Best team performances since SAF

[BorisManUtd]

Any other contenders I've missed out?

3-0 win vs Spurs in 2015, 3-1 away win vs Spurs from 2021 as well..

When you realize we're counting the good games we played in the last 10 years on two hands. How shit have we been in the last decade ?

Yeah, really shit. 3 brilliant performances under van Gaal, one under Mourinho against Chelsea, 1-2 under Ole and now this one De Gea being our best player for large part of last decade says it all really.

 

[roonster09]

Any other contenders I've missed out?

3-0 vs Spurs under Van Gaal.

Also the 2-1 win vs City when Rashford was very good, that first half was probably the best counter attacking performance by us since SAF. It was brilliant half.

 

[largelyworried]

Before last night, probably the Chelsea 2-0 under Jose was the most all round complete performance. Last night was better though.

That's a damning indictment of the last 5 years mind.

 

[eire-red]

Let's stat the shit out of this (United stats on left)...

Last Night
Possession 52% vs 48%
Total Shots 28 vs 9
SoT 10 vs 2
Corners 8 vs 3
*Spurs came into this game with their best start in the history of the Premier League

2-1 vs Liverpool, Juanfield
Possession 58% vs 42%
Total Shots 6 vs 7
SoT 3 vs 1
Corners 3 vs 2
*United had man advantage for the whole of the second half

4-2 vs City
Possession 59% vs 41%
Total Shots 11 vs 10
SoT 7 vs 3
Corners 1 vs 5
*City had lost their previous 3 away matches, vs Liverpool, Palace and Burnley

2-0 vs City, Last Game Before Lockdown
Possession 28% vs 72%
Total Shots 7 vs 12
SoT 6 vs 4
Corners 2 vs 11
*Both United goals down to goalkeeping howler

The only rational conclusion is that last night was the best performance of any of these.

Any other contenders I've missed out?

I agree with what you said, and also the Chelsea match in your next post. Those games were great because they were some bright spots in some really poor moments for the club.

Apart from the 4-2 against City, a City who were looking like a team coming to the end of their cycle under Pellegrini, the one thing that springs to mind for me in all of those was backs to the wall performances.

I think we may have been slight underdogs against Spurs last night at the bookies, but the performance was chalk and cheese compared to any of those mentioned, as you said. It actually reminded me of City's 2-0 at Old Trafford last season - they came, dominated us completely in every department, and took their goals when the opportunities came.

I thought the gulf in quality and mentality between us and Spurs looked massive last night, just like City did to us last season, and that is not something I've seen in a long while. While the others I can point to game raising on a big day, which we have done well in these difficult years to keep the crisis at bay, this felt like a blueprint for how Ten Hag sees football.

This type of performance looked sustainable and repeatable because it wasn't some full blooded, do or die mentality. It was controlled and measured, yet we saw aggression and dominance and bravery to fully implement a gameplan. We looked like a balanced team, with threats on both flanks, and no gaping holes between the lines. It was different in so many ways.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

When you realize we're counting the good games we played in the last 10 years on two hands. How shit have we been in the last decade ?

Can't you go and find some other place on the internet to be miserable?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

3-0 win vs Spurs in 2015, 3-1

3-0 vs Spurs under Van Gaal.

That's the first nomination that runs last night close. Still not as good though (according to stats)

Last Night
Possession 52% vs 48%
Total Shots 28 vs 9
SoT 10 vs 2
Corners 8 vs 3
*Spurs came into this game with their best start in the history of the Premier League

3-0 vs Spurs, 2015
Possession 52% vs 48%
Total Shots 11 vs 5
SoT 3 vs 1
Corners 4 vs 2

Analysing all these Van Gaal matches really brings home what a rare thing it was for us to actually have a shot on target when he was in charge. And this was in our very best performances of his reign! Watching a football match where your team barely ever works the opposition keeper is a cruel and unusual punishment. This thread is starting to give me PTSD.

 

[Adnan]

I'd say this was our best performance since Fergie. And the reason for that is simply because we didn't just dominate the game in possession but also controlled the defensive transition via applying coordinated pressure/counter pressure. And that was something that wasn't a feature prior to the arrival of ten Hag.

 

[roonster09]

That's the first nomination that runs last night close. Still not quite as good though (according to stats)

If we are going by shots then nothing comes close (maybe Burnley game where it ended 0-0). Yesterday was fantastic, we were relentless in both attack and defense. It was wave after wave of attacks and it was brilliant to watch.

I don't think we dominated big club like we did yesterday. We scored more goal than yesterday but yesterday it was complete performance, or close to it.

