[gerdm07]

When running at pace with a bouncy ball the best way to control it is pinch the ball with your foot and the ground. Every good player knows this. For some reason Rashford thinks it's best to control the ball while it's in the air. I really don't get it. Even if he uses his foot and not his shin it's very difficult.

There are two players who look really skillful with the ball. Antony is one, but he rarely creates goal scoring opportunities. The other is Hojlund and we can't get him the ball enough.

I can't believe we still have a serious problem in midfield. Amrabat looks good with a definite ceiling. Eriksen is good for 30 to 40 minutes. Casemiro plays like he's 40. Bruno gives the ball away too much. ETH can't figure out how to use Mount. McT has a terrible first touch and pass. I think every team we play has a better midfield than we do.

I sure hope the teenage Mainoo is an answer. Otherwise, we can expect bad performances all season.

 

[Craig Ward]

What you lose by playing Eriksen, in terms of legs, is insignificant compared with how much better he makes this United team. He actually understands the game.

Hard disagree.

While Eriksen is good on the ball and a great footballer, we are playing him so deep he cannot influence the game enough and crucially is not able to defend.

He just allows the opposition freedom to destroy us in the middle of the park.

Great if your 3-0 up and in control, coasting to victory. Atrocious when your chasing a game or holding a 1-0 lead.

You can understand the game all you want, that doesnt help you run. Time has caught up with him. He has his qualities, but he also brings some major flaws

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

A match I won't forget for a while, left my home at 10am and when arriving at the airport I discovered my flight was delayed by 3 hours and didn't get off the plane in Manchester Airport until 7:30pm, legged to a taxi sharing with a group of other United fans and took my seat in the stand at 8:07.

Delighted with the win in the end, improvement 2nd half when in truth the 1st half was such a low quality affair. hopefully that Onana penalty save will be the moment to set him on the right track in a United jersey, I had forgot what it was like to have a keeper to make a match winning penalty save. Fair play to Maguire also has stepped up in recent weeks and won't be losing his starting spot if he continues to play like that.

It was the first Old Trafford match to attend since February against Barcelona. The regression was a real eye opener, majority of the players low on confidence some others not even looking fit. At the moment winning matches by grinding out results is the only option.

Man, I forgot how good we were that game. No kidding on regression.

 

[Craig Ward]

Hard watch that was, very hard.

Copenhagan played with freedom, had a game plan, were energetic and went about they're work really well.

Us? Well we were slow, sloppy, played reactively and spent much of the game desperately trying to win control of the match.

It's the lack of urgency and control we play with. We have 2 CB's who are very immobile and so so slow with the ball. Fernandes just floating aimlessly around doing nothing, Anthony barely in the game and Rashford was so poor - every decision / run / pass he made was just awfully thought out and executed poorly.

Hojlund jus cannot get on the ball enough as we do not play attacking football.

How we won is a miracle.

The players we have we should be able to play a high tempo game with attacking intent. We have good ball players in the squad and dangerous attackers in the right circumstances. We just play too deep, to slow and much to predictable. We create so many problems from our style of play.

If we played with attacking intent and got an early goal, it's a much easier night for us. We just invited them on and let them play and they grew into the game. We were lucky to get away with it

 

[SirMattlives]

Hard to watch at times but what's that, three wins on the trot? Not sure about kickstarting, wasn't the late Brentford comeback supposed to provide that moment but we'll see more come the weekend.

 

[Zed is not dead]

They have an annual wage bill of 12 million a year and we have at least 6 first teasers earning that alone. It is shocking

Go tell that to Madrid who struggled against Union Berlin. Or Arsenal who lost to Lens

 

[nmm85]

Awful first half but we had so many chances to score in the second. That awful Regulion ball that would've put Rashford (i think) on goal, Garnacho's miss and a few other times we should've been out of sight.

Win the next two games and we're through (I can't see Galatasaray beating Bayern).

 

[André Dominguez]

Wait, so Jordan Larsson is the son of Henrik?

Yes. He was one of the hot prospects when he was an u21, but his career just didn't go as planned. Not a bad player, he is actually very fast and has a good all-round technical game, but that's it.

 

[André Dominguez]

Go tell that to Madrid who struggled against Union Berlin. Or Arsenal who lost to Lens

Different competitive levels. And actually Union and Lens made a season above their potential, but they have much better squads than the actual Copenhagen, who is still trying to find their way back to the top.

 

[ManRed]

Teams are better organized (even if ‘only’ Danish). Arrogance and entitlement don’t improve the scoresheet. Copenhagen played really well last night and will be a challenge away.

All teams in this age are better organized but we shouldn't be struggling at home against such quality opponents.

 

[flameinthesun]

The team just seemed so much more happy and balanced when we switched to 4 2 3 1 at half time. Ten Hag's got to find a way to get his 4 3 3 working or he may need to ditch it.

 

[Wazzaduke33]

Massive cracks papered over again, just dreadful overall against a poor side in a European context. Happy for Maguire and Onana though and that just about sums us up this season

 

[Sea-Cow]

I'm lost on how ETH thinks there is no place in this team's midfield for Eriksen, but then whoever he picks instead both a) can't play a forward pass to aave their life and b) leaves a big hole in midfield.

