[Turnip]

Made enough chances to win comfortably, forwards let us down. Ultimately it will cost us the league. The question now is how to go to the next level. Are our forwards off form or just not good enough?

Jeez, think we may be exadurating here. The loss hurts for sure, but both us and City will drop plenty more points this season.

 

[Mr Smith]

Jeez, think we may be exadurating here. The loss hurts for sure, but both us and City will drop plenty more points this season.

To clarify, I'm not saying that the missed chances specifically in this game will cost us the league, but that poor finishing in general will. I don't believe our forwards are consistent enough, especially in big games.

Also we didn't lose the game, but the fact that you've said it does reflect the fact that it feels like a loss.

 

[justsomebloke]

A fairly fresh an entertaining game, with a draw being a fair result. We had the chances to finish it off, but so did they. Arsenal is unbeaten in 7 now, and have turned into a good team.

This was really an unsatisfying game on an emotional level. Ahead of it, I feared we'd play really badly and lose again, with all of the momentum lost and a new crisis looming . And I was hoping the opposite would happen, relegating the Sheff utd game to a blip.

In the end, it was neither. We were much better than last game, but not impressive. There were big scoring chances, but the attack looked nothing like as dynamic as it has at its best. The defence was okay, but was lucky not to concede. In summation: To good to be mad, too bad to be happy.

Our attack is starting to become a serious worry for the short term. Rashford and Bruno are obviously out of form, Martial is awful, Greenwood not picking up the slack and it's not as if Cavani is banging them in every chance he gets either. Pogba did pick up the slack for a little bit, but not the last two games.

Worth noting for those who keep going on about how we shouldn't use McFred in big games: We changed it to Fred/Pogba underway, and it didn't make us better.

 

[GwilDor]

A couple of thoughts.

Isolated, this result isn’t as bad as it seems. We’ve all upped our expectations from the previous seasons, and thats a good thing. We’re ManUnited and we should bloody well be winning the league, right?
Its not that simple though. We’re still rebuilding, and we’re still inconsistent. But we’ve come a long way. Right now we just have no in form attackers. Bruno, Rashford, Greenwood and especially Martial are in a serious dry patch, but that will change.

also, i see a lot of people argueing Ole had «been found out» against top 6.
I don’t think that is the case. In my opinion we are now much more consistent in playing our own style, no matter the opponent.
Like today, where we more often than not implemented a high press. At least for most of the match, less so towards the end, but i put that down to stamina.
I’m sure that short term we’d still get better results setting up for the counter against top teams, but we need to «climb out of» that mentality. Ole has decided that we need to do that this season, and though we have a mediocre returns vs top teams this season, i think it has a positive effect on the mentality of the team in the bigger picture.

There was more, but this post is long enough already.

Onwards and upwards!

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

He had a shot that required a save from the keeper. I'd say he's in the form of his life.

Good point.

 

[Tapori]

Cavani scores any of the 2 and we look better

 

[Nicoseth]

In what basis? The fact he played well for Ajax.

I wouldn’t have bought Martial on personally but Donny has done nothing to warrant ‘faith’.

I can understand why OgS went to with what he knew over a player fans rate more the less he plays.

Absolutely he knows what he's getting with Martial - a player out of form. If Donny is not getting a chance because others are tearing it up then fair enough, but we have a few who are not. Probably a risk too far for such a tight game, but hopefully we see more of him soon.

 

[Steven-UK]

Arsenal were there for the taking.

It's quite simple. You don't take your chances, the opposition gains in confidence, and United being United of the last 7 years, we end up defending for our lives for the last 20 minutes. The only reason we are even in the top 4 is because other teams have been so poor. Now we are seeing that in reality.

Another false dawn.

 

[Nicoseth]

Arsenal were there for the taking.

It's quite simple. You don't take your chances, the opposition gains in confidence, and United being United of the last 7 years, we end up defending for our lives for the last 20 minutes. The only reason we are even in the top 4 is because other teams have been so poor. Now we are seeing that in reality.

Another false dawn.

That's the spirit!

 

[Chairman Steve]

Diallo can’t get in sooner to sort this fecking void which is our right wing position.

 

[lex talionis]

Wow - lots of negativity on here about the performance. I think we played well. It certainly wasn't a classic, but think we deserved 3 points more that Arsenal did and they were the home team. Cavani should have had two today, difficult chances but ones you'd expect him to put away - or at least of them. On to the next one.

I appreciate the “keep your chin up” perspective, and I normally look for the bright side of dark clouds, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that we’ve picked up only 1 point from two winnable — maybe even bankable wins — opponents in the last 4 days.

This is a bad result for us and it definitely was not a good performance. It’s true we had a couple of chances, but it’s also true we failed to capitalize on them and that we dropped points to an opponent we should have beaten.

 

[awop]

The game could have gone either way and a draw is the only fair result. It's definitely a better point for us considering who was missing.

 

[TheRedHearted]

Thats not true. We have one of the deepest squads in the Premier on paper. Its just most are pretty shit when they play and Ole is scared to experiment.

