[frookydinho]

Really really poor today. Bit of a flashback to under Moyes with absolutely zero quality in the final third. We really do lack a stand out attacking midfielder. None of the three behind Lukaku stand out, if we compare against the best teams in Europe. We have to many inconsistent performances and I just feel like we can't rely on anyone. I really love Mata, but since his move he has never been able to grab the game by the scruff on the neck for us whenever he have needed him. Rashford and Martial are top prospects, they have games when they are outstanding but then show the immaturity in other games. The above can be applied to Mkhi. Love him, but he isnt performing consistently at a level above everyone else. I don't know why people would turn their noses at Ozil. As a 10 he is a level about our Mata and our Mkhi. We need more quality in the positions just behind Lukaku. Feed this boy consistently and the goals will flow.
Not a knee jerk reaction, it's my two cents.

 

[Scroto Baggins]

2 mistakes, 2 goals, very harsh. Hard to take positives from the result, injury to Jones and a loss. Rashford looked our best player and only played half the match.

Up next 'lads, it's Tottenham', give Spurs a bollocking and all will be forgotten. They have a difficult run of games with RMadrid, Liverpool, us, RMadrid. And are missing their first choice midfield pairing of Dembele, Wanyama, no Rose or Lamela either.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

It was a stupid quote by Herrera tbh.

He's telling us the players had poor attitude ? FFS you're one of these players. You should have showed the proper attitude already on the pitch with your teammates rather than telling us about it!

Strange comment and a bit strange with Mourinho. If part of this was attitude we need to step up against Swansea.

 

[el3mel]

Strange comment and a bit strange with Mourinho. If part of this was attitude we need to step up against Swansea.

There're other problems for sure as for loses, but today it was more of attitude rather than manager or even players' quality.

You can't be losing and keep passing backward and sideways. It was so frustrating to see us losing 2-0 and the players keep passing aimlessly in the midfield for ages then finally made a shite forward pass, very LVG-esque.

If you're losing you should corner the opposite team in their box and hammer them with repeated attacks but seems our players had a different opinion.

 

[Klopp_De_Klown]

If mayhem is effective then so be it; Tactical anarchy!

But like i said, we do not play it right. We do not apply pressure for the second ball and box teams in, in their own box or just outside. We dont play it right.

 

[Red_Orchestra]

I don't know why this Match wasn't played on Sunday instead of Saturday? Hasn't the schedule always been CL game on Tuesday then League game on Saturday. And CL game on Wednesday then League game on Sunday? What happened to that formula?

This is not an excuse by any means, but I don't ever recall a team playing Wed then Sat.

 

[Catt]

It was a stupid quote by Herrera tbh.

He's telling us the players had poor attitude ? FFS you're one of these players. You should have showed the proper attitude already on the pitch with your teammates rather than telling us about it!

I missed this. Was Herrera saying the players had a bad attitude before the game? Why the bad attitude then?

 

[el3mel]

I missed this. Was Herrera saying the players had a bad attitude before the game? Why the bad attitude then?

Not, during the game. Here are his quotes :

‘In the first 30 or 35 minutes, we didn’t play good. They were more passionate than us, more aggressive. We cannot accept that. ‘Congratulations to them, they deserved it, but we have to analyse where we lost today. We lost almost every ball. That cannot happen in the Premier League. ‘Everyone has to analyse for himself what happened in the first half. When you play against a team that normally you are better than, you have to match their aggression and passion. We didn’t do that. It cannot happen again. ‘In the second half we were OK. We tried to move the ball. It was OK, but not enough for a point.’

 

[Fully Fledged]

Can you find/post the Herrera's one? Thanks in advance.

Edit:

Attitude stuff is worrying thing to hear. We're trailing City going this game and expect the result given the tough games ahead so we can stay in the race by New Year. Result like this and we're shooting ourselves in the foot. 6+ gap in point by New Year and we failed as challenger even if we finished second in May.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Didn't say anything about lack of attitude. Was this the interview? Think he says exactly the things we would expect to hear and is clearly very disappointed.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Didn't say anything about lack of attitude. Was this the interview? Think he says exactly the things we would expect to hear and is clearly very disappointed.

