[DomesticTadpole]

Really? I don't think it's humanly possible to give less of a feck about something than I do about that game. It's the League Cup. I wouldn't mind if we didn't even compete in it.

Then worry about Brighton, because if these players don't get some more minutes on the clock it will be the same next weekend. Brighton cause us problems and are miles ahead in match fitness.

 

[mattunited1978]

Lindeloff is utter utter wank, scrawny, slow shambles of a CB, Maguire not much better
If TFM ever plays 1 second at Fullback again, its a second too many.
James and Mctominay just feck off to the championship where you belong.

The clubs everyones favorite punch bag and we continue to serve up the ammunition, our yearly shitshow in transfer windows, zero fecking clue how to defend or attack cohesivley, massive fees for average players, huge wages and new long contracts for fecking donkeys and worse of all, a squad of players who dont give a feck.

We'v become a laughing stock to the rest of the footballing world.

 

[jackal&hyde]

Not match fit.

 

[Godfather]

There is only one question now.
- will the fans
Will the Fans of MUFC
The supporters of Manchester United FC.

Will they put up with this?

Yes. They always do

 

[Buster15]

I see. Now it's fatigue.

So I guess this season is a write off because we're fatigued. But then it's the Euros next summer? I guess next season is also a write off because everyone will be tired again. Maybe the season after that we'll kick on! So, 2022/23 it is. Can't wait.

Lame excuse. What I am concerned about is the lethargic way we seem to start games. Why do we almost never start off with a high intensity and try to dominate the opposition.
And Palace were much better organised and played like a team. We played like 11 players who had never seen eachother before.

 

[sammsky1]

That all speaks to discipline inside the club too though. It is a very worrying look. Looked in disarray today, couple that with rumors of agents laughing at the way we conduct ourselves for transfers, and it isn’t a pretty picture.
It wasn’t a loss today, it was a disastrous performance against a very average team. It’s definitely enough to raise concern after the summer we have had.

I'm concerned just as much as you! our internal issues our ours alone the season is already into match day 2!

What are the rumours from laughing agents? Not seen those?

 

[Sandikan]

If you don't invest in the club, the club goes backwards. It's not surprising, was pretty pessimistic once the team lineup was announced. The right hand side of our team with TFM and James are genuinely relegation quality players (not hyperbole, no Premier League team would actively want to buy those players). Telles seems likely, not that big a fan of him tbh but we definitely need somebody for lb. Shame things couldn't be agreed with Reguillon. Telles is probably backup to Shaw rather than his replacement, solid going forward, pretty poor defensively. Sancho obviously should have been bought over a month ago. Don't know whether it will be completed or not but I assume if not we'll bring in someone on loan. Arsenal look better than us this season. Wolves and Everton could challenge for top 4. Top 3 are absolutely miles ahead now.

It's only 1 game, but there has to be a huge chance at least one of Spurs, Arsenal, Everton overtake us.
Worst case is Moyes.

 

[Acquire Me]

I mean without anything resembling a proper plan and direction that isn't just counter attacking, even if we bring in Sancho and whoever else, i don't think much will change.

We can be much better than this, that we proved in our second part of last season. We are lacking match fitness. A normal summer and a normal pre season would have helped us a lot.

It’s great that next match is Luton.

 

[Tincanalley]

forget the board, that starting 11 was a shambles. DJ and TFM on the right side?

Hey what do you mean, forget the board?

 

[SemiPro]

Game was lost as soon as that starting XI was announced.

TFM and James offer nothing down the right side, they wouldn’t be near any of our rival’s starting teams.

Pogba and McTominay rarely play well together. Individually, both had terrible games as well. Both lost possession far too often and didn’t get the ball forward quick enough.

Without someone like Matic sitting in front of them Maguire and Lindelof were always going to struggle with the pace of Zaha and Ayew. Lindelof in particular had his worst game in a United shirt, he’s not consistent enough at this level.

 

[Fooza]

Of course we're unfit we've been training barely 2 weeks at best with an international break in between.

How many times have we watched pre season tour games where we play a foreign team well behind in their preparations and beat them comfortably. This is no different.

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.

 

[Irwin99]

The last time we lost a game 3-1 on opening day we won the league didn't we? (1996)

Only saw highlights but the goals conceded were bad. Shaw was all over the place for the first goal, look at his movement in that whole sequence of play. Penalty and retake were ridiculously harsh.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Lame excuse. What I am concerned about is the lethargic way we seem to start games. Why do we almost never start off with a high intensity and try to dominate the opposition.
And Palace were much better organised and played like a team. We played like 11 players who had never seen eachother before.

