[Wing Attack Plan R]

I love that we now have players who are comfortable with the ball, don't mind taking it forward, playing a clever pass, and are happy to just keep possession. Eriksen, Martinez, Sancho, and Casemiro when he warmed up, are just such players. Sancho gets the ball, draws 3 defenders to him, and still doesn't lose it. I think we could do with fewer blind passes from Bruno, but we do seem to be getting the right balance of creative flair and controlled game management. Professional job all around.

Would have loved to see the youngsters get some minutes. I would rather play Charlie McNeil and have him learn "on the job" than continue to play Ronaldo, who offered nothing. Ronaldo is only useful now as fox-in-the-box, and when he's dropping deep to take the ball off the centerbacks - as he did tonight - he's less than useless. It appeared Ronaldo gave the ball away the most and probably had the lowest pass completion rate. I get it: it was a treat for the Sheriff fans to see him in the flesh, but we have to move on.

 

[Pat_Mustard]

Ah for feck sake! I got my times wrong and missed to game

You really didn't miss much mate! The second half was as instantly forgettable as it gets. We made getting the won look very straightforward, as we should do at this level, so a positive but very dull evening.

 

[Judas]

Ronaldo is the worst thing to happen to Bruno's Utd career. Watching the way Bruno plays when Ronaldo is on the pitch is honestly painful.

Glad we won and it was comfortable though!

 

[reddev3]

Sancho lasted the entire match, can’t believe it, lad must be spent.
Beautiful goal and a nice tribute to that kid that gave him the shin pads, good man.

A vintage United away in East Europe performance, job done.

ps Madrid lost there last season.

Real won there 3-0. they lost at Bernabeau

 

[bosskeano]

Clean sheet away from Home in Europe is never a bad nights work

 

[lex talionis]

A tidy victory over an overwhelmed opponent but still a banana skin. The defeat to Real Sociedad and the match postponements have taken us off the great form we showed after the shambles of Brentford. Regaining that flying form might be difficult, but it will come. Grinding out a result is all we can expect for now.

 

[Telsim]

Ronaldo is the worst thing to happen to Bruno's Utd career. Watching the way Bruno plays when Ronaldo is on the pitch is honestly painful.

Glad we won and it was comfortable though!

I really hope Chelsea are looking to buy in the winter. It might leave us short on forwards, but I'm sure there has to be some young, cheap striker we can grab in the winter. Or maybe get a loan in.

 

[Belisarius]

Ronnie was horrible. Dalot was good.

I don't agree there. I'll grant you he drew the penalty and had one very good cut-back to Bruno. But, he also had 2 awful turnovers in our own end.

 

[Rightnr]

Professional performance. Biggest positive is that Sheriff look decent and if we have a bit of luck can mix it up against Sociedad, especially at home.

 

[Sandikan]

Very comfy win, and we shouldn't overlook it's been a while since an away game has been so easily wrapped up so early.
Ronaldo off and running on the goal trail helps a lot. Shaw back getting some action.

Eriksen is utterly key to our play now. Amazing that some wondered how he'd fit in!

 

[Drakul]

Ronaldo is the worst thing to happen to Bruno's Utd career. Watching the way Bruno plays when Ronaldo is on the pitch is honestly painful.

Glad we won and it was comfortable though!

People were spouting the same bullshit about Maguire. How Maguire is bogged down by Varane as a partner, De Gea in goal, Fred & McTom ahead of him. Truth was he's a shit footballer. Same is true for Bruno. He cant keep the ball, keeps trying Hollywood passes, 1 out of 10 comes off (and this is me being kind), and everyone hails him as Bruno Magnifico. He shouldn't be in the starting line up. And he wont be anywhere near Portugal's first 11 either.

 

[nainaisson]

Really annoyed me to see Ronaldo drop so deep, especially given he's a crap midfielder who can't protect the ball. I don't recall ever seeing Haller or Tadic drop that deep at Ajax, so I'm guessing Ronaldo has just taken it upon himself to give involved in build up.

