[HBFSTR00]

All these rescheduled matches have been a mess. Loss against Crystal Palace, Casemiro picking his 5th yellow to miss the game against Arsenal and draw against Leeds… God save the Queen.

 

[tjb]

People calling out Fred and rightly so but Bruno was almost as wasteful and the first goal was on him.

Bruno created a lot of chances today. On the ball he wasn't wasteful, he was constantly trying to push the team forward. I get that some people don't like him here, but he's consistently creating chances for us and imo playing well.

 

[justsomebloke]

Disappointing result, great fightback. An entertaining and weird game, with very uneven performances across the team. Shaw (esp 2nd half), Martinez, Bruno (esp 1st half) and Sancho all had excellent games. Rashford, good second half. Varane well below his normal level, Dalot obviously rusty defensively (and mixed on the ball, although increasingly good as the game wore on). Fred with a very poor performance - constantly late, getting overrun, misplacing passes. Sabitzer on the whole a very decent performance. Garnacho, always game and always a threat, but he succeeded with very little today. And Weghorst - I think we've seen enough to know the score by now, and the score is that there just isn't much of an impact. He does some useful things, but in the end it doesn't add up to much.

To those who put in votes that left Bruno on a 5.5 rating - seriously, are you paying attention to what he's doing at all? That was a DOMINANT first half performance - he was involved in practically everything United created, which was actually quite a lot. That was a solid 8 performance overall.

 

[Tincanalley]

One of those nights unfortunately. Can happen against anyone in such hectic schedule with injuries and suspension

*Sensible post alert*

 

[andy0]

Two comments from the BBC live text

Manchester United average 2.3 points and concede 0.7 goals per game when Casemiro has started in the Premier League this season. Without him they are 1.4 points and 2.1 goals conceded.

And I liked this

Jadon Sancho now has twice as many Premier League goal involvements this season (4) as Trent Alexander-Arnold (2).

 

[Judas]

Need a proper striker. Desperately.

Bruno gifting the ball in the first minute due to sloppiness really set the tone for the evening.

Glad we managed to at least get the point, but a bitterly disappointing evening all things considered.

One of those nights, sure, but we need to win our next two games, we just must.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Disappointing result, great fightback. An entertaining and weird game, with very uneven performances across the team. Shaw (esp 2nd half), Martinez, Bruno (esp 1st half) and Sancho all had excellent games. Rashford, good second half. Varane well below his normal level, Dalot obviously rusty defensively (and mixed on the ball, although increasingly good as the game wore on). Fred with a very poor performance - constantly late, getting overrun, misplacing passes. Sabitzer on the whole a very decent performance. Garnacho, always game and always a threat, but he succeeded with very little today. And Weghorst - I think we've seen enough to know the score by now, and the score is that there just isn't much of an impact. He does some useful things, but in the end it doesn't add up to much.

To those who put in votes that left Bruno on a 5.5 rating - seriously, are you paying attention to what he's doing at all? That was a DOMINANT first half performance - he was involved in practically everything United created, which was actually quite a lot. That was a solid 8 performance overall.

Fair enough.

 

[Irwin99]

If we beat them away from home, I'm fine with this result. But they'll be up for it after tonight even more.

On Leeds's 2nd goal - I thought ball hit one of their players' hand in the build-up? I'm not moaning about referee, they deserved a point, but we have had 2 goals disallowed for ball hitting Rashford's hand so far this season.

That's kind of how i feel to be honest. We were always going to drop points at some stage, at home to Leeds is a bit of a downer but beat them at their place then it kind of sorts itself out.

 

[Tincanalley]

Disappointing result, great fightback. An entertaining and weird game, with very uneven performances across the team. Shaw (esp 2nd half), Martinez, Bruno (esp 1st half) and Sancho all had excellent games. Rashford, good second half. Varane well below his normal level, Dalot obviously rusty defensively (and mixed on the ball, although increasingly good as the game wore on). Fred with a very poor performance - constantly late, getting overrun, misplacing passes. Sabitzer on the whole a very decent performance. Garnacho, always game and always a threat, but he succeeded with very little today. And Weghorst - I think we've seen enough to know the score by now, and the score is that there just isn't much of an impact. He does some useful things, but in the end it doesn't add up to much.

To those who put in votes that left Bruno on a 5.5 rating - seriously, are you paying attention to what he's doing at all? That was a DOMINANT first half performance - he was involved in practically everything United created, which was actually quite a lot. That was a solid 8 performance overall.

Look mate, you are wasting your breath. The posters you are responding to are either (A) Ten (B) People who have never been to a football game but like the colours of the shirt (C) Trolls
I tried a while back to ignore them all, but I have more or less given up now. I even ended up un-ignoring a few, who suddenly became sensible, or had their account somehow infiltrated by someone who at least knew the game was played by two teams with a round ball.

