[Rake]

A decent victory and a breather for Solskjaer but the scoreline could have been very different had they taken their chances. They could have scored 3-4 goals before our first.

As a whole, at least for me, this result changes nothing.

 

[DLE]

Wtf is wrong with you

Exactly. It’s pathetic.

My post match analysis is that there are a lot of “supporters” who spent the entire week asking for Ole’s head. Now that we got a decent result, those same people are having a hard time finding their place.

Being a supporter means you fkn support!

 

[Litch]

sancho made perfect sense... til we signed ronaldo

Not playing 5 at the back if that's the way forward

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

A decent victory and a breather for Solskjaer but the scoreline could have been very different had they taken their chances. They could have scored 3-4 goals before our first.

As a whole, at least for me, this result changes nothing.

What match were you watching? One Son chance aside, they were shockingly bad. Agree that this result changes nothing.

 

[city-puma]

What match were you watching? One Son chance aside, they were shockingly bad. Agree that this result changes nothing.

Tbf, that moment shows we were rusty in the new formation. If it went in, the whole game has been changed. But, it’s understandable that the players can only get fluency to it by playing it more and spend more time drilling it.
But, overall, Spurs failed to find any other opportunities at all. It’s more about us rather than how poor Spurs was. We contained them completely.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

We can't get too carried away, as Giorgi so deftly put it:

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

It's a 343. I'll never understand why people obsess over formations. If the formation leads to the best balance then why not?

It's a 3-4-3 that utilises 8 defensive minded players. I don't have a particular problem with that (although Mourinho would have been crucified for it), but given that we just spent £73 million on a winger it's clearly not Ole's plan for success going forward is it?

 

[Nicoseth]

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.

To be fair, I said "pretty shite". We weren't terrible, but I guess the point I was making was that it was still pretty far from what I would consider a good performance from this team. We were effective, but largely dull. Hopefully that changes and as we get used to a change in system, if Ole's there long enough to see that happen.

 

[Danillaco]

Have a good attacking talent, add Ronald and Sancho, then play 532 and still use McFred. That's so United nowadays.

Good victory though, can't complain much.

 

[Rake]

What match were you watching? One Son chance aside, they were shockingly bad. Agree that this result changes nothing.

Not saying they were great but they still had their moments to score.Without checking the highlights, Son had 2 great chances and they missed 1 point blank header from a corner right at the end of the first half. They had a few half-chances in the second half as well (De Gea and Cavani misplacing crucial passes come to mind).

 

[Buster15]

To be fair, I said "pretty shite". We weren't terrible, but I guess the point I was making was that it was still pretty far from what I would consider a good performance from this team. We were effective, but largely dull. Hopefully that changes and as we get used to a change in system, if Ole's there long enough to see that happen.

All perfectly understandable. After Liverpool, needs demanded a tight workmen like low risk type performance.
But for me, the most important thing is to become consistently good. Because one reasonable result means nothing.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

It's a 3-4-3 that utilises 8 defensive minded players. I don't have a particular problem with that (although Mourinho would have been crucified for it), but given that we just spent £73 million on a winger it's clearly not Ole's plan for success going forward is it?

It definitely isn't. He will use it to try to get this this hard run of games. We effectively played a similar way with 4231 last season. Just more challenging with Ronaldo as the 1

 

[Toblerone92]

Regardless of recent events, it's always great to see us thump Spurs, however dire their team is. Some great goals and solid win away from home was exactly what was needed after last week's abject defeat.

 

[RazorOz]

Not playing 5 at the back if that's the way forward

Sancho would actually be fine in 5 at the back if it was 3-4-3 rather than 3-5-2 like yesterday. So playing 5 at the back isn't by definition a death knell for him. Of course in reality it seems he's quickly being positioned like van de Beek, but that's not going to be a definitive consequence of 5 at the back.

Exactly. It’s pathetic.

My post match analysis is that there are a lot of “supporters” who spent the entire week asking for Ole’s head. Now that we got a decent result, those same people are having a hard time finding their place.

Being a supporter means you fkn support!

