Manchester United 3:0 Stoke City

Classical Mechanic · Jan 31, 2016

Damn, a midweek game makes playing our first eleven on Friday even more daft.

Tyrion · Jan 31, 2016

marukomu said:
LvG was right about lowering our expectations. I don't even expect us to beat these at home anymore.

That's Stage 2 of the "Prochess". Stage 1 was to train the football players to not play football.

prath92 · Jan 31, 2016

'Will we beat them? I don't know. They certainly can but can't say anything till the match'

Talk like Andy Townsend.

sunama · Jan 31, 2016

TitusCrumble said:
I just hope that LVG doesn't play Fellaini.

I've been saying this for a while now.
Fellaini is the spine of our team. LVG subbed him off once, in our last league game and we immediately conceded. He won't be making that mistake any time soon, especially when he highlighted this in the post match interview.
Fans may not like this, but Fellaini is absolutely vital to LVG's plan of winning games, 1-0*.

*1-0 to Man Utd
LVG does not want to smash teams.
The aim is to get a narrow win or a draw and be unbeaten.
We have seen repeatedly that when we attack hard, we concede many goals.
Newcastle was the most recent example and lets not forget Wolfsburg - we needed to attack them hard and we did, but we conceded 4 goals.
I could go on, but you get the point.
1-0, 1-1 and 0-0 scorelines is what LVG is good at and to save his job, he will probably aim for these scorelines.

Amar__ · Jan 31, 2016

sunama said:
I've been saying this for a while now.
Fellaini is the spine of our team. LVG subbed him off once, in our last league game and we immediately conceded. He won't be making that mistake any time soon, especially when he highlighted this in the post match interview.
Fans may not like this, but Fellaini is absolutely vital to LVG's plan of winning games, 1-0*.

*1-0 to Man Utd
LVG does not want to smash teams.
The aim is to get a narrow win or a draw and be unbeaten.
We have seen repeatedly that when we attack hard, we concede many goals.
Newcastle was the most recent example and lets not forget Wolfsburg - we needed to attack them hard and we did, but we conceded 4 goals.
I could go on, but you get the point.
1-0, 1-1 and 0-0 scorelines is what LVG is good at and to save his job, he will probably aim for these scorelines.

lol

Again this shit, do you have me on ignore or what?

Redguern · Jan 31, 2016

sunama said:
I've been saying this for a while now.
Fellaini is the spine of our team. LVG subbed him off once, in our last league game and we immediately conceded. He won't be making that mistake any time soon, especially when he highlighted this in the post match interview.
Fans may not like this, but Fellaini is absolutely vital to LVG's plan of winning games, 1-0*.

*1-0 to Man Utd
LVG does not want to smash teams.
The aim is to get a narrow win or a draw and be unbeaten.
We have seen repeatedly that when we attack hard, we concede many goals.
Newcastle was the most recent example and lets not forget Wolfsburg - we needed to attack them hard and we did, but we conceded 4 goals.
I could go on, but you get the point.
1-0, 1-1 and 0-0 scorelines is what LVG is good at and to save his job, he will probably aim for these scorelines.

Fine theory except for the fact that Fellaini started all these recent losses:

Stoke
Norwich
Bournemouth

and he also started in the Wolfsburg and Toon 'goalfests' that you quote as evidence that when we attack hard we ship goals.

The only reason he is starting games is because other MF options like BFS and Carrick were injured.

stu_1992 · Jan 31, 2016

Feck sake another weekday game that I'll miss because of work. Only got to see around 40 minutes if the game Friday. Won't see any of this. I can very much see us struggling in this game. Story of our season is one-step forward, two-steps back.

sunama · Jan 31, 2016

Redguern said:
Fine theory except for the fact that Fellaini started all these recent losses:

Stoke
Norwich
Bournemouth

and he also started in the Wolfsburg and Toon 'goalfests' that you quote as evidence that when we attack hard we ship goals.

I understand your frustration and I share it. You think I like watching the boring games we play?
But LVG sees Fellaini as a player with the x-factor. He has height, so he can defend set pieces and he can also win balls when we get corners. No other player in our team can do this (apart from maybe Smalling).

Redguern said:
The only reason he is starting games is because other MF options like BFS and Carrick were injured.

That could well be a possibility. But for the foreseeable future, both Carrick and BFS, wont be playing 90 minutes. So while this remains the case, Fellaini will play.

