[Tapori]

Lukaku scored a lucky goal after missing the first shot (which he would have been slaughter for had he not scored the rebound) - and he should have scored when Martial put in the cross. Not an absolute sitter, but this is why he is brought in - to score those decisive goals when we need them the most. This is was separates the best from the second-best, if you want to last at United and win lots of trophies, you need to be the best. Not bashing him for this miss, there will be many more, but right now I am not very excited with Lukaku. He brings enormous strength and great runs down the corridors, but he brings very little in terms of passing and play. The best strikers bring a lot more, hopefully he will develop this the next few years.

Agreed. He has to do more and I hope he will. Not in terms of "Effort," but in terms of positional play.
His finishing has been stodgy to stay the least.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Well it does go back to the EL final. Not too long ago or maybe it is for you? He has only played 5 minutes this season, so bound to be rusty. Pogba should have been better. The defence was sloppy. The strikers were wasteful. Maybe just not the game for three in midfield.

Yeah true. EL final feels like a lifetime ago to me

 

[GM K]

Crap defending. Bailly had a day off. Lucky we still have Smalling and Lindelof.

Did you notice that Bailly's problems started after that injury scare he had in the game?

It was so glaring. I kept thinking, 'Jose, please change Bailly now before we concede and before I could sigh, Stoke scored.'

It looked as if the moment Bailly's level dropped in that game, Jones lost his mojo too and I found that strange.

 

[Fiskey]

The overeactions in here are comical. Stoke played really well in parts, we played OK but with a couple of defensive errors that cost us. Take the medicine and move on, we don't lose the league away at Soke.

 

[saivet]

Just seen MOTD. Obviously a limited view, but seems we played okay and should have won that game. Certainly didn't come away worried about the performance.

 

[NotQuiteManc]

Did you notice that Bailly's problems started after that injury scare he had in the game?

It was so glaring. I kept thinking, 'Jose, please change Bailly now before we concede and before I could sigh, Stoke scored.'

It looked as if the moment Bailly's level dropped in that game, Jones lost his mojo too and I found that strange.

I guess you were right. It is a disappointing result, but in the long run, at least for the rest of the week, I think keeping Bailly on was more or less the less risky rather than to sub Smalling in and risk of him getting injured as well, and not having him for UCL game.

 

[RetroStu]

Liverpool just beat Arsenal 4-0, and lost to City 5-0 in their next match. Anything can happen in this league these days.
Having said that, a win against teams like Stoke gives us more leeway to drop points against the better teams.

 

[GM K]

I guess you were right. It is a disappointing result, but in the long run, at least for the rest of the week, I think keeping Bailly on was more or less the less risky rather than to sub Smalling in and risk of him getting injured as well, and not having him for UCL game.

Excellent. I like it when people look at the big picture.

Easy to slate Jose for not changing him but when you consider the big CL game we have this week, it puts things into perspective. I have a feeling the same applies to keeping Mata and Blind on the bench. I am guessing Jose sees this period as the time to give the other players game time and fulfill his promises to them regarding playing time.

 

[redshaw]

At 60mins in I was hoping Jose would make some changes.

While we didn't play badly I thought Stoke were good in the second half. We went 2-1 up quite fortunately so I immediately thought lets close the game out for another 3 points or at least change something as we looked vulnerable. Don't think Herrera Matic Pogba worked that well either. When we went to a more familiar system we looked a lot more comfortable dealing with their attacks for the last 20 minutes.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

I'm surprised to see so many negative comments here. Stoke played very well but we should have won comfortably at least 2-0 without school boy errors from Baily and Jones.

Overall, we were in control for the majority of the game and Stoke were never dangerous. They were gifted very easy 2 goals by our defender.

Any other day it could be 4-0 or 5-0 again.

 

[rpg]

Why aren't Fellaini in when we go 2-1 up? Shut up shop and counter attack as usual. Is it because Mata isn't there?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Why aren't Fellaini in when we go 2-1 up? Shut up shop and counter attack as usual. Is it because Mata isn't there?

He was injured.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

If Fellanni was available, he could've prevented the Stoke second goal from going in. Jones yesterday position during the corner for the second goal is where usually Fellanni will defend. And Fellanni is much better defending high ball than Jones.

 

[Sensei]

How did Mourinho make people fall in love with the scum of the earth?

 

[Jeffthered]

Some of these posts surprise me. That's a decent result. Neither side played that well, and we earned a point away at a tough place to visit. What is wrong with that? We can't expect players and teams to perform very well every game. We just looked off the pace a little, and lacked spark and inspiration in my opinion.

Which takes me back to my only concern and real observation about the coming season for me. Our progress and success will be determined by our attacking forwards; Lindgaard, Martial, Mata and Mikitahyrian. I am happy with the team.. the likes of Carrick, Fellani know their role. I will welcome Ashley Young and Zlatan back, we need their commitment and positive approach.