Supporting the club surely means you support what's best in the long run, not get obsessed over the results of 1 game. Of course going into games hoping we lose is wrong, but claiming that those calling for Ole's head in the week are now having a hard time finding their place is wrong too. It's exactly that kind of fickle mentality with an inability to see beyond a result or two why you end up in the mess Utd are in the first place.

 

[DSG]

Exactly. It’s pathetic.

My post match analysis is that there are a lot of “supporters” who spent the entire week asking for Ole’s head. Now that we got a decent result, those same people are having a hard time finding their place.

Being a supporter means you fkn support!

I was staunchly Ole in until the Leicester game. What I see is poor coaching and listless tactics. What tipped it for me? Three areas that Ole has not fixed in the last 3 years in charge that is the reason we are not true challengers to the league. First, he still has not effectively found a way to deal with the opponent’s high press. We have been abysmal playing out of the back. Every United goal kick was a serious difficulty. Secondly, he’s never solved the midfield combination. Finally, he has failed to install an effective high press for us.

He essentially gave up on the first two in the match vs the Spurs. We took our goal kicks by having DeGea boom them to the half line. He pulled Bruno back to give the midfield an extra body. Those aren’t solutions that will allow us to win trophies. For the high press, we didn’t press frequently but when we did, lose the ball in the final third, we did a much better job of pressing high and winning the ball back, so credit to him on that last issue. Also, to be fair, there was great urgency and energy and the mentality improved.

The Spurs looked absolutely awful, and I do think we’d have trouble with a better side

 

[Dante]

I think the biggest thing about the Tottenham game was how much more compact the formation was.

Ole's obviously been trying to make us more free-flowing in attack this season, as opposed to the counter-attacking style that we've played throughout both his tenure and the Mourinho days.

You can see the trend here:

Everton

Leicester

Atalanta

Liverpool

Tottenham

The 4-2-3-1 would often turn into a 2-2-6 in attack. The gaps were frankly huge, and anyone with two eyes could see that nobody knew how to deal with it. But against Tottenham our 3-5-2 became, at worst, a 3-2-5. And with the distances from front to back so much closer, we were able to control the spaces much better.

I think the biggest reason for our downfall in recent weeks was that Ole and his coaching staff were trying to change a style of play that the squad had become used to over the last 6 years. It's an indictment of the coaching staff AND the players that such a simple shift in philosophy couldn't be implemented. Though I can't help but think that it might have been more successful if we'd had a proper pre-season.

The 3-5-2 is probably going to be the default for a few weeks while the players get their confidence back. Then I'd expect us to go back to a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1. Assuming Ole stays at the wheel that long.

 

[Dante]

What's funny is that out of the four players named in the 'Ole's at the wheel' song (Sancho, Paul Pogba, Fred and Marcus Rashford), the only one who's made the cut into our new first choice XI is the least talented of the bunch (Fred).

 

[Fletchageddon]

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

No but being the mature senior player he is, he came on and helped lead the fightback by getting sent off. He's a problem because you have no idea if the genius or the child will turn up.

 

[passtheball]

Ole out. I am not forgetting the utter humiliation against Liverpool (and all the other false dawns). This is a great squad that is ready to win.

AND, it was Spurs. It is the history of the Tottenham.

Having Pogba out and Rashford, Greenwood, and Sancho on the bench helped our little underdog Ole. Watch us drop points when another team puts 10 players behind the ball. Ole's 3-5-2 is not going to break those teams down. He cannot manage the talent in this squad to its potential. Still can't quite believe he hasn't been sacked after last week's butchery. Well, that's United for you.

 

[Flytan]

Exactly. It’s pathetic.

My post match analysis is that there are a lot of “supporters” who spent the entire week asking for Ole’s head. Now that we got a decent result, those same people are having a hard time finding their place.

Being a supporter means you fkn support!

No being a fan of a club does not mean blindly following it like a cult, we have different definitions.

 

[Craig Ward]

Not saying they were great but they still had their moments to score.Without checking the highlights, Son had 2 great chances and they missed 1 point blank header from a corner right at the end of the first half. They had a few half-chances in the second half as well (De Gea and Cavani misplacing crucial passes come to mind).

