PBP: EPL - Manchester United FC vs West Ham United FC - Apr 13, 2019 [R]

Another turdburger from this rudderless ship. We have no business being in the CL next year.

 

Im really starting to worry.. We are back to Jose-esque football and if it wasnt for fortunate decisions, west ham would have won ..

 

This is key, and is worth pondering over. We can even take it back to LVG. When we have possession, there doesn't appear to be a coherent attack strategy. No movement in the front, no incisive passing, no creation of space. So stagnant. We are simply incapable of breaking down teams, the way city and pool can. What can this problem be attributed to?

 

People were really wound up about this game. It was a must win game and we had 3 of our first team defenders (4 if you count Bailly) out of the XI and we also rested our most in form attacker and we were short Herrera in midfield.

West Ham played well, but they didn't dominate. The game was open and that was by design. Ole new they would attack and play an open game and in any counter/counter game, our superior talent would eventually shine through. We had bad games from Martial and Jesse and Mata is past it.

This game really didn't show us anything. Martial isn't in form and honestly, both he and Jesse have had a tough time of it of late with stop/start due to fitness issues.

We got the points and that was what mattered. People said we got played off the park. I think I saw that WH had 18 attempts, while we had 14. Never like to get out shot at home, but some of the reaction is WAY OTT, when you consider the mitigating factors.

I'm also astounded that Smalling is still being targeted. We just limited Barca to 1 goal and he was pretty damned good in that game. In this game, he strode into midfield on a few occasions to release players. He's obviously no damned Rio, but he plays so close to *his* ceiling so often and literally NEVER has anything bad to say about anyone or the club, it is really astonishing the stick he gets from his own supporters.

Oh, anybody remember when I said we could play a midfield of Fred/Ander/Pogba with Fred and Ander splitting the load of helping us play out from the back? This was an example of Fred playing his best football. He was damned good today.

 

Talking points about the game.

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/manchester-united-2-1-west-ham-the-talking-points/

Was not pretty, but ultimately got the job done and at this stage of the season, it's all that really matters. The main point of concern for me is how our frontline has been performing as of late and that is what needs to change and improve ASAP, if we have any reasonable hopes to make top 4. We're going to miss Herrera for another couple of games apparently and the sooner he can come back, the better off we'll surely be as well.

 

@johno completely understands your view but we havent been playing any sort of cohesive football in last 4-5 games..

 

It's called a loss of form. Might be ill timed but as stated, there are circumstances that partially can explain it.
What matters right now, above all else, is to get the job done and get the points, whatever it takes. Results, not performances are what matter. We can worry about the latter in preseason when we have time to prepare, after we've brought in reinforcements and when everyone if fit and fresh...
It's about time some luck went our way yesterday after the disheartening way we've lost a couple of our games recently.

 

There is a difference between cohesion and approach.

I can deal with days when our attack doesn't look cohesive. That's going to happen.

But under Jose, it was the negative, ********ing dour approach that killed everything.

 

I would take Felipe Anderson, his passing is underrated.