[Loublaze]

Pretty uninspiring pedestrian performance imo. More like a glorified training match than the real thing. We must improve if we are to do well at the weekend.

I agree and I expressed the same in the matchday thread. We need to attack and move the ball with more urgency against Liverpool. They seemed to be coasting out there and I hope it wasn't because they underrated the opposition

 

[Ibi Dreams]

I agree and I expressed the same in the matchday thread. We need to attack and move the ball with more urgency against Liverpool. They seemed to be coasting out there and I hope it wasn't because they underrated the opposition

The Liverpool game should naturally have a much higher tempo, so I'm not worried about it. Hull weren't very interested in having the ball and that always slows the opposite team down, they are given time and space freely. With Liverpool I expect both teams to press more and both to try to attack fast

 

[Jaxdan]

He played like an oaf. The free kick was good and there were a few excellent passes, particularly the one to Rooney...but everything else was oafish and drunk like by his standards. This place isn't the most reliable when it comes to things like this.

I wouldn't go that far. But at times he does look disjointed and all over the place. I'm still glad to have him though, I think he'll only get better and better.

 

[marlowe78]

Another game that illustrated how important Carrick is to us. A bit slow in getting the attack underway and Hull had a rather easy time getting into the box centrally the few times they went forward. His replacement MUST be top priority over the next couple of transfer windows.

Outside of that, a very workmanlike performance that flew tonight but will not against Liverpool. We pushed our luck a couple of times when Diomande hit the post and also tried for a wonder goal instead of something more basic. Also wasted a few good chances through poor decision-making or the players just not reading each other well enough. Should've easily won 4 or 5-0 and killed the tie. Still, Hull will need to score 3 against us (probably 4 or 5 because we're bound to score ourselves in the 2nd leg) so without a titanic feckup, we should be Wembley bound.

Mata MOTM. Pogba brilliant at times but generally sloppy. Mkhitarian fairly quiet but made a couple of great runs and we seemed to be more vulnerable on the right after he came off. Still not sold on Smalling and Jones as partners, we just don't look as solid as when Rojo is in there.

Overall, I would rate it a 6 out of 10, meaning an average performance. We are still winning despite looking average, which is the encouraging thing.

 

[Grunge]

I just watched a re-broadcast of the victory against Hull and should point out perhaps I predicted the 2 - 0 result (small self pat on the back) but the result could easily have been 6 -2. I don't understand all the whinging on here about a weak, poor outing? Its exactly the (minimum) result called for. Doesn't matter much how these days as it's always about creating (if not always finishing) chances.

We comfortably controlled the game against another hard-working, professional performance by the Hull team whose players have more than impressed their new manager with their endeavour. This was no surprise, as everyone has witnessed that type of performance in almost every game under former manager Phelan's tutelage. Hull are now fecked royally. The additional injuries suffered against us, has put even more pressure on their possible January signings. Hard as they might try, with the ridiculously limited squad they have, compounded by all their injuries I say again they are truly fecked! Other teams will see the same effort from them and possibly score 5 or more some games ... as we could've, with any luck at all. But every team tries a little harder against us.

No matter; we maintained possession with relative ease and with only a couple exceptions. lost possession only when a tricky though-ball was attempted & intercepted by a compact Hull defence. Sure we scorned some chance but we created lots FFS. And won!

Positives to take from this game; A competent performance from Darmian, getting more comfortable with every performance. Valencia; did what he always does now, solid! Jones & Smalling, played "defence first" as instructed, giving quick simple passes to Pogba, Herrera or Mata whenever possible for them to start the attack. Those three were always looking to go forward & make things happen just as expected. Ibra's illness (if he was in fact sick?) meant we had Rashford play the striker role. The more minutes he gets playing up there the better in my mind. He's still young and naiive but again showed some movement on & off the ball that showed he's learning fast. Rooney didn't have a bad game either; Made some nice passes and had a couple of chances in the 60 minutes or so. He'll be fit for a cameo if he doesn't start against the dippers. As for Fellaini, he just made Mourino look like a genius ... again.

And finally, this is like a perfect CL week; play Tuesday night & not again until Sunday, plenty of rest time for the entire squad.

Bring on the scousers

 

[ElQuesoGrande]

I just watched a re-broadcast of the victory against Hull and should point out perhaps I predicted the 2 - 0 result (small self pat on the back) but the result could easily have been 6 -2. I don't understand all the whinging on here about a weak, poor outing? Its exactly the (minimum) result called for. Doesn't matter much how these days as it's always about creating (if not always finishing) chances.

