When was the last time we played really well?

[Nou_Camp99]

We've been on an incredible run and still only lost 1 game in like 24 matches or something daft like that. It's been a seriously big improvement in the second half of the season but I feel we are now paying the price for this. We look absolutely physically and mentally shattered.

It's been a good while since I watched us play and thought "yes we were very good today". I think it was probably Villa away where we last looked good where we won 3-0 and totally bossed it.

Since Villa it's been very nervy, cagey and often lethargic:

Saints 2-2 (Tired legs and lots of errors)
Palace 2-0 (but it wasn't as comfortable as the result suggests)
Chelsea 1 -3 (horrow show at Wembley)
Westham 1-1 (nervy, slow, error prone performance
Leicester 2-0 (a huge win but a very unconvincing performance
LASK 2-1 (largely second string tbf but still not great)
Copenhagen 1-0 (tumescent but got over the line)

We really need to get into gear again as the way we've been playing won't be enough to win the Europa League for me.

 

[padzilla]

I even think we were showing signs of being sluggish against Villa until we won the penalty and then we woke up. We're still a work in progress and we need better squad options to offer some respite to our usual starting XI.

 

[dwd]

Brighton. We've been on fumes since then.

 

[Infra-red]

We played really well against Brighton and Sheffield United. Against Bournemouth, we were great going forward, but a shambles at the back. Before that, there was the City game in early March.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Brighton and Bournemouth. We've blamed fatigue for a while but yesterday was an eye-opener. Rashford has been poor and relatively unproductive. Bruno is regularly missing key passes which we have expect him to make. Pogba doesn't influence the game as much and the FBs are fruitless avenues for the attack.

On the plus side, defensively, Maguire and Lindelof are doing as well as they've done across the season while Martial isn't getting credit where it's due as he's either scoring or winning penalties on his own. I think last 3 have been won by him (Chelsea, Leicester and Copenhagen).

 

[Champ]

Not this tiredness excuse again!!

Quite simply we weren't clinical last night, had we been then it would have been three or four goals and people would be saying how well we played.
Fine margins.
Controlled the games against Leicester and Palace, awful against Chelsea, other than that it's been pretty decent.

If people think we have actually been really bad, then surely that makes us a good side, what's the old adage?? Good sides win even when they play poor...or something along then lines.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

I think we are all in agreement then that we are still a long long way off the top 2.

I worry for us next season tbh. We're going to be starting the season late if we reach the final so having to play catch up and will be playing teams in our first few leagues games who will be ahead of us match sharpness wise. Come April/May 2021 we might pay for it even more too. Hopefully Ole can give the players a week off somewhere in the season, maybe in 2 phases and we can somehow get through the fxitures with half our first team and then the other half.

 

[arthurka]

Brighton. We've been on fumes since then.

You don't believe that do you? We have had weeks off now and that doesn't hold water. It might be that we are mentally tired but we are not physically tired.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Maybe the case that teams have started to block our building up through the middle got something to do with it? Simplistic to say that the players are tired...

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Weirdly enough the attack went from being left dominant to right dominant with the emergence of Greenwood and the injury/general malaise of Shaw and Rashford.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Maybe the case that teams have started to block our building up through the middle got something to do with it? Simplistic to say that the players are tired...

The season started 13 months ago. I think it's quite a reasonable assumption personally.

 

[Champ]

The season started 13 months ago. I think it's quite a reasonable assumption personally.

With a three month gap...

 

[Nou_Camp99]

You don't believe that do you? We have had weeks off now and that doesn't hold water. It might be that we are mentally tired but we are not physically tired.

They haven't had 2 weeks off at all. They've been training mate not sitting on the beach sipping Pina Coladas. They got a couple of days off and that was it.

 

[Offside]

If their keeper hadn’t had the game of his life last night we could be talking about a 3-4-0 victory and everyone would be saying how well we played.

In terms of a full 90 mins I’d say Sheffield United was the last time.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

With a three month gap...

Yeah where they didn't play any games and lost all match fitness.

 

[rotherham_red]

Not this tiredness excuse again!!

Quite simply we weren't clinical last night, had we been then it would have been three or four goals and people would be saying how well we played.
Fine margins.
Controlled the games against Leicester and Palace, awful against Chelsea, other than that it's been pretty decent.

If people think we have actually been really bad, then surely that makes us a good side, what's the old adage?? Good sides win even when they play poor...or something along then lines.

Pretty much this.

If just one of the shots in the first hour went in, we'd have steamrolled them and that game would have turned out very differently.

As it was, their keeper had a blinder and they certainly weren't the pushovers I, and many others, expected them to be.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

The season started 13 months ago. I think it's quite a reasonable assumption personally.

When we only had PP as our creative midfielder, they put 2 men on him and we could not progress the ball without including our fullbacks (not working).
With Bruno coming, we now had 2 capable players and attempting to man-mark him and PP left some holes and spaces that our attackers took advantage of. Now, they just press and clog the middle of the pitch with players forcing us to attempt to progress the ball with our fullbacks... And they are the players in the starting 11 with the lowest ability on the ball. Hence why we should sign fullbacks that are actually capable on the ball.

 

[A-man]

I think we are all in agreement then that we are still a long long way off the top 2.

I worry for us next season tbh. We're going to be starting the season late if we reach the final so having to play catch up and will be playing teams in our first few leagues games who will be ahead of us match sharpness wise. Come April/May 2021 we might pay for it even more too. Hopefully Ole can give the players a week off somewhere in the season, maybe in 2 phases and we can somehow get through the fxitures with half our first team and then the other half.

I also think there is a long way to top 2. If everybody I. The starting xi is fit and playing well, we can beat any team in the league. But there are really no alternatives as backups when someone is injured or when players are having weak performances for longer periods of time, like Rashford.The jump down to the bench players is to big. I can see how also Liverpool might struggle with that next season.

