[DavidDeSchmikes]

to quote the wrestler the Rock
'Pep, how do you feel about your quadruple hopes bring ruined?
Pep 'well I.....
The Caf.... 'It doesn't Mata how feel about your quadraple hopes'

 

[nick2004]

--- Since Juan Mata's debut in January 2014, only Wayne Rooney (58) has been involved in more Man Utd goals than the Spaniard (47, 29 goals, 18 assists).


--- Zlatan Ibrahimovic provided his first assist for Manchester United in what was his 14th game for the club.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37700029

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Where's that thread about all the fannies for the match day forum?

 

[RedStarUnited]

Didn't think the first half was as terrible as some suggest. United controlled the game and played well defensively. It was more a case of Zlatan and Pogba not getting into gear. Loose passes and wingers standing waiting for the pass. Shaw also looked off the pace and slow to react that half.

Second half, much better. And the best part is looking at all that room for improvement.

Read it here recently, the idea that Herrera is captain material. I'm starting to warm to that thought.

It was awful. The passing and lack of intent from us was so hard for me to watch. Do you realise that every time one of our players feels they are under pressure their first instinct is to go back?

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

Our pressing was much improved.. that was the difference as we didn't let City breath.

We need to win at the weekend to start a run of wins.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Wasn't it him that completely fell asleep when Mata ran past him to score?

He also broke a nut to clear Pogbas chance which was a certain goal.

 

[noodlehair]

- I love Herrera
- Was it just me or was Mata, for no reason, wearing no13 for most of the first half? I didn't see the game llive and missed the line ups so it toook me ages to figure out what was going on?
- When exactly did Valencia go from being a rubbish fullback to actually a really good one? It has definitely happened but I don't remember it happening
- Zlatan somehow managed to improve significantly on recent performmances and get much worse at the same time
- City seem to have adopted the LVG approach of trying to win games by spending them deliberately not trying to score a goal. What the feck were they doing all night? Aguero came on as some kind of deep sitting winger

 

[PitchFork]

It was awful. The passing and lack of intent from us was so hard for me to watch. Do you realise that every time one of our players feels they are under pressure their first instinct is to go back?

It wasn't great but I disagree that it was awful. Sunday was awful. First half today there we had some good play, except for the sloppiness which was frustrating to watch.

 

[RedStarUnited]

It wasn't great but I disagree that it was awful. Sunday was awful. First half today there we had some good play, except for the sloppiness which was frustrating to watch.

IMO our passing is very average and the lack of balls from most players to carry the ball past anyone annoys the hell out of me.

 

[Yagami]

I don't know what you were watching, @noodlehair , but there was no number 13 tonight.

Thinking about it, I don't think we've had a #13 since Park. And now I miss Park. Thanks, noodle!

 

[Big Ben Foster]

I don't know what you were watching, @noodlehair , but there was no number 13 tonight.

Thinking about it, I don't think we've had a #13 since Park. And now I miss Park. Thanks, noodle!

Lindegaard. Not that he really counts.

 

[Yagami]

Lindegaard. Not that he really counts.

Yeah, I'd be impressed to see if he even managed to play 13 games for us.

 

[bosnian_red]

- I love Herrera
- Was it just me or was Mata, for no reason, wearing no13 for most of the first half? I didn't see the game llive and missed the line ups so it toook me ages to figure out what was going on?
- When exactly did Valencia go from being a rubbish fullback to actually a really good one? It has definitely happened but I don't remember it happening
- Zlatan somehow managed to improve significantly on recent performmances and get much worse at the same time
- City seem to have adopted the LVG approach of trying to win games by spending them deliberately not trying to score a goal. What the feck were they doing all night? Aguero came on as some kind of deep sitting winger

Sometime when he was injured last season. Had a few solid performances, picked up an injury that kept him out for a while, came in and mostly played well amongst the rest underperforming and then this season has gone into beast mode.
Also Mata wore 8 as usual...

 

[PitchFork]

IMO our passing is very average and the lack of balls from most players to carry the ball past anyone annoys the hell out of me.

