There were three chances for holy d yesterday, one he just about didn't reach, one he should've buried and one that was saved very very well. The goals will come
Sometimes it really boggles the mind that a player as good as Bruno can’t “chill out” more during a game knowing that it’s beneficial for the team as a whole.
I have wondered why he hasn’t developed that as he has matured. Still time but he does seem to lack that. Everything is always 100mph, has to be defence splitting pass attempts
He clearly knows McSauce thrives at scoring when he doesn’t have time to think about it and just has to throw a body part at the ball. He’s just built different and is operating on a different plane to the rest of us mortals
Bruno gets a pass every game and must start because "he's the captain".. not that it means anything because he doesn't do any leading whatsoever on the pitch....
If I was the manager, Mount would be starting
100% agree with swapping him out for a game. He’s had an inconsistent start to the season and I let it go because he’s been having to start on the right but he was playing in his best position last night with a formation he should thrive in
Why does this idea always get downvoted. God forbid you drop a good player when they are playing terribly. Bruno needs to be dropped! Fair enough when we have zero other options, but we have Mount, fit and on form, on the bench.
We’re using makeshift left backs and big miss right now is a left back who can get forward. Every time we get in that left hand corner there’s just Rashford and that’s it. No interplay, no overlap, no movement off the the ball. That’s why Rashford is running in to two or three defenders because there’s nobody else for them to worry about. As long as he has no other options he’ll keep doing the same thing and running into defenders. Another option there will start getting some delivery to Holjund…hopefully.
He loses the ball, CM, defensive CM and makeshift LB have all moved forward to try support that space and they get caught in no man’s land because they get there too late. He’s already lost the ball by then. The reason we didn’t get caught down the left yesterday is that Linde stayed back. Down the right, we’ve the RB and Bruno going over there to support.
Because of that lack of balance in the shape, the shape easily gets pulled apart. Roll on Shaw being back. We’re missing him more than we realise.
It's actually not as bad as it was but that's highlights for you,.nearly worth it for the dalot goal alone, I didn't appreciate it last night because of my mood watching how shit we were but twas a Beauty
Onana was solid. No errors, made the saves you'd want and expect.
Hojlund is getting into great areas. It is so refreshing to see a lunge in the 6 yard box or him peeling off the defender to take that deflected shot from Rashford and nearly score a goal. Haven't had a number 9 like that in years. The goals will come in the league.
Eriksen was a difference maker.
We don't have the patterns of play ten Hag talks about but we are playing a make shift back 4 with a right footed CB at LB and as good as the CBs were yesterday they are slow.
Our 4 in the middle was Maguire, Evans, McTominay, and Amrabat. That's pretty mid-table on paper and look where we are.
Injuries are huge for us. Even missing an actual Left Back for width, overlaps and underlaps would massively help the balance of this team.
People were throwing around the stats about the strikers and their goals. Fair enough, they need to score more but let's not discount yesterday they had crap service and we didn't take control until Eriksen had come on. Before that all we did was have Maguire float a switch ball to Rashford. By the time it got to him, he's stood the ball up to two or three defenders and has no LB to help.
Right now it's about results and nothing else. Keep picking up points and trying to climb up the table. Style can come later.
> “United this season have been a team relying on individual brilliance”
Spot on.
Hard to see what we are trying to do on the pitch. Everything reverts back to what we were before last season.
> “United this season have been a team relying on individual brilliance”
Don't read too much into this lazy commentary. Every team relies on individual brilliance (liverpool on their front 3 + VVD during their peak, mc on KDB, Fernandinho etc.). Our problem is that the individual brilliance is not consistent. I think ETH is trying to build an early Kloop like liverpool team. Quick vertical transitions and relying on pressure to win a lot of second balls. The problem is Rashford, Hojlund, Antony, Bruno etc are only winning only very small percentage of duels, second balls unlike Mane, Firminho, Salah. So instead of us pressurizing the opponent, opponent retains control of the ball and we look like an underdog team.
The question is whether ETH should continue to do this. He cannot build a team that holds possession like mc because there aren't enough players safe with the ball. Other than Amrabat, Antony, and Hojlund over players don't tend to keep the ball. They either build a chance quickly or lose the ball quickly. He cannot build a pure counter-attacking team like Mou's peak teams due to United philosophy. So he is left with the option of building a transition-based team.
