We looked like Arsenal today, no cutting edge.
Post match V Everton
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
Awful performance. No cohesion at all, the players looked like they'd never seen each other before in their lives - no one was on the same wavelength.
I thought Kagawa was poor, his passing was rubbish and he was constantly trying little flicks that didn't come off. Scholes was diabolically bad, especially during the first 15 minutes. Nani didn't do anything good all game, neither did Rooney.
In fact the only players who weren't utter shite were Cleverley and De Gea.
I thought Kagawa was poor, his passing was rubbish and he was constantly trying little flicks that didn't come off. Scholes was diabolically bad, especially during the first 15 minutes. Nani didn't do anything good all game, neither did Rooney.
In fact the only players who weren't utter shite were Cleverley and De Gea.
If he's not going to use Wooten then I would much rather have mobility in midfield at the sacrifice of Scholes. With Anderson and Cleverley in there I think we'd have much more mobility to at least cover the back four somewhat.
We are wafer thin however. If SAF can punt 3m on a backup LB then he surely could punt 3m on a backup limited ball winner.
If you thought Kagawa was poor Jaywin you'll have yourself earmarked as a numpty tbh. He was easily our best player today alongside DDG. Our only player that managed to create anything. Rooney and Welbeck just didn't finish. He also would have gotten one of our best chances, if not the best, had the ref and linesman not decided to read the rules wrong.
Cleverley was pretty poor defensively. Everton ran through the middle more than we did. He does a lot of pressing on his own instead of doing it with the team. Midfield was poor as a whole closing them down.
Cleverley was pretty poor defensively. Everton ran through the middle more than we did. He does a lot of pressing on his own instead of doing it with the team. Midfield was poor as a whole closing them down.
We looked like a team that's still on a pre-season tour - we didn't look anywhere near ready. Too many missed passes, miscommunications, bad touches and horrible crosses. We looked like a team that's got a month to go before the actual season starts. I really hope that's not the case...well, it isn't for Kagawa - he looked sharp and so did DeGea (thank God). By the way, was it just me or did someone feed DeGea some steak and biscuits over the summer? He looks like he put on some much needed bulk.
Everton on the other hand looked like a team playing at full-bore in January. I've never rated Fellaini until today - the guy played probably his best match ever. Him, Jagielka, Pienaar, Osman and to some extent Baines had unbelievable games. Everton are notorious for starting their seasons slowly and I've always wondered what they might do if they got off to a good start...unfortunately for us, it looks like that may have just happened...when we look anything but ready for the '12-'13 season...
Everton on the other hand looked like a team playing at full-bore in January. I've never rated Fellaini until today - the guy played probably his best match ever. Him, Jagielka, Pienaar, Osman and to some extent Baines had unbelievable games. Everton are notorious for starting their seasons slowly and I've always wondered what they might do if they got off to a good start...unfortunately for us, it looks like that may have just happened...when we look anything but ready for the '12-'13 season...
Everton did not travel far this year during their preseason, unlike previous years. We did.
Fellaini has had many quality games. This was just one of them.
bell-end.Played like in pre-season mode. Shining star was Kagawa.
Btw Apparently in the history of the league, no team has gone on to win the league when they lost their season's opener -- except on two occasions*.
* United were the exceptions on those two occasions.
Btw Apparently in the history of the league, no team has gone on to win the league when they lost their season's opener -- except on two occasions*.
* United were the exceptions on those two occasions.
Were we even watching the same match!!!
Just checking, but United lost 0-1 in the one I saw; and Kagawa and De Gea were the only players who played well.
only de gea can claim some credit for his performance.
I have no idea how some people can think Kagawa played poorly after today.
forgot to mention his name. okay. de gea and kagawa.
I'll admit, regardless of all our defensive injuries, people playing out of position etc etc, all that depression and general down feeling came flooding back from that final day of last season last night. Not sure why..but I just thought we looked like the same old rather static united. There is a lack of movement sometimes that is so unlike a united team.
Anyway, its early days of course, but having really hyped myself for this season (against what my body and brain were feeling) and then having flashbacks of how I felt at the end of last....for the first time in my many many years of supporting United, I almost feel like having a seasons sebatical, just for mental health reasons...!!
Ah well....its only football eh?......football....bloody hell......
Anyway, its early days of course, but having really hyped myself for this season (against what my body and brain were feeling) and then having flashbacks of how I felt at the end of last....for the first time in my many many years of supporting United, I almost feel like having a seasons sebatical, just for mental health reasons...!!
