[Nicoseth]

A manager's job is not just to pick the players.

Not saying that at all mate. But he can only do so much and I think it's fair to say he's done a good job up to this point - I know not all agree. Just saying that most of the blame should be aimed at the players today. Several of them were so far off Man Utd standard in terms of their attitude and application it was unacceptable. Ole needs to be backed with some fresh blood and some of these guys need to go. Easier said than done, I know.

 

[AbusementPark]

I thought that there were quite a few positives from today to be honest. Disappointing though the result was, Palace are a decent side and with no fans in the ground, we didn’t really have home advantage, so we couldn’t influence and put pressure on the referee. That apart, I think that the signs are good.

I hope your winding everyone up, I think the signs for the season suggest it's going to be a long season. Although only the first game of the season, this has carried on from last season during the pathetic displays against Chelsea and Sevilla in the cup games.

 

[Cantona in disguise]

Pogba and Rashford - really need to have options to replace these two because they frankly have far too many off days where they appear to just be off the pace/lazy/out of ideas.

But the single most important thing for me is to buy two attacking fullbacks (or give Dalot a chance). Without that option, it is far to easy to defend against us. If you cant get fullbacks overlapping your wingers, your wingers become ineffective. This was as true with fecking Irwin/Giggs and Neville/Beckham as it is today, but we seem to be blind to the obvious problem, and we have been for years.

Rashford is a massive concern. I know he's had a nasty injury but since he came back he's been atrocious. He offers nothing to the team at all in this form.

 

[sammsky1]

 

[Sultan]

I'm not sure you can blame recruitment for the loss and performance in this game. That should be discussed over the course of the season. Taken this game in isolation we had better players on the pitch today and home advantage.

I thought the loss was largely due to lack of width. Rashford, James, Greenwood and full-backs were pretty dire with the exception one cross by Mensah. Palace packed the middle and closed off all entry points to the forwards mostly making Bruno and Pogba redundant.

Oh, playing without a decent player to shield the defence was suicidal. Had Palace been more ruthless they could and should have got at least 5 goals.

We got away lightly with a 3-1 loss such was the performance.

 

[Pretzels81]

It's a tradition now, since 2018: crap start to the season.

This needs to be an early low point or we are fecked.

A new CB is a must. Victor the Lesser is awful.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Our attack/midfield have no leniency in their performances. If we don’t come out firing the defence generally falter at the first sign of pressure.

Sancho can’t cure those ills.

 

[Fooza]

Nothing to do with the game...
but imagine, we had Zaha and we have Lingard.

The player you'd wish we just had patience and stuck by was Zaha for what he has become now, but no we ended up moving him on and we kept Lingard for years knowing he wasn't good enough.

We keep deadwood but sold a decent player there, just disappointing at the decisions this club makes.

 

[stu_1992]

I've found it hard to post in this thread about that performance as I don't like to be too emotional and over the top. I think I'm okay now to comment on it now but unfortunately I can't be kind with my words.

Definitely the worst opening game to a season that I've witnessed from us. One team looked fit, the other did not. We were appalling. All over the shop. We can point fingers at individuals like Lindelof who was culpable in all three goals or Pogba who's passing was shocking today, but the fact is no-one on our team played well.

Some may blame Ole for not picking the strongest possible team but judging by how the likes of Greenwood played when he came on it wouldn't have made a difference. Would Wan Bissaka have changed the game? He can't defend by himself if the rest were terrible so I doubt it. Fair enough Van De Beek looked lively when coming and got his debut goal. But if we're talking strongest line, he's probably not in it anyway. I do feel bad for him that he's debut and first goal is overshadowed by how has we were. Maybe Matic would have made a difference but correct me if I'm wrong but he must have been injured right? Otherwise he'd be on the bench at least.

I didn't see this coming. I was underwhelmed by the starting team like most but there was enough in there to get thr job done. It has to be that the team isn't fit and isn't ready for the season. Yes we should have more signings by now, but we shouldn't need the likes of a Sancho to beat Palace. Perhaps there's a bit of cloud over the dressing room if they are disappointed at the lack of ambition too. And if that's thr case, we're in big trouble.

Anyway I've said my piece. Anything more is wasted energy at this point.

 

[SirScholes]

This is just swells from our Europa League participation. First few games will be iffy because we're less cohesive and fit than other teams.

If we wanted a smoother start to the season we should have sent the U18s to see out the Europa League and sent our players on immediate holiday following last PL fixture last season.

I don't think we'll be good/catch up until after next international break.

