United were just THAT ruthless, nothing you can do about that. I might take it back when i see replays but i didnt really have much of a problem with the defending and largely felt we played very well, United were just at their absolute brutal best. Thats the problem with football forums though, they're not vetted for football intelligence so you get utter pillocks spouting utter guff (we won't mention anyone specifically but you know who you are) about how united will DEFINITELY NOT be top 4 and how these idiots are CERTAIN United won't challenge and they turn a very good Swansea team over when frankly I didnt feel we did an awful lot wrong. 4-1 definitely flatters them, but they have the ability to turn up, not exactly play us off our own park and win 4-1 like its easy or something. No need for the overreaction about the defending imo, the best team in the land turned up and fancied it today so we lost. Season starts next week, 37 games to go and we only have 1 game against that lot. I wouldnt be surprised if a few bookies reeled their price on United to win the league in a bit after that too, big big win for them, we'll get something off one of the big teams here for sure.
Ash seemed to hesitate for the first goal and Ben naively got sucked in for the second. Game over after that.
United played like almost every team play Swansea now. They let us have the ball, and we play with great speed, but very rarely score any goals, the first 20-30 minuts. We are not direct enough and make waaaay to many passes. The opponent just wait for a counterattack. And Persie was just pure class today. I actually think this defeat is good for us. It make us more humble again. The talk about 4th-5th place was just to unrealistic.
great atmosphere by the way and apart from the result i hope to watch more entertaining stuff that can only get better for the rest of the season....well played moyes you and giggs did your homework and deserved the win. to be even stevens in the statistics and score 4 goals is no mean feat by any standards...
Im not annoyed at the team, they played well today, im more annoyed about individual instances which cost us the game. All our goals conceeded today were down to individual error or lack of effort IMO. 1) If Rangel had kept the line, which is a defenders job, then RVP would have been called offside, I mean he was nowhere near the other 3 in terms of defensive line, was a silly mistake. 2) If Rangel had made an effort to close down the cross, instead of just pussy footing over towards Evra, then chances are the cross could have deflected, or anything, but the fact the effort to close it down wasn't there is what annoyed me. 3) Canas for me, the finish from RVP was phenomenal, but, watch it again, Canas lost the ball in the centre with a poor pass, but then just trundles back, if he had put in some effort to chase down RVP, when he made the cut back to create space to shoot, Canas could have and should have been nearby to put him under pressure, he was not because he lost interest in getting the ball back. Which after being the cause of the lost possession is a cardinal sin for any footballer. 4) Williams, lost his man (Welbeck) too easily, and when you then have the likes of Chico busting a gut to try and get back to block the shot, and you see Williams just trundling along like its not his job, and letting Welbeck get through so easily, its infuriating. Like I said, I am not bothered about the loss, its Man Utd, they are champions for a reason, but I cannot forgive a lack of effort, that for me is just not on. Ash would usually play his best in games like today, he was so far off the mark its unbelievable, but we know he will play his best again, we know he is a class defender, its just games like this that make him a mid table team defender, if he wasn't he wouldn't be at Swansea.
im gonna write about the game tomorrow but my first thoughts are that we are woeful at defending when it matters chico,ash and rangel were responsible for that loss and no one else. man utd were nothing special but when you make daft errors and are lazy defensively then there will only be one outcome. offensively we are fine,the new boys done great canas was great I thought. until we can sort out conceding sloppy goals we will always struggle to progress. don't get me wrong im not saying we should have won this game as utd scored 2 world class goals but they got there by us handing them the inititive <sp> with 2 poor goals, not by them out classing us. maybe yet again its a case of the players thinking they don't have to do the spade work but in fairness around the park I thought we were fine . If anything it should serve us well because I got the feeling a few weeks ago that many Jacks on this board have taken leave of their senses and thinking we were going to be something special and beat the likes of Man utd with ease, back to earth with a bump,which overall is not such a bad thing ! we are not a bad team at all but lets be realistic,our defence has been a problem for a while and it aint changing any time soon by the looks of it. Its a concern for me as there always seems to be too much flapping about when balls get tossed in or wingers get in behind us, sort it out for ****s sake boys ! Other than that ithought there was plenty to be up beat about. Bony 3 in 3 and a right handful,canas looking good and adding bite, shelvey using the ball well,pablo creating chances with his guile . plenty to look forward to but we need to learn the disciplined stuff too chico had a mare,ash was a non entity and rangel playing a utd lad on side by 2 yards is nothing short of criminal at this level
Swansea played well today IMO, I'm a United fan and thrilled with the result but the difference was in the finishing. If you guys play like that most of the season I think you'll end up in a respectable position. 4-1 was a bit harsh but that just highlighted why we are the champions IMO.
