Manchester United 3:1 Crystal Palace (Tue 19th July, 11:10 UK time)

[Daengophile]

Will Fish should never appear in the squid again if you ask me.

He was more like a bloody octopus yesterday!

I was hoping to see him scampiing about

 

[horsechoker]

That could be la fin of Will's career after that red

He might be scaled back, maybe in the past Gill would have given him a chance but we need to be more ruthless

 

[Teja]

Our players usually play well when the pressure is off. When they really have to perform, they usually bottle it. This squad has a mentality problem. Lets see how we fare when we actually HAVE to win.

I think it's a confidence problem. Once we start to look like a unit and players don't overthink the basics and just play, they'll be a lot better.

There's still a lot of hesitation - should I try a quick one-two? Will it come off or will I get caught out? Should I step forward as a CB to provide a nicer passing angle to the guy under pressure etc.

These are almost instinct for the top sides.

Sure there are still some basic technique / ball control issues but I think that will come as confidence grows.

 

[tenpoless]

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Give ETH a fish and he will ask for the fish to be delivered all the way to Australia mid pre-season, play him in a game vs PL club where he gets himself sent off and destroys his confidence for a lifetime.

I like it.

 

[mitchmouse]

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Give ETH a fish and he will ask for the fish to be delivered all the way to Australia mid pre-season, play him in a game vs PL club where he gets himself sent off and destroys his confidence for a lifetime.

I like it.

I haven't seen what he did... brief description please?

 

[tenpoless]

I haven't seen what he did... brief description please?

Rugby tackle!

 

[mitchmouse]

Rugby tackle!

well, I've certainly seen lots of similar "tackles" and some much worse ones - mainly from much senior players (at united and others). Not sure why you'd do it in a friendly when you are three up though

 

[BlackBen]

Rugby tackle!

Oh my Cod, Will was definitely fishing for a red card there.

 

[mitchmouse]

having seen the briefest of highlights, I'd still say we won't get enough goals out of rashford and martial. None of the games so far have seen us play against anything resembling a PL team first-choice defence. Some pretty stuff, obviously playing with more freedom than last season (which at times was so far below rock bottom that we almost hit the centre of the earth) and some crisp passing from the likes of Martial and Donny, but seen nothing yet to suggest a top-four finish.

It may be asking to much to finish in the top four but that is what United should always be aiming at as a basic minimum. We still need to strengthen drastically as all those around us have done: City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal, not to mention some of those below us...

 

[pocco]

having seen the briefest of highlights, I'd still say we won't get enough goals out of rashford and martial. None of the games so far have seen us play against anything resembling a PL team first-choice defence. Some pretty stuff, obviously playing with more freedom than last season (which at times was so far below rock bottom that we almost hit the centre of the earth) and some crisp passing from the likes of Martial and Donny, but seen nothing yet to suggest a top-four finish.

It may be asking to much to finish in the top four but that is what United should always be aiming at as a basic minimum. We still need to strengthen drastically as all those around us have done: City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal, not to mention some of those below us...

Yeah I feel the same. People getting excited about Martial and saying Rashford looks better and I'm not really seeing it. The defences we've played have been catastrophically bad. Wait till were back to high octane PL football and I still predict Martial will be nullified most weeks and Rashford will lack the work rate. I'm seeing it now already at times in pre season.

 

[chicha14]

We had 11 players on the field, then all of a sardine there were 10!

 

[Crashoutcassius]

I think it's becoming clear we actually were an awfully coached team. People have asked how much difference a manager can make and I think we're seeing the answer is something like "massive". It was good to see the players linked up with some really clever passes.

People said the same after ralfs first game. We have three joke 3rd string or aus teams. Let's see where we are at Christmas and if we can meaningfully improve on our Jose and ole seasons with 70s and 80s points.

I'm enjoying all this but I say because people will only be disappointed if they come up with mad expectations after such meaningless games

 

[Crashoutcassius]

We had 11 players on the field, then all of a sardine there were 10!

Prob my fave because of how far a stretch it is haha

 

[Santoryo]

Yeah I feel the same. People getting excited about Martial and saying Rashford looks better and I'm not really seeing it. The defences we've played have been catastrophically bad. Wait till were back to high octane PL football and I still predict Martial will be nullified most weeks and Rashford will lack the work rate. I'm seeing it now already at times in pre season.

God forbid people get exited after some pretty good performances. Let's just always assume the worst and perpetually stay miserable and feeling sorry for ourselves. How about we let things play out and if things go south we moan and when they don't, with things looking decent as they are right now, we simply enjoy even the smallest wins, I mean is that too much to ask? Should we forever stay miserable even when we don't have reasons to?

