[MancFanFromManc]

After 6 successive clean sheets, to concede after 9 seconds was just shocking. I thought we recovered amazingly well and had some decent half chances which we should've better with. The ridiculous Jones OG killed us. I was frustrated that we seemed to play even worse in the second half. Bit worrying that Mourinho couldnt inspire us to play better. Then his subs were v odd. Bringing on our two slowest players onto huge the Wembley pitch baffled me. Someone explain to me on what planet is Fellaini a better option to get back into a game than Rashford?!?

I was raging last night, but having calmed down, all I save is well played Spurs (annoying though they are when they start taking the p*ss) and I wouldnt expect us to play that badly again til the end of season

I'm going on Saturday. Sanchez home debut and Munich remembered. Should be a great occasion, hoping for a handsome win

 

[Tincanalley]

It has always been Jose's problem. Too conservative against the top clubs. He likes to win 1-0s against big team or even keep a draw and win against all other clubs but sadly for him, there are many teams capable of winning against us at their home grounds and we sometimes lose big games at home as well.

As long as we have Jose, i doubt we'll see any huge fearless play by United.

Thread lagging a bit? You still in 2017?

 

[Tonjo]

Surprisingly, Lukaku who is so big has not won many challenges in the air and is too soft with his ground challenges. Playing Spurs with 1 protecting mid-field was a mistake. Matic has been overworked and maybe needed a rest. Young is getting bad in defending. Time to let Shaw play consistantly. Looked like Herrera and Mata is not good enough against the Spurs mid-field. Martial is inconsistant. Pogba has an off day. United really missed Baily. Should have played Linderof. No need to talk about Smalling and Jones. They are still as shaky as ever in defence.

 

[Tincanalley]

Anyone who saw the recent Stoke game, in which Steven Ireland was gifted two opportunities to score but was too mediocre to finish, should have seen this coming. Playing with a one-man midfield and five attackers was a disaster waiting to happen. If Mourinho persists with a 4-2-3-1, I hope he moves Pogba to the No 10 position. He has played there before and never really impressed, but at least it keeps him from being a defensive liability.

You are right. Matic was left on his own. Then Jose had words with Pogba, and for a while he went back and played alongside Matic, but he soon got bored of it. Then Jose took him off. Not good at all.
A. The formation/strategy was wrong and the players asked to do it might not have agreed with it.
B. There may be other dynamics coming into the squad with the arrival of Sanchez.

Meant a lacklustre display, and probably all kinds of sheet behind the scenes. Hopefully it gets sorted.

 

[Full bodied red]

How much of Cnut is Dele Alli and why am i so surprised that not one single CB in the premier league has targeted him.

even last night i wanted one of our players to put in a dirty tackle against Alli a Keane or Scholes like Tackle to let the little bastard know.

Spurs are the dirtiest team in the league, they foul and kick and whenever someone touches their players they dive.

I was at the Spurs match at OT earlier in the season and Spurs were at it all match kicking and foul opponents but as soon as anyone comes near them they dive

Not too sure about the WHOLE Spurs team - they're a bit niggly and moaners rather than out-and-out thugs.

But Ali....What a horrible, little twatting scrote he is !!

Me too hoping that one day he gets it good and hard from some other twatting scrote like Shawcross or Luiz - six months out of the game, on crutches, would just about make up for the six months or so he should have missed by now for the shit he's been giving out and hasn't been sent off and banned.

Just hoping that the next time he's on the pitch playing against us, Rojo and Fellaini and Bailly make sure the stretcher carriers are needed.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

Well the 11 seconds set the tone and it felt like people just gave up because fundamentally on the game as core people were having stinkers. Pogba, Lukaku and the defence in general.

Those 11 seconds set the tone because that we never corrected ourselves despite that early burn, and we just allowed Tottenham to keep breaking and run freely at our defence.

You can't look seperately at player performances without also looking at what they were tasked with. If the team is set up poorly and you're playing a team of Tottenhams strenght at they're home ground, then you're going to get poor performances. Thats what tactical set-ups and training is all about isn't it? To maximise the performances of your own set of individuals while inhibiting the strenghts of your opponents. We were naive to not seriously reconsider the latter during the course of yesterdays game.
It's not like it's rocket science either, the Pogba-Matic duet for example has been problematic from the start of the season and yesterday it came to it's point.

