[Djemba-Djemba]

First and last home games of the season were good fun wins.

It's just everything in between that was awful.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Brentford’s record in April was sensational. Four wins and a draw. Beat Chelsea and West Ham. Drew with Spurs. I can’t see why they would just sudden stop trying. Maybe we played really well? Brentford aren’t safe yet. So I don’t think they suddenly stopped trying.

 

[miked99]

Why do we constantly have these little patterns of passing the ball 2m back and forth to each other? Do Liverpool and City do that as well? Honest question, I don’t watch their matches but I can’t really see the benefits from it.

It drives me nuts:

"here you have it"
"thanks, here have it back again"
"no I don't want it, you have it"
"no you have it back"

It's because they don't know what to do with the ball to progress the attack from that position. The other similar issue is when instead of finding a forward pass that's on, but a bit tricky, it gets knocked back 20 yards to the centre circle instead and the opportunity has gone (see also a short corner that ends up with a back pass to our own keeper). We've been doing it for years and even last night where we played much better there were many instances of it happening.

 

[Hammondo]

Yet we finished 2nd last season with them last season. We finished ahead of the European champions and Klopp's Liverpool in the league. We were a penalty shootout away from having our best season since Fergie retired. You have to wonder how all that was possible looking at the narratives coming out after beating a bottom half team in an end of season dead rubber.

It was a much weaker season. Liverpool had a poor season with lots of injuries, Chelsea had to change manager because of how poor Lampard is (they started to catch us up), arsenal was in a season of transition, spurs have a much better manager now.

 

[miked99]

It was a much weaker season. Liverpool had a poor season with lots of injuries, Chelsea had to change manager because of how poor Lampard is (they started to catch us up), arsenal was in a season of transition, spurs have a much better manager now.

I see this on here all the time. No offence to you in particular, but you could use this argument to discredit any achivement by any team, ever. "They only did better than the other teams because the other teams weren't as good", basically.

City have only had a period of league dominance because United have let previous standards slip.
Liverpool only beat United 5-0 because United were really poor.
City only won the league because United had a poor manager.
Liverpool have only finished above United this season because United didn't maintain the standards of the previous season.
Liverpool are only in contention to win the Champions League because Bayern and Barcelona are in transisition.


See what I mean? It's so easy and you can apply it to any narrative you fancy. In any season you can only compete against what's put in front of you at the time, and you finish where you finish on merit.

 

[RedBanker]

We are so starved of any kind of happiness after games that this victory has seen posts and threads being written eulogising much vilified players. Hope ETH can raise our expectations once again.

 

[Hammondo]

I see this on here all the time. No offence to you in particular, but you could use this argument to discredit any achivement by any team, ever. "They only did better than the other teams because the other teams weren't as good", basically.

City have only had a period of league dominance because United have let previous standards slip.
Liverpool only beat United 5-0 because United were really poor.
City only won the league because United had a poor manager.
Liverpool have only finished above United this season because United didn't maintain the standards of the previous season.
Liverpool are only in contention to win the Champions League because Bayern and Barcelona are in transisition.


See what I mean? It's so easy and you can apply it to any narrative you fancy. In any season you can only compete against what's put in front of you at the time, and you finish where you finish on merit.

Not really because a lot of those statements don't make sense.

City have league dominance because they are better than we have been maybe a few times ever. They also had to beat a Liverpool side better than nearly any PL team to date.

Yes a big part of beating us 5-0 was because we were poor. Been commonly said since it happened.


City only won the league because we had a poor manager is the same as the first statement.

Liverpool only in contention because some other top clubs are weaker than normal, yes and no. Lots have written about how poor everyone is outside the top 2, this is not new. Liverpool currently could compete with about anyone ever though, with a handful of exceptions.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

How did he not see that in training? Everyone knows which players were holding the team back. The onus of failure of team not qualifying for CL lies on RR as well for continuously playing these players.

Don't think it is showing up in training though. They bust a gut then. It is when they step out of the pitch for a game it goes to pot. I think that is what Ralf has found so bloody frustrating.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It isn't safe for EL yet. We have 58 points with two games left so could get 64. West Ham have three games left on 52 points so could get 61 points. That is presuming we obviously win our last two games. We really could do with another win and WHU slipping up. We lose Saturday and they win they are above us on GD.

 

[Maticmaker]

"Swan-song" performances from Matic and Mata, shows how much better we are (and look) with players who know what they are doing (most of the time anyway!).

Still look mighty vulnerable at times when the opposition hit on the break, thankfully last night quite often Matic made a third centre-back to assist Varane and Lindelof who both did well.

Although other things to praise about their play, I cannot for the life of me believe Telles or Dalot are really full backs, they get caught out time and again, often marking/tackling (wrong side), time and again, then fooled by blindside runs by opposition, which they are oblivious to at times, Telles in particular.

Still last home game a 3-0 win, in this season in particular, something to shout about... don't you think?

 

[gerdm07]

One thing I noticed is we actually used our midfield and didn't just knock it around the back like we usually do. This is because Matic and Mata were effective and the defenders could trust giving them the ball. Only if these guys were 6 years younger.

