Totally agree with the first paragraph. Timid, almost dawdling brains in speed of thought. Mata and Matic shouldnt even be here in my opinion along with Sanchez. Adding the exciting youngsters of Greenwood and Gomes and anoother attacking player in Dybala/Fernandes and I think we have plenty attacking wise. Maguire improves the defence, I am still concerned personally we havent signed a defensive midfielder and dont appear to be looking to either now Longstaff stuff has died down no other players linked
Manchester United vs AC Milan Sat 3rd August, 17:36 UK time
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Longstaff?
Of all the players you could've mentioned, you chose him?
I dont think Mac can play every game and I dont expect Longstaff to be a consistent starter but I think he can cover for Mac when he needs a break. Garner is good but still too young to do this consistently
Not really, we just kinda played... without a midfield...
Pretty poorly for much of the game, lack of any fluency or control to the play, a lot of kick and rush and playing on the counter while Milan were much smoother slicker in their build up. Much improved after the changes, Fred and McTominay started to give us penetration in the passing and the runners benefited. Still not much in the way of controlled possession.
Why? If McTominay has anything going for him it's his energy and workrate
There was a clear effort to play out from the back but we are just not good enough to do it yet. Our midfield can't handle the press.
Definitely not just that, Scott will be a great midfielder.
I'm bald now.
Thank you!
I really hope he gets opportunities this season. Based on past performances be a crying shame if he is missing out to Mata, Sanchez, Lingard and certainly Chong. He needs some chances to show if he is ready and able for the step up to the premiership as his technical ability and potential look very high, forget the height/size/strength nonsense
Have you seen a replay that shows his position and that of the ball?
Hope you're right. I still have my doubts. His technical side still doesn't impress me but he's shown enough for me to trust him over our other dm options. I see him as a squad player like a Darron Gibson or a Tom Cleverley tbh
Great passing, good first touch, great awareness. Only thing lacking is experience but it's obvious he bleeds for our club and we seriously need those types of players to set the standards.
if Mata, Matic and Pereira are anywhere near starting line we are done for. They are not even good as bench options.
His lack of minutes in these last few games is weird tbh. Unless he's carrying an injury and no one's said anything.
Matic is not acceptable this season, nor Mata, both too slow and mata not strong enough.
I wonder, now that we are getting Maguire could Tuanzebe play in front of a back four with both fullbacks going forward as usual. In front of Tuanzebe we could have Mctom and Fred who today played well and brought a lot of energy to the game.
I wonder, now that we are getting Maguire could Tuanzebe play in front of a back four with both fullbacks going forward as usual. In front of Tuanzebe we could have Mctom and Fred who today played well and brought a lot of energy to the game.
Result really doesn't matter in preseason friendlies. Technical improvement over last seasons, fitness, player's understanding of the system etc. are more important. And to be honest everything was as grim as last season. Same clueless players running here and there, meaningless passing, zero creativity, no pace, conceding possession.. .all deja vu. We need to release likes of Matic, Mata, Young, Marital. You really can't expect the team to do well with them playing. It was getting so bored, we didn't even have 20% posession since their goal. The entire game was absolutely demotivating..
and then bang... something magical happened towards the end
Gomez, Axel, James decided to put Milan in their place. Lingard and Fred joined the party. McT suddenly came to life. It was a dazzliing display. Now Man Utd fans can sleep quietly knowing there is hope.
and then bang... something magical happened towards the end
Gomez, Axel, James decided to put Milan in their place. Lingard and Fred joined the party. McT suddenly came to life. It was a dazzliing display. Now Man Utd fans can sleep quietly knowing there is hope.
Thats how I saw him, think people are getting a bit carried away after a few good performances. Now seeing him more as a Darren Fletcher, think he can be a big player for us in big games with his energy and workrate closing the ball down and getting stuck in and simple passing moving forward. Still not convinced either he is a first eleven player if we are to be a successful team week in week out, but certainly think of the current set up he is deserving his chances now and be interesting to see how he does this season
Honestly if he turns out to be a Fletcher I'd be delighted, that's a best case scenario for him imo.
DDG stopped a PK. I can't fecking believe it.
