[SirAnderson]

How exactly does it feel good

It feels good for the simple fact that we won despite playing quite poorly.

It's the first game of the season, so the 3 points was always going to be more important that the performance. At least for me.

 

[nainaisson]

Looking back it reminded me of the Varane debut game against Wolves a couple seasons back. Think it was Bruno and Pogba leaving Fred to try and do the defensive work of 3 men in midfield. Completely open Wolves just couldn't score.

It reminded me of the Villarreal CL game at Old Trafford when Ole was still manager. We looked like we were playing with absolutely no midfield in that game too and also managed to win it. I bet Dalot still has night terrors about that game.

 

[SirAnderson]

I've just read a few pages, I understand the fact that we played badly, but the abject misery of some of these posts, you'd swear we lost the match 5-0. We probably deserve to, but doesn't change the fact that win WON!

Scrapping a 1-0 will for the opening of the season, knowing that we can only improve, is something to celebrate. Surely we can only get better and the fact that we won while being shite, is great.

Bring on Spurs!!!

 

[gerdm07]

Just had a chance to watch. I'm really surprised Sancho didn't come in at the half and move Rashford to the wing. That seemed an obvious fix to our attack. Then, when Sancho did come in he stayed on the wing for the most part. Just strange.

- Garnacho with blond hair was much better. Really poor from him.
- Casimero, Bruno and Mount are high intelligence players, they should be a good midfield.
- Casimero used to play one-touch passes all the time. What happened?
- This has to be the year Antony becomes productive and smart, right?
- Should have been a PK.

Lucky to get 3 points.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Just saw the game. Conceding goals aside, that was one of the worst performances I’ve seen from us under ETH in terms of control, passing, cohesion etc

Worrying display

 

[MalaysianRed7]

We were very poor, but at least we managed to grind out the win. I’m sure better performances will come as the season progresses, albeit last night was slightly concerning from a tactical standpoint as it looked like we had no midfield as a result of trying to set up like City in 2018 with the 2 advanced midfielders. I do want to see Ten Hag give the system a bit more time, but he has to change it if we keep getting torn apart like this, possibly by introducing Mainoo for Mount as the former is probably already our best ball retainer.

Individually, Onana, AWB and Varane were excellent. Rashford should not be playing upfront.

 

[Nicoseth]

Slow start and lucky to get three points. There'll be plenty of games when the luck isn't with us so on to the next one. 3 points at Spurs please.

 

[gerdm07]

Bruno is on and off so much in the final third, (not just today), Rashford turning into blind alleys, Garnacho is still a hype ( a promising one but a hype), but all of that to me, falls squarely on coaching. No excuse for players not knowing to go corner flag for last two minutes, no excuse for players looking gassed after 1 game, no excuse for spending $200M and yet look like amateurs against a team who barely got a manager a week back. For all sweet leadership quotes ETH gives I now think is time to deliver.
First game and all that, fine, lets start seeing some improvements game after game.

True. Pellistri not going to the corner and not being able to hold the ball is on coaching.

 

[croadyman]

I've just read a few pages, I understand the fact that we played badly, but the abject misery of some of these posts, you'd swear we lost the match 5-0. We probably deserve to, but doesn't change the fact that win WON!

Scrapping a 1-0 will for the opening of the season, knowing that we can only improve, is something to celebrate. Surely we can only get better and the fact that we won while being shite, is great.

Bring on Spurs!!!

Spurs will boss us playing like that

 

[sleepehead]

Just had a chance to watch. I'm really surprised Sancho didn't come in at the half and move Rashford to the wing. That seemed an obvious fix to our attack. Then, when Sancho did come in he stayed on the wing for the most part. Just strange.

- Garnacho with blond hair was much better. Really poor from him.
- Casimero, Bruno and Mount are high intelligence players, they should be a good midfield.
- Casimero used to play one-touch passes all the time. What happened?
- This has to be the year Antony becomes productive and smart, right?
- Should have been a PK.

Lucky to get 3 points.

I'll be honest Casemiro hasn't looked great all summer tbh. I think his age is going to catch up with him in another year. Right now he's gonna need a few weeks to get up to full speed, it looks like he didn't use the preseason to get to full fitness levels

 

[lex talionis]

We won the match, but it appears there’s some moaning out there about a pk not given for the Onana clattering with the Wolves player. Not a pk for me, although I can see both sides of the argument.

Bruno and Mount need to get things sorted, but the problem was out front line. It’s still a mess.

 

[sglowrider]

You lot have such short memories.

It's part of ETH's elaborate scheme to force the Glazers to release more funds.

