Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

bangkok

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

That Lingard goal kind of masks how poor United were in that 2nd half. 3 nil up at half time, they should have comfortably seen out the game. This is what can happens when you sit back and allow good teams to play. I''ll be quite concerned if this is how we play against Arsenal.

i think it was more to do with the fact they were 3 nil up at half time and thought he would be an easy 2nd half.

Happens alot

spurs 3-0 ht spurs 3-5 man utd

liverpool 3-0 ht palace 3-3

ac milan 3-0 ht full time pool champ league winners

arsenal 4-0 ht 4-4 ft newcastle

i think we will beat arsenal easily this weekend (providing matic is fit)

jayo26

All the big clubs are playing at home tomorrow night too.

yabadabado

jayo26 wrote: »

Young will deservedly get man of the match but it could if just as easily been given to Victor lindleoff he has been fantastic.

Lindelof had another good game,MOTM on Saturday and not far off tonight.

Liam O

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

That Lingard goal kind of masks how poor United were in that 2nd half. 3 nil up at half time, they should have comfortably seen out the game. This is what can happen when you sit back and allow good teams to play. I''ll be quite concerned if this is how we play against Arsenal.

Don't agree with that really. A bad penalty to give away and a great goal from Doucoure. United had 3 or 4 good opportunities before their goal and on another day it would have been 4 or 5 easily before they threatened the goal.

Kerrydude1981

Quandary wrote: »

Very surprising game. Delighted that we scored 4 goals, I was thinking we were good for maybe 2 at best with our recent run of form.

The good:
Young
Lindelof
Martial
Lingards goal was brilliant
Overall defence was solid


The bad:
Lukakus poor form is starting to get worrying now, his confidence is clearly low
Conceding 2 goals was very annoying despite defending quite well

Thought Lukaku didnt play too badly,of course he should have scored but he is still contributing,as I said earlier I would like to see him staying central and trying to get in behind defenders which he was doing so well at the start of the season

Also when did Anto last finish a game? He always seems to hooked off early,was hoping he would stay on tonight

adox

The penalty was Watfords first strike on target.

We did crumble a bit when Matic went off and there is still a question about these players application and character at times but we still created numerous chances in the second half.

To say we were great in the first half and then poor in the second just doesn’t reflect what happened.

The midfield set up invites pressure though and that has to be sorted sooner rather than later.

deaddonkey15

Liam O wrote: »

Don't agree with that really. A bad penalty to give away and a great goal from Doucoure. United had 3 or 4 good opportunities before their goal and on another day it would have been 4 or 5 easily before they threatened the goal.

Another day like Brighton on Saturday? Or Basel, Stoke, Liverpool, Chelsea?Watford bossed and won the second half tonight, they outplayed us and looked far more likely to get a goal while we sat back and let them play. It's unsurprising that they got two of them and were looking for a third before Lingard's moment of magic. We won't get out of jail like that all the time.

Jayop

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Calm down. See below.

One game so. Zzzzz

Jayop

**** it. Great three points considering what happened other top teams there.

Goals check
Excitement check
Three points check.


What more do you want?

Quandary

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Thought Lukaku didnt play too badly,of course he should have scored but he is still contributing,as I said earlier I would like to see him staying central and trying to get in behind defenders which he was doing so well at the start of the season

Also when did Anto last finish a game? He always seems to hooked off early,was hoping he would stay on tonight

Martial is in my opinion our most exciting player. I honestly think he has a higher ceiling than any of our other players. My only fear is his head might get turned by another big club who will give him that leading striker position he so desperately wants. I don't think he will be happy stay at .Utd long term if he is always played out wide.

Al Capwned

Lukaku is fast becoming a source of real concern.

adox

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Another day like Brighton on Saturday? Or Basel, Stoke, Liverpool, Chelsea?Watford bossed and won the second half tonight, they outplayed us and looked far more likely to get a goal while we sat back and let them play. It's unsurprising that they got two of them and were looking for a third before Lingard's moment of magic. We won't get out of jail like that all the time.

We looked more likely to score in the second half than Watford did before they got the peno and had their first shot on target. We were 3-0 up at the time.

Look we did have a switch off spell which is worrying and has been brought up numerous times on here but you are hugely exaggerating what happened and not tak8ng into account any context.

