[montpelier]

Vardy was outstanding (if very annoying). Proper defence should/would cope a lot better.

 

[wiz4231]

Referee - shocking might as well had put on a Leicester shirt.
GK - De Gea get off your line and close down the attacker! Make the Goal smaller than being wide open.
CB - Evans is a disgrace, fit for 1 and 1/2 match every time he comes back from injury, need to get rid because we can't establish a CB pairing with him. Blackett is young and would have learnt a lot for this experience, still a good player. As for now Smalling and Rojo are our only fit CB and they could strike up a good partnership, looking forward to it.
FB - get Shaw on already, play him. Rafael is a good player but needs a settled CB pairing to get an understanding with. LVG doesn't have much choice now, Rafael, Smalling, Rojo and Shaw are the only fit Defenders.
CM - Blind is good but we need someone more imposing, can't wait for Strootman. Herrera had a good game and along with Di Maria the only players to come out with any credit.
AM - this is not the position for Rooney, we didn't control the game and never have done with him in that position. Its the usual Rooney run around a lot, misplace untold number of passes and not being clinical enough in the final third. We know Mata is weak and that's why he should have played in the #10 instead of CM when he came on.
ST - seem to be off the boil but have no doubt they will come good.
Team - we are poor when pressed this needs to be addressed asap. Other than that we need to change to playing 4-3-3 with 2 wingers, it won't happen until January as we need to buy another top quality winger. Strootman and Cuadrado at the very least should improve us drastically. The last thing I want to say is no player should be undroppable not even Rooney. There was a reason he was dropped in Fergie last season here and its no different now.

 

[Bloxy]

Generally calling him a monkey.

fecking wankers. A bit of banter and some people just cant help themselves.

 

[roseguy64]

There's only so many poor ref decisions you can overcome. This game was littered with them throughout and all against us. Bizarre performance by him which will as always be forgotten. Still well done to Leicester for being up for it and taking their chances. Looking at the match day thread and ratings I find it strange that DeGea and Blackett are getting so much stick. Blackett was the best in the back line today bar one error in judgement right after being fouled. DeGea had little to no chance with any goal. Evans was shocking again up until he was injured. He worries me the most.

How was Evans shocking? The only thing he did questionable was not mark Ulloa for their first goal but that's between him and Rafael letting him go free so not solely his fault.

Blackett was at fault for 2 of the goals. Their 4th he was in no man's land. Should have tracked Vardy instead of what he did or try to push up and play him offside. Then giving away the penalty.

 

[charleysurf]

Well, I won't jerk my knee, others seem quite able.

This match didn't really tell us anything we don't know. Going forward we look really good. Measured but potent, I was actually disappointed to only score 3. We weren't even reaching top gear going forward but we still created plenty. Lovely movement from players off the ball and up until the penalty we were controlling the game. 3 goals should win you a game, we can hardly ask for more from them.

At the back, awful. Our first choice defenders probably aren't good enough anyway, but we're even denied those. Blackett had a meltdown, Evans goes off injured, Smalling didn't look fit and both our full backs were poor. Hopefully we'll see Shaw next week, who always struck me as a very solid defender. Not sure what we can do about right back though.

We're going to see a lot of this in the coming season. Not conceding 5 necessarily (hopefully anyway), but simply finding that no matter how good our attack is we're going to keep dropping points while we have this defence. Nothing we can do about it now, and probably not much in January. Just have to make the most of what we have and hope our strikers can save us.

A fair summation. But Jones and Carrick coming back will add a lot of solidity and experience. I just have little faith in anyone staying fit though.

 

[iAm20Legend]

Blind looked very good and composed last week when we were bossing but looked shell-shocked today with the tempo and the pressure. Didn't assert himself at all.

Rojo looks suspect, I must say. Everyone is allowed a bad game but he made such basic errors that it's hard to see him as the man to fix our defence once he gets to play CB.

Rafa will get some unwarranted stick but he had a good game and did nothing wrong for that insult of a penalty.

Falcao showed glimpses of his quality but is far off his best. RvP improved a bit but still doesn't deserve to start over Mata at the moment.

Di Maria makes the rest of our team look completely ordinary.

And LVG has disappointed me so far, sadly. There's a lot of potential in our attack but we'll have to score an absurd amount of goals with such a bad defence.

I think we must keep in mind that even Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic had rather torrid starts.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Vardy was outstanding (if very annoying). Proper defence should/would cope a lot better.

What a punchable face that guy has.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

Todays result doesn't really worry me, i'm pissed of for sure but not particularly worried. I see it more as a freak accident instigated by Mr Clattenburgh, those 2 decisions really turned the game on its head. After that we just completely lost it, and as unacceptable as our performance was after that I can kind of understand it. We're a mess but it's no wonder considering the revolution that the club has gone through, there's clearly quality there we just need time for the players, the manager and his philosophy to settle in.

