[DomesticTadpole]

I'd damage myself with a spoon if we swapped ADM for fecking Cavani.

Ed is in love with Cavani. I agree with you he is not as good as Ed thinks he is.

 

[Kostur]

Ed is in love with Cavani. I agree with you he is not as good as Ed thinks he is.

That would be just bad, I mean, prior to Falcao's arrival I thought that he was 10 times the player Cavani is (or atleast ten times the striker*) and we all can see how it worked out for us.

The sole thought of us actually buying Cavani for huge money (as PSG would demand such) is making me tremble.

 

[Parma Dewol]

That was one of the most surreal games I've seen. Atmosphere was at times raucous, sometimes dead silent, and a lot of the time people didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Can't believe LVG claimed not to hear it, but there were plenty of boos at times, followed by rousing renditions of attack, attack, attack.

Can't complain with a 2-0 victory, but we still don't look like a cohesive unit. Plenty of basic mistakes, but what's really striking is that we seem to be playing with shackles on. Rarely see one player run past another on the overlap, rarely see us press high up, and it's really annoying that we rarely close down the opposition keeper. We did it once or twice and Pantilimon fluffed his lines - we should have been closing him down every time but it's as though our players are afraid of leaving their defined positions.

And the substitutions are just baffling. Them going down to 10 men gave us the chance to send out a message, we should have gone on to grab a few more goals, but instead we take of Falcao and Rooney and put Fellaini up front.

Hats off to LVG if we manage to get top four, but our performances aren't filling me with confidence and I'm shit scared we'll come undone at some point.

 

[Red-Man-Walking]

That was one of the most surreal games I've seen. Atmosphere was at times raucous, sometimes dead silent, and a lot of the time people didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Can't believe LVG claimed not to hear it, but there were plenty of boos at times, followed by rousing renditions of attack, attack, attack.

Can't complain with a 2-0 victory, but we still don't look like a cohesive unit. Plenty of basic mistakes, but what's really striking is that we seem to be playing with shackles on. Rarely see one player run past another on the overlap, rarely see us press high up, and it's really annoying that we rarely close down the opposition keeper. We did it once or twice and Pantilimon fluffed his lines - we should have been closing him down every time but it's as though our players are afraid of leaving their defined positions.

And the substitutions are just baffling. Them going down to 10 men gave us the chance to send out a message, we should have gone on to grab a few more goals, but instead we take of Falcao and Rooney and put Fellaini up front.

Hats off to LVG if we manage to get top four, but our performances aren't filling me with confidence and I'm shit scared we'll come undone at some point.

Agreed with most of your post, but to be fair to LVG with RVP sidelined the Caf would be baying for his blood if he'd left Rooney/Falcao on in a game which was all but killed off and they had picked up a knock. Can't really win in that scenario.

Besides, he got the most important and brave sub bang on.

 

[Roosney]

Perhaps the worst moment for us came midway through the first-half, when a Young corner flew the entire Sunderland area and found its way back to De Gea within seconds, via Daley Blind and Jonny Evans, prompting howls of derision from the home fans. A chant of 'Attack, attack, attack!' came from the Stretford End, which seemed to briefly rally us, as we played with more purpose and fluency. Rooney forced a save from Costel Pantilimon with a dipping free-kick, while a Marcos Rojo shot was blocked by Sebastian Larsson.

At it again, eh? Needham in full copy paste bot mode.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Set piece? Hardly. The pen came about from us creating an opening in the box. Falcao would have scored for sure. That's hardly relying on a set piece.

We still didn't score off of the chance. A penalty is a set piece.

Saying it isn't a set piece is like saying a free kick isn't a set piece or a corner isn't a set piece because they came from a move in the game.

I'm not convinced that Falcao could score from the penalty spot at the moment.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

74% possesion, 30 shots at goal, 10 on target, 2 goals sans Rooney or Di Maria at their best. Im chuffed

 

[DomesticTadpole]

74% possesion, 30 shots at goal, 10 on target, 2 goals sans Rooney or Di Maria at their best. Im chuffed

I sat and watched the whole game again yesterday and it was nowhere near as bad as people were saying. The only disappointments were DiMaria, Falcao getting knocked off the ball so easily and tbh Blind looked knackered. The 2nd half was encouraging.

