Match Day Thread UTD V Southampton Bland free matchday thread

The **** is with Pogba? rubbing the referees head

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I wouldn't do that here

 

I'd take a 2-0 win right now if you offered it me

 

zlataned!

2-0 FT

 

I'd take a 19-26 loss right now

 

hhhhhh....

****

 

I would too.

 

Very good performance. All a bit too easy.

Summer transfer business has been exceptional.

 

Agreed.

I just hope it isn't another case of 2011/12 - starting too strongly getting a bit overconfident and then dropping easy points to fall short.

Although even then it took one of the worst injury crises in living memory to keep us from the title, so a repeat of that season with fewer injuries would be just dandy

 

"I am hurt by players who do not get to play. I want them all to play because we have all great players and I don't like that some do not get to play."

"...I have a big squad and top quality guys."

 

Not being too negative, but I guessstimate that 60% of our attacking play broke down because of Rooney - that includes him being stood next to Blind to collect the ball (and there being no fu**ing Rooney in his position then to complete the play), mis-placed passes, weak tackles etc etc etc. The guy is now a liability. If he plays, he has to stay in position, this team will get the ball to him, he doesn't have to upset the formation to 'collect the ball'. Apart from him - everyone was excellent, including Valencia who has found a new lease of life under JM and Pogba too who played a very intelligent game. More of the same please

 

Larry White used to do that to Barthez.

They were both **** for United.

 

Awesome. 2-0 against a side we normally play ****.

How many times will we read and hear " the side playing MU was really poor." That's something we've not heard or seen recently. What we have mostly have been" great performance from xxxx who had their best match at OT for ages ..."

And I know which one I'd like to hear most.

 

The first part of the criticism is valid - he is probably one of the players most affected by two years of LVG slowing everything down and passing everything sideways. But once again he was not our worst player, nor was everyone else excellent. Martial was like lifeless for much of the game, going down blind alleys, delivering nothing and wasting the chances he got, much like in the last game. Mata was decent, but didn't offer more than Rooney and slowed the game down just as much.

And once again Rooney delivered when it counted with the assist for the opening goal. He's not playing well at the moment, no one can argue that, but until other players behind Ibrahimovic start delivering in the form of goals and assists Rooney still starts.

 

I thought Mata had a very good game, personally. If he was played in the number 10 spot he would affect the game far more. As it was, everything he did going forward found its mark.

He may not always get an assist, but he'll often be the one providing the key ball which gets our forwards in a position to open up the defence. He ended up drifting in from the right anyway as a result but it made things difficult for him.

 

Did we win?

 

Yet again we are blaming LVG for Rooney's condition. Rooney was already decline before LvG even became manager. If anything, I blame LvG for giving Rooney guaranteed place in the team. That allowed Rooney to become complacent. I hope Mourinho is bold enough to dare drop Rooney to give others a chance.

I wouldn't suggest we drop Rooney at any opportunity, but he shouldn't be an automatic starter. Rashford should not be on the bench while we try to continue to shoehorn Rooney to the team. That is my only concern so far this season. I want to see more of Rashford. Imagine his pace combined with Zlatan?

 

Treble, how are you feeling about Fellaini so far? As I've said in the past, his value comes from the fact that he gets A for effort most of the time and he has a presence about him. And I see Mourinho sees that in him and starting to use that energy effectively. His lack of skills will be mitigated by arrival of Pogba in midfield, I think.

 

See this is just bizarre to me. Why would you replace Rooney with Rashford when they play completely different positions and Martial, who plays the same position as Rashford, has been our worse player thus far this season?

Either some of our fans don't watch the games, or they watch them through this weird obsessive bias that means they can only see what Rooney does wrong whilst ignoring the rest of the team.

I would hope Mourinho would take Rooney and Martial out of the team at some point in the next few weeks, hopefully allowing Mata a go at 10 and Lingard, Rashford and Micky more time on the pitch. But not by shoehorning Rashford in at 10 just to get rid of Rooney!

 

I spoke to Diego about this earlier. There are other midfielders in the squad who can offer us more. Just because he happens to be good at the necessary ugly side of the game doesn't set the barometer of expectation from a midfielder at United.

Mourhino is going to come in and play it safe. He knows Fellaini can do a job in midfield while he slowly works out the rest of the midfield and attack without taking overt risks. But as the season draws on and Mourhino gets to know his players, their best positions and more importantly how they play together effectively - then I expect Fellaini to become a bit part player.