Not much to choose from. Maybe Jones. Otherwise Mata was better than the rest. Also disagree with some of the points about Fletcher. He suffered from being next to Cleverley. His job is more defensive. Without a partner in midfield, Fletcher did look a bit lost but he made some tackles and attempted a pass, more than can be said for Cleverley. Obviously LVG disagreed
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
Really having second thoughts about this 352 formation. Understandable really because we haven't had the best starts, but Van Gaal did say it would take time.Great interview from the manager. He instills confidence. I like Yorke too. He doesn't pull punches. Players not good enough.
This
No just no. Januzaj was poor
Agree, Januzaj is one of our few players who can beat opponents one-on-one but he has been selfish with the ball these last two games.Rooney should be dropped he needs a wake up call, all the senior players need to be reminded who they play for, sit them down and make them watch what made this club great.
Jones was good today and was better as the middle of the 3 CB than Smalling has been. Keane and Blackett did well.
Zero creativity too slow in passing and gave the ball away easily and the corners in the last 2 games have been very poor.
I had hopes of a top 4 finish unless we find 2 decent centre mids and another CB who can play most of the games we are going to be in trouble.We're shit - it's true. Without one midfielder who can run, or control a ball without it bouncing off his shin or turning it over we will always look shit.Any one out there who played professional football at some point in their life, can you answer " How can any footballer , when he gets the ball. wants to pass backwards rather than forward, even when in situations former is more risky". I thought any footballer , either defender or even a goal keeper, wants to play forward pass and take ball to opposition half rather than maintaining possession in their own half.
Cleverley , unless it is final third( towards opposition goal) , never goes for forward pass. Always looks to pass backwards to defenders. Same to some extent by fletcher. Same by carrick very often last season
It kept me wondering while watching this match, did our shitty midfield turn our decent backline into worse? Because when I watch blackett, it reminded me of jones/smalling in their starting days with united, who want to push/pass ball forward , rather than backward.
Now, our defenders think , their role is to pass to midfielders and expect them to receive the ball back , get it , pass it back to goalkeeper. From this game ,atleast for me , I realised problem with our squad is with those 2-3 players controlling the midfield and it is making whole team play ridiculously bad no matter how good/wordclass the other part of team is.
Not a knee-jerk reaction, but we are making investment at the wrong sides of the pitch , while growing cancer in the centre midfield. If it is not replaced , I literally mean replace where you just dont use/plan with current midfield, it doesnot matter whom we buy at other positions , we are still gonna play bad.
If we are going to play the 3-5-2, we need at least one good CM more than di Maria.
We need Carvalho not di Maria.Can't believe people rating Mata's performance today.. I think he was really poor. But so was the rest, so who cares.
You can hate him all you want, but I think Young had a decent game. Nothing special, but I think he did his job today.
Carrick/Herrera would make a world of difference compared to Fletch/Clev, that's for sure...Absolutely shocking. Didn't lose but it was one of the worst performances I've seen as a United fan personally.
So toothless going forward, no pace, urgency or anything resembling creativity. Sunderland are not a good side.
Valencia, Young, Cleverley and Fletcher are not good enough for this club. Get Rafael/Shaw at wingback, Carrick/Herrera in the middle and Di Maria behind the front two and there should be a massive difference but the squad depth in certain positions gets shown up for how woeful it really is when we have so many injuries.Neil Lennon anyone? Steward at the Sunderland game
I think he saw me taking it too. Uncanny imo!Rooney needs to be called out for 2 poor games in a row.
Sadly Blackett looks like one of better players at the moment... sad coz he'll likely get dropped with Rojo is available or Evans is back.
Starting to worry about Mata and Januazj
He's the caf's lovechild for some reason.
We dont need a hulk to just sit there. We need someone dynamic, with pace, someone who will run at players in midfield , get momentum, get players ahead of him making runs. Thats di Maria. Hes a great box to box player. Regardless, what we DEFNITELY do not need is someone like Carvalho sitting pretty in midfield making bad passes similar to what we had today
There and yes we won, but this the second year after SAF has left. We looked better than last year, we looked like the players know what they are doing. . just wasn't good enough this time. LVG works like a data analysis it's all numbers and players hopefully once he has all the data 'three months' then we can kick on.