It happens time and time again. To me that is bad preparation. Make sure there is fire in their bellies right from the first minute.

 

[Siorac]

Then worry about Brighton, because if these players don't get some more minutes on the clock it will be the same next weekend. Brighton cause us problems and are miles ahead in match fitness.

There's always going to be some excuse. Currently it's match fitness; by the end of November, it will be tiredness. Then it's the cold in January and after that the psychological burden of another early Liverpool title win.

 

[NewGlory]

The worst part is - Crystal Palace were pretty bad themselves. Let's be honest, a decent team would have annihilated us 8:1 or more.

I mean, this is just one game, we could recover from this, but not if we don't get a CB and a winger. Lindelof is a disaster. Rashford has not been a threat to anybody since injury and Greenwood is a kid - he can't bail us out every single time. We should also replace Martial faster when he is having a bad day. I thought that is why we had Igalo.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

There's always going to be some excuse. Currently it's match fitness; by the end of November, it will be tiredness. Then it's the cold in January and after that the psychological burden of another early Liverpool title win.

So what is the reason. Lack of signings? Bad coaching? Both?

 

[Krits]

I'm sort of done with Pogba. Its been 4 seasons now and I've been waiting to see that midfield dynamo that we build a team around but forget being good, he's an actual liability in there. The rest of the performance doesn't really need commenting. It was shit. I just don't care about Pogba being our player, if we can re-invest his sale in to making a better team, I'd do it right away. He didn't even care about being subbed off. He doesn't have the desire to be an elite player, never will be.

 

[sunama]

Match fitness eh....

Could it really be the difference between us and Crystal Palace?

Ok, home crowd doesn't mean feck all in this covid crap. So, no boost there.

So, it comes down to match fitness, team preparation and tactics, and individual skill.

Hodgson vs Ole? Tough call.

Individual skill? Surely we have better players.

Match fitness it is then.

We'll see in a month or so.

We have better skilled/talented players than CP, but Hodgson knows how to extract more from his players.
Regarding match fitness - the issue is the same for all teams in the league. It seems that our fitness coaches are truly abysmal. They have a history of allowing players to get fat and now it is clear that they have allowed the entire team to lose fitness, to an extent that CP out-played us in almost every department.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The worst part is - Crystal Palace were pretty bad themselves. Let's be honest, a decent team would have annihilated us 8:1 or more.

I mean, this is just one game, we could recover from this, but not if we don't get a CB and a winger. Lindelof is a disaster. Rashford has not been a threat to anybody since injury and Greenwood is a kid - he can't bail us out every single time. We should also replace Martial faster when he is having a bad day. I thought that is why we had Igalo.

Ighalo has gone right off the boil as well. He started well, then has hardly been used. Maybe we need a better option as backup striker. The list is endless for what we need.

 

[Beagle]

Spend the Sancho money on a CB

This is not feasible. The board have coughed up cash for a string of centerbacks for a couple of managers now. And they've spent big money as well. They've also extended the contract of another defender in Phile Jones. After all this if the team is still in need of starting CBs then spending more money in that area does seem futile.

If we need to bring in defenders for our starting 11 every year, no wonder we can't add in other areas. None of the bunch who are at the club seem to be progressing and they keep making the same mistakes over and over. And each one seems to be weak in their own way.

We should just go for pure defenders even if they are oafs in possession. No point in keeping ball playing defenders who can neither defend nor play any ball. Go with the mid table team approach of hoofing defenders if it ensures we tighten up at the back. Given a good defence, we'd be in with a shout of nicking any game. Simjlar to what Palace did last year. 31 goals scored in 38 games. But they were pretty tight at the back. This sort of a defence will always give you a chance of winning any game.

 

[Nickelodeon]

What do we play without Matic?! He’s the only one who tries to move the ball quicker from the back. The fecking sideways movement from Maguire, Lindelof, Fosu was as terrible as I’ve ever seen in football.

Rebuild is going to start again soon. Brace for a rocky season with humiliations across PL and CL.

 

[TheGame]

Regardless of all of the good work that Ole does, I find that he doesn't necessarily have the courage to take chances with his first XI and subs. Whilst an overall lack of match sharpness was certainly a factor, we could have tried to mitigate that given that we did have one pre-season match.

