West Bromwich Albion 1:1 Manchester United

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

Matt851 said:
Fair enough the frustrating thing is that with greenwood starting to play well again in recent weeks we look capable of attacking with the verve we did at the end of last season but oles unnecessary meddling e.g. dropping greenwood is stopping our momentum

Yeah I couldn’t agree more with you there. Greenwood is clearly performing better than both Martial and Rashford at the moment and it’s not even close. Ole has clearly only dropped him due to his age and frankly I think that’s really poor management.

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

Champagne Football said:
Poor performance but a Sam Allardyce team fighting relegation is a dangerous beast.

Allardyce has brought in some big powerful experienced players in January and they are starting to settle - Snodgrass, Diane etc.

West Brow will absolutely pull off some big scalps between now and end of May.

I don’t see it. They are honestly atrocious and I don’t see them getting many more points all season. They don’t even defend particularly well, we just don’t move the ball well enough or attack with any real quality.

Champagne Football · Feb 14, 2021

TrustInJanuzaj said:
I don’t see it. They are honestly atrocious and I don’t see them getting many more points all season. They don’t even defend particularly well, we just don’t move the ball well enough or attack with any real quality.

We'll see. There's no manager out there better than Allardyce to fight relegation. He's only had a month and a half and 1 transfer window to build a team with his identity, and I think West Broms results will start to improve.

OLLY ORANGE · Feb 14, 2021

Same old set up with no plan b. Very little threat going forward.
Did we need to have two defensive midfielders on for so long.
To bring on DVB and play him so deep is mindboggling.
Very concerned about the clubs management tactical nouse in breaking sides that sit back and defend once again.
We only seem comfortable playing counter attacking football.

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

OLLY ORANGE said:
Same old set up with no plan b. Very little threat going forward.
Did we need to have two defensive midfielders on for so long.
To bring on DVB and play him so deep is mindboggling.
Very concerned about the clubs management tactical nouse in breaking sides that sit back and defend once again.
We only seem comfortable playing counter attacking football.

That’s his best position and only chance to make it here so I disagree.

Sayros · Feb 14, 2021

TrustInJanuzaj said:
Yeah I couldn’t agree more with you there. Greenwood is clearly performing better than both Martial and Rashford at the moment and it’s not even close. Ole has clearly only dropped him due to his age and frankly I think that’s really poor management.

Greenwood was poor for the start of the season and it's only in the last couple of weeks that he's rediscovered form. Even though he's scoring less than the previous season, I think his all-around game is far better but let's not act as if he was benched due to his age since Ole had no hesitation in playing him when he was a year younger, he was just terrible and didn't justify a starting spot. Unfortunately, neither do Rashford or Martial so Greenwood should now be considered a starter for either one.

Verminator · Feb 14, 2021

antohan said:
I can't for the life of me understand why we keep benching to play Rashford out of position so we can play Martial on the left.

It just doesn't make any sense. And no, I don't mean to run down Martial, he simply does not justify it.

It's like we enjoy shooting our feet three times before the game has even started.

Too true. Ole says he is managing Mason's minutes.
Well if he looks tired, Martial needs a defibrillator.

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

Sayros said:
Greenwood was poor for the start of the season and it's only in the last couple of weeks that he's rediscovered form. Even though he's scoring less than the previous season, I think his all-around game is far better but let's not act as if he was benched due to his age since Ole had no hesitation in playing him when he was a year younger, he was just terrible and didn't justify a starting spot. Unfortunately, neither do Rashford or Martial so Greenwood should now be considered a starter for either one.

That’s all fairly irrelevant considering he’s been better for the last 5 games or so. His form was poor at the start and he was rightly dropped. Why would we consider that now though? Rashford and Martial have been worse for even longer.

Sayros · Feb 14, 2021

TrustInJanuzaj said:
That’s all fairly irrelevant considering he’s been better for the last 5 games or so. His form was poor at the start and he was rightly dropped. Why would we consider that now though? Rashford and Martial have been worse for even longer.

They had more credit in the bank with Ole.

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

Sayros said:
They had more credit in the bank with Ole.

Which for me comes back to my point. That’s not the way to manage a top team. You play the form teams. It was a poor decision and it cost us a win today.

croadyman · Feb 14, 2021

ManUnitedCanuck said:
What tactics do you suggest?

Well playing Henderson, Bailly, Donny & Mason today was a start rather than yet again being obsessed with 2 holding mids

Hughie77 · Feb 14, 2021

It was a result that was deserved, we didn't do enough to win, but could have , they could have as well, it's strange that we cannot break these stubborn defensive teams down. Started 2nd half so well looked like it was just matter of time we scored.
Pogba is a big miss results have gone from wins to draws, maybe he could have brought Fred off a VDB on earlier, and dropped Bruno back as a DM . That could have worked because we were getting loads of the ball. Greenwood should have started for me. The 1st half the game got away from us by being so slow in the play. This us how we are and have to put up with it. Just need to consolidate top 4 from now till end of league season. And try and win one of the cups were in. City will win league with 4 games to spare.

owlo · Feb 14, 2021

My opinion hasn't changed. Poor manager, get rid of him at the end of the season. Succession planning should have started months ago. No drama, no hard feelings, just time for a change.