 

[Spoony]

I'd say this was our best performance since Fergie. And the reason for that is simply because we didn't just dominate the game in possession but also controlled the defensive transition via applying coordinated pressure/counter pressure. And that was something that wasn't a feature prior to the arrival of ten Hag.

I agree. Was complete domination. Was it similar to gegenpress?

 

[el3mel]

Can't you go and find some other place on the internet to be miserable?

No. You can put me on the ignore list if reading my posts hurts your soft feelings.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Probably not. We shouldnt forget some great games we had with Van Gaal, Jose and even in some way Ole.

I remember the second leg against Olympiakos at home in 2014 with Moyes, the Leverkusen away also.

Van Gaal s first season, Liverpool at home, Juanfield, the City game at home, even the away game when Smalling was excluded, the return at the Bridge where we played brillantly despite losing, the Spurs game at home.

 

[Adnan]

I agree. Was complete domination. Was it similar to gegenpress?

Gegenpress just means counter pressing in German. So basically upon losing the ball there's a coordinated effort to win the ball back immediately.

 

[Spoony]

Gegenpress just means counter pressing in German. So basically upon losing the ball there's a coordinated effort to win the ball back immediately.

I thought we did exactly that. Is that how his Ajax was set up? Must admit I thought RR would've had us playing in a similar way to way we did yesterday.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Pogue’s nailed it there.

We’ve had some great nights/days since SAF, but nothing that resembled last night. This was pure domination and something it feels like we’ve been building up to.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Probably not. We shouldnt forget some great games we had with Van Gaal, Jose and even in some way Ole.

I remember the second leg against Olympiakos at home in 2014 with Moyes, the Leverkusen away also.

Van Gaal s first season, Liverpool at home, Juanfield, the City game at home, even the away game when Smalling was excluded, the return at the Bridge where we played brillantly despite losing, the Spurs game at home.

See stats above...

 

[BorisManUtd]

Someone mentioned EL final against Ajax as well, another classic Mourinho win in a cup final. But altogether there probably hasn't been more than 10 games in these 9,5 years since SAF retired where we really played like last night.

Of course, we're mentioning here games against rivals and good opponents, other than that we also had about 4-5 games in 2016/17 season at Old Trafford where we couldn't get more than a point despite creating many, many chances.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I thought we did exactly that. Is that how his Ajax was set up? Must admit I thought RR would've had us playing in a similar way to way we did yesterday.

Think much of the squad was scarred by the time RR got in after some absolutely horrendous results, we even saw a hangover of that at the start of this season.
Then he just did a shit job, barely tried getting players onside and threw them all under the bus, making the situation even worse.
It’s why it was vital to get Antony in and remove as many of the scarred players as possible, especially whilst we recovered some mojo.

 

[Adnan]

I thought we did exactly that. Is that how his Ajax was set up? Must admit I thought RR would've had us playing in a similar way to way we did yesterday.

You're correct mate, the counter pressing was much better from us and I've never seen United control both offensive and defensive transitions like we saw yesterday in a dominant manner.

Rangnick did want us to play similarly, especially without the ball, but it didn't quite happen for him.

Even the Spurs fans in the YouTube vid below were impressed with our coordinated pressure.

 

[Spoony]

You're correct mate, the counter pressing was much better from us and I've never seen United control both offensive and defensive transitions like we saw yesterday in a dominant manner.

Rangnick did want us to play similarly, especially without the ball, but it didn't quite happen for him.

Even the Spurs fans in the YouTube vid below were impressed with our coordinated pressure.

RR had his hands tied behind his back but it's possible that he's an ideas man not a manager. I enjoyed yesterday's performance far better than anything by City. It was very explosive. Great signs for the future.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Let's stat the shit out of this (United stats on left)...

Last Night
Possession 52% vs 48%
Total Shots 28 vs 9
SoT 10 vs 2
Corners 8 vs 3
*Spurs came into this game with their best start in the history of the Premier League

2-1 vs Liverpool, Juanfield
Possession 58% vs 42%
Total Shots 6 vs 7
SoT 3 vs 1
Corners 3 vs 2
*United had man advantage for the whole of the second half

4-2 vs City
Possession 59% vs 41%
Total Shots 11 vs 10
SoT 7 vs 3
Corners 1 vs 5
*City had lost their previous 3 away matches, vs Liverpool, Palace and Burnley

2-0 vs City, Last Game Before Lockdown
Possession 28% vs 72%
Total Shots 7 vs 12
SoT 6 vs 4
Corners 2 vs 11
*Both United goals down to goalkeeping howler

The only rational conclusion is that last night was the best performance of any of these.