EDIT: if recall correctly, in the 2nd half of the season, Fellaini was a guaranteed starter. So it doesn't seem so extraordinary that now that he is fit, he should start every game for us. Does it?

sunama · Jan 31, 2016

Amar__ said:
lol

Again this shit, do you have me on ignore or what?

I think you stated that Fellaini is not a guaranteed starter. Yes?
Yet he continues to start games for us. So for now at least, I am correct in what I am saying.

LARulz · Jan 31, 2016

1-1. Terribly dull game

Amar__ · Jan 31, 2016

sunama said:
I think you stated that Fellaini is not a guaranteed starter. Yes?
Yet he continues to start games for us. So for now at least, I am correct in what I am saying.

No, that's not what said and I argued in his thread.

Amar__ said:
We are conceeding awful lot goals with Fellaini in the side, stop imagining things.

Ever since he started his "run" against Wolfsburg our defence looks terrible, mostly because we don't have any control in midfield when he plays.

Since he started his run against Wolfsburg, with him as a starter we conceeded 3 against wolfsburg, 2 against Bournemouth, 2 against Norwich, 2 against Stoke, 3 vs Newcastle, and one against Derby. He wasn't on the pitch/was substitued only before Wolfsburg's third goal, all other goals I mentioned we conceeded while he was on the pitch. We kept the clean sheet with him in the team only against Liverpool, game in which de Gea won MOTM, and home vs fecking West Ham - the game we haven't scored either.

The team is absolutely terrible defensively when he is in the team, we don't dominate games with him because he is no central midfielder.
At least before we started playing him again our defence looked good, and we kind of dominated games, even though the problems in attack were the same. But at least we weren't conceeding lot, and our defenders actually looked good. Before his first start in december against West Ham we conceeded just two goals in 6 games, after that he started playing and we conceeded 6 goals in 4 games. Then again, he was benched for two games in PL and we conceeded one goal. In the next game he started we conceeded 3 vs Newcastle. Admittedly, in next two games we haven't conceeded with him on the pitch, but we were absolutely terrible in those two games(Liverpool and Soton) and could have conceeded at least goal or two against Liverpool if it wasn't for de Gea.

And those 1:0 or 0:0 results with Fellaini playing are obviously something you just invented considering just one 1:0 and two 0:0s happened with Fellaini as a starter, and both of those 0:0 were terrible result considering they were against West Ham and Southampton at Old Trafford.

Redguern · Jan 31, 2016

sunama said:
I think you stated that Fellaini is not a guaranteed starter. Yes?
Yet he continues to start games for us. So for now at least, I am correct in what I am saying.

Well last season he was really playing as a 10 for us with two midfielders behind him.

That is the position he is most effective in, if he must play anywhere for us...

However, he has been started as the 8 in midfield recently and his positional awareness is severely lacking in that role.

I can only imagine that LVG plays him there due to lack of options, given our injury list.

So, I am hoping that you are wrong as to the reasons he is persisted with because if you are right then LVG really is watching a different game than the rest of us !

dannyrhinos89 · Jan 31, 2016

0-0 at halftime

1-0 either way at fulltime

Roosney · Jan 31, 2016

Considering Stoke's recent form and our borefestball this could reach the lows of the Saints game.
Or 2-0 United, both goals in the first half!

Red Dreams · Jan 31, 2016

we still have a number of injuries. Bastian out the whole month. Young out with no return date. Rojo back 13th.

Gerald G · Jan 31, 2016

De Gea
Varela--Smalling--Blind--CBJ
Schneiderlin--Carrick
Januzaj--Mata--Martial
Rooney

subs: Romero, McNair, Fellaini, Lingard, Herrera, Pereira, Memphis

or Memphis instead but I expect LVG to start Lingard & Fellaini.

Winrar · Jan 31, 2016

Roosney said:
Considering Stoke's recent form and our borefestball this could reach the lows of the Saints game.
Or 2-0 United, both goals in the first half!

when was the last time that actually happened at home?

Mrs Smoker · Feb 1, 2016

Back to the good old days, 5-1.

paulscholes18 · Feb 1, 2016

DDG
Varela Smalling Blind CBJ
Morgan Carrick
Lingard Mata Martial
Rooney

paulscholes18 · Feb 1, 2016

Winrar said:
when was the last time that actually happened at home?

