[Bertie Wooster]

10 out of the starting XI was what I wanted / predicted, so I was happy enough with that. But my change was a 2nd natural CB - say Lindelof for 45 mins, then Mengi - and Matic at CM with Mata on the bench. I felt playing Matic out of position, and giving Mata a very rare start, were two changes too far and changes that didn't tell us anything long term - and in fact probably hindered what we could have learned from those others brought in as I'm sure it would have helped the performances of VDB, Lingard, etc, if we'd had Matic in midfield and a natural CB partnership. I don't think we'd have looked as disjointed and sloppy and it would have given them a better opportunity to perform, while still resting the majority of the players set to face Norwich.

I was happy to see the academy products on the bench, but would have preferred another senior option or two to bring on if the game was in the balance late on - such as Mata in my preferred line up were he was on the bench - as I wanted us to avoid defeat to keep the recent momentum going.

Fortunately that happened anyway, albeit unconvincingly, so I'm happy enough with avoiding defeat, not needing to use the regulars, and giving some game time to the likes of Elanga and Amad.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Good use of the squad from RR, nothing game rest his key players give the fringe and the younger players a chance to get some minutes. After 2 games in charge we can at least see the difference a good manager makes to the team.
Loving the younger players getting a chance to play at OT on a Champions League night. Hopefully they get to play more this season. Id love nothing more than RR using the kids to fill the holes in the squad this season.
Lingard is already away to another club judging by his performance.

 

[Shimo]

It was a chance for all of them but, it's not a surprise most didn't really perform. How can you having not played competitive football in a long while. Don't think RR will write off anyone as some seem to be doing on the back of that game.

One player that I think maybe should be concerned is Lingard. It seemed like he just has not paid attention to what everyone knows about how RR wants to play. Seemed like he was stuck in the old system. Everything seemed to be backwards with him today in the build up. I really thought he might put in a performance.

Mata may honestly have played his last game for us, such a likeable guy but, pace and physicality games here on out will be too much for him and so many other options ahead of him.

Mason and Diallo did well enough to probably get the nod off the bench or in an upcoming game in the starting XI. Bailly for sure should be considered for a starting spot.

 

[Stig]

Decent first half, disappointing second

I thought Amad was alright, we dropped a level when he went off. Greenwood also very good first half but anonymous in the second. Mata was decent too.

Elanga was invisible, VDB very disappointing, AWB looks way off the first XI, Jessie looked indifferent.

Agree except I thought Amad was very poor and that VDB although had a few errors was trying to do the right thing.

 

[Stig]

Bailly for sure should be considered for a starting spot.

If the deflection of his foot had gone in, which it very well could have, it would have been Man City all over again for him and he would be getting slated. But he did some good covering and good defensive headers, but I just feel that he is an accident or red card waiting to happen in every game.

 

[::sonny::]

Nothing new
Players who doesn’t run and doesn’t follow the manager instructions

 

[Freak]

Almost all of the senior players, except Bailly and Henderson, should be ashamed.

 

[Alek M]

I thought Amad did well. Clever quick passing and shifting.

I liked Mengi a lot. Dude looks muscle. Who needs Upa.

VDB never understood cafs obsession with him.

Happy for Tom and his debut. That was class.

Happy Greenwood got his minutes.

So long Jessie, Juan.

 

[jimmyb2000]

I was surprised that Phil Jones didn't even get in the squad.....is he injured again?

 

[DULLAGHAN]

Very good opening to the game. Could've had 2 or 3. Fun to watch a game full of youth with nothing to lose. Can't remember a game like this since fergie left when we've played a complete 2nd string.

No point over analysing anything as the team sheet was sure to throw up some shaky moments Can't help but think Ralph wanted a little chaos to see who would sink and who'd swim. He definitely could've shored things up and steadied the balance at any time, he just preferred to see who could handle a game in transition with lots of open play.

 

[DULLAGHAN]

I was surprised that Phil Jones didn't even get in the squad.....is he injured again?

No registered in champions league squad so couldn't play. I think Ralph mentioned wanting to give him minutes in the build up but couldn't as he's not registered.

 

[A Civilized Reader]

Well... young boys vs Young Boys, results in a draw. Make complete sense to me

 

[Ibi Dreams]

Only watched the highlights, but seemed like a decent performance given the lineup and subs used. Got a better result than our first team did in the away game at least

 

[Nordmore]

I thought Amad did well. Clever quick passing and shifting.

