[NinjaZombie]

He left massive gaping holes down his side. Absolute disaster today. Very poor.

The way I see it, our wide forwards are being given too much freedom and too little defensive responsibilities.

This results in the two sitting midfielders having to vacate the central areas to try and cover those spaces. If they fail to stop these threats (this happens often because Fred and McTominay are pretty bad at their jobs) and the ball comes to the central areas, Maguire often struggles to defend alone, so Shaw has to tuck in and try to help out. A simple pass out wide by the opponent to the space that Shaw has just vacated means that it is now easy for the wide player to pick out a pass or a cross.

Our defenders are terrible at keeping up with late runs into the box, so that cross or pass has disastrous consequences. This is made worse by the fact that AWB is not the best at positioning himself (he's more of a one-on-one defender and is horrible at covering spaces). We've let in a number of goals at the back post or from late runners getting into the 6 yard box.

These are all results of the way the team is set up and coached. Which is why I have been leaning towards Ole and his coaches to be replaced since the last season ended. I'm firmly in the Ole out camp now because it's clear he either does not recognise the problems we are having, or is unable to solve them.

 

[Cascarino]

I do not agree with you on the first goal. Yes AWB is partly to blame but it started with Greenwood. His half arsed pressing forced AWB to go in there and like a deck of cards the whole thing fell down.

The second one was yes both Maguire and Shaw. The whole set up is wrong. Shaw is forced to come inside because the midfield is getting over run and either he stays wide with his man or let a midfield runner have a free run at goal. Rashford needs to get back. We are not playing as a team. We are a bunch of individuals.

First 10 seconds


I honestly can't see how Greenwood is to blame, at least to more of an extent than the back 4?

 

[cletus7]

First 10 seconds
I honestly can't see how Greenwood is to blame, at least to more of an extent than the back 4?

It’s laughable blaming Greenwood!

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

3 goals were his fault today. One of the worst performances I've seen from a Utd player. Why is he always so narrow leaving a man in acres on the RW?

Almost as if he was instructed to cover Maguire when Salah drifts into the half-spaces to suffocate him somewhat, but it failed.

Him and Maguire today were a complete calamity.

 

[The United]

His form is a problem for every other season it seems.

 

[RonaldoVII]

Was he ill again? He's been terrible this season. No excuses.

 

[Andersonson]

He was last season, hence why he was voted into the PFA team of the season.

1 good season doesn't mean that's he's world class. Nick Pope isn't better than Alisson because of that argument....

 

[Cascarino]

It’s laughable blaming Greenwood!

Yeah I think the pressing from United as a whole was bad, but for that first goal he's not at fault to the same extent as the others.

After Greenwood tried to press Van Dijk , AWB was far too deep to put pressure on Robertson, it was suicidal to surge forward at this point knowing that Jota would be completely free but he did so anyway. Lindelof would have been far better ceding the flanks than trying to compensate for this because he not only abandoned the middle ground he lost alignment with Maguire and Shaw (and also neither pressured Jota or stopped the inside pass), Maguire would have been better off doing almost anything and Shaw played Salah on while having a great view of the situation. You could pick any of the back 4 as the most to blame, but definitely not Greenwood imo

 

[Robbie Boy]

I love Shaw, but he's been wank this season.

 

[Oldtraffordboy]

Thinks that after 4 good months last season and decent Euros that he's Maldini and Roberto Carlos in one.

Been dreadful this season.

 

[Winrar]

Has the temporary success gotten to his head? What's going on?

I know he can play so much better than the shit on a stick he's served this season.

 

[izec]

Back to his normal level i.e. shit

 

[GledTheRed]

Drop the fat cnut

 

[darko]

The way I see it, our wide forwards are being given too much freedom and too little defensive responsibilities.

This results in the two sitting midfielders having to vacate the central areas to try and cover those spaces. If they fail to stop these threats (this happens often because Fred and McTominay are pretty bad at their jobs) and the ball comes to the central areas, Maguire often struggles to defend alone, so Shaw has to tuck in and try to help out. A simple pass out wide by the opponent to the space that Shaw has just vacated means that it is now easy for the wide player to pick out a pass or a cross.