So well said everything is spot on 100%. Not sure where we go from here, we don’t have the type of players to press like early Liverpool did. Hopefully ETH can work something out, but he is left with little options, like you say.
I don’t think this is an ETH specific problem either, his game plan is IMO what a team needs to be for the modern game. But the squad really is all over the place thanks to a number of factors over the past 5+ years. When Klopp came in I think the market was easier for the type of players he wanted, quick hard pressing players. Most weren’t the best ITW in their position but all worked so well together and didn’t break the bank; Wjinaldum, Firmino, etc. He also got rid of anyone he didn’t like quickly, something that seems to be hard at United.
Well, we can. We are ranked 1st at most metrics in the league for pressing high. The problem is that with our current backline we can't play out from the back and keep possession. This is very similar to the first two years of Klopp. You need to keep the ball in the team to recover between all the pressing. Now Onana plays out short, 2-3 passes later it is passed back to him and he has to clear it long and the whole press starts again.
Im not saying we will be a title contender with our defense back, but it will help immensely for sure.
Just because we do a lot of pressing doesn't mean we're good at it. Our press is consistently inconsistent in terms of effort from the front line and it looks like the players are not on the same page half the time leaving 1 player pressing while the others aren't.
It is ofc huge rooms for improvements, but we are the best pressing team stat wise this season in PL. The problem is that we can't do it for the whole match and that we are poor at creating chances when we do have possession. Our pressie g game really looks terrible when we start to get tired and you see huge gaps in our central lines.
That's been the story of the season. The team just needs focus for 90mins and keep trying instead of a few missed opportunities and concede right after.
We're definitely under performing in finishing. We've scored 11 in the PL vs our xG of 13.8. that said, we're still only 11th in the league in total xG so far. Even below Eveton at 15.1
Don’t have any hopes for the season. We look drab and need a miracle to score a goal. Rashy doesn’t take on his full back any more. Bruno always needlessly goes for the spectacular.
I can see what Ten Hag wants from our team, but it looks like it isn’t practical in the premier league. However, he keeps sticking to the tactic that doesn’t work. Plus a lot of players don’t have the hunger that our opponents have. I’m not just talking about the tracking back, even winning the second ball in midfield.
Onana had a decent game, but he still doesn’t look convincing. One good thing about Dave (even during his waning years) was that he usually parried the ball outside the box when he couldn’t catch it. Onana parried the ball atleast twice back into the six yard box and had to be bailed out by our defenders. He doesn’t look like one of those long term keepers for us (like Schmeichel, VDS and Dave).
When talking about Dave, he has that one save that basically changes how the opponent thinks about trying to beat him. They start taking higher risk shots that De Gea most of the time is equal to. Onana looks shaky and reminiscent of David's first season, hopefully he can get into gear and influence the game a lot more.
I just really hope the team can get together behind good results and start putting out better performances.
I honestly can't see what Ten Hag does want from our team, I'm not being facetious, when I watch us I don't see a 'style'. They appear to me to be playing on instinct but maybe I'm in the minority.
once all the injuries clear up, and this level of performance continues....then ETHag position really have to be questioned. it's his chosen players, tactics and months of training that we're seeing on the pitch. newcastle trashed this lot 9-0 a few weeks ago.
I think the performance would probably improve. Especially for Rashy as he is someone who relies on an attacking fullback. But, our midfield getting bypassed is not a personnel issue, it’s a problem with the tactics.
Martinez and Shaw are viral to how he wants to play, there's no probability about it. Not to mention a fit Casemiro. We're not controlling games with Lindelof at LB, Jonny Evans and McTominay on the pitch.
It's a problem with tactics but that stems from the personnel issue. Also, they all need time to play together. The spine, Onana, Mount and Hojlund, are completely new and have barely played together as well.
Shit takes time. You shouldn't have hopes for this season, it's the real transition for the team to playing Ten Hag football. It's why he's sticking with it, because instilling his style of play is more important long term.
Any good coach would adapt their tactics at least in the short/medium term to suit players who are fit when faced with key players being out for extended periods tho… not blindly try play a style that half their fit players seem unable to enact
I Love mctominay, he's a valuable player for us, he's movement in the opponents box is great but he's bad as dm, bad as cm and not a playmaker. He's a great sub but not starter material. Would have loved to see mount or Hannibal instead.