Yeah the passing can improve a lot. Very sloppy at times. It got better in the second half, there's a lot of pressure on the squad and more so on certain individuals. Not playing well is going to hit their confidence. We can see the potential right? Which is one positive.

 

[Insanity]

Terrible first half from both teams. Then we pressed and played on the front foot for the first 20 minutes of the second half and unsurprisingly looked better and scored a goal. Sat back after that.

Herrera was excellent
Rojo was surprisingly good.
Carrick and Mata were good.
Some of the aggressiveness Zlatan showed in the second half is exactly what we need from him. Still gave the ball away a bit too much for my liking.

Overall a satisfactory result. We needed it.

 

[Jaybomb]

I thought we played well, but City didn't play like a Guardiola team. Good performances all over the pitch, especially Valencia, Carrick and Herrera. I'm amazed they aren't more highly rated in the match ratings.

I am also amazed at how well Rojo played. Maybe @Jaybomb has a point...I mean, a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Rojo was my MOTM tonight. Quality throughout. He has massive potential as a CB but he is never a LB in my eyes... Although he has a good cross on him, most of his questionable performances have come from there.

Look at it this way... did Chris Smalling look good at RB? I can't remember. But theres no way he should be in the Starting lineup against Burnley after that pathetic performance against Chelsea. Rojo absolutely deserves the nod in his place after tonight.

 

[Mr Anderson]

All this aside, even more delighted that prick Kolorov went off with torrid abuse. He gave it socks a few weeks ago on front of the stretty, couldn't take it at all after the game. Squealing like a bitch. Don't dish it unless you can take it

 

[Jinn]

We still look terrible in attack. No penetration from either wings. Zlatan needs to pull his finger out. Pogba takes too long to get in the game, only really came alive in the second half.
Shaw needs minutes, looks totally off pace.
Herrera keeps marching on. Good for him. Mata should start, not because he scored, but because he is the only one trying to creating anything.
As good as Carrick is, he won't make it in a high tempo game anymore and will come up short. I think that's why Jose is not using him much.
We've got major problem in defense, Jose needs to earn his paycheck there. I have no confidence in Smallings or Rojo. They will both be found out this year.

All in all a good result, a needed result, but I'm not getting carried away...there was nothing in last nights performance to suggest we will go on a decent run.

 

[Nate Dogg]

Lessons learnt:

Fellaini, Smalling and Lingard are at best squad players.

Carrick should play in most games.

Schneiderlin should be involved more.

Mata and Herrera should also play more.

 

[buckooo1978]

hoping the second half was the first tentative steps into a bit of form, momentum and confidence.......we badly need it and we were lucky we were up against a poor City side.

obviously a poor first half followed by a good second....embodied in the performances of Zlatan and Pogba who were decent in the second half after a poor first half.

Shaw looked like a player who was back from injury - looked very rusty though and lacked a bit of the dynamism from the start of the season.....still has a long way to go until he's back to the player we saw just before his injury last season - physically then he looked great

Valencia was super again....he's been so good it means freeing up Mata is simple enough

credit to Rojo who put in a solid display - didn't even notice Blind much which is a good sign as a CB in some ways.

Carrick and Herrera is well balanced as a midfield and it was good to see Herrera get forward as well - he was instrumental in the goal and was all action - growing into a slightly softer Bryan Robson!

Pogba is still underwhelming - some good features in a decent display but I think he tries to do the hard thing too many times and should release the ball earlier - he needs to find some top form

Rashford was very good - all our threat came down the left side and he gave that City kid a tough night.

Mata passes smartly - if you could implant his football brain into Pogba you'd have some player

Zlatan - he's looked well off the boil in recent weeks - the arrogance has gone and last night his touch deserted him as well - kept dropping deeper and deeper like Rooney did and didn't hold the ball up well. Feel like he needs a few goals.

The most noticable thing about our performance was the way we improved after the goal - this tells you the team is battling with confidence - hoping that we can get an early goal against Burnley and turn on the style and grow in confidence

Burnley, Fener and Swansea.......win all three and we will be back

 

[Jinn]

hoping the second half was the first tentative steps into a bit of form, momentum and confidence.......we badly need it and we were lucky we were up against a poor City side.

obviously a poor first half followed by a good second....embodied in the performances of Zlatan and Pogba who were decent in the second half after a poor first half.