 

[MrBest]

They won it about 2 months back. Wouldnt have made a bit of difference if we had have won tonight. They were never going to lose 4 games and we certainly wouldnt have gone on winning every game left.

I was deluded and still had hope, especially after getting Sanchez. At least i am no longer deluded!

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Not too sure about the WHOLE Spurs team - they're a bit niggly and moaners rather than out-and-out thugs.

But Ali....What a horrible, little twatting scrote he is !!

Me too hoping that one day he gets it good and hard from some other twatting scrote like Shawcross or Luiz - six months out of the game, on crutches, would just about make up for the six months or so he should have missed by now for the shit he's been giving out and hasn't been sent off and banned.

Just hoping that the next time he's on the pitch playing against us, Rojo and Fellaini and Bailly make sure the stretcher carriers are needed.

Its a tactic that works for them, they set the tone early with the fouling and then roll around when they are hit and the ref books the opposition.

 

[balaks]

Not too sure about the WHOLE Spurs team - they're a bit niggly and moaners rather than out-and-out thugs.

But Ali....What a horrible, little twatting scrote he is !!

Me too hoping that one day he gets it good and hard from some other twatting scrote like Shawcross or Luiz - six months out of the game, on crutches, would just about make up for the six months or so he should have missed by now for the shit he's been giving out and hasn't been sent off and banned.

Just hoping that the next time he's on the pitch playing against us, Rojo and Fellaini and Bailly make sure the stretcher carriers are needed.

That's a ridiculous thing to say about any player. Wise up.

 

[James Peril]

Tactics and losing, it’s probably best not to say too much after a game like this. One thing I do miss, and what I’m surprised about, is our lack of grit. The first thing I expected from Mourinho would be to create a team that dies for the team, a team nobody wants to play because it's going to hurt. At Chelsea, you could see the players fired up for Mourinho every single game. You could see the look from Terry, Carvalho, Makelele, Ballack, Drogba etc - teams feared going to Stamford Bridge because they knew they were going to be battered, both in terms of scoreline and tackles.

As for this game, who cares. We lost whilst playing shit and not running around as much as them. We beat Arsenal 1-3 at the Emirates, Spurs lost 2-0. A loss is a loss, even if it's against Spurs or Swansea. The team that's the most fired up will always win if the other team is not arriving with the right mentality (and tactics). Hopefully we'll learn.

 

[Adisa]

Who else didn't really believe it when Eriksen scored?
Took about a minute for it to register. I thought I was watching a highlight of a previous game.

 

[haram]

Who else didn't really believe it when Eriksen scored?
Took about a minute for it to register. I thought I was watching a highlight of a previous game.

Thought they were gonna score as soon as we lost the first header.

 

[Juanuzayne]

Matic was a big liability yesterday. Him and Young actually. Trippier ran riot along the right and the movement between Son Ali and Kane was too much for the Great Wall that is a Smalling and Jones partnership. To think that these two were supposed to be the future of English defence.

 

[sully1]

That's a ridiculous thing to say about any player. Wise up.

F Off

How many more players is Alli going to kick and put bad tackles on before he breaks someones leg.

Hes got it coming and deserves it.

he tried to end 2 different players careers a few weeks ago when Arsenal twatted you.

 

[Lash]

Those 11 seconds set the tone because that we never corrected ourselves despite that early burn, and we just allowed Tottenham to keep breaking and run freely at our defence.

You can't look seperately at player performances without also looking at what they were tasked with. If the team is set up poorly and you're playing a team of Tottenhams strenght at they're home ground, then you're going to get poor performances. Thats what tactical set-ups and training is all about isn't it? To maximise the performances of your own set of individuals while inhibiting the strenghts of your opponents. We were naive to not seriously reconsider the latter during the course of yesterdays game.
It's not like it's rocket science either, the Pogba-Matic duet for example has been problematic from the start of the season and yesterday it came to it's point.

