[Snuffkin]

I wonder how long the change of tactic will last

I think throwing a curve ball to unsettle the opposition is more important in big games like City and Pool. Predictable tactics let us down against Pool but the players weren't up for it, Liverpool had the impotus. A change of personel is as good as a change in tactics to gain the upperhand going into the game. Players who have a point to prove can spur the team on and write the headlines before a ball is kicked. Sancho is an obvious candidate for the weekend,

 

[Daengophile]

I wonder how much the players had in terms of the defensive changes...

The truth is that with a clean sheet and the skills up front I'd always fancy our chances.

And for the glass half empty brigade, they can always moan about the odd scoreless draw

 

[RedRonaldo]

That's a fair assessment. This week will be interesting. He has to persist with the 352 now, surely? I wonder how long the change of tactic will last and what it will mean for players like Sancho who may struggle to find a place in the system.

As long as we are winning, I would care less for Sancho, who has been massively underperforming anyway.

 

[mehro]

I am hoping Ole lost this, but still happy we won this with a clean sheet.

Ole is still at the wheel

Wtf is wrong with you

 

[Midfield]

By far a better team. Kudos for Ole with his effort to lift the confidence of his players after 0-5 massacre.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Clean sheet. Fred played well. Good pressing. De Gea had nothing to do. Bizarro world.

Genuinely interested in why you singled out Fred for playing well. In my opinion he was the worst player in our team. His movement is confused. He runs away from the ball when he should run towards it, runs into a teammate’s space too often, has difficulty bringing passes that are a little too hot under control, his passing is wayward, he’s lightweight in challenges. Today he was all those things. What did you see?

How did you rate McT? I think McT was rampant today while Fred was abject. Tell me what I’m not seeing.

 

[Flexdegea]

By far a better team. Kudos for Ole with his effort to lift the confidence of his players after 0-5 massacre.

You top fan,..,.,.sick

 

[Flexdegea]

Wtf is wrong with you

Makes me sick fans likes this

 

[Bondi77]

I had us in Last Man Standing......never in doubt!

 

[Isotope]

Just imagine spending big money on Eric Dier.

 

[largelyworried]

Before the first goal (39'), we had more passes on their Mid and Final third (Target Zone). We had 5 key passes to their 2 (Pass Type). We both had 5 shots, but all of us from open play, compare to them 4 shots from set pieces.

But you could be right, though.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...-League-2021-2022-Tottenham-Manchester-United

Being better than the other tesm and dominating the other team are not the same thing.

 

[Roosney]

All the goals were pretty fecking nice. Well done players and Ole.

 

[mitchmouse]

Much better performance all round but let's not kid ourselves - Spurs were almost as bad as we were last week. We kept a clean sheet because they pretty much didn't have a shot on target.

I've been srceaming out for Ronaldo wide and Cavani down the middle. it worked agains Atlanta in the second half and now at Spurs. Playing wide enable Ronnie to lose his man much more easily and edi has been a world-class number nine for years.

It helped having Varane back but Maguire still looked a bit dodgy at times - as usual on here, Lindelof gets very little praise: his performance was faultless, but wow Son and Kane were subdued. I also thought Scotty was immense.

I guess this gives Ole until at least Christmas - I honestly think if we'd been heavily beaten, even our clueless board would have had no choice...

 

[lemmiwink]

Go and support Liverpool then.

Spuds away and taking all 3 points after last weekend and all the negative media. One of the most prolific strikers contained (had basically 3 or 4 touches in the 2nd half) Where do you work, a funeral parlor?

Just enjoy the win ffs

Oh, I am absolutely enjoying the win. 3 great goals. No mistakes apart from De Gea giving the ball away once. Even if Fred gave the ball away a few times, he did okay overall.
This is not a testament to the coaches though. We were playing a 7-0-3 formation for large parts of the game, and that is against a side who has been struggling for goals all season and who might be in even bigger trouble than we are.

This will work against Atalanta, I think, but we probably won’t get as much as a sniff against City. We need to play a proper 3-4-3 if we want to use Sancho/Rashford, but that means we gotta drop Bruno. At the moment we have too many of our best players playing as wingers or strikers, making it difficult to play with 3 at the back.

My guess is that lack of quality in the last third will make us unable to score against city.

What needs to be done is playing with a disiplined flat 3 in midfield in a 4-3-3 where Bruno needs to do what he did today. Yes, he will be less productive, but we have world class talent up front so as long as we don’t lose the middle of the park we can beat anyone.

 

[oz insomniac]

Just finished watching the game, let’s be honest Spurs are known as spuds and frankly they played like spuds. Great to win with some decent finishing with Ronaldo and Cavani showing class.

Hard to be objective when the opposition was pretty awful and their main man sulking so badly, he made Pogba look enthusiastic.

Somehow, being pleased with a win still leaves the feeling that Ole isnt what the club needs to make a real impression on the title. The players are good enough but there doesnt seem to be a pattern of play or style about anything out there. Legendary club man, but Man Utd need an experienced and smart manager, unfortunately that doesn’t describe Ole.