Wait for Rashford and co to give you reasons to shit on them, otherwise it's just needless pessimism. Some of you are acting as if it's preposterous to get exited at anything Man United and your idea of caution is to forever stay miserable and pessimistic about everything United related.

 

[trevor newnham]

God forbid people get exited after some pretty good performances. Let's just always assume the worst and perpetually stay miserable and feeling sorry for ourselves. How about we let things play out and if things go south we moan and when they don't, with things looking decent as they are right now, we simply enjoy even the smallest wins, I mean is that too much to ask? Should we forever stay miserable even when we don't have reasons to?

Wait for Rashford and co to give you reasons to shit on them, otherwise it's just needless pessimism. Some of you are acting as if it's preposterous to get exited at anything Man United and your idea of caution is to forever stay miserable and pessimistic about everything United related.

It's all so negative at times on here. Yes, it's pre season; yes, the oppo hasn't been top notch; but there are certainly signs of improvement. We cannot expect to win the title every year - our sense of entitlement is breathtaking at times - but I just want to see us at least putting up a fight, something we signally failed to do last year. I want to wait and see what these players do with clear instructions, good coaching, better confidence. To keep on rubbishing our own players is draining. Booing Maguire in a pre-season?? Unbelievable. He was solid, sprayed out some decent cross fields to release our wing backs ( not all came off but no player on earth is perfect) and yet he was getting booed. Crystal Palace were appalling and would have been playing with 8 players if it had been a PL game, but our attitude and ambition was good. FFS, less of the negativity, more support, wait and see. If it all goes Pete Tong by November then start moaning. It's going to take time for ETH's methods and ideas to take root. It's not going to be instant. Fergie's impact wasn't instant. The Curse of the modern age is wanting everything now. It ain't going to happen.

 

[mctrials23]

It's all so negative at times on here. Yes, it's pre season; yes, the oppo hasn't been top notch; but there are certainly signs of improvement. We cannot expect to win the title every year - our sense of entitlement is breathtaking at times - but I just want to see us at least putting up a fight, something we signally failed to do last year. I want to wait and see what these players do with clear instructions, good coaching, better confidence. To keep on rubbishing our own players is draining. Booing Maguire in a pre-season?? Unbelievable. He was solid, sprayed out some decent cross fields to release our wing backs ( not all came off but no player on earth is perfect) and yet he was getting booed. Crystal Palace were appalling and would have been playing with 8 players if it had been a PL game, but our attitude and ambition was good. FFS, less of the negativity, more support, wait and see. If it all goes Pete Tong by November then start moaning. It's going to take time for ETH's methods and ideas to take root. It's not going to be instant. Fergie's impact wasn't instant. The Curse of the modern age is wanting everything now. It ain't going to happen.

Its funny isn't it. The stupid thing is that the people who are all doom and gloom still would be saying exactly the same thing but worse if we had lost to these teams. There is no pleasing them and I have no idea why they watch us in pre-season or pay any attention.

We will see what the starting XI is at the start of the season. We will see how EtHs new ideas are implemented by the team once the league starts. Trying to enjoy your team playing nice football which has been a rarity for years doesn't seem to appeal to some people.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

People said the same after ralfs first game. We have three joke 3rd string or aus teams. Let's see where we are at Christmas and if we can meaningfully improve on our Jose and ole seasons with 70s and 80s points.

I'm enjoying all this but I say because people will only be disappointed if they come up with mad expectations after such meaningless games

Those people were right; Ole was an awful coach. We are winning the quadruple, buddy, believe!!

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Those people were right; Ole was an awful coach. We are winning the quadruple, buddy, believe!!

The people that said Ralf had a transformational effect on our performance after less than one session were not right and ended up looking quite stupid. In my view this stirred up a lot of division in the fanbase and created such a bad atmosphere around our squad, where nobody could explain the performance without concluding the players all needed to be sold. Hopefully we can be realistic this year and avoid that kind of thing

 

[Zetrio2002]

Next season will be so exciting!

With Malacia, Martinez, Varane, Dalot plus a couple more to fortify the defence.

Furthermore, the midfield will be improved further with new additions I am sure. And Fred, Mctom, VDB are always improving.

Bruno, Ronaldo, Martial, Rashford and Sancho all doing well upfront!

 

[Robbie Boy]

People said the same after ralfs first game. We have three joke 3rd string or aus teams. Let's see where we are at Christmas and if we can meaningfully improve on our Jose and ole seasons with 70s and 80s points.

