[Wing Attack Plan R]

Should have been 7-2, can’t shoot for toffee.

Højlund starting to find form.
Mount was very good at breaking the lines, putting players through. Hope he stays fit.
Rashford needs dropping.
Maz surprise of the season.
Malacia return to sender.

 

[Carolina Red]

Well, he addressed that in his press conference, didn't he? That stuff about taking risks to be in a better place in 12 months rather than "optimise to squad/results" and waste a lot of time that could be used to coach with the future in mind.

Far better than "you got me here because I was doing this and that but I've decided I'll do something completely different".

Wingbacks are an issue? Let's see it clearly, address it, see how it starts clicking, etc.

Yep. This is the way.

Can’t tell if players will or won’t fit your system if you don’t have the guts to put them in your system and see what they do. What better way to prove who does and doesn’t belong?

 

[cyril C]

Thought we dominated the match really. Done on the counter, but I think they were a bit fortunate with worldie finishes. After going down 2-1 they hardly had a sniff. Saw big changes in our play and it was quite positive - so much higher up with the press and we were good at it

Are you serious? Did you watch the game, particularly 1st half? Apart from 1st 5 min, we were completely dominated. Don't trust possession stats 1%, because they surrender top half and only defend from their own half. Every MU attack was exceptionally poor in final 3rd, every opponent's attack was completed. We only improved in 2nd half, by taking Malacia off as 1 of the solution.

 

[cyril C]

Should have been 7-2, can’t shoot for toffee.

Højlund starting to find form.
Mount was very good at breaking the lines, putting players through. Hope he stays fit.
Rashford needs dropping.
Maz surprise of the season.
Malacia return to sender.

Agree on all except Mount. I am still not convinced on Mount. I think he hardly had a touch 1st half. May be something to do with him & Antony, or how he fit into the system, or how he jell with rest of the team.

 

[tenpoless]

Bodo/Glimt might be my favorite words from now on.

 

[cyril C]

Well, he addressed that in his press conference, didn't he? That stuff about taking risks to be in a better place in 12 months rather than "optimise to squad/results" and waste a lot of time that could be used to coach with the future in mind.

Far better than "you got me here because I was doing this and that but I've decided I'll do something completely different".

Wingbacks are an issue? Let's see it clearly, address it, see how it starts clicking, etc.

I think Wingbacks are relatively clear. 1 side attacking minded, 1 side defending, just a matter of who is better choice. Shaw and Dalot will make it, Maz & Amad I think. Lindelof probably too old to play that role although OK rest of season, possibly replace him and Maguire with a younger wingback.

Malacia - to be fair, he hasn't played for almost 2 seasons, don't know why he started. Try him in 1 of the FA game and see.

 

[sepulturite]

Should have been 7-2, can’t shoot for toffee.

Højlund starting to find form.
Mount was very good at breaking the lines, putting players through. Hope he stays fit.
Rashford needs dropping.
Maz surprise of the season.
Malacia return to sender.

Seriously? First competitive game in 18 months or so, what else did you expect? Ridiculous thing to say.

 

[suheilsworld]

Ugarte and Mazraoui were the MOTM for me. Great performance by both of them. If Højlund stays fit, he’s going to work well in this system. Surely that means it’s the end of Rashford

 

[bosnian_red]

Didn't watch the game live so just watching it back. Nice patterns of play on display already, nice to see. Robbie Savage incredibly annoying on the comms. Yes it's a new formation and will just take a bit of time to get used to it, but also let's be real they were a couple flukey bits of play in an otherwise entirely dominant performance.

Edit: wow fecking hell these commentators are so annoying. Shut the feck up about the formation, it's not that controversial or different.

Extremely obvious focus on shape in training though and in terms of just learning how to keep possession. So much more controlled.

Excellent performance from Bruno. Nice to see an actual midfield partnership and not asking 1 holding midfielder to do everything while the rest of the team launches forward and the horrible chaos ball that Ten Hag was obsessed with.... Coaching. It does wonders.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Seriously? First competitive game in 18 months or so, what else did you expect? Ridiculous thing to say.

Are you his agent? He’s not good enough, simple as.

 

[Wrecking ralf]

It is very simple to see how Amorim operates here. He noticed frailties and addressed them. He gave players that needed minutes time and then withdrew them before they damaged the result.

