[NikSab]

Did you sleep through the year Leicester won the title ? Ranieri arrived that summer.

Or Conte managing to win the title in his first season.

Mourinho inherited a squad that had just won the FA Cup. It had several very exciting young players.

It takes time to lay foundations, except when it doesn't. If the manager gets enough decisions right, with relatively few errors, then winning the title in year 1 of a project is possible for most of the top clubs.

We didn't have a squad last year to challenge for the title so we concentrated on winning cups and won 2/3 of those.

We did have a squad to challenge this season and would have challenged had it been a normal season off the shelf but this isn't a normal season, it's a one off.(we would be winning the title in Leicester season playing like we are this season)

 

[Water Melon]

So you're saying if Mou doesnt win the prem next year he must go, and then try to show Klopp as an example of a successful manager who has won nothing since he came and will probably win nothing this year anyway? At least be consistent

Do not put your words in my mouth. All I am saying that if Jose does not win the prem next season,he must go, because he cant compete with Pep. Also, being beaten fair and square by Sevilla indicate that we are miles off challenging for major titles both in prem and CL. A rookie manager of Sevilla has done betterin CL than Jose this season. At the end of next season we can calculate net spent of all the teams in Prem and their league positions and their trophies. We can also do the same for CL clubs. Lets judge who will have done better with resources available.

 

[NikSab]

We have a game in hand and are playing city next. If we win we will be 5 points ahead. So far we are 2 points ahead having spent much more. Also Liverpool have done better than us in CL this season, and it is another fact.

So you are saying 3rd with QF with no trophies is better than 2nd with a chance of winning the FA cup? Lot of sense there. Putting you on ignore.

 

[Water Melon]

So you are saying 3rd with QF with no trophies is better than 2nd with a chance of winning the FA cup? Lot of sense there. Putting you on ignore.

Taking into account your inability to read and comprehend this is what I mean: Klopp has done better this season in CL than Jose - fact. Klopp has much less net spent than Jose - fact. His teams players wages is also much less - fact. We are 2 points ahead of the Pool in the league with a game in hand. Our next game is against City, and we are not 5 pts ahead of scousers yet - another fact. We will be finish 15-20pts behind City in the league, another fact. So I am glad we both ignore each other.

 

[shield]

You know Swansea also had a say in the matter right? They changed tactics and denied you rhythm. Saying stuff like we need to pass better to score more goals is just really simplistic. No offense.

Bit like saying “we need to score more goals to win.” No shyte.

Um... No. They were still quite poor. Moves were breaking down because we took the foot of the pedal and passes were sloppy.

About the passing, I was pointing out to the fact that we need to work on it because it quite a few of our moves break down in the final third. Yesterday was a good opportunity to refine it by trying harder to get the 3rd or 4th goal. Instead, we seemed satisfied with the 2 goal cushion and simply waited for an opportunity to present itself.

In tougher matches, or matches where we are a goal down, this instinct to go for more goals helps a lot. We need to start getting a little more goal hungry.

Also, pass the ball better does not equate to "we need to score more goals". The entire point of a football match is to score goals (for big teams at least). Teams can also just punt the ball high instead of passing the ball and that is also a way to score goals. Teams like us however should rely on their passing, which does seems a bit off with us at times.

I am not complaining about the result, it was quite good. However, there is huge room for improvement.

 

[tombombadil]

Good lord, still people are moaning? It was a good performance and a good win. 3 points in the bag. Move on already. No amount of arguing is going to change that fact.

 

[Verminator]

Good lord, still people are moaning? It was a good performance and a good win. 3 points in the bag. Move on already. No amount of arguing is going to change that fact.

After being spoilt by Moyes and LVG, some people can't help but be disappointed in the boring victories served up by Mourinho.

 

[Nakhon Phanom]

Excellent first half....took the foot off the gas in the second.....but a decent enough win.
Good performances from Lindelhof,Lingard,Sanchez and Lukaku.......not too mention the great man himself,Dave de Gea !

 

[tombombadil]

After being spoilt by Moyes and LVG, some people can't help but be disappointed in the boring victories served up by Mourinho.

