FA Premier League

Manchester United 1:0 Tottenham Hotspur

Old Trafford

Kick-off
Sat, 8 August 2015 @ 12:45pm BST
Status

Closed

Discussion Live Updates 71 Your Lineup Prediction

  • Status
    Not open for further replies.
    Memphis, Darmian the bright sparks. Schneiderlin was a mixed bag. Not happy with Rooney so far, hopefully his season is better than I fear its going to be. Smalling has been good.

    Overall a so-so half.
     
    Pass the ball around very slowly and then boot it up the pitch from time to time. Keep your body static and never run into empty spaces. Foolosophy.
     
    With this central midfield combo we could field Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre as our centrebacks and still have no defensive issues.

    Real solid first half but obviously lacking a bit in attack. There were a few glimpses when Schneiderlin kept getting the ball off their midfielders high up the pitch. Thought Darmian and Depay look right at home so far. No troubles for them adapting to the premiership so far. Still think Depay is wasted by not being played on the wing. I get that he has the ability to score goals but wouldn't it make more sense to have Mata there?

    Hopefully we up the tempo and go for the jugular in the second half. It also begs the question where will Bastian and Ander fit in? Still don't think Ashley deserves a place over either of those two. At least not if we want to be serious about challenging for top honors.
     
    Rooney drifts too much to be the main man up top and his touch is often poor.
     
    Rooney's broken a few moves which could have been very dangerous with his shit passing. :(
     
    Carrick and Schneiderlin both look really lethargic, nowhere near sharp enough. Blind also completely out of place at CB.

    Darmian has been great defensively. Some good moments from Memphis and Young, Rooney and Mata have both been pretty damn poor in the final third.
     
    We're quite lucky to be ahead. That was a pretty average first half. When Memphis and Mata have got near the ball they have looked good, but there simply has not been enough interplay between our midfield lines. We're relying on nicking the ball in the middle third and countering, whereas Spurs are actually building moves.

    Our main plus points have been Darmian and Smalling, which says a lot. I don't see this balance that Van Gaal keeps preaching. If we went to a proper 4-3-3 with Basti and Herrera in centre midfield behind Mata, Rooney and Memphis we'd find it easier to control this game.
     
    Romero has it in him to be a calamity at any moment.

    Darmian looking right at home down the flank, great signing. Memphis has been mostly unimpressive.
     
    :lol:Just watching that goal replay again from Walker- looks like a striker's finish, coolly slotted in. Criminal if Rooney not Mepmphis gets the assist there.
     
    Mata is not a winger. We need a proper right sided winger and Mata can either sit or play #10. Ridiculous. Young is only average also. We need wide players to take people on more. Shaw wasn't getting forward enough. Darmian is our best player. Morgan and Carrick are doing a pretty good job but neither gets forward well enough. After all of our buys we still look an unbalanced team. We also learned that we need a proper GK. Memphis and Rooney had small moments but don't look particularly good together. A lot of work still to do.
     
    Bruno8 said:
    Matteo Darmian has been brilliant at Right Back. No wonder he is highly rated in Italy. He knows how to defend
    Click to expand...
    He's absolute class... my favourite signing.
     
    Bit meh so far. Darmian looks really impressive again but I still think we lack that cutting edge going forward. Mata and Young don't do enough for me.
     
    Think our front 4 have all looked sharp at times

    Darmian and Shaw look good

    Morgan a bit rusty
     
    Romero looks like he just took a shit in his shorts. Looks sloppy with the ball at his feet, he has to work on his distribution.
     
    Maybe its the lunch time kick off but most players already look knackered and we may need to make 3 substitutions by the 70th min

    As expected the GK is a bit nervous. We are no sharp in passing and taking too long on the ball. Pace is pedestrian. Cant really fault anyone for effort but we can do better
     
    shamans said:
    I thought he was one of our best players on the pitch with Rooney, Darmian, Cashley and Depay
    Click to expand...
    He improved later on in the half, but before that, he lost too many balls in possession.
     
    God I forgot just how cringeworthy some of the match-day thread commentary can be. Shaw a waste of money? And 5kg overweight? Ok then... Anyway, pretty indifferent first half. I think I'd rather see one of Carrick or Schneiderlin (both of whom have looked ok,) with Herrera adding a bit more thrust, but then that's hardly a new sentiment. Mata has had his moments, but I still wish he'd be a bit more incisive with his passing. His control is a joy to watch as always. Romero hasn't looked too nervous; just fecked up a couple of kicks is all. Great layoff from Rooney for the Walker goal.
     
