United (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[citizen_maine]

That's two seasons too long - particularly at this level of football.

We've got away with it over that period because of the generally poor standard of football in the PL.

Even with a fully fit squad, this latest version of City wouldn’t get anywhere near our 22/23 treble winners.

I thought we had to compete with the current opposition - not our own previous teams

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

I think he's been brilliant for us and historically, super reliable. But I am shocked at how slow he's got. It's like watching Didi Hamman play for us. He'd be slow in a game of wheelchair football.

Quality players can get away with lack of pace with positional awareness but there are limits and we saw them on Saturday. He can't play for us any more.

Been a great player for us but he came back from that last injury moving like the tin man. I think Nathan's a great lad and a top player but his body has let him down. The more we play him the less chance of getting a fee.

 

[normskih]

Just watched the Dalot assault on Doku again and the sky studio and Mike dean reaction.

How the fuck is it not a red?
How can VAR deem it to only be worthy of a yellow.
Then we compare what our players get yellows for.
Rodri got one and he didn’t even touch the player.

There’s surely a conspiracy against us by PiGMOL.
Teams constantly get away with kicking us off the park.

No excuses for our performance. They were bloody awful, but it’s every game where the refs and VAR fuck us.

Of course it was, you know it was, I do, every man and his dog also does. If the shoe was on the other foot and the challenge was by a City player on a utd player, our player wasn’t sent off and the result had gone our way, you could bet your bottom dollar the challenge/decision would be on constant 24/48 hour re-run on Sky. Funnily enough, next to nothing since the match itself.

 

[burning blue soul]

Although it was a straight red challenge by Dalot, I can't help but feel not sending him off will be better for us in the long term.
Had he gone we would have smothered the rags and probably won. But with 11 on the pitch we witnessed glaring issues in the squad. Issues that must be addressed either now or in the summer.
The list is long, but to be succinct there was
The lack of passion
The slow defense
Inability to find Haaland with any meaningful crosses
No penetrating runs
No penetrating through balls
No idea how to break their packed defence.
Continuously slowing down our attacks with aimless side or back passes
Square players in round positions
Lack of leadership
No risks taken
No shots from distance
No pace to counter their counters

I literally could go on for another 10 lines, but I've had enough of my own voice now.

 

[Roachy]

Monday, back in work and time to reflect.

We were just wank. Best not have an off day like that again.

Utterly wank.

They're all fucking giddy in work. Luckily it doesn't work on me, but fuck me they're giddy.

Told a few of them to come back when they do it to Arsenal and if they can do it next home game against a team who aren't fielding a suicidal pair of full backs and a vacant midfield.

You're wasting your breath with them mate. We could have fielded the U18's and had 3 sent off and they'd be acting exactly the same. They're pathetic, but yes we were ham shank.

 

[CityFan1970]

The only pundit I'm aware of who hasn't said it should have been red is Neville, who was on co-commentary. Strange that.

 

[normskih]

Aké was a complete liability from minute one. He can't run anymore and he put everyone else under massive pressure. Amad waltzed past him at will, he didn't have the legs to support Doku either so he was doubled and tripled up on all game. Playing him cost us the match before it even started.

Neither goal came from Ake’s position on the field. The first was a very poor free kick by Cherki and bit of an attempt at a tackle by him afterwards to intercept. Their second was because Lewis fell asleep at the back post. By the same token saying Doku was doubled up on, it wasn’t every time. The odd time he was one on one, he chose to stop and allow utd players to come back. As we keep on doing each time we have a chance at a counter attack, it’s so frustrating.
I get Ake hasn’t got the speed but was moved to the centre for the second half. I thought we would have done better after a half time talk but in effect, our second half performance was even worse.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

It's all opinions, of course, but I haven't read a single post from those in your court actually justifying the high line? That's what annoyed lots of us, more than any individual performance. We could have had a front line of Messi, Ronaldo and Maradona and it would still have been open house every time we lost the ball.

If one of you could just explain why we're all wrong - considering that everybody agrees we have injuries and obviously the poor City players are just so much more tired than everybody else's - then you could stop the arguments in a single post.

