[Red00012]

I see BT Sport have renamed MotM as Player of the Match. Doesn't have the same ring to it...

It’s been like that for a while now

 

[LordSpud]

He's insane, we need to start winning trophies for him to get the recognition he deserves here.

Re Varane: hopefully the media start fawning over him like they did with VVD. He's been absolutely fantastic this year with Martinez!

 

[Redfrog]

Looking at the ratings, am i alone in thinking Malacia was one of Uniteds top 3 performers this afternoon?

I find him so frustrating with his passing. He has energy but he makes worrying passes all the time and put the team under pressure because of it.

 

[captaincantona]

Why? Because they were two very different performances. He got nothing right against Forest and most things right against Wolves.

We will have to agree to disagree. He was awful yesterday imo. Really poor touch and loose passing, bad crossing. Should have had a brace. Like I said, I am sure he will come good as he has far too much talent not to but we really need him to offer a proper threat from the right. We shouldn’t be shuffling Rashford around so much.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We will have to agree to disagree. He was awful yesterday imo. Really poor touch and loose passing, bad crossing. Should have had a brace. Like I said, I am sure he will come good as he has far too much talent not to but we really need him to offer a proper threat from the right. We shouldn’t be shuffling Rashford around so much.

We can disagree if you want but the stats categorically prove the two performances were night and day. He completed only 18 passes against Forest but 32 against Wolves. Twice as many touches yesterday as he did in his last match. 3 tackles yesterday (highest of any United player) vs none against Forest. It was just a much better performance.

When someone can’t or won’t see the difference between two such different performances than you start to wonder if they’re too biased against him to recognise a good performance from him when he produces one.

 

[Gasolin]

Come on mate!
I was a big fan of Tony in his first couple of seasons but he has really not pushed on and you cannot see he is remotely like Benzema as he is a complete striker.

I disagree on this one. Lots of people in France and even Real have said Benzema is useless because he’s not in the box, not counting all the contribution he does by his movement and technical ability outside of the box. The result? Benzema came out great. Compare that to Giroud who’s only in the box. Sure he scores, but the feel and even the combinations with teammates is different.

I am not saying Martial is Benzema level, but he has the ability to be a massive scorer despite that characteristic because Benzema had the same comments before.

We need to keep using his current technical ability and find ways to put him in the box more throughout the team movement, then he will get more confidence. And we can throw in some competition to motivate him more. I expect a big improvement under ETH with Martial when I see AWB doing underlaps systematically when his winger stretches the game. ETH will show Martial where to go in different phases for sure.

 

[Gasolin]

Re Varane: hopefully the media start fawning over him like they did with VVD. He's been absolutely fantastic this year with Martinez!

Would need a title or at least a strong title challenge for that.

 

[captaincantona]

We can disagree if you want but the stats categorically prove the two performances were night and day. He completed only 18 passes against Forest but 32 against Wolves. Twice as many touches yesterday as he did in his last match. 3 tackles yesterday (highest of any United player) vs none against Forest. It was just a much better performance.

When someone can’t or won’t see the difference between two such different performances than you start to wonder if they’re too biased against him to recognise a good performance from him when he produces one.

Stats? He only played 65 minutes against forest and played a full game yesterday hence the additional touches. Also wolves posed much more of a threat than forest so it stands to reason his defensive actions would be higher.

Just to make sure I’m not dreaming I just rewatched his touches video and it is exactly as I remembered it. It really was a poor performance. We needed him to produce, he didn’t. It’s fine. He has credit in the bank but the point I was making is that he is/should be one of our big game players and I want to see him play himself back into form soon…cause he has been underwhelming since the restart.

 

[cyberman]

Why? Because they were two very different performances. He got nothing right against Forest and most things right against Wolves.

I agree with this. Our left side is incisive with Rashford out there but Antony on the right allows us to keep the ball higher up the pitch, he’s very difficult to press against. The amount of times he was in the corner 2v1 only to develop the ball out with AWB over and over again was fantastic.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Stats? He only played 65 minutes against forest and played a full game yesterday hence the additional touches. Also wolves posed much more of a threat than forest so it stands to reason his defensive actions would be higher.

Just to make sure I’m not dreaming I just rewatched his touches video and it is exactly as I remembered it. It really was a poor performance. We needed him to produce, he didn’t. It’s fine. He has credit in the bank but the point I was making is that he is/should be one of our big game players and I want to see him play himself back into form soon…cause he has been underwhelming since the restart.

Talk about cherry-picking! If you’re going discredit his better defensive contribution by putting that down to Wolves being much better than Forest why didn’t that result in him getting on the ball a lot less and completing fewer passes? Because the exact opposite is what actually happened.

