LC L League Cup Semi-Final

Manchester United 0:2 Manchester City

Post-match discussion

Wed, 06 January 2021

I feel like that is a good example of what Baily brings to the table instead of Vic. No way Baily lets the ball run past him for the first goal.
 
Generally poor from most today. Thought Maguire was probably the best player today.

City got it spot on in the second half - as soon as they got the goal they sat deep knowing that we weren’t going to create. We could have played for another 180 minutes and we still wouldn’t have had a sniff at goal.

At times we just look really pedestrian and seem to slow the game down too much. Perhaps a game too for some of these players in terms of fitness - we’ve had a good string of performances for a while, but some of them just look a bit knackered tonight. Disappointing to go out in another semi-final.
 
Fernandes, Martial, and Rashford non-existent today. Far too many mistakes from good positions in the first half. Too much hogging of the ball from the front players today, including Greenwood when he came. We needed more teamwork.

Shaw, Fred, Pogba, and Henderson were the only decent performers today. Fred, Shaw, and Pogba tried to push us forward with running or passes in between the lines, but the forwards had poor control today or kept being caught offside etc.
 
City looked too comfortable in this game for my liking, we just didn't offer anything. A lot of periods of going through the motions, didn't feel like there was a plan when on the ball, decision making was terrible.

We were in the game without ever really being in it which was strange. Ah well better to get this sort of things out the system here and move on.
 
Ole said “no excuses” before the game, just in case anyone was going to offer any up. The approach versus City hasn’t changed in two and a half years. We are a vibes team that is miles behind in terms of technique and tactics. Very disappointing to see us comprehensively dismantled by a less than vintage City side.
 
Sad night. We played poorly all round. Poor tempo and movement. Kept giving it away. Would have been great to scale this semi final albatross, but here we still are. Hopefully we can keep going in the league. We won't play the likes of Citeh everyday.
 
Feck me we were poor in that second half. We weren't great in the first either but we had our chances. The second was atrocious though. It really was. Absolutely tragic attempts at passing in the final third and desperate shots.

It looks like our players have bottled it on the big stage again. Mentally they seem to be freezing right now as soon as we reach a semi final. That needs to be addressed if we want to have nay hope of ending our trophy drought, now in its 4th year.

Conceded via set pieces again is infuriating. City can always beat us, they're good enough but we absolutely cannot be losing the match off 2 set pieces. We all knew it was a weakness coming into this game, and it's quite clearly nowhere close to being sorted.

I've no right to be this upset at what is *just* the league Cup, but that game really annoyed me. Poor showing by the team.
 
City is just a way better side. Their ability to adjust to the game, their players skill when it comes to passing - and controlling the pace - is just exellent.

Fred, Mct, Lindelof, WbS and Martial would not make it to the bench of the city-reserves.
 
Don’t even think we were that bad, but City just play football at a much faster and more clever level than us. Our whole back four, Fred, McTominay Pogba and Martial never seem to do anything quickly, they all take way too many touches.

What frustrates the most and I believe is truly holding us back is just how wasteful our strikers are. Rashford constantly offside and needs about 10 chances to score, Martial without confidence just stinks up the place.

Ultimately though we have bottled yet another Semi. Current United need to be winning trophies like this as we are a million miles off seriously changing for CL or Premier League.
 
Played alright first half but just lost all momentum in the second. I would've liked to see Ole make changes earlier and inject some more energy in the final third but it never really came.

Hopefully we're more up for the Liverpool one than we looked here.
 
The front 3 were awful all game. We did okay first half but were poor the second. 2 soft goals. Improvement needed.
 
Disappointing as that was probably the strongest side we could put out (except for De Gea). Defence did well enough for the most part but I think teams are sussing out that our full backs tuck in a lot and leave space down the wings. Diagonal balls seem to cause panic, which was evident in the game against RB Leipzig a month ago.

On another night we might have nicked a goal but City deserved it.
 
Always difficult to take a defeat to Man City, its the second semi final defeat to them in as many years which makes it worse. I didn't think we played particularly badly, we defended really well for the most part but on the balance of play, City come out worthy winners. For me, the two players who didn't play well for us were Bruno and Martial, the latter had a terrible dive which summed up his evening. I was very happy with how the defence played apart from that one stupid set piece goal we conceded, it was poor concentration from Maguire and co, which is disappointing as they were resolute for the most part.

We need to dust ourselves off and move not the next one. I anticipate a rotated squad for the Watford game with the view of a first choice 11 against Burnley.
 
