[Nate Dogg]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

 

[dove]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

You seem rather disappointed we won, better luck next time

 

[BusbyMalone]

Thought we played well in the first half. Had a few counter attacks that didn't quite materialise but should have arguably been more than 2 goals up. I really don't like this pattern we fall into though. When we go into the half time break leading and you just know we're going to sit back more and more. I don't even think that it's a Mourinho thing. It's just something that's so ingrained in us that we can't seem to shake ourselves out of it. Saying that, we still had some opportunities on the counter but fecked them up with the wrong pass. Great win though.

I also read a quote from Rio which i assume is true. It was before the match and he said some like United are more than capable of "coming here and causing an upset" What a weird thing to say. Just struck me as odd.

 

[cyril C]

What system were we actually playing?

To me it looked a lot more like 3 5 2 with sanchez and lukaku up front. Lingard was barely on the right wing and came deep to CM a lot. Fellaini stepped up into midfield at times, like a stopper, but sat so deep. Pogba was further forward than normal.

Its a shame sanchez and lukaku just aren't working out as both good players.

I think you are not entirely wrong. Fellaini was playing deep when defending, so my guess is that when we don't have the ball, it would be 352, with Fellaini man-marking 1 of their striker, Smalling on another, Lindelof as spare defender. When attacking Fellaini would pushed up into MF role possibly playing 433. It worked best against teams with dual strikers and playing physical. Let's see how we play in CL.

 

[cyril C]

Thought we played well in the first half. Had a few counter attacks that didn't quite materialise but should have arguably been more than 2 goals up. I really don't like this pattern we fall into though. When we go into the half time break leading and you just know we're going to sit back more and more. I don't even think that it's a Mourinho thing. It's just something that's so ingrained in us that we can't seem to shake ourselves out of it. Saying that, we still had some opportunities on the counter but fecked them up with the wrong pass. Great win though.

I also read a quote from Rio which i assume is true. It was before the match and he said some like United are more than capable of "coming here and causing an upset" What a weird thing to say. Just struck me as odd.

I don't think it was a Mourinho thing in 2nd half neither, at least not until the 80th min. When we came out from the tunnel, it was a really sloppy 2nd half. Sloppy passing, Pogba in particular, sloppy defending, with so many unnecessary fouls. The goal conceded was also poor defending. That is a lesson for the management team to work on.

 

[Irrational.]

I didn't enjoy the way we were clinging on for dear life at the end after taking a comfortable 2-0 lead. Was the same vs Leicester as well. We have a vulnerability that we need to strengthen.

 

[Jagga7]

Good result, we played well for about 20 minutes at the end of the 1st half. The 2nd half was abysmal, we were getting over run by fking Watford.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

And it was a great 20 mins from Bale. It’s not an ‘excuse’ at all. A player cannot have been ‘very very poor’ without any significant involvement. Most of his work was simple square passes. He did have that first moment where his through pass was cut out, or when he went through on goal (and was clearly pulled back by the Watford man for my money). Again, he wasn’t great (Gareth Bale was), but he wasn’t awful either, simply because he didn’t have the chance to be awful. That would require more to judge on.

OK, well how about judging it alongside most of his other appearances in the last 6 months?

 

[Rozay]

OK, well how about judging it alongside most of his other appearances in the last 6 months?

You are free to judge those in a conversation about those.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

Hope we lose on Wednesday to Young Boys just to make you feel better

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

You are free to judge those in a conversation about those.

you don't think that has any bearing whatsoever on how we judge yesterday's cameo?

Personally I think it's completely valid to view a players performance in the context of what has gone before. It's what we do with all players.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

De Gea made some great saves. It still worries me at times though when he doesn't come out for crosses. That save at the end was a floated ball into his 6 and he stood on his line when he should have been out punching it away. In the end, his agility saved us...again

 

[cyberman]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

It was only a few months ago that we beat every top 6 side within 6 weeks (?) of each other and fans still played it down.
Do we actually need to beat the Globetrotters to get a bit of excitement going?

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

De Gea made some great saves. It still worries me at times though when he doesn't come out for crosses. That save at the end was a floated ball into his 6 and he stood on his line when he should have been out punching it away. In the end, his agility saved us...again

Good point re De Gea. I think his confidence isn't quite there at the moment, which may be impacting his decision making. Thankfully, his shot stopping is second to none, but he's made a couple of errors in recent months which might be on his mind. Confidence is a massive part of goalkeeping. He'll soon work through it.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

The defensive unit of Dave, Smaling, Lindelof and Fellaini dragged us through that second half. Once we'd taken control of the game we could have made the second half more comfortable for ourselves. You can look at it as worrying that we couldn't, and we were being pummelled on the ropes towards the end, but I prefer to acknowledge us standing up to a good team throwing everything at us, which we sure as hell haven't done anywhere else so far this season.

