[lex talionis]

It was a job done team performance but, like last year, our finishing needs significant improvement. Greedy on my part perhaps but we need to put away clubs like Fulham 3-0 not 1-0. A dodgy pen call, a deflection or a worldie can snatch those two points from a winning position in matches when we create but struggle with our finishing.

 

[Kag]

Only caught the final thirty. Looked fairly helter skelter, won’t lie.

 

[Wolfbot]

Read on here that Rashford, Garnacho, Martinez were poor. Just watched the match, think they were fine at the very least.

There's a lot of people don't seem to really understand football and expect 9 or 10/10 performances every game which isn't going to happen, especially first game of the season.

The fact you see some folk singling out Casemiro as one of the best players on the park and others saying he was shocking highlights that people are watching the same game with entirely different expectations or opinions of what constitutes a good performance.

 

[Eurotrash]

There's a lot of people don't seem to really understand football and expect 9 or 10/10 performances every game which isn't going to happen, especially first game of the season.

The fact you see some folk singling out Casemiro as one of the best players on the park and others saying he was shocking highlights that people are watching the same game with entirely different expectations or opinions of what constitutes a good performance.

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

 

[moses]

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

It's not NFL, they all do both.

 

[Herschel Krustofsky]

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

I think it may be better to ‘pass judgement’ on a player’s contribution to the outcome, based on the context of the game?

Rather than some rigid ‘type’, that could be either more, or less, prevalent when a game plays out in a certain way.

Football isn’t as rigid as the analysts make out when they’re churning out their soundbites.

 

[gerdm07]

Created 2 huge chances that should both have been scored

The first one to Mount was inadvertent. It was a miss dribble on his part.

The second one to Garnacho was a poor pass.

 

[Maticmaker]

I think ETH's pre match comments about 'not being ready' were borne out by the overall display.
In our passing, shots, movements, positioning, etc. all had an elements of 'not quite right/ready' about them, as did some players.
However overall Fulham were 'no mugs' and we just about deserved the late winner from new boy Zirkzee.
Steady, if not great start.

 

[GueRed]

Mazraoui - Good debut
Bruno - Looked rusty. Wasted two opportunities to score
Maguire - Solid again
Amad - Darling of the redcafe was largely ineffective
Zirkzee - Delighted for him
Mount - Must do better to keep his place in the team
Casimero - One of his better displays

Decent first half. Scrappy, broken second half...

 

[wolvored]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

 

[NLunited]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

We have a very clear style of play you apparently don‘t like.

Arsenal had trouble with Wolves until they scored the second goal. We did better against Fulham except for putting chances away.

 

[ifightdragons]

The first one to Mount was inadvertent. It was a miss dribble on his part.

The second one to Garnacho was a poor pass.

Spot on. Both were bad mistakes and decisions from Rashford that coincidentally led to chances.

 

[alexthelion]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

What?

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Opening night jitters. Room for improvement of course but winning with:
• a clean sheet
• our new boy scoring in his debut in front of the Stratford End
• no new injuries
is about as good an outcome as you could have hoped.

Selling AWB and bringing in Maz was the right decision. Fantastic debut. Hopefully he continues to do this, keeps his social media quiet, and avoids the treatment table.
Zirkzee did a lot more than score, but even the goal showed he has real game intelligence and knew when to drift, when to crash the box. His link up play was good too. Seemed to create space around him, maybe it's that 6'4" frame is too intimidating.
Onana seems to be like a video game build. Last season, all the skill points were in fancy footwork and he let in so many piss poor goals it was insane. This season, he already made 2 top quality saves but is booting the ball into touch or to the opponent nearly every time, like the skill points have been reallocated. Unfortunately he needs to do both things and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. This is a make or break season for Ten Hag and I'd say it's the same for Onana. If Ten Hag fails, Onana needs to be on the same flight out.
DeLigt came on and was instantly taking charge, calling out roles/actions. Made some good first touch passes, which will help with transition from defense to attack.

With a little bit of luck of the bounce we leave that 6-0. Bruno had 2 chances 1v1, Mount had a good shot saved, Mainoo put his shot wide, and that folie-a-deux with Rashford and Garnacho at the end should have been a goal. If any of those earlier chances had gone in, the whole shape and complexion of the match changes and we would be talking about how much we controlled and dominated and everything went according to plan. Small margins between success and failure, but for the opening day, I'm pleased.

 

[justsomebloke]

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

I'd take either, but I don't think he was that good as the former either.

 

[dubplate warrior]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

There was an obvious style of play. Super high press, push the fullbacks very high up and play a high line. The next time you watch us pay attention to the shape, we're clearly carrying out the instructions better, I just have my doubts about the instructions themselves.

 

[Red in STL]

There was an obvious style of play. Super high press, push the fullbacks very high up and play a high line. The next time you watch us pay attention to the shape, we're clearly carrying out the instructions better, I just have my doubts about the instructions themselves.

