[Dobbs]

I thought we were very good against Spurs, despite the histrionics from many of our fans. I also thought we were better tonight than we were against Huddersfield. So we’re clearly capable of upping our performance level for a big game.

Admittedly, “brilliant” performances from us at Stamford Bridge are as rare as hen’s teeth (Could you remember the last one? I’m guessing pre-Abramovic?) so you wouldn’t be taking a huge gamble to say we won’t see one this weekend. I’m just hoping for a performance that’s “good enough”.

Better tonight than Huddersfield but I don't think we've been anything more than average for about a month(can't agree we were very good against Spurs. In fact haven't seen anyone other than yourself hold that opinion).

This team is resilient, determined and well drilled. So it can get along without doing much for a while. At some point though we have to start playing genuinely well and consistently so. We're playing with fire right now and will start to get caught out otherwise. I don't see this team having the quality to pick and choose when to perform. It needs some momentum.

By brilliant I just mean a really competitive performance full of quality football. I think we've done that at Chelsea a good number of times. We've just had a shit load of bad luck down there.

 

[el3mel]

Better tonight than Huddersfield but I don't think we've been anything more than average for about a month(can't agree we were very good against Spurs. In fact haven't seen anyone other than yourself hold that opinion).

This team is resilient, determined and well drilled. So it can get along without doing much for a while. At some point though we have to start playing genuinely well and consistently so. We're playing with fire right now and will start to get caught out otherwise. I don't see this team having the quality to pick and choose when to perform. It needs some momentum.

By brilliant I just mean a really competitive performance full of quality football. I think we've done that at Chelsea a good number of times. We've just had a shit load of bad luck down there.

Allow me to interfere, I agree with your opinion overall that switching between ultra defensive to ultra attacking the next game is very hard but let's not forget 2 things :

1) We're not going very offensive against Chelsea either. It'll be like Spurs game with lots of aggression and battles on the pitch. Aggression isn't something that needs momentum, as many teams play in second gear in cup games and become more aggressive the next league game as we ourselves did against Spurs after Swansea game. We weren't the best team ever against Spurs but we were very aggressive. That's what we need against Chelsea.

2 ) This is also applied for Chelsea, as they're passing by a period of a heavy performance drop and just played a terrible game vs Roma. If it's hard for us to switch gears it'll be the same for then as well, making it even.

 

[Rightnr]

Rightnr- meet Jose Mourinho...

What I failed to make clear is that this win was not so different to Fergie wins in the CL. It was all about the result today.

 

[BigBebe]

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who was at the game about how the atmosphere was at the game tonight.

Did Jose's comments about the fans have any effect?

 

[Cheesy]

Very solid campaign so far, has to be said. No fuss at all, very good at the back etc. I don't think we're anywhere good enough to win it but if we continue to approach games like this in Europe we'll be a very difficult opponent for anyone to come up against.

 

[Dobbs]

Allow me to interfere, I agree with your opinion overall that switching between ultra defensive to ultra attacking the next game is very hard but let's not forget 2 things :

1) We're not going very offensive against Chelsea either. It'll be like Spurs game with lots of aggression and battles on the pitch. Aggression isn't something that needs momentum, as many teams play in second gear in cup games and become more aggressive the next league game as we ourselves did against Spurs after Swansea game. We weren't the best team ever against Spurs but we were very aggressive. That's what we need against Chelsea.

2 ) This is also applied for Chelsea, as they're passing by a period of a heavy performance drop and just played a terrible game vs Roma. If it's hard for us to switch gears it'll be the same for then as well, making it even.

Agree with your second point, it's a good time to play them. Though they
But unless we're ultra clinical we'll have to play some good stuff to create enough chances to get a goal or two. I don't think performing as we did tonight or the past few weeks is the best prep for that.

If we'd gone for it a bit tonight, played at least one attacking fullback, at least try and have a right hand side, give both Martial and Rashford a go, we might have played some good stuff and scored a few. Get some attacking fluency going in an easier game.

Instead it pretty stodgy again. We'll more than likely play stodgy against Chelsea now. Hopefully we'll be ultra clinical, continue to be very good defensively and Chelesa will spurn their chances. That's what this current style banks on.

 

[Backrow Singer]

Was all about getting the win tonight and we got it. No major injuries, no goals conceded, scored two ourselves and could really have been more. Didn't need to stress ourselves too much. Good night all in all.

Didn't think we kept the ball well enough in tight areas. Definitely look like a number 10 short IMO, someone who is capable of linking it all together, dragging players out of position and popping up in different areas of the pitch. Mkhitaryan just isn't strong enough, Mata similar to a lesser extent, Lingard not really technically good enough. There's a gap between Matic and Herrera (McTominay tonight) picking the ball up and finding the front players that needs filling.