 

[Rightnr]

It's a huge issue for us to have both Martial and Sancho missing at a vital time of the season with playing every 3 days.....Martial has been MIA for the past year it feels like

We need both these guys to be fit and healthy if we want to challenge for the top 4 and maybe winning one of the two cups

Don't forget Antony who was ill at the start of the season, then he disappeared before the WC, crashed his car in January and he's injured again. These are young men in their prime and can barely string a couple of games on the bounce.

Dalot was a machine before the WC and he got super unlucky with that dumb injury and now might need what is becoming 2 months to get back.

Seriously, this season is a joke and we needed more in the winter window.

 

[downunder red]

Played like the unsettled side that it was. Great fight back and that point could be the one to help win the league.

 

[Smores]

To give credit to Leeds they got their tactics right. They knew our midfield would be exposed so played narrow and made it 5 against basically 1 in there.

Think we needed Bruno to realise how much we were outnumbered and drop back in the first half. We need more bodies in there whilst our top guys are out.

 

[Crimson King]

We barely won any of the loose balls in midfield. Really makes you appreciate how good Casemiro is at reading the game and getting to a lot of those things first.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Mad the Queen croaking got Leeds a point at Old Trafford.

 

[Tincanalley]

Listened to match on the radio. Sounded wild, and a good derby. Good to see the fight back, and it looks like we were just short of beating them. Good to have the chance to hammer them on Saturday

 

[Morpheus 7]

Too open, Leeds are shite. Better finishing at 1.0 and we win that game. Fred cost us but that big lump weghorse is way off. Good character in the team but squad needs reinforcements.

 

[Telsim]

5 points from 12. Horrendous. Leeds weren't even good. We were just unbelievable bad for a good hour. That first half was probably the worst one since those against Brighton and Brentford. We look like a nothing team without Casemiro.

 

[justsomebloke]

That game was open because of Fred.
His positioning was off all night and he left the backline way more exposed than they should have been. Add the fact that Dalot's lack of match sharpness was in play, that really hurt us.

The fact of the matter is that Sabitzer on the ball was good. He also positioned himself as well as possible. However, in a one man midfield that was this game at times, the midfield is going to be open.

I don't think this was as much about Casemiro as has been made out to be. Leeds were very good at pressing us hard and that would have happened with Casemiro as well. However, Fred providing them with the space to attack after the press led to the fragmented periods of the game that led to the goals.

He needs to be our 4th choice CM because his performances can vary drastically.

In saying that, I actually think today really showed how strong we are as a team. There were massive positives to draw upon that can be clear signs for the future of our team.

1. Sancho - He was brilliant when he came on. His passes from that wide position were just insanely penetrative. He might not blow teams away with pace, but if we can get him in and around that final third often enough, he will completely change the dynamic of our attack.

2. Striker position - I know we've had this discussion a lot over the years, but what if Rashford is actually ready to take on that role right now. He's improved so much this season, especially in regard to his balance on the ball. He's never going to be a hold up threat, but his balance, his positioning and finishing have improved enough for this to be a genuine question.

3. Pellestri keeps proving time and time again that he can be a good option for us.

4. Our resilience - We were 2-0 down and despite this, there was a sense that we could get back in it. We have had this resilience under other managers, but not because of having the knowledge that keeping our style of play and continuing to chug away would be the source of the comeback. This wasn't individual brialliance. It was a clear and consistent team effort.

Good analysis.

Only point of disagreement is Pellistri - I can't say I noticed anything noteworthy from him at all. What does he add, exactly?

 

[arthurka]

Fred can piss off.

 

[NK86]

Reality check game maybe….a couple of starters missing and we’re struggling? The depth of the squad needs addressing.

Positives points are we probably would have lost this at 0:2 last season.

We had 4 definite starters missing. Our entire midfield was missing. There aren't too many teams out there who can cope with someone like Cas missing from their line up.

 

[G-manc]

Pleased with the comeback but the game was far too open, especially the first 10 mins. God knows what they practiced in training but Fred was wandering round aimlessly almost as a second 10.
Nothing against Weghorst but he’s clearly not up to starting. Literally like playing with 10 men. I’ll be fuming if he starts Sunday.

 

[hobbers]

Fred, Garnacho, Weghorst...

We're reached that tipping point where we cant carry so many low-quality players.

That first half was just vile football.

 

[Chief123]

I never thought I’d see a game where we end with

Pellestri RW
Malacia RB
Lindelof CDM
Fred CM

 

[Chief123]

Fred, Garnacho, Weghorst...

We're reached that tipping point where we cant carry so many low-quality players.

