Not really.
Why.
PL W FA Premier League
Manchester United 3:0 Watford
Post-match discussion
Sun, 23 February 2020
Why.
Many positives of course, but I want to agree with some others and give credit to James. He looked like his early season self. I think the time off helped him more than most, he runs himself into the ground every game he plays. Very happy for him, great pass to Bruno for the penalty as well.
I am hoping this is not the case. Not sure any one really knows or gets a our wonky transfer plans.
I don't think you can make blanket statements like that. For instance, if we get top 4 the the CL revenue next year makes it easier to spend on transfers. I'm not even sure we will move for Grealish and Sancho. I don't put much weight in transfer rumors and mostly ignore.
To be honest, I'm not sure.
I think it illustrates that we're a counter-attacking team with lots of pacey dribblers.
I was kind of hoping somebody else could give their own opinions on it.
Comfortable win. Nice result after Europe in midweek, also allows an easy finish to prepare for the game this week.
I think I'll have to give up on the match day thread though. Honestly. If we're not 2 up after 2 minutes... The moaning. Christ above. It's just embarrassing what some people spout.
I think I'll have to give up on the match day thread though. Honestly. If we're not 2 up after 2 minutes... The moaning. Christ above. It's just embarrassing what some people spout.
Great result, great goals. Bruno was a real difference maker, such an upgrade on Mata/Lingard/Pereira. Have we turned a corner?!
I'm not denying he played the ball, or that there was contact, but no way was he tripped. He dived.
If we score first we can play football.
Well, it was a tongue in cheek comment. A joke.
You said "nothing wrong with optimism". I was suggesting that people on this forum are rarely optimistic. We could smash Liverpool and there'll still be pessimistic whingers on here..
Didn't think I'd need to explain it but there we are...
Feck off lad.
Woah! There Leslie, what are you talking about? It’s a big ol’ corner we’d got’s to turn, bit like the Exxon Valdez, gonna take’s a while I reckon.
A comfortable win so a job well done by the players and management.
Bruno loving life in Old Trafford so far and long may that continue. Outstanding finishing by Martial, Greenwood.
Bruno loving life in Old Trafford so far and long may that continue. Outstanding finishing by Martial, Greenwood.
Agree with James. If we can get another 2 or 3 in of the standard of fernandes in the summer cm rw st we can challenge for at least top 3
DDG - Weird how the whole game passed without Deeney shoulder charging him in the face...or you know, just standing vaguely near him while our defence do nothing about it.
Bissaka - Actually can't remember him doing much
LIndelof - I don't like when he's the last man and decides to 360 turn the opposition striker while holding them off, when they're about 3 times his fecking size. Just clear it
Maguire - The "I've just signed for Arsenal" traits were back today.
Shaw - Think he's been very good recently, although feck me in the post match interview I'm not sure if it was just the angle of the camera but he looked huge! His shoulders were literally taking up half the screen. He looked like an American Football player with their padding still on, except also it was someone parodeeing an American football player by wearing overly large padding. Big shoulders.
Fred - After the first few times the opposition have succesfully barged you off the ball, maybe don't just stand there waiting for the opposition to try and barge you off the ball
Matic - Had a good second half. First half he basically just stood there watching Fred.
Fernandes - He just looks the part. His productivity in 3 games is about what you get from Lingard/Mata/Pereira in a season. I feel mean saying it but it's not even an exageration.
James - Looked better today. Not sure why you would keep giving the fastest white man in the world loads of room to run into.
Martial - Baffling player. Clearly would be a very good striker if he spent a bit more time playing as one. Can't play a 3 yard pass to Fernandes but can score a goal that was basically taking the piss out of the entire opposition team.
Greenwood - The king of the self created half chance.
VAR - This new thing where teams essentially aren't allowed to score against us is quite useful
Bissaka - Actually can't remember him doing much
LIndelof - I don't like when he's the last man and decides to 360 turn the opposition striker while holding them off, when they're about 3 times his fecking size. Just clear it
Maguire - The "I've just signed for Arsenal" traits were back today.
Shaw - Think he's been very good recently, although feck me in the post match interview I'm not sure if it was just the angle of the camera but he looked huge! His shoulders were literally taking up half the screen. He looked like an American Football player with their padding still on, except also it was someone parodeeing an American football player by wearing overly large padding. Big shoulders.
