We are playing without our two newest signings, so it's essentially the same team as Moyes last season, albeit with a new and unfamiliar formation.
Calm down and belay the meltdown.
Calm down and belay the meltdown.
FA Premier League
Sunderland 1:1 Manchester United
Stadium of Light
- Kick-off
- Sun, 24 August 2014 @ 4:00pm BST
- Status
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Closed
Discussion Live Updates 48 Your Lineup Prediction
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- Status
Fletcher and Cleverley are having a nightmare out there. It's even worse than I thought it would be there. Young and Valencia once again are looking suspect defensively, but I don't blame them too much since they aren't natural defenders and it's to be expected sadly. Smalling going off is big blow too, he was the best defender on the pitch. The Sunderland goal was criminal defending, how can you let someone completely unmarked in the box from a corner? We seriously need to step it up if we are going to win it now.
Sunderland don't have half a team injured, Young and Valencia are playing out of position, Blankett and Keane are lacking experience (However Blankett has been the best defender today) but have bagfuls of potential. Cleverly shouldn't be anywhere near the team let alone Fletcher (actually is he playing) So ill give you that.It is rather annoying that we actually saw decent paced football during the tour, but the moment the actual season starts, we are back to slow motion movement.I am just going the de Jong and blind rumors are true.... Add then in with Herrera and I will field much better.
Not sure I agree with that mate. Christ.Fletcher should be retiring right now, make sure Louis can't send him out for the second half.
Cleverley might want to think about joining him.
lolWe are basically playing.....
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We are easily in the top 3 worst midfield in PL(and maybe even Defense).I think they could keep Fletcher and use him off the bench, he shouldn't be starting. Cleverley offers nothing, no matter how many times he is given a chance he doesn't take it.
Yeah Cleverley didn't do anything and that's the problem. He just passes it to Fletcher or out wide and hopes for the best.Fletcher is poor and so is Cleverley. The front three are not seeing the ball and Mata has been a tad wasteful whenever he's seen the ball save for the goal.wow, that was some poor football, didn't even deserve that goal to be honest.
Fletcher clearly is not on the same level, lost every ball, he made even Cleverly look solid next to him. We're missing Herrera badly, thought he looked good against Swansea, at least the drop off when he was subbed was remarkable...It's actually quite astonishing just how shit we look. It's not even close to anything acceptable. And it's not about the freaking result. It's the "football" we play.
A fecking guy who just got his contract renewed plays in CM and can't pass a decent ball.
Fletcher as well, absolutely atrocious.
Young useless as feck, Jones a headless chicken and Mata again invisible.Timid performance so far. Now with Smalling off, that defense looks terrible shaky. I know it's still early in the season and the players will need time to adapt, but we can't be losing games like these. Hoping to see a better second half!We look what we are a team with several injuries, players making their comebacks and some lads who are squad players at best.Neville's beginning to get on my tits too.
Were not even maintaining our standards let alone improve. Its a shocking collapse like a house of cards against a team we should be beating comfortably. Thats what i saw in the first half.The pace we are playing at just ISN'T Manchester United. This slow tempo was brought in by that twat from Everton and it seems to have stuck. I hate the idea of being bored bwatching United...Smalling has been our best midfielder today.I wish that was a jokeRooney has only 28 touches in the first half. Less than one touch per minute.God I hate SkySeems like its been years since we scored playing a nice thru ball through the middle of the pitch. No off the ball movement at all, except from mata at his goalWill be interesting if he makes a change.
Welbeck/Januzaj for RVP is the obvious one.Can't wait to have Rafael and Shaw back. They should be our starting wingbacks when fit. They're both offensive enough to make it work.
The point was this is not our first 11, not whether our backups are good enough or not.
It is but I'm getting far more worried about out fullbacks/wingbacks right now. Young and Valencia aren't anything close to defenders. Our centre backs are having to adapt to a new system, the last thing they need is guys either side of them that need bailing out or aren't going to cover the space properly.
The lack of fullbacks has fecked us up, but 352 is not helping us, and one of our most exciting players janazaj does not fit this system, because LVG wants too keep to this system. But defiantly the defensive and midfield options is killing us, and van gaals favoured system 433Christ its crucial we win this 6-pointer. Vital vital points.
Juts kidding
Playing Rooney in midfield when you're struggling is only going to end badly IMO.Put Januzaj and Kagawa in there, honestly.Not a single word can be used to describe how bad our central midfield are. Fletcher and Cleverly still play for Manchester United. Wow
Brilliant.We are basically playing.....
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We are easily in the top 3 worst midfield in PL(and maybe even Defense).
Take Cleverly off for Welbeck and put Rooney in CM and Welbeck up front.
