Have we just entered into another bad patch? The roller coaster continues

SAFMUTD

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Watching our last 2 performances, not just the results but the poor performances, I wonder if we just hit another bad patch again.

We all know it's been like this with Ole time and time again, the famous roller coaster. We are either flying or shit as feck. Bruno has slowed down and is not bailing us anymore and with Rashford clearly not at his best combined with the fact that 4 of our next 6 games will be tough (Southampton, Everton, WestBrom, Newcastle, Chelsea, City) I think we can easily enter a poor streak.

Forget about challenging for the title, that was over last Wednesday. I think top 4 is in serious danger, we are not bringing anyone in the window and I just don't trust Ole to simply turn it around with tactics. I think we depend mainly on Bruno and Rashford bringing his mojo back and Pogba and Shaw to continue with his current form.

What do you think? Have we just enter another rough patch or is it just a bump in the way and we'll perform in the next games?
 

Jev

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If we had taken one of our several good chances today, people would have been talking about a solid, professional performance in a tricky fixture. Sheffield was seriously bad but today we played as well as in many of the games we've won, and better than in some of them.
 

SAFMUTD

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If we had taken one of our several good chances today, people would have been talking about a solid, professional performance in a tricky fixture. Sheffield was seriously bad but today we played as well as in many of the games we've won, and better than in some of them.
Do you seriously think that? We had some chances but the performance overall was pretty poor.

We could have won as likely as lost, Arsenal got their chances as well. Luckily for us they're shit and didn't punish us.

I agree we've been pretty bad before and even then we got the result, but this team seems to be highly impacted by confidence. As soon as things don't work out we crumble to pieces, we've seen it at least 3-4 times before under Ole.
 

Roboc7

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We’ve probably had our best runs of form now and rest of season will be battle for top four. With exception of City everyone else around us will drop plenty of points.

We’re a cautious, passive team and do see these fluctuations in results when it’s a lot of fine margins. Big concern is players look tired and Ole seems bit clueless at making subs, rotating etc.
 

SuperiorXI

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The performance tonight was good, we should have won.

Sheffield was really, really poor, but can be put down as a one off if we start picking up points.
 

Nick7

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Nah. We’re playing the same as we have all season. Just run out of luck.
 

Jev

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Do you seriously think that? We had some chances but the performance overall was pretty poor.

We could have won as likely as lost, Arsenal got their chances as well. Luckily for us they're shit and didn't punish us.

I agree we've been pretty bad before and even then we got the result, but this team seems to be highly impacted by confidence. As soon as things don't work out we crumble to pieces, we've seen it at least 3-4 times before under Ole.
I'm not saying we were great by any means but the context of the Sheffield game is painting this game in a different light. A draw away against Arsenal in a game we probably just edged isn't concerning in and of itself. If we'd won against Sheffield nobody would have worried about a performance and result like this today. But yeah, I do think we've played worse and won a handful of times this season.
 

Vidyoyo

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It sounds harsh but I'm not convinced this is bad form as much as 'our luck has run out'. We've struggled to dominate games since the Leeds game and this seems to be going back to our pre-form form.

We'll still get good results throughout the season and I fully expect us to finish top 4, but maybe not a title challenge.
 
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Lewnited

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It's too early to say but i'd be worried if we don't win against Southampton. We followed up Ole's brilliant start at the club with an awful end to 2018/19. We then followed up our brilliant run after lockdown with a shite end to last season. Getting back on track in the next couple of games is very important as we could find ourselves free falling down the table if not.
 

Superunknown

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Next 5 PL games are:

Southampton (H)
Everton (H)
West Brom (A)
Newcastle (H)
Chelsea (A)

It's too bad our form at home has been disappointing. We should be looking to win those home games at least, even though Southampton and Everton will be tough opposition. Should be getting a win against West Brom. Admittedly, the Chelsea game is a tough one to call, but these are all winnable games.
 

SAFMUTD

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I'm not saying we were great by any means but the context of the Sheffield game is painting this game in a different light. A draw away against Arsenal in a game we probably just edged isn't concerning in and of itself. If we'd won against Sheffield nobody would have worried about a performance and result like this today. But yeah, I do think we've played worse and won a handful of times this season.
I agree, today performance/result alone is/shouldn't be alarming. But combined with the performance against Sheffield is whats worrying.

After such a dull performance I expected us to go all guns out to prove Wednesday game was an accident, instead we are giving signs of going back to another poor patch.
 

MattofManchester

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It honestly feels that way.

