[Sarni]

Notice how this has happened for several player under LVG. After a good start, players become proper LVG players and start to slowly have shitty performances one after the other.

Almost exclusively true. Di Maria - started off very well, then faded and became completely shite towards the end of season. Falcao was decent in the first few outings and then terrible (admittedly he's still terrible after a year). Darmian started off very well and is now a shadow of the player he was, Herrera was good at the beginning but the more he plays, the worse he is. He was the best when he came back after a long time out of the team, which earned him a spot on the bench again because he was clearly not following philosophy. Depay has promising first few games but then got completely crap, Martial was incredible in the first 4-5 games but he hasn't been anywhere near that standard since and has looked almost scared at times.

Shaw is the only player who started to grow into his role under van Gaal. The rest of our new signings have either played reasonably well filling their rather limited role (Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin have been system players mostly) or regressed.

 

[Jazz]

We are so lacking confidence - LVG needs to sort this out. The new guys apart from Schweini, have never played with such pressure and expectation. Wish Herrera wasn't injured. Looked like we were trying to contain them and just get a result as our options have depleted with the injuries.

But, will take the point and live to fight another day.

 

[...aka Las Cortinas]

Good performance I thought, disappointed to concede an awful goal.

fecks sake. I'm sure you're just on a permanent WUM with this.

It was, as it's been all season, boring and completely uninspiring.

 

[rednev]

Yeah but you're a footballing pleb, or something.

Maybe I can appreciate the slowness for what it is.

 

[bosnian_red]

Same old story. Good defensively, good control of the game, passing it in pretty advanced positions, absolutely hopeless final ball. Only difference is now we have somebody who knows how to take corners consistently in Blind.

Martial had 2 or 3 men on him at all times but did pretty well. Our only bit of creativity. Memphis did pretty well when coming on I thought, should've done better with the chance though (and I thought it could've been a pen the way Morgan followed through with his challenge). Definitely think him and Martial up top has potential though.
Smalling and Schweinsteiger our best 2, Blind also did very well IMO. Don't care what anyone says but Blind is an excellent player IMO.

Darmian a bit average. Needs to improve his attacking game. Young was poor. Carrick did pretty well. Rooney was crap. Mata decent. McNair okay. Too many basically just doing okay, with only Smalling, Schweinsteiger and Blind with any balls and willing to be the leaders out there and make things happen. Carrick too with his passing, but too many just play it safe.

 

[Spoony]

Seriously though, what happened to Darmian? He looked class a couple of months back.

 

[Red Dreams]

Yeah but you're a footballing pleb, or something.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Cagey game. Both teams looked scared of the other. Draw was a fair result. Two half chances in the 2nd half from the Bastian header and Memphis's difficult take on the turn. That Darmian slice wasn't far away either.

I just don't understand why we don't ever attempt a counter attack. We always seem to hold the ball deep and wide until the other team gets back into shape. So many times we cleared the ball out wide, Young or Darmian had space to run in to, but they don't go for it. I'm certain both would normally. It has to be an instruction to maintain a slow build up even if the spaces are there to attack.

What's happened to Darmian? He was very good for the first half a dozen league games. It seemed to be when Shaw got injured and he played on the left for a few. He's been awful since then.

 

[Golden Nugget]

Bloody hell. We had almost all the possession and we barely looked like scoring. We always wait till their whole team gets back to position then pass it back. They had little of the ball - but looked dangerous whenever they were in our half - this is a Leicister side that are horrible at defending and we gave them once of the easiest games of the seasons. A chance to go top and it seemed that only 2-3 of them cared.

 

[Cee90]

2 points dropped for me, can't be happy with a point against Leicester, no matter how well they're doing.

If we're serious about challenging for the title, we need to be beating these teams.

Oh, and I sure hope we sign Mahrez too.

 

[Red Dreams]

Seriously though, what happened to Darmian? He looked class a couple of months back.

indeed. has regressed. needs to 'bulk up'. He needs to be a lot more aggressive.

 

[Truedevil]

Fight hard to go above Arsenal and City and blow it all against fecking Leicester.

Brilliant.

 

[Spoony]

Maybe I can appreciate the slowness for what it is.

I'm going to restart watching our matches on x2 speed.


Happy days.

 

[Red Dreams]

I'm happy with the point. This was a difficult fixture. We have a lot of reasonable fixtures where we will win. I feel we will be top of the table on Jan 1st.

 

[Nathan]

Woeful, didn't crate anything, endless passing, then when a ball is delivered we have nobody in the box to make anything of it.

Surely even the manager cannot see any positives with is performance.

Disappointed that we wait the entire weekend to deliver this type of game.

 

[Heinzesight]

Fairly happy with a point. I think we were just far too concerned with their counter attack, which I understand as they are rapid.

We will beat them at Old Trafford and I can see Vardy disappearing further up his own arse (see his celebration today) and reverting back to default mid-table player.

 

[mu77]

meh part 13

 

[Eriku]

This pissed me off more than anything, not that we would have scored but a minimum off two minutes how can he blow the whistle on 91.48. My bet the thick cnut forgot to reset his watch after the false start!

Hm, good theory that. Makes sense.

 

[Jerch]

I am really not a moaner but we are throwing points away with performances like that. We should be winning against Leicester home and away regardless of form.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

Same story every week now.

 

[MrSingh2002]

We can't win the league this season with this squad of players while playing these tactics. Simple as that.

It remains to be seen though whether we can win the league next year with a Rooney replacement plus a winger and another top striker. My opinion is that we could. If Rooney was 4 years younger and we had another world class winger I believe we would win the league this season irrespective of LVGs boring, risk averse tactics.

