[GiddyUp]

Before I begin, I will state that we clearly deliberately played physically last night, and a red card is no surprise (although I do feel Herrera was not top of the list for a red card in the game).

I've been trawling through the football rules, especially rule 12, on a variety of staggeringly tedious websites and I can't find the citation, or anything similar, in any of the rulebooks I'm reading. Can you give me a reference please? It's not a rule I necessarily disagree with, but I can't find evidence it is enacted (was it a tournament variant, or one that is only applied in certain countries or somesuch?).

Michael Oliver basically told Hazard to pick who he wanted to be booked. Poor refereeing to be honest. Hazard spends a lot of the game on his arse because of his speed of turn and the way he runs, Oliver should be taking that in to consideration. Just because Hazard plays like that it should not mean that every attempted tackle on him is a foul.

 

[nyrfan818]

Before I begin, I will state that we clearly deliberately played physically last night, and a red card is no surprise (although I do feel Herrera was not top of the list for a red card in the game).

I've been trawling through the football rules, especially rule 12, on a variety of staggeringly tedious websites and I can't find the citation, or anything similar, in any of the rulebooks I'm reading. Can you give me a reference please? It's not a rule I necessarily disagree with, but I can't find evidence it is enacted (was it a tournament variant, or one that is only applied in certain countries or somesuch?).

My understanding is that it's an interpretation of persistent fouling from an American rulebook. It's not at all applicable to this situation.

 

[Jaxdan]

My understanding is that it's an interpretation of persistent fouling from an American rulebook. It's not at all applicable to this situation.

But dammit, we write the rules on soccer!

 

[wolvored]

We saw last season how Spurs dealt with pressure, Wenger isn't getting near Chelsea so he may want to bow out with a bit of silver and Pep will also want a bit of silver after a disappointing first season.
All I'm saying is it takes one bad week by any of these for us to capitalize and finally get a place in the top four.
Europa needs to be our top priority though. Very winnable and a precious reward for next season.

We need to win 11 out of the last 12 imo any more draws will doom us, especially as Liverpool have pulled away. We have to get past them and arsenal

 

[Tapori]

Why not just sub carrick on. Fellani offers nothing what so ever.

Fair enough and agreed; Would have been better able to pick that Killer pass over the top or down the channels to Rashers.
But Fellaini didn't play poorly.

 

[junglemusic]

We were completely outplayed. Ref's decision was rash.
But - why were we playing fecking Jones in midfield!? We had Fellaini, Blind and Carrick on the bench that would have suited that role much better. Even Schweinsteiger (or is he injured?).

Really worried about Pogba now, he goes missing every big game we have.
Oh and we look completely lost without Zlat.

On the plus side, De Gea, Rojo and Valencia put in a shift and a half. Really impressed with them.

 

[Tapori]

Good post, agree with almost everything. Including the criticism of Pogba, bar the bolded bit (the shot).

It was on his left foot and he was quickly getting closed down. Mkhi's shot in the first half, he had more time than Pog to measure that one up, yet he also skewed that wide. No scathing criticism of Mkhi for that, why? Because it's unrealistic to expect people to bury a shot outside the box on their wrong foot.

So let's keep the criticism of Pogba on what he actually should have done better. Closing down Kante for that shot, not losing the ball at the edge of the box, picking some simple pass options when they were there, etc.

Ta. Yes I am being proper harsh I know.
For the shot, it's more the context of the time in the match; With Mikhi he should have done better with his sighter, but it's well early on with 11 men.

With Pogba, his overall performance lacked tactical leadership; I've seen him play much better for Juve. Seems to be playing at 70-80 percent. Possibly needs a rest. At the moment he lacks a cutting edge and uses his gangly legs and pace too often to get him out of trouble. He doesn't seem to be thinking. He's going through the motions and hasn't yet shown me he can control and help shape a match consistently here at the crunch end for us. Keane/Scholes/Carrick have shown this in 10 man teams and 11 man teams. He is young, I really like him as a player and feel he could be one of our greatest midfielders ever but he needs to work to improve his "Auto-Pilot Level," and his "Grab the match by the scruff of the neck, F-This" level.
Rojo, as brash as he was, seemed to have more impetus in this match. Pogba looked defeated.

