[Gladiator]

Hope no one was surprised by that performance. Too many times United have failed to deliver in these moments and part of it is players not having a killer instinct collectively when it comes to finishing. It seems the occasion got to them more than handling the occasion and opportunity to go above 6th. What does that say to yall

 

[Born2Lose]

That was a great penalty he took. It was low, on the ground, to the right.
The GK made a wonder save, almost as if he knew exactly where Ibra was going to place it.

Meh, to the right and high and there's no way Boruc is saving it.

 

[AXVnee7]

Still absolutely fuming this morning!

 

[Fredo]

Watched the game yesterday, was disappointed with the result and today I watched the game's highlights just to see if we may have missed something during the game.

The build-up for all our chances was ultimately slow, there is no point in taking advantage of a 10-man team if it takes us 2-3 seconds on average to thread a pass. We had no one making those runs that our midfield can pick with a delightful cross.

Ibra has a terrible game to be fair to him, he looked jaded after that cup win and although we had 1 week to recover, he looked really really tired. I didn't like the fact that he wanted to take that free-kick when Mata was the better candidate given his technical ability and given the foul position, usually in this kind of position you would rather have a left-footed player take the free-kick, I am not seeing it would have gone in, but in such cases it is better to choose the taker based on the foul position, this has happened quite a few times this year.

Ibra's penalty miss was also a bad one, I can't recall him taking any penalty on the left side of the goalkeeper, all his penalties so far have come on the keeper's right, also his positioning when taking the penalty wasn't the best one, there was little distance between him and the ball so it kind of made his side selection decision quite trivial.

I wish we started with Rashford and gave Ibra a rest, knowing that Bournemouth have been conceding heavily lately, and with Rostov coming up, we would have benefited from a fresher Ibra.

The team selection was okay today, we could not complain about any lack of chances especially in the first half, but our players did not make the most of them, Rooney, Ibra, Martial, Mata all missed clear-cut chances.

Mata isn't having the best of time lately and you could feel the drop in his performances, I think he misses the link-up play with Mhki and honestly I believe the whole team misses Mhki, such has been his effect on the team as a whole. That clear-cut chance against the keeper was honestly a terrible miss from someone of Mata's ability.

Rooney couldn't convert the two good chances he had and it was vital come the end of the game.

Watching the highlights shows how many times Martial beats 2-3 defenders and takes the shot with his weaker foot. I would have loved if Ibra and Rooney tried drawing players across the flanks to give him a chance of switching to his right foot and try and place it. Everytime he gets in the box he has to either shoot with his left foot or stop, switch to his right and cross. I think them 3 could have done better with the link-up play and positioning. It's so frustrating to watch those highlights and see Martial do all the heavy work and not have an end product.

For Mourinho's part, I think the triple substitutions was okay, particularly bringing on Rashford and Lingard but this should have happened earlier to be fair. Leaving Ander on the bench was also weird because for me, he is the engine behind Pogba, I wish he was involved but again, we managed to create chances in the second half, we missed a penalty, so we cannot blame Mourihno for the team selection.

The positives from this game is seeing Rojo get his first goal and put another good performance at the back, seeing Shaw make his debut after a long time as an outcast and also having a decent game.
We are still unbeaten, we may have missed a very important chance to put pressure on the other teams but again, the league has been quite a mess this year so what we need to do now is show character and bounce after this silly draw.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Watched the game yesterday, was disappointed with the result and today I watched the game's highlights just to see if we may have missed something during the game.

The build-up for all our chances was ultimately slow, there is no point in taking advantage of a 10-man team if it takes us 2-3 seconds on average to thread a pass. We had no one making those runs that our midfield can pick with a delightful cross.

Ibra has a terrible game to be fair to him, he looked jaded after that cup win and although we had 1 week to recover, he looked really really tired. I didn't like the fact that he wanted to take that free-kick when Mata was the better candidate given his technical ability and given the foul position, usually in this kind of position you would rather have a left-footed player take the free-kick, I am not seeing it would have gone in, but in such cases it is better to choose the taker based on the foul position, this has happened quite a few times this year.