I liked Mengi a lot. Dude looks muscle. Who needs Upa.

VDB never understood cafs obsession with him.

Happy for Tom and his debut. That was class.

Happy Greenwood got his minutes.

So long Jessie, Juan.

Back then VDB was a big stick to beat Ole with by many here. Some Ajax fans clearly rate him, understandably. Some neutral bought into that. Now most simply don't want to be wrong. A lot less posters defending him now compared to when Ole was still in charge. You can see it by reading the VDB performance thread.

A good player usually stick out of the bad bunch, that's how top clubs notice the good players from smaller clubs. Unless there's some dramatic changes I don't really think he has a future here. Many say he's an intelligent player but what intelligent player forgot to follow instructions from his manager? Better to simply cash him in and use that money to buy a real DM I think.

 

[Redlyn]

You can’t be serious...

It's how it's going to be for the first two games, yeah.

Will we be pressing for 90 mins or even 60 mins in the next match then? I reckon no, we need time to get up our fitness. Till then, what I said.

 

[passtheball]

Still going to defend VdB. He should be given a run of games over McT who has been consistently shit for months (including against CP).

Starting in midfield once every other month, this time next to grandpa Mata, is not the game you want to judge him (though, actually he was quite all right; most number of forward passes and tackles in the match). Give him a run and let's see how he does.

 

[Smudgers]

Great night for the youngsters good to see some young lads getting an opportunity, players who had the most to prove VDB, Lindgard, AWB fell a little short of what they needed to do , thought Iqbal for the short time he was on looked very composed for such a young lad look forward to seeing more of him , shame Hanibal was away .

we forget also Ole’s first team got beat by this lot so the young lads did alright

 

[Natener]

We played a competitive game for 30min, then played a friendly/testimonial for 60min. The 60min was pretty much just an opportunity for the young lads to play in front the Old Trafford crowd. It's great for their development and that's what I'll take from this game.

 

[manichester]

2 quality goals but neither team could hit Old Trafford from 20 yards. First eleven rested is important and Ralf gets to see some of the other players, thought Mengi looked promising.

 

[Mr Anderson]

Jesse and AWB were very disappointing. For players fighting for first team slots, not good enough. The effort wasntMatic had a shocker but slightly mitigated by the fact he was playing centre back.

was always going to be hard for the XI who never played together as a unit and also with no experience on the bench. To come out with a draw was great.

Donny put a good shift in, but he still made mistakes Fred and McTom make constantly. Hopefully that is lack of game time (or maybe the fact all he had next to him in midfield was Mata and Jesse)

 

[Spaghetti]

Henderson did ok, could have done better for the goal maybe.

Greenwood was v.good and put in a mature performance I thought - crazy to think he’s only 6 months older than Elanga.

Bailly was ok at the back. Shaw got forward ok first half but is a million miles away from 20-21 Shaw.

Lingard started well, his awareness when getting the ball in the opposing team’s half is very good, I think his criticism on here is over the top.

The rest were very poor. I was disappointed in Amad, not because he was the worst (he wasn’t) but because I expected the most from him. VDB was probably the worst yesterday.

 

[Fitchett]

Did anyone else notice the Referee's refusal to take the knee, despite all 22 starting players doing so? I thought that was really poor and not conducive to earning the players' respect. Later on, he gave Elanga and Amad nothing, when they were on the receiving end of some stiff challenges, but booked Shoretire for his first foul, an innocuous challenge well away from our goal. It made me wonder ........

 

[captaincantona]

Will we be pressing for 90 mins or even 60 mins in the next match then? I reckon no, we need time to get up our fitness. Till then, what I said.

No that’s not what you said...

Is this how it's going to be? Good 30 mins with lots of energy and then huff and puff at the end of the match?

Nothing about time to get fitness up...just unreasonable knee jerk reaction to two performances one week after the Managers first training session. You have seen the stats compared to other teams with regard to pressing, sprints, distance covered etc. You don’t develop an ability to be able to go full pelt for 90 minutes in a week. Ridiculous over reaction to a dead rubber game where fitness, game time and blooding youth were the objectives.

