Man Utd win changes nothing, deadwood still needs chopping

Manchester United fans revel in the derby win over Manchester City, but the bigger picture remains the same, while Chelsea supporters hail the Blues’ midfield, all in our forum.

Join in the debate here…

United fight

Madness. Didn’t feel comfortable at any point during the game but what an effort from the lads. That’s exactly the type of performance we’ve been missing, everyone fighting for the shirt, fighting for each other, fighting for Ole. Wow. What a buzz.
10 undefeated now.

Are we on the up?

happyhurling

Easiest run-in?

Big win that. With Spurs on the ropes I reckon we can pick up at least a point there and build towards a strong end to the season with one of the easier run-ins.

To put things into perspective, our hardest matches left in the league are A vs Spurs, A vs Crystal Palace and H vs Leicester.

Chelsea have H vs City, A vs West Ham (derby), A vs Liverpool, A vs Sheffield Utd and H vs Wolves.

Wolves have H vs Arsenal, A vs Sheffield Utd, H vs Everton and A vs Chelsea

Spurs have H vs United, A vs Sheffield Utd, H vs Arsenal, H vs Leicester

Sheffield United have A vs United, H vs Spurs, H vs Wolves, H vs Chelsea, A vs Leciester

Arsenal have A vs Wolves, H vs Leicester, A vs Spurs and H vs Liverpool

We have the easiest run-in and play a weakened Spurs team next week – we need to go for the jugular and put ourselves in a good position for 4th and, possibly, even 3rd

Sympathy for the Devils 

GGMU Ole keeps getting the stick but he’s showing time and time again he hast the best interests at heart for United, I’d rather have a manager who loves the club and will do anything to protect it’s image than one who’ll complain every game, I still remember when we won the carabao cup that f**ker was so sad and looked miserable. I’m just glad he’s ruining another team and not us anymore.

Happy for Martial too, another player who has improved massively under Ole. What a week!!!

libanski

Matic U-turn

Matic looked dead and buried a few weeks ago but playing with Bruno Fernandes in front of him makes good use of whatever energy he has left in the tank. He can now focus on the simple stuff with Bruno orchestrating the play and Fred/McTominay doing a lot of dirty work. It doesn’t mean Matic should be a starter beyond this this season but it looks like he’ll stay on as a squad player. I’m no fan but he’s still doing a lot more than Mata, Pereira, Lingard and Pogba.

Pogba apparently wants to play with Bruno but he has done f**k all for this club to warrant a place in the team. Again, it’s all about what the club can do for him and not vice versa like it should be. Unless he sacks Raiola and hires Roy Keane as his babysitter, he should not play for us again.

roygbiv 

If Pogba stays we don’t need to sign another midfielder in the summer.
Bruno, Pogba, Matic, Fred and Mctominay. Great options.

Ighalo I have to say is looking like a quality addition as well. Will we sign another striker? I don’t think so.
It’ll be Sancho and that’s probably it. Maybe a replacement for Pereira…

happyhurling

United still way short

Judging by the severity of my headache this morning something decent must have happened yesterday! Funnily enough, as soon as I saw the teams announced I fancied us to nick a win, and struck a 5 pint bet with a City mate I was watching it with in the pub, needless to say I collected in full afterwards!

Great heart, endeavour and commitment by everyone and we just wanted it far more than them which was great to see, BUT it changes nothing fundamentally as to where we are as a team. We are still way short of being top class and every position we thought we needed to strengthen and all the deadwood we said we needed to shift before the game remains very much the case afterwards, simple as that.

Blacky

Correct Blacky. Great performance from a group of players playing for the shirt at last. But 28% possession says it all really. Still short of 3 more quality players as Solskjaer acknowledged. You can’t keep winning games against the top teams with 28% possession. We need to start dominating again.

jm1502

Blacky – Got a headache as well mate, keep watching Ole’s celebration to McTominay’s winner. Amazing!

So, the burning question, is Ole still completely out of his depth at this level with absolutely no chance of turning it around and shouldn’t be given another penny to spend on players coz all of his signings so far have been terrible?!

happyhurling

Bruno a ‘legend’ overnight

In the cold light of day and through the haze of a pretty fu**ing awful hangover, i have to agree about performances in future years. No way we can get pushed back that much against the top sides. Just watched Maguire’s post match interview and he spoke well i thought. Basically reiterating what is being said here i.e. we need to play more in the big games, especially at OT.

