[Sir Matt]

So Martial played badly tonight did he? What's his age got to do with his ability? What's this result got to do with Blind being centreback, who's been very good by all accounts. It's ridiculous to point this out as it has no relevance on this performance whatsoever, especially as we hadn't conceded a chance until after he moved to right back.

We had no one to bring on at the end to change the attack at the end of the game but Fellaini who pretty effectively killed off the game for PSV. Martial's age is indicative of his lack of experience in top level football that is expected from one of only two strikers. It would be one thing if he were the third or fourth striker, but he's our only backup to Rooney. Other than him, we must choose to play any number of players out of position up top.

Blind playing at central defender also shows a lack of depth at the position. Does he work there? Sure, but United shouldn't be playing a midfielder as a central defender because we can afford to buy an actual central defender. Blind moving out of position paired Smalling and Rojo together for the first time in months because of Rojo's injury. United should have had a central defender to start the season paired with Smalling to begin with instead of shoehorning Blind into it. Alternatively, the intelligent thing to do would have been to shift Rojo out wide and keep the central pair that he's used the entire season (thanks to no rotation and lack of depth). Breaking that up was stupid.

 

[ivaldo]

It has on occasion. There have also been plenty of times when it has left us completely disjointed. I know who I'd rather look to from the bench between him and Hernandez or Van Persie. I didn't hate it at all. I never rated him as a player. He's always been a so so target man.

Tonight in isolation isn't a problem. The problem is that it's part of a pattern.

Then you must've missed the times he was a one man wrecking machine, its pretty ignorant if you don't 'remember' that.

 

[Jorsett]

Lost 520 GBP on this game.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

di Maria had a great game for PSG, albeit against Swedish minnows Malmö FF, but still.

It is pretty obviuos that LvG stifled di Maria who has everything that we lack, speed and the ability to go past his marker.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

Their second goal is a Classic example of how possession football can get penetrated in few seconds, one bad pass and your players are too far up to do anything, Classic sucker punch that.

Don't know what to say really, we looked like we could have scored alot, but the last pass or decision in general wasn't there and it has been like that for a long time.
I keep repeating myself, but we aren't looking enough for the pass between the lines or runs behind the defenders, too much backwards passing and sideways.

Still alot for LvG to fix.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

di Maria had a great game for PSG, albeit against Swedish minnows Malmö FF, but still.

It is pretty obviuos that LvG stifled di Maria who has everything that we lack, speed and the ability to go past his marker.

Did you find Young, Memphis and Martial "stifled" today?

 

[Kag]

Some massive, whooping overreactions in here. Yes, it's a really poor result but in patches United played some good football and just lacked the killer touch with Mata guilty of missing the best chance and being wasteful in the final third.

The Shaw injury almost certainly had an adverse affect on the team but other than the PSV goals DDG had very little to do. PSV were defending so deep, even De Jong was in their half for long spells, it's always difficult against that sort of defending. there was a lot of positives to take even though there's two massive negatives, the result and the terrible news that Shaw could be out for 7-8 months. I think the latter has clouded what was otherwise and a fairly decent performance in places. We only started to play terribly when 'Plan B' was executed.

Good post.

 

[littlepeasoup]

Lost 520 GBP on this game.

Oh well.

 

[Butty19]

The annoying thing for me tonight is that I've been saying all season that we don't need to play with two defensive midfielders except against a big team or away in Europe. Then, low and behold, first away game in Europe we start with one defensive midfielder. Strange decision for me, maybe Louis underrated how good PSV were on the counter.

 

[Im red2]

PSV played us off the pitch.

PSV. Seriously. PS fecking V.

And some people here are talking about the title. Bloody hell the title

PSV played us off the pitch? You watch the game on the radio?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The annoying thing for me tonight is that I've been saying all season that we don't need to play with two defensive midfielders except against a big team or away in Europe. Then, low and behold, first away game in Europe we start with one defensive midfielder. Strange decision for me, maybe Louis underrated how good PSV were on the counter.

It definitely surprised me that we only had one DM. I would have had Ander between two DM.

 

[Bwuk]

The annoying thing for me tonight is that I've been saying all season that we don't need to play with two defensive midfielders except against a big team or away in Europe. Then, low and behold, first away game in Europe we start with one defensive midfielder. Strange decision for me, maybe Louis underrated how good PSV were on the counter.

For me it wasn't strange too start how we started, as we are a much better side than PSV.

When we saw their only threat was on the counter Morgan should of came on with the sole purpose of dealing with that, and thus allowing everyone else to play further up the pitch.

 

[Sir Matt]

Some massive, whooping overreactions in here. Yes, it's a really poor result but in patches United played some good football and just lacked the killer touch with Mata guilty of missing the best chance and being wasteful in the final third.

The Shaw injury almost certainly had an adverse affect on the team but other than the PSV goals DDG had very little to do. PSV were defending so deep, even De Jong was in their half for long spells, it's always difficult against that sort of defending. there was a lot of positives to take even though there's two massive negatives, the result and the terrible news that Shaw could be out for 7-8 months. I think the latter has clouded what was otherwise and a fairly decent performance in places. We only started to play terribly when 'Plan B' was executed.

