22 Feb 2018 08:18:17
That was awful, hard to watch and just goes so against what I consider a United performance.

Chelsea got a hammering for negative tactics at home to Barcelona but at least Barcelona are a top side.

Yes Sevilla have a good home record, and yes they do sit 5th in La Liga, yet they have a negative goal difference because they struggle to score. So why did we need a backs to the wall park the bus performance against a team that struggles to score?

We made them look good, and despite Mourinho's defensive tactics if it wasn't for another fantastic performance from DDG we would have lost regardless.

A back four of Valencia, Smalling, Lindelof and Young isn't a great back four, so why bank on them playing well when we have great offensive players such as Sanchez, Martial, Lukaku, Mata and Pogba?

Looking at our squad our attack is clearly stronger than our defence, so why not play to our strengths? Rather than to our weaknesses?

Because when we play defensive we limit the impact of our best players while inviting pressure onto our weakest.

I think Mourinho is still a great coach, but one who is clearly on the decline now. Since Sir Alex has retired we have tried three managers who have been around the block a few times, guys who are supposed to know what their doing. Unfortunately I feel that all of them are still trying to implement tactics and styles that brought them success 10-15 years ago. The game has moved on and maybe it's left them behind.

I'm not going to band about names, but our next manager needs to be a younger more progressive manager. Someone who will embrace modern football rather than fight against it.

We probably will sneak through at Old Trafford, and there is a solid chance we will finish top 2 or 3. However, I am finding so hard to watch us at the moment, it's a chore rather than a pleasure. Like visiting an elderly relative who you don't quite know but feel duty bound to do so.

I watch us now because it's my duty as a fan, not because I love it. That's the sad truth.

1.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 08:41:56
Don’t Shappy, you have no idea what your talking about when the likes of Scholes, Rio, and Lampard said it was a good performance.

Not my words, I 100% agree with you.

2.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 08:45:28
Now I've started to feel bad for David De Gea. He deserves to play for a team that is actually in a position to challenge for trophies at this point in his career.

3.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 09:10:53
19 clean sheets .
Our front 3 who are so great and amazing where awful last night.
That where the problem lies but for some reason people just want to point the finger at the same players .

No body wants to say it but I think it's our so called great players that aren't playing well as opposed to our dead wood .
But for some reason if Sanchez pogba matic etc have a bad game it's everyone else's fault .

4.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 09:26:48
jred very little front 3 or even front 20 can do when the manager wants every one defending for 90 mins.

5.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 09:36:13
Sanchez lukaku and Mata didn't have to defend for 90 minutes .
They just didn't play well .

Did Chelsea really get slated? I thought they had a great game against Barcelona. 1 mistake but a very professional performance.

6.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 09:46:09
Should say we played 433 last night look flat (almost) every time we play it .

7.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:11:33
Jred - i think youve hit the nail on the head
"No body wants to say it but I think it's our so called great players that aren't playing well as opposed to our dead wood. "

The team hasn't really moved that far on since moyes in terms of playing levels although results have improved. It seems that the idea of chucking big wages and fees doesn't pay off all of the time and we have been probably guilty of addressing the wrong areas of the team/ squad with some of our transfers. Defense : well, 2-3 rotational crocks and 2 transformed wingers, mid: system, out of form superstar and a couple unsure if they'll be at man utd come the summer, then, forwards: again, out of form players playing out of position and we can see the problems. Of course this doent happen all at once or we would be like sunderland but it doesn't help reach the dizzy heights of achievment with quality that we have become accustomed to over the last 2 decades. Galactico type signings are nice when it goes all right but when you haven't got the infastructure to accomodate the egos . well look at the outcome.

8.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:14:22
Agree with you there shappy
Jred we look flat every time we play lately.

9.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:28:55
jred, very few of our offensive players have managed to consistently play well under Jose Mourinho.

I get the impression that Jose is a great coach at coaching players how to defend and how to be positionally disciplined, yet I can't remember him ever being able to make an offensive player play better.

He tends to tighten up the back then buy offensive players who can win games on their own, he is very conservative and is always worried about the other team scoring more than he is concerned about how his team score.

We don’t seem to have any real offensive plan, other than pass to our forwards and let them deal with it.


I mean do we set up to attack down the wings?