 

[captaincantona]

Because the "senior" players look like crap. With that performance and the wage paid, they are stealing a leaving. Lingard, Bissaka, Matic are the main suspect.

But that’s a necessary step.

-Matic had to play at centre half in order to give the first team a break for a game that actually meant something. Who cares if he was shit? He isn’t a key player for us.
-Same for VDB and Mata and be honest, with regard to DVB, he had the smallest, slowest, most non combative player in the PL next to him so that needs some consideration before he is hung drawn and quartered in here as usual. They were decent all thing considered.
- Bissaka and Lingard were unknown quantities with regard to this new style of play and so why on earth wouldn’t you give them 90 minutes in a dead rubber game?RR and the players themselves learned what they need to improve on in this type of approach. That’s a necessity for any type of “development” which is exactly what RR said was his objective over these 6 months.
- The kids who got a decent run out are now aware of the step they need to take and what’s expected...predictably Elanga looked more lost and less influential without the liscence to bomb on that Ole ball provided and Amad, despite not being on form, worked his bollox off which shows the boss his attitude.
- The other youngsters now have a taste and a reason to kick on.

I see no reason for negativity whatsoever. Clearly not up to standards we might expect from a first choice Utd side but rusty squad players, unfamiliar teammates, inexperienced youth players, debutants, poxy rain and a whole new formation/style of play...it was a fine match to watch and learn and good for the development of the squad.

We could have been waiting another 3 years to see Ole takes those risks even in the Carabao cup...let alone the type of message it sends through the youth system that you could make you CL debut under this regime if you Work hard enough.

Bravo to the boss. Didn’t expect it. Really enjoyed it and can’t wait to see the young players be given more of a chance to step up in the future. As for Bisakka and Lingard...they now know what they are missing...let’s see how they react.

 

[sugar_kane]

DVB is the new Pogba, every time he has a crap performance there will be extenuating circumstances eg. his position, who he played alongside etc. It's really tedious. At least Pogba has done some truly amazing stuff on the pitch.

Either way, another average game from him - one thing I noticed last night is that everyone time he made a pass he just stood still rather than getting forward and presenting an option for the return pass, really annoying.

Overall a fairly boring game to watch, nice to see minutes for some of the youngsters but 'nice' is as much enthusiasm as I can muster - shades of the LVG years where kids would get minutes just because.

Bailly and Greenwood had good games, Henderson decent as well - he clearly wanted to prove he can control his box but for the most time it worked.

Amad and Elanga clearly need time to develop, and the former was clearly nervous which manifested in silly mistakes - but he will learn and good to get minutes under his belt. Daft to suggest he should have been starting regularly before now though.

Mata was working hard but nothing was coming off for him, would like to see him given more minutes under Rangnick. Such a waste of talent and experience the past season or so.

Wan Bissaka was poor again, to the point where I felt a bit bad for him - it's clear he's feeling a lot of pressure and is acutely aware of his own limitations. Feel like he would be one of the ones to really benefit most from some coaching and mental support.

Lingard on the other hand was dreadful - didn't seem even slightly interested in trying until about the final ten minutes. We've definitely handled him poorly, but he had plenty of games like that before he was dropped by Ole first time around.

 

[VanDeBank]

Bailly, Greenwood and Henderson passed the audition for the first team.
Amad, Shola, Mengi showed some promise. Shaw was okay. The rest was crap.

 

[IRN-BRUno]

Not a great performance but it's always difficult when you throw in basically a whole new side especially with several playing out of position.

Makes it harder for the youngsters to impress when a number of the senior players play so poorly though. Ideally they'd be getting minutes alongside 8 or 9 of the regular starters but understandable why that wasn't the case last night. Hopefully Amad and Elanga can find decent loan moves in January.

 

[Ayoba]

Great night for the youngsters good to see some young lads getting an opportunity, players who had the most to prove VDB, Lindgard, AWB fell a little short of what they needed to do , thought Iqbal for the short time he was on looked very composed for such a young lad look forward to seeing more of him , shame Hanibal was away .

we forget also Ole’s first team got beat by this lot so the young lads did alright

I felt the same too! Add Shoretire to that list. I think loan spells to championship clubs would do them a world of good.