Lindgaard, Martial, Mata and Mikitahyrian... all good players with talent, but I don't see them doing enough to really, REALLY impose themselves upon and within the United team. They don't lead, don't win games, and they must have that ability to play at United in that position... at some time, we will require that, and it worries me that it doesn't seem this message is getting across. Can't always look at Pogba, Rashford, Lukaku etc.

Lindgaard, Mata, Martial.. do they want to go to the World Cup? Effect the United team? I need to see more personality from these players. When we play well, is it because of them? Or do they benefit from how we play?

Need more from these players. Much more in my opinon.

 

[Jeffthered]

Some of these posts surprise me. That's a decent result. Neither side played that well, and we earned a point away at a tough place to visit. What is wrong with that? We can't expect players and teams to perform very well every game. We just looked off the pace a little, and lacked spark and inspiration in my opinion.

Which takes me back to my only concern and real observation about the coming season for me. Our progress and success will be determined by our attacking forwards; Lindgaard, Martial, Mata and Mikitahyrian. I am happy with the team.. the likes of Carrick, Fellani know their role. I will welcome Ashley Young and Zlatan back, we need their commitment and positive approach.

Lindgaard, Martial, Mata and Mikitahyrian... all good players with talent, but I don't see them doing enough to really, REALLY impose themselves upon and within the United team. They don't lead, don't win games, and they must have that ability to play at United in that position... at some time, we will require that, and it worries me that it doesn't seem this message is getting across. Can't always look at Pogba, Rashford, Lukaku etc.

Lindgaard, Mata, Martial.. do they want to go to the World Cup? Effect the United team? I need to see more personality from these players. When we play well, is it because of them? Or do they benefit from how we play?

Need more from these players. Much more in my opinon.

And in reply to my own post, Martial has done well off the bench in first few games.... but I just expect more from him. Has so much ability.

 

[red_john]

I thought we was going to win prior to kick off but credit to stoke. I think alot of our fans have been getting carried away with our start and expecting us to go the season unbeaten (yes iv seen a few comments). I thought we played okay throughout the game and it was down to poor performances from our CB's who I think got complacent with their good starts. Hopefully this wakes them up.

A point away at stoke is not bad. We are still lacking in some areas especially out wide and the full back positions. Lukaku was unfortunate not to win the game with his last chance so could of been a different story. It will be interesting to see how we react against Basel and Everton.

 

[Ramshock]

Ander was a non entity yesterday. I wonder what the deal with him is.

 

[mitchmouse]

Stoke, as a lot of people have said here, are not a bad side - especially at home --and Mark Hughes has them well drilled. That said, I think the game showed we are still fairly easy to negate and still lack that world-class game-changer that the top top side have (Ronaldo is the obvious example) and no one truly special on the bench (the likes of Ole G). No one really stood out for me in the game and I agree with those who say Lukaku should have buried the first attempt and was lucky it came back to him. I also feel that to blame Jones alone for their equaliser is a bit tough: DDG lost his bearings too; came and stopped. When all that is said, though, I'd like to think not many teams will got to Stoke and win, although Chelsea and Spurs might...

 

[Dante]

We were the better team from the first to the last minute. The game hinged on three avoidable moments (the two defensive errors and Lukaku's miss) that could have gone either way. It just so happened that they all went the wrong way from United's point of view. That's the nature of football and sport in general. We're still favourites for the title, imo. Games like this will happen to everyone.

 

[vanderpants]

Still waiting for us to batter Stoke at their ground, hate them with a passion and its frustrating that we constantly struggle against them.

 

[shield]

Very poor play from us. One of those where you felt that even if we had got 30 or so extra minutes we would still not have scored. Things got better when Martial, Mata and Lingard came in.

Also, felt Lukaku was quite poor too. Missed a penalty in the last match, then almost missed the first goal and then missed the Martial chance as well. He needs to get his finishing right.

 

[Escobar]

We still cant open up teams who defend deep. We almost get never through, cant apply constant pressure and create different kind of chances

 

[glazed]

We looked uncomfortable against a team we couldn't dominate for size or speed either at the back or the front. We had to out-football them instead and we couldn't quite do it.

How Zouma wasn't MotM I just don't get. He looked very good.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

We looked uncomfortable against a team we couldn't dominate for size or speed either at the back or the front. We had to out-football them instead and we couldn't quite do it.

How Zouma wasn't MotM I just don't get. He looked very good.

Because he didn't score the 2 goals

 

[Inigo Montoya]

If Fellanni was available, he could've prevented the Stoke second goal from going in. Jones yesterday position during the corner for the second goal is where usually Fellanni will defend. And Fellanni is much better defending high ball than Jones.

If George Best had been playing we'd have wrapped it up by half time...he wasn't and we drew.