Spurs literally had no shots on target? They were atrocious and we snuffed them out.

Son took the one down well and blazed over, but we never really looked liked conceding.

Just try and take the game for what it was - a good solid victory.

 

[Siezard]

The defence and performance were awesome!

 

[hurricane thunderclap]

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?

I think the point was to plug the gap and general culpability factor of captain H. Who seems to want to look at himself in the mirror while the game is actually being played. I wonder what he thinks when he looks on the t.v.

 

[R.N7]

Huh? We won 3-0?

Because one of the teams will end up with a top class coach by the end of the week and the other won't.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Because one of the teams will end up with a top class coach by the end of the week and the other won't.

Right? So we shouldn’t celebrate a win just in case the other team appoint a manager?

 

[Rash Decision]

Right? So we shouldn’t celebrate a win just in case the other team appoint a manager?

Can be sure that Spurs fans will be celebrating their loss now.

 

[Hughie77]

Been listening to the usual toerags on the Radio We were getting beaten by Spurs and it was given UTD not good enough, this was Monday through till Friday. Now on Monday its what we expected as Spurs are Rubbish, Rubbish bench Rubbish etc etc. And UTD and anybody would get goals against Spurs , and Ole has done them a Favour in winning and Nuno getting sack , and Conte coming in.
Now Conte was the guy for UTD on Radio last week the UTD board had sounded his advisors out etcetc. There sources were saying. Well he changed his mind quick enough to go to spurs.

That must mean Oles not getting the sack soon. Well it's 1 bloody game from the bindippers show, so if Conte was wanting to come to UTD he's not willing to wait. Jose did waited for LVG to get the boot. So that tells me UTD may not be after Conte and not ready to get rid of Ole.

 

[Teja]

I think the biggest thing about the Tottenham game was how much more compact the formation was.

Ole's obviously been trying to make us more free-flowing in attack this season, as opposed to the counter-attacking style that we've played throughout both his tenure and the Mourinho days.

You can see the trend here:

Everton

Leicester

Atalanta

Liverpool

Tottenham

The 4-2-3-1 would often turn into a 2-2-6 in attack. The gaps were frankly huge, and anyone with two eyes could see that nobody knew how to deal with it. But against Tottenham our 3-5-2 became, at worst, a 3-2-5. And with the distances from front to back so much closer, we were able to control the spaces much better.

I think the biggest reason for our downfall in recent weeks was that Ole and his coaching staff were trying to change a style of play that the squad had become used to over the last 6 years. It's an indictment of the coaching staff AND the players that such a simple shift in philosophy couldn't be implemented. Though I can't help but think that it might have been more successful if we'd had a proper pre-season.

The 3-5-2 is probably going to be the default for a few weeks while the players get their confidence back. Then I'd expect us to go back to a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1. Assuming Ole stays at the wheel that long.

I'm trying to understand what to look for here. Is this the average position of each player? I assume it's an average of all the times they touched the ball which by itself leads to some bias (e.g., showing Ronaldo as being deeper than Rashford / Greenwood in the PL game). It is also confounded by how well we played in a certain game .. Against Liverpool / Villareal we were trying to press high but getting played through so it'll naturally look a bit open.

It'll be amazing if that was actual tracking data and that was their average position.

I agree that we might go back to a 4-2-3-1. You can achieve the same block of four that happens by default in a 3-4-3 (3 CBs + DM) intentionally with a 4-2-3-1 (leave AWB as an inverted fullback, have both McFred sit deep with the CBs etc.). 4 defenders defending the counter + 6 attackers seems to be the current football meta regardless of what formation is used.

 

[RedfromIreland]

I hate those 3:0 away wins.

 

[matt10000]

What match were you watching? One Son chance aside, they were shockingly bad. Agree that this result changes nothing.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...ss-produced-outstanding-response-at-tottenham

 

[calodo2003]

 

[croadyman]

A result that has ultimately saved Spurs season more than ours