[Class of 63]

Thought the banner for Alexis yesterday was classy, and i'm nearly 55 and a Dog lover

 

[whatwha]

I'll have no sympathy for this lot if they go down, bunch of fecking thugs. Sanchez himself was fouled 7 times ffs. Most media/rival fans seem to have gone quiet on the whole ‘collective fouling’ punishment since Herrera got sent off for other people fouling Hazard. Was brave of the Premier League to experiment with that rule change for just one game, and surprising that media and neutral don't miss it seeing as it was such a popular and obvious rule at the time...

In all though happy with the result more than annoyed at nothing being done about the persistent dirty play (how the hell did we not get a penalty for Kongolo trying to rugby tackle McTominay?)

It was much worse than a typical rugby tackle.

 

[Verminator]

I'll have no sympathy for this lot if they go down, bunch of fecking thugs. Sanchez himself was fouled 7 times ffs. Most media/rival fans seem to have gone quiet on the whole ‘collective fouling’ punishment since Herrera got sent off for other people fouling Hazard. Was brave of the Premier League to experiment with that rule change for just one game, and surprising that media and neutral don't miss it seeing as it was such a popular and obvious rule at the time...

In all though happy with the result more than annoyed at nothing being done about the persistent dirty play (how the hell did we not get a penalty for Kongolo trying to rugby tackle McTominay?)

You make too much sense.
Was more like an Aussie rules challenge though.

 

[Tony Babangida]

Dirty dirty Huddersfield. Hope they go down.

 

[sglowrider]

The players are the artist. We need protection.

Ref cnuts.

 

[crossy1686]

Huddersfield were absolutely dreadful. They made sure that game was possibly the most boring game we’ve played all season. Teams who set up like that deserve to go down.

 

[borrays]

Thuggersfield didnt even try to play football. Probably the worst oppo i've ever witnessed at OT.

 

[eat_grass]

Poor first half offensively. And Sanchez was too demonstrative with his teammates about it for my liking. It looked like Shaw especially got dispirited after making runs or passes that Sanchez thought were the wrong move and gestured wildly about. Almost none of the attacking players even made an attempt to get onto one of Sanchez's dead-ball free kicks into the box, which looked like a bad sign.

Looked to me like the existing players kept wanting to revert to their old style of play: slow, prodding, and waiting for moments of serendipity. They should instead have been relentlessly feeding Sanchez, who still looked deadly even in the midst of all that mess.


Second half, the offense finally started to click and run through Sancheese.

I think Mourinho was more than tactical with his substitutions: he left Pogba out so he could force the team to play through Sanchez without Pogba trying to dominate possession (or making the defense vulnerable by pushing up field in search of the ball). He pulled Lukaku to allow Rashford, Martial, Pogba, and Sanchez to build some chemistry.

After the first goal, the game was wholly under control, and after the second the players played some PlayStation football, as Mourinho calls it.

Great three points.

 

[Harry190]

How many times did we try to force something through the middle and end up with nothing as opposed to that one cross, boom, one goal?

 

[SwSw]

Klopp called his wank buddy to take our players out before the game against the bin dipers.

 

[Skip to my Lou]

Klopp called his wank buddy to take our players out before the game against the bin dipers.

This was my first thought too.
"Hallo meine kleine buddy, do me a favor will ya. Kick the living shiet out of them"

 

[POF]

Which will help me to view black and white statistics posted on an internet forum (which aren't that favourable at all, are they?).

Just bloody watch us. There's game in which we barely string 3 passes together. We struggle to break sides down and win games as a result of the overwhelming quality (which lots of people do well to play down) of the players on the field. Generally, we've quite often gone on to nick a few goals at the end of games when the opposing sides are chasing the equaliser.

But we play without much spark or ingenuity and it's very apparent in bigger games. Which the statistics you're so quick to reach for clearly show that we simply can't score goals against the better sides.

Even today, we won through one moment of real quality through Mata. That's why we can beat Huddersfield, or Burnley. But there's no wider kind of identity, is there?

I'd sooner raise these concerns now (as I do) rather than wait until we lose to Chelsea, or whoever, and join in the kneejerking (GET RID OF THE DEADWOOD) that inevitably happens after every match we lose. If that makes me negative, or a shitty poster, then so be it. But I've been fairly consistent on this and attempt to justify my views - for better or worse.

Sorry to jump into this conversation but I always found you an excellent poster on here but you certainly have become very negative in relation to the attacking play and the manager generally.

I can absolutely see where you're coming from but I think it is very unfair. Yes, the team is far better defensively than offensively and there is a lack of creativity in attack but Rome wasn't built in a day. I have no issues with him building from the back. The attack Mourinho inherited is one of the worst of any top side in recent years.