Thought Martial looked dangerous in spells, just needs to improve that end product as a few of our lads do. Midfield was solid again. Looked well drilled. De Gea was switched on as always, good to see Eric back in there building some minutes up.

We're ticking along OK, waiting for some players to come back in. Miss Pogba massively and Carrick and Felaini as part of that rotation.

Job done tonight, on to Chelsea.

 

[el3mel]

Agree with your second point, it's a good time to play them.

But unless we're ultra clinical we'll have to play some good stuff to create enough chances to get a goal or two. I don't think performing as we did tonight or the past few weeks is the best prep for that.

If we'd gone for it a bit tonight, played at least one attacking fullback, at least try and have a right hand side, give both Martial and Rashford a go, we might have played some gold stuff and scored a few. Get some attacking fluency going in an easier game.

Instead it pretty stodgy again. We'll more than likely play stodgy against Chelsea now. Hopefully we'll be ultra clinical, continue to be very good defensively and Chelesa will spurn their chances. That's what this current style banks on.

Agree that there won't be many chances for us against them, same for them as well. It'll be about 2 or 3 chances at best for each team IMO and the team who are clinical enough will be the winner.

 

[Jim Beam]

Haha, having another dig at people/media saying that he doesn't give the Youth a chance.

Impressed with Scott in that interview. Many people don't handle media very well, he looked like he can't stop talking. Also, very mature performance.

4 wins, another clean sheet, practically qualified to the knockout stage of CL. Doesn't sound too bad.

 

[Nickosaur]

Martial had a mixed game. Looked electric at times but also very wasteful on several occasions, especially the pen. Lukaku was more involved again today, had some good runs, but also some poor touches.

Attack is a real worry for me. Just look out of ideas. But a lot of positives to take too. Main one being we have qualified, and are almost definitely going to be top. Bring on Chelsea!

 

[matecro007]

Its a bit confusing at the moment. Something is not right at the lockeroom. Mood is so weird. Results are so far very good. Performances dont have heart in them. We should be confident going on Chelsea but it feels like we are gonna see the same performance like in the last few matches.

What is going on?

 

[TMDaines]

Thought it was quite an arrogant team selection tonight. One of the defining features of the Ferguson era was how players selected to be in the starting XI were imbued with confidence, even if they some of them were quite average. That is coming back under Mourinho. A guy like McTominay can slot in and do well, even if I don't see him as any particular talent. To fight on multiple fronts you need dependable backups.

We cannot expect to continue keeping clean sheets and picking up victories if we play in the manner we do. DDG is having a great season and is doing well to prevent us conceding in most games. We're still not clicking up front again. Mkhi is in a rut (he ain't a 10) and I remain to be convinced on Lukaku as our #1 centre forward for the next half-a-dozen years.

We shouldn't take the result for granted though. Lots of the bigger European teams slipped up. We carried on grinding a result out.

 

[yo@Kirk]

I have no doubt that United's sponsors are thrilled that Mourinho has United well positioned to advance to the CL group stage and compete for the PL title. Lots of media exposure for their logos.

On Blind's PK, it looked like Mourinho had a moment of inspiration and knew Benfica's young keeper was going to jump the pulled shot to the corner. Blind was handy so he instructed him to slam the PK down the middle. Goal scored.

 

[Devil may care]

Performance was pretty poor in attack again bar Martial, our fullbacks really are a non factor, but we got the points needed.

 

[Macern]

Very happy with both the result and the performance

 

[simonhch]

We are disgusting to watch.

 

[hn4manunited]

What I failed to make clear is that this win was not so different to Fergie wins in the CL. It was all about the result today.

Exactly. SAF won many games the same way. Winning is important right now and it doesn’t matter how we win. We just need to continue winning...

 

[Hambley]

Despite to Mourinho said he had given a rest some players. Point was to win by giving a rest our key players, so the job is done though that was a poor performance because of that. It's a right strategy and it works. There are always matches you must win this way.

 

[gerdm07]

I liked how we were able to see the game out with some good possession. Last year that just wasn't part of our makeup.

Mikhi looked bad again. Without a true AM I just don't see how we have great success this year. I think someone else suggested playing Martial there and I'm starting to think that is worth a try. Would love to see

...............Lukaku
Rashford...Martial....Mata

 

[MZX7]

We are disgusting to watch.

Thank you. Someone put my feelings in words.

However, it is cool that we are churning out wins through this bad run of form and injuries.

 

[RooneyLegend]

People need to stop comparing this stuff we watching to anything during the Sir Alex Ferguson era. This is tumescent, really, really tumescent stuff.

 

[prateik]

Didn't need to get out of 2nd gear.. or was it 1st?
Stepped it up for a few minutes after they hit the post.

