09 Aug 2017 14:53:28
I think we have a strong squad with some very good players, we just need to get them playing to their potential. Jose has an unrivalled record but he needs to get the best out of them, last night a few looked off colour and I wasn't sure on out formation or tactics. Last year he took a long time to decide on his strongest team so this year we should be more settled.

For me, Rashford needs to play up front with Lukaku, I think this would scare the pants off most teams, pace and power, and they showed pre-season they can link up. That causes issues behind in terms of formation but let's stop worrying about other teams and go out with the intention of winning. However, I fear 2 up front only works with effective wing backs for width so I'm not sure we will see it anytime soon.

I saw someone's post about the commentators last night saying only 7 positions were mailed on, for me it is more. DDG, Valencia (for now), Bailly, Matic, Pogba, Herrera, Lukaku and I w update add Rashford to that. That leaves. LB, a CB, and a MF to decide on. Shaw (when fit), Lindelof (when settled) and one of Lingard, Martial or Mata. Not sure how we get width though.

{Ed004's Note - The width (like Madrid did) should be coming from the fullbacks however bar Valencia none of ours are good enough and I have my doubts whether Shaw ever will be. Ideally we would just look to sign two fullbacks this window with Aurier being one of them and no idea what left backs are available}

1.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 15:23:00
Ed4
Do you think Jose full backs will ever be as committed as that?
Is this the case of fans wanting the team to set up in a way the manager doesn't.

{Ed004's Note - Possibly but he has played with attacking fullbacks before. He has used the likes of marcelo, cole, Maicon in his career}

2.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 15:43:39
We saw with LVG how as managers get older they tend to get cagier, we saw it with SAF towards the end and I think we are seeing it with Jose.

Seeing how we performed last night I understand now that I am piddling in the wind thinking we will ever get back to free flowing football - that was our last test before the start of the season and we should have seen some sort of progress imo - I didn't see much different in style or focus from last season. The swashbuckling stuff most people associate with Utd probably won't be back under this manager moves on and I kind of accept that it's always going to be a grind. Hopefully he schools the lads properly, because I'm concerned there are far too many basic mistakes being made for us to rely on keeping teams out and nicking a goal or two.

We played a very good team last night, but I was expecting us to be sharper and more cohesive even against a Madrid mid-way through pre-season. Every game may be a grind, but we will still compete on account of signing better players.

3.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 15:55:30
Ed
True but all had to defend never saw Cole out of position.

{Ed004's Note - Very true. We don't have proper wingers or width so we either have to play attacking fullbacks or sign an out and out winger like Perisic before the season starts}

4.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 15:40:47
I said it before we should have started the summer window with mendy and semedo. That would have solved the issue there and then. We could have then filled in the other positions. Ed002 have we shown any further intetest in Martin?

{Ed002's Note - Nope.}

5.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 16:12:01
Ed, I haven't seen much of Aurier, can he also play LB or is he as one-footed as Tony V?

{Ed002's Note - He can.}

6.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 17:02:59
Beast do you think its a little harsh to assume nothing has changed after playing real madrid? I am not saying it has but if there is any game to just go out and attempt to stay in the game its them they are the best in the world i wouldn't make a great judgement on how we are playing until probably january let the likes of lindelof matic and lukaku settle in fully. Like i said i'm not hopeful but to say there has been no progress after playing madrid a team that if you go toe to toe with them would have absolutely demolished us and what would that have done for squad morale? On the whole madrid definitely deserved to win but we managed to create chances and it was enough to give me hope for the season especially once those new players properly settle in.

7.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 18:02:39
Dan - Not harsh mate, just what I felt about the game. It reminded me a lot of games we played against good opposition last season. I appreciate Madrid are quality, but we played how we did against any top 6 team, no fluidity, looked ropey at the back, outworked, couldn't string more than a couple of passes together, missed the few good chances we created and never really looked like we wanted to win the Utd way.

I obviously am not writing off the season, but I am concerned that with a full pre-season I didn't see too many positives. Matic was good, but our problem was breaking teams down last season, with the players we had on the pitch I expected us to threaten Madrid a lot more and for some relationships between players, wide players didn't have a clue what they were doing, Lukaku was isolated (like every striker for the past 5 years), midfield were too busy worrying about the opposition.

I'm just a bit underwhelmed, expected to see a bit more - It was Madrids pre-season too, yet they seemed hungry and a team trying to win, we seemed like individuals again who were trying not to get beat.

If we play Madrid again in the CL, they will be much better, Jose has a lot of work to do if we expect to compete in that competition - shouldn't be the case a year in, another £150m spent and a full clean pre-season. If he learnt from last year I didn't see what that was yesterday, and there were a lot of lessons to learn.

8.) 09 Aug 2017
09 Aug 2017 18:29:50
Couldn't agree more beast. We needed a left back, a winger, a playmaker and CB, a striker and defensive midfielder. We got the last three but we haven't got a left back or a winger or a proper playmaker. And without them, you can forget about challenging.
City needed two full back and a GK and they went out and bought two of the best fullbacks around and an excellent GK.
We seem to just want and make do, so I can't see us doing anything this season.