 

[George The Best]

Did what was needed but gave the ball away far too much all night

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Happy with that. Controlled the game smartly, never looked threatened at the back, yet still trying to do things in the final third

 

[Tincanalley]

People were spouting the same bullshit about Maguire. How Maguire is bogged down by Varane as a partner, De Gea in goal, Fred & McTom ahead of him. Truth was he's a shit footballer. Same is true for Bruno. He cant keep the ball, keeps trying Hollywood passes, 1 out of 10 comes off (and this is me being kind), and everyone hails him as Bruno Magnifico. He shouldn't be in the starting line up. And he wont be anywhere near Portugal's first 11 either.

Parody post

 

[Member 125352]

Defensively solid (again) so if this continues we could have a decent season BUT an attack worth of over 200 million pounds that creates as good as nothing (also again) is plain bad.

But yeah job done but I pity the fans who travelled all the way there.

 

[croadyman]

I really hope Chelsea are looking to buy in the winter. It might leave us short on forwards, but I'm sure there has to be some young, cheap striker we can grab in the winter. Or maybe get a loan in.

Toney is best hope in January

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

Job done. I’ll start paying more attention to Thursday nights once this group stage is done.

 

[Withnail]

Sancho's goals are always so calmly put away. I love it

 

[the_cliff]

People were spouting the same bullshit about Maguire. How Maguire is bogged down by Varane as a partner, De Gea in goal, Fred & McTom ahead of him. Truth was he's a shit footballer. Same is true for Bruno. He cant keep the ball, keeps trying Hollywood passes, 1 out of 10 comes off (and this is me being kind), and everyone hails him as Bruno Magnifico. He shouldn't be in the starting line up. And he wont be anywhere near Portugal's first 11 either.

Once we get more midfield options I won't be surprised if he's dropped. If we do get FDJ or a midfielder of a similar profile it will be Eriksen that moves to 10, I'm 100% sure of that.

 

[Utd heap]

A really boring easy win.

I've missed them.

 

[croadyman]

Needed to be a bit more ruthless,could then have given the likes of Iqbal & Mc Neill a bit more time on the pitch

 

[jesperjaap]

A tidy victory over an overwhelmed opponent but still a banana skin. The defeat to Real Sociedad and the match postponements have taken us off the great form we showed after the shambles of Brentford. Regaining that flying form might be difficult, but it will come. Grinding out a result is all we can expect for now.

I thought there were periods we moved the ball around well when we upped the tempo....The four games of great form thing though for me is a bit of a myth after such an awful start and last season.

We struggled against Leicester and played no better than this performance, we also struggled against Southampton, we beat an under performign Liverpool side who were still in control most of the game hitting them on counter attacks with a good tempo and moving the ball quickly (easier to do than this performance), we were also batter by Arsenal for the majority of the first 65minutes and hit them again on counter attacks with good tempo moving the ball quickly.

I think we are well set up to play some of the bigger teams as we get opportunities to hit them on the break. Only two things are a lot better at the moment and that is our defensive unit and organisation but I dont agree this was a good result from an average performance, that has been the story of our season so far on the whole after the first couple of games, it just wasnt against a bigger side.

I do think we need to improve in terms of the tempo of our game, movement and moving the ball quicker against teams when not on the break but general play too as when we do, and there were occasions of it todya, we look good but so far this season we havent managed to get the wingers involed enough and the midfield isnt givin gour defence enough options to move the ball.

We are improving but it isnt great form, its results, we have just improved from being dreadful to being decent in patches bar the defence

 

[Withnail]

Ronaldo is the worst thing to happen to Bruno's Utd career. Watching the way Bruno plays when Ronaldo is on the pitch is honestly painful.

Glad we won and it was comfortable though!

It's a serious flaw in Bruno. Stop the feckin hero worship and just play your game. You can't idolise a player who's on the same pitch as you. It's ridiculous.

 

[berbatrick]

Every Sancho goal is beautiful and very important.

 

[Withnail]

People were spouting the same bullshit about Maguire. How Maguire is bogged down by Varane as a partner, De Gea in goal, Fred & McTom ahead of him. Truth was he's a shit footballer. Same is true for Bruno. He cant keep the ball, keeps trying Hollywood passes, 1 out of 10 comes off (and this is me being kind), and everyone hails him as Bruno Magnifico. He shouldn't be in the starting line up. And he wont be anywhere near Portugal's first 11 either.

If you actually look at the stats Bruno is way more effective when Ronaldo isn't on the pitch. It's not a notion that's just been dreamed up. As for shouldn't be in the starting line up are you having a laugh? Who should be in ahead of him?

