They were crowding their own half in the first half. Game started opening up more in the last 20 minutes.
10
Season Average Rating
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Easily the most entertaining thread I've seen since being on the Caf.
How can opinion on a player's performance in just one game be so different?
How can opinion on a player's performance in just one game be so different?
Every so often he has a really poor game like this. He was even getting angry at himself.
Some positives and some negatives today. But seriously though, the analasys of a players performance on here is truly baffling at times. It's like people have watched two completely different games.
Martial had a few opportunities in the second half and he couldn't take advantage of any of them (also doesn't help that Martial's movement is extremely static and nowhere near Rashford's). Even right before the full time whistle, Martial had the ball on the wing with plenty of space, and he chose to cross to Ibra in the box (which was a fine choice as there was so much space in the box) but his cross couldn't get past the one defender.
Held the ball up like a beast today. I've never seen one player surrounded by so many defenders and midfielders every time he touched the ball.
His little touches and around the corner passes were top notch
His little touches and around the corner passes were top notch
Strolled around for parts of the game, picked 2 or 3 nice through balls and lay offs, not great but not terrible.
Brilliant retort.These guys
Probably voting Martial as MOTM as well.
Yeah, Martial was poor today. Doesn't negate my point though. Ibra had a lot of the ball in central positions where he could've ran at their defence, but because he had no pace and kept fecking his passes up, we couldn't take advantage.
My point is to play a striker with no pace when we set up to close the game and can counter attack doesn't make much sense to me.
Please someone stop him from taking all our freekicks, it's just a total waste.
You could see him saying during the celebrations for the goal that we needed to do more so the players were clearly aware of that.
Which makes the casual half arsed 2nd half performance even more baffling.
Which makes the casual half arsed 2nd half performance even more baffling.
It's really confusing to say the least. Usually you know who will automatically be negative or positive but after this match you have random people with completely different opinions. Then you have All3United saying positive things.
We only need Fracture90 to say he had a good game and we can be sure we're in bizzaro world.
I think he was average today, had both bad and good moments.
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Martial?
Martial, Mkhitaryan and Lingard all being criticised in their own threads. Without looking I'm guessing Pogba and Fellaini also getting stick.
So when you say "singled out" not sure where you're coming from.
I think part of it is that Zlatan is a confusing player. Then you have the bias on both sides kicking in.It's really confusing to say the least. Usually you know who will automatically be negative or positive but after this match you have random people with completely different opinions. Then you have All3United saying positive things.
We only need Fracture90 to say he had a good game and we can be sure we're in bizzaro world.
I thought he was poor tonight and I just don't get how anyone can think he was good. That's why it's a fun thread though.
What's strange about today though is that I can't recognize many who are usually biased on either side. But some random names still having completely different opinions. Sometimes it's not bias but just lack of knowledge when it comes to analysing someones performance.
I think he was average, had both bad and good moments, more bad though.
Just one shot from him today right? Anderlecht totally shut him in numbers.
Other than that, Zlatan played well, our most dangerous attacking threat today.
Frustrating figure today. He did serve many chances for the others on a plate, which they missed of course.
No chemistry with Mkhitaryan.
Other than that, Zlatan played well, our most dangerous attacking threat today.
Frustrating figure today. He did serve many chances for the others on a plate, which they missed of course.
No chemistry with Mkhitaryan.
I partly agree with you. He wasn't great. He had some bad touches and was sloppy at times. But as always, he mixed this with great hold up play, had some great passes (1 where Pogba missed a good chance), dropped deep to help 'distribute the ball' in a good way close to the end of the game as well. When you 'rate' a player it should also be related to the players around him - how much help did he get from the others? Was he the only 'problem' for him not being great? Or could it be that they didn't have the right chemistry together?
This surprises me. Must be due to them not playing enough together? It's the same with Martial too. Ibrahimovic works well with Mata, Pogba and even with Rashford and Lingard.
Agree and that's why he's confusing. In any given game his performance swings from very bad to very good. It's an age thing for me. We saw the same with Giggs at the end.
Tonight though he seemed anywhere but the penalty area. Too deep for me.
Horrendous tonight.
The bias on both sides is skewed because even the most centralist of criticism, from how far in the ring some people are, is seen as witchcraft and must be burned with fire.
When both sides come to realize that he's slow as all hell, and generally the same amount of frustratingly sloppy every game then the opinions will start to cascade to a more central position and allowing for discussion about him. Mostly people just want to jostle their opinion against one and other because it is perceived to be so far apart due to the bias that you describe.
