We have a uncanny ability of making really ordinary teams look well drilled. All the talk in the tabloids is of Wolves victory at old Trafford and Lage outwitting RR. In truth it was a very poor and wasteful team against a very poor group of footballers wearing the same red shirt. When you watch the game back after seeing Chelsea Pool match the other night- Jesus we are poor.
PL L FA Premier League
Manchester United 0:1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Post-match discussion
Mon, 03 January 2022
Numerous times last night I was watching Jones or varane on the ball and there was a huge gaping hole in the middle of the pitch where 2 midfielders should be.
We are absent in the middle of midfield.
We have been for years.
Just buy someone or tell someone to sit in there. It’s not hard …………
This is why the we don’t control games. There is never anyone there where they should be……
We are absent in the middle of midfield.
We have been for years.
Just buy someone or tell someone to sit in there. It’s not hard …………
This is why the we don’t control games. There is never anyone there where they should be……
An uncompetitive midfield that is dominated most games, just confirms that the McFred duo or either one of them just aren’t up to the standard needed in at the minimum top 10 teams in the EPL.
McTominlay gets run past by almost every other midfielder, and apart from the odd decent long shot, he offers not much. Passing is haphazard and we wondered why the players on front of him make so little 8mpact.
Get a stronger midfield before we can contemplate competing with the top 4, no sense in denying the obvious. At the same time the midfield doesn’t provide much cover to the back 4, oh well it is what it is.
McTominlay gets run past by almost every other midfielder, and apart from the odd decent long shot, he offers not much. Passing is haphazard and we wondered why the players on front of him make so little 8mpact.
Get a stronger midfield before we can contemplate competing with the top 4, no sense in denying the obvious. At the same time the midfield doesn’t provide much cover to the back 4, oh well it is what it is.
Agreed. Wolves did not have a great game - they kept making poor and hasty decisions with the ball, or executing them badly, often giving the ball away in favorable positions. And such toothless finishing, on the relatively few occasions where they created genuine chances. 19 shots and an xG below 1. The fact they scored seemed somehow lucky and likely at the same time. Lucky because of how ineffective they were, and likely because of the amount of opportunities we were handing them. I thought they were better in our first meeting (which they also would have deserved to win).
Chelsea-Pool. The distance from this to the sort of level on display there is almost too depressing to think about.
I've said it before, we don't really have any players who are good on the ball.
Look at Neves and Moutinho, both are very cultured and classy passers. We have nobody. I'd say the only player who is good on the ball is Luke Shaw...... Maybe Matic at a push but he can barely move.
It's been the same for years. Last good "Footballer" we had was probably Carrick. Pathetic really.
Look at Neves and Moutinho, both are very cultured and classy passers. We have nobody. I'd say the only player who is good on the ball is Luke Shaw...... Maybe Matic at a push but he can barely move.
It's been the same for years. Last good "Footballer" we had was probably Carrick. Pathetic really.
Varane going from Kroos and Modric to this must be quite the adjustment.
100%.
Same for Ronaldo upfront. He's making runs off the ball but we have nobody with the vision or ability to hit him.
Because he kicked the ball out of play. Also, Singled Out? I mentioned other players in the same sentence
Two stalwarts of the Fergie days De Gea and Jones, kept the flag flying at least for a while.
Wolves no 10 had more energy in his left leg than half our team together... he was like the Duracell bunny and he 'burned us up' something shocking!
Did we ever, at any point, look like winning that match?
Time for the 'Tommy Doc treatment' Ralf, go 'down to the wood', clear out the dressing room, of those who don't want to be there, those who cannot be ar**d and those who only want to whinge and blame everyone else; promote the kids and then buy in from scratch.... could we really do much worse?
We will all have to hold our noses till the end of the season.
Wolves no 10 had more energy in his left leg than half our team together... he was like the Duracell bunny and he 'burned us up' something shocking!
Did we ever, at any point, look like winning that match?
Time for the 'Tommy Doc treatment' Ralf, go 'down to the wood', clear out the dressing room, of those who don't want to be there, those who cannot be ar**d and those who only want to whinge and blame everyone else; promote the kids and then buy in from scratch.... could we really do much worse?
We will all have to hold our noses till the end of the season.
