[Giggs86]

WTH was he thinking?

Clearly he wasn't.

He lost the ability to coordinate between brain and body.

I feel bad for him but he became a walking brain-fart.

 

[NinjaZombie]

WTH was he thinking?

Zero composure. There wasn't anyone near him. If he turned his head or had a picture in his mind, he'd know that.

 

[MuranoLover]

Jose this , Jose that..

What we must see is the big picture - stability , chances for scoring many goals , a cup and a chance for a second one with spot for CL .

Please you all check how many goals has Mid conceded until now and then talk

 

[manutd7]

Played well. Back 6 was unexpected at the end. Thought Mata was brilliant

 

[ti vu]

WTH was he thinking?

Must have been instructed to seal the ball better. Ended channeling seal power

 

[bucky]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Mihai]

I don't even remember what I've posted this week...mostly stuff asking advice about going to Venice, which is slightly less childish than being manager of a football team and going around telling everone you're going to lose because of having to play football games too much...then seemingly being more concerned with proving yourself right than managing your team properly.

If Jose is going to act like a child it shouldn't come as a surprise when people criticise him for it. He deserves criticism, and if we'd ended up throwing the game away either today or on Thursday it'd have been I suspect an extreme amount worse. He's escaped twice in a row. I'd rather he get called up on it than think he should try it a third time.

sorry, but this part is ridiculous.

 

[NotQuiteManc]

Good win, after a very, very busy and tiring few weeks, I think. Games came thick and fast, not to mention having to travel to Russia, technical issues with flights, long travel time back home at awkward hours. I am just glad the managed to get a win when most of the closest rivals were dropping points.

Just give the guys a little break, will ya, ya spoiled brats ya.

I am glad the international break came, maybe two or three individuals need the good rest and hopefully come back stronger afterwards.

 

[jackofalltrades]

Me too.

I'm sure that VV slipped in exactly the same spot where Jones slipped in the first half which almost let in Negredo.

Extra wet bit of pitch ?

I think it had been raining heavily. It's quite typical to see the pitch being watered at half time as well, in order to make it slippy for the opposition I suppose, because sometimes it looks like only one half of the pitch is being doused.

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

We got the win.. so what the feck are you complaining about the tactics for?

I bet you if we used the right tactics and drew that game, you lot would still be complaining. Jose is the right man for us. He will bring us a title.

 

[Robertd0803]

Glad that game is over with, was very much a case of expecting the worse. Thankfully Boro forgot that when you sack your manager you are meant to turn up the next game instead of still being absolute crap. A game to get over and done with and thankfully we got the 3 points.

I reckon at 1-0 we would have seen the game out a lot easier than we did, going 2-0 only seemed to encourage Boro. Playing every defender except for Shaw was pretty odd to see, especially when 2 of them kept going to clear the same ball.

Valencias goal was a massive relief. I loved Joses celebration at the end.

 

[r3idy]

No issues with the team selection yesterday or the formation at the end and this international break cannot come soon enough. Clearly some of the players were blowing out of their arse towards the end. All things considered that we lost the midfield engine due to suspension and injury against a team that need to get points to stay up, it was a dogged performance as to what was expected.

Makes you wonder how exhausted or burnt out some of the players are when you listen to the post match presser. Play 3 at the back so Tony V can push up and effectively run half as much.

My only concern was Jones and Smalling. Pretty much every game they seem to make decisions that invite decisions that invite either a dodgy clearance to put us under pressure or they make a challenge that is 50 / 50 penalty.

 

[nickm]

I wish some of our whingeing "fans" could give our team and our manager the benefit of the doubt.

 

[JustAFan]

We got the win.. so what the feck are you complaining about the tactics for?

I bet you if we used the right tactics and drew that game, you lot would still be complaining. Jose is the right man for us. He will bring us a title.

Honestly I don't think I have ever seen a post praising the tactics when we dropped points

 

[Cee90]

In a way it's rather funny that some people are reacting so negatively to us defending a lead in the way we did.

I bet City fans would have loved it if Pep did the same against Monaco the other night.

Albeit Middlesbrough are not in the same league as Monaco, but there is no shame in defending a lead, especially under the circumstances.

The only thing I will say is that I am not a fan of us inviting so much pressure towards the end of games. We need to learn to hold the ball better and control possession.

 

[SaradM]

Why so much negativity in here about Jose's tactic? I even read "we would have loved losing 4-2 while playing attacking?" Ehh? I mean when do people realise a Win is a Win is a Win? Especially at this juncture of the season how vital these 3 points could be......

A new manager in a club fighting relegation, players want to prove a point, we are missing 3 key players and the manager isn't allowed to go defensive? Hmm. Whatever happened to that classy FA cup game in 2011 where SAF played Brown, O'Shea, both the Silva brothers, Vida, Smalling and Evra.