Our defenders are terrible at keeping up with late runs into the box, so that cross or pass has disastrous consequences. This is made worse by the fact that AWB is not the best at positioning himself (he's more of a one-on-one defender and is horrible at covering spaces). We've let in a number of goals at the back post or from late runners getting into the 6 yard box.

These are all results of the way the team is set up and coached. Which is why I have been leaning towards Ole and his coaches to be replaced since the last season ended. I'm firmly in the Ole out camp now because it's clear he either does not recognise the problems we are having, or is unable to solve them.

Luke Shaw has been dreadful this season. His positioning is autrouticious. His corners float like a fourteen year-old. It's time that Telles gets a run of matches.

However I do agree with you on United's forwards plus Bruno. For me. 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-1-3 dependi g how you see United's formation (4-2-4) just doesn't work for this team.

 

[Slevs]

Obvious isn't it? Upped his game when Telles (competition) came in. Beat the competition and now is back to his old lazy ways.

Doesn't have the right mentality to play for a title winning club.

 

[darko]

He’s been pretty terrible so far this season but I’m sure at least 50% of that is the mare Maguire is having alongside him. The amount of times he’s having to go inside to cover Maguire is causing big issues. He’s having to leave a player to cover for his CB. He’s nowhere near been good enough but the issue is Maguire.

Today he looked like he was covering his CB. Did he think he was playing for opposition.

Go take a look at the goal United conceded against Everton and watch Shaw.

 

[CloneMC16]

I don't blame Shaw for the first. I feel like he's been left out to dry there. Half of the team were bypassed within about 3 seconds, in 2 passes. Maguire also seems to be completely unaware that Salah was behind him. Second is on Shaw. He has a better view of what is happening. He needs to give Maguire a shout to leave the ball, so that he can clear it. Third one is pretty unlucky. The deflection was perfect for Liverpool and they punished us. Salah was 100% switched on and reacted faster than our defenders. Fourth is on Maguire and Shaw. Maguire gets spun by Firmino. Shaw is ball watching and leaves Salah in the box. Fifth is on Pogba and Shaw. The pass from Henderson is top class, and Shaw was too slow to react to the danger. I don't think he was expecting Pogba to lose the ball so quickly.

Shaw and Maguire have been shit in every game they've played this season. The coaching is a huge problem, but the individual errors from these two are costing us badly.

 

[Alek M]

Guilty for pretty much all of the goals today. Liverpool owned our left side. Out of position pretty much every day. Totally lost the players he needed to mark. Liability…

 

[SoCross]

Shaw & Maguire's poor form is one reason why we are here and their good form is one reason why we were 2nd last season. The drop has been drastic. Absolute shambles at the back.

 

[MadDogg]

I do not agree with you on the first goal. Yes AWB is partly to blame but it started with Greenwood. His half arsed pressing forced AWB to go in there and like a deck of cards the whole thing fell down.

It actually started with Bruno. He did his usual of sprinting up out of position to press somebody that had all the time in the world to by-pass that press. Greenwood then did the same to the next player. AWB then did the same to the next player. And suddenly they were 3v1. They all made individual mistakes that was then compounded by the next person making the same mistake. It was embarrassing. Either they all should be going at the same time or none of them should be.

The instant Bruno did it I thought to myself that Liverpool are going to cut straight through the area that he just vacated. As it turns out they went wide instead, but the end result was the same. He really needs to improve his decision making in that regard. Sometimes he does it to great effect, but other times (and this was one of them) it's obviously the wrong time and all he's doing is taking himself completely out of position which is then going to make it difficult for the rest of the team.

 

[Red_toad]

Guilty for pretty much all of the goals today. Liverpool owned our left side. Out of position pretty much every day. Totally lost the players he needed to mark. Liability…

Him and Harry were equally as bad as each other, Lindelof was a none entity. We have some major issues with our defensive coaching.