Completely agree with you.
The culture is all wrong and has to be improved. And it has to be improved from top to bottom.
That is going to take proper leadership.
I have to think that is we played a load of youngsters we would have at least seen something more, our players need a reset not sure how that will happen
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I’ve said this numerous times and have to keep saying it. Our current problem is Ronaldo’s gametime. He plays too much for a team not built well enough to support him.
our strength the last 3 years has come from all our attackers chipping in but with Ronaldo everyone must pass and support his individualistic goals. Rashford, Martial and Greenwood was the last best spell the club had. We still have these players and have to go back to them till the end of the season where we can plan much better for the future.
nobody wants to admit this because they currently dislike both Martial and Rashford but it’s for the best. Ronaldo’s individualism and pressure is killing our performances. His goals do not make up for his inability to pass the ball well or bringing others into the game. The rate at which he was scoring has dried up and we are now suffering for it. It’s even worse when you realize the only way he can score nowadays is through a header rather than how versatile he was years ago.
our strength the last 3 years has come from all our attackers chipping in but with Ronaldo everyone must pass and support his individualistic goals. Rashford, Martial and Greenwood was the last best spell the club had. We still have these players and have to go back to them till the end of the season where we can plan much better for the future.
nobody wants to admit this because they currently dislike both Martial and Rashford but it’s for the best. Ronaldo’s individualism and pressure is killing our performances. His goals do not make up for his inability to pass the ball well or bringing others into the game. The rate at which he was scoring has dried up and we are now suffering for it. It’s even worse when you realize the only way he can score nowadays is through a header rather than how versatile he was years ago.
More than likely be the same next season mate.
I totally agree. Our players, in the main, are prima donnas with inflated wages to match their inflated egos.
Agree 100%. We’re a merchandising company that occasionally kicks a ball on a patch of grass.
We USED to be a football club…..
That is embarrassing, disgusting and terrifying in equal measures!
If they are that uneducated that they had not heard of him it says a lot about them.
They seriously look a depressed group bar Phil and Matic
Literally. By half time I knew we were gonna lose. It was so obvious.
I know it's easy to get carried away by some of these pictures that were snapped at exactly the right time and can be somewhat misleading, but imagine being paid an asinine amount of money every week playing for United and walking out looking like that. Fecking hell.
I guess we should be grateful he didn't get injured on the way down!
I only say the last 35-40 mins (which, it seems was my good fortune) but boy were we awful. We can't pass, we can't keep possession and we can't make the right choice about passing or shooting. Other than that, everything is fine
I thought once ole left we would see the last of playing 2 holding midfielders at home games against mid table sides, I was wrong as ralf is doing same old rubbish.
Could not agree with you more...we are a team without a midfield thats anywhere near what a top team must include...in all honesty how many of our midfielders would get into the top PL teams? One could also argue that Wolves, Southampton and others have a better midfield unit than us...Neves and Moutinho bossed us of the park in the first half yesterday. Out with Fred (120 k per week),Pogba (290 k ppw),Matic(120 k ppw),Van de Beek (120 k ppw) Mata (160 k ppw), Lingard (75 k ppw) as they are not and will not be good enough for United...McTominey yesterday was dreadful and perhaps deserves to be in that group but at least he can put in a shift...even though that should not be enough for a United midfielder. We can not pass the fecking ball and we must simply bring in midfielders that can play NOW.
We also have:
Ronaldo 510 k pw
Sancho 350 k pw
Varane 350 k pw
De Gea 375 k pw
Cavani 250 k pw
Martial 250 k pw
Rashford 200 k pw
Maguire 190 k pw
My conclusion is that we simply have the worst return on player investments in modern football. How the feck can such a poor team being paid like they are world beaters? How many of those come close to justifying their salaries? How many of those players would get a contract like that at other "elite" clubs? How many of them would get into another top team?
When looking at what good players are paid at other clubs it makes a staggering comparison. Apart from perhaps Bale, Hazard and Aubameyang the rest give you your money´s worth in back by their performances. That can hardly be said about many our players at United.
