PBP: EPL - Manchester United FC vs Brighton & Hove Albion - Nov 10, 2019 [R]

James is playing the RW slot very well. He is embracing the right footed version of the role, either starting centrally as a second striker and pulling slightly wide from the CB into space, or starting right and playing 1-2s / switching the ball. We need to rotate him with Greenwood though otherwise we're burning out our LW cover and are unable to rotate a tired Rash / sub out a bad Rash.

 

Won't argue with this one much, although Fred probably would have been my personal choice. First time in quite a while also that we were spoiled for choices also.
Great for the kid though who did put in a solid and committed performance today.

 

Our record in the Prem right now is 4 4 4 +4.

 

We have won 5 of 6 in all matches.

I hope the international break doesn't ruin our momentum.

 

Brandon Williams is so much better than AY it’s not even comparable. When Shaw return, if AY is anything but 3rd choice LB than Ole deserves to take heat.

 

Young will still get minutes to protect Williams, but the latter should definitely be ahead right now. I'd sooner rotate Laird in at LB and just keep Young around for whatever it is he offers in the dressing room. Keeping it free of bird shit mainly.

 

The kid has a real chance to lock down LB as his for a decade if he stays fit.

Timing/opportunity is half the battle for kids, and his timing is good.

 

A slightly better @MarcusRashford highlight 😅 pic.twitter.com/5ptCTiShlA

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) November 10, 2019

Only thing that would have made this better is if led to a goal. Filthy though.

 

Some random thoughts

- Martial is quality, links so well with all other players and has the best decision making of them

- AP really poor marking for their goal

- great to see Fred starting to show what he has

- James winning us free kicks will be very useful as it was for our 2nd

- BW getting the start because AY suspended, need Ole to wake up and give this kid minutes when not forced

- Greenwood only getting tiny minutes disappointing from Ole, makes me worry about BW getting minutes

- fingers crossed on McT injury

 

You say AP poor marking for their goal, but what is poor is that AP was marking 6'4" Lewis Dunk. He should be on the post, or marking nothing threats. He shouldn't be on their biggest player.

 

I thought Fred was excellent today, his passing was great. He's also very quick on pressing and winning the ball.

 

That pass by Fred to Martials feet on the run was why we bought him.

 

Sadly, Williams will be back with the reserves for the next match (throwing this out there hoping I’m completely wrong).

 

Agree. However was also clearly AP job to just stop him getting momentum and he failed miserably and lost him completely - was badly conceived plan but you cant let him off the hook for that poor effort completely.

 

Trust the kids over bad players work? OMG.

 

You say it like its obvious, but I bet when AY is back he plays ahead of Williams.

 

That castro by Rashford perfectly sums him up as a player right now. It came off and it looked brilliant, but he’s tried that move 5 or 6 times this seasons and it hasn’t worked once. He’s extremely inefficient but not afraid to try things so when it comes off it looks great and nobody remembers all the failed attempts.

 

Agree. It's ballsy to keep trying it regardless. But we've seen him do it so many times, and people only remember when it works, e.g. against Bournemouth (IIRC) last season and at the weekend.

I think his efficiency will come. I think Martial will play a massive part in it by being as creative and generous as he has been, setting an example.

 

Flying frontline has brought the fun back to OT.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...ng-forwards-bringing-fun-back-to-old-trafford

Been a pretty good period after some uncertainty, poor results and bad play earlier in the season. The remainder of 2019 will tell us how for real this run has been. And perhaps, part of the solution for Ole is to lean even more on youth to plug any holes in the team.

 

Our xG for this game was huge. There was a 51% probability we finished the game w/ 5 goals. We would have bar good keeping and a terrible miss. We could easily have had 6 or 7 in this game. We are creating the chances, the goals will come.

I want to point out how important Martial is to the team. His movement and CF play is tremendous. Rashford isn't a 9 and only wants to spin behind or drift out wide. Martial understands when to find space by not moving, how to find space by moving towards where the space will be and how to find space by coming short and waiting. He's also adept at interplay. Half of the good things Martial does with movement surround timing and slowing things down. The result is that whomever is that our other attackers have space to run into AND making those runs is rewarded.

Martial's decision-making and passing was really good. He might have finished a chance or two himself, but he absolutely deserved 4 assists on the day.

It also needs to be said that Martial's availability has also presented a target for our CMs and we saw Fred find him a couple times. We've had issues with vertical passes, over relying on carrying the ball or long passes into the channels.

I think as much shit as Pereira gets, he's not nearly as a bad a 10 as people give him credit for. He's not by any means elite or even very good, but he's a better 10 than RW. The things AP does well as a 10 that he doesn't get credit for: turning. He's always trying to get on the half turn, even when there's pressure. If he can, it usually means a run from either winger opens an angle to progress the ball. What people neglected to reflect on when he was playing 10 while Rashford was our 9 is that the 10 has to play off of someone and Rashford's iffy positioning meant AP was left without a focal point and even when he could turn, it is easy to shut down the LW and CF if they are both in a similar position.

 

For me, the key takeaway from the match is that we stepped forward after conceding the goal rather than go into a shell.

Let’s not take too much away from this victory. Our first two goals were scrappy, our finishing overall was poor and our defending on the corner kick was poor. And the opponent wasn’t exactly of a very high level. Yet we did create chances, our young players were up to the challenge, and we saw something that looked like cohesion. There’s a long road ahead of us but we’ve finally picked up all three points against an opponent we should have hammered.

 

The 2nd goal has credited to McTominay ..