 

[devilish]

Sheriff beat Real Madrid.

They shot the sheriff but not the deputy

 

[Strelok]

A decent performance. Basically everything was pretty good until the ball came to Ronaldo. Rinse & repeat and it made our game so frustrating to watch.

Anyway Eriksen is a great midfielder. We should have signed him years ago. Very nice goal from Sancho too.

 

[The Red Thinker]

I've really missed these kind of games. No tension. Just systematic. These are SOLID foundations being laid.

 

[I’m loving my life]

If you actually look at the stats Bruno is way more effective when Ronaldo isn't on the pitch. It's not a notion that's just been dreamed up. As for shouldn't be in the starting line up are you having a laugh? Who should be in ahead of him?

It’s like people don’t actually have eyes. I don’t even look at the in-depth stats, but even to a tactical pleb like me it is clear that Bruno has turned to shit most of the time when Ronaldo has shared the pitch. Even if you just look at goals and assists I’m sure it would reinforce this fact.

 

[mitchmouse]

It's a case of job done, professional performance without any real thrills or many memorable moments. Good to keep a clean sheet - it's so clear that those of us who said Maguire (and to an extent Shaw) were real problems appear to have been proved correct. We look so much more stable at the back and are winning lots more defensive headers (particularly from set pieces), despite all those who moaned that Martinez wasn't 6ft 11in!

Good to see Casemiro given time, although I though Scotty had an excellent 45 minutes. Some nice moves through midfield and from Antony although too often when we broke there weren't enough players in their area - showing again that we need a real centre forward (I honestly think Halaand would get 20 goals even for us this season).

Of course, the real test comes against City...especially for the defence

 

[horsechoker]

We beat the Sheriff
Sancho scored a great beauty

We beat the Sheriff
And we did it with good defence

 

[cyril C]

A decent performance. Basically everything was pretty good until the ball came to Ronaldo. Rinse & repeat and it made our game so frustrating to watch.

Anyway Eriksen is a great midfielder. We should have signed him years ago. Very nice goal from Sancho too.

That Eriksen story got me thinking. When he left for Inter it was on reasonable price, should we get involved it will be 80m start bidding. No way you can get it cheap from Levy.

The best moment is before he joined Spurs, but did we have the right scouts to spot the talent?

Eriksen simply does what Pogba failed to produce, consistently. If we went after Pogba, no way we will go after Eriksen.

 

[VidaRed]

Toney is best hope in January

or that fulham striker.

 

[Telsim]

Toney is best hope in January

or that fulham striker.

Ivan Toney would be ideal, but Brentford are not going to part with him mid-season. Same for Fulham with Mitrovic. We either need to scout a young talent that won't be expensive and is willing to move or get a stopgap on the cheap side. I'm starting to think there was some sense in the Arnautovic move. He is the top scorer in Seria A right now. But that's come and gone. Teemu Pukki wouldn't be half bad on a 2 year deal or on loan until the end of the season at least. He scored 11 goals last season in a team as shit as Norwich.

But that's only if Ronaldo leaves.

 

[Strelok]

That Eriksen story got me thinking. When he left for Inter it was on reasonable price, should we get involved it will be 80m start bidding. No way you can get it cheap from Levy.

The best moment is before he joined Spurs, but did we have the right scouts to spot the talent?

Eriksen simply does what Pogba failed to produce, consistently. If we went after Pogba, no way we will go after Eriksen.

That's just my way to say how much I appreciate the guy.

Anyway afaik he wasn't regularly playing at Inter especially under Conte because Conte prefered the more physical midfielders and tactically he had no place for a CAM. Many even wrote him off back then if my memory serves me right. Wouldn't cost much if we wanted him back then I think.

 

[Robindinho]

We could have been more ruthless and pushed for a 3rd/4th goal but give me those games anyday - controlling the game and seeing it out, rather than end to end or sitting deep and camping in our half, like we've seen in recent years.

 

[NewUser777]

Europa league is incredibly dull.. It was like watching Luton on a Tuesday.

 

[Abraxas]

It doesn't say much for Omonia that this lot beat them 3-0. I thought Sheriff were completely toothless. Early stages of the Europa and all that.

 

[Deleted 112447]

I thought we were ok. Very happy for Sancho to continue his goal scoring and in general, a decent display against a team that I feel many under rate.