 

[roseguy64]

Sums it up nicely. I'm livid at our defence today, although in fairness none of them are world class or belong in the first 11 of one of the biggest clubs in world football. So I'm not sure what LVG can do with them since they are just clearly lacking in ability?

Rojo had a good game at CB against QPR though but was shocking at left back today. We can't properly judge his ability until the end of the season though. I think he can go either way.

Rojo played LB against QPR

 

[walkinhop]

He is not soley to blame, but big decisions change games and he made several...

fixed

 

[RuudTom83]

1 step forward last week
2 steps back this week

 

[dsch]

In this thread: (some) people who think there can be one and only one cause for any result, and talk of all other possible causes is nonsense.

 

[bishblaize]

A fair summation. But Jones and Carrick coming back will add a lot of solidity and experience. I just have little faith in anyone staying fit though.

Yeah fitness is a worry, for our centre backs anyway.

I hope that, away from home at least, LVG considers playing 4-2-3-1 with Carrick and Blind (or whoever) sat in front of the back four. That would give us more control and a better shield of the defence. Sure we'd lose one of our attacking players, but I'd rather get control of the match first. We can always change it up as the game goes on.

 

[hundred_trillion]

This was obviously pretty bad, but nowhere near as bad as a number of matches last season. We are absolutely fantastic going forward. Something needs to be done about the defence, yes, but it's not as bad as creating feck all, drifting cluelessly through games.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Never had a chance once clattenberg took over the game.
Man of the match performance today from a premier league legend.

 

[Dominant]

Hate to say this but clattenburg needs to be investigated for not calling the foul on Rafael and then giving the soft penalty 5 seconds later. Did he make any bets on 1st penalty awarded? How can a referee not call the foul for an outright shove off the ball and then award a penalty when Rafael barely brushed vardy???? It's just too obvious to be missed.

The non-calls on vardy's fouls made him more and more brazen. He realised he's getting away with murder all game and continued to do so. How I wished we have a Keane now. We desperately need someone to "check" him by hitting him hard with some late tackles. But our new team of pretty boys were too nice to do so. Rooney should have done that instead of wasting the yellow arguing with the prick of a ref whom I am sure by that stage of the game he is not going to give Manchester United any decisions at all.

 

[RedStarUnited]

There was a point where Rafael chested the ball down to Herrera in the box when it was 3-3 and despite not having a Leicester player anywhere near him he panicked and hoofed it. That was the point when I knew we were fecked basically.

No composure.

Yep I remember that. And he did again a few moments later. What should have happened after the 3-2 goal and the 3-3 goal was that we needed someone to tell everyone to calm down. Rooney shouted at the defenders but no one really took it in.

 

[Sied]

Generally calling him a monkey.

Some of the reactions by our fans on social media are embarrassing. Aside from the racism aimed at Balotelli (who's a fecking idiot for even inviting any abuse in the first place, mind), there's an embarrassing amount of abuse getting directed at some of our own players. Rooney seems to be getting a particularly hard time for some reason.

 

[Cooksen]

This is when we miss Vidic and Scholes.

Every game is a learning experience and we will get revenge on them when they come to Old Trafford.

 

[noodlehair]

People can whine about the ref all they want. The fact is I was watching us 3-1 up against Leicester and had zero confidence that we would hold on for a win without scoring another couple of goals. If it hadn't have been the penalty someone would have done something else stupid and they'd have broken on us, because it's what was happening all game. There must have been 10+ times when a better pass or a bit more composure would have put Leicester in on goal.

When we play someone who's actually any good, we're going to get a hiding even Arsenal fans will be able to laugh at.

All I've heard about Van Gaal since he came to United is that he's a tactical genius, and just what the club needed. A tactical genius wouldn't spend a record amount of money assembling the most tactically imbalanced team in history of the Premier League. A tactical genius doesn't sent out a team who's only competent asset is attacking, and then sub off his two most effective attacking players when the game is still in the balance.

Another line I've seen or heard trotted out a few times "Van Gaal wont be afraid to hook off RVP or Rooney if they're having a stinker"...He's already proclaimed Rooney as undroppable and today RVP was shocking...and guess what, because LVG "likes" him, he stayed on.

Van Gaal is good at sounding like he knows what he's talking about, but there's not much going on to back it up in terms of actions. We're an absolute mess. Teams just get the ball and literally kick it aimlessly up the pitch, and then end up through on our goal. You can't get away wiith playing like that if you have Ronaldo, Bale and Messi, let alone three strikers who all seem to struggle to control a football properly (although I thought Falcao and Rooney did ok in general).