Rasmus was excellent, as was Mazraoui. Ugarte was solid, Luke Shaw being back, and hopefully staying fit will be an asset.

Wing backs are being evaluated it seems but for me, it needs to be a mix of Amad, Dalot, or Mazraoui. Defensively, you can use Mazraoui when Yoro is back or rotate Martinez and Shaw on the left and have the other as the LCB.

Bruno could work as a cm but not against a pressing team. Ugarte starts alongside Kobbie, Casemiro and if we include youth players, I'd like to see Collyer or Fletcher maybe.

The CAM role needs technical players with work rate so Mount, Bruno and Amad are first picks. Antony maybe with the wide support could work but let's not get carried away. Ibragimov could be a massive prospect in that role in the future.

Rasmus for me proved his use. Yeah he's let down by his touch at time but his work rate is unmatched by any of our strikers. Imagine having him and Gyokeres to choose from as rotating options.

Overall I loved this game. I relish the suspense in games, as long as we win haha. Its a competitive sport so lets see a competitive game eh. I was born a year before Fergie took over so ive heen spoiled in mt time as a fan. Lets get gritty and enjoy a game that could go either way eh. It was brilliant to see the effort from the players. Yeah mistakes were made but it's 2 games in and we Amorim had a lot of shit to undo to get us playing smoothly and consistently. You can already see his influence though. Bring on the next game.

 

[Woodywizz]

Spent most of the 2nd half screaming at Robbie Savage to just shut the feck up about formation - he really is a prize idiot.

 

[Alemar]

Now he's had a look at most players, it would be good to settle on an 11..

He’s yet to have a look at Mainoo, Maguire, Yoro

 

[Steve 007]

I enjoyed watching last night for the first time in two years.

Less than perfect but I think you can see there’s an identity and idea there that can take us forward. Good to see Hojilund facing goal.

Still struggling at the back and should have scored 5.

Mount, Mazzroui, Hojilund being the stand outs in terms of desire and impact. Big credit to Onana who has been great this season after a shaky at best first with the club.

 

[Yorkeontop]

It's probably easy to say this now because we haven't set the world on fire, but I'm a little less invested currently in the team. I was never relishing a new manager, I'll come around again.

 

[Tincanalley]

The point was you can be sure it would be double the amount of pages on this thread had United not won.

This is a Man United forum and shouldn't copy other mostly anti United social media sites whereby any negative result in a match gets more discussion than a win.

But about half the posters are Man United supporters, if that.

 

[Tincanalley]

Agree on all except Mount. I am still not convinced on Mount. I think he hardly had a touch 1st half. May be something to do with him & Antony, or how he fit into the system, or how he jell with rest of the team.

Mount played great

 

[fps]

I hope Malacia keeps going. That was obviously a hard half of football, it kinda emphasised the difference between a pro footballer and not, he was trying to just keep going and make it through the 45. But he did and it will set him up well, I hope, for more EL and FA Cup appearances as he tries to rebuild his career. We don’t know about his injuries let’s not do to him what we did to Jones.

It was really nice to see Mount running freely, first half he seemed not to want to do anything stupid, second half he did some nice things.

 

[Tincanalley]

Spent most of the 2nd half screaming at Robbie Savage to just shut the feck up about formation - he really is a prize idiot.

I think he does have knowledge- it’s just he’s soo mouthy and insecure. We don’t care what happened to your side last Saturday, okay Robbie?

 

[Herschel Krustofsky]

Spent most of the 2nd half screaming at Robbie Savage to just shut the feck up about formation - he really is a prize idiot.

My TV has ‘mute’ button, if yours doesn’t a workaround is to turn the volume down to 0.

Works a treat every Thursday!!

 

[Berbasbullet]

Delighted with that, thought we did well considering everything.

Going up this weekend so I’m well excited.

 

[Real Name]

Are you serious? Did you watch the game, particularly 1st half? Apart from 1st 5 min, we were completely dominated. Don't trust possession stats 1%, because they surrender top half and only defend from their own half. Every MU attack was exceptionally poor in final 3rd, every opponent's attack was completed. We only improved in 2nd half, by taking Malacia off as 1 of the solution.

When was that?
I mean us getting dominated?

 

[P-Nut]

All I wanted from the new manager was a clear style and idea of how we were going to play.

