14 Aug 2023 22:23:11
mentioned this on the live chat. if you needed a trigger for ambrabat signing tonight's game was one. our midfield looked so poor and cas basically on his own.

Need some physicality and toughness. swiss cheese midfield with mount and bruno.

1.) 14 Aug 2023
14 Aug 2023 23:18:03
Hate to say it, but Casemiro looked like he’d aged over night…….

2.) 15 Aug 2023
14 Aug 2023 23:46:52
He was on his own and does not look match fit. Mount and Bruno did zip defensive work and so far up the pitch. Sign Thuram or ambrabat or both.

We have plenty of offensive minded players and need some physicality in the middle of the pitch.

3.) 15 Aug 2023
14 Aug 2023 23:50:10
It was coming last season he really dipped in the later games, l thought it was tiredness from the pace of the Premiership, but he got plenty or rest with suspensions. Hopefully he finds form again, but needs a worker with him, need to play 4-2-3-1 against strong teams, but looking at tonight it might be our best formation all the time.

4.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 00:38:09
No Casemiro looked like he did end of the last season.

5.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 00:39:57
Mount and Bruno played too far forwars as a pair, they need ro lear qhw one has to stay.

6.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 02:54:11
It doesn't help if your forwards, in particular the wingers, fail to make a single good decision or pass all evening. Antony in particular was woeful. We looked much better with Sancho in the team. We really need a CF and hopefully Hojlund will add that extra dimension with Rashford moving back to the right.

Are any of us convinced about Mount? Maybe there's a reason why Chelsea moved on.

7.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 04:49:24
we were laboured across the park. Garnacho was trying far too hard, Antony was woeful last season and I fear will be no better this year.
AWB to some extent was a breath of fresh air, starting the season with some attacking runs but otherwise not an exactly thrilling start and many other teams would have us beaten with relative ease.

Having said that it is the first game of the season. The boys have not played 90 minutes in anger so the fitness will come. But again that is the same for all teams so we no real excuse for that dirge!

Onwards and upwards without Maguire and the Glazers!

8.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 06:46:52
Cas has never been known for being fast so running past him is not a surprise. Don't think you can play mount and Bruno together on last nights performance. Just a really poor midfield and reminded me of a couple of years ago where we were wide open and people running at us and then having tons of space on the wings to lay it off for their wingers. Another team another day we will get punished.

9.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 06:56:45
Rashford cannot go on the right
He made it quite clear last night by sulking for 85 minutes he’s not a number 9, he fights with Garnacheo for the left spot!
Best player by a mile last night was the gk!

10.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 07:10:31
I actually thought Antony did ok. He looked pretty sharp compared to the rest of them. He just needed a lot more help from AWB if you ask me. The problem we have there is that Antony naturally wants to turn inside all the time, therefore we need a full back who’ll want to overlap and provide an outlet. AWB just doesn’t have that tendency. For me Dalot complements Antony a lot better.

Garnacho looked way off it. Whether he was trying too hard…. who knows. He’s a great prospect, but I haven’t seen blistering pace from him at any point.

Last night confirmed what we all knew…. Rashford isn’t a central striker. We are woefully short of options up top.

The midfield is a worry. As mentioned before, Casemiro looked a really aged player. Whether pre season was a proper old fashioned meat grinder, who knows. But in this day and age I’d have expected the prep to be tailored to each individual player with the aim of them hitting something near a peak at the beginning of the season. Mount was supposed to take some of the sting out of that midfield and provide the box to box energy to allow others to do their job, he didn’t do this.

We need at least two more midfielders. One is an absolute minimum and it needs to be a player who can rotate with Casemiro. We also look like we could do with another striker because if Rasmus doesn’t hit the ground running then we’ll need another option because Rashford isn’t it and we can’t trust Martial.

11.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 07:11:11
First match of the season, I wouldn't look too much at it. It is the same team we liked last year, with some added signings.

Wins like this are very important, when we don't play great, but still get the 3 points.

As for the match, I'd rather start Sancho as a false 9, as Rashford is half a player at the striker position. That would also move Garnacho to the bench, and make him an impact sub, as he was last season. He is still too young, a lot of bad decisions by him, probably because he burned in his desire to show what he has got.

And again, this is why we needed a player like Kane, who can actually score those half chances we get.

Coming back to the first season of the match, statistics, expected goals, big chances, and what not, Notthingham has a higher xG than Arsenal and still lost. Arsenal scores two goals because of individual skill, they didn't create big chances at all during the match. They did have the control of the match for the most period tho, unlike us. We actually had higher xG than Arsenal in their game. Every match for itself I guess, and not that I want to compare us to any other team, but the point is - not everything is so bad.

12.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 07:28:14
Amazed Shawthing that you say Anthony in particular, i get he is the new target for blame, but how you can say him over Garnacho yesterday . I like Garnacho but my god he was awful yesterday. Also Rashford was bad and his lack of any press means others like Mount have to do the pressing up top leaving huge gaps behind.

13.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 10:28:55
Anthony and Garnacho were both completely ineffective. However, In Garnacho's case it was a poor performance by his standards and he will offer much more in other games. In Anthony's case, it was his standard performance, that's the problem. He's a one trick pony (down from two tricks since he's no allowed to do the 360 any more! ) - cut in onto his left and shoot. That produced 4 goals last season, so it's not a great trick.

14.) 15 Aug 2023
15 Aug 2023 16:00:05
Like I said Johnnykills, he's the new goto for blame, Always fans pick out one or 2 to blame for everything, after all the rest are sall great.