Rooney testimonial vs Everton

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At halftime against Galatasaray the Caf was ready to write the whole season off. At full time the general feeling was that we were serious title contenders and with Pogba incoming nothing could stop us.

Now 90min later we are apparently back to having championship level players, LVG as a coach and we should be happy if get into the top 10..

(and this is after playing 4 pre season games)


I seriously don't know if I should laugh or cry at the knee jerk meltdowns we have in these match threads.
 
We obviously need more time but there are positive signs. I believe that our "decent" players will remain on their level, i.e. Lingard, Fellaini
 
Extremely boring game. First half we were in control but our attackers weren't good enough, second half was just a mess.

Mourinho has a lot of work to do.
 
settembrini said:
Extremely boring game. First half we were in control but our attackers weren't good enough, second half was just a mess.
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Pre-season games are always a mess. It's about getting players competitive minutes, giving them the chance to play together against a team who haven't had the same training as them. So they're not going to be giving it 100%, and even though I'm sure Mourinho would have liked a win (always good for confidence) the result isn't really a good indicator of anything. The real test is going to be the Community Shield at the weekend, which I'm certain we'll want to win. How we approach that game will be telling.
 
We should have played alot more games. Especially when most players are getting 45 mins. Some are lucky to get 20 mins. I mean, we should play a game every day like that. I hope for less travel and more game time next preseason.
We look sluggish and lethargic. But that can easily be attributed to the disjointed preparations. I guess it's too much to expect players to explode when the proper stuff hasn't even started. But I'd still like to think we're capable of sustained rythym and intensity. We haven't shown it, except for about 7 mins. in Gothenburg.
It's hard to draw any conclusions though.
 
Anirudh said:
@Coops73 'Ibrahimovic' isn't an experiment. Its a well thought out transfer to increase the collective confidence of the squad. Even if he scores 10-15 goals this season, I think it would be great for the club. The biggest character we had in the team before Zlatan was Rooney, and we all know how that's gone for the last 3 years. No one was really able to pull the team together to fight out of 'slumps'. Zlatan is just the man to do that kind of stuff. I don't think Zlatan and Rooney will be a regular pairing for us. They may start the first few games together, but their age will probably lead to a job share type of arrangement towards the middle and end of the season. If it does not work, fair enough. But there is no denying the winning attitude that Zlatan brings to our club.
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I agree, I think he's a great buy personally, a one year contract that will hopefully help with the development of Rashford and Martial, of course you never know how players will adjust to the prem but let's hope he's successful here.
 
Zlaatan said:
At halftime against Galatasaray the Caf was ready to write the whole season off. At full time the general feeling was that we were serious title contenders and with Pogba incoming nothing could stop us.

Now 90min later we are apparently back to having championship level players, LVG as a coach and we should be happy if get into the top 10..

(and this is after playing 4 pre season games)


I seriously don't know if I should laugh or cry at the knee jerk meltdowns we have in these match threads.
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My thoughts exactly. We could win every pre-season game but be poor when the season starts.
 
settembrini said:
Extremely boring game. First half we were in control but our attackers weren't good enough, second half was just a mess.

Mourinho has a lot of work to do.
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Believe it or not, we won't score against every team in the league in the first 45 minutes. We had a number of blocked shots, Shaw's effort inches wide of the post and Ibra's two shots on target. Without the raft of substitutions we looked good value to go on and win the game. Against an extremely defensive Everton team. We're obviously not yet firing on all cylinders but that first half was definitely encouraging.
 
Ahh the pre-season woes.

I remember that pre-season when Inter Milan made us look like fools and then we finished by losing to some Saudi team. We went on to win the PL-CL double that same season.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Believe it or not, we won't score against every team in the league in the first 45 minutes. We had a number of blocked shots, Shaw's effort inches wide of the post and Ibra's two shots on target. Without the raft of substitutions we looked good value to go on and win the game. Against an extremely defensive Everton team. We're obviously not yet firing on all cylinders but that first half was definitely encouraging.
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We should have created more given all the possession. Everton, despite being 'extremely defensive', had the best chances and that was depressingly reminiscent of the Van Gaal era.