This was an easy game and we went in with no intention of playing them off the park.

 

[prtk0811]

We cannot expect to continue keeping clean sheets and picking up victories if we play in the manner we do.

We can, we really can.

 

[sglowrider]

2nd in the league; through the group stages of the CL -- what a fecking difference only four seasons make.

Time has flown by so slowly...

 

[drmuji]

We've a ways to go yet. Spontaneous zombiefication is our ultimate aim. Our new ethical partners WorldPopulationControl are targeting a complete loss of life function in all those at OT, and in 50% of people watching on TV. I believe they're happy with our progress so far.

 

[prtk0811]

Its a bit confusing at the moment. Something is not right at the lockeroom. Mood is so weird. Results are so far very good. Performances dont have heart in them. We should be confident going on Chelsea but it feels like we are gonna see the same performance like in the last few matches.

What is going on?

You have 2 def mid players playing as pivots with a cam who is not performing and linking up as we like, People need to just stop being spoilt for saf football every week when you have injuries and a new team.

 

[Kag]

No one is complaining about the win. We would however like to see some traces of the cut throat attack we displayed during the first few league fixtures this year.

The cut throat attack that existed for all of ten minutes at the end of about three games? Good luck with that expectation, because it's coming nowhere fast.

Another shit attacking performance and another clean sheet. This will work for most games this season, and short of playing Lindelof we'll seldom concede any more than once. However, the quality of football is going to remain consistently quite tumescent. So be it.

 

[simonhch]

A well functioning Mourinho team is the footballing equivalent of tofu. Yeah, it gets the job done and the health results are fairly impressive; but you have to force it down because it’s somewhere between bland and disgusting. While all the while pining away for something more fattening but ultimately a whole lot more enjoyable.

Sunday will be a tofu salad, with a plain cracker on the side and a glass of water to stifle the choking. Hold the ice and lemon.

 

[Siorac]

Terrible performance but a win is a win. I can only hope that Pogba coming back will actually help with the performances because if we keep up the October style throughout the season, it's going to be a long one...

 

[Handsome Devil]

One thing that still baffles me after the match - who was this Jose Mor-een-io bloke the feckless BT commentator kept referring to?
That was really doing my head in.

 

[Siorac]

One thing that still baffles me after the match - who was this Jose Mor-een-io bloke the feckless BT commentator kept referring to?
That was really doing my head in.

Apparently, we also had a guy called "Marshial" playing for us. Never heard of him.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Awful match to watch

Yes, shit football. Still better than LVG's team.

 

[Sultan]

Seemed to me the team just went through the motions and just did enough to progress. The match going crowd were of a similar mindset. Hardly got excited even after United scored.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The journos yes, and the pundits, after the interview, bt sports, and Paul were able to say that the decision of Jose to make blind the penalty taker meant that we were a bit disorganized because we should've decided before the game who should have took the penalty in case Martial wasn't on the pitch.

Usually the worse are our ex players because they try so much to be unbiased.

They always find a way to criticize the club.

With that said, the press and pundits are paid for that, Jose knows that, I don't think it's wise to act like he is, even if I think that he's fully justified in what he thinks about the press and the pundits.

I suppose it never crossed Scholes mind that they did decide who was taking the penalties. Martial and then Blind. I think Lukaku took the ball because he is desperate for a goal. Then Herrera and Blind reminded him that Blind had to take it. Talk about the media making something out of nothing as usual.

 

[superdry]

Seemed to me the team just went through the motions and just did enough to progress. The match going crowd were of a similar mindset. Hardly got excited even after United scored.

I agree, we were girding our loins, we've got a score to settle on Sunday.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Doing the job whilst a number of our players are out, including our best outfield player.

 

[Peanut Butter]

A well functioning Mourinho team is the footballing equivalent of tofu. Yeah, it gets the job done and the health results are fairly impressive; but you have to force it down because it’s somewhere between bland and disgusting. While all the while pining away for something more fattening but ultimately a whole lot more enjoyable.

Sunday will be a tofu salad, with a plain cracker on the side and a glass of water to stifle the choking. Hold the ice and lemon.

Yep we get it, you hate watching us.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yep we get it, you hate watching us.

And he needs to learn how to cook tofu.

 

[Marcky411]

Job done and 3 points. I think that was also the objective with one eye on the Chelsea game. I really hope we don't just sit back at Chelsea the same way we did at Liverpool and at least try to win the game. I really hope that Lukaku starts scoring some goals, not only for the team but also for his confidence. Since the injuries to Pogba and Fellaini our goals have dried up, the few goals we have scored have had an element of luck and no well executed attack. Can't wait for Pogba and Fellaini return, can't believe I am saying that about Fellaini.

 

[fellaini's barber]

We're dire in attack