[keener]

Martial has finally made himself an automatic starter. Hoping Rashford would as well and let Sanchez and Lukaku battle it out for the other attacking position. Pogba was both brilliant and showing his weakness as he gave the ball away in the midfield leading to the play where they scored. Shaw was just okay today. Mata has done enough for me this season to make him a most games starter.

Mainly, I'd like to see Matic sit for a little spell and Herrera get a run in that deeper spot and I'd like to See Bailly and Lindelof get another spell together.

Otherwise, I'm hopeful this is just an indication of us beginning to come together. We did press more today it seemed.

 

[Mr PG]

Didn't spoil it for me as would sooner focus on the positive rather than the negative. It's not like Smalling didn't have the chance to get him out the shite?

All smalling has to do was stay on his feet

 

[Mr PG]

This is the first match in a long while that I've felt that Martial really put in the work and truly deserves his starting place. Despite that "3 goals in 3" stat bandied about here all the time he was mostly coasting through the games and making the most of an opportunity or two. Well done to the young man.

2 goals against Chelsea was coasting? Jeez the negativity in here. He must be the first player to score 2 goals away against Chelsea while ‘coasting’.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Lukaku is Berba 2

I wish...I loved Berbatov. Mind you, he NEVER played as a lone striker. Always had a partner. Something that Lukaku needs

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Good result.

Brainfart from Smalling let them back into the game. As a positive, it was an individual error that did it not us playing like shit.

I missed the first half but I was told we played well.

Poor tackle from Smalling, but that's all on Pogba for giving it away where he did trying to do a little flick and get fancy in our side of half.

 

[ash_86]

Our games these days are fun filled with goals. At least it's not boring to watch win or lose

 

[DSG]

Encouraging win. We need confidence to convert the easy chances that Martial and Lukaku had.

Everton was really poor, and that helped as well.

 

[PaulRich]

Good result. I liked Lukaku not starting - once we got into the game we looked to have just that little bit more about us up front, players running the channels and testing the line.

Good:

• Dave - no chance with the pen.
• Lindelof is starting to step up to the plate - he isn't getting bullied as much as he used to. Encouraging if not quite there yet.
• Probably Shaws worst game for a while but still hardly shite.
• Young tuned in a blinder for me yesterday.
• Fred did OK.
• Pogba - generally excellent but I think he is the type of player who's going to give us those heart attack moments from time to time.
• Mata - offered a lot of options, didn't waste much.
• Rashford - not his day but still offered more in the first half than Lukaku has all season.
• Tony M - welcome back son!!!

Bad:

• Smalling - decent performance punctuated with the usual brain fart. True it was Pogbas error but should have been dealt with a lot better.
• Matic - looks like a summer full of football on 31 year old legs has got the better of him. Tired, slow and all round off the pace. Hererra is far the better option for me at the minute.
• Lukaku - looks at least a stone too bulky. The slow mo replay on Bein Sports made the missed header go form a bad miss to looking bang amateur. Offered far less than Rashford did on an off day.

 

[simplyared]

Lindelöf getting a lot of praise. Yes he's improving but still a hell of a long way to go imo. Compare him with Maguire and makes you realize just how far.

 

[Tony Babangida]

I feel sorry for Lukaku.

I was listening to TalkSport on the way back from the game (yeah I know not the place to go for reason) and so many United fans were going on there and making Lukaku out to be some stiff who'd won his place in a raffled.

This is a guy who scored 27 goals for us last season and had a brilliant World Cup. He's obviously got absolutely no confidence at the moment. However, he'll get it back soon enough and go back to leading the line for us.

This is how I feel. He's much better than he's been playing this season. Hopefully he can turn it around. Mind you, some proper competition for his place might keep him on his toes, or take some of the pressure off him.

 

[red4ever 79]

It was a good match yesterday. A quick tempo and a good level of aggression from both teams. I thought Pogba, Martial and Mata were outstanding, and I thought Fred and Lindelof also had good games. I have no idea how Smalling stayed on the pitch and wasnt awarded a second yellow for the foul that gave away a penalty. Also the Brazilian from Everton looks a player, Richalrson. Think he will be a star in the future.

 

[Rash Decision]

2 goals against Chelsea was coasting? Jeez the negativity in here. He must be the first player to score 2 goals away against Chelsea while ‘coasting’.

I was referring to the period last Jan just before he was dropped, and anyway I did say he made the most of a few opportunities. My consistent opinion of Martial under Mourinho has been that he lets games pass him by but is extraordinarily productive despite it.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

For a WC goalkeeper, I have never seen a worse penalty saver than De Gea. I don’t think I have ever seen him save a penalty.

Not sure he should be labelled the best in the world due to this reason. You just know if the other team get a penalty it is a given goal.

Does he even practice trying to save them? Because he is just awful at it.