I'm enjoying all this but I say because people will only be disappointed if they come up with mad expectations after such meaningless games

Well, it took both those managers a feck tonne of cash and 2, or 3 seasons to achieve those points totals. I imagine no one expects ETH to achieve that in his first season, given he's totally revamping our playing style.

 

[justsomebloke]

Rubbish. Teams knew that a low block would stop us as we had zero creativity, movement or passing through the lines. We still had loads of possession, just horizontally and lacking penetration.

Again - a low block mostly did NOT stop us. Look up the results. We prevailed against lower half sides with more regularity than Liverpool or Chelsea in 20/21, or than anyone in 19/20 after Bruno arrived. CA United was basically just Ole's first half season. Before and after that, we were just generally shite.

 

[chb23]

I was at the game last night and I have to say martial looked really good. Hoping he can stay focused and motivated for the majority of the season. If he can do that and the rest of the team get a bit more coordinated then he'll score a good amount of goals.

I didn't see too much coordinated pressing, there was some but it wasn't anything to get excited about. What's good is that it looks like the team is fitter than the other teams. Now I'm not sure what stage of preseason they're at and how many games they've played but it seems like in all the games the players have seen fitter, which is a massive change from past seasons.

The attack is looking much better but i'm not sure how much of that is due to patterns of play. My personal gut feel is that they're just playing to their attacking instincts still, similar to when Ole was here. There was a couple of times where we were on the break or there was good opportunities to thread a ball through but it never happened and it just went to the edge of the area instead of through the middle. Hopefully we start to see more central through balls in the future.

I thought all the goals were really well worked, especially the one involving martial, van de beek and rashford

 

[CarbonStoolBites]

People said the same after ralfs first game. We have three joke 3rd string or aus teams. Let's see where we are at Christmas and if we can meaningfully improve on our Jose and ole seasons with 70s and 80s points.

I'm enjoying all this but I say because people will only be disappointed if they come up with mad expectations after such meaningless games

No need to come up with mad expectations, I’m not even expecting a top 4 finish.
Pep struggled in his first season in the premier league and barely managed a top 4 finish, and that was with a superior City team.
I hope ETH gets time and patience, this is a far from perfect squad, where many of the players looked Championship level last season, but unlike Ole and Jose we finally have a modern proactive coach who wants to build a dominant side.
Not a counter attacking side that will get battered by the likes of Brighton or Southampton for 70 minutes and maybe get a lucky win because DDG played a blinder a Rashford managed to outpace a rival full back and score a goal, that shit got old, and it goes back almost a decade.

This feels different, I want to see us suffocating and outplaying every team like City do 2-3-4 years from now, ETH is the right man for the job.

 

[Red00012]

I was at the game last night and I have to say martial looked really good. Hoping he can stay focused and motivated for the majority of the season. If he can do that and the rest of the team get a bit more coordinated then he'll score a good amount of goals.

I didn't see too much coordinated pressing, there was some but it wasn't anything to get excited about. What's good is that it looks like the team is fitter than the other teams. Now I'm not sure what stage of preseason they're at and how many games they've played but it seems like in all the games the players have seen fitter, which is a massive change from past seasons.

The attack is looking much better but i'm not sure how much of that is due to patterns of play. My personal gut feel is that they're just playing to their attacking instincts still, similar to when Ole was here. There was a couple of times where we were on the break or there was good opportunities to thread a ball through but it never happened and it just went to the edge of the area instead of through the middle. Hopefully we start to see more central through balls in the future.

I thought all the goals were really well worked, especially the one involving martial, van de beek and rashford

I hope you weren’t one of the clowns booing Maguire

 

[calodo2003]

Tweet

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[fergiewherearethou]

Yeah I feel the same. People getting excited about Martial and saying Rashford looks better and I'm not really seeing it. The defences we've played have been catastrophically bad. Wait till were back to high octane PL football and I still predict Martial will be nullified most weeks and Rashford will lack the work rate. I'm seeing it now already at times in pre season.

Martial is looking so good now because pre-season football is too slow and less physically demanding than an official PL game. Once all opposition defenders are at 100% I doubt he will have any time on the ball.

 

[chb23]

I hope you weren’t one of the clowns booing Maguire

nah i didn't. I had a great laugh at it though. Most aussies would have done it for shits and giggles to join in with those who did.

It's up to maguire to play through it and earn that respect back IMO.

 

[redmanx]

Yeah I feel the same. People getting excited about Martial and saying Rashford looks better and I'm not really seeing it. The defences we've played have been catastrophically bad. Wait till were back to high octane PL football and I still predict Martial will be nullified most weeks and Rashford will lack the work rate. I'm seeing it now already at times in pre season.