Thought when Ighalo came on he held the ball up well and showed what we need next year. A striker that can link the attack and play with his back to goal. Martial is the best finisher at the club but has no other real centre forward attributes.

Anyways, can leave all that chat for the summer. Was great to see the players and fans have a real go yesterday. Been a long time since i saw OT making noise like that. Also just saw this morning footage of Fernandes telling that baldy c*** Guardiola to shut his fu**ing mouth. The fella has turned in to a legend overnight. A few more signings like that and we might be on our way back after all

N1xer

‘Tunnel vision’ for United pair

@homerjay – I was thinking the exact same thing mate hehehe – happyhurling is clearly still under the influence when he suggests Pogba, McTominay, Fernandes, and Matic are “great options” and we don’t need any midfielders all of a sudden. This is straight after we had 28% possession at Old Trafford.

In any case, I have to say that yesterday was a top performance given the quality we have in our squad. Right now is the perfect time to play City but a job still had to be done. We again showed our defensive solidity with Wan Bissaka particularly brilliant in silencing Sterling. We then took charge of the game and made sure we punished them with a touch of class from Bruno and Martial – albeit aided by Ederson’s error.

If it weren’t for James and Martial having tunnel vision when in behind with Bruno busting a gut to reach the penalty spot free – we could have had 3. The square pass was the obvious option in both of these situations and failing to do so was criminal by both.

In any case, there certainly seems to be a good feeling around at the club and it was catalyzed by the signing of Bruno Fernandes – his class, grit, and cockiness are a breath of fresh air; I even saw a moment when Guardiola was barking orders on the touchline – Bruno looked him in the eye, and motioned for him to be silent. Top stuff that!

We are now 10 games unbeaten with 8 clean sheets in that period. Long may that momentum continue. If we finish strong with a Champions League qualification and hopefully a trophy then we are poised for a solid transfer window moving forward.

hatters

@happy – Put the giddyometer away ffs mate, you were asking the same sort of questions way back when first LvG and then Mourinho led us to derby victories similar to yesterday’s win, and look how that ended up!
Fact remains, it’s still only 3 PL wins out of 7, and we are just a couple of dropped points away from going back down to joint 7th in the table. Like I said the team is still poor in possession and is nowhere near good enough to challenge for the title without at least 4 or 5 top players coming in.

Ole is buying himself time for sure, and is obviously not going to get the chop anytime soon, which is not how it looked just a few weeks ago when we lost back to back games against Liverpool and Burnley and were generally playing s**te every week, even when we won.
The signing of Fernandes has been the catalyst, but we still need much more flair and creativity amongst other things to back him up, simple as that.

Blacky

The problem with stats is that they can be used to tell any story and are often used out of context. Yes, City had more possession, but most of it was no where near our goal. We sat abck and allowed them to pass the ball around just over the half way line. We had more shots and more shots on target. And more goals.

Yes we should compete more, especially at home, but we had a lot of possession under LVG and people complained about that. There is a balance to it and we were never going to turn full circle midway through a season.

Just enjoy the result.

Alfie07

Tactics spot on

Severe headache too=). I had a feeling before the game we could nick a win because City without Laporte and KDB are not that good. Yes Ederson handed us one goal but our first was a masterclass from Bruno and Martial. At last we have a creative midfielder in Bruno and what a difference he is to Lingard Mata and Pereira.

I never understood why top clubs never went in for him and to be honest i think he was a panic buy by Ole because of injuries to McTominay and Pogba otherwize Ole would have bought him in the summer but he never was in Ole´s plans.

The tactics was good yesterday,we pressed their back4 when we needed to but retreated when we have too so we stopped City´s counterattacks.
Shame that James cant take his eyes from the ball and look for Bruno. If he did that we would score two more goals and Bruno wasnt happy with this and rightly so.
Our players need to start take advice from Bruno how to play and think football because he knows his football.

Damn,i wish i was a scout working for Man United,Bruno in and Hakim Ziyech on the right wing,two who knows how to play this game.

I think Bailly is our best CB,fast strong all he needs is confidence.

Zico

Europa League game

We need to keep fighting for this trophy so I reckon we should do like we did with Club Brugge – focus on getting a scoring draw (or better) with as many 2nd stringers as we can and then batter them at Old Trafford if required.