And Moyes still huffed ball when Fellaini wasn't on the patch VS Fulham = 80 ish crossesand one last thing...
anyone else remember the good old days when starting the season with Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley would be 9 banked points?
its the only way forward.
Didn't we lose to Burnley last time we had them at the start of a season?
He'll probably play him with the B team on Tuesday. Which is unfair. Just like the tour id like to see him given a chance with the 'A' Team
1 of rooney or van persie should play, 1 of mata or kagawa should play. its that simple. if someone having a abd game you replace them and give the other a run.Mata was fine, won some fouls, dropped deep, defended and scored. RvP was awful, Rooney wasn't much better. The less said about the midfield the better. Welbeck came on and changed the pace of our game, I will be depressed if he leaves.
Tbf hardly any team will get 3 points at the Stadium of Lights with Poyet as manager, but still a depressing performance and result for us.
Easy start to the league they saidBlah... We're so lucky to get a point from that match! Even though we've only played 2 games that count, I'm very worried. Honestly, I don't like this 3-5-2 system. I don't think our players like it, and some of them do not look like they are willing, or are capable of playing in it. I think that our defense is too inexperienced, our wingers lack the pace, and our central midfield is desperately lacking pace, quality and leadership (with exception of Mata and Herrera).
I think that instead of trying to force players to play in this system, that van Gaal should play them in a system that they are experienced and comfortable playing in. What worked for van Gaal in the Dutch national team might not work here. He says it will take at least 3 months for the team to get use to it. In my opinion, we could be battling bottom of the table teams in 3 months if he waits. Van Gaal needs to be able to adapt to the team as much as they have to adapt to him. He needs to be willing to let go of his national system if he has to. Another thing that worries me a little, I have yet to see him get up out of his seat and go into the technical area to scream/motivate/inspire/criticize players.
Today, Valencia was good defensively, but failed to get forward enough to influence the game, as he has in the past. I think he only had 3 or 4 crosses all game, though one did end with Mata's goal. Young was almost useless in defense, causing pointless fouls and again not getting forward enough to impact the game. Fletcher seemed great in preseason, but he simply looks outclassed versus everyone in the league. If he went down a tier or 2, I think he'd be outstanding. After his battle with UC, he just isn't the same player. Cleverley actually had a better game than Fletcher in my opinion! Not to say he had a good game though. Mata was good, easily MOTM for me. Rooney and RVP were not effective. Overall, I see the problem as: our defense is poor, forcing our wingbacks and CM's to play deeper to help out. That puts a huge gap between the midfield and our attackers (big enough to literally park a bus). Our attackers can't get decent service through the middle, and by the time the wingbacks get forward, the opposing team has put 9 or 10 men in the box to defend.
Yes. They outplayed us too.Messi and vidal is trending world wide! feck sake LVG send twitter into meltdown.
Still mata was not better than the rest. I wish he was but he created nothing which is his role in the team
How many "chances" does Kagawa need?
So bench our current record signing, Mata?
Charlie Adams played for Blackpool. Robbie Blake scored for Burnley.
Que?Utter shite, let down again by our piss poor midfield of whom none can pass a ball forward or take it themselves forward... Also what was with the testimonial pace to the game argghhhhhh, so annoying.
Can someone please tell me how Cleverley is playing when he's a bag of wank?! Van gaal said kagawa didn't impress him on the tour - he'll add way more than Cleverley/Fletcher... It's just frustrating how we seem stuck with so many average players
What can the likes of Mata do when all the rest of the dross just stand still watching him.
Wouldnt mind a bit of Robbie Blake in our midfield. He has long hair
How many 'chances' has he had under Van Gaal or at #10 for that matter?
we also don't have the players that would normally be starting in this position.
And one of Welbeck or Januzaj should play.
yes
I'd actually prefer going with a 4-3-3, benching our captain.- 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