 

[Mihai]

I wish some of our whingeing "fans" could give our team and our manager the benefit of the doubt.

There's no benefit of the doubt. Jose made some defensive changes because Middlesbrough brought the lamp post upfront and we had to cope with it.

I think going forward this season, people who expect us to play "beautiful" football will be disappointed to say the least.

 

[Marcus]

Finally! Come on United!

 

[Danillaco]

Pretty hilarious game that... Smallings dive, 7 at the back and to top it all off Valdes

Funny thing, how he saved their asses with at least three great stops, then does that in the end.

 

[Jaxdan]

Who cares about the tactics, we've got suspensions, injuries and have played around 900 games in a few weeks. Big 3 points here.

Exactly this. So easy for us keyboard managers to claim how we would've attacked until the final whistle. We have no pressure on our heads. Depleted, tired team, away in a league game, you take the 3 points all day long. Had it not been for Smalling's shambolic miscue on what should have been a routine clearance, it was a comfortable coaster.

 

[nickm]

I think going forward this season, people who expect us to play "beautiful" football will be disappointed to say the least.

I don't expect us, or necessarily want us, to play beautiful football at this point in the season. I just want the points.

Fergie used to let the team cut loose before Xmas but in the run in we used to be far more pragmatic about how we got results.

 

[Mihai]

I don't expect us, or necessarily want us, to play beautiful football at this point in the season. I just want the points.

Fergie used to let the team cut loose before Xmas but in the run in we used to be far more pragmatic about how we got results.

I remember after the 1-6, we had 5 or 6 1 nil wins before Stoke away. They far less pleasing than yesterday.

I too prefer results over performances at this stage.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

In a way it's rather funny that some people are reacting so negatively to us defending a lead in the way we did.

I bet City fans would have loved it if Pep did the same against Monaco the other night.

Albeit Middlesbrough are not in the same league as Monaco, but there is no shame in defending a lead, especially under the circumstances.

The only thing I will say is that I am not a fan of us inviting so much pressure towards the end of games. We need to learn to hold the ball better and control possession.

Attack is the best form of defense comes to mind. If the opposition is always in the back foot, little chance of a tired back 4/5/6 having a brain fart.

 

[don't sign old players]

Everybody played well. Lingard was superb. If only he doesn't rest on his laurels. I want more games like that from him. He seemed to cover the same space Pogba usually treads.
Fellaini also benefits from the absence of Pogba. He was excellent yet again.
This team, without Pogba, Zlatan and Mkhitaryan, almost gave us a glimpse of where we were going before Mr Galacticos came to town.
I also think we had a better balanced structure with just Rashford and Mata forward; Carrick, Fellaini & Lingard in midfield. The forward line was open and everyone benefitted.

 

[Janson]

- I didn't really have a problem with the line up, but if you're going to take a risk with a weakened or changed team selection, don't spend time before the game telling everyone that you think your team will lose...becaue if they do it just makes you look like a complete bellend who did it on purpose. It's not exactly a hard situation to avoid getting yourself in, is it?

- Similarly, don't make changes to try and make it more difficult for your own team, just to try and vindicate yoour own complaining. This is very obviously both a stupid and amazingly selfish thing to do. This is the worst thing any of Moyes, LVG or Jose have done. He might have gotten away with it but it was still unbelievable.

- Also didn't like the pre-game attempts to justify the Jones sub on Thursday. Jones was brought on to play left back because Rojo couldn't run apparently...but Rojo wasn't the one taken off and Jones can play in Rojo's position. If there is a situation where bringing Jones on at left wing back, and leaving Young (a left wing back) on the side of the pitch delivering bananas to people, doesn't make you an idiot (and there isn't), then that situation definitely isn't because the recipient of the banana was too tired to play at left wing back.

- I mean sorry, I've been impressed with him so far, but what a fecking idiot Mourinho has been over the past two games. He's managed to overshadow the two results by causing worry with his constant childish negativity and spiteful subsitutions. You're a grown adult man managing a football team. a) The team is more important than your need to vindicate yourself, b) You are a GROWN ADULT MAN. You're not 6

- Anyway, I thought we played well up until the daft subs. Not brilliantly but well enough to be deserving the 2-0 lead.

- At one point Smalling managed to somehow tackle himself with his feet whilst heading the ball at the exact same time. He has literally found a way to be more clumsy than is actually physicallly possible.

- Jones still hasn't fiigured out how a football works. Or how to defend without sitting on the floor

- Fellaini and Lingard were both good, which is strange. Why didn't Borough change or at least move that slow defender though, after about 10 minutes. I mean, they clearly had faster players than him, because, if they had literally any other players at all, they'd have definitely been faster than him.

These are probably the most ridiculous statements I've read on this forum.

 

[Sandikan]

WTH was he thinking?

I don't remember this live, but that is absolute mentalism.
You'd expect that of Jonesy really!

