[bigeyedfish21]

My original point is that we've been as good (actually better, statistically) than Real Madrid this season.

Who cares? Madrid would still wipe the floor with us.

 

[moodyred]

This must be the poorest of our performances this season. Our players seem to be lethargic and do not seem hungry for the ball. We gave away possession cheaply (Chelsea should have scored on the 2 occasions Fellaini lost the ball), and was all over the place.

The title is City's to lose. We are work-in-progress.

 

[ManRant]

2nd half was awful.

I thought matic was good.

Nobody else was.

Title is gone

Matic was good because he is the only one who actually tried to do something. The others just choose to be useless and played like a coward.

 

[ManRant]

Spending 150-200m every summer, and still play the Pulis' Stoke football.

We can't even be as good as them in hoofball!

 

[kouroux]

After a good night sleep and some moments to think about the match, I honestly don't feel as annoyed as yesterday. We're at our true level, we won't seriously compete for the title because the team/manager aren't good enough at the moment and the opposition are much stronger.
Ultimately some big and small decisions need to be made (small decisions like preventing Rashford from taking set pieces, starting Mkhitaryan to a big one like starting Martial and Rashford together for a few games as it cannot be worse than now).
It's now we'll see whether Mourinho has still got it, he's the main man. Positive changes in fortune won't come from anybody else. We need to develop quality off the ball movement that will result in better transition from defence to attack. Our players hate taking risks because they receive the ball in bad positions because they didn't move intelligently for each other to create space.

 

[AmanNits04]

I want us to put this defeat behind us, our midfield got overrun easily in this Match and our attack was disjointed. I hope Pogba gets back for us after the international break and we play well again. He is the cog which makes us work properly. Everyone else gets a lift when he is in the team. Let's put this behind and accumulate max points from the next few fixtures, up until at least the Manchester Derby.

 

[NoPace]

I was really surprised Mkhi started as a 10. I figured if he started it would be up top as Lukaku's partner. He's looked so lost lately as a 10. I thought Mata might finally get the call as a 10 or that Mourinho would pick someone who can contribute defensively since Chelsea playing 3 midfielders rather than Pedro or Willian meant we were likely going to be outnumbered there without a more traditional midfielder. That's partly why Cesc and Hazard ran the game and Bakayoko had acres of space to run into at times.

Their goal actually occurred because Mkhitaryan, Matic and Herrera were all on one side of the pitch and a switch across to Azpilicueta gave him time to hit Morata with a cross from deep, which is a combination Chelsea have scored from for the 5th (!) time this season already. I figured Mourinho would want to cut that out.

I know Fellaini probably wasn't healthy enough to play an hour and with Pogba out there weren't a million options if we wanted to play 3-5-2, but I thought we might even see Lingard or McTominay or if Mourinho wanted to go extra defensive and focus on nullifying Chelsea maybe even Valencia on the right of a midfield 3 (Herrera left, Matic central) to get Darmian in at RWB.

 

[R.E.D.]

My problem is not losing, the problem is that we do not even try to win at these games. That bothers me more. There's always a striker alone among 3 or 4 defendes. It was Ibra last year it is Lukaku this year. Different players and the same old shit. You talk about if we had Pogba or Ibra it would be different, we had them last year and we played exactly like that in big away games.

 

[Aniefiok]

Good subs by Mourinho... But how bout we start the game with the team that finished it. Fela, ander, matic in a midfield 3, lukaku, rashford and matic up front.

Next time start with that, mkhi should not start games like this till he is back in form, him on the pitch is united playing 10 vs 11.

Only positive about last night would be if mou learns to play martial and rashford from the start of games.

 

[CM21]

[SOURCE : Reddit]

For the it's just 11 games crowd :

Moruinho's teams have finished in the same position he was in after the 12th game in most seasons:

02/03 - Porto - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
03/04 - Porto - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
04/05 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
05/06 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
06/07 - Chelsea - 2nd after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
08/09 - Inter - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
09/10 - Inter - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
10/11 - Madrid - 1st after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
11/12 - Madrid - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
12/13 - Madrid - 3rd after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
13/14 - Chelsea - 3rd after 12 games - 3rd at end of season
14/15 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
16/17 - United - 6th after 12 games - 6th at end of season

 

[red4ever 79]

This must be the poorest of our performances this season. Our players seem to be lethargic and do not seem hungry for the ball. We gave away possession cheaply (Chelsea should have scored on the 2 occasions Fellaini lost the ball), and was all over the place.

