Manchester United Banter Archive February 22 2018

22 Feb 2018 17:52:49
For those that think we have a good sqiad.
Have you ever seen fellaini lukaku blind darmian smalling young shaw valencia rojo jones rashford or martial play any better so far in their carreers than they have played this season.
These guys are playing at their highest level. None have done any worse than what they have produced so far in their careers.
You have seen them play at the level they are playing at now ever since they signed for us from anything between 8 and 3 seasons Ago.

Are any of tbose players doing a whole lot worse than they have ever done. In fact in most cases this will be their best ever league csmpaign.
Jose doing a great job to keep them 2nd and in cups they are just not good enough to do any better.
Sure jones and smalling have an epl medal but were only bit part platers that year both started less than 20 games that season.

Bunch of average joes producing average resilts no matter who coaches them.
Lukaku rash and martial and maybe shaw deserve another seadon the rest should be sold.

22 Feb 2018 18:03:51
Yer I have.
 fellaini lukaku blind darmian smalling young shaw valencia rojo jones rashford or martial have all played better.
Fellaini was better last year
Lukaku prob done better at Everton
Blind has gone backwards since his first season .
Smalling was better under lvg.
Young never let's u down always seems to be at a similar level
Rojo hasn't really played and is coming back from a ACL
Rasford has had a dip was better last year
Martial was better under lvg
Shaw was far better for Southampton.

Up until this season I hadn't seen sterling sane feridinho delph stones and otemndi play this well tho .
In fact I had never seen city play anywhere near as good.

22 Feb 2018 18:14:22
Not far from the truth there, but you and all the other fed up fans must realise that it's not practical or sane to sell 3/ 4 of your first team squad in one season. Squads need to evolve. Even when City started sp@nkig all their money, it took them years to build a settled team that was capable of a sustained challenge for silverware. And getting the right blend of experience and youth is key - something we are only just STARTING to see his season in our squad.

22 Feb 2018 18:26:32
Arnie. How many did city shed last summer. Think it was 12. 9 or 10 of tbose played 15 or more games the previous season so it can be done successfully in one go mate.

22 Feb 2018 18:32:43
So jred all the players were playing better but getting a lot worse results. how can that be? comedy gold. 😂😂😂 i thik you just like arguing. But like our players you are consistently inconsistent. Southamton lol so your going back 5 years lol who was it you scolded for that a couple of threads down? Yet your comparing to 10 years on the thread below that. Go and have a lie down think you have lost the plot a bit today.

22 Feb 2018 18:45:09
Fair point Ken, part of me can understand your argument especially after the disappointment of the last few results and poor, disjointed performances, however I don't think it's quite as bad as you fear.

Surely a team featuring De Gea, Bailly, Pogba, Matic and Sanchez should be able to play some decent stuff though pal. In that list we have the best goal keeper in the world, I haven't seen many CB's better than Bailly, Pogba was considered one of the best midfielders in the world when we signed him and Sanchez has consistently been one of the best attackers in the EPL for a good few years. There aren't many better holding midfielders than Matic. He's been an important player in two title winning teams at Chelsea under two different managers. Even Lukaku has been consistently one of the best goal scorers in the league for some time now.

In addition to that we have Martial, Rashford, Mata, Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Herrera even Lingard. I personally also rate Blind and think he's a very good footballer. We have a pretty decent squad. Not every player can be a superstar and surely it's about getting the right balance and getting the most out of some very good players we undoubtedly have.

In my humble opinion he needs to re assess the formation and play a system that gets the most out of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku and Martial. The only ways I can see this happening is to play 3 at the back in which we still get some natural width from the wing backs or playing a thee man midfield with Sanchez at 10, Martial and Lukaku up front in a 4-3-1-2. Let's be honest our so called wide players be it Sanchez, Martial, Rashford, Mata and Lingard all like to play inside anyway.

We we're terrible at Spurs but Liverpool, Arsenal, Dortmund and even Madrid have been well beaten there this year. The Newcastle game was a big disappointment but on another day we created enough chances to win that game comfortably. Ok last night was poor but Sevilla are formidable at home and I remember lots of similar European away performances under Fergi.