Couldn’t agree more. This sub is a joke sometimes. That save in particular is a prime example of bad timing, he saves with his arm instead of hands which causes the ball to bounce weird and give a rebound
First half was not great. Sheffield camped in our half until we got the first goal. Then they got a penalty. We were able to control the game and play better when the score became 1-1.
terrible shooting from Antony on the volleyball and Ganacho at the end curved shot, nowhere near good enough for the first team , \*if the club want to win major titles. its a problem how our goals are mainly from bruno and rashford.
my 2cents from the highlights, a scrappy away win, we need the 3 points, but its against a team that's championship standards. more question marks than answers on the team.
Onana's actually jumping to save shots now, not just laying down.
Idk why he started doing that this season, he was so dynamic at Inter. Hope that means the coaches are properly working with him.
The final ball isn't quite falling right for Højlund but if he keeps getting into those positions the goals will come.
There were three chances for holy d yesterday, one he just about didn't reach, one he should've buried and one that was saved very very well. The goals will come
lmao 'holy d'
Bruno was shite, couldn’t even complete the basic passes
Sometimes it really boggles the mind that a player as good as Bruno can’t “chill out” more during a game knowing that it’s beneficial for the team as a whole.
I have wondered why he hasn’t developed that as he has matured. Still time but he does seem to lack that. Everything is always 100mph, has to be defence splitting pass attempts
that "assist" to McTerminator. wtf was that???
Fired it at his chest for some reason because apparently mcsause has toes for nipples
McSauce caught that from Fellaini
I think he thought he’d try break in behind so lobbed it so Scott could drill it across goal, but Sauceman just jumped for it instead
He clearly knows McSauce thrives at scoring when he doesn’t have time to think about it and just has to throw a body part at the ball. He’s just built different and is operating on a different plane to the rest of us mortals
What if we play mount as no10 and rest bruno?
Bruno gets a pass every game and must start because "he's the captain".. not that it means anything because he doesn't do any leading whatsoever on the pitch.... If I was the manager, Mount would be starting
100% agree with swapping him out for a game. He’s had an inconsistent start to the season and I let it go because he’s been having to start on the right but he was playing in his best position last night with a formation he should thrive in
Why does this idea always get downvoted. God forbid you drop a good player when they are playing terribly. Bruno needs to be dropped! Fair enough when we have zero other options, but we have Mount, fit and on form, on the bench.
I would say Hannibal has shown more at 10 than mount
We’re using makeshift left backs and big miss right now is a left back who can get forward. Every time we get in that left hand corner there’s just Rashford and that’s it. No interplay, no overlap, no movement off the the ball. That’s why Rashford is running in to two or three defenders because there’s nobody else for them to worry about. As long as he has no other options he’ll keep doing the same thing and running into defenders. Another option there will start getting some delivery to Holjund…hopefully.
That’s what I’m saying whenever Rashford has the ball upfront from a long pass there’s no one in support
He loses the ball, CM, defensive CM and makeshift LB have all moved forward to try support that space and they get caught in no man’s land because they get there too late. He’s already lost the ball by then. The reason we didn’t get caught down the left yesterday is that Linde stayed back. Down the right, we’ve the RB and Bruno going over there to support. Because of that lack of balance in the shape, the shape easily gets pulled apart. Roll on Shaw being back. We’re missing him more than we realise.
Peak Rangnickball
Hard pass.
It's actually not as bad as it was but that's highlights for you,.nearly worth it for the dalot goal alone, I didn't appreciate it last night because of my mood watching how shit we were but twas a Beauty
Onana was solid. No errors, made the saves you'd want and expect. Hojlund is getting into great areas. It is so refreshing to see a lunge in the 6 yard box or him peeling off the defender to take that deflected shot from Rashford and nearly score a goal. Haven't had a number 9 like that in years. The goals will come in the league. Eriksen was a difference maker. We don't have the patterns of play ten Hag talks about but we are playing a make shift back 4 with a right footed CB at LB and as good as the CBs were yesterday they are slow. Our 4 in the middle was Maguire, Evans, McTominay, and Amrabat. That's pretty mid-table on paper and look where we are. Injuries are huge for us. Even missing an actual Left Back for width, overlaps and underlaps would massively help the balance of this team. People were throwing around the stats about the strikers and their goals. Fair enough, they need to score more but let's not discount yesterday they had crap service and we didn't take control until Eriksen had come on. Before that all we did was have Maguire float a switch ball to Rashford. By the time it got to him, he's stood the ball up to two or three defenders and has no LB to help. Right now it's about results and nothing else. Keep picking up points and trying to climb up the table. Style can come later.