Martial, Pogba, and Lindelof didn't play any pre-season football with United. It was quite clear that they weren't in sync with the rest of the team (to varying degrees). James also played on the right instead of the left. Why couldn't Ole have fielded a midfield of McTominay-van de Beek-Fernandes? Why couldn't James play on the left and Rashford on the right? Why couldn't Fosu-Mensah play at CB with one of Dalot or Brandon Williams at right back? Why couldn't Ighalo start in place of Martial?

Sure, we may not have had our strongest XI on paper, but at least we'd have had a side that'd be more familiar with and get more out of each other. The likes of Pogba and Martial could then have been options off the bench to make us even better. As it stands, though, our overall sloppiness and lack of sharpness was telling. Whenever Palace pressed us at the start, the midfielders didn't have instant options to play a pass to, and they needed extra touches to settle on the ball. Both Maguire and Lindelof became hesitant to play through the midfield, which slowed us down big time and made us easier to defend.

Maybe Ole wants more good players in his squad before he can take those chances, but at this point, if fielding our best XI gives us this kind of a performance, then he may have no choice but to take chances as the team continues to sharpen up and get ready for a long season ahead.

Very sensible post and agree with it, no idea why Ighalo is even hanging round if he isn’t playing. VDB has been playing for Holland so should have started.

 

[Leftback99]

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.

Chelsea had over a week more than us. We shall see with City who have had an extra 3 days.

 

[sunama]

I'm sort of done with Pogba. Its been 4 seasons now and I've been waiting to see that midfield dynamo that we build a team around but forget being good, he's an actual liability in there. The rest of the performance doesn't really need commenting. It was shit. I just don't care about Pogba being our player, if we can re-invest his sale in to making a better team, I'd do it right away. He didn't even care about being subbed off. He doesn't have the desire to be an elite player, never will be.

He would have the desire to be an elite player. If he joined Bayern, PSG, Madrid, etc - you'll see him put in more effort and desire.
The difference is that MUFC are not competing for trophies, so what's the point in trying. If you are trying to win a league or CL, then putting in huge effort would be worth it.
In saying all of the above, if we get a good price for him, AND we have a replacement lined up, I'd definitely sell.

 

[onemanarmy]

This is hilarious. If you lots had won you would be hailing the youngsters and the ole regeneration. One defeat in 15 and your asking for ole to be sacked, moaning at the board and that the players aren't good enough fickle or what.

There are a few positions even Stevie Wonder can see we need to upgrade. It's been repeated for I don't know how many times. We haven't had a right forward since Nani. Lindelof has been woeful since he arrived, with the odd decent game. Shaw can't attack if it would kill him, is out injured for months each year and is defensively prone. We had no rotation options for Pogba and Bruno, thank God for Donny. Rashford has been awful for months, but who do we play instead? Lingard?

The kneejerk in here is a bit too much, but as one of the richest clubs in the world, you'd expect some investment in those positions. Teams such as Aston Villa, Everton and Leeds have spend significant more than us.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Has Wumminator spoken yet? He's usually quite optimistic about things

 

[manunited1919]

There’s no point blaming James for not offering much, when he actually tried to make an effort, unlike the so called first tier players.

Same with McTominay, who despite making a few mistakes, played better than those criticising are making out. He worked hard and was our only protection in midfield and that’s why we were swamped at times.

The blame lies elsewhere and mostly with the so called star players.

Keeping Rashford on the pitch when he was totally awful is unforgivable.
This lad has been totally over rated and even when he was in his golden patch, scoring goals and creating chances for Martial, he never really looked good enough.

There’s no excuses about fitness or coming back from injury. That’s all bollox.
If he’s not fit enough, he shouldn’t be playing, end of.
Clearly he’s deemed fit, but there’s a blindness to how poor he is and he’s selected.
Then just like the Europa semi, he’s still kept on the pitch no matter how awful he is.

Then there’s Pogba. What a waste of space.
A complete clown.
If he carries on like this, it’ll be his 5th season of mediocrity and inconsistency.
His track record across most of his senior career proves he is no way a “world class “ player.
More an unreliable enigma.

But go ahead, blame the youngsters and bleat for Utd to splash out on Sancho. As if that’ll solve anything.

Is that the same Pogba who recently tested positive for Covid?

 

[steve.crowford]

Everybody grew up like hurt kids, what's with the nail? the first match of the season only. It's hard to play with the team that parking the bus 5-4-1, I would like to note that McTominay, DeGea, Fosu-Mensah, DVB had a good match.

