[Ciddy]

The fact is, this is the level we are. We're a mid table PL team.

 

[BigRedSwede]

This s##t gets more bizarre with every game, starting to think the man is mentally losing it. The pressure is not something everybody can deal with at this level.

 

[noodlehair]

Plus points:
- Onana
- Ugarte was good, even though he wasn't in midfield really. More like an additional centreback doing all the stuff Lindelof doesn't do (I.e. actual defending)

Minus points:
- Lindelof. He's a centreback that's scared of challenging for the ball. Kind of a fundamental problem. Has played for us for about 6 years.
- erm, playing a fullback as the no10.
- Antony wasting almost the entire last 10 minutes by laying down for ages, then walking back onto the pitch, JUST to sit down and be stretchered off because he was too injured to walk off the pitch he'd just walked back onto while already injured.
- the fact he came on ahead of Diallo.
- the frankly impressive uselessness of Zirkzee. One of our scouts took the "Martial replacement" brief too seriously.
- Dalot. Somehow has forged a reputation as a good player by having two half seasons of not being a constant fecking liability. Something that almost every other professional footballer does for all of each season.
- basically everything else. Hoofing the ball in a panic when we had acres of room to counter. 2-3 players going for the same ball constantly. Our trademark late press which is less a press and more charging at someone who's already gotten out of the way.

 

[PoTMS]

Remember when we were the pride of Europe. Now we're the English team that lets down the coefficient on a regular basis. I guess it doesn't really matter because we can forget about 5th place under this man and under INEOS.

 

[Crostien]

Had I been offered a point against Fener away, I woukd have taken it.

The areas of concern for us are a profligate attack and fallow defence. Their equaliser was because Lindelof was not vigilant.

Furthermore, I know he scored a famous goal for us, but what more would Amad have done? Seriously? We speak of him through the prism of Antony. His prowess is exaggerated - another decent, unspectacular winger.

Zirkzee is turning into a proper dud. Can't pass (his assist was really a 'Sancho assist') poor control and an undefined position. Hopefully, he can find a way but we're getting nothing from him.

 

[Wolfbot]

Whatever he does or does not do this season, I can't imagine who can truly believe that Ten Hag has enough to have us win the premier league or champions league. At best we will always struggle for top 4 and lesser cups, with him

There is no such thing as lesser cups....fans of clubs that fail to win them, or gamble with their squads trot out that narrative all the time. The second or third tier European competitions, you qualify for based on where you are as a team at that point, so are still tough to win for those involved.

Teams and fans should be proud of winning any competition they play in, and should not be mocked by supporters of other clubs for this (otherwise what's the point in playing in them at all?).

I agree with everything else you say though, Ten Hag will not be winning any Premier League titles or the Champions league...the Europa looks well beyond him as well.

Tactical stuff aside, you can see the players are generally struggling for belief and desire, he's played a right back at number 10 last night when he had other players that would
have been better placed there, and he regularly takes off players who can score goals and replaces them with players less like to score, so he's not even managing his people effectively for a start.

 

[RaddyRed]

It's gone back to the LVG days of dreading having to watch us play. We look so slow at times, like a team of veterans who can't run anymore

 

[Berbasbullet]

Had I been offered a point against Fener away, I woukd have taken it.

The areas of concern for us are a profligate attack and fallow defence. Their equaliser was because Lindelof was not vigilant.

Furthermore, I know he scored a famous goal for us, but what more would Amad have done? Seriously? We speak of him through the prism of Antony. His prowess is exaggerated - another decent, unspectacular winger.

Zirkzee is turning into a proper dud. Can't pass (his assist was really a 'Sancho assist') poor control and an undefined position. Hopefully, he can find a way but we're getting nothing from him.

His assist really wasn’t a Sancho assist! Come on man! A sancho assist is a 10 yard pass forward on the half way line, not a nice lay off at the edge of the box.

 

[bludsucker]

That was a painful watch. I seriously don’t want to watch us anymore. I mean this guy was supposed to be a tactical genius!! This is who we replaced Ole with? For what reason did we replace him for. To play attractive attacking possession based football. We are doing none of that under this b a l d fraud. We were playing so much better under ole and even mourinho for that matter. Like ine of the posters said this reminds of the dread days of LVG where watching football was no longer a release but a pain.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

We were terrible in the first half with 2-3 good counters as our bright moments. Second half was slightly better in terms of possession and control of the game but we created so little. Overall a fair result.
This is our level, mid table in the Europa League, sad but that's the reality.