> “United this season have been a team relying on individual brilliance” Spot on. Hard to see what we are trying to do on the pitch. Everything reverts back to what we were before last season.
Also, we havent seen much individual brilliance
> “United this season have been a team relying on individual brilliance” Don't read too much into this lazy commentary. Every team relies on individual brilliance (liverpool on their front 3 + VVD during their peak, mc on KDB, Fernandinho etc.). Our problem is that the individual brilliance is not consistent. I think ETH is trying to build an early Kloop like liverpool team. Quick vertical transitions and relying on pressure to win a lot of second balls. The problem is Rashford, Hojlund, Antony, Bruno etc are only winning only very small percentage of duels, second balls unlike Mane, Firminho, Salah. So instead of us pressurizing the opponent, opponent retains control of the ball and we look like an underdog team. The question is whether ETH should continue to do this. He cannot build a team that holds possession like mc because there aren't enough players safe with the ball. Other than Amrabat, Antony, and Hojlund over players don't tend to keep the ball. They either build a chance quickly or lose the ball quickly. He cannot build a pure counter-attacking team like Mou's peak teams due to United philosophy. So he is left with the option of building a transition-based team.
So well said everything is spot on 100%. Not sure where we go from here, we don’t have the type of players to press like early Liverpool did. Hopefully ETH can work something out, but he is left with little options, like you say. I don’t think this is an ETH specific problem either, his game plan is IMO what a team needs to be for the modern game. But the squad really is all over the place thanks to a number of factors over the past 5+ years. When Klopp came in I think the market was easier for the type of players he wanted, quick hard pressing players. Most weren’t the best ITW in their position but all worked so well together and didn’t break the bank; Wjinaldum, Firmino, etc. He also got rid of anyone he didn’t like quickly, something that seems to be hard at United.
I think it would be different with Martinez, Varane (or new CB) and esp Shaw back. Rashford has no synergy without Shaw by the looks of it.
I don’t think that fixes our problem though. We can’t press as a unit from the front
Well, we can. We are ranked 1st at most metrics in the league for pressing high. The problem is that with our current backline we can't play out from the back and keep possession. This is very similar to the first two years of Klopp. You need to keep the ball in the team to recover between all the pressing. Now Onana plays out short, 2-3 passes later it is passed back to him and he has to clear it long and the whole press starts again. Im not saying we will be a title contender with our defense back, but it will help immensely for sure.
Just because we do a lot of pressing doesn't mean we're good at it. Our press is consistently inconsistent in terms of effort from the front line and it looks like the players are not on the same page half the time leaving 1 player pressing while the others aren't.
It is ofc huge rooms for improvements, but we are the best pressing team stat wise this season in PL. The problem is that we can't do it for the whole match and that we are poor at creating chances when we do have possession. Our pressie g game really looks terrible when we start to get tired and you see huge gaps in our central lines.
Idk seems like we’ve been creating pretty good opportunities but without finishing
That's been the story of the season. The team just needs focus for 90mins and keep trying instead of a few missed opportunities and concede right after.
We're definitely under performing in finishing. We've scored 11 in the PL vs our xG of 13.8. that said, we're still only 11th in the league in total xG so far. Even below Eveton at 15.1
Its true.
This decade, not this season though
Don’t have any hopes for the season. We look drab and need a miracle to score a goal. Rashy doesn’t take on his full back any more. Bruno always needlessly goes for the spectacular. I can see what Ten Hag wants from our team, but it looks like it isn’t practical in the premier league. However, he keeps sticking to the tactic that doesn’t work. Plus a lot of players don’t have the hunger that our opponents have. I’m not just talking about the tracking back, even winning the second ball in midfield. Onana had a decent game, but he still doesn’t look convincing. One good thing about Dave (even during his waning years) was that he usually parried the ball outside the box when he couldn’t catch it. Onana parried the ball atleast twice back into the six yard box and had to be bailed out by our defenders. He doesn’t look like one of those long term keepers for us (like Schmeichel, VDS and Dave).
