[zizou81]

Vintage United performance against Arsenal. They were the naive team this time.

How many times have we beat Arsenal like this under Fergie? You don't need to dominate possession to beat Arsenal...we rarely do.

Once we made the subs, we were in cruise control. You may say the better team lost today, but we out smarted that better team and were better finishers than that better team.

Men against boys...

 

[The Mitcher]

I am deeply, deeply shocked to see an interview where Wilshere, Owen and Scholes claim that Odegaard does not make a free kick on Eriksen. I can't understand it at all. 2 hands in the back pushing him so he falls + hitting the leg and not the ball at all. I really don't understand English pundits. The 2 Danish commentators (including former Liverpool player Jan Mølby) believed that it was a clear free kick.

Hasselbaink, a Dutchman, was whinging also...maybe it's not the nationality...

 

[Gasolin]

When control of the ball passes from the other team to yours, you have won the ball. Whether you tackle or the oppo just plays it to you makes no difference.

"Transition" is simply the phase directly following the regaining of the ball, which is exactly what we were in. If that occurs in your own half, then yes, you start the transition playing out from the back.

I think you have a bit of a misunderstanding that a counterattack means to counter something. It simply means that after stopping an attack you immediately start one yourself.

A counterattack does not necessarily imply quick passes, but mainly and crucially that it progresses quickly and directly to a finish. Whether that's a long run and a single pass, or it's 5 or 6 quick shorter passes with more players involved.

But here's the thing, that sequence started with us having a throw in in our half. We then passed it to Bruno who went on the side, and then we pushed the ball forward. We went from left to right, from Malacia to Antony, didn't let Arsenal have a touch on the ball once and after 10 passes, we got the ball back to De Gea.

We did not stop their attack. In fact, we stopped our own attack, and we went back with another one to score. So maybe we countered ourselves then according to your definition, but we did not counter Arsenal, they had no attack for 10 passes, and after that, it took us 8 touches to get to another goal.

 

[GapMinder]

Just rewatched the first 10 minutes. Stunning how well they played there in comparison to the start of season. Un-be-lie-va-ble.

That, combined with the fighting mentality makes me so excited for what's to come.

 

[Ole's screen]

Possibly, I don't recall the exact circumstances and the highlights I can find start the sequence with Arsenal already in possession.

Now you're just trolling. Varane clearly gives the ball away trying a silly pass to Eriksen, and Odegaard plays the ball into where Varane would have been. If that's not a counterattack there is no such thing.

 

[croadyman]

Love bursting Arsenal's bubble. They are a much improved side and definitely controlled the game more than we did but we know they're further on than we are. With all their possession they certainly didn't pepper our goal with chance after chance.

We've got a way to go, the first ten minutes are pretty much the way Ten Hag wants us to play long term but while he is working on that, we have a very solid back four, are looking strong on the counter and most importantly have a bit of character about us again.

Yeah won't see that first ten minutes for a whole game until the first XI gets sorted out

 

[Tarrou]

Because expected goals is bullshit!

Ben Foster was speaking about expected goals the other day and categorically stated that no manager gives a feck a out expected goals, and no team gives it a passing thought.

I can't think of any meaningful reason a team would use xG.

It becomes useful when analysing the game if you're interested in the delta between xG and the actual results, for things like fantasy football, gambling or just us fans discussing what is going on.

But a team actually using it? There's no point, is there?

 

[croadyman]

Vintage United performance against Arsenal. They were the naive team this time.

How many times have we beat Arsenal like this under Fergie? You don't need to dominate possession to beat Arsenal...we rarely do.

Once we made the subs, we were in cruise control. You may say the better team lost today, but we out smarted that better team and were better finishers than that better team.

Men against boys...

Yeah like you said they dominated possession in this fixture under Fergie but our street smartness got the result and it happened today

 

[Pronewbie]

Pragmatism triumphs idealism more often than not.

 

[sphagnum]

Sorry to state the bleeding obvious, but there's a couple of simple differences between now and the end of last season.

We have more heart. That's obvious. And that's going to be key - that' the single most important thing. That's what we've been missing.

Playing positively - with confidence, The way Eriksson brings the ball forward, like he has confidence that there will be someone there. And, today, Rashford took that and made it work. If he can continue to do that, it'll be great for him and us.