That first half was just vile football.

Garnacho is not low quality. Not his best game but silly to say he’s not good enough.

 

[tenpoless]

Is Ted lasso friends with Fred or something

 

[RedDevil@84]

Fred, Garnacho, Weghorst...

We're reached that tipping point where we cant carry so many low-quality players.

That first half was just vile football.

Garnacho is not bad. He is an 18 yr old who needs to work on his game.

 

[gerdm07]

Like many here I also blame Fred. However, I add Garnacho with Fred. I sincerely hope there is a football brain in young Garnacho to go along with his skills. After the last few games I'm starting to wonder, though. Pellistri football IQ >>>>>>> Garnacho football IQ.

ETH made a huge mistake moving Rashford to the right and he should have switched after 30 minutes when things were not working.

All of you guys who have been complaining about Antony should now realize his importance in the squad.

It's going to be a long 2 more matches without Casemiro.

 

[abailey123]

Just back from the game. The first thing I’d say is that this ridiculous run of fixtures we have did have the potential to throw up a game like tonight.

First 10 minutes of both halves where beyond awful, second to every ball.

We then asserted control -Garnacho should have scored in the first half and Sabitzer had a couple of solid efforts. There could have quite easily been another 10 minutes added on in the first half.

Erik’s subs really changed the game. We became more direct, Pellistri played his part and Sancho was electric.

All in all we shown a lot of character to get back into that game.

Onto Sunday I feel like Erik has no choice but to gamble a bit in midfield. Either start Martinez or Lindelof over Fred, he was so so poor today. Sabitzer was fine but that amount of times he had to over compensate for Fred’s poor pass / tackle was quite frankly ridiculous.

rashford through the middle also

 

[Red Royal]

Went to the game, first I have seen live with EtH in charge.
Whilst disappointed with result there are plenty of positives.
We showed fight and good substitution options to get back in it. We could and should have gone onto win it. Fred was awful today (pity as he has impressed me lately).. seemd he missed his mate Casemiro badly. Sabitzer showed some good glimpses of play. Rashford was anonymous on the right and should never be used there, better to rest him instead of trying that. Garnacho is best as a late sub not a starter. Sancho looks ready!!

 

[Fts 74]

Always gonna get games like this especially when we're suffering with injuries/suspensions and playing every 3 days.

Im not too down after that i was worried at 0-2
but i think we deserve some credit for the comeback. Leeds played well tbf, and we were off it for long periods.Leeds can't play much better than that and I'd be amazed if we don't see changes on Sunday 3pts and move on hopefully.
Fred though deary me.

 

[johanovic]

Play Martinez and Sabitzer in midfield with Bruno...Fred should never start for us again...what a dreadful passer he is plus playing like a headless chicken

 

[gerdm07]

I wouldn't mind seeing Lindelof and Sabitzer start in midfield on Sunday. It's a risk given their press, but going with Fred and Sabitzer would hurt morale.

 

[tjb]

Our fans don't understand how close we are to actually being a potentially great team.
We have regularly high performing talent ( Casemiro, Licha, Varane, Shaw, Bruno, and Rashford).

Casemiro may be the best performing DM in the world. The media and our fans won't want to admit this quite yet but Licha may be the best centre back in the league. Shaw, Bruno, Rashford and Varane are performing at such a high level that each can be considered top 5 players in their positions currently in the world. We also have other players like Eriksen, Dalot, DDG, Antony, Sancho and AWB who are good performers.

The problem we have are that despite the quality we have as a whole, we have massive gaps in depth and in key positions. This gap is what separates dominant teams from league challenging teams. I think currently we have the quality to competitively challenge for the league, but lack certain assets to actually win it, particularly given the high standard of the league at the moment.

Arsenal would not have won the leagues they won if an aging CR7 and a talent like Weighorst were leading their frontline for most of the season. United from 04-06 struggled for consistency due to having to consistenly use Silvestre, Brown and O'shea in their defence during that period. Our lack of depth at striker in 04-05 led to United scoring as low as 58 goals that season, simply on the basis of swapping Van Nistelrooy for Alan Smith.

When Arsenal won their leagues, they had period's where the likes of Vieira, Henry and Pires went down due to injuries, yet they could cope because they already had solid partners and their replacements, Edu, Wiltord, Kanu etc were really good technical players. For United, both from 99-03 and from 07-09, the same rings true. We could lose Yorke or Cole and replace them with Solksjaer or Sheringham. We could temporarily replace Giggs or Beckham with Bloemquist or Ole. Nicky Butt could come in for Keane or Scholes. Fletcher or Anderson could come in for Carrick or Scholes. Park or Nani ccould come in for Giggs or Ronaldo. And in attack, we had Tevez/Saha/Ole/Larsson backing up at times, whilst also enjoying the versatility of Rooney, Ronaldo and Giggs.

