If he can get us playing like we did in the 1st half today we'll probably do quite well, that's the most in control of a game I've seen from us for ages to be fair (excluding the likes of Barnsley).
The issue is, we couldn't keep it up for a full game, and the first 45 minutes is an anomaly at this point. The 2nd half is closer to our usual level.
The conundrum for me is that regardless of improvement, i don't think we can afford for it to be slow under him. He has to prove to us that he has the capability of winning a league title. This isn't his first season anymore, where we can see glimpses of good performances and hope. He's in his third season after a miserable second season. For me, he showed a lack of urgency that's expected in a United manager last season and has shown a willingness to pass the buck when things aren't going his way.
If he were a new manager, and he were playing this way, I may have been a bit more enthusiastic. But for me, its really scary thinking that we've spent the last ten years in rebuild mode. I've always maintained that this mentality was always a mistake from us. Big clubs don't rebuild, they evolve. We aren't City in 2008 or Chelsea in 2003. We always had the money to buy players and should have been able to have teams who could at least challenge every season. But as a club, we always dropped our standards to make it more comfortable for our managers. Constantly dropping these standards and pushing ideas of success to future seasons creates the loop we've had going for the last decade.
The squad that we have is good enough to challenge for the league. Yet as a fanbase, we are hoping and even urging our manager to have institute the right tactical system and patterns to make us competitive. Instead of expecting wins, we are hoping for good spells of play that can justify our manager keeping his job, whilst some our players are getting older. We try to hold on to the little bits of play, whilst losing sight of the fact that other teams with less money are able to consistently have these patterns and are judged on results, because good play is simply expected.
Even in this game, as good as we were for good portions, we didn't win the game because our build up play isn't up to par and we are currently relying heavily on transitions and set pieces. When Crystal Palace changed shape and set up shop, we were too static in our build up, due to the build up patterns being overly structured (tactics) and we didn't have a route to attack. Using Mazraoui and Dalot at left back meant that we didn't have an overlap in our full back area. This meant that we would need to move the ball quicker or have a lot of rotation in the front line to give Amad and Garnacho a chance at running at their full back. When Zirkzee was in the game, his ability to deep, link play or threat a through ball, presented that opportunity in behind. However, when he got subbed out, this couldn't happen. Hence why we were out of ideas and hoping for Bruno to create something out of nothing. Yet when people talk about this game, it will present like we ran out of steam, when in reality, our flaws just became apparent as the game wore on. Flaws that we shouldn't have in our third season, but fans are willing to look past for any visible sign of progress.
I'm not easily offended, but that's sickening.