Martial has done ok in these friendlies, but I have my doubts that he can replicate this in the Prem against the top teams. He has always shown well in his first few games for new managers but the promise usually fades very quickly. I hope he can come good, he can be a great player, but I wont hold my breath.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Yeah I feel the same. People getting excited about Martial and saying Rashford looks better and I'm not really seeing it. The defences we've played have been catastrophically bad. Wait till were back to high octane PL football and I still predict Martial will be nullified most weeks and Rashford will lack the work rate. I'm seeing it now already at times in pre season.

How can you not see the difference in Martial pressing? he's shutting down defenders like a demon.

Usually he'd just stand still waiting then gently jog over towards them. Now he's closing off angles then sprinting at them to force a poor ball.

It's a clear night and day difference - the question is whether he can keep this up.

 

[pocco]

How can you not see the difference in Martial pressing? he's shutting down defenders like a demon.

Usually he'd just stand still waiting then gently jog over towards them. Now he's closing off angles then sprinting at them to force a poor ball.

It's a clear night and day difference - the question is whether he can keep this up.

I see a difference compared to his normal standard. I don't think he's working like a demon though. There's still nothing high octane about him and I suspect he'll be part of the reason the press fails at times this season. Him and Rashford have zero intensity and it will get found out.

 

[mitchmouse]

God forbid people get exited after some pretty good performances. Let's just always assume the worst and perpetually stay miserable and feeling sorry for ourselves. How about we let things play out and if things go south we moan and when they don't, with things looking decent as they are right now, we simply enjoy even the smallest wins, I mean is that too much to ask? Should we forever stay miserable even when we don't have reasons to?

Wait for Rashford and co to give you reasons to shit on them, otherwise it's just needless pessimism. Some of you are acting as if it's preposterous to get exited at anything Man United and your idea of caution is to forever stay miserable and pessimistic about everything United related.

Martial has given us plenty of reasons to be more than a little concerned and I've seen few player so of the boil so quickly and drastically as rashford did last season. It's called being realistic

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

The people that said Ralf had a transformational effect on our performance after less than one session were not right and ended up looking quite stupid. In my view this stirred up a lot of division in the fanbase and created such a bad atmosphere around our squad, where nobody could explain the performance without concluding the players all needed to be sold. Hopefully we can be realistic this year and avoid that kind of thing

Again, those people were also right. We have sold, loaned out, or let go how many players now, 11? So almost half the players that were hanging around are out of the picture now. Ralf was right that the dressing room was riven with dissent, there were factions fighting on and off the pitch, none of our players knew how to sustain a press, our defenders were journeyman, and we were like a herd of cats in attack. Our squad being awfully coached by the previous regime is what led to this sorry state, not fans' expectations of RR.

 

[Hoof the ball]

About the only Fish I know who can't get the tackle.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Again, those people were also right. We have sold, loaned out, or let go how many players now, 11? So almost half the players that were hanging around are out of the picture now. Ralf was right that the dressing room was riven with dissent, there were factions fighting on and off the pitch, none of our players knew how to sustain a press, our defenders were journeyman, and we were like a herd of cats in attack. Our squad being awfully coached by the previous regime is what led to this sorry state, not fans' expectations of RR.

I'd argue that ralfs coaching was a bigger factor in performance when he had been the manager for six months than oles coaching... kinda wierd if you are arguing otherwise but ok

 

[AltiUn]

I hope Will Fish doesn't make it at United, purely for the fact all discussion surrounding him is going to be people trying to 1 up each other with terrible fish puns.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

People saying Martial hasn’t been impressive this preseason just expose their inner bias towards him at this point. None of us expected him to be our first choice striker but he’s been very good in these tune up games so far and there’s reason for optimism if you’ve actually watched the fecking game.

 

[Scorpy]

People saying Martial hasn’t been impressive this preseason just expose their inner bias towards him at this point. None of us expected him to be our first choice striker but he’s been very good in these tune up games so far and there’s reason for optimism if you’ve actually watched the fecking game.

Yep. Many people just don't want to admit it.

 

[Jack-C20]

I hope Will Fish doesn't make it at United, purely for the fact all discussion surrounding him is going to be people trying to 1 up each other with terrible fish puns.

His confidence will certainly have taken a hit so he might be angling for a move if he doesn’t get many more chances.

 

[Fanta Stick]

I hope Will Fish doesn't make it at United, purely for the fact all discussion surrounding him is going to be people trying to 1 up each other with terrible fish puns.

Well you're no fin at all.

I need an intervention.

 

[Robindinho]

I hope Will Fish doesn't make it at United, purely for the fact all discussion surrounding him is going to be people trying to 1 up each other with terrible fish puns.

Tell me atrout it.