 

[SirAnderson]

Spurs will boss us playing like that

True, or maybe we scrap another underserving win, or maybe we improve our performance drastically yet still come up short.
Either way, I'm going to be happy when we win no matter how bad we play. Should we play excellent yet lose, I'll be glad for the improved performance yet dejected at the loss.

 

[Devil You Know]

Tactical analysis of the game.

A couple of points to pick up on from above: firstly, we needed our wingers, Garnacho and Antony, to be more careful in possession because they were frequently our only out-ball. Secondly, our pressing shape was all over the place, particularly Mount and Bruno, leading to overloads that Casemiro couldn't deal with on his own.

Nothing revolutionary in the video. But it's a nice visualisation of what went wrong (and also right) in the game. It's easy to forget we were actually creating good chances in the first half. So the match wasn't a complete bust tactically-speaking.

So we need to tweak our pressing so that that Bruno and/or Mount start a little deeper (something both have shown they can do in the past). We also need to give clearer instructions to our wingers about what to do with the ball in possession.

A lot of fans love to believe that the only answer is transfers. The reality is that sometimes, the players are good enough but haven't been coached adequately. I know that's sacrilegious to say about Ten Hag on this forum. But it's obviously true. In his defence, this is the first competitive game of the season trying to play a new way. He'll get it right soon enough.

 

[DJ_21]

Well feck, close up shop and shut down the club, the oh so powerful people on social media have spoken…

Calm down mate. People not aloud opinions anymore?

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Sky sports saying Wolves registering 23 shots on goal is the most by an away side at Old Trafford since Chelsea in 2005.
Was it really that many shots?

Felt like more!

 

[Shady]

3 points will do but the lads will have to sharpen up quickly. I liked the look of AWB, Casemiro and Sancho.

Agree with AWB and Sancho, but Casemiro? One of my biggest worries after that showing. With his age and some similiar performances last season after Christmas it may become a serious issue. Wonder if Amrabat will be enough.

 

[1988]

Fernandes and Casemiro were absolutely shite on the ball today, and when they can't pass we're struggling.

We didn't look physically ready either. Slow and poor timing on most tackles and challenges.

 

[madmrf]

Incredibly frustrating performance, very deflating start to the season.
Difficult to look past the manager on this one. We looked disjointed and several levels below Wolves physically.
Tactically, our shape looked very poor I thought. Every player was isolated when they received the ball. I saw a lot of people complaining about Garnacho and Bruno during the game, but their passing options were non existent.
I'm puzzled by ETH's new system and his vision for the new season. He bemoaned a lack of control in some games last season, claiming he wanted the team to play football not tennis, then comes up with a new tactic that leaves even bigger gaps in the central areas, which was already evident in preseason.

Looking back it reminded me of the Varane debut game against Wolves a couple seasons back. Think it was Bruno and Pogba leaving Fred to try and do the defensive work of 3 men in midfield. Completely open Wolves just couldn't score.

Was going to post this. It was also Sancho's first start I think and we just couldn't get the ball to the front 3.
Disappointing that we still have similar issues one year after moving on from the McFred midfield.

 

[TheRedHearted]

We were fantastic! Our ability to move off the ball is really creative and you can tell we have worked on it. We pass and then we move into space and the triangles and link up play was fantastic. We were agressive and brought the game to them.. Antony was so precise and the way he would give and go on the right side down the line, wow. Garnacho was his usual self, rashford too. We look like we are really fit!

no need to spend a lot more money. No need at all.

 

[Marcelinho87]

3 points from a poor performance is always welcome, we started poor last year but lost so it's already an improvement.

I am 100% certain we will improve and not worried in the slightest.

 

[ManRed]

Fernandes and Casemiro were absolutely shite on the ball today, and when they can't pass we're struggling.

We didn't look physically ready either. Slow and poor timing on most tackles and challenges.

Fernandes was very poor until Mount substitution. Will need to watch the game more closely on why he was so ineffective. Ten Hag has a plan and I hope we see it improving quickly as games are coming thick and fast.

 

[Marcelinho87]

Agree with AWB and Sancho, but Casemiro? One of my biggest worries after that showing. With his age and some similiar performances last season after Christmas it may become a serious issue. Wonder if Amrabat will be enough.

He's only 31, his age has nothing to do with it.

Like Rooney was all throughout his career, he's just a slow starter after a period away from the game.

 

[roonster09]

Very lucky to come away with 3 limits m points, Wolves created lot of chances and we looked slow both physically and mentally.