In literally EVERY game he has to bring Eriksen on as a second midfielder to try and sort it out.

It's like he spent the summer reading redcafe and actually thinking the opinions made sense.

Also can we stop criticising Casemiro for ETH's batshit crazy 1 man midfield tactic, now we've seen how much worse it is when the 1 man isn't Casemiro?

Noodle! Do you still do your individual player ratings?

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Was there any discussion about what could have been a penalty or red on Rashford by the keeper? I had the TV on mute.....the Paramount commentators were so ABU it was making my skin crawl.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[noodlehair]

Noodle! Do you still do your individual player ratings?

Not usually. I have to dip in and out quickly because there are too many people on here who irrationally hate our players, or get obsessive over ideas that are of questionable intelligence (e.g. dropping Fernandes for Mason Mount), and it gets very tiring reading over and over.

 

[sparx99]

You will find every bad record on a particular game with Fergie. He was there for 26 years. But he won 13 Premier League and 2 champions league top.
The thing with Fergie is yes, we had some very bad game but we were never bad for a long period. So it’s a clueless comparison.
And probably Fergie put a B team the day he played Copenhagen.

Yes, I’m well aware. Some people can’t see the humour in anything.

 

[Zed is not dead]

Not usually. I have to dip in and out quickly because there are too many people on here who irrationally hate our players, or get obsessive over ideas that are of questionable intelligence (e.g. dropping Fernandes for Mason Mount), and it gets very tiring reading over and over.

Wait until you read about the famed « patterns of play » and how we really need to sack Fletcher

 

[The Hilton]

How many times have you typed that? Why were we not out of sight? Seems to be the story of every single game.

You're right about this, it's frustrating how wasteful we are, but we're creating chances and so hopefully players will be able to calm down and make the most of those opportunities soon.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

You're right about this, it's frustrating how wasteful we are, but we're creating chances and so hopefully players will be able to calm down and make the most of those opportunities soon.

Frustrating is right. If we had another player in form with Hojlund it would change dramatically. I am super impressed with his touch and movement.

 

[croadyman]

Well that's ETH all over isn't it. Eriksen should play in the No 10 position, off the front three. He is our best player, mature and classy when he isn't tasked with winning the ball back etc... Eriksen should have no responsibility for closing down, pressing etc. If many of us can see that, why can't ETH? Because unfortunately for ETH, it means Bruno cannot play there, so a decision has to be made. And ETH does not have the guts to make such a call. Pep benches KDB in an instant when he isn't happy. But look at ETH and Bruno, Rashford.

He can take that back to Ajax.

You are absolutely bang on when saying Erik doesn't seem willing to bench Bruno/Rashford. Other managers just wouldn't think twice about doing it to key players

 

[tenpoless]

Name. On. The. Trophy.

Manchester that's for sure

 

[justsomebloke]

You're right about this, it's frustrating how wasteful we are, but we're creating chances and so hopefully players will be able to calm down and make the most of those opportunities soon.

If only. Actually, our chance creation is as mediocre as our results. Underlying stats do not give a lot of cause for optimism, and this isn't the sort of situation you describe.

 

[justsomebloke]

You are absolutely bang on when saying Erik doesn't seem willing to bench Bruno/Rashford. Other managers just wouldn't think twice about doing it to key players

This obsession that we'd improve if we played someone else than them in those positions is pure lala land.

 

[Zed 101]

The only reason we played better in the second half was Copenhagen's suicidal decision to push further up the pitch.... we have so many players who are capable of breaking at speed but incapable of much else

 

[Lyng]

Hard disagree.

While Eriksen is good on the ball and a great footballer, we are playing him so deep he cannot influence the game enough and crucially is not able to defend.

He just allows the opposition freedom to destroy us in the middle of the park.

Great if your 3-0 up and in control, coasting to victory. Atrocious when your chasing a game or holding a 1-0 lead.

You can understand the game all you want, that doesnt help you run. Time has caught up with him. He has his qualities, but he also brings some major flaws

So we where not chasing a the game against Copenhagen or Sheffield when he came on then?

 

[AnotherLondonManc]

So we where not chasing a the game against Copenhagen or Sheffield when he came on then?

Yeah, it looks like OP got his argument muddled up. Erikson's qualities are much better for when we're chasing a game as we'll be seeing more of the ball, he won't be as exposed, and he can influence play further up the field with his creativity.

It's his lack of physicality that makes him a liability when we have to control a game and hes sitting deeper.

And let's be real, it doesn't matter who's on when we're 3-0 up. 9 times out of 10, that's game over

 

[EireRed_GS]

Again, loved that we managed to get the win... But pretty much every win this season has been tainted with the fact we probably didnt deserve it and were very poor.

Every game this season so far that leaving Old Trafford after, ive been unable to proper enjoy it because Ive gotten so wound up during the games due to us being; so sh*t/ not being arsed / players not wanting the ball etc etc.