There were some encouraging signs, also some negative ones. Hopefully we see more of the former and less of the latter against Leicester.
 
I can't believe we have people discussing our title credentials based on a friendly.
 
as-95 said:
Not sure if you read my chain of posts but I did not mention Martial at all. He is indeed a special player with alot of potential and has our left side on lockdown.

My main concern was with Lingard on our right and I would like Mahrez to replace him. Mkhi has looked more effective through the middle so he can alternate with Mata for the CAM spot. Rash,Zlatan and Rooney for the striker spot and Mahrez on our right.

Alot of the above players can play in numerous positions so there is plenty of scope for rotationand positional flexibility.
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Fair enough. I read your last post in isolation. But still, Zlatan, Rooney and Rashford for 1 spot clearly means no (or little) playing time for Rashford. This obviously is not the best thing for the long term growth of the lad. He needs playing time, and he has (so far) done enough to claim his spot. Plus, there is also Mata/ Herrera/ (if he comes) Pogba for the no.10 spot. Miki is probably better off playing on the right.
 
Zlaatan said:
At halftime against Galatasaray the Caf was ready to write the whole season off. At full time the general feeling was that we were serious title contenders and with Pogba incoming nothing could stop us.

Now 90min later we are apparently back to having championship level players, LVG as a coach and we should be happy if get into the top 10..

(and this is after playing 4 pre season games)


I seriously don't know if I should laugh or cry at the knee jerk meltdowns we have in these match threads.
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It's hilarious to watch...its much worse in the mains compared to knee jerk reactions in the newbie forums.
 
Boring match, but Everton under Koeman was an awful opponent. Boring, pointless club who ruined the occasion. Rooney should've tried to get a match against Barcelona or something. Fecking Everton
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Boring match, but Everton under Koeman was an awful opponent. Boring, pointless club who ruined the occasion. Rooney should've tried to get a match against Barcelona or something. Fecking Everton
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Well no, Barcelona are currently on a money making pre-season and wouldn't play for not much no doubt.
Everton makes sense really, local'ish and Rooney's former club. The fact that neither Mourinho or Koeman do easy or pointless games just stopped a 6-5 goalfest. If you want that then you need not to have the game in the pre-season period.
 
Guardian comments section:

Many years ago when my daughter was just a baby, she was at Alder Hey Children's Hospital undergoing major heart surgery (she's disabled and despite being from Manchester, under their excellent care). Anyway, we were told that a young Everton player was celebrating his 18th birthday and visiting the hospital to meet the kiddies. They'd had him a big birthday cake made, etc etc.

Mr Rooney made the rounds, shaking hands, asking the right questions and spending time with each kid, whilst we waited our turn with our no-nonsense nurse, who was distinctly underwhelmed by this "bloody footballer" causing havoc with the day-to-day running of the ward.

He arrived at our bed, and the nurse asks why he's so important that we've all got to stop what we're doing to receive him. He replies that he's a patron of the hospital, to which she replies "A patron? You're probably not bloody old enough to be a patient!"

To be fair, he found that hilarious and proceeded to be charming until she eventually actually warmed to him. I'm a United ST holder and had no idea at that time he'd go on to play for us, and despite the abuse he's now receiving for the "PR stunt" of a testimonial, I can confirm he's been doing this stuff for well over a decade. Fair play to him, good lad.
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I thought there were noticeable differences last night compared to us under LVG. For starters every player looked to pass the ball forward when they weren't under pressure, only when Fellaini came on did he revert to nudging it backwards when he could have looked forward. Players receiving the ball were much quicker to move it on and play at a faster tempo and at times Shaw and Valencia were in areas where they could have easily scored.

I thought Blind had a great game and Zlatan had a Cantona strut about him. We perhaps needed someone in the middle area of the pitch just to unlock a team - a Coutinho, Ramsey, Hazard, Ali, Erikson type player who can just see that pass a split second quicker. The rest of the team looked good and Pogba will make us rock solid and hopefully lessen those little ten minute periods opposing teams often get against us when they enjoy a fair bit of possession in our defensive third.

Positive though as opposed to negative.
 
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