I don't want Pep out - I want him back! You know, the innovative Pep who switched Stones to a hybrid CB/Midfielder that was instrumental in closing out the treble season? How can the guy who pulled that stunt be the same one who sat there clueless on Saturday, ignoring what was obvious to everybody else within the first 5 minutes?

Just complaining about 'moaners' without pointing out why their argument is wrong is not going to change anybody's mind, is it?

We played much deeper at Real Madrid and Arsenal. And it worked. We were predictable on Saturday.

 

[Lavinda Past]

I thought we had to compete with the current opposition - not our own previous teams

Behave yourself. There's been a significant decline in quality and talent over the last two years, not just at City obviously, but there was a failure to plan for a future without KDB, Gundogan, etc. That was down to Pep and Txiki.
We are where we are. The squad isn't big enough (Pep's choice), talented enough (panic buying/missing main targets), and our tactics are stuck in a boring rut (Pep's decision)
Proper planning ensures smooth transition. Everything since 22/23 has been done in a panic. Every club has injuries etc so that's a poor excuse.
Had Pep and Txiki proactively updated the squad, we should still be seeing somewhere near the same level of performance as 22/23.
We're nowhere near it and not looking like we're going to see anything like the same level of consistency.

As I've said before, the attitude of any team usually reflects the attitude of the manager.

Pep's tired, the players are tired.
Pep's tactics are stuck in a rut, so are the players.
Some of our players genuinely look bored. I wonder where that comes from...?

Time for a shake up.

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

Neither goal came from Ake’s position on the field. The first was a very poor free kick by Cherki and bit of an attempt at a tackle by him afterwards to intercept. Their second was because Lewis fell asleep at the back post. By the same token saying Doku was doubled up on, it wasn’t every time. The odd time he was one on one, he chose to stop and allow utd players to come back. As we keep on doing each time we have a chance at a counter attack, it’s so frustrating.
I get Ake hasn’t got the speed but was moved to the centre for the second half. I thought we would have done better after a half time talk but in effect, our second half performance was even worse.

He was far from the only one who had a bad game and you are right neither goal was specifically his fault, just in general he looked completely finished and I think it affected the rest of the team. Don't want to solely pin all the blame on him but that has to be the last time he starts a crucial game for us.

 

[normskih]

He was far from the only one who had a bad game and you are right neither goal was specifically his fault, just in general he looked completely finished and I think it affected the rest of the team. Don't want to solely pin all the blame on him but that has to be the last time he starts a crucial game for us.

Tomorrow is crucial, I’d say. Who’s fit to play at the back?

 

[youngbob]

Almost a reversal of 20 years ago when United had one eye on their midweek CL fixture and Stephen Jordan was in Ronaldo's face from the very first minute

I remember speaking to a bloke once who knew Stephen Jordan. The bloke reported to me Stephen had said facing Ronaldo in that game was the easiest 60 minutes he'd ever had on a football pitch... until Ronaldo got sent off and Giggs was suddenly the one running at him instead, at which point he said he was hoping his number would be up ASAP, lol. Shows you how much improving Ronaldo did in the next 12 months.

 

[SaintColin]

It may well do whilst the injuries particularly at the back restricts rotation. Just have to see I suppose, but some fans going off the deep end following Saturday is a bit OTT in my mind.

Don’t think it’s OTT atall. That was the worst performance I’ve seen under a Pep team and in any derby in my life and I remember the Pearce years. They could have seriously battered us. And this is suppose to be a team that’s getting better. We’ve not won a league game in 4 and the performances are actually getting worse. We are not creating anything, and people just shrug it off as if it’s a minor problem. I personally don’t see the recent signings as fitting Peps style, square pegs in round holes type signings but hopefully I’m wrong.

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

Tomorrow is crucial, I’d say. Who’s fit to play at the back?

Have to delve into the EDS, I'd imagine Aké couldn't do another 90 so close even if we wanted to select him. Mfuni, Braithwaite, Khusanov, Alleyne I'd try cobble something together out of, definitely wouldn't play Rodri on the plastic pitch anyway. Maybe Aké will have to play out of necessity but it won't be pretty.

