Bruno, Rashford, Antony, Casemiro all had chances to score today. What do you think Ten Hag should've done to stop them fcking it up or the Spuds goalie making some decent saves?
As I said, we played better today in the midfield, but the overall penetration wasn’t there to produce clear cut chances. Pellistri actually made good effort on the right when he came on. Antony shouldn’t be starting on that right. It was a mistake to start Garnacho today after last week’s display. Mount again struggled and Bruno’s game has either diminished as a consequence of the setup or he just stinks. Those are all as result of choices made by the manager. The setup was not clearly not optimum for success.
Good old Keano - "United go away today...weak, no leadership, gave bad goals away. It's easy to play against Man United. Man Utd are the new Spurs." "They're bringing on Martial - you might as well bring on Frank Stapleton and Norman Whiteside. Martial is not going to get you out of trouble.
So who would you have played? The only one I agree with is Garnacho btw, so that's one. But no Bruno, no Mount, no Antony so who would you have? I'm genuinely interested to know.
Fwiw btw today's game highlights Chief is right, we sold the wrong fckin midfielder. Fred could've been an option today. McTominay never. He usually plays well against the Spuds and whether a starter or off the bench he could've made an impact. We've been a shambles in parts during this transfer window - namely the fact we've been forced to sell in order to buy, the way we've gone about selling players and being absolutely **** at it, and the way we've messed about with certain purchases. It's going to be the single biggest factor in the success or failure of this season.
Surely, simply spending money can’t be the fix to the problem. I mean, do the players that we have even look like they are connecting at the moment? They absolutely are not! And you can see it in the passes. There’s barely any telegraphed movement. It’s as though they don’t even train together. Ultimately, the manager has to get more out of the current squad as-is really quickly. We can’t sit here thinking that one more player is the fix.
The last thing you want is a telegraphed movement We have played two games and were poor in both but we all know and have seen that we can be much better. Today we could (in reality should) easily have been 0-3 up by half time if the finishing was better and should certainly have scored at least 1 in the second half. We are 3 points up on the same stage last season and have scope for a lot better play, stop crying and start supporting. EDIT..........still not sure where Mount fits in or how we use him. Good player but not what we needed.
What game were you watching, Diego? We played better than last week’s mess which we ironically won, but where did you get that 0-3 from? There was not a point in that game that we deserved to somehow be winning it. And since when did critiquing the team’s performance on a forum turn into “not supporting” the team? It’s early days, but the signs and the body language are not suggesting that we have a team that is ready to compete for the top four.
I watched the game where we had simple headers in the first half and missed and at least 2 decent chances in the second half to score but ****ed it up, Critiquing the performance is no problem, if you look around the forum you will find i have done it myself many times. What i take umbridge against is the inference that the manager isn't doing the job right. We all know we can and have played much better and will do so again (hopefully soon ). All teams have bad periods in a season and we just have to get back to what we are good at to set things straight. Still not sure where Mount fits in, what are we expecting from him that we didn't already have?
I certainly take no delights in pointing fingers at ETH. But we will be naive to absolve him of responsibilities. The flanks are now persistently problematic and it just makes it so easy to defend against us. The manager insists on playing Antony on that low ebb right, and Mount in crowded middle. Surely, the team sheet next week or at least position of Mount must be different! I truly hope so!
You never offer any solutions or answer any questions. All you do is point to what you believe we shouldn't be doing. I've asked you several times, what would you do? Who would you play? You've offered nothing. So I'll ask again, tell me about your setup without Bruno, Antony, Mount, Garnacho. I've already said I agree that Garnacho shouldn't have started and Rashford should've played on the left. I've also said Bruno's been poor for a while. Maybe we could've played him on the right instead of Antony. But that doesn't change the fact we would've still been toothless up front so I don't see how it would've helped our goalscoring. So what's your solution?
Perhaps Antony's head has been turned by the ****storm of bad press heading his way - perhaps he's worried about becoming the new Greenwood.
What I don't get is that with the exception of Mount, this is the exact same team that were ripping it up at the back end of the season. Onana isn't an influence on how we're playing - so who or what is?
To be fair we were stumbling a bit with results towards the end of the season. Our problems started with Eriksen getting injured and then when he returned his form was nothing like the first half of the season. I'm guessing that's why Mount was brought in. Not the same style of play but to provide attacking creativity. Anyway the good news is Hojlund starts next match so I'm keeping my fingers crossed he has a great debut.
I actually ignored your question because it is somewhat silly to suggest that I was implying that we shouldn’t start any of them Bruno, Mount, Antony and Garnacho. I never did! If we refuse to start the four of them, then who is going to pick up the slacks? Hence why I’m pointing to a convoluted system. I’m even starting to think that maybe it’s a Dutch thing. My stance has been consistent on two key points that I think is unsettling the midfield. First, Antony shouldn’t be an automatic starter on the right. I’ve mentioned my preference for Sancho in the right position a dozen times because he can actually play with his right foot. Pellistri also offered something different when he came on yesterday. He actually ran at the defenders down the flank. Antony has repeatedly leave that space unexploited. Why haven’t we even seen him play on the left side? Yet he does it for Brazil. Second, Mount convolutes the central midfield and has further diminished Bruno’s effectiveness. So it’s either of them and not both in the middle. Overall, it is the manager’s job to find a system that works and I don’t think we have seen an identification of an ETH system that yields consistent goals from the middle of the park down to the front. Every single player that can score has struggled bar Rashford and the answer can’t be to simply buy even more players.
I anticipated we'd play 4 3 3 with Casemiro central but we've not done that. Mount and Casemiro definitely aren't a pair in a 4 2 3 1, so hopefully that's rectified quickly. Up to ten Hag to sort out.
It is almost as though they haven’t trained together to get the balance right and know whose role is where and what.. Which I assume means that they can be much better with time… sadly, we will be losing points as we wait as other teams carry on.
Thank goodness for that, we could do some extra firepower to try and overcome the mighty Forest, our mid-table rivals.
It is a perfect game for him to start in. And if it clicks and he bangs in a goal or two, and someone else chips in as well, it could turn a switch and things come together from here on in. That's what happened as soon as Casemiro started last season and we went unbeaten for a few months iirc. Of course that's on the assumption we won't end up being pants against Forest too! Also doesn't take away from the fact we still need another DM.
It win be interesting to see how the team is setup in the next game. Casemiro, Bruno, Rashford (left), Antony(right) and Mount are likely to be the starting midfield when Hojlund comes in. But if we bring in a new defensive midfielder, one of them will need to be dropped. Unless if we play a back three and crowd the midfield.