I get shivers just thinking about that era.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Mourinho is not like Pep or Klopp - he's happy at 2-0 rather than go for 3,4,5 goals.

 

[Treble]

First half was excellent. Second half - business as usual.

 

[Glideman]

Bigger clubs spend more money, I don’t understand why people use that as a measurement of success.

If Liverpool finish with no trophies and below us in the league, we have had a better season, FACT

 

[Garethw]

Why can't we maintain any level of intensity for 90 minutes? Swansea were there for the taking and we took our foot off the gas for the entire second half.

 

[Oldyella]

Mourinho is not like Pep or Klopp - he's happy at 2-0 rather than go for 3,4,5 goals.

Yep, it's why he has previously got away with using smaller pools of players. Once the win is secured his teams don't keep pushing.

 

[tombombadil]

Why can't we maintain any level of intensity for 90 minutes? Swansea were there for the taking and we took our foot off the gas for the entire second half.

Swansea upped their game in the second half. They pressed a lot higher to stop us from playing the short passing game.

 

[cyril C]

At last.
Someone gets it.
Excellent post.
Do people really believe the boys got into the dressing room and Jose goes, "Now we are two goals up, relax. Don't score again. Defend all the way."?

Well, the fact that we crumble at the back as soon as Swansea pushed forward, does tell you how reliable our CB are. City eased at 2nd half as well but after they got the 3rd goal in 1st half. You can say our life might be easier had Mata scored or Lukaku finished the game off, but the reliability of our CB is a concern.

Another point to note is that Swansea was really parking the bus in 1st half with very little ambition. So how did we breakdown a double-decker in 1st half with such ease, but not doing so in every other game?

 

[edgar allan]

Excellent first half....took the foot off the gas in the second.....but a decent enough win.
Good performances from Lindelhof,Lingard,Sanchez and Lukaku.......not too mention the great man himself,Dave de Gea !

You left Mata out, I think he was excellent again.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

First half was awesome, really enjoyable. Second half, predictably, the foot came off the gas a bit. Still, I moan about not enjoying our football and I did enjoy that game so fair enough. A win's a win. Pleased for Sanchez and Rom. Pogba was quite good to be fair.

 

[GM K]

Well, the fact that we crumble at the back as soon as Swansea pushed forward, does tell you how reliable our CB are. City eased at 2nd half as well but after they got the 3rd goal in 1st half. You can say our life might be easier had Mata scored or Lukaku finished the game off, but the reliability of our CB is a concern.

Another point to note is that Swansea was really parking the bus in 1st half with very little ambition. So how did we breakdown a double-decker in 1st half with such ease, but not doing so in every other game?

I guess the boys just need to be more consistent - collectively and individually - in an attacking sense.

By the way, we did not 'crumble' in the second half. It was a solid defensive display and with a little bit of more accuracy, we could have killed them off.

 

[AndyJ1985]

One of our more enjoyable matches of 2018 so can't really complain. Top 4 is all but guaranteed now I think. Bare minimum of expectations have been met.

Still a shit load of work to do in the summer to move to the next level.

 

[DavidLayland]

Easy win - no complaints. Looked easy on the eye for the most part and flirted with danger at times but that was a solid performance.

The game was won after 20 mins against a rubbish Swansea team. But why not go on and score a bagfull ....have fun...entertain the crowd....gain confidence....improve the goal difference....inspire us all? Why not??

 

[King Kana]

I fail to get too worked up by us taking the foot off the pedal once already 2-0 up. It routinely happens in football. We won the game. Just because we don’t win 4-0 doesn’t mean we’re suddenly a poor or unwatchable team.

Yep. The fact is that personnel got tired and back Swansea bucked up their ideas, changed tactics at halftime and introduced personnel (T. Abraham) who caused a lot of headaches to your back/goal, which is fair enough.

But you could’ve added two with Mata missing a sitter and Lukaku as well. All in all an easy as fook day in the park.

 

[King Kana]

Um... No. They were still quite poor. Moves were breaking down because we took the foot of the pedal and passes were sloppy.