I agree with Slate we might have to wait until the end of the season to really evaluate where we're at.

It was a similar story last season as well. If we didn't win against Ajax then it wasn't good enough. We did and it ended up being a relatively successful first season considering Pep won nothing.

It's fine margins at the moment and if we end up with nothing then the arduous performances become hard to bare. A top 4 finish, FA Cup win and decent run in the Champions League and Jose can rightly point to progression and more success. Only time will tell.

22 Feb 2018 18:49:46
Ken
You asked a question I answerd it .
Don't forget that the players you mentioned above are not all our players and some of them like lukaku where not even at the club last season?
He might have something to do with us doing better than last season as well as some of the other players you have failed to mention .

You asked when Shaw had played better he played better at Southampton. That not comparing.

Again my post about 10 year ago was about Ronaldo and co when we won the CL nothing to do with this squad.
You do know what compare means? Clutching at straws pal.

22 Feb 2018 18:53:51
Danny i hear you i'd prefer 3 at the back based on the squad. For starters we don't have any good full backs to play 4.
It would not surprise me to win something but for me its all about the league campaign.
Would you be shocked if brighton and seville beat us? I wouldn't.
We you be shocked if we beat them? I wouldn't. That's the essence of a cup team. That's what we are and have been for 5 years.
Jose knows how to win. He will do it by any means.
He can win with excitment too. Chelsea and madrid in particular were very good to watch a lot of the time. But they had better players than us we are more like his inter team. Some high quality surrounded by averageness or even belie average.

22 Feb 2018 19:09:16
Which ones are not our players?

22 Feb 2018 19:23:59
They are not all our players we also have as Danny pointed out pogba matic Sanchez and co .
Just question after question.

22 Feb 2018 20:02:44
Ken, I disagree I think we have a better squad now than when Jose took over. I also think we have the basis of a very good squad.

For me the issue is simple, Mourinho's tactics/ style is good at elevating poor/ average performers to a good level as seen with players like Young, Smalling, Lingard ect while stifling the best performers such as Martial, Mata, Pogba, Lukaku and Sanchez.

Some people have said that Matic has got worst over the season because he has tired. Yet he never tired last season under Conte. Although now I mention it he did the previous season at Chelsea under Mourinho.
It begs the question does Matic's performances under Jose happen because he doesn't rest him or does Jose's coaching style wear down his ability to perform?

I think we have some wonderful offensive players, but it is so often said forwards are confidence players, I think Jose's style has sucked the confidence out of them.

Your not telling me if given the platform to perform that players such as Pogba, Mata, Martial, Rashford, Lukaku and Sanchez couldn't play better than they currently are?

22 Feb 2018 20:05:35
Didn’t José win the treble with Inter?!

22 Feb 2018 20:23:10
Danny i agree with you i think we have some very good players and with the exception of ddg all of them could be playing better. But we have 7 or 8 players that imo will never do any better. This is their level and we have too many of tbose in our squad.
I don't want nor have i ever suggested that we need a team of superstars. The blend is not right.
Id be happy to promote tuanzebe perriera tfm to pad out the squad in place of fellaini darmian rojo. Then repplace carrick blind and smalling and young with a rb lb cb and cm. Being greedy a rw if periera stays in spain . So 7 players or just over quarter of the squad.

22 Feb 2018 20:49:47
Fellaini rojo blind darmian not really played this year . hard to blame them
Not sure tuanzebe perriera tfm would get much action either to be honest .

Jose very vocal he would like fellaini for next season .

22 Feb 2018 22:08:43
Im not blaming them for anything. i'm just saying they should be sold they don't contribute very much at all and i don't see them doing so In the future. They are tying up big wages and fresh blood is needed. They are all doing their best and always have done.

22 Feb 2018 22:40:57
When did blind even play last?
What's he got to do with last night.
Good squad this most can see it.

22 Feb 2018 23:44:36
I havnt even mentioned last night. I think we got a good result last night. I didn't enjoy the way we went about it i got a little less than i elected in terms of intent. But that's jose in europe away or big 6 away most of the time.

