PBP: FAC - Huddersfield Town AFC vs Manchester United FC - Feb 17, 2018 [R]

Lingard coming for Mata...

 

I miss Carrick so much.

 

Good move between Martial and Lingard but the latter really should have pulled the trigger himself.

 

Carrick is playing today. Even got the start and hasn't come off yet.

 

We need to enjoy the games we get with him, because it's coming to the end.
Still believe he can do a job for the team once a week pretty easily the rest of the way.

 

Ashur, do you remember perseus? He's the one who argued that "Carrick was a flop". Incredible stuff.

 

Anyway boys, let's keep the clean sheet here. Will be the perfect send off for Sevilla and a nice confidence booster after a shaky period.

 

quite frankly, i don't know whether i'd pick mata or martial to complement lukaku and sanchez for the sevilla game. they're very different but both could work.

 

Chance to bring on Hamilton or Gomes and the manager opts to bring on a defender and we're up 2-0 and in control of the game. What a surprise

 

Bailly on for 45 seconds.

 

Nothing would have been gained by bringing on Hamilton or Gomes at this point.

 

If Jose was willing to play Sanchez on the right, then it's Martial and it's not close. As it stands and if he persists on playing him on the left, then it almost does bot matter tbh...

The best hope for Martial out on the right is that, in time, he can grow into playing on that side. But it's really putting it on faith, as opposed to knowledge he actually can end up being as effective on that side as he's been on the left.

 

Yet again a dismal performance, basically saved by Lukaku's best performance of the season.

Truly turgid, cowardly football until we scored the second. I'm sure Jose will be happy with that......and THAT is the problem.

 

i know everyone on this board disagrees with me on this but this is not even a debate to me: sanchez eats first. after neymar and hazard, there's probably not a single player i'd rather have cutting in from the left at the moment.

 

I think Martial's close control and ability to beat a man is better than Sanchez's. I honestly think he one of the best players in the league coming from the left atm. It is beyond dumb to replace him...with any player in world football atm. Sanchez is much more versatile and should be given time on both sides, so we can see how he performs.

 

I get that it's your stand but I honestly can't understand it at all. If it proves that Martial can eventually play on the right, then I'll gladly accept you were correct from jump.
But this idea of keeping one side (and therefore the team) completely off balance to satisfy a star player, makes no sense to me. Especially when said player is perfectly adept on playing on either side.
Sanchez gets his choice if and when both sides are more or less equal, but in this case, absolutely not.
As I said, I'm really hoping that Martial can adapt to playing on the right soon. I'd actually be upset if it turns out he can't and decides to leave the club in search of first team football elsewhere...

 

Yes, another "cowardly performance". Romero wasn't even forced to make a single difficult save, we kept clean sheet, Lukaku scored a brace and there was never any doubt whatsoever who was in control of the match...and yet we should nevertheless be ashamed of the rotting corpse of a squad that defiles the red shirt.

Seriously, might it not occur to some of you for just a moment that Jose did not put out his best XI tonight? That this was a Huddersfield side that a weakened opponent was going to easily beat 2-0? That we have our first CL knockout match in years, away, coming up in four days? That we haven't been in sensational form anyway of late? That Jose gave playing time to fringeish players like McTominay and Lindelof and that the 36 year old Carrick got his, I'm not sure, third or fourth start of the season?

This was never going to be a vintage United performance today. This was a "job done" only kinda day, where the sole objectives were to secure victory to go onto the QF of the FA Cup and work Lukaku back into decent form. That was it, nothing more. Yes, it would have been nice to see Sanchez score and yes, his performance was underwhelming but it wasn't anywhere near horrible. We deserved the victory that we secured, a victory that should have been 0-3 but for the horror officiating on the Mata goal (we never got a replay on the Matic goal that was disallowed for offside and these refs did not earn the benefit of the doubt), which was more than adequate compensation for the squad's work on the day.

We can bitch and moan about a lot of things this season (Huddersfield Part I, Tottenham Part II and Newcastle Part II) but we really can't bitch and moan about today, where everything that needed to get accomplished was, in fact, accomplished.

 

Ashur is 100% correct. Let's see if Martial can develop his game on the right side but based on what we've seen so far Martial is substantially more effective on the left than Sanchez, who himself has performed with devastating effect over the years on the right. This really should be a no-brainer for Jose but it appears we have to bear through this adjustment to accommodate the Chilean superstar.

We'll see if it ever works, but no one here should be shocked if it doesn't.

 

Missed the game, looks like Lukaku did th biz and with the VAR lines the FA were caught using the ABU “Man Utd” setting

 

The draw for the next round has been completed

www.bbc.com/sport/football/43097871

Not a bad draw for United tbh, at home to boot.

 

I watched both the Juve v Spurs and Real v PSG games this week and really enjoyed the football on display. As I usually only watch Man Utd games, I have no doubt in my mind that my perception was slightly skewed by the complete trash I have to watch with our team every week. It is a complete embarrassment that we are being outplayed by lower league teams when we have spent money (top 3 spending in world football including wages) on top players and a supposedly top manager. How anybody can spin this current shite we have to watch into a positive is mindboggling.

 

Disagree. The system does not allow him to do that because Mou has his winger in front him for that. On the right side it is different.

 

you guys eep clinging to this notion that sanchez is as dangerous from the right because he played that position ages ago when he was nowhere near as dominant.

yeah, let's buy one of the best attacking players in the world and tell him that he can't play his favourite position for a lesser player. makes total sense.

 

then why is young consistently more dangerous when playing on the left? surely it's the same system preventing shaw to showcase his abilities....

his ball skills are awful and that has nothing to do with any system. his first touch is heavy af, his crosses are almost always blocked by a defender, and his next shot on target will probably be his first in a united shirt.

 

It's all to do with what the needs of the team are and how to make it better. If Sanchez is really into winning, as he's often heralded to be, there is no doubt he'd be on board with that concept if it was clearly put in front of him.
Not about "clinging onto" anything: Sanchez has proven effective playing on the right with Udinese, Barca and as late as last season after he came back from injury with Arsenal.