Any other contenders I've missed out?

We probably didn't outplay City in 2015 as comprehensively as last night, but taking into account the relative strength of the teams, that's still the best performance for me.

We were a point ahead of Man City going into that game but they were still the defending champions, and their XI on that day was much better than Tottenham's yesterday - Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero all starting - while ours was considerably weaker than yesterday's team - I don't think anyone from that United team gets into this one, except 2015 De Gea over himself.

It was an incredible performance and probably more dominant than the final scoreline suggests - their second goal was a bit like the last 2 we got at the Etihad the other week.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We probably didn't outplay City in 2015 as comprehensively as last night, but taking into account the relative strength of the teams, that's still the best performance for me.

We were a point ahead of Man City going into that game but they were still the defending champions, and their XI on that day was much better than Tottenham's yesterday - Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero all starting - while ours was considerably weaker than yesterday's team - I don't think anyone from that United team gets into this one, except 2015 De Gea over himself.

It was an incredible performance and probably more dominant than the final scoreline suggests - their second goal was a bit like the last 2 we got at the Etihad the other week.

City were still on a run of rubbish form. Three away defeats in a row. Pellegrini was almost a dead man walking at that point.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

City were still on a run of rubbish form. Three away defeats in a row. Pellegrini was almost a dead man walking at that point.

Pellegrini was their manager for an entire season after that, so probably not completely dead.

And they went on to win every league game after that derby, finishing comfortably ahead of us. The gap between the two sides was much larger than us vs. Spurs this/last season, and we completely schooled them.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Pellegrini was their manager for an entire season after that, so probably not completely dead.

And they went on to win every league game after that derby, finishing comfortably ahead of us. The gap between the two sides was much larger than us vs. Spurs this/last season, and we completely schooled them.

Even if we don't split hairs about the relative strength of the 2015 teams, I think you're underestimating how far we've fallen in the last 12 months. We finished last season 13 points behind Spurs and at the end of this summer almost everyone agreed that they had a better transfer window than us.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

at the end of this summer almost everyone agreed that they had a better transfer window than us.

Before we signed Casemiro and Antony, for sure. With how the latter in particular has started, I don't think they're that much better off.

And my position throughout the last 12, probably 24 months, is that there really hasn't been much between our squad and Tottenham's. We finished 12 points ahead of them in 20/21 and they finished 13 ahead of us in 21/22 because we both took turns imploding under shite managers. We've both got good ones this time around and I'm expecting to be within touching distance of them throughout the season.

 

[SouthMancRed]

After each of the Brentford and City embarrassments we've reacted by stepping up a few gears. I'll allow them one more bad slip up at Wolves on New years Eve if it drives us on to top 3, FA and UEFA Cups!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Before we signed Casemiro and Antony, for sure. With how the latter in particular has started, I don't think they're that much better off.

And my position throughout the last 12, probably 24 months, is that there really hasn't been much between our squad and Tottenham's. We finished 12 points ahead of them in 20/21 and they finished 13 ahead of us in 21/22 because we both took turns imploding under shite managers. We've both got good ones this time around and I'm expecting to be within touching distance of them throughout the season.

Yeah, I’d agree with that. Although last night’s performance against a basically full strength Tottenham team makes me think that we might be more ahead of them than I thought. Hard not to wonder how much more of a hiding we could have given them if we had Martial available. Even as an option off the bench.

Having said that, Kuluveski is a big loss for them.

 

[bosnian_red]

Easily the best performance. We've had good performances. But we never dominated like we did last night. The amount of shots, territory control, restricting the opposition... Was a complete performance.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

No. You can put me on the ignore list if reading my posts hurts your soft feelings.

el3miserable.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Yeah, I’d agree with that. Although last night’s performance against a basically full strength Tottenham team makes me think that we might be more ahead of them than I thought. Hard not to wonder how much more of a hiding we could have given them if we had Martial available. Even as an option off the bench.

Having said that, Kuluveski is a big loss for them.

Martial starting and we probably win by at least 4.

 

[Flexdegea]

Felt like it was the most complete performance on and off the ball.


Just lacking another 2/3 goals but Lloris was playing out of his skin

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Although last night’s performance against a basically full strength Tottenham team makes me think that we might be more ahead of them than I thought.

I was actually quite surprised when I saw their lineup and realized Kulusevski was the only real first-teamer missing. Initial reaction was "that... actually doesn't look very dangerous ".