1 Agree 100% 2 Yes Rangel never closed him down, but Ben left his man and got sucked and left his man unmarked. We had three defender all within touching distance of each other. 3 Agree 100% 4 Ash looked very laboured in his tracking back, starting to believe his hype perhaps again!!!
Thing with the second which i have seen on replay, yeah he could have stood his ground, but its Robin van Persie on the end of a cross and had he got a head on it and guided it past Vorm, we'd have been saying why didnt he pressurise. Tough decision and he made a decision which didnt work out, but i think United were that lethal today it didnt matter, we'd have got beat anyway.
Cant blame Ben for the 2nd, Ash got in front of his man, and under the ball, Ben had to pressurise RVP? (i think it was), if he hadn't, the goal may have come from there instead. Ben was the only 1 for me, that I didn't feel made any major defensive mistakes. The other 3 were poor, although Chico not as bad as Rangel and Williams. Its annoying, Rangel is so good going forward, maybe sometimes he needs to take a step back and remember he is not a winger, his primary role is to defend first.
Yep that's how I saw our poor defending, and unfortunately we were also without any real cutting edge up front, Routledge is well off his game, and glad he got subbed at half time, but I'm not getting into all this bull regarding VP, I'll leave that for the media, we simply let ourselves down big time today, and it's not as if we haven't played united is it, and if we were supposed to have had the advantage of starting the season early with Malmo then it didn't show!.............
Not blaming Ben, but frustrated that we have three of our players all within a couple of yards thus leaving a man un marked. Who then puts the ball into the six yard box for a tap in.
Yeh it was frustrating, I just feel that Ben never had any other option, leave it and he would have been castrated if RVP had scored for not supporting his fellow defenders. I think he chose the lesser of 2 evils correctly, but it was unfortunate that the shot back across goal landed at Welbeck's feet, but hey.
Well, for me rule number 1 of defending is that you do YOUR job first before doing anyone elses. I totally understand the pridiciment Ben was in though, that goal was totally down to ash not reading the flight correctly but it made ben look like it was his fault,strictly speaking it was, he should never really leave the back post/player ungarded. We are supposed to be zonal maeking arnt we ? just a thought . 6
Well, should've listened to M.L.'s good agent friend instead of giving him hell. He could've got rid of the buggar for 20 and you could've had a decent defence instead. Hew shouldn't second guess M.L.'s folks and you Jack Bastards (did I get it right? I'm a wee pissed) shouldn't spur him on (if that's the word I'm looking for). Still, you're in for a great season, it seems, despite this grand mal. What potential this team has! I envy you, guys.
Totally agree about Routledge. I actually said to family earlier that the team that was out in the second half were for me, our main first team. (Up until Ki came on, although to be fair, he didnt get a lot of time to get invovled, and also not easy when 3-0 down) Vorm Rangel Chico Williams Davies Canas Shelvey Hernandez Dyer Michu Bony
Davies should have stayed with his man. There was allready 2 of our players on the United player in front of the goal. He took a chance and failed. But we need a couple of matchs and then our defense will be as outstanding as last season. No worries.
The 2 on that player, were not on that player, they were under the ball, they were not going to win that battle, Ben made a choice, I personally feel it was the lesser of two evils, and I think he made the right call in the situation (he has a split second to decide) Leaving a player directly in front of goal have an uncontested header, or leave the ball get through to someone behind you, who all defenders will then have a chance to maybe claw back out, which in this case they didn't, but RVP would have had a clearer chance that what they ended up with if Ben didn't contest.
