[Pogue Mahone]

Well that's because it wasn't a better performance not in the slightest, it wasn't particularly attacking aside from them sitting back and us lumping the ball in and how you can say we didn't deserve to be 1-0 down after that mistake

Shit happens we can't win every game but let's not try and gloss over what was a shite limp performance. I only care what we learn from it to avoid frequent repeats.

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

 

[Matt007a]

We weren't awful but despite the favourable stats we definitely didn't play that well.

We missed having Martial on the left, so Rashford could continue playing through the middle. I know not everyone is a fan but I think we definitely missed Lingard's ability to create space and his movement. Mata is probably the best technician at the club but he is just too slow and weak to play the style of football Ole wants. All the big teams are moving the same way with pace, power and energy playing a crucial role in every position.

Pereira was pretty poor as well, especially when you consider just how good Herrera has been the last 6 weeks. Lukaku was really good against Arsenal but seemed to be back in donkey mode last night. Seems like every touch he takes is a bad one. I know we have to rotate, so I don't blame the manager for it, but our lack of depth really hurt us yesterday. Perhaps 1 or 2 changes too many to get away with.

 

[sunama]

And quite frankly, the 2nd half surge more or less confirms that. The team came out pedestrian, something even Ole confirmed. That is on the players, they were magnitudes better in the second half.

Exactly the same thing happened under Jose.
Though, we'd usually go in at half time, 2-0 down, then score 3 goals in the 2nd half.
Jose said exactly the same thing that this was not a tactic, it was down the players lacking intensity.

 

[Rafaeldagold]

Precisely. Stoppage time is a "minimum" of certain minutes. We score in those minutes and yet he ends the game at 4.55 mins. ‍

It’s because some refs just aren’t good enough. VAR wouldn’t have changed this- we just need better refs who understand simple rules

 

[rpg]

Past few weeks i have always wondered what will happen when opponents parked the bus, considering all our previous game are won due to counter attack and pace of Rashford and Martial. Today opponent dug deep and we see what we see. Our forwards are one trick pony with pace.

By the way fantastic comeback, after getting 0-2 at 80th minute. Couldn't have asked for 3-2. If it had been 3 goals in stoppage time, then Solsjaekr is the Second Coming.

 

[JK-27]

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

The key thing you've missed out there is that only 9 of those 28 shots were on target, whereas 4 of Burnley's 6 were on goal. We took a lot of swings that completely missed.

 

[TsuWave]

this result really annoyed me, thought i'd feel better about it today since we salvaged a point but nah

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The key thing you've missed out there is that only 9 of those 28 shots were on target, whereas 4 of Burnley's 6 were on goal. We took a lot of swings that completely missed.

One in three shots on target would be fairly standard, no? We had 5 in 20 on target in our last PL game, for example.

%'s aside, 9 shots on target is a decent enough haul. If you want to go back to an actual "shite, limp performance" in a 2 all draw against a team we should beat, how about Southampton away? 11 shots in total, 5 on target. And that was in a game where we were two nil down after 20 minutes and desperately trying to score from that point onwards.

 

[lex talionis]

Of course we have to be disappointed that we dropped points to a club lower in the table, but the performance overall wasn't that bad. But the early Rashford miss was hard to take. He had the easy slot with the inside of the foot but instead he went for an attempt with flair with the outside of the foot. These things happen to forwards from time to time but what a miss.

Pereira has come in for heavy criticism and I agree he had a poor game, but he was put in a bad situation by Jones. He's nowhere near Herrera but I'd much rather see Pereira in midfield than Fellaini.

As for Jones, it wasn't his worst performance but after all these years -- 8 now, I believe -- he's just not at the level required at United. He can put in a decent shift for 75 minutes but it's nailed on guaranteed he's going to make 2 or 3 key mistakes, which sometimes he'll get away but sometimes he won't.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Annoying result, but no team has raised their game like that against us for a while.

Hopefully a wake up call that this football thing isn't a piece of piss. Still room for improvement, but glad to see the character.

 

[peridigm]

Annoyed with the result but not mad. This will bring the players back down to earth. We will bounce back on Sunday and hopefully build up another winning streak. Still not lost under Ole yet. The comeback was great stuff. Top 4? Still achievable but slightly out of our hands.

I'm more pissed at that dope named Moss. Blew the whistle early after he interfered with play.