Ironically, the only game I actually enjoyed watching (up to certain point) was the Galatasaray game. And of course we made a complete balls of it in the last 10 mins.

Our wins have unfortunately been papering over the cracks up until now, and im worried we are going to be found out by a decent team and our sloppiness is going to be exposed big time. Im praying thats not coming this Sunday though.

 

[Lyng]

Yeah, it looks like OP got his argument muddled up. Erikson's qualities are much better for when we're chasing a game as we'll be seeing more of the ball, he won't be as exposed, and he can influence play further up the field with his creativity.

It's his lack of physicality that makes him a liability when we have to control a game and hes sitting deeper.

And let's be real, it doesn't matter who's on when we're 3-0 up. 9 times out of 10, that's game over

Agreed. And for what its worth, I agree that Eriksen is much better further up the pitch.

 

[Maticmaker]

Right up to our goal I was feeling we will be lucky to get away with a 0-0.
Then Sir Bobby's spirit or whatever was looking down and of all people Harry Maguire pops up to raise the roof, and then in the last seconds Onana worked another fairy-tale result... Sir Bobby didn't name it the 'theatre of dreams' for nothing.

 

[croadyman]

Again, loved that we managed to get the win... But pretty much every win this season has been tainted with the fact we probably didnt deserve it and were very poor.

Every game this season so far that leaving Old Trafford after, ive been unable to proper enjoy it because Ive gotten so wound up during the games due to us being; so sh*t/ not being arsed / players not wanting the ball etc etc.

Ironically, the only game I actually enjoyed watching (up to certain point) was the Galatasaray game. And of course we made a complete balls of it in the last 10 mins.

Our wins have unfortunately been papering over the cracks up until now, and im worried we are going to be found out by a decent team and our sloppiness is going to be exposed big time. Im praying thats not coming this Sunday though.

Yeah feels like Palace in the cup is the only game this season we have looked assured

 

[fps]

Hard disagree.

While Eriksen is good on the ball and a great footballer, we are playing him so deep he cannot influence the game enough and crucially is not able to defend.

He just allows the opposition freedom to destroy us in the middle of the park.

Great if your 3-0 up and in control, coasting to victory. Atrocious when your chasing a game or holding a 1-0 lead.

You can understand the game all you want, that doesnt help you run. Time has caught up with him. He has his qualities, but he also brings some major flaws

I think the idea he can’t run is overstated. He’s not fast but he can cover ground.

 

[fps]

Well said and 100% agree. I think we need him to start games. That's the last 3 games he has come on and changed game with his passing and control in midfield. He makes us tick. Ten Hag keeps saying same thing after games we needed to bring him on as we are missing football brain in there but still seems to go and pick a frantic midfield selection every game to start offf with.

Pity we don't have another Eriksen type in the squad.

Amrabat Casemiro Eriksen and we’d control games much better. Bruno from the right with licence to get close to Hojlund almost as a 10. Dunno, I’d maybe try it for City.

 

[The Hilton]

If only. Actually, our chance creation is as mediocre as our results. Underlying stats do not give a lot of cause for optimism, and this isn't the sort of situation you describe.

To which underlying stats are you referring to? We're top of the league for high turnovers for example, we've just been wasting those opportunities with rushed play and poor decision making.

 

[Hughie77]

15 to 20 mins of Dross, then woke up a little bit. 2nd half was better, Rashford through bad touch otherwise at least shot on target, Same as Garnacho who had another better chance fluffed it..

Eriksen made hell of a difference. Amrabat ? ..
Next week need to be better.. and take our chances or its bye bye Europe..

 

[justsomebloke]

To which underlying stats are you referring to? We're top of the league for high turnovers for example, we've just been wasting those opportunities with rushed play and poor decision making.

xG and xGA, for starters. There's a whole thread on this, look it up.

 

[Hester_manc]

A banner from FC Copenhagen fans at Old Trafford:

 

[swissgenius]

Classy action that, well done!

 

[The Hilton]

xG and xGA, for starters. There's a whole thread on this, look it up.

Sure but that can't be relied upon by itself, for example Garnacho and Rashford both through on goal had an xG of 0 because they didn't shoot, same with Hojlund missing the ball marginally when 2 yards out last weekend.

 

[justsomebloke]

Sure but that can't be relied upon by itself, for example Garnacho and Rashford both through on goal had an xG of 0 because they didn't shoot, same with Hojlund missing the ball marginally when 2 yards out last weekend.

Same applies for every other team. In any case, you can look at team stats across the board. They do not tell the story of a team playing really well but just struggling to convert.

 

[The Hilton]

Same applies for every other team. In any case, you can look at team stats across the board. They do not tell the story of a team playing really well but just struggling to convert.

Can you give me now examples of these stats, beyond just xG which we've discussed?

There are plenty of stats that do tell the story of a team that's creating dangerous opportunities; in the league for example we rank highly in the league for high turnovers, final 3rd and penalty area touches, goal attempts, minutes per chance, etc, and Bruno is 3rd in the league for chances created.

We're clearly creating opportunities, but not making the most of them, our shot on target percentage is very poor, as is our goal conversion.