[Jeffthered]

A job done, against a pretty poor but admirable Div 1 outfit. Not sure how much credit anyone can take from this.

I do worry about Rasmus, just in terms of natural talent and quality. But he can improve, again, with good coaching. For example, I think Rasmus is on same level as Nunez at Liverpool, but you wouldn't think so. You have to get the best out of players.

Garnacho is easily our best forward right now. Tells us much about the club, and quality of our coaching,

 

[Wheato]

Honestly quite concerning to come away from that with a goal from a fullback and a dodgy penalty. A wasted opportunity for the forwards to get a bit of confidence. It doesn't bode well for the upcoming league fixtures. We are not a lot of fun to watch these days.

Positives were Garnacho and Mainoo.

Forgetting that Wigan had 10 players camped infront of their goal for every shot we had. Many shots were deflected away for corners, but with a bit of luck they could quite easily fly in the net. We also hit the cross bar twice, and their goalie made at least 3 top saves.

 

[Ibrahimorich]

That was rubbish and uninspiring. Rashford greedy and ineffective. Terrible finishing all round apart from Dalot.

This was a chance to build some confidence with a big win and we failed to impress. Still, at least we didn't lose.

 

[Plant0x84]

A professional job in the end. Result and progression to the next round was the most important thing, and they achieved it. We had so many wasted chances, Onana was largely redundant (bar one save early on) and it was far from an entertaining performance. Satisfactory however.

 

[AndyMUFC]

Dominant, I knew we wouldn’t make it that easy for ourselves going in because our forward players are dogshit in front of goal and you can see why we struggle against decent opposition l but it was job done.

On the plus said I’m really liking what I’m seeing from Garnacho on the right.

 

[ElCuddlos]

How does Rashford make the wrong decision every time? The amount of times he just shoots point blank into a defenders shins is ridiculous.

 

[Cult of Personality]

It reminded me of the Chelsea game.

United created more chances and missed 3-4 big ones, but still looked vulnerable defensively at times. Wigan missed 2 big chances in the 1st half.

Team still get shots off way too easily vs this United team. Wigan had 9 shots. 10+ is a regular thing vs United.

Wigan started with four 20 year olds and two 21 years olds. Mainoo is used to playing vs this type of team in The EFL Trophy.

Some fans think ten Hag has been unlucky with injuries. Well, he's certainly getting his luck in terms of cup draws. It took almost 18 months for him to play an away tie. And when he does, it's League One Wigan. Next up is either a League Two or National League opponent.

 

[Wheato]

Garnacho on the right does work. Much better than Anthony. Yes, he wants to cut in and shoot, but he also can take it to the byline and cross. And on occasions he turned up in the middle. I think we might have solved our right hand side.

Kobbie Mainoo is just quality. He was just taking the ball off them for fun. He was stronger, quicker and just better than anyone else in that area of the pitch. And he is only 18. Imagine what a player he will be in his twenties.

Bruno was all over the pitch, closing down, making runs, making things happen. I thought he played well.

Johnny Evans again giving a very assured performance at the back. Why we ever let him go is a mystery? We wasted money on Blind, Rojo, Bailley and Maguire when he was better than them all along. Glad he got a year extension, because if anyone gets injured again next season, he can slot right in there and do all the right things.

I also thought Sam Tickle was decent, we should keep tabs on him.

 

[Wheato]

How does Rashford make the wrong decision every time? The amount of times he just shoots point blank into a defenders shins is ridiculous.

You could tell in the first minute of the game that he wasn't bothered tonight. When he does that stopping the ball dead thing, then rolls it backwards to the full back, but doesn't move or run into space for a return pass. Against a better side, he would have not had any shots tonight, or touches in the box. Especially when he's ducking out of 50/50 challenges. Walker or Trippier would have him for breakfast.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

Name on the trophy!

 

[Offside]

United were good until the final third where I’ve never seen us so bad. Rashford and Fernandes are the main problem at the moment. Garnacho playing well. The fact Hojlund is our main striker is laughable. Don’t want us to panic buy another short term option but we may be forced to.

 

[JediSith]

Should have been 4-5. Hojland for once had several chances and can only look at himself. Was unlucky with the header that hit the post, can argue unlucky with the shot that hit off him. But a striker has knack of getting lucky and that’s what he needs to find with the type of chances playing for crap team.

Rashford really we should just cash in on him. Save the wages, get £60-80m.

Mainoo is looking more and more class. Makes everything look so effortless. Can’t even tell what type of CDM he’ll evolve into because he has so much in his locker. But love how composed he is.

 

[Cult of Personality]

Garnacho on the right does work. Much better than Anthony. Yes, he wants to cut in and shoot, but he also can take it to the byline and cross. And on occasions he turned up in the middle. I think we might have solved our right hand side.

Kobbie Mainoo is just quality. He was just taking the ball off them for fun. He was stronger, quicker and just better than anyone else in that area of the pitch. And he is only 18. Imagine what a player he will be in his twenties.

Bruno was all over the pitch, closing down, making runs, making things happen. I thought he played well.

