PL L FA Premier League

Stoke City 2:0 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sat, 26 December 2015

Stoke are a decent side, and even United of old might have struggled.

But we wouldn't have gone into the game expecting to lose. And today, I did.

We had about £100m worth of attacking talent available, and looked as lost as ever going forward.

It's not good enough.
 
Fellaini is the perfect representative of our performances at the moment: You can't say he has no talent, but you can always count on him to produce a recognisable if inadequate imitation of what is required in every situation.

You absolutely can. He's feckin' awful.
 
Shame that a great manager like LvG has to end his career like this but it's simply not working, he's gone IMO and if he's not we should start asking questions about the way the club is being run. 7 games with no win is not acceptable at any club in the league let alone United.
 
Ryan Shawcross was asked, "another win from top opposition.." well thats a lie. United are playing like a midtable team now at best.

Shocking result, some shocking performances. Skocking set up. Shocking team selection. Dont know what else to say about today.
 
Just for the record, In October and November 1961, we lost to Birmingham (h) 0-2; Arsenal (a) 1-5; Bolton (h) 0-3; and Sheff. Wednesday (a) 1-3. We drew the next game at home to Leicester 2-2 but followed that up with consecutive losses to Ipswich (a) 1-4; Burnley (h) 1-4; and Everton (a) 1-5. We're not that poor yet.
 
Good luck to next manager with that crop of players.

Van Gaal trusted wrong players and that is his biggest mistake. Rooney, Mata, Depay, Fellaini.
 
Depay is far too young to be written off, half way through his first season in England playing for a shit team.

So you are saying Depay's consistent poor performance is down to players around him? Nothing to do with him?
 
Shame that a great manager like LvG has to end his career like this but it's simply not working, he's gone IMO and if he's not we should start asking questions about the way the club is being run. 7 games with no win is not acceptable at any club in the league let alone United.
Meh, he's used to it. Happened at Barca and Bayern.
 
We are a terrible, terrible team right now. The likes of Stoke are just superior sides. Sad state of affairs.
 
Isn't Yorkie attached to the club? If so, the way he's talking about Van Gaal right now is quite damning.
 
The fact that this thread has only reached 3 pages speaks volumes.

People aren't even shocked by that kind of 'performance' any more.
 
Ryan Shawcross was asked, "another win from top opposition.." well thats a lie. United are playing like a midtable team now at best.

We are playing like a relegation team.
Our last 7 matches (all comps): LLLLDDD.

That's not mid-table.
 
The fact that this thread has only reached 3 pages speaks volumes.

People aren't even shocked by that kind of 'performance' any more.

I think people are hoping for what should be the inevitable. I'd book Jose for the rest of the season..like Gus at Chelsea, then re-evaluate. Jose always wanted this job...no doubt, so might as well give him a chance.
 
No heart, no fight. Absolutely unacceptable. Never thought I'd see something this pathetic under the banner of Manchester United.
 
Utterly abysmal, entirely predictable. I said we´d lose before the game and we did. Van Gaal is a busted flush. If his philosophy is long balls to Fellaini for 90 minutes then I don't want any part of it.

For all his talk of balance the shape of our midfield was awful. The two man midfield, with Fellaini in a free role, simply could not get into the game. Whenever it received the ball the passing options were always too far away to get moves going. It was a lot like the Moyes era. Those days of seeing Young, Fellaini, Blind on one side, Mata, Herrera, Valenica on the other, with Carrick knitting it all together seem so far away. Amazing to think that all happened in March, under this manager, who abandoned that entire set up for no f'n reason!

The individual mistakes were atrocious but in their own way exmplified Van Gaal´s tendecy for unforced errors. His time is up. The longer United let this continue the more entrenched Liverpoolisation becomes. This must end. Now.
 
A gutless, brain-dead performance that demonstrated absolutely no understanding of the fact that it was windy. Got ourselves into trouble time and time again with our obsession with playing the ball backwards and some crazy challenges near our box. The lack of mobility in our team was evident for all to see. Half the team looked like they didn't want to be playing. Memphis' defensive efforts were truly abysmal for both goals.

The next manager needs to decide which of our painfully slow players (Carrick, Blind, Fellaini, Mata) he rates the most, then get rid of the rest, or at least bench them.
 
Moyes and LVG between them have contrived to destroy our team, club status, and overall football quality. Today we finally failed from beginning to end - squad selection, subs, tactics, and even absence of spirit. Even basic football skills like back headers, marking, movement and passing were all missing. Dire and really only a change will now salvage our season.
 
We'll at least we learned one thing today, Wayne Rooney is not our biggest problem on the field.
 
Getting worse by the game. That was worse than Norwich and Bournemouth. By a distance.

Relegation form. After the Chelsea game, Chelsea could be 5 points behind us and Liverpool 2 points behind us, and both have experienced form worrying enough that they both sacked their managers.

LvG has to go, and if he does, he didn't lose his job because of today. We're out of the Champions League in a favourable group. Out of the League Cup in a very very favourable draw. We could be 7th at the end of the day and lower by New Years Day. The damage was done many weeks ago.
 
You can get rid of LVG but tell me how that turns your players into world beaters?

Too many are just not good enough.

Splash out another £250m in a market where clubs will add an extra £10m per player just because it Utd buying and knowing they're desperate and honestly, no CL, what top players will want to come, anyway?

If Spurs finish top 4 and given they're based in London, unbelievably, I think they'd be seen as a more attractive destination
 
I'm starting to think that our squad is the most overrated team in PL. Too many average players.
 
Serious question - have we made progress since Moyes???
Not at all. I even think that the squad is at best, on the same level that was when Fergie left. Probably, worse than that.

Which is a travesty considering that LVG spent 250m and Moyes another 75m.
 
Moyes and LVG between them have contrived to destroy our team, club status, and overall football quality. Today we finally failed from beginning to end - squad selection, subs, tactics, and even absence of spirit. Even basic football skills like back headers, marking, movement and passing were all missing. Dire and really only a change will now salvage our season.

Don't dump it all on Moyes and Van Gaal. Those who hired them carry some of the blame. Chronic under-investment during Fergie's last five years and a shotgun approach to transfers under Van Gaal and Moyes are part of the cause.
 
So incredibly flat, just lifeless stuff and yet according to the stats we had 6 shots on target, which is nearly as many as the last 4 games combined. Other than Young I didn't feel any outfield player was good today.
 

Player Ratings

4.1 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 425 ratings.

Score Predictions

249,358,164
  • Man Utd win
  • Stoke win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 17% Stoke 2:0 Man Utd
  • 12% Stoke 1:1 Man Utd
  • 12% Stoke 2:1 Man Utd
  • 9% Stoke 1:2 Man Utd
  • 8% Stoke 1:0 Man Utd
  • 8% Stoke 0:0 Man Utd
  • 7% Stoke 0:1 Man Utd
  • 6% Stoke 0:2 Man Utd
  • 3% Stoke 3:0 Man Utd
  • 3% Stoke 3:1 Man Utd
  • 3% Stoke 1:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Stoke 0:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Stoke 0:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Stoke 5:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Stoke 2:2 Man Utd
  • 1% Stoke 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Stoke 2:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 4:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 5:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 1:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 4:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 2:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 5:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Stoke 3:2 Man Utd
Compiled from 771 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Stoke
  2. Man Utd
Possession
41% 59%
Shots
13 11
Shots on Target
3 6
Corners
1 12
Fouls
13 16

Referee

Kevin Friend