Man United away

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Now that the initial disappointment has passed, this is my conclusion:

We were the better side in the opening day fixture at Old Trafford. Not getting any points isn't good, but it's not a disaster either.

Apart from their taking advantage of our CMs giving the ball away in dangerous areas, we looked very solid. Losing the ball like that is something that needs to be adressed, it cost us a lot last season too.

Some claim that we lacked creativity. Keep in mind that;
- we played against a very careful United, who played with two defensive midfielders.
- we had a careful lineup, with our least offensive right and left back alternatives, with a cb as dm, and with Dembele as attacking mid.
- we created a lot more than them, despite a few of our offensive players having a bad day.

Also keep in mind that this was the first game of the season. Nobody is fully match fit. Mistakes and surprising results are more common at this stage than later in the season.

All in all things looked fairly good.

We just need our boys up front a bit sharper.
 
tbonepremier said:
Now that the initial disappointment has passed, this is my conclusion:

We were the better side in the opening day fixture at Old Trafford. Not getting any points isn't good, but it's not a disaster either.

Apart from their taking advantage of our CMs giving the ball away in dangerous areas, we looked very solid. Losing the ball like that is something that needs to be adressed, it cost us a lot last season too.

Some claim that we lacked creativity. Keep in mind that;
- we played against a very careful United, who played with two defensive midfielders.
- we had a careful lineup, with our least offensive right and left back alternatives, with a cb as dm, and with Dembele as attacking mid.
- we created a lot more than them, despite a few of our offensive players having a bad day.

Also keep in mind that this was the first game of the season. Nobody is fully match fit. Mistakes and surprising results are more common at this stage than later in the season.

All in all things looked fairly good.

We just need our boys up front a bit sharper.
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Conversely anyone can argue why werent our players match fit? Why did they look fatiqued? Why did we have a cd as dm? Why was Dembele an attacking mid if playing him there was so impeding.
Why are we never ready for the first month of the season?
 
Totti said:
Defensively, we looked real good I thought. Alderweireld brought a real presence, was good in the air and equally as good with the ball at his feet, some of his long balls were unreal, just imagine those going to someone with a great touch and quick in the counter like a Berahino and we could cause problems.
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A certain Mr. Dawson, but an upgrade :dawsonmean:
 
Modric THFC said:
Conversely anyone can argue why werent our players match fit? Why did they look fatiqued? Why did we have a cd as dm? Why was Dembele an attacking mid if playing him there was so impeding.
Why are we never ready for the first month of the season?
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Nobody is fully match fit at this point, because they haven't been playing competitive games, and we've probably been through a period of very hard training.

We had a cd as dm for several reasons, the main one probably being Mason's injury. Other than that is the fact that Alli hasn't been with us for a long time, that Poch sees something in Dier as a dm and wants to try it out, and probably a strategic decision to be a bit more defensive at Old Trafford to try to control the game - which except for the horrendous ball give aways worked very well.

Dembele was probably played as amr because he's the best defensive alternative amongst our ams. He is better as a ball winner, and better at helping us keep the ball, than the other ams, but not as dangerous when we counter attack or as good at playing through balls as Lamela. Again, a strategic decision, as he helped us control the game. And keep in mind that Townsend and Pritchard are injured, and Lamela just recently joined the squad.

We're no less ready than the other teams.

Everton drew at home to Watford. United were outplayed for big parts of the game, but got a lucky win, at home. Chelsea drew at home against Swansea.
 
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Just back from the morgue. What a fucking cracking away day! Our fans where fucking brilliant today, from about the 55th minute we sung non-stop, all 3k of us didn't shut up until outside the ground, proud day to be Spurs!

Not a massively exciting game over the 90min. Right up to the goal we murdered them. Heads dropped which we need to watch, maybe because we gave it everything and had nothing to show for it, it would suggest that maybe not everyone in the team believes in "our way", time will tell. Despite it looking crap and unadventurous our play for the last 10/15min of the first half was intelligent, some of our players were blowing out of their arses so despite it being boring and unadventurous we controlled that part of the game and went in at half time still well in the game with them not having a single shot on target.