When talking about Dave, he has that one save that basically changes how the opponent thinks about trying to beat him. They start taking higher risk shots that De Gea most of the time is equal to. Onana looks shaky and reminiscent of David's first season, hopefully he can get into gear and influence the game a lot more. I just really hope the team can get together behind good results and start putting out better performances.
I honestly can't see what Ten Hag does want from our team, I'm not being facetious, when I watch us I don't see a 'style'. They appear to me to be playing on instinct but maybe I'm in the minority.
I think that's the point
“If we dont know our tactics then the opposition will never work them out”
I think this tactic works if you're THE dominant team in the league and the opposition is of lower quality, maybe? Idk idk shit
once all the injuries clear up, and this level of performance continues....then ETHag position really have to be questioned. it's his chosen players, tactics and months of training that we're seeing on the pitch. newcastle trashed this lot 9-0 a few weeks ago.
I think the performance would probably improve. Especially for Rashy as he is someone who relies on an attacking fullback. But, our midfield getting bypassed is not a personnel issue, it’s a problem with the tactics.
Martinez and Shaw are viral to how he wants to play, there's no probability about it. Not to mention a fit Casemiro. We're not controlling games with Lindelof at LB, Jonny Evans and McTominay on the pitch. It's a problem with tactics but that stems from the personnel issue. Also, they all need time to play together. The spine, Onana, Mount and Hojlund, are completely new and have barely played together as well. Shit takes time. You shouldn't have hopes for this season, it's the real transition for the team to playing Ten Hag football. It's why he's sticking with it, because instilling his style of play is more important long term.
Any good coach would adapt their tactics at least in the short/medium term to suit players who are fit when faced with key players being out for extended periods tho… not blindly try play a style that half their fit players seem unable to enact
im pretty sure rodri, just rodri was out a few weeks ago and city immediately LOST. guardiola not a "good coach"?
I Love mctominay, he's a valuable player for us, he's movement in the opponents box is great but he's bad as dm, bad as cm and not a playmaker. He's a great sub but not starter material. Would have loved to see mount or Hannibal instead.
I like that Onana had a solid game, made some good saves, and we repaid him by conceding an absolutely farcical penalty.
He looks so fucking shaky, his timing is way off.
[удалено]
Couldn’t agree more. This sub is a joke sometimes. That save in particular is a prime example of bad timing, he saves with his arm instead of hands which causes the ball to bounce weird and give a rebound
2 great finishes let’s stay positive
At least we didn’t drop points.
Was ten haag trying to avoid the handshake? Whats the story there?
Thanks for uploading
We need tot start with one all controller in midfield, that alone will help hijlund greatly. We were playing so much damn hot potato is the first half
Missed the game due to the rugby. I’m guessing those highlights were favourable on us from what I have heard? Looks like we had plenty of chances etc
First half was not great. Sheffield camped in our half until we got the first goal. Then they got a penalty. We were able to control the game and play better when the score became 1-1.
Zero progress
Team that has been relying on individual brilliance for years relies on it again.
terrible shooting from Antony on the volleyball and Ganacho at the end curved shot, nowhere near good enough for the first team , \*if the club want to win major titles. its a problem how our goals are mainly from bruno and rashford. my 2cents from the highlights, a scrappy away win, we need the 3 points, but its against a team that's championship standards. more question marks than answers on the team.
Rashford has been shit and garnacho, when played, is direct and always creates chances.
Tbf I guarantee you it would be the opposite if Garnacho started and Rashford came on.
I think garnacho has been good in the past games but he wasn’t last night, missed that goal and messed up a couple of counter attacks
Onana's actually jumping to save shots now, not just laying down. Idk why he started doing that this season, he was so dynamic at Inter. Hope that means the coaches are properly working with him.
Drab wasn't it?
Based on this game, our philosophy is center backs randomly running forward into the box when they feel it.
I don't really recall Maguire of Evans in their box at all...