So a good squad on paper is a squad that is shit when they play? How does that make much sense. We have strikers playing RW and we have no depth in LW. No starter for RW, no depth for RW. Our starting striker is in terrible form (as are a lot in the league at the moment due to fatigue I’m guessing and our depth in CF is definitely good, better than our starter at the moment. SAF use to like four strikers four two forward positions, we’ve got four for three forward positions. No natural wingers, besides James who appears to be a write off. We have our starters starting cup games (poor management I know) but it’s clear to me we need more investment in the team, not in midfield clearly. Wingers and fullbacks and cb.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Didn't expect us to win this. Our position on the table is normalising. Was nice while it lasted.

 

[Jericho]

The loss hurts for sure, but both us and City will drop plenty more points this season.

Not sure about them but we sure as hell will. Having said that I think we did enough to nick it tonight despite carrying a few players in bad form. I didn't like it when McTominay went off, that really didn't help.

 

[Eternitiy]

Shaw is a machine on that left side. It's actually pretty embarrassing how reliant we are on him to create chances. An injury to him and our season is over. It already happened last season when Williams knocked us out of the Europa League.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

I have watched the highlights of our match against Sheffield during this match

 

[Freak]

Our forwards are useless these days.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Were our goals against Fulham and Sheffield disallowed after the games?

That VAR is ruthless, man.

 

[captain666]

Our forwards are useless these days.

Get Smokin' Joe Hugill in the first team squad,scored 4 against Liverpool U23 yesterday,plus Amad got 2 on his debut.

 

[iKnowNothing]

Not gonna win the title are we?

never in doubt

 

[Nicoseth]

I appreciate the “keep your chin up” perspective, and I normally look for the bright side of dark clouds, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that we’ve picked up only 1 point from two winnable — maybe even bankable wins — opponents in the last 4 days.

This is a bad result for us and it definitely was not a good performance. It’s true we had a couple of chances, but it’s also true we failed to capitalize on them and that we dropped points to an opponent we should have beaten.

Disagree with you on two points - first, bankable win against Arsenal? Since when? We haven't beaten them in a while in the league if I'm correct and regardless of their position, they're still a good side on their day. And second, I think it was a good performance that got us a decent result. Funny how people can have very different opinions of a performance - keeps it interesting.

Bigger picture though, we need to make sure these last few weeks are a dip and not a slump. That makes it one win in the last four in the league I think. Okay away to Arsenal and Liverpool are always tough, but we need to get back on track starting on Tuesday.

 

[Chicharo]

Still don't know how Cavani didn't score at least once. He hasn't any luck as well. Hit the cross bar against PSG when we could've secure a win, missed that chance against Leicester (after that they scored and got the point)...
Generally we waste too many chances

 

[justsomebloke]

I appreciate the “keep your chin up” perspective, and I normally look for the bright side of dark clouds, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that we’ve picked up only 1 point from two winnable — maybe even bankable wins — opponents in the last 4 days.

This is a bad result for us and it definitely was not a good performance. It’s true we had a couple of chances, but it’s also true we failed to capitalize on them and that we dropped points to an opponent we should have beaten.

There's a lot of nonsense on this thread about how Arsenal is a team we should have beaten. People look at the table and remember their troubles not long ago. But they haven't lost in seven games, and right now are probably about as tough an opponent as you'll find these days, outside of City and maybe Liverpool. A draw is not a surprising result.

They are much better than their table position would indicate. Just like Liverpool wasn't griveously weakened by playing Henderson and Fabinho in defence. And just like Sheffield United wasn't an easy opponent despite being last in the table. Not really sure how much many people around here watch other teams. There's a lot of simplistic ideas.

 

[justsomebloke]

Arsenal were there for the taking.

It's quite simple. You don't take your chances, the opposition gains in confidence, and United being United of the last 7 years, we end up defending for our lives for the last 20 minutes. The only reason we are even in the top 4 is because other teams have been so poor. Now we are seeing that in reality.

Another false dawn.

We have actually scored a very high proportion of our goals in the last 20 minutes, and by every objective indicator is a team that tends to dominate the late phase of games. But that's not what it feels like to you because you let yourself get carried away by classic Wobbly Fan Syndrome. It's a three step process:

- I'm seeing this now
- I can recall having seen the same thing before
- So that's how it typically is

To be fair, it happens to more or less everyone now and then.

 

[Longshanks]

Pretty much the same as all our games against the 'big six' sides this season, solid enough performance, played some good football at times but let down by countless poor final balls and some poor finishing, also we gave the ball away far to cheaply at times.

Not a bad result but not a particuly good one either, got to win the next 4 really now before going to Chelsea away.

Looking at the side I reckon the three players we need are a RW, CF and CDM. We could do with a RB to give A.W.B some competition aswell.

Top 4 and closing the gap was the expectation this season, I think there are too many flaws in the side to expect the title this season especially with city now hitting there stride hopefully we can hang on there coattails for a little while yet though.