 

[bosniamanutd]

playing like headless chicken

 

[Withnail]

Wild to say that when he was dropping back to RB to cover for Dalot who went bombing up the field to be an option for the pass.

He wasn't actually engaging anyone or putting pressure any on. He was covering spaces without actually doing anything. It was all half-hearted stuff.

Are you saying you think that was a good performance from him off the ball?

 

[Withnail]

Thought he was helping Dalot out plenty yesterday, not quite sure we watched the same game.

There were plenty of times he could have engaged the opposition player to win the ball back and he stood off or let someone run by him and didn't bother running back to help out the other defenders.

This was a stark contrast to his effort levels in the second half against Brentford.

 

[Maticmaker]

Getting a point in Turkey was not a bad result, but among our current run of results, not good either.
Superb saves from Onana, absolutely world class. However, our finishing in the main due to poor decision making is what is doing for us and has been for sometime.
We had our chances to finish it, but again Rashford and Garnacho whilst being our most feared strikers are also wasters of most of our good chances, their decision making is very poor inside the box.
Twice last night with heads down they surged into the box and were being crowded out, but with Eriksen (of all people) alongside them having 'busted a gut' to get there, wasn't even seen, let alone deliberately ignored.
In the end the saves from Onana and some fantastic last ditch defending from Ugarte (big improvement last night) saved our blushes.

 

[wolvored]

Plus points:
- Onana
- Ugarte was good, even though he wasn't in midfield really. More like an additional centreback doing all the stuff Lindelof doesn't do (I.e. actual defending)

Minus points:
- Lindelof. He's a centreback that's scared of challenging for the ball. Kind of a fundamental problem. Has played for us for about 6 years.
- erm, playing a fullback as the no10.
- Antony wasting almost the entire last 10 minutes by laying down for ages, then walking back onto the pitch, JUST to sit down and be stretchered off because he was too injured to walk off the pitch he'd just walked back onto while already injured.
- the fact he came on ahead of Diallo.
- the frankly impressive uselessness of Zirkzee. One of our scouts took the "Martial replacement" brief too seriously.
- Dalot. Somehow has forged a reputation as a good player by having two half seasons of not being a constant fecking liability. Something that almost every other professional footballer does for all of each season.
- basically everything else. Hoofing the ball in a panic when we had acres of room to counter. 2-3 players going for the same ball constantly. Our trademark late press which is less a press and more charging at someone who's already gotten out of the way.

I was going to put my two cents in, but you have it pretty much covered. Well said.

 

[Marcus]

I never learn my lesson. Woke up at 4am for this dross.

 

[Wilt]

Every team must now fancy their chance against Utd

 

[Doracle]

Thought he was helping Dalot out plenty yesterday, not quite sure we watched the same game.

It’s bizarre. People seem surprised by the fact a left forward is not a good right back. He got back loads last night and was, if anything, probably wasting far too much energy sprinting back to cover. If we are so reliant on our right forward (who we know over many years isn’t a good auxiliary fullback) so much in defence then clearly something is wrong with the system.

 

[Doracle]

Other than Onana and Ugarte, I didn’t really see any positives last night. De Ligt had a decent game I thought but the system is so so bad and playing a fullback in the 10 role was just moronic. It makes it look as though the players haven’t seen each other before, let alone got any understanding on the pitch.

Poor Zirkzee, who I think has potential to be an excellent player, looks so devoid of confidence that he’s over hitting short passes by 50 yards.

 

[Betson]

3pts from 3 games in the Europa league is not a good return despite the spin some are trying to put on it.

But it is around par for the course for a mid table premier league team which like it or not is the standard we are operating at right now.

 

[JJ12]

His assist really wasn’t a Sancho assist! Come on man! A sancho assist is a 10 yard pass forward on the half way line, not a nice lay off at the edge of the box.

Can't remember him doing that once for us. Have to take your word for it.

 

[RoyH1]

A point away in Istanbul is not a bad result, but we're so mediocre. A mid table team. Seeing those big CL clashes the days before makes it almost feel like we're playing a different sport.