Ibra's penalty miss was also a bad one, I can't recall him taking any penalty on the left side of the goalkeeper, all his penalties so far have come on the keeper's right, also his positioning when taking the penalty wasn't the best one, there was little distance between him and the ball so it kind of made his side selection decision quite trivial.

I wish we started with Rashford and gave Ibra a rest, knowing that Bournemouth have been conceding heavily lately, and with Rostov coming up, we would have benefited from a fresher Ibra.

The team selection was okay today, we could not complain about any lack of chances especially in the first half, but our players did not make the most of them, Rooney, Ibra, Martial, Mata all missed clear-cut chances.

Mata isn't having the best of time lately and you could feel the drop in his performances, I think he misses the link-up play with Mhki and honestly I believe the whole team misses Mhki, such has been his effect on the team as a whole. That clear-cut chance against the keeper was honestly a terrible miss from someone of Mata's ability.

Rooney couldn't convert the two good chances he had and it was vital come the end of the game.

Watching the highlights shows how many times Martial beats 2-3 defenders and takes the shot with his weaker foot. I would have loved if Ibra and Rooney tried drawing players across the flanks to give him a chance of switching to his right foot and try and place it. Everytime he gets in the box he has to either shoot with his left foot or stop, switch to his right and cross. I think them 3 could have done better with the link-up play and positioning. It's so frustrating to watch those highlights and see Martial do all the heavy work and not have an end product.

For Mourinho's part, I think the triple substitutions was okay, particularly bringing on Rashford and Lingard but this should have happened earlier to be fair. Leaving Ander on the bench was also weird because for me, he is the engine behind Pogba, I wish he was involved but again, we managed to create chances in the second half, we missed a penalty, so we cannot blame Mourihno for the team selection.

The positives from this game is seeing Rojo get his first goal and put another good performance at the back, seeing Shaw make his debut after a long time as an outcast and also having a decent game.
We are still unbeaten, we may have missed a very important chance to put pressure on the other teams but again, the league has been quite a mess this year so what we need to do now is show character and bounce after this silly draw.

We all know Ander needed a rest, but in that case he should be utilising BFS in these situations, but he won't. He would have brought a bit of finesse in the middle of utter chaos. It also showed why Michael needs replacing. He was good in the first half but cannot last the game and that is against 10 men in a game we should have been in complete control.

 

[Fredo]

We all know Ander needed a rest, but in that case he should be utilising BFS in these situations, but he won't. He would have brought a bit of finesse in the middle of utter chaos. It also showed why Michael needs replacing. He was good in the first half but cannot last the game and that is against 10 men in a game we should have been in complete control.

You are absolutely right, however I do wish Ander came on instead of Fellaini, 20-30 minutes of Ander would have definitely had an impact on our build-up and ball recovery as he is super good in that, I agree with the Carrick part especially when again Ander was missing, such a frustrating draw but we have to bounce back and I know we will.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Carrick should have come off at half time. We should have gone on the offensive straight after kick off.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

You are absolutely right, however I do wish Ander came on instead of Fellaini, 20-30 minutes of Ander would have definitely had an impact on our build-up and ball recovery as he is super good in that, I agree with the Carrick part especially when again Ander was missing, such a frustrating draw but we have to bounce back and I know we will.

I think Michael needs an Ander in there to share the workload. Pogba does not do his share and that is why Michael is jaded soon after half-time.

 

[G Best the Belfast Boy]

I said before the game – the team selection lacked pace but with the experienced player’s we had there should be enough to beat this Bournemouth team comfortably – my goodness how wrong I was…

Lacking pace is not ideal and not enough to say “no pace we can’t win”. Mata has lacked pace all his career yet is a fantastic player (not blaming Mata for yesterday’s woeful game) just an example of how pace is not everything. I think regarding ‘pace’ the problem is when we select too many players for the same game who lack pace is just asking for trouble. However yesterday, not all was down to lack of pace though was it? We played some decent football (made mistakes as well) until we scored the goal then we stopped playing football – or the football we did play could be described as sloppy, lacking in composure and leadership. Instead of taking our foot of the pedal we should have applied even more pressure to get that important second half goal to kill the game.

