[manunited1919]

Yeah, actually it looks like wan-bissaka is our best defender. I think je does Lindelof work as well !
I cannot believe we spent 80 millions on Maguire. He is not bad but as fast as a stone. It is suicidal to play slow defenders with a high line and we have two ! Apparently they are good on the ball but appart from simple passes even Smalling can make I can't see it.

Lindelof costed us goals today but Maguire looks like a coward who is standing as far as possible from opposing players...it is always Lindelof who is defending so our captain can do no wrong...

I'm very sad when I'm thinking about Rio and Vidic. Rio was a real ball playing defender, he was pure class on the ball and Vidic was just a rock. We now have two scared trees at thé back !

I hope we don’t sell Smalling. He is still our best defender.

 

[RC89]

McT was comfortably better than Pogba.

Pogba lost possession 18 times today according to the United app. McTom isn't a DM and the sooner we realise the better but Pogba was a lot worse for me.

 

[tjb]

We need to use this season and take a risk with Mengi. If it's pace we are lacking in defence, he will provide that. I'm happy people can also now appreciate the value of AWB.

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

Kind of pathetic that with such a big and expensive squad the options to change the game just weren't there on the bench.

 

[Seb burrow]

1 game in and we’re back to square one... will this board ever learn? The constants battle us fans have to go through to get our voices heard, it screams of January last season and Bruno. Unfortunately the board are only ever reactive to negativity, no ambition or drive. Things won’t change till their gone.

 

[ghagua]

The whole team was pathetic! I hope the army of fans who zealously defend Lindelof watched him play his pussy ball today. We need more ball playing pussies like him in the team and throw out a perfectly good defender just because he can't play pussy ball.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Might be a bit kneejerk but I think this will be Ole's final season.

Sancho and Telles won't help with disgraceful, gutless performances like today.

Coming back into the new season so unfit is shameful regardless of no pre season, other teams didn't come back so unfit and rusty.

McTominay and James should never play for this club again. Will never get to the level we need to even challenge for top 4 year in year out, never mind back to winning the PL.

Pogba didn't even look bothered and yes on his day he is unplayable but he has far too many games where he is shocking and just looks lazy and uninterested.

£80M for Maguire is madness and Lindelof is worse than Bailly and Smalling, he is meant to be a ball playing cb but he is rubbish on the ball.

Rashford will also never be good enough for where the club aspire to be. Since returning from injury he has been awful. He might play great on a good day but on a bad day he is one of the worst attackers to ever play for Manchester United. This is not hyperbole, I have literally not seen more than five strikers in the history of the PL as bad as him on a bad day. His bottom level is appalling.

Fernandes was shocking today as well.

At least you called yourself out at the start, man.

 

[Andersonson]

WHO ARE THEY?

Martial Rashford Matic and Shaw. Hopefully

 

[Isotope]

This lineup won’t be the won’t Ole goes with for the future, seems to me like he was testing the squad.

Yeh. We have so many new players coming in, and had no time to asses their strength.

 

[FletchTheHero]

I believe the biggest issue is complacency. All of our players are simply resting on their laurel. They know that even if they don't play well, there will be no repercussion and they can still remain as a United player. Woodward/Ole need to start shipping out players who have not performed. This should hopefully put some sense of urgency in the team.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

It is shocking how quickly people get on Ole. The team he picked today was strong enough to win. At least on paper it was. The players were abysmal. That's not always the manager's fault.

His job is much more than to pick the team. How they play is also on him as he's supposed to be coaching them week in week out. And definitely didn't look that was being done.

As for the up up what on earth was,
Mctominay doing as a holding CM?
James doing starting for us?
TFM doing starting for us?

Last season it was Periera who he deemed good enough for our first team which was bewildering. Now the above.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He supposed to move for them? Run for them? Pass for them? Shoot for them? Work for them? This was such a lazy performance through and through. No excuses for any of the players.
DDG coming off his line was the last error I needed to see from him. Hope he's dropped for the next PL match.

Manchester United with and without Sir Alex is all the evidence any fan needs of how much influence a manager can have on a team apart from the act of selecting an 11. They wouldn't be paid the amount they do for something as simplistic as that. This shouldnt have to be said really.

 

[kouroux]

Funny how we didn’t concede more than 2 goals in a league game in the entirety of last season. Straight in shipping 3 this season. We need a CB.

Crystal Palace didn't score more than 2 goals last season either

 

[Topgun1]

I believe the biggest issue is complacency. All of our players are simply resting on their laurel. They know that even if they don't play well, there will be no repercussion and they can still remain as a United player. Woodward/Ole need to start shipping out players who have not performed. This should hopefully put some sense of urgency in the team.

