Manchester United 2:2 Steven Gerrard's Villa (Sat 23rd July, 10:45 UK time)

downunder red

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I'm amazed that we're going to countries with terrible rainy weather instead of staying in the English sun.

It's actually strange that anyone would want to live in Australia when it seems to just do nothing but pour down.
You should try are 45 degree days. The only way to survive is an air conditioned pub.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Garner apparently coming on. You'd expect it to be for Fred, although ten Hag could bring off Van de Beek and push Fred higher, with Garner playing as the 6.
 

Yagami

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The whole defence has been poor in their use of the ball other than Shaw. The first time Dalot gets the entry pass right we score. Maguire and Lindelof taking too many touches for us to progress quick enough.

Its easy to see why EtH wanted Martinez and FdJ so bad because our transition from defence to attack needs a lot more quality. Fred has actually been useful at that but its hard because his midfield partner is doing his best Cleverley impression.

Love the front three though, they look like they're really on their game.
This is another misconception people have about de Jong as well as his passing range. The amount of touches our cbs take will be nothing compared to de Jong. He will la pelopina turn and stop the game many times. Of course, he will speed it up, too, but not as often as people think.
 

AndyMUFC

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Good half on a dodgy pitch. Villa haven't been up to much but we're winning the ball back high up and Shaw and Rashford linking up well on the left.
 

bosnian_red

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Can’t wait for vdb forever. If his form doesn’t change throughout this season, we should find another alternative.
He's not going to play much anyway. Eriksen slots in where he's playing today, McTominay can play there, Garner can play the deep role, etc. He's part of the 2nd 11 at the moment (though even then, he's probably competing with Hannibal), and he's not the priority midfielder from the 2nd group. And we're still prioritizing Frenkie. Once Frenkie comes, he'll barely play.
 

Isotope

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Martial needs to get into the box more often. He's been MIA there on several good attack.
 

Withnail

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Positionally, he has a small case but really small. Maguires a CH and he’s gone 30-40 yards with the ball.

But it’s more about his attitude, commitment, whatever the word is. He doesn’t show for the ball, he doesn’t race to close down opponents, he doesn’t tackle/he marks space. He can say his position isn’t his favourite but these things are basics.. and especially basics of what ETH wants in his players.

Can’t see how he keeps a place or even a bench place. Hope I’m wrong (was with Martial)
Yeah I'd agree with all of that. At least with Martial we had seen what he could do in previous seasons. Donny's just never shown anything since leaving Ajax. I had hoped he'd come good under Ten Hag but I've no faith in him now at all.
 

Rozay

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I hope the bed-wetters were impressed with the brilliance of Boubakar Kamara in that first half.
 

CM10

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Ramsay is a player Utd should be keeping an eye on, defintely something there if he continues to develop.
Good player but he's contracted until 2027. He'll cost a pretty penny.
 

WPMUFC

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Donny playing for his season in this half. Eriksen with no pre season would start over him at this rate.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Surprised we haven’t made any changes for the 2nd half, particularly with how poor the pitch is. Last thing we want is to be picking up injuries on that shite turf.
 

Real Name

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We're dominating and haven't given Villa a sniff.

Could have probably done more with the ball. But the pitch is a bog and nobody can move freely. Bruno's passing has also been a bit hit-and-miss.
Great stuff! Thanks mate.
 

Dazzmondo

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Agree with most of this. Plenty of reason for optimism. I do like Fred but I can’t say he’s a reason not to buy an elite midfielder.
I agree, it was tongue in cheek but I'm happy he's doing well
 

Vaibhav Raj

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The Ralf apologists have been very quiet.

We're playing with the same players as last season but we're absolutely dominating teams.

Wasn't this supposed to be impossible?

10 new players and all that?
If we go into the season with this same set of players playing starting roles and us believing we would massively improve upon last season's performances then we are in for a very rude awakening after 7 or 8 games into the season.

EtH will coach some structure into our play but he cannot coach away the massive technical limitations some of these players have.