Manchester United (Away) Saturday 6 February

[Btay]

3 minutes ago, badaids said:

Well I'd much rather see him at centre back than at right back, he's basically out of position, but he's he's been absolute shit since his injury.

Mina, Keane and Godfrey are all better than him. Branwaithe has the potential to be the best of them. Sell and get a proper RB.

[milesey05]

That last sub from Ole.

Tried to run clock down.

Came on- gave free kick away and got booked.

Goal scored

[Btay]

20 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

Refs taking the piss now. 

Overweight and always behind the play. 
 

Dom fouled Maguire before Richy’s chance and he was so far behind he couldn’t make a call

[Palfy]

1 minute ago, Btay said:

Think people gave Pickford a lot of time - think we still are. Neither are the solution but I think Olsen makes a better No.2 as he seems steadier.

Not the best performance by Olsen tonight regardless

Btay I’m on about the difference in criticism when Pickford makes a mistake it’s not just his mistake that gets critique, it’s personal abuse not the same tonight for Olsen yes criticism no personal abuse, like I say double standards. 

[Btay]

Just now, Palfy said:

Btay I’m on about the difference in criticism when Pickford makes a mistake it’s not just his mistake that gets critique, it’s personal abuse not the same tonight for Olsen yes criticism no personal abuse, like I say double standards. 

Understandable mate but there’s different circumstances. If Olsen starts making regular mistakes - even the slight ones like today I’ll be on his back the same as Pickford. 
 

I want Pickford to be the keeper we all know he can be! I am just sick of some of the shit he conjures up, he has not done himself any favours with his attitude and demeanour at times.

[plaidharper]

Carlo Fantastico!

[Zoo 2.0]

INJECT ANCELOTTI INTO MY VEINS.

[Hafnia]

Cavani is some player btw

[London Blue]

1 minute ago, Hafnia said:

Cavani is some player btw

Top, top player.

[Shukes]

4 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Btay I’m on about the difference in criticism when Pickford makes a mistake it’s not just his mistake that gets critique, it’s personal abuse not the same tonight for Olsen yes criticism no personal abuse, like I say double standards. 

I don't think anyone gives Pickford personal abuse do they? Maybe I’ve missed it, or just not registered it mate... but I’ve always thought any criticism was justified. Same as the criticism for Olsen tonight is justified.

It does seem that there are a few waiting for Olsen to make a mistake and picking up on every hair out of place, as a counter to Pickford receiving criticism. 
 

Maybe everyone should relax a bit and just comment honestly. All of us.

But I totally agree that if there is any personal comments on any player... then it should be picked up on and stopped. We’re all better than that.

[Wiggytop]

So good to see us hang in there and get the point we deserved ( just ) Utd had three quality players who all scored, the first two being quality goals. Great out of the blocks in the2nd half and then stood off and let them back into the game, could have lost 4-2 but we pushed on, won a free kick and did what was needed. Olsen at fault for their third, De Gea even worse for our second. Holgate poor game, needs to sort his game out, King looks like he will do what we’re hoping from him, Tom Davies had a good game, always looked to drive us forward, and we needed to get the ball through to  Richy and Dom when they were making good runs.

Hopefully we go into Wednesday with confidence from this.

[Zoo 2.0]

I'll have a moan to myself about the negatives tomorrow, but for now I'm on cloud nine after that ending. After what was a shit couple of games (draw and defeat against Leicester and Newcastle) we've now taken four very good points from our next couple of games when I genuinely thought we'd be beaten against both Leeds and Manchester United. 

We now go up against an out of form Spurs and a really beatable Fulham, there's no reason why we can't put together another good run and cement our place at the top 3-4 teams in the table. 

Davies MOTM, which pleases me greatly and despite what most are saying I actually thought André Gomes did OK. Robin Olsen owes DCL a pint.

[Boston Toffee]

so different than the days of marco silva. we would have folded up like a tent at 2 - 0. good to see the fight in team

[markjazzbassist]

27 minutes ago, Zoo 2.0 said:

I'll have a moan to myself about the negatives tomorrow, but for now I'm on cloud nine after that ending. After what was a shit couple of games (draw and defeat against Leicester and Newcastle) we've now taken four very good points from our next couple of games when I genuinely thought we'd be beaten against both Leeds and Manchester United. 