Also helps us that Son is continuing his absolutely insane boom/bust cycle this season. Streakiest player in the world.

 

[Hughie77]

Probably yes, seeing as this was supposed to be the best spurs side in a while under a super manager in conte. What I liked was when you watched UTD under Saf if there was a loose ball 9 time out of 10 a red Shirt would get there first and it was like that last night. Need to keep it up .

 

[el3mel]

The Juanfield is mentioned a lot and while it was a great performance alright, this was a shit Liverpool side. Spurs side from last night have both better players and better manager.

That's the problem with the LVG's reign overall. Guy was competing with awful sides and managers in comparison to all the United managers that came after him and still underachieved massively.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

The Juanfield is mentioned a lot and while it was a great performance alright, this was a shit Liverpool side. Spurs side from last night have both better players and better manager.

That's the problem with the LVG's reign overall. Guy was competing with awful sides and managers in comparison to all the United managers that came after him and still underachieved massively.

It was, but I'd counter that with a couple of points:

1. We were also pretty crap ourselves, relative to last night's squad - we put out the same XIs in "Juanfield" and the City game after it (which I was talking about above and would rank above this one because City were still a good team with a squad full of quality), and I doubt most of us would pick any of those players ahead of our current squad.
2. We routinely struggled at Anfield in Fergie's last few seasons, even while they were shit and we were consistently winning or competing for the title: I think we won once at Anfield in his last 5 seasons. So it was very refreshing to go there and play like the home team.

 

[el3mel]

It was, but I'd counter that with a couple of points:

1. We were also pretty crap ourselves, relative to last night's squad - we put out the same XIs in "Juanfield" and the City game after it (which I was talking about above and would rank above this one because City were still a good team with a squad full of quality), and I doubt most of us would pick any of those players ahead of our current squad.
2. We routinely struggled at Anfield in Fergie's last few seasons, even while they were shit and we were consistently winning or competing for the title: I think we won once at Anfield in his last 5 seasons. So it was very refreshing to go there and play like the home team.

United's team back then was better than Liverpool's though. De Gea, Smalling, Blind, Valencia, Fellaini, Herrera, Carrick, Rooney and Mata were all objectively better than their counterparts in the Liverpool lineup. We also had Di Maria to come on from the bench that night. The current squad is better but that's not the actual comparison here.

It was a good win but last night was a better performance against a far better team with a better manager as well.

 

[DSG]

I’ll tell you this, as I was watching and taking into account the respective league positions and squad quality, I was thinking “This is the best performance we’ve had as a team since SAF retired.” Whether it actually is or not is irrelevant. The fact that everyone, fans, pundits, including the Spurs, were unanimous. We kicked their asses all over that pitch and we’re superior in every way.

Delighted.

 

[Cassidy]

We have had some very good performances under Ole Jose and LVG. They were few and far between though. I think yesterday was good but equally Spurs were poor and we could have played better in many areas.

I don’t think we are anywhere near peak and Ive seen better performances in my opinion after Fergie.

Saying that this is the first time since LVG I feel like we are developing a coherent approach to playing and the manager has the skills to pull it off.

 

[Fitchett]

I was actually quite surprised when I saw their lineup and realized Kulusevski was the only real first-teamer missing. Initial reaction was "that... actually doesn't look very dangerous ".

Also helps us that Son is continuing his absolutely insane boom/bust cycle this season. Streakiest player in the world.

Richarlison was missing too.

 

[BorisManUtd]

The Juanfield is mentioned a lot and while it was a great performance alright, this was a shit Liverpool side. Spurs side from last night have both better players and better manager.

That's the problem with the LVG's reign overall. Guy was competing with awful sides and managers in comparison to all the United managers that came after him and still underachieved massively.

Though Chelsea were good under Mourinho in 2014/15, in 2015/16 every other rival was in some kind of transition and not that we didn't manage to win the league, we finished out of top 4 and that was surely best chance for title. Fecking hell Leicester won it with only 81 points or something. LvG tenure really was big failure, his record in derbies was only really good thing about it.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

The Juanfield is mentioned a lot and while it was a great performance alright, this was a shit Liverpool side. Spurs side from last night have both better players and better manager.

That's the problem with the LVG's reign overall. Guy was competing with awful sides and managers in comparison to all the United managers that came after him and still underachieved massively.

Juanfield being mentioned was more a reflection of us going to Anfield and (especially the first half) bossing Liverpool on their own pitch. That simply hasn't happened much in the history of our club, even with some of our greatest teams.