Is Martial fit now then?
Manchester United vs Lens (Sat 5th August, 12:45 UK time)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Thought that was a good game. I actually like it when the opposition give you a decent match in pre-season, far more useful than if they'd bent over and let us win 5-0 at a canter.
Fixed with some masking tape and bit of pound land glue.
Good to have football back...can't wait for Wolves next weekend.
Note to self and the Cafe...try to enjoy watching United...its not all bad you know.
Note to self and the Cafe...try to enjoy watching United...its not all bad you know.
So what should we do
I meant it more for the highlights but true.
I couldn't watch the game. Did we play with Case as dmc and Mount and Bruno as attacking midfielders or Mount played deeper with Casemiro? As number 8?
Two number 8s.
That team can probably finish mid table in PL if they never have injuries/fatigue. It's actually decent.
Sign a CM/DM and make Mount come off the bench for Bruno.
Really? That is what i was hoping to see this season. Much better than two defensive midfielders.
So it is up to Casemiro to carry the team.
Wise words
Over having the best start to the season possible no. Would you rather we made the first team travel uncessarilly and lose the 1st game of the season, or give them as much rest as possible and boost our chances?
Just noted Lens finished 2nd last season and only 1 point off PSG. So they're not exactly a mid table fodder French side.
Had two miserable pricks behind us. Casemiro was finished, bruno lost a step and we're worse than last season apparently.
Just home from the game, was fun, tough match against good opposition, exactly what was needed.
Massive shout out to all the Lens fans that were there, they had an absolute blast all game, brilliant support from them, two thumbs up.
Massive shout out to all the Lens fans that were there, they had an absolute blast all game, brilliant support from them, two thumbs up.
christ
Ffs
Wait, am I not doing it right? I thought doom and gloom was the whole point of pre season on the caf?
There is 8 days from tomorrow until 1st league match.
When this Dublin match was sold it was the last fixed preseason game with the expectation that we'd get what was on show today. Dublin is 30mins flight and Aviva is 20mins from Airport.
Rest has nothing to do with it. 8 days is plenty.
We've been scammed by the PLC by fixing Lens for today weeks after Dublin was advertised as the Red Devils coming to town.
fecking gouged
That feeling when I watch UTD is priceless. I hate summer break, most difficult time in the year!
Still need to see will Mount play everytime alongside Bruno, how Hojlund will play, will we have Amrabat alongside Casemiro, i am sure ETH will set up the best team in order to be the force in transition game particulary. My favorite on watch player is Garnacho, i really want him to be a regular starter, really like his skils...
Onana is great goalkeeper who is involved in the game and this goal today will not change my opinion, he was where he should be, not his fault.
Can't wait for the next weekend. Simply can't wait for the match...GGMU
Still need to see will Mount play everytime alongside Bruno, how Hojlund will play, will we have Amrabat alongside Casemiro, i am sure ETH will set up the best team in order to be the force in transition game particulary. My favorite on watch player is Garnacho, i really want him to be a regular starter, really like his skils...
Onana is great goalkeeper who is involved in the game and this goal today will not change my opinion, he was where he should be, not his fault.
Can't wait for the next weekend. Simply can't wait for the match...GGMU
Any word of the full make up of the travelling squad apart from today's subs obviously. Might have fecking known I'd end up seeing Maguire rather than the likes of Cas, Bruno, Martinenz.. 
Many of the posters here just love it when things don't go well so they can start braying for the manager's head. They liked the old manager better or voted to hire someone else in a poll after the last manager was sacked and they want to be vindicated.
We look absolutely wide open.
I can not believe so fast the minds of fans can change. Until his injury Eriksen was seen as one of our most important players last season. Now he "can't run" and other silly comments like that.
Club:
Eriksen: 582 games 112 goals = 5,19 goals each season.
Mount: 281 games 58 goals = 4,84 goals each season.
Give it a chance because you’re going to see those two guys together. Forever.
Eriksen was often covering more ground than anyone in the team. He’s an extremely good player. He changed the way the whole team played, very much for the better.
However, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how badly he tired in the second half of matches. This was happening before his injury. At that point nobody was saying he can’t run but we were saying he can’t play 90 minutes.
He is that good that I, among others, was saying we needed a plan to get 60 good minutes out of him and not expect more - have a game plan which includes replacing Eriksen early in the second half. Most of us didn’t say bench him or bin him. After his injury he was mostly off the pace from the first minute, couldn’t seem to get on the ball, couldn’t get himself in position to receive it. We can still hope that a good rest and a good preseason will have fixed him but the chances have to be against him.
I don’t think he is. I think Pellistri starts tomorrow - and most players who start tomorrow are going to be on the subs bench against Wolves.
Tomorrow it could be Hoijland, Pellistri and Sancho/ Forsun who start up front.
The balance in midfield is wrong. This experiment of playing two no.10s in front of a lone 6 is never going to take off.
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I don’t get the comparisons with Ole. It was very different to watch today. Ole’s teams were reactive, sat in a low / mid block and then attacked on the transition. The expectation was to win the ball back in our own final third, and we would seldom press in the opponent third.
This team (with Rashford and Bruno) being the 2 best players, and now Garnacho playing well, is built for fast transitions and our players can eat up space while dribbling. It’s only logical to set up a team in a way that maximises their abilities.