Ah well....its only football eh?......football....bloody hell......
RVP leaves Arsenal for United.
.....And finds that we start playing like Arsenal
Sigh! What I wouldn't give to see us sign a physical midfield presence, like Tiote, or Fellaini!
Even if we did have an injury crisis in defence, having such a presence would surely help shield a bit.
.....And finds that we start playing like Arsenal
Sigh! What I wouldn't give to see us sign a physical midfield presence, like Tiote, or Fellaini!
Even if we did have an injury crisis in defence, having such a presence would surely help shield a bit.
What the hell are the players doing in the training to get themselves injured? Or the training methods we use are decades old?
City had Balotelli, Boateng, Kolarov, Richards, Bridge & Lescott injured in early around October 2010, under Mancini. And the Ex coach was criticizing him for overworking the players. He may might've made some changes,and that's probably why they didn't have any notable injury last season.
knee jerk
City had Balotelli, Boateng, Kolarov, Richards, Bridge & Lescott injured in early around October 2010, under Mancini. And the Ex coach was criticizing him for overworking the players. He may might've made some changes,and that's probably why they didn't have any notable injury last season.
knee jerk
It has to be the training methods, we must be doing something wrong there. Getting injuries once or twice might be a coincidence, but topping the injury table annually is a sign that there's something seriously wrong with it.
Agreed. As always people will say "how do you figure that one of the biggest teams in the world don't know how to manage injury problems" but it's no coincidence that every year we have the same injury problems. How many times have we had these huge defensive crisis's that no other team seems to have. We have more cover than most teams in the world, yet regularly we are left with having to play midfielders in defence.
I feel Scholes is getting a lot of unfair stick in this thread.
well If thats all he had it surprises me because he constantly harassed our midfield thus slowing down our attack.
Moyes obviously decided that the only way they were going to get something from this game and change their reputation for being slow starters was to revert to the old Wimbledon style of play and hoof the ball up to the strong fella at the front to hopefully force pressure and errors on United's makeshift defense. It worked really, as it did on many occasions for that old Wimbledon team!!
I'm sure much will be said to the team this week by Fergie and Phelan. It makes the Fulham game more pressured (no mean push-overs these days) and has quite a psychological significance now for the team....and the fans!
I'm sure much will be said to the team this week by Fergie and Phelan. It makes the Fulham game more pressured (no mean push-overs these days) and has quite a psychological significance now for the team....and the fans!
I just want to bump this. Just to emphasis that not really much in the way of deeper midfielders that could have helped the scoreline.
The feck? Three times he sent someone through (rooney early in the match, welbeck miss+fouled, welbeck outpaced), 1 well worked cross for Rooney to miss with his poor header, and a calm layoff in a busy penalty area for cleverly to not finish off because of a goal line clearance from Jagielka.
He made 68 out of 75 passes (91%), so he wasn't inconsistent with his passing either... those "little flicks that didn't come off" must be the seven passes he missed
Rubbish and poor certainly aren't the words that come to mind when you watch this:
Special attention to 0:50, 6:04, 7:32, 8:09, 10:25. On another day, he could have had two assists at the least.
What in the blue feck are you talking about?
The Fulham game is definitely high pressure, because if we lose we could be 9pts behind Chelsea. They are at home v. Reading, then home v. Newcastle. Hoping Newcastle can get something off them. Not sure why everyone is surprised by our lack of chances. The pre-season we are usually pretty free scoring, but not this one. It has carried on into the season.
Only good things from game were De Gea and Kagawa. Vidic getting another game was good. Rooney and Nani were were woeful the rest not much better.
We lacked a cutting edge , which is surprising considering we have the best forward options since 99.
The forwards could be scary, but you are only as good as your supply line. Everyone was saying how good Van Persie will be with the supply we will give him. Not with Nani in this form, Valencia being wasted at right back and Young not playing with confidence. Hopefully they will improve on Saturday.
That was one hell of hard opening game for us. At least we won't be going there again. The crowd really influences the referee. Nani and Scholes getting booked early.
Probably the reason why Moyes made sure Everton paid a lot of attention to their defending, which they did extremely well. Add to that the poor quality of service from our wingers we were always hoping for that majestic through ball to get behind their defense.
Anyway, Everton always seem to raise their game against us. Watch them lose by a couple of goals next week away to Aston Villa!!