23 Feb 2018 00:33:38
I agree with your list Ken except for Rojo. Left footed centreback, before this latest injury set back he was playing well. I also think he is a good shout for left CB in a three if we go with that formation change.

I think this squad is desperate for a Toni Kroos type midfielder and a right winger who can make something happen. I still think Alexis is that guy and let Martial and Rashford duke it out for the left Wing/ Lukaku cover roles.

Our fullbacks are also a weakness. TFM or Tuanzebe for rb, need a leftback to compete with Shaw.

23 Feb 2018 06:26:41
Ken just because you have one example of it working doesn't mean it's a good recipe for team building.

22 Feb 2018 12:57:13
Just to throw a cat amongst pigeons. Picture this we still had lvg (shudder) and he had our current squad so had lukaku instead of Rooney. Pogba Instead of schwine/ snide. Had sanchez Instead of depay plus had bailly. Would united be closer to city now than we are discuss?

23 Feb 2018 09:03:40
No one would notice. If we still had LVG all Man Utd fans would be following rugby by now.

22 Feb 2018 11:00:24
United last won the CL in 2008 Ronaldo Rooney and co . What an attacking team that was .

We played 13 games in the CL that year.
Drew 4
And scored more than 1 goal in only 4 games.

22 Feb 2018 11:23:58
I don't think that says a great deal to be honest.
It was a different time, I seem to remember there being far more great defenders back then. I struggle to name 5 genuinely world class defenders nowadays. Certainly when you compare the defenders back then to the best of today you are left thinking that we don't have many great ones now.

When you think David Luiz regularly makes lists of the top ten best centre backs in the world you have to realise there aren't many good defenders.

22 Feb 2018 11:31:13
Shaps
Lol yer that must be the reason .
But every game was amazing Ronaldo tevez and co it was goals goals goals . 9 games out of 13 we scored 1 or less goals .

22 Feb 2018 11:41:20
Sevilla have conceded more goals in the UCL this season than any other team still in the competition.
They have conceded more goals than they have scored in La Liga so far this season giving them a negative goal difference.
They have averaged 13 shots a game in the UCL before last nights game where they managed 29 which has brought their average shots up to 16.

They were not a team that deserved the kind of respect we showed last night.

22 Feb 2018 11:51:03
We had a much better defence back then jred. That team could have ‘parked the bus’ and won games. We are relying on a shocking defence to save us nowadays. Statistics can often be misleading without context. There is so much talent in this squad and Jose is simply not playing to it’s strengths or getting the best out of it. We showed far too much respect to Sevilla last night whilst spurs when to Juve and went toe to toe with them and dominated them in their own back yard. The difference is one manager encourages his team to press and pressure the opposition, whilst another is happy to sit back, hold structure and invite pressure. Yesterday was unacceptable and I refuse to accept it was a good result.

22 Feb 2018 12:04:19
Shappy you missed of " in my opinion"
On your post .
But that's moving off topic .

22 Feb 2018 12:16:36
I said a long time ago there wasn’t any decent defenders anymore. Not one world class centre half anywhere. Fullbacks who can’t defend and couldn’t cross a t.

22 Feb 2018 12:21:51
They aren't a great team jred, what will they win this season? Nothing, they might not even finish in the UCL places in La Liga, a league many consider a two team league.

Their best player Nzonzi wants to leave and spent most of January trying to move to either Arsenal or Everton apparently.

Are you saying that unless we played in the manner we did there was no other chance of us getting that result of better?

There was no need for us to play in the manner we did to get a result there.
People talk is if a 0-0 draw is a good result away from home. It's not. A score draw at Old Trafford and we are out.

It's probably better to lose 3-2 away and have two away goals than to not take a single away goal back home for the second leg.

A 0-0 result away from home is a massive gamble on the second leg. We have three games between now and then, there is every chance we could pick up one or two key injuries before we play Sevilla again. Then will the gamble of not trying to score an away goal seem like a clever move?