We were still ahead when Lingard scored so calling that getting out of jail is just very wide of the mark.

jayo26

Lukaku assisted a goal and helped create another as long as he keeps going he will be fine.

jaykay74

Interesting stat!

https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/935627079391080448

adox

Al Capwned wrote: »

Lukaku is fast becoming a source of real concern.

Ah sure he’s gone from brilliant in the first 11 games to brutal in the second 11(that’s the narrative anyway)

It’s a bit of a concern but the goals will come again and we will have forgotten about the run that he has had.

S.M.B.

adox wrote: »

The penalty was Watfords first strike on target.

We did crumble a bit when Matic went off and there is still a question about these players application and character at times but we still created numerous chances in the second half.

To say we were great in the first half and then poor in the second just doesn’t reflect what happened.

The midfield set up invites pressure though and that has to be sorted sooner rather than later.

This

We were super clinical in the first half and we weren't for the vast majority of the second.

I didn't see a great change in our setup or application.

limnam

Al Capwned wrote: »

Lukaku is fast becoming a source of real concern.

The level of X is becoming a source of real concern after each game is becoming a source of real concern.

StringerBell

Lukaku isn't a concern for me for one. If he was having no impact in the games yeah sure, but considering he is then I don't see the concern. He is 100% not a player low on confidence I can tell you that.

deaddonkey15

bangkok wrote: »

i think it was more to do with the fact they were 3 nil up at half time and thought he would be an easy 2nd half.

Happens alot

spurs 3-0 ht spurs 3-5 man utd

liverpool 3-0 ht palace 3-3

ac milan 3-0 ht full time pool champ league winners

arsenal 4-0 ht 4-4 ft newcastle

i think we will beat arsenal easily this weekend (providing matic is fit)

There's an element of that for sure. But it's a bad mentality to have and one we could do with getting rid of. I'd prefer if the players were hungry to fill their boots and hammer someone rather than switch off because they've got a good early lead.

adox wrote: »

We looked more likely to score in the second half than Watford did before they got the peno and had their first shot on target. We were 3-0 up at the time.

Look we did have a switch off spell which is worrying and has been brought up numerous times on here but you are hugely exaggerating what happened and not tak8ng into account any context.

We were still ahead when Lingard scored so calling that getting out of jail is just very wide of the mark.

I disagree. Whilst we did create a few chances on the counter, Watford were bossing possession and playing all the football whilst we were often hoofing it clear or looking for that killer ball on the break that often didn't work out. They seemed to win a lot of the breaking balls as well which annoyed me. They were actively trying to create something whilst we were sitting back and hoping to catch them on the break.

I don't think I'm hugely exaggerating at all. We went from three nil up at half time to 3-2 against a decent but limited Watford side. They definitely looked like they had a third in them too. Lingard won't always score wonder goals to relieve the pressure that Watford were applying.

Al Capwned

adox wrote: »

Ah sure he’s gone from brilliant in the first 11 games to brutal in the second 11(that’s the narrative anyway)

It’s a bit of a concern but the goals will come again and we will have forgotten about the run that he has had.

I certainly hope so.
I've no doubt the goals will return for him, the real clincher will be if they can return at a rate that will be required for a club like United.
Fingers crossed. Gotta say I do admire his effort and attitude.

I was nervous about that fixture beforehand, great to get away with the 3 points courtesy of 4 quality goals.

That's the second time in a week though that we completely went to shít in the second half. Last week in the CL, the team played a very good first half against Basel. Then, in the second half the team looked totally incompetent and Basel got their deserved goal near the end.

Similar tonight - Very good first half from United which then fell apart in the second half, almost clutching defeat/draw from the claws of victory at one point.

Great to get the 3 points tonight, and I'm sure we'll still advance from our CL group quite easily next week, but some of these second half performances are concerning.

limnam

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

I don't think I'm hugely exaggerating at all. We went from three nil up at half time to 3-2 against a decent but limited Watford side. They definitely looked like they had a third in them too. Lingard won't always score wonder goals to relieve the pressure that Watford were applying.

We won't always give away a peno there.

There second goal was just a great goal imo.