Johnny Evans again giving a very assured performance at the back. Why we ever let him go is a mystery? We wasted money on Blind, Rojo, Bailley and Maguire when he was better than them all along. Glad he got a year extension, because if anyone gets injured again next season, he can slot right in there and do all the right things.

I also thought Sam Tickle was decent, we should keep tabs on him.

Bruno is an enigma. Some people love this about him. Others hate it.

It was a decent performance vs a League One team battling relegation. Nothing more.

His passing accuracy was actually good by his standards. 88%.

But look at the deficiencies in his performance:

Crosses - 4/12 completed (33.3%)
Long balls - 1/3 completed (33.3%)
Dribbles - 0/1 completed
Shots - 2/5 on target (40%)
Ground duels - 2/9 won (22.2%)
Tackles won - 0/1
Dribbled past - 3 times

Yet... he won a penalty (harsh) and created 2 big chances. He's an agent of chaos.

 

[SirMattBugsby]

I seem to have accepted us as a spent force now, because I didn't find this (admittedly) average performance as frustrating as others on here did.

Rashford was marginally better than what he was earlier in the season. Hojlund is low on confidence. The midfield problem remains: at times Mainoo was the only one holding his position on the pitch.

We're an above average PL side now. Unless the ownership takes a more ambitious direction or a truly special manager arrives, that's what we'll be.

 

[lex talionis]

Job done, but far from an impressive performance. We e got a long way to go before we can excited about what this squad is capable of.

 

[Alek M]

Rashford needs to stop being greedy and cross the fecking ball!!!
Hojlund lad, be more alert or find a witch that will exorcise your demons
Dalot has been having some nice shots and goals. He is flourishing under eth
Johny Evans is class
Mainoo is classss

Why this wasn’t 5-0???

 

[Plant0x84]

Ally Mcoist......
Latest member of the ABU club
He watched a different game to most of us.

Disagree. He was keen to give the ‘little club’ credit for not getting overrun, and I think he could have acknowledged that Bruno might have been in pain due to the contact in the box rather than asserting it wasn’t enough to go down, but generally he was not only balanced but correct. We should have been far more clinical, we wasted plenty of chances, the performance was bad and the result was a poor one in the circumstances.

 

[Plant0x84]

Job done, but far from an impressive performance. We e got a long way to go before we can excited about what this squad is capable of.

I don’t think we will ever be excited about this squad. Individual players sure, but the collective is an incoherent mismash of several previous managers players and expensive has beens which needs serious work.

 

[ken11]

We beat the defending champs!

(from 2013...)

 

[Pscholes18]

Nice win but feck this team is God awful in the box.

 

[Gator Nate]

33 attempts. 14 on target and only 2 goals. One being a penalty. Wish players would stop coming out saying the goals will come. ETH as been saying that all season and yet they still haven’t come. We couldn’t score in an empty net.

This is approximately what I came to say. I don't know what's wrong with our scoring attempts, but my goodness... 2 goals for 14 shots on target?

Thing is, I never thought we were threatened by that squad. Even when they did get into the final third, we cleared easily almost every time. Onana only had two saves, and neither was anyting spectacular, nor did it have to be. Never felt like we shifted out of first gear, for better or worse.

I still want to see Garnacho-Hojlund-Amad (or Pellistri) up front for a start. Bruno behind, with Casemiro and Mainoo in support. Shaw back on the left and Dalot back on the right. Martinez paired with either Varanne or Maguire. That should be solid enough for anything and maybe start breaking through with goals.

 

[wormdoktor]

Lots of folks taking the usual opportunity to slag Rashford tonight. I must have been watching a different match, I thought he looked brighter and more positive than I've seen him in a long while. OK it was a league 1 defence, but he was running at the defence and making a nuisance of himself (in a positive way) more so than our other attackers to my eye. In objective terms, WhoScored have him performing at least as well as Garnacho who has received way more plaudits on here this evening.

 

[Sea-Cow]

We should have had a few more goals tonight but finished really poorly.

Garnacho played really right but it must be really difficult for him playing in a front 3 with one of the worst Centre Forwards in the Premier League and a wasteful (and often lazy) Rashford on the other side.

Is this real? Did I miss the white text?

 

[RedinIndia]

A win is a win. It's a start. No use reading into this. Wigan were always going to make it difficult and park the bus

 

[lex talionis]

I don’t think we will ever be excited about this squad. Individual players sure, but the collective is an incoherent mismash of several previous managers players and expensive has beens which needs serious work.

Agreed. We have hash of players who fit differing styles of play. Take Bruno, who’s a very talented footballer and is perfect for Ole and maybe even a manager like Big Sam, but who in no way fits what at least we think ten Hag is trying to build. Take Onana, a brilliant playing keeper but doesn’t have the teammates to leverage his elite footwork. Take Hojlund, who can be molded into something special but isn’t suited to ten Hag’s inverted winger philosophy. It’s as though we’re playing with 10 players plus a striker mostly watching the game.