 

[Bobcat]

Playing badly and still winning is usually a good sign, but that was horrendous. The back 5 were decent and Sancho was decent when he came on, but everyone else were dreadful

 

[Steve 007]

A worrying display. I’m hoping that’s the nervous and fitness issues out the way and that’s a one off. I hoped for a man of the match display from Gernacho, never seen him so poor.
Mount was invisible, Rashford hardly in the game and Anthony cutting onto his left every single time was too predictable. Not a good display. I thought Sancho was decent and so was Lindelof.

 

[mikeyt]

AWB was quality, the rest were poor. The holes in the middle of the park when they had the ball, they had the freedom of Old Trafford at times. Need to tighten up and find some rhythm, Spurs away won't be easy, even without Kane.

 

[manichester]

This could easily have been 4 or 5 goals for Wolves if they had not been wasteful in front of goal. We are a team that always gives the ball away up front, every forward we have does not look after the ball well so the formation has to reflect that reality.

 

[E-mal]

Fernandes and Casemiro were absolutely shite on the ball today, and when they can't pass we're struggling.

We didn't look physically ready either. Slow and poor timing on most tackles and challenges.

I like how you left out our new shining number 7 who was supposed to be an upgrade on Eriksen.

One has to question the football knowledge of our fans or the eyes with which they watch football.
We have always known Casemiro and Bruno to be erratic passers and the only safe passer in midfield was Eriksen. The idea was to sign someone as good as him or better in passing but at the same time better physically. Unfortunately ETH decided to sign a lovechild between Cleverly and Lingard

 

[Josep Dowling]

I'll be honest Casemiro hasn't looked great all summer tbh. I think his age is going to catch up with him in another year. Right now he's gonna need a few weeks to get up to full speed, it looks like he didn't use the preseason to get to full fitness levels

Combination of age and being left exposed with two midfielders playing as CAM. It’s not going to work in the Premier League. We will get hammered a few times this season if we continue to play with a midfield like that.

 

[yamo123x]

Wow that was a shocking and worrying display in front of our fans.

A display lacking energy and aggression.

We started way too slow and our shape was horrible with huge gaps in midfield and no control.

Signings needed

 

[thisISben]

I can’t remember a more undeserved victory in some time? We’ve had our shockers in our recent history but they usually end in defeat, so that’s a positive I guess?

Also, Old Trafford seemed eerily quiet throughout the match, like a preseason game. There wasn’t much to get worked up for I’ll admit but from the first whistle to the last it was just dead.

Plus, they should’ve had a pen. 100%.

 

[1988]

I like how you left out our new shining number 7 who was supposed to be an upgrade on Eriksen.

One has to question the football knowledge of our fans or the eyes with which they watch football.
We have always known Casemiro and Bruno to be erratic passers and the only safe passer in midfield was Eriksen. The idea was to sign someone as good as him or better in passing but at the same time better physically. Unfortunately ETH decided to sign a lovechild between Cleverly and Lingard

Hmm, I guess we're expecting different things from Mount. And from the bolded part it would seem as if you're going to run a little hetz on our new signing.

I am however expecting a lot more from our established players.
But it was the first game of the season. I am worried with our fitness level. We did not seem ready at all. We got beat in intensity and pace.

 

[TMDaines]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Judas]

The morning after the night before, still disappointed and shocked how awful we played. So bad. True miracle how we came away with a win.

 

[GregM40]

Was nice to be back at Old Trafford, but the atmosphere was as flat as the team, sometimes the two go hand in hand.

Thought Fernandes had a shocker, but then he pings that ball over for Wan Bissaka, who was our best player I thought. This new system will take some getting used to, if it doesn’t get scrapped.

 

[pauldyson1uk]

Piss poor, most players still looked in holiday mode.
Still have my doubts about both signings, but first game so they get cut a bit of slack.
Wolves will rightly feel hard done by, they should have won comfortably and Onana was luck not to give a pen away.
But a win is a win, even an ugly one.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Big 3 points.

Not sure if we've ever played that badly at home and yet won.

 

[pocco]

Just had a chance to watch. I'm really surprised Sancho didn't come in at the half and move Rashford to the wing. That seemed an obvious fix to our attack. Then, when Sancho did come in he stayed on the wing for the most part. Just strange.

- Garnacho with blond hair was much better. Really poor from him.
- Casimero, Bruno and Mount are high intelligence players, they should be a good midfield.
- Casimero used to play one-touch passes all the time. What happened?
- This has to be the year Antony becomes productive and smart, right?
- Should have been a PK.

Lucky to get 3 points.

Is this sarcasm? Genuine question. Because I would say they're the exact opposite. They have no idea how to control a game between them.

 

[Steelered]

Big 3 points, but there is no creative spark, the midfield looked wide open all game ,but Onana kept us in the game, ugly 3 points but need to play better