[noodlehair]

Whoever it is at the club that's been trying to offload Garnacho needs to be forced to watch that game then write a 1,000 word essay on why they're an idiot, then write another 1,000 word essay that's just "im sorry" over and over again...and then resign since we are sofoxused on not paying money to anyone we don't need to.

I get that Garnacho is a frustrating player, but without Rashford he is the only player we have who will run in behind and allow us the space to create anything. He is also better than almost any forward player his age.

The game became easy because suddenly they had someone they had to defend against and suddenly Bruno had people to pick out with his passes

 

[Fitchett]

Lots of really good performances. Garnacho, Mainoo, Dalot, and dare I say for large chunks of the game, Hojlund.

I don’t know what happened to Malacia but that was a really bad first half. I don’t expect him to see a lot of minutes because Dorgu, as well as Dalot and Mazraoui playing the wrong side would be much better options.

Malacia picked up a harsh yellow card after 8 minutes, which obviously clipped his wings. It's the norm for United players to pick up an early booking for their first foul, when opposing players are allowed to concede several more fouls before being booked.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

TBF, that was a pretty easy game for us considering the quality of the opponent is several levels below us.
Having said, we did pretty well but the finishing is still a major concern even vs opponent of this quality.

 

[Pscholes18]

Nice win but meh. Hurts to watch these bakers play.

 

[jem]

Mainoo is on it when he’s in a different position!

Very true!

 

[jem]

I want to be more enthusiastic especially about the second half, but that Rumanian side was comically poor. Worst team I’ve seen in a while.

Yeah but we've been shit against poor sides, so it's refreshing to for once see us dominate in the appropriate manner (mind you I only watched the second half.)

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Mainoo has a new role in the team. ugarte and fernandes behind mainoo and garnacho can help win some games in the premier league.

I like this.

 

[Fobal]

Er....Martinez? He had a brilliant first half, with his passing especially. Easily our best player on the night, IMO.

Licha at this point in the season should have had at to the very least 6 assists

 

[Roosney]

I thought first half was good as well, could have been 2-0 up already.

 

[bringbackbebe]

Whoever it is at the club that's been trying to offload Garnacho needs to be forced to watch that game then write a 1,000 word essay on why they're an idiot, then write another 1,000 word essay that's just "im sorry" over and over again...and then resign since we are sofoxused on not paying money to anyone we don't need to.

 

[P-Nut]

Best performance in a while that. Controlled the game in the first half and attacked the second. We usually shrink in atmospheres such as that, but we did the right thing in being calm to start with and then opening up more and more as we controlled the game more.

 

[GazTheLegend]

Whoever it is at the club that's been trying to offload Garnacho needs to be forced to watch that game then write a 1,000 word essay on why they're an idiot, then write another 1,000 word essay that's just "im sorry" over and over again...and then resign since we are sofoxused on not paying money to anyone we don't need to.

I get that Garnacho is a frustrating player, but without Rashford he is the only player we have who will run in behind and allow us the space to create anything. He is also better than almost any forward player his age.

The game became easy because suddenly they had someone they had to defend against and suddenly Bruno had people to pick out with his passes

I did think in the first half "we have nobody that's going to run at them" in the final third and that's something Garnacho offers. But I watched the Fulham game and last night - he tried the same things that he did on Sunday, but they all came off. When he tried it before he got completely dominated by a Premier League right back. It's different against Romanians.

Still got plenty of time to get better, and we were night and day in the second half. Both Garnacho and Diallo are just a lot more dangerous and direct, and they take more risks than most of our team. When it comes off they look great, when it doesn't they just become a liability.

But yes Alejandro was good last night and showed what he can do.

 

[Rajma]

We should give a real go in this cup, but make no mistake the opposition was really bad and a lot of the things that were working perfectly fine in yesterday’s match won’t ever fly in EPL (for example a midfield two with Bruno) as such these games should be viewed in isolation really.

 

[Xeque_279]

That Kobbie, Amad and Maz right side, wow

Was a fun game after the subs came on. Garnacho looked pretty lively, need more of the same from him and well, Kobbie looks to have found a new place in the team.

 

[MZX7]

Everyone saying Mainoo was great, please understand that we were playing against FCSB.

