Match Day Thread Palace of the Crystal v UTD of the Manchester

No he doesn't good stuff from him there tho!

 

Really poor performance. We now know our best team: Valencia, Mikhi, are definitely starters. Rooney is only a reserve Cup player.

Our reliance on Ibra for goals is and will continue to cost us dear. Lots of possession against a poor Palace side but hardly any clear cut chances.

 

That is spot on mate.

Ask yourselves honestly, if that was Watford or Stoke or Burnley or Southampton wouldn't you have expected them to score 2 or 3 past Palace tonight. They may well have conceded a goal or two, but I reckon they would've had more chance of outscoring a poor Palace side. THAT'S what's so frustrating. When you put it into context compared to mid-table squads who would likely smash that Palace side, we simply flattered to deceive.

 

I didn't have a lot of expectations from this side. Valencia was badly missed on the right of defence. A lot of our attacks start from that side and his speed, dribbling and crosses were missed. In Mikhi we've found the one player who provides us with that pace and penetration we need and score goals. Mata Rooney and others are simply not good enough. We really need to us a really top striker. Rashford is too young and has hit a blank patch.

Tonight's side will be more appropriate for the many CUP sides we are going to face.

 

We need some perspective, fellas!

Here the last five results for Palace:

Hull City 3-3 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 3-0 Southampton
Swansea 5-4 Palace
Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester City
Burnley 3-2 Crystal Palace
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Southampton in fact lost 3-0 to Palace and City managed 1-2 victory. The point here is that every victory in this league is a hard earned one. And given the state of our team this season, I think we should be very happy to get a win regardless of how we find one and I don't see how we can get overly negative in any away victory.

Case in point would be when we played Everton; Many complained how bad/average Everton were. Yet we never stop to think about why so many teams that we play look so bad to the average eye. Could it be the way we are setup intentionally by Jose to make good teams look bad? Surely, this is a good thing. Same Everton played Arsenal and they rolled Wenger's men who are supposed to be gold star. Of course, it is never like for like, but I am certainly enjoying the resilience that we are starting to show. We have now won 6 of the last 9 matches and drawn 3. That is a great form!

Overall, I think we need to give this team credit. Also, why are we complaining about Zlatan? He has scored 14 goals for us this season. When was the last time a United player scored 14 goals for the club before Christmas? I don't see Chelsea complaining about Diego Costa. Either way, we are in transition right now and I am sure Jose knows exactly what the weaknesses are. He is too much of 'all or nothing' bastard to not continue to strive for better and more efficient team in coming months.

 

Good points.

I am always worried when the opposition teams have their best performance of the season against us. Which happened regularly with Moyes and less so with LVG

It is interesting that it is all about expectations. Our satisfaction with the result and the performance is dependent on them. TBH I am reasonably happy as I did not have very much expectations as I wrote before the match. A scraping narrow win I predicted and this is what we got.

This match showed us if there was ever still any doubt that Rooney however brilliant service he's given us is now not good enough for being in the first 11. He will be good for playing first legs of cup ties and matches like that. You have to be blind not to notice that he slows the team down. And his sharpness has gone.

The other thing is that Jose surely must have realised however well rojo played recently he is a liability. In both recent recent matches we could (should) have been down to ten for a huge part of the match. Someone ought to tell him that next time any hint of that kind of tackling he'll be sent off by the ref.

The match against WBA will be a tough one. We'll probably have more pressure on us but even though they are on form we should be able to scrape another narrow win.

 

Roo must go now, he was again dreadful.

But a win is a win, along with this top matchday thread

 

Of course.

It is amazing how a run of results (good and bad) makes such a difference to the table. Chelsea are the ones to catch and the title is now theirs to lose. However, in the space of 2 weeks the gap to CL has become no different to that to 2nd. I.e 6-7 points. United win a few games instead of drawing and a couple of teams in front do the reverse, we are back in the pack.

However, the usual cliche applies: "Take each match as it comes".

 

In a team where the front six players contain zero pace between them all yet it's Rooney that 'slows play down'. Genuinely amazing stuff.

The last team we had had Mkhitaryan and Martial in it. Mkhitaryan is inured so instead of keeping the other player of the front three with pace in the side in, Mourinho chose to drop him and play Rooney.

Therefore, The Manager slows play down. We all know that a front three of Rooney, Zlatan and Mata won't be quick yet Mourinho picked the front three. With Zlatan as the spearhead we will never play fast wide football, either accept that or call for Zlatan to be replaced with Martial or Rashford, as this will speed play up.

 

Anyway, I didn't think we were going to get the winner so the three points are in the end excellent. Everyone else won though so it's as you were.

The toughest game up coming is Saturday. If we can beat West Brom then we should definitely go into the cup game with 5 wins on the bounce as we should beat Sunderland and Boro, both are genuinely ****e.

If we do, then I very much doubt all the other top six will have won all their games and we'd have gained further ground. Onwards and upwards.




*can see us only drawing at Baggies though*

 

Yeah the West Brom game is going to be tough. I think we will win 2-1 though.

 

We could be going into one of those quirky periods where everyone at the top wins/loses together for a few games. In reality, because of the goal difference, we still have to win two games more than the Spuds in any period to even jump ahead of them.

 

Not. the. United. way.

 

We are not blaming Rooney for being slow and for playing. It is like blaming someone for being short. There is nothing he can do about it. The fault is obviously Jose for playing him. He didn't have a good game yesterday but that does not mean he can't play in cup matches or come on as sub.

He definitely will not feature in our best 11 and he seems to have accepted that.

 

I must have misread the above quote then, obviously.

 

I absolutely agree though that he would not be in my first choice 11.

I just disagree that HE slows the team down. Put him in a side with Martial and Mkhitaryan and you would see plenty of pace in the team.

 

If we could play Rooney up front and Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs in midfield I bet he would run like f**k then.

 

Mmmm. unless M&M don't pass the ball to him then he won't Rooney playing with Mikhi and Martial would be guaranteed to slow the team down. As I said this is not to blame him as there is absolutely nothing he can do about it. It is like old folk slowly losing their memory. Do you blame them? You just accept it as a fact of life.

I think slowly (fingers Xed) the team is settling down and the strongest team is emerging. WBA will be tough but if we negotiate them we'll be in a good position by New Year.

My best 11
DG
Valencia Bailly Jones Darmian (Shaw when he is fit)
Herrera Carrick
Pogba Mikhi Martial
Ibra

Of these, my worry is Martial. He is unsettled and has been blowing hot and cold apprently made worse by his domestic problems.
(Rojo, Blind, Smalling, Mata, Lingard, Rooney, Rashford, Mensa, Young provide really solid back up for all our cup comps).

 

No you haven't. He slows the team down but I am not blaming him as he is unlikely to say " I prefer not to play, is he?" If JM wanted more pace on the counter he should use Martial or Lingard or rashford.

When Rooney was the hub with LVG, the pace was extremely pedestrian and slow. Coincidence?

 

I have to day that Jose has the perfect approach. I love the way he has handled Rooney. I think most managers would have had a mess of the situation by perhaps abruptly dropping him at the start of the season. Or doing a Joe Hart on him. Does Rooney still have a place in the squad? Absolutely! Just not automatic first 11. But I can see us needing him as a starter for certain games given this experience.