Or do we look to attack through the middle?

Do we pressure teams or counter?

How do we look to create overloads when in possession?


We look to sit deep and tight, we move the ball around slowly and we only play balls over the top to attempt to hit teams on the counter. Which is a slightly flawed approach as our starting striker has many qualities yet his hold up and link up play is probably his weakest attributes.


Which again shows us to be playing to our weaknesses and not our strengths.


I look at our squad and I see a very good squad, not as good as City’s but better than Liverpool’s yet we are currently playing the worst football of the top four and for the first time this season I am worried about the form of those teams below us. I still think we’ll get top four this season, but I feel that is because of how poor Arsenal and Chelsea are playing more than how well we are playing. I can see both Liverpool and Spurs finishing above us and they would being doing so with in my opinion inferior squads, which would suggest that Jose Mourinho is holding this squad back.

10.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:49:33
There is no doubt there is more to come from the squad.
But some of the tactical rubbish on here?

11.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:53:35
It was just boring, dreary and flat AGAIN.
The best part of the match was when Rashford and Martial came on. They actually got the ball and ran forward and tried to take players on and make things happen.
The more I see of Paul Pogba and his whole body language the more I think he just can't be a**ed putting in a shift.
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he left the club at the end of the season. (his decision not Jose's)

12.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 10:59:41
Okay jred, so you accept that Mourinho is struggling to get the most out of this squad.

In your opinion what is that?

Are his tactics flawed?

Is he unable to get his ideas across to the players?

Or is he simply unable to inspire them to play at their full potential?

13.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 11:22:52
It's probably a combination of all of them added with a major case of things aren't as bad as many want to make out .
Only city have been better than us this season despite people's opinions and I fully expect us to go through to the quarters of the CL.
After winning 2 not 3 ( don't start me of on that treble crap ) trophies last season .
People only seem to be happy if we win 4.0 and even then not everyone .
Look at my post above 2008 won the CL with Ronald and co . Scored 1 goal or less in 9 out of 13 games .
Not sure what people expected when we got Jose .
Sanchez has thrown the team out a bit no doubt about that but Jose must feel he is good enough to take a step back at the moment if it means taking 2 forward.
But with Sanchez, linders pogba rash and martial will need to change there role and the team as a whole will need to adapt .

14.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 11:45:37
Do we should back a manager who in your opinion is getting his tactics wrong, is unable to get his ideas across to the players and is unable to motivate them?

What is Mourinho getting right?

15.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 12:05:56
Shappy
Again hyperbole .
2nd in the league would suggest Jose is doing far more right than wrong .

Getting his tactics wrong? Maybe fine tuning.

16.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 12:28:41
We are second in the league due to a good start.

If you discount the first 10 games, then we would be 5th in the league.

If all the teams current form continues to the end of the season then we will finish 4th/ 5th.

We started well, then Pogba got injured and we said our form will return when he does, then it didn't, and we talking about Jose and Pogba falling out. Which to be honest I think there is something in that.

Either way our form has steadily declined since mid October, and Jose doesn't seem to be able to pick it up.

Worryingly this has happened several times with Jose where you see a drop off in form during his second season, with a total implosion in his third. If that happens then we can write off any title talk for next year and possibly the year after while a new manager builds his side. We'll then be 8 years without a league title. I hope Jose turns it around, but I'm not seeing any signs he will.

17.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 12:57:01
Hyperbole again we are second in the league because after 27 games only city have been better.
Why should we discount the last 10 games? Why not 5, 15, 13?
If all teams continue the form they have shown through out the season we will finish 2nd.

18.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 13:52:21
jred it isn't hyperbole, we are 2nd because chelsea and liverpool had a poor start to the season. We had 23 points from first 10 games, the next 17 have got us 33, our play especially since christmas has seen us go from easily 2nd to top 4 dog fight.

If all teams continue their form we might genuinely not even be in top 4, A loss against chelsea will see level on points with Chelsa who are 4th and given who liverpool and tottenham are facing we could be 1 point above 5th. Such a wonderful season it has been after spending 300mn.

19.) 22 Feb 2018
22 Feb 2018 14:30:34
We are 2nd because after 27 games we have more points than any other team bar city .
Why is that so difficult to understand?