The title is City's to lose. We are work-in-progress.

Nah Huddersfield was more shocking. This was just predictable. Starting XI, tactics, performance, hoof ball

 

[Marcky411]

Firstly very disappointed, must say getting a bit sick of these negative tactics. Somehow getting the feeling Mourinho has somehow lost the plot and just doesn't know how to go further. He seems to try to change things, formations etc but don't seem to be seeing a difference on the pitch. With LvG it was a borefest and we played at a snails pace and tried to keep possession for the sake of possession, no threat in the final third. Then he brought on Fellaini and we went to plan B, hoofing it up to fellaini and hoping to make something happen. Now 18 months further and a fortune spent, the pace of the game has more or less stayed the same and in a majority of the games plan B has become plan A. This works sometimes against weaker opposition but not against a solid defensive unit like Chelsea.
What happened to the playbook we used last season against Chelsea at OT, closing Hazard and Canté out of the game and pressing their defence?
This was a shaky Chelsea, which had just got spanked 3-0 by Roma, haven't started the season well at all, I am now really dreading coming up against City because if this is the best we can put out there, we are really going to get humiliated.

Positives: Lets hope Pogba and Zlatan gets back sooner than later to pick up this team down on confidence and ideas.
Negatives: Sad to think the whole team boils down to one player and lets hope he can show us the form he showed at the start of the season otherwise I see us limping once again over the line at the end of the season hoping to grasp a top 4 position.

 

[moonunderthewater]

I'm actually glad about this international break. Gives the players a rest, Pogba and Zlatan recovery time, and Jose some thinking time for a shopping list.
Buy big in January Jose, go on a massive unbeaten run and we won't be far away.
The PL champions generally lose 3-5 games. So, when City falter, doubts will creep in and their rival's will be boosted. This isn't over. So, less of the doom and gloom, and more of some strong support, we will get there

 

[Spoony]

[SOURCE : Reddit]

For the it's just 11 games crowd :

Moruinho's teams have finished in the same position he was in after the 12th game in most seasons:

02/03 - Porto - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
03/04 - Porto - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
04/05 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
05/06 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
06/07 - Chelsea - 2nd after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
08/09 - Inter - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
09/10 - Inter - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
10/11 - Madrid - 1st after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
11/12 - Madrid - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
12/13 - Madrid - 3rd after 12 games - 2nd at end of season
13/14 - Chelsea - 3rd after 12 games - 3rd at end of season
14/15 - Chelsea - 1st after 12 games - 1st at end of season
16/17 - United - 6th after 12 games - 6th at end of season

The simulation theory. It must be.

 

[TRD]

After watching the game against Chelsea, I think we should offer 40M to Arsenal in January for both Ozil and Sanchez. They are almost certain to leave at the end of the season. So we can convince Arsenal that 40 million better than getting nothing.

From January our line-up can be like this:

De Gea
Valencia----Bailly----Jones----Young
Matic----Pogba
Sanchez----Ozil----Rashford
Lukaku

The best part of buying them is that they will be available for Champions League matches.

 

[duffer]

Mkhitaryan with the 2.8 average rating

He wasn't great, but come on...

Did he play? He must've been subbed on very late because I can't remember him being mentioned at all.

 

[Marcky411]

Matic was good because he is the only one who actually tried to do something. The others just choose to be useless and played like a coward.

Passed down from the manager. Matic is still new that will ware off, same as Di Maria, started off with flair, attacking every opportunity he got, but then he had to adapt to LvG's playing style, killed him as a player.

 

[Handsome Devil]

Like many on here I made Dave our Man of the Match but oh how I hate it when he is Man of the Match.

 

[Handsome Devil]

After watching the game against Chelsea, I think we should offer 40M to Arsenal in January for both Ozil and Sanchez. They are almost certain to leave at the end of the season. So we can convince Arsenal that 40 million better than getting nothing.

From January our line-up can be like this:

De Gea
Valencia----Bailly----Jones----Young
Matic----Pogba
Sanchez----Ozil----Rashford
Lukaku

The best part of buying them is that they will be available for Champions League matches.

