[TwoSheds]

I don't think we passed slowly and we certainly got forward well particularly from Valencia. The crossing/final ball was really bad though in the 2nd half. We also were encamped in their half for a large proportion of their game and got the ball back generally fairly well which other aspects of a definition of "intensity".

All in all in the grand scheme of things it was the finishing that was the main issue.

No it's the mentality. All teams miss chances but Fergie's United turn that screw in the last 10 minutes and run the opposition ragged if we needed a goal. These lot looked relaxed as if the game was already won.

 

[cyberman]

It's not often when we drop points we end up better off.

 

[DevilRed]

Missed chances. Compare us to the likes of citeh and spurs and you just have to say we arent on the same level.

Especially in terms of pace and finishing in the final third.

Hopefully we keep improving and tighten up at the back.

 

[ghagua]

Congrats to Rooney. Result is what you would get when you start with Mata in the starting lineup. Apart for his occasional goals, he brings nothing to the team.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

No it's the mentality. All teams miss chances but Fergie's United turn that screw in the last 10 minutes and run the opposition ragged if we needed a goal. These lot looked relaxed as if the game was already won.

That's where we disagree, I definitely didn't see a team that relaxed as if the game was won. Think your criticism is too far as it's not a mentality issue. What I did see was a team that was largely devoid of ideas and had pushed Stoke as far back as they could.

 

[Womp]

Feck off, we've had two opportunities with Liverpool and Stoke to close the gap and ruined both of them.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Feck off, we've had two opportunities with Liverpool and Stoke to close the gap and ruined both of them.

Liverpool aren't nobodies.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Loved how Rooney didn't even celebrate. He just broke a 40 year record and became our highest ever goalscorer, but not as much as a smile. Straight back to the half way line, and Giroud can suck a bag of dicks.

Great Post. Love it

 

[RedDevil@84]

Lol.. Mata haters seem toe be in full swing tonight. The "I told you so" posts so suck.

 

[Womp]

Liverpool aren't nobodies.

Their best players were all out, they were playing with children and we were in the better form. They had no Matip, didn't start with Coutinho, no Mane, no Clyne. We blew it.

 

[Mal donaghy]

Stokes Man o Match, Juan Mata take a bow son !!

 

[Ixion]

It's not often when we drop points we end up better off.

Losing ground on Chelsea & Arsenal and not gaining ground on City and Spurs isn't ending up better off.

 

[AltiUn]

Can only assume sarcastic or mental.

Pogba was crucified v Liverpool absolutely correct that Mata receives the same treatment.

 

[cyberman]

Losing ground on Chelsea & Arsenal and not gaining ground on City and Spurs isn't ending up better off.

We're closer to Liverpool and Spurs v City have nullified our dropped points.
Stoke is a tough game, providing City game is pushed back it's one of our toughest games for a while so a draw isn't a bad result.
It's not a race to finish second, it's top 4.
If we take games by blocks and not live or die by every individual result then being where we are after facing Liverpool and Stoke away is acceptable.

 

[Bepi]

I don't understand if missed chances depend upon Mou's defensive setting up (aka too much distance to cover to reach the oppo's goal and therefore lacking sharpness) or are just poor clinical skill (in that case Utd need buying finishers instead of midfielders or defenders).

I mean, 33-21 goals is awful but defence is good:

Chelsea 45:15
Spurs 45:16
'Pool 51:27
Arsenal 48:22
City 43:28
United 33:21

You also rely too much on Ibra (14/33 are his).

Fundamentally, this team is just monodimensional according to numbers.

 

[pacifictheme]

Pogba was crucified v Liverpool absolutely correct that Mata receives the same treatment.

Pogba had a nightmare at every corner and gave away a ridiculous handball chasing shadows and not having a clue where his man was.

Mata tried to block a cross and it deflected past the keeper.

The two are totally different. Guess it was option 2.

 

[Womp]

I don't understand if missed chances depend upon Mou's defensive setting up (aka too much distance to cover to reach the oppo's goal and therefore lacking sharpness) or are just poor clinical skill (in that case Utd need buying finishers instead of midfielders or defenders).

I mean, 33-21 goals is awful but defence is good:

Chelsea 45:15
Spurs 45:16
'Pool 51:27
Arsenal 48:22
City 43:28
United 33:21

You also rely too much on Ibra (14/33 are his).