We now go up against an out of form Spurs and a really beatable Fulham, there's no reason why we can't put together another good run and cement our place at the top 3-4 teams in the table. 

Davies MOTM, which pleases me greatly and despite what most are saying I actually thought André Gomes did OK. Robin Olsen owes DCL a pint.

Same just watched the DCL highlights over and over, feels like a win it honestly does.  Wife looked grim when I told her we were losing 2-0 at half, she was ecstatic when I told her the result (thankful the night isn’t ruined lol)

[Bailey]

I'll warn you all in advance because this is going to be a negative post.

We deserved fuck all from that game. We were second best throughout, the players completely failed to play to Ancelotti's tactics almost the whole game. He wasn't celebrating at the end because he was embarrassed that they had got away with a point. I have no doubt he will be laying into several members of the team after that. 

The easy place to start is the keeper. I have now worked out what it is about him that's wrong and its his feet. He can't kick and he can't move them quick enough. I think he should have done better for the last two goals. He made a couple of basic stops, one which he did well to stay big, but then he flapped at a cross as well. There was a Fernabdes chance in the second half that he also took an age to sort his feet out. It will constantly be a theme with him and if I was a striker, I would be taking lots of early shots against him.

Holgate needed to be subbed after 5 minutes. It was a terrible start and whilst he did get better, I don't know what he was doing for their 1st goal. Rashford beat him a couple of times too easily in the second half too. He needs to be benched.

I thought this was one of the worst games from Keane. I mentioned it before the game that he needed to be aggressive but he was always deep, he didn't get near Cavani when he dropped in. He had a part in the 1st goal too. He gave the ball away in a couple of dangerous positions too. People say he is a leader but he is weak without Mina.

Godfrey was a disappointment too. He was also getting too deep, something that happened when he played with Keane last time. He got lucky on a couple of times when he was playing Utd players offside. There was also a couple of occasions when he made himself narrower for a block. Against Leeds he imposed himself. Today he let them boss him.

Digne didn't do too much wrong, bar the moment when he dived in inexplicably. I'm not sure he did much of note though either.

The midfield was a mixed bunch. For me, Gomes was the best of them and I think he was probably the best in the team. All 3 of them were generally negative, but he was the one that consistently tried to beat a man or play a forward ball. I thought he did a lot of good work defensively. Davies did really well in parts too but little moments let him down. His wafting of his leg around for the 1st goal instead of focusing on getting tight is an example, but it was another better game. Doucoure also did well in parts. His energy and workrate was excellent but he gave a silly ball away which led to the 1st goal but he played his part in both of our first 2 goals.

Rodriguez was lucky not to get hooked sooner. He was dreadful first half. He looked like he had been learning from Siggy with the number of times he played backwards unnecessarily. He didn't want it today, but he did pop up with an excellent touch and finish.

Richarlison was his usual self. Lots of energy and runs, most of which were ignored but he was doing exactly what the manager asked. Unfortunately there was little quality at the end of it all. 

Dom was another who was 50/50. He showed his great instincts by getting into 3 positions to score goals, but only finished 1 of them. At times he made some good runs but on others he was almost between minds. He plays a part 3rd goal as well as for the 2nd week in a row he is caught out not attacking the set piece. Again quality lacked from Dom. Ironically the 1st goal summed him up. Excellent run and workmate to get into the position. Terrible ball back across before agent De Gea palms it into Doucoure's path. 

The subs didn't really get involved but I thought there were signs that King was warming to the task. Generally he looks like a player who hasn't had to play at the level of intensity that he is being asked to at the moment, which is understandable. However, just at the end he skinned a couple of Utd players and burst through a gap and then he skinned Tuangzebe to win the free kick that led to the equaliser. 

The positive note from the game is that we will play a lot better than that and lose so to get a point away at Old Trafford is a big bonus but we need to improve in all areas of the pitch.

 

[Romey 1878]

I am high as a fucking kite right now. I celebrated with a nice bit of JD and some green.

Two players were fucking woeful. Holgate from minute one right up until the end - his place in the squad will be under threat (not good enough at RB and he's probably our worst CB with the improvement Mina has been making). Olsen is pap and hopefully we won't make his deal permanent - I think he has some responsibility for Fernandes' goal and he definitely has it for their third. His kicking is shite as well - how many keepers can't hit it to the half-way line?! He's one.