 

[dsch]

I thought we didn't attack down the right enough today. Rojo is the more defensive fullback and Rafael is the better wingback. We should have ADM down the right channel with Rafael providing width, and be more defensive down the left. This would have been better on both sides because we were getting caught out by the ball over the top on the left, and we really needed to pin back their left wing on the other side.

 

[green demon]

As soon as I saw that Clattenburg was ref I feared for the worst. He didn't disappoint!!

Yes, we fell apart after that decision, but I think it's understandable considering how aggrieved they must have felt after that typical Clattenburg moment. Van Gaal must impress upon the youngsters to take that sort of disappointment in their stride as we get more than our share of game-changing bad decisions and they need to come to terms with it.

However, two questions: 1. How was Clattenburg ever again allowed to referee any game at any level after that Liverpool-Everton game of some years ago? 2. How does Clattenburg sleep at night?

 

[Moriarty]

How was Evans shocking? The only thing he did questionable was not mark Ulloa for their first goal but that's between him and Rafael letting him go free so not solely his fault.

Blackett was at fault for 2 of the goals. Their 4th he was in no man's land. Should have tracked Vardy instead of what he did or try to push up and play him offside. Then giving away the penalty.

Might be a bit too much weight on young Blackett's shoulders too soon. He's one for the future all right but right now he does not have a commanding presence in the area. It's no wonder DDG is looking a bit exposed. Smalling doesn't have that presence either. Jones does but he's reckless. We have a huge Vidic-shaped hole at the back (not to mention Rio) that should have been taken care of before a ball was kicked this season. I'm surprised that Van Gaal didn't try for Vlaar after his showing in Brazil.

 

[kundalini]

A lot of players new to the PL, probably not used to such a physical game. A few too many misunderstandings; which isn't that surprising given the amount of time the players have spent together. Several players that clearly aren't fully fit.

On another day Falcao's effort goes in, or the ref doesn't give them quite so many decisions and we get away with a crazy 4-2 or 4-3 win.

Last 30 mins we were awful. Didn't even look like scoring.

Hopefully the players can learn from this.

 

[charleysurf]

Some of the reactions by our fans on social media are embarrassing. Aside from the racism aimed at Balotelli (who's a fecking idiot for even inviting any abuse in the first place, mind), there's an embarrassing amount of abuse getting directed at some of our own players. Rooney seems to be getting a particularly hard time for some reason.

twitter trolls are a very loose definition of "fans".

 

[littlepeasoup]

This was obviously pretty bad, but nowhere near as bad as a number of matches last season. We are absolutely fantastic going forward. Something needs to be done about the defence, yes, but it's not as bad as creating feck all, drifting cluelessly through games.

Completely agree. We looked defensively abject and naive, but we look breathtaking at times going forward. I'll take that over last season any day when we played such dross football and didn't even have the solidity that you usually associate with that type of play.

 

[Sied]

twitter trolls are a very loose definition of "fans".

They're basically equivalent to the morons we laugh at in the RAWK meltdown thread. They'll be perceived as fans so they're still an embarrassment as far as I'm concerned.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

First of all congrats to Leicester City, they are thus far the most impressive newly promoted side i have watched in the PL for many years. As for the game, i don't believe we can make safe assumptions since we managed to show both our pretty and our ugly face during these 90 minutes.

We started the match all guns blazing, we scored two quality goals and we could have gotten more. We even responded well to immediately losing our safe two goal advantage, we controlled the tempo and managed to score a third goal.

Then Clattenburg, out of the blue, offers Leicester a lifeline with a shocking decision. You can say anything you want about the defense and our lack of character after that penalty, but it wasn't just a bad decision, it changed the whole game and massively affected the final result.

What followed was so horrifying it can't be described in words, simply awful stuff. The most easy thing is to blame one or two players but that was not the case today imho. I have said it before and i will say it again, the 3-5-2 and the 4-4-2 diamond are both very rigid formations which aim to provide control in the center of the pitch, but they also leave the opposition enough space to exploit on the flanks. When the midfield chain breaks and the opponent can run through it, then you're dead.

Today we offered Leicester City many options to play 1v1 out wide, it was our tactical choice. As long as Di Maria and Herrera could run up down the whole pitch, help with the build up and track down the deep runs made from Leicester's midfielders, we were fine. Problems started occurring when both our box to box midfielders didn't have the energy levels to help the defensive line. The Leicester manager also made things worse for us with his very clever subs which revitalized his midfield.

It was hard because we scored three goal and still managed to lose the game. I might get the stick for saying this, but i think we should stop experimenting with the formations. If the goal is to turn to 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 at some point, why not start using it immediately and slowly work on our weaknesses? More difficult games are ahead of us, i can't imagine us choosing tactics that will allow the likes of City and Chelsea acres of space on the wings, 1v1 situations or control of the midfield areas.