You know, I quite like the sound of this....and We DON'T want Sanchez going to Abu Dhabi FC.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Mkhitaryan with the 2.8 average rating

He wasn't great, but come on...

I'd argue that 2.8 is too high considering it was like playing with 10-men (again) for 60 odd minutes... and if he was replaced with "nothing" then that nothing player would score 0.

 

[Shark]

Passed down from the manager. Matic is still new that will ware off, same as Di Maria, started off with flair, attacking every opportunity he got, but then he had to adapt to LvG's playing style, killed him as a player.

What a fecking ridiculous post.

 

[MZX7]

Just got done watching MOTD 2. And our performance seemed much worse after the analysis.

Horrible display of football.

Morata single handedly bullied Bailly, Smalling and Jones.

Pathetic by almost everyone involved.

De Gea should just go play at a better club. He deserves to leave. I wouldn't feel bad if he goes to Manchester City too. They look like they're gonna be a force in Europe.

Herrera and Mkhitaryan were abysmal.

Disgusting performance regardless of the result.

 

[Oyibo]

We were never serious title contenders this season.

Should be content with progress, i.e 2nd or 3rd for this season, and a decent run in Europe, then build on that next season.

 

[stu_1992]

Very disappointing result yesterday, especially after we started brightly I thought, certainly looked the more likely to make something happen. And then it clearly all went to crap, I'm not even sure the same team showed up for the second half. It's clear we have a big problem in away games against top teams and this obviously needs to be sorted. The players were just absolutely awful on the ball, just zero quality and it's the same type of stuff that we saw in the Liverpool game.

The reaction to this defeat has been very over the top though, and I can't agree with anyone calling for Mourinho's head. We've come a long way in my eyes, but unfortunately City are flying at the moment.

 

[chicha14]

You lot are so damn dramatic, I understand there is anger and frustration after a loss and an average performance. We were SLIGHTLY better than we were against liverpool I believe, still think we were a pile of steamy horse ****.... However, you can blame Mourinho as much as you want, the defending for the goal was amateurish and he cannot take responsibility for that. I am still fuming at how poor we defended for that and I do not even want to see that goal again , Morata could have brought that down, had a cup of tea, juggled the ball then buried it. Abysmal that we allow a striker SOOO much time alone in the box

Not quick enough in transition, take too long on the ball and we tend to back off too much and welcome attackers to take their chance one way or another. All of you saying Mourinho needs to go, players XYZ are horrible and need to leave are probably the same people that were well pleased after the first few game weeks. Injuries to Pogba and Fellaini ( say what you want about him, the lad fights for the badge and gets stuck in-I wish a few others done the same, ) hurt us in the middle of the park and left us playing Matic and Herrera which has stifled our attack big time. Matic is trying to do the breaking down and starting attacks which is not his strong point. I know it is ONLY really Pogba who got injured but he was the glue to our team and covered for defenders and Matic when needed and also was the catalyst to our attacks and allowed our front 3 freedom. It is no coincidence that Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Rashford have not looked the same since he got injured. We really need him back ASAP and I mean ASAP.Had we not lost to huddersfield( 2 silly mistakes and a injury to Jones which forced Mourinho to bring Lindelof on) , people would not be so bleak as we could be 3 points better off and things were not writing Mourinho off.

I understand his tactics in big games are frustrating and negative, it pisses me off too..

 

[zumba8]

It was not a good game from a united point of view couse we did not get the points. As a spectakle I enjoyed it. We started strong, but than Chelsea midfield took over. I thougth that in the first half we were quite evenly matched. Miki never got hold of the ball and lost it too quickly. Herrera had a couple of chances to play it forward quickly but turned backwards and sideways. We hade noone to switch sides with crossfield passes to our wingbacks.

Than in the second half, we did not survive the first 15-20min of pressure, could not get hold of the ball and conceded to a great header. Then we showed more attacking intent, but still could not get hold of the ball and create some sustained preasure, had couple of chances but did not convert. Could also concede again.

I don't think it is all doom and gloom but it is concerning how our midfield got swamped and couldn't get into any kind of rythm.

 

[iportman]

After watching the game against Chelsea, I think we should offer 40M to Arsenal in January for both Ozil and Sanchez. They are almost certain to leave at the end of the season. So we can convince Arsenal that 40 million better than getting nothing.

