It is a marathon and not a sprint is what SAF said. Now if we had sacked Jose a bit earlier and brought in Ole, would we have won the game, that Jose drew or lost especially against the lesser teams?
What happens when we come up against decent opposition? | Errr
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
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Well then, we're officially brothers in fear!
Regardless of how this match ends I think Ole is owed an apology by those prematurely suggesting his approach was 'naive' for daring to attack relegation teams. Today is clearly showing he knows the tactical difference between playing Cardiffs and Tottenhams
We can count on De Gea to cover our six. Even though we won, on another day it would be a different story. It is a bit suicidal to sit back as much as we did unless we know we have divine luck and De Gea in goal.
Honestly that was a dogshite second half. Great first half which was competitive from both sides but second half could have ended 4-1.
Not think it's Ole's problem though. We look like we struggle to play a full 90 min against any decent opposition. Always 45 either first or second half, and the other one is usually dogshite.
That was the same game as Arsenal away last season.
Not think it's Ole's problem though. We look like we struggle to play a full 90 min against any decent opposition. Always 45 either first or second half, and the other one is usually dogshite.
That was the same game as Arsenal away last season.
In a game like this, margin is so thin though. Could’ve been 2-0 or 3-0 to us before they threw everything at us. Glad it turned out the way it did, showed quality and grit at the same time.
On another day we would have been 3:0 after 60 or so minutes.
Yupp, the late De Gea show makes the early second half chances that United had to be largely ignored.
On another day our strikers would have been more clinical and we would have led 2-0 at HT. These ifs and buts never make any sense.
Spurs didn’t have a single shot on target in the first half. Seems that’s been quickly forgotten.
Been looking forward to changing the thread title 
I don't know about apologies but Ole's been tactically fine in all his games so far. He's getting far more out of our players than the previous manager, and if the second half turned into a bit of a pummelling today it's odds on the game would have been like that from the off under Jose
This. It's football, they didn't have a shot on goal in 1st while we had fair few of good chances. Once we didnt take them they started coming at us.
We could have been 2 or 3 up before then though. You can't really say 'on another' day because this is what happened today, in this game. We are 11 players, of which De Gea is one. Even if he did bail us out a bit today he will be there again next game, playing just as well.
5th relegation fodder we have beaten.
Will face decent opposition Saturday.
Will face decent opposition Saturday.
We’d be top if we sacked Jose in the summer for Ole.
I have noticed that for quite a few chances, more of them were down to individual errors than the system itself. Stating the obvious, but stick Koulibaly in for Jones we'd soon stop conceding as many chances. I'm hoping Smalling gets back sooner rather than later, we'll need him for the next big team we play.
We win!!!!!!!
They certainly made up for it in the second half, though.
TBF they also got chances in first half, it's not like it was fully us in the first 45 minutes. I know they didn't have a shot on target but that doesn't mean they didn't miss chances either. First half was pretty competitive from both teams, but they were better in second half.
Still happy with the win and very pleased with Ole though, but we need to start putting a full 90 minutes against decent oppositions because otherwise, it'll go in our favor like this every day.
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That’s the problem. I though Solskjaer got it right but we don’t have good enough defenders. I could not believe how many times Jones let Kane go and yet they still had him mark Kane on corners. We need a much better CB.
What happens when we come up against decent opposition?
We go to their place and beat them.
We go to their place and beat them.
Think today is just about enjoying the moment...yes it's only Spurs but a month ago I wouldn't have fancied us to beat Forest Green at home
The only thing I would question is whether he could have done more to counter Eriksen in the second half. He dropped deep and ran the show. We didn't respond and relied on a combination of not great finishing and good saves from DDG.
Textbook jones. Always having to make last ditch challenges
Just saw we had as many shots as Spurs had in the last 15 minutes.
Its strange how nerves play a part in perceptions of football matches.
Its strange how nerves play a part in perceptions of football matches.
Other than that cross ball by winks (I think) they didn't have any other chance (unless mistaken) and in the second United had 2 great chances (pogba) to score and put the game to bed before their chances, but its not the narrative atm so we'll ignore our chances in first and second half. Spurs attacking was to be expected but what I didn't like was United hoofing it from De gea to their player so many times, which was disappointing considering we were good playing on the ground. The last 30 mins we really did look tired and of course spurs showed more attacking intent but fortunately we have De gea.
United have been playing football with high intensity for only 3 weeks and before that, it was just walking football with bursts of intensity. It will take time for these players to get use to this type of Football.
The hell are you talking about ? I love these newbies that don't even read before posting.
As I said the first half was pretty competitive from both teams going back and forth. That was a great half from us and great half in football in general but the problem is we couldn't put the same intensity in the second half and looked knackered quickly, allowing Spurs to fully dominate us.
There's a problem in our team in not being able to put a full good 90 minutes. It's just one half usually and we need to find a solution for this.
Our first half was decent but let not act like we would have been 3-0 up by 60 minutes. There is a reason why De Gea and Lindelöf were our best performers. In the first half it was a even bout with Spurs having one of the clearest chance to take the lead after Son put Winks through and all he needed to do was cut it back for an easy tap in for Sissoko and Eriksen.
That was one of the clearest chance?
No, it was a half chance.
We could have been up 3-0, we had 2, 3 chances in the 1st and Pogba alone had 2 good chances in the 2nd.
The Lingard chance that he blazed over would have been a ball if he had passed to Martial. He could have toe poked it to Martial and it would have been a goal. Martial himself could have scored too.
In the second half before their onslaught we Pogba had two chances and both were brilliantly saved by Lloris. No one talks about these saves because later on DeGea saved everything. But without those two saves from Lloris Spurs would have been 3-0 down.
