[red4ever 79]

Flashback to the Wimbledon days today the way we butchered Hazard and hoofed it. Awful

 

[devips]

Smalling was our best player today.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

Four of them were bought by SAF. Jones and Smalling have not progressed how he maybe thought they would. Valencia is getting to being past his sell buy date, Young is well past it. Problem is as a club we are very loyal to our players, which seems terrible saying it is a bad thing, but in some instances it is.

I know who bought jones and smalling. They were seen as long term replacements for rio and vidic, but that was looking unlikely even while Fergie was still there - we've all seen for 5 years they aren't good enough and a club like United should never tolerate that.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I know who bought jones and smalling. They were seen as long term replacements for rio and vidic, but that was looking unlikely even while Fergie was still there - we've all seen for 5 years they aren't good enough and a club like United should never tolerate that.

I think in a roundabout way I have agreed with you.

 

[Noc-Z]

I still fully back Jose. I have more confidence in him getting it right than a manager with a lesser profile simply because they might not be able to attract some top drawer players that Jose could, love him or hate him, the name "Mourinho" is still a huge attraction to a lot of players. He generally leaves teams stronger when he leaves so yeah I'd trust him to do the spending.

I backed José. He was the manager I wanted and I trusted him. But I was not aware of how thoroughly miserable he is. Does this attitude bleed down through the squad? Would you be happy playing for such a miserable man? I'm starting to wonder.

 

[groovyalbert]

He was shit mate, and he has been like that for 5 6 games now! Last season too! He needs to go we need a real num 10.

I agree, he's been dire for a while. But 2.8 is like strolling on the pitch, smashing the ball into your own net, sticking 2 fingers up at the ref then strolling back off.

Granted, this would have been a more entertaining performance.

 

[peridigm]

Smalling was our best player today.

You're high.

 

[fallengt]

Fellaini... jones, smalling, young, valencia, - the list goes on mate.

It's fecking awful. United like to bang on that they're the biggest club in the world and have the biggest revenue but the people running the club haven't got a clue.

Would Madrid, barca, bayern, juve tolerate having the same sub-standard players year in year out? No they wouldn't, the fans would fecking riot

Agreed. Spineless cnuts. People at the top should realize by now that Fergie had lot of balls, he could share them with everyone else but that doesn't work in modern football anymore.

If players have no clue what they should do on the field after all these years, they shouldn't wear United shirt. Enough with sentimental shit and start showing them the door.

 

[royboy16]

We lose yet again at the bridge,no surprise.
We'd have probably lost there regardless if Pogba was playing.

 

[edgar allan]

It's a fecking joke that United still turn out the likes of Jones, Smalling and Young - utter garbage, they've never been good enough and 5/6 years on they still play in our first team!!! It's a fecking disgrace.

If the manager, coaches, and hierachy think this is acceptable United will never return to a position of dominance and don't deserve to.

I wouldn't disagree with 2 of those 3 names but our defence is the least of our problems.
We have a powderpuff attack with potential masquerading as quality and a midfield with the exception of Matic which is average.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Excellent game played by us today. United fans shouldn't be this hard on the team as very few teams have dominated us at Stamford Bridge over the years. Although I must admit I would expect much more fluency and zest from the a team that has spent millions on players.

Mourinho isn't very gracious at accepting a loss. He tries to blame everyone else but himself, such is his ego. It is one of the reasons why he doesn't last long at any of his clubs.

Generally an ok post (well done for not twisting the knife ).... the one thing I'd say is Jose did show some grace - clearly shaking Chelsea staff hands while Conte was all "look at me".

Enjoy the victory.... hope it's your last

 

[desmondisback]

there is a load of football to be played and anything can happen, and most you just wanna gift wrap city the title after a loss

ahhhh....denial....so nice to see you. I was wondering when you would turn up.

(We'll be lucky to finish within 15 points of City btw)

 

[Laurentiu amt]

Another disappointing day.

Mkhi is obviously most of note. He was just an absolute passenger here. I’d be interested to know whether the manager is happy with his work, whether he is delivering to his instruction. Today he just dawdled forward when we had the ball and dawdled back when we didn’t. You compare what Hazard offered Chelsea to what Mkhi offered us. It was absolutely pathetic. There was no sense in him being a creator, a runner with the ball, a fulcrum between the holding midfielders and the attack, or even a hard-working pressing midfielder. We may have well played with 10 men. I was delighted when we signed him, but now I’ve never been more disappointed with a signing – and that is saying something considering how Di Maria and Falcao were here.