When he took over, the forwards were a finished Rooney and 3 kids (Martial, Rashford and Memphis). The only senior attacking player anywhere near his peak at the club was Mata, the most un-Mourinho player possible who he sold at his previous club.

Jose sets his team up defensively because he doesn't trust the forwards to produce the goods consistently. It's not surprising because all of the attackers are young inconsistent players.

For a first choice front 4, I think he would only be happy with one of Martial/Rashford as a first choice starter of those he inherited. This is just his second season and he has had to spend considerable funds on 2 central defenders and 2 central midfield players. It's just not possible to get enough experienced attacking quality in also.

I would expect to see the attacking quality of the side improve now he has an experienced attacking talisman in Sanchez and as Martial, Rashford and Lingard continue to improve. There are already some encouraging signs. The attack looked sharp early on vs Spurs which made the collapse after conceding the second goal even more frustrating.

You may be right and Jose may have no idea how to construct an attack but I would like to see how he builds the attack around Sanchez before writing him off.

 

[Hawks2008]

You make too much sense.
Was more like an Aussie rules challenge though.

As an Aussie, that probably would be called by the umpires in an AFL game. Disgraceful from the referee.

 

[Jazz]

Thuggersfield didnt even try to play football. Probably the worst oppo i've ever witnessed at OT.

That's the description I've been looking for. I kept calling them thuggys

They just came to kick the shit out of us, and the ref let them get away with it for the most part which was absolutely disgraceful.

 

[Siorac]

Huddersfield were absolutely dreadful. They made sure that game was possibly the most boring game we’ve played all season. Teams who set up like that deserve to go down.

I feel like that is somewhat hypocritical.

 

[crossy1686]

I feel like that is somewhat hypocritical.

It is, and I accept that. 0 shots and a record number of fouls just to go on and lose anyway is a new low however.

 

[Bestietom]

Did not get me too excited but just enough to get the 3 points.

 

[Mozza]

Same shite, different day

 

[Godfather]

Thought we played quite well. Need to be a bit sharper in the opponent's box but apart from that good game against a team out to hack us.

 

[mitchmouse]

Not a brilliant performance but good enough. Not sure DDG touched the ball more than half a dozen times! Some good perforamances. Sanchez is settling in although his penalty was weak. I just wish we'd bury sides like Huddersfield

 

[Handré1990]

Not a brilliant performance but good enough. Not sure DDG touched the ball more than half a dozen times! Some good perforamances. Sanchez is settling in although his penalty was weak. I just wish we'd bury sides like Huddersfield

Agree with the last part, but it’s worth keeping in mind that we were due a pen early on. Could’ve been a thrashing as they didn’t have any chances, instead we had to keep fighting for the first goal

 

[Sgeorge]

An expected win, but an average performance. It was not at all exciting, may be Jose needed a win more than anything else after that pathetic loss at Spurs. And also the obvious fact of sending a message across to the big guns.

Team has got the talent and world class players, hopefully Jose can soon solve the puzzle and bring back exciting football. I like to see the same players as our CB's whom I thought played very well.

The Sanchez, Martial problem is going to linger around, personally Martial is one of the reasons why I want to see Utd play along with Pogba. And hopefully he is not dropped from the team considering he was playing so well.

 

[sunama]

Poor first half offensively. And Sanchez was too demonstrative with his teammates about it for my liking. It looked like Shaw especially got dispirited after making runs or passes that Sanchez thought were the wrong move and gestured wildly about. Almost none of the attacking players even made an attempt to get onto one of Sanchez's dead-ball free kicks into the box, which looked like a bad sign.

Sanchez will elevate the performance of those around him.
You may not like him calling out our lower skilled players, but this is exactly what he should be doing. At his age, he should be orchestrating our attacks and that is exactly what he is attempting to do.
Next time, they will try and be on Sanchez's wavelength. He is our only World class attacker and our other attackers now understand what standard they have to achieve, if they also want to be ranked alongside him.

For too long we have been making do with mediocrity and the arrival of an attacker of Sanchez's quality, is a huge statement of intent.

I still can't believe we have signed this guy, especially for the bargain basement fee.

 

[sunama]

An expected win, but an average performance. It was not at all exciting, may be Jose needed a win more than anything else after that pathetic loss at Spurs. And also the obvious fact of sending a message across to the big guns.

I think that for the first time, Jose genuninely believed that our players could go toe-to-toe with another top 6 side and beat them.
When they lost, he must've been pissed off to such an extent that he gave the likes of Martial and Pogba a seat on the bench.

 

[Coops73]

Played ok, MOTM for me was Sanchez, I can’t remember when I saw a player fouled so much but I think it’s a bit early for all the gesticulating when a pass doesn’t come his way. Matic was excellent, a completely different player from midweek and McTominay played really well too, nothing too flashy just went about his business keeping the ball moving despite getting the shit kicked out of him.