I find this a incredibly naive way to look at football. You basically are blaming what they were tasked to do by the manager was wrong and that's why they played poorly. When he explained 4 mistakes in the first 11 seconds, which he would have never tasked them to do and caused them to be 1-0 down.

Tactical set-ups and training mean bugger all if your key players decide to have howlers. You're also assuming, Mourinho - a world class coach, glossed over the inhibiting the strengths of tottenham with his tactical set up. It just simply wouldn't have happened.

This Pogba - Matic midfield excuse is crap. Why the feck is Pogba such a diva he can't do as he's told for a match, how is that Mourinho's tactical blunder that his star CM wouldn't be disciplined. All the pundits in the BT studio criticised the players for their lack of character, highlighting Pogba's lack of discipline in there.

 

[balaks]

F Off

How many more players is Alli going to kick and put bad tackles on before he breaks someones leg.

Hes got it coming and deserves it.

Nobody should wish injury on any player. What the heck is wrong with you?

 

[Full bodied red]

That's a ridiculous thing to say about any player. Wise up.

You may be right....In Ali's case, I should have said nine months....

 

[Catt]

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks. She's in cat heaven now

 

[balaks]

In all my years as a football fan there have been players I've really disliked and those I've loved to hate but never have I wished a serious injury on anybody. That's f'ing ridiculous. You may think I'm wrong but I think you are a piece of sh*t if you genuinely think that.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

How much of Cnut is Dele Alli and why am i so surprised that not one single CB in the premier league has targeted him.

even last night i wanted one of our players to put in a dirty tackle against Alli a Keane or Scholes like Tackle to let the little bastard know.

Spurs are the dirtiest team in the league, they foul and kick and whenever someone touches their players they dive.

I was at the Spurs match at OT earlier in the season and Spurs were at it all match kicking and foul opponents but as soon as anyone comes near them they dive

No were not, nowhere near it.

Nobody should wish injury on any player. What the heck is wrong with you?

It is the ignorant tribalism of football.

 

[sully1]

Nobody should wish injury on any player. What the heck is wrong with you?

dirty B@stard does it to every team

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

dirty B@stard does it to every team

Could pull up many player pics like this, hes a bit cnutish granted but why would a fan wish any player to get seriously injured is beyond me.

 

[sully1]

its coming dele dont worry. what goes around comes around my friend

 

[Sgeorge]

Team was unbalanced. Matic on his own cannot control the midfield. Not sure why Jose is persisting with Pogba in a midfield 2 strategy.

I hope to see a more 4-3-3 with Herrera as the second midfielder (he has the legs and can press). I think the game also showed why Jones and Smalling might be a problem because of the lack of ball playing skills and IMO at least on of the CB's should be comfortable with ball at his feet. May be Lindelof who was showing sings of quality in the recent few games he played should have started. Also some of the other selections from Jose were questionable. Like Young over Shaw, an in-form Martial moved to the right and perhaps Sanchez should have started on the bench not disrupting the chemistry in a big game.

But the most concerning was after Jose said in post match that the confidence and mentality was down after the second goal went in, but why couldn't he motivate the players for a better second half performance?

 

[Full bodied red]

In all my years as a football fan there have been players I've really disliked and those I've loved to hate but never have I wished a serious injury on anybody. That's f'ing ridiculous. You may think I'm wrong but I think you are a piece of sh*t if you genuinely think that.

Think what you want....I know I'm quite a nice person, really....

Ali is the most unpleasant, horrible twat in the PL at the moment, and I only think about him and wish for his future in the same way the ABU's thought about Keane and Scholes and Cantona and Vidic for years.

Keano eventually got what was his due that day at Leeds, even if it was more by accident than retribution.

Ali's day will surely come, also - I just hope it's at OT and I'm there to see it.

 

[ash_86]

You, me , my dog could see Pogba struggling with a two man midfield in big games. Why is Jose not realizing this? Not everyone can defend and attack with the same intensity. We got to accept the fact that Pogba needs help in the middle and throwing in more attacking players is not going to help with the balance of the team. Have we gone to any big away games with 3 midfielders with Jose at the helm?

 

[Danillaco]

As a guy that knows little about gameplan, I keep trying to find why we don't play the way we should, and was rewatching the HLs to torture myself. Just after the goal, Spurs create a chance with Kane, and this is where it came from:

How the feck, we let three players so central in front of our area, we have our LB pushing up, our DM covering the spot and our CM pushing forward too.