Let's get over it shall we

 

[crazylegz]

a great display from ex-united player fletcher yesterday

 

[SirScholes]

If Fellanni was available, he could've prevented the Stoke second goal from going in. Jones yesterday position during the corner for the second goal is where usually Fellanni will defend. And Fellanni is much better defending high ball than Jones.

I don't buy this, he could of got sent off or lost his man like against arsenal.
Shit happens on we go, but the day we fail to win because Fellaini wasn't available will be a sad day

 

[sunama]

hopefully Shaw will sort out left back and can stay fit

So, in 3+ seasons, barring 10 games, he has constantly been injured, fat, unfit or just not good enough to play in the first team.
Even today, he is not ready to play for our first team.
Given the above, what makes you think he is in any way, worthy or capable of being our LB?

This is a genuine question and I am not having a go at you. I just want to know why so many fans think Shaw is the answer to our LB problem.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Glad there has been some reasonable posts since I looked yesterday. A draw in Stoke is not a bad result. Every game away from home is tough. Some of the posts yesterday were ridiculous, as if we were expected to stroll through the match. At home maybe, but not away from home.

Still think Mourinho will be frustrated we did not hang on to the lead.

 

[UnitedBoy]

So, in 3+ seasons, barring 10 games, he has constantly been injured, fat, unfit or just not good enough to play in the first team.
Even today, he is not ready to play for our first team.
Given the above, what makes you think he is in any way, worthy or capable of being our LB?

This is a genuine question and I am not having a go at you. I just want to know why so many fans think Shaw is the answer to our LB problem.

Because having our left back position covered by an actual left back would already improve us. And Shaw, is as good as anyone when he isn't injured, fat or unfit

 

[buckooo1978]

So, in 3+ seasons, barring 10 games, he has constantly been injured, fat, unfit or just not good enough to play in the first team.
Even today, he is not ready to play for our first team.
Given the above, what makes you think he is in any way, worthy or capable of being our LB?

This is a genuine question and I am not having a go at you. I just want to know why so many fans think Shaw is the answer to our LB problem.

I'm hopeful for a few reasons

1. he's shown he has the ability albeit in 10 games or so before that injury. he did have some very good performances in that first season but injuries got in the way then.

2. Jose was a major critic last season and very disrespectful with those comments about doing the thinking for Shaw - the fact he is still at the club and Jose has spoken very positively about him says a lot to me about what he expects from Shaw this season and beyond

3. he's a defender playing under Jose - Jose has a track record of developing top defenders and good defensive units so I am hopeful Shaw can develop in the same way

I'm hopeful but there are obviously no guarantees

 

[Leftback99]

So, in 3+ seasons, barring 10 games, he has constantly been injured, fat, unfit or just not good enough to play in the first team.
Even today, he is not ready to play for our first team.
Given the above, what makes you think he is in any way, worthy or capable of being our LB?

This is a genuine question and I am not having a go at you. I just want to know why so many fans think Shaw is the answer to our LB problem.

He was our best player at the start of the 15/16 season (match ratings on here would back this up I think). It's not unreasonable for people to think that he could get back to that level.

Personally based on what I've seen since injury I doubt he'll ever get back to the same level. Hopefully wrong.

 

[Sandikan]

Because having our left back position covered by an actual left back would already improve us. And Shaw, is as good as anyone when he isn't injured, fat or unfit

The obvious massive problem is that statement is becoming more and more a historical view, as he's had about one excellent month here since signing.

It'll be quite a big turnaround to become what we thought he'd become now, despite only being 22

 

[Ainu]

How did Mourinho make people fall in love with the scum of the earth?

Care to elaborate?

 

[royboy16]

Looks like smalling is going to get a run.

 

[Litch]

Honestly some on here deserve us to win feck all. Wouldn't mind if they had the same opinion about the players when we are winning but remarkably they don't. Strangely enough, people are only negative about them when we lose? Not surprised some of those football fans that go to say Bury on a Wednesday night have such a negative view of the bratty way some on here respond to not winning.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Pity the couldn't have had the match on today instead of yesterday. Super sunday was not so super.

 

[ice-bionic red]

Ya I think the bottom line is we shouldn't have changed our team and tactics, its impossible to say for sure of course but had we kept the same team maybe we don't look so disjointed and offbeat which in turn keeps all our players on top of their game including Bailly and Jones. They still could have made the individual mistakes obviously but everyone looked a little off which might not have been the case with the same settled team.

Agree. Not blaming Herrera or anyone in particular. I was just completely against the change of the team.

Gutted about the result still

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Honestly some on here deserve us to win feck all. Wouldn't mind if they had the same opinion about the players when we are winning but remarkably they don't. Strangely enough, people are only negative about them when we lose? Not surprised some of those football fans that go to say Bury on a Wednesday night have such a negative view of the bratty way some on here respond to not winning.

Right on. It's embarrassing.