 

[MIC_FIN]

He's being realistic, that's the worst Spurs performance in years. United were okay today, Ronaldo was exceptional. Did you just wake up from a coma, have you seen us this season. Negative media nothing, we were beat 5.0 by Liverpool at Old Trafford only a few days ago, awful performances this season. Get your head out of your ass and acknowledge this manager ain't bringing us back to the top.

I haven't missed a single game in almost 4 years. And even that was due to an emergency. I won't acknowledge anything thanks. As I, like yourself can't see into the future. We're 2 solid signings in midfield away from challenging for the title and champions league.

Some fans are so fickle. Before the loss to Liverpool, we've never, in our history, conceded 5 goals?

It's not me who needs to get their head out of their arse pal. Negativity breeds negativity. Try actually supporting the manager and team we have. After all, you're not personally walking into old trafford and changing shit.

 

[Houdini]

First match I missed this season... I heard Spurs were shite. Great result but what about our performance? How was our defence? Anyone with a short recap?

 

[Buster15]

I am a portuguese Man Utd fan since that magnificent day in 1999. Ronaldo has only made my passion bigger. This is my first post in this forum and I only wanted to say: come on United!!! What a game today.

Great post and I would encourage you to post more often. You sound like a proper Manchester United fan.

 

[Buster15]

Anybody else think that we were pretty shite despite the result? Spurs didn't help, but I thought the performance was flat and we were careless with the ball. Great goals and 3 needed points, but everything is not suddenly rosy as far as I'm concerned. Bigger tests to come.

No. Because we certainly were not shite. The performance was all about being business like. Keeping it tight and taking our chances.
Much tougher challenges to come and no doubt Ole will come under significant pressure. But a win is a win.

 

[R.N7]

Depressing result

 

[jmbmbPT]

Great post and I would encourage you to post more often. You sound like a proper Manchester United fan.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[Duane Dibley]

I didn't see the match last night but I'd guessed you'd won from how quiet the forum was and the lack of any new 'Ole out' threads.

How was the formation? I assume it was a 3-4-1-2. Is it something that Ole's just stumbled on or was he waiting for all three centre halves to be fit?

I'd long thought that three / five at the back would be a smart way for you to go. Most of your forward players, Rashford, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Sancho, Martial are more wide forwards than strikers or wingers and to be honest all appear rather poor at defending.

Three at the back removes some of their defensive responsibility, and if Pogba can fit into one of the two midfield places, Sancho rotating with Bruno as the creative player and Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood rotating as the front two or three, then that formation suits most of your players much better than 4-2-3-1 does.

The main weakness seems to be AWB, I'm not sure how creative he can be, shame you didn't get Trippier in the summer, is that a position Lingard could fill?

It's a funny old game isn't it, beat City next weekend and you'll be level on points.

 

[Tincanalley]

Fred: 8.1


Fred went about his business of breaking up attacks throughout the match and his performance was one of his best since joining the club.

He was able to shrug off a silly yellow card and remain the dominant force up against Hojbjerg and NDombele in the centre of the pitch.

www.footballcritic.com

https://fbref.com/en/players/b853e0ad/Fred

Can anyone find any more detailed stats for Fred's performance today.

Yes Fred was very good, so was Bruno and McT. Key to win, plus obvious Varane and Ronnie. But add in AWB putting in a shift, Cavani, it was decent. I’m still Ole out; but was cheering at every goal.

 

[Tincanalley]

I didn't see the match last night but I'd guessed you'd won from how quiet the forum was and the lack of any new 'Ole out' threads.

How was the formation? I assume it was a 3-4-1-2. Is it something that Ole's just stumbled on or was he waiting for all three centre halves to be fit?

I'd long thought that three / five at the back would be a smart way for you to go. Most of your forward players, Rashford, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Sancho, Martial are more wide forwards than strikers or wingers and to be honest all appear rather poor at defending.

Three at the back removes some of their defensive responsibility, and if Pogba can fit into one of the two midfield places, Sancho rotating with Bruno as the creative player and Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood rotating as the front two or three, then that formation suits most of your players much better than 4-2-3-1 does.

The main weakness seems to be AWB, I'm not sure how creative he can be, shame you didn't get Trippier in the summer, is that a position Lingard could fill?

It's a funny old game isn't it, beat City next weekend and you'll be level on points.

It was Conte light

 

[Ixion]

Good performance. I disagree with 3-4 of the players that started and I think rewarding poor performances is bad man management in the long term. Changing the formation and system is something that has been called for for weeks so I don't think it is some genius moment, everyone has been calling for us to ditch the 4-2-4 formation. Was also helpful that Kane was playing for us. I imagine we'll stick with the formation against City and it will be interesting if we can keep out an actually threatening team. I want Ole gone but I'll never want us to be out of the title race so I want us to keep winning and hope enough of the managers limitations have already been exposed.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Depressing result

Huh? We won 3-0?

