[Niall]

Lots of criticism of De Gea today. My unpopular opinion has always been that De Gea perhaps isn't our best all-round keeper.

Yes, he can make miracle saves - but, Spurs aside, since Ole has been at the club, how often have we really needed him to bail us out?

I've always been very 'meh' about him leaving, especially as we have Romero as backup. Right now, I suspect Romeo may actually be the best 'keeper at the club - he's much more assured with high balls and I'd back him in a penalty shoot-out. Plus, I think he can actually organise and scare the defence, something De Gea just cannot do.

Incredibly harsh. Heaven forbid our best player of the last 4-5 seasons has a dip in form. No way is Romero a comparable replacement if De Gea were to leave.

I think you need to look back at the saves De Gea has made ever since Fergie retired. We probably would have won nothing and not had any Champions League football without him.

 

[deadrevelz]

Of course you can't keep extending an away run of 9 wins which included PSG, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea with an injured squad. A loss was coming, just gutted we gave away three points to Arsenal, I fear they are going to get that fourth place spot now. Let's hope Chelsea drop more points, and that Spurs do, too.

Unfortunately, if viewed as an individual game, their manager outclassed ours. They set up in a way that compressed the space for our attack, which meant we had to be spot on when we had chances or started counters - we failed at both. Ole never adjusted to that, neither did he take our worst player in Rashford off, who was missing chances, misplacing through balls, fecking up counters and making poor decisions over and over again. Ultimately, that cost us the game. Lukaku, despite missing his chances had a better game for me.

And then there was the case of Fred. So many people on match day being overly impressed by his workrate, energy and occasional tackle. He screwed up every single counter attacking opportunity that we had, he was constantly out of position, losing possession with an ambitious ball while all we needed was some composure while our forwards got into position and he was stupid with the penalty (soft, but should never have given the ref a chance). He is far from being ready for a Man United midfield. We sorely missed Herrera's in game intelligence and leadership today, or even McTominay's quiet ball retention ability. Add that to a keeper who can't distribute to save his life and a defence (bar Shaw) who resorted to aimless hoofball, and we lost any hope of control in the field.

Ole should have taken at least one of them off at half-time or even the 60th minute. He didn't and in my opinion that cost us the game.

Frustrating that after all the positivity we end up in 6th place, again. This and the Chelsea game were the only two games we couldn't afford to lose, and Ole was naive today. We got PSGed by Arsenal. Like I said in the matchday thread, I'd rather take a thumping win today than a chance at CL QF this season. We're in the middle of a rebuild under a new manager, and we needed the promise of CL for next season far more than we needed the magic of one more European night next month.

On the other hand, I'm now sure we'll beat Wolves in the FA cup, next.

Sorry but I don't see how you can blame Ole for that. De Gea cost us the first goal. Lukaku missed two sitters. Rashford was poor. Lindelof had his first bad game for about 4 months. Then Arsenal got an incorrect penalty. We created more chances than them, was just a bad day. I agree about subs not being quick enough though - should have happened before the penalty.

Fred was ok, made mistakes, also made some good passes, including one that should have been an assist for Lukaku.
Agree about Herrera though, he's simply a better player than our other midfielders.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

When was the last time De Gea saved a penalty?

Somebody said against Leighton Baines. Was it that game he had an absolute blinder?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

When was the last time De Gea saved a penalty?

When was the last time he had to?

 

[Sentient Meat]

If Lukaku isn't clinical in front of the net, then he's a liability to the rest of the team.
Fred makes way too many sloppy passes to make up for his occasionally inspired moments.

Agree with those who said if Rom converts that first sitter we win the game... turned into Jose's United after that missed opportunity.

 

[El Zoido]

We played well enough coming back off an away performance in the CL, this was really a 0-0 game all over with a weird goal for Arsenal alongside an incorrect penalty decision which killed the game.

 

[alsabi]

When was the last time De Gea saved a penalty?

April 2016, FA Cup semi-final vs Everton

 

[United Hobbit]

We just couldn't get going, while the mentality of the players has definitely improved if we want to get back to where we were eg challenging for leagues and multiple trophies we need to try and avoid this "hangover" affect. Yes it can work the other way with a bad run of form after crashing out of cups but our players start to need to develop the mentality needed for challenging for multiple cups, yes Wednesday was fantastic but we haven't won anything yet and this is a completely different competition and if we don't get top 4 we won't be getting any magical CL nights for at least another year.

Yes we've had the injuries so that doesn't really help but we did have players back. Rashford looks like he could do with a rest aside from his great penalty hes had a few poor games lately but who could play in his place so we can rest him?

