17 Feb 2015 11:40:18
Guys, I know we're all desperate to see some improvement in our play, but please.
I don't even have to go over to the Scouser's site, or the Arsenal site, to know that they'll be sitting there laughing at the sight of Utd fans having a collective wet dream over a decent 30 minutes against the mighty League 1 side, Preston North End.
Is this really what we've become?
17 Feb 2015 11:56:44
Noucamp - watch what you say mate you will have GDS on your back because we can't say 'it was only Preston'.
17 Feb 2015 12:08:30
No wet dream mate, still a long way to go, but the problem at the moment is the performance rather than the results, the results have been ok. For 30 minutes last night we saw the performance as well. It is not enough obviously, and like people keep pointing out, it was 'only Preston' but people have been crying out for us to play like that, so when we do we have to be happy about it surely?
I spoke to some Liverpool fans this morning who said they are worried about us because we are already getting the results, with the performances as well we will pull away from them, not sure they have any right to be laughing, our season has been better than both of theirs so far despite us not playing great football.
I'm confused with 'Is this really what we've become?'. Why would we not celebrate winning well, remember City and Chelsea both lost to lower league teams, these games are not easy, Preston are in good form, and we passed the test, sometimes it is ok to celebrate surely?
17 Feb 2015 12:15:55
JMB,
Never said you can't say it, I said my point below had nothing to do with the opposition, more to do with our own performance.
17 Feb 2015 12:26:29
GDS, I just think, in our craving for something positive to take from games recently, we've lost sight of the fact that, with all due respect to PNE, we should not have to be relying on a good 30 minutes to put them away.
I didn't say that they were laughing at us in terms of comparative performances this season, I said they were laughing at our collective response to beating a league one side.
'Why would we not celebrate winning well'? Come on, mate. If you class that as 'winning well', then we really have hit rock bottom! :) What happened to, 'yeah, we won. As we flipping should have against a league one side. Now let's move on'
The truth is, up until LVG realised, once again, that his system wasn't working, we'd just served up another 60 minutes of absolute dross. I struggled to see who was the Premiership giant, and who was the league one team, despite having more possession.
Yes, it was a win, and that comes first and foremost. Just let's not get carried away. I read some of the posts on here after beating PNE, and I think we must have become the best team in the world overnight.
Just like the over-reactions when we lose, draw or win playing badly, would have you think we were a Conference-level side.
17 Feb 2015 12:43:20
I should say, results like Chelsea against Bradford, can and do happen. But they're fluke results. One-offs. A blip in the normal run of things.
We've had Yeovil, Cambridge and PNE, and in every one of those games, we could have lost, through not creating enough chances, playing one-paced football, and serving up a quality of football not far removed from the level of the teams we were playing against.
You can't compare one-off, freak results, against a pattern of similar performances.
Like you said last night, in these type of games van Gaal has been overcomplicating. Preston, Cambridge and Yeovil are far from world beaters. In these games you don't need to try anything clever. Just play with width and pace to tire them out, and they'll soon start making mistakes.
All we saw last night was a PL side playing with pace and width forcing a lower division team into mistakes. It wasn't an amazing performance but it was important in showing how much better we look when we're not trying to cleverly incorporate players into 'innovative' systems. It's two games on the trot now where a shift to genuine wingers has won us the game. Hopefully this will carry through into upcoming games and we will start looking like a United side again, in style if not yet quality.
17 Feb 2015 13:32:12
I have not meant my posts to come across as an overreaction mate, I have said that the first 60 wasn't good enough, I just think all of us have been waiting for what happened in the last 30 to happen and it did, so let's enjoy it.
I get that beating Preston should be how you said it, 'well that was easy, next game please', but the way the last 18 months has gone that isn't quite how we are anymore is it? I appreciate we all want to support world beaters and win every game, but at the moment we aren't. Last season we lost in the FA cup 3rd round at home, this season we have come through 3 tricky (even if lower league) away ties, conceding 1 goal from a deflection and scoring 8 in the process so it is something to celebrate.
I sit through the posts after we lose or draw a game getting more and more depressed at the negative overreactions, so when I think we have done well I will say so.
Fingers crossed we kick on after that last 30, I am hoping we do but think in reality we might not.
Our season without Europe has been much worse than Liverpools season without Europe.
17 Feb 2015 14:29:10
It has also been better than a lot of other team's without Europe. You have 1 example of a team that did better without Europe in about the last 10 years, well done.
17 Feb 2015 14:40:27
GDS, it certainly wasn't aimed at you in particular, mate. I was guilty of it myself after the game last night, talking it over with a Liverpool fan.
Felt I had to even though, deep down, I felt the way I did in my OP :)
17 Feb 2015 14:45:28
True, Beast. But then they hadn't been through the relative upheaval that we've been through over the last few seasons.
Look at them this season, when they've tried to incorporate a number of new players to the squad and lost their best player. The same sluggish first half of the season that we're having, but without as many points to show for it.
Koeman's Southampton, are the only team I've seen recently who've coped with such large-scale changes.
Plus, like I told my Liverpool mate. This may as well have been a season out of Europe for them as well.