Was it a Mata pen vs Wolfsburg

Beachryan · Feb 1, 2016

Is there no press conference for this today?

space · Feb 1, 2016

Atmosphere at the ground won't be good at all, feel for the fans

Gerald G · Feb 1, 2016

Beachryan said:
Is there no press conference for this today?

I was about to ask the same thing.

In some way I think City announcing Pep puts more pressure on Van Gaal. He has to win this match. Even if we win it but the performance is poor and boring I think the fans will still be angry.

Mister_Stubbs · Feb 1, 2016

Considering the poor form Stoke have been in I fully expect them to nick a 1-0 win tomorrow which following the news about Pep today will only anger a hostile Old Trafford crowd even more.

LawCharltonBest · Feb 1, 2016

Christ, imagine if we did lose (not that hard to do either these days)

I think that would be the tipping point for many fans

Sassy Colin · Feb 1, 2016

This isn't on the telly is it?

If only I didn't live in England, I might have half a chance of watching some English football. It's fecking ridiculous really, BT & Sky each have several channels, more than enough to show all the games. Considering how much the PL fleece them for the rights to show the matches and they are aren't even allowed to show them all.

DomesticTadpole · Feb 1, 2016

Sassy Colin said:
This isn't on the telly is it?

If only I didn't live in England, I might have half a chance of watching some English football. It's fecking ridiculous really, BT & Sky each have several channels, more than enough to show all the games. Considering how much the PL fleece them for the rights to show the matches and they are aren't even allowed to show them all.

BT are showing West Ham/Villa tomorrow and Watford/Chelsea on Wednesday. I am actually relieved United aren't on TV. It will be all about Pep. I watched Juventus on Sunday and they went on and on about us letting him go.

Thisistheone · Feb 1, 2016

Carrick in for Fellaini, please.

Will make a big difference.

ottosec · Feb 1, 2016

The meltdown will be epic after we inevitably feck up against these goblins.

SalfordRed1960 · Feb 1, 2016

Gerald G said:
I was about to ask the same thing.

In some way I think City announcing Pep puts more pressure on Van Gaal. He has to win this match. Even if we win it but the performance is poor and boring I think the fans will still be angry.

I know it is a bit sherlock holmes and stating the obvious, but there were a significant number of players that just didn't turn up against Southampton, and with that type of performance and after winning against Liverpool the game before, the fans really showed their frustration.
Rooney really did return to pre-Xmas level of dross, Lingard just going through the motions, Blind and Schniederlin having a bad day at the office just to name and shame a few.
Hopefully, they turn up tomorrow. Add Carrick into midfield and we look different.
I expect the fans to step up and back the players from the start and the players will react.

3KDré · Feb 1, 2016

ottosec said:
The meltdown will be epic after we inevitably feck up against these goblins.

Even more so because City have Pep and we get another season of LVG's shit on a stick.

caisenma · Feb 1, 2016

All you lot who have Januzaj in your starting eleven might as well remove him from your squad altogether. He's starting for u21's today.

fecking ridiculous.

pcaming · Feb 1, 2016

caisenma said:
All you lot who have Januzaj in your starting eleven might as well remove him from your squad altogether. He's starting for u21's today.

fecking ridiculous.

shhh I'm trying to get into the top 20 dammit

Parry Gallister · Feb 1, 2016

ottosec said:
The meltdown will be epic after we inevitably feck up against these goblins.

Ventura · Feb 1, 2016

Yeah ... but can they do it on a moderately chilly evening in Manchester, say 7° and 60 % chance of precipitation? That's the real test.

Actually I refuse to be negative about this one ... we're going to thump them and thump them hard!

Pexbo · Feb 1, 2016

caisenma said:
All you lot who have Januzaj in your starting eleven might as well remove him from your squad altogether. He's starting for u21's today.

fecking ridiculous.

SirAF · Feb 1, 2016

I'm Stoked..

NJM78 · Feb 1, 2016

Nothing like an easy game away to Man Utd to end a bad run of results.

horsechoker · Feb 1, 2016

LVG won't be sacked if we lose, so might as well win.

NJM78 · Feb 1, 2016

Thisistheone said:
Carrick in for Fellaini, please.

Will make a big difference.

No chance. LvG loves the big clumsy bastard.

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