[harms]

There were 6 players starting todays match that have come through our academy (Rashford, Lingard, Pogba, Simpson, Drinkwater and Zieler), but you know, our academy's no where near as good as City's.

To be fair it shows that our academy was better some years ago (and it was), and the current level will be easier to compare around 2020.

 

[Acole9]

Wow that was much better today, easily our best performance. We were fantastic in the first half and our build up play was a lot better than it has been recently and there was a lot more intensity to our game. We took our foot off the gas in the second half which I'm sure Mourinho won't be happy about but at least this is something to build on and hopefully we don't slip back into our old ways.

 

[::sonny::]

Didn't watched the game because of work, but looking at the line up, today's one is much more balanced and the 4-1 confirms it.

 

[sunama]

Leicester may have been poor but you have to remember that last year we could barely get 4 shots on goal let alone score 4 goals.

So true.
12 months ago, even against bottom of the league A.Villa (who IMO is the worst team I have ever seen in the EPL), we could not get many shots on goal.
I remember towards the end of the game, our players were so scared, they were time wasting at the corner flag.

Today, we played the league champions and dominated them, scoring 4 goals in 45 mins. I think the last time we did that was 10 years ago.
Any feat which was last performed 10 years ago, is a pretty big deal. I don't understand how anybody can moan.

If we do the CL and EPL double, I'm sure some on here would moan about that, "Oh, we were so poor, playing against a poor team and the EPL is crap. Jose got lucky." etc, etc etc.

Today was an excellent win and I'm sure Ranieri would be the first to admit that they got spanked.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

I might sleep in through the next match again if it gives this sort of result.

 

[sunama]

We're meeting in a few weeks, I'd prefer you all remain a bit crap till after that.

No need to worry man.
Your team scored 5 goals today. So you are firing on all cylinders right now.
I would say that right now, the best time for you guys to meet us, is now.
There is a small chance that Rooney will play in the game against LFC and if this is so, you guys will have to consider yourselves favourites. If Rooney doesn't play, then I think MUFC will edge it, but I believe that whatever the case, the game will be close.

 

[77]

Having the new tractor partner made all the difference today. We were able to plough through their defence with ease.

 

[Red_Beans]

There was such a good balance to the side tonight, really hope Mourinho sticks to this kind of template for he rest of the season!

Can't think of a player who underperformed. If I had to chose our worst player I'd say Lingard but even he was pretty good

Critics will point to the three goals from set pieces but we actually created good chances in open play that we couldn't finish.

Really, really happy with tonight

 

[Jazz]

 

[Yorkeontop]

I think the relief of Wayne being dropped and us winning has fueled an overreaction somewhat. Leicester were awful there ( 3 corner goals!). We won, we scored 4, hooray but I refuse to think things are anywhere near rosey.

 

[MrBest]

Great game to watch,we dropped off in second half but we hardly broke a sweat which is important as we have a game on Thursday.

Mata was sublime for me, that's where he should of been playing for 2 years, not Rooney. His movement around the pitch was brilliant how he kept us ticking, great goal too. He is very agile which is something Rooney is not.

I also thought pogba was great. He played some good passess made his presence felt and scored a good header.

Blind though was my man of the match. He is such an under rated player for us. He is so intelligent which an exceptional work rate. I would actually rotate blind and Shaw at left back. Shaw needs to be eased back in to the game. He looks off the pace and Blind really helped calm the back line.

So glad Rooney was dropped. May it continue!

 

[krazyrobus]

Ibra's movement surprised me today, he got behind the back line with some nice little runs and pickups by pogba. I think today just goes to show that we shouldn't be forcing players into 1 dimensional roles and mix it up.

 

[caid]

That was much better
Still think there was a lot of below par performances but a good team performance which carried us much further.
Much better balance and good to see mata and blind back on set pieces - especially after cutting out the short pass and go backwards bolox of last year.
Really every player adding something to the team and I think you'd struggle to take any of them out and maintain that balance.
Lingaard and Rashford really drove our pressing and counter attack game. Neither had individually brilliant performances but your just not going to get that from rooney or mata,
mikhitaryan ... I dunno? I presume from playing for dortmund hes quite good at it but i guess he'll take a while to settle.

