Boring, boring Man United

[hubbuh]

Second highest scorers in the league, consistently gone far in multiple competitions (without a trophy to show for it as of yet), beaten the likes of City, PSG, and scored a record-equalling 9 goals against the Saints. We've also staged a significant number of comebacks after conceding first and comebacks are typically seen as a lark in the world of sport. Do any of those things mask the issue of us being boring as feck to watch in loads of games? We've recorded 5 nil nils against our traditional domestic rivals this season in 8 games, winning 1 and losing the other 2 (scoring 3 goals and conceding 7). We're also becoming Europa League regulars which isn't very sexy.

Is Ole still finding the balance between functionality and entertainment? Is there a personnel issue (are we dysfunctional and dull because we aren't able to consistently squeeze teams high enough up the pitch, hence the need for a more tactful and pacy CB and domineering DM, for example)? Is football in general duller at the moment because of a lack of fans? All too often I find myself drifting in and out of games and I wondered if anyone could explain why that might be happening.

What does everyone think?

 

[Wumminator]

I think there is a real disconnect between what constitutes entertaining football and what fans can expect. Fans expect Manchester United to surpass every other club in the world in their playing style significantly.
We currently are playing better and nicer football than every team in England bar one.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We're a very boring football team and have been so for ages now.

 

[Wumminator]

We're a very boring football team and have been so for ages now.

Which teams in the premier league are not boring?

 

[Dolf]

I don't get how anyone can blame a manager for not playing entertaining football when managers get fired so easily when they don't get results. Finding a balance between entertaining football and football that gets you results/trophies is incredibly hard.

 

[P-Nut]

Football games usually are pretty boring to watch when 1 side puts 11 men behind the ball.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I think our moany fanbase are the most boring thing about the club.

 

[Wumminator]

I think our moany fanbase are the most boring thing about the club.

100%

 

[Berbasbullet]

To be fair, I find Liverpool games quite entertaining these days.

 

[Wumminator]

Football games usually are pretty boring to watch when 1 side puts 11 men behind the ball.

Yes.

Football teams in top leagues now are all incredibly fit and full of top class players. Teams are hard to put to bed consistently.

 

[horsechoker]

I don't get how anyone can blame a manager for not playing entertaining football when managers get fired so easily when they don't get results. Finding a balance between entertaining football and football that gets you results/trophies is incredibly hard.

This, it's often mid-table clubs who sack their manager for not playing exciting football and then slide down the table by trying to be 2011 Barca.

 

[iHicksy]

I think there is a real disconnect between what constitutes entertaining football and what fans can expect. Fans expect Manchester United to surpass every other club in the world in their playing style significantly.
We currently are playing better and nicer football than every team in England bar one.

I'm Ole in but do you watch other teams? This isn't even close to being true. I've watched the majority of prem games this season and I can tell you that Leicester, Leeds and Brighton play nicer football than us for starters.

 

[Adisa]

I am reading some of the posts and I am thinking I must be insane.
Some here are attempting to gaslight others.
We are boring. You can argue you believe we will be more entertaining with time but to day we are an entertaining side is a lack of sincerity.

 

[Posh Red]

I am reading some of the posts and I am thinking I must be insane.
Some here are attempting to gaslight others.
We are boring. You can argue you believe we will be more entertaining with time but to day we are an entertaining side is a lack of sincerity.

I wouldn’t say we are always entertaining but sometimes we are. We’re just very inconsistent in my opinion.

 

[TheReligion]

It's a bit of a bad time to judge any team during this particular season no?

United have not delivered a season of boring games. People's memories are only as long as the last few games though which evident from much of what I see on here.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Which teams in the premier league are not boring?

We've been boring for years. Over the last 8 years, plenty of teams in Europe have been entertaining. We have consistently not been so.

 

[jackal&hyde]

I think our moany fanbase are the most boring thing about the club.

True.

I think we are much better then the days of endless passing of LVG, endless crosses of Moyes or god forbid the lump it forward to Felaini and Lukaku Mourinho era. We've had some great games this season and they will be more and more often as the team improves.

 

[theklr]

50% boring, 50% exciting. 50% better than before.

 

[Galactic]

Football games usually are pretty boring to watch when 1 side puts 11 men behind the ball.

They should open up and all-out attack those better teams, which have better players.

 

[therealtboy]

The same people calling us boring, are hailing Thomas Tuchel when infact Chelsea's brand of football is worse than ours. If you look at the stats and where we are now, we are comfortably the second best team in England. You can try and dress it how you want that's what the facts state. Are we the United of old? Swashbuckling and 100mph football? No we aren't but we are making strides.

I look at the team and I see obvious gaps that if filled would transform our football. RW is a hole that needs filling. Get in a Sancho or similar player and there's immediate balance and double points of entry into the opposition's box. Which in turns means we are spreading the pitch and then putting less pressure on Bruno and Pogba and giving them more space to dominate, which they can. This instantly would transform us. Ole knows this and will fix it this summer. Guys this is better than anything we've been served since 2013. It's not 1992-2013 but it's better than Moyes,LVG and Mourinho. W are feared once again and I can see us back where we belong sooner than most.

 

[KD6-3.7]

Our football is boring and has been for an incredibly long time. I don’t really see any difference between Moyes/VanGaal/Mourinho/Ole. We have had spurts with each of them but nothing ever really consistent.