I believe it is a crying shame we could not have Mkhi fit for yesterday. My thinking is Mkhi and with the presence of Herrera would have got us the three points. Mkhi has loads of pace, speed of thought and he is a player who generates creativity – we sorely needed creativity and leadership yesterday. Herrera’s work rate and commitment was also sorely missed.

I feel so disappointed and disillusioned after yet another missed opportunity to move up the table. Surely Jose at OT should have played his best team as the opportunity was there for the taking.

Regarding top four we are not out of the running - but yesterday was a very, very sore body blow to our chances.

 

[Loopy]

What was wrong with Pogba? He had no pitch performance confidence, no volition to make a difference. What a frustrating match.

 

[iKeano]

Performance aside, I'm still frustrated this morning at the lack of urgency among the Utd players when Bournemouth were lying down and strolling around.
It took King a full minute to stroll off the pitch in the 88th minute... Not one Utd player challenged him to hurry up. He plodded past Rojo and Lingard like he was browsing the Aldi special-buys on a Sunday afternoon. We needed someone to usher him off and get on with play (I'm sure Herrera would have had he been on the pitch).
Instead we had Rojo watching King walk off like he was watching a slo-mo replay on MOTD & Lingard watching blankly, presumably wondering how he managed to take a foul throw minutes earlier.
Abject performance and missed chances aside, it winds me up that our players are too slow to react to little things like this. They either look nonplussed or are actually that dim.
It may be a minor point to some, but to me it sends a sign of acceptance of the existing result as opposed to the never give in attitude Utd of old displayed time and time again.
There's no doubt things are moving forward in the big picture, but days like yesterday remind me of how far we are away from the consistent greatness we once knew and loved.

 

[G Best the Belfast Boy]

We all know Ander needed a rest, but in that case he should be utilising BFS in these situations, but he won't. He would have brought a bit of finesse in the middle of utter chaos. It also showed why Michael needs replacing. He was good in the first half but cannot last the game and that is against 10 men in a game we should have been in complete control.

I totally agree – why not play BFS in these situations. BFS brings composure and leadership. BFS would have been ideal to as you put it – ‘brought a bit of finesse in the middle of utter chaos ‘.

 

[NK86]

I think Michael needs an Ander in there to share the workload. Pogba does not do his share and that is why Michael is jaded soon after half-time.

Plus bringing Fellaini to play a deeper role made no sense.

 

[NK86]

Still absolutely fuming this morning!

You need to get out buddy. I am feeling better about our chances again today morning for no particular reason. Just feel this is a small blip.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

You need to get out buddy. I am feeling better about our chances again today morning for no particular reason. Just feel this is a small blip.

Problem is it's a small blip which will see the guy who gets our goals banned. We now have to hope Martial and Rashford grow a pair and perform like they did last season.

 

[AXVnee7]

You need to get out buddy. I am feeling better about our chances again today morning for no particular reason. Just feel this is a small blip.

It's hardly a small blip when you look at similar results across the season.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Problem is it's a small blip which will see the guy who gets our goals banned. We now have to hope Martial and Rashford grow a pair and perform like they did last season.

Not going to happen. Referee dealt with the incident at the time.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Carrick should have come off at half time. We should have gone on the offensive straight after kick off.

We created far more chances in the first half then the second and almost none once Carrick did go off.

 

[Sultan]

We simply started playing LvG version football as soon as we scored. Having 3 subs on together we lost all semblance of team play and played chaotic football with all focus on Fellaini for the last 10 Minutes.

Unfortunately, Zlatan's head was not at Old Trafford yesterday.

 

[Red Dreams]

Strange....him being taken off resulted in us panicking in possession. Pogba turned into a complete mess once Fellaini became his midfield partner and he had to take charge of the midfield. What made you say this?

age.
he wont have the legs anymore.

 

[NK86]

It's hardly a small blip when you look at similar results across the season.

I mean this profligacy in front of goal was not an issue for a few months. So one bad game should not bother us too much.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Maybe it's just me, but I swear any game we play against 10 men will see the opposition playing out of their skin and we will turn to utter shit... whilst anytime we go down to 10 men we throw the towel in and are pretty crap.