Lukaku looked hungry early on but again disappointed. I’ve said from that start that I remain unconvinced. I just don’t see him as our main goalscorer for next five or six seasons and winning multiple titles and plenty of cups in that time. He looks as if he would be excellent in a team with a deep defensive line, so when he receives the ball he has space to move into and the strength to shrug defenders off. He lacks any sort of offering in a congested final third. I thought we learnt years ago that even with a goalscorer of Ruud’s quality, that just scoring goals is not enough.

No Mata on the bench surely shows that his career here is over for all intents and purposes. I don’t agree with how Mourinho uses several members of the squad, but you may as well move him on and get someone else in.

Mourinho really disappointed when we went behind. We just threw more and more men forward even when the problem was clearly in controlling the midfield. What’s the point in having McTominay on the bench if you are not going to use him when the game needs him? He’s not done much to massively wow me, but he’s been tidy enough.

This season has shown the importance of taking the cups seriously. We can still have a great season, even though winning the league is increasingly a long shot: probably a 1-in-20.

Dunno how you expect to have a decent 10 play his game when the wide areas are utter shite . Dunno, maybe the football has changed in the last years and I'm half blind.

 

[Orc]

Generally an ok post (well done for not twisting the knife ).... the one thing I'd say is Jose did show some grace - clearly shaking Chelsea staff hands while Conte was all "look at me".

Enjoy the victory.... hope it's your last

Nothing to do with "look at me" from Conte. Mou has been sniping at Conte for ages. It was more of a "feck off" than "look at me." Conte has no time for the pettiness.

 

[wolvored]

Nah, I know, that last post wasn't directed at you apart form the first sentence. And my first post in this thread that you replied to was just me venting my own frustrations and I apologize for the foul language.

But the bolded part is where I think you're wrong. We've had a bad couple of seasons, but this season has definitely been a step in the right direction bar this past month or so. Once we get our full squad fit and start picking up points again I'm sure you'll see it as well.

That being said, you are sort of right about us being spoilt for 20 years. I think that the way the Premier League has evolved has made it impossible for any team to achieve the sort of dominance Liverpool enjoyed in the 80's and we had under Ferguson. So alright, City might well win the title this season. What then? Next season it will all be up for grabs again. It is a great time to be a follower of the Prem, lighten up, everyone

Yes I agree, I cant see teams winning it 6 -7 times a decade. I think Pogba will be a boost as I agreed with you, but we need 2-3 more top or WC players to compete and win the title.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Don't look at City's next fixtures if you don't want to fall into a depression.

You know saying "don't" becomes an itch that has to be scratched?

Just looked, great.... one tough match in their next six games (Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton, West Ham, Man United and Swansea).




and that's assuming Leicester can rediscover their title winning form.

 

[el3mel]

You know saying "don't" becomes an itch that has to be scratched?

Just looked, great.... one tough match in their next six games (Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton, West Ham, Man United and Swansea).




and that's assuming Leicester can rediscover their title winning form.

We need to forget about them and start winning till we meet them. That's the only way we can achieve anything this season.

November is supposed to be an easy month for us as well.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We need to forget about them and start winning till we meet them. That's the only way we can achieve anything this season.

November is supposed to be an easy month for us as well.

Think they should just get rid of international football. It has been causing us problems for ages. Have the internationals at the end of the season. If we didn't have so many breaks the season would finish early anyway.

 

[Foxbatt]

Players not using their brains is the biggest problem we have. How many times have we seen this today? A lot.

 

[el3mel]

Think they should just get rid of international football. It has been causing us problems for ages. Have the internationals at the end of the season. If we didn't have so many breaks the season would finish early anyway.

To be fair all teams are getting through this international breaks not just us. If we can't cope with it while the other teams can then it's our problem. The breaks are stupid, I agree, but they're applied on everyone not just us.

I think we needed this break, through. All injured players will be fit enough for the next games, and give us time to rethink our formations and ideas, so we can start fresh again.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

To be fair all teams are getting through this international breaks not just us. If we can't cope with it while the other teams can then it's our problem. The breaks are stupid, I agree, but they're applied on everyone not just us.