Under Ten Hag, we are now a proactive team - and we seek to win the ball back as soon as we lose it. I love how we finally seem to have 2-3 players swarm around the ball immediately.
Also our transitions are being created by inviting the opponent high press. Even when we have the ball, we are playing at the back to allow the other team to push up. So when we break through- we have space in the opponent half. This is a manufactured transition, and works very well for us.
I like how our attack and defensive tactics are now lining up, and I think ETH was right about the history of United being similar to this. Shows he is willing to adapt his possession based style (Ajax) to what suits the United fan base and our players.
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Nah it will be seen as a failed experiment after a couple of games and then Amrabat will come in for Mount.
I think we have to give it a few matches to bed in properly. I’m pretty sure EtH isn’t going to abandon it based on a couple of friendlies.
Decent performance. Rashford Anthony and Garnacho looked good. I hardly noticed Mount.onana has brought a whole new dynamic to playing out from the back, we suddenly look confident in that area.
Mount has been bought to press high up the pitch. Amrabat won’t do that.
I’m not saying it won’t fail but I think EtH is pretty wedded to the idea of Mount and Bruno ahead of a lone 6. Not sure if they are doing what he is asking them to do but it is a slightly different plan than last season and I assume everyone is supposed to be doing something slightly different. He won’t be expecting it to click immediately, we shouldn’t either.
Just got back from the game. First half was pretty poor, very wasteful in possession, but thought Garnacho and Fernandes looked quite sharp. Could only laugh at the Mount miss - was harder to miss than score. We were better for a period of 20 mins in second half, then dropped off. I hope it was just a case of "only a friendly" and not indicative of what's to come because we were frankly very poor.
Best part of the game was Onana being lobbed - again - a few times in the first half I looked over and thought, "where's our keeper"? Only to see him kicking his heels at the half way line. A few of us were talking about about how likely he was to be lobbed if we lost the ball in a silly area. 60 seconds later, the balls in the back of the net.
Have to say the few hundred away fans that came to Old Trafford really did their team proud.
Best part of the game was Onana being lobbed - again - a few times in the first half I looked over and thought, "where's our keeper"? Only to see him kicking his heels at the half way line. A few of us were talking about about how likely he was to be lobbed if we lost the ball in a silly area. 60 seconds later, the balls in the back of the net.
Have to say the few hundred away fans that came to Old Trafford really did their team proud.
He was one of our most important players because we've had Fred and McTominay there for years. Of course Eriksen is an upgrade in terms of possession and passing. Being one of our most important players in our team does not mean he is good enough to compete with City.
And the key words are in your own post: "until his injury". He has gotten worse after it, and isn't a very quick or mobile midfielder. He tires quickly, but that doesn't mean I don't think he has a place in the squad.
How many goals Eriksen has scored in the past isn't really relevant now, is it? Eriksen is 31 and Mount is 24. Mount is clearly more of a goal threat than Eriksen is right now. He doesn't even play the same position he did for Tottenham.
Wount
Two 8s is what we've always played for as long as we've been doing 4231?
To me, we looked like a re-modelled team playing a friendly. We have some very good players there and at times they showed it. I put the shoddy elements of the performance down to teething. With more drilling and some competitive matches it will come together imo.
Entertaining game. First half lob aside, there was no danger. Dalot presented the ball with a bad 10 yard pass, and then it's in the back of the net.
Garnacho looked different class today.
Mount had a comical miss but probably did the most running out of anyone, constantly breaking up play, then making forward runs to receive a pass (that usually did not arrive). He's really good at transitions, first time passes around the corner. I think he's going to became a fan favorite.
Antony + Dalot on the right is leaving something to be desired. Neither Dalot nor AWB seem to be the ideal partner because neither are interested in running on the outside as decoy, or event to receive the ball out there. So our attacks consist of Antony then checking back to the fullback. Antony had a good game though, he's a fighter.
Bruno with a couple of passes that were ridiculous. When he's on, he's on fire.
Sancho on the wing does nothing. He looked useful through the middle as a false 9 but on the wing he just doesn't seem like half the player. I'd find a way to get Pellistri in the side instead.
Can't wait to see how Hojland transforms that front 3. There's good competition for places, slightly different skill sets among the options, should provide a key for any lock.
Lens fans showing how it's done, fair play to them.
Garnacho looked different class today.
Mount had a comical miss but probably did the most running out of anyone, constantly breaking up play, then making forward runs to receive a pass (that usually did not arrive). He's really good at transitions, first time passes around the corner. I think he's going to became a fan favorite.
Antony + Dalot on the right is leaving something to be desired. Neither Dalot nor AWB seem to be the ideal partner because neither are interested in running on the outside as decoy, or event to receive the ball out there. So our attacks consist of Antony then checking back to the fullback. Antony had a good game though, he's a fighter.
Bruno with a couple of passes that were ridiculous. When he's on, he's on fire.
Sancho on the wing does nothing. He looked useful through the middle as a false 9 but on the wing he just doesn't seem like half the player. I'd find a way to get Pellistri in the side instead.
Can't wait to see how Hojland transforms that front 3. There's good competition for places, slightly different skill sets among the options, should provide a key for any lock.
Lens fans showing how it's done, fair play to them.
Except for the Mount chance, the Bruno bolt that was parried away, 2 of the 3 goals, Garnacho's shot over the bar.