I hate to say this but throughout the match I kept thinking how much better we would be with Christian E replacing Bruno. I just don't have confidence with Bruno anymore. The biggest two differences between the two is Christian's passing is so much more accurate than Bruno's and Christian's first touch is much more effective than Bruno's. I hope Bruno improves with a new manager because if he doesn't there is no way we win anything while he is here and playing like this.

 

[The Irish Connection]

One thing I noticed, Dalot was coming into the midfield a lot like city and Liverpool do to receive the ball and outnumber their midfield. It helped with our control. Maybe a ten Hag call? That’s definitely something he likes his fullbacks to do.

 

[el diablorojo]

United had that little bit of quality to punish us that we lacked and it was a lot better performance from them than I'd seen in recently - did think that might be the case though as it was the last home game and players probably leaving looking to go out on a high. No complaints about the result to be honest.

Haven't been to OT for about 10 years or so and it is in a sorry state - hopefully that actually gets sorted. Terrible home support but completely understandable as hardly anything to get excited about and clear that a lot of people had sacked it off and sold their tickets to tourists.

Shame that some idiots decided to turn their protests about the Glaziers as an excuse to attack Bees fans in the safe standing entrance areas and targeting parents with children totally pathetic but we all have some absolute cretins in all fanbases. Most genuine United fans (the non-tourists) I interacted with were knowledgeable, respectful and a credit, surprisingly they were all onboard with my dream finale to this special season - to relegate Leeds on the last day by thrashing them at New Griffin Park!

We didn't really turn up at all but still caused a few problems - should be back next season too and we can do it all again but hopefully with a better result for us

 

[Adam-Utd]

Brentford’s record in April was sensational. Four wins and a draw. Beat Chelsea and West Ham. Drew with Spurs. I can’t see why they would just sudden stop trying. Maybe we played really well? Brentford aren’t safe yet. So I don’t think they suddenly stopped trying.

I think playing Bruno from LW and having Mata in the CAM worked wonders. It's a shame we've left it so late to give it a go more often.

Some of the football in particular the disallowed goal was a joy to see. We've not managed link up play like that for ages.

 

[united_99]

I see people are easily pleased these days and believe what they like to believe.
So we played well because the toxic players were not on the pitch. Well, Fred was also not on the pitch until very late, so how does this fit in? Also don’t think Sancho is that toxic.
Then of course Mata and Matic were up for their last OT game, very simple fact however is that when it actually matters (like important games being played every 3-4 days, not testimonial / charity games) you can’t even play them 2-3 games in a row without them looking like they are about to pass away.
They are nice guys and I am not blaming them but the club. Especially Mata shouldn’t be at United as a player anymore, nor should he be getting a player’s salary. Kids from the academy who could have a future at the club should be getting his minutes and his bench spot instead.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Spoiler

Haha great spoiler reveal

 

[Lecland07]

I see people are easily pleased these days and believe what they like to believe.
So we played well because the toxic players were not on the pitch. Well, Fred was also not on the pitch until very late, so how does this fit in? Also don’t think Sancho is that toxic.
Then of course Mata and Matic were up for their last OT game, very simple fact however is that when it actually matters (like important games being played every 3-4 days, not testimonial / charity games) you can’t even play them 2-3 games in a row without them looking like they are about to pass away.
They are nice guys and I am not blaming them but the club. Especially Mata shouldn’t be at United as a player anymore, nor should he be getting a player’s salary. Kids from the academy who could have a future at the club should be getting his minutes and his bench spot instead.

Have to agree with this. It seems weird to shift all the blame onto the players who weren't in the first team. Seems to be particularly focused on English by a lot people, but:

Arsenal
3-2 win against Arsenal (4 English players)
3-1 loss against Arsenal (1 English player)

Chelsea
1-1 draw against Chelsea (3 English players)
1-1 draw against Chelsea (1 English player)

Even the last time we played Brentford, we only had 1 English player. We won 3-1, but it was a dreadful performances. Brentford could have easily beaten us with the chances they created in that game.

Everything single one of these players has contributed equally to this crap season.

 

[United_98]

Not sure if this is my 2nd ever game or we were really that good.
This is the most enjoyable game since Ralf in charge?

The two Ronaldo hat-trick game, that was exciting but very bumpy

 

[Gator Nate]

That was one of the most professional performances I've seen all season, including the subs.

I still feel we're too mired in the midfield, and the back line does not help. But that did appear to be actual effort, start to finish, from every player out there. Glad to see it.

 

[mitchmouse]

Brentford’s record in April was sensational. Four wins and a draw. Beat Chelsea and West Ham. Drew with Spurs. I can’t see why they would just sudden stop trying. Maybe we played really well? Brentford aren’t safe yet. So I don’t think they suddenly stopped trying.

Maybe not mathematically but you are asking the likes of Everton or Burnley to win all their last four or five games when they've only won seven or eight all season (and Brentford not to get anything from their final games; although I concede they face Everton on the last day of the season)