2 games in and it's pretty clear what we want to do, even if we are struggling to execute it constantly.

He's experimented with most of the squad playing different positions and I think it's pretty clear some have succeeded and some have struggled.

Onana
Mazraoui ? ?
Amad Ugarte ? ?
Mount ?
Hojlund

I'd say across the 2 games so far these have looked most comfortable with what they've been asked to do. You could add Bruno in the CM as he was great tonight, but the balance there is a worry against better sides. Could also add Dalot to LWB as he did his job well tonight, but again the balance of 2 inverted wing backs seems off.

The main negatives so far seem to be Garnacho/Rashford don't really suit anywhere, although personally I thought Rashford looked better in the 10 than at striker.
Malacia will take time, he's been out for 18 months and will need to build up. He was also never outstanding to begin with, so I'm mainly hoping he's serviceable and can rebuild his career before moving on.

 

[Cpt Negative]

Enjoyable game. Will happily pay my money to watch back and forward games like that over drab shite wins.

New boss really needs to drill into decision making into the forward line. It’s too often our cut backs fail to find any of the players in space and we have a unique ability to take shots when someone has a much higher chance of scoring.

Tempo and control was much better for majority of last night and in reality - they got into our half twice and scored 2.

 

[Tincanalley]

Garnacho missed three open goals. Rashford missed one. Mount hit the bar. Looking at highlights it could have been 5- 4

 

[Crostien]

Mazraoui is stupendous. Rolls Royce. Bayern letting him go over a few tweets is mental. We need to keep him fit

The import of those messages ought not to be downplayed.

 

[Tincanalley]

All I wanted from the new manager was a clear style and idea of how we were going to play.

2 games in and it's pretty clear what we want to do, even if we are struggling to execute it constantly.

He's experimented with most of the squad playing different positions and I think it's pretty clear some have succeeded and some have struggled.

Onana
Mazraoui ? ?
Amad Ugarte ? ?
Mount ?
Hojlund

I'd say across the 2 games so far these have looked most comfortable with what they've been asked to do. You could add Bruno in the CM as he was great tonight, but the balance there is a worry against better sides. Could also add Dalot to LWB as he did his job well tonight, but again the balance of 2 inverted wing backs seems off.

The main negatives so far seem to be Garnacho/Rashford don't really suit anywhere, although personally I thought Rashford looked better in the 10 than at striker.
Malacia will take time, he's been out for 18 months and will need to build up. He was also never outstanding to begin with, so I'm mainly hoping he's serviceable and can rebuild his career before moving on.

Obviously Bruno is there. Best player, captain and managers right hand man. I prefer him as a 10. Shaw did well when he came on, could be left wingback? Amad the other side, yes. Yoro still to come. Left of the back three. Should be Shaw maybe, and try out Amass at LWB?

 

[Tincanalley]

The import of those messages ought not to be downplayed.

What did he say?
Edit. Ah yes, he denounced the awful treatment of the Palestinians. Fair enough.

 

[GoodTimes]

Missed the game last night and haven’t had a chance to watch any of it back.

How do people think the game would have played out under Ten Hag? Did we look as disjointed under him or a step in the right direction?

 

[sepulturite]

Are you his agent? He’s not good enough, simple as.

What a weird response he's just back from a serious injury ffs. Give your head a wobble.

 

[Dyslexic Untied]

I liked that game. Obvious signs of a style of play, and we were fairly good at times. We have scored two goals in two games now from breaking through wide and squaring the ball to a running striker in the five yard box, which seems to be an Amorim play from what I've seen from the training ground videos. We also seem to be better on the ball, with more passing options and better positions for receving players all around.

 

[The Boy]

That's the most I've seen this team run for years. You are going to need to rotate quite a bit to keep up those levels, that's why I think Malacia and Mount will get good game time, they both have great engines when fit. Hojlund never stopped either and looked shattered at the end. Really promising all round I thought.

 

[hellhunter]

Are you his agent? He’s not good enough, simple as.

Maybe a bit harsh, but it's fair to point out that he didn't exactly set the world alight before his injury either

 

[SuperSub81]

Some good performances from Rasmus, Maz and Ugarte.

I have to say though, the MEN giving Malacia a 3 seems a tad harsh since he hasn't kicked a ball in anger for 18 months!