 

[vodrake]

The people who think that every other team in the league play wonderful attacking football whilst we always play dull lifeless ball don't watch many games of other teams outside of Match of the Day highlights and have incredibly selective memories on United matches

 

[Wumminator]

I'm Ole in but do you watch other teams? This isn't even close to being true. I've watched the majority of prem games this season and I can tell you that Leicester, Leeds and Brighton play nicer football than us for starters.

keep going then if that is for starters.

 

[hubbuh]

I think our moany fanbase are the most boring thing about the club.

I wouldn't categorise myself as part of the moany fanbase. I don't think discussing the way United plays is out of bounds, though. This isn't an Ole in, Ole out thread.

 

[Oranges038]

Football in general is boring.

Patterns of play are about as boring as watching a team knock it long for 90 minutes.

 

[Harold_Giles]

I really enjoy watching United play, most of the time.

I think some of our fans expect us to be carving packed defenses open with quick passing around the opposition box for 90 minutes - and if not, it's boring and some nonsense about no "pattern of play" gets thrown out.

I also think with a bit more quality in our attacking positions, we'd be even more fun to watch.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

We had plenty of European away performances under Sir Alex similar to last night by the way, there was no issues then though.

 

[Hammondo]

Which teams in the premier league are not boring?

Not many. Liverpool in previous seasons have been good and City obviously are, but otherwise teams are more practical than exciting to watch.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

United fans have been complaining about us being too boring for decades. Last night reminded me of some of the dour European aways of the Querozzzzz era. Just needed some fans at the ground to chant “442” and “Attack Attack Attack”. We even had a streaker for the full retro experience.

 

[Wumminator]

Not many. Liverpool in previous seasons have been good and City obviously are, but otherwise teams are more practical than exciting to watch.

So the answer to what our fanbase wants is for us to significantly outperform 90% of the league despite playing more games than any of them.

Some would say that is fair enough.

 

[GJNJ]

I think we are very boring and it just feels like we haven’t clicked into gear for any sustained period this season, but at least we are getting the results.

I’d prefer us to do it in better style and not drag each game into a close run thing, but if it was the cost of results then I’d choose the points. We’ve got to be one of the most resilient teams in the the league.

If we played like this and finished outside the top four I’d be annoyed. Even now I only watch games when I’m not busy rather than making time to watch.

 

[hubbuh]

We had plenty of European away performances under Sir Alex similar to last night by the way, there was no issues then though.

United fans have been complaining about us being too boring for decades. Last night reminded me of some of the dour European aways of the Querozzzzz era. Just needed some fans at the ground to chant “442” and “Attack Attack Attack”. We even had a streaker for the full retro experience.

It's easier to stomach in the Champions League than it is against Granada in the Europa League, though. We all would have loved a drab 1 nil win against Instabul the other month.

I also remember loads of people complaining about the football towards the end of Fergie's reign, so there definitely were issues then to the extent that people would shout 'Stop knocking it back to the defence!!!' at the TV (namely my old man). We'd invariably win a title though so no one cared. It's why people were willing to accept Mourinho here at the time before it all went to shit. We just got knocked out of the FA Cup though, we're already out of the Champions League and the league has gone.

 

[Hammondo]

So the answer to what our fanbase wants is for us to significantly outperform 90% of the league despite playing more games than any of them.

Some would say that is fair enough.

I wouldn't say its fair or accurate to say our fans want anything. Different fans want different things. Winning is not my priority.

 

[BlahRules]

I still feel the coaching is average at United which is one of the main reasons why we play shit football. When pogba and McTominay gets pressed why don't they play 1 2s between each other and beat the press? We struggle to move from midfield its just side way passing between the defenders and midfielder.

I've seen many times when they could have passed the between the line but refused and passed it sideways. I don't think they ever passed the ball between the lines in training to even to try to do that in a real match.

All I'm seeing is attempting to hold possession but even then we're not very good.

 

[adexkola]

Look people on here call City/Liverpool boring.

The word has no consistent meaning.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

The same people calling us boring, are hailing Thomas Tuchel when infact Chelsea's brand of football is worse than ours. .

Nope, Chelsea don't play exciting football. But lowering out expectations based on a sub par PL is a sure shot way to do feck all worth mentioning.

 

[Solius]

We suffer from teams treating us as a massive game and thus defending in numbers.

Teams like Leicester and Leeds are in that sweet spot almost where other teams think they are beatable and play more open against them. Makes their play look better every game despite them having overall worse results than us.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It's easier to stomach in the Champions League than it is against Granada in the Europa League, though. We all would have loved a drab 1 nil win against Instabul the other month.

Of course. But we are where we are. And Granada seem to be experts at sucking the entertainment out of football matches. Someone posted a stat about them averaging 33% possession and 2 shots conceded in their last two EL fixtures. Our games against Milan were much better to watch.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Look people on here call City/Liverpool boring.

The word has no consistent meaning.

No we can only be called boring if we are more boring than Chelsea and Arsenal. That's like a rule you know.

 

[RUCK4444]

I think our moany fanbase are the most boring thing about the club.

THIS! miserable fans are worse than anything we see on the pitch, without a doubt.

Like sitting in a room full of old miserable farts at a neighbourhood watch meeting, complaining about anything and everything no matter how trivial.

That reminds me, we need an update regarding Ole’s smiling habits... What’s the latest on this?