 

[Feed Me]

The awful decision from Clattenburg turned the match. It was a disgraceful call. But United were a fecking shambles after that - zero backbone.

I'm shellshocked. This is going to be a long old road.

 

[charleysurf]

They're basically equivalent to the morons we laugh at in the RAWK meltdown thread. They'll be perceived as fans so they're still an embarrassment as far as I'm concerned.

I feel embarrassment for humanity before I feel embarrassment for United when some moron claiming to be a United fan trolls someone. But looking at replies in twitter is asking to be disgusted unfortunately.

 

[roykeane19]

It really is unbelievable.
The pen was soft to say the least, but when you are 3-1 up, away from home especially, you close the got damn shop!

I know, its ironic, how under SAF united we were characterized for our mental strength, will, and resilience. Ever since SAF left the players are showing how mentally fragile, and what a bunch of millionaire wusses they are

 

[andualem]

I haven't posted on here in about 7 years, even though i visit quite regularly.
Shattered after that result, but i feel there is some overeating on here. I'm confident Van Gaal will get it right, it takes time for a team to gel after so much change.
We looked like we ran out legs after the 60min mark. Van Gaal also mention he did minimal fitness work during pre season and should improve throughout the season.
Our defending was shocking but nothing that can't be fixed.
Overall i'm fairly optimistic for the season ahead and should finish top 4.

 

[stu_1992]

I don't think I've been so angry watching a game in a long time. Yes the ref didn't help us, but I don't think he was as bad as people are saying. It was just an absolute shambles on our part defensively once Leicester got a bit of confidence. There was a time they looked like scoring each time they went forward. I'm not sure how they'll improve this. A lot of work is clearly needed in the defensive organisation and team balance. There is no player to come back from injury who can save us.

 

[charleysurf]

I haven't posted on here in about 7 years, even though i visit quite regularly.
Shattered after that result, but i feel there is some overeating on here. I'm confident Van Gaal will get it right, it takes time for a team to gel after so much change.
We looked like we ran out legs after the 60min mark. Van Gaal also mention he did minimal fitness work during pre season and should improve throughout the season.
Our defending was shocking but nothing that can't be fixed.
Overall i'm fairly optimistic for the season ahead and should finish top 4.

Some fat bastards on here alright, you can just tell...

 

[Feed Me]

I am missed the match because of work. Was it just a case of us being to gun ho? I felt that could be a possible issue starting Rooney/RVP/Falcao together.

The entire game turned on one of the strangest penalty decisions you'll see, but don't expect too much comment in the media, because it was plucky Leicester who benefitted. From that point though, the reaction was pathetic.

 

[bosnian_red]

The entire game turned on one of the strangest penalty decisions you'll see, but don't expect too much comment in the media, because it was plucky Leicester who benefitted. From that point though, there reaction was pathetic.

Yep, after that decision everyone just lost their heads and we were probably too gung ho to get the 2 goal lead back, instead of playing it smart.

 

[Getsme]

The entire game turned on one of the strangest penalty decisions you'll see, but don't expect too much comment in the media, because it was plucky Leicester who benefitted. From that point though, there reaction was pathetic.

Summed up perfectly.

 

[Americano]

This place becomes a hyperbole most of the times. We win one game, we are world beaters and we lose the next one and suddenly we are back to Shite again.

It's the same way in the papers and on the talk radio. The discussion of a title challenge after our sole victory of the season was obviously foolish and Liverpoolesque, just like an overreaction to today's result would be foolish.

We had many positives today and many adjustments to new players are still needed. I enjoyed most of the match and the game was entertaining, even if it was perversely painful for the last 30 minutes. Injuries and defensive cover remain persistent problems. I am disappointed we were not able to make the needed adjustments to tighten up the game.

 

[Getsme]

Yep, after that decision everyone just lost their heads and we were probably too gung ho to get the 2 goal lead back, instead of playing it smart.

This is what's frustrating, when we went 2-0 up you didn't see Leicester panic, they controlled themselves and got a quick goal back. When they went 3-1 down, again they didn't panic. Yes they got a dodgy penalty, but our attitude after that was very worrying, not just from the defence but from every single player in the team. It's like someone hit the big red panic button.

 

[Sied]

I feel embarrassment for humanity before I feel embarrassment for United when some moron claiming to be a United fan trolls someone. But looking at replies in twitter is asking to be disgusted unfortunately.

True. I should really avoid twitter after a defeat like that, but the masochist in me can't resist. A bit like the people I keep on facebook even though every status they post winds me up.