 

[WR10]

Watched big chunks of the game again this morning. Burnley completely gave us the wings but we had only young and Shaw to punish them with it. Also it was sad to see that some players would pick up the ball in midfield and see the wide open Shaw/young and immediately realize they have neither the confidence or ability to knock that scholes laser pass out to the wing to kick start an attack. I think the problem there was seen by ole which is why he dropped pogba a little deeper in the second half to spring those passes. We need a better passer in midfield other than pogba

 

[Oneunited26]

Our squad was exposed tonight. Lukaku, Young, Pereira, Mata, Sanchez all a combination of too ponderous and wasteful. Just not good enough. This ones on Ole, got complacent and shuffled the pack too much.

The positive is this performance and scenario was coming and the test was how we responded. Whilst we didn’t win we showed the fight and determination required. I’d happily sacrifice two points if it means Ole takes no chances with team selection and plays his best team from now on. Rotation is necessary at this stage of the season but our backup options are shite unfortunately

Deadwood FC strikes again, young, Jones, mata, lukaku, Perrera, Sanchez, Valencia, darmian, rojo all need to go, 6 players are required and it never helps we signed that donkey on a 5 year contract. How jones keeps getting games I have no idea and both young and Jones cost us goals. We missed Herrera, lingard and martial. Unless this board get their ass into gear and start shipping out deadwood, player like young, Jones and mata will continue to be a problem. We need to get a get a mini bus and ship out not just Fellaini

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I’m not blaming Jones for anything, Perreira still did pretty much the worst thing he could have done there, but I just think in that context with how high burnley were pressing and two player so close to Perreira booting it up might have been the safer option. In my opinion it’s abojt 80% Perreira, 20% Jones.

So you start by saying you aren't blaming Jones for anything but finish with saying you are blaming Jones 20%??? Like I said, this pass happens 100 times in a match. You pass it to a player who is covered on purpose so that he will pass it right back to you and then the players who are covering him will come to you and then he is free for another pass. 100% on Perreira for not passing it back with his first touch like it happens the other 99 times in the match that that pass happens. As for booting it up the field, isn't this the other thing people are always on Jones for doing???

 

[DavelinaJolie]

Really thought this one was down to individual performances, because the first half Utd were all over them, the lack of quality chances created was problematic and it seemed like the supply routes were ineffective with the final ball. It was encouraging how they pulled it back to a draw, it seemed like they finally found some urgency and tried to create something.

Strong response to going 2 down, which is good, but lack of cohesiveness and quality balls in beforehand was pretty concerning.
o

 

[TheRedHearted]

To all those people who want to give contracts to anyone who's ever had a decent moment on the pitch for us because "he's a top bloke and only a squad player" - this is what we get.

You squad players are not meant to be a shitty second string. They're meant to be first team quality and pushing the first team for thier place in the team.

Ship out the dross.

It’s a great point. Woody has been dreadful with giving new contracts for very little reason. Basically if you ever sign with us you’re guaranteed to sign a new and better contract even if you’ve underperformed. Strange and also more proof that his role needs to be changed immediately. Thankfully the DOF will do that, what is taking so long?

Very entertaining game, but Ole had to drop points sometime. It was least exciting andvwe showed great fighting spirit to the death.

Two extremely sloppy goals to concede though. Not good enough.

Onto the next one,lets see how we bounce back.

I keep seeing this but it’s not the point. If we dropped points with Sanchez Rashford and Lukaku as the front 3 people wouldn’t mind. Its clear as day Mata on the RW is a waste. If we played any system with Mata behind Rashford I don’t think we would mind. But the RW- why?

We cant fault OGS for making changes because he cant play the same team with matches coming thick and fast

Key players are now playing through the pain with some knocks and it cant go on forever (Pogba, Jesse, Rashford, Martial)

Our squad players need to be better

Another sentiment I’ve seen but he had Rashford on the pitch. He has to start in the center considering he’s been the most proven in our squad as of late. Lukaku on the wing worked for arsenal - why wouldn’t it work here? And then anyone can play LW really.

If i was manager of United- here would be the team against burnley

(Midfield and up)
Sanchez, Rashford, Lukaku
Juan Mata as Cam
Pogba and Matic

Or a flat 3 midfield with pogba Matic and mata.

Mata would have been a nice sub in Barcelona’s midfield 3 back in the his day IMO. Play him centrally or let him work as a creator in midfield or let him sit on the bench.
As I the only one who would prefer Fred as RW over Mata?

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

Pretty much this. I remember plenty of nights where we'd batter teams and even RvN couldn't score. We were unlucky last night.

 

[esmufc07]

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

Well said Pogue.

 

[Still ill]

Anything bar 3 points and sexy football is a shite, limp performance it appears. We only sing when we're winning.

