Has the first game dampened your excitement for the season?

[Kaos]

Shock horror, customary knee-jerk caf pessimism inc!

But in all seriousness I can't help but be a little concerned after that last game. With the progress we made last season, this season was supposed to continue our ascension, especially with the signing's we've made which should have improved us on paper.

Though watching us getting cut through in midfield as with previous seasons, while we struggle to get a hold of the basics like ball retention or simply getting the right weight on passes, all while being at the mercy of the opposition scuppering chances, I can't help but feel we're a long way off where we'd hope to be by this season. Its a sobering thought because I genuinely believed Ten Hag would break our third season managerial hex post Fergie.

Let's hope its just first game rustiness, but I can't help but feel a little downbeat after that.

 

[Devil77]

My feelings exactly. No signs whatsoever of any progress regarding possession, build up, attack patterns or midfield stability. A win is a win but we look way behind our rivals for CL-spots.

 

[rimaldo]

probably in everyone’s best interest just to pick another team to support. abandon hope all ye who enter here.

 

[JuriM]

The only preseason game I saw was vs Lens. And we were much much better there against a opponent who is better than this Wolverhampton side is. So one game doesn't say much atm.

 

[Zlatattack]

No. I can't remember the last time we started a season well. Was it the first full season Ole was incharge?

 

[cyberman]

probably in everyone’s best interest just to pick another team to support. abandon hope all ye who enter here.

Compromise. From end of May until the start of August should do the trick
*unless the third string lose against St Mirren with mass substitutions at half time.

 

[Scandi Red]

I can't remember the last time we started a season well. Was it the first full season Ole was incharge?

We were very mediocre but picked up a decent amount of points. Then Pogba got injured and we were shit until Bruno arrived and saved the season.

 

[Rozay]

The only preseason game I saw was vs Lens. And we were much much better there against a opponent who is better than this Wolverhampton side is. So one game doesn't say much atm.

So we’ve been getting worse with more games/fitness?

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Maybe in the short term with some of the upcoming fixtures. I'm expecting top four and a cup and still think this is realistic. I'm looking forward to being back in the Champions League, a deep run in that competition is still feasible and exciting. I also don't think we are finished in our transfer business and Hojlund is yet to come in.

 

[fergosaurus]

It's certainly a reality check. I think we'll be fine once we get Casemiro up and running and Hojlund integrates into the team and we can play Rashford on the left where he's most dangerous. I just hope we can get a player like Amrabat over the line otherwise it has the potential to be a slog of a season.

 

[Jordi Cruyff 99]

A lot of fans would consider me a pessimist but I would say that I'm realistic in not having any expectations that resemble what we were used to during the Fergie era. I don't think that there's any chance that Man Utd will challenge for the league while Rashford is being viewed as a star player. It is just a symbol for how far the standards have fallen. Hopefully this twenty-year-old Hojlund will be better. Cavani showed some real class but he was too old and injury prone.

 

[Devil You Know]

No.

Teething problems aren't what I wanted to see, but they weren't exactly unexpected.

The issues we had were so blatant and transparent that they should be easy to identify and work on this week.

If they don't get fixed in the next few matches, then I'll start to worry. But I'm 99% sure they will be.

 

[siw2007]

Yes my I suppose my excitement has been dampened somewhat because it was frightening to watch how bad we were last night. Makes me wonder what we were actually practicing pre-season.

But, we’ve got the best part of a week to try and fix it.

 

[Shark]

Slightly tbh. I think what makes the performance worse was the fact that we were both at home and facing a Wolves team in turmoil. Only positive is the fact that we started off poorly last season also and picked up after facing Liverpool. Still it's not the way it should be and we looked tragically unprepared.

 

[JuriM]

So we’ve been getting worse with more games/fitness?

Where did I say that?

Thing is, it had to be our worst performance of the season and we have 37 more games in the League to get better at it.

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

Of course I’d have liked to have seen a superb performance but we’ve seen them in the past and it’s no indicator of a great season. That 5-1 Leeds game had me so hyped I was comparing us to the 06-07 side.