Southampton game becomes crucial. And they love having a go at us.

We're not even home and dry in the top 4 and can still fall out of it.
Worrying signs not in the results but performances.
 

TMDaines

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Going to be interesting to see what the players muster up in the next fortnight and then when the Europa League begins. A fight for fourth and playing in the Europa League is going to be quite the emotional drop off. I’m feeling it as a supporter.
 

Borys

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We have some players in good form (Shaw, Pogba, Fred), some decent but HotNcold (De Gea, Cavani, Wan Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire), but the problem is all our out-of-form players are in attack. And considering our gameplan relies on individual brilliance, I guess we did enter bad patch.
 

Womp

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I'd argue this 'patch' has been ongoing for some time now, we just had players pulling wins out of their arse. Now that that has dried up, the results are simply catching up with us. The past two results weren't too dissimilar to how we've played the last few weeks tbh, only difference was Pogba and Rashford wonder goals
 

groovyalbert

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A very real worry. Our belief was getting us through the likes of Burnley, Wolves and Villa. Without that we're capable of losing to anyone.
 

Sandikan

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Win midweek and get a draw today, and no-one is too worried.
 

Tom Cato

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Watching our last 2 performances, not just the results but the poor performances, I wonder if we just hit another bad patch again.

We all know it's been like this with Ole time and time again, the famous roller coaster. We are either flying or shit as feck. Bruno has slowed down and is not bailing us anymore and with Rashford clearly not at his best combined with the fact that 4 of our next 6 games will be tough (Southampton, Everton, WestBrom, Newcastle, Chelsea, City) I think we can easily enter a poor streak.

Forget about challenging for the title, that was over last Wednesday. I think top 4 is in serious danger, we are not bringing anyone in the window and I just don't trust Ole to simply turn it around with tactics. I think we depend mainly on Bruno and Rashford bringing his mojo back and Pogba and Shaw to continue with his current form.

What do you think? Have we just enter another rough patch or is it just a bump in the way and we'll perform in the next games?
How are we: Top of the table at the halfway point, to "top4 in serious danger" 2 games in the last half of the season.

This is so reactionary.
 

Striker10

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Didnt city beat wba five nil to continue good form ..and then struggle barely beating sheffield united? Are they fatiqued also? Its only the added drama because of our home form.....we were poor against sheffield but we were cheated out of least a point. We just have to carry on. We live in very sensitive times with extra sensitive people and only God know if they ever realise themselves
 

SAFMUTD

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How are we: Top of the table at the halfway point, to "top4 in serious danger" 2 games in the last half of the season.

This is so reactionary.
Its because the league is really compacted, the difference between us and Westham who is 5th is 6 points with them having a game in hand or 8 points with Spurs which have 2 games in hand. Ultimately that can translate with us having only a 2-3 points advantage.

I dont think it's reactionary to say we can be outside top 4, its a very real possibility specially with the way we've perform in the last 2 games.
 
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Phil

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People will call it knee jerk but really another bad patch would just follow the constant peaks and troughs of Ole's time managing so far. I wouldn't be surprised unfortunately.
 

bosnian_red

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We played well but missed several chances including essentially an open net tap in. Thats what the story was today. Sheffield Utd was a bad performance and we did respond and do a normal good performance, just unfortunately we didn't take our chances. Thats it.
 

Andy_Cole

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Not a knee jerk. It is another bad patch. We need a break.

Rashford and Martial look horrendous.
 

predator

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I disagree. I think yes sheffield was disgraceful but a point away at arsenal is not terrible. We will still challenge for the title I think but I cljust think City will steamroll most in their path, unlike us or Liverpool who look easily capable of dropping points.
 

Tarrou

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Arsenal are one of the form teams in the league

to be honest, I don't see much difference in this performance to the ones recently where we scraped a win

we're just not that good a team yet

we've improved and done well, but let's not pretend we're a great team yet capable of going away to big clubs and smashing them. We rarely did that when we were a great team, to be honest.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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We’ve been playing shit for ages. The only reason 0-0 at Arsenal is a bad result is because we lost catastrophically mid week. In isolation 0-0 at the Emirates is a point gained compared with the last few seasons. If we beat Sheffield then it wouldn’t be a bad week.

Ole’s time has been a rollercoaster for sure but performance wise we’re no worse than we were when we were squeezing past Fulham, Burnley, Wolves. We have been failing the eye test all season.
 

passing-wind

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No but the theme of this team being unable to put in good performances and control games is the issue and we will 100% drop points if Solskjaer cannot coach the team into playing cohesively.

