Manchester United 4:1 Melbourne Defeat (Fri 15th July, 11:05 UK time)

wolvored

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Iqbal and Savage should start in front of McTom in midfield. 2nd half team played better than the 1st. Bailley was great again and Chong played well. The possession play and winning the ball back is looking better and better.
 

Samid

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Thought I'd drop in here and spice things up a bit so listen up ya whinging poms. This ain't a friendly. Prepare yourselves for a demoralising defeat which leaves a **** stain on your pre-season. First of all I'll go through most of your squad.

De Gea - Only still with you for the money
Wan-Bissaka - Silly name
Varane - Good in the past but now an overrated has been
Lindelof - Nothing special
Maguire - Not sure if he's here but wouldn't even make our team
Shaw - Never met his potential and never will
McTominay - Placeholder until you actually find someone better
Fred - See above
Sancho - One of your only good players and you can't even get him to play well
Fernandes - One season wonder
Rashford - Useless
Martial - Almost as useless
Ronaldo - Too scared of the Victory to even make the trip


Also heard some Dutch fella doesn't want a bar of ya and you are practically tryin' to kidnapp him.

Me and the boys got the BBQ ready to go and drinks on ice ready to celebrate a Victory win.
Born and raised in Melbourne mate. Follow the EPL though and have lurked these forums many a times to see the meltdowns.

Maybe. But not tonight. The boys already taking bets on how many we'll ship past ya.
Chat shit, get banged
 

Hugh Jass

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Bit too safe on the ball at times - it’s all about getting the balance right that Guardiola teams master - but our pressing off the ball and work rate is developing beautifully. Very impressed with that.
Yea i agree. Way too much passing back.
 

Raw

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Good to see our attacking players remembered that they have to actually make runs into the box for a chance at goal. We're really going to need Rashford and Martial to contribute with goals.
 

redom

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Only saw bits and pieces of the game but first half seemed more like your typical pre-season performance with some sloppy touches and slower tempo, which is fine and to be expected with the fatigue from the last game and the travel in between. Second half looked more on point, mainly due to Savage and Iqbal who seemed to carry a lot of confidence and enthusiasm from the Liverpool game into this one and expressed themselves well.
 

Robbie Boy

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Looking forward to catching the highlights later. Good start for ETH!

Deary me; Rashford, McT and Martial scoring will leave some frothing at the mouth!!
 

Trex

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Thought I'd drop in here and spice things up a bit so listen up ya whinging poms. This ain't a friendly. Prepare yourselves for a demoralising defeat which leaves a **** stain on your pre-season. First of all I'll go through most of your squad.

De Gea - Only still with you for the money
Wan-Bissaka - Silly name
Varane - Good in the past but now an overrated has been
Lindelof - Nothing special
Maguire - Not sure if he's here but wouldn't even make our team
Shaw - Never met his potential and never will
McTominay - Placeholder until you actually find someone better
Fred - See above
Sancho - One of your only good players and you can't even get him to play well
Fernandes - One season wonder
Rashford - Useless
Martial - Almost as useless
Ronaldo - Too scared of the Victory to even make the trip


Also heard some Dutch fella doesn't want a bar of ya and you are practically tryin' to kidnapp him.

Me and the boys got the BBQ ready to go and drinks on ice ready to celebrate a Victory win.
More like Melbourne Losers!!
 

macheda14

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I really liked the fact that a new team came on for the second half the fundamentals were there. Under Ole and even Jose, if we played a second string team they'd be so so disjointed.
 

ti vu

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I'm not denying he tried playing a high line, I'm saying he fecked it up. He was in no position to blindly assume he was in line with everyone else and/or assume he was the last man to play it that high.

You'll be very generous to give him credit for making the right play there. He gambled and assumed wrong. There was a catalogue of errors and perhaps Maguire could have read it better but he's not the entire and sole blame there.

This is a classic textbook halfway line offside trap. When you stay exactly on the line, you do your job tactically when the pass is played to your mark that is well beyond your reach. The rest is your teammate issue. He should be stand on the line like you. No need for you to babysit and adjust according to him.

PSG vs Bayern second leg is a classic in term of Bayern trying to play high line offside trap to limit Mbappe all game. Rewatch that game if you want example for when Bayern defenders on the halfway line trying to stay still until the pass release repeatedly.
 
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Ace of Spades

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Bit too safe on the ball at times - it’s all about getting the balance right that Guardiola teams master - but our pressing off the ball and work rate is developing beautifully. Very impressed with that.
Agreed, still there is a clear improvement from last season, which is good. It is all about repetition and getting that chemistry correct.
 

sglowrider

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Nice to see OG is back now playing for United. Hopefully, he is fit and available for the rest of the season.
 

flameinthesun

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Iqbal and Savage should start in front of McTom in midfield. 2nd half team played better than the 1st. Bailley was great again and Chong played well. The possession play and winning the ball back is looking better and better.
Have to disagree, the first 10 of the first half was definitely poor, but the following 35 minutes was very very good football. We had Maguire and lindelof almost camped on the penalty box, Sancho and Dalot started linking up really well. Also Melbourne were fresher so I think the first half was much better than the second. In the second half naturally with more of the kids our impetus slowed down which was understandable. Overall though a good and interesting showing against a very defensive team.
 

DomesticTadpole

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No choice when the opponents park the bus. They don't have space to play in front of them.
That will be what he is trying to teach them, spread the ball about and open spaces. We used to try and force it against sides who were sitting deep and just kept losing the ball. Now we are passing it around, but if we do lose it, we win it back quickly and keep the pressure on.
 

Ace of Spades

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I really liked the fact that a new team came on for the second half the fundamentals were there. Under Ole and even Jose, if we played a second string team they'd be so so disjointed.
This, a clear indication that everyone is being drilled to follow the game plan.
 

Rozay

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As he has no performance thread - must say that I was disappointed with Laird, as much as I’m a huge believer in him. About 70% of his passes seemed to be backwards to Eric Bailly, and the same for Malacia with Telles.
 

Blood Mage

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Not as impressive as the Liverpool performance but I expected some fatigue after that game. Still some nice passages of play in both halves. Future looks bright indeed!
 

Adam-Utd

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Very happy with Iqbal and Savage. They honestly don't look that far off Fred and Mctominay. If anything the young boys look more comfortable on the ball.

I'd really like to see them start against palace with a full strength side.