Man City:
De Bruyne 400 k pw
Grealish 300 k pw
Sterling 300 k pw
Stones 250 k pw
Silva 150 k pw
Gundogan 140 k pw
Liverpool:
Salah 200 k pw
Mane 100 k pw
Van Dijk 200 k pw
Henderson 140 k pw
Chelsea:
Kante 290 k pw
Kovacic 150 k pw
Rudiger 100 k pw
Jorghinio 110 k pw
Spurs:
Kane 200 k pw
Son 140 k pw
Arsenal:
Aubameyang 250 k pw
Partey 200 k pw
Lacazette 180 k pw
Bayern:
Lewandowski 330 k pw
Neuer 300 k pw
Kimmich 300 k pw
Muller 300 k pw
Sane 280 k
Hernandez 200 k pw
Goretzka 200 k pw
Upamecano 130 k pw
Coman 130 k pw
Real:
Bale 530 k pw
Hazard 380 k pw
Alaba 360 k pw
Kroos 300 k pw
Modric 275 k pw
Benzema 275 k pw
Courtois 250 k pw
Casemiro 180 k pw
Vinicius 180 k pw
What I have observed is pressing by the opposition is our main problem. We are rattled by pressing from opposition teams, and tend to mis-pass, more often than not. We need to learn to keep cool in pressing situations.
Yeah, if it's taken a couple of seconds earlier/later, maybe it doesn't tell the same story. But nevertheless, the image literally captures the mood.
Pink Floyd wrote an album called ‘Wish you were here’. This was all about how they had worked for years to be rich and famous and now that they were rich and famous, what was there to do? This seems to apply to most of our players, except some haven’t worked hard for years. United have a habit of turning talent into crap. Depay was a good example, DiMaria, Veron the list is long.
This group of players seem to be in a trance. Slumped shoulders, puzzled looks, no smiling, throwing their arms up. What happened to enjoying the game? They have the talent. We beat Leeds 5-1 a few months ago, now they could beat an egg. Dunno why.
This group of players seem to be in a trance. Slumped shoulders, puzzled looks, no smiling, throwing their arms up. What happened to enjoying the game? They have the talent. We beat Leeds 5-1 a few months ago, now they could beat an egg. Dunno why.
Horrible day.
I went to the player of the match and thought putting in Phil Jones would be a rarity. Nope over 70%. Can you imagine a player that's not played in 2 years, a relatively average defender at that, coming into a game out of literally nowhere and being the man of the match for Manchester United. What the feck is going on?
Again we made the other team look like prime Barcelona, passing around fluidly, keeping the ball consistently, literally skipping to the edge our box without much concern for shots, passes, crosses. Looked like a testimonial game ffs.
I went to the player of the match and thought putting in Phil Jones would be a rarity. Nope over 70%. Can you imagine a player that's not played in 2 years, a relatively average defender at that, coming into a game out of literally nowhere and being the man of the match for Manchester United. What the feck is going on?
Again we made the other team look like prime Barcelona, passing around fluidly, keeping the ball consistently, literally skipping to the edge our box without much concern for shots, passes, crosses. Looked like a testimonial game ffs.
RR in the post match did said he believe the players put in the effort and tries. It seems some of our players are just too limited or unable to play what RR wanted.
RR post match 1:48 of the interview.
Shaw did mentioned post match that he felt the players not out there together too. Looking at the match again, it just seems some players are more up to speed and some are less so and end up looking so disjointed.
RR post match 1:48 of the interview.
Shaw did mentioned post match that he felt the players not out there together too. Looking at the match again, it just seems some players are more up to speed and some are less so and end up looking so disjointed.
Agree with all that pal, but how do we put it right? we will never be able to offload these pampered prima donnas cos of the ridiculous wages they are on. Get em stacking shelves at Morrisons for £10 per hour and realise how lucky priviledged and spoilt they are at the moment. Total disgrace to the shirt, the badge, the fans and the club!
This makes grim reading. I heartily agree we should shift the likes of Pogba, Martial, Fred, Lingard, Cavani and Id include Mata and Rashford too; Mata was a very good signing but he cant even get on the bench now, although he'd be no worse than any of the others. We need to look at restructuring wages and not just throw dosh at a player in order to sign him; a player must want to play for Manchester United and not simply come for big bucks. We have some very talented players, but Ronaldo at 36 is not for the long term, but Id like him to see him as captain for the rest of this season, I really think he could do a good job. Rashford, like his hero Pogba, is too inconsistent and seems more interested in playing politics than playing football.
