MOTM torn between Smalling and Romero..
FA Premier League
Manchester United 1:0 Tottenham Hotspur
Old Trafford
- Kick-off
- Sat, 8 August 2015 @ 12:45pm BST
- Status
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Closed
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
Discussion Live Updates 71 Your Lineup Prediction
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Romero was excellent today managed his area well and made some important saves late on.
I thought that Darmian was MoM Looked good going forward and defended excellently.
The main issue is that we look toothless up front. 1 shot on target from a match at OT is just not good enough.
Apart from that pleased with the result but we need to sign some creative players up front.
True...I have to say I'm sooooo happy we have a right back. Darmian is seriously gonna stabilise that back four.
The way United played today people would have been calling for head as well...tbh Spurs were solid defensively...What is it with this place and overreactions?What was the catalyst for us going so bad defensively towards the last 15m? Was it Carrick going or Darmian?Solid win.
With a few attacking additions we would improve hugely as the defence has some real gems in Smalling,Darmian,Shaw who I'm sure will do well against the best
Hello
Not fast enough I guess
Carrick is key to our defensive organisation.He calms things down. Even last season we suffered defensively in his absence
We all did, but I'm sure most are considering the circumstances and not having their entire hopes for the season ruined because of it.
Darmian I would say. He wouldn't have made the mistakes Valencia was making.
Suppose it depends on what your hopes for the season were. I was actually expecting a title challenge from us but unless we massively improve from what we saw today, best we can hope for is to be in the fight for the 4th spot.
Even at that, I'm still baffled as to why your hopes would be destroyed by the first game of the season, which happened to be a win vs a top 6 side. Especially since most teams that win the title have to win dirty throughout a season.I'm going to come out and say it and am anticipating a lot of disagreement but I actually think blind played really well today. Except for one mistake in the second half, he was positionally excellent and played a great part in our solid defensive performance today. He relies a lot more on his brain than physical capibilities as opposed to Smalling and I believe it provides a good balance. We only looked shaky once Darmian and Carrick left the pitch and that was largely due to errors by both schweinsteiger and valencia. I would definately prefer someone in place of blind at LCB but think people were jumping the gun a bit by saying the decision was completely ludicrous. He did very well and stopped a lot of attacks before they became dangerous. Smalling was also immense and a lot easier to notice because he did the dirty work by preventing threats once they did develop into more dangerous opportunities. My second unpopular opinion of the day is that Smalling/blind is a better partnership than Smalling/Jones. There just isn't enough brain power in the latter.
Right now, our attack to me is what is by far the more worrying issue. We were very underwhelming.I think Blind did well. Still really doubt he should be a serious option there though. Kane was perhaps one of the better forwards for him to face he's neither a speed demon or a physical brute.
Am I wrong in thinking Carrick and Schneiderlin looked a bit flat? Ideally Carrick could sit deeper and let Morgan press further up, the thing is we need Herrera playing too for this to work or Carrick gets isolated. Seemed they were trying to stay too close to each other.
I was impressed by Schnederlin's break up play. He does that old-fashioned ugly stuff. So think you miught be wrong there but Carro was very quietNo idea how anyone here thinks anyone but Darmian was MoM!Have to say, I thought Spurs were dreadful really. Eriksen and Kane are good players, but they're wank everywhere else on the pitch. With a bit more pace and intensity in our passing we could have scored a few.
Spurs aren't going to be top 6 this season IMO.Yipekaya we are on top of the league first time in two years!!!
Because we were shite mate, it's not rocket science. Not a chance we win the league playing like that. Hopefully Pedro comes in and displaces Young. That, for one, would be a huge improvement.
Not any more
I think this slightly the problem. LvG wants them to retain possession so much, they are literally in each others pockets. Too close together, no space being created so easy to defend against.The one thing that left me positive/well more intriqued was LVG's substitutions.
It's GREAT that he recognises that Carrick is depensible simply because of his fitness/age and it's great he wanted to and did bring on Herrera and Schweni.
With the amount of games we'll have (fingers cross in the Champions League and other cups), hopefully everyone will get good game time and Herrera and Schwein find themselves as first teamers in the long run.Just watched the game, havent read any posts so apologize if this is repetitive.