We comfortably controlled the game against another hard-working, professional performance by the Hull team whose players have more than impressed their new manager with their endeavour. This was no surprise, as everyone has witnessed that type of performance in almost every game under former manager Phelan's tutelage. Hull are now fecked royally. The additional injuries suffered against us, has put even more pressure on their possible January signings. Hard as they might try, with the ridiculously limited squad they have, compounded by all their injuries I say again they are truly fecked! Other teams will see the same effort from them and possibly score 5 or more some games ... as we could've, with any luck at all. But every team tries a little harder against us.

No matter; we maintained possession with relative ease and with only a couple exceptions. lost possession only when a tricky though-ball was attempted & intercepted by a compact Hull defence. Sure we scorned some chance but we created lots FFS. And won!

Positives to take from this game; A competent performance from Darmian, getting more comfortable with every performance. Valencia; did what he always does now, solid! Jones & Smalling, played "defence first" as instructed, giving quick simple passes to Pogba, Herrera or Mata whenever possible for them to start the attack. Those three were always looking to go forward & make things happen just as expected. Ibra's illness (if he was in fact sick?) meant we had Rashford play the striker role. The more minutes he gets playing up there the better in my mind. He's still young and naiive but again showed some movement on & off the ball that showed he's learning fast. Rooney didn't have a bad game either; Made some nice passes and had a couple of chances in the 60 minutes or so. He'll be fit for a cameo if he doesn't start against the dippers. As for Fellaini, he just made Mourino look like a genius ... again.

And finally, this is like a perfect CL week; play Tuesday night & not again until Sunday, plenty of rest time for the entire squad.

Bring on the scousers

I'm sure people have said this in half of our games; "on another day it could've been 5, 6 etc". The only thing that matters is it wasn't another day, and Jose needs to work on that.

 

[noodlehair]

Something we've heard a lot this season. Our inability to put away really good chances will come back to haunt us. Amazing how few goals we're scoring considering the number and quality of opportunities in every game.

It arguably already has. Competent finishing in our league games would quite possibly have us in second place and close enough to Chelsea to make a real go of it. It's a double edged sword in that I'm also pleased were creating enough chances for it even to be ppossible to moan about this. We are just amazingly bad at finishing though.

It's all those games under LVG where we'd score with two of our three shots and De Gea would be MOTM coming back to haunt us.

I wouldn't go that far. But at times he does look disjointed and all over the place. I'm still glad to have him though, I think he'll only get better and better.

Yeah don't get me wrong. An out of sorts Pogba still came within an inch of scoring an excellent goal and also played the best pass of the night which should have set up a goal. We have players in our squad who on their day can be matchwinners. Pogba's quallity is such that he can have a bad game and still be a matchwinner. He's also for me been our best player this season.

Stilll doesn't change the fact his performance was somewhat of a mess though.

It's the same with the team really. We've mostly played really welll over the past few months and it's unreallistic to expect that level in every single game...but this and the West Ham game were two where we diidn't reach the same level as other recent performances. It's an observation more so than a complaint.

 

[Grunge]

Something we've heard a lot this season. Our inability to put away really good chances will come back to haunt us. Amazing how few goals we're scoring considering the number and quality of opportunities in every game.

But what matters & what has changed is that we are now winning those games & perhaps more importantly the players believe we can score in the final minutes when necessary. The bonus is that its fun to watch again! Some of those chances against Hull btw, were just "well saved". For example, what was I think was our first shot on goal, early in the match, by Pogba, stuck the keepers outstretched wrist/arm, not his hand I might add. Good effort unlucky not to go in and similarly good luck on the goalies part.

We are not the finished product yet but way better than I expected us to be this soon after Jose's appointment. It's just a shame the five teams above us are all not just capable of playing excellent football but have been albeit some more consistently than others. A sign of the times and the future methinks. The Leicester phenomenon last year was a wake up call and all the top teams have responded well.

 

[Grunge]

Game went pretty much as expected. Damage limitation from Hull to keep it alive for the second leg. 2-0 is probably just enough for Hull to still think they're in the tie, but for us it was the minimum requirement that I believe has seen us through already.

Hull rarely keep clean sheets, so when they open up the game a little bit more you have to know we will score there. This means Hull need to beat us 4-1 to get through (although they would take the tie to extra time with a 3-1 win).

Just can't see them doing that, I don't fancy any team to knock more than two past us at the moment. Maybe Jose will now have to rest just 2-3 players in the away leg rather than 4-5, but as long as we win the trophy, who cares?

Job done. Momentum kept and onto Liverpool.

This