[Bubz27]

Chelsea looked like a team who had 2 extra days to prepare.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

Let’s be honest, we’ve been shit since Southampton. The Palace result masked a bang average performance. Ole has overseen two excellent runs of form. The first one ended in a run of atrocious form that took him months to turn around. He needs to nip this current slump in the bud fecking pronto. He still has a lot to prove.

Yeah. We tend to get way ahead of ourselves by running up the score in a few easy games and pumping the stats. We ain't all that.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

These guys are proper bottlers, they have no character.

Watch us throw away the season now.

Hello knee meet jerk

FFS

 

[0le]

Realistically the Leicester result is what mattered today, but who knows what the feck Ole was thinking today. Ends up playing the entire starting XI despite looking fatigued, and they put in a poor performance anyone. Just a horrible management of the situation really where we get neither the desired rest time or the result we wanted.

Pogba, Greenwood and Martial didn't start.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Top 4 was always the goal at the start of the season. Anything else was a luxury.

Yep, that is mentality about which i am talking about. Arsenal...

 

[red woppit]

We allowed them to in the 2nd half. In the first half, they didn't have much other than Azpilicueta coming forward without much resistance, but even then, their crosses weren't that threatening. In the 2nd half, however, our defensive transitions were much worse, and the players lost any fight they had in them. Bruno Fernandes was the only one who was playing at a 100% throughout the match.

Thought Matic was good, lost count of the number of times he got back and snuffed out any danger.

 

[stevoc]

Don't care about the result, but it's annoying that we let players tire and pick up injuries. I told Ole to rest absolutely every single body, and he refused to listen to me.

Unbelievable, what a dick.

 

[NormansDarkSide]

All these people saying to rest players hang your head in shame.
We rested no one, we looked bereft of ideas throughout the game.
Had we started the game with our full strength team things would have been different,
But nevermind, of course we never wanted to win a trophy anyway right?

This guy gets it, since when do trophy not matter.

 

[NewGlory]

Completely agree. I don’t think Ole has the balls to drop De Gea at this stage of the season, but any howlers in the next two game’s are likely to be catastrophic to our chances of top 4, with the inevitable knock-on effect on our budget for new players.

It will set us back horribly if we don't make CL again - huge revenue loss, problems in transfer window. It will be VERY bad. We also have a great chance - winning next two games is very doable, if De Gea stops being a bitch, and our full backs play their best.

 

[sunwukong]

Ole has to take most of the criticism for that performance. Why not continue with Romero for the cup games? Why change to 3 at the back when we haven't really played it for months? Why rest Pogba instead of Fernandes, when he was clearly the one who has looked knackered in the last games? Why start James when he's showed little or no promise in recent games, rather than Ighalo for example? Baffling decisions.

As soon as the formation reverted to 4-2-3-1 and then Pogba came on in the second half we looked much more competitive, and could at least keep possession and put together some attacking moves, though Maguire still looked understandably off his best after the clash of heads. Another CB or even two will be essential in the summer.

I reckon if we'd played Romero, kept with 4 at the back and just swapped a few of the more tired players (Fernandes, Greenwood), we'd have won that, as Chelsea were not particularly impressive in the absence of our (or rather DDG's) mistakes.

 

[Bilbo]

Yeah but I lost at Uno earlier so it all balances out.

I shot an 81 on a course I've never played before. I'll sleep like a baby tonight

 

[Okey]

We've been struggling for a few games now. Getting by cos the opposition hasn't been top tier. This was coming. Even without the formation gamble. Galling as it is, the league position is still more important. Hopefully we can get in that top 4 then rest properly for Europa league. No FA Cup final on August 1st and we can pretty much play kids against LASK. The first team will have enough rest before the Europa quarters.

 

[The Cat]

Is there any news on Bailly? I think he is another one finished at the club after today he seems cursed but I hope his health is ok.

 

[tombombadil]

Now the team really needs to focus on their anger at what just happened and channel that on West Ham. They cannot let West Ham kick and press them out of the game like Chelsea did here.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Chelsea nullified us.
Need better squad depth.
Hope Bailly recovers.
De Gea has been a excellent goalkeeper during his time for us, but by his high standards he is below his best. That 2nd goal?!?! I hope he can recover his form, but I am concerned.
21 fouls not one yellow for Chelsea

 

[mu4c_20le]

Chelsea looked like a team who had 2 extra days to prepare.

And a referee that lets them do whatever they want.

 

[YAMS49]

How the feck do they make 21 fouls and not get a single yellow. Dean is a cnut, end of. Lampard did us with his statement, I hope they get fecked on in the final the plastic wankers.

 

[jasT1981]

It's not the result that annoys me, its the way we played.

We were all over the place, apart from anywhere near the ball at the back. Passes going astray without anyone even trying to connect to them. Outside of Bruno I don't think the players had it in them today.

De Gea has his head elsewhere now. However, I am left to question IF it is all on him? Is there an issue with Maguire as captain as that is when it all started to go (further) south for De Gea.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

We allowed them to in the 2nd half. In the first half, they didn't have much other than Azpilicueta coming forward without much resistance, but even then, their crosses weren't that threatening. In the 2nd half, however, our defensive transitions were much worse, and the players lost any fight they had in them. Bruno Fernandes was the only one who was playing at a 100% throughout the match.

Yeah I see what you're saying, it does feel like a game we just weren't up for in the circumstances.

 

[AndyMUFC]

The performance was terrible, I suppose it was coming really and it’s better that it came there than in the league but you’ve not got a chance when your keeper is that bad.