That can't be right, Harry was playing

 

[kerrygold]

There was an obvious style of play. Super high press, push the fullbacks very high up and play a high line. The next time you watch us pay attention to the shape, we're clearly carrying out the instructions better, I just have my doubts about the instructions themselves.

A proper cf would help immensely. Often times the ball went wide and no one was present in front of goal. Hopefully Zirkzee fills this role.

 

[git_united]

As long as Casemiro plays, we only retain control if we play a false 9 (with our current style of play). Otherwise it turns into an open back and forth.

 

[Dominos]

The fact you see some folk singling out Casemiro as one of the best players on the park and others saying he was shocking highlights that people are watching the same game with entirely different expectations or opinions of what constitutes a good performance.

That's kind of our problem. We have too many players who make many great contributions in a game and simultaneously make many terrible contributions in a game, which is why our games are just a complete mess, and very rarely do we actually dominate a game in the true sense.

The amount of sloppy, cheap losses of possession our players make is one of the main reasons why we're miles behind the likes of City and Arsenal, why we don't score as many as other teams and why our opposition have so many transitions against us where we look wide open.

The fact these players also play a couple of very good passes in a game means our fans basically ignore all the bad bits of a play. But the bad bits of play can be just as important in determining the quality of our team and our league position as the good bits.

 

[noodlehair]

That's not important. Stevenage may be a good side if you consider the size of the town and budget, it doesn't mean that United shouldn't win easily. Fulham are doing a good job in the Premier League but they were pretty poor last night and I think they will have a difficult season.

Well they definitely weren't pretty poor and I'm not sure what you're on about with your first sentence other than just trying to argue for the sake of it.

It's entirely relevant as for example if Man City had put in the same performance, it wouldn't have been very good. For Fulham it was a decent showing. Such a weird thing to pick at.

 

[Matt Varnish]

Only caught the final thirty. Looked fairly helter skelter, won’t lie.

You were lucky, millions of people had to sit through all of it.
United seem to have caught the England virus, play shit for 80mins and win the game with a lucky goal in the final minutes.

 

[NZT-One]

Only caught the final thirty. Looked fairly helter skelter, won’t lie.

The first half is certainly worth a re-watch. We were really sharp and up for it, no comparison to 2nd half.

What?

What is it then? And most importantly, are we sure it is a style of play or just a few players being really intense for 40minutes before reverting back? Some of you are very generous with your descriptions, style of play isn't just a synonym for played well. First half was really good and had we continued like that in 2nd half, I'd say there is something happening. But 2nd half was back to last season.

 

[DSG]

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

Mazraoui - Good debut
Bruno - Looked rusty. Wasted two opportunities to score
Maguire - Solid again
Amad - Darling of the redcafe was largely ineffective
Zirkzee - Delighted for him
Mount - Must do better to keep his place in the team
Casimero - One of his better displays

Decent first half. Scrappy, broken second half...

There's a lot of people don't seem to really understand football and expect 9 or 10/10 performances every game which isn't going to happen, especially first game of the season.

The fact you see some folk singling out Casemiro as one of the best players on the park and others saying he was shocking highlights that people are watching the same game with entirely different expectations or opinions of what constitutes a good performance.

Everyone was talking about how bad Casemiro was last season. He had a few stinkers for sure, but most of the problems were with the tactics. Ten Hag had him tasked to cover a massive amount of ground as he pushed Mainoo forward. Interestingly, although I was questioning the inclusion of Mount, with essentially 4 CMs, it actually worked in the first half. Mount’s work rate is really high, he’s always pressing, always getting back.

I thought Mazraoui was absolute class. I haven’t watched much of him to be honest but he was miles better in attack than AWB and actually better than Dalot IMHO. Good defending too. Is he now our best RB?

Maguire and Martinez were solid. Bruno was so wasteful, as was Garnacho. A lot on the Caf were looking at Amad as a key contributor this season, but he really didn’t do much.

Happy for the team and Ten Hag, we deserved to win.

 

[cyril C]

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on if you judge him as a creative attacking asset (good), or on his defensive role as a DM (poor).

With regards to Casemiro, it all depends on WHEN you are watching him. He always give you top performance at the 1st 5 games of the season, and last 5 games of the season, then AWOL in between.

 

[tenpoless]

Only Mount was underwhelming.

 

[Buster15]

Opening night jitters. Room for improvement of course but winning with:
• a clean sheet
• our new boy scoring in his debut in front of the Stratford End
• no new injuries
is about as good an outcome as you could have hoped.

Selling AWB and bringing in Maz was the right decision. Fantastic debut. Hopefully he continues to do this, keeps his social media quiet, and avoids the treatment table.
Zirkzee did a lot more than score, but even the goal showed he has real game intelligence and knew when to drift, when to crash the box. His link up play was good too. Seemed to create space around him, maybe it's that 6'4" frame is too intimidating.
Onana seems to be like a video game build. Last season, all the skill points were in fancy footwork and he let in so many piss poor goals it was insane. This season, he already made 2 top quality saves but is booting the ball into touch or to the opponent nearly every time, like the skill points have been reallocated. Unfortunately he needs to do both things and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. This is a make or break season for Ten Hag and I'd say it's the same for Onana. If Ten Hag fails, Onana needs to be on the same flight out.
DeLigt came on and was instantly taking charge, calling out roles/actions. Made some good first touch passes, which will help with transition from defense to attack.