I gave Pogba man of the match as even if he faded towards the end I think that was symptomatic of the entire team being driven back, before that he was very cool on the ball and made some quality passes. Fellaini was a beast in the last half hour but I thought in the first half he was lax on the ball and played us into quite a bit of bother, so I stopped short of giving him fulsome praise. Lukaku worked hard and deserved his goal (suck it Watford boo boys and cuntface Deeney), Lingard busy, the fullbacks were solid enough but didn't produce enough going forward, particularly Tony V, Sanchez invisible barring one good effort, Matic ok but reckless putting us in the shite later on. A very hard-won and pleasing three points in the end.

 

[unclefredo]

De Gea made some great saves. It still worries me at times though when he doesn't come out for crosses. That save at the end was a floated ball into his 6 and he stood on his line when he should have been out punching it away. In the end, his agility saved us...again

Completely agree about Dave sticking to his line. If you recall when he first started with us, he was like that. It appears to be the first thing that goes when his confidence drops. Also, I think the commentary team went a bit OTT about the the saves - both of them were "cameras" and id be disappointed if he hadn't have saved them. Not trying to detract from him as a keeper, he's class, but I'd expect most keepers to save those. I was actually more impressed with his handling - which rarely takes the plaudits.

 

[Nate Dogg]

You seem rather disappointed we won, better luck next time

I'm disappointed with people making out that all is well after a win against ffs Watford, but when we draw or lose everyone is back to moaning about how shit we are.

The reality is we are mediocre,when we conceded yesterday I knew we would panic but that apart and what peeves me off more is Mourinho being miserable all week and draining the fun of our game....

 

[roseguy64]

I don't know what pisses me off more, the fact our players pass like it's Sunday league or the sheer incompetence of Premiership referees, god they are awful, bordering on disgrace.

The ref was fine.

 

[roseguy64]

Some really good stuff in first half again, had Pogba made it three that would have been a cracking goal. We definitely sat back a little too soon and ceded the initiative a little too easily but this notion of doing it for ‘90 minutes’ needs to die. That almost never happens in the premier league barring the few routine home fixtures you might get a season and was never going to happen away at a physical Watford side making their best ever start, it was a good win if made tougher than it looked at half time.

If expectations are set that are basically impossible to meet, then you’ll be forever disappointed. Liverpool v Tottenham was an absolute shit house of a a game for most of it, Chelsea took ages to get going v Cardiff and in recent weeks even the mighty city haven’t looked relentless. We scrapped to many many many wins under ferguson and I’d be happy to see us scrap to many more this season. The football is clearly improving and let’s hope it continues to. One of these days somebody will get a good hammering and it may be a milestone moment for this group

Agreed here. Once we're the better team for the majority of the match then we'll get a lot of wins. Just like this match.

 

[shaky]

I'm disappointed with people making out that all is well after a win against ffs Watford, but when we draw or lose everyone is back to moaning about how shit we are.

The reality is we are mediocre,when we conceded yesterday I knew we would panic but that apart and what peeves me off more is Mourinho being miserable all week and draining the fun of our game....

Peeved off mostly about Mourinho being miserable all week? Sounds like you're trying too hard to find things to be peeved by then. Was he even miserable all week? Did you spend much time with him?

 

[jem]

There was a period just after our first goal when we were just humming along. It was great to see, especially with Pogba orchestrating. Then, in the second half the intensity/focus seemed to drop, something that seems to happen all to often these days. I can't help thinking that this is where the role of a captain comes into play. Some people seem to downplay the significance of the role these days, but I think a Keano-type influence would've spurred us on yesterday.

 

[jem]

I'm disappointed with people making out that all is well after a win against ffs Watford, but when we draw or lose everyone is back to moaning about how shit we are.

The reality is we are mediocre,when we conceded yesterday I knew we would panic but that apart and what peeves me off more is Mourinho being miserable all week and draining the fun of our game....

So you're peeved off by Mourinho's miserable demeanour yet disappointed with people's being happy over a previously-undefeated team? Ok...

 

[Kostur]

Peeved off mostly about Mourinho being miserable all week? Sounds like you're trying too hard to find things to be peeved by then. Was he even miserable all week? Did you spend much time with him?

As you can see it's not Mou who's a miserable cnut here so I wouldn't bother.

 

[manichester]

I thought we did OK with some promising play, when we have the confidence to keep going I feel we will do well. There were some signs that we tried to play out from the back as well as using the long ball.

 

[el3mel]

I'm disappointed with people making out that all is well after a win against ffs Watford, but when we draw or lose everyone is back to moaning about how shit we are.

The reality is we are mediocre,when we conceded yesterday I knew we would panic but that apart and what peeves me off more is Mourinho being miserable all week and draining the fun of our game....

Yeah we should be moaning.

 

[dove]

I'm disappointed with people making out that all is well after a win against ffs Watford, but when we draw or lose everyone is back to moaning about how shit we are.

