[trevor newnham]

Good result, Antony should have done better but took his goal well. DeGea was awful, not for the first time this season. His distribution is dire. I still maintain he made Ol' Slabhead look worse because Slabhead just didn't have the football skills to get himself out of trouble like Martinez and Varane can. That's why Harry always looked nervous. Anyway, welcome back United.

 

[kaku06]

You can address me directly you spineless poster. If you had asked, no I didn't waste my time putting spaces, it's a bug on my Internet explorer. Calm down.

Relax i wasn’t serious. Can’t believe I had to explain this.

 

[kaku06]

Mods, ban him for foul language.

Complaining about language used for pellegrini where he laughed on our 7-0 and was happy? Pathetic. Jesus, you are thin skinned.

 

[Zed 101]

Note though how good he was when he briefly switched to the left side. He racked up several good interventions, including a couple of really good low crosses, during that brief period.
Maybe that's a way to go, making increased use of side-switches between the wingers during games?

Yeah he did offer something different on the left, but would need to see more from him if, right now Rashford, Sancho and Garnacho get the left wing spot in front of him, but options are always nice

 

[Maticmaker]

Good call from ETH to name the same team, even if a few were carrying the odd injury, they all needed to be on display and to purge the memory of the collective performance on Sunday.

Although there were moments when (with DeGea's assistance, on occasions) Real Betis looked dangerous; after the second goal went in all doubts of not achieving eventual victory disappeared and I was hoping for a 5 or 6 total, 'but all's well that ends well'.

They can't screw it up next Thursday.... can they?

Suppose memories of the second half at Anfield, and the collective brain-fart still loom large in the sub-conscious!!

 

[justsomebloke]

Good call from ETH to name the same team, even if a few were carrying the odd injury, they all needed to be on display and to purge the memory of the collective performance on Sunday.

Although there were moments when (with DeGea's assistance, on occasions) Real Betis looked dangerous; after the second goal went in all doubts of not achieving eventual victory disappeared and I was hoping for a 5 or 6 total, 'but all's well that ends well'.

They can't screw it up next Thursday.... can they?

Suppose memories of the second half at Anfield, and the collective brain-fart still loom large in the sub-conscious!!

It's a terrifying thought. But I suppose we just have to trust that ETH has managed to ensure that this will be a learning & growing opportunity rather than a shadow to haunt them whenever things go awry. Ie, that they all understand pretty clearly what exactly went wrong and why, and have a feeling they know what to do to avoid it happening again.

 

[OleTheGreat]

Like I mentioned in the post on the WWWWWWWWWW thread. We have started a great run which will end with the cup in our hands at Budapest's Puskás Aréna on 31 May 2023.

 

[IRN-BRUno]

Superb 2nd half, did slightly fear the reaction after conceding the equaliser but ended up being a really enjoyable performance. A bit of luck and some better decision making and we could have finished with a similar score to a game that apparently happened at the weekend.

Great moment for Wout. I celebrated that goal more than it probably deserved but nice to see how much it meant to him also!

 

[Noc-Z]

Unfortunately it's looking like Antony is a one trick pony. Tragically one footed. The one where he tried to chip the keeper but really should have squared it, I believe if he had use of his right foot he would have squared it, and...goal. I heard the commentator refer to his "favoured left foot" - it doesn't look like his favoured foot, it's more like his only foot. He's out there on the right and all he can do is cut in and cross or shoot with his left. Great when it leads to a goal and his finish was tremendous but he needs more in his locker. Without any use of that right foot whatsoever it's just frustrating and predictable.

 

[Hughes35]

Put a top striker in the team instead of Wout, and they score 3 or 4 last night.

 

[Noc-Z]

Antony sure does. So the next time he has 3 team mates open to square it to for an open goal, he can spot them.

Honestly, he deserves a hairdryer for that. Just insane selfishness.

Honestly don't think his vision or selfishness are to blame I think it's because he's terribly one footed. If he had use of his right I believe he would have squared it.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

Other than the last 15 minutes of the first half we played very well, dominated clearly and could of scored even more.
Interesting that Betis are 5th in the Spanish league, even bottom PL teams are harder to beat than them.

 

[Ian Reus]

The Scouse treble is still on.

 

[BrayRed]

Thought we started well enough, got an early goal, then took the foot off and paid the price conceding the goal along with some very sloppy defending. Dalot caught out a few times so thought the switch to AWB at HT worked very well.

Needed that 4th, allows us to rotate a bit more now for the away leg. Full team v Southampton & Fulham and give lads a rest in between

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Note though how good he was when he briefly switched to the left side. He racked up several good interventions, including a couple of really good low crosses, during that brief period.
Maybe that's a way to go, making increased use of side-switches between the wingers during games?

No one ever brings up his crosses and passing in the final third.

 

[mitchmouse]

The goal we gave them was horrid - pretty much Sunday all over again. No marking at the back post at all. Other than that, we played pretty well and I was so pleased for Weghorst to get his goal: he really did play his heart out. Yes, he missed some decent chances but so did others, particularly Antony.

One thing is that once again, DDG showed his is not an all-round great keeper. Two or three truly appalling balls out from the back, no command of the area and not sure he fills his defence with confidence

 

[Shane88]

No marking at the back post at all.

And no urgency to close him down when he did get it in space.