 

[Craig Ward]

We are the biggest work in progress in world football.

He's had 4 training sessions

But you can already see glimpses, which is positive and encouraging.

We had holes all over the pitch before and conceded chances galore - so i'd expect that to continue and hopefully fizzle out over time.

Central midfield looks the weakest for me - Ugarte is nailed on but he was a bit exposed on times, not sure Bruno is suited to deeper play but you lose so much pace by dropping Garnacho/Mount for accommodate him higher.

Most of the problems Amorin has are good problems to have - things will only get better.

The slagging off here of Malacia is mental - the lads not kicked a ball in 2years. He worked his arse off and tried - he's obviously not going to be performing at an elite level but that half of football will let him kick on - the perfect game for him to try. I'd rather see us try him than fecking Dalot again because we know what Dalot will do there. Amorin needs to experiment with players

 

[MaMa given red]

I think this result was reflective of how the rest of the season will look. Some good things, some bad things but overall a more positive outcome than negative.

A good match for Hojlund to boost his confidence in front of goal.

The most important thing was the result tonight though. The Europa League is very winnable for us, especially as we are likely to get stronger as the season goes on. It's also the easiest way of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

 

[SerenityValley]

Should have been 7-2, can’t shoot for toffee.

Højlund starting to find form.
Mount was very good at breaking the lines, putting players through. Hope he stays fit.
Rashford needs dropping.
Maz surprise of the season.
Malacia return to sender.

No idea if Malacia will come good or not, but was this not his first match after something like 18 months out from injury/surgery? I’m willing to give him a chance beyond this one game.

 

[JBG]

Really enjoyed watching us play tbh. Sure those 2 goals conceded where annoying (2nd one annoying and unnecessary). But we can actually see what Amorim wants out of the team and players, there's actually a system there and I'm all for it. Said it multiple times in the match thread though, we desperately need a new LWB.

Mazraoui is so fecking good, really want to see him as a RWB when Yoro is back and push Amad up to Garnachos spot. Højlund finally getting good deliveries and bam, goals. Who knew... Garnacho wasteful, but energetic and actually does some defensive duties when needed. Bruno pretty decent, keeping the team ticking with passes and as always trying to create, love him. Amad so silky and good, but also gets stuck in. De Ligt was good imo, loved when he suddenly pushed upfield to win the ball up high by pressing the Bodø players. Licha so and so, had some decent passes, but still doesn't seem 100%, specially when defending. Mount also decent, but needs to become a little more greedy in front of goal, maybe a confidence issue atm. Oh and Ugarte is a beast, everywhere on the field defensively, but also pretty decent with the ball.

Antony, Malacia and Rashford needs to be sold and replaced, easy as that. I know Malacia just came back, but I truly believe that, that injury really hurt his speed (which is sorely needed in this team, specially as a LWB).

 

[Wolfbot]

No idea if Malacia will come good or not, but was this not his first match after something like 18 months out from injury/surgery? I’m willing to give him a chance beyond this one game.

He wasn't even near as bad as some people are trying to make out. Yes, he got shredded for pace on one if their goals, and quite a few of his attempted crosses were blocked, but otherwise I thought he did alright, especially given the amount of time he's been out.

Absolutely no need for the slating he's getting.

 

[justsomebloke]

He wasn't even near as bad as some people are trying to make out. Yes, he got shredded for pace on one if their goals, and quite a few of his attempted crosses were blocked, but otherwise I thought he did alright, especially given the amount of time he's been out.

Absolutely no need for the slating he's getting.

Well, what did he actually provide? He ran gamely on the flank, but I can't remember anything whatsoever coming out of it. No successful challenges that produced something dangerous, no non-routine passes that found a team-mate, or at least was on a trajectory that gave someone a realistic chance to connect. In addition to which as you say one oppo goal that resulted directly from him being shredded in a one-on-one duel. This from a player who already before he was out injured for a year-and-a-half was one of the most frequently dribbled-past players in the PL, and was notably lacking in quality on the ball. Where are the positives and the useful contributions, exactly?

I don't think we should write him off based on a single performance after such a long time out. But for now, he's a project - if for nothing else, then because he probably has close to zero market value right now. Given the limitations on display already before that long injury break, there's a limit to how optimistic you can reasonably be about that project.