We are generally crap vs. 10 though, of that I'm sure.

 

[J-Stander]

How many corners did we have yesterday? We are absolutely shite at them. Even when the short corner wasn't on we were doing everything in our power to not cross it into the box. May as well just boot it off and give them a goal kick.

 

[Jaxdan]

People complaining about our starting XI and shape, etc. IMO that starting XI and pretty much any rendition of it from our squad should handle a poor form Bournemouth, especially at OT.

 

[mitchmouse]

Normally after giving myself 24 hours I have calmed down and start to see some positives from a game we didn't win. Not so today. We were rubbish, Pogba is a waste of fresh air and yet again when one of our rivals drops points (this time Arsenal), we have failed to take advantage. Spurs pulled away again, and City are likely to stuff at least four past inept Sunderland. My guess is we will be thrashed by Spurs away, beaten by City and be lucky to get a draw at Trafford against Chelsea. On yesterday's showing Chelsea will beat us 4-0 again a Stamford Bridge in the cup. And I'm pretty sure will be without Ibra for at leas three games. As for Kevin Friend, time for him to ref a game in League 2. Awful, truly awful

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

How many corners did we have yesterday? We are absolutely shite at them. Even when the short corner wasn't on we were doing everything in our power to not cross it into the box. May as well just boot it off and give them a goal kick.

We have been horrendous from corners for years, I would love to see our chances/goals stats compared to everyone else....I bet we're like 19th in the league.

 

[AXVnee7]

I mean this profligacy in front of goal was not an issue for a few months. So one bad game should not bother us too much.

But it has been a recurring theme over the course of the season and it is bothering us because we're still in 6th place. These are the games we need to be winning because they're only going to get harder as we have a tough run in.

 

[red4ever 79]

People complaining about our starting XI and shape, etc. IMO that starting XI and pretty much any rendition of it from our squad should handle a poor form Bournemouth, especially at OT.

You see that's our problem. Arrogance. Just like this statement. You cannot underestimate any opponent in the EPL, especially given our poor home form. This was not a game to be resting players and playing the likes of Jones, Shaw and Rooney. We have just had 6 days rest. Our squad players are not good enough and we were found out again. That 2nd half was one of the worst I have seen in terms of panic,lack of composure and lack of quality.

Jose must make serious changes this summer. The number of goals we have scored this season is pathetic

 

[DomesticTadpole]

But it has been a recurring theme over the course of the season and it is bothering us because we're still in 6th place. These are the games we need to be winning because they're only going to get harder as we have a tough run in.

It definitely a recurring theme or we wouldn't be drawing all these games we have dominated. We don't put games to bed when we are in charge so leave ourselves at risk of cocking up.

 

[Jaxdan]

You see that's our problem. Arrogance. Just like this statement. You cannot underestimate any opponent in the EPL, especially given our poor home form. This was not a game to be resting players and playing the likes of Jones, Shaw and Rooney. We have just had 6 days rest. Our squad players are not good enough and we were found out again. That 2nd half was one of the worst I have seen in terms of panic,lack of composure and lack of quality.

Jose must make serious changes this summer. The number of goals we have scored this season is pathetic

Arrogance? We should have won easily 4-1 with that starting XI. The commentators said our starting group is paid 12 times what the Bournemouth side is. I agree the PL is tough top to bottom, and you can't take anything for granted. That said Bournemouth had lost 4 of their last 5 and were in bad form coming in. That is what I meant. Jones had been playing really well before, and many were begging to see Shaw on. As for Rooney he certainly isn't so regressed to cause us to lose that game. That was a collaborative effort or lack of all around. I'm more concerned with Pogba's poor play than anything I've seen from Rooney. Just my opinion.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Arrogance? We should have won easily 4-1 with that starting XI. The commentators said our starting group is paid 12 times what the Bournemouth side is. I agree the PL is tough top to bottom, and you can't take anything for granted. That said Bournemouth had lost 4 of their last 5 and were in bad form coming in. That is what I meant. Jones had been playing really well before, and many were begging to see Shaw on. As for Rooney he certainly isn't so regressed to cause us to lose that game. That was a collaborative effort or lack of all around. I'm more concerned with Pogba's poor play than anything I've seen from Rooney. Just my opinion.