    Shit start (first 20 minutes) and we were lucky that Eriksen missed. Then Shaw fecked up and let Walker get his chance, but good reaction from Romero, who's been decent. It's normal that he made these couple of distribution mistake, it's his first game.

    Schneiderlin wasn't very good. Carrick with a good half, but he should be quicker in his decision making sometimes. I guess age takes its due at times though.

    Young has been a bit invisible and Mata should be more involved.

    What the feck was Rooney doing before Walker scored an own goal? He just froze with the ball and didn't know what to do with it.
     
    I honestly think Romero has done ok. Two bad moments, but each and every gk has that during a match. he's very precise with his passes upfield. schneiderlin has been very good and Darmian our best player. Memphis, so so. So where some of you are coming from I hav no fecking idea. We started shaky, but we are much more dominating the last half than they were the first.
     
    Same problems as last season. I'm sure Herrera would be beneficial and Depay surely is a winger
     
    Might not be deserved that we lead, but I think we just got better and better as the match went on. I think that Herrera and/or Pereira could've of helped us creating more and playing even faster than we've done so far. Carrick-Scheiderlin as a duo is good, but a bit slow imo and not that creative without Herrera.
     
    The legginess and poor touches are still there, this feels like a pre-season fixture. No one's looked sharp really. We're losing the ball far too easily, and when we win it back, we're just as quick to lose it again.

    Also, can anyone explain LVG's insistence on playing Depay centrally when he's clearly a winger? My explanation would be that Mata is more tactically disciplined than Memphis, and I've seen him come back and intercept Spurs attacks. But you've also gotta balance that with giving Memphis more space to play with and get him on the ball more, which is only really going to happen on the wing. It's all a bit baffling, really.

    Finally, a shout out to Darmian, best player on the pitch since Walker's OG. Schneiderlin hasn't been too bad either, he's showed a few times what he brings to the team.

    On the flip side, Romero looks like an Under-18s player promoted to the first team. Absolutely no authority or confidence. And what's with all the short passes to the defenders? This could spell disaster if Spurs start closing down our defenders. Sometimes you just need to thwack it clear.
     
    This is why I said I don't like the formation. There is little thrust form the middle of the park and its to be expected when the two CMs are sitting. The only upside is that we've had a ridiculous a out of interceptions. We look flat. At times the distance between midfield and attack has been massive.
     
    Ok first half considering it's the first game, we were a bit nervy but finished the half with confidence, still really lacking in creativity, i'm hoping Herrera and Pereira will be introduced at some point the second half.
     
    I just don't understand why Memphis isn't out wide, starting to think Mata only plays there because of his first touch when receiving crosses
     
    Status
    Not open for further replies.
Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Chris Smalling image Chris Smalling 52% of 1303 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

6.3 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 1065 ratings.
Submit your ratings
View full results

Score Predictions

1098,55,170
  • Man Utd win
  • Tottenham win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 25% Man Utd 2:1 Tottenham
  • 20% Man Utd 3:1 Tottenham
  • 19% Man Utd 2:0 Tottenham
  • 8% Man Utd 3:0 Tottenham
  • 8% Man Utd 1:1 Tottenham
  • 4% Man Utd 1:0 Tottenham
  • 3% Man Utd 2:2 Tottenham
  • 2% Man Utd 0:0 Tottenham
  • 2% Man Utd 3:2 Tottenham
  • 2% Man Utd 4:1 Tottenham
  • 2% Man Utd 1:2 Tottenham
  • 1% Man Utd 4:0 Tottenham
  • 1% Man Utd 5:0 Tottenham
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Tottenham
  • 1% Man Utd 0:2 Tottenham
  • 1% Man Utd 1:3 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 5:1 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 5:3 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 4:2 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 0:3 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 5:4 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 0:5 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 2:3 Tottenham
  • 0% Man Utd 5:2 Tottenham
Compiled from 1323 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Tottenham
Possession
50% 50%
Shots
9 9
Shots on Target
1 4
Corners
1 2
Fouls
12 12

Referee

Jonathan Moss

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

Lineup Predictions League Table View your Lineup Prediction