I'm not a Utd fan but what you said is so obviously true. If Man Utd rewards failure, then they keep expecting failure. If the club keeps renewing contracts for the likes of Lingard, Rashford etc. and telling them that they're doing great then they obviously don't expect to compete for the title, it's that simple. The club are happy with what these players are doing, that's basically what it is. They seem happy with this level.

 

[elnorte]

We need to use this season and take a risk with Mengi. If it's pace we are lacking in defence, he will provide that. I'm happy people can also now appreciate the value of AWB.

If that is what is happening then we really are in a world of shit.

 

[Foxbatt]

Smalling is not good enough but surely he is better at heading the ball and tackling than Lindelof? As others have said any fool can pick the United best 11 now. More than 90% on CAF would pick the best team but the team needs to be coached in how they need to play. At this level all the sort of ball control and passing is too late to be taught and hence it is the tactics that a manager needs to implement. I see none of that last season and none so far in this game.
I remember Cruijff saying that it is the moment that the receiver wants the pass is most important and not when the passer wants to pass. And as a player when he wants help he does not want his team mate too close to him but wants his team mate to drag an opposing player away from him. It looks like we are so close that we are getting in each others way and also the passing is when the player in possession wants to pass and he passes only when he has no other choice. This has been an issue for sometime at United now. Even last season and even before that I have noticed it. Since SAF retired I have noticed it much more.

 

[lonelyred]

DDG

AWB - Vidic - Ferdinand - Shaw

Bruno - Mc Tominay - Van de Beek - Pogba

Rashford - Martial




VDS

Brown - Lindelof - Maguire - Evra

Nani - Carrick - Anderson - Giggs

Rooney - Ronaldo

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Lyon beat Juventus away after no games for months.

I think them having had a PL game, a cup game and a few preseason matches versus us going into this cold was less than ideal, plus the off-field issues we've had led to a slightly under par first XI taking the field (also what was the score with Matic?). However even allowing for those setbacks before a ball was kicked it was a desperately bad performance, and the levels we sunk to today are not explained by our sub-optimal preparations.

 

[Scholes the maestro]

Palace just showed the bottom half of PL teams the blueprint to play against United. We should be expecting this kind of tactics from opposition throughout the season and must be ready for it.

What I hated most yesterday was the tempo of the game. Even when we were a goal down, there was no urgency at all. Our way to carry the ball to final third was mostly through Shaw. But once we were there, we had absolutely no idea what to do with it. We ended up having couple of one-twos with Rashford or Martial near the corner flag and ultimately loosing the ball. Maybe we got such a tepid performance as this was the first game and without proper preseason.
Hopefully there will be better performances down the road.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Seems like the players have understood that Woodward and Glazers are only expecting top 6, at best 4th and decided this level of effort is enough to achieve that target.

 

[Beans]

Pogba lost possession 18 times today according to the United app. McTom isn't a DM and the sooner we realise the better but Pogba was a lot worse for me.

Holy hell, that's diabolical. He is extremely frustrating.

 

[POF]

The team looked absolutely shattered in the first game of the season. That is a really worrying sign.

They had built great momentum last season but really ran out of gas in the end. It was clear for everyone to see how little Ole trusted the squad and fresh faces were needed. The club has let him down again.

Saying all of that, the VAR decisions today were so bad that it beggared belief.

No penalty for the challenge on Pogba yet his boot was trampled off. The handball was harsh but you'd accept it if they were going letter of the law and had given the Pogba one.

But the retaken penalty??? I've not seen a single example of a retaken penalty for a keeper off the line with VAR and there have been some bad ones. De Gea gained zero advantage and was off it by milimetres.

There won't be a single penalty saved in the league this season if that is the benchmark because every one that is saved will be retaken. But it won't be the benchmark. It was just utter incompetence from a moronic VAR official.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

That was Palace‘s 3rd game in eight days ....how can that be an advantage?

They're match fit and we‘re not.

 

[Isotope]

I think them having had a PL game, a cup game and a few preseason matches versus us going into this cold was less than ideal, plus the off-field issues we've had led to a slightly under par first XI taking the field (also what was the score with Matic?). However even allowing for those setbacks before a ball was kicked it was a desperately bad performance, and the levels we sunk to today are not explained by our sub-optimal preparations.

Aren't some of our players involved in International games also? Lindelof, Martial, Bruno, McTom, etc.

