[gerdm07]

Oh yeah, what a finish by Zirkzee. The last striker who had that capability here was RvP.

 

[flameinthesun]

Also important that fingers crossed we came out of the game with no injuries!

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Good performances by Zirkzee and Mazraoui on their debuts. I don’t know about how de Ligt played, was it well?

 

[RedIan]

3 points and a decent enough performance. Better finishing and we win 3-0.
The new right back looks quality and Zirkzee looks very fluid linking up and a nice flick to get his debut goal.
Casamiro was solid and motm for me.

 

[fergies coat]

10, 2 on target

Cheers.

 

[MancunianAngels]

They all played ok, could have been better but we had the chances to score a few.

I look forward to a completely ridiculous over the top analysis of Rashfords performance for no apparent reason.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

As Bear Grills would say when he’s eating a worm or bird or something - it’s not gonna win any prizes, but it’ll do.

 

[gerdm07]

He set up both Mount and Garnacho for easy goals. Leno made an absolute worldie save on Mount and then Garnacho fluffed his lines. He's still a low energy player but he put a little bit more effort in than usual in this match.

That was a really poor pass to Garnacho.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Mainoo looked very good. As did Mazaroui. Amad was good in the first half but poor in the second half.

 

[RedChisel]

Deserved win but christ are we frustrating to watch with our ability to miss chances. Should have been alot more comfortable.

 

[sparx99]

Pretty much the same as last season but with a better defence.

We were the better team, but by God are we shit going forward.

We’ve been shit going forward in terms of both creativity and finishing. It was only finishing lacking today. As the post above shows we had really high xG and a good 4-5 chances.

 

[UnitedSofa]

What would Ugarte bring to the team after watching that?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

How many shots did we concede?

10? Two of them on target.

 

[DRJosh]

Garnacho’s miss was inexplicable

 

[daveskimufc]

Deserved the win, but better teams would have punished us.
Mazraoui looked good.
Mount a waste of space

 

[TheMod]

The game just shows how desperately we need Ugarte and a proper goal scorer.

Rashford looks like he is in the same form as last year. Casemiro looked much better. New signings all looked great


But anyway at least I can relax watching the rest of the premier league opening weekend, the benefits of getting a win at the start of a Premier league weekend

 

[DutchSerb]

Shite 2nd half, but we looked well defensively at least. Not in midfield as expected, sadly. Need to do better but at least a couple positives. Mazraoui did well, Zirkzee already bagged one and Dalot was solid at LB.

 

[Adebisi's Hat]

Zirkzee is a serious unit, he makes the defenders look like children

Just so good to get the opening win , I will enjoy the weekend now

 

[Suv666]

No one talking about Maguire who had an amazing game today.

Great distribution and saved a 1v2

 

[Iron Stove]

Great to see Zirkzee score on his debut he played well. it's early days, Leno saved some good shots and so on.. But I would lie if I said I wasn't a bit concerned. We seem to lack great attackers and I really hope the young guys can step up this season.

 

[Gaidal]

Better than last season, but we can't continue playing without a midfield or a striker, need Ugarte quickly and one of Zirkzee/höjlund to start.

Rashford should be in the same position as Antony, they aren't good enough to be starters, and if a bid comes we should take it.

 

[MyBloodIsRed]

We should’ve had this put away long before Zirkzee! But happy for the new boy as that will do lots for his confidence. Then, once the other shake off the rust, we could be very potent on the attack. Lots of bright spots. I thought maguire played well and Mazroui too!

 

[Delano]

Great finish. Important win.

We went to absolute shit from 70 mins onwards though. The shape was all over the place and Fulham were a couple of passes away from winning again.

Concerning how we drop off a cliff in games still. Needs to be improved, particularly in the middle.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Not a coincidence that all the players who had the summer off played the best, from Casemiro, Maguire, Mount, Amad (in the first half at least), Rashford (who at least had some effort and lasted the game) and Mazraoui. Mainoo was decent in spurts and everyone else just had post summer tourny hangovers really.

 

[pratyush_utd]

We missed probably 3 sitters. I wont be disappointed with the result. Its a good start, team looks fired up and together. Get a midfielder option in as soon as possible

 

[Desert Eagle]

How the F did Garnacho miss that chance at the end for fecks sake.

We played decent and deserved the win but a few quick thoughts:

The back five were solid barring a couple brain farts from Martinez

Mount is nothing special

Bruno was awful

Casemiro was really good

Amad started off really well but tailed off

Rashford was decent but i fear this type of game is going to be the norm for him now.

Zirkzee baby!!!

 

[RomfordRed75]

3 massive points, we werent great but still should have scored 3 or 4. Mazraoui looks really good. Great cameo from Zirkzee.

