[DomesticTadpole]

That's exactly what makes me sad, since when we can't challenge on every thing? I think Jose doesn't have enough good players.

We don't have the depth of squad to challenge for everything. We have numbers when all fit, but they are not the quality required. That is why he is making the EL a priority. There will be more changes made in the summer to bring in the type of player he wants. If he can keep players fit, he might actually work with a relatively small group of players, changing when necessary, but the players coming in will not cause a drop in quality like now.

 

[Sentient Meat]

This end of the season is the football equivalent of 127 Hours, the movie where the hiker cuts off his arm to save his life.
You know logically that giving up on the Premiership gives you the best chance of survival but that doesn't make it any less painful to watch.

 

[SteveJ]

Sarah 'Neutral' Winterburn continues her War on Jose:
http://www.football365.com/news/arsenal-2-0-manchester-united-16-conclusions

About six of her 16 Conclusions are about Mourinho, ffs.

 

[Mister_Stubbs]

Sarah 'Neutral' Winterburn continues her War on Jose:
http://www.football365.com/news/arsenal-2-0-manchester-united-16-conclusions

About six of her 16 Conclusions are about Mourinho, ffs.

I stopped reading at Sarah.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

This thread FFS!

Some of the posts on here are worse than RAWK and the City forum

I wonder if they sought parental permission before posting such shit

 

[cantonaldo]

We are Manchester United. We should be fighting right till the end on all fronts.

Even Fergie tweaked his teams in favour of European competitions. Let us not forget how he opted to field weaker teams in the FA Cups when we were competing in Europe. Give your new manager a break will ya...

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Even Fergie tweaked his teams in favour of European competitions. Let us not forget how he opted to field weaker teams in the FA Cups when we were competing in Europe. Give your new manager a break will ya...

Well said. We've been so much better than last season but people still expect miracles.

Win the Europa and we've had a great season.

 

[donkeyfish]

Getting the game a bit on distance, I'd say we weren't all that horrible. Second half was dire, but first half was quite evenly played imo. Even had two good opportunities to score.

I'm not that bitter actually.

 

[Harry190]

Meh result. But they turned up, when the pressure is off.

Watch them lose at Southampton next.

 

[Ainu]

To be honest I'm not too bothered about this one. Losing against Arsenal is never nice but getting anything from the league anymore was always going to be extremely difficult. Prioritizing the Europa was the only logical choice. Not only is it our best chance of getting a ticket straight to the group stages of the Champions League, it's an actual trophy. In comparison, getting fourth is garbage. Not a trophy and we'd be faced with an annoying qualifier.

 

[notcool]

To me, it was pointless, especially given our full backs hardly got forward, so they could have tracked the runs of the wing backs.

What about Ozil and Alexis?

 

[VeevaVee]

Why would I question the post?

I have no idea, because you might disagree with it like everything else? Are you always this hard work?

 

[Maradona10]

We would not have gotten top 4 even if we drew or won today. We would not have beaten spurs away(havent lost a game at home whole season) nor southampton away. Then come our home form.
I think mou decided against swansea that he is choosing europa and his teams and the way they have played since have shown us the same. I think he knows we dont have the quality to do both so he chose europa which looks more likely anyway.
Still we had chances, in particular wayne rooney and missed em. We got unlucky with the goal and then a good bit of play. Arsenal had their best side out and we could have taken them with our B team were it not for a freak goal.I think we are set for a good next season. I just want us to concentrate fully on europa now.

 

[shaggy]

Bad performance, didn't think arsenal were much better. Anyway, must win this Thursday then we can chill out until the final.

 

[David Bartley]

Arsenal beat us, fans are happy, Wenger signs a new 10 year deal.

Another master stroke from Jose.

It's all part of a brilliant plan by Mourinho to keep Wenger at Arsenal for a little longer.

Indeed so. If I had the awful luck to be an Arsenal fan I would now be extremely worried that they will limp into 4th and Wenger would stay on. A cunning plan!

 

[Maradona10]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Love it!

 

[afrocentricity]

Meh...

 

[Maradona10]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[podurban2]

We also don't lose against Arsenal.

 

[Moonwalker]

I didn't watch the game, so I'd feel as a bit of an imposter in any discussion about it, but the emotions seem a tad overstated, considering the outcome was so predictable.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We also don't lose against Arsenal.

Lost last year.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

It was to be expected given our team. Rooney is a complete non-entity on the pitch, we may as well play with 10 men. He literally brings nothing to the table anymore, at all.

Glad Tuanzebe got a game, shite performance, shite result, I hate Danny Welbeck, onto the EL now. League is completely done and dusted, for a fourth straight year since SAF retired.

