Positives from yesterday

Scottynaldinho

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There are a few positives from yesterday and it's not all doom and gloom. I will list these below:

1) We will go for the PL title now
2) We will play expansive football against Bayern because we absolutely have to
3) Kobbie Mainoo
 
Antony had a good game and did a lot of the things we've been asking of him.
 
We did enough to win this game but it's a common theme in Europe this season with Galatasaray at home, Copenhagen away and even going all the way back to Sevilla last season

 
One positive is there are periods in games where we actually do look like a very good side, which lacks consistency over the 90 mins.

I'm inbetween blaming ETH (who still has my backing) or some of the players who simply aren't good enough for what we are trying to do.

Another positive is Maguire turning into prime Baresi.
 
We avoid being embarrassed by a cricket scoreline in the round of 16.

but in all seriousness, the future looks brighter than the present for United. Lots of promising youth and the deadweight we carry will soon be shipped out.
 
Played well, created enough chances and scored nice goals. Did not crumble under pressure when Onana gave them 2-1, well actually they did but they did not gave away the lead in the first half which they normally do and was even able to extend the lead again to 3-1. But Onana decided to give them a handicap again and I guess this team is not ready yet to retain pressure for a second time. But well, there is some progress.
 
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Garnacho looks to be stepping up

AWB and Shaw are back and provide a much more solid base

Maguire has turned it around. Credit

Mainoo looks as good as we all expected

less so because I don’t trust it will be regular but Antony was decent last night. As was Martial in his last 2 apprarances

honestly think the second half of the season will be much more encouraging.

I would love it if Amad comes back in and has a Mainoo like impact

and if Casemiro can come back in and find some form a front 6 of Casemiro, Mainoo, Bruno, Garnacho, Amad, Hojlund is pretty exciting

lots of ifs there but trying to keep positive
 
Rood said:
We did enough to win this game but it's a common theme in Europe this season with Galatasaray at home, Copenhagen away and even going all the way back to Sevilla last season

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Those numbers suggest we didn't actually. I don't know what the actual win, loss and draw % are based on XG difference but at least from xPts draw was probably the most likely outcome.

XG DIFFERENTIALXPOINTS
1.5+2.7
1.5 < 12.3
1 < 0.52
0.5 < 01.5
0 < -0.50.7
-0.5 < -10.5
-1 < -1.50.3
< -1.50.1
 
An incredible goalkeeping performance was the only difference from this being a comfortable 3-0 victory. Aside from Pellistri and I guess Martial, everyone did fine in another hostile atmosphere.
 
Some of the attacking play was good, even if that was partially down to the manager being unable to pick the golden boy on the left.
 
Skills said:
Those numbers suggest we didn't actually. I don't know what the actual win, loss and draw % are based on XG difference but at least from xPts draw was probably the most likely outcome.

XG DIFFERENTIALXPOINTS
1.5+2.7
1.5 < 12.3
1 < 0.52
0.5 < 01.5
0 < -0.50.7
-0.5 < -10.5
-1 < -1.50.3
< -1.50.1
Click to expand...

Well that suggests 2 points and we got 1

Copenhagen away (2.24 v 3.39) suggests 2.3 points and we got 0

General point is that we are playing well enough in last couple of matches to have qualified from this group, but individual feck ups plus some crap VAR shafted us
 
Our structure going forward at times looked really good. We had numerical advantage all over but more often than not failed to pick the right option.

The team played well. Onana letting in two shots straight at him is clouding judgement of how the outfield players did. I think the goals sapped a lot of our energy and we started losing discipline which lead to some gaps but that doesn’t happen if our keeper makes basic saves.
 
Rood said:
Well that suggests 2 points and we got 1

Copenhagen away (2.24 v 3.39) suggests 2.3 points and we got 0

General point is that we are playing well enough in last couple of matches to have qualified from this group, but individual feck ups plus some crap VAR shafted us
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. It would be 2 if the XG difference was 1. It was 0.59 for this game, which is closer to the 1.5 end of that range than 2.
 