Every player in our team should have or could have looked great if they had applied themselves in the game. Mainoo was probably more up for it.

Can't judge any player's capabilities based on this match alone. But, yea, you can definitely notice the frailties among some of the players and amongst our team as a whole.

- Hojlund couldn't score even against FCSB. We need to either promote a striker from the Academy or look for another post-peak player as a temp solution if we don't have the funds.
- Finishing off chances is still a major concern.
- Gave away a few chances to the opponent, when they shouldn't have had even one shot on target.

This Europa game only showed us that we can't afford to take any game in the PL lightly.

Amorim needs backing if he has to succeed. He cannot win the league with this bunch of players. No manager can. Even Fergie would struggle.

 

[The White Pele]

I actually enjoyed watching that 2nd half which is the first time in a while I’ve enjoyed a performance. Still frustrating with the final ball and finish but at least we saw some creativity and expression.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Seeing as the quality of the opposition is getting mentioned a lot I just wanted to point out that this was their first Europa home defeat of this season. They’re not great. Nobody in this crappy competition is very good but they’re a level we have definitely looked a lot worse against in the past. To be that dominant is impressive and a big improvement on similar fixtures in recent seasons.

 

[MaxZorin]

An excellent performance and an assured result.

Not perfect. We're not 'back' and need this and that, surely, but still.

 

[Wolfbot]

Everyone saying Mainoo was great, please understand that we were playing against FCSB.

Every player in our team should have or could have looked great if they had applied themselves in the game. Mainoo was probably more up for it.

Can't judge any player's capabilities based on this match alone. But, yea,definitely notice the frailties among some of the players and amongst our team as a whole.

- Hojlund couldn't score even against FCSB. We need to either promote a striker from the Academy or look for another post-peak player as a temp solution if we don't have the funds.
- Finishing off chances is still a major concern.
- Gave away a few chances to the opponent, when they shouldn't have had even one shot on target.

This Europa game only showed us that we can't afford to take any game in the PL lightly.

Amorim needs backing if he has to succeed. He cannot win the league with this bunch of players. No manager can. Even Fergie would struggle.

Mate, that's an outlook on a game of football that players can adopt at times and end up getting beat. Total lack of respect for the opposition.

Yes FCSB weren't very good, I think we all accept that, but they are still a professional team full of Romanian internationals who were one point behind us in the Europa League before we played them. It's a bit silly to say we shouldn't be allowing them any shots on goal at all, or that our limited striker must definitely score against them.

We're nowhere near good enough or consistent enough as a team at this point to be expecting those things.

If we're going to criticise the players when they play poorly against Europa teams, it's fine to give credit to those who play well too.

There's a lot of things you've said that I agree with too. I don't feel we need to be entitled though, or to downplay when we've been decent. We're not at a level where beating even limited teams often comes easy.

 

[GaryLifo]

Mate, that's an outlook on a game of football that players can adopt at times and end up getting beat. Total lack of respect for the opposition.

Yes FCSB weren't very good, I think we all accept that, but they are still a professional team full of Romanian internationals who were one point behind us in the Europa League before we played them. It's a bit silly to say we shouldn't be allowing them any shots on goal at all, or that our limited striker must definitely score against them.

We're nowhere near good enough or consistent enough as a team at this point to be expecting those things.

If we're going to criticise the players when they play poorly against Europa teams, it's fine to give credit to those who play well too.

There's a lot of things you've said that I agree with too. I don't feel we need to be entitled though, or to downplay when we've been decent. We're not at a level where beating even limited teams often comes easy.

Very good post

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Probably the best football we've played in god knows how long - especially that second half. Obviously it's "only" FSCB, but they've been decent in the Europa and I've watched us struggle against worse opposition then that.

Still is so evident how badly we need an actual goalscorer though.

 

[justsomebloke]

A hard game to judge, in my opinion. You could look at it in the way that we played a team of limited capabilities and still had a pretty tame first half, and only looked better once they came apart after our first goal. Or, you could look at it in the way that we played a pretty decent team but controlled the game without creating much in the first half, then went into a different gear and tore them apart by bringing on more dynamism in the form of Diallo and Garnacho.