 

[Steerpike]

I think that game showed that our backup players aren't as good as the regular starters right now. Sanchez perhaps, with more game time, may be able to step up, and Lukaku may be able to do a job if we need to adjust our tactics. Perreira didn't look comfortable in the Herrera role. Mata got involved and had some good moments, but he doesn't seem able to keep the tempo of attacks going in the same way as Lingard.

It was also disappointing to see Rashford moved out to the left, though I'm not sure what other options Ole had to be fair (perhaps starting with Sanchez instead of Lukaku, and playing him on the left).

Burnley had a good game plan - basically two up front working hard and pressing, and the remainder behind the ball defending narrow. It's likely we'll come up against a similar plan on other occasions in what's left of this season, so we need to find a way to overcome it. I think we should stick to our strengths which are basically a lot of pace and movement in our front three, and Pogba supplying the creativity behind them.

On the positive side, we rescued a point when it seemed hopeless, and Lindelof continued with his good form.

 

[Mihai]

Past few weeks i have always wondered what will happen when opponents parked the bus, considering all our previous game are won due to counter attack and pace of Rashford and Martial. Today opponent dug deep and we see what we see. Our forwards are one trick pony with pace.

By the way fantastic comeback, after getting 0-2 at 80th minute. Couldn't have asked for 3-2. If it had been 3 goals in stoppage time, then Solsjaekr is the Second Coming.

To be fair, we were missing 2 of the 3 attackers from the starting lineup.

 

[JK-27]

This biggest shock from last night is seeing us revert back to slow play at the start of games, especially against teams we should be far more superior than. That was a big problem under Jose that I thought would go along with him, but it reared it's ugly head again last night.

Over the past 3 or 4 seasons we have always slipped up against teams who are below us in both the table and quality, no matter if it was LVG, Jose, or now Ole. Seems that's a player problem rather than manager problem.

 

[GaryLifo]

It's hard reading some of these posts. Really negative again. We still performed better than at any time this season under Jose. Yes, last night did highlight some areas of our squad that needs changing or bolstering and I'm really surprised Fred didn't start ahead of Andreas but ...

1. Burnley had an excellent game, crazily well organized and Heaton had the best game of his season so far.
2. We fought and got two late goals which means we got a point instead of walking away with none.
3. The last 15 minutes was as close to an all out assault as I've seen from UTD for a good few years and was exciting as heck! The players clearly responding to Ole and fighting till the bitter end.
4. Mata really wasn't as bad as some are making out
5. Lindelof, another overall good display and an important goal, pleased for him.
6. We didn't lose
7. Not every game will be easy
8. We didn't lose
9. Did I say we didn't lose?

It would have been really easy for us to capitulate after going 2 down but we didn't. Yes, some of our play lacked quality but Burnely were really well up for this and their organisation matched there desire.

This could have been worse and I'm sure Ole will take some lessons from this match.

Agreed on all points. I also like how it will send out a message to all these small-time 'workhorse' teams that even if you are 2-0 up at Old Trafford with 10 minutes left you aren't safe at all. Huge part of football are the psychological expectations. The Ferguson years were full of teams who were beaten before they stepped onto the pitch.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

Great post. Last night was not great but still miles better than under recent Jose. We just could not finish. Some people just couldn't wait to start ripping certain players again.

 

[gerdm07]

I loved the passion from the players. For the past 5 years when we were 2 down with 10 to go I rarely had hope we could pull something off. Yesterday, I was believer and on the edge of my seat. Thank you OGS!

For me, Andres, Mata and Sanchez were disappointing. Andres didn't seem comfortable all match and played very conservative until he didn't. Sanchez had too many missed passes. Mata is Mata and his lack of pace really hinders our attack.

 

[youngrell]

Lacked quality individually and collectively lost our composure when we started pumping long ball far too early.

Good character to get the draw, though, felt like old times when we battered on the door enough to get what we needed.

Have to give credit to Burnley, too. Pressed us very well for long periods of the game and defended with their lives when they retreated through tiredness.

 

[Moriarty]

Mata is Mata and his lack of pace really hinders our attack.

Well, there's that but against teams like Burnley, you need someone with a bit of guile and craft to unpick their defence. Belting crosses into the box against them plays to their strengths.

 

[AltiUn]

Pretty much this. I remember plenty of nights where we'd batter teams and even RvN couldn't score. We were unlucky last night.

I can understand the reaction, every point counts when you're playing catch up. Won't be the last time we have a game like that, sometimes rotation can work really well and sometimes you lose a spark because of it, just need to bounce back and get a good result v Leicester. When all's said and done the lad's fought back well to get a draw in the end.