Skills said:
No it doesn't. It would be 2 if the XG difference was 1. It was 0.59 for this game, which is closer to the 1.5 end of that range than 2.
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I think you are reading it wrong

It's 2 points from 0.5 to 1
 
I actually think there's a lot of positives from last night (and Everton):
  • We are actually moving the ball around well and playing out from the back and creating chances.
  • Having Shaw back (which contributes to point 1)
  • We've also been clinical which cannot be said for most games this season
  • Maguire been solid.
  • Garnacho seems to be maturing and improving with decision making
  • Fernandes coming into form
  • Martial's cameo was superb last night - it's such a shame he's lost that physical side to his game and can seemingly only play for 30-60 mins. Very good vs Everton too.
A draw away in Turkey isn't a bad result and isn't the game that will cost us qualification - it's the home game against them, still haunts me that we threw that away at 2-1.
 
Rood said:
Nah you are reading it wrong

It's 2 points from 0.5 to 1
Click to expand...

Nope. It's not a discrete scale.

Edit: Ignore me I'm wrong.

Just to add, based on an XG difference of 0.59 I believe these are your odds of winning, losing or drawing a game (purely based on that table):

  • Winning Probability: Approximately 50.21%
  • Drawing Probability: Approximately 33.20%
  • Losing Probability: Approximately 16.60%
 
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Amsterdam Devil said:
We have scored three goals in every away game in the Champions League.
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This one is pretty curious, for all our struggles with goalscoring in the League we've been bafflingly impressive with scoring in the CL. Fifth highest-scoring team so far this season, and each of the four other teams is top of their respective group.
 
With the dust settled, if we actually had a competent goal keeper there is a good chance we would have either won this group or easily qualified whilst playing pretty decent/good football despite injuries. This season is just so weird to analyse.

The hope I have is that this is a combination of us having key players out and EtH trying to find the right balance between attacking and being solid defensively.
 
I definitely shouldn't but i find us absolutely hilarious. Our matches are chaotic and bizarre.
 
In isolation, a point in Istanbul with some great attacking football is actually a damn good outing. In the context of our campaign, it's similar stories repeating themselves and similar lapses costing us.

There was plenty in that performance to be positive about. It's just a little difficult to feel like it right now.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
@bosnian_red posted a tweet (since taken down) which was a compilation of our attacking football in the last 10 minutes of the game (heavily featuring Mainoo) and it looked like the closest thing I've seen to the football Ajax were playing under ETH. If that's a glimpse of things to come then bring it on.
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Think this is the same vid
 
Such a hysterical reaction to this game in the caf, as usual. It was a pretty good performance, and away at Galatasaray is not a game any team should expect to win, let alone us with all our current struggles. Our CL woes are down to the Copenhagen and Gala at home results, not this.
  • Attack was overall much more productive. Goals, shots, attacks, threat, directness.
  • Garnacho is now LW starter. Meaning Rashford either recovers his form as a sub or competes for the right wing. Much healthier position to be in.
  • Signs of life from Antony.
  • Mainoo.
  • Bruno is in good attacking form.
  • We didn't actually concede that many good chances. Yes, they had shots, of course. But we played some good offsides, and bar the poor keeping we would have won comfortably.
  • No new injuries. Shaw and AWB back and not looking too rusty. Injured list now looking like a problem rather than a crisis.
People like to make every result reflect on every perceived problem in the club. But really, this is a game where we created by far the better attacking opportunities, and the keeper let in a number of goals he shouldn't have. Ultimately, it's a better way to lose a game than just generally playing shite, because it has less impact on team morale, belief in the manager's tactics etc. Onana fecked up, the game was thrown away, you move on and carry on doing what you're doing. Which looks like a general move in the right direction, to me.
 
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Overall I'm pretty pleased. Concerned with Onana obviously, but I think we're starting to see what ETH wants from the team and it's looking good. To go into that atmosphere with that lineup too and perform the way we did I was pleasantly surprised. I'm less fearful of the Newcastle match now we've got two away matches under our belt where it's been pretty hostile. Just a shame about the lack of recovery time.
 
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