 

[Paxi]

WTH was he thinking?

Bet he got a ribbing for that back in the dressing room.

 

[noodlehair]

You've just been a little too upset and vocal about the boss in a week with 3 games, including 10 men vs. Chelsea away, then followed by 2 wins, progressing to the Europa League Quarter final and winning away to climb to 5th in the league with games in hand on 4th place.

The Venice stuff was great though, beautiful city.

Don't think I had much to say about the Chelsea game as the ref made it a right off.

He's made two ridiculous substitutions in two games since. Neither of which have had anything to do with the pattern of those games.

As a result he's had to rely on Romero bailing us out at home to Rostov, and managed to make a 2-0 lead against the worst team in the league look like the equivalent to clinging on against Barcelona.

Neither of these subs had anything to do with what was happening on the pitch in the two games. He's done stupid things which could have very easily cost the team so is rightfully criticised.

We had all this "3 points, end of" under LVG when he kept doing stupid things and we kept scraping wins anyway...problem is it's not a sustainable scenario. Either the stupid things stop or the scraping of wins does.

1. What he says publically and what he says to the players are probably 2 completely different things. I see no problem at all with the pre match comments, mainly because i didn't hear them. You are reading too much into it mate.

2. feck off did he make changes to make it more difficult for the players, that is an idiotic thing to say, he picked a side that he thought would be capable of winning the game, we won the game. end of story.

3. Rojo was cramping up and had a banana, i see no problem with the change as we were defending a 1-0 lead and an away goal would have taken us to extra time, Jones was clearly brought on on thursday to offer a change of shape if we had needed it. That's my take on that sub anyway but i didn't see any pre match interviews today so i can only offer my opinion.

4. spiteful substitutions? i can't even fathom what you are trying to get at here to be honest? you sound agenda driven in all honesty (i'm sure you aren't but that is how you are coming across)

5. what daft subs?

6. Smalling falling over was hilarious. i literally LOL'D

7. Jones was great in the air today, i didn't see him do much wrong. positionally very good, don't see the problem.

8. why is it strange that Lingard and Fellaini had good games?

1. What a manager says publicly seemed to be very important to everyone when Moyes was here, and LVG, and Fergie, and even Jose when it suits them (e.g. whenever he mentions Luke Shaw). You can't have it both ways. Especially when you apparently don't even know what the comments were. Having a manager come out and be constantly negative, and then make negative changes in games which have a negative effect on the team's performance, is not good. It seems fairly straight forward to me.

2. It's not "end of story" as you can tell by the several threads on here debating the silliness/lack of any logic behind the substitutions. The team won the game and then Jose's intervention did nothing other than make it harder for them. It's unlike Jose to make changes that are so counter productive so you have to look for a reason why he might have decided to do it.

3. a) bananas don't fix cramp. In fact eating a banana about 5 minutes before a game ends isn't really much help to anyone at all. b) If Rojo was struggling that badly, bringing Jones on made even less sense. You are trying to tell me having Jones at left back while someone in Jones's position is dying, makes sense...when someone who could play at left back was on the bench handing bananas around. No. It was dumb. It deserved scrutiny.

4. See above. I do like how whenever someone has an opinion someone else doesn't like on here, the word "agenda" comes out. Apparently I had an agenda against Mkhitaryan earlier in the season, because I agreed with Jose's management of him. Now I have an agenda against Jose. Someone needs to give me a list of these agendas I have so I can keep up. (I realise you're not having a go in fact you seem fairly reasonable, the agenda love on here just amuses me)

5. I'm being harassed to go to lunch so will shut up now

 

[sincher]

Don't think I had much to say about the Chelsea game as the ref made it a right off.

He's made two ridiculous substitutions in two games since. Neither of which have had anything to do with the pattern of those games.

As a result he's had to rely on Romero bailing us out at home to Rostov, and managed to make a 2-0 lead against the worst team in the league look like the equivalent to clinging on against Barcelona.

Neither of these subs had anything to do with what was happening on the pitch in the two games. He's done stupid things which could have very easily cost the team so is rightfully criticised.

We had all this "3 points, end of" under LVG when he kept doing stupid things and we kept scraping wins anyway...problem is it's not a sustainable scenario. Either the stupid things stop or the scraping of wins does.



1. What a manager says publicly seemed to be very important to everyone when Moyes was here, and LVG, and Fergie, and even Jose when it suits them (e.g. whenever he mentions Luke Shaw). You can't have it both ways. Especially when you apparently don't even know what the comments were. Having a manager come out and be constantly negative, and then make negative changes in games which have a negative effect on the team's performance, is not good. It seems fairly straight forward to me.

2. It's not "end of story" as you can tell by the several threads on here debating the silliness/lack of any logic behind the substitutions. The team won the game and then Jose's intervention did nothing other than make it harder for them. It's unlike Jose to make changes that are so counter productive so you have to look for a reason why he might have decided to do it.