Of course we still have issues. We give away so much space in midfield..... but Ten Hag is clearly the right man for the job, and we need to stick with him, no matter how long it takes to get back on top. Its going to be a long process, but we can see the start of how it's going to get better.

 

[sphagnum]

Eriksen is going to be *so* important for us. He creates so much from the midfield. We need our forwards to capitalise on that now.

If he keeps this up, he's going to a United legend,. What he does is just... gold. Incredible creativity..It's why we always wanted him in our team, and what we've been praying for in our midfield.

 

[little.triangles]

In the cold light of morning, I think we were better and Arsenal were worse than what most pundits said.

When you play gung-ho against United and give players like Eriksen and Bruno time to pick passes through big gaps in the middle of the pitch, then you will be picked off. Arsenal would not have been able to play anywhere near the attacking style they did if they actually bothered to mark both of them and tracked their runs, and it cost them.

Enjoy your 60% possession and 0 points, Arsenal.

 

[Isle]

Love beating the Arsenal

A little concerning how they were the better side for long periods but I'll put that down to us still not being able to field what will be our best XI

And also they are 3 years into their project and we barely started with our project and lot of new players still to be integrated into playing style and into the team. Will take time, we will have bumps on the road while these players are learning and adopting. Glad we won the game and showed fighting spirit.

 

[DrRodo]

Eriksen and bruno... please more of that!

The first and second goals came from two long fast vertical passes from our own half, which resulted in one on one chances which our fowards converted. And the third came from eriksen watching a hole forming right in front of him and without hesistation he bursted foward and Bruno again with a direct pass broke arsenal who were pressing with their defense in the mid of the field. The famous "attack the space" finally making its appearence.

I love this setup of 3 high workrate midfielders, two very creative and one with high intensity pressing, they compliment each other very well. Well done ETH, i hope we can adapt well when teams figure out how to stop this setup

 

[Nicoseth]

Erik Ten Hag - you beautiful man. What a result today. Enjoying watching my team again!!

 

[Alek M]

McT was a Keano
Bruno was Bruno
Ericksen was Scholes
Rashford was Rashford
Antony was Antony

love the energu, intensity, movement!!!!

 

[sglowrider]

Yeah like you said they dominated possession in this fixture under Fergie but our street smartness got the result and it happened today

The only time Wenger parked the bus and we dominated possession was in the 2007(?) FA Cup Final.

And we lost.

 

[Ole's screen]

The only time Wenger parked the bus and we dominated possession was in the 2007(?) FA Cup Final.

And we lost.

That was Chelsea I think.

 

[croadyman]

The only time Wenger parked the bus and we dominated possession was in the 2007(?) FA Cup Final.

And we lost.

2005 but get the gist

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

A ruthless manager with a plan; are we coming back? We are so much better without the likes of Maguire, Shaw and Fred, and full credit to Ten Hag for seeing such imposters for the shite they are and dropping them. We looked like a team with a plan today, which is so encouraging. It's early days, but Erik has identified the losers and their weaknesses; we've been screaming for months about the need to drop the likes of Maguire. We have some room for hope again. It will take several transfer windows to remedy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel at last!

If the manager thinks Maguire and Fred are losers, they wouldn't be substituted in like that.

 

[sglowrider]

That was Chelsea I think.

Arsenal. It scarred me for life. Playing well doesn't always equate to winning.

 

[berbatrick]

Was watching some Carrick compilations on youtube. He'd make this team world class - could pair him with any of the other midfielders (Eriksen, Fred, Mctominay) and it would be a great pairing. Nobody like him is available either.

 

[Ole's screen]

Arsenal. It scarred me for life. Playing well doesn't always equate to winning.

Arsenal in 2005, Chelsea in 2007. That Drogba goal late was brutal.

 

[macheda14]

Arsenal. It scarred me for life. Playing well doesn't always equate to winning.

Arsenal was 2005, chelsea was 07 with a goal that crossed the line but wasn’t given

 

[bringbackbebe]

Love beating the Arsenal

A little concerning how they were the better side for long periods but I'll put that down to us still not being able to field what will be our best XI

They were amazing in attack & ball retention but their defensive structure was too open to being ripped up. This was their position for the third goal:


7 Arsenal players chasing the ball held by 1 United player. Some of those players were in overlapping positions blocking one another. They lost the plot after the second goal went in.