So my thoughts on last night-
Think we looked rusty. The only players I'd say particularly had bad games were Rooney, Nani and Evra - Evra at times can look like a real liability. Apart from those 3 the majority were average at best. Carrick covered well at CB, Valencia not so good.
On the positive front, Kagawa looked excellent, looked confident, assured, creative - can't wait to see more of him. DDG also had an excellent 1st half. Everton played well and deserved the points.
If we look back after 38 games at our losses, seeing "Everton (A)" there is no disgrace, tough place to go and the crowd really got beind them, egged on by it being the 1st game of the season. Long way to go, once things start clicking we will be firing on all cylinders.
Think we looked rusty. The only players I'd say particularly had bad games were Rooney, Nani and Evra - Evra at times can look like a real liability. Apart from those 3 the majority were average at best. Carrick covered well at CB, Valencia not so good.
On the positive front, Kagawa looked excellent, looked confident, assured, creative - can't wait to see more of him. DDG also had an excellent 1st half. Everton played well and deserved the points.
If we look back after 38 games at our losses, seeing "Everton (A)" there is no disgrace, tough place to go and the crowd really got beind them, egged on by it being the 1st game of the season. Long way to go, once things start clicking we will be firing on all cylinders.
Losing away to Everton is not the end of the world. I can see Fellaini doing a job on City also. I would have taken a draw beforehand in a second.
Everton had the better chances, altogether, David de Gea was having a brilliant performance and a bit of luck, however I think the goal was a bit of a lapse in concentration: when you watch it again, at the moment the corner is hit, Vidic is chatting with de Gea and seems surprised that it's played so quickly. Carrick is marking Fellaini, which I don't understand: even though Vidic is back from injury, surely you want your strongest defender marking the main danger. That was a bit disappointing for me.
I thought de Gea played brilliantly, especially in the first half where he had a lot to do. Valencia did his job but he was obviously wary of getting forward and being exposed, so he was a bit limited until the end when we were piling up the pressure. Carrick did what he could but isn't a CB and found it hard to deal with the physicality of the opposition. I thought Vidic was very impressive for a return to competition, such a relief to have him back. Looks almost skinny though! Evra seems to have picked up where he left off last year: lapses in defence and his offensive play isn't that great. A lot of balls wasted towards the end, and his crossing isn't that good. In midfield, I think Scholes and Cleverley did really well. I was very disappointed by Nani's performance who, in my view, didn't put a foot right all evening. Hope he does better next time, because he's very wasteful during games like last night. I was very impressed by Kagawa, who at one point seemed to switch off during the second half, I thought he was struggling with the physical side of the game, but he was then again very lively during the closing stages. Rooney was hit and miss but not as bad as some are making out here, I think, and Welbeck did pretty well. Van Persie found it hard to get on the ball when he came on, but almost got a match winning ball through to Kagawa. Young seemed more dangerous than Nani when he came on, but that isn't saying much and it wasn't brilliant. Thought Ando brought a much needed physical burst from our midfield and did ok. Think he will start on Saturday.
There's one stat that seems important to me about yesterday's game: we had 70% of possession. Last year, in these kind of away games, it wasn't rare that we would get bullied off the ball and not exist, leaving the other team the luxury to impose their rhythm. Last night, I really don't think that was the case: Everton were more physical and more direct in their play, but only had a few chances that were really created through build-up play. We had the majority of the ball, but some of our play seemed a bit rusty and the players don't quite know each other well enough yet. You've got Cleverley who's coming back after months away and Kagawa who's in the most important position vis-à-vis our attacking play, two essential cogs who aren't quite yet completely embedded in the team. As for Van Persie, he very obviously had no idea where to position himself, which won't happen very often. It's not far off, it'll take a few games but I really think there were some promising signs up front. However, I really hope we have a real defence back soon...
Shouldn't get too bummed out by this defeat: Everton played very well and Goodison Park is never an easy place to go. We're still a work in progress, and I'm sure we'll just get better.
