Match Day Thread Manchester United v Tottenham

I knew little about him when we bought him other than he scored a good amount of goals in the BL and had a mad amount of assists.
After reading a few accounts about his career it seems he always takes about a season and half for him to settle in a new league, let's hope he comes good in January ready for the CL knockout stage.

 

Come on guys. He has not been as **** as some have said here. He has not been as direct and as precise as he could be but he is still better than many in other teams, especially those in the RS team.

 

He plays ok in the CL anyway, it's far less intense and much slower pace wise.
He was good in Europe last season.

He's just not at it in the premier league.

He's a passenger at the moment to be perfectly honest and yet he seems to be one of Jose's boys.

I'm just not seeing what Mourinho sees, especially as he's not slow to hang other players out to dry when they don't work hard enough.

 

I don't really see Liverpool as direct competition.

Is he better the De Bruyne? Alli, Hazard?

Mata?

No, is he ****.

 

Not sure about that bit, one bad game against City and he didn't even make the bench for over 2 months.
I think 5 assists in the first 3 games of this season gave him some credit but, 7 games after it must be wearing thin.

 

That was last season though.

I'm not sure he even touched the ball against Liverpool and yet there he was again starting today.

No doubt Jose was pissed off with Mata, and so dropped him, for missing a tackle against Huddersfield.

Which Mhki never does. Because he never ****ing tackles.

I know we are all supposed to be blinded by stats but I honestly don't see what he does half the time.

 

Hey. You'll get your wish. He'll be rested against Benfica and Mata will play.

 

Sadly, after a blistering start, we are already looking very ordinary, very 'last season' - that can't all be down to the loss of Pogba and his invention and industry in midfield (but hopefully once he returns, what he brings to the team will be appreciated more) - so what the hell is it. Rashford seems off the pace, the Spurs defence and midfield had no problems with his pace yesterday, Herrera isn't having an impact on games, Miki is going awol more often and Lukaku is being starved of service. Lingard, Matic, Valencia and our defence seem to be the only ones holding their own. So much for JM winning the PL this season - City are winning this at a canter and still have strength in depth in their squad.

 

That's not my wish though.

I would rather Mata play league and Mhki play in Europe, if at all.

 

Mkhitaryan just doesn't offer enough for me to play the number 10 role. Yeah he runs around a lot, but his overall quality is lacking when we compare him to what City and Spurs have.

I definitely think Mata is worth a run in the team in that position, as whilst not as good an athlete, he definitely posseses a lot more creativity.

Mkhitaryan playing number 10 is a little like when he chose Oscar over Mata at Chelsea. Choosing a player who can run around and chase back, over a player with genuine quality. Mourinho is pretty much the only manager at a top club in the PL, who chooses a number 10 for what they offer defensively.

 

If that's the case then why does Mourinho ever pick Mickey? He offers almost nothing defensively, I don't think he made a single tackle at the weekend.

Mickey playing number 10 is like when Mourinho use to play Ozil at Madrid, allowing him to avoid his defensive responsibilities in exchange for the creativity he brought. The difference is Mickey isn't showing that creativity at the moment, but Mourinho continues to pick him.

 

The thing is that I think Mikhi is a better number 10 than Mata. The problem with Mikhi is his perceived inconsistency.

Mikhi and Lukaku have been getting stick for their performances against the so called big teams. JM must take some of the blame. It has a lot to do with the system that JM adopts. If we were more attacking in outlook then I'm sure they'll get more chances and more goals. But we'll have also more chances of conceding. Not in a million years will JM go on an all attack against such teams.

A win against Spurs of 1-0 and keeping the opposition under control is a good performance for JM.

I saw that deluded RS Macmanaman of all people criticise JM for his cautious approach. Saying no way will he or the RS fans have accepted a 1-0 playing like that. Yes? And that he preferred getting beaten 3-2 or 4-3 very time rather than to win 1-0? He is obviously living in cloud cuckoo land, or speaking through his backside or lying through his teeth. Likely to be all three but for the RS who have been and are desperate to win that first premeirship title, points is all. How they wish they could have a tight defence but instead they have one like a sieve.

 

Odd that they were queuing up to suck Benitez off when he was delivering wins like that on a regular basis.

I wonder if Macca can bear to watch their CL semi win over Chelsea in 05? Or that much feted 1-0 win over Real at the Bernabeu? Those never happened, eh?

 

United getting some stick from the retards for only being there in 2nd place because they've only played against "the 8 bottom clubs".

The stats are: played 3 top half sides: 2W and 1D (7/9 or 77.8%) and played 7 bottom half teams: 5W 1D 1L (16/21 or 76.2%). So the points return are no different, in fact better against top half sides.

The next premiership matches will all be mostly against top half sides: Chavs, Watford, Magpies, . And "bottom half" Brighton. JM's calculation will be draw against the chavs and 3 wins against the others. That should prevent the others catching up on United as they are playing each other except City.

 

I am afraid that IMO it is all down to his absence.

while he was getting stick for not contributing enough or not making "a £89m difference" , I said that he changed the way the team performed. He is by a long distance the best player we've got and the attacking was bound to suffer in his absence. I am surprised he's been absent for that long but just hope he comes back in time for the City match. He is just in a different league to Herrera and any team will miss him.

 

He is rapidly turning into the new Kagawa - plenty of industry but no real impact - shame there wasn't a 2 for 1 offer when we bought Matic.

 

Came from the same team, didn't they?

But come on lads. Mhiki is much better than Kagawa was. I did think that Kagaw was unlucky in having Moyes as manager.

 

I think our biggest issue with Mkhitaryan is that he's only really suited to playing in our best 11 or at least when we have everybody fit. It's quite easy to say he's just **** but at the beginning of this season he was opening teams up for fun, as he had a team of players around him all brimming with confidence and being supplied by Pogba who was sublime before his injury.

The team is a bit disjointed atm in my view, he ain't the only one who looks **** for us, although I'd agree that Mata is probably the better option at this point in time when we aren't playing so well.

 

To be honest you get what you pay for these days. If either Kagawa or Mkhitaryan where top class number 10s then we'd of payed top fees for them. Both where quite cheap deals, when you take into account what the going rate is for a top class player at the time of purchase.

You aren't gonna get a top class number 10 in his prime for 27 million, you are talking triple that atleast these days.

 

That's my point about Pogba being key. He makes everyone play better. The front line have more goal chances created whilst Matic can focus on defensive work in front of the back four.

There is no doubt in my mind that our scoring has dropped off because of Pogba's absence and will pick up once he comes back.