[DomesticTadpole]

It’s very odd to say the least. Some tactical decisions and selections seem baffling but in truth have pros that outweigh the cons in context. This selection had absolutely no pros unless of course Fred and perreira were crippled and next best was mctominay. You don’t even need to watch more than 5mins of Valencia beforehand to figure out you probably don’t need our two extra large training pylons in midfield

It was a surprise he only used one sub as well. Things needed to change and all he did was bring Martial on.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Does he do attacking drills? Not sure he does.

Hazard said the main difference between Conte and Mourinho was that conte coached attacking moves whereas Mourinho never did. What Mourinho apparently was excellent at was preparing players for in game situations, so "if we're X down on Y minutes we play like this." Famous example the PSG QF in 2014 where Chelsea won 2-0 with two late goals.

 

[Charlie Foley]

If we do get through and there is a chance I dread to think what might happen in the next round. I just don't have any confidence at all.

Would you rather a decent EL run? Genuine question.

Edit: didn't know I was talking to the same person twice

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Hazard said the main difference between Conte and Mourinho was that conte coached attacking moves whereas Mourinho never did. What Mourinho apparently was excellent at was preparing players for in game situations, so "if we're X down on Y minutes we play like this." Famous example the PSG QF in 2014 where Chelsea won 2-0 with two late goals.

So surely then you have to think of every single situation that might happen.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Would you rather a decent EL run? Genuine question.

Can't even see that. We fell lucky that year. There are some seriously good teams in the EL this year. It would take a big turnaround and I just cannot see him getting these players onside.

 

[Charlie Foley]

So surely then you have to think of every single situation that might happen.

you have to cover a huge breadth of possibilities yeah. It is quite impressive. The players said no matter what situation they were in they stayed calm because they would have prepared for it. No wonder his teams were so ruthless.

Makes me wonder if he's still doing this with our players and it's just not getting through(and then whose fault is that), or whether he no longer does it.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Actually on that note I remember listening to something about his preparation before the EL final. Though that's a cup final so slightly different perhaps-yet our other two cup final performances under him were poor.

When he was at Porto, there was a match against Benfica I think (not certain on teams involved) where he told his players they'd have a player sent off, and how to play after, and that they'd score after. Anyway it happened as he said, and of course these things feed into themselves because you do that once and everyone starts listening, and the players play with confidence thinking they have a magic manager

 

[Ekeke]

So Mourinho is complaining that we don't have technical quality to build from the back. How about some technical quality to build from midfield? You picked Fellaini and Matic together, what did they create?

And one more thing. Its not technical, its attitude and confidence.

Someone like Terry wasn't technical but he could play a good pass from defense. So Mourinho better be running drills in training with the likes of Smalling and Bailly playing passes into the front players through a cluttered midfield, attempting to give them that confidence to try it. If hes doing that and they dont do it on the pitch then fair enough. But if he isnt helping them to do it in training and is then complaining about it after matches, they'll never have the confidence to do it because the manager is putting them down.

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

That was awful to watch but this is what I have been used to for years now.

We do not have one single CB that should be a starter for a top team. The playing out from the back is abysmal.
Valencia should be faded out. He was pretty good for us the last 2 seasons or so and therefore deserves some credit but it is about time.
Fellaini and Matic might be the slowest midfield of all time. I somehow like both of them but I would like to see Fred and Herrera next to Pogba to see how a more mobile midfield might turn out.
Pogba is hard to judge. Some moments suggest he would be worlds better with other players surrounding him. So it seems as he has to do too much on his own.
Our front line is a disaster. No idea what happened to Alexis but right now he seems to be completely useless. He used to be one of the most dangerous attacking players feared by defenders.
Lukaku needs 20 chances to score. He had a few good moments in the build-up play but he needs to get himself in better positions and use the chances.
Rashford showed glimpses of promise again. There is still hope for the boy once he is used in a stabilized system.
Martial seems to have lost everything that made him special.

So the only positives for me were of course DdG and Luke Shaw who more and more turns out to be our best outfield player. Those 2 and maybe Pogba and Rashford would be the only players of our starting 11 that I would like to see starting the next games.

 

[Matt007a]

It's all well and good saying we don't have the defenders to play out from the back or the in form attackers to finish chances, but Lindelof, Bailly, Sanchez and Lukaku were all his signings. Presumably he bought those players to fix those problems when he arrived, yet none of them have.

Of course admitting that would be admitting he made a mistake and Mourinho has never ever made an error in his life. Only players, refs, fans, chairmen and the tea ladies dog make mistakes that cost his teams victory.

 

[POF]

Bailly should partner Smalling.

Rashford should never ever, under any circumstance ever take a fecking corner in his life. Ever. Again.

Valencia is done. Dusted. Should be made third option as right back behind Young and Dalot.

Matić and Fellaini are terrible. Static. Slow.
My god it was so wrong on so many levels and i am mindboggled why Jose doesnt see it.
You have Perreira,Fred and Herera who offer so much more movement its just dumb not to use at least one of them.

Pogba, meh, tired of explaining to myself and others that he just isnt all that we hoped.

Lukaku and Sanchez. No words.

Looong season in front of us. Brace yourselves.

Completely agree with this. I really don't understand this obsession with Rashford being a set piece specialist. He is really really bad at them. The only reason for him to take set pieces is that he seems to really want to. It's not that his delivery is inconsistent. It is consistently terrible.