The ref was a complete joke and the worst I’ve seen in ages, Huddersfield just went about kicking lumps out of us and how we wasn’t awarded a pen after that challenge on McTominay I’ll never know, I hope that ref gets demoted after that.

 

[Robertd0803]

Shocking challenge on McTominay and equally shocking decision.

You could almost sense the delight in the media when Sanchez missed the penalty only for him to score the rebound

 

[Acole9]

Good win and a decent batch of results for us this weekend.

The Munich tributes from the club looked classy and great to see the minute silence appeared to be well observed.

Derby (2008) Sunderland (Last season) aside, I think Huddersfield are the worst team I've seen in the Premier League, no talented players, god awful football and their players are so dirty, I hope they and Klopp's play thing go down. The tackle on McTominay was a disgrace, he could've been really hurt from that. How that wasn't a penalty is beyond me.

 

[marlowe78]

3 badly needed points after the mess against Tottenham.

Can't say I really enjoyed it, though. Huddersfield's attitude in this game was disgusting. They had no intention of playing football, just sat back and looked to foul us at every opportunity. Sanchez and McTominay took an absolute battering. The body slam by Kongolo was as vicious as they get and McTominay is lucky that he wasn't concussed by it. The officials, in general, were atrocious. The linesman on the east end not only missed/ignored the penalty but at least 4 clear offsides that happened across the 90 minutes, I wonder if he was actually watching the game.

Not much to really say about the performance - we went up against a team bound for relegation and did the job. Huddersfield seemed to have 50 men in the penalty area and our usual lack of width made it harder for us to break through. I thought we were quite flat in the 1st half despite all of the possession. Their keeper was hardly tested at all.

2nd half we played with renewed energy and I was glad to see Lukaku get on the scoresheet again. Sanchez was easily MOTM for me. When he pivots and drives forward into space with the ball, you wonder why it's so hard for other players to do the same.

The other player who really stood out for me was McTominay. It was against a poor team but I thought he was excellent. He worked really well with Matic (who was also good) and showed great resilience after being fouled so cheaply. It looks like he has some decent ball playing ability, which wasn't really noticeable in the first few games he's played for us.

So overall I'd give us a 6 out of 10. As an added bonus, De Gea was able to watch the game and not have to save our tails.

 

[Android1974]

It was quite weird seeing Pogba coming in and playing as #10 in front of both Matić and McTominay, keeping the 4-2-3-1 form. Only later did he drift to the left, while McTominay pushed a bit forward to the right making it a 4-3-3. It's almost as Mourinho was saying to him, “look, is that really where you want to play? otherwise, get smart and learn how to do it in a midfield two”.

 

[eat_grass]

Sanchez will elevate the performance of those around him.
You may not like him calling out our lower skilled players, but this is exactly what he should be doing. At his age, he should be orchestrating our attacks and that is exactly what he is attempting to do.
Next time, they will try and be on Sanchez's wavelength. He is our only World class attacker and our other attackers now understand what standard they have to achieve, if they also want to be ranked alongside him.

For too long we have been making do with mediocrity and the arrival of an attacker of Sanchez's quality, is a huge statement of intent.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think he's going about it the right way -- and said as much when Lukaku was doing it, too. We can't treat today's players as if they belong to the previous generation. They're soft, delicate, and need an arm across their shoulder, not Roy Keane lathering their faces with furious spittle.

Demanding that they act like the generation of old will only result in your weekly disappointment.

 

[Dr Fink]

Anyone else note the concerted periods, one in the first half where the Huddersfield midfield made a bee line to target McTominay, late for every tackle, leaving the foot in, including the assault by Kongolo. Then they tried it on Alexis for a period. Shocking. Worst team I've seen at OT this season.

 

[Fitchett]

Sanchez will elevate the performance of those around him.
You may not like him calling out our lower skilled players, but this is exactly what he should be doing. At his age, he should be orchestrating our attacks and that is exactly what he is attempting to do.
Next time, they will try and be on Sanchez's wavelength. He is our only World class attacker and our other attackers now understand what standard they have to achieve, if they also want to be ranked alongside him.

For too long we have been making do with mediocrity and the arrival of an attacker of Sanchez's quality, is a huge statement of intent.

I still can't believe we have signed this guy, especially for the bargain basement fee.

I agree 100%. I am so pleased to see a genuine world class player making it clear that the attacking dross we have had over the past few seasons is unacceptable.

 

[eat_grass]

Moved to: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/uni...aints-over-the-quiet-atmosphere-at-ot.436339/

 

[OK777]

You make too much sense.
Was more like an Aussie rules challenge though.

Exactly what I said as soon as I saw the challenge.

Would be a free kick in that game, and the worst part of all is that the referee was looking straight at it.