It's absolutely normal for teams to take their foot off the gas at 3-0 especially when it comes in fairly quick succession in the first half.

People forget Fergie sides did this all the timeespecially around times when we had a lot of fixtures. You want energy reservation.

If we don't give the peno away we stroll to 0-3 and no one utters a word about it.

Watford are the home team their 0-3 down the onus is on them to come out and we have every right to sit back and try to punish.

You won't be happy until we've bought all the city players, brought in guarda and play like barcelona.

bangkok

jayo26 wrote: »

Lukaku assisted a goal and helped create another as long as he keeps going he will be fine.

He still needs to improve on his finishing and movement. Missed 2 great chances tonight

Lithium93_

Lithium93_ wrote: »

All aboard the positivity/good result train

Potential derailment avoided :pac:

S.M.B.

José seems happy with lukaku as he is happy to leave him on for the full 90 minutes even with Ibra back.

deaddonkey15

limnam wrote: »

We won't always give away a peno there.

No, but more likely to if we let them dominate the ball.

limnam wrote: »

There second goal was just a great goal imo.

Yes, but that's what can happen when you give teams time and space on the ball.

limnam wrote: »

It's absolutely normal for teams to take their foot off the gas at 3-0 especially when it comes in fairly quick succession in the first half.

I agree, but going from 3 nil up to defending a 1 goal lead is very poor against any side, especially Watford.

limnam wrote: »

People forget Fergie sides did this all the timeespecially around times when we had a lot of fixtures. You want energy reservation.

You want points first and foremost. Fergie's teams also used to ruthlessly smash sides like Watford

limnam wrote: »

If we don't give the peno away we stroll to 0-3 and no one utters a word about it.

No guarantee of that at all. It's beside the point anyway. The fact is we did give away a penalty. Then once they scored it we didn't keep it at 3-1 or change our playing style in any way shape or form. Instead we let them score another.

limnam wrote: »

Watford are the home team their 0-3 down the onus is on them to come out and we have every right to sit back and try to punish.

I agree, except we almost got punished ourselves. We've already been punished this season by having that attitude.

limnam wrote: »

You won't be happy until we've bought all the city players, brought in guarda and play like barcelona.

Childish, but you'll get your thanks.

v3ttel

Seemed like all the United players paused to drink a full bottle of dreamy sleepy nighty snoozy snooze around the time Matic went off. It does seem to happen a lot of teams that they take their foot off the gas when they have a comfortable lead at half time, but we seem particularly prone to it. Lukaku & Lingard should have had the game dead and buried long before the penalty was given away. We shouldn't have had to go and win that game twice. That should be a game where you can save the legs of 2 or 3 key players at 0-3 and not risk throwing away the game.

I don't understand how Lukaku can be low on confidence seeing as he scored at the weekend and he scored for Belgium recently too. It's not like it's weeks upon weeks without a goal. It's good that he's still getting the chances, but surely he's not that brittle for confidence.

A win is a win and it's been a great start to the season. In many other seasons, we'd be out in front and favourites for the title. It's just the fact that City have made an absolutely unbelievable start that's taking away from it a bit. They will have a sticky spell as all teams do, it's just a case of whether we can hang onto their coat tails to be close enough to really put the pressure on when they have a blip.

Some more positives...

- Pogba, Rojo and Zlatan continuing to come through their appearances unscathed after lengthy injury spells. Ok, Rojo and Pogba have been thrown back in at the deep end, but it's great that the team can break Zlatan back into it easily. Maybe he'll be ready for his first start of the season against CSKA next week.

- Lindelof is starting to look like a defender, and a good one at that.

- That was a good 3 points tonight, and Spurs' defeat means that no matter what happens in our next 2 league matches against Arsenal and City, we'll still be at least 2 points ahead of Spurs when those games pass, even if Spurs win their games in the meantime. WTF Spurs?! :pac:

Liverpool too. We would be ahead of them on GD even if they win their games. As for the rest of our Top 6 rivals, 0 points from our next 2 games would leave us 4 points behind Chelsea at worst, and 2 points behind Arsenal.

So, if at the worst we pick up 0 points against the Arse and City, we'll still be in the Top 4 not too far off 2nd place. Not our aim of course, but those 3 points tonight mean that if the shít hits the fan in the next 2 games, we at least have the chance to get back into it with a favourable run of games coming up in December after the City game .