How can we expect to compete in the midfield with errors like this? Or Jose is having a hard time getting tactics right, or players are wildly undisciplined.

We should never let a scenario like this happen, or defense push up too as a unit or will leave a huge gap in the heart of the field. You see JOnes tried to step and take a little of ground but it was too late.

 

[sully1]

Think what you want....I know I'm quite a nice person, really....

Ali is the most unpleasant, horrible twat in the PL at the moment, and I only think about him and wish for his future in the same way the ABU's thought about Keane and Scholes and Cantona and Vidic for years.

Keano eventually got what was his due that day at Leeds, even if it was more by accident than retribution.

Ali's day will surely come, also - I just hope it's at OT and I'm there to see it.

THIS.

What goes around comes around and when it happens to Dele im gona throw a party.

 

[GiddyUp]

its coming dele dont worry. what goes around comes around my friend

Don't worry, the English red tops will take care of him during the Summer when he enevitably kicks out like that and "loses" the World Cup for them.
Until then I hope we meet them again and he is left with a mark of the occasion. He should have seen red for them tackles, and yes, the Sanchez one also. It was so obvious what he was doing, no attempt at the ball, not a wild swing to put his foot in but a deliberate kick at an opponent just to be a cnut. And that's what he is and from this day forth I will cheer every time someone puts this petulant prick on his face.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

I find this a incredibly naive way to look at football. You basically are blaming what they were tasked to do by the manager was wrong and that's why they played poorly. When he explained 4 mistakes in the first 11 seconds, which he would have never tasked them to do and caused them to be 1-0 down.

Tactical set-ups and training mean bugger all if your key players decide to have howlers. You're also assuming, Mourinho - a world class coach, glossed over the inhibiting the strengths of tottenham with his tactical set up. It just simply wouldn't have happened.

This Pogba - Matic midfield excuse is crap. Why the feck is Pogba such a diva he can't do as he's told for a match, how is that Mourinho's tactical blunder that his star CM wouldn't be disciplined. All the pundits in the BT studio criticised the players for their lack of character, highlighting Pogba's lack of discipline in there.

Please, you can make mistakes and you can go down in a sequence of bad play but that doesn't excuse 75 minutes of Tottenham dominance. Forget about that minute, you have to be able to concede a goal without resorting to throwing in the towel for fecks sake. I'll critizise Mourinho when I see it fit, just as I've criticized LvG, Moyes, SAF and any other manager. LVG is also an incredibly merited manager, did you never question how he set up the team either? Even if we can applaud the ambitiousness, you have to concede that from the get-go, we didn't have any grip of that game whatsoever, and it got worse as the game progressed and with how Mourinho managed it. The amount of times where Tottenham found themselves matching our defenders for numbers while attacking should've been enough evidence for anyone.

It's one of the most merited excuses? How many times do we need to watch teams walk right through us before we decide that we need to make a change to our midfield. Mourinho's had a year and a half now to prepare Pogba for that role and he's obviously not managed to do it for one reason or another. So he has to decide, either replace Pogba or change the setup yet he's done neither.

 

[sully1]

Don't worry, the English red tops will take care of him during the Summer when he enevitably kicks out like that and "loses" the World Cup for them.
Until then I hope we meet them again and he is left with a mark of the occasion. He should have seen red for them tackles, and yes, the Sanchez one also. It was so obvious what he was doing, no attempt at the ball, not a wild swing to put his foot in but a deliberate kick at an opponent just to be a cnut. And that's what he is and from this day forth I will cheer every time someone puts this petulant prick on his face.

Its coming bro dont worry, Karma is a bitch and when you intentionally go in trying to seriously hurt other players one of them same players is going to do it back to you.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Don't worry, the English red tops will take care of him during the Summer when he enevitably kicks out like that and "loses" the World Cup for them.
Until then I hope we meet them again and he is left with a mark of the occasion. He should have seen red for them tackles, and yes, the Sanchez one also. It was so obvious what he was doing, no attempt at the ball, not a wild swing to put his foot in but a deliberate kick at an opponent just to be a cnut. And that's what he is and from this day forth I will cheer every time someone puts this petulant prick on his face.