Really proud of the rest of them though. I was disappointed with how passive we were after the first 20 minutes because we started really well and looked like we'd cause United a lot of problems. But we stopped playing and found ourselves deservedly 2 down. We didn't buckle though like we would have done in the past and dragged ourselves back into the game with two quickfire goals that were beautifully worked. Then again we stepped off and that annoyed me because I felt if we'd pushed for another 5 or 10 minutes we could've grabbed the lead because they would've been nervous at that point. We instead found ourselves conceding the third but again we didn't buckle and pushed and fought and we got a deserved draw.

[Hafnia]

50 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

I am high as a fucking kite right now. I celebrated with a nice bit of JD and some green.

Two players were fucking woeful. Holgate from minute one right up until the end - his place in the squad will be under threat (not good enough at RB and he's probably our worst CB with the improvement Mina has been making). Olsen is pap and hopefully we won't make his deal permanent - I think he has some responsibility for Fernandes' goal and he definitely has it for their third. His kicking is shite as well - how many keepers can't hit it to the half-way line?! He's one.

Really proud of the rest of them though. I was disappointed with how passive we were after the first 20 minutes because we started really well and looked like we'd cause United a lot of problems. But we stopped playing and found ourselves deservedly 2 down. We didn't buckle though like we would have done in the past and dragged ourselves back into the game with two quickfire goals that were beautifully worked. Then again we stepped off and that annoyed me because I felt if we'd pushed for another 5 or 10 minutes we could've grabbed the lead because they would've been nervous at that point. We instead found ourselves conceding the third but again we didn't buckle and pushed and fought and we got a deserved draw.

Green? Is that weed?  Must admit, not had a go since a trip to Amsterdam and I would enjoy to have a legal cafe experience over here. 

[Romey 1878]

9 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

Green? Is that weed?  Must admit, not had a go since a trip to Amsterdam and I would enjoy to have a legal cafe experience over here. 

Indeed, good stuff as well. Never been to Amsterdam but I'd love to get over there.

[Hafnia]

51 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

Indeed, good stuff as well. Never been to Amsterdam but I'd love to get over there.

On my first time over I gently introduced myself to some ridiculous strength THC strain in the grasshopper after 15 pints of Heineken I took it as a challenge...... Completely messed me up, hallucinations the lot, crawled to the toilet which moved further away from me as I was moving towards it, projectile vomited and woke up the next day having crapped myself.   

The next time I went over I did more reading into it, yeah it seems the one I took was off the charts especially for someone who only smoked on the odd occasion.  So I took my time and spent 3 hours of eating cakes, smoking and drinking to the point my legs didn't work and cold beads of sweat poured off my head, staggered outside and spewed against a wall.... Had 2 hours sleep and woke up and ate 3 big Mac's, a KFC, a kebab and 2 portions of chips and went back on the ale and was absolutely fine. 

I'm all for legalisation of it. 

 

[Btay]

1 hour ago, Hafnia said:

On my first time over I gently introduced myself to some ridiculous strength THC strain in the grasshopper after 15 pints of Heineken I took it as a challenge...... Completely messed me up, hallucinations the lot, crawled to the toilet which moved further away from me as I was moving towards it, projectile vomited and woke up the next day having crapped myself.   

The next time I went over I did more reading into it, yeah it seems the one I took was off the charts especially for someone who only smoked on the odd occasion.  So I took my time and spent 3 hours of eating cakes, smoking and drinking to the point my legs didn't work and cold beads of sweat poured off my head, staggered outside and spewed against a wall.... Had 2 hours sleep and woke up and ate 3 big Mac's, a KFC, a kebab and 2 portions of chips and went back on the ale and was absolutely fine. 

I'm all for legalisation of it. 

 

Always tried picturing you as a person haf... after this your 7”4, 130kg behemoth of a bloke in my mind

[Cornish Steve]

A good game to watch. United are becoming a top team, and we stole a point from them. All credit to the manager for his tactical changes throughout the game.

Just as in the previous game, I was impressed with Richarlison's positioning, energy, skill, and commitment. For sure, not everything comes off, but time will show that he's becoming one of our most important players. I'm sure there's a website somewhere that reveals just how far each player runs, but Richarlison has to be up there. I shall go against the grain and select him as MotM. In retrospect, I should have done this in our match against Leeds. He's underrated, and no stupid diving this season.