Fred - After the first few times the opposition have succesfully barged you off the ball, maybe don't just stand there waiting for the opposition to try and barge you off the ball
Matic - Had a good second half. First half he basically just stood there watching Fred.
Fernandes - He just looks the part. His productivity in 3 games is about what you get from Lingard/Mata/Pereira in a season. I feel mean saying it but it's not even an exageration.
James - Looked better today. Not sure why you would keep giving the fastest white man in the world loads of room to run into.
Martial - Baffling player. Clearly would be a very good striker if he spent a bit more time playing as one. Can't play a 3 yard pass to Fernandes but can score a goal that was basically taking the piss out of the entire opposition team.
Greenwood - The king of the self created half chance.
VAR - This new thing where teams essentially aren't allowed to score against us is quite useful
Always enjoy the write ups, keep it up.
Took a while for us to get going. After that a decent performance. Pereira and Lingard not in the starting line up. Fernandes showing us why he came with that price tag. Shaw looking the best he has for ages. Greenwood with another proper finish. Martial serving up a portion of utter filth. Potentially a massive 3 points. Other than a Lindelof MOTM it really couldn't have gone much better
a lot of people getting carried away in here but this game reminded me of the Chelsea game at the start of the season
it really was a game of 2 parts
Part 1 was the period up to the Martial wonder goal
We didnt create much. Sloppy in possession with slow passing and not great movement we looked static. Watford looked better on the ball, were more organised and we were nervous looking in defence. Again with our midfielders not playing great we had no great out ball from defence and Fred was being targeted. Our playing the ball out from the back is comical at times and Maguire/Lindelof passing really off at times. VAR saved us what would have been a deserved equaliser. Bruno and Shaw are really our only outfield players playing well.
Part 2 and after the Martial goal Watford heads drop and we play free flowing imaginative attacking football - Bruno dominates, Martial has swagger, James finds space, Greenwood looks lively - we are a changed team.
Overall a great result and a good performance. I think we need a bit of perspective though and I think a bit of Martial magic may have saved us from a 1-1 draw......
we need much more from the team at 0-0 and the manager and coaching team need to have us attacking and defending better
it really was a game of 2 parts
Part 1 was the period up to the Martial wonder goal
We didnt create much. Sloppy in possession with slow passing and not great movement we looked static. Watford looked better on the ball, were more organised and we were nervous looking in defence. Again with our midfielders not playing great we had no great out ball from defence and Fred was being targeted. Our playing the ball out from the back is comical at times and Maguire/Lindelof passing really off at times. VAR saved us what would have been a deserved equaliser. Bruno and Shaw are really our only outfield players playing well.
Part 2 and after the Martial goal Watford heads drop and we play free flowing imaginative attacking football - Bruno dominates, Martial has swagger, James finds space, Greenwood looks lively - we are a changed team.
Overall a great result and a good performance. I think we need a bit of perspective though and I think a bit of Martial magic may have saved us from a 1-1 draw......
we need much more from the team at 0-0 and the manager and coaching team need to have us attacking and defending better
Before this match day, Chelsea got what, 15 points over 14 games?
We have absolutely no excuse not to get 4th. 33 points left to play for and around 22-23 should secure us that spot, regardless of City’s appeal.
It's ok to feel uncomfortable about a United player diving, but please find a better way to deal with it, lass.
Criticism of Fred in this game has been really overblown. He was by no means 'back to the old Fred'. He was being ruthlessly targeted by their very intense press, almost exclusivelyv - Matic often found himself in plenty of space because two or three players were on Fred at all times. It was a strategic choice by them. So he lost the ball a number of times. But I just watched the whole game in full again and there was one single 'unforced' error from him.
That said, he won back the ball more than any of our other midfield players, showed plenty of those runs through the midfield that we've seen recently, linked up well with Bruno, and generally stopped that packed midfield of theirs from overrunning us in the first half despite how hard they had committed to doing it.
He wasn't at his best, but by no means was he woeful. And their intense press is a double-edged sword, because the reason we dominated the second half is because it's exhausting doing that and they tired quickly.
That said, he won back the ball more than any of our other midfield players, showed plenty of those runs through the midfield that we've seen recently, linked up well with Bruno, and generally stopped that packed midfield of theirs from overrunning us in the first half despite how hard they had committed to doing it.