About the passing, I was pointing out to the fact that we need to work on it because it quite a few of our moves break down in the final third. Yesterday was a good opportunity to refine it by trying harder to get the 3rd or 4th goal. Instead, we seemed satisfied with the 2 goal cushion and simply waited for an opportunity to present itself.

In tougher matches, or matches where we are a goal down, this instinct to go for more goals helps a lot. We need to start getting a little more goal hungry.

Also, pass the ball better does not equate to "we need to score more goals". The entire point of a football match is to score goals (for big teams at least). Teams can also just punt the ball high instead of passing the ball and that is also a way to score goals. Teams like us however should rely on their passing, which does seems a bit off with us at times.

I am not complaining about the result, it was quite good. However, there is huge room for improvement.

Fair enough. But you did create chances to add to your tally via Mata & Lukaku. There’s work to be done for sure but if City weren’t having the season they’re having most people that know the sport would say your team looks really good in the main.

 

[CG1010]

Well, the fact that we crumble at the back as soon as Swansea pushed forward, does tell you how reliable our CB are. City eased at 2nd half as well but after they got the 3rd goal in 1st half. You can say our life might be easier had Mata scored or Lukaku finished the game off, but the reliability of our CB is a concern.

Another point to note is that Swansea was really parking the bus in 1st half with very little ambition. So how did we breakdown a double-decker in 1st half with such ease, but not doing so in every other game?

They got two shots when DDG made good saves. But that's hardly crumbling! Talk about exaggeration.

 

[Bestietom]

First half we played some great football, but second half we allowed them take over in midfield. I think McTominay should have been the one to come on, IMO. But I really enjoyed first half display.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Very comfortable, but once again took the foot of the peddle, when we should have gone for more goals. Swansea are really poor and look like a relegation team.

 

[Judas]

If we started games like that more often, who knows where we'd be in the league....probably still 2nd, but yeah it's much more enjoyable to see us come out playing football instead of feeling like the first half is pointless.

 

[beedoubleyou]

I'm guessing all the people who add up points and contrive statistics to forgive the style of play don't spend their time and money going to the games. Bloody hell, our own team sucked the atmosphere out of that stadium yesterday. Fair play to the fans, they stuck at giving it a go for about 40-minutes longer than the players did. But hey, these points might have won us something on another season.

 

[Yagami]

Good result and another game closer to José leaving. Couldn't ask for much more, really.

 

[wolvored]

We won and as others have said whether we took our foot off the gas or Swanseas subs changed the game we had De Gea to thank for the clean sheet. The defence is so porous when teams do have a go at us.

 

[Okey]

Good game after an international break. Never the easiest. Swansea played their part so kudos to them. Kick in from there and we just night avoid the dreaded fate awaiting us next weekend. Good atmosphere at Old Trafford too! Plaudits all round...

 

[Acole9]

First half was as good as I've seen from us this season. The second half not so much but we always looked comfortable throughout the match.

 

[Marcky411]

It's not like he was being rusty that u can make a case it's because of lack of game time.
He was rescued by referee on 1 or 2 occasions. He is good ball playing defender but he is just too weak and can easily be pushed off the ball. And that is something he can't improve a lot . My guess is he will remain as 4th or 5th choice centrebackk which is about right considering his defending susceptibility.

I suppose so but then again when DDG started out nobody believed he would make it and questioned SAF buy.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Previous 7 title winners of the last decade :

2010-11 champions : 80 points.
2011-12 champions : 89 points.
2012-13 champions : 89 points.
2013-14 champions : 84 points.
2014-15 champions : 87 points.
2015-16 champions : 81 points.
2016-17 champions : 93 points.

Average : 86 points.

Not trying to say we deserve to win the league this season, ofcourse we don't. Manchester City deserve all the plaudits, the credit and the point shattering record they are setting. They have been utterly ruthless, quite magnificent and a statistical improbability with what they will achieve, and I can say they are one of the best, if not the best team English league has ever seen, of all time. Nothing can take away the fact that they look like THE team in Europe right now and It'd be quite a task to beat them in Europe too.