 

[manichester]

The same thing has happened to Martial when Zlatan came in, his head has dropped with the inclusion of Cavani. Last season he was seen as the main man at 9. People respond in different ways to a challenge unfortunately he sees it as a demotion.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The same thing has happened to Martial when Zlatan came in, his head has dropped with the inclusion of Cavani. Last season he was seen as the main man at 9. People respond in different ways to a challenge unfortunately he sees it as a demotion.

Then he is not the right man for us. It is a team game, a squad game. Sometimes you have to put your own game aside for the good of the team. He has to show some fight. You can still contribute to the team from where he is playing. Playing wide didn't stop the likes of Giggs and Beckham scoring goals.

 

[mitchmouse]

The result proves a point I've been making for a while: the good run doesn't make us title contenders. In real terms, we are closer to Arsenal than we are to City or Liverpool. And I stick by what I said before the start of the season (before Cavani came in): Rashford and Martial won't score enough goals to give us any chance of winning the league. Both miss chances that a top poacher would get - Rashford was the most guilty this time but Martial was completely anonymous except for the odd occasion once again when he thought he could just go straight through players. He is nowhere near good enough for us.

Once again, we see that if Bruno has a quiet game we are flat and offer very little threat. Pogba was once again outclassed by "nobodies" in the opposition and didn't dominate as former United greats have done although he has very clearly improved the defensive side of his game.

Yes, we could have grabbed a win, but so could they; the one bonus being we didn't give them a silly goal which we might have done in the past couple of seasons. Nil-nil was about right for two very ordinary-looking teams

 

[Josep Dowling]

One goal against the top 6. That was a penalty in a 6-1 hammering against Spurs. Ole needs to stop being so conservative against the bigger sides.

 

[RedAlways78]

Boring football to watch. Can you imagine if we lose Bruno to an injury?

 

[Turnip]

To clarify, I'm not saying that the missed chances specifically in this game will cost us the league, but that poor finishing in general will. I don't believe our forwards are consistent enough, especially in big games.

Also we didn't lose the game, but the fact that you've said it does reflect the fact that it feels like a loss.

Yeah, that is a major problem. I think Cavani was brought in to do one specific job; score the scrappy goals that Martial and Rashford don't even see, and he's not been great at it yet.

Not sure about them but we sure as hell will. Having said that I think we did enough to nick it tonight despite carrying a few players in bad form. I didn't like it when McTominay went off, that really didn't help.

They've been scraping through a couple of games recently, but then you still expect them to bounce back and get to their best I guess. McTominay going off sure didn't help, but I think we should be able to cope with that really.

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

The 4-2-3-1 McFred double pivot is effectively Ole’s go to set up in ‘big games’ to keep it tight, maybe 0-0 for 60-70 minutes, then try and win the game in the last 20. That’s all well and good with 4 natural attackers on the pitch but the Pogba inclusion is yet another scent of negativity. It was clear last night that as soon as Pogba moved back into the midfield two (forced by Ole cause of illness to McTominay), we immediately carried more of a threat. It was then just down to the chronic lack of form of some of those forward players why we didn’t score a winning goal.

 

[Eric's-collar]

Still about 4 players short of decent team, never mind a title winning one, not convinced by Ole either, never have been

 

[Infra-red]

The same thing has happened to Martial when Zlatan came in, his head has dropped with the inclusion of Cavani. Last season he was seen as the main man at 9. People respond in different ways to a challenge unfortunately he sees it as a demotion.

Yep, he's not suited to top level football. Get rid.

 

[Kinky Melinky]

Not gonna win the title are we?

Nope. 2nd or 3rd is an optimistic outcome to this season, however based on how tight things are in the top 5 I will certainly not be placing money on that.

 

[Siorac]

The same thing has happened to Martial when Zlatan came in, his head has dropped with the inclusion of Cavani. Last season he was seen as the main man at 9. People respond in different ways to a challenge unfortunately he sees it as a demotion.

When Zlatan came in, he lost his number and the chance to play in his favourite position. So it was somewhat understandable that he was miffed.

This time it was obvious Ole still saw him as our starting striker at the beginning of the season. It's quite a different situation and there's no reason for his confidence to have been shattered like this. Even now it's not like Cavani is pulling up trees and becoming untouchable in the position, he's just working hard with limited end product so far.

 

[freddie the red]

Ordinarily, draws away to 'pool and the Arse would be considered decent results but, coming as they did directly after we topped the league and both 'pool and Arse were missing key players, two points from nine and one goal scored (in a disgraceful home loss to statistically one of the worst ever PL sides) is just great isn't it?
As they might say in the valleys...tidy, crackin', lovleeeee!

 

[BFernandes]

Scored twice against Leicester whom are one of the top teams and will finish the season ahead of Arsenal. West Ham and Everton may finish the season ahead of Arsenal and United scored 6 goals against those teams this season.

So just Arsenal twice, City, Chelsea and Liverpool that we haven't scored against in the league this season. Could also really throw Spurs into that mix too considering that was a penalty scored within the first couple of minutes. Great stuff.

 

[mitchmouse]

Still about 4 players short of decent team, never mind a title winning one, not convinced by Ole either, never have been

agree with this. there is so clearly no Plan B and every time we seem to have sorted something out, we find it's another false dawn