Those saying we put in good performances need to maybe look at teams who have personified those types of praises late 80's Milan, Barcelona 08, Bayern last season and City of more recent seasons are good places to begin.
 

buckooo1978

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We've had previous with Ole on this 2 steps forward, one step back

When he first arrived, post-lockdown last season and I'm hoping this isn't the third instance of it

We seem to go through great spells in terms of results with mixed performances - Neville hit the nail on the head today when he spoke about why we do well. Its more about individuals pulling something out something special rather than the team being really collectively effective.

We can be dominated in games, we've conceded far too many goals and at times we look dull and unimaginative on front of goal.

I hope I am wrong but I think this is just United reverting to the mean under Ole. I think we really need another 3 or 4 players with the same mentality and ability level as Bruno Fernandes to bridge that gap - from there you'd hope we can develop

when it comes down to it.... Ole has a tough tough task arguably up against the two best managers in World Football in Klopp and Pep who were miles ahead and still outspent him. Nothing would give me more pleasure than Ole succeeding. Time will tell
 

hobbers

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Our defence is shockingly poor (12th best in the league on conceded) and clearly that's down to shit/absent coaching, as well as poor defensive purchases.

Our attack patterns are pretty much non-existent. In the bigger games absolutely everything relies on Bruno or Pogba doing something out-of-the-ordinary.

We've won a lot of matches this season we didn't deserve to, at least 5 by my reckoning, and that luck was never going to keep going indefinitely.
 

izzydiggler

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We’re a flawed team that didn’t strengthen nearly enough - on a good day, we can beat anyone and the reverse is true. When things go right, we will win but we don’t have enough to consistently turn bad performances into wins.

‘Master of the obvious’ but a long lasting title challenge was never realistic - we haven’t been a ‘top’ team for so long now though that I’d say overall we’re doing very well - we’re a team a few points from top, fighting for top 4 and still in The FA Cup. Not bad.
 

paulscholes18

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Potentially, as it’s now 1 win in our last 4 league games (could say a point away to Liverpool and Arsenal are an acceptable result), all will be good again if we win our next two league games, but fail to win both and it’s then 1 or 2 wins in 6, you can forget about winning the league it will be a battle for top 4.
 

Feed Me

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Watching our last 2 performances, not just the results but the poor performances, I wonder if we just hit another bad patch again.

We all know it's been like this with Ole time and time again, the famous roller coaster. We are either flying or shit as feck. Bruno has slowed down and is not bailing us anymore and with Rashford clearly not at his best combined with the fact that 4 of our next 6 games will be tough (Southampton, Everton, WestBrom, Newcastle, Chelsea, City) I think we can easily enter a poor streak.

Forget about challenging for the title, that was over last Wednesday. I think top 4 is in serious danger, we are not bringing anyone in the window and I just don't trust Ole to simply turn it around with tactics. I think we depend mainly on Bruno and Rashford bringing his mojo back and Pogba and Shaw to continue with his current form.

What do you think? Have we just enter another rough patch or is it just a bump in the way and we'll perform in the next games?
We are having a lull and think we will get positive results in February. The team is made of sterner stuff these days. I think we’ve missed out on fine margins of late.
 

Feed Me

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Potentially, as it’s now 1 win in our last 4 league games (could say a point away to Liverpool and Arsenal are an acceptable result), all will be good again if we win our next two league games, but fail to win both and it’s then 1 or 2 wins in 6, you can forget about winning the league it will be a battle for top 4.
Conversely, we have won three of our last six league games and lost only one. We’ll be grand if we can win our next two.
 

Crashoutcassius

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Watching our last 2 performances, not just the results but the poor performances, I wonder if we just hit another bad patch again.

We all know it's been like this with Ole time and time again, the famous roller coaster. We are either flying or shit as feck. Bruno has slowed down and is not bailing us anymore and with Rashford clearly not at his best combined with the fact that 4 of our next 6 games will be tough (Southampton, Everton, WestBrom, Newcastle, Chelsea, City) I think we can easily enter a poor streak.

Forget about challenging for the title, that was over last Wednesday. I think top 4 is in serious danger, we are not bringing anyone in the window and I just don't trust Ole to simply turn it around with tactics. I think we depend mainly on Bruno and Rashford bringing his mojo back and Pogba and Shaw to continue with his current form.

What do you think? Have we just enter another rough patch or is it just a bump in the way and we'll perform in the next games?
We were the best team in the premiership in the last 12 months, I don't think we have lacked consistency