Also De Gea who I can appreciate for the number of times hes saved us over the years has looked a little shaky lately, his kicking and starting play from the back isnt great but it could be over looked for the amount of great saves hes pulled off. Yes his own high standards have set the bar very high so perhaps makes you more shocked when he doesn't do the "every day" stuff well but surely he should have saved some of these shots hes been letting in. Is he maybe carrying an injury? The contract negotiations should probably be sorted as soon as possible as that probably isnt helping but his current form isnt really doing his argument of more money any favours.

I think the Arsenal penalty was a dive, apparently De Gea last saved a penalty in 2014? Stat was from a Liverpool fan so need a less biased source of info!

Unfortunately its points dropped as we could have gone level with Tottenham and if we hope to be getting back to challenging for a title we need to be winning these sorts of games, Arsenal seem to either be awful or good and while they were gifted goals today are getting back to form at the right time.

 

[Carolina Red]

Lots of criticism of De Gea today. My unpopular opinion has always been that De Gea perhaps isn't our best all-round keeper.

Yes, he can make miracle saves - but, Spurs aside, since Ole has been at the club, how often have we really needed him to bail us out?

I've always been very 'meh' about him leaving, especially as we have Romero as backup. Right now, I suspect Romeo may actually be the best 'keeper at the club - he's much more assured with high balls and I'd back him in a penalty shoot-out. Plus, I think he can actually organise and scare the defence, something De Gea just cannot do.

Oh good grief. Unpopular indeed.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

April 2016, FA Cup semi-final vs Everton

Ah! That game.

 

[utdalltheway]

Disappointing result. The team looked to have spent their luck in Paris (and other grounds before that).
Hopefully they’ll rest up before the next game.

 

[MUfreak]

@haram Fred never helped the course in anyway

 

[Drawfull]

If Lukaku isn't clinical in front of the net, then he's a liability to the rest of the team.
Fred makes way too many sloppy passes to make up for his occasionally inspired moments.

Agree with those who said if Rom converts that first sitter we win the game... turned into Jose's United after that missed opportunity.

I'm done.

 

[Offside]

One big game too many. Bound to happen where we don’t quite have the same intensity and luck, especially given our injuries. Still, we were very unlucky with the goals and were the better team second half. If we get a bit reaction I still think we can put another run together and get top 4. I think Spurs and Chelsea have bigger problems than us.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Didn't play badly but got done on a soft goal and an iffy penalty. Had chances to at least draw the game but seem to have run out of luck today and nothing went right.

DDG, Lindelof, Rashford and Matic did not have good games.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Is it complacency?

 

[Shimo]

Had a feeling it was going to go like this. We definitely had chances but, they played well too. At about the 57th minute, I was thinking ok, Martial is going to come on any moment now but, for whatever reason Ole kept waiting and waiting. They were there for the taking in the 2nd half and just needed that bit more but, he didn't pull the trigger till too late. Couple games now have noticed he seems to wait a bit too long to make subs.

Only silver lining is after the high from Wednesday, this just bring us back to reality and know we have hell of a fight over these last 8 games to get into the CL spots.

 

[RedTiger]

Greenwood is absolute quality.

 

[reddevil80]

We were 2nd from the get go. We actually looked a little too rested. Arsenal wanted it more I thought. I just hope the boys aim to bounce back with a vengeance. Our run had to come to an end at some point. I'm glad it is further into Ole's reign than at the start for him.
Come on you reds

 

[beedoubleyou]

Our luck ran out. Very soft pen and a very unusual error from De Gea (feck off the "that punch crowd" ) versus a couple of rattles of the woodwork and a couple of good missed chances.

Been a great run and I'm sure we'll kick on again.

Hoping and praying for the fans on here to hold back the hysterics but I'll not hold my breath.

 

[Paxi]

I am. Watching United gives me so much joy. That is why it is so frustrating when we play badly.

Perhaps refrain from posting during or straight after a match.

Honestly, I understand feelings of football but at the same time, you've got to control yourself.

 

[Carolina Red]

@haram Fred never helped the course in anyway

What game were you watching?

 

[Majima]

What do you mean if we were prepared? Of course we were prepared, claiming otherwise is idiotic. We created loads, Arsenal didn't create much but had the important goal because of De Gea's mistake. That's nothing to do with preparation... That's just a mistake and one of those results that always happens after a long run.
We already beat Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea all away from home in the last 2 months. Shit happens. You can't win every single big game away from home, you're going to lose them occasionally. Just like under Fergie, we supposedly had their number at the Emirates but in reality never won 2 consecutive away games there.

Before de Gea's mistake, Lukaku missed a relatively simple chance to put us 1-0 up. We can't blame anyone but ourselves today. We take our chances and we win this game.

I agree with your general sentiment.

I don't expect them to win every match, but the only team we were outplayed by today was ourselves. So forgive me if i'm not ready to accept the loss just like that.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Greenwood is absolute quality.