He wasn't at his best, but by no means was he woeful. And their intense press is a double-edged sword, because the reason we dominated the second half is because it's exhausting doing that and they tired quickly.
Long may it continue.
Loved all 3 goals and nice to see a fairly comfortable win considering we only played 5 minutes ago it feels like.
Correct. One of the problem with pogba and martial is that they know when fit they are first choices. No matter how dogshite they are, they always olay. ALWAYS. Mino wont be this vocal if his client is being sidelined due to better options in the squad. We need few more class midfielders, keep everyone on their toes. More brunos please.
Goal difference now up to +12 and going the right direction, highest outside the top 3.
Absolute spot on summary of Martial.
Also, where most players would do things, see that they work and continue to do them, Martial will do something good (say a near post run against Chelsea and score a header as a result) and then won't be arsed to do it again.
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I think to turn a corner and deliver consistently we need a few more signings of the Bruno kind of calibre.
There is something about this team I'm starting to like, but it needs supporting by more genuine quality. We are a Bruno injury away from Lingard/Periera/Mata.
I feel a real class act on the right would encourage AWB forward a bit more too. If we sign 3 or 4 more genuine quality players in the summer, I'll be interested to see how we develop. I don't think we will be genuine title challengers overnight...but I do think we will see a sustained improvement with more consistency.
Thursday is a really really huge game for this team. If we can win that, we show some sort of improvement in our ability to string some wins together. If we go out? Then we are back to square one with 3 monumentally difficult games to come.
There's always more to a game than you see on the surface. Totally agree about Fred here. It was very similar with James where lots of teams doubled up on him and suddenly everyone thought he was rubbish because he lost the ball when two people came into the tackle. See the Chelsea game for example. Suddenly against Watford, Fred is targetted instead, James just has one person on him and his threat and creativity go through the roof.
He he :NoodleRatings:
I think during a game when tensions and emotions are high it's more difficult to see the wood from the trees. I watch games I have no loyalty in and see very different things to when I'm watching United...
Agree with your points
This is why I totally get the match thread, football's about passion and emotion for fans, you have to be able to scream at players whether you're in the thread or the stands.
I remember watching England v Italy at Wembley when we lost 1-0 to a Zola goal, there was an old man in front of me not a day under 80 who spent the whole match waving two walking sticks in the air screaming "Shearer you cnut, you're fecking useless" fair play to him!
De gea- regular enough performance, steady, did what he had to do
AWB- steady, got roasted by Masina twice and didnt venture forward enough
Shaw-- Improved of late, but he needed too, wished he would play forward more often
Lindelof-- Set the tone for a poor first half with sloppy start, weak at times and positionally suspect..not convinced
Maguire- sloppy at the start but grew into the game, been a good signing for us
Fred- Dropped down a level from previous weeks sloppy at times but put a good shift in
Matic- Poor first half, much better 2nd when he moved the ball forward quicker
Bruno- All action display, gives us balance creativity and quality
Martial- Other than the goal which was superb i dont remember him doing all that much
Greenwood- Flashes of naivety, and flashes of brilliance, we need to find his right position.
James- final ball and decision making was atrocious on the day, he tried hard and got into some good positions, he needs some serious coaching on shooting, crossing and link up play.
Mctominay- Good to see him back, hope he continues to push on, and prove me wrong
Chong- one good effort, would like to see him have a few games, still not convinced
Ighalo- Needs a few games, did ok in his small cameo, goal will do him good, but at least he is getting in right positions
Overall satisfactory performance after a very poor start.
AWB- steady, got roasted by Masina twice and didnt venture forward enough
Shaw-- Improved of late, but he needed too, wished he would play forward more often
Lindelof-- Set the tone for a poor first half with sloppy start, weak at times and positionally suspect..not convinced
Maguire- sloppy at the start but grew into the game, been a good signing for us
Fred- Dropped down a level from previous weeks sloppy at times but put a good shift in
Matic- Poor first half, much better 2nd when he moved the ball forward quicker
Bruno- All action display, gives us balance creativity and quality
Martial- Other than the goal which was superb i dont remember him doing all that much
Greenwood- Flashes of naivety, and flashes of brilliance, we need to find his right position.
James- final ball and decision making was atrocious on the day, he tried hard and got into some good positions, he needs some serious coaching on shooting, crossing and link up play.
