Match Day Thread Manchester United (H) 31/08 12:30

I have mentioned it to everyone I have spoken to since. Shocking.

 

In the first half united were all over our right side of the field. Cedric at times was covering up to 3 united players and from midfield Saints lacked the support he needed. We were wide open especially for their goal. A dramatic change in the second half we were well on top. We had them well on the run and but for some woeful shooting deserved to be in front. Then Danso made that dreadful challenge. We automatically then went defensive which is fair enough I suppose under the circumstances and started to sit back. The changes the manager made seemed to help a sorely pushed defence and to be fair did exceptionally well. I had the feeling up to the sending off we were going to nick this game. We were well up for it. Still a point is a point. Well done Saints..

 

Gutted for Danso. Had a incredible game, and as soon as he made the tackle he knew.
He looks like he going to be a great addition to the squad. Good in defence and going forward, god I miss him already!

 

If so, Swansea definitely did made the right call, even if in the execution was fairly sketchy: from what I can find, the Leeds deal would have been a conditional £7-8.5m, and very little of that up-front.

 

I did love the way that James hugged the touchline, particularly in the first half, almost regardless of where on the pitch the ball was (and with which side). Real winger. Fortunately for us, Utd were so poor in possession - and we were winning the ball back so well - that they rarely managed to get the ball out to him.

I was massively impressed by him at Swansea last season. But I never saw him jumping straight into Man Utd's first team. (Possibly because I expected to actually replace Lukaku and Sanchez.)

 

I just Remembered Who Scored has an average position , and it illustrates what i was saying.



I may have been unfair on boufal and getting him confused with Danso a bit. But if you look(southampton in orange), almost everyone on the pitch, bar Prowse and Cedric is either central, or on the left side of the pitch. a lot of that is because it was our main attack route, but either way you can see how we had so much more space for Prowse and Cedric to cover. especially when you look and united's average positions, the two of them were covering 3 players. Can you really blame Prowse or Cedric for that?

 

Yeah, we still have issues with our spacing and shape.

When you play a narrow 4-2-2-2 the front four have to do an assload of side-to-side movement and it all has to be carefully synced not to leave gaps.

We overpursued at times today and were tentative at others. JWP didn't have a great game. I felt like he was trying to do a little too much. He and Boufal both need to figure out who will be wide and who attacks the middle and when they need to cover for each other.

It's a tough formation to play because the front four roles are almost interchangeable, and even the double pivot requires some coordination. No one is a true striker, attacking mid, or winger. You have to be prepared to do a little of everything.

The old way of playing was a lot more rigid. Like, you're a winger, you stay here. If the team can't get the ball to you, that's their issue but you need to be where you are expected. Now it's way more "if-then."

Everytime there is a press conference with Hasenhuttl and he starts talking about ball shadows and triggers I'm like oh ****, I'd hate to have to figure that stuff out as a player.

 

I’d say a bit of all of it
Cedric let James go inside too easily
Prowsey was often slow to cover
AND we left them too isolated at times

 

I'm really happy with Boufal's 70 mins today. Although he didn't get much change from Wan Bissaka, his effort levels were really good. Tracking back as well. For the first time, he looks like a team player. A little more work on the training ground, and he'll be a very important option for us.

 

I do not feel we will be involved in a relegation scrap. I thought that we would be unlikely to get off the mark until the Bournemouth match when everything would click. We now have four points more that I had envisaged but the poor teams this season seem already to be defining themselves. The likes of Newcastle, Brighton, Norwich and Villa look shoo ins. I think Watford will improve and will be surprised if they go down.

Got to say, Man Utd and Chelsea are looking decidedly mid-table this season.

 

Got to say, Man Utd and Chelsea are looking decidedly mid-table this season.
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Lovely jubbly.

 

I only saw the second half, so can only base my comments on that, plus the Utd goal.
Yes I agree that Cedric stood off too much, but having got the impression from later commentary that James had run at/past him every time he had the ball, I can understand why he didn’t want to get too tight. The biggest fault was giving James the angle to come in and shoot, without a chance of getting a block in.
If he is going to stand off then do it in a way that forces a player away from goal.
Also, from watching how Utd handled Boufal, when he attacked the full back, Cedric could be aggrieved at not getting the same support that the Utd player received. Every time Boufal ran outside him, Pogba was in close attendance waiting to cut off the move inside. Something our midfielders can learn from.
Danso, silly tackle, but looks impressively powerful and had me wanting to see him in a midfield role, bringing the ball out at pace, something PEH and Romeu lack.
JWP looked knackered with about 15 minutes to go, so unusual for him.

 

Feel like Man U is in better shape than Chelsea.

They appear to have made a more committed effort to rebuilding. They are short on talent but they have the money to fix that. What they needed is to establish some sort of identity and a core to build around. Then if they are a striker short or whatever, they can spend a zillion in the summer to fix it. I feel like by letting players go and giving players like James and other youngsters get a run,, they're doing that.

Of course, this means they might finish 8th and the supporters throw a fit and they go off the rails and undo any progress.

But at least Man U. seems to recognize big changes and a youth movement was needed. Chelsea seems to me to still be drifting around with a random assortment of talented but not properly utilized or motivated players.

 

Romeu was superb today.



Suddenly it’s fun being a Saints fan again.

 

He was magnificent. The last ten minutes and he went into over-drive. No exaggeration to say he saved us when we were down to ten. Some key blocks and interventions.
But what was wrong with PEH, he looked totally off it. Probably our least effective player today.

 

Started the day in the bottom 3

Play Man Utd

Finish the day in 13th

Job done.

 

We were poor for a while after they scored, lost our way, but 2nd half much better.

Excellent performance from Vest, honourable mentions to gunn, romeu and boufal (whose battle with wan-b i enjoyed)

 

He was good. But I have to say he is better running with the ball at speed - it terrifies defenders. When he tries to fool them on the spot 50% of the time it ends in a change of possession.

 

I agree on the identity element. Both Man Utd and Chelsea have suffered from the sheer amount of churn in their managers, because they have lurched in a few different directions, and the talent brought in at the behest of those managers don't necessarily fit together.

IMO, it's incredibly important that a team develops an ethos and sticks with it, regardless of the manager, and that applies to teams up and down the pyramid. Otherwise, you'll forever find yourself trying to fit square pegs in round holes, or trying to shed the players who fit the previous manager but are ill-suited to the current style.

 

I just watched the whole game which I’d recorded earlier. It’s interesting watching the detail of a game when you know the result, without the emotional tension when watching live.

I thought Cedric had a reasonable game apart from their goal, he got forward a lot but wasn’t a match for Daniel James. Danso looked good going forward too and got the assist of course with a lovely cross, such a shame he made that reckless tackle when already on a yellow. At least we’ll only miss him for one game.

Vestergaard and Bednarek were both immense, they look so much more assured as a 2 and seem to know their jobs and positioning better than in a 3. Højbjerg and Romeu are back to their very best together, Romeu seemed to visibly grow in confidence as the game went on.

I actually thought JWP was good, he did his usual amount of running and pressing and general hassling, I would bet money he ran further than anyone else as normal. Attacking-wise, I thought Shane Long was better than Ings or Adams, but Boufal would have been much better played in the middle rather than wide, as Wan-Bissaka had him on toast most of the time.

Man Utd were a pale imitation of their former selves but it was a great point after giving away a poor goal from a defensive point of view.

Plenty to be pleased about!