Probably best going very attacking and turning it into a basketball game. Its not the end of the world if we don't get a win, just puts more emphasis on Galatasaray at home. Might also be overthinking Bodo too much they might just be shit and we win comfortably. Here's hoping lol

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Behave yourself. There's been a significant decline in quality and talent over the last two years, not just at City obviously, but there was a failure to plan for a future without KDB, Gundogan, etc. That was down to Pep and Txiki.
We are where we are. The squad isn't big enough (Pep's choice), talented enough (panic buying/missing main targets), and our tactics are stuck in a boring rut (Pep's decision)
Proper planning ensures smooth transition. Everything since 22/23 has been done in a panic. Every club has injuries etc so that's a poor excuse.
Had Pep and Txiki proactively updated the squad, we should still be seeing somewhere near the same level of performance as 22/23.
We're nowhere near it and not looking like we're going to see anything like the same level of consistency.

As I've said before, the attitude of any team usually reflects the attitude of the manager.

Pep's tired, the players are tired.
Pep's tactics are stuck in a rut, so are the players.
Some of our players genuinely look bored. I wonder where that comes from...?

Time for a shake up.

Agree with all that, albeit I don't think it's that easy to find and shoehorn a natural replacement for Gundogan or KDB into the team.

One additional irritation is this obsession with signing players like Perrone/Reis/Echeverri for relatively large transfer fees and then immediately sending them on loan before they disappear into the backwaters of football mediocrity

These fees are always included when the media calculate our gross spend.

 

[Father Paul]

That result was a perfect storm situation. They were always going to put in an anomaly honeymoon performance at the swamp for his first game. We were already in a run of flat performances, top that with a swathe of injuries, makeshift defence, Haaland tiredness, Foden out of form and Pep's misguided hope that the sheer emotion of the fixture would get us through, it was never going to end well.

We just need to clear it from memory as a team, be grateful that other results went our way and focus on getting back into the swing of things.

By rights, with us getting 3 points from 4 games, the title race should be well and truly over by now, but it's not, and that is what we should use to drive us on.

It is a bit cluthing at straws like but its all we have really. lets start by cementing a place in the top 8 and move on from there.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Our worst ever performance under Pep and it was obvious after fifteen minutes that something was wrong, with our slow makeshift defence (none of whom started the previous derby) exposed by United's lightening counter attacking pace.

Almost a reversal of 20 years ago when United had one eye on their midweek CL fixture and Stephen Jordan was in Ronaldo's face from the very first minute
This time it was United kicking City to bits and City resorting to petty short pulling when Taylor was obviously letting a few challenges go unpunished

I know that it's not the accepted norm to encourage mindless violence, but every now and then you need a bit of.a Ben Thatcher mindset to accidentally elbow Mainoo in the face in the first few minutes and then see whether the ref is brave enough to make the right call.

Dalot should have been red carded but I honestly don't think it would have made that much difference as even when we had a couple of 3 v 2 opportunities, we still chose the wrong option or overhit the pass to the spare man

Also, too much slow recycling with Doku preferring to pass to the less skilful Ake than running directly at his opponents

Anyway things could have been a lot worse

I think you're looking for the phrase ' we shit ourselves ' mate

 

[ArniArason]

It is a bit cluthing at straws like but its all we have really. lets start by cementing a place in the top 8 and move on from there.

Huh? Top 8, lol

 

[Father Paul]

We played much deeper at Real Madrid and Arsenal. And it worked. We were predictable on Saturday.

I can accept that perhaps Pep under estimated the rags and with good reason. But from the opening seconds it was obvious that things needed changing. The fact we got to half time still level was a bit of a god send but the tinkering carried out at half time actually made the situation worse. It was a bad day at the office for Pep but given the injuries and the obvious lack of fight displayed by the players he gets a 4 instead of a 1.

 

[Fordyboy46]

I bet when the rags saw our back four on Saturday it must've given them a huge lift, three totally inexperienced under 22 year olds and a 50% fit Ake. We were never winning that game in a million years