PL W FA Premier League

Manchester United 4:0 Norwich City

Post-match discussion


Sat, 11 January 2020

This season is going better than i expected tbh. We took a gamble on about 6 positions, 4 of which paid off pretty well (Rashford, Martial, James, McTominay). Our best player has been injured for the whole season and his replacement has unexpectedly started looking a decent player. Both Wan Bissaka and Maguire have improved on what we had, which has become a rarity with signings.
Gambles on Lingard / Pereira and Shaw haven't payed off but I never expected them to, 7 wins isn't a bad result.
This time a year ago there were dozens of articles about how little distance our players run (bottom of the league table, from what i remember) and threads on the forum where people said it was the most unlikable United team they'd ever seen and we should sell the whole squad - we've improved quite a lot in both regards.
I dont expect Solskjaer to win any trophies here (he definitely wont with this squad) but its looking pretty safe to say he'll leave it in a better state than he found it. And i think the football we play most weeks is better and more entertaining than Van Gaal or Mourinho despite being a weaker squad.
The squad management, scouting and signings have all been shit and inept but thats another matter. Nothing new there and not Solskjaers or the players place to fix it.
 
Play this 11 v Liverpool please. Can’t be looking at the fella that runs a lot stinking up the place .
 
This season is going better than i expected tbh. We took a gamble on about 6 positions, 4 of which paid off pretty well (Rashford, Martial, James, McTominay). Our best player has been injured for the whole season and his replacement has unexpectedly started looking a decent player. Both Wan Bissaka and Maguire have improved on what we had, which has become a rarity with signings.
Gambles on Lingard / Pereira and Shaw haven't payed off but I never expected them to, 7 wins isn't a bad result.
This time a year ago there were dozens of articles about how little distance our players run (bottom of the league table, from what i remember) and threads on the forum where people said it was the most unlikable United team they'd ever seen and we should sell the whole squad - we've improved quite a lot in both regards.
I dont expect Solskjaer to win any trophies here (he definitely wont with this squad) but its looking pretty safe to say he'll leave it in a better state than he found it. And i think the football we play most weeks is better and more entertaining than Van Gaal or Mourinho despite being a weaker squad.
The squad management, scouting and signings have all been shit and inept but thats another matter. Nothing new there and not Solskjaers or the players place to fix it.
Totally agree with all
 
Play this 11 v Liverpool please. Can’t be looking at the fella that runs a lot stinking up the place .
As good as he was, I'd be tempted to drop Mata for Pereira and bring in Greenwood or James. Only reason for that is how energetic and mobile Liverpool is, I don't think the game would suit Mata. I agree though, LIngard should be nowhere near the team at the moment, we're miles better when Pereira plays ahead of him.
 
Pleasantly surprised that we won this. Seems like exactly the sort of game we would have dropped points in. I’m also very pleased with the return we’ve gotten from Greenwood thus far this season.
 
I was sitting watching this in a dentist's waiting room on ESPN. In Spanish of course.
Thought we battered them as soon as we came out for the second half.
 
I was sitting watching this in a dentist's waiting room on ESPN. In Spanish of course.
Thought we battered them as soon as we came out for the second half.

Back in the day I only went to dentists who had TVs in the ceiling of their operatory rooms and scheduled all of my appointments during Champions League matches.
 
Great win, shit opposition like, but we've not had much to cheer this season so I'll take it.

I feel like Brandon is a right back. His game would be much better if he didn't have to keep cutting inside. Wouldn't it be just so much easier if we could merge him and AWB and have a great right back who could defend and attack...:D

Mata needs to play every home game against bottom half sides. He's our only creative midfielder other than Pogba, he's the missing link against these shit teams who we often struggle to break down.
 
This is how we should play against the bottom 12 every time. Quick easy on the eye good goals everyone had a good game.
 
I like how in couple of past games we scored some really nice team goals. First Rashford's header vs Newcastle, then his first goal today and finally Martial's header. We lacked those kind of goals for so long. Those run in behind into 6 yard box and 1 touch finishes, those leaps and headers with power and precision. Marcus and Anthony haven't scored such types of goals for so long and this is the side of their attacking prowess i want to see more of.

The delivery on those goals is another thing we've missed too much, but we've also seen some good crosses met by noone this year.

Looking forward to seeing more leaping headers from our attackers.
 
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5 pages on a post match thread. I’m stunned.
I guess the haters are on ghost mode tonight.
 
When I got into the ground and took a look at who started and seen Mata, Matic and Pereira on the pitch I thought "here we go, bottom team about to turn us over on our own turf". I got it completely wrong but the 4-0 scoreline absolutely flattered us.
 
Well, there is burn-out and he certainly needs to be rested, or else I am very worried him getting injured. But the draught in goals started several months ago.
When he was moved frpm his favoured left side to the right.
 
That's just it - he isn't. He's unable to field world class players or coach a cutting edge tactical system. Without those two things, we can still pan Norwich but we won't win any trophies.

People need to wake up. He's there mainly because the fans won't turn on him.
So, because Woodward hasn't signed any wc players that makes Ole a bad manager? Strange extrapolation you've made there.
 