 

[Raoul]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Love it!

 

[TwoSheds]

I'm not normally a critic but Rooney can feck off now. Doesn't care at all about anything except trying to make himself look clever. So many opportunities to bang it today and he'd try to reverse it into the other corner or some other stupid shit. Thanks for the memories and pack your bags for China. Mkhitaryan was poor, Lingard very sloppy, Herrera shocking, Martial tried but wasn't quite at the races, similar with Rashford, Darmian I just don't get at all. Capable of some very good defending and also of just completely switching off and giving up. Smalling I thought was fairly poor too but it's his first game back. Pleased with Tuanzebe, certainly very accomplished defensively against one of the best forwards in the league. Also nice to see Mata again and I thought he did well. McTominay a big surprise but did quite well tbf. Mourinho had some weird tactics going on but they would have worked fine if the majority of the players had turned up tbf.

 

[The United Irishman]

I scored Martial a 3...Looks more and more like a Sunday league player every time I watch him play,,,Wouldn't give two fecks if we sold him!

 

[Lentwood]

I have been criticised for my opinions on Mata but today just epitomises why we need to take whatever we can get for him and get rid

Lovely bloke, technically very good but lacks pace, is one footed, has no tricks and can't whip the ball in at pace

People constantly bang on about stats - I am sure his goal and assist records are reasonable compared to other players - but the lad should be in his prime and is does not have the attributes to play the game Jose wants

 

[Ixion]

I have been criticised for my opinions on Mata but today just epitomises why we need to take whatever we can get for him and get rid

Lovely bloke, technically very good but lacks pace, is one footed, has no tricks and can't whip the ball in at pace

People constantly bang on about stats - I am sure his goal and assist records are reasonable compared to other players - but the lad should be in his prime and is does not have the attributes to play the game Jose wants

It was his first game back. I bet you've been desperate to post something like that since he had surgery.

 

[Lentwood]

It was his first game back. I bet you've been desperate to post something like that since he had surgery.

No not at all. I have been posting stuff like that for two years

Surgery or no surgery doesn't change the fact that he is too slow and too safe

 

[The Purist]

Mourinho knew exactly what he was doing today. Defending the centre of the park is the most important thing when it comes to beating Arsenal and dropping (read: 'resting') Pogba was the right decision on this occasion. I remember he failed to track Chamberlain in the game at OT when we scored the equaliser. Rooney, obviously, has been the biggest thorn in our side for years.. up there with Drogba.. and generally raises his game for us. Bar Valencia for Tuanzebe (who played well), nobody was 'rested' for anything other than tactical purposes.

The only reason he didn't get the result he was hoping for was that he came up against a pragmatic Arsenal side who didn't want to give United anything easy like we have in the past. The counter attacking style was largely nullified by a patient Arsenal and once we got the slice of luck for the goal, Jose's one-dimensional approach was laid bare for all to see.

If United fans do genuinely believe that he 'put all the eggs in one basket' on the day that Liverpool handed control of top 4 back to you - then I can only imagine that you would be furious at the unnecessary risk. Obvious to anyone, though, is that this is simply an excuse.

 

[Zoo]

^ First paragraph is hilarious.

 

[Mister_Stubbs]

It's amazing how many Arsenal fans are crawling out from under their rocks after today.

 

[The Purist]

^ First paragraph is hilarious.

So is the idea that grown men believe Mourinho intentionally played a weakened side against Arsenal and accepted defeat as a possibility. Even more so when you consider who brought on Rashford (to whom an injury could spell the end of your season) and how angry he was in his post-match interview - so much so that he resorted to an unsurprising sniping comment about how Arsenal fans can finally leave the Emirates happy in a game against him in the Premier League, despite the fact that he's never actually won at our stadium.

What happened to football fans who could just admit their team got beat on the day? Miss the older breed.

 

[Maradona10]

Mourinho knew exactly what he was doing today. Defending the centre of the park is the most important thing when it comes to beating Arsenal and dropping (read: 'resting') Pogba was the right decision on this occasion. I remember he failed to track Chamberlain in the game at OT when we scored the equaliser. Rooney, obviously, has been the biggest thorn in our side for years.. up there with Drogba.. and generally raises his game for us. Bar Valencia for Tuanzebe (who played well), nobody was 'rested' for anything other than tactical purposes.

The only reason he didn't get the result he was hoping for was that he came up against a pragmatic Arsenal side who didn't want to give United anything easy like we have in the past. The counter attacking style was largely nullified by a patient Arsenal and once we got the slice of luck for the goal, Jose's one-dimensional approach was laid bare for all to see.