I thought de Gea played brilliantly, especially in the first half where he had a lot to do. Valencia did his job but he was obviously wary of getting forward and being exposed, so he was a bit limited until the end when we were piling up the pressure. Carrick did what he could but isn't a CB and found it hard to deal with the physicality of the opposition. I thought Vidic was very impressive for a return to competition, such a relief to have him back. Looks almost skinny though! Evra seems to have picked up where he left off last year: lapses in defence and his offensive play isn't that great. A lot of balls wasted towards the end, and his crossing isn't that good. In midfield, I think Scholes and Cleverley did really well. I was very disappointed by Nani's performance who, in my view, didn't put a foot right all evening. Hope he does better next time, because he's very wasteful during games like last night. I was very impressed by Kagawa, who at one point seemed to switch off during the second half, I thought he was struggling with the physical side of the game, but he was then again very lively during the closing stages. Rooney was hit and miss but not as bad as some are making out here, I think, and Welbeck did pretty well. Van Persie found it hard to get on the ball when he came on, but almost got a match winning ball through to Kagawa. Young seemed more dangerous than Nani when he came on, but that isn't saying much and it wasn't brilliant. Thought Ando brought a much needed physical burst from our midfield and did ok. Think he will start on Saturday.
There's one stat that seems important to me about yesterday's game: we had 70% of possession. Last year, in these kind of away games, it wasn't rare that we would get bullied off the ball and not exist, leaving the other team the luxury to impose their rhythm. Last night, I really don't think that was the case: Everton were more physical and more direct in their play, but only had a few chances that were really created through build-up play. We had the majority of the ball, but some of our play seemed a bit rusty and the players don't quite know each other well enough yet. You've got Cleverley who's coming back after months away and Kagawa who's in the most important position vis-à-vis our attacking play, two essential cogs who aren't quite yet completely embedded in the team. As for Van Persie, he very obviously had no idea where to position himself, which won't happen very often. It's not far off, it'll take a few games but I really think there were some promising signs up front. However, I really hope we have a real defence back soon...
Shouldn't get too bummed out by this defeat: Everton played very well and Goodison Park is never an easy place to go. We're still a work in progress, and I'm sure we'll just get better.
Nani was shockingly bad, worse than usual. I can count on one hand the number of times he's had a good game.
Valencia was unusually reluctant to try to take a man on or cross.
Rooney was poor but slowly improved throughout the match.
Rest of the team was OK, De Gea outstanding.
Fellaini just bossed it.
Everton away was always going to be a tough fixture and Fellaini was a man possessed. Man v Boy against Carrick. Carrick marking him on the corner? Who's bright idea was that?
It was a stinking performance so better to get it out of the way now and hopefully kick on from here.
Valencia was unusually reluctant to try to take a man on or cross.
Rooney was poor but slowly improved throughout the match.
Rest of the team was OK, De Gea outstanding.
Fellaini just bossed it.
Everton away was always going to be a tough fixture and Fellaini was a man possessed. Man v Boy against Carrick. Carrick marking him on the corner? Who's bright idea was that?
It was a stinking performance so better to get it out of the way now and hopefully kick on from here.
Everton played very well, we didn't quite get ticking and Rooney and Nani in particular seemed to still be in preseason mode.
Kagawa looked very good.
Kagawa looked very good.
I presume we didn't start with Van Persie as he is not match fit yet. There again neither is Rooney it seems.
Credit to Everton. They defended well and their directness caused us problems. Fellaini was easily man of the match. In fact that's one of the best individual performances you'll see for a long time. We didn't help ourselves. Our crossing was diabolical. The number of crosses that were blocked or just went out of player, isn't really acceptable. Though we had more of the ball, there was little creativity or imagination. If Cleverlys effort had of gone in, you never know but it was a poor goal to give away. Fellaini was a threat all night, if you can't win the header put the guy off. It's almost worth putting two men on him. Annoying.
Lack of physical presence, lack of movement off the ball, lack of motivation and determination. Embarrassing in terms of individual technical ability as well.
One of the worst game I've ever seen.
One of the worst game I've ever seen.
One the worst games you've seen?
Really?
We had 65% of the ball, we lacked a 'cutting edge' but there's no way we were that bad.
Really?
We had 65% of the ball, we lacked a 'cutting edge' but there's no way we were that bad.
Mmm. Not sure. Kompany at the top of his game. Also, the battle between Touré and Fellaini is set to be absolutely titanic.
Actually, it makes it even worse.
Even with the ball we created few chances, and scored a grand sum of 0 goals. We conceded once, even with having all this possession, and Everton could have scored much more.
You said in the match thread that we should get rid of Nani, that sums you up.
It was a very good game to watch from a neutral point of view (I watched it with a couple of friends who don't really support either team), a lot of intensity for a first game of the season. I really don't think we did as badly as many here are making out, but Everton were definitely the better side.