De Gea needs dropping at the very least, he’s just looking past it.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

A disastrous day. Everything that could possibly have go wrong did go wrong. I have no issue with Ole resting players, in order to concentrate upon the league; it's just that today everything went wrong. Chelsea's three goals were all poor defensively, which killed us. We had injuries and a weak referee (though his performance didn't affect the result) and were never in contention. Chelsea dominated possession and looked hungrier for the win. They deserve to be in the final.

If we win our last two league games, today's result will soon be forgotten, but we were abject. Let's qualify for the Champions League and rectify the squad issues in the transfer window, if we possibly can. That's our first defeat in twenty matches; we are making progress, though of course there will be setbacks. Let's do a professional job against West Ham and Leicester then build from there.

Where we go from here with De Gea is a massive question. We need to offload the dead wood and replace them with quality in the transfer window.

 

[UnitedFan93]

Solskjaer: "You have to win trophies, this is what we have done throughout history, this is our goal."

Edit, unless it's the FA Cup

 

[Harry190]

Here's the simple truth:

Our top level is up there with the best.

Our low level is not good enough.

The low level is the problem. There's plenty of games where you play at your low level for one reason or another.

Any Premier League team would have beaten us today. Even Aston Villa.

 

[mazhar13]

Thought Matic was good, lost count of the number of times he got back and snuffed out any danger.

He did alright with the interceptions and passing, but Chelsea were taking it easy, too. They didn't commit as many players going forward and were happy to sit back, allowing Matic more time on the ball to build up.

 

[Betson]

You aren't being objective whatsoever. The team is running on fumes, Chelsea had two full more days rest, we don't have the depth, and we are mounting up injuries. Of course we all wanted to win, but we don't have to be sad little children because we didn't.

Why are so many people saying they are not bothered then?

What is acting like children is blaming the ref , tiredness even the BBC ffs(look at match thread) The excuse list is never ending.

 

[red woppit]

Could list most of the players as poor performers, fact is one team was fresher than the other. Would have been a different game if we played Tuesday.

Certainly looked that way. Looked like we were trying to conserve energy by slowing the play down at every opportunity. We really didn't seem under any pressure first half, until that first goal, the second one was the killer.

 

[UnitedChampionsAgain]

Haven't used the word for a while but I'm bringing it back for today, Shambolic. If that performance doesn't show we need an entire new defence ( keeper and all) I don't know what will. Chances created against us with ease, every ball into the box was a problem. While up the other end our rare crosses are snuffed out automatically.
Next 2 games these lads need to step it up big time or heads will roll, deservedly!.

 

[Deery]

Disappointing day all round everyone was off it, think it might be time to consider DeGea’s first team place costs us a lot in big games..

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

How the feck do they make 21 fouls and not get a single yellow. Dean is a cnut, end of. Lampard did us with his statement, I hope they get fecked on in the final the plastic wankers.

I'll be laughing at whoever loses, and I don't give a shit.

 

[Mcking]

We went into the game with a terrible mentality, looking to lose. Our players simply executed the plan to perfection.

 

[bsCallout]

Yep, that is mentality about which i am talking about. Arsenal...

It is called reality of where we were as a club at the start of the season. Progress needed.

 

[Globule]

I really wish we had played a second string team now.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Yeah. We tend to get way ahead of ourselves by running up the score in a few easy games and pumping the stats. We ain't all that.

We are good if we can field our strongest 11. We can’t with 48 hrs in between. I doubt any team could. We lack quality depth, it’s been said many times

But Ole has to show some proper man management skills. He failed today in all honesty. He has an opportunity to do something about it; our next game is Wednesday and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and he can’t make excuses.
He has to fire them up

 

[Shiva87]

Wonder if the Arsenal game yesterday tempted Ole into playing a stronger side? An FA cup final against them would have been a fantastic c chance for some silverware but Chelsea were much stronger than us.

On a plus note, although he didn't even have his best game, Bruno was still a different class. His workrate and creativity is exceptional.

I thought that was a very poor game from Bruno. He looked tired but still kept running. None of his passes came off and he gave the ball away in key areas. Number of Chelsea attacks came from him giving it away.

But yes, he kept running throughout and work rate was exceptional.

 

[Shimo]

That was perfect. At least we know De Gea will not be in goal next season except maybe as a backup. Knee jerk or whatever but, so far I've given him benefit of the doubt but, he is beyond done here after that.

No bloody clue why Ole thought he'd be overly smart and change the starting keeper for the FA cup, which manager does that? Slap in the face to Romero and i'ts come back to bite him royally in the ass. He better shoulder most of the blame for this one. And no it's not Ole out, he just needs to learn not to be too cute again. Move on to the the more important game which is on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, if after the last 3 games, we don't start like a house on fire, then there is something seriously wrong. No way can we afford such slow starts.

Argh could have been so much better day with LC losing.

 

[baskinginthesun]

Off day. Players looked un-arsed about it. Even Bruno, who is usually relentless in the press was holding back.

I do feel this was a "conserve energy" performance which is probably why this game went the way it did.

 

[red woppit]

He did alright with the interceptions and passing, but Chelsea were taking it easy, too. They didn't commit as many players going forward and were happy to sit back, allowing Matic more time on the ball to build up.

I'm on about when Chelsea were attacking us, and he was the one getting a foot in, and breaking up their play, and he used the ball pretty well.

 

[Desert Eagle]

It hurts less than it perhaps should. The fa cup is devalued for most including Ole judging by his team selection. Still an unacceptable performance more than result. Where was the heart, the fight, the passion. We can still get top four and win europa, not a bad season. At least we know the strongest 11 will start against west ham.

 

[always_hoping]

I might add the two extra days to prepare for this game really showed in the two teams performances this evening.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Until we sort out the depth of the squad we will have problems. That has to be addressed. You need viable options to come off the bench to not overwork the players. The standard drops too much if we make the slightest change to the team.