Manchester United 4:1 Melbourne Defeat (Fri 15th July, 11:05 UK time)

Dalot and Sancho are providing all our effective threat down the right, with McT playing more of a part later in the half down that flank.

Conversely, our left side has been shite. Shaw has been more responsible for that than Elanga.
Hopefully the fresh players will shake things up.
 
The question may have been answered already, but is there a reason why Alejandro Garnacho is not inserted in the squad today when he was not in the Liverpool match either?
 
UnitedFire said:
The one thing he actually seems good at is finishing. Maybe we should be coaching him to be a striker. He has the physical attributes and the shooting ability, power and composure.
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He started in the youth team as a striker!
 
We love a switch to the right, dare I say P A T T E R N S O F P L A Y
 
Kovar
Laird Bailly Maguire Malacia
Savage Iqbal
Pellistri Hannibal Rashford
Martial
​
20 minutes of this after half time please Eric
 
On the whole we deserved to go in ahead. Its interesting to see how the team is developing under Ten Hag, in terms of how we use the ball and how we seek to be patient even in instances where we could potentially go forward earlier. The positive thing is the players are clearly buying into it.

Sancho is 100% benefitting from a more systematic, more possession based approach and Dalot being willing (and able) to go beyond him either on the overlap or underlap.

The centre of midfield and how it takes care of the ball is still an issue though. Plenty of moments where we should have stopped counter attacks but the ball bounced off Fred or McTominay like something out of Looney toons. That exposes the slowness of our centre backs and we don't have a Rio Ferdinand in this side to salvage the situation.
 
NoLogo said:
Seeing Martial in pre-season I actually hope he will turn it around under ten Hag and get firing again. Would also solve the problem of possibly not having a striker if Ronaldo really leaves, even though I can see no takers at this point.
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Problem with Martial is if Ronaldo stays and plays, Tony gets depressed and fades away while sulking.
 
Sancho's the best player on the pitch once again.

He'll be even more dangerous with a FB that can overlap regularly
 
mu4c_20le said:
Anthony-Martial-AM9.jpg
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Missed chance to call the brand 9AM.
Should also name his son Pierre.
 
Melbourne scored with their only shot on target and had 25% possession in that half.

Uniteds seasons will be shaped on beating teams they are expected to beat. Floundered badly in a number of those matches last season.
 
Sancho will be a key player for us.

Quite excited about life under Ten Hag, once we replace some of the poorer players in the squad we will be a really good team
 
So we bought Sancho for the Right side (apparently), then proceeded not to play him or when we did, it was on the left.
And now we have a serious manager and hes playing on the right in pre-season and our right side is looking dangerous?

Crazy
 
Berbaclass said:
First half thoughts:
McTominay much better more advanced
Fred's decision making is awful
Shaw badly lacks athleticism to get up and down
Maguire is painfully slow
Martial looking good again
Sancho also looking good again
Bruno much more measured in possession
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Thought Fred has been very good to be fair. He sees a lot more of the ball than McT who is only picking it up in the more advanced areas.

There were 2 silly shots/passes from him but other than that he's nippy enough for the give and go's and always shows for the ball.

McT has been alright, the goal was good but I haven't been astonished at the performance.

Sancho looks great. We are stunted on the left though - Elanga can't beat a man for shit, he really shouldn't start ahead of even Amad and Pellistri for me.
 
--------------De Gea--------------
Laird-Bailly-Fish-Malacia
-------Hannibal-Savage----
Pellistri----Donny----Garnacho
-----------Rashford------------------

I think the second half team will be that.
 
ha_rooney said:
Sancho & Dalot have linked up well. Bruno seems much more measured with his passing, not forcing things that aren’t there. A decent half with some promising moments.
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Yep, Bruno is alot more restrained but he's still offering up some good moments.

I think, not that we didnt know before hand, that McTominay, Elanga, Shaw and Dalot really lack that something extra special. They're ok-ish footballers technically but they haven't got anything really special that defines their game. Sancho, Bruno and ,when he can be arsed, Martial have something about them.

Would like to see Marcus come on. Think the more I see of Elanga the less enthusiastic I am about him.
 
Tony is doing it to me again... He has everything (except heading).

Watch him turn to shit by October.
 
Mcking said:
We still need a right winger. Sancho could easily play this way on the left wing as well, but on the right wing, it is just him. We need more options.
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Yeah, agreed. A cheaper option than Antony, however. Amad and Pellistri (who starts for Uruguay to be fair to him) don’t look ready.
 
the_cliff said:
By the looks of it so far this pre season, I think we may need a left winger instead of a right winger. :lol: :lol:
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It was only Elanga there, to be fair. Rashford should do better.

I think the pattern EtH wants to see is quite obvious now. He wants a tricky creative RW to make chances on the right flank, and a pacey goal threat to stretch the play on the left flank.

The first half showed we still need to work on how we switch the play to the LW more quickly. But it'll come.
 
Eth needs to get used to these sort of games as we'll be having this opposition most weeks in the PL.
 
Folks on here have been a bit harsh on Fred this half (largely because of his shooting I guess), but he's been instrumental in us winning back possession and recycling the ball high up the pitch; it's helped keep the pressure on their defence. Played pretty well, IMO. Think Bruno, Shaw, and Elanga could have imposed themselves a little bit more.
 
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