From January our line-up can be like this:

De Gea
Valencia----Bailly----Jones----Young
Matic----Pogba
Sanchez----Ozil----Rashford
Lukaku

The best part of buying them is that they will be available for Champions League matches.

after watching the city game someone would want give you 40 million to take ozil , sanchez would make a huge difference to us though

 

[Trizy]

Some of the comments are unbelievable. A lot of people blaming the tactics, yet we were ''too defensive and cowardly'' against Pool. However, we attacked more against Chelsea and people still aren't happy? The game was very end to end at times, actually a decent game for the any neutrals I met yesterday.

If we played attacking football vs Chelsea they would have murdered us. They were better than us all over the pitch. Yes we all wanted to win but we just weren't good enough to beat them.

People calling for Mourinho head is laughable. He's doing the best with what he got. Go support City if you want expansive attacking football with 100 attacking midfielders.

 

[Crimson King]

Just got done watching MOTD 2. And our performance seemed much worse after the analysis.

Horrible display of football.

Morata single handedly bullied Bailly, Smalling and Jones.

Pathetic by almost everyone involved.

De Gea should just go play at a better club. He deserves to leave. I wouldn't feel bad if he goes to Manchester City too. They look like they're gonna be a force in Europe.

Herrera and Mkhitaryan were abysmal.

Disgusting performance regardless of the result.

What the feck is this shit?!

 

[Hambley]

I have no the same feeling like I had after last away match against them. We had chances and we were better team unlike last season game. That's for sure.

We couldn't deliver the ball from defence to attack and when our forwards finally got it, they weren't able to hold the ball more then for few seconds.

Defence conceded a very stupid goal. I have no idea how could they leave Morata completely alone. They just gave him a large free space to jump and kick the ball without any problems. What was wrong with them?

Fellaini wasn't fit and because of that we near conceded 2 goals and near scored due to him. At the end of the game he was the only one who hold the ball in the Chelsea penalty area. That makes me think we will play better next matches with him on the pitch.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

I fecking knew that would happen; I expected nothing but a defeat down there. When did we last win at Chelsea? I don't know whether it's a mental thing, but this isn't a great Chelsea side; yet we bottle it at Stamford Bridge every time. We can forget the title; look at the way City sorted Chelsea out a few weeks ago. Was it one shot on target? Our arses collapsed. Some really poor performances yesterday: I was especially unhappy with Herrera and Miki. Weekend ruined.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It was not a good game from a united point of view couse we did not get the points. As a spectakle I enjoyed it. We started strong, but than Chelsea midfield took over. I thougth that in the first half we were quite evenly matched. Miki never got hold of the ball and lost it too quickly. Herrera had a couple of chances to play it forward quickly but turned backwards and sideways. We hade noone to switch sides with crossfield passes to our wingbacks.

Than in the second half, we did not survive the first 15-20min of pressure, could not get hold of the ball and conceded to a great header. Then we showed more attacking intent, but still could not get hold of the ball and create some sustained preasure, had couple of chances but did not convert. Could also concede again.

I don't think it is all doom and gloom but it is concerning how our midfield got swamped and couldn't get into any kind of rythm.

Think the problem with passing it backwards and sideways is that nobody trusts anyone else to do something with the ball. If we had world class flying wingers who could whip the ball into the box, they would see the ball all the time and it would stretch the play. Unfortunately we don't. Valencia lost that years ago and we are hanging around to see if Shaw is the answer. It looks like he isn't. The link from the furthest forward midfielder of our three is non-existant, so that outlet has gone and Lukaku cannot trap a ball when we launch it and his movement has been awful. He has to get involved more when the service is not happening.

 

[duffer]

What the feck is this shit?!

It was a poor display but pull your head out of your arse you pathetic waste of sperm.

FFS!

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

FFS!

Excellent result for you yesterday. I knew we'd blow it at the Bridge yet again. Neither of us will catch City though.