 

[I'm a beautiful thing]

Didn't expect much looking at the team, I thought Mata started well, played some passes but faded badly, I liked Amad, he tried to create something, these lads need loans I think.
Ralf did the right thing, a nothing game and he looked at some players in a competitive game, some did themselves no favours however

 

[Stuoxford]

It waa fine! We had enough chances to score and win.

More of a fact finding exercise for Ralf plus a chance to give the senior players some rest. Not sure what the moaning is about.

I agree. If that was Ole he would have a bench full off first team players and brought them on for the second half. How many times was it obvious that Fernandez and Rashford were over played and he still brought them on in games like that.

 

[rooneyberbatov]

Mata was working hard but nothing was coming off for him, would like to see him given more minutes under Rangnick. Such a waste of talent and experience the past season or so.

Can't believe he wasted all his prime years under Moyes, van Gaal and Mourinho. Tragic. Feel sorry for the guy as now only brain left.

 

[Redlyn]

No that’s not what you said...

Nothing about time to get fitness up...just unreasonable knee jerk reaction to two performances one week after the Managers first training session. You have seen the stats compared to other teams with regard to pressing, sprints, distance covered etc. You don’t develop an ability to be able to go full pelt for 90 minutes in a week. Ridiculous over reaction to a dead rubber game where fitness, game time and blooding youth were the objectives.

Its not unreasonable kneejerk if its true. Are we or are we not going to be up to pressing standard in the upcoming games. If your answer is NO. Then I am done with you as we are basically agreeing that we will press well early on and drop off at the end of the matches, at least for now. I fully understand its fitness but that doesn't change the reality of the next games which is my point.

This is what I said: We need time to get up our fitness. Till then, what I said.
Translation for the bolded: Till we get our fitness up, what i initially said is valid.

 

[nainaisson]

DVB is the new Pogba, every time he has a crap performance there will be extenuating circumstances eg. his position, who he played alongside etc. It's really tedious. At least Pogba has done some truly amazing stuff on the pitch.

It's because he looks like Tintin. If he were as ugly as Maguire, we'd see nothing but "sell him" posts.

 

[Houdini]

After the first game against them someone said that we could have played the youngsters and it woltn't be worse. Yes it was not. The negative from this game is that senior players looked crap (except Bailly Greenwood, if we consider him a senior payer and the keepers).

 

[Tomuś]

Greenwood, Mengi, Amad, Henderson, Bailly: good.

Beek, Elanga, Bissaka: shite.

The rest were either mediocre or played too short.

 

[The Corinthian]

Don't understand the moaning in here.

This is as dead rubber game as could be - we're already through, and we've secured the top spot.

Chance to rest our regulars? Check
Chance to get some squad members minutes? Check
Chance to get some players returning from injuries minutes? Check
Chance to give some of our talented youth from the academy their debuts and minutes? Check

The squad is still getting used to a new philosophy, and that includes the established players, so there'll be some teething issues.

 

[RedMilo]

And who cares about the result? Sure, it would have been nice to win the game. But we got a new manager who has a totally different style than what we played the last years. The schedule is busy. Of course he will use the full week of training to implement his ideas further on our first team players and prepare us for a league game instead of having the distraction of this dead rubber. So i think Ralf didn't care too much about any balance, he just wanted to have nobody of the starting eleven of our next league game involved today.

Absolutely the right decision imo.

I expected changes but in keeping with the start he made on the team. You cant deny the team felt like a mish mash of players cobbled together. Yes the result was unimportant but the winning mentality it something we need to get back quickly if we want to salvage our hopes this season.

 

[Oldtraffordboy]

I think the criticism of Lingard and Mata is unfair.

Mata for example has had zero minutes this season I think? To expect him to run the show is just weird. Save for a sloppy finish, he played well.

Not saying these players shouldn't be moved on, I just think the criticism is overly harsh in the circumstances.

As other have mentioned squad freshness harmony and giving young players a look is more important than winning an absolute dead rubber of a game.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

The people whinging this much about a CL group dead rubber.

We've had much stronger teams than this get battered by the likes of Maccabi Haifa in these types of games.

EditSorry was trying to reply to post about Baily)

I thought h did well but I can't believe he did not score an own goal on that clearance, and he cannot be so risky with the ball at times.

I am being nitpicky, probably because I'd love to see him start with Varane, and I hope he can clean up some things.

 

[studs]

What was AWB trying to do with that header?