 

[bosskeano]

dominating performance against the team who sits 5th in LaLiga....could easily have been 6 or 7 goals for us so don't really see the need to tearing down any of the lads...but yes i know welcome to the caf

so much better from bruno when he was back centrally and not wide

interesting comment from EtH post match that while he's happy with Antony, he wants to seem him a bit more aggressive and taking players on at pace

nice to see Wout break his duck

excellent cameo by Pellestri and hopefully he starts next week in Spain

just need to do a professional job next week and this is to bed and into the QF's

 

[gerdm07]

Good bounce from the LL (Liverpool Lashing). A comfortable win on Sunday will put us back on track for top 3 and another trophy or two and we can forget the LL.

- AWB has to be our starting RB now. Dalot needs some time to sort things out and I'm sure he will come good again.
- Why wasn't Martial on the bench? He is back training so surely he could come in as a sub. A good Martial would do wonders for this team.
- The spine of Bruno, Casemiro, Varane and Martinez was just too good for Betis.
- Love Pellistri's no-fear attitude.


I've been a fan of Antony all along and want to believe he will be really good someday. I'm having doubts now even after he scored his nice goal.

- The back pass to Dalot was stupid and he didn't bother to look before making it.
- The pass to Rashford on the break was too hard and a foot behind. That wasn't a hard pass to make and Antony messed up a great opportunity.
- The chip over the keeper was also not that hard and he missed and missed an easy pass for a goal.
- The number one reason, though, is Pellistri comes on for 10 minutes and makes two great crosses. I think Antony makes one really good cross every 3 matches.
- His lack of speed will always hurt our attack. He gets tracked down way too often after getting an advantage on a break.

 

[buchansleftleg]

I feel like Pellegrini picked a hairstyle when he was 12, and now he's just going to ride it into the grave.

Seeing his face it's like an Owl is haunting you!

 

[justsomebloke]

No one ever brings up his crosses and passing in the final third.

No, true, that matters. Actually, that seems to be a fairly large part of what he contributes. Though it must be said, he often doesn't do as much of it as he could. He should probably do it more - would make him less predictable, apart from anything else.

And of course, that's easier for him when he plays off the left.

 

[Okey]

Note though how good he was when he briefly switched to the left side. He racked up several good interventions, including a couple of really good low crosses, during that brief period.
Maybe that's a way to go, making increased use of side-switches between the wingers during games?

I've often wondered why he doesn't try a bit more from the left. Great team response though. Betis are no pushovers. Hopefully that's us back in gear. Roll on the rest of the season.

 

[Tincanalley]

I think the team look scarily tired. Playing at the edge. This is not sustainable unless someone gives us the keys to the Scouse cupboard.

 

[Tincanalley]

Good result, Antony should have done better but took his goal well. DeGea was awful, not for the first time this season. His distribution is dire. I still maintain he made Ol' Slabhead look worse because Slabhead just didn't have the football skills to get himself out of trouble like Martinez and Varane can. That's why Harry always looked nervous. Anyway, welcome back United.

Interesting point,TN.

 

[Gator Nate]

Wasn't accidental though, intentional used his arm to control the ball.

That's the whole thing for me. It was never accidental. He clearly guided the ball down by moving his arm into that position. Everyone talking about accidental is full of it and trying to defend the refs.

 

[Gator Nate]

And De Gea getting a lot of stick after this game. He made 1 howler which was entirely on him with the pass to a Betis player, but harsh to blame him for their goal and Dalot was more at fault for the one earlier in the game.

He didn't really have much to do overall. Shakey in the first half but so we're quite a few and could have taken the second half off.

He was abysmal. His pass completion in the first half would be interesting.

2nd half we made a change where we avoided him passing long/kicking at all.

Not sure what the stats were at the half, but overall DeGea was 68% of 25 passes. Only Weghorst (62% of 16 passes, but 2 key passes) and McTominay (25% of 4 passes in 10-ish minutes) were worse. DeGea was 1 for 6 on long passes, where Martinez was 5 for 8, Bruno was 3 for 6, and Cassemiro was 11 of 14.

Yeah, DeGea's a great shot stopper. He made one save against two shots on target, and the one he missed was a great shot. But his other qualities have been criticized for a long time, and rightly so.

 

[justsomebloke]

Not sure what the stats were at the half, but overall DeGea was 68% of 25 passes. Only Weghorst (62% of 16 passes, but 2 key passes) and McTominay (25% of 4 passes in 10-ish minutes) were worse. DeGea was 1 for 6 on long passes, where Martinez was 5 for 8, Bruno was 3 for 6, and Cassemiro was 11 of 14.

Yeah, DeGea's a great shot stopper. He made one save against two shots on target, and the one he missed was a great shot. But his other qualities have been criticized for a long time, and rightly so.

De Gea made five misplaced passes. As in passes played to opposition players. Not sure I've seen anything like it. He was really lucky to get away with it.

 

[cyril C]

Missed the match. Looks like a good response.

The bed wetters won’t be too happy. Or maybe they will, until our next loss.

Well, the 1st 15min, and 2nd half, we were top notch. In-between, particularly after they equalised, we were not. There were so much self-doubt in the team that we could have been punished dearly.

On the other hand, good to see hair dryer treatment working in dressing room, much needed.