This has been said after basically every United match but three. It's a problem that LVG and the players seem incapable of rectifying.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

LvG saying Luke was crying. Oh No.

LvG said it was a penalty and red card. He said it was a bad tackle.

 

[bosnian_red]

Yeah there's no need to go over the top here. We played some really good stuff going forwards and made chances, but everyone was clearly rattled from the Shaw injury. Plenty of encouraging signs, if you ignore the last 20 minutes at least.

 

[Acole9]

I can't believe we lost this one, we should've at least come away with a draw. Psv are an average team that caught us on the
counter attack apart from that they were of no threat to us.

It may sound a bit of a daft thing to say because we've just lost but I actually thought we played alright, tonight was the first time this season where we made use out in the wide areas with the pace we have. We just really lack that killer instinct in the final third of the pitch and I think that is unfortunately going to be a common theme for us during the season because of the limited number of strikers we have at our disposal.

 

[ivaldo]

Blind playing at central defender also shows a lack of depth at the position. Does he work there? Sure, but United shouldn't be playing a midfielder as a central defender because we can afford to buy an actual central defender. Blind moving out of position paired Smalling and Rojo together for the first time in months because of Rojo's injury. United should have had a central defender to start the season paired with Smalling to begin with instead of shoehorning Blind into it. Alternatively, the intelligent thing to do would have been to shift Rojo out wide and keep the central pair that he's used the entire season (thanks to no rotation and lack of depth). Breaking that up was stupid.

So what you're saying is he shouldn't have played Blind there to begin with despite admitting he's played well. You're then criticing him for moving Blind out of a position you think he should not have played to begin with to play Rojo, a natural centreback who you would prefer to see partner Smalling as opposed to Blind, the person he replaced. All of which had absolutely nothing to do with today's performance whatsoever as the fault of both goals came from Darmian, a player who plays the opposite side of the defense.

Makes sense.

 

[The White Pele]

This current United side remind me of mid-noughties United. Our attack is overly dependent on a couple of young prodigies who still have much to prove at Champions League level. Personally, I'm excited by the potential of this team and I think the talent and ability of Memphis and Martial was evident tonight. I hope this summer was the last of revolution in the transfer market and we now get to see this team evolve over the next few years with the right additions to take us to the next level.

Gutted that Shaw, arguably our biggest prospect, is probably going to be set back a season now in his development. Moreover, it gives us real problems with selection in the next few weeks and for the season. With Rooney's injury at the weekend handing a start to Fellaini and Shaw's exit tonight resulting in us breaking up our settled centre-back pairing, there is already that nagging feeling that we have left ourselves well short in the squad to cope with a campaign on all fronts.

This has the hallmarks of another frustrating transitional season but an important one in terms of the development of this side.

 

[Unlikely lad]

We were really unlucky to have only scored 1.

On the other hand, Darmian's mistakes cost us dearly at the back.

People need to calm down, the defeat at Swansea was much, much more worrying.

 

[Catt]

Don't care much about the result after Shaw's injury. Absolutely gutted for him.

 

[#07]

If we're going to lose why can't it be like Man Utd: camped in the opposition half forcing the other side to defend?

We dominated for over an hour. Then Van Gaal left Basti alone in midfield, so we could hoof it to Fellaini? A tactic that did sweet FA besides give PSV space to break into. Bizarre, disappointing, needless.

 

[sammsky1]

The annoying thing for me tonight is that I've been saying all season that we don't need to play with two defensive midfielders except against a big team or away in Europe. Then, low and behold, first away game in Europe we start with one defensive midfielder. Strange decision for me, maybe Louis underrated how good PSV were on the counter.

the season just started!! We are only 6 games in. We had 7 new players to settle in!!

Calm. All will work itself out soon, Im sure.

 

[acrebo]

I genuinely feel like I've watched a different match to many people in here tonight. Yes, still lots to fix and an incredibly frustrating evening by all accounts, but also a lot of positives. We're starting to combine possession play with more pace and width, which invariably leads to mistakes. Darmian didn't cover himself in glory but it's also the most attacking I've seen him play which seems to be a bit unfamiliar for him.

Martial looks very handy (a pub player?!? Wow) and seems to have a great mix of strength, awareness and composure. I also think he'll strike up a great relationship with Memphis.

Schweinsteiger again covered almost the entire pitch. He looked exhausted after 60 minutes but he's clearly still got 'it'. What a bargain.

Smalling didn't have much to do but he's looking like a real captain at the moment. Very impressed by his improvement.

So much doom and gloom on here. You all should go and work for BT Sport FFS. We've suffered far greater 'embarrassments' in Europe whilst being a far better team.

 

[BennyBlanco]

We don't know how to attack, we never ever look capeable of scoring from open play.