First half, I thought Martinez was absolutely brilliant, and that it looked like we've brought our back three into our attacking game in a way that allows him to function as a playmaker. Mazraoui again looked a lot better at RCB than he does at RWB. Other than that, it didn't look to me like we had much to offer. That includes Mainoo and Bruno, who both had a pretty poor half IMO. Malacia I thought was very poor.

That changed pretty radically in the second, as Garnacho and Amad came on. Not least, it completely vitalised Mainoo, who obviously had an excellent second half. It's been a while since we rode roughshod over anyone like we did in that half.

Guess I'll take the glass half full reading on that.

Oh, and we need to stop saying Dalot is better on the right than he is on the left. For the last few games at least, he has IMO looked considerably more involved playing on the left than he does when he's on the right.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

A hard game to judge, in my opinion. You could look at it in the way that we played a team of limited capabilities and still had a pretty tame first half, and only looked better once they came apart after our first goal. Or, you could look at it in the way that we played a pretty decent team but controlled the game without creating much in the first half, then went into a different gear and tore them apart by bringing on more dynamism in the form of Diallo and Garnacho.

First half, I thought Martinez was absolutely brilliant, and that it looked like we've brought our back three into our attacking game in a way that allows him to function as a playmaker. Mazraoui again looked a lot better at RCB than he does at RWB. Other than that, it didn't look to me like we had much to offer. That includes Mainoo and Bruno, who both had a pretty poor half IMO. Malacia I thought was very poor.

That changed pretty radically in the second, as Garnacho and Amad came on. Not least, it completely vitalised Mainoo, who obviously had an excellent second half. It's been a while since we rode roughshod over anyone like we did in that half.

Guess I'll take the glass half full reading on that.

Oh, and we need to stop saying Dalot is better on the right than he is on the left. For the last few games at least, he has IMO looked considerably more involved playing on the left than he does when he's on the right.

Yeah, agree with all of this. Although Dalot was pretty good on the right too, I thought.

 

[antohan]

So Mainoo was an AM and not a CM, who would have thunk it?

 

[Zlatans Knee]

Malacia picked up a harsh yellow card after 8 minutes, which obviously clipped his wings. It's the norm for United players to pick up an early booking for their first foul, when opposing players are allowed to concede several more fouls before being booked.

If that was harsh I would love to see what deserved yellows look like in your world! It was a terrible tackle.

 

[Lentwood]

Seeing as the quality of the opposition is getting mentioned a lot I just wanted to point out that this was their first Europa home defeat of this season. They’re not great. Nobody in this crappy competition is very good but they’re a level we have definitely looked a lot worse against in the past. To be that dominant is impressive and a big improvement on similar fixtures in recent seasons.

Yeah, let's face it...we have struggled against sides of this level (or worse) for a decade now. It was nice to see us control a game, create chances and keep a clean sheet.

 

[Maticmaker]

I thought Ruben's game plan worked a treat, a solid first half performance to show our credentials; then up the ante in the second half with two fast 'run-in-behind' players, Garnacho and Amad.

Even allowing for the quality of the opposition not being up to much; Mainoo looked good operating further up the pitch and Collyer behind him doing a lot of the 'donkey work'... in particular he looked quick and alert. With stronger teams Ugarte will need be in there somewhere.

Some nice passages of play from the reds and even allowing for the opponents, at times 'keystone cops' antics, it was a good result and a 'good day at the office', all round.

 

[RoyH1]

A win is a win and we're through. Second half we played well I thought.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Seeing as the quality of the opposition is getting mentioned a lot I just wanted to point out that this was their first Europa home defeat of this season. They’re not great. Nobody in this crappy competition is very good but they’re a level we have definitely looked a lot worse against in the past. To be that dominant is impressive and a big improvement on similar fixtures in recent seasons.

Yeah, let's face it...we have struggled against sides of this level (or worse) for a decade now. It was nice to see us control a game, create chances and keep a clean sheet.

Yeah, I agree.

We've lost / struggled to unconvincing wins against teams of similar standard to Steaua Bucharest over the last decade.

This could easily have been another one of those, away to a team who were in the top 8 before the final group games and only ended up missing out on GD - so far from the worst team in the competition.