With a little bit of luck of the bounce we leave that 6-0. Bruno had 2 chances 1v1, Mount had a good shot saved, Mainoo put his shot wide, and that folie-a-deux with Rashford and Garnacho at the end should have been a goal. If any of those earlier chances had gone in, the whole shape and complexion of the match changes and we would be talking about how much we controlled and dominated and everything went according to plan. Small margins between success and failure, but for the opening day, I'm pleased.

Good post and good analysis.

 

[reelworld]

The second one to Garnacho was a poor pass.

that's not a poor pass. Garnacho should've score that in his sleep

 

[TheRedDevil2019]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

Not true, at times the passing pattern was short, direct, quick and effective which led to some half decent chances.

A farcry from last season as there was clearly some improvement on the patterns of play.

 

[justsomebloke]

that's not a poor pass. Garnacho should've score that in his sleep

That was definitely a very poor pass. But Garnacho should clearly have scored nonetheless.

 

[Mickson]

Well they definitely weren't pretty poor and I'm not sure what you're on about with your first sentence other than just trying to argue for the sake of it.

It's entirely relevant as for example if Man City had put in the same performance, it wouldn't have been very good. For Fulham it was a decent showing. Such a weird thing to pick at.

Yes they were poor. Their build-up play was horrible. Watch the match again.

 

[BeretWearingEnt]

that's not a poor pass. Garnacho should've score that in his sleep

It’s a really poor pass by any metric. No pressure and plenty of margin for error. If you watch the replay with a focus on Garnacho, he’s timing the run correctly and staying behind the ball. Rashford plays it so far behind him that he not only has to break stride but has to stop completely. That said, I still think Garnacho should have sorted his feet out and scored.

It was a shame because it’s the correct choice from Rashford, just didn’t nail the execution.

 

[mu4c_20le]

That was definitely a very poor pass. But Garnacho should clearly have scored nonetheless.

Pass was fine. He had make sure the keeper didn't get a touch on it, and Garnacho had no problems receiving it, he just lost his balance on the shot.

It’s a really poor pass by any metric. No pressure and plenty of margin for error.

No pressure? This bloke clearly never played the sport....

 

[MinGin]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

You feel there is no style of play due to you don't like that style of play..You are just rating style of play of Pep and co. as only and one style of play.

 

[DJ_21]

Still no sign of a style of play. Just watched Arsenal first half and they are rusty, but the same style is there.I know it’s only one game, but If we don’t improve we will be caught out and playing also rans again for top four

We at least had more possession. Last season we were being dominated by possession and shots. Even at home.

 

[MinGin]

The first half is certainly worth a re-watch. We were really sharp and up for it, no comparison to 2nd half.

What is it then? And most importantly, are we sure it is a style of play or just a few players being really intense for 40minutes before reverting back? Some of you are very generous with your descriptions, style of play isn't just a synonym for played well. First half was really good and had we continued like that in 2nd half, I'd say there is something happening. But 2nd half was back to last season.

Our play haven't changed before Mount was subbed out..
After Mainoo stamina cannot keep the intensity, McT and other bench players cannot continue the style, so we are resumed the style of last season
this is why we need to improve the squad (not only first XI but 25 squad) and remove some players cannot adopt in the style...

 

[BeretWearingEnt]

Pass was fine. He had make sure the keeper didn't get a touch on it, and Garnacho had no problems receiving it, he just lost his balance on the shot.


No pressure? This bloke clearly never played the sport....

Played plenty thank you. Already winning, almost the last action of the game. Well clear of the defense following an error with an easy action to seal the game. It’s as low pressure as it gets.

But even if I take your point on board. It’s still a relatively easy action to make, and Rashford did it poorly.

 

[Eastdog]

Great to get off to a winning start.

It is very important you start the season well particularly for our ambitions to finish top 4.

 

[wolvored]

Gl

The first half is certainly worth a re-watch. We were really sharp and up for it, no comparison to 2nd half.

What is it then? And most importantly, are we sure it is a style of play or just a few players being really intense for 40minutes before reverting back? Some of you are very generous with your descriptions, style of play isn't just a synonym for played well. First half was really good and had we continued like that in 2nd half, I'd say there is something happening. But 2nd half was back to last season.

Glad you answered. First half we packed the midfield so we had more possession, yet we still couldn’t score. Second half until Zirkzee came on I couldn’t see us scoring and it was back to last season. It was one game and the players need a few games to get match fit, I get that, yet our rivals look better already

 

[DrRodo]

I think if Mount goes back to his best lvl at chelsea, we will have quite an attack. Let's hope he gets there