 

[NJM78]

Truly gutted for Shaw but that was pretty crap apart from about 10 minutes. I'm fed up of hearing we were better etc.... we lost just like v Swansea. This team does not seem to be able to break down any half decent team once they even remotely park the bus. The slowness in our play when time sensitive is truly mind boggling. It will be similar on Sunday I bet where I see us losing again but once again winning the possession game! Shaw must be devastated as really was a bright spot so far, hopefully he is back playing this season for us and can go to the Euros. Blind who has looked quite settled at CB will now be pushed to LB and Smalling now has to get used to the rash Rojo next to him. Very bad day all round and pretty sure more days like this to follow this season unfortunately. It's not knee jerk either the same things are being said about us week in week out. Sooner or later something has to drastically improve. Toothless.

 

[entropy]

Post match quotes anyone?

 

[acnumber9]

Then you must've missed the times he was a one man wrecking machine, its pretty ignorant if you don't 'remember' that.

How exactly? I said it happened on occasion. Did you read that with your eyes closed?

 

[JTW95]

Play shit and we win. Play half decent and we lost.

Frustrating night but I am still optimistic.

 

[Escobar]

Players make mistakes. Darmian has been a revelation since he's joined us, but a slight mistake has been punished tonight. It's not his fault that we didn't win though, we created the chances and controlled the game. Had we been more clinical, we'd have won.

He had a poor game tonight but that doesnt say he's been a bad player so far

 

[ivaldo]

How exactly? I said it happened on occasion. Did you read that with your eyes closed?

Clearly referencing the times he played against us not, have a quick rethink and put your answers on a postcard.

 

[caid]

Gutted for Shaw,
found the performance strangely reassuring though, disappointing result obviously but thought a fairly unlucky one.
Thought memphis was poor despite the goal, maybe he just faded in the 2nd half
Thought most others played well with a couple not reacting particularly brilliantly after the shaw injury (understandable)

Thought the attacking play in the first half was better than its been in a long time though.

 

[legball]

di Maria had a great game for PSG, albeit against Swedish minnows Malmö FF, but still.

It is pretty obviuos that LvG stifled di Maria who has everything that we lack, speed and the ability to go past his marker.

We lose a game and all you can do is moan about a player that plays for some other club, get a grip, will you ! Was Young, Memphis and Martial stiffled?

 

[Rozay]

Mata was atrocious, and was probably responsible for us not taking anything from the game.

Other than that, I enjoyed our performance, and hate the fact that every time we go positive we don't take maximum points, especially when our manager is so reluctant to do it. Individual errors and misfortune cost us, but we actually took the game to our opponent and there was great encouragement in Memphis and Martial.

 

[ivaldo]

I genuinely feel like I've watched a different match to many people in here tonight. Yes, still lots to fix and an incredibly frustrating evening by all accounts, but also a lot of positives. We're starting to combine possession play with more pace and width, which invariably leads to mistakes. Darmian didn't cover himself in glory but it's also the most attacking I've seen him play which seems to be a bit unfamiliar for him.

Martial looks very handy (a pub player?!? Wow) and seems to have a great mix of strength, awareness and composure. I also think he'll strike up a great relationship with Memphis.

Schweinsteiger again covered almost the entire pitch. He looked exhausted after 60 minutes but he's clearly still got 'it'. What a bargain.

Smalling didn't have much to do but he's looking like a real captain at the moment. Very impressed by his improvement.

So much doom and gloom on here. You all should go and work for BT Sport FFS. We've suffered far greater 'embarrassments' in Europe whilst being a far better team.

Pretty much. Many here are incapable of looking at a game objectively, they can't see it in insolation. They have grievances with Van Gaal and our style of play from previous games, therefore they carry that over to tonight's match and make comments almost irrelevant to the game. They could've watched it on teletext and come to the same conclusions.

 

[Nighteyes]

Haven't seen it. I think he's a wanker regardless. The Class of '92 are like a bad stench of piss that won't go away.

Wow!

What aa classless post.

 

[Rezyuz]

Positives - great bit of skill from Memphis for the goal, Martial looked very promising, Schweinsteiger was very good again.

The name is all that matters for most people.

 

[acnumber9]

Clearly referencing the times he played against us not, have a quick rethink and put your answers on a postcard.

Give me your examples. The 1-0 at Goodison where he played against Carrick at centre back. He was very good. The 4-4 at Old Trafford where Jelavic scored twice? Maybe he should be our sub option. Those are the standouts in 5 years. Carlon Cole gave us a torrid time once maybe he's the answer to our prayers. One man machine indeed.

 

[acnumber9]

Pretty much. Many here are incapable of looking at a game objectively, they can't see it in insolation. They have grievances with Van Gaal and our style of play from previous games, therefore they carry that over to tonight's match and make comments almost irrelevant to the game. They could've watched it on teletext and come to the same conclusions.

Games can't be taken in isolation when they follow a pattern.

 

[Unlikely lad]

PSV played us off the pitch.

PSV. Seriously. PS fecking V.

And some people here are talking about the title. Bloody hell the title

That didn't happen

 

[BennyBlanco]

So close yet so far in terms of our progression, we can now dominate teams but look absolutely toothless in the final 3rd, it's not a new trend either, we struggle to create from open play for various reasons, including players themselves, tactics employed by the manager, lack of a top class forward being just another.
...and I just don't see this changing anytime soon.