When you think that Ole was prepared to put him on in a match like this....

 

[Jim Beam]

Had to score in the first half. Arsenal were not very good which makes it doubly frustrating.

Yep. Pretty much there for the taking and hanging in the game by sheer luck after the goal until the penalty decision.

Guess it is one of those days when nothing goes your way.

 

[pascell]

Like I said in the matchday thread, our players took too many touches with the ball, Rashford mainly. He was driving with the ball through the middle, which is great, however he then ran it down a blind alley when Shaw was free on the left. We lost the game for ourselves today, just weren't switched on enough in the 1st half.

 

[GM K]

With full credit to Klopp, the wind messed us up today.

 

[beedoubleyou]

What game were you watching?

Fred was one of our better players

 

[Annihilate Now!]

When 4 of our biggest players (DDG, Lindelof, Pogba, Rashford) all have dreadful games at the same time, we'll always struggle

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

I thought we were quite poor to be honest, maybe a bit of a hangover from midweek (although not literally I hope!). Need to bounce back.

 

[Jonno]

Check the stats, more on target, more possession, more expected goals, just a poor day at the office for our our keeper and strikers.

It happens, on to the next one

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

Sorry but I don't see how you can blame Ole for that. De Gea cost us the first goal. Lukaku missed two sitters. Rashford was poor. Lindelof had his first bad game for about 4 months. Then Arsenal got an incorrect penalty. We created more chances than them, was just a bad day. I agree about subs not being quick enough though - should have happened before the penalty.

Fred was ok, made mistakes, also made some good passes, including one that should have been an assist for Lukaku.
Agree about Herrera though, he's simply a better player than our other midfielders.

He didn't bring Rashford off sooner. He didn't do anything to help control the ball in midfield (change Pogba's positon? Ask Fred to drop deeper? Instruct the team to keep the ball for awhile instead of losing it so frequently with risky passes and high press?) He didn't change our formation or tactics to help deal with the compressed central space in the Arsenal half or to exploit the space behind their wing backs. He made the wrong sub bringing off Dalot, and the wrong sub bringing on Greenwood.

Players may let the manager down, sure. But he has to react to a game clearly not going our way. If we had taken our early chances the game would have been different, but we didn't and they dried up in the second half. And Ole didn't react well enough, where he should have been proactive.

 

[roc_red]

Well, I guess we were due one of these games after the highs of late.

Started a bit slowly, De Gea had a really off day - any pro keeper should be saving that first goal. Then thought we played alright in the second half but that dubious penalty killed off the game. As others have mentioned, if Lukaku had taken that early chance, it would have been a completely different game. Also didn't help that Rashford and Pogba's passing and shooting were abysmal today. Small margins, sometimes things go your way and sometimes 3 players who are usually your best performers have an off day in the same game.

On the plus side, it was nice to see Greenwood come on and he certainly didn't look out of place. Hopefully he gets a bit more than 10 mins next time. Fred looked alright too. He started off shaky but made some nice interceptions in the second half.

 

[Gstyle]

Arsenal should win every match on their run in but it is arsenal so you never know, Spurs still have liverpool and city to play. Chelsea have a game in hand but still have us and liverpool away. It's going to be interesting, but we deserved at least a draw today even though we gifted them 2 goals. That's football!

 

[Bruno8]

Players were too casual

 

[ExoduS]

We were unlucky. I liked the performance. Could played better, but we were ok and should have gotten more out of this game!

 

[Catt]

I am. Watching United gives me so much joy. That is why it is so frustrating when we play badly.

It is, but hopefully we can get a good reaction and beat Wolves next weekend.

 

[tony54]

No legs in the midfield, Matic was woeful and Pogba not in the game. Maybe its time to give mctom more playing time as he marks players much better.
Rashford hero and villain in two games.
We needed to buy a good engined midfielder in Jan.

 

[Josh 76]

Can't belive I'm saying this, but missed Mctomminy. Always said he is a player that will give you so much in a big game where we need to look solid rather than when we have to break teams down. Matic was too rusty. Pogba got worse as the game went on.
Overall the performance wasn't too bad. A draw would have been a fair result. Arsneal played it like a cup final, and the early goal helped them.
Move onto Wolves now. Bring in Mctommny and play on the break
Wolves will attack us

 

[MrSingh2002]

We were shit, start to finish.

Only Shaw can say he had a good game. Lukaku could've and should've scored two today and he had a decent overall performance but those misses decided the game today.

It was a shame to see McTominay out of the team after some excellent performances for a half fit Matic by the looks of today's performance.

I never thought I'd be calling for McTominay or Pereira to start ahead of Matic and Fred but I do feel that if they'd started today we would've had more energy in midfield and rolled Arsenal over.