 

[Jim Beam]

The last time we lost a game 3-1 on opening day we won the league didn't we? (1996)

Nice. Nothing to worry.

 

[Redfrog]

Lindelof ensuring his performance will be rewarded with a new 5 year contract from Ed

Yeah, why bother when at the end of the day you will get a better contract no matter what.

Ed, the genius accountant is protecting his assets like that thinking it is better to let rot your beans than sell them for a loss. He still didn't make out that you can't sell rotten beans because buyers want quality and are not that dumb.

I am now thinking that because the way thé club is run thé players lose all ambition. They are always bright at first and then soon, little by little becoming sh*t.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Is that the same Pogba who recently tested positive for Covid?

I was amazed he started. Ole kept saying he was a doubt, probably thinking he was being crafty, when actually he shouldn't have started.

 

[Siorac]

So what is the reason. Lack of signings? Bad coaching? Both?

Poor coaching and lacklustre transfer policy, yeah. It's been the same shit for seven years now and it's a miracle of the eternal optimism of football fans that some are still clinging to the idea that somehow it'll be OK if only our players get some match sharpness. Sure, eventually we'll put together a good run - we seem to have a long-ish purple patch once a season under Ole so that next summer we can once again say that "with the right signings" we can "build on that". And round we go.

 

[Heinzesight]

Struggling to see anything good from that game.

Got to move on and just have to hope it’s some sort of rocket up the arsehole for pretty much every player out there. Our ‘top’ players didn’t seem to be able to rally the others or grab the game by the scruff of the neck which is worrying but it can’t get worse at OT surely.

De Gea being the width of a pubic hair off his line is hard to take but we simply deserved nothing from that game. So bad.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Everybody grew up like hurt kids, what's with the nail? the first match of the season only. It's hard to play with the team that parking the bus 5-4-1, I would like to note that McTominay, DeGea, Fosu-Mensah, DVB had a good match.

Really? DDG had his moments as well. Only DVB made any impact.

 

[Revaulx]

Ighalo has gone right off the boil as well. He started well, then has hardly been used. Maybe we need a better option as backup striker. The list is endless for what we need.

Yeah Ole seems to have completely lost faith in him. Presumably he has good reasons, but I’d love to know what they are.

 

[Fracture90]

We can be much better than this, that we proved in our second part of last season. We are lacking match fitness. A normal summer and a normal pre season would have helped us a lot.

It’s great that next match is Luton.

Honestly i think a lot of it was down to Bruno's purple patch.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Poor coaching and lacklustre transfer policy, yeah. It's been the same shit for seven years now and it's a miracle of the eternal optimism of football fans that some are still clinging to the idea that somehow it'll be OK if only our players get some match sharpness. Sure, eventually we'll put together a good run - we seem to have a long-ish purple patch once a season under Ole so that next summer we can once again say that "with the right signings" we can "build on that". And round we go.

Ole needs to get this team going fast. If not he could be in big trouble. We have some tough games on the horizon and the problem he has is if the form continues there are two more international breaks where he cannot work on putting things right.

 

[Offsideagain]

Absolutely shocking officials, stonewall pen not given and what a joke that VAR penalty and the retake were. Turned off after that, players were crap, Pogba should be sold tomorrow and the money used to buy a Centre Back with pace, a quality left back and a World Class striker. Until then, it going to be same old story, buying mediocrity and expecting top finishes. No pace and passing sideways again LVG style.

 

[Foxbatt]

It's everything. A better coach would get us to play a lot better with this lot of players. It's not that we ran out of gas in the last quarter of the game.
We just didn't know how to play from the kick off. We had no shape and no movement and no passing.
Arsenal may win today but upto now West Ham are playing better than we played today. It says a lot when Moyes is having a beer plan than Ole.
No one thinks we can win the PL but surely no one thinks we should be getting thrashed at home by Crystal Palace?

 

[Maluco]

I'm concerned just as much as you! our internal issues our ours alone the season is already into match day 2!

What are the rumours from laughing agents? Not seen those?

Most recently there was a journalist (Laurens) speculating that agents were scoffing at the way United conduct business. More or less insinuating it was known how they were nowadays, “incompetent”. It’s not a surprise, but being reminded of it on the eve of a performance like this one, is not great.

It just paints the picture of a squad that’s not ready with recruitment that won’t have the know-how to sort it. Today confirms the holes are there and that they might be bigger than previously imagined!

Again, it’s only one game, but it was the manner of the performance for me. Palace could have had 5. A Brighton win next match day would heap pressure on after only two games.