22 Feb 2018 12:24:07
Park
A shocking defence that has kept 19 clean sheets .

22 Feb 2018 12:28:26
That's Jose boys not pretty but it does work .
Again can't remember people moaning in 2008 when we had the dream team team of Ronaldo tevez Rooney.
And ground out a good few results in Europe.
Scholes lampard ferdy bang on the money last night imo .
Poor game to watch tho but I've seen that a lot over the years .

22 Feb 2018 12:47:02
Shappy
No I haven't said that are a great team .
I haven't said that was the only way to play .

But to set up not to conced away from home in the last 16 of the CL isn't the worse tho g in the world .

Problem is people always thing they know better.

What has nzonzi got to do with anything when deciding what tactics to play? Eh

Fergy set up not to conced plenty of times .
Crap game to watch tho .

People patince are starting to wear thin with Jose.
Why because he is doing what he has always done?
Lot of people didn't want Jose at the club because of his brand of footy at previous clubs .
But that the Jose way surprised some have just realised.

22 Feb 2018 12:48:22
But don't forget fergy never set up not to conced there where just better defenders back then .

22 Feb 2018 12:50:35
Jred yes we have kept 19 clean sheets and how much is that down to us playing defensive insipid football? Like I said statistics are misleading. We may have the most clean sheets but I wouldn’t say man for man we have the best defence in the league. I would take spurs back 4 over ours. Statistically we may have been the best but I think a lot of that has been to how incredible De Gea has been.

22 Feb 2018 13:11:58
The 19 clean sheets is a smoke screen, we have been sitting 2 midfielder in front of the back 4 and de gea has helped out a lot with that stat.
The team going forward is suffering.
Lvg didn't trust smalling, either does Jose, but smalling is still there.

22 Feb 2018 13:20:36
Good points jred.

22 Feb 2018 13:42:29
Here we go with the fergie did it defense, fergie never setup to achieve a draw for 90 mins in his 25+ years here, we always tried to win at some point in the game. I can show you 3 games in 1.5 seasons from mourinho where we did not cross the half way line for atleast 80+ mins in the game with a draw being the only goal, I am sure Fergie did this routinely.

22 Feb 2018 14:13:47
And CSM i am sure Fergie won 20 CL titles in his 25 years in charge.

22 Feb 2018 14:28:41
Worse h
Game of footy I ever saw live Monaco v United.
19 clean sheets is not my opinion it's a fact .
2nd in the league is not my opinion it's a fact .
Not great to watch is my opinion.

Juve have set up not to conced for the last 10 year . It happens.

People have rose tinted glasses they think Ronaldo and co just blew teams away game after game in Europe.
Just didn't happen.
But there where better defenders back then .

Crap game to watch no question.

22 Feb 2018 14:47:45
Jred yes we have kept 19 clean sheets and how much is that down to us playing defensive insipid football?

Spurs have scored 1 more goal than us the scouse and city are the only other teams to score more goals than United in the league . Who are playing defensive inspid football .
It that an overreaction?
We have an awful back 4 . And yet have 19 clean sheets and the best defensive record in the league.
Is that an overreaction.

22 Feb 2018 15:06:56
Jred, do you believe and be honest we will finish in the top 4.
I don't think we will but hope I'm wrong.

{Ed025's Note - 4th for me leahy..

22 Feb 2018 17:39:47
Leahy 100% pal.

22 Feb 2018 15:55:26
Fair enough ed. I think spurs will get in. I 5hink it's between us and Chelsea, big game next one could tell a lot.

{Ed025's Note - chelsea are in a similar situation for me leahy you both lose to teams you would expect to win against, in my view liverpool will get second then its a lottery for the last 2 places, the ones who stay in the remaining cup competitions the longest could well be the ones who miss out mate..

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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)

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?

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 .

