23 Oct 2016 21:47:20
If we could have took away draws at Liverpool and Chelsea and home wins against Fenerbahce and City it would of have been a top few games. We have 3 home league games in November and though one of them is Arsenal we have a strong record against them at OT and Jose an impeccable record against Wenger.
But a bad defeat suddenly looks to put everything in the balance. We need to get over it and just get on with the next game and hope that there will be a significant bounce back.
Bottom line is most players weren't at the races today bar possibly Herrera and Valencia.
It is way to easy to mark individuals out for criticism on the back of a poor result but surely anyone with eyes must start to see the unspeakable truth that Smalling is not a United player. Fellaini everyone knows tries hard and give the lad credit for putting in a transfer and wanting to move to us. But neither ever have been or ever will be United quality.
Our star in the making LB in Shaw has worryingly gone off the radar and despite Tony V really putting some shifts in recently we know at his age he is not the RB answer long term. Defence is the strong point of Jose teams typically but not in this side. We are way way short from a defensive perspective and that means we are just not set-up properly to be on the offensive.
As for others Pogba is looking a very average purchase at the moment. I think we need to bite the bullet and say he's the No.10 in a 4231 or he's the left mid of a 433 where he was so influential for Juve. Jose has played 433 before so not as though its a new system.
Re-emergence of Herrera is the only positive note coming from the season so far and I have always said that after 10 games you should know more or less whether you are going to contest the league or not. On the evidence so far we will not be contesting the league. More worryingly we have 5 teams in front on all a minimum of 5 points better than us at such an early stage of the season.
Going back to my earlier point though in many ways this defeat, as bad as it was, was just 1 point lost from what our initial expectation may have been. City, Arsenal and Spurs all drawing lessens the blow a little. But if we are genuine challengers we would have gone to Chelsea and gone all out for the win. Jose's 2014/ 15 team were destroying teams with very expansive good to watch football so we know he can do it. Does not have the confidence in the personnel we have at the moment seemingly and that means further major investment will be needed in the summer again.
Missing out on Champs League again could be a defining moment for us. Hence on to the next game and an absolute must win now against City in the cup followed by Burnley in the league to get some confidence back.
24 Oct 2016 07:02:33
We are 6 points behind with 29 games to go. I am not too bothered even though the loss was hard to watch and not making excuses but the first 2 goals were a joke and after that we were always looking down the barrel of a gun.
Its a long season with lots of up and downs. My biggest concern from yesterday is Bally's injury and Herrera looks to have also picked up something.
I am also wondering what on earth has happened to Schneiderlin as he does not even make the bench any more.
I think come Jan 1st is when we need to look at things and that should tell us how this season will pan out. My only critic of the game is the selection and personally when you pick lingard to play on the right, you are not picking him for his offensive abilities but more so for his defensive grind work, which with 2 holding bids is too many defensive grinders on the pitch and not enough creative guys who can hurt the other team.