 

[Getsme]

I sat and watched the whole game again yesterday and it was nowhere near as bad as people were saying. The only disappointments were DiMaria, Falcao getting knocked off the ball so easily and tbh Blind looked knackered. The 2nd half was encouraging.

Amen

 

[ScarleyUtd]

We still didn't score off of the chance. A penalty is a set piece.

Saying it isn't a set piece is like saying a free kick isn't a set piece or a corner isn't a set piece because they came from a move in the game.

I'm not convinced that Falcao could score from the penalty spot at the moment.

You said 'rely' on a set piece. That implies we created few chances etc. Not the case. After Januzaj came on you could tell we were going to score. It was pretty much all one way.

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Amen

Ditto.

 

[Roosney]

Adnan keeps on punishing Sunderland. Great game by him, a game changer for sure. Props to LVG as well for the substitution.

I think this one was one of our games this season, we were dominant and creative. Well, at least not so boring. First half we had the handbrake on a bit but second half was good indeed.
- Smalling was terrible in the first 15 minutes but really grew into the game.
- Di Maria I hope he gets out of the dark place he's stuck in and starts to perform. Must be the burglary thing, I guess.
- Januzaj, Rojo, Herrera and Rooney looked lively, Young had his moments as well.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

Actually a penalty isn't defined as a set piece.

Really?

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Really?

Yes, really.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

Yes, really.

Really, really?

Can't see anything that agrees... Not that I'd know where specifically to look..

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Really, really?

Can't see anything that agrees... Not that I'd know where specifically to look..

Tbf I just checked it out to see and it depends where you look. Many include pens, but many sources say only corners, throw-ins and free kicks.

The definition of set piece seems to coincide with a dead ball routine as in 'the game being restarted with the ball stationery', and it implies a 'team worked routine', so does a penalty fall under that?

 

[ZDwyr]

I sat and watched the whole game again yesterday and it was nowhere near as bad as people were saying. The only disappointments were DiMaria, Falcao getting knocked off the ball so easily and tbh Blind looked knackered. The 2nd half was encouraging.

Exactly. Could not agree more. People were being ridiculous in their criticism, it was very over the top. I actually think our last two performances have been encouraging.

 

[Dr Fink]

Exactly. Could not agree more. People were being ridiculous in their criticism, it was very over the top. I actually think our last two performances have been encouraging.

I agree they have been encouraging...........sadly that's how far we have fallen. The performances were "OK" in comparison to how we used to play 3-4 seasons ago. I still feel a little deflated coming out of OT. The FA Cup game will be interesting against Arsenal. It will show how far (or little) we have come this season.

 

[sunama]

In the final 10 minutes of the game, I do remember us toying with Sunderland's defence.
It was like watching a top team play a pub side.
I remember seeing some keepie-uppies in the penalty area - Sunderland could not get hold of the ball and we were keeping possession.

We are high possession team. Possession is everything. The idea is to be able to make fast passes, while moving the ball upfield. In the 2nd half of our last game, that's exactly what we got, so I'm quite happy that we finally were able to do/show this.

 

[ScarleyUtd]

I agree they have been encouraging...........sadly that's how far we have fallen. The performances were "OK" in comparison to how we used to play 3-4 seasons ago. I still feel a little deflated coming out of OT. The FA Cup game will be interesting against Arsenal. It will show how far (or little) we have come this season.

Well we have already beaten Arsenal once this season so....

I think anyone expecting a seamless continuation from Fergie was being unrealistic. It's what we all hoped for of course but football obviously isn't like that! Also, were we really playing that well three or four years ago?

 

[Fully Fledged]

You said 'rely' on a set piece. That implies we created few chances etc. Not the case. After Januzaj came on you could tell we were going to score. It was pretty much all one way.

