01 Feb 2024 23:54:56
I have to say, when they scored their 3rd, I shouted the f word, despite the fact that the grandchildren were in earshot, switched the game off, and stormed out of the house to kick the wheel barrow in the driveway. When I came back in, I switched it back on to watch a reply of Kobbie's calm and beautiful finish to make it 4-3.
Even when we win there's something overwhelmingly frustrating about watching United squander chance after chance, only to be pegged back when we should have been completely out of sight by the end of a first half of total dominance. Such wins end up having no satisfaction in them, just relief. We played some excellent football tonight but for some woeful final balls and shooting. Our captain is one of the worst. He's missed so many great chances recently. If only he was calm and technically correct as Kobbie instead of always gong for the flash.
I think we were far too aggressive on those corners towards the end of the game, which led to their 3rd. Is it ETH or Bruno as corner taker and captain who calls the set up? Very poor game management either way.
02 Feb 2024 09:28:16
Last night we saw the best and worst of United. Should have killed the game in the first half and you always felt a Wolves goal would create a lot of nerves. But you have to look at positives from the game. We created more chances then ever and as confidence grows back in the team, they'll become goals. The team showed great grit and determination to get the win when previously we'd end up drawing or losing that game. Had it not have been 3-3, we wouldn't have got to see that special goal from Mainoo which will have really put his name on the map in European football now. He must have floated out of Molineux last night. The first thing the club should be doing this morning is slapping a long term contract in front of him.
02 Feb 2024 10:03:37
The game should of been dead and buried at half time.
How we managed to nearly throw that game away is beyond ridiculous.
I can't understand how we can be so in charge of the game for 45 to 60 minutes and then just suddenly switch off.
I can't bear watching them, they make me so mad!
I thought Rasmus had a cracking game, his hold up play and his energy was brilliant. Never stopped running and harassing their back 4 all night and deserved his goal and was so unlucky not to get a second.
Mainoo was again superb! cool, calm and brilliant on the ball and what a goal to top it off.
We need to go on a bit of a run now and hope that everyone stays fit.
02 Feb 2024 10:11:11
I struggle to watch anyway. I can’t stand Rashford walking back into the starting 11 after the week he’s had, there is no culpability at all, its all rotten.
How is fining a multimillionaire 2 weeks wages a punishment? He will just not get paid for 2 weeks, easy for him.
Missing Newport could be seen as rotation. Its absolute crap and i am struggling to watch it.
02 Feb 2024 10:27:36
G_nev2, 2 weeks is pretty standard. ETH and Rashford by all accounts dealt with the matter internally and he was dropped for the Newport game. ETH has to manage the situation and ensure it doesn't unnecessarily escalate like Sancho decided to do. Rashford was better last night and got a good goal. He needs to continue that now and I suspect he is on his last chance under ETH. But no point dragging out situations as they have an impact on the whole squad.
02 Feb 2024 10:42:32
I agree Gnev. Rashford should have been sent to Guantanamo bay. How dare ten Hag just put him straight in to the team and resolve the whole debacle so quickly?
02 Feb 2024 11:33:29
On Rashford just looking at his miserable face and his body language makes me mad.
It should be a privilege, an honour to play for Man United.
He causes absolute chaos during the week, you would think he would come out with a point to prove but still the same old sulky Rashford.
I would sell him in a heartbeat if an offer came in for him in the summer along with that clown Sancho.
Another big bonus is that Martial will have gone as well.
02 Feb 2024 11:38:24
Okay, I get that we nearly threw the game away, but. what a game. United have bored the pants off me for years. They showed fight to win, they showed they cared. Three academy players scored. I was on the edge of my seat for that second half. Brilliant, I wish I was at it.
02 Feb 2024 13:13:14
Bloody hell, some proper miserable folk on here.
Complain if we play terribly and scrape a 1-0 win, and also complain if we play well for the majority of the game and win a classic PL encounter 4-3 in the 97th minute.
I went through every emotion last night. That’s what football is all about. Give me that over the drab we’ve served up recently aaaaaallll day long.
Maybe half of you will be happy if we brought Jose or LVG back.
So many positives from last night. Hojlund is looking a real handful, excellent holdup play and a real poachers goal.
Mainoo has well and truly announced himself. He was very good before the goal, and that winner will do wonders for his confidence.
We actually saw Rashford sprinting 40-50 yards to track back. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This doesn’t change my opinion on him, but it makes me believe the reports of a dressing room tear down are true.