Again I thought he was pretty good in the first half when they tactically sat deep to counter his threat (wrong move, you just bring the game onto you) then in the second half they tactically pushed their midfield on and left two to mark him at all times and when you separate our players from Zlatan like that and make them run onto him he either gets in the way of moves by taking a touch and turning the ball over or you're forced into low percentage areas where he isn't fluid in operating because of his lack of movement, namely dropping deep. I thought Anderlecht played tactically a blinder in the second half.
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I am not saying those players aren't criticized. However, more often than not, I see Ibra getting the most blame for the shortcomings of our attack. Even after a 3-0 win at the weekend where he was MotM, I still saw him getting criticized here post match.
For whatever reason, some of the posters have an agenda against him, and I have no idea why. The guy has 28 goals and 10 assists for us this season, by far our most productive player. Judging by the criticism here over the season, you would think he is having a mediocre season, when he is not.
When you believe Ibra's singled out that's exactly what you are saying. Single means just him.
I'm not sure how you or I can measure blame but the other guys are getting plenty of stick tonight. There are of course posters in their threads claiming those players are being singled out and accusing others of having agendas.
There just wasn't any communication between Zlatan, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Lingard, and Pogba. Its like none of them had the confidence to know what the others would do or where they would be in order to get a decent pass off. This is endemic of players not fully understanding the manager's instructions and consequently not playing with sufficient confidence to make the attack flow properly.
How did I know you were a newbie..These guys
Probably voting Martial as MOTM as well.
Well, I meant that he's the one most often blamed for our attack failing, and some posters only make it a point to criticize him and no one else. I am only speaking from my observations on the forum. I mostly lurk here and I hardly post, but I'm just saying what I see here after most of our matches. Expectations and standards are different for our other attacking players, so they can sometimes get away without criticism.
It does negate your point tho? We had a pacy wing forward who had the opportunity to take advantage of the space he was getting, but did nothing with it? I don't understand people wanting Ibra to be subbed in the first place. He's our most productive player by far, with no one even coming close in goal return and a player involved in majority of our goals, yet people want him subbed? You think that Ibra isn't capable of being involved in good counter attacking football just because he is slow? When the reality is that Ibra is our only outlet as a target man, when he can win headers, and hold the ball up with his strength. He has the ability to play great attacking passes as well, so why do you think he is useless when we're set up to counter. That pass to Pogba happened in one such attack, but Pogba missed his chance.
Pace isn't everything. Rashford has a lot of pace but couldn't control long passes today when he managed to get in behind. Martial has pace but chooses not to make good runs.
No it doesn't. Ibra, playing centrally, had the ball a little bit more than Martial. Plus, being central gives you more options.
All the good things you say Ibra can do? He never did it. He was a bit off last night. All the good things Martial could have done? He didn't do it either. So we were fecked either way.
Ibra dropped deep a lot, leaving space for wingers to run into. Rashford took advantage of this multiple times during the match.No it doesn't. Ibra, playing centrally, had the ball a little bit more than Martial. Plus, being central gives you more options.
All the good things you say Ibra can do? He never did it. He was a bit off last night. All the good things Martial could have done? He didn't do it either. So we were fecked either way.
Ibra won plenty of headers in the match and was able to hold off defenders with his strength. And he also played a great pass to Pogba which should have been an assist and our 2nd goal. So yea, he did do some of those things.
Thought he was awful. No goal today to disguise his performance today.
That pretty much sums it up for me as well.
Thought not lacklustre but more untidy in possession with layoffs to feet but always a threat and won absolute everything that was played up to him in the air which also stuck and the pivot to all our moves. Thought he was key last night and set up Pogba who should have done better with his strike.
Wasn't great last night, I can't remember when he last played well if I'm honest.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I thought other than a few moments, his general play was poor.
When opinions about a player and his performances are this polarised, it's usually the sign that something isn't all that good.
I know Zlatan didn't play well last night but ffs what's up with people overreacting every time he has a bad game? People saying stuff like 'our attack would be much better without him' need to get a fecking grip. Zlatan has scored 28 goals for us and has single handily won us games at times this season. If there's a player who deserves the least amount of criticism it's this man. I have no idea where we would be without his goals.
People criticizing him is bizarre.
28 goals is a great return, and he's chipped in with his fair share of assists too.
28 goals is a great return, and he's chipped in with his fair share of assists too.
If I had to guess, then "I'm God of Manchester" statement has something to do with that.
To answer the last question.!
the same place we were the last year. Which is the same place that we are in right now
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