They created chances that didn't turn into goals. Their first goal was a set piece no matter how many chances they had before that. I never said that they didn't create chances just that it took O'Shea manhandling Falcao to the floor before they scored.

So yes they relied on a set piece to break the deadlock. After that we should have put a 10 man Sunderland to the sword scoring a hat full but we had to wait util 6 minutes from the end to make sure of the points.

Our performance was good but our goal return from the amount of possession we had and the chances we created was worrying.

 

[ChrisG11]

They created chances that didn't turn into goals. Their first goal was a set piece no matter how many chances they had before that. I never said that they didn't create chances just that it took O'Shea manhandling Falcao to the floor before they scored.

So yes they relied on a set piece to break the deadlock. After that we should have put a 10 man Sunderland to the sword scoring a hat full but we had to wait util 6 minutes from the end to make sure of the points.

Our performance was good but our goal return from the amount of possession we had and the chances we created was worrying.

To rely on a set piece would suggest that our game plan was to score from one in the first place, so you're basically saying we were playing for a penalty. The only other explanation is that after we'd scored the penalty, we trusted that would be enough, which would also be false as after that we controlled the game and got a well earned second goal.

So to say we relied on a set piece is incorrect. Whether your opinion is wide of the mark or your use of English is a different story.

 

[Fully Fledged]

To rely on a set piece would suggest that our game plan was to score from one in the first place, so you're basically saying we were playing for a penalty. The only other explanation is that after we'd scored the penalty, we trusted that would be enough, which would also be false as after that we controlled the game and got a well earned second goal.

So to say we relied on a set piece is incorrect. Whether your opinion is wide of the mark or your use of English is a different story.

No I'm not saying that we planned to get the penalty. I'm saying that we needed the penalty, if had not gotten the penalty we might not have scored at all.

The fact that we only managed one more against a 10 man team that had to try for an equalizer kind of supports my theory that if we hadn't got the penalty we might have drawn the match.

 

[ScarleyUtd]

No I'm not saying that we planned to get the penalty. I'm saying that we needed the penalty, if had not gotten the penalty we might not have scored at all.

The fact that we only managed one more against a 10 man team that had to try for an equalizer kind of supports my theory that if we hadn't got the penalty we might have drawn the match.

You're splitting hairs. The pattern of play meant that we were going to break through at some point, is the point. We were piling on the pressure. 'Relying on a set piece' means just that – relying. As in creating very little and lacking penetration. Not so in this case.

And we often missed chances under Fergie. In many matches. If you're worried by this game you must be near your wits end!

 

[ChaddyP]

Pardon the bump, didn't know where to ask this, but does anyone remember who got the captains armband when Rooney came off?

 

[Raw]

Pardon the bump, didn't know where to ask this, but does anyone remember who got the captains armband when Rooney came off?

Evans

 

[ChaddyP]

Evans

Cheers

 

[Sandikan]

So Brown got his red recinded in the end.

How come there wasn't even any word that O Shea gets the ban instead. Weird.

 

[Andy_Cole]

So Brown got his red recinded in the end.

How come there wasn't even any word that O Shea gets the ban instead. Weird.

Because the ref saw the foul and didn't think O Shea made contact.

 

[Sandikan]

Because the ref saw the foul and didn't think O Shea made contact.

So in effect admitting there shouldn't have been a penalty?!

 

[Andy_Cole]

So in effect admitting there shouldn't have been a penalty?!

He thought Brown made the contact. Sunderland appealed the ban and won. But because the incident was seen by the ref retrospective ban can't be made on O Shea. A bit like if a player elbowed/ two footed and got a yellow, they can't get a retrospective ban as it was a seen and judged (wrongly) incident.

 

[Sandikan]

He thought Brown made the contact. Sunderland appealed the ban and won. But because the incident was seen by the ref retrospective ban can't be made on O Shea. A bit like if a player elbowed/ two footed and got a yellow, they can't get a retrospective ban as it was a seen and judged (wrongly) incident.

They've had a bloody lucky escape there.

Well...as lucky as it is to have Brown/O Shea available!