 

[redom]

Important to turn that into a win because it could've been a very frustrating start to the season otherwise. Performance wise it had a bit of everything, both good and bad, but considering a number of players are still getting up to speed physically or settling in it's not that surprising. Midfield was a pain point tonight, while we weren't as open as last season we still struggled to progress from the back through the midfield consistently and/or pick up second balls when we were forced to play it longer so hopefully we see improvement there as the season progresses.

Overall it's too early to start drawing conclusions so I'm just glad we got the 3 points and can try to build a bit of momentum as the team gets up to speed and gels a bit.

 

[doomy20]

Ok performance.
Bruno and Garnacho have to score then it’s 3-0 and nobody moans.

 

[sparx99]

What would Ugarte bring to the team after watching that?

We’d be able to replace Casemiro or Mainoo when they get tired. We left that change about 10mins too long as Mainoo was clearly flagging.

 

[Maureen-yo]

They all played ok, could have been better but we had the chances to score a few.

I look forward to a completely ridiculous over the top analysis of Rashfords performance for no apparent reason.

It’s started after about 30 seconds by the usual people.

 

[tjb]

We lost composure too often during that match, and again missing chances that we shouldn't.

But we'll take the win, and hopefully that settles the nerves and allows us to gain some momentum and keep composure.

I agree. We actually have a strong ability to dominate and if we had kept the discipline of the first half, we would have controlled the game fully. What we were missing in the first half was a striker, Zirkzee showed the difference.

In the second half, Casemiro and Mainoo got exposed. Both players were too offensive and overtime started leaving gaps, which made the game stretched. Signing Ugarte makes a lot of sense given that, as this is what allowed Fulham to get into the game.

ETH also made a mistake in subbing off Amad. His ability to come deep, helped us to have more control in the first half.

Mazraoui was fantastic. I think we have enough moving forward to do really well. A strong midfielder with good stamina will really do wonders for us. Both Casemiro and Mainoo have positional weaknesses and stamina issues which can get exposed, but are good enough to have in rotation. I can imagine us having a midfield with different partnerships that is stronger as a unit

 

[reelworld]

Hot take: we weren't shit.

yeah.
I'd argue most of our issues tonight is because many of the players have no to little pre-season.
Our defense is mostly sound, and I thought Maguire was our best defender in this match

 

[JBG]

Pleased with the 3 points, should have been more goals though. Very happy with the defensive display and CS.

Match ratings:

Onana 7 - didn't have much to do but decent match overall.

Mazraoui 8 - very impressive on and off the ball.

Maguire 7 - good match defensively, gave the ball away cheaply at times during the end.

Licha 6 - not his best but far from his worse, you can see that we need him to stay healthy, specially on the ball

Dalot 7 - decent defensively and OK going forward(but we need a left footed LB, couple off times Dalot didn't cross it with his left when he could)


Casemiro 9 - MOTM for me, great on and off the ball

Mainoo 7 - decent match

Mount 7 - good pressing from him, could have had a goal, not bad with the ball either

Amad 6 - some decent set pieces and tidy with ball, didn't get the ball enough in attacking positions though

Bruno 7 - should have scored 2, but overall good match

Rashford 5 - did he do anything good? Yes could have had an assist... but that wasn't down to his abilities or skill, just luck. Should be benched next match, but ETH will try to force him into form.

Garnacho 7 - like the Community Shield, comes on and just makes a difference, should start next match.
Zirksee 7 - some neat touches, good goal imo.

 

[afrocentricity]

Great rezzult that!

 

[onemanarmy]

What would Ugarte bring to the team after watching that?

A good option in rotation with Mainoo and Case. A much better option than anyone else we have.

 

[Lash]

Properly shocked how negative the commentators were about us when we were comfortably the better team.

Very happy with that. Liked Mazraoui, Zirkzee makes it stick and what am impact. We created loads, couple of silly decisions that caused very dangerous counters, but we got away with it.

 

[suheilsworld]

As ETH said, we are not ready and there yet in terms of injuries and players not getting a chance to train together, so I’ll take this 1-0 victory. Concerning signs but getting wins when not playing well is quite important. Hope we build on this. Great debut for Mazraoui

 

[flameinthesun]

Deserved win but christ are we frustrating to watch with our ability to miss chances. Should have been alot more comfortable.

Tbf we have been creating loads of opportunities in pre season and now in this game. Would rather be creating opportunities than not. Hopefully its just a matter of the players getting up to speed and eventually it clicks.

 

[DRJosh]

Not getting on the Zirkzee hype train just yet. But we need more of that finishers instinct