has gotten better.