So, because Woodward hasn't signed any wc players that makes Ole a bad manager? Strange extrapolation you've made there.
It's not strange at all and you have it the wrong way round. If you as a world class player don't see a club with the best manager and a way of playing that promises trophies and making you a better player, you are only going to come for the money, and probably not stay very long once you realise that it's not worth it.

If you are a top manager like Pep or Klopp, you will go to where the owners are going to back you with a serious well thought out and well funded project. Maybe if you're a total mercenary you'll go anyway for a couple of years, but what will you achieve if the project isn't there?

And if you have owners that don't want to pay high transfer fees to buy player at the top of their game because they will by definition lose value transfer value, then you will never have many top players anyway. And if you do manage to get the odd one, they will soon leave if they want to carry on being top players.

So long as Woodward and the Glazers run the club this way, we won't win anything significant. But hey, we panned Norwich so let's not think about it.
 
It's not strange at all and you have it the wrong way round. If you as a world class player don't see a club with the best manager and a way of playing that promises trophies and making you a better player, you are only going to come for the money, and probably not stay very long once you realise that it's not worth it.

If you are a top manager like Pep or Klopp, you will go to where the owners are going to back you with a serious well thought out and well funded project. Maybe if you're a total mercenary you'll go anyway for a couple of years, but what will you achieve if the project isn't there?

And if you have owners that don't want to pay high transfer fees to buy player at the top of their game because they will by definition lose value transfer value, then you will never have many top players anyway. And if you do manage to get the odd one, they will soon leave if they want to carry on being top players.

So long as Woodward and the Glazers run the club this way, we won't win anything significant. But hey, we panned Norwich so let's not think about it.

That’s not Ole’a fault though. And SAF worked under similar conditions as well.
 
None of the most vocal Ole out crew posted yet in this thread I see. Not for the first time when we win. Cant seem to shut themselves up when it's a negative topic, but win 4-0 and a 'well played' seems to be beyond them. Proper fans

In terms of the game, my stream was crap so i watched it in patches, but we looked good, yes albeit against poor opposition, but we've seen time and again in this league this year that every match is a potential banana skin, so credit to all for a job well done.

Again we see with Mata what an effective creative player adds to this team. It opens up all kinds of possibilities. People talk about tactics but you cant train players to find those passes. You either have that player or you need to buy them.

Credit to Maguire for getting back out there. We talk about needing to buy the right characters, and this is why. He wants to play every minute.

Greenwood is going to beat Rooneys record (unless Rashford gets there first)

I’m glad we won, of course. Please bear in mind this is by far the worst team in the league & most certainly going to get relegated in last place so not too sure if you think we should all be over praising Ole for that?

We still aren’t going to make Champions League next season due to our results & performances over the season. We may not even make Europa League.
If that’s cause for celebration then good for you, I expect a bit more from the club. We’re not realising our potential player wise or manager wise.

But we beat the most shite team in the league at home so let’s forget about the season as a whole shall we...
 
I’m glad we won, of course. Please bear in mind this is by far the worst team in the league & most certainly going to get relegated in last place so not too sure if you think we should all be over praising Ole for that?

We still aren’t going to make Champions League next season due to our results & performances over the season. We may not even make Europa League.
If that’s cause for celebration then good for you, I expect a bit more from the club. We’re not realising our potential player wise or manager wise.

But we beat the most shite team in the league at home so let’s forget about the season as a whole shall we...

We're also the only team to take points off Liverpool, beat City at Etihad, Chelsea at the bridge, and a high flying Leicester, but let's forget about that as well shall we...
 
We're also the only team to take points off Liverpool, beat City at Etihad, Chelsea at the bridge, and a high flying Leicester, but let's forget about that as well shall we...

season as a WHOLE.

We aren’t good enough. Which includes the manager.
 
When I got into the ground and took a look at who started and seen Mata, Matic and Pereira on the pitch I thought "here we go, bottom team about to turn us over on our own turf". I got it completely wrong but the 4-0 scoreline absolutely flattered us.
Are you for real. You say you went to the game then come out with a comment like this, it could esily have been 6-0. I actually believe the scoreline flattered Norwich.
 
It was a good game and all played well. But against top teams we will not be given this kind of space at all. Rashford cannot dribble past three players.
I am not such bothered about Liverpool game. Liverpool will certainly attack and if and thats a big if we can launch counter attacks as soon as we turn them over we may get lucky. The crucial thing is that if we try to play back and try to play it slow Liverpool will out play us. However if do turn them over and launch attacks soon then our chances are good.
 

Which begs the question: do we really need Haaland anyway? Imagine with Haaland in, Martial would be on the bench and Greenwood probably couldn’t play at all, that’s 20 goals and 5 assist in total, midway through the season.
 
3 points and lots of Anti Glazer & Woodward chants, today is a good day
Yup.

Mata being a smarter footballer than most helps against teams like this. If only he was younger.

Its great that despite being great one week/shite the next our forwards keep scoring. Imagine what we could do with a proper midfield behind them every week.

I hope Greenwood and Rashford have a great race to break Rooneys record.

Oh and we scored from a corner!

Also Norwich may as well pack their bags.