If United fans do genuinely believe that he 'put all the eggs in one basket' on the day that Liverpool handed control of top 4 back to you - then I can only imagine that you would be furious at the unnecessary risk. Obvious to anyone, though, is that this is simply an excuse.

So we rested Rashford, eric bailly, blind,pogba, valencia and FFS lingard all for tactical reasons. That is 6 people for "tactical reasons". Do you see the flaw in your logic? We just gave you that victory and i know its painful for you to win this way, but thats the way it is. Mata,smalling and jones were all coming bac for injury. Tuanzebe made his debut and to top it all off we played rooney(Third game since 1 jan 2017). It was our B side, was it not for a freak goal we would have kepyt you at bay.

 

[Zoo]

So is the idea that grown men believe Mourinho intentionally played a weakened side against Arsenal and accepted defeat as a possibility. Even more so when you consider who brought on Rashford (to whom an injury could spell the end of your season) and how angry he was in his post-match interview - so much so that he resorted to an unsurprising sniping comment about how Arsenal fans can finally leave the Emirates happy in a game against him in the Premier League, despite the fact that he's never actually won at our stadium.

I don't believe he played a weakened team, he prioritised but still came to get a result. Frankly it was two poor teams playing in a dull game but you had the lucky break.

 

[Mal donaghy]

Are some people mad or blind, we have played great attacking football all season, we have literally come up against, keepers that perform so well against us they look like they are on peds!!
Referee's that seem to take the piss, with dodgy decisions, and pure bad look.

For most part off the season we have been attacking at will, and mean at the back !! I don't know what some on here have been watching,
I honestly think we are a deadly goal scorer away from being up there challenging anyone , I can see the direction mouriniho (Jose)!!! Is taking us , and I for one am liking,, and can't wait to see who we buy also, so cheer up you miserable sods !!

 

[Moonwalker]

So is the idea that grown men believe Mourinho intentionally played a weakened side against Arsenal and accepted defeat as a possibility. Even more so when you consider who brought on Rashford (to whom an injury could spell the end of your season) and how angry he was in his post-match interview - so much so that he resorted to an unsurprising sniping comment about how Arsenal fans can finally leave the Emirates happy in a game against him in the Premier League, despite the fact that he's never actually won at our stadium.

What happened to football fans who could just admit their team got beat on the day? Miss the older breed.

Oh, go away. You're worse than the Mourinhonoids.

 

[The Purist]

So we rested Rashford, eric bailly, blind,pogba, valencia and FFS lingard all for tactical reasons. That is 6 people for "tactical reasons". Do you see the flaw in your logic? We just gave you that victory and i know its painful for you to win this way, but thats the way it is. Mata,smalling and jones were all coming bac for injury. Tuanzebe made his debut and to top it all off we played rooney(Third game since 1 jan 2017). It was our B side, was it not for a freak goal we would have kepyt you at bay.

Well you have a pretty deep squad of players. You could just as easily be saying 'so we rested Mkhitaryan, Martial, Mata, Carrick, Herrera' etc. The thing with playing a defensive style of football is that the individual quality of the player doesn't necessarily matter.. what is most important is his intelligence on the field and ability to plug gaps. Herrera and Carrick are absolutely the best United have in this department and therefore, yes, Pogba was not the right move on this day.

Lingard is not better than Martial, Mkhitaryan or Mata. Eric Bailly is not as experienced as Jones or Smalling for a game like this.. both of whom are incredibly pragmatic defenders and pretty good at cutting stuff out in the box as opposed to Bailly who suits defending high in a more open game. Rashford was likely not risked as a starter due to injury concerns but Mourinho did try to use him to claw back the game, although he was totally nullified by our defence. Valencia, I agree, probably should have started.. but I don't think it would have mattered.

 

[The Purist]

I don't believe he played a weakened team, he prioritised but still came to get a result. Frankly it was two poor teams playing in a dull game but you had the lucky break.

And I agree with your last sentence. Not sure why you're laughing at my first paragraph, then. Because Mourinho picked a side that played to our weaknesses and usually would have beaten us, if we hadn't been so patient.

 

[Sarni]

Tough loss, especially as a win would have put us awfully close to Liverpool and City but realistically we still have to travel to a very tough Spurs ground for their last WHL game so naturally the odds would still be against us. Putting all our eggs in EL basket makes more sense, it's also a better route to CL as a) it's an actual major trophy, b) it does not even require you to go through qualifiers.

 

[Robbie Boy]

So glad I was only to catch 5 minutes of this today.