The reality is we are mediocre,when we conceded yesterday I knew we would panic but that apart and what peeves me off more is Mourinho being miserable all week and draining the fun of our game....

Oh the irony... Someone who is even more miserable and can't even enjoy a win says that Jose is miserable

 

[Camilo]

Nothing wrong with how we played yesterday - that's 3 games in a row where we've looked organised and energetic. Watford are a good side.

We could've had a couple more second half easily - the situations we were getting into didn't require world class players to provide the finishing touches, but we kept making an arse of things.. Disappointing.. Overall, better.

 

[Andycoleno9]

This was dominant display. Same as it was against burnley. Nothing more to add. Only negative thing is Lindelof. He wasn't bad yesterday but seems to me that PL is too much for him.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

You are just making that up. I wouldn't use that word.

There was a 10 minute spell before half time where our attacking play was intricate,devastating and out of this world...Just check out the build up to Pogbas chance just before half time....It was a short 10-12 minute spell but our football was mesmerising...

 

[sglowrider]

Seems to be in the media a lot more nowadays.

 

[Pexbo]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

ICYMI - We won.

 

[ants7]

I don't like to complain after getting three points but I will a day when we play good for 90 minutes ever arrive?

Nice to see our goalie in De God mode again. Man of the match for me.

 

[TheReligion]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

Jesus wept

 

[finneh]

I personally thought it was a really good performance, albeit one that highllighted how brittle our confidence is at the moment.

On another day we'd have been 3 up at half time and probably 4 up with one of our later counters. But we miss a few good chances; cock up a few great opportunities; concede; then suddenly the confidence drains out of the team. We drop deep and invite pressure (although even after that point Martial should have made more of his chances), which rarely ends well.

I think a lot of posters on here fail to grasp the role that team confidence has on performances. Last season confidence was high going into the campaign with similar performances getting us 4-0 results; the second confidence is low Lukaku missing his chances against Brighton and Spurs; cause 6 points to end up as 0. City were fortunate last season in that several performances early on that deserved dropped points and the consequential drain of confidence ended up being narrow wins that made them feel unbeatable.

If the Watford result ends up being the kind or narrow win that City experienced last season that built their confidence and momentum then it'll be a much better result in hindsight than it seems right now. Another 5-6 wins on the bounce are required for that though.

 

[Abhinav]

A direction of the football match is really dependent on whether you take your chances and score at the important moments. Unfortunately for us, in the last three matches, we have not converted what we should ideally be converting. The game against Watford would have been easier in the 2nd half if we had taken our chances in the first half as well as made more of the counter attacking opportunities in the second half. Similarly against Spurs, we really should have scored in the first half - that would have changed the whole complexion of the match. Against Burnley, how we did not beat them 4/5-0 is beyond me.

However, I really like that we are dominating matches again and the efficiency in front of goal will hopefully come with players gaining more confidence. I think it is one of the main differences between us and the likes of City/Pool or Chelsea. Its a major reason why those teams are looked at differently even though I feel there isn't that much of a gap in the quality of football this season.

 

[Trizy]

I would probably be better off if I did get banned so I’ll jjst go ahead and say it.

Where’s the joy in that? I was sat there watching us late in the second half thinking I hate myself for having just watched this for the result only. I saw the team sheet and then the first half (our good half) and said my god that’s the most expensive squad of grafters ever assembled. So little technical ability. Couple crosses to the back posts for our sequoia trees to handle and that was the good bits.

Why would you get banned for expressing your opinion is an mature manner? We're not RAWK.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Great first half, very poor second.

What annoys me during this Jose reign is that once we go ahead we just stop playing until the opponent eventually scores. So frustrating.

 

[Acole9]

People making out Watford are Real Madrid or Harlem Gloabtrotters-get a grip!!!

We are a mediocre team with a has been manager, the sooner he goes the better all round.

Embarrassing comments, don't be too upset with us doing well.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Embarrassing comments, don't be too upset with us doing well.

To be fair he has a point, people are talking like we just beat the champions, can’t decide what’s more embarrassing people doing that or people saying they can’t wait for Jose to go.

Watford tho were a team we could easily have lost to and it was a tough game and first half I felt like we were really good on the front foot and taking it to them. 2nd half we looked nervy and tried to shut up shop which just invited them on to us and I don’t know what Jose is talking about when he said he wasn’t impressed that we didn’t attack as much as he wanted in the 2nd half. He took off Sanchez for McTominay then later Valencia off for Bailly which I have no real problem with because they were good decisions when you’re defending a lead and expecting them to bombard you with high balls, but don’t BS us like you brought them on to help your team retake control of the game and attack.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

When Keown mistook Valencia for Martial I thought that was embarrassing, but rewatching the game on MUTV Gardner did the same. Both must have just been in shock to see Valencia that wide open and attacking space.