I think we needed this break, through. All injured players will be fit enough for the next games, and give us time to rethink our formations and ideas, so we can start fresh again.

As you say the one consolation is that we should get the injured players back.

 

[siweltrebor]

I think our tactics have put us into this weird position where were comfortably second and had to keep City honest, instead we are slipping back into the battle between 2nd and 6th which is getting closer as you would expect with the results starting to even out.

I firmly believe we showed Liverpool way too much respect and played for a draw in a game where we had the tools, momentum and confidence to get a better result.

Pogba's injury was a shame but we should have enough options to not revert back to defensive tactics and long balls. The recent games have been begging for Ibrahimovich who would have made a difference on occasion especially as expected Lukaku will go through quieter spells in front of goal.

The Liverpool tactics brought the critics back and the bad habits and it's no surprise we lost to Huddersfield. If we had kept to our early season tactics I think we could have got a result at both Liverpool and carried that into this game.

The Stoke game was proof that we aren't invincible, easily strong enough for top 3, but I don't think City will be caught this year. They will drop points and lose games still but there won't be this mightly collapse, they will win it with 4 games to go at this rate.

We have to beat City home and away if we want to disrupt their momentum and chances.

Todays result does not surprise me, Chelsea are a good side, they only added more talent in the summer and got even stronger, they could have been beaten but they rose to the occasion.

Todays result looks worse because of the Liverpool/Huddersfiled matches where we walked away with one point instead of 4/6 and would have remained comfortably second even if we lost today.

Martial is key to getting our team scoring and getting results again, he needs to start more games, Lingard though I'm not the biggest fan offers a good injection of urgency into the team as well, though he gets a bit carried away with his early shooting and reaching for the headlines.

I can't wait for Ibrahimovich to return as it stands.

Surprised there wasn't more banter about Lukaku vs Morata today.

 

[wolvored]

You know saying "don't" becomes an itch that has to be scratched?

Just looked, great.... one tough match in their next six games (Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton, West Ham, Man United and Swansea).




and that's assuming Leicester can rediscover their title winning form.

OK I'll bite. Which one is the tough match?

 

[Adisa]

Most painful is the realisation, we are still shite.

 

[fellaini's barber]

Real Madrid have 20 points from 10 games. We have 23 from 11.

Oh you're comparing back to back CL winners with us?

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Most tops teams will have players away on international duty, comes with the territory?

Would prefer them to have maybe have two 'chunks' in a year where they play a few internationals.

Wonder how long it'll be before clubs start ganging up to force change? Love my country but tbf, the clubs are paying a fortune for players that they can lose due to injuries while away...

 

[Sigma]

Oh you're comparing back to back CL winners with us?

Yes. The comment I quoted said various players wouldn't get into their team. Players like Vallejo, Nacho, Vasquez, Hernandez get plenty of games for Madrid.

 

[Johnnyredboots]

ahhhh....denial....so nice to see you. I was wondering when you would turn up.

(We'll be lucky to finish within 15 points of City btw)

Dont be silly, there are another 26 games of football to be played, if you threw in the towel every time things dont go your way you might as well just give up on everything alltogether. I'm not saying i dont see any problems and things could certainly better but i would never gift wrap the title to those oil bloated mercanary scumbags like you seem to want to.

 

[D2Z]

I hate all of you negative folks who overeact like a massive herd of sheeps. Getting the hell off the cafe for a few days.

As for the game, I feel they did a superb job controlling the game with Bakakyako and Kante together. You csn tell how explosivr and dynamic Chelsea are with Kante in the team. What scares me is that Drinkwater was superb in that squad when he came on along Kante and Bakakyako. Morata aside from the goal was pretty abysmal. Lukaku looked off the pace, as if in his own world. Mourinho I have to say shouldnt have to setup so negatively. We never win at tje bridge, so just one of those games we dont need to worry about. WE ARE FINE.

 

[edgar allan]

I think our tactics have put us into this weird position where were comfortably second and had to keep City honest, instead we are slipping back into the battle between 2nd and 6th which is getting closer as you would expect with the results starting to even out.

I firmly believe we showed Liverpool way too much respect and played for a draw in a game where we had the tools, momentum and confidence to get a better result.

