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Pre-season 2021/22


MikeO

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This is a game that United could turn up the intensity at any point and score again. They are far superior to us all over the pitch and they are controlling the game. It feels very much like it did at the end of last season. 

Biggest problem for me is that United can stroll past our front two. My nan could do more than Gray and James on that score. They are straight into midfield with an overload. At least we then have our two blocks of four but Doucoure and Allan are working overload. It is one of those where any mistakes could lead to goals and that is what has happened with Digne / Pickford, Digne/ Godfrey at the corner and then poor play leading to the free kick. 

Iwobi has been our best attacking player in my book but he should have scored. He has played some quality passes into or around the box. James has spent a lot of time on his arse, Gray has got is into some good positions but then made terrible decisions and Townsend may as well be replaced with a cardboard cut out. He may be capable of the spectacular but he is struggling with some basic passing at the moment. 

I hope we pull our finger out in the second half because this is nowhere near a full strength Utd side.

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2 minutes ago, patto said:

Our squad is a mess and some people aren’t worried about us not signing players. 

I’m one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I would love a few more signings… but I’m not worried. 
Watching this with such a disjointed team, we still look dangerous.

The new signings have fit in well and look to be shrewd buys. Can’t see us challenging top four, but can’t see us struggling either.

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1 minute ago, Bailey said:

This is a game that United could turn up the intensity at any point and score again. They are far superior to us all over the pitch and they are controlling the game. It feels very much like it did at the end of last season. 

Biggest problem for me is that United can stroll past our front two. My nan could do more than Gray and James on that score. They are straight into midfield with an overload. At least we then have our two blocks of four but Doucoure and Allan are working overload. It is one of those where any mistakes could lead to goals and that is what has happened with Digne / Pickford, Digne/ Godfrey at the corner and then poor play leading to the free kick. 

Iwobi has been our best attacking player in my book but he should have scored. He has played some quality passes into or around the box. James has spent a lot of time on his arse, Gray has got is into some good positions but then made terrible decisions and Townsend may as well be replaced with a cardboard cut out. He may be capable of the spectacular but he is struggling with some basic passing at the moment. 

I hope we pull our finger out in the second half because this is nowhere near a full strength Utd side.

as you have pointed out our biggest problem is Utd strolling past our front two - which would normally be DCL and Richy, so to that extent (as well as a forward threat) we are nowhere near full strength either. 

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I missed a lot of the start of the second half but I could hear the commentry and we sounded better. Easy to do that when you are 3 down though and the game is gone.

As for the final 30 minutes that I could see, it looked more of the same really. Iwobi again standing out, regardless of whether it is central or wide. Davies showed a few glimpses of quality and then those moments where you question how he got this far. Delph was alright. I didn't see Gordon do a great deal, nor the other younger lads that came on. It wasn't like they had loads of time to show how good they are but that increase in quality looks to be beyond them at this stage in their careers. 

My biggest concern is just how easily Utd could get through the first two thirds of the pitch. First half they cut through the middle, with a lot of that being down to the poor play of the front two in cutting off the angles, whereas second half Utd could get down the sides and then into the middle between the lines. On another day Greenwood could have had a hattrick down those channels but he over-complicated things. 

I think our success this season will depend on how those front 4 players combine. All I know from this preseason is that Iwobi would be the first name on the list and James would probably be the last.

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it was what it was - a pre-season friendly with few key players missing and not much more than a run out for squad and youth players in the second half (for both teams). So little point in over analysing it.

Man U away is fairly tough workout for final pre-season. Player's will know that there is still plenty to work on before next weeks opener. 

New manager, and hopefully some new squad members at the end of the month. So I don't really expect to see the fledgling Benitez Everton proper until Xmas time.  

 

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I like him he doesn’t try and dodge the the awkward questions and he’s honest with his answers, no players are going to pull the wool over his eyes or get a free ride, he’s all about the team and not the individual, you will have to work hard and play for the team, no wonder James is struggling with him and Allan respects him.  

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2 hours ago, Bailey said:

I'm glad to hear Benitez is taking todays performance seriously and isn't just brushing it off as an unimportant pre-season friendly.

 

Good interview and refreshing.

Good that he points out we didn’t have any strikers playing and that it’s hard to judge with players playing in positions they aren’t used to. Smart man.

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23 hours ago, Shukes said:

Good interview and refreshing.

Good that he points out we didn’t have any strikers playing and that it’s hard to judge with players playing in positions they aren’t used to. Smart man.

That one player that wasn't playing in his usual position ;)

No doubt a natural striker would have made a difference but it wouldn't have made that much of a difference (IMO of course!).

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On 07/08/2021 at 13:52, Shukes said:

Good interview and refreshing.

Good that he points out we didn’t have any strikers playing and that it’s hard to judge with players playing in positions they aren’t used to. Smart man.

What's the point in playing a friendly game if "it's hard to judge" because of decisions he himself made? I'm sorry, but it sounds like excuses already to me. If he needed a striker on the field so he could judge, then play one of the emerging youngsters from the U-23 squad. This was a complete waste of a pre-season friendly.

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3 hours ago, Bailey said:

That one player that wasn't playing in his usual position ;)

No doubt a natural striker would have made a difference but it wouldn't have made that much of a difference (IMO of course!).

That’s fair enough mate. For me it would have made a huge difference. 
We couldn’t make the ball stick up there, so much that we counted on Iwobi. 
Then there were the crosses that went in that we’re screaming out for a striker to get on the end of. 
 

But still interested in which one out of those two you would have been dropping 😉

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1 hour ago, Cornish Steve said:

What's the point in playing a friendly game if "it's hard to judge" because of decisions he himself made? I'm sorry, but it sounds like excuses already to me. If he needed a striker on the field so he could judge, then play one of the emerging youngsters from the U-23 squad. This was a complete waste of a pre-season friendly.

Don’t think he made those deductions himself mate, think it’s the rules that you have to isolate if pinged by covid app.

And DCLs injury wasn’t a decision I would t have thought.

Not sure if Richie being allowed to go to the olympics was his decision either. But it could have been.

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3 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

What's the point in playing a friendly game if "it's hard to judge" because of decisions he himself made? I'm sorry, but it sounds like excuses already to me. If he needed a striker on the field so he could judge, then play one of the emerging youngsters from the U-23 squad. This was a complete waste of a pre-season friendly.

It was a joke of a pre-season friendly. Who agreed to play last season's PL runners up? With their squad they were always going to be able to play a strong team.

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