Anyway, I'd have took 2-3 ahead of the game - a good result against United, and at least we scored a few! However, it's disappointing from actually seeing the game since we were quite capable of winning this one. (Also, if the offside goal hadn't stood we'd have drew, but it is what it is.) We just need to stop the spells where we just seem to give up and put our heads down... we need to be putting our full effort in the entirety of a game no matter what the score is. We have the skill, we just don't always have the belief. So all in all for me there were some positives, some gripes, but the result taken in isolation from the game itself isn't really all that bad. As for the actual game itself? Well, there's stuff to work on on the training ground, and maybe Ron does need to look at a few things tactically too, but there was some good here too.
I get that, but he was more than happy to spend his energy shouting and waving more than playing for about 40 minutes of the second half.
Mane played well. But Pelle was a serious threat every time he got service and his link up play in the first half was outstanding. Not his fault the service dried up.
If the game had been 45 minutes, perhaps he's have been close. Right this is a really important point - The service didn't dry up for Pelle second half, he just completely stopped showing for it because, like I said, he stopped bothering. Both on the deck and airially. As a result people like Vic were left having to try tricky passes or going backwards. The difference between Pelles A (first half) and B (second half) was so marked. Mane in contrast never, ever stopped.
Mane was our most effective player when the opposition had the ball. That is not a sentence I ever expected to type.
I think you're being very harsh on Pelle. No doubt FLT will agree with you but Koeman did Pelle absolutely no favours at all with his tactical switches. Firstly he stopped Pelle and Mane linking up down the right which was causing havoc and then he took Romeu off for Davis which put us completely on the back foot. How was Pelle meant to be an option when we hardly had the ball?
The amount of times a defender or midfielder looked up for a pass and couldn't play it because Pelle was dawdling back from an offside position (and you'll not have got that from telly, so not criticising you guys on that, but really, trust me on this one) was really dreadful tbh.
It also helps you were at the game when I can't go atm. So I say what Sky wanted me to see. Where as you saw the whole picture. So for me Pelle played better judging on what I watched. I can't change my opinion as I didn't see what you did. Mane had a good game tho.
One question there, to which we'll never know the answer, though: did Koeman stop Pelle from moving into that channel and isolating on Blind, or did Pelle?
By showing for it. Like I just said, he actually curtailed options by walking back from offside positions the WHOLE time in the second half until he scored.
The shape and style of the team was perfect for the first 30 minutes.....Tadic on the left, JWP on right whipping in great crosses and Mane picking up the scraps from Pelle's knock downs. Then Utd scored and everything went haywire...The back six dropped deeper leaving the front four outnumbered and possession was being turned over too quickly. The second goal was a body blow and the defence were still too deep for much of the second half, making it easy fot Utd. It was only when we scored out of the blue set up and scored by our two best players that the team woke up and started pressing forward as a team. Lessons will be learnt, but I would like to see the same starting XI and formation for the next match.
I can see how you'd have got that from telly. As I said it's no criticism of you guys. The frustrations were all from the stuff that would be off camera.
Thought Pelle was excellent today. Everytime we got the ball up to him, we looked a threat. Woeful mistakes though today.
Don't get me wrong, I really, really like Pelle and he has all the attributes to be top, top class. But I also don't get to see a lot of games live, and going today made me see a lot clearer why people like FLT get frustrated. But this time it wasn't the flicks it was effort and attitude second half. But first he he was absolutely superb, no doubt (and I ragged FLT for that, don't worry!)