 

[red4ever 79]

Mata was sublime yesterday, those two passes that he made to create chances in quick succession for Rashford and then Pogba were top class Mata is easily one of our most talented attackers, however has to be used in the number 10 role and not on the right to be effective. We should go with this over the next few games

Mata
Lingard Rashford Martial

 

[::sonny::]

Pogba has to play as far as possible from our goal

 

[Hamadovich86]

It was a decent performance, getting a penalty helped us I think we were not threatening much. The problems with the way the team plays are still there, there is no offensive organization, player movement is not coordinated and that comes from coaching or if players get used to playing with each other and neither of those are happening.

 

[minoo-utd]

Mata always plays with all he got for us.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Lukaku is Berba 2

He wishes.

 

[UncleBob]

For a WC goalkeeper, I have never seen a worse penalty saver than De Gea. I don’t think I have ever seen him save a penalty.

Not sure he should be labelled the best in the world due to this reason. You just know if the other team get a penalty it is a given goal.

Does he even practice trying to save them? Because he is just awful at it.

Unfortunately, your post says more about you rather than De Gea's stats at penalties.

Peter Schmeichel had, according to transfermarkt, 1 save out of 28, Casillas had 20 out of 90, Kasper Schmeichel who was lauded for his World Cup has 20 out of 71, De Gea has 11 out of 45. Subasic has 17 out of 51.

Fair enough, i haven't bothered to check how many of them are actually penalty saves rather than shots gone wide.

Not sure why so many misunderstand penalties, average conversion rate is around 81%, it's hardly 50-50.

You pick a side and gamble on it, if the penalty is well placed with pace then it's unlikely it will be saved even if you pick the correct side

 

[wolvored]

Aren't you a glass half empty kinda guy...

How do you suggest we build Lukaku's confidence and form back? Starting him and praying? At 2-0 up it's a no brainer sub.

Not really as you piss rashford off. Bringing lukaku on didn't do a thing for his confidence and we played worse as we were reverting back to the crapfest again.

 

[ants7]

For a WC goalkeeper, I have never seen a worse penalty saver than De Gea. I don’t think I have ever seen him save a penalty.

Not sure he should be labelled the best in the world due to this reason. You just know if the other team get a penalty it is a given goal.

Does he even practice trying to save them? Because he is just awful at it.

He actually saved Leighton Baines penalty at OT few seasons back when Baines had excellent penalty record that time.

 

[Adcuth]

De Gea​

Dalot Smalling Lindelof Shaw

Herrera/Pereira
Fred Pogba​

Mata Sanchez Martial

​

Would like to see this in the heat game. Dalot is a natural right back over Young. Herrera or Pereira can bring a bit more technicality to that holding role and possibly build attacks better with their passing. Sanchez I think had better movement as a striker than Rashford so he could work well leading the front three. Can ever drag the defence to create space or just be in a better position to be played through. Not a fan of Smalling but for now Bailey has regressed a bit so until he gets back on form we'll have to stick with this. Lindelof seems to be settling in finally.

 

[royboy16]

I would like to try Alexis as 9 in place of Mata and Herrera in place of Matic and see how they do.

May be Delot replacing Young too

Mata has been playing well in the team lately.

 

[royboy16]

For a WC goalkeeper, I have never seen a worse penalty saver than De Gea. I don’t think I have ever seen him save a penalty.

Not sure he should be labelled the best in the world due to this reason. You just know if the other team get a penalty it is a given goal.

Does he even practice trying to save them? Because he is just awful at it.

He saved one of Everton's best penalty takers Baines a couple of years ago.

 

[Bestietom]

Everyone saying that Lukaku needs another attacker alongside him. Why not play Martial there and revert to a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

 

[sp_107]

I loved it when Martial sprinted back to help the defence. He has done a few times today.

Letting player know that he is important to the team and a little bit of trust can make all that difference. Jose can take out a leaf from SAF's book as he was a master of that.

 

[Revan]

For a WC goalkeeper, I have never seen a worse penalty saver than De Gea. I don’t think I have ever seen him save a penalty.

Not sure he should be labelled the best in the world due to this reason. You just know if the other team get a penalty it is a given goal.

Does he even practice trying to save them? Because he is just awful at it.

Exaggeration!

He has a miles better record than Courtuis for example, slightly better record than Cech's career record, slightly better than Ederson.

So yeah, while he is not good at it, he is nowhere as bad as you're making it. About his savings at United, he has saved pens against Lukaku, Baines, Van Persie and one in UCL, while Gerrard hit the post.

 

[Raven]

Funny how fickle fans can be. I still remember around March/April last season when the team looked on their knees he was putting in performances after performances to keep us ahead of the pack. Funny how that’s all forgotten now.

He’ll come good for us I’m sure.

This.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Lukaku needs to call Kolo Toure and ask for some of his diet pills, as his physical condition is clearly affecting his play. Should loose some muscle and fat since doing the Shaq o'Neal weightgain strategy to outmuscle the defenders does not transition well from basketball to football. It will be easier for him to handle the ball when he is not weighing as much as a Wildebeest, but he will never become a technical player.

