[carlosp]

Did the two of you just become best friends?

 

[carlosp]

you do know we scored 4 goals in that game right?! None of which came from a Blind freekick...

Agree on Blind though, he's the best of the current crop of left-backs imho.

I love how people slam Blind yet say others like Rashford/Martial need time(game time( in their respective positions and ths mostly plaey will improve.

Blind has mostly played as a CB these last 2-3 years and although he has been used as a LB, he has been swapped out a lot and hasn't been used in that position consistantly. Last season that position got swapped out between him, Shaw, Darmian and Rojo and there was no consistency.

He needs time as will any other player, to show what he can do in that position. I agree though that he should have been used more up the wing position this weekend however we don't know Mourinho's commands were before and during the game. Even Valencia wasn't running up and left the right side bare when he and Blind could have been used to stretch the Swansea defense.

 

[noodlehair]

A lot of people mentioning that we need to replace blind... his free kicks were the only real threat we had in the game.

Huh? Did he even take any freekicks? We hit the bar from a free kick taken by Mata, scored from a corner (which may have been taken by Blind...I can't remember), and then scored three goals from open play.

We also had other chances from open play in the first half, mainly due to Swansea's midfield insisting on passing the ball to our forwards, but still.

Against West Ham we scored from a free kick taken by Mhikitaryan...

I didn't think Blind was that bad on Saturday to be honest, but he looked way off the pace against West Ham. He seems to be the only player we have who can take a corner without hitting the defender at the near post, but this doesn't mean we should play him regardless of his performance...what it means is some of our other players should learn how to take a fecking corner properly.

It's no wonder we can't defend corners properly. Whenever we practice defending them in training it'd just be someone heading the ball away at the near post 50 times in a row while everyone else stands about.

 

[glazed]

Good god man! I understand that we're only 2 games into the season and it's therefore too early to say anything for sure, but what more could the team have done in these first two games to convince you more?! 8 goals scored, 0 conceded...

Well I'm a bit of a sceptic as you know. I'll believe it if we still doing it regularly at xmas. I recall City doing much the same at the start of last season and that didn't end too well.

 

[noodlehair]

I love how people slam Blind yet say others like Rashford/Martial need time(game time( in their respective positions and ths mostly plaey will improve.

Blind has mostly played as a CB these last 2-3 years and although he has been used as a LB, he has been swapped out a lot and hasn't been used in that position consistantly. Last season that position got swapped out between him, Shaw, Darmian and Rojo and there was no consistency.

He needs time as will any other player, to show what he can do in that position. I agree though that he should have been used more up the wing position this weekend however we don't know Mourinho's commands were before and during the game. Even Valencia wasn't running up and left the right side bare when he and Blind could have been used to stretch the Swansea defense.

To be fair, Martial and Rashford are still too young to judge as a finished product...by a good few years in both cases too.

Blind isn't. The issue also is that Rashford/Martial have all the attributes required and just need to develop the attitude, mentality and consistency to go with it. Blind just isn't quick enough to be a top level full back really. That wont change. I think he's proven in the past he can be a decent stand in left back, but I don't think you can expect anything better.

People get too uptight/precious in both directions and need to be more realistic. He starts two games because he's the best option we have available for those two games, and people are on his back because he performed poorly in one of them (I thought he was fine against Swansea), and crying about signing someone better. Others seem to get carried away at him being criticised as if he is supposed to be the solution to everything.

We're not going to sign a world class left back before the transfer window closes, because there isn't one available even if we wanted to, so there's going to be games this season where Blind is the best option. It isn't exactly the end of the world. We won a CL and league double playing with Wes Brown as a make shift right back. Blind is capable enough as long as people don't expect unrealistic things from him.

 

[sunama]

Great result but trying not to get too carried away. We started off great last season too but came unstuck when we met City. If we can get through the big games unscathed up to Christmas we will be in good shape.

I hear what you are saying, but we should've won or drawn that City game last season. Their GK should've been sent off.
The big problem for us last season was beating smaller teams like WHU or Swansea and this season we are doing this. If we beat all the small teams and draw against the big teams, we should be able to win the league.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Huh? Did he even take any freekicks? We hit the bar from a free kick taken by Mata, scored from a corner (which may have been taken by Blind...I can't remember), and then scored three goals from open play.

apologies, set piece is the term i was looking for I guess. We scored 3 goals from open play when the game opened up. I doubt we would have been waltzing through their defence in the final minutes in the same way if we couldn't score set pieces and they were still defending a 0-0. Just making the point that Blind is actually one of our most creative players in the most important phase of the game - when it is 0-0. Nobody else was able to create anything, except when the ball fell to rashford.

 

[sunama]

No doubt about it, the fear of United is already back in the league my friend.

Yep.
Because we finally got the manager who should've taken over from SAF. Instead we had to waste 4 years faffing around (1 year for Moyes, 2 for LVG and 1 for Jose to remove LVG's "foundations" and rebuild). I truly believe that if Jose had taken over from SAF, the reigning champions, we'd have gone for the title, from the get-go and maintained our status as the team to beat.

 

[noodlehair]

apologies, set piece is the term i was looking for I guess. We scored 3 goals from open play when the game opened up. I doubt we would have been waltzing through their defence in the final minutes in the same way if we couldn't score set pieces and they were still defending a 0-0. Just making the point that Blind is actually one of our most creative players in the most important phase of the game - when it is 0-0. Nobody else was able to create anything, except when the ball fell to rashford.

Our main threat from set pieces this season, other than corners, has come from other players though. Mikhi and Mata...one of who assisted a goal and the other of who would have if Jones knew how to use his head to head the ball instead of opponents/team mates.

Blind seems to be our best player at taking corners, but I don't think he's particularly great at them, just less shite than any of our other players. Our corner taking in general is absolutely abysmal.

I don't mind him at left back though. I thought he was poor against West Ham, but because he had a bad game. Players have bad games sometimes. Usually he is better than that. He offers more in an attacking sense than Darmian does at LB, so in games where we're going to be attacking more, playing him makes perfect sense.

I still think though, that having to play a certain player because they're the only one you have who can deliver a corner competently (and currently he is), mainly means that you should get some other players to practice taking a bloody corner, because it really shouldn't be that hard.

 

[djdhrubs]

-

- Thought Hitler (or whoever that was) had a quiet debut for Swansea.

I thought the Swansea player looked like a 1940/1950s movie villain rather than Hitler.

 

[wolvored]

you do know we scored 4 goals in that game right?! None of which came from a Blind freekick...

Agree on Blind though, he's the best of the current crop of left-backs imho.

That's why I would like Mitchell to be given the last 15 mins of a game see if he can cut it as a lwb or lw he is fast a good dribble and left footed. Would be ideal to give him cameo roles, and if it does work give him longer and longer.

 

[black_crow]

It was a good game. Lukaku is the perfect signing.

I think that we are able to win the PL this season.
Mourinho does everything right, but I think Martial surely deserves a start now.

 

[Robertd0803]

Rashford really needs to start scoring those 1v1s.

More goals is good, cant remember the last time I saw us score so many goals that quick together.

Anyway lets keep going.

 

[TimScoreboard]

I was away last week and didn't get to see the game live, so watched it today... We were very narrow and a bit cautious for most of the game and 4-0 flattered us, but some of our finishing was excellent; the type of clinical finishing I have been banging on about for what seems like forever.

To score 4 away, when nowhere near our best, says a lot about the confidence the lads have at the moment. Another excellent cameo from Martial, who is surely due a start against Leicester; Marcus worked hard again, but missing another one on one could cost him and probably should.