It would be justice if he got sent off in the World Cup and it led to England crashing out. I am English but not a great England fan.

 

[Toddler]

Decided to not comment anything straight after the game because I was so mad. Had to go get drunk.

One of our worst games of the season. Terrible all around. Why on earth did Mourinho play Martial on the right? I cant understand it. Why didn't we play with three in midfield, all the sings were there that the game will be difficult if we let them control the center, we have seen it before? Must be one of the worst performances from our defenders ever, Kane was bossing them.

Carry on.

 

[Vault Dweller]

In all seriousness, the defeat last night seems to have triggered one of the biggest collective meltdowns I've ever witnessed on the Cafe, apart from Midgetland or the 1-6 v City. I mean yes we were atrocious last night, and I was furious too, but feck me I can't believe the amount of knee-jerk threads have been created, and with the volume of absolutely mental posts that is appearing I'm honestly questioning my own sanity and why I am not freaking out more

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Missed the game last night. Sounds like it was for the best.

 

[Lash]

Please, you can make mistakes and you can go down in a sequence of bad play but that doesn't excuse 75 minutes of Tottenham dominance. Forget about that minute, you have to be able to concede a goal without resorting to throwing in the towel for fecks sake. I'll critizise Mourinho when I see it fit, just as I've criticized LvG, Moyes, SAF and any other manager. LVG is also an incredibly merited manager, did you never question how he set up the team either? Even if we can applaud the ambitiousness, you have to concede that from the get-go, we didn't have any grip of that game whatsoever, and it got worse as the game progressed and with how Mourinho managed it. The amount of times where Tottenham found themselves matching our defenders for numbers while attacking should've been enough evidence for anyone.

It's one of the most merited excuses? How many times do we need to watch teams walk right through us before we decide that we need to make a change to our midfield. Mourinho's had a year and a half now to prepare Pogba for that role and he's obviously not managed to do it for one reason or another. So he has to decide, either replace Pogba or change the setup yet he's done neither.

I don't get your first point, isn't that just exactly what I'm saying? That the players just had a mare and no amount of tactical planning can account for that. Majority of football matches are won because the other team are more up for it and to me that's all it seemed like.

Again, why is Tottenham matching our defenders to do with the tactics? I can almost guarantee he didn't say, if the full backs go on, don't bother tracking them or tracking runs from midfield. What tactical tweak would have stopped that from happening exactly and why would they have suddenly started listening then?

OK, I can concede those are things he could do about Pogba, but it is a hell of a lot easier for a player to just play the role he's supposed to and be tactically disciplined.

Anyway, fair enough if you think it was all a tactical blunder on Mourinho's part. I think it's much more all the players played like sh*te and didn't fancy it after it was 2-0.

 

[Tincanalley]

Thanks. She's in cat heaven now

Aww. Sorry to hear.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Could pull up many player pics like this, hes a bit cnutish granted but why would a fan wish any player to get seriously injured is beyond me.

Its ironic how you are defending a player who, yesterday, tried to do exactly this. You Spurs fans are bemusing.

 

[shield]

Can we please learn to pass the ball properly? Our ability to play simple passes is just awful. We take ages to make up our mind about whom to pass the ball.

How many time have I seen our players failing to make simple passes? Do the players even train together?

 

[Stubble]

Definitely wasn't the game to unsettle the whole attacking lineup by moving them around to accommodate Sanchez.
Martial on the left has been great recently as has Lingard through the middle. Yet they both get shunted to the right (in different parts of the game) to accommodate Sanchez and surprise surprise neither is effective. I was worried this would happen with the arrival of Sanchez, he obviously has a preference to play on the left/central (he said it himself). Great player but we need him on the right whether he likes it or not - that is where we are weakest and don't have anyone else being that effective. He has proven he can play in the past there whilst its obvious Martial/Lingard/Rashford cannot. I just hope we don't have weeks of Jose tinkering with this and costing us points before the penny drops. He's damn stubborn - the Matic/Pogba 2 man midfield has cost us again and again but he persists with it..