We just put in a good performance by our standards and that allowed us to have a rare pretty comfortable win by the end. That's definitely an improvement, though we know we're capable of doing that on and off - the thing we've lacked is consistency. So we now need to put in another type of dominant performance v Palace, and again v Leicester in the FA Cup - rather than revert back to type and following up with a stinker of a performance.

 

[Lentwood]

Yeah, I agree.

We've lost / struggled to unconvincing wins against teams of similar standard to Steaua Bucharest over the last decade.

This could easily have been another one of those, away to a team who were in the top 8 before the final group games and only ended up missing out on GD - so far from the worst team in the competition.

We just put in a good performance by our standards and that allowed us to have a rare pretty comfortable win by the end. That's definitely an improvement, though we know we're capable of doing that on and off - the thing we've lacked is consistency. So we now need to put in another type of dominant performance v Palace, and again v Leicester in the FA Cup - rather than revert back to type and following up with a stinker of a performance.

At least we look like a football team now. Good one, bad one, indifferent one...whatever. Let's see where we are after 18-months of Amorim.

What I don't think we can / should forget, is what an absolute shambles we were under EtH...averaging 25 shots conceded vs Brentford, Palace, Luton etc...unable to score a goal, constantly turning the ball over.

It's going to take time to fix / recover

 

[Hughes35]

That's the most comfortable win we have had in a long time. I thought we looked miles better in terms of shape, control and getting players forwards at the right times.

Last night is what our base average should be. I really hope this gives us a base to build on.

Any Mainoo looked miles better as a 10 where his ability in close spaces and little bits of movement are most effective.

 

[IRN-BRUno]

Nice to just have a normal routine win!

 

[MZX7]

Mate, that's an outlook on a game of football that players can adopt at times and end up getting beat. Total lack of respect for the opposition.

Yes FCSB weren't very good, I think we all accept that, but they are still a professional team full of Romanian internationals who were one point behind us in the Europa League before we played them. It's a bit silly to say we shouldn't be allowing them any shots on goal at all, or that our limited striker must definitely score against them.

We're nowhere near good enough or consistent enough as a team at this point to be expecting those things.

If we're going to criticise the players when they play poorly against Europa teams, it's fine to give credit to those who play well too.

There's a lot of things you've said that I agree with too. I don't feel we need to be entitled though, or to downplay when we've been decent. We're not at a level where beating even limited teams often comes easy.

Yea, but I read posts saying Mainoo should always start as our No. 10, after this game.

Whereas we have witnessed games in the PL where he has been found out or not been too effective in that position.

None of our players are world class. No one owns any position right now. Maybe Amad owns Right Wing but who apart from him have claimed a position as their own? None. So, people are being a little over-excited about Mainoo being our best No.10.

 

[Kaos]

Nice to just have a normal routine win!

Yep, felt a little surreal after the final whistle - is this what a routine win feels like?

Will be nice now if we're able to chain these sorts of performances and results, and the routine drubbings we get from the likes of Brighton and feckin Spurs tend to be rare off-days instead of...well routine.

 

[noodlehair]

I did think in the first half "we have nobody that's going to run at them" in the final third and that's something Garnacho offers. But I watched the Fulham game and last night - he tried the same things that he did on Sunday, but they all came off. When he tried it before he got completely dominated by a Premier League right back. It's different against Romanians.

Still got plenty of time to get better, and we were night and day in the second half. Both Garnacho and Diallo are just a lot more dangerous and direct, and they take more risks than most of our team. When it comes off they look great, when it doesn't they just become a liability.

But yes Alejandro was good last night and showed what he can do.

Yeah I get that. He is still only 20 though and in a frankly awful team at times. Regardless of how good or not he ends up it isn't going to be effective every game.

Without Rashford though (and even with him these days) he's the only player we have who offers that kind of direct in behind threat. It's important as it either stretches teams or forces them to sit deeper.

Diallo I actually think is far more effective atm but he prefers ball to feet and although he does run in behind its more opportunistic than naturally how he plays. Plus he's at wing back half the time.

Of we got rid of Garnacho especially given the circumstances, I'd juat about give up that the club has a y slightest clue what it's doing. The fact it's even been on the table is highly alarming.

I think the noise about the system not suiting this or that player is nonsense. We haven't seen the system working well yet to know who it suits. Garnacho has been less ineffective that over half the other players we've used in it, amd Amorim has said multiple times the team needs more of the kind of threat that only comes from players like Garnacho.