He talks about them being more aggressive and showing more passion. How is that not attitude?

 

[lukepowell1988]

Poor all round let them catch us out right from the off we have to beat Spurs next week now

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

He talks about them being more aggressive and showing more passion. How is that not attitude?

Yes they started with more passion and aggression than us into the game. It has nothing to do with poor attitude from us just that they started going into the game really fired up for it.

It was a compliment to the other team really. I expected that and we normally see that from the minor teams (particular newly promoted ones) when they play us. It will be the cup final for them and the game they look forward to a lot.
If he didn't mention that it would be really strange.

When we play the likes of Huddersfield you don't expect us to win it being more fired up than the smaller team, but to win based on us having better quality in what we do. The lack of that cost us this game and some sloppy play and silly errors.

 

[RuudTom83]

Mourinho post Chelsea meltdown is very quick to pass the blame to his players publicly.

Why not just take the pressure out of the situation ffs! It’s one bad performance so far this season. The lads did everything he asked of them at Anfield.

The bad press he has received from the Liverpool result is hard for his ego to take. So the first bad performance he sees...boom! he slates them to the press, very poor from Mourinho!

 

[Paul the Wolf]

2016/17 win first 3 matches - 4th match Lingard starts for the first time we lose.
2017/18 W6 D2 first 8 matches - 9th match Lingard starts for the first time we lose.

Some really poor performances from other players but Lingard ruins our play - can't believe Mourinho didn't take him off at half time even if Mata and Martial were playing poorly at least something might happen in the 2nd half and we'd used all our subs by half time. Poor managerial display by Mourinho.
Lindelof looks totally out of his depth.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Yes they started with more passion and aggression than us into the game. It has nothing to do with poor attitude from us just that they started going into the game really fired up for it.

It was a compliment to the other team really. I expected that and we normally see that from the minor teams (particular newly promoted ones) when they play us. It will be the cup final for them and the game they look forward to a lot.
If he didn't mention that it would be really strange.

When we play the likes of Huddersfield you don't expect us to win it being more fired up than the smaller team, but to win based on us having better quality in what we do. The lack of that cost us this game and some sloppy play and silly errors.

@ti vu asked what the Herrera interview that Jose was talking about was so I posted it.
Jose went off on one over the attitude in this game not me.

Although I must agree with him partially. Any team that wants to win the league has to out perform their opponents on work rate and desire. Quality is all well and good but if you don't have the passion and aggression you might as well give up.

It's the old but can they hack it on a windy Wednesday in Stoke analogy. If you are not up for these games you might as well forget the league.


Is attitude our only problem at the moment? No. Tactics plays an even bigger role in our dire performances. We have been far too quick to try and fire long balls up the pitch aimlessly. A tactic that wont work against the likes of Huddersfield or Stoke.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

@ti vu asked what the Herrera interview that Jose was talking about was so I posted it.
Jose went off on one over the attitude in this game not me.

Although I must agree with him partially. Any team that wants to win the league has to out perform their opponents on work rate and desire. Quality is all well and good but if you don't have the passion and aggression you might as well give up.

It's the old but can they hack it on a windy Wednesday in Stoke analogy. If you are not up for these games you might as well forget the league.


Is attitude our only problem at the moment? No. Tactics plays an even bigger role in our dire performances. We have been far too quick to try and fire long balls up the pitch aimlessly. A tactic that wont work against the likes of Huddersfield or Stoke.

I agree we need to be up for these games and give the fight. Although it is not the way we should win it. Need to use the quality as well to punish the aggression and passion.

We need to develop a better method to break teams down. Better coordinated movement in the final third to open up opportunities for passes and crosses will be a key factor. Not great harmony when we get forward at the moment. We also need to switch play faster and in a more consistent way.

 

[Bastian]

Didn't see the game but of course, pretty shocking result and exactly the type of game where we need 3 points even if the performance is not good. I'm sure there are many factors (Lindelof owned that 2nd goal) but I wonder if Jose's future and the speculation regarding that has a bearing on team morale and motivation.