This is nonsense
Sevilla got to the final and no one is saying they aren’t fit
Wolves beat sheff Utd 2-0
Inter have scored 13 goals in 2 games, yes friendlies but we’ve scored 1 goal in total out games against palace and the villa friendly
Ole has no attacking system or if he does can’t/won’t change it

 

[Knux]

Wow, I missed the game because of work (thank god). But 1-3 wasn’t what I’ve had expected. Nice to see VdB on the scoresheet but other than that.. first XI need to step up now.

 

[roonaldo78]

I think we are going to have a very difficult season.

Sadly it feels that way, brings back nightmares of Mourinho's last season.

 

[Rolaholic]

Matic would've helped make a difference but I'm still not sure why Fred didn't get a chance at DM once we were getting overran

 

[Nicoseth]

Most disappointing today - Lindelof - a nightmare game. Also awful/anonymous/ineffective: Rashford, James, Shaw and TFM. Shaw was almost as bad as Lindelof, imo. Wasteful, lazy/unfit, lacking commitment.

Postives: ehhhhh, VDB. That's about it. Oh and Dave seemed decent apart from his kicking.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Sadly it feels that way, brings back nightmares of Mourinho's last season.

Ole to self destruct because when he asked for Sancho they tried to give him Brooks

 

[sammsky1]

I'm not sure you can blame recruitment for the loss and performance in this game. That should be discussed over the course of the season. Taken this game in isolation we had better players on the pitch today and home advantage.

I thought the loss was largely due to lack of width. Rashford, James, Greenwood and full-backs were pretty dire with the exception one cross by Mensah. Palace packed the middle and closed off all entry points to the forwards mostly making Bruno and Pogba redundant.

Oh, playing without a decent player to shield the defence was suicidal. Had Palace been more ruthless they could and should have got at least 5 goals.

We got away lightly with a 3-1 loss such was the performance.

so you think it was down to bad tactics? Wasn't McT meant to be the shielding midfielder?

I think its simpler? We were not physically or mentally ready. We were slower, our passes were often inches out, over or under hit passes, and we had a very weak right side.

There are reasons for that, but that was the difference.

 

[Sultan]

The penalty was harshly given. Retake was harsh. I can't personally see how a penalty can be saved without a keeper moving. Near impossible to time any movement exactly with the penalty taker. basically years of training has been a waste with these new rules.

 

[baskinginthesun]

I'm not sure you can blame recruitment for the loss and performance in this game. That should be discussed over the course of the season. Taken this game in isolation we had better players on the pitch today and home advantage.

I thought the loss was largely due to lack of width. Rashford, James, Greenwood and full-backs were pretty dire with the exception one cross by Mensah. Palace packed the middle and closed off all entry points to the forwards mostly making Bruno and Pogba redundant.

Oh, playing without a decent player to shield the defence was suicidal. Had Palace been more ruthless they could and should have got at least 5 goals.

We got away lightly with a 3-1 loss such was the performance.

The width thing bothered me all game. Not really sure why we didn't isolate their fullbacks and create space there. It was hard to tell who was the widest player; everyone seemed to be playing down the middle.

Other than that. The entire game felt like the first pre-season match of the year. Players seems 75% fit and were just jogging around. Im fairly certain Ole picked a teams based on who played for their country over the previous break. Probably why Dan James and McTominey started.

 

[baskinginthesun]

The penalty was harshly given. Retake was harsh. I can't personally see how a penalty can be saved without a keeper moving. Near impossible to time any movement exactly with the penalty taker. basically years of training has been a waste with these new rules.

Yup. Agreed. Why were they also allowed to change the penalty taker? That doesn't seem right.

 

[Berbasbullet]

The width thing bothered me all game. Not really sure why we didn't isolate their fullbacks and create space there. It was hard to tell who was the widest player; everyone seemed to be playing down the middle.

Other than that. The entire game felt like the first pre-season match of the year. Players seems 75% fit and were just jogging around. Im fairly certain Ole picked a teams based on who played for their country over the previous break. Probably why Dan James and McTominey started.

It all looked awful disorganised with players floating into each other’s spaces more often than not.

Hopefully this is just a teething problem for this season and things will get better.

 

[Godfather]

I think we are going to have a very difficult season.

It will. Some big recruitments by teams around us may leave us dropping out of the big 4 again (which is a ridiculous target anyway)

 

[Cassidy]

Chelsea and City look fit, didn't they have games in the CL too with many players in the international break? Why is it always us is my point.

Both were out earlier than us. Chelsea especially who played plenty of preseason games and also had their signings in way before us.

 

[Untd55]

A poor choice not to play Fred. He is better than McTominay at closing players down, he is faster (one of the quickest in our team actually), unlimited stamina, and he can pass.

Literally, the only reason to play McTominay is for his height, but they weren't putting in crosses or high balls so it was useless.