 

[sglowrider]

My favourite scenes are always the guys in the wheelchair section celebrating the goals.

There will always be one or two of them, who always seem to be able to jump up, Jordanesque off their wheelchairs whenever we score.

Happens nearly in every match.

 

[RedCurry]

I just came here to remind everyone that some posters were asking for Rashford and Bruno to be dropped for this game.

 

[colombianmancunian]

Posesión doesn’t win games, goals do! Having the ball just to pass it sideways is futile. We won playing vertically and being effective.

 

[sglowrider]

I just came here to remind everyone that some posters were asking for Rashford and Bruno to be dropped for this game.

Drop? More like he should have been sold the last transfer window.

 

[Ole's screen]

Drop? More like he should have been sold the last transfer window.

BrUnO jUsT dOeSn’T fIt EtH’s StYlE.

 

[RedCurry]

Drop? More like he should have been sold the last transfer window.

Thankfully not because they can fooking good play football

 

[Boondog]

Eriksen is going to be *so* important for us. He creates so much from the midfield. We need our forwards to capitalise on that now.

If he keeps this up, he's going to a United legend,. What he does is just... gold. Incredible creativity..It's why we always wanted him in our team, and what we've been praying for in our midfield.

You know it's really going to be interesting to see what buildup ends up looking like through this season with Ericksen. He's basically moved into that role because they didn't get Frenkie, who is that ball carrier, but Ericksen might give the job a new spin with the accuracy of his longer passes and the touch he puts on them. Because he's not Frenkie but maybe he ends up being something equally terrifying under EtH.

 

[Shakesy]

McT is the perfect example.

Amazing what a bit of confidence does to a player and a team.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Does anyone else notice a snide kick out at Rashford from White on the 3rd goal? He slides in, doesn't make the block, and then I swear he takes an extra kick at Rashford.

Dirty prick.

 

[largelyworried]

I think the counter attacking goals we've scored shouldn't overshadow how good some of our possession play has been recently. Our first goal yesterday came at the end of a sequence of 18 passes that started with a throw in at our right back position, we moved it to the left side of the pitch, moved through midfield to Antony on the right, went back to midfield, back to the keeper, worked a triangle at left back then moved quickly through midfield til the ball came back to Antony again to score. The fact that we moved it quickly and vertically through midfield at the end doesn't mean it wasn't a possession based attack.

It was similar to the first goal vs Liverpool or the goal against Southampton, in both those cases in the final phase we moved it very quickly, but they came after longer spells of possession before. Not all possession based goals mean camping on the edge of the opposition box and looking for cute little through balls.

 

[Strelok]

McT is the perfect example.

Amazing what a bit of confidence does to a player and a team.

Imo it's not only the confidence but also Eriksen. Before Eriksen he was trying to do both the defensive job and to progress the ball. Seems a bit too much for him imo. Now he largely focuses on defending then giving the ball to Eriksen.

 

[Champ]

I can't think of any meaningful reason a team would use xG.

It becomes useful when analysing the game if you're interested in the delta between xG and the actual results, for things like fantasy football, gambling or just us fans discussing what is going on.

But a team actually using it? There's no point, is there?

No point at all really.

As I say, Foster said as much and I'd take the word of a professional player over these things.

 

[justsomebloke]

Now you're just trolling. Varane clearly gives the ball away trying a silly pass to Eriksen, and Odegaard plays the ball into where Varane would have been. If that's not a counterattack there is no such thing.

No, now I am telling you I don't have fecking photographic memory and the highlights don't show the change of possession. Also I have no fecking idea why it's even important if Arsenal's goal was a counterattack goal or not. From what you write it sounds like one.

 

[crossy1686]

Anyone else surprised by how good Jesus was for them? He never played that well anytime I saw him for the Bertie’s

Yeah he was a handful yesterday but it was his cup final so I’m not surprised

 

[mikeyt]

Great result but also lots more to build on. Loads to takeaway from this, a couple things I noted...

Dalot - I've never been a fan but if yesterday is anything to go by, we may just have a right back there.
De Gea - His in ability to play a short or medium pass accurately hurts us so much in retaining possession, replacing him has to be a priority next summer.
Maguire - I know he had to get up to speed with the game but he looks so out of his depth it's unbelievable. The sooner ETH removes the captaincy from him fully, the better.
Eriksen - He was just pure class yesterday.