I also thought it was a bit strange this whole situation with Pogba. Why is he not at the club recovering from injury?

 

[roseguy64]

2016/17 win first 3 matches - 4th match Lingard starts for the first time we lose.
2017/18 W6 D2 first 8 matches - 9th match Lingard starts for the first time we lose.

Some really poor performances from other players but Lingard ruins our play - can't believe Mourinho didn't take him off at half time even if Mata and Martial were playing poorly at least something might happen in the 2nd half and we'd used all our subs by half time. Poor managerial display by Mourinho.
Lindelof looks totally out of his depth.

Exactly. One player is responsible for everything. He's a bad luck charm. Glad you've figured it out.

 

[Fully Fledged]

I agree we need to be up for these games and give the fight. Although it is not the way we should win it. Need to use the quality as well to punish the aggression and passion.

We need to develop a better method to break teams down. Better coordinated movement in the final third to open up opportunities for passes and crosses will be a key factor. Not great harmony when we get forward at the moment. We also need to switch play faster and in a more consistent way.

I totally agree. The thing is that we lacked both quality and desire today. You might win by showing 1 of those 2 attributes. Either having better quality than your opponent or have more desire than your opponent. If you you show neither then you have lost the game before you start.

 

[ruairifionnan]

Didn't say anything about lack of attitude. Was this the interview? Think he says exactly the things we would expect to hear and is clearly very disappointed.

Herrera has been shocking this season .Don`t see anyway back for him .

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

fecking hell that was garbage. Let's stop pretending we're going for the title, champions don't turn in that rubbish.

 

[deafepl]

That won't happen. We're not getting rid of 7 first team players in one window.

They are hardly our starting XI, I'm saying if they left us in the summer, we need to find recruit new player to replace them, I'd want an upgrade on them, not downgrade even if it mean that we are overpaying for a quality player.

 

[Robindinho]

Our ‘attack’ truly is pathetic. No ideas what so ever and when our slow, static pass and don’t move tactic inevitably fails we just resort to lumping it up the pitch as if we were a league one side. Which I can’t remember ever coming off for us, yet we still seem to do it last 10 minutes of games we’re chasing.

 

[CG1010]

Couldn't watch the match but watching just the goals, I find Lindelof as a key reason for both the goals. Even in the first one, when Mata loses the ball, it is 2v2, hardly a emergency situation. But Lindelof doesn't do enough to stop them from going straight at the goal (instead of showing one side for example) or blocking the shot.

It is a big disappointment to lose this match.I hope we can recover from it asap.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

fecking hell that was garbage. Let's stop pretending we're going for the title, champions don't turn in that rubbish.

We won the league in 10/11 by winning only 4 away games all season, and lost 2-1 away to Wolves with a fecking awful performance not too dissimilar to this performance. It happens.

 

[cletus7]

Quote from Herrera after today’s debacle against Huddersfield... “We now have two very tough Premier League games, you never know, you can win against anyone and lose against anyone.”
... gives the impression 6 points in the next two games is something of a pipe dream. Our players shouldn’t be thinking like this about games against Spurs and Chelsea it’s not befitting of the stature of our club and the top-end fee we pay for players like him precisely to be able to go into those sorts of games EXPECTING wins.

 

[lex talionis]

It's hard to know where to start in assessing this debacle. We miss Pogba, clearly, and Herrera really hasn't turned in a good performance this season.

We became too reliant on Fellaini for long ball play and we're paying the price in his absence. Lindelof is nowhere near being ready for the EPL.

We need Ibra back to take some of the workload off Lukaku.

The medical staff need to do everything possible to bring back Pogba, Fellaini and Ibra. Rojo too, now that we know Lindelof isn't ready for prime time.

 

[cletus7]

I agree we need to be up for these games and give the fight. Although it is not the way we should win it. Need to use the quality as well to punish the aggression and passion.