They deserved it, they closed down more than we did, ran more than we did, tried more than we did. Blocked everything, and bossed us all over the pitch. I think Cavani would have posed more problems for them, as Martial is too easily crowded out, and then his head drops. A few heads dropped tonight. The only saving grace is that it was only the rumbelows cup, so I couldn't really care less. Win at Burnley and we go top. Need to look at a longer term 30 goal a season striker. That Norwegian fella.
 
I hate to see it against us but the way City players operate in automation is impressive. There are triggers all over the field and in different pockets, phases and situations that trigger very specific movements from certain players at the right time, and you know it's all systematically trained because it repeats itself like clockwork. When Pep's side are playing a good tactical game they create an absolute ton of 2v1 overloads on either side.

I know we're not especially good on the ball when it comes to ball retention, playing out the press and game management but I know for sure that we have enough talented players on the ball that someone like Pep would elevate their game individually and as a group.
 
Two annoying goals to concede, just weren't threatening enough on the night.

Proper need to get over this semi final hurdle.
 
Only the Micky Mouse cup anyway, let Mourinho and spurs want over the thought of winning it. I bet the Sheikhs are thrilled that their multibillion quid playtoy is going to win the plastic cup 4 seasons in a row.
 
horsechoker said:
As an Ole outter I'm quite happy, it's been a tough time recently but hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the Norwegian fraud and his lutefisk brand of football.

It's just a shame now that Poch is at PSG because we still had an opportunity to be saved.
Click to expand...
Jesus christ. This must be a joke? No white text?
 
Hopefully we can beat Liverpool in the League.

This is why City are favourites for me though, United are still 3 players away.

All I'll say about United is, the team has grown a lot and it's the best crop since SAF, Ed needs to back Ole in the summer.
 
Poor performance from us, both goals were sloppy set-piece defending and we just couldn't knit anything together in the final 3rd, way too many sloppy and loose passes.
 
Man City are better than us. No surprise, no shame. We can beat them when they drop a level or 2, but if they show up like that, not much of a chance.
 
We are a physically very weak team.
City were hardly bothered by us, even when we were pushing forward.

Martial, Rashford, Bruno, Fred, Pogba are all very poor at challenging and winning any tackles.
They consistently fail to close down or properly press their opponents.
That’s if they even bother at all.

How many times did a City player just walk straight through Fred’s attempt to block or press and when he won the ball, it was immediately taken off him again.

The usual suspects will pile on our defence, Maguire in particular, when they were being left with no help from our midfield and forwards.

Pogba made a proper effort tonight, but even with that decent performance, it’s clear he’s nothing special at the end of the day.
Our forwards though are both substandard.
Rashford wasn’t off his game. He’s just not good enough.

It‘s not a one off against a top team. We’ve been like that against all sorts of opposition, even when we’ve managed to win a game.

 
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Everyone giving out about Martial but Rashford was just as bloody bad. Does he understand the offside rule I wonder?
 
Not our day but can't complain too much.
 
Whilst is frustrating to lose, it was an even game and we lost because we can't seem to defend set pieces.
 
Beaten by a better side. Shows we've still got some way to go to get into the title mix.

Far too sloppy in attack.
 
When I look at our line-up tonight though, there isn’t one player who is technically competent enough. City’s control and passing is so much more reliable. We may have players who are very effective at certain things but the basics are really lacking. So many donkey touches and errors.
 
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Man of the Match

Luke Shaw image Luke Shaw 26% of 212 votes

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Score Predictions

136,44,27
  • Man Utd win
  • Man City win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 38% Man Utd 2:1 Man City
  • 10% Man Utd 1:2 Man City
  • 10% Man Utd 2:0 Man City
  • 9% Man Utd 1:1 Man City
  • 8% Man Utd 1:0 Man City
  • 7% Man Utd 3:1 Man City
  • 4% Man Utd 0:2 Man City
  • 3% Man Utd 2:2 Man City
  • 2% Man Utd 1:3 Man City
  • 2% Man Utd 2:3 Man City
  • 2% Man Utd 3:2 Man City
  • 1% Man Utd 3:0 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 0:0 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 0:1 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 2:4 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 0:3 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 0:4 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 0:5 Man City
  • 0% Man Utd 5:0 Man City
Compiled from 207 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Man City
Possession
40% 60%
Shots
11 12
Shots on Target
2 4
Corners
4 4
Fouls
9 6

Referee

Martin Atkinson

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