The physicality and the way we almost bullied a tough team has been there for a few weeks but nice to see it remain even with fellaini out.
Good forward passing from blind and hererra. Good width from valencia and rashford. Good movement from lingaard and mata.
And zlatan and pogba both have a few moments of absolute class every match (not often enough but early days)
There really is no room for rooney in there imo. Carrick, Blind and Mata are smarter, better footballers imo and he doesn't have the pure athleticism to compete with ... even hererra really.
Honestly I've mostly been sticking up for him quite a bit recently but he shouldn't be in the team atm.

Bit disappointed in Smalling for not taking a bit more responsibility - he defers to blind just a bit much and has shown hes capable of more.
Bailly is brilliant but looked to be tiring towards the end again. Defence still looks a bit shaky to me tbh.

 

[WR10]

I got up at 5:30am, watched the game and went back to bed. Was it all a dream? Did we actually drop Rooney??

 

[podurban2]

Still buzzing. 4-1 doesn't say that much really, but we played with intent and grit!

 

[Summit]

We shouldn't get carried away, and we didn't score 4 goals simply because Rooney didn't start.

Well, we scored 3 because he didn't start, simply for the fact he wasn't there to take the corners.

 

[Woodenlung]

Fellaini not playing was significant. Meant we had three genuine ball players in midfield who could move the ball quickly.

 

[stu_1992]

Really enjoyed that today, especially the first half obviously. Second was a bit dull, but we didn't need to keep the pressure up completely. Obviously would have been nice though to get a few more. Lot of good performances out there today, don't think I can really say someone put in a bad performance.

 

[crossy1686]

To be fair it shows that our academy was better some years ago (and it was), and the current level will be easier to compare around 2020.

Rashford (18) and Lingard both came from the academy no more than a year ago? All the others have one league titles at other clubs.

 

[Mr Anderson]

Great stuff today. The high pressing today was brilliant, notability by Blind, Herrera and Jesse was something else. Bailly on Vardy also was good.

Then the freedom and movement of the front 4 (Mata included here) was also very good. The Interchanging positionally made it very hard to defend against. First time we weren't predictable in a long time.

The tempo was also very good throughout. We didn't allow Leicester to tactically reshape when the lost the ball.

All in all a major improvement, best I've seen us play in a long time. Second half slowed down, but we still created chances. Best XI he played today, Mhki not settled yet so not included.

 

[SirScholes]

I think the relief of Wayne being dropped and us winning has fueled an overreaction somewhat. Leicester were awful there ( 3 corner goals!). We won, we scored 4, hooray but I refuse to think things are anywhere near rosey.

Agreed mate, some people need to chill, I enjoyed the win 100% but wasn't our best performance we've had better under lvg.
Before Mike scored Leicester were the ones looking the better team, so much so the goal totally knocked them for 6 (4).
Having said that I also think it shows that we were nervy and after the goal players like Pogba and Bailly really settled down even zlatan looked less hurried and more relaxed.
Would of been nice to see zlatan score that volley

 

[RRCE]

Good result but the scoreline flattered us. We won't score 3 goals from corners every week.
We're still not creating much from open play which will be our downfall if we don't improve significantly.

There's some truth in this. However, we did create a number of good chances. In addition to the Mata goal, we should have scored at last two more from open play. Converting the opportunities we do create is equally important. Zlatan had a strong overall game, but he's got to buckle down and bury his chances.

 

[SirScholes]

Great stuff today. The high pressing today was brilliant, notability by Blind, Herrera and Jesse was something else. Bailly on Vardy also was good.

Then the freedom and movement of the front 4 (Mata included here) was also very good. The Interchanging positionally made it very hard to defend against. First time we weren't predictable in a long time.

The tempo was also very good throughout. We didn't allow Leicester to tactically reshape when the lost the ball.

All in all a major improvement, best I've seen us play in a long time. Second half slowed down, but we still created chances. Best XI he played today, Mhki not settled yet so not included.