That shot I mentioned: drew more ire from me because from my recollection, he had other options but he took the shot with that foot and snatched at it. That's his decision. Feel he went to placement rather than power at that range. Make the goalie work, or choose a better option. Debatable and I'm probably wrong. Not seen it again.
I'll maintain my point about passing options; Has to do better at ball retention and picking the right pass; He is our Main Midfielder. We're United.
You are first choice. Set an example.

I'll leave you with Mourinho's comments:
"Pogba was a giant"

Remember when Fellaini made that awful mistake against Everton that cost us a win?
Mourinho straight away went and bigged him up publicly. Probably got decked behind the scenes by Mourinho when we know how high a standard he demands.
I feel this is the same here, with Mourinho using his Fergie-Esque psychology techniques; Essentially protecting Pogba in public, giving him trust and confidence in public but I am certain he was singled out, because he will be the one getting the hairdryer treatment by Mourinho who knows just how much effort and nous the whole team put in when we went down to 10 men and how relatively below par he was.

I could be horribly wring. I mean I'm someone who still think Schweini could have been involved and should be used far more!

 

[jackofalltrades]

Wasn't that goal a bit of a gift ? The space between defenders was very big and Rojo, who seemed to be assuming that De Gea could handle it, even moved slightly to his right and made no effort to block it.

 

[SteveTheRed]

Wasn't that goal a bit of a gift ? The space between defenders was very big and Rojo, who seemed to be assuming that De Gea could handle it, even moved slightly to his right and made no effort to block it.

Probably also assuming that Kante wouldn't take a shot from distance, or even beat the keeper for that matter.

 

[jackofalltrades]

Probably also assuming that Kante wouldn't take a shot from distance, or even beat the keeper for that matter.

Yea, that's why I think Rojo let it go.

 

[Treble_Winning]

We were completely outplayed. Ref's decision was rash.
But - why were we playing fecking Jones in midfield!? We had Fellaini, Blind and Carrick on the bench that would have suited that role much better. Even Schweinsteiger (or is he injured?).

Really worried about Pogba now, he goes missing every big game we have.
Oh and we look completely lost without Zlat.

On the plus side, De Gea, Rojo and Valencia put in a shift and a half. Really impressed with them.

Completely outplayed? How? And by whom? If you mean we were completely outplayed by the ref, sure you are spot on. But Chelsea didn't outplay us. In fact we were the ones outplaying them, and looking like we would win, when it was 11 v 11.

They had 72% possession and 20 shots but only managed to score one goal. I think that shows that we gave them a bloody good game despite being screwed over royally by the ref.

Regardless of what anyone thinks about Pogba, Mourinho has said that he played well, and I think Mourinho knows more about football than we do. We need to get behind Pogba and give him support, not abuse. He is our player. And a very good one too.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

 

[jackofalltrades]

The least bad thing about the game was getting knocked out, at least it will ease the fixture list by two games. Although we defended so well that they didn't score any more goals, they also ran us ragged once Herrera had been sent off, not in the sense that they were better, of course they were against 10, bu they kept moving the ball round all the game which left our players exhausted with only 3 days to recover. Plus the red card and maybe another one for Rojo. A very costly loss in those terms.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The least bad thing about the game was getting knocked out, at least it will ease the fixture list by two games. Although we defended so well that they didn't score any more goals, they also ran us ragged once Herrera had been sent off, not in the sense that they were better, of course they were against 10, bu they kept moving the ball round all the game which left our players exhausted with only 3 days to recover. Plus the red card and maybe another one for Rojo. A very costly loss in those terms.

Rojo is not being charged as the ref saw it. They are charging us with not keeping our players under control though.

 

[jackofalltrades]

Rojo is not being charged as the ref saw it. They are charging us with not keeping our players under control though.

Hadn't seen that. What are the implications - that the club will be fined ?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Hadn't seen that. What are the implications - that the club will be fined ?

It will be a fine. It wasn't that bad. Maybe the F.A. are a bit short of dough at the moment, so let's just fine United for something.

 

[sunama]

Jose is defiant.
I must say that I am not a fan of the apathetic version of himself, which he is portraying himself at MUFC. I want the nonchalant, outrageous Jose.

"Judas is Number 1"