 

[arthurka]

They haven't had 2 weeks off at all. They've been training mate not sitting on the beach sipping Pina Coladas. They got a couple of days off and that was it.

They also had 3 months off mid season so...

 

[A-man]

I think we are all in agreement then that we are still a long long way off the top 2.

I worry for us next season tbh. We're going to be starting the season late if we reach the final so having to play catch up and will be playing teams in our first few leagues games who will be ahead of us match sharpness wise. Come April/May 2021 we might pay for it even more too. Hopefully Ole can give the players a week off somewhere in the season, maybe in 2 phases and we can somehow get through the fxitures with half our first team and then the other half.

I also think there is a long way to top 2. If everybody I. The starting xi is fit and playing well, we can beat any team in the league. But there are really no alternatives as backups when someone is injured or when players are having weak performances for longer periods of time, like Rashford.The jump down to the bench players is to big. I can see how also Liverpool might struggle with that next season.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

They also had 3 months off mid season so...

Yeah where all match sharpness vanished and then we had to come back and play every 3 days for 6 weeks.

You don't need to be a football expert to see they look tired. Just watch the bleeding games back. We haven't played with a zip to our play for 6 to 7 games now. Bruno look dead on his feet for example.

 

[El Zoido]

Why is tiredness not an excuse? It certainly is. Said this in the tiredness thread but the season started over a year ago and we’ve played 60 games. It’s not just that we’ve played so many games, but EVERY game has been a “must-win”, it’s physically and mentally draining. The lads need a break to recharge their batteries.

 

[dwd]

You don't believe that do you? We have had weeks off now and that doesn't hold water. It might be that we are mentally tired but we are not physically tired.

I do believe that, yes, that's why I said it.

 

[Chief123]

You have to remember every game we’ve played since lockdown has been a critical cup final in order to achieve top 4. It was a big ask and we achieved it.

Due to what was at stake, it would always be hard to find games where we’ve played well throughout the “whole” game. The critical aspect at this stage was results, nothing else. No one would ever remember that we played amazing football but finished 5th.

When results are critical then you will naturally have purple patches in games where you get into a position you need to be and then naturally drop off and defend that position.

The only team that played well throughout a whole game since the restart was Manchester City. But they were probably the only team who had absolutely nothing to play for. Hence they could relax.

Even when Chelsea beat City, it was regarded as a terrific performance. But even then Chelsea had their backs to the walls and were dominated in large parts of the game.

Real life is not like Fifa. We can not dominate games how we want when risks are so high. You have to deploy game management. With games coming thick and fast we can’t afford to go full speed beautiful flowing football in any particular game and then suffer the consequences the game after.

The project restart is a scenario we’ve never had before. It was 3 games every 7 days without any breaks for 5/6 weeks. That’s intense!

The “great” looking football will come. It was results that were critical at this point and not performances.

We’d all be sitting here gutted if we played some of the best football we’ve seen but still finished 5th. There would be calls for Ole out again.

 

[Champ]

Yeah where they didn't play any games and lost all match fitness.

So we're in agreement that they had a three month break then??

 

[Leethal]

Last night.

I think the scoreline and the keepers heroics are detracting from what was a decent performance in awkward conditions.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

We are not that great as a team are we? Just build on individual brilliance rather than playing well as a unit.

 

[Tiber]

Second half last night

 

[Relevated]

I don't get when people say the players need a holiday and an extended break. They've literally had one in the form of a lockdown.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

A team that’s not playing good and still win, is a very good team. We wouldn’t be having this thought had the gk last night did become Schemicals bastard son.

 

[Smores]

We're going to have this bollocks tiredness excuse every season aren't we. It's such a lazy analysis that it feels deliberate by those who use it.

 

[glazed]

Second half last night

Yes we looked pretty good at times once Fred went off. Our first 11 is actually pretty decent when not tired.

I can't help thinking that our apparently weak squad may actually be a function of bad coaching. A lack of coherent system makes it hard for squad players to slot into the team seamlessly because they have to figure out what works by trial and error.

 

[Duffer1953]

Brighton was the last time I watched fully relaxed

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Last night didn’t play badly and certainly wasn’t tumescent. 26 shots on goal. Loads of chances and good attacking up until the finishing which was a mixture of poor and brilliant goalkeeping.

Leicester also was good enough away from home in a key game. Can’t really expect to blow a team away with so much on the line but it was a solid performance.

 

[clarkydaz]

We're going to have this bollocks tiredness excuse every season aren't we. It's such a lazy analysis that it feels deliberate by those who use it.

city didnt look very tired mauling Real Madrid this week

 

[Lynty]

I'm shocked that people think we played poorly yesterday.

We've literally been playing 'must wins' since Southampton. It always going to be a little cagey.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

city didnt look very tired mauling Real Madrid this week

PED Pep knows how to do it.

 

[Godfather]

Second half yesterday when we stopped using Fred as a third centre back we played some good stuff

 

[Rozay]

I think more context needs to be applied in threads like these, and a greater appreciation that there is another team on the pitch other than us!

Saying things like ‘Palace 0-2, but it wasn’t as comfortable as the result suggests’ seems unnecessarily entitled to me. Like, what do we think they are there for? We played Crystal Palace away, and won 2-0, but they had their moments in the game, so we can’t give that to ourselves as a good performance? This is football. Bu the standards people are speaking of, we likely won’t play well more than 10-15 times in a year. Just because a team made us get out of our bath robe doesn’t mean it’s a performance to really be critiquing.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Once Mata came in - we played well.

Last time we played really well?
= 3-0 Brighton, 1st of July