Must of been watching a different game I thought lingard was ok but "something else"? Going a bit far, I think teams like Leicester are his level and should benched for the big games.
Carrick coming on shows that Pogba needs to move forward, with those two in a 11 we'd boss midfield.
Carrick with Herrera and Pogba around him for legs would tick every box, takes the pressure of pog as he and carrick are the only players that can pass a ball well over 20 yards

 

[SirScholes]

There's some truth in this. However, we did create a number of good chances. In addition to the Mata goal, we should have scored at last two more from open play. Converting the opportunities we do create is equally important. Zlatan had a strong overall game, but he's got to buckle down and bury his chances.

Agreed on zlatan he had a couple great chances and the keeper pulled off a great save, his pass to rashford should of brought a goal. Him and pog seem to have a good understanding which is nice to see

 

[Mr Anderson]

Must of been watching a different game I thought lingard was ok but "something else"? Going a bit far, I think teams like Leicester are his level and should benched for the big games.
Carrick coming on shows that Pogba needs to move forward, with those two in a 11 we'd boss midfield.
Carrick with Herrera and Pogba around him for legs would tick every box, takes the pressure of pog as he and carrick are the only players that can pass a ball well over 20 yards

If you read my post properly I was referring to his pressing as something else, not his all round play.

 

[Ban]

I think we were great. Movement of the ball a lot better than before, lots of openings, running behind lines. Players were really up for it. Our attacking line was constantly dangerous and defensively we were great. Midfield made a good defensive work and when ball came in front of our defense Smalling and Bailly were on the spot.
What about those corners? Blind's corners have eyes. It's nice to finally have a good corner taker and to actually score from a corner, 3 times too.

De Gea was good when called upon, a good save from that Gray shot (who's that guy, looks a fine player)
Valencia was lively and very good.
Blind was fantastic at LB I thought, covered everything, contributed to attack when needed and took those beautiful corners.
Our CBs were fantastic. Always on time and on the spot when needed, lots of dues and headers won. Great goal by Smalling and Bailly had a Vidićesque performance. A beast.
Herrera was absolutely everywhere, pinning passes in attack, taking the ball of them in defense, every time someone had a ball Herrera was near. I love him, he must start from now on every game.
Pogba ran the show, a complete midfielder peformance I thought, every time he had a ball it seemed he will put someone through.
Mata was a Mata we bought or thought we bought back then. A proper nr 10 playing like a nr 10, was everywhere, passed the ball, ran, scored a great goal.
Rashford and Zlatan had a very good game too. Lots of movement and lots of nice one twos, or 1 on 1s. Rashford with a good goal, too bad for Zlatan he didn't score, he really looked up for it today.
Lingard was very good too I thought. Drifted in and out of the game but made some good passes and had some good touches and of course a great assist for Mata.

All in all thaw was quite enjoyable. I just hope it's not some kind of false dawn and that Jose found a winning formula.
This will be great for our confidence and upcoming games.

I'm a happy man.

 

[SirScholes]

If you read my post properly I was referring to his pressing as something else, not his all round play.

Like I say it was alright, 'something else' it was not was not for me, I'm expecting Kante last year for that description

 

[donkeyfish]

Watched this one in replay, definitely glad I did. One of the best performances in a while.

I really liked that it seemed to always be a passing option. When Valencia had the ball in a crossing position, he had 3-4 options in addition to the cross. It rarely happened that our players were isolated.

I haven´t seen much of Pogba before, but I´ve heard that he is not a playmaking type. Today he looked like a very good one to me, produced a lot of incisive passes (like 3rd last on Mata goal).

Not even necessary to go through the team, everyone was good. I do have a soft spot for Blind though, so very happy to see him excel at LB. Herrera shows class. I think this might have been Ibra´s best game, despite no goal. Much more involved.

Let´s hope it is a sign that the squad is starting to gel, and we can produce quality football even if rotating.

 

[RRCE]

Agreed on zlatan he had a couple great chances and the keeper pulled off a great save, his pass to rashford should of brought a goal. Him and pog seem to have a good understanding which is nice to see

Absolutely. There seems to be a mutual respect / admiration there. Pogba really can pull the strings and is a very good playmaker from midfield. Of course, he gets forward extremely well. Hopefully Jose plays him to his strengths, as that should help ensure an increase in the number of chances we create (for Zlatan and others).