Rashford works hard, makes runs behind the defense and in general makes it easier for the rest of our attacking players to perform. Hopefully he can develope an understanding with Martial and Pogba on how to play together. This will be vital for our attacking play in the coming weeks/months as we will start see teams double/triple marking Martial again when he is on the ball. Similar to how they did under LVG.

Mata has been playing well in the team lately.

Yes, and he is very useful when we are on the ball for a majority of the time. Hopefully Mourinho/Or the next manager plays him in matches were his physique is not a liability in defense. If Everton was a better team in regards to passing and retaining the ball, the benefits of having Mata in attack might be outweighted by the burden of playing him when we are not on the ball.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Never felt worried today tbh. Not even after they got one back. We played some good stuff today and it was entertaining! I'd sum it up with one word = MOVEMENT. We had it today!

Yes! Some lovely stuff played at times. Fred and Mata helped the quick passing and movement. Disappointing that we were hanging on a bit for the last 10 mins though, but hopefully we can build on this and stay consistent.
Bournemouth is a big game.

 

[Offsideagain]

Lucky with our penalty. The t*** Shearer usually says in those situations ‘If you leave your leg out your inviting trouble’ but had a right go at Tony M. Not far off a reasonable performance. If Pogba grows up and stops tooling about, we may scrape into the top four.

 

[cyril C]

Poor tackle from Smalling, but that's all on Pogba for giving it away where he did trying to do a little flick and get fancy in our side of half.

Unfortunately this is typical Pogba. A lot of this stuff previous seasons, a no-nonsense performance for France during WC, then crawl back at club games. If we were 4 in front he would probably try a Maradonna.

 

[ants7]

It was a decent performance, getting a penalty helped us I think we were not threatening much. The problems with the way the team plays are still there, there is no offensive organization, player movement is not coordinated and that comes from coaching or if players get used to playing with each other and neither of those are happening.

This. Decent performance but nothing which will change my mind regarding Jose or make me change my expectations for this season. Been let down far too often to get hyped about 2:1 decent result against Everton at home. But of course, I'm happy for the 3 points and all the lads who did well.

 

[Josep Dowling]

It's the first time I can remember Mata being played in his natural role for a run of games. He has been one of our best performers in the last few games.

Similarly Martial has had a run of games and is looking as good as he was back in January, before Sanchez was signed.

Smalling has been a real concern for so long. He has solid games then just has an absolute shocker that costs us, much like Jones. It's about time he is replaced with a solid CB. He has been a common denominator for defensive errors for a number of years now. He also can't play out from the back and takes an hour to angle his body when he passes the ball. If we had someone who released the ball quicker from defence to midfield hopefully our transition would be much quicker, that is our biggest weakness as an attacking unit.

I feel like Young has been performing well this season despite him not being a 'name' that fans want to see in the back 4. For me Shaw has been caught out too many times with bad positioning but it seems to go unnoticed by a lot on here whilst Young gets all the flak.

Matic has been poor all season and looks like he needs a break.

 

[The_Order]

José cost Martial a world cup medal

 

[sunama]

Lukaku needs to call Kolo Toure and ask for some of his diet pills, as his physical condition is clearly affecting his play. Should loose some muscle and fat since doing the Shaq o'Neal weightgain strategy to outmuscle the defenders does not transition well from basketball to football. It will be easier for him to handle the ball when he is not weighing as much as a Wildebeest, but he will never become a technical player.

 

[UncleBob]

Poor tackle from Smalling, but that's all on Pogba for giving it away where he did trying to do a little flick and get fancy in our side of half.

No idea why anyone would interpret it as "all on Pogba".

Yes, it's daft of him to attempt a nonchalant flick inside our own half, but it's not like it's an instant dangerous situation..There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for Smalling to lunge in like that, he's not put in a situation where he had to make a desperate last ditch tackle. Pogba makes a mistake, Smalling makes a mistake.

 

[gerdm07]

José cost Martial a world cup medal

True that. And he cost Shaw from participating in a WC.

 

[The Purley King]

We played so much better without Lukaku. Even though Rashford didn't play particularly well, he held it up ok and made some good runs in behind.
When Lukaku came on it was back to the same old shit of previous weeks.
Anyone know whats happened with Peirera? Didn't put a foot wrong when he played earlier on this season and now nothing? He should be replacing Matic in an ideal world.

 

[sunama]

To some here it's a wonder it's a wonder Lukaku ever scored a goal in his life he's that terrible a footballer. Must be luck. Expected to see more posts about the team and positivity, not half the the posts slating a player whose only mistake was missing a chance due to his poor form.

I don't think anybody is saying that he is a complete chump and waste of space.
What most are saying is that he is in bad form, not helped by getting too large and that playing with him right now, is like playing with 10 men, as was demonstrated when he came on for Rashford. We went from an attacking team to a defensive one.
When on form (and in shape), he can definitely score around 20 league goals per season - you only need to look at his stats over the last few seasons to know this.