Lots of reports today talking about United not taking advantage of their "domination" of the first half. Well we wern't brilliant in the first half, but we were certainly not dominated either, and could have had a penalty.
ManUre fans now grasping at the 'Moura should have been sent off' narrative to soothe their troubled nerves.....
If you had conceded that much possession in your own half as you did in the first half to a Ferguson team, you'd have done well to go at half time only 2 or 3 goals down. But this Utd team can't create or take chances in any circumstances. The second half exposed Utd's defensive frailties. Why was nobody on the post for Kane's looping header? Moura took his chances well, but they were like training ground goals. Nobody laid a glove on him - he had all the time and space he needed. The fact that Spurs won so easily without playing well shows how poor Utd were. Your midfield was poor - hence only 43% possession and Utd having 23 attempts at goal (not that many were threatening). Had your midfield fired, it would have been a massacre.
Because of CONFIDENCE and MORALE, pure and simple. In Fergie teams, both of the above were consistently good and high. If the same was vaguely true of the current on-pitch personnel, then most of those chances would have gone in. And now tis Spurs who have the above in abundance. Which is why when the post-match stats are writ large, you still lost 0-3.
In my mind we were always bound to reap the backlash from the Brighton game and that's what happened in the first half. In the second you received ours from the first half. The difference is we were more clinical in finishing.
9 (nine) of that Spurs team played in the WC semi-finals and Eriksen pretty much carried Denmark into the knockout rounds. This Spurs team's a great unit with lots of good players but they've had no pre-season at all and lack their normal physical strength and resilience. By contrast United have nearly a whole team that had no WC or went out early. Last night he actually had a slimline Shaw looking like a proper player as he tore down our left. Valencia should have ripped Rose to bits. If he was a better manager, he'd be getting the best out of Martial and Bailly, who should be flying and highly motivated. Where the **** was Mata? The fact is that United are a rabble right now. That match showed a manager and team in meltdown. He's just throwing players in to positions in a desperate hope that they'll come up with something positive. That's not good enough for someone at a club like United. Spurs know what they're about. Getting Winksy, Wanyama and Sonny back will lift us again, as will getting into the new stadium. If we can keep picking up results while the players gain fitness and have some better luck with injuries (last season we lost Rose, Alderweireld, Wanyama, Winks, Lamela and Kane for significant periods) , we can have a really good season. I can only see that United are ****ed for this season. There's divisions between Woodward and Jose, who's lost his trusted bag man, Faria. There are players there who should be good enough but don't want to be there and a defence that just isn't good enough. It looks like it's just a matter of when he goes. Just as well that you're not playing Citeh, Chelsea or Liverpool in the next few weeks as they'd do what Spurs did too.
Like the fact that Toby and Poch embraced at the end. Maybe there is hope there if we all have a good season?
Turns out I (half) called it. Wow. I tell you what, Lucas Moura is looking to become some player for us. Half Defoe, half Lennon. Finally. Love it. Dembele was also immense, as was Eriksen. I still think we could suffer without effective cover for both of them throughout the season. Also, in all of the excitement, Sissoko is reported to have disappeared on loan.
Found these great comments on you tube: "It's that difficult to win at old Trafford even man united lose " And my favourite : "Poch went in to the dressing room before the game and told the players "It's just Man united lads" and then walked out!"
It was notable that MP praised Steve Hitchen and the scouting team for recommending him and spoke about finding a position to get the best out of Lucas. We've long lacked burning pace up front. Sonny's fast over 30 yards but not explosively quick over 5 or 10 yards. Lucas has both and I'm very impressed with his finishing, which PSG fans were critical about. Given that United were talking about £90m for Martial and Palace £70m+ for Zaha, the £25m we paid for him is a complete bargain. Not only does he stretch games but his workrate is prodigious. I didn't think that MP was totally sure about him last season, fitness aside and........(deep breath).......I said that he reminded me of Andros Townsend. I hold my hands up........I was horribly wrong. I think that his move further forward has got much more out of him than we'd get playing him deeper but boy, was I wrong! He's going to add a massive amount to our squad and team. Tremendous from all involved........except me.
Our resident Utd pal, Diego, posted this piece of gold on the Utd thread, enjoy: Happy with the performance of a 3-0 defeat. Best team on the pitch... Despite losing 3-0. Fred showed a good presence - presence of a ghost perhaps?
Usually,under Fergie,you new something would happen.Like giving United lots of debatable decisions,not only penalties.One wonders if the refs in those games had wet their pants BEFORE the game started!
Never in the field of human conflict has one man done his best to screw Manchester United. Keep it up,Jose!!!!!
All about the "team" as far as Pochettino goes. Similarly about not wanting to have digs at fellow managers (in general, and this week Jose in particular - who he has a stronger relationship with) . In a way he is to blame for the umpteen other WUM wannabee Narratives (TM) that the hacks come with about Spurs, as he is continually denying them fodder.
Still buzzing after last night. Utd controlled possession in the first half but only had one clear cut chance and that was the open goal Lolkaku fluffed after Rose’s **** backpass. Lucas immense and MOTM, Spurly and I have been warning the Prem board about him, he’s showing them why. Dembele and Toby looking back to 16/17’s form. Elite header from Harry. Dier really stepped up too, made key tackles and showed some great leadership. Loved how he was playing Fellini at his own game when came on, noticed two aerial digs from him as if to say “you ain’t bullying me, prick!”. Poch nailed it too. Obviously anticipated a desperate Utd and was happy to play the counter game which is very rare for us.
Diego appears to have gone a bit AKCJ with this result. Normally I would expect him to do a little chat with other PL boards to get "consensus" on Spurs or some WUM wannabee material, and then deliver the latter somewhere on this board in the midnight hour (UK time) .
