[Cantonaaa!]

Didn’t watch the game today. Had a look in the match day thread at half time, and the usual Ole out, Pogba out stuff was shouted about. We won, but it made me realise that Ole can never suffer more than one loss in either competition before the knives are out. Not saying we should stick with him through everything, but overall we look fairly decent now compared to Mourinho and Van Gaal era. Just saying, let’s wait untill may before we decide Ole’s faith, please?
The media will look to crucify him after each loss, but the glazers won’t act untill the fanbase is overwhelmingly unhappy. Let’s give the man a few more months in this stupid pandemic season please.

 

[Highlander]

Didn’t watch the game today. Had a look in the match day thread at half time, and the usual Ole out, Pogba out stuff was shouted about. We won, but it made me realise that Ole can never suffer more than one loss in either competition before the knives are out. Not saying we should stick with him through everything, but overall we look fairly decent now compared to Mourinho and Van Gaal era. Just saying, let’s wait untill may before we decide Ole’s faith, please?
The media will look to crucify him after each loss, but the glazers won’t act untill the fanbase is overwhelmingly unhappy. Let’s give the man a few more months in this stupid pandemic season please.

Did you watch the first half performance? The team play awfull, we are very lucky to conceded one. Second half we play a lot better after Bruno and Rashford came in.

 

[Sarni]

They should have been 2-0 up at half time but that second half was wonderful, we tore them to shreds with Bruno and Rashford out there. We have quietly won three really tough away games in a row...

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

I think coaching can tighten up Telles's defensive approach. Having him out there makes us so much better than with Shaw. Shaw for league cups etc...

 

[432JuanMata]

I think coaching can tighten up Telles's defensive approach. Having him out there makes us so much better than with Shaw. Shaw for league cups etc...

I don’t mind Shaw in games against the big 4-5 where we plan to sit back and counter as he is better defensively but in games where we are the better team or playing weaker teams Telles all the way. I like Shaw he offers plenty but in games when teams sit deeper his overlaps and crosses are average at best

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

I don’t mind Shaw in games against the big 4-5 where we plan to sit back and counter as he is better defensively but in games where we are the better team or playing weaker teams Telles all the way. I like Shaw he offers plenty but in games when teams sit deeper his overlaps and crosses are average at best

Fair points, but I think his effort/work rate over all is lacking and he has nothing in his locker like Telles to create. If you play a back 3 with him, fine. Otherwise I would play Telles whenever he's fit/rested.

There is a clip of him vs Brighton a season or 2 ago, just a total lack of effort that is tough for me to ever forget.

 

[432JuanMata]

Fair points, but I think his effort/work rate over all is lacking and he has nothing in his locker like Telles to create. If you play a back 3 with him, fine. Otherwise I would play Telles whenever he's fit/rested.

There is a clip of him vs Brighton a season or 2 ago, just a total lack of effort that is tough for me to ever forget.

I have seen that clip it was last season but I feel he has improved his work rate. Look if you are going to be a top side winning things I would rather a better LB going forward than a defensive one. Telles is a upgrade overall. Yeah I mean in games away to city where we most likely will play 3 at the back.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Always good to beat the Cockneys.
Three class goals.
Shite first half.
Pogba was class but why doesn't he play like that all the time?
Bruno is a gem.

 

[Icemav]

Didn’t watch the game today. Had a look in the match day thread at half time, and the usual Ole out, Pogba out stuff was shouted about. We won, but it made me realise that Ole can never suffer more than one loss in either competition before the knives are out. Not saying we should stick with him through everything, but overall we look fairly decent now compared to Mourinho and Van Gaal era. Just saying, let’s wait untill may before we decide Ole’s faith, please?
The media will look to crucify him after each loss, but the glazers won’t act untill the fanbase is overwhelmingly unhappy. Let’s give the man a few more months in this stupid pandemic season please.

You are right. There clearly needs to be more quality depth at CM but the squad is being built more carefully now. I also think Ole might benefit from hiring a top Coach (a la Quieroz) to help build more cohesive play at times. I think with some of these minor tweaks we could see real progress and big chalenges for major trophies.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Fantastic strikes by Paul, Mason and Marcus. Great ball by Juan. I’m absolutely delighted we won.

But, as Gary Neville rightly said in the first half, ”this Man Utd performance is as bad as it gets – shocking.” In the first half of the second half we weren’t much better. And let’s face it, West Ham are not peak Barcelona.

