Although down to 10, we need to play like that more often at home

[Adam-Utd]

Kept wide, stretched them out and put some fantastic deliveries into the box - but more importantly we were patient and didn’t force it.

1 extra player doesn’t make that much of a difference, but we were very professional today.

Let’s hope we remember how to play like that against Everton this weekend!

 

[DWelbz19]

Yep. One of the best joint performances from Wan Bissaka and Shaw that game. Shaw has been amazing all season, but our fullbacks need to step up massively against sides who are going to be compact at OT.

 

[Siorac]

1 extra player doesn’t make that much of a difference

Of course it does. Playing 88 minutes with ten men against a superior team is basically a death sentence.

I agree with the rest of it, we played some really nice stuff.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Of course it does. Playing 88 minutes with ten men against a superior team is basically a death sentence.

I agree with the rest of it, we played some really nice stuff.

The amount of time yes will make them more tired, but we did that better from the first 5 minutes. It’s more what we did on the ball.

 

[charlenefan]

Agreed no reason to play as cautiously as we did against 11 man Sheffield United vs 10 men Southampton. Not just the width but the CB's pushing up as high as they did

 

[DickDastardly]

Yeah well, Ralph sure as hell helped, keeping Ings and Adams on, not closing down the game.

Basically Leeds game with a player up.

Team that doesn't give a feck by how much they lose.

 

[Ali Dia]

Exactly and I’m getting called out for saying the same thing in the match thread. I liked the aggression and tempo and I think we would have won either way as we looked up for it. We are way too casual against teams like that and they end up catching us on break and then sitting in while we try and play through them. I much prefer to see an aggressive and assertive approach from the off and as I said we would have won either way. Winning the ball higher up the pitch is key.

 

[United Hobbit]

Oh I completely agree

None of our usual slow starting, then really continuing to go for them despite having made subs etc. More of this please

 

[Borys]

We moved the ball nicely, creating space around the box for crosses which turned out to be effective. I never thought I will see Shaw and Wan Bissaka crossing so well.

That said, Southampton sat too deep. Sheffield kept two lines of defence what pushed our forwards back and it was much more difficult to create.
Southampton couldn't press with 10 men effectively and they are not that good defensively with low block.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I agree.

We need to be more aggressive.

It's no surprise that the 2 games at OT we've been more aggressive and played with tempo, we smashed both teams.

 

[Judas]

There's no reason why we couldn't attack a team with 11 in a very similar manner to that. We looked to punish and dominate our opposition, something we simply don't do enough. We looked like bullies out there tonight and I loved it.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Kept wide, stretched them out and put some fantastic deliveries into the box - but more importantly we were patient and didn’t force it.

1 extra player doesn’t make that much of a difference, but we were very professional today.

Let’s hope we remember how to play like that against Everton this weekend!

Yup, the width in particular is something we never seem to do against compact defences even though it’s the most obvious. Wan Bissaka and Shaw have the physicality and ability to do it but we just don’t. So now we’ve established we’re capable of doing it it needs to happen more. I get perhaps due to them being down to ten we felt more confident to move into the final third with such regularity but even still this is how all the big boys play most games against inferior teams. Attacking with 7/8 players, stretching the game. Hope we see more of this going forward.

 

[Galactic]

Playing against 10 men is actually more difficult most of the time. Usually I do not wish it on any of our opponents. They would pack the defence even more.

 

[Brightonian]

Nothing is a better indicator of good attacking football than when one fullback assists another. City's do it regularly. Last season, Liverpool's were, and this season they're not, which tells its own story.

Obviously it's easier for your FBs to get forward with a man advantage. But now that Shaw is becoming such a key provider for us, it's really important for AWB to try and repeat what he did today and provide that overload at the back post.

 

[DMacgraw]

Curious headline. We were down to 10 against Tottenham when Martial was sent off, and we had our asses handed to us. Why should we need to play like that more often?

 

[bosnian_red]

Yep for sure. Unique circumstances but it makes a world of difference just having reliable delivery into the box across the face of goal. We've been terrible at it for most of the past 7-8 years, but it was great today.

 

[Giggs86]

Love it how we have smelled blood and went full gung ho on their asses from the 2nd minute until the final whistle.

With Mou in charge we'd get held back after 1-0 and would've conceded a goal in the dying minutes.

 

[Murray3007]

should be starting every game like that or the way we started v Leeds. Tempo, urgency, actually looking like you care and want to be there, to much times we just look like its a pre season friendly game, strolling about the park

 

[Lee565]

I liked that we seem to be quite flexible with our front 3 last night with them switching positions and sides quite often, one minute Greenwood was on the right and the next he was out on the left wing

 

[Stormrage101MUFC]

This match showed what can happen if you don't rest on your laurels after going 1-0 or 2-0 up. Granted we probably won't get 9 goals again but its better to put in effort for the whole 90 minutes.

 

[Judas]

There's no reason why we can't smell blood against 11 men if the team we're facing is in bad form much like Southampton were. I just hope we take confidence from this battering. We need to be a lot more aggressive. We pinned them back, used the width brilliantly and looked to score for the entire game.

 

[youngrell]

What was nice to see was both Fred and McTominay taking turns to burst forward from midfield. That is something we need far more often. Midfield runners are the hardest to pick up and stop in my experience.

