10 games in, happy so far?

Generally ok with how things are going at the moment. In terms of results, we’ve got a strong home record but we’ve recently shown plenty of character and resilience away from home to get some tough points.

I think we do need to get some wins in the next 5 games, I appreciate Palace away, Villa away and Bournemouth are going to be very hard, but we just have win some of them. But it seems at least that we’ve shown improvement as a team.
 
Pretty much gone as expected in a development year.

The only real kick in the nads was Grimsby. The rest of the bad results have been typical of a team tracking towards a top 4-6 finish.
 
Our defensive record is very concerning, most goals conceded outside the relegation sides. As Arsenal are showing a good team is built on a solid foundation at the back. We’re playing 3 CBs and five defenders and still look like conceding every time a team attacks us. It’s either the defenders aren’t good enough or there’s tactics/ formation doesn’t work.
 
redNATION said:
Our defensive record is very concerning, most goals conceded outside the relegation sides. As Arsenal are showing a good team is built on a solid foundation at the back. We’re playing 3 CBs and five defenders and still look like conceding every time a team attacks us. It’s either the defenders aren’t good enough or there’s tactics/ formation doesn’t work.
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We're definitely conceding far more than we should. Oddly enough we currently have one more goal scored than Arsenal, which says a lot about how good we could be if we reduce oppo goals by about 30-50%
 
Improved. But we should bloody well be. We spent a fortune in attacking players and only have a game a week, so have a big advantage over half the teams in the PL. Nine teams are playing mid week games, where we aren’t.

Still pretty fragile, and defensively we are poor. We should still be better than we are given the players we can out out, and have close to zero injuries.
 
Not really. I'm glad that we've stopped fecking around like we did the start of this season and all of last season though.
 
Yes but we have to win against Everton after the international break.

If we drop points again then those 3 wins will start to look suspiciously like another false dawn. I think we will win for what it's worth.
 
Becoming more concerned about AFCON. Mbuemo and Amad are going to be huge misses.
 
The last 2 games have been frustrating, but to me, it feels like 2 points gained rather than 4 points dropped.

Just need to go on another little winning run after the international break, and the camp will be a happy one again :devil:
 
Still unsure.

Sometimes I think we've improved. Sometimes it seems like all we've done is sign a couple of good forward players while the fundamental problems are still there and there's no sign of us addressing them in games.

The home games have felt close to progress but none of the wins have been convincing. The away games have mainly involved us going into self sabotage mode.

And then there's games like today. No team anyone can take seriously is putting in displays like that, ever. We've had 3 already.
 
Defensively we’re still woeful. Honestly think we’re lucky to have not conceded more than the already dismal 18 in 11 games. We look like we could conceded at any moment.
 
noodlehair said:
Still unsure.

Sometimes I think we've improved. Sometimes it seems like all we've done is sign a couple of good forward players while the fundamental problems are still there and there's no sign of us addressing them in games.

The home games have felt close to progress but none of the wins have been convincing. The away games have mainly involved us going into self sabotage mode.

And then there's games like today. No team anyone can take seriously is putting in displays like that, ever. We've had 3 already.
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Sunderland? Thought we were very dominant, for most of the game, at least. Didn't batter them, though.
 
RuudTom83 said:
The last 2 games have been frustrating, but to me, it feels like 2 points gained rather than 4 points dropped.

Just need to go on another little winning run after the international break, and the camp will be a happy one again :devil:
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Agreed. As long as we're gaining points as we go, there's little to worry about. Its the games against the likes of Brighton, Brentford, and a few of the other smaller clubs who have plagued us in recent years that are the concern.
 
Not really. We look to be in the same perpetual cycle as past years. We have the capicity to beat the top teams every so often, whilst also being fully capable of getting beat by virtually any team. We're a club of false dawns, incapable of ever truly turning a corner and consistently playing well. We're brittle as feck, a contradiction of a team who look like losers who regularly throw away leads but also fight back when behind. I see nothing that gives me confidence we're going to break this cycle and become a top 4 team anytime soon
 
I think the problem us fans have is that we secretly want to go on a title run this season when in reality a 5th or 6th finish is most likely if we can keep playing well and 4th would be a dream.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could go 10 unbeaten. Or even more amazing get to the Afcon/ new year without a loss. The fixtures were horrendous to start the season but they are relatively easier until January. Palace, Villa and Bournemouth being the hardest.
 
have we had a game where we have not conceded? Cant remember and too lazy to look up
 
Going into today we were 3rd best for xG in the league, and also 3rd worst for xG conceded.
 
Yeah very happy; we could have been second today, gunning down arsenal; we're still a few pieces away clearly, but there are no perfect teams in this league at the moment. But the most important thing, the best thing I can say is, that for the first time in years, I can see a well coached Man Utd team, with an obvious shape and game plan designed to get the best out of our players. We're going in the right direction.
 