Surely we won’t keep on winning games where we play such rubbish in the first 60 mins and ship soft goals? (I hope we do, obviously.) Or is it a fiendishly clever rope-a-dope strategy? If so it didn’t work against PSG.

In my mind I’ve backed Ole since he started, despite all the bad parts. This season – although Ed Woodward and the board bear responsibility for thinking they knew better than manager and coaches, never mind fans, and didn’t buy a right winger or a commanding and quick VVD-style centre back – large swathes of our performances have, far too often, been rank. One step forward and you can pretty much bet on one step back. Despite some fabulous highlights.

Personally I have reluctantly come to feel that Ole doesn’t really know what he’s doing. (Many have said this for ages, of course.) There are some good players in this squad. Bruno being the best of them. But we are seriously underperforming and woefully inconsistent. As the old cliché goes, you don’t know which United is going to turn up. Ole should know.

I would like a new manager, and I’m very sad to say that. Great legend at the club, very decent guy – but I do think he’s out of his depth.

Our over reliance on player quality instead of a proper tactical setup is unsustainable.

That first half performance was one of the worst I've ever seen. All sideway passes with little attempt to penetrate. It was LVG all over again. Everyone fixed to their positions, no one making off the ball runs....

Ole's response at half time was telling. He brought on the best player at the club. A like for like replacement, positionally. I think we roughly played the same before the equaliser came from a Henderson clearance. A goalkeeper fortuitously providing the penetration we lacked. Quite a shambles.

Great goal by Greenwood and Pogba though.

 

[croadyman]

Would best sum it up as dreadful first 55 but excellent last 40

 

[MoXoM]

Fantastic turnaround!

We are devastating on the counterattack.

Our league position suddenly looks more healthy.

I hope we'll start to see a resurgence in Pogba. I still think he has an important role to play at this club despite what others may think.

My only real concern is that we a totally reliant on Bruno. This is going to come back and bite us...

Anyway, c'mon United!!

 

[nokoya]

Why is it hard to understand that we are much better when our best player and talisman is on the pitch?

Because normal team should not depend on talisman only. Injured or suspension will kill the team.

Except we are abnormal team that depend on one individual skills.

 

[Maticmaker]

Yesterday was yet another nightmare start to a game, its like dreaming of drowning at sea, then waking up to find the lifeboat bearing down on you, to whisk you to safety and leaving you wondering what all the fuss was about.
We have some good players, some brilliant players, but as Bruno and Rashford demonstrated yesterday only one or two who can produce on demand. TBF Pogba played half decent all the way through, but only really came to life when Bruno and Rashford were on board. Greenwood yet again proved his worth, not just now but long term, shades of RVP once again fluttered across the pitch and if anyone can produce a top class recovering sliding tackle better than WBS yet to see it! As for Mata's pass to set up the third goal...'worth the entrance money alone' as someone once said.
However Ole has to get his 'mix right', allowing for injuries and fatigue, yes he does that, but the fact that he played Martial at all, when the lad is obviously out of form just now was a very poor, decision, made to look even worse when he took off Cavani and left Martial on?.

"Alls well that ends well"... so they say!

 

[90 + 5min]

What I also loved and shows that Solskjaer and staff don’t make panic decisions is sub for Martial. While people might think it took to much time, our staff did the right thing. Thought about what to do. And it paid of. Patience.

 

[90 + 5min]

Thoughts.....

Best I've seen from Telles today. If Shaw comes back in form, going to have to find a way to get them both on pitch at the same time.

I'll take a performance like that out of Pogba more often than not. Thought he was composed for decent portion of the match, great goal. The commentaters here stateside were so clearly anti-Pogba it became distracting.

Though McTominay was awful today, and compromised a lot of the team play. Poor play affected Pogba and VDBs ability to get into the match.

Wish we could have pulled Mata right after his wonder pass. Think there was surprise interest from club in Middle East, but everytime we put him out on the field his price tag has to be going down. He is really looking past it these days.

When was the last time we got a Maguire headed goal from a corner?? He was supposed to excel at that, is what I thought....

Really?!
What Mata did changed the game (with Fernandes and Rashford). Gave us stability, balance and shut down the corridor where WestHam were going through when we had Greenwood. His comitment was brilliant.

 

[The Urban Goose]

Our over reliance on player quality instead of a proper tactical setup is unsustainable.

This has got to be the most ridiculous development in the anti-Ole arguments ever.

Over-reliance on player quality is unsustainable! What do you think football is?

Do you see Barca, Bayern etc. reducing their player quality as having good players is unsustainable?

