[DomesticTadpole]

Love how some think we should be Cruyff's Ajax, when he still hasn't got most of the players he actually wants. It is little steps. If they can get another win on Thursday it will do wonders for the team and managers confidence.

 

[charlenefan]

Anyone got the running stats?

 

[Rustyspider13]

Eriksen was pretty good I thought. At least in the 1st half.

I agree. I meant when we have to rest Eriksen. Without him we have nothing in terms of midfield creativity. We need to manage him carefully as I see him tire in the latter stages of the game.

 

[LordSpud]

2 wins in a row for the first time since Feb, 1st away win since Feb and even more, a clean sheet! Not looking good for Shaw or Maguire to get back in but Varane and Martinez looked very confident. Dalot looked very good as well as Malacia. The rest of the team pretty meh to be honest, thought Casemiro looked a bit tidy when he came on but apart from the goal the 4 most forward players were disappointing. Elanga and Rashfors basically non-existant. Baby steps but its starting to look a bit better.

 

[scottser]

We lose way too much possession from dave's kick outs. If he can't play out from the back then we need a sweeper of some sort.
We also look toothless up front.
Still, a decent shift from the lads and a good win but we are going to get our arses handed to us soon unless we retain possession and finish our chances better.

 

[Maluco]

Really need a couple of attackers in before the window closes or we will struggle this season. I hope the wins don’t paint over the cracks. It’s essential.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Also Casemiro came on and immediately showed the gulf between him and McT anticipating danger and not being terrified to pass a fecking ball

 

[SydneyRoughDiamond]

Positives : we won !
Martinez and Varane partnership looks really good
Casemiro will be awesome.

needing improvement:
Centre forward who can hold the ball up.
Time looks to have caught up with Ronaldo
Centre midfield needs more control.

Overall, happy with the win, as we usually are poor in Saturday lunchtime kickoff games.

 

[Shimo]

Excellent win. I know overwhelming responses are a poor performance but, to me that was good. Unlike Monday, this was always going to be a tougher game for us because we were going to have to create and expected to control. Rashford is not a 9 for a game like this, I don't recall him touching the ball, getting involved in any play and by the time moved wide, we had gone into hold on mode.

This is going to be about progression in steps and two big steps today, an away win and a clean sheet. The latter is critical for us to be able to earn the right to play the ETH way or whatever people expect.

We have got to get another attacker, we are so short of options - hard to drop underperforming players in that front 3 if there are no options.

 

[Real Name]

I agree. I meant when we have to rest Eriksen. Without him we have nothing in terms of midfield creativity. We need to manage him carefully as I see him tire in the latter stages of the game.

Agreed.

 

[Lyng]

Weird one. Very happy with a hard fought win. We usually crumble under this kind of pressure but we managed to take all 3 points today. That alone is clear progress.
Rashford and Eriksen simply dont work as the main point of attack. Rashford is never in the right position and Eriksen has issues when he has to have his back towards the goal.
On a similar note I am not sure Eriksen and Bruno work together. I think playing Eriksen for the first 60 and then Bruno for the last 40 is a better solution.

While McTominay still has massive issues with his passing he was a key part of us keeping SOTON from scoring today. I have a feeling that he will be a very useful squad player for us.
Ronaldo was energetic when he came on and despite having far less time was much more of a presence than Sancho and Rashford had been up to that point. Worrying.
We got a much better hold of SOTON after Casemiro came on and I would probably have put him in much earlier in the match.
And to that point I wish Ten Hag starts doing subs earlier. Give players a chance to actually make a proper difference.

Martinez and Varane are still a fantastic pair and Malacia looked great again. Maguire and Shaw are miles away from the starting lineup.

 

[Attila]

Really up there with one of the worst games we played over the last 10 years only with the exception we managed to get a goal this time. We really created nothing and parked the bus with zero quality on and off the ball.