Ricardo de la Vega said:
Yeah very happy; we could have been second today, gunning down arsenal; we're still a few pieces away clearly, but there are no perfect teams in this league at the moment. But the most important thing, the best thing I can say is, that for the first time in years, I can see a well coached Man Utd team, with an obvious shape and game plan designed to get the best out of our players. We're going in the right direction.
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Agreed mate. Onwards !
 
Not too bad, not too good. This team still requires a lot of money to fix. We have a good run of fixtures now. He really needs to build momentum. At least we are not losing games at the moment. The team has improved since last season. Hopefully we can get a midfielder in January. We are in dire need of wing backs for his system to really work.
 
We need to improve our mentality.

Forest was still up for it but today we dropped the points really and brought them upon us.

Spurs were poor but we panicked second half. Not sure what the game plan even was.
 
Arsenal aside the league looks a bit of a muchness this season, where you could probably finish between 4th and 14th on the right run.

We look better up front than last year, but still have a tendency to have little spells we just drop off and concede 2 quite quickly.
However, unlike last year we do have a chance of coming back late on.

Will never like this system as it just feels like a waste of a player at the back and the weaker attacking players seem to be on the ball too much and too high up the pitch, but at least we're 5 unbeaten.
 
It's good that I'm disappointed, because we could have a few more points in the bag.

But definitely progress with mbuemo and cunha. And not looking completely inept when we give up a goal or a lead. The fight is there
 
I worry about the lack of goals in the side.

Mbeumo is scoring regularly but that’s about it. We really need our forwards to start chipping in more.
 
If we had won both our last two matches we’d be 2nd going into the international break. So actually I’m disappointed with the last two draws. Getting shades of a few years ago when it was too many draws that cost us CL spots.

Overall I’m happy. But got a nagging feeling come the end of season it will be silly draws that will cost us.
 
Happy is a big word :) I am happy that we managed to stabilize the results which hopefully will keep the most destructive vultures away for a bit. I think, what we are seeing these days is a fairly pragmatic way to make use of the available squad which I guess is a good thing and should get rid of the accusation of "the manager is too inflexible".
I am not so happy seeing the way we play though. To me it seems like we aren't even attempting to assert some sort of control which, while understandable, will only delay the inevitable - us learning how to do exactly that. And control doesn't mean 80% possession, I have no issue if we play a transitional game but the way we seem to do it now, punt it forwards and then hope for a fortunate drop seems a little off to me. For that kind of football, I don't think we need a modern manager.

Maybe it is some sort of confirmation bias but I see a lot of my concerns confirmed - we still don't seem to be comfortable moving the ball around, we suffer from the midfield options we have, we exchanged an inexperienced striker with another one and I still don't think, we do a great job creating good chances for ourselves. Kudos to Amorim though for finding a way to get results and long may it continue. But I personally was hoping to see a different trajectory.
 
Thing whhich kills my mood is that famous (and i admit stupid) "what if" thing. In Forest, Spurs and Brentford games we got 2 points. I can't shake a feeling that we had 5-7 points in our hands there.

Bruno penalty miss and wrong Var decision against Brentford, being better team than NFO (plus that Amad chance in 94th minute), having a lead against Spurs nearly whole game.....
Yeah, i know that "what if" thing you can use for every game but in these 3 games that annoys me a lot. We would be 2nd now with one win in those 3 games.
 
Swedish_Plumber said:
What’s wrong?
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There's plenty that's wrong. That second half performance today was very very bad. In all aspects. Players and manager. When Bruno has a stinker, the team follows suit. We are bad at defending a lead. We leak a lot of goals, bad ones from a team perspective. We are soft and teams know they will get chances to score. Yes we have improved a bit. But for me the issues are still glaring. We don't control games for any long periods of time. Four big money signings away from being good.
 
I'd say satisfied, or perhaps content. Positive feelings, with some reservation.

There's good and bad really, the improvement from last season is clear to see, in a lot of areas, but our lax defending in key moments is still a real cause for concern. It's partly personnel (looking at you Dalot), but there needs to be more work done on the training ground for defending crosses into the box. We're prone to costly individual errors too, which is the most frustrating thing. If teams just cut us open to score, that's football, but we've giftwrapped far too many goals for opposition teams.

Still, the attitude of the team is great, we've shown real heart and character, we're scoring goals (which was our biggest weakness last season), and we're unbeaten in 5. If we could find some starting quality, or even good bench quality, reinforcements in January, that would be a huge help.
 
TrueRed79 said:
There's plenty that's wrong. That second half performance today was very very bad. In all aspects. Players and manager. When Bruno has a stinker, the team follows suit. We are bad at defending a lead. We leak a lot of goals, bad ones from a team perspective. We are soft and teams know they will get chances to score. Yes we have improved a bit. But for me the issues are still glaring. We don't control games for any long periods of time. Four big money signings away from being good.
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Jesus man. Any positives over the last 5 games in particular?
 
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