My point here is that in order to ensure consistent performances/ results, you need consistently good players at all times, in every position. At United currently, we've had Fred and Mctominay start lots of games ( both of whom might struggle getting gametime at a club like Leeds), a right flank where our starting player (Antony) is still clearly finding himself whilst all his alternatives are too young or haven't established themselves as right wingers and in attack neither of our strikers may be starting level strikers for a league winning team. Martial hasn't shown fitness or consistency and Wout may not belong at Premier League level.

 

[AndyMUFC]

We'll take the point when 2-0 down, though we're so used to completing the comeback as United fans not going all the way feels a bit disappointing.

Weren't at the races at all the first hour, they were quicker and hungrier than us. We massively miss Casemiro and Eriksen in midfield and Rashford on the right is not the answer either. Squad depth again causing issues.

 

[tjb]

Good analysis.

Only point of disagreement is Pellistri - I can't say I noticed anything noteworthy from him at all. What does he add, exactly?

He has good balance on the ball. He's actually difficult to get off the ball and is quite direct. He's like an old school winger and with that balance and agility could be very dangerous if strength and decision making come along.

Out of all of them, Amad is the one i'm excited about though. He's the one I can see pushing Antony.

 

[croadyman]

All these rescheduled matches have been a mess. Loss against Crystal Palace, Casemiro picking his 5th yellow to miss the game against Arsenal and draw against Leeds… God save the Queen.

Yes they have been played at the wrong time but we needed to perform much better

 

[noodlehair]

Nice of Dalot and Fred to have their own personal comtest to be the Leeds motm.

Dalot highlights
- his now trademark sideways pass to no one that puts the opposition through on goal
- hospital ball to Fernandes in the 1st minute and then standing there like a melon as Leeds scored.
- Disappearing 30 yards up the pitch to spectate as Varane spent about 40 seconds desperately trying to fend off 3 Leeds players on his own and looking for a pass. (Honestly this infuriated me beyond belief)
- Usual array of pinpoint crosses/ill advised shots to either the Vandenberg crater or somewhere in Leicester City centre.
- starting the second half with a 10 minute nap and then recovering by slipping over to let Leeds through on goal only to be let off by the Leeds player falling over the football.
- receiving the ball 40 yards from the Leeds goal, under zero pressure, and showing the composure and quality to just boot it randomly up into the air.

Let himself down with his annual assist which probably brought him up to a respectable 1/10.

Honestly I'd have hooked him off after 20 minutes and even on a good day I still have no idea what he's supposedly better at than Bissaka. I mean Bissaka isn't amazing but the problem with Dalot is that even on top form I still don't know what his strengths are. Him playing well is basically just his weaknesses being less apparent.


Fred highlights:
- Array of weord shots aimed towards the corner flags, often combined with falling over or deliberately standing off balance for no reason
- No look sideways passing made extra skillful by the fact many of them were also no team mate there passes.
- Ability to precisely and deliberately kick the ball forwards in directions or to m a aningkess empty pieces of pitch, rather than even attempting to aim at a team mate.
- Several bouts of receiving the ball in his own half and then having some kind of fit whilst tackling himself and collapsing to the floor.
- A particularly impressive spell of this after our first goal where he managed to single handedly convert team amd home fan momentum into 5 minutes of us constantly being under pressure.

Overall probably stretches to a 1.5/10.

And this is the problem with Fred. It doesn't matter if he's in good form, he always has the 1/10 outing hiding just up his sleeve amd you never know when it might appear. He can play to the level of a very good (if limited) player, but I don't think you can ever be considered a good player when there's a chance you might be as useful to your team as a plague of crop eating locusts would be to a crop farmer.


And I don't have anything more to add as these two along with us, completely bafflingly, choosing a game where we have no midfield to also to spend 53 minutes playing our only reliable goalscorer out of position to facilitate a Burnley loanee and a teenager with 2 career goals, annoyed ne too much to focus on anything else.

Maybe I've gotten too used to us being devoid of incompetence but feck me that was a lot of it to cram into one game amd expect to get away with it.

 

[SirScholes]

Don't have a midfield without Casemiro and Eriksen. Don't have a right hand side of our attack without Antony.

Hopefully we have some kind of depth beyond the first XI next year.

Take out our rivals starting
Striker
Two centre mids
Right winger

spurs/Newcastle/arsenal/Liverpool

do you honestly think any team but city could come with that ?

 

[Mr PG]

They clawed away so many near certain goals it’s unbelievable. We got unsettled by their goal and shot so many times instead of making the easier pass.

 

[Charlie Foley]

I missed the game. What happened with Fred?