I totally get feeling pessimistic, but at the end of the day, we saw two horrible defeats to start last season and we managed to build a fairly good season from it. We won last night, and thats an ok first step in the season.

If we’re 15 games in and it’s been up and down results wise with performances similar to last night, then I think people are justified in looking for change.

 

[flameinthesun]

Not really, I think by the international break we will have a better sense of where the team is. If by then we are still looking lethargic, out of ideas etc then there will be concern. However, unless we have an absolutely crazy drop in form this season for me is another development season and as long as I am seeing positive signs then I'll be behind the manager.

 

[Solius]

Tiny bit.

It is frustrating to look forward to us all summer, second ETH season after a good first year, new signings, an extra pre-season of getting them how he wants them to play... and then to play like that.

But on the flipside we started even worse last season and it ended up being pretty good. My only reservation is why is it happening again when we should be making progress on that front.

 

[pocco]

I kind of saw it coming with adding Mount and removing a deeper midfielder
The signs were there through pre season and last season. The football hasn't been good full stop and other teams are getting better around us. We continue to look toothless but now look vulnerable at the back.

 

[Utd heap]

I know it's really boring to hear people say it's just one game.

But it really is just one game.

 

[CG1010]

It has dampened a bit, always knew we are at the level of competing for top 4 but the heart always hopes for a miracle leading to a title challenge. In that sense the game has helped bring me back to earth.

Having said that, our key players like Rashford, Casemiro and Shaw have been slow starters in the past, and Bruno was inconsistent. Mount is still settling in and Hojlund is still to come in. So we should definitely get better so no need for doom and gloom.

 

[Renegade]

Slightly off topic but would any other club allow popular former players in FULL KIT have a piss about and mock the rivalry on their home turf?

I’m outraged but I’m not sure if I’m being slightly over the top.

 

[Mike Smalling]

I was very disappointed in the performance, not gonna lie. It was a home game against average opposition with pretty much everyone available, and they came up with that. I'm not sure what was most disheartening, the lack of intensity or the lack of cohesion, but it was very concerning.

People will say it was one game and all that, but I have a hard time seeing this team suddenly playing flowing stuff. We deserved to lose.

 

[pacifictheme]

The performance has a bit. Lots of teams have started the season well in their first match. We were a horrible watch against a team that could get relegated. We got exceptionally lucky.

I think the most disappointing thing is we just seemed very lost, even early last season you could see what we were trying to do, couldn't tell you what we were trying to do last night.

 

[m1tch]

It really was the opposite performance to what I was expecting, a bit concerning that were already saying things like "we got the 3 points and that's the main thing". Whilst it's true, we easily could have drawn or lost that game, and we'll struggle to better last season if there isn't a dramatic improvement soon.

Let's see what the next game brings but my expectation after that first game is much lower, it'll probably be a slow improvement as opposed to the dramatic improvement needed to comfortably win premier league games against far better teams than Wolves.

 

[garelo]

nope. we often had slow terrible starts under Ferguson too like in 02/03, 07/08, 12/13 but we stil ended up winning the league now im not saying we will the league this season but the season is still long, there's no reason to be not excited.

 

[Kill3r7]

I feel better this morning than last night about the season. Lots of work to be done to make the CMB midfield work but hopefully it leads to more goals and better football as the year progresses.

 

[Kaos]

Tiny bit.

It is frustrating to look forward to us all summer, second ETH season after a good first year, new signings, an extra pre-season of getting them how he wants them to play... and then to play like that.

But on the flipside we started even worse last season and it ended up being pretty good. My only reservation is why is it happening again when we should be making progress on that front.

My concern is I'm not entirely sure we were worse at the start of last season performance wise - difference was Brighton and Brentford actually finished their chances whereas Wolves as Wolves do, scuppered the handful they were given.

 

[Lynty]

No, we'll be fine.

Wolves were really up for it and executed their game plan really well. We had an off day, it happens - we'll spank Spurs.

 

[Telsim]

My expectations are Top 5 with the same amount of points as last season, so I don't really care about the low result, I put 1:0 prediction before it, as I thought we would struggle to score without a striker, and we got the 3 points.