That Alex Ferguson, Christ he was a shite coach, he had to rely on players like Cantona, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo etc.

And as for Barca relying on Messi... jokers.

Feck me.

 

[Tom Cato]

West Ham has drawn 3-3 away to Tottenham, drawn 1-1 at home to Manchester City and beaten Leicester 3-0 away at King Power Stadium.

There is just no perspective here. Every time we're not playing lights out the opposing team is never afforded any type of respect, it's always the boys in red that are garbage.

This was a hard away game. West Ham being historically garbage doesn't matter in this season. In this season they have been playing very good football.

We come from a 3-1 defeat to PSG where even Michael Owen (TV punditry's biggest MUFC critic for some absurd reason) admits the team played very well, to a West Ham game where we finally did something we haven't been doing a lot recently: Took the opportunity and seized the day.

We've been playing some fantastic football this season. I am very happy with how things are looking this season. Yes there can be improvements, but you can only observe the now and the now makes me happy.

 

[Withnail]

Because normal team should not depend on talisman only. Injured or suspension will kill the team.

Except we are abnormal team that depend on one individual skills.

Cantona, Keane, Messi?

West Ham has drawn 3-3 away to Tottenham, drawn 1-1 at home to Manchester City and beaten Leicester 3-0 away at King Power Stadium.

There is just no perspective here. Every time we're not playing lights out the opposing team is never afforded any type of respect, it's always the boys in red that are garbage.

This was a hard away game. West Ham being historically garbage doesn't matter in this season. In this season they have been playing very good football.

We come from a 3-1 defeat to PSG where even Michael Owen (TV punditry's biggest MUFC critic for some absurd reason) admits the team played very well, to a West Ham game where we finally did something we haven't been doing a lot recently: Took the opportunity and seized the day.

We've been playing some fantastic football this season. I am very happy with how things are looking this season. Yes there can be improvements, but you can only observe the now and the now makes me happy.

First time we'd won at West Ham in 4 years wasn't it?

 

[Berbasbullet]

This has got to be the most ridiculous development in the anti-Ole arguments ever.

Over-reliance on player quality is unsustainable! What do you think football is?

Do you see Barca, Bayern etc. reducing their player quality as having good players is unsustainable?

That Alex Ferguson, Christ he was a shite coach, he had to rely on players like Cantona, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo etc.

And as for Barca relying on Messi... jokers.

Feck me.

Madness isn’t it, every team relies on individual quality, ridiculous to say they don’t.

Not to mention the manager picks the team, he picked Greenwood after he personally sought to develop him after selling Lukaku (which we all agreed was a risk), and last night he gets the winner, not really luck is it?

 

[lysglimt]

But isn't it the managers job to stop A through E happening?

Is it the managers job to prevent Pogba from having Covid ?
Is it the managers job to prevent us from having 1 weeks pre-season because of Covid ?
Is it the managers job to prevent Greenwood from having a friend commit suicide ?
Is it the managers job to prevent AWB from running off to Dubai ? Partially
Is it the managers job to prevent Maguire from ending up in a greek prison ? Pretty sure it's not
Martial - yes, he has to take some stick for that

 

[Tom Cato]

Cantona, Keane, Messi?


First time we'd won at West Ham in 4 years wasn't it?

Last time we beat West Ham away in the league was 02. January 2017.

Last time before THAT was 22 March 2014.

Then again April 2nd 2011.

This isn't some walkover game for us

 

[mitchmouse]

Well, that was bloody crazy... again! It's like watching two different bloody teams - talk about Jekyll and Hyde! But the truth of the matter is better teams won't let us off the hook. We could have been three down (maybe even four) at half time and that wouldn't have flattered West Ham. Heaven help us if Bruno gets injured because we are nothing without him - and almost nothing if he has a quiet game.

Can't help agreeing with Gary Neville: it's all very well coming from behind to win but there is something very wrong at the club. Might not be easy to put a finger on but I have to ask what Ole says to them before they go out for the first half - and I want to know if players know what they are supposed to be doing. I can't help thinking the problem is linked to tactics, shape (we so need a top top winger) and tempo.

The first half is among the very worse performance I have ever seen from a United team - and I saw us the season we went down and was there when Halifax (then in the their tier) beat us in a pre-season tournament in 1971.