My only worry is that we won't get the winger and striker that we need in January to mount a challenge for the title.

 

[LARulz]

Ranieri is such a great guy, loved the interview

 

[prath92]

Second half we had an attacking intent. LCFC are a well organised team tbf. And their atmosphere was terrifying. Disappointed with a draw though

 

[UnitedinRed]

Should have won. Better side comfortably though wasn't a great game at all. Leicesters counter game was off (due to us). We struggled to create a huge deal again but slightly disappointed not to win.

 

[marlowe78]

There seems to be an ongoing problem with this team that in the opportunities we get to step onto the next level, we just can't (or don't want to) do it. At the end of last season, we had an opportunity to finish in the top 3 instead of playing in the CL qualifiers but we went on that terrible run of form and finished 4th. This year, the title seems to be there for the taking but we put in unambitious games like this.

I like how our approach helps us to control the game but as time passes, I'm really doubting that LVG can get us to that next level. I really do think we have the players to making a legitimate title run, especially with Chelsea out of the picture, but we just don't seem to take the chances that would get us 3 points instead of 1. It's really the draws that can kill a season and we're having too many of them.

I was actually surprised today that the 352 worked as well as it did, although the setup was asking for a lot of trouble. A player like Vardy can run interference between the lines and upset the shape and somehow we kept him quiet outside of the goal. We also had a poor crosser of the ball in Young and a defender who is not accustomed to playing on the attack in Darmian as our wingbacks, which made our forward thrust pretty ineffective.

Even when we pressed forward and looked closest to scoring, I never really got the feeling that we were going full-tilt like we did against Watford in the last minutes. We always seem to be at half intensity and we simply don't move enough. We are still not running into space that is readily there for us and we are too dependent on crossing, something I absolutely hated when Moyes was in charge. It's depressing watching an excellent player like Martial fading out of games like he does, we should be getting him increasing involved in the game when we are looking to win it.

The positives I took from today were Schweinsteiger's solid game, Smalling (as usual), and McNair, whom I thought was solid. Rooney and Mata were both atrocious. Carrick played some nice balls as he always does but he looks about done on PL level.

I guess a point is a point but this performance gets no more than 5/10 for me. Fairly good defensively but weak going forward.

 

[Will Absolute]

Missed most of the game. After 30 minutes, I realized that in 6 months I'd be in urgent need of sun cream, so I went out and bought a tube of that instead. I think it was the right decision.

 

[RedorDead21]

I am really not a moaner but we are throwing points away with performances like that. We should be winning against Leicester home and away regardless of form.

No we shouldnt be winning automatically against the league's best form away from home! We played midweek, we cannot rotate our CM partnership in recent weeks as much and we don't have Herrera as an option. We controlled the game and we miss a playmaker.

 

[Jazz]

Same story every week now.

Surprised we had more shots against the great attacking Leicester

 

[Theonas]

What's wrong in what he said?

Don't even remember a chance we created from open play tbh.

We were bad, really bad. There is no question about that and our impotence up front is really bad for a mid table club, let alone Manchester United. What's wrong with what he said is the cliché idiotic narrative that it's because we pass too much. Barcelona pass more than we do, Bayern and even Arsenal but they still manage to more than create chances. Our problem is that we are not passing fast enough or moving well enough. The media hates this emphasis on possession and continental style football that they started this narrative that it somehow is related to us being s*** up front and it's annoying when fans buy into it.

 

[JinnerJamie]

Total control, hardly gave them a sniff. The only downer was letting pencil face have his moment. BFS was brilliant, shame we didn't win it.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Ranieri is such a great guy, loved the interview

He's a sweetheart.

 

[FreakyJim]

Martial is slowly becoming part of the team. Darmian and Memphis did it a bit faster, admittedly, but the french lad is getting there.

 

[Scrumpet]

Great point. Buzzin'.

 

[MZX7]

One thing that made me happy was Darmian shooting from outside the box. At least someone had the balls to try!!!

 

[prath92]

Almost exclusively true. Di Maria - started off very well, then faded and became completely shite towards the end of season. Falcao was decent in the first few outings and then terrible (admittedly he's still terrible after a year). Darmian started off very well and is now a shadow of the player he was, Herrera was good at the beginning but the more he plays, the worse he is. He was the best when he came back after a long time out of the team, which earned him a spot on the bench again because he was clearly not following philosophy. Depay has promising first few games but then got completely crap, Martial was incredible in the first 4-5 games but he hasn't been anywhere near that standard since and has looked almost scared at times.

Shaw is the only player who started to grow into his role under van Gaal. The rest of our new signings have either played reasonably well filling their rather limited role (Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin have been system players mostly) or regressed.

I'm sorry to say, absolute Load of crap the bolded part. Herrera is good whnever he plays and Martial was our best attacker today and most games he played. Teams arent going to leave him free like they did in the first games for him to score. Its common sense.

 

[RedorDead21]

Surprised we had more shots against the great attacking Leicester

Personally I would have taken a draw away to them after a midweek game!

 

[Sarni]

I'm sorry to say, absolute Load of crap the bolded part. Herrera is good whnever he plays and Martial was our best attacker today and most games he played. Teams arent going to leave him free like they did in the first games for him to score. Its common sense.

Herrera hasn't been consistently good at all. He's had a lot of poor games this season.

 

[Will Absolute]

Great point. Buzzin'.

Opening a carton of milk must be a real adventure for you!

 

[LARulz]

He's a sweetheart.

pretty much the perfect word. He's like the lovable grandpa while Van Gaal is the one you are dragged to go see

 

[kouroux]

Opening a carton of milk must be a read adventure for you!