 

[Al Capone]

Just wait for the morning headlines coming out of headquarters how these entitled b'tards didn't perform because of the social media treatment!!!

 

[TheNewEra]

It was expected against Palace, it was basically a pre season game.

They aren't sharp of fit at this stage, however United still do need Sancho and a CB, and potentially a full-back.

 

[Tony247]

AWB wasn't there to pocket Zaha. That's the difference.

 

[Greck]

Ole blaming preparation and fitness ...that‘s your department Ole

-Sounds about right. It's always something on the fitness-fatigue spectrum. Either we've played too many games or we haven't played enough games. Two months ago that exact performance would have been attributed to the boys being knackered

 

[He'sRaldo]

So much pressure for the next one against brighton. We will need to win that or I can see us spiralling downwards.

Frustrating that we don't play like a team. Even the new boy Donny said we were playing much faster and quicker in training the whole week and then somehow we shat the bed completely today.

Performance anxiety? OGS needs to fix it quickly. With or without signings we should be able to score goals like we did last season.

We were playing against ourselves in training.

 

[Red_toad]

AWB wasn't there to cover for Lindelof’s defensive inadequacies . That's the difference.

Fixed it for you!

 

[RashyForPM]

The most concerning thing to take away from yesterday is that each and every one of those starting outfield players gave their all yesterday, bar the lazy twats Martial and Rashford (shut up fanboys, they were useless yesterday, let’s be real). However, all 8 of them showed unbelievably poor quality at times. With Pogba and Bruno, I’ll put it down to a bad game as they are world class players, but for me, I have to go to the conclusion that the rest just aren’t good footballers. TFM, Lindelof, McTominay and James especially, with Maguire and Shaw lucky to be excluded. To be frank, these 4-6 players are shit and would not even be registered if they played for us under Fergie.

What a pile of shit we are that these 6 players are starting for the current team, and it’s all down to not Moyes, LvG, Mou or Ole, but Mr. NoChin himself. If we are drawn against someone like Bayern or PSG in the CL, I’ll place a bet on a 5-or-more-goals hiding for us.

 

[Tony247]

Fixed it for you!

Also true.

 

[Clermontois]

Pogba lost possession 18 times today according to the United app. McTom isn't a DM and the sooner we realise the better but Pogba was a lot worse for me.

I just watched the entire game and I counted 4 or 5 so that app you have may be a spoof.

Other players lost it more in fact but no one lost it 18 times.

 

[nameischarles]

I knew once Palace scored that United were either going to draw or lose. All that possession but nothing came out of it, Palace looked to do something everytime they had the ball.

On paper we had the stronger side but mentally the players weren't there. Frustrating overall.

 

[Freak]

Why the feck do our defenders love passing the ball among themselves? I wish we had a Roy Keane in training who would tell them to pass the ball forwards.

 

[mazhar13]

Why the feck do our defenders love passing the ball among themselves? I wish we had a Roy Keane in training who would tell them to pass the ball forwards.

Our midfielders kept losing the ball under pressure whenever they were given a pass in the first few minutes, so the defence lost faith in them. They stopped doing that in the second half, but the writing was on the ball by then.

 

[Red Shorts]

Commentator at the start of the game "Crystal Palace have never won consecutive away games against United"

Palace "Hold my beer"....

In all seriousness, Ole can claim that we had little preseason and lack match fitness, but doesnt excuse the fact that there was no identity from back to front there. You hope to be optimistic but cant imagine many will feel inspired after that

 

[CG1010]

Feck this negativity, let's look at the positives of the game:

- Van de Beek scoring a goal on his debut
- Sir Alex Ferguson drinking coffee under his mask which was so cute

 

[sunama]

Chelsea had over a week more than us. We shall see with City who have had an extra 3 days.

So, are you suggesting that if you start prepare to start the season 1 week earlier, that you have a massive advantage over your rivals?
If this is the case, why don't we aim to have our team ready, 1 week before the season starts, every year? We'll surely win the league using this strategy. It sounds silly doesn't it?
The truth is that Wolves played last week, with the same rest time as us. They won. We lost (badly).

Some of you are acting as if CP are prime Barca and that we need all our best players, in peak condition to beat them.
It's a ridiculous argument.

 

[Stack]

Why the feck do our defenders love passing the ball among themselves? I wish we had a Roy Keane in training who would tell them to pass the ball forwards.

I dont think much of our defenders but they do need players open and available to pass to. There were feck all options which is also connected to why we gave away possession with our passing as well. More difficult options put pressure on the ability of passes to be completed. The entire team looked to be like they had never met before.