That's fine, so go out and win and prove your are worth those fees and wages. We are going out thinking it will be a walk in the park and the goals will just come.

 

[Jaxdan]

That's fine, so go out and win and prove your are worth those fees and wages. We are going out thinking it will be a walk in the park and the goals will just come.

Yes. That's my point.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I've just got back from Dublin, I watched this game in a sports bar on O'Connell Street. Great city, great times...

... apart from that cowpat of a second half. No excuses whatsoever for not putting an undermanned Bournemouth to the sword. I have to admit I arrogantly raised the possibly of us boosting our goal difference before the game, how very wrong I was. Our inability to put these games to bed and move up the table is as embarrassing as it is frustrating.

 

[sunama]

I have to admit I arrogantly raised the possibly of us boosting our goal difference before the game, how very wrong I was.

A lot of people did this.
I even posted an image of the score prediction pie chart. I think 95% of fans thought that we'd win and some even though we'd score 5 or more goals.
In the league we really do struggle to score goals, even when we dominate the game (and I don't mean LVG's version of domination, I mean, real/actual domination).

 

[redflair]

Jose does have form against 10 men - as he showed in that ridiculous no-show for Chelsea against PSG in the CL - so I really wasn't surprised by this at all.

From the selection of Rooney - and said legend's wasteful first-minute contribution - it was always going to be a long afternoon if we weren't ruthless.

And we were far from that.

A bad day all round - and the fact that we 'nearly' broke into the top four will be the defining term of our season.

We will 'nearly' make CL, but won't.

The team isn't good enough.

 

[SirMattBugsby]

He did ok in the first half but the second half was when he should have come into his own. Experienced head in midfield, opposition playing 4-4-1, lots of time on the ball and the opportunity to dictate the tempo, he was terrible. He gave the ball away far too often and played some really low percentage passes.

Pogba is an incredible talent whose decision making regularly lets him down. In the second half yesterday, I think Carrick's decision making was worse.

I wonder if Scholes would consider coming out of retirement again. He'd have bossed that game.

We do have a certain Bastian Schweinsteiger in the ranks. I know he's out of favor, but won't he have been a proper sub for Carrick?

Get him back in the mix Jose! Better than the 'Fellaini way' for sure..

 

[mav_9me]

I'm still raging this morning. Massive dent to our top four chances. All these draws may end up costing us.

May? Surprised you still have hope for top 4.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

May? Surprised you still have hope for top 4.

We're one point behind Arsenal and three points behind Liverpool with a game in hand - not exactly out of reach. You may notice that other teams also drop points sometimes.
Yes we have a tough fixture list, yes we have thrown away unnecessary points. But seems you have given up with 12 games to go and only only a few points off 4th place.

 

[NinjaZombie]

age.
he wont have the legs anymore.

That's something we've known for a long time now. But in the context of this game, taking Carrick off (and bringing Fellaini as his replacement) meant we lost a composed passer.

I don't know why Mourinho insists on using Fellaini instead of Schweinsteiger.

 

[Grunge]

People complaining about our starting XI and shape, etc. IMO that starting XI and pretty much any rendition of it from our squad should handle a poor form Bournemouth, especially at OT.

I totally agree ... when I saw the line-up I was pissed, but only because I hadn't chosen them in "my" line-up. Otherwise I thought it was still a great way to rest a couple of players and be more than comfortable against the cherries. Wrong!

The team looked decent enough on paper didn't it? I picked Smalling & Bailly as CB's but I expected Rojo & Jones to have been much better, and they should have been FFS! Aftera while I was hoping Jones would get hurt ... and replaced!

Valencia & Shaw are as good as any we have and in fairness didn't let us down imo.

But surely Carrick in front of that back four with Pogs and Mata and Lingard should've bossed Bournemouth all day long; and yet except for the first 30 minutes, they didn't.

The combination and Martial out wide with Ibra up front should've wreaked havoc on their back line but again after 20 minutes were devoid of ideas.