Manchester United vs Everton (Friendly) Saturday 7th August 2021 @ 12:45pm BST

lysglimt

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For sure. Rafa is an awful choice IMO.
It's not the main problem. You look at this Everton-side and ask yourself - do they have a squad that is better than Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester, Aston Villa - the answer is no. So anything better than 9th will be a strong season for Everton - but they wont end better than 9th. But they have fans who expect them to reach a higher position.

Yes their first 11 is decent - not great, but behind those 11 its paper-thin
 

FrankDrebin

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Brentford was a much better competitive match to judge some of the players on the fringes.
We did good but Everton gave us alot today.
 

lysglimt

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Dalot was getting slated v Brentford.

Caf is bipolar
Dalot defensively and offensively - not the same thing. I still don't think Dalot is good enough defensively, but he is good enough as backup for AWB
 

FrankDrebin

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Sorry but I wouldn't feel confident going into next season with Dalot and Williams as back-ups for AWB and Shaw.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Brentford was a much better competitive match to judge some of the players on the fringes.
We did good but Everton gave us alot today.
Enjoyed that game as well, but the defence was not the one you suspect will start against Leeds. Loved the tempo in both games.
 

Sultan

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I thought Matic and DVB looked very assured with their quick incisive passing. Gives Ole something to think about going forward with McFred combination. Obviously, 3 very well taken goals. Still a bit concerning with some of the defending. Hopefully, Varane will remedy that once he gets to speed. Maguire and Varane should also be massive threats in the opposing penalty areas.
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Everton have had a pretty good pre season and definitely ahead of us fitness wise so it was a surprise to see us look sharper than them. They looked quite sharp in their games in Orlando, had the likes of Digne, Godfrey etc available for them for 2 weeks longer than our lot.

They created a few big chances that maybe DCL would've scored though but otherwise we were all over then today and that was without so much of our talent.

Leeds will be a much tougher game for us absolutely, but I am definitely more confident
 

always_hoping

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Good win, didn't get the opportunity to watch it, who was the stand outs for United and how many of that starting 11 today do you think will also start v Leeds?
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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I beg to differ :lol: ….. nothing wrong with critiquing his performance in my opinion good or bad….it’s when it goes beyond that or completely out of context that it gets ridiculous. Like when he has ten good games and a bad game and you get the usual nonsense about one good game in ten….or people go off on one about a pre season friendly when a player has only trained for a few days.
You can beg to differ all you want. I spend countless times defending Paul.

He had a poor game today and there's not much more to add really. People can say it's a pre season game but I can only comment on what I see and today I saw a sloppy Pogba.
 

NZT-One

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Why do people read anything into friendlies anyway? Not sure why some people don't seem to grasp that they're meaningless (sorry Andreas).
I don't think, they are meaningless at all. Sure, to evaluate a players quality, it doesn't make sense. But that applies to any individual game. Pre-season gives some insight about the ideas of the manager, I think, it is pretty clear, that we try to play a more quicker and risikier short pass game and that we don't seem to want to stay using a double pivot. That isn't meaningless at all.
 

Borninthe80ts

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Pleasing afternoons entertainment. Much better movement and link up based on Matic's dictation from deep. I have to question though the metrics by which people judge a player's performance. Some players seem to get critiqued for the slightest mistake yet others perseved as better don't. Maybe it's just me?
 

flappyjay

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Sorry but I wouldn't feel confident going into next season with Dalot and Williams as back-ups for AWB and Shaw.
Telles is the back to Shaw. As for Dalot o don't trust him against any opposition unless he is at rwb in a back 3.
 

roseguy64

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It's disgusting how quickly some wrote Dalot off after that blunder in the previously friendly. While I have doubts if his defending is of the required level, he's a better backup than Williams and a decent wingback too.

Mata goes to Spain to grief his mother's passing and suddenly people are disgusted he gets a 1 year contract with a reduced salary after being quite good at the start of last season. He's a perfect player to add some depth to the squad. Can play 2 positions and won't sulk or a demand a loan if he doesn't play.
Agreed. People conveniently ignoring that he wasn't used much last season because he wasn't in the squad and using that against him and wondering why we renewed Mata's contract.

Also, very harsh to judge players in their first preseason game of the season.
 

Number32

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Seems like Ole decision to hire a 'set-piece' coach has been paid off so far.
 

dutchred

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I'm curious how Garner played when he came on. Can someone give some assessment
 

LawCharltonBest

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Wish that was the first league game!!

Just a friendly but it showed we do have some depth now that the loanees are back (for now) and with Varane and Sancho to join and Rashford back in 2 months, we look quite strong.
 

Desert Eagle

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I thought Matic and DVB looked very assured with their quick incisive passing. Gives Ole something to think about going forward with McFred combination. Obviously, 3 very well taken goals. Still a bit concerning with some of the defending. Hopefully, Varane will remedy that once he gets to speed. Maguire and Varane should also be massive threats in the opposing penalty areas.
Yeah DVB playing that deep role is the most positive thing for me. Hopefully he can give us a solid option from there this season.
 

MadDogg

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Good win, didn't get the opportunity to watch it, who was the stand outs for United and how many of that starting 11 today do you think will also start v Leeds?
Matic was fantastic for the first 30 minutes or so, probably the best anybody played in the match. He did drift out of it a bit after that though, and was then replaced at halftime. Bruno was good. Maguire and Shaw were their usual solid selves; probably Lindelof as well. Mason was good in the first half when he was on the right, in the second half he played up front and wasn't as good. VDB was probably better than he was last season, although I wouldn't say he was anything more than decent.

In the second half Fred was average for the first 15 minutes but good after that, and Dalot was surprisingly good once he came on.

I'm tempted to say Matic might have played himself into the starting line-up in the first match, but Leeds' hard-pressing style might be a really bad opponent for him.