Us becoming the midtable team is one of the biggest tragedies in my life tbh, can't watch this shit anymore. People will say win is a win, good to have some positive people around but from the body language of more than half the players who featured today we will see that the season will be incredibly long and only a bad season to one of the top6 teams will get us top6. We lack quality all over the pitch and other minor teams play good enough football to beat us these days.

It's like a coin flip, is it gonna be a 4:0 beating like against Brentford or we managed to get some points in a goalless draw or a tight win like today, the next time we play? To be honest I would rather us to play around TOP8 and good football than this antifootball, only to finish 6th maximum anyway.

Season is long and things will get better but watching some decisions by the manager and his new favourite players really keeps me in the worrying mode.

Agreed that was horrible to watch. We need De Jong asap

 

[TOKUGAWA-X]

United were completely outplayed for 20mins at least.

ETH has many issues to fix.

 

[glazed]

Wasn't a fun watch other than the goal.We stopped playing after we scored.

 

[Orange Tree]

Performance isn't that good. But, first away win since ... Can't even remember anymore.

 

[Real Name]

Much better. Varane and Martinez must be given the chance to form a partnership. Malacia a huge improvement on Shaw.

Malacia again very good. Liked how he poped basically in midfield few times. Wears his heart on a sleeve.

 

[Real Name]

Never said he wasn't

Oh apologies then.

 

[bosnian_red]

Back to back wins, clean sheet, away win for the first time in forever.... Performance was shit but mentality wise this will do more for us. Obviously significant squad holes. Elanga can't be playing games for us, Ronaldo is nowhere near good enough, and de Gea can't build up so this is what you get. Need 2 attackers to replace Elenga and Ronaldo desperately.

 

[horsechoker]

Daniel Bedingfield football, we got through it

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Couldn’t have said it better. We’re harder to score against now and as they say a winning side starts from the back

Too right. Hopefully we somehow get Anthony in plus another attacking option before the end of the window to strengthen the next phase of our winning side!

 

[redshaw]

Another baby step. Away win plus a clean sheet.

Our defence gives us a chance now but we're still pretty woeful throughout the team. I'd love Antony to come in but we need a lot more. I don't think it's wise to bring just him in.

Glad to see Bruno score. I've defend him in the past as he's normally the one to set up a chance or score but even I was sick of his first half. Hopefully he can at least do a bit better and be more net positive than negative.

 

[Dominos]

It was great goal, but the performance was really quite dreadful.

Very few chances, couldn't progress the ball through defence to midfield to attack, too many aimless long balls to concede possession, players messing up dangerous attacks with poor passes and decision making.

Those last 40 minutes really were a shocker, we didn't touch the ball once after we scored.

Only positive is we at least shown some doggedness in our defending.

 

[Jcrossley94]

Think that performance was more important than if we saw traditional ETH pretty passing phases… the team needs to get back in to the habit of winning again. Build confidence week by week, grinding out a result is so important.

one thing about this game which also I thought was key, perfectly showed why we have been pursuing frenkie and Antony. Elanga is so toothless and we desperately need some creativity and composure in midfield.

very happy with the win. We go again.

 

[Theonas]

This is probably the best feeling around the club we had for about a year. We are not controlling the game and playing enough in the opponent's third but considering where were, we can really gather some momentum with those two results!

 

[JJ12]

Desperately need attacking players before the window closes

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Ugly win, but a win nonetheless, solid defending from the back four plus McTominay, lovely finish by Fernandes from a great cut back by Dalot.

 

[90 + 5min]

Our attack needs a lot of work and reinforcements, to be quite honest, we look very blunt going forward. Need a lot more intelligence with our overall play. Poor passing, poor runs.

Still very happy to come away with a win.

That is why I'm against some fancy-don't-need-signings like DeJong.

We need strikers. Pure, straight on goal strikers. No nonsens strikers. Strenght and pace.

 

[Strelok]

Difficult match. Good 3 points. The players gave their all and that's very important.

Tbh I can't get the complains at all. New manager and new style. Gonna take a long while until it works if it works. The PL is not easy at all and Southampton has a decent coach and a very decent team. Really happy with the win and how the players giving their all today.