Having watched Match of the day, and having Danny Murphy highlight Pogba's work, I have to say that he did play better than it appeared live, although I still can't help thinking that the likes of Roy Keane would have dominated their midfield for 90 minutes - for Pogba will never be that box-to-box player every top team has but he did look better playing a bit deeper. I still thing there are better bets out there and if someone offered me good money for him and we got Grealish instead I'd be happy.

Am hearing now that Cavani was carrying an injury - I hope that's why he was replaced because it seemed an odd move (even if it paid off in the long run). He was the only way doing anything up front in the first half. Of course Bruno made a huge difference and Greewood benefitted from plyaing where he plays best (and should play if Cavani does not). But for me the change that rally changed things was Mata for Martial, who once again was awful. everyone here used to laugh at Lukaku's first touch - to me, Martial's is often worse and does not have the goals to even things out. Mata kept the ball as well as Bruno and that's what really changed things. Both were comfortable in possession and could pick a pass: I never doubted from the moment the ball left Mata's foot that it was going to free Rashford.

Have to admit, having backed him to be first choice keeper, Deano appeared very nervous in the first half and his positioning looked off - check out West Ham's disallowed goal. But, like the team in general, he had a very solid second half. I thought Maguire and - even more so - Lindelof had good games. In fact, at one stage the CBs' passing was better than anyone further up the field.

Scotty McT looked more comfortable along side Pogba than he does

 

[superdry]

Two turning points then...

Oh oh the turning point police are in town.

 

[MetoTTT]

Is it the managers job to prevent Pogba from having Covid ?
Is it the managers job to prevent us from having 1 weeks pre-season because of Covid ?
Is it the managers job to prevent Greenwood from having a friend commit suicide ?
Is it the managers job to prevent AWB from running off to Dubai ? Partially
Is it the managers job to prevent Maguire from ending up in a greek prison ? Pretty sure it's not
Martial - yes, he has to take some stick for that

Come on! We're really lucky with injuries/Covid for now compared to some other teams tbh. So what's the point? The pre-season...well it's the same for evreybody. But can you tell me Ole's way to play, the players he brought to the next level and coaching who won us games and you can see a team who will win again, please?
The league is really open this season. That reminds me Leicester title. But I can't see this team win it unfortunately (hope I'm wrong).
And yes, some teams with all the key players available are still far better.

 

[crossy1686]

Did you watch the first half performance? The team play awfull, we are very lucky to conceded one. Second half we play a lot better after Bruno and Rashford came in.

Did you watch the second half performance? We were great, scored three goals, West Ham couldn’t live with us. They were very lucky to only concede three.

 

[crossy1686]

We were blessed that Haller(?) slipped after he rounded Henderson. Would've been game over then.

He was offside anyway?

 

[lex talionis]

It’s not just the last two matches where Dr. Jekyll came out in the first half and then gave way to Mr. Hyde in the second half. We can’t expect peak performance over 90 or even 75 minutes, but we do need to stop digging such a deep hole for ourselves. We were lucky West Ham bungled a couple of other glorious chances in the first half. I don’t have the answer to our inconsistency, but I have to believe the coaching staff are aware of it and are hopefully consulting sports psychologists on how to deliver more consistency from the players.

 

[MetoTTT]

Did you watch the second half performance? We were great, scored three goals, West Ham couldn’t live with us. They were very lucky to only concede three.

True but we were lucky to not concede 3 before that.

 

[Nik70]

Yesterday was yet another nightmare start to a game, its like dreaming of drowning at sea, then waking up to find the lifeboat bearing down on you, to whisk you to safety and leaving you wondering what all the fuss was about.
We have some good players, some brilliant players, but as Bruno and Rashford demonstrated yesterday only one or two who can produce on demand. TBF Pogba played half decent all the way through, but only really came to life when Bruno and Rashford were on board. Greenwood yet again proved his worth, not just now but long term, shades of RVP once again fluttered across the pitch and if anyone can produce a top class recovering sliding tackle better than WBS yet to see it! As for Mata's pass to set up the third goal...'worth the entrance money alone' as someone once said.
However Ole has to get his 'mix right', allowing for injuries and fatigue, yes he does that, but the fact that he played Martial at all, when the lad is obviously out of form just now was a very poor, decision, made to look even worse when he took off Cavani and left Martial on?.

"Alls well that ends well"... so they say!

I'm an Ole fan and think he should be given more time but the decision to stick with Martial when he is on a run of woeful form is just baffling to me.

 

[Nik70]

He was offside anyway?

I thought so. If he scored it probably would have been overturned.

 

[Shane88]

He was offside anyway?