Martial is key to getting our team scoring and getting results again, he needs to start more games, Lingard though I'm not the biggest fan offers a good injection of urgency into the team as well, though he gets a bit carried away with his early shooting and reaching for the headlines.
.

Surprised there wasn't more banter about Lukaku vs Morata today.

Agree that the breaks on our form were well and truly put on at the Liverpool game. Jose as much as told the team that they weren't good enough to take Liverpool on.
Martial is an enigma, will he actually fulfill his potential, certainly he is far too inconsistent to be key to any revival.

It was open and shut case today, Lukaku wasn't in the same class as Morata.

 

[Coxy]

I hate all of you negative folks who overeact like a massive herd of sheeps. Getting the hell off the cafe for a few days.

As for the game, I feel they did a superb job controlling the game with Bakakyako and Kante together. You csn tell how explosivr and dynamic Chelsea are with Kante in the team. What scares me is that Drinkwater was superb in that squad when he came on along Kante and Bakakyako. Morata aside from the goal was pretty abysmal. Lukaku looked off the pace, as if in his own world. Mourinho I have to say shouldnt have to setup so negatively. We never win at tje bridge, so just one of those games we dont need to worry about. WE ARE FINE.

You never win at the bridge so there’s no point worrying about it?

Of course there is - or at least there’s a point to analyse what happened today and discuss it.

The point is - if you want to win the league - you need to be able to win at the bridge.

 

[Pyro19]

I think our main problem is that in this era of amazing fullbacks we have none on either wing (Valencia is decent but he's terrible going forward and picking out a pass).

We also have no proper right winger which allows teams to defend narrow against us. It's quite ironic since during the SAF days we wanted teams to defend narrow against us so that we could take advantage of the width and now teams happily give us that space because they know we do jack shit with it anyways.

 

[fellaini's barber]

Yes. The comment I quoted said various players wouldn't get into their team. Players like Vallejo, Nacho, Vasquez, Hernandez get plenty of games for Madrid.

As bit part players, Vasquez and Nacho are bit players and are pretty decent, the rest I don't even know. I don't see why you should be comparing Madrid fringe players with our first team

 

[Dobbs]

How are we still relying on Young and Valencia to give us width? It's just incredibly baffling how this is still going on.

 

[Vashu]

Considering the fact that we played with 3 centre-backs, the amount of times we created airstrips at the back for the hosts was incredible. This wasn't down to personnel, but Mourinho's tactics unfortunately.

 

[Foxbatt]

We are not negatively set up. The players keep hoofing the ball forward or unable to control the ball. It is simply that we do not have quality in the team. Just because you put the shirt or Manchester United on 11 frogs it does not become a football team. So just because they are wearing the shirt of United does not mean they are good players.
I will not slate Fellaini as he is just coming back from an injury. It is Young and Valencia and the defence along with Mikhi that is the problem. We need to learn to pass to own players instead of the opposition.

 

[Sigma]

As bit part players, Vasquez and Nacho are bit players and are pretty decent, the rest I don't even know. I don't see why you should be comparing Madrid fringe players with our first team

Valencia, Young, Jones and Smalling are all good enough to play for the club I think. Lingard and Miki there is a question mark over, but Lingard is a squad player.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I think our main problem is that in this era of amazing fullbacks we have none on either wing (Valencia is decent but he's terrible going forward and picking out a pass).

We also have no proper right winger which allows teams to defend narrow against us. It's quite ironic since during the SAF days we wanted teams to defend narrow against us so that we could take advantage of the width and now teams happily give us that space because they know we do jack shit with it anyways.

But we know José has no time for attacking FB. He's more worried about Shaw's defending than the threat he could offer going forward. That's just the manager we have.

 

[fellaini's barber]

Valencia, Young, Jones and Smalling are all good enough to play for the club I think. Lingard and Miki there is a question mark over, but Lingard is a squad player.

I don't think they are and I don't think they'll get into R.Madrid or any top teams first 11, I think that's the point the other poster was trying to make

 

[Sigma]

I don't think they are and I don't think they'll get into R.Madrid or any top teams first 11, I think that's the point the other poster was trying to make

I don't think any of the players I mentioned would get into our team. And I forgot to mention, Young and Smalling are also squad players in the main.