 

[noodlehair]

Didn't many posters on here were looking to see how Ole would react after a loss and setback to see if he is worthy of a permanent job?

Yes but he didn't need to go and semi manifacture one.

He isn't imune from criticism when he does something silly. Winning a few league games and playing well is something he deserves credit for, but also doesn't magically mean we're so good we can start messing around with parts of the team unecessarily and not taking opponents fully seriously. It's a weird thing to do when we're in 6th place. You don't end up being 6th by being so good you can get away with treating games like experiments.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Way to undo 6 weeks of work in 1 game.

Rashford, currently our best player on form, moved into a completely different position just because one other person is injured, and in order to allow Lukaku and Mata to be useless for 90 minutes.

Lukaku moved back ahead of Rashford in the striker pecking order based on him doing well for 45 minutes against Arsenal, while playing on the wing? I don't understand this at all. It's the sort of thing Mourinho would do. Rashford didn't even play in the Arsenal game. Lingard was fit, Sanchez plays in Martial's position. There was no need or logical reason to sod around with the dynamic of a team that's been playing well.

You could tell after 10 minutes we were going to struggle because instead of our attack being fluid as it has been in recent games, Pogba was getting the ball and having to wait for someone just to make themselves available, Rashford was being forced to try and beat the entire defence instead of other players giving him the space to get in behind, as Lingard and Martial would and Sanchez's movement probably would have. Mata was taking 2-3 touches and spinning round in a circle to play even the most simple pass. Young was putting good balls into the box and Lukaku wasn't even there, so I have no idea what he was doing all game.

Pogba played well. Young played well. Rashford tried, but we've had too many games where we've handicapped ourselves this season to be able to afford to do it in anymore games at all. If you're going to make unforced changes you can't start fiddling with the dynamics at the same time. Players who have struggled with that all season or failed to play well enough to make it work, aren't going to magically make it work now. Liverpool can't afford to do stuff like this and are top of the league, so it's baffling why we think we're good enough to.

Scoring goals is also vitally important and you don't effectively drop your in form striker to the wing just to make room for other people. You wouldn't move Pogba to defensive midfield just to give Fred a game, so why on earth do it with the player who's goals are the only reason you won the previous two league games?

Honeslty I've loved Ole so far but stuff like this is just stupidity for the sake of it. There is nothing to gain from it. Poking holes in the bottom of your boat just to see if it will sink.

Unless I’m very much mistaken, you used to post almost identical diatribes whenever we dropped points after Fergie rotated his squad, so I’ll take it as a ringing endorsement of OGS...

 

[noodlehair]

Really?!
We should have been two up at half time, we dominated the game and had good chances to score.
Not a huge amount wrong with the tactics, just Burnley were super organized and took the two chances they had.
On another night that's an easy victory, instead it's a battling draw.

We always get this dmonated the game and should have been x goals up line when we struggle in games like this.

We didn't play well at all and I thought that was fairly obvious. It was a game we COULD have won, but it was also a game we needed to win and which, if we had approached it correctly, should have won. Creating situations where we might win instead of probably will isn't great strategy, unless there is something to gain or learn from it. We gained nothing from last night and all we learnt was that weakening the team makes it polay worse. A bit like fighting someone weaker than you using only one arm to see if it makes it more likely you end up getting beaten up.

 

[noodlehair]

Unless I’m very much mistaken, you used to post almost identical diatribes whenever we dropped points after Fergie rotated his squad, so I’ll take it as a ringing endorsement of OGS...

This included ranting about our team selection for the Blackburn game that ultimately cost us a league title, and our arrogant and dismissive approach to CL group games which led to us going out in the group stage despite being in a feeble group.

It's also slightly more understandable when you are in 1st place, so are a) better than everyone else, and b) can actually afford to weigh up the importance of one league game against another. We're in 6th. We are certainly not better than everyone else and don't have the luxury of being able to gamble on winning a game or the form of players for no real reason or benefit.

What we definitely don't want is to be back in a situation where we don't know what our first team is because certain parts of it are unrecognisable from one game to the next, and bear no relation to who does or doesn't play well.

 

[Chairman Steve]

I think he rotated too much for this game. It shouldn’t have been Pereira who came in, who pretty much demonstrated why he isn’t Utd quality after the fatal mistake and then losing his head thereafter.