 

[niima]

Do not forget Wigan's level at the moment

 

[mu4c_20le]

Is this real? Did I miss the white text?

I checked out of curiosity and it's true. Only William Osula is statistically worse.

https://www.footballcritic.com/prem...4/player-stats/strikers/scoring/goals/2/68731

 

[daba]

A job done, against a pretty poor but admirable Div 1 outfit. Not sure how much credit anyone can take from this.

I do worry about Rasmus, just in terms of natural talent and quality. But he can improve, again, with good coaching. For example, I think Rasmus is on same level as Nunez at Liverpool, but you wouldn't think so. You have to get the best out of players.

Garnacho is easily our best forward right now. Tells us much about the club, and quality of our coaching,

Nunez is 24 and has played considerably more senior football than Rasmus, first of all. At his age Nunez was either still in South America or at best was playing in the Spanish second division. Hojlund at the same age is playing in the most competitive league in the world for the biggest club in the country with little support.

He will come good but the lad is playing in a disfunctional, injury-blighted team and doesn’t have Salah to bail him out if he misses a chance or Trent feeding him crosses on a plate every game. I genuinely don’t think Osimhen would have more than 10 goals this season if he had signed him instead.

 

[Reducation]

That was an embarrassing dive to get the penalty.

 

[DJ_21]

This is approximately what I came to say. I don't know what's wrong with our scoring attempts, but my goodness... 2 goals for 14 shots on target?

Thing is, I never thought we were threatened by that squad. Even when they did get into the final third, we cleared easily almost every time. Onana only had two saves, and neither was anyting spectacular, nor did it have to be. Never felt like we shifted out of first gear, for better or worse.

I still want to see Garnacho-Hojlund-Amad (or Pellistri) up front for a start. Bruno behind, with Casemiro and Mainoo in support. Shaw back on the left and Dalot back on the right. Martinez paired with either Varanne or Maguire. That should be solid enough for anything and maybe start breaking through with goals.

Ye I’d go with that aswell. That’s a young fluid front 3 who are all unselfish. Which should make us score more goals.

 

[NICanRed]

I keep being reminded that it's a contact sport and accept that up to a certain extent but sending on a thug (Mc Manaman?) to exact some revenge is just unacceptable to me. It seemed to me that his mandate was to teach the young kids a lesson. I think Roy would have dealt with him!!

 

[utdalltheway]

On another day we would have scored 4 or more.
Oh well, on to the next round.

 

[manichester]

Agreed. The question is who do we start on the left if Garnacho is on the right. Rashford is poor and shouldn’t play again.

Rashford is not helped by this formation of pushing the fullback into midfield, he is always double marked and rarely anyone overlaps to create any space. We are wide open down our flanks to counter attacks, we need to play midfielders in midfield not this hybrid system.

 

[Jeffthered]

Nunez is 24 and has played considerably more senior football than Rasmus, first of all. At his age Nunez was either still in South America or at best was playing in the Spanish second division. Hojlund at the same age is playing in the most competitive league in the world for the biggest club in the country with little support.

He will come good but the lad is playing in a disfunctional, injury-blighted team and doesn’t have Salah to bail him out if he misses a chance or Trent feeding him crosses on a plate every game. I genuinely don’t think Osimhen would have more than 10 goals this season if he had signed him instead.

I take your point, the pressure on him is both immense and unfair. But ability is ability, and I do hope you are not suggesting that in four years Rasmus Hojlund will be as good as Darwin Nunez. I would hope he would be looking to achieve far more than that.

 

[DJ_21]

Rashford is not helped by this formation of pushing the fullback into midfield, he is always double marked and rarely anyone overlaps to create any space. We are wide open down our flanks to counter attacks, we need to play midfielders in midfield not this hybrid system.

Ye but even when Rashfords 1 on 1 he doesn’t even look to take the defender on anymore. He stands still on the ball and looks for a pass then passes it without moving. If i remember correctly weren’t our FB very wide last season and the wingers came inside so we used the FBs for width. I thought that worked much better. When the winger comes inside it makes there FBs come inside to mark them which leaves space out wide for our FB to exploit.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Routine win against a league one team. There's nothing to take from it, good or bad

 

[Okey]

That wasn't pretty was it? Especially in attack. Anyways, I'll take the next round. Got to be several degrees better on Sunday.

 

[Zed 101]

all the cutting edge of a butter knife.... feel like we are going back to how it was under LVG lots of possession and almost no bite

 

[brewers]

Does anyone really think crashford was good , He struggled against bottom half league one , Build the team around martinez ,mainoo and garna .

 

[Longshanks]

Forgetting that Wigan had 10 players camped infront of their goal for every shot we had. Many shots were deflected away for corners, but with a bit of luck they could quite easily fly in the net. We also hit the cross bar twice, and their goalie made at least 3 top saves.

Forgetting that Wigan are a league one side and we shouldn't be needing a bit of luck to create genuine chances against them. Most of our chances came from blocked shits or saved shots happy accidents rather than crafting any chances.

Worrying.