The last laugh? Grow up, I'd like nothing more than to see us win here today.
It's not a matter of "LVG vs Moyes"
You can't polish a shit, LVG has been forced to play those four players, there's no other options.
Aye, that's my thinking too, he's had some poor touches now and then but has done ok. Fletchers been the main problem in midfield, he's been bloomin awful.
Youngs tracking back is a problem too, Clevs being forced to cover it way too much after Young muffs up a crossing chance.
I think Sunderlands played very well too in fairness.
IMHO, it's not so much about he's still considering we have a perfect midfield and needing no replacement/addition. It's more about who are to come in and fit in perfectly and being better. LvG had mentioned about transfer and seriously fans should be more understanding it's not easy. New signings are not the only answer to our sad state of affairs now. He's importing new system and philosophy. He asked fans to give him time, did he.easy guys, I predicted 2:1 for usIt's very sad to see Darren Fletcher playing like this, he's been the worst player on the pitch, incredibly slow and incredibly poor in possession. Hopefully as the injuries ease and we bring in 2 or 3 new players things will improve, but right now we are a total mess.
I'd take a point right now.Look on the bright side of life...we now know our midfield can't get any worse. Been supporting united now for over 40 years and genuinely believe I have not seen a midfield this bad in all those years. Even the years where we were winning nothing in the 70's & 80's we were never this bad and could actually pass a ball, our control of the football is woeful.We're basically carrying Fletcher and Cleverley through the game. They provide absolutely no attacking contribution whatsoever.
We need strong CM'S who are confident on the ball, this will stop jones and smalling needing to fill the gaps and mata rooney rvp coming back to get on the ball.
Passing is soo poor and sluggish. No first touch passing and moving.
And yes - every time mata got on the ball for Chelsea against us, I was genuinely scared :/
Touché, you know what I meant thoughI was serious about that Hamez substitution. Him for Fletch and Welbeck for van Persie.Where the hell is Rafael? I keep expecting to see him - against Swansea - nope. Against Sunderland - nope. Apparently he was injured in the warm up against Swansea - but I haven't heard anything about it. Has anyone got any info on him or has he just been dropped permanently? Physio Room doesn't have him listed as injured (and they've updated everything else - like Herrera's knock for example).
Neither have kept possession. Valencia and Fletcher need to be playing further up as wingers but that won't do us any good unless we keep the bloody ball in midfield. You saw what happened when Valencia ran at his man but he's not getting the chance to do that. LVG will sort it out. Teething troubles are bound to happen but he's on the right track and will make his system work. Might need a few players to leave and some to come in but it will.I reckon Rothwell and Lawrence can"t do worse than Fletcher and Cleverley in our midfield today.
They havent done anything special. That's the worst part. We are so easy to play against. Reminds so much of Arsenal few years back, we know only one way to play and the opposition easily counters it.
Imagine this midfield going against City/Chelsea...Jeez...they will run riot...- Status
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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23%
Tyler Blackett
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16%
Juan Mata
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4%
Danny Welbeck
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2%
Antonio Valencia
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2%
David de Gea
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1%
Tom Cleverley
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1%
Chris Smalling
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 459 ratings.
Score Predictions
741,167,143
- Man Utd win
- Sunderland win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 27% Sunderland 1:2 Man Utd
- 13% Sunderland 1:3 Man Utd
- 12% Sunderland 0:2 Man Utd
- 8% Sunderland 1:1 Man Utd
- 7% Sunderland 0:3 Man Utd
- 7% Sunderland 2:1 Man Utd
- 5% Sunderland 0:1 Man Utd
- 4% Sunderland 2:2 Man Utd
- 3% Sunderland 1:0 Man Utd
- 3% Sunderland 2:0 Man Utd
- 2% Sunderland 0:5 Man Utd
- 2% Sunderland 0:0 Man Utd
- 2% Sunderland 5:0 Man Utd
- 2% Sunderland 0:4 Man Utd
- 1% Sunderland 3:1 Man Utd
- 1% Sunderland 2:3 Man Utd
- 1% Sunderland 1:4 Man Utd
- 1% Sunderland 1:5 Man Utd
- 1% Sunderland 3:0 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 2:4 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 2:5 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 4:5 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 5:5 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 3:2 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 3:3 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 3:5 Man Utd
- 0% Sunderland 4:0 Man Utd
Match Stats
- Sunderland
- Man Utd
- Possession
- 45% 55%
- Shots
- 11 10
- Shots on Target
- 3 3
- Corners
- 4 4
- Fouls
- 10 15
Referee
Martin Atkinson
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Michael Keane
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replaced by Adnan Januzaj
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replaced by Danny Welbeck