 

[captaincantona]

Talk about cherry-picking! If you’re going discredit his better defensive contribution by putting that down to Wolves being much better than Forest why didn’t that result in him getting on the ball a lot less and completing fewer passes? Because the exact opposite is what actually happened.

I didn’t discredit it his defensive contribution. I never criticised it in the first place. You are just trying to imply an issue I have with the player where there isn’t one. I specifically mentioned his on the ball contribution as being lacking. I voiced my support for the player on a number of occasions but also quite reasonably surmised that he has been largely underwhelming since he has come back. His poor crossing, sideways/backwards passing and poor finishing are evidence of that…in both games.

 

[Rayman96]

We can disagree if you want but the stats categorically prove the two performances were night and day. He completed only 18 passes against Forest but 32 against Wolves. Twice as many touches yesterday as he did in his last match. 3 tackles yesterday (highest of any United player) vs none against Forest. It was just a much better performance.

When someone can’t or won’t see the difference between two such different performances than you start to wonder if they’re too biased against him to recognise a good performance from him when he produces one.

Its clear the Media and the CAF are bored with Maguire and Antony is the new target.
I dont think he was great yesterday but did ok and if a couple of things had came off , it would have been a good performance.
Unfortunately nothing short of a MOTM type performance is going to satisfy a lot of agendas.

 

[Andy_Cole]

We can disagree if you want but the stats categorically prove the two performances were night and day. He completed only 18 passes against Forest but 32 against Wolves. Twice as many touches yesterday as he did in his last match. 3 tackles yesterday (highest of any United player) vs none against Forest. It was just a much better performance.

When someone can’t or won’t see the difference between two such different performances than you start to wonder if they’re too biased against him to recognise a good performance from him when he produces one.

Nice I missed the game and assumed he had another shocker. Glad to hear he’s improving.

 

[Hughie77]

Sounds like you need to go to the bookies then....at that price you only need to outlay a little to gain a lot.

Already done it, at start of season, after losing first 2 games they were 100-1. Then back to 66-1 . Haven't checked if they've come in from yesterday's results.

 

[captaincantona]

Its clear the Media and the CAF are bored with Maguire and Antony is the new target.
I dont think he was great yesterday but did ok and if a couple of things had came off , it would have been a good performance.
Unfortunately nothing short of a MOTM type performance is going to satisfy a lot of agendas.

This is tripe. Legitimate critique saying a guy had a bad game and pointing out exactly why - on a football forum - is having an agenda? While also acknowledging his talent and supporting the fact he will improve? So is any critique of a player is an agenda?…just to be clear…never said a bad word about the guy before …his crossing and shooting were very poor in both games since coming back. His passing was safe and he rarely took on his man. That’s not an agenda - that’s a reasonable assessment of his contribution in the last two games.

 

[Bondi77]

Already done it, at start of season, after losing first 2 games they were 100-1. Then back to 66-1 . Haven't checked if they've come in from yesterday's results.

What is the price for making top 4?

 

[justsomebloke]

This is tripe. Legitimate critique saying a guy had a bad game and pointing out exactly why - on a football forum - is having an agenda? While also acknowledging his talent and supporting the fact he will improve? So is any critique of a player is an agenda?…just to be clear…never said a bad word about the guy before …his crossing and shooting were very poor in both games since coming back. His passing was safe and he rarely took on his man. That’s not an agenda - that’s a reasonable assessment of his contribution in the last two games.

I thought he was poor against Forest - the only weak performance on the team, actually. But better yesterday, if still a bit off his best.

 

[justsomebloke]

It's been a really great round. All of our competitors except Arsenal and Liverpool dropped points!

 

[Fabio Rochemback]

Unfortunately that's the rule so it was a correct decision

True. Shitty rule though, needs changing!

 

[justsomebloke]

Unfortunately that's the rule so it was a correct decision

Was it though? It looked to me like it bounced from his arm (which was not in an unnatural position) to his thigh, and went in off that. Shouldn't that matter?

 

[fallengt]

Was it though? It looked to me like it bounced from his arm (which was not in an unnatural position) to his thigh, and went in off that. Shouldn't that matter?

Goal will be disallowed regardless of natural of the handball. You can't score directly from a handball advantage unless that player passes it to (assist) teammate.
Rules are stupid, I know but it is what it is.

 

[justsomebloke]

Goal will be disallowed regardless of natural of the handball. You can't score directly from a handball advantage unless that player passes it to (assist) teammate.
Rules are stupid, I know but it is what it is.

Right, so then it doesn't help that the ball actually went in off his thigh, since it hit his arm first. He'd have needed to pass it.

 

[Red in STL]

True. Shitty rule though, needs changing!

Yup it does