- What has happened with past results has happened and has been discussed to death. However, Huddersfield still hurts me. Never mind the draws at Stoke and Liverpool, or the loss to Chelsea, 3 points at Huddersfield would have given us even more to be positive about right now.

pjohnson

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

No, but more likely to if we let them dominate the ball.



Yes, but that's what can happen when you give teams time and space on the ball.



I agree, but going from 3 nil up to defending a 1 goal lead is very poor against any side, especially Watford.



You want points first and foremost. Fergie's teams also used to ruthlessly smash sides like Watford



No guarantee of that at all. It's beside the point anyway. The fact is we did give away a penalty. Then once they scored it we didn't keep it at 3-1 or change our playing style in any way shape or form. Instead we let them score another.



I agree, except we almost got punished ourselves. We've already been punished this seen by having that attitude.



Childish, but you'll get your thanks.

You realise we won the game right mr. Doom and gloom?

limnam

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

No, but more likely to if we let them dominate the ball.

You're not going to dominate many if any games for a full 90 minutes.

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Yes, but that's what can happen when you give teams time and space on the ball.

Watford have a quality side imo and some of their passing was really crisp regardless of how our application to closing down was.

As I said in 90 minutes of football there's going to be times when good passing sides create it.

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

I agree, but going from 3 nil up to defending a 1 goal lead is very poor against any side, especially Watford.

Going behind to them 0-2 in the first half is as bad which these amazing united sides of the past have done.

It's like no team has ever came back from 3 up before.

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

You want points first and foremost. Fergie's teams also used to ruthlessly smash sides like Watford

And sitting back when 3 up and trying to hit on the break while conserving energy is a way to do it.

They were ruthless against watford once in about 20 years.

They've also been beaten by a lot worse than that Watford side. I think your vastly underestimating the quality they showed.

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

No guarantee of that at all. It's beside the point anyway. The fact is we did give away a penalty. Then once they scored it we didn't keep it at 3-1 or change our playing style in any way shape or form. Instead we let them score another.

Which is my point you're saying we won't always score wonder goals to get out of jail. We were 2-3 up we didn't to get out of jail we were all ready winning and what we will or won't do or what another team might do in relation to this game is pointless. which was the point.

pjohnson

Jayop wrote: »

**** it. Great three points considering what happened other top teams there.

Goals check
Excitement check
Three points check.


What more do you want?

Moar possession I bet. Its always moar possession. The glorious possession days of LVG are sorely missed.

Trigger

jayo26 wrote: »

All the big clubs are playing at home tomorrow night too.

I’ll thank it for you Jayo it deserves it, worrying that no one picked up on it haha

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

You can accept a slight easing off the gas at 0-3 at half time coming into the Xmas period, when Watford got the second United upped the gears again and pulled away. Nothing to be worried about.

xtal191

Really hope Matic will be fit for Sat, I've zero faith in Herrera these days

jayo26

astradave wrote: »

I’ll thank it for you Jayo it deserves it, worrying that no one picked up on it haha

Not on our level Dave

Jayop

jayo26 wrote: »

Not on our level Dave

I only look at the big teams fixtures or I would have noticed.

deaddonkey15

limnam wrote: »

You're not going to dominate many if any games for a full 90 minutes.




Watford have a quality side imo and some of their passing was really crisp regardless of how our application to closing down was.

As I said in 90 minutes of football there's going to be times when good passing sides create it.




Going behind to them 0-2 in the first half is as bad which these amazing united sides of the past have done.

It's like no team has ever came back from 3 up before.




And sitting back when 3 up and trying to hit on the break while conserving energy is a way to do it.

They were ruthless against watford once in about 20 years.

They've also been beaten by a lot worse than that Watford side. I think your vastly underestimating the quality they showed.




Which is my point you're saying we won't always score wonder goals to get out of jail. We were 2-3 up we didn't to get out of jail we were all ready winning and what we will or won't do or what another team might do in relation to this game is pointless. which was the point.

No you won't dominate full games for 90 minutes, but we didn't really dominate the second half at all. We lost it 2-1.