Mctominay- Good to see him back, hope he continues to push on, and prove me wrong
Chong- one good effort, would like to see him have a few games, still not convinced
Ighalo- Needs a few games, did ok in his small cameo, goal will do him good, but at least he is getting in right positions
Overall satisfactory performance after a very poor start.
They should've beaten Arsenal, battered them and missed sitters.
I don't think it was a dive; but so fecking what! He got there first and knew the contact was coming, smart play! Well done Bruno. If he didn't do that, the game could of ended very differently as Watford were causing all sorts of issues prior to that. That opened the game up nicely and got us going.
And I was impressed by your optimistic comment.
You are right. Many football supporters are very black or white. Maybe symptomatic of society in general.
At the moment I am reasonably optimistic. But my main concern is that we are becoming happy with mediocrity.
Martial is an Obertan-Henry hybrid.
I've just watched Ole's post match presser and I have to say I agree with everything he is saying. He knows martial can do more, he wants the team to play forward fast and more often. Still not happy despite a 3-0 win as we did not start well or have a good first half.
If the players take on board what he is clearly trying to get across the team will achieve it's goals and despite all the setbacks and false dawns this season could be pivotal in our return to the top table of English and European football. We do not have a divine right to it but you can see the direction of travel and it is very positive after 7 aimless years imho.
If the players take on board what he is clearly trying to get across the team will achieve it's goals and despite all the setbacks and false dawns this season could be pivotal in our return to the top table of English and European football. We do not have a divine right to it but you can see the direction of travel and it is very positive after 7 aimless years imho.
Considering our net spend has been roughly £75m a season for the last few years, I'd say that's clearly our budget.
We can likely expect Rojo, Lingard, Pogba and maybe Henderson to be sold. We may recoup £120m there. So i'd say £195m total spend is what we're looking at.
Good steading result (hopefully)!
First half hour looked like we were in for a battle, Watford kept their shape. Eventually our new found midfield strength came through and once the first went in I was confident more to follow it second half.
Bruno the man as well as the player looks to be making a difference, he is leading by example, encouraging and getting on peoples case where necessary, all in equal measure. Lets hope he's the tonic we need and he keeps it up and doesn't lapse into the malaise that effects us from time to time.
First half hour looked like we were in for a battle, Watford kept their shape. Eventually our new found midfield strength came through and once the first went in I was confident more to follow it second half.
Bruno the man as well as the player looks to be making a difference, he is leading by example, encouraging and getting on peoples case where necessary, all in equal measure. Lets hope he's the tonic we need and he keeps it up and doesn't lapse into the malaise that effects us from time to time.
I think it was a pretty ordinary game up until the Bruno penalty and even after that we ave away the ball pretty cheaply at times. I still think Matic was slow in transition and also i think we fear to push the ball forward. We hardly keep the ball if a defender or a midfielder pushes the ball forward to Martial, James or Greenwood. We still don't string 4 or 5 passes together when pressed profusely. We don't make one touch passes until the second half in every game which irritates me the most because we've been seeing this pattern for the last 6 years where we hardly get off the blocks in the first half and our managers have to give them a talking to in every game after the first half for players to realize they can actually play through a teams defense if they pass around faster.
I was looking at this yesterday. Too lazy to put it in a post. Thanks for taking the time.
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 382 ratings.
Score Predictions
217,11,17
- Man Utd win
- Watford win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 29% Man Utd 2:0 Watford
- 20% Man Utd 3:0 Watford
- 16% Man Utd 2:1 Watford
- 10% Man Utd 3:1 Watford
- 5% Man Utd 1:0 Watford
- 5% Man Utd 4:0 Watford
- 5% Man Utd 1:1 Watford
- 2% Man Utd 1:2 Watford
- 2% Man Utd 5:0 Watford
- 1% Man Utd 0:0 Watford
- 1% Man Utd 0:2 Watford
- 1% Man Utd 2:2 Watford
- 0% Man Utd 4:1 Watford
- 0% Man Utd 4:2 Watford
- 0% Man Utd 0:5 Watford
- 0% Man Utd 1:3 Watford
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- Watford
- Possession
- 58% 42%
- Shots
- 21 7
- Shots on Target
- 9 2
- Corners
- 3 5
- Fouls
- 6 15
Referee
Martin Atkinson
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Scott McTominay
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replaced by Odion Ighalo
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replaced by Tahith Chong
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