2nd half again we were intelligent (not doing a Spurs and going gun hoe away at Utd). We controlled the game but created little but saved ourselves until final 10mins which we dominated and should have scored, why didn't Chadli shoot!

Alderweireld MOTM for me. Despite our ability to gift goals our defence was very good today, they only had one shot on gaol from outside the box, so massive improvement. Feel sorry for Walker, while not vintage he had the hardest job out of anyone on our side today having to deal with that diving cunt and over the whole game he won that battle. I haven't seen it back but how fucking unlucky was that to score the OG, he covered some much ground and made the tackle only for it to go in.

Dembele is a changed player, looks physical leaner this year and was great on the ball and closing down all over the pitch, much more zip to his play.

On the negatives, Bentaleb but the kid is a fighter and I trust him to short his shit out. Eriksen, Pritchard must be chomping at the bit. My gut tells me Pritchard will be stronger on the ball and more creative too. Chadli worked hard today and played well without the ball, but with the ball he was very disappointing.

A draw would have just about been the right result but if we take our chances the game should have been a comfortable win as at no point in that game did they have us penned or threatened us. Jammy cunts!.
 
Modric THFC said:
We were fine today. United created nothing. Our in midfield wasn't great but we shouldn't concede from Bentaleb giving the ball away from midfield. The two centre halfs were drawn to the same player and left Rooney free. But thats our defence and what you cant help expect from them since King and Woodgate departed.
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Weird that because if he is going to improve he has to not keep repeating the same mistakes he did 4 days ago against Real Madrid.
Identical to the ball he gave to Bale.
There's something up with Nabil. He looked out of sorts in Asia and hasn't been the same player since. Looks very frustrated and sloppy. Got over aggressive v Milan the other day. Look as though his head is somewhere else.
 
SouthStand Billy said:
Much credit to those who went today.. Great effort.. Our away support is 2nd to NONE..
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It was brilliant Billy. At the final whistle it was just us signing and we lost!
I've been to Old Trafford a few times and in recent seasons it has been poor but today their fans were shocking, not a thing. I got there 2hrs before kick-off and there was a great buzz outside the stadium. I was really surprised how many people were there, especially for an early KO, but all looked good for a passionate cauldron, they were shit.
 
Joe Clash said:
Yeah, but he comes deep to try to link up, and he drifts wide to find space. I wouldn't blame him so much.
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Yeah, I know what you're saying - the consequences of being a lone striker I guess. I meant in the more intricate work/spaces to be had around the penalty area. Not just Kane - it's the responsibility of all the attacking players to gain a better understanding of each others game.
 
Kristeva said:
Yeah, I know what you're saying - the consequences of being a lone striker I guess. I meant in the more intricate work/spaces to be had around the penalty area. Not just Kane - it's the responsibility of all the attacking players to gain a better understanding of each others game.
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Too true, you'd have thought that if they were going to do it, they would have that understanding by now.
 
NorseYid said:
It's not about having pace or not.

It's about us having a line-up propped up with players, who are standing around waiting for the ball to come to them. Kane and Eriksen were literally the only Spurs players to move in FRONT of the ball.
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Been saying this for ages. Dembele, Chadli, to an extent Eriksen and Nabil invariably do not make runs into space in front of the person who has the ball.
Dembele, Chadi and Eriksen would all rather makes passes. They all like ball to feet. Which is really strange as none is that good beating a player and leaving him.
When nobody goes past Eriksen, we look devoid of ideas.
When Carrol and Onomah and Delle Ali (even Winks) are playing we look a different team. Plenty of one touch passing, one two's and runs behind the back 4.
This was our main problem last season. Lamela and Mason are the only ones who do it regularly.
In the first half dembele made a run from deep, and then stopped after he was judged offside.... fluffed the shot anyway.
If we play with Davies on the left we have no outlet there either.
It makes us so easy to contain. Snuff our Eriksen and 2 defenders can handle Kane.
Eriksen more than anyone needs a player to challenge him. We need an alternative there. Same goes for Chadli.
I would have like to have seen Dele Alli on for Bentaleb, Carrol for Eriksen and Onomah for Dembele for the last 25 mins

---------------- Dele Alli --------Dier
Chadli-----------------Carrol---------------Onomah
---------------------Kane ---------------------------
 
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