Bruno is getting stick for some reason, it’s just fashionable. Wolves got back into it with one of the softest penalties you will see, which lifted their supporters and we then had to show great character - despite several errors - to eventually snatch victory from the jaws of a draw.
Casemiro, Martinez and Shaw all started. They’re not fully match fit, but they certainly bring a feeling of confidence seeing their names on the team sheet.
Incredible game full of excitement and it’s great to be a part of it.
02 Feb 2024 13:15:37
I didn't see the game sadly, but I guess when Rashy scored he looked his miserable self and held his fingers up to his head as per usual. Shame we've only seen it four or five times this season as opposed to thirty again.
But come on, it's a great win with four different goal-scorers against an in-form team. The chase for top 4 is still on, that has to be the target even if it's looking unlikely.
02 Feb 2024 14:37:27
Spot on Ports.
I have been very critical of Rashford's attitude of late and will continue as long as he allows his alter-ego, Precious, to run the show.
However, while I've managed many a complicated individual and/ or circumstance, I've never managed a multimillionaire who is essentially a walking brand. I can only imagine how the environment of top-level sport breeds such egos and cultivates a culture that keeps the said egos so protected by bubbles of importance.
What ten Hag is having to manage must be incredibly difficult, but it's still reflective of precisely what he encountered upon arrival.
From Ronaldo to Sancho, each situation has exposed very particular complications that have been managed out by ten Hag and the suits. Rashford is presenting a situation with its own particular complications, but it is one that's easier to manage because the respective ego is different.
We really are talking about a different world. Where we're all looking in from grass-roots perspective, we can't really relate to the culture that prevails over everything in the world of top level sport.
Equally, these players have been so tightly bubble wrapped and pampered since childhood that they have no concept of real life and subsequently find their moral structures influenced so greatly by their environment that they simply can't even comprehend basic standards of conduct that are so deeply set in the minds of ordinary folk.
Rashford himself is a great example of this. He speaks so proudly about the difficulties his mother faced when he was young, how tough things were, how hard she had to work and fight to get through the next hurdle. But, these are just words. This moron has no idea whatsoever what it actually feels like to scrape yourself through a battle knowing that it's only a short matter of time before the sleeves are to be rolled up again.
Yet, when there's a social justice bandwagon for him to clamber upon, the entire narrative is drawn from his utterly ill-informed perspective. Little focus beyond mention is given to his mother who actually experienced the real hardship, no, it's all me-me-me.
Then, to presume himself as, not just a brand and face to bring the campaign forward, but some form of intellectual authority on the factors that create the problem - no Marcus, just no.
But that's a different world again, he is an extreme example of how the mind of a youngster works - the whole 'my story' and 'my struggle' borefest.
I digress somewhat, but the point is that, to mere mortals like us, a Marcus Rashford and the world he lives in is a very alien existence that we simply cannot fathom.
But does that make him a wrongun or simply a complicated individual to manage?
02 Feb 2024 14:47:38
Post of the day wazza ?.
02 Feb 2024 15:07:53
It all comes down to confidence and self belief. If the team continues to play like it did in the first half, for a full game, then Utd could go in a decent run.
Wolves made substitutions that made an impact. Whereas It's generally don't. Last season when Garnacho came off the bench is was certainly an impact sub. I'd rather have seen Diallo come in instead of Anthony.
Let's be positive and hope that this game could be the turning point in the season. We fought right until the end, rather than give up.
02 Feb 2024 16:38:52
What I can’t get my head around is why ETH never learns we get two goals up, he just seems to think add another defender, or replace like for like…and that will do, why don’t he just change tactics and close the game out, we are 3-2 up Bruno taking a corner he is shouting at his defenders to come forward into the box, if ETH is manager he should be addressing this it’s been going on for months, ETH in game management is really really poor…. He certainly is no tactical genius, can happen once maybe twice, but we are nearly every game….
02 Feb 2024 17:19:35
So when did we appoint Deano as head spokesman and awarder of post of the day ?. Only 1 persons opinion valid here then.
02 Feb 2024 18:04:41
Great piece with Andy Mitten on you Tube which also talks about Rashford and a host of things. Get off his back folks as he is allowed to make mistakes.
He is by far our biggest and most polished threat out of the front 3. He is going through some personal things and our fans are brutal in how they go after our players.
02 Feb 2024 18:42:28
Nah Ahmad.
What he’s going through personally is by the by.