The decision (along with playing James over Greenwood) helped put us on the backfoot from the start. No passing from deep and no attacking ability from the right-wing helped give Crystal Palace the incentive at the start.

Once they scored and we didn't win a penalty within 15 minutes, I knew we were going to lose.

 

[baskinginthesun]

It all looked awful disorganised with players floating into each other’s spaces more often than not.

Hopefully this is just a teething problem for this season and things will get better.

Hopefully. Definitely a bad result but, nothing to get too concerned about yet.

 

[simonhch]

We have to remain calm. The schedule is deeply fecked and unfair. Palace came into this with 5 games under their belt. We had none. No preseason at all. This shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. Absolute disgrace the premier league.

 

[Rolaholic]

Hopefully. Definitely a bad result but, nothing to get too concerned about yet.

I hope you're right and that we aren't in another dead heat for the top 4 like last year because those 3 points could come back to haunt us if we are

 

[Fooza]

Both were out earlier than us. Chelsea especially who played plenty of preseason games and also had their signings in way before us.

Well we had the same time frame as Wolves ( as they started last week but finish EL cup a week earlier as us) Yet they looked sharp last week, so why are people using fitness as an excuse

 

[sammsky1]

 

[USREDEVIL]

Mctominay and lindelof were the main reason we lost. The rest of the team looked disorganized and rusty though. Horrible display. Shit show.

 

[Sultan]

so you think it was down to bad tactics? Wasn't McT meant to be the shielding midfielder?

I think its simpler? We were not physically or mentally ready. We were slower, our passes were often inches out, over or under hit passes, and we had a very weak right side.

There are reasons for that, but that was the difference.

Mctominay is too adventurous to be shielding. Plays with his head down and is generally too rushed. He takes risks in his passing. Defensive players are generally the opposite. Boring short and sideways passers. Match sharpness possibly played a factor with all the missed passes.

We're just trying to make excuses for team team to make ourselves feel better.

 

[mazhar13]

Mctominay is too adventurous to be shielding. Plays with his head down and is generally too rushed. He takes risks in his passing. Defensive players are generally the opposite. Boring short and sideways passers. Match sharpness possibly played a factor with all the missed passes.

We're just trying to make excuses for our team to make ourselves feel better.

Yeah, that's why I was surprised when Ole paired him with Pogba. Maybe with van de Beek, it'd have worked given his experience in those deeper midfield roles, but Pogba was a mismatch. McTominay's best performances came as a B2B midfielder, which would allow him to have more influence higher up the pitch. Making him our anchor man showed as he exposed our defence on several occasions. Whenever he was in 1-on-1 situations, he also struggled to contain the dribbler. A good defensive midfielder would make a dribbler more uncomfortable.

Overall, I'm really hoping that Ole pairs McTominay with either Fred or van de Beek, or he starts Fred over McTominay.

 

[sincher]

Not going to get into the whole transfer bollox but that was a huge letdown for all United fans.

 

[Isotope]

Lyon beat Juventus away after no games for months.

 

[El Zoido]

This lineup won’t be the won’t Ole goes with for the future, seems to me like he was testing the squad.

 

[rotherham_red]

The team performance was poor today but I'm not overly concerned. We have had little to no preparation time and Ole just hasn't been backed in the transfer market as yet. We need to bring in at least two, ideally three players but I have very little faith that we will.

However, I still expect us to improve even without Sancho. If we're still like this by the time we play Spurs then I'll be concerned but for a first game, as bad as it was, I'm not going to throw my toys out the pram.

 

[mazhar13]

This lineup won’t be the won’t Ole goes with for the future, seems to me like he was testing the squad.

I don't see how he was testing the lineup. To me, it looked like he set us up with our strongest possible lineup.

 

[arthurka]

Mctominay and lindelof were the main reason we lost. The rest of the team looked disorganized and rusty though. Horrible display. Shit show.

Oh please Lindelöf was at fault for all three. But that said all our "star" players were crap. Rashford, Pogba, Fernandes, Martial all dire and less said about Shaw the better. Timbo was out best defender to be fair. McT was but even close to being our worst out there

 

[Sandikan]

Depressing morale sapper, just like that 2-1 home defeat to Swansea in 2014/15

Just utterly derails everything we thought we'd started building.

 

[INF-AMOS]

The worrying thing is Brunos form which appeared to hit a wall a few games after Pogbas return. It seemed Bruno preferred the higher energy Fred and McTom behind him doing the spade work so he could shine. Having said that this United team also carries too many other passengers that blow hot and cold.

 

[bondsname]

Sick of seeing a bunch of cowards play for United. Fecking step it up or get out of the team. If I played for United and couldn't handle the pressure or didn't work my balls off every day I'd go home and feck myself and buy out my own contract so I wouldn't be a burden. Disgraceful.