Fundamentally, this team is just monodimensional according to numbers.

Doubt it has anything to do with Jose, as we are creating the chances, we just aren't sinking them. Jose can't score the goals for them. We were going through this earlier in the season too, it's why we fell so far behind as we kept drawing games we should and could have won.

 

[Dumbstar]

It's not often when we drop points we end up better off.

Except in league positioning. You and Chelsea must hold the record of holding your league positions so far.

 

[cyberman]

Except in league positioning. You and Chelsea must hold the record of holding your league positions so far.

Shows how far away the top 6 are from the rest. We gave the other top sides a head start and we were stuck in 6th place limbo due to the rest not being able to catch up.
United fans thought we were out of it December 1 so to be within striking distance before the end of January is a fantastic position to be in.
20 points from 24 is a fantastic run of form. We have good form of keeping our league position after all if we do get in there.

 

[Dr Pavel]

I saw Smalling made a brilliant pass through the line with his left foot today. Also Valencia delivered I think 3 crosses with his left. Amazing. I thought I was dreaming.

Those were probably the best moments of the game.

 

[RedIke]

Seems we go as I bra goes. And he passed up 3 golden chances to shoot today and just didn't seem to have it.

Pretty reasonable to say two points dropped. Saved a point late tho.

 

[Litch]

Bit unlucky as the weeks we won everyone else seem to yet the opposite other weeks. The difficulty with this league is you're no longer looking at one result, you're looking at 4 or 5. It's taken nearly a PL record for Chelsea to be infront.

We have achieved so much in a short period of time and we will get better...

 

[marlowe78]

I've been doubtful that we'll reach top 4 this season and this game only reinforced that thought. If you're not going to beat your competition for top 4 regularly (which we haven't), you at least have to beat clubs like Stoke to have a realistic chance of getting there. 2 draws against a crap side like this is unacceptable.

I don't know what Jose was looking for with that lineup. It is as clear as day that Mata would struggle in a game like this and on top of that, he cost us a goal, though it was not really his fault. Mkhitarian like some other players looked severely off the pace so our only wing 'danger' was offered by Valencia, who makes 1 good cross out of every 5,000 attempts. Rashford should've been in the lineup to give Stoke someone to think about but Jose doesn't seem to trust him enough or want him starting. The result is that we had no real threat on either side.

We created some good chances that we should've scored on but I think overall our play was slow and labored. After Stoke fluked going 1-0 up, all they wanted to do was sit back and crowd us out and we were between a rock and a hard place with turtles like Mata, Fellaini, and Ibra on the pitch trying to open them up. The draw was a complete fluke. Rooney took his free kick brilliantly (congratulations to him on the record), but if Allen didn't commit the foul we probably were never pulling back that goal.

Very disappointing outcome. A draw at Stoke isn't that bad of a result but the reason clubs like Chelsea and Spurs are above us are because they are putting balls into the net. Our squad is expensive but should not fool anyone into thinking we have the players at this present time to make a serious run at the title. We are actually on pace to finish with the same number of goals as last season under LVG, when were called dull and lifeless. I wonder what we look like now with Pogba, Ibra, and Mkhitarian added but the output essentially the same. On a scale of 10, I give us a 4 out of 10.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

5 teams above us.
Made up ground on 1
No ground lost to 2

Arsenal and Chelsea will probably win, but it's still a successful weekend.

 

[Sandikan]

5 teams above us.
Made up ground on 1
No ground lost to 2

Arsenal and Chelsea will probably win, but it's still a successful weekend.

.

I think people were exceptionally blasé about Stoke away, who we haven't beaten there in years now.

To make up a point on Liverpool with the respective fixtures I think would have been seen as great success by everyone pre games.

 

[Wumminator]

I feel like Man City haven't won in five months and yet we're still behind them.

 

[wolvored]

Were going in the right direction and I can see us winning a cup or two this season. Whether we get 4th place is still up in the air atm. there is still 16 games to play, were still unbeaten in 3 months. Theres still a lot to be positive for. With Liverpool and Spurs City result its not so bad as it could of been.

 

[RC89]

The worst thing is, Mata is probably our most clinical finisher. And then he goes and missed that sitter

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Really thought we were good today, Stoke away is a bitch of a game, yet we completely bossed it, yes we only drew, but most seasons that would be classed as a good result, it is the earlier season games that have killed us points wise.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

.

