PBP: USC - Real Madrid CF vs Manchester United FC - Aug 8, 2017 [R]

It's his second season (2 windows).....parking the bus against any team in the PL is just unacceptable for me. That kind of cowardice against teams in a poor PL is embarrassing for a club of our historical standing, and I don't want to see it again.

 

The best case scenario for both Martial and particularly AP will be to be ready to grab their chance when called upon. I know we've said and lamented the same in regards to Martial last season, but hopefully things will be different this season.
Fellaini, whether we like it or not, has Jose's trust at this time (just like Rashford as well) and tbf, Fellaini was not the problem today. As mentioned before the game, this game screamed for either Rashford or Martial to start next to Lukaku. Lingard and Miki both was simply not the right call.
But coming back to Martial, AP and any other player we hope to step up this season, Jose is a creature of habit and his trust has to be earned. Hopefully, some of the fringe players, including Martial and AP, can go some way in doing so. They'll get the opportunity: that much is certain.

 

Calling bullshit.

It has absolutely nothing to do with 'earning a spot'. Lingard's output is consistently shite for a forward...and has had games where he is the worst player on pitch..yet still gets the nod. many other players also had runs of poor games and were never dropped.

Last season Mourino called out Martial to be better...he played against 2 lower class teams (one a cup game), and won motm and was our best player......Mourinho left him out the team for the following games. When asked by a journo about Martial's mom performance....Mourinho criticised him..and said he did good and bad things. Flip that to journo's asking about his fav players about an awful game...and he says they were great. It's fckin personal with Jose and we all know it. I wouldn't care if he had us playing good football, but while we play badly..and I see star potential on the bench and being treated poorly, I'm sure gonna call him out on it.

 

Yep. He's a super divisive coach. He has favourites and he has outcasts .. there's no in-between for him.

I dunno what the deal is with Martial and Shaw , but Darmian and Lingard aren't doing much.

 

You can call BS on his methods, if we see a repeat of last season. My whole point remains the same however. New season, let's see what happens over the course of it. There were different circumstances last season, which may not apply this time around.
Martial could have been gone many times over from the end of last season until now, yet he not only convinced him to stay, but has also made clear he will have a part to play this season (when Italian clubs came calling).
He praised AP adaptability and performance in preseason and opted to keep him: hopefully it will be for something. We'll have to see, but both players, among others, will have to be ready when the opportunity comes and hopefully, they can win him over.
In the end, you may be proved correct, but I'm not going to burn him at the stake or go into hysterics so early in the season, without giving him the benefit of the doubt.

 

Every time we play a big club in the EPL or UCL this season be prepared and even with tricky small clubs away from home be prepared for this

 

MUFC Fans in Rashford first season: He's quick and deadly, just wait until he has a full season at the club.

MUFC Fans one full season later: He's young blah blah blah [Insert 1000 other excuses here]

 

OK, seriously, I get all the preseason nerves and everything, but Lindelof has had one of the worst preseasons in recent memory. Shocking, really. I get that Jose wants to get his confidence up, but he's probably one mistake away from being in a dog house for a while.

 

Pretty sure we won't see much of him in the opening stages of the season, with Bailly, Smalling and Jones definitely ahead of him at this juncture. He may get a reprieve for our first CL game with Bailly and Jones suspended. But after that, except for early season league cup games, Lindelof is in the back of the line.
He'll need time and probably a good game at some point to get his confidence back. Again, Vidic or Stam, among others, struggled early on. All is not lost for Lindelof, but some time away from the starting lineup is needed at this point.

 

I will be mortified if we've brought in somebody who can't get ahead of Jones and Smalling.

 

Well that was not fun to watch. Either we are that bad or Mou is making us look bad.

 

That's a helluva team we were up against.

But yeah , we were pretty clueless with the ball at times. Some guys played poorly and were just plain dominated.

 

Lindelof will be that guy in time. Not everyone can be like Bailly and settle in right away. Some players take more time for one reason or another. Lindelof is clearly stuck in what is tantamount to quicksand: that first mistake vs the Galaxy has stuck with him psychologically and coupled with other factors (such as the pressure to perform at a new club, his fee etc...), he's just trying too hard, making things worse in the process and his game is suffering as a direct effect. The player he's shown so far in no way reflects who he really is. We've seen it enough with top class defenders at the club over the years (Pally, Stam, Vidic and Evra, just to name those guys).
Having Jones and Smalling for the time being until he gets it together, Rojo is ready to return and perhaps Tuanzebe ready to return is not a bad thing. The hope until then is that Jones can avoid injury and Smalling, some form of consistency. But as "backup" options for the time being, we really could do worse...

 

Silky. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/DwXLKJBOSo

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) August 8, 2017

Thank you to everyone who posted & sent me this 😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/O7tmOSYR38

— Marouane Fellaini (@Fellaini) August 8, 2017

 

So how bad were we?

I only watched the last 20 minutes and that wasn't too bad.

We did start with Lingard who is a clown though.

 

The coach made us look that bad. It was clear that he instructed the players to sit back and absorb the Real Madrid pressure. They made us look like an EPL team playing against a third tier team in the bottom table (Slight exaggeration).
Playing in our half of the field for long periods of the match. Preseason or not that looked embarrassing.

That is the line many fans are using to soften the blow of us looking like a bunch of school boys against men. The result could have been a lot different if Rashford scored but unfortunately we were not playing against struggling MLS clubs.

 

Jose was actually spot on post game.

We started well, the first 0-20 ish. Then we're dominated the rest of the first. As in 4/10 level bad.

Better in the last 40, once Rashford started to at least give us a bit more offensive threat. But,one defensive brain fart and we left ourselves to much to do.

Biggest mistake was starting Lingard. Totally useless.

If we had Bailly, and started one of Martial/Rashford, we push Madrid much harder. Maybe not win, but definitely not allow them to drop down a gear and cruise.

 

No threat going forward, most chances were individual play.

 

Well, Lingard should not start most games. You guys need an LB who can cross. Get that Aurier guy, or Rose. Forget Blind, Darmian or Shaw.
2:1 loss is not a bad result. Add 2 100 percent chances, take off offside goal and add 2 posts from Bsle.

3:3 final score.

 

Fellaini straight up cost United points on more than one occasion last season and not only did he continue to play, but he got public vocal support from the coach.

Mou clearly has his faves.

 

Whilst Fellaini is completely not United standard , I can at least understand why Mourinho plays him. I don't agree with it , but I understand his thought process.

With Martial and Shaw , I can only speculate as to what is happening behind the scenes , because they are much better than Jesse and Darmian.

 

Shaw is injured.

 

A bit of perspective is in order. We finished sixth in the EPL last season while the opponent last night is the CL holder, yet we actually had it within our grasp to steal the win.

Romelu and Marcus, both of you need to clean up your finishing.

I know Matic has his critics here, but he was excellent last night. A great buy.

Pogba disappointed, especially on the occasion where he took a long distance shot instead of laying the ball off for Miki for an easy 1v1 on Navas.

Moaners will do what they have to do and will continue to do it to prove they are top reds, but we really can and will use this result to launch a great season. No CL trophy for us, but every other trophy is within our grasp.

 

Talking points from yesterday's game.

www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/10980294/real-madrid-2-1-manchester-united-uefa-super-cup-talking-points

 

Hopes and dreams that's all I am seeing