Shaw looked like a player who was back from injury - looked very rusty though and lacked a bit of the dynamism from the start of the season.....still has a long way to go until he's back to the player we saw just before his injury last season - physically then he looked great

Valencia was super again....he's been so good it means freeing up Mata is simple enough

credit to Rojo who put in a solid display - didn't even notice Blind much which is a good sign as a CB in some ways.

Carrick and Herrera is well balanced as a midfield and it was good to see Herrera get forward as well - he was instrumental in the goal and was all action - growing into a slightly softer Bryan Robson!

Pogba is still underwhelming - some good features in a decent display but I think he tries to do the hard thing too many times and should release the ball earlier - he needs to find some top form

Rashford was very good - all our threat came down the left side and he gave that City kid a tough night.

Mata passes smartly - if you could implant his football brain into Pogba you'd have some player

Zlatan - he's looked well off the boil in recent weeks - the arrogance has gone and last night his touch deserted him as well - kept dropping deeper and deeper like Rooney did and didn't hold the ball up well. Feel like he needs a few goals.

The most noticable thing about our performance was the way we improved after the goal - this tells you the team is battling with confidence - hoping that we can get an early goal against Burnley and turn on the style and grow in confidence

Burnley, Fener and Swansea.......win all three and we will be back

I was thinking the same with Smallings and Blind, imagine Smallings physical attributes combined with Blinds football brain.

 

[Cooksen]

Finding a carrick replacement is going to be one of the biggest signings that this club will make.

 

[buckooo1978]

Finding a carrick replacement is going to be one of the biggest signings that this club will make.

the last midfielder we signed with Carrick's skillset and ability to dictate the games was Paul Scholes!

when we resigned him in 2012 or whatever

 

[Shinehead Dred]

Despite the first half not bring the greatest, I was pleased to see how well we nullified city. It helped us take some momentum into the second half. I think we deserved that win.

Thought Herrera had an outstanding performance in midfield along with Carrick. Tony V just seems to be playing with more confidence has a fullback than he did as a winger. I'm seriously impressed by his transformation.

Ibra didn't have the best of nights offensively but he battled hard. However here's my dilemma. He drops soo deep at times that he more or less plays as the #10. Problem is when Pogba is meant to be playing that role is that he almost ends up playing as a striker because he often has to fill the gap Ibra leaves. It makes that area too congested and easier for oppo teams to defend against. I would much prefer that Ibra stayed higher up the pitch, therefore allowing Pogba to play where he is most effective.

I would prefer to see Paul utilised from a deeper position and Mata in that role. Both are able to use their full repertoire rather than being hampered by roles that don't suit them.

Problem is that it is impossible to play with Mata, Carrick, Herrera and Pogba without one of them playing in their least optimal position.

Still think that with time this team is going to do things. I honestly do.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Even if the first half was poor, and maybe some of you will jump, I tough Herrera was not good yesterday.

Or maybe I can say that his standard dropped since this weekend.

He was tired and didn't played good balls.

Hope he'll get a bit of rest this weekend too

 

[Balerion]

Kind of a hollow feeling for me, glad we won, especially after Chelsea but with the win being in the efl cup and against weakened city side, with just a narrow 1-0... I don't know, should be good for the players, so that's something, but me, can't really enjoy it that much, fingers crossed we can win on Saturday

 

[Raees]

Still a concerning performance imo. We had to go full throttle in second half to pull that victory out of the bag and I don't see us being able to put that level of workrate for 90 minutes consistently.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

We had them under control. As much as we criticize our players, they deserve credit for holding down the fort. It was not for a lack of trying by City's players.

Fair point.

We'll never know, but I think if this was a League game, I do think there would have been a much firmer onslaught from City in the last 10 mins.

 

[TheReligion]

Still a concerning performance imo. We had to go full throttle in second half to pull that victory out of the bag and I don't see us being able to put that level of workrate for 90 minutes consistently.

You're concerned that we won?

Jesus Christ.

 

[podurban2]

Still a concerning performance imo. We had to go full throttle in second half to pull that victory out of the bag and I don't see us being able to put that level of workrate for 90 minutes consistently.