But having said that. We are on course to finish on 85-86 points this season. We are going to have our best league finish in 5 years with the best attacking numbers in the same time frame. We are still very much a team in transition with the mismanagement since 2009 and some absolute garbage bought by our last two managers. The mentality of our club in the past 5 years is of has-been champions rather than any resemblance to a team which can be challenging for major honors. I am pretty sure, this will be a milestone year for us when Manchester United is back as a club which can start challenging for major honors. Ferguson in his 2nd season finished 9 points behind Liverpool in 2nd, but we were never in the title race. But it was our best league finish in 5 years and later that set for him to famously say that he wants to knock Liverpool off the fecking perch. We are still on the perch and we will remain there for the foreseeable future, but with City's squad looking fantastic, we are catching up to them in securing the best kids in England, Belgium and Netherlands to join our academy, something Ferguson fixed in the late 80s while securing players like Irwin, Hughes etc, something Jose has tried to emulate in Matic and Lukaku and that will help us in the long run. Our football might be lethargic at times, our performances in the big games might be a bit negative and we might not be the most exciting team to watch, but Fergie's early teams were hardly fun to watch and I really like how sticking up with him later turned for United.

Personally I have seen a lot of mistakes which Jose has made which he could avoided, but I feel he has done a great job to get out of the rut we were in, in terms of league finishes. Without the fantastic season which City is having, this might have been a title race going to the wire. We are still very much in transition, but with a massive transfer window coming in, I think if we can fill the gaps in our squad, fix some gaping problems, I think we can realistically challenge for the title next season.

spot on

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Did you sleep through the year Leicester won the title ? Ranieri arrived that summer.

Or Conte managing to win the title in his first season.

Mourinho inherited a squad that had just won the FA Cup. It had several very exciting young players.

It takes time to lay foundations, except when it doesn't. If the manager gets enough decisions right, with relatively few errors, then winning the title in year 1 of a project is possible for most of the top clubs.

Do you seriously think Conte took over a foundation less Chelsea. Seriously?

 

[FootyGirl88]

Did anyone else notice Jose's son was on the bench with the coaching staff yesterday?

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[lettoi]

Very good Manchester United!
Keep this up and good luck winning this season's FA Cup as well continuing by beating Manchester City next.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Amazes me how football fans cannot see that an oppo team changing tactics affects a game such that you don’t have as much space as you did or the fact that the changes added pressure to the defense.

Has nothing to do with “handbrakes” or “not wanting it enough” or deciding to play counter attack.

Also, the changes your manager made didn’t have the same effect. Rashford simply didn’t have the same effect on the game as Abraham did for instance.

So it’s a bit simplistic to judge tactics the way I see a lot of people do on here. Just tells you majority of people here haven’t played football and have no clue.

Good post.

 

[MacabbiUnited]

Do not put your words in my mouth. All I am saying that if Jose does not win the prem next season,he must go, because he cant compete with Pep. Also, being beaten fair and square by Sevilla indicate that we are miles off challenging for major titles both in prem and CL. A rookie manager of Sevilla has done betterin CL than Jose this season. At the end of next season we can calculate net spent of all the teams in Prem and their league positions and their trophies. We can also do the same for CL clubs. Lets judge who will have done better with resources available.

I don't think it fair to judge Jose on weather he wins the title next season or not. We should ofcurse challenge for it and be much closer than we were this season, but winning the title itself depends on so much variables. If we come in 2nd on GD, would you want him fired?

And your'e speaking as if there were never any upsets in the CL. Monaco beat City last year, and with all due respect to last season's Monaco, they were way inferior to City in terms of squad options. Chelsea who finished 6th or 7th I dont remember beat Bayern in the Allianz Arena in the CL final, and if the great Sir Alex went out to Atletic Bilbao. It happens. Jose is the one to blame for the elimination because I think he got the tactics wrong, but stuff like that happen and it is not the end of the world. Were having a pretty damn good 2018 so far, We beat both Chelsea and Liverpool at home, Top 4 is almost guranteed and we have a pretty good shot at finishing 2nd. We can't act like this season has been a disaster. It's not our best ever obviously, But it's the best we've had in years, and if people we categorize every season we don't win either the title or the CL as a failure, than we are going to fail a lot and sack a lot on managers in the process, because the kind of dominance we had in the PL is almost impossible to replicate(over a period of 20+ years)