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

22 Feb 2018 06:12:49
Missed the game yesterday. Woke up and saw it was a draw. First came to this site to see the general opinion. It felt that it was an OK result, we didn't attack much but did well defensively. Then I saw the extended highlights. There was I think 1 chance which could have been a goal in which Lukaku missed the chance. On the other hand they missed a lot of chances and we could have easily lost. We had that 1 win against spurs where Martial came on and scored against tired legs and now mourinho thinks he has found some kind of a masterplan and tries to do that repeatedly. De gea and the other team scuffing their chances were the only positives to take away from the match. It was a match that the other team deserved to win. With all the English teams performing well it was even more embarrassing. We are the underdogs now when they come to OT. If we score 1st we will sit back and they can even win the tie by equalising in the 90th minute. If they score 1st then I have no faith in our team that we will score 2 against them. I have full faith in mourinho and he is of course much more intelligent than any of us but the problem with him is that he is not evolving with time. This has all the makings of a disastrous season for us. And if anyone thinks we will be in top 4 come the end of season then just take a look at points table and our form.

22 Feb 2018 08:00:05
DDG did the DDG thing to keep us from conceding.

We didn't play well. There's no cohesion at all in our team.

22 Feb 2018 09:10:52
What did Sevilla do to deserve to win? Have loads of really rubbish shots? They kept the ball but had no end product, De Gea made one good save, the rest any of us would have saved, most of them sailed well wide.

I presume Jose thinks that we will be good enough to beat them at home, I fully agree and can't wait to go in 19 days time, can't beat a big European night at OT.

{Ed025's Note - i do admire your positivity GDS but there is a difference between that and blind faith mate, if you are happy with the way UTD are playing then it just shows how far standards have dropped..

22 Feb 2018 09:31:31
Ed,

I decided to watch the 2nd half last night without the chat room as the negativity gets to me and makes me miss parts of the game. I enjoy watching United play win, lose or draw, we aren't as good as we once were at the moment but I'm not spoilt enough to think I have to support a team that is amazing. I obviously differ from everybody else on here but I know a lot of my mates and matchgoing reds agree with me, so I don't think this is the place for me anymore.

{Ed025's Note - i happen to enjoy your posts GDS and admire your faith, i just feel that sometimes you have to call a spade a spade mate, 2nd in the league and last 16 of the CL is not to be sniffed at and as a means to an end you have a good point, but i have always believed that UTD were above that and were the benchmark when it came to entertainment and creative football, i hope you change your mind as its good to have different views being expressed on here but its all about perspective, if they play well then by all means laud it up but if they are poor then its ok to express that as well, in the end its all about opinions and on that there is no right or wrong..

22 Feb 2018 18:10:19
You're right, Ed. They were. But they aren't any more. And trying to get that back is clearly much harder than we all imagined, especially without SAF, Gill, and taking way too many years to rebuild our midfield and defence.

{Ed025's Note - in my view you have the wrong man at the helm arnie which is holding you back, you have the creative players and the wherewithal to improve the squad if need be but set up not to lose rather than win mate..

22 Feb 2018 01:47:18
That was disgraceful to watch, and for me, Mourinho is the first one to blame. We defended with a 4-5-1, no pressing whatsoever, and then booted long balls up to Lukaku, and hoped he could hold the ball up against 2 or 3 defenders, or else knock the ball down for a 50-50.

We are nowhere even close to the top tier of clubs in Europe, who are coached well enough to move the ball around with ease. We play very little one touch, and the second option is back to De Gea so he can boot it up toward Lukaku. This is embarrassing for a club of our stature. So many clubs with far less talent can press defensively with high energy, send runners forward, take some risks, make things happen.

Our attack is all down to individual ability. I see almost nothing that has been developed on the training. Mourinho, for all his self-assured demeanor, is a coward tactically. He almost never let's the fullbacks go forward. There is nothing creative that we do in possession.

Manchester United has a great tradition of attacking football. Mourinho has betrayed that history with his reactive football. At home and abroad now, we routinely get outplayed by average sides, and rely on superior talent to nick a goal. Sevilla had zero quality up front tonight and still dominated the match, while our manager sat motionless on the bench, smug and content. I used to look forward to the games, but the team has become depressing to watch, on a very consistent. basis.

Pardon my anger, but I needed to put it down on paper. It's hard showing up at work with only De Gea to boast of.