But my primary expectation was a vastly improved football that will lead to many chances that lets us close games. Instead, the football was absolutely dire, one of the worst I've seen. And we were once again holding on to dear life in the closing stages, and only escaped dropping points due to VAR. It was as if these players met for the first time, and everyone looked gassed. It was way too reminiscent to the last days of Ole. What are we going to do when the season picks up and there's a game every 4 days? Because this is not something you fix overnight, yet it needs to happen.

So, yeah, it's dampened my expectations. This is not at all what I thought I would see.

 

[Offside]

Massively. I am sceptical anyway when people say ETH has improved our standard of play, then last night just reaffirms it. Our passing was as bad as anything under Ole.

We do seem to have a good knack of still getting a result as proven last night, whereas previously we may have ended up with a calamitous 1-0 loss. Also the first game of the season isn’t indicative of much, look at Leeds two years ago.

Our overall standard of play is unbearable for me to watch and last night was probably worse than 90% of games last season, hence why I am now dreading the season ahead as it just seems we’re now in the bust of the boom bust cycle. The amount of bad passes, touches and decisions is just awful to watch.

 

[DRJosh]

It certainly has lowered my expectations. It has also put into perspective of how far we'd actually go in the CL with the lack of squad depth to lead the forward line and poor passing ability. Perhaps a round of 16 exit if we're lucky to progress through the group stages. We'll end up prioritising the league so we can scrape into top 4 and do it all over again next season. Rinse n repeat

 

[Glorio]

Slightly off topic but would any other club allow popular former players in FULL KIT have a piss about and mock the rivalry on their home turf?

I’m outraged but I’m not sure if I’m being slightly over the top.

It's being shot for A League of their Own on Tour. Won't complain as watching the juvenile laddishness of the show is a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

[Handré1990]

A bit yeah. I don’t have time or opportunity to follow United as closely as I used to, haven’t watched any preseason games, so this felt like a continuation of our poor play from the tail end of last season. Same shit different season kind of thing.

 

[PSV]

Little bit, but sorta also saw it coming given our signings. Get the feeling we've spent loads but not actually improved our team at all.

Here's to hoping Hojland has an unlikely monster season.

 

[Blood Mage]

No. I can't remember the last time we started a season well. Was it the first full season Ole was incharge?

Mourinho's second season where we battered West Ham in the first game. I thought we were title favourites after that.

 

[Revan]

I kind of saw it coming with adding Mount and removing a deeper midfielder
The signs were there through pre season and last season. The football hasn't been good full stop and other teams are getting better around us. We continue to look toothless but now look vulnerable at the back.

Hard to disagree with this. I know that people will immediately start with the knee-jerk (has been doing every year for the last 10 years), but the signing of Mount to play as 8 is one of the most brainless things someone could have done. Last match kinda just confirmed what everyone knew, that playing with a single midfielder in EPL is a room for disaster.

Casemiro is good, but even a prime Casemiro cannot play in midfield alone.

What is more concerning is that after 400m spent, I think only Shaw and Rashford will be starters 2-3 years from now (with Onana and Hojlund being kind of unknowns, especially the later). The never-ending rebuild is gonna continue, rinse and repeat.

 

[Blood Mage]

At least everyone can now see that our midfield isn't fit for purpose and we absolutely must sign Amrabat.

 

[flappyjay]

New manager bounce was predicted in the match thread. Any other normal day it doesn't go the way it did. That being said it was concerning. That performance looked like the performances from Oles last season. We looked lost.

 

[Superunknown]

It was a very poor performance. That alone you can somewhat forgive, considering it's the first game, we've had a questionable preseason, and we tend to start slow. We got the win, which was very important. But, you couple the poor, underwhelming performance with...Højlund not being available for an undetermined amount of time and somebody who plays in a position we badly need, plus the 'takeover' which doesn't seem to be going anywhere, plus the progress in the transfer window slowing down, with both Maguire and McTominay more likely to stay. You add those things together and I'm a little deflated.

Desperately need the next game, which I'm looking forward to. Hope we give a much better performance.