 

[PeteManic]

The 3-4-1-2 / 5-3-2 formation is the only way United should play in the big games. It means that certain players will have to sit out (Pogba doesn't fit in and only two of Ronnie, Cavani, Rashford, Martial, Sancho, and Greenwood) can play in it, but that has to be the way.

The 3 centre halves were very good during the game. One always came out when they needed to and there was cover behind. Last week when one came out (namely Maguire) then Liverpool just passed through the backline. So that was a great change.

I do think that the most important thing though was the team was a lot more compact. Because of this the pressing was very good and there was always someone to cover or mop up problems.

Very solid performance. They will be perfectly fine against City next week. I imagine the same team will start and then Rashford to come on and score late on the counter.

 

[Red00012]

I am hoping Ole lost this, but still happy we won this with a clean sheet.

Ole is still at the wheel

Ban him

 

[NextSeason]

Great win, UTFR.

My sincere thoughts with those of 'us' who were hoping for a different result.

 

[Hughie77]

Just finished watching it, thought a deserved win . Spurs looked out of sorts , but not taking away the intensity they showed closed down got back tackled clean and also a few dark arts with tactical fouls and I'm not against that when it's needed.
3 great goals. And it showed that if your solid in defence and CM the guys up top can get you goals. Varane glad he's back Maguire plays better when he's in side. The 3 CBs worked the wing backs went forward when they had to, and closed all the spaces in midfield when they needed it worked great and looked comfortable playing it.
Now the next thing is does he stick to this formation? We will see

 

[Tomuś]

Some of the posts about hoping for a loss..

Surely you can both want Ole out AND enjoy the TEAM winning?

Sweet goals and it was nice seeing the players working harder than opponents for a change. Enjoyed that.

 

[Fletchageddon]

The team is better without Pogba. It's always a compromise to cram him in somewhere. Yesterday confirmed that and mirrored when we first signed Bruno and Pogba was out. We are much more solid without him.

I sort of thought the same about Ronaldo but he really contributed yesterday. Having Greenwood, Rashford and Sancho to come off the bench is a great place to be in.

 

[Houdini]

The team is better without Pogba. It's always a compromise to cram him in somewhere. Yesterday confirmed that and mirrored when we first signed Bruno and Pogba was out. We are much more solid without him.

I sort of thought the same about Ronaldo but he really contributed yesterday. Having Greenwood, Rashford and Sancho to come off the bench is a great place to be in.

Pogba should be a cover for Bruno. He is a great player just can not play as CM without a proper CDM (having Pogba+Kante combo would be a completly different story). I wonder where we can fit Sancho...

 

[Fts 74]

Thank you very much!!!

Love your positivity, we need more of that on here!

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Need to play a formation and tactic that suits the squad. No point mocking the 'United way' if you want us to play 4-4-2 your stuck in the 1990's. We had plenty of width down the wings today. Both wing backs played well today.

we literally just signed a winger for £73 million

 

[sparx99]

The 3-4-1-2 / 5-3-2 formation is the only way United should play in the big games. It means that certain players will have to sit out (Pogba doesn't fit in and only two of Ronnie, Cavani, Rashford, Martial, Sancho, and Greenwood) can play in it, but that has to be the way.

The 3 centre halves were very good during the game. One always came out when they needed to and there was cover behind. Last week when one came out (namely Maguire) then Liverpool just passed through the backline. So that was a great change.

I do think that the most important thing though was the team was a lot more compact. Because of this the pressing was very good and there was always someone to cover or mop up problems.

Very solid performance. They will be perfectly fine against City next week. I imagine the same team will start and then Rashford to come on and score late on the counter.

Surely the point of having 5 at the back should be the cover for a player like Pogba or Van De Beek to play in one of those midfield two?

 

[sparx99]

The team is better without Pogba. It's always a compromise to cram him in somewhere. Yesterday confirmed that and mirrored when we first signed Bruno and Pogba was out. We are much more solid without him.

I sort of thought the same about Ronaldo but he really contributed yesterday. Having Greenwood, Rashford and Sancho to come off the bench is a great place to be in.

Pogba wasn't playing last week when we shipped 5 though so its not been a Pogba at CM issue.

 

[norm87cro]

As objective as I can be I think we played well but it was a way more cagey game than the score suggested. Son had a great chance to make it 1 0 but that is as much as we gave them. Fair play to Ole for putting in Matić and Rashford who were responsible for the third (resting Ronaldo and Bruno at the same time).

 

[Maticmaker]

A 'business like' performance, did what was necessary and with urgency. The three goals were 'icing' on the business cake.
Thought AWB showed a lot better in this game, reassurance there was someone to cover, him helped and he made an amazing tackle on Son *(even though the Spurs player was offside)

Doesn't seem to be the preferred way of playing, for the manager, but it will have to be for the time being!

 

[The Brown Bull]

Pogba wasn't playing last week when we shipped 5 though so its not been a Pogba at CM issue.

What? He was directly responsible for their 5th!
Then he downed tools and took an early shower.
A player with great ability but not a great player.