In the second half before their onslaught we Pogba had two chances and both were brilliantly saved by Lloris. No one talks about these saves because later on DeGea saved everything. But without those two saves from Lloris Spurs would have been 3-0 down.
Don't understand all the negativity about the 2nd half.
Until the 60th minute we played an very good game and imho the lead was deserved - both sides had some chances, we have been excellent in transition, Spurs had some really creative moments with Son/Eriksen/Alli and Kane was phenomenal. Jones again not a chance against him. But we looked a bit better i think and had more clear chances.
The moment the whole dynamic of the game changed was around the 60th minute when Pogba lost the ball and they played a nice counter with Alli ending in front of de Gea who saved good. Until there we had a lot of chances because we played offensive but there the players/coach realised that it is too dangerous against that Spurs. Eriksen/Alli/Kane are all excellent in playing passes in counter attacks and Son, but also Alli/Kane are also really good in getting into the right positions and finishing these attacks off. So we became more defensive and Spurs more offensive. Just a normal thing in a game between two top sides - the leading team defends, the other one pushes for the equaliser. Even under Mourinho we looked like the better team in our 2nd half against Juve at home where we lost 1-0 as they tried to defend the result. Even City often sits down deep in this top games when they are leading.
The really important thing is that we didn't play this defensive at 0-0. It was an entertaining, good game between two offensive sides who wanted to win. When Spurs would have scored i am certain the dynamic would have changed and it would have been an open game again. But fortunately they didn't.
Only negative point:
In these 30 min i think we could have defended better at times. Don't think Young, Jones (especially) and Shaw will be good enough to play for us as first choice when we want to be successful again. And because of our bad defending Spurs would have deserved one point. But the plan for the game was good, it was not "Mourinho-like", as we would have sat back from the first min under Mourinho and here we did after 60.
E: As an good example, look at the last clasico. Barcelona was absolutely destroying Madrid, still Madrid had dominated the game completely for ~25 mins (45-70). Not only scored their goal, but also had chances over chances for the equaliser and even the lead. Still Barcelona deservedly won 5-1. That is football, you always have an opponent. Today we had an really good one, away from home. Who expected us to win comfortably doesn't have recognized that we are playing with an individual bad back four.
Until the 60th minute we played an very good game and imho the lead was deserved - both sides had some chances, we have been excellent in transition, Spurs had some really creative moments with Son/Eriksen/Alli and Kane was phenomenal. Jones again not a chance against him. But we looked a bit better i think and had more clear chances.
The moment the whole dynamic of the game changed was around the 60th minute when Pogba lost the ball and they played a nice counter with Alli ending in front of de Gea who saved good. Until there we had a lot of chances because we played offensive but there the players/coach realised that it is too dangerous against that Spurs. Eriksen/Alli/Kane are all excellent in playing passes in counter attacks and Son, but also Alli/Kane are also really good in getting into the right positions and finishing these attacks off. So we became more defensive and Spurs more offensive. Just a normal thing in a game between two top sides - the leading team defends, the other one pushes for the equaliser. Even under Mourinho we looked like the better team in our 2nd half against Juve at home where we lost 1-0 as they tried to defend the result. Even City often sits down deep in this top games when they are leading.
The really important thing is that we didn't play this defensive at 0-0. It was an entertaining, good game between two offensive sides who wanted to win. When Spurs would have scored i am certain the dynamic would have changed and it would have been an open game again. But fortunately they didn't.
Only negative point:
In these 30 min i think we could have defended better at times. Don't think Young, Jones (especially) and Shaw will be good enough to play for us as first choice when we want to be successful again. And because of our bad defending Spurs would have deserved one point. But the plan for the game was good, it was not "Mourinho-like", as we would have sat back from the first min under Mourinho and here we did after 60.
E: As an good example, look at the last clasico. Barcelona was absolutely destroying Madrid, still Madrid had dominated the game completely for ~25 mins (45-70). Not only scored their goal, but also had chances over chances for the equaliser and even the lead. Still Barcelona deservedly won 5-1. That is football, you always have an opponent. Today we had an really good one, away from home. Who expected us to win comfortably doesn't have recognized that we are playing with an individual bad back four.
Lingard also should've scored before Rashford did. They had no shots on goal in the first half. So yes we could've been 3-0 up. Counting two more shots for Pogba after the break.
This will be addressed in the Summer hopefully. I'd be happy spending most of our summer budget on a top class cb if that's what it took.
Spurs had chances in the second half but in the first 5 minutes after the restart Pogba could also have had 2 completely killing Spurs off.
What's Ole supposed to do if he inherited a bunch of unfit players?
Yes I’d like a top class CB and a top class RW and maybe a RB but that’s it really.
Jose wasnt wrong about us being defensively shite, its his approach that was wrong.
Even if we had lost today, knowing that we approach these kind of games the way we did pleases me.
Even if we had lost today, knowing that we approach these kind of games the way we did pleases me.
It was one of the clearest chance. The clearest one was missed by Ali when Kane put him through one v one against De Gea. All winks needed to do was pull it back and it would have been an easy goal. I was shocked that he did not do that when I first saw it live as the choice was obvious since his angle was narrowed. If that chance was executed the whole dynamic of the game would have changed because that was the earliest goal scoring opportunity in the game. So, I don’t see how 3-0 would have happened if you take that into account.
That chance happened after the one I mentioned and it was much difficult as Alderweid was covering the far post and the ball was in the air before the strike. No Shot on goal, but few goalscoing opportunities if it was not for a few good blocks and poor decisions making.
You should know the difference between a chance and a half chance.