I don't think so? He looked level to me. Could've been given, maybe not. Who knows with VAR.

 

[Red00012]

Thoughts.....

Best I've seen from Telles today. If Shaw comes back in form, going to have to find a way to get them both on pitch at the same time.

I'll take a performance like that out of Pogba more often than not. Thought he was composed for decent portion of the match, great goal. The commentaters here stateside were so clearly anti-Pogba it became distracting.

Though McTominay was awful today, and compromised a lot of the team play. Poor play affected Pogba and VDBs ability to get into the match.

Wish we could have pulled Mata right after his wonder pass. Think there was surprise interest from club in Middle East, but everytime we put him out on the field his price tag has to be going down. He is really looking past it these days.

When was the last time we got a Maguire headed goal from a corner?? He was supposed to excel at that, is what I thought....

Newcastle away, a month ago

 

[crossy1686]

I don't think so? He looked level to me. Could've been given, maybe not. Who knows with VAR.

From the still they showed it looked like his leading arm was off to me but I’d have to see it again

 

[gerdm07]

I just had a chance to watch the whole match and after reading the comments here I'm surprised. I read that we were abysmal for 60 minutes and then won it in the 15 minutes. Well I thought we were the far better team the first 25 minutes of the match. There was quick passing, good decisions and the only thing missing was a good chance. The only players not playing well were Martial and McT. Granted, the last 15 of the half were really bad and we could have been 2 down. I'm seeing a quick-passing style of play emerge and believe we will see it more and more. These are exciting times!

- Martial should have gotten a head on the cross from which they scored. He either miss judged it or didn't try very hard.
- Greenwood is back as he looked sharp today and vs PSG. What a goal.
- The pass from Bruno to Rashford that he missed was a much better pass then Mata to Rashford for the goal. Those kinds of plays will get you in the conversation for Ballon d'Or....and get Real Madrid and Barca sniffing around.
- I think we should start Rashford, Cavani and Greenwood on Tuesday and this could be a devastating front 3. We need to move away from Martial until he gets his head on straight.
- Pogba played well except for a few moments of carelessness. I'm far more confident when we have the ball when he is part of the DMs. It will be interesting to see if he starts on Tuesday. I don't think he will but he will come on to provide impetus or come on to see the match out.
- Henderson played well and I especially liked how he was aggressive coming off his line. I think DeGea has become to shy about this and relies on his feet to often.

 

[YAMS49]

Oh oh the turning point police are in town.

Turning points.

 

[utdalltheway]

?

We've played 10 games as of today. Tomorrow Spurs play Arsenal, which will be their 11th game. Do we not have a game in hand?

We’ll have a game in hand over Spurs in a bit. Need Arsenal to do something big to keep it to 2 pts though.

 

[Falcow]

really?

Name another player on our team who has more trophies

Cavani

 

[NinjaZombie]

This has got to be the most ridiculous development in the anti-Ole arguments ever.

Over-reliance on player quality is unsustainable! What do you think football is?

Do you see Barca, Bayern etc. reducing their player quality as having good players is unsustainable?

That Alex Ferguson, Christ he was a shite coach, he had to rely on players like Cantona, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo etc.

And as for Barca relying on Messi... jokers.

Feck me.

Well, if it's simply a matter of having better players, we shouldn't be losing to the likes of Crystal Palace.

I never said teams should be getting rid of their quality players. My point is, if you don't have a good set up and are over relying on certain players, that's not a situation that is sustainable.

We're a long term injury to Bruno away from trouble unless Ole can cajole more out of the rest of the side.

The difference between how we played in the first half and the second half yesterday was worrying, considering Ole had to bring Rashford and Bruno on.

i want Ole to succeed as much as the next guy but there are signs that hint that he can't be that I can't ignore.

One thing to say though, Woodward needs to get the players Ole wants. His signings have mostly been top notch.

You've got me wrong, I'm not adamantly Ole out. It's a mixture of conflicted feelings because I can't ignore the bad performances and what I perceive to be bad decisions made by Ole so far.

 

[SirMattlives]

I think we have a good manager who is the right fit for club atm, and some good players with grit. What we possibly need is for Ole to hire a Head Coach who can raise the technical ability of the side.

Exactly. Ole’s understanding of the club and what it’s like to have a winning mentality in that dressing room is important, and should not be dismissed as irrelevant. However, it’s insufficient without top-level technical coaching staff and I am not really convinced the current crew has enough of that. Nevertheless, I’m still hopeful that we’re on the right track, albeit slowly.