Michael Keane was also impressive and the heart of our defence. Yes, Godfrey is becoming an important player, but Keane is the most important. Holgate had an off day, for sure, but let's not write him off. Digne has his slip-ups, too. It's unusual for us to ship three goals.

I'm not a big fan of Andre Gomes, but he had a good game today. Even better was Tom Davies, who sprayed the ball around impressively. Doucoure gave the ball away ahead of their first two goal but rather made up for it with his own goal and other contributions in the second half. James was quiet, but his goal pretty much defines him: Precise just when needed.

Calvert-Lewin was so unfortunate not to score at the end of the first half, but well done to him for scoring with the last kick of the game. He's becoming very aware in the box and quick to respond.

Olsen should have done better for their third goal, but clearly he slipped. More concerning to me was his attempt to palm away a ball that was clearly yards wide. Why? On the whole, he seems to bring confidence to the defence, but his footwork and kicking need some focus in training.

Why is it that we beat Spurs, beat and tie with Leicester, tie Liverpool - and lose to Newcastle twice? We're becoming a team that plays to the level of our opponents. I wonder how much of that will change once crowds are back in the stadium.

[chicagoblue]

Had to watch on a big delay.  Why oh why did we back off when we had complete control and were on top.  Terrible psychology 

[Palfy]

I am more than happy with that result not many teams will come back from 0-2 down against Utd and score 3 goals in the 2nd half to earn a draw, that should do our confidence and belief a world of good going forward as we enter the home run of the season. I don’t want talk about individuals at this point and there positives or negatives it’s a team game and you win draw or lose as a team. 
Hopefully no more Newcastle results on the horizon after that performance which proves that from the direst position we can get something out of every game with good hard team work   

Ancelloti has brought a lot to the team in his short reign with improved players a game plan and how to execute it, but for me the biggest thing is he has instilled a desire and belief in to players we may have written off to create a squad that will be able to field a team out no matter what the circumstances are, he’s a special man and a special manager. 

[Shukes]

First half we were completely outclassed. Played off the park.

Second half Utd didn’t stop, they flexed and showed what a good team they are. But we defended resolutely and kept chances down to one of the most attacking teams in the premier league. They had efforts, but not many where you feel they should have scored. We made it hard for them. 
The defence deserves enormous credit for not folding under that pressure.

Our midfield did well on that second half to use the ball when we had the opportunity. Once we had the ball, we actually looked dangerous. 
 

Doucoure made a few mistakes, but overall was excellent for us.

Davies: not sure where we got him from, but a great signing. Looked a different player. That run and ball for DCL was sublime.

Gomes was at it all night, wasn’t his best recently, but it was up there. Looks to be getting back to his top form.

Defence was nervous on the first half, but second half they fought for everything. Even Digne managed to defend at times. Keane and Godfrey were excellent in the second half.

Now Holgate. He has turned into a strutting player, lost his pace, or rather is to good to sprint. Can’t go into tackles to hard or he will swallow his gum. Can’t put it down to bad form, as he isn’t even trying. Looks to be .... I’m a premier footballer darling, I do what I want...... type of lad. Grow up son before you fall fast.
 

Last five minutes was heart attack time. We have a run, and nothing comes of it. They have a few kick outside our box, we go up the other end and get a corner and waste it. That’s it all over. NO! We did t give up, we kept trying and got our reward. 
 

COYBs!!!’

[Palfy]

21 minutes ago, Shukes said:

First half we were completely outclassed. Played off the park.

Second half Utd didn’t stop, they flexed and showed what a good team they are. But we defended resolutely and kept chances down to one of the most attacking teams in the premier league. They had efforts, but not many where you feel they should have scored. We made it hard for them. 
The defence deserves enormous credit for not folding under that pressure.

Our midfield did well on that second half to use the ball when we had the opportunity. Once we had the ball, we actually looked dangerous. 
 

Doucoure made a few mistakes, but overall was excellent for us.

Davies: not sure where we got him from, but a great signing. Looked a different player. That run and ball for DCL was sublime.

Gomes was at it all night, wasn’t his best recently, but it was up there. Looks to be getting back to his top form.