The rest of the season is going to be a bit like 06/07 where we have a strong XI but the defence isn’t as strong and there’s questionable squad depth. In 06/07 we were lacking numbers but in 18/19 the squad depth is good enough in terms of numbers but there are players that don’t work in the system we’re currently playing.

 

[sincher]

Fair points, I thought the rotation was silly, especially not playing Herrera who plays a vital role in the team I think. One of the best things Ole did initially was him right and Matic left anchoring the midfield and Pogba freer. Pereira has some promise but he is surely an attacking player first and foremost. Herrera has often been the most defensive midfielder of all and has done a much better job of this than Matic was struggling with when trying to do it on his own for most of this season under Mourinho.

The point with Pereira is that isn't the position he should play in anyway - if you want to give him minutes, some sub time for Pogba when we have already won a game makes the most sense.

To me we have Herrera, Matic and Pogba, with Fred, McTominay and Pereira as - let's face it right now - really not very good understudies. We have much better options in attack but we should keep the shape mostly the same, i.e. Lingard, Rashford, Martial with Mata, Lukaku and Sanchez as understudies... recognizing the fact that Mata never really sticks to a position so is a bit annoying.

 

[Turnip]

We drew against a team who loaded their box and defended really well, that happens to the best of teams, I doubt the result would have been any better under any of our previous managers or any other manager we've been linked with, it was just one of them nights. We conceded very few chances, all of which were on the break and one of the goals was down to an error from a young midfielder who's had very few league minutes so far in his career. All this after an 8 game winning streak. I'm honestly not bothered. Dropping the points and Ole not getting the record sure is a shame, but considering the recent form it's hard to be annoyed at this, no one wins every game.

 

[CG1010]

We always get this dmonated the game and should have been x goals up line when we struggle in games like this.

We didn't play well at all and I thought that was fairly obvious. It was a game we COULD have won, but it was also a game we needed to win and which, if we had approached it correctly, should have won. Creating situations where we might win instead of probably will isn't great strategy, unless there is something to gain or learn from it. We gained nothing from last night and all we learnt was that weakening the team makes it polay worse. A bit like fighting someone weaker than you using only one arm to see if it makes it more likely you end up getting beaten up.

Do we know for sure if Sanchez was fit enough to start the game after playing over the weekend? If not, then I would say Ole didn't much wrong because what option did he really have?

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

We drew against a team who loaded their box and defended really well, that happens to the best of teams, I doubt the result would have been any better under any of our previous managers or any other manager we've been linked with, it was just one of them nights. We conceded very few chances, all of which were on the break and one of the goals was down to an error from a young midfielder who's had very few league minutes so far in his career. All this after an 8 game winning streak. I'm honestly not bothered. Dropping the points and Ole not getting the record sure is a shame, but considering the recent form it's hard to be annoyed at this, no one wins every game.

We'd have lost that one under Moyes, LvG and Mourinho.

 

[Dante]

This biggest shock from last night is seeing us revert back to slow play at the start of games, especially against teams we should be far more superior than.

No Lingard, no party.

He makes every player - and every phase of play - more dangerous by occupying/moving between areas that the opposition don't want to be dragged into.

He's the glue that holds the attack together and Mata is a big downgrade in that one regard (so are Pogba, Rashford and Martial, to be fair).

Lingard plays for the same reason Rooney played despite less than stellar productivity.

 

[minoo-utd]

Rashford is not good at L.W and also he was having an off day should have subbed off not Lukaku but he seems like Oles favourite player.

Perrera has not offered anything before to let Ole think he deserves a start in a p.l game against a solid team, let alone he was the reason we conceded the first one.

Jones IDK but where was Bailly? If not Smalling was ready to start! It's obvious to anyone who understands football or not that Jones is not a reliable C.B at all.

Game management was not good, and rotation also. If Ole needs few additions to make him apply his system better he should talk and ask for it but apparently he won't at this transfer window as it's almost finished and then he will addresses everything after the season ends but it could be is in E.L again for sorry.

 

[Random Task]

74% possession
28 shots at Burnley's goal vs 6 shots at our goal from Burnley

If that really is how you define a "shite, limp performance" under Ole then he should be given the job permanently tomorrow. God knows we've had loads of shite, limp performances over the last few years so they're easy enough to recognise. Last night couldn't be more different to some of the dreadful results/performances we've seen under previous managers.

This is clearly relevant and a strong indicator as to who was the better team on the night. But the fact is the better team doesn't always win, this has been true of football since it's inception yet people struggle to accept it.

In any case, I thought it was more of typically dogged defensive performance from a team battling relegation rather than a poor showing from our lads. They earned a point fair and square.