3. a) bananas don't fix cramp. In fact eating a banana about 5 minutes before a game ends isn't really much help to anyone at all. b) If Rojo was struggling that badly, bringing Jones on made even less sense. You are trying to tell me having Jones at left back while someone in Jones's position is dying, makes sense...when someone who could play at left back was on the bench handing bananas around. No. It was dumb. It deserved scrutiny.

4. See above. I do like how whenever someone has an opinion someone else doesn't like on here, the word "agenda" comes out. Apparently I had an agenda against Mkhitaryan earlier in the season, because I agreed with Jose's management of him. Now I have an agenda against Jose. Someone needs to give me a list of these agendas I have so I can keep up. (I realise you're not having a go in fact you seem fairly reasonable, the agenda love on here just amuses me)

5. I'm being harassed to go to lunch so will shut up now

You definitely have a gender noodles, it's just not clear what it is.

 

[fellaini's barber]

You definitely have a gender noodles, it's just not clear what it is.

Tell me more

 

[sincher]

Tell me more

noodlehair rejects 'he' and 'she', and used to go by 'they' but it fed paranoia. Now it reluctantly accepts 'its'.

 

[noodlehair]

I have developed a multiple personality disorder so technically it's "they reluctantly accept 'its"

 

[redflair]

I think Jose is simply being overcautious because the Chelsea experience last year really did take a heavy toll.

There were just too many defeats for a 'winner' like him.

Only the win mattered here and the, substitutions, while frustrating for a side that looks like it's heading for one of the most comfortable victories of the season, were understandable.

But for the next two home games, I don't think we want to see three central defenders again. A new-ish system at this time in the season looks difficult enough for a team that simply doesn't have enough chemistry in other areas of the pitch.

 

[noodlehair]

The system has plus and negative points for me. I just don't think if you play with three centrebacks, there should ever be a need to bring a fourth one on. Let alone when you are comfortable in a game. It forces the rest of the team to work harder or shift positions to compensate, and invites pressure...so if you have a tired team it's pretty much the last thing you want to have to do. It's not that different to having a player sent off...you just have an extra body to desperately head or clear the ball away.

I struggle to see a situation where it would make sense...unless the team is already unable to do anything apart from hoof the ball clear, so the negative impact is negated somewhat. Even then it's not going to help all that much.

 

[mitchmouse]

Don't think I had much to say about the Chelsea game as the ref made it a right off.

He's made two ridiculous substitutions in two games since. Neither of which have had anything to do with the pattern of those games.

As a result he's had to rely on Romero bailing us out at home to Rostov, and managed to make a 2-0 lead against the worst team in the league look like the equivalent to clinging on against Barcelona.

Neither of these subs had anything to do with what was happening on the pitch in the two games. He's done stupid things which could have very easily cost the team so is rightfully criticised.

We had all this "3 points, end of" under LVG when he kept doing stupid things and we kept scraping wins anyway...problem is it's not a sustainable scenario. Either the stupid things stop or the scraping of wins does.



1. What a manager says publicly seemed to be very important to everyone when Moyes was here, and LVG, and Fergie, and even Jose when it suits them (e.g. whenever he mentions Luke Shaw). You can't have it both ways. Especially when you apparently don't even know what the comments were. Having a manager come out and be constantly negative, and then make negative changes in games which have a negative effect on the team's performance, is not good. It seems fairly straight forward to me.

2. It's not "end of story" as you can tell by the several threads on here debating the silliness/lack of any logic behind the substitutions. The team won the game and then Jose's intervention did nothing other than make it harder for them. It's unlike Jose to make changes that are so counter productive so you have to look for a reason why he might have decided to do it.

3. a) bananas don't fix cramp. In fact eating a banana about 5 minutes before a game ends isn't really much help to anyone at all. b) If Rojo was struggling that badly, bringing Jones on made even less sense. You are trying to tell me having Jones at left back while someone in Jones's position is dying, makes sense...when someone who could play at left back was on the bench handing bananas around. No. It was dumb. It deserved scrutiny.

4. See above. I do like how whenever someone has an opinion someone else doesn't like on here, the word "agenda" comes out. Apparently I had an agenda against Mkhitaryan earlier in the season, because I agreed with Jose's management of him. Now I have an agenda against Jose. Someone needs to give me a list of these agendas I have so I can keep up. (I realise you're not having a go in fact you seem fairly reasonable, the agenda love on here just amuses me)

5. I'm being harassed to go to lunch so will shut up now

It wasn't so much what Moyes said (although Jose's mind games and what that fool said are miles apart) but the wingeing way he said it: "we are trying very hard..." "we are working very hard" blah blah whine winge... as if he was in charge of Barnet or Redbrige