 

[Marcky411]

You lot are so damn dramatic, I understand there is anger and frustration after a loss and an average performance. We were SLIGHTLY better than we were against liverpool I believe, still think we were a pile of steamy horse ****.... However, you can blame Mourinho as much as you want, the defending for the goal was amateurish and he cannot take responsibility for that. I am still fuming at how poor we defended for that and I do not even want to see that goal again , Morata could have brought that down, had a cup of tea, juggled the ball then buried it. Abysmal that we allow a striker SOOO much time alone in the box

Not quick enough in transition, take too long on the ball and we tend to back off too much and welcome attackers to take their chance one way or another. All of you saying Mourinho needs to go, players XYZ are horrible and need to leave are probably the same people that were well pleased after the first few game weeks. Injuries to Pogba and Fellaini ( say what you want about him, the lad fights for the badge and gets stuck in-I wish a few others done the same, ) hurt us in the middle of the park and left us playing Matic and Herrera which has stifled our attack big time. Matic is trying to do the breaking down and starting attacks which is not his strong point. I know it is ONLY really Pogba who got injured but he was the glue to our team and covered for defenders and Matic when needed and also was the catalyst to our attacks and allowed our front 3 freedom. It is no coincidence that Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Rashford have not looked the same since he got injured. We really need him back ASAP and I mean ASAP.Had we not lost to huddersfield( 2 silly mistakes and a injury to Jones which forced Mourinho to bring Lindelof on) , people would not be so bleak as we could be 3 points better off and things were not writing Mourinho off.

I understand his tactics in big games are frustrating and negative, it pisses me off too..

Great post and right on the money but to think our whole team is reliant on one player in form to have a bit of bite in the side, is a bit ridiculous after all the money spent. A true eye opener to all teams in the future, close down Pogba and Utd are lame.
I must agree with you about some people calling for Mourinho's head is a bit premature but I do feel he is getting off lightly for this mess and needs to address it sooner than later. Now it is up to him to show he is the Special One and not keep referring to his past accomplishments.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

Great post and right on the money but to think our whole team is reliant on one player in form to have a bit of bite in the side, is a bit ridiculous after all the money spent. A true eye opener to all teams in the future, close down Pogba and Utd are lame.
I must agree with you about some people calling for Mourinho's head is a bit premature but I do feel he is getting off lightly for this mess and needs to address it sooner than later. Now it is up to him to show he is the Special One and not keep referring to his past accomplishments.

Please don't tell me there are fans doing that. This is where the internet age has a lot to answer for.

 

[Trizy]

The lack of creativity from midfield is horrendous. Martial and Rashford had to come all the way down to the halfway line to pick up the ball because the midfielders cannot deliver it to them in the attacking third.

This annoyed me the most. It's happened plenty of games too.

People giving out about Martial but what is he meant to do when he has to drop deep and has a man on his back straight away if he receives the pass? Martial is one of the best in the league at running at defenses but he hasn't a hope of doing anything other than passing the ball backwards when he's marked at the half way line facing the wrong way.

 

[manutd7]

Mhkitaryan was lost in this game. Honestly don't really remember him doing anything effective offensively or defensively
Lukaku, although was isolated and didn't receive much service, didn't offer enough in his hold up play and seemed to be bullied by Christensen and Cahill too easily
Herrera just wasn't that good today
Our back three aren't really equipped to play that formation, and therefore were caught out a few times, which eventually led to the goal (Great header by Morata btw)

Matic was very good and looked to move the ball forward and QUICKLY almost every time he touched it
Valencia and Young weren't awful, but didn't really offer much with being pushed back on defensive duty for a lot of the game
Rashford put in an average shift, but was isolated often and for the most part had to make something out of nothing. Also why is he still taking our corners? Why not Young

Thought Fellaini should have been brought on at HT for Mhki as he was abysmal and easily my worst player of the game

We just didn't show much drive going forward at all. Unlucky with Rashford's header, he really should have at least put it on target. Really miss Pogba, and Zlatan too. He will add to our prowess up top and take off some real pressure on Lukaku. Didn't really expect a win today with how weve been playing recently, but I was hoping for a little more effort. Hopefully this result might ignite a desire in our team that we desperately need. And Pogba, we just need him back so badly its starting to hurt me physically

 

[Schmiznurf]

I'm surprised De Gea has a 6.7 average to be honest considering he made no effort for their goal when a dive and miss is much better than the fish out of water thing he did.

 

[SachinJ22]

Who do we always wait till the last 5 or 10 minutes to play attacking football, what is the use of attacking when the other team is playing defensively with no intent to attack?