If we suddenly find ourselves with 4 different quality forward players and are banging in goals for fun, then we can start being picky about who is best suited, who has the least stupid hair cut, etc. Atm we don't have an abundance of high quality, high end product forwards. We have Amad and Garnacho, and when one doesn't play the alternative is to play more midfielders

 

[mitchmouse]

I thought we were very good, especially in the second half. Two games now without the defence doing something stupid: look secure and as if they are getting to know each other.

Whoever is plotting the selling of garnacho needs to be shown the door. He changed the whole dynamic within 60 seconds of coming on.

Also helped to have a ref who actually knows the rules. He didn't fall for any nonsense like so many in the PL. Clearly Germany have better refs as well as better teams

 

[mitchmouse]

Whoever it is at the club that's been trying to offload Garnacho needs to be forced to watch that game then write a 1,000 word essay on why they're an idiot, then write another 1,000 word essay that's just "im sorry" over and over again...and then resign since we are sofoxused on not paying money to anyone we don't need to.

I get that Garnacho is a frustrating player, but without Rashford he is the only player we have who will run in behind and allow us the space to create anything. He is also better than almost any forward player his age.

The game became easy because suddenly they had someone they had to defend against and suddenly Bruno had people to pick out with his passes

this

 

[miked99]

I loved that second half. It was actually exciting. Frustrating too, in that we could've scored five, but just having a two goal lead felt great

Garnacho, Amad and Mainoo are our future, or I hope they are anyway.

 

[GazTheLegend]

Yeah I get that. He is still only 20 though and in a frankly awful team at times. Regardless of how good or not he ends up it isn't going to be effective every game.

Without Rashford though (and even with him these days) he's the only player we have who offers that kind of direct in behind threat. It's important as it either stretches teams or forces them to sit deeper.

Diallo I actually think is far more effective atm but he prefers ball to feet and although he does run in behind its more opportunistic than naturally how he plays. Plus he's at wing back half the time.

Of we got rid of Garnacho especially given the circumstances, I'd juat about give up that the club has a y slightest clue what it's doing. The fact it's even been on the table is highly alarming.

I think the noise about the system not suiting this or that player is nonsense. We haven't seen the system working well yet to know who it suits. Garnacho has been less ineffective that over half the other players we've used in it, amd Amorim has said multiple times the team needs more of the kind of threat that only comes from players like Garnacho.

If we suddenly find ourselves with 4 different quality forward players and are banging in goals for fun, then we can start being picky about who is best suited, who has the least stupid hair cut, etc. Atm we don't have an abundance of high quality, high end product forwards. We have Amad and Garnacho, and when one doesn't play the alternative is to play more midfielders

We need a full summer of training, and another year of experience under Mainoo and Garnacho's belt, and maybe - just maybe - we might start looking like a team again. But we are in such a weird place right now.

Because I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Hojlund, Garnacho, Mainoo, Zirkzee and Diallo are potentially -great- players. But 4 of the 5 have had absolutely terrible seasons, and there's no doubt they've all contributed in a major way to how bad we've been, so it's hard to reconcile how I feel about these individual players, which there are a lot of, with the "frankly awful team" bit (which I agree with completely, because we really have been awful). And I don't think I'm alone in thinking that de Ligt and Martinez aren't awful players either, nor is Fernandes, nor is Dalot, nor is Rashford (despite the drama), nor is Maguire,.

And yet it feels to me like even though I've just run through a list of players who I like, think can be fantastic or at -least- good-to-very good on their day, and generally would be happy if we kept them all - we are de facto an awful team, awful to watch, easy to score against and never look like scoring. So - it's strange. For 45 minutes last night we were so bad to watch, and didn't look like we'd score in a hundred years. And then a couple of changes and it was a world of difference, so fair play to the manager because he recognised it and fixed it.

TLDR: I don't even know where our problems actually begin and end, and Garnacho is such a weird case. Could be fantastic, could be that we kick ourselves for not cashing in -now- one day, but I'd be happy to keep him and hope we do.

 

[Hester_manc]

Er....Martinez? He had a brilliant first half, with his passing especially. Easily our best player on the night, IMO.

Not even among our 5 best, and I see it.