Offsideagain · Feb 14, 2021

5 points dropped against the bottom two teams is the harsh reality. Time to drop DeGea and Lindelof, they are costing us too many points. Our defenders let the attackers come to them, every game this happens. Everybody else’s defenders press our attackers. How many times do out attacks grind to a halt thirty yards out and then ping the ball across field. Crying out for a winger to get crosses in.

Lentwood · Feb 14, 2021

It’s easy to over-react after results like that but I think it’s more of an indication of the fact that we’re not genuine title-challengers than any deep-rooted, fundamental issues.

For me, the GK isn’t good enough. Wasn’t at fault today but his timidness makes our CBs nervous at set-pieces and when crosses come into the box.

Likewise, I don’t think Lindelof is quite good enough. Plenty of good qualities but that vulnerability in the air will always come back to bite us, especially because in the PL there are so many teams who really rely on set-pieces and crosses to score goals.

Maguire is a good defender for me and I think he COULD form a title-winning partnership with a CB who complements his lack of pace. However, currently the partnership with Lindelof and De Gea behind them is not quite good enough in the key moments that points are won and lost.

The fullbacks are both good, don’t really have any major issues with them.

Fred has his uses but isn’t exactly what you would call a “powerhouse” and his use of the ball is erratic. Again, going back to the point of my post, I’m not saying he isn’t a “good” player - I’m saying he’s probably that little bit short of what is required from a CM in a team with real ambitions to win major trophies.

Rashford and Martial are a problem for me. I’m not going to slate Rashford, that’s not what this post is about, however, I’ve been vocal about the fact I think he is very over-rated and again today, when faced with a low block he seems to have limited ideas. Again, not “bad” but not good either. Martial has been so disappointing. Last season you really thought he could kick-on at CF but had a poor start to the season and seems to be coasting again.

So, not a “disaster” of a performance. Plenty of possession, plenty of chances to create chances or balls flashed across the face of the goal but no killer instinct in the big moments.

Again, defensively we look steady and assured the majority of the time but then we always give the opposition something to cling to with our tendency to make individual mistakes and/or our weakness from crosses.

So we could get really upset about it and it is frustrating...but did any of us REALLY expect a title-challenge? Fact is, I think we have lots of “8/10” players when in reality, we need a couple more game-changers, perhaps one at each end of the pitch.

Other lesson learnt from the season to-date - Greenwood has to start and so does Cavani. Let Rashford and Martial fight for one spot on the left.

croadyman · Feb 14, 2021

DomesticTadpole said:
I dread what Sociedad might do to us, they are decent.

Yeah Silva will be getting into them all week about how many times he got the better of us at City so we should be very worried

Amerifan · Feb 14, 2021

The way Ole staffed the bench he thought we’d quickly build a 2 or 3 goal lead and he’d bring on defenders to see the game out. After WB scored early we didn’t have a response available when our attackers were having an off day.

ManUnitedCanuck · Feb 14, 2021

croadyman said:
Well playing Henderson, Bailly, Donny & Mason today was a start rather than yet again being obsessed with 2 holding mids

Those aren’t tactics, those are personnel changes

Sayros · Feb 14, 2021

TrustInJanuzaj said:
Which for me comes back to my point. That’s not the way to manage a top team. You play the form teams. It was a poor decision and it cost us a win today.

Today, sure, my only point was that Ole didn't bench him early on in the season because of his age, which is what I thought you were suggesting originally. If you meant only in this game or recent games, then I agree with you completely.

TrustInJanuzaj · Feb 14, 2021

Sayros said:
Today, sure, my only point was that Ole didn't bench him early on in the season because of his age, which is what I thought you were suggesting originally. If you meant only in this game or recent games, then I agree with you completely.

Yeh sorry I do mean in the recent run, particularly today. Start of the season and before that spell, Ole managed him well. At some stage though as a manager you have to take the risk and throw the talented players into the shark put. Greenwood looks ready for that now.

croadyman · Feb 14, 2021

ManUnitedCanuck said:
Those aren’t tactics, those are personnel changes

Very true but that would in turn help us play better was my point

Asger · Feb 14, 2021

Judas said:
Rashford has provided plenty of brilliant balls into the box? No reason why he should come off.

Only saw 2nd half and he did nothing. We will never win PL with him and Martial as starters. Both fine as squad/impact players

Wing Attack Plan R · Feb 14, 2021

The referee was bent, simple as that. It's been years since I've seen such a blatant bias against a team, maybe not since Martin Ovrebo denied Chelsea three penalties in one match.

If you let forwards manhandle defenders - including grabbing them by the neck and face - the forwards are going to score. There is no excusing his decision against giving a penalty for the foul on Maguire. Yes, Maguire was offside, and I would have accepted that as the reason, but the referee didn't say that; he said there was no foul. I see three instances in that run where Maguire was fouled. It is insane.

Beyond that, we have trouble against teams that don't want to come out and play and prefer to sit behind the ball. OGS should know that as well as any fan. We cross the ball too late, our approach is to get to their penalty box or the byline and then cross, when you see how WBA's early crossing of the ball caused so much havoc, the blueprint is right there.

Maguire was awful. Lindelof was awful. Fred was awful. Rashford was awful.

We were lucky in the end to come away with a point.

Wing Attack Plan R · Feb 15, 2021

Two holding mids against the team second from last. We go from title contenders to needing 5 new players in the space of a fortnight.

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