We need to develop a better method to break teams down. Better coordinated movement in the final third to open up opportunities for passes and crosses will be a key factor. Not great harmony when we get forward at the moment. We also need to switch play faster and in a more consistent way.

It’s when the team shows hunger and appetite that the passing is quicker, movement is better and concentration sharper; leading to more chances, fewer errors and better performances. Problem was on the pitch today not on the training ground.

 

[Nakhon Phanom]

Firstly,congratulations to Huddersfield who thoroughly deserved there win.They were really "up for it" and won nearly every 50-50 ball.
Mourinho said his players had a very poor attitude,which is 100% correct,but he's the manager and its up to him to make sure they start in the right frame of mind.
Apart from Rashford its hard to find a United player who had even an average game.Shocking errors from Mata and Lindelof which led to Huddersfields goals.Jose should have put Blind on instead of Lindelof when Jones was injured.
Martial was particularily shocking.You could have put someone from the crowd on the left wing and they would have been just as effective....subbed after 45 minutes,might just as well have been 45 seconds !
Anyway,hopefully its just a blip and get this shocker out of the system.A good result against The Spuds next week and all will be forgotten.We wont win the league anyway and concentrate on having good cup runs and finishing in the top 3.

 

[OohAahMartial]

Not really a shocking result when you look at last month's performances--you can only get away with poor performances for so long and still get results. We had a blazing start to the season but once Pogba got injured the link between midfield and attack was greatly reduced and Carrick (with some unknown injury of unknown length) wasn't there to provide it. But we still had Fellaini and we got by for a bit up until that damn International break where we lose Jones, Bailly and Fellaini with Rashford getting a knock. Matic and Herrera are two DM's so suddenly we lack any connection between midfield and attack. Mata, Mhki and now Lingard are having to run back into midfield to try to get the ball but mostly they just recycle it back to the DMs again as they can't pass long and the forwards are now outnumbered. We saw against Liverpool that we had already lost our midfield and thereby our attackers lost service and thereby confidence. But we still had just enough defenders.

That broke in this game with Jones predictably getting injured again--doesn't matter how good he is when he is this unreliable, should be his last season now. Jose made a hurried and mistaken substitution with Lindelof instead of Blind (who is well used to playing with Smalling) and suddenly the defensive wall has a huge gap in it to be ruthlessly exploited. Lindelof is Jose's mistake, we needed to either give Tuanzebe/TFM a chance or get a proven premier league CB in like MacGuire or Keane, none of these players would be as bad as Lindelof. We also needed better alternative signings to Griezmann and Perisic because now effectively we just bought two players when clearly now we needed more. Compounded by loaning out Pereira and TFM without replacements. They seemed bad decisions back then and are proving to be now.

With these injured players not returning in time for our run of big matches coming up I think it most likely we will go on a losing run like this time last season. Right now our CBs are weakened with no rotation possible, our CM's the same and our attack cutoff from midfield and lacking in confidence. And that spells a run of defeats. The squad management has not been good enough again.

For the Cup we should give the kids a chance to stake their place--not that we have many kids left in the squad. And for the EPL go back to Blind and Smalling with Tuanzebe as sub (Lindelof to the U23s), go 4-3-3 with Mata in the midfield (we need someone who can pass though at this stage I would like to see Gomes there as he can hardly be worse than our first teamers) and Martial and Rashford on the wings.

 

[moodyred]

Even without the 2 mistakes, I feel we were very poor in the game. Hopefully a wake up call for all the players.

Lindelof unfortunately does not look like he should be in the team any time soon. He is really short on confidence. Even when he isn't pressed by any players, Matic had to take the ball from him to move forward.

 

[barmyarmy]

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[Rednotdead]

Overall, our squad just isn't of the quality and depth required to be able to maintain a high level of performance when a few players get injured. We've looked very ordinary in our last 3 games and the midfield is creating virtually nothing the strikers can feed off. Has there really been any improvement from last season? Is Mourinho's head already in Paris?