 

[Samid]

That would require dropping he who must not be named regularly. We’ve scored 15 in the 2 latest league games he hasn’t featured in. I’m not sure fans will appreciate that judging by the reaction to the lineup last night.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

I feel we would have won 3-0 or something even against 11. The energy and attitude was night and day compared with the Sheffield and Arsenal games. Easier said than done, but we need that aggressiveness and swagger every game to win the title.

 

[ThreeCorners]

I'm not convinced we suddenly discovered width, bear in mind Southampton were missing so many players. So I'm treating this as a one off.
Think it was more that the full backs felt more freedom to bomb forwards, with no attackers to mark.
The problem lies with our CBs, and their lack of pace. The full backs would go forward more often if they felt they could be covered, also De Gea doesn't do the sweeping job, that Alisson and Ederson do.

We did get exposed a couple of times, Che Adams really should have scored. If they had quicker players, we would have dropped back a bit more.

 

[AltiUn]

I don't want to be "that guy" but we've played like this quite a bit this season and we've seen a lot of glimpses what Solskjaer likely envisions for this team, this is the first time since Leeds we've been truly clinical though. In a lot of the games we play we have spells of dominance for up to 30-60 minutes, usually starting around the 25 minute mark, after that point we basically end up camped in the opposition half with a ball over the top as the opposition's biggest threat. We have a very rigid structure down the spine of the team which helps us control the tempo of the game well, it does rely on our full backs and wingers being on song for it to work fully though, like tonight. It really helps how much Shaw and Wan-Bissaka have improved offensively, Wan-Bissaka still got the chance to make one of his patented last-ditch challenges too.

Having Pogba and Fernandes in midfield offers us penetration throuh the centre, and McTominay filled in Pogba's role admirably tonight as he did against Leeds. As this team evolves I think we're going to see goals coming from a lot of different avenues.

 

[ivaldo]

I have a feeling we would've put 5 past them even if they had 11 players on the pitch. We looked seriously fired up for it.

 

[Bobcat]

Kept wide, stretched them out and put some fantastic deliveries into the box - but more importantly we were patient and didn’t force it.

1 extra player doesn’t make that much of a difference, but we were very professional today.

Let’s hope we remember how to play like that against Everton this weekend!

Said it yesterday but the difference was the treath out fullbacks offered and the quality we showed out wide. We have struggled with low blocks when they defended narrowly and completely crowded out Bruno and Rashford/Martial/Greenwood/Cavani, so this was exactly what we needed to counter that.

If it keeps up i also suspect Bruno is going to be a lot more productive all of a sudden, because opposing teams cant suddenly focus entierly on contaning him

 

[Xaviboy]

Any team that play with both full backs getting forward all time are always dangerous. Shaw and Wan Bissaka need to be doing that in most games. We dont do it enough.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Given how much our players looked up for it, with 11 men I'm confident we would have beaten them 3 nil or so.

Playing against 10 shouldn't be that easy but Southampton were disgraceful as were their tactics.

 

[Tony247]

Large amount of time Maguire was playing near the opposition box. That luxury we might not have in normal scenario. It is as if having an extra midfielder.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Kept wide, stretched them out and put some fantastic deliveries into the box - but more importantly we were patient and didn’t force it.

1 extra player doesn’t make that much of a difference, but we were very professional today.

Let’s hope we remember how to play like that against Everton this weekend!

I agree with you but bolded part is wrong. Playing 90 minutes with 10 man makes a huge difference. It is literally worst case scenario in football; red card in first minute.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Really like that we're crossing it more, and better. You don't necessarily need a Cavani in the box to create trouble for teams as we saw from the first goal.

 

[RashyForPM]

Goes without saying tbf. 10 men or not, if we did that every home game, we’d get 57 points at home every season.

 

[UmbroDays]

Feels like the first this season we saw 3/4 players in the box during crosses.

It was a sight to see!

 

[Olecurls99]

Of course it does. Playing 88 minutes with ten men against a superior team is basically a death sentence.

I agree with the rest of it, we played some really nice stuff.

I've seen plenty of teams hold out for a draw in that situation. The sending off emboldens the team and they put on a huge defensive performance. We got the goals early and put them to the sword. Hugely impressive

 

[Siorac]

I've seen plenty of teams hold out for a draw in that situation. The sending off emboldens the team and they put on a huge defensive performance. We got the goals early and put them to the sword. Hugely impressive

Yes, it happens. Calling it a death sentence was a bit of an exaggeration, admittedly.

And I loved how ruthless we were and it WAS impressive. All I'm saying is that the idea that the extra man doesn't make much of a difference is not true. It's usually a massive difference that some teams, occasionally, manage to overcome. At the same time, it's also not a 'we're bound to lose 9-0 now' level of difference.

 

[OleTheGreat]

What a game we played!!

 

[Peterfeeter]

Any team that play with both full backs getting forward all time are always dangerous. Shaw and Wan Bissaka need to be doing that in most games. We dont do it enough.

Yes. Who needs Sancho when we have Wan Bissaka and Greenwood/Rashford in full flight.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I agree with you but bolded part is wrong. Playing 90 minutes with 10 man makes a huge difference. It is literally worst case scenario in football; red card in first minute.

Forget the 90 minutes, we played much better in the first half especially - they wouldn't have been that tired by that point.

My point is the way we played against a parked bus was a lot better - if we played like that against Sheffield we would have put 5 passed them too! it was a much better, patient performance.