Of our current centre backs and adding Maguire and the types of players they are I actually think Tuanzabe is the best centre back partnership for Lindelof OR Maguire rather than the two of them together. WIth the number of centre backs we have I will be really frustrated if it is him going out on loan again.
Unproven on whether he can step up from chapionship and friendlies to gain a spot but I would put him ahead of most of our other centre backs as another option if we sign Maguire and think he can actually make the second cb spot his own over the season....if he gets the chances of course
The magical thing that you refer to was that Milan took off half the team and replaced them with their second string
Not sure why he hasn't been involved, but I'd be surprised if we let him leave given the remaining options.
Pepe Reina is possibly the best keeper I can ever remember in shoot outs, was sure we were losing it before it started knowing that and how bad DeGea is, strange though VDS wasnt great at them and I can only ever remember Schmiechel (who was also awful at them) ever saving one, important though as was the cup semi final against Arsenal.
If he wasnt our keeper and a fantastic one at that, would be comical the regularity he manages to go the wrong way, probably save more standing still....someones going through the middle eventually
Haha so true, people raving about how our youngsters came on and changed the game, which they did.....but it wasnt the same Milan side they were playing against
Nah, I just can't result a good pun. Or a hurricane of puns if needs be.
Best case for me too. Fletcher was slaughtered when he broke through and though maybe overly fondly remebered, he was an important player for us for quite a spell, and always seemed to shine in the big games, McTominays best games so far seem to have been the bigger games as well.
Not convinced he will be a top midfielder as some think, but if he can have some kind of Fletcher like performance, especially in bigger games I would be delighted
So Pogba off or what?
Like others, the last 10 minutes were fun to watch. I hope we get to see James, Greenwood and Gomez a fair amount. Not sure why Greenwood and Gomez didn't come in earlier.
I call BS
It was actually a bit of a nightmare.
There were gaps between the staff coming round taking drinks orders, so on a couple of occasions I had to swim to the pool bar and get my own.
And they ran out of Strela for half an hour so I had to go to shots.
Our depth worries me greatly. The first 11 is barely there, so it's no surprise. But the players we will end up relying on at some point this coming season just aren't good enough, and that is the reason we won't pull up any trees over a 38 game league campaign. I fancy us in the cups though.
It's worrying that Solksjaer keeps picking McTominay and Matic to play alongside each other. THis is just such an obviously bad idea and it's not as if we have no alternative just because Pogba isn't fit. It will cost us games if he does this in competitice matches. It has to be one or the other and at the moment McTominay looks very good when partnered with someone who isn't doing the same job as him.
He also keeps picking Rashford on the left and Martial up top. Rashford is better than Martial up front and Martial is very definitely better than Rashford playing from the left. I mean it's so obvious that I'm not sure what he's even trying to achieve here. Rashford must lose the ball 90% of the time he gets it when he plays on the left. Martial barely gets involved in games at times when he's up top and then keeps appearing on the left anyway. Just swap them round for feck sake.
He also keeps picking Rashford on the left and Martial up top. Rashford is better than Martial up front and Martial is very definitely better than Rashford playing from the left. I mean it's so obvious that I'm not sure what he's even trying to achieve here. Rashford must lose the ball 90% of the time he gets it when he plays on the left. Martial barely gets involved in games at times when he's up top and then keeps appearing on the left anyway. Just swap them round for feck sake.
So Perreira, Matic, and Mata are going to start for us against Chelsea? They were shit today. We needed to put better players on to change the game. It was obvious they were on top, certain players were causing it... hey ho, let's leave them on to inevitably concede.. brill!
Going to be fun predicting the starting X1 v Chelsea after that.
Agreed, Maguire will be first choice and it'll be a battle between Smalling, Lindelof and Tuanzebe(if he doesn't go on loan) for the other spot. If Tuanzebe doesn't leave then I expect Rojo or Jones to go since Bailly is injured for half the season.
I never suggested that they would start against Chelsea. For whatever reason, the management decided that they needed to play for as long as they did regardless of performance.
De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, McTominay, Pogba, Rashford and Martial are the only ones I'm sure about. The rest depends on what happens up to the deadline.