Thought you were very unlucky not to come away with at least a draw ... Mata no doubt having sleep depriving flashbacks of that chance in the second half. Thought the Martial / Memphis partnership looked very promising and Smalling again impressing ... Shaw injury a very cruel blow ... best English left back by some distance currently and was having a cracking season - he's young and the care standards these days are wonderful - so here's to a speedy recovery.
The fat jokes et all are just banter. We got the same thing with Lampard. But when it comes to injuries like this, it's no joke! Hope the kid makes a full recovery, would be a crying shame for such a promising career to end so early.
That would set a dangerous precedent plus they'd be admitting that their own officials ****ed up by not even giving a foul!
We've got loads of them! Seriously, Blind and Rojo can play there. Last night Blind moved from centre half to replace Shaw and Rojo came in as a centre half. I'd rather see them the other way around. Neither has the attacking potential of Shaw though. Big loss for us.
Well said Luv. These type of injuries are horrific and I wouldn't wish on anyone. He'll be a big loss for Utd and England as was beginning to show good form. Hope he recovers and gets back to his best
He got the ball with his right leg but chopped Shaw's leg in half with his trailing leg. He got away with it because he got the ball. Michael Owen picked up on it straight away. He called a bad tackle and a horror injury immediately.
Yes he was good against the champions last season at the Bridge, he attacked space and went forwards rather than passing sideways. He was best player on the field probably on either side, and was United's main (possibly only) attacking threat
Great pity and like everyone else hope Luke Shaw regains full fitness. It would be very wrong to try and rush him back for the Euros in 2016. Meanwhile is Cashley Cole available? He could do more than a useful job if fit and willing for the season.
Can't really call it a trailing leg - he had it forwards alongside the tackling leg which is why the tackle was so bad. It was close to a two footed challenge with the force put into that leg - if he'd made a proper sliding tackle Shaw would have been fine. It was a similar tackle to Shawcross on Ramsey, so not surprising it had a similar outcome.
He is, but not convinced he would be any good given he's been released by Roma and played a handful of games last year. I'd rather have Rojo as backup to Blind, or recall Blackett if we can.
Cole's legs are gone. He was getting rinsed for pace the few times I saw him in Italy. No surprise at he was released tbh. Difficult choice for LB. Not bcos we don't have 2 very able back ups, but bcos of the implication on the CB pairing. Given the choice for now I'd keep Blind at CB and have minimal disruption. Put Rojo at LB (although Blind is better there). But how about Carrick at CB and Blind at LB???
Because we played well Treble, not amazing or anything but it was a good performance by us, especially first half. We looked more fluid in attack and certainly quicker which IMO was down to having Martial as 9 over Rooney. It went to **** in the second half after they scored though, we seemed to slow down and forget how to attack. I noticed you said we only started attacking after going behind but for me, we all but stopped. After all. At 1-0, we should have killed the game off within a few minutes.
Blinds intelligence is a big part of our defences success. I would keep him at CB and put Rojo as left back. If need be, and we want a little more attacking threat, then Young can fill in for the games against lesser sides. He didn't do too badly last season in a similar wing back role. Carrick to centre back is an option but I would prefer not to see it too often. Carrick's 34 now and is better used in his natural position. As treble pointed out, he should have come on last night in midfield to help surpress their counters and regain control. Shaw's going to be a huge loss for us IMO.
We're never going to see eye to eye on this UIR. I appreciate that's a genuine post from you, but it's all been said and done. We'll never find a common ground on our style of football under Van Gaal. My disappointment (and often contempt) is aimed at the guy in charge and not towards you.
Of course the alternative is the 3 5 2, and look at the wonderful performances Ashley Young conjured up in that formation last season. Good luck on qualification as I feel your group is going to be nip and tuck. 11 points may well seal a place in the knock out phase given the nature of teams in your group. Meanwhile Arsenal are heading for the Europa League ,,, wouldn't it be fantastic if they could meet Spurs in the final of that competition?