To make up a point on Liverpool with the respective fixtures I think would have been seen as great success by everyone pre games.

Agreed. People speak as if we should win every game. We obviously won't. An away draw at Stoke isn't a great result. But it's not a bad one either. It's solid.

Frustrating weekend but at least it's a positive one. Haven't really had a bad weekend for maybe two months now.

 

[humdinger]

Disappointing not to have capitalised on rivals dropping points today but I'm actually really pleased with the team's new-found resilience. Feels like we've picked up more late points so far this season than we did under LVG and Moyes put together. While it would be nice to take a comfortable lead and coast a game I now am generally confident that we aren't going to lose just because we go behind, even going into the final 10 minutes, whereas last season I had no faith we would manage a comeback.

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

Important thing to me right now is that we've won a load of games, stayed unbeaten and we've actually deserved it. We look a good side again. We were atrocious in front of goal and that's cost us two points again but I'll accept being frustrating over bang your head against a wall boring. We probably do need a striker and we won't get one of the calibre we want in January so we'll see more of these. It's OK, we're on the right track.

 

[DMacgraw]

Jose dropped a major bollock today. I'm interested to hear his reasoning for playing Fellaini over Carrick.

One of the really big issues I have with Mourinho is that he is far too reactive in his tactical decision-making. With the players we have, I would expect that he will concentrate on how we will impose ourselves and the other team and force them to react to us. Instead, Mourinho's main priority, always, is how to counter the other team. Even against low-level teams like Stoke. Stoke has big and physical players, so he selects the tallest and biggest players in our team to counter them, never mind that we have real skillful players and he should be forcing Stoke to figure out how they can negate our skill. A team with Martial, Rashford, and Mykhi leading the attack, with Carrick contolling the tempo and passing the ball through the lanes could have given Stoke real problems today. Fellaini?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Disappointing not to have capitalised on rivals dropping points today but I'm actually really pleased with the team's new-found resilience. Feels like we've picked up more late points so far this season than we did under LVG and Moyes put together. While it would be nice to take a comfortable lead and coast a game I now am generally confident that we aren't going to lose just because we go behind, even going into the final 10 minutes, whereas last season I had no faith we would manage a comeback.

They are getting back to fighting to the end. That is a good thing. Their heads don't drop.

 

[Siorac]

We're going to finish sixth, aren't we? It feels like we're absolutely unable to climb any higher than that; the moment we even get close, the team shits itself.

 

[podurban2]

We're going to finish sixth, aren't we? It feels like we're absolutely unable to climb any higher than that; the moment we even get close, the team shits itself.

I honestly don't expect more. It seemed to be turned around but seeing the players we have that Mou fields, nah.

 

[lysglimt]

Can somebody explain to me why several newspapers completely slaughter our players in the player ratings ? MEN probably gave the worst ratings I have seen ever. Did they even watch the game ? None of our players were poor - Mata was really unlucky and naturally should be "punished" for that - but he wasn't poor.

And how someone can give Valencia 5 ? Even his crosses were decent today

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Can somebody explain to me why several newspapers completely slaughter our players in the player ratings ? MEN probably gave the worst ratings I have seen ever. Did they even watch the game ? None of our players were poor - Mata was really unlucky and naturally should be "punished" for that - but he wasn't poor.

And how someone can give Valencia 5 ? Even his crosses were decent today

I noticed that. Ridiculous marks. Very harsh. It's the fact they will give high marks to the other side when they contributed sod all to the game, yet the side who tried to win it gets hammered.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Congrats to Rooney. Result is what you would get when you start with Mata in the starting lineup. Apart for his occasional goals, he brings nothing to the team.

He scores more than the occasional goal but I agree, he doesn't influence the game enough for a player in his position. He seems to flit around the periphery of games without the power or personality to get stuck into and dominate them.

Think Mkhi's got his spot pretty much nailed down now, hence Mata appearing very out-of-sorts.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Agreed. People speak as if we should win every game. We obviously won't. An away draw at Stoke isn't a great result. But it's not a bad one either. It's solid.

Frustrating weekend but at least it's a positive one. Haven't really had a bad weekend for maybe two months now.

Completely agree. The reaction as the same as it was when we drew with Burnley at home. But one is an obvious slip-up and one is a decent result in a hard away game. Genuinely don't understand the hysteria.