Watford are a decent side. Mid-table at best.Yes going 0-2 down to Watford is poor I agree. As is going from 3-0 up to 3-2.

We had gone from 3-0 up to 3-2 with Watford looking for an equaliser. We should never have given them an opportunity to get anything from that game from the position we were in. The fact that we were still winning at 3-2 doesn't make it ok. We went from being comfortably ahead and cruising to 3 points to being put under serious pressure and a mistake/penalty/deflection away from turning that 3 points into 1. Even after Lingard scored Watford created a good opportunity through Richarlison. We were fortunate that the game ended when it did.

What we or other teams will do in relation to this game absolutely is the point. The mentality that saw us blow a 3 goal lead tonight has already cost us this season. It cost us the game last week against Basel. I reckon it could cost us a few points in our next 2 league games as well.

bucketybuck

Ensley Narrow Songbird wrote: »

You can accept a slight easing off the gas at 0-3 at half time coming into the Xmas period, when Watford got the second United upped the gears again and pulled away. Nothing to be worried about.

You can accept a lot of our results at face value, but the real problems are when you look at the patterns and the bigger picture. On one hand we eased up as we beat Watford away, on the other hand yet again we followed a good first half with a rubbish second half, yet again we disappeared for a large stretch of the game and let an average team start to look good. It keeps happening, and we should be concerned about that.

It was a great first half performance though, those finishes were top class. And put me down as another who isn't too worried about Lukaku, he will come good. Sure he missed a sitter but at least he didn't hide, you could tell he was annoyed and frustrated in the second half but he didn't go into his shell, I got the impression he was prowling a bit and looking for the ball and when you see that you know the mentality is right.

astradave

astradave wrote: »

I’ll thank it for you Jayo it deserves it, worrying that no one picked up on it haha

I read it and knew instantly that a certain team were playing away tomorrow night.

He's a cheeky bugger :pac:

jayo26

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I read it and knew instantly that a certain team were playing away tomorrow night.

He's a cheeky bugger :pac:

Bandwagining

jayo26

jayo26 wrote: »

Bandwagining

#CloseEnoughForJayo

Shame you are missing out on the current game over in the WW thread.

jayo26

[Deleted User] wrote: »

#CloseEnoughForJayo

Shame you are missing out on the current game over in the WW thread.

I might have another attempt after Christmas some of the short games look good fun.

Cantona's Collars

Headshot wrote: »

I have a very bad feeling about tonight....

It's all good now.

jayo26

jayo26 wrote: »

3 nill up at half time just dont let this fuken slip!!!!!

I see you like to test the patience of the internet Wizards let tonight be your final warning :P

deaddonkey15

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

That Lingard goal kind of masks how poor United were in that 2nd half. 3 nil up at half time, they should have comfortably seen out the game. This is what can happen when you sit back and allow good teams to play. I''ll be quite concerned if this is how we play against Arsenal.

score 4 goals and miss how many chances and we are still sitting back. I see this will be your obsession this season no matter what happens

Kick back and enjoy the fun tonight lads / lassies
I've a good feeling about the games

On a little bit more negative side tho, both Matic & Fellani injured and quite possibly miss the weekend games.
Hard imagine what the formation will be on Saturday and who plays alongside Pogba now

deaddonkey15

Deleted User wrote: »

score 4 goals and miss how many chances and we are still sitting back. I see this will be your obsession this season no matter what happens

In the second half we were. Did you not watch it?

Robson99

Thought it strange he took Martial off when he was destroying them. Lukaku was the one who should have been called ashore. Give Martial more game time through the middle.

S.M.B.

Watford had more passes and touches than us in the first half as well as in the second half. Matic barely kicked the ball while he was on the pitch with Doucouré & Cleverley seeing much more of the ball.

I really think this 'we eased off in the second half' narrative is being over stated as a result of the scoreboard.

We scored from our first 3 attempts on goal, how often does that happens? It felt very similar to last seasons game against Leicester where we somehow managed to score 3 in the first half without really dominating that half either.

Lord TSC

Spurs 8 behind, and possibly falling to seventh tonight with the wrong results. I'm presuming we can write them off as threats for us this year, given we are writing up catching City with the same points gap :P