Romero
Dalot – Lindelof – Bailly – Williams
Matic – McTominay – Periera
Greenwood – Ighalo – James

Sympathy for the Devils

Midfield dominance from Chelsea

Wow, that midfield performance has given Frank plenty to think about. The same goes for our forward three…Willian and Pedro were superb and thrived alongside Gifoud. Gilmour was again sensational and for me has to start irrespective of Kante, Kovacic or Jorginho returning. Rudiger was immense in defence and Kepa was solid. Pity that Utd won but top 4 still very much in our hands.

Stuilse

Interesting result it has exceeded beyond my expectation. I would have taken a scrappy 1-0 but credit to the boys for that marvellous performance. I thought Pedro had an outstanding game today, I have to give him credit to him for his performance. I like how he runs behind the defenders. and I was one of his biggest critics, his last two games have been outstanding. also, he started to run in behind defences which gives our midfielders the chance to spot him.

I have also been impressed by Ross Barkley, credit to him for how he has turned his season. his last two games have been outstanding. three assists and a goal is fantastic. I was also one of his critics but if he keeps like this performance, he will be one of the best midfielders in the world. and I’m also pleased to see Mount score for the first time in 19 league games. how much confidence will that goal give him? I think that goal is huge for him.

Interesting that several players are hitting form at a crucial stage of the season, players like Barkley, Mount, Willian, Rudiger, Pedro and Giroud are hitting form at a crucial time. and the young Gilmour is our answer to Bruno Fernandez. he is given the whole team a lift. I saw Roy Keane praise him, and you don’t see often Roy praise people and more so a young player. so this young man must be doing something special.

Chelsea.man

Good summary Chelseaman.

The performances and form that the likes of Barkley, Pedro, Willian, Alonso and Giroud have shown over the last few games together with young Billy Gilmour have been a major plus and Willian looks deserving of a new contract as suddenly do Pedro and Giroud?

Barkley looked a Summer seller to me but his recent performances suggest that might be a mistake now.

I wouldn’t write anyone out of next season’s squad just yet.

The injuries have stretched us but as the injured players begin to return the squad and the team will be even stronger.

Every Cloud……..😊

nine nine nine 

This is the best Chelsea performance under Lampard. It was a risky formation as it was too attacking (Alonso, Mount, Barkley played together with Willian and Pedro) but we won the match convincingly. Probably Everton had an off day too but we played really well. We did not give them opportunity except the mistake that Rudiger made to allow Richarlison won the ball and then Calvert-Lewin shot just wide. Willian and Pedro were amazing, the first time those 2 together really looked menacing for the opposition together with Giroud who linked up very well and got his goal too. My MoM would be Barkley, he was controlling the midfield but Billy Gilmour, what a solid performance.

Unfortunately, our closest competitor for the top 4 Man Utd won, an off day of Ederson to allow 2 goals like that. They have a fairly easier fixtures than us. But 1 match at a time, hopefully we can continue our good runs against Aston Villa next weekend. A great victory today, a convincing win

aindro 

Fantastic performance by the boys who played yesterday. time and time it has proven that attack is our best form of defence. and when our players attack consistently, the result is devastating. there was no sideway or back passes yesterday. all of our players were forward-thinking. and credit goes to Billy Gilmour who reminded me of Paul Scholes. his movement and passing have been superior to all of our midfielders. and his brain has been superior also.

Mason Mount has been on an imperious form yesterday, he was running from deep to give Chelsea an extra man in the box, something we never had before. I thought he deserved man of the match more than Gilmour. but still, I’m happy for Gilmour also. Barkley seems to have rediscovered his football passion now, he been devastating for Everton yesterday, even their fans gave up on booing him. but I won’t be counting my chicks earlier, let him do this for the rest of the season.

I should also give credit to the older generation. in particular, Pedro who has been fantastic yesterday. also, Willian was excellent yesterday, I don’t often say that, but yesterday he has earned this. and Giroud is showing why we should keep him at the club beyond this summer. the Zouma and Rudiger Partnership is working well, for now, both of them are 1.9m which gives them height advantage. and Kepa is doing good, although he is still fragile. now we set the bar higher, can we maintain this for the rest of the season?

wise-fan