 

[largelyworried]

Not a spectacular performance, but honestly I think that was a big win. Let's not forget, we lost our last 7 away games in a row with a combined total of 2 goals scored and 21 conceded. We have to rebuild our confidence somehow, and this is a start.

I thought the defence was really good again and the reason for the win. All 4 of them played their part, and Varane, Martinez and Dalot all had shouts for MOTM. Malacia was decent enough as well and that's the one part of the team I think is settled for now.

In midfield we were ok, not great, but made to look a lot worse by there never being a decent outlet up front. They would often get the first pass or two right, but when it then involved one of the front three, it would all go wrong.

Elanga, Sancho and Rashford just didn't work. Elanga and Rashford only look ok when they have acres of space to run into, their link up play and control in tight spaces is just not good enough. Sancho had a bit more time on the ball but was just isolated too often. Basically we couldn't progress our way up the pitch long enough to let the defence and midfield compress the space, so all our attacks lacked numbers. Martial can't come back quick enough, and we really need someone like Antony, who can work in tight spaces.

Still, if sorting this stuff out was easy, RR would have done it last season. There are some deep problems at United to work through and I still think there are signs of progress, especially the way we didn't fold late game.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Really up there with one of the worst games we played over the last 10 years only with the exception we managed to get a goal this time. We really created nothing and parked the bus with zero quality on and off the ball.

Bollocks, it was an even game.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Desperately need attacking players before the window closes

Definitely, and it would be great if we could also offload more deadwood.

 

[DRJosh]

Win against Leicester and I’ll start to believe that we’re back in business

 

[tjb]

Eriksen was strolling around for the last 20 mins before he was subbed off . He wasn’t even making an effort

He's a good player, but people are really trying hard to give him good performances.
Mctominay is getting way too much praise for his performance. I feel the reason we were not even attempting to keep possession was because of Mctominay. He was a poor passing option throughout the game and was easily bypassed in midfield. As someone supposed to be our ball winner, he was poor. He helped us aerially, but I'd argue that we won't have been in that situation if he and Eriksen won their duels.

The Back 4 was fantastic. Dalot was really good both in attack and defence, noone seems to be praising him. Bruno was ok, I'm glad he scored.

In attack, we NEED another attacker. Ronaldo is done. Rashford can't hold up at all. Elanga is pretty much pointless.

 

[Theonas]

Think that performance was more important than if we saw traditional ETH pretty passing phases… the team needs to get back in to the habit of winning again. Build confidence week by week, grinding out a result is so important.

one thing about this game which also I thought was key, perfectly showed why we have been pursuing frenkie and Antony. Elanga is so toothless and we desperately need some creativity and composure in midfield.

very happy with the win. We go again.

I agree with this! If a performance like this came under Mourinho or Solskjaer, I'd be worried because I would feel they will be happy with it and just try to replicate it. But with EtH, I feel that he just needs some more confidence and belief from his players so he can work his ideas with them. He won't allow his teams to play this way but considering where we come from, we desperately needed an injection of confidence.

 

[Carolina Red]

I’ll take a scrappy 3 points over a lazy 0 any day.

 

[Phil Osophy]

Job done. I think it was 7 defeats in a row away from home, we needed to stop the bleeding by going back to basics. We'll improve our play eventually.

 

[Jcrossley94]

That is why I'm against some fancy-don't-need-signings like DeJong.

We need strikers. Pure, straight on goal strikers. No nonsens strikers. Strenght and pace.

don’t need signings like De Jong?

Eriksen is the only midfielder we have that Has an advanced passing range?..

 

[cyberman]

BT needs to show the replay in real time and the third handball is from Southamptons striker
Poor all round

 

[Carolina Red]

2 wins in a row for the first time since Feb, 1st away win since Feb

I knew it had felt like awhile but didn’t realize it had been that long

 

[Midfield]

Another solid performance by Lisandro.