 

[Mr Pigeon]

"Sack Franny Haddock"

Where I come from "Sack Fanny Haddock" is a euphemism for "plow some stinking chuff". Just thought everyone should know that.

 

[Dumbat12]

I think the relief of Wayne being dropped and us winning has fueled an overreaction somewhat. Leicester were awful there ( 3 corner goals!). We won, we scored 4, hooray but I refuse to think things are anywhere near rosey.

I think you're wrong. I think that even if you ignore the goals, we played superbly. We absolutely dominated them for the first 30 min of the first half and in the second we controlled the game easily, creating even more chances, albeit our tempo was slower.

It's not just the goals, it's the general play that was really nice to see. Against Bournemouth for example, although we scored 3 goals, we looked quite daft in our playing - we didn't create chances and we scored generally from individual class, rather than teamwork.

 

[Shiva87]

I was very happy after the first half, and this is the second time in the season I have felt excited by the team. Had totally forgotten this feeling over the last 2-3 years.

Jose now needs to work on making this happen in more and more games. One step at a time!

 

[PitchFork]

That was like a completely different United. Yes Leicester weren't at their best but that is a natural consequence of United upping their game. The opening 20 minutes is testament to that. Leicester were playing well, it's just that United were playing better. Still not a perfect performance and it would be prudent to not get carried away with the result. I want to feel really excited and jump around like we just stopped Arsenal completing their run of 50 games unbeaten. But there are still areas that need improving, that's obvious, and it has been discussed to death already. Well, not quite to death yet.

Sad to read some criticism of Zlatan. Thought he had a decent game, nothing special but most of what he did he did well. He's just warming up too. Rashford was immense for a young lad, his attitude is fantastic. Pogba was class at times; his chip for Zlatan in the box the best thing he did imo. Blind was controlling the left side and I was impressed with how he made Mahrez look like Obertan. Herrera provided a lot of energy and tenacity in midfield, looked like he was on a mission to break a the distance ran record (is there one?). When Leicester sit back Mata gets involved and looks good, his build up and finish for the goal was his best part. Lingard, Smalling, Valencia were fine. No need to state the obvious on TV.

Bailly get's his own line. What a machine. That's all!

Another thing; I missed the first three games, United win them. I watch the next three, United lose them. Northampton I had to go out right after Herrera made it 2-1. And today I had to work, missed the game, United beat Leicester 4-1. I am considering not watching any more live games for the benefit of the team, the club and the fans.

 

[harms]

Rashford (18) and Lingard both came from the academy no more than a year ago? All the others have one league titles at other clubs.

The fact that they "graduated" a year ago (and Lingard is 23 already) does not make them an indicator of our academy's quality today. They were raised by the Fergie's system, especially Lingard who made his first senior appearance in 2011 ffs.

City, their new facilities and personnel are focused at the much younger kids, who will (if they will) break to the first teams in 4-5 years at best. Only they we will see the real level of their academy today.

The youth titles also don't mean much as winning at the youth level does not always equal great development, that's why there is a preference to physical and overgrown players in England - they win everything as a youngsters and then they fail to adjust at the senior level because they don't have the physical edge anymore.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I think you're wrong. I think that even if you ignore the goals, we played superbly. We absolutely dominated them for the first 30 min of the first half and in the second we controlled the game easily, creating even more chances, albeit our tempo was slower.

It's not just the goals, it's the general play that was really nice to see. Against Bournemouth for example, although we scored 3 goals, we looked quite daft in our playing - we didn't create chances and we scored generally from individual class, rather than teamwork.

I'll take being wrong all day to be fair. Oh well, time will tell.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Been a while since I seen good football from us. We actually played like a cohesive team.

More of this please.

 

[Catt]

I got up at 5:30am, watched the game and went back to bed. Was it all a dream? Did we actually drop Rooney??

All in your head I'm afraid as we lost 2-0 after OG by Rooney & Fellaini.

 

[sincher]

What is great about him is he is unpredictable. He tries things many wouldn't, and especially not Rooney who seems to have lost that from his game completely. They don't always come off but the threat is always there.

 

[Henk de Rode]

Ecstatic. Very happy with the result, quite a turn around after last week.

Surely the end for Rooney - the difference today's simply too great to ignore.

 

[::sonny::]