We will need to have a proven manager whom we fully trust, and let him rebuild the whole squad, for another couple of years. I guess that’s the only way. We are basically back to zero.
If we look back at Ole time, players like Maguire (slow, not suit to play high def line), Sancho (not suit to play as fast wing forward in counter attack), VDB etc, perhaps should never be bought, as they didn’t fit in Ole approach at all. And that’s nearly 200m of our transfer budget wasted.
But now we will have to look forward to new manager. It’s tricky because Rangnick wouldn’t stay as manager beyond this season, should we implement his system, then maybe we should go for manager with similar style to him (or Klopp, Tuchel) in summer.
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Mata is on 160k/week???
WTF!!!
WTF!!!
Who, apart from Ronaldo, has won "shit loads of trophies" at United?
Wow! I just cannot comprehend the football that we play. It is definitely tier 2 tier 3 football. These players are either in denial with the way the club is run or they do not compare about the club. Regardless of the formation and tactics, I think a bunch of professionals will fight to at least keep the ball for a few passes. This is shambolic and honestly not worth even being in the Premier League. What a waste! I just cannot understand how the great United hasn't brought forward a good holding midfielder yet. Our midfielders are just useless, I will definitely not exclude Bruno because he is only about the Hollywood passes, the guy loses the ball more often than any other player on the pitch. Frankly I'm tired of waiting for an improvement. I think we need an overhaul of the squad.
Varane, but apart from that some have won one title, DDG and Jones, some have won lesser trophies but some have won naff all and are likely the bloody loudest.
Sorry if this has already been posted, but I just found it to be a funny/depressing stat:
Man Utd defender Phil Jones won possession in the attacking third for Manchester United as many times as Cristiano Ronaldo, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho, Edinson Cavani, Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic combined.
Man Utd defender Phil Jones won possession in the attacking third for Manchester United as many times as Cristiano Ronaldo, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho, Edinson Cavani, Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic combined.
I have got to say that in my 20+ years of following United, this is absolute rock bottom for me. We have struggled before but it always seemed like if we got different players and/or a different manager in, we could turn things around. We've signed so many players and gone through so many mangers at this point that I just don't see any hope.
Watching the matches and following club football in general is just depressing and infuriating. For the first time, i find myself avoiding football media (radio, articles, podcasts, social media, etc.) and not looking forward at all to matchdays. Sad, sad times indeed.
Watching the matches and following club football in general is just depressing and infuriating. For the first time, i find myself avoiding football media (radio, articles, podcasts, social media, etc.) and not looking forward at all to matchdays. Sad, sad times indeed.
There was absolutely no reason to give Mata an extension. I love the guy but it was obviously a braindead decision. At the very least I guess he has that charity thing where he donates a portion of his wages so at least some of it is going to that!
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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13%
David de Gea
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4%
Mason Greenwood
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2%
Raphael Varane
-
2%
Bruno Fernandes
-
1%
Luke Shaw
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 313 ratings.
Score Predictions
153,12,15
- Man Utd win
- Wolves win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 26% Man Utd 2:0 Wolves
- 21% Man Utd 2:1 Wolves
- 21% Man Utd 1:0 Wolves
- 7% Man Utd 3:1 Wolves
- 4% Man Utd 1:1 Wolves
- 4% Man Utd 0:0 Wolves
- 3% Man Utd 3:0 Wolves
- 3% Man Utd 1:2 Wolves
- 2% Man Utd 5:0 Wolves
- 2% Man Utd 4:0 Wolves
- 2% Man Utd 0:2 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 0:1 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 4:1 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 4:2 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 5:1 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 3:2 Wolves
- 1% Man Utd 1:3 Wolves
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- Wolves
- Possession
- 52% 48%
- Shots
- 9 19
- Shots on Target
- 2 6
- Corners
- 3 8
- Fouls
- 9 8
Referee
Mike Dean
Man Utd Lineup
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-
-
-
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replaced by Anthony Elanga
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-
-
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replaced by Bruno Fernandes
-
-
replaced by Marcus Rashford