United have a team that is physically huge with 2 centre backs, a target man striker and 3 central midfield players over 6'3". They struggle to score so set pieces are really key. Yet they don't seem to do any work on them. The set piece taker seems to be whoever happens to be closest at the time.

 

[Tahiri]

I think you are all overreacting! The match was pretty decent and very lively! Valencia outplayed us in the first half: they were very good at coping with our high pressing and took advantage of our high back line to move quickly behind the defense. Second half: we pressed less, waited more for them and we were the dominant team, Valencia had barely any chances. During the second half, our attack was less static, saw a lot of movements between the attackers, lots of switching and going out of positions in the final third. But with poor finishing abilities especially from Lukaku and Sanchez, no goal. Also building from the back was really really slow, our CBs are afraid of going forward and finding the right forward pass. If only we had an accomplished CB. As for no Fred and Pereira, I agree with Mourinho, they can't defend yet and provide no stability. Introducing them in the last 15 minutes involved the risk of losing the game which the coach was not willing to take

 

[RedMilo]

What was the atmosphere like? We heard the boos at the end, and pretty much attack attack attack.

I sit in the East Stand Upper, the atmosphere up there is decent for League games but for cup games we get a mish mash of people some want to sing, some don't and it flattens the atmosphere. The singing section to our right sing throughout, the club should really organise fans on a larger scale and put those who want to sing and generate noise together in my opinion, this should be a question when purchasing a ticket whether a season ticket or one off. For a Champions League night, the atmosphere overall wasn't great but watching the non-attacking brand of football makes it difficult. Its a catch 22, players needs the fans, but the fans also need something to get excited about, its a mess and yes there were boos at the end.

 

[Patrick220571]

We should be thankful it was Valencia we were playing. They look almost as bad as us.

If we play like that against Juventus, it will get truly embarrassing.

 

[::sonny::]

We’re out of ucl with this draw

After the next 2 games:

Juve 12
Valencia 7
Utd 4
YB 0

Not a chance to draw with Juve and in Spain, loss written

 

[Dr Fink]

Same old, same old. Static from the front 3. Zero movement except when they receive the ball. Pogba has nothing to aim for hence he dwells on the ball. Simply woeful from Rashfrod, Sanchez and Mr Untouchable - Lukaku. My patience with him has finally run out. The easiest striker to mark by a country mile. He gets knocked off the ball too easily and never wins any headers despite being 6ft plus and a big unit. I'm sick of him pointing. Try running the channels, making space for the midfield to pass to. I initially thought Pogba was the culrit,but from analysis, it's not his fault - he has almost nothing to work with. I'd have taken Lukaku off last night and played with 3 smaller forwards forcing us to play it to feet and down the channels rather than "lump-ball" to our 6ft plus striker who loses it.

The players clearly aren't playing for Jose. Time to go before it gets worse. He was very animated last night which was not reflected in the body language of the players - he's lost them. If we beat Newcastle on Saturday, it will only be papering over the cracks.

That was a chore to watch last night, the dial-ins on Talksport last night were all like they had "had the wind kicked out of them" to quote Andy Goldstein. I was numb from the game, travelling back.

Change needed, stop the rot.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

You’d have had better quality on display in a relegation scrap match. For some reason Valencia decided to attack us at walking pace but still got into good positions. Had their final pass not been utterly wasteful I’m sure we’d have lost that

 

[VeevaVee]

I'm more annoyed now than I was when it ended. It was just nice to be embarrassed. Now I'm annoyed than Manchester United are that lacklustre in the Champions League

 

[Frank Grimes]

No, we were trash like always. It's not like we played a better game in the second half, the football on display was still amateurish. This isn't "a bad day", it's just the norm nowadays.

Jose should be sacked before we damage ourselves further. As it is, we have to hope YB can take some points off Valencia -- quite possible as they are shite like ourselves -- or we face the task of requiring a win against them in Spain and beating Juventus atleast once.

A draw in Spain should be enough. Valencia got well beaten by Juve and we beat Young boys 3-0 away. We're still in a decent position in the group.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

'd have taken Lukaku off last night and played with 3 smaller forwards forcing us to play it to feet and down the channels rather than "lump-ball" to our 6ft plus striker who loses it.

Yes! It's a pity our amazing manager can't see this option. Oh, wait, he's deluded by his extreme narcissism.

 

[Acole9]

So bloody boring. I felt like I was actually going to nod off. Feel so sorry for the fans at Old Trafford, the players are cheating them. Regardless of whether people like the manager or not it is still their duty to give their utmost to the supporters.

 

[TMDaines]

It could have been worse:

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— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[mitchmouse]

Same old, same old: we start well for five minutes, don't score and retreat into our shell. As I've said since July/August, whatever people think about Jose, most of the players on the field aren't good enough to be at United. Pogba is world class in the same sense that I'm a brain surgeon: I can spell the words. Matic isn't the player he was at chelsea, we still insist in having at least one failed winger as a full back, the CBs are scared of the ball. We need top-class midfielders, we need wingers, we need another goal scorer, we need at least one leader at the back. Yes, the effort was greater than at West Ham but that shows just how far off the mark this squad is: even playing well they are n't good enough. Again, I'd like those who attacked me saying the club was in crisis to speak up now....