 

[Esquire]

Was really mad almost broke the TV last night. Piss poor and the depressing thing was that we never looked like coming back after the second goal. After calming down let’s look at the positives:

1. Mou needs to shut up about not finishing career at United and special ones at PSG, etc. and stop playing games in the press about getting that fat contract. Concentrate on keeping up with City first?
2. Ozil should be coming cause Mata and Miki clearly are not the solution at no. 10 (well, some would say that’s not an upgrade but beg to differ)
3. Barca after checking out Martial yesterday will probably look elsewhere.

 

[POF]

United have struggled to break teams down all season. Even the 4-0 wins weren't due to fluid attacking play. Most of the "feel good" games have been murdering teams on the counter attack when the game opens up.

Set pieces and crosses to Fellaini have been key this season because United are a well drilled team who don't concede many goals. Getting the first goal is crucial. When you make 2 terrible mistakes and have to chase the game from 2-0 down it is a completely different challenge.

Unfortunately, the way United play, it makes individual errors extremely expensive.

 

[emperortan]

United have struggled to break teams down all season. Even the 4-0 wins weren't due to fluid attacking play. Most of the "feel good" games have been murdering teams on the counter attack when the game opens up.

Set pieces and crosses to Fellaini have been key this season because United are a well drilled team who don't concede many goals. Getting the first goal is crucial. When you make 2 terrible mistakes and have to chase the game from 2-0 down it is a completely different challenge.

Unfortunately, the way United play, it makes individual errors extremely expensive.

Our side-attack is currently so dumb. The wing play costs us the attacking efficiency. We could not break a defensive team with such terrible wings. Look at the wingers Mancity got. Our side players couldnt even cross the ball properly, much less dribble and make explosive movements. If we couldnt improve our wings (both defenders and midfielders), it would cost us the season. So pity that Perisic's move was turned down.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Jose is the master of mind games. He should have our players 'up' for every game. I know that Wagner, Dyche etc. use the mental coaching of their 'inferior' squads as a massive positive. Basically, they did to us today, what Jose tried to do to Liverpool last week

Managers can say all they want, it is if some players are listening, or they might listen but not have the mentality for a fight. Not everyone has that mentality.

 

[TypeR]

Gash. From top to bottom.

Mata had an awful day. I've not remembered a match in his career where his touch completely deserted him, but it did this match, and it cost us.

Lindelof is a waste of money. He's looked completely bambi-eyed whenever he's on the field. Even in acres of space, his speed of thought and execution is so slow that you wonder why doesn't the opponent close him down every time he touches the ball. This is the PL, speed it up boy.

Lingard is another who's just not good enough. Outside of that FA cup strike that came out of nowhere, I literally can't remember any output from him since he became a regular in the side. He's not lightning quick, doesn't have outstanding control nor vision, gets pushed off the ball way too easily, and you wonder how in hell is he getting into the team? Movement alone isn't good enough. Relegation fodder player.

Matic and Herrera poor as well. Herrera was all over the place with zero product to show for it, whereas Matic was disciplined but boy did he take ages to release the ball. So many times that the wings were isolated in the first hall, and he just stood there, dragging the ball back and forth looking for something through the middle that wasn't there, and then laying off a sideways pass. A good anchor, but playmaker, he's not.

Last, Mou has to take some of the tactical blame. The attacking players were all over the place today. Mata and Lingard constantly popped up in the same positions, vacating right wing and leaving Valencia to go 1 on 2 when we tried to force the ball into the middle but invariably lost it because Huddersfield were content to set up 2 banks in the middle behind the ball. We had almost no wing play. Martial kept trying to cut in, to face 3-4 players converging on him. Mata isn't ever gonna go round the outside. It's just playing into a defensive team's hands who were happy to funnel our wide players into their wall in the middle.

I can go on, but it was a truly disgraceful performance. Only Rashford and Lukaku showed any form of desire tbh.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

He talks about them being more aggressive and showing more passion. How is that not attitude?

I am more surprised that people are surprised Huddersfield started off with more aggression and passion. It is the biggest game they have played for years in their town. We needed to get through that early euphoria. However we committed two howlers to gift them goals and dug ourselves into a hole of our own making. Without those mistakes I doubt they would have scored.