 

[Sylar]

Is there any stats that show blocked crosses? I’m certain he must be one of the worst in the league at stopping the ball coming in from wide, he always stands so far off the attacker. Can’t get beaten if you never challenge, I guess. The Shay Given school of defending.

He is so so bad at it, it's very lazy the way he does it. It's like he does a half run and then either turns like v Liverpool or lazily tries to get in the way like he did to give a penalty away against West Ham.

He basically is in a position where a competent player will take him out of the game even with an average cross.

 

[::sonny::]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[::sonny::]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[FatTails]

Drop the fat cnut

No need for this. I don’t know if he’s a cnut or not, but he’s not fat.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

He is so so bad at it, it's very lazy the way he does it. It's like he does a half run and then either turns like v Liverpool or lazily tries to get in the way like he did to give a penalty away against West Ham.

He basically is in a position where a competent player will take him out of the game even with an average cross.

To be honest I think this is just how modern defending is done. A cross if you’re team is set like it should shouldn’t be that dangerous. If you however commit to a tackle getting close to a player traveling in straight lines you’re easy to beat, meaning that now there is a more dangerous situation than a cross just developed.

A lot of defending and choices will be made off statistical data I would think in the modern game.

Its also hard to move from protecting your CB out to a winger or fullback that hasn’t been tracked by a winger. I mean the United team is a complete mess right now anyway so it’s all par for course at this point.

 

[spiriticon]

He plays like a box to box central midfielder in attack and a unwanted third CB in defence.

Is it too much to ask for him just to be a friggin left back? Luckily for him he hasn't lost his crossing skills yet.

 

[DomM]

He's been pretty poor defensively this season, we have conceded numerous goals from crosses on his side where he is simply caught out of position and can't get a tackle in.
OK going forward but he needs to realise he is in the team to defend too, he just seems to jog everywhere, put some bloody effort in boy.

 

[RedIan]

Shaw was consistently one of our best players last year, won motm a good few times.. mainly from his attacking skills..
His current form is poor, seems to constantly suffer AWB syndrome and get sucked into defending the central areas leaving his flank wide open..

a couple of games for Telles may help sharpen him back up.

 

[FattyFooty]

What i think is so wierd, if you look at the first goal we got against us vs pool. Look at how he runs. Is he even trying? Isnt Luke kinda fast player when he wants? The more i see it the wierder it gets.

 

[RuudtheRed]

The first goal was avoidable for many reasons, one of which was Luke not stepping up to play the Liverpool forwards offside. But once he was in that situation I'm not sure how he could have run any faster or if running faster would have helped him in a 3 v 1 situation

 

[OneUnited24]

Crazy to see him start today. I mean you have telles who can’t defend but could do well in that wingback role but nah keep shaw in the team. Guess it’s a back 5 and hope for something on the counter

 

[kundalini]

A bit rubbish overall. Booked in the first half. Dispossessed 4 times, low pass completion.

 

[Pickle85]

A bit rubbish overall. Booked in the first half. Dispossessed 4 times, low pass completion.

Yep, poor again. So weird after last season and an excellent Euros.

 

[#07]

I was having kittens when him and Maguire bumped into each other in the box tonight, again. Dunno what goes through either of their heads sometimes. However, as Shaw was on the outside and could see everyone's position he could have talked Maguire through the situation.

 

[::sonny::]

He has to lose at least 5 kg

 

[kundalini]

Yep, poor again. So weird after last season and an excellent Euros.

I suspect the Euros took a lot out of some of our players. They had almost no time to recover.

 

[Devil may care]

Bit better today, great delivery for Ronaldo's goal.

 

[Tomuś]

Bit better today, great delivery for Ronaldo's goal.

Hmmm none of Ronaldo's goals (legit and offside) were assisted by him.

 

[Devil may care]

Hmmm none of Ronaldo's goals (legit and offside) were assisted by him.

I was watching on a poor river, the cross for Ronaldo's goal came from the left, I thought it was Shaw.