1) Darmian will be great. He shut down the right side, the second he came off Tottenham immediately looked more dangerous through Erickson.
2) FFS, play Depay out wide. That run he made from the right to feed Young in the 1st half was the first time he went out wide all game and immediately created something out of it. If you insist on this new 4-2-3-11, play Mata in the middle (his favored position), play Memphis on the left (his favored position), and Young on the right (not his favored but at this point he's a winger looking to cross anyway might as well be on his stronger foot so he doesn't have to cut back). Every time Depay had the ball out wide with space, he immediately looked a threat.
3) Again, the buildup was painfully slow. Atrocious offensively today, keep looking for back passes and playing out wide to the wings. Keep beating a dead horse, but its embarrassing when a non-top 4 team side comes to OT and the MoM candidates are all defenders or keepers.
4) We looked much more solid defensively this game other than the last 10 or so minutes, Blind wasn't bad, although Romero did have some howlers on the ball. Romero was decent when called upon, but his rebound control could have been much better. Too many balls pushed back into dangerous areas.
Careful what you wish for.
1st game of the season positives:
- Didn't concede.
- Got 3 points.
- All new signings got some minutes.
- All new signings had more positives than negatives.
Honestly thought we played decent, that tottenham side had some extreme fitness. What I thought we lacked was presence in the opposition area. Seriously dont think playing Rooney there solo is going to work this season. He makes no effort to run beyond the last man, because he lacks the pace.
He's calm and controlled on the ball which is all well and good, but as a solo striker, you want someone prolific and instinctive. If we manage to grab Pedro I'd be playing him in the 9 spot, Rooney or Mata or Hererra behind, and Depay/Young/Mata on the wings.
I like Rooney but he's way past it as a No.9 striker. As a 10 behind a clinical goalscorer is where he should be.Typical first game of the season, both sides cancelled each other out, players still finding their fitness, obvious areas for improvement. It's three points and thats all that counts, now we just look to the next game and try to do the same.
He looked pissed off though. Players usually wave to the fans and clap and generally accept the managers decision.I thought Darmain was the MOTM. The defense did a solid job. I've been an Jones and Smalling supporter and fell more in love with Smallings game last season as he looks to step through the first line of defenders and penetrate to break down the opposition. He's good at that and it's a big help in getting things going.
I agree that we should try Memphis out wide. I wish we'd play with more pace and vigor. I kept screaming at the team (from my couch) to play fast and attack. I think Memphis out wide or even up front with 2 in the front with herrera and Mata behind. The defense looked solid as I thought Shaw did a fine job on the left as well. It never felt to me that Spurs could score on us.We actually need to do better, no I mean much much better.
It was quite a few wasn't it - good thing Romero came off his line quickly those times Blind was well beaten by chips and balls over the top.Just back off my holidays but still managed to take in the game yesterday, what I thought was our only issue was a lack of fitness. Whether that's down to training or whether that's down to a lack of action during pre season I don't know, but I'm of the opinion they've played two games too short during the off season.
Having said that the result is all that matters, get a win against Villa on Friday and we've had a great start.
Very strange as Valencia was only on the last 9 minutes... the problem was there before Darmian went off. The last 15-20 minutes we retreated and played backs-to-the-wall stuff. The problem was that our back 4 are new as a team Smalling only played with the "kids" and Evans all preseason, not with Blind in a CB pair. Blind is not a LCB and it showed during the first 30 mins and last 20, and our DMs aren't fit or familiar with each other. Carrick was higher than he usually was due to Schneiderlin behind him, but SChneiderlin doesn't receive the ball as well (he doesn't half half the awareness Carrick ahs - hopefully he'll grow into the role) though he certainly tackled well off the ball. Schweinsteiger also was not fit and so off the ball he was ineffective (though on it after the yellow he showed his passing ability).- Status
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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
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- Tottenham
- Possession
- 50% 50%
- Shots
- 9 9
- Shots on Target
- 1 4
- Corners
- 1 2
- Fouls
- 12 12
Referee
Jonathan Moss
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Antonio Valencia
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replaced by Ander Herrera
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replaced by Bastian Schweinsteiger
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