Defence was nervous on the first half, but second half they fought for everything. Even Digne managed to defend at times. Keane and Godfrey were excellent in the second half.

Now Holgate. He has turned into a strutting player, lost his pace, or rather is to good to sprint. Can’t go into tackles to hard or he will swallow his gum. Can’t put it down to bad form, as he isn’t even trying. Looks to be .... I’m a premier footballer darling, I do what I want...... type of lad. Grow up son before you fall fast.
 

Last five minutes was heart attack time. We have a run, and nothing comes of it. They have a few kick outside our box, we go up the other end and get a corner and waste it. That’s it all over. NO! We did t give up, we kept trying and got our reward. 
 

COYBs!!!’

If I didn’t already support us I would after reading that. 

[Shukes]

3 minutes ago, Palfy said:

If I didn’t already support us I would after reading that. 

Mate the manager has done wonders with what he’s got. Even looking at players faces you can see a change.

Keane the Shrinking violet, use of his body weight to push players. 
Godfrey telling Utd to fuck off. 
James having a niggle with Bruno and making sure he leaves a bit in there.

A few years ago we fold and lose 5-0.

We just need to learn how to bully lesser teams now.

[milesey05]

32 minutes ago, Shukes said:

First half we were completely outclassed. Played off the park.

Second half Utd didn’t stop, they flexed and showed what a good team they are. But we defended resolutely and kept chances down to one of the most attacking teams in the premier league. They had efforts, but not many where you feel they should have scored. We made it hard for them. 
The defence deserves enormous credit for not folding under that pressure.

Our midfield did well on that second half to use the ball when we had the opportunity. Once we had the ball, we actually looked dangerous. 
 

Doucoure made a few mistakes, but overall was excellent for us.

Davies: not sure where we got him from, but a great signing. Looked a different player. That run and ball for DCL was sublime.

Gomes was at it all night, wasn’t his best recently, but it was up there. Looks to be getting back to his top form.

Defence was nervous on the first half, but second half they fought for everything. Even Digne managed to defend at times. Keane and Godfrey were excellent in the second half.

Now Holgate. He has turned into a strutting player, lost his pace, or rather is to good to sprint. Can’t go into tackles to hard or he will swallow his gum. Can’t put it down to bad form, as he isn’t even trying. Looks to be .... I’m a premier footballer darling, I do what I want...... type of lad. Grow up son before you fall fast.
 

Last five minutes was heart attack time. We have a run, and nothing comes of it. They have a few kick outside our box, we go up the other end and get a corner and waste it. That’s it all over. NO! We did t give up, we kept trying and got our reward. 
 

COYBs!!!’

Spot on with Holgate! Chewing gum with a shit attitude.

Really pissed me off after the game when Carlo gave him a hug.

By far the worse player on the pitch.

[RuffRob]

I think at times in that game we played like a team who had already been well beaten by united twice this season. Gave them maybe a little to much respect at times. 

To me Ancelotti' tactics and team set up where pretty spot on. As in parts of the game (first 24 min of the 1st half and first 15min of the 2nd half) we gave them no end of problems in their half of the pitch. But after united scored we seemed to forget all the good stuff we had been doing and just a nervousness about our play. 

I am not going to go on about individuals, as it wasn't really 'singular' errors that stood out. There goals came from sustained pressure, a bit of quality and even a bit of fortune. 

I keep bagging the drum about us still being a team in the first phase of transition under Ancelotti. The first 20 games of this season are so far removed from what was happening last season. 

I was impressed how we dug in and came back twice. Some people say we don't deserve a point, but I think we did.

The Gx in the game was 1.49 utd and 1.5 everton. 

So with both a even Gx and a 3-3 scoreline a point looks about right. 

[Romey 1878]

57 minutes ago, Shukes said:

Mate the manager has done wonders with what he’s got. Even looking at players faces you can see a change.

I can't wait to see what we're like once he's got a few more of his own players in this side, and has had longer to work on things with the ones he wants to keep.

Could be special.

[pete0]

Holgate is out of form but he's playing out of position and behind James so has extra work. Would people get on Keane or Mina's back if they put in similar performs at right back? 

Judge him in his position. He's proven to be our best centre half, with many saying he's better than Stones.