Yeah nearly fell off my seat that we actually scored from a corner. I really thought that was Maguire's first goal but Tony beat him to the ball.

What did you think about the anti Glazers/Woodward chanting today out of interest?
 
Really good performance all around. Norwich were awful though!

Positives:

1. 4 goals
2. De Gea was excellent in what he did have to to. Could have been a very different game if not for his save at 1-0
3. Williams was excellent. When he can attack he's a really good player
4. Rashford starting to show consistent good form
5. Nobody had a bad game
6. Greenwood getting another really mature goal

Really isn't a lot to moan about after that.

Long term, we still need additions though. Pereira, Mata and Matic were good yesterday but we still desperately need upgrades to the first 11 in these positions.
 
5 pages on a post match thread. I’m stunned.
I guess the haters are on ghost mode tonight.
Oh, us the 'haters' will be back once Ole looks like a deer in headlights after the next loss. For now, let's enjoy the win.
 
We cant enjoy the team we all love playing well and scoring goals? Or does it only count when it's a top team? It's a really poor reflection of the current fanbase on here

I think the problem is many will feel that getting excited for a win like this can possibly lead to a big disappointment at the next few games where the team might play poorly. It's good to keep perspective that it is Norwich, but this was a fun game to watch and it makes the next game one to look forward to.
 
I am inclined to take each game as it comes. This game they played well. Goals from three forward players. Williams showing great promise again and should be our LB for years to come. Matic and Fred functioned well. I am not going to be critical just for the sake of it.
 
I’m glad we won, of course. Please bear in mind this is by far the worst team in the league & most certainly going to get relegated in last place so not too sure if you think we should all be over praising Ole for that?

We still aren’t going to make Champions League next season due to our results & performances over the season. We may not even make Europa League.
If that’s cause for celebration then good for you, I expect a bit more from the club. We’re not realising our potential player wise or manager wise.

But we beat the most shite team in the league at home so let’s forget about the season as a whole shall we...
Wow you are good at overrate the players.
 
Which begs the question: do we really need Haaland anyway? Imagine with Haaland in, Martial would be on the bench and Greenwood probably couldn’t play at all, that’s 20 goals and 5 assist in total, midway through the season.

We are one striker short really. In essence, if anyone gets injured, we're in trouble.
 
We are one striker short really. In essence, if anyone gets injured, we're in trouble.

We need a backup striker, but not an automatic first team striker who would limit the game time of Martial and Greenwood.
 
I’m glad we won, of course. Please bear in mind this is by far the worst team in the league & most certainly going to get relegated in last place so not too sure if you think we should all be over praising Ole for that?

We still aren’t going to make Champions League next season due to our results & performances over the season. We may not even make Europa League.
If that’s cause for celebration then good for you, I expect a bit more from the club. We’re not realising our potential player wise or manager wise.

But we beat the most shite team in the league at home so let’s forget about the season as a whole shall we...

No you miss the point. It's not about praising Ole or anyone else. It's about people expressing the fact that we won a match well and they enjoyed watching it.

People have disappeared up their own arseholes too much nowadays to actually just watch and enjoy a game of football.

Theres is always a caveat. "We wont make CL anyway so fk those guys" "I expect more from the club" "not realising potential". You're glad we won though (apparently)
 
There's very little point watching what is essentially just a form of entertainment if you can't take pleasure out of us winning a game 4-0, it's a depressing and tiring way to be. Plenty of us are worried about the club, have issues with the manager and the board, but to be just as moany and depressing after a good win as you would be after a loss is just sad.
 
There's very little point watching what is essentially just a form of entertainment if you can't take pleasure out of us winning a game 4-0, it's a depressing and tiring way to be. Plenty of us are worried about the club, have issues with the manager and the board, but to be just as moany and depressing after a good win as you would be after a loss is just sad.

You can both be happy & take pleasure out of winning a game 4-0 whilst at the same time looking at the bigger picture.

It’s not that hard
 

Man of the Match

Marcus Rashford image Marcus Rashford 51% of 309 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

6.9 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 296 ratings.

Score Predictions

214,22,26
  • Man Utd win
  • Norwich win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 23% Man Utd 2:0 Norwich
  • 20% Man Utd 2:1 Norwich
  • 15% Man Utd 3:0 Norwich
  • 11% Man Utd 3:1 Norwich
  • 7% Man Utd 1:1 Norwich
  • 6% Man Utd 1:0 Norwich
  • 4% Man Utd 4:0 Norwich
  • 3% Man Utd 1:2 Norwich
  • 2% Man Utd 0:0 Norwich
  • 2% Man Utd 0:2 Norwich
  • 2% Man Utd 4:1 Norwich
  • 1% Man Utd 5:0 Norwich
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Norwich
  • 1% Man Utd 0:5 Norwich
  • 1% Man Utd 2:2 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 4:2 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 2:4 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 1:3 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 5:1 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 0:3 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 3:2 Norwich
  • 0% Man Utd 2:3 Norwich
Compiled from 262 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Norwich
Possession
60% 40%
Shots
13 8
Shots on Target
6 3
Corners
4 2
Fouls
18 7

Referee

Anthony Taylor