But the other top teams do have the workrate? Because they are running more than we are.

 

[Bepi]

City were not bothered and United bothered in half. That said, a win is a win and stuffing Pep a pleasure x2.

 

[roonster09]

This is what this team is capable of.

 

[TheReligion]

This is what this team is capable of.

Someone stated our one touch stuff has been poor this season. I think quite the opposite. Since the Leicester game we have been superb in spells.

I think all the signs are in place that this side can be something really special. Can't wait for Saturday.

 

[Massive Spanner]

to quote the wrestler the Rock
'Pep, how do you feel about your quadruple hopes bring ruined?
Pep 'well I.....
The Caf.... 'It doesn't Mata how feel about your quadraple hopes'

You do not have a career in comedy.

 

[TMDaines]

The defensive performance in this and the Liverpool game have been really special. Both sides have been looking dangerous all year and we've kept two deserved clean sheets. These weren't clean sheets where the opposition missed a load of chances and failed to make us pay. These were clean sheets where we gave them so few shooting opportunities and their expected goals would be well under 1.

This City performance really felt like it built on the Liverpool one where we would incredibly solid and defensively in control, but we carried sufficient threat to score, then locked down the game. It was a vintage Mourinho 1-0 performance of the short that it feels like his first Chelsea side specialised in. It's the short of match that the neutral gets bored of in the long term, as there only looks to be one winner once you've built your aura up. As a supporter of the side, playing like this feels fantastic as you feel in control and can just enjoy supporting your side.

That Chelsea match looks an absolute aberration, especially when three players all make a mistake in the first minute to allow them to score.

Even if the first half was poor, and maybe some of you will jump, I tough Herrera was not good yesterday.

Or maybe I can say that his standard dropped since this weekend.

He was tired and didn't played good balls.

Hope he'll get a bit of rest this weekend too

I'm surprised he was the consensus MotM by the margin he was. He was more hustle and energy than quality - but what hustle! If that was one of his lesser games though, and he still plays with such heart and tenacity, he looks captaincy material should Mourinho have faith in him long term.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

This is what this team is capable of.

Blimey. I hadn't forgotten about the build up to that attempt. That would have been some goal.

 

[trevor newnham]

Pogba wasn't even good today imo.

Well he was better than at Chelsea.... I know that ain't a lot!!

 

[Raees]

You're concerned that we won?

Jesus Christ.

First half was shockingly bad. Second half was excellent but it wasn't effortless and I want to wait and see if we can show that grit regularly.

 

[TheReligion]

First half was shockingly bad. Second half was excellent but it wasn't effortless and I want to wait and see if we can show that grit regularly.

I still don't understand how you can be concerned by winning. City had zero shots on target and we were as comfortable as I've seen in a derby in recent times. Even with Aguero and Sterling on the pitch.

 

[mangoman]

First half too many players were off the tempo...

The only three up to the speed of the game were Herrera, Mata and Valencia. They all put in a solid shift and covered some real ground going both ways.

Herrera was an absolute machine no idea how his legs keep going like that for the full 90, he's the only player who does the high press with aggression which led to us getting possession for the goal.

Mata did well defensively as well as with his intelligent runs, movement and passing - eventually got the winning goal. This guy is too intelligent not to play - he dictates play in the final third better than anyone else we have currently.

Valencia was a great outlet on that right side and has the pace and power to beat a man and hold the ball. He has improved his positioning and defending heaps since being transitioned into that position. I'm sure he will still make mistakes in that position but he is undoubtedly our best choice at right back.

Blind plays better on the left or at least LCB. Had a few times where he was awkwardly trying to move it to his left foot and a few times he casually lost possession - especially in the first half.

Shaw was being had for toast by Navas in the first half, he looks like he's carrying a bit of weight and has lost some of that electric pace. No doubt this is a fitness issue after his injury woes, hopefully will improve with time. Thought he grew into the game well.

Zlatan and Pogba also grew into the game - Pogba did keep working and seemed to cover some very good ground even if his end product was lacking at times, still developing as a player and needs to build consistency into his performances. Also probably needs a rest.