Fans are on Rashford’s back because he’s not trying, and they have every right to do so. Supporters invest their time and money. We’re talking about elite level footballers here. If a player can’t at least track a runner and put a bit of effort in, they should expect some backlash from fans. Moreover the club needs to dictate that performances are not at the required standard and he should be driven out. No more chances now.
This “biggest and most polished threat out of the front 3” is behind Scott McTominay for goals scored this season.
Let’s not take away from what was an improved performance last night. He actually sprinted, perhaps for the first time this season. But he’s got a long way to go to get fans back on side. But this has to be his last chance.
02 Feb 2024 20:04:29
Dream on Ahmad
Even when he scored last night he looked like Martial’s twin miserable as sin
If we want to get back to the top then he needs shifting as he’s simply not good enough.
02 Feb 2024 21:44:46
The Hojlund goal was actually the one that pleased me the most, even though it was so scrappy. How long have we waited for a player who will bust a gut to get in front of the defender to get that vital touch? No way, would any of our current forward line have scored that goal.
As for Mainoo, I'm trying so hard not to get excited about him, but my word. ?.
02 Feb 2024 22:13:38
Agree Wazza
“Play like you mean it “.
03 Feb 2024 11:16:18
Strangeways, either you're a massive troll or you just really don't understand the game of football on even the most basic level.
I'll give you a breakdown of what EtH did during the second half of the game.
United started the second half okay, but the changes O'Neil made to his Wolves side slowly started to bare fruits, then the Ref and VAR took a bung and awarded a totally b******t penalty, which was scored in the 71 minute.
EtH had seen that Casemiro was tiring badly and needed to come off. And he went for McTominay who could offer an out ball so the team could go longer and by pass the Wolves higher press which was something they started to do in the second half.
As a sub it worked pretty well with McTominay scoring within 2 minutes of coming on to restore the 2 goal advantage.
As the game progressed we had lost the control in midfield that we had in the first half with a fit Casemiro. Unfortunately while McTominay offers good qualities in terms of off the ball work rate and an attacking threat, he doesn't have to qualities to help control the midfield.
Wolves then scored again making it 3-2. While EtH was forced to replace Martinez due to injury, and he chose to replace the tiring Højlund with Forson to add energy to the front line and a threat in behind.
In the 91st minute he decided to try and lock up shop taking off Garnacho and bringing on Evans to add more stability and shut them out. Which is exactly what you are complaining he didn't do. Yet he clearly and obviously did.
Then we got a corner and for some reason both Maguire and Evans decided to go up for it, and we also looked to play the ball in rather than look to keep the ball. Wolves won the ball back, counter and scored an equaliser. That is on the players on the pitch, the manager can make decisions on the sidelines, and he can give players instructions. But ultimately it is down to the players to follow those instructions.
Looking at the managers subs against Wolves its pretty obvious he was looking to shut up shop and see out the game, but the players didn't follow those instructions.
Ultimately it's players who win you or lose you games, and a pretty poor decision by two experienced defenders cost us the equalising goal in injury time.
Even an average Sunday league player would know that as a CB when defending a one goal lead in extra time you don't commit that many players forward for a corner.
It was a brain fart moment from both Evans and Maguire, two experienced players, both of whom should know they haven't got the legs to get back if countered and that the win was on the line if that happened.
Fortunately we have a young player in Mainoo who decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck and drag his team over the line. The way he was the coolest player on the pitch as he jinked into the penalty box and had the presence of mind to calmly stroke the ball around the defender and into the far corner showed elite mentality. He will be a very special player and the hub of our team for the next decade. Considering that players of a similar profile have been bought in the past 12 months for fees in excess of 100m (Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Declan Rice) he's probably saved us close to that much trying to bring in a similar player, if we could even find someone similar (they are rare players which is why they go for a premium) .
However, the fact we need an 18 year old with less than a dozen starts for us to bail us out due to the poor decision making of senior and vastly experienced players highlights the limitations of the players in this squad that the manager has to work with.
When a 30 and 35 year old defenders with all their experience make brain dead decisions like that despite clear indications from the manager to defend our lead then there isn't much the manager can do.
I expect that stupidity from Maguire, he has shown that he doesn't have the intelligence to play at the highest level. I'm disappointed in Evans, who personally I think has been really good for us this season when he's played. It was a daft moment from him, which is slightly out of character. Maybe it can be chalked down to the fact that he had only just come on and wasn't in rhythm with the game, but he really should know better.