Did our best not to win today

[ShockingBadBuy]

A decent riposte to the performance in midweek, but surely the way to defend an always precarious 2 goal lead is to maintain the press ... not drop deeper, and give the oppo extra yards to play in, man for man?

From about 25 mins left, 2-0 up, the talk around us was that we were positively inviting them to make it 2-2. With Wilder’s approval, it seemed. David Mac’s goal was the best goal of the game, and on balance we deserved the win. But jeez, we did our best not to.

 

[JohnDenver]

Strange tactical decisions. All we needed to do was get fresh legs on and a bit of pace. But instead we changed virtually every position and left McG up front on his own.

Let’s not do that again, eh?

 

[Iceybabey]

We went 4-5-1 due to losing control in the middle but the changes allowed us to get pulled all over the place, with players also not knowing who their man was or who they should be tracking. Imo, we should have gone with 3 in midfield with Duffy coming off for Lunny.

 

[bromtom]

Seems like Wilder needs to see something not work to form an opinion. Dropping back against Villa worked (albeit with a healthier advantage) but absolutely didn't work today. Hopefully it's an experience we won't forget.

 

[Muttley]

Do I have the right to be angry when we've won? Seems silly but chuff me, why the f**k did we just stop playing at 2-0 up? I could sense their first, then expected the 2nd ......
Were they told to sit back? If so, WHY?????

 

[super_pig]

we simply don't do sit back and protect. so why bother?

 

[BettingBlade]

Chris Wilder is a very lucky man tonight. Even at 1-0 their players weren’t interested.

We didnt need to change a single thing tactically or formation wise.

Today is the perfect opportunity to give some of the fringe lads on the bench a game and give them some minutes. There’s absolutely no way Preston were getting back in that game until Wilder pissed about with the formation.

Even their players looked surprised they’d pulled it back to 2-2

 

[Bladesman]

We should have made it 3-0 and killed it off.

 

[super_pig]

we can't introduce fringe players for 'experience' until we're three nil up .. not two nil

 

[WORKSOPBLADE]

The players didn’t have a clue who was playing where when billy went off. Duffy was holding his hands out to that affect and Stevens and Johnson where virtually occupying the same stop.

CW definitely got away with that one. Could’ve simply replaced Billy with Clarke or even Johnson up there.

 

[INTERUNITED]

For me, the only change needed was Washington for Sharp. They were playing such a high line at 2-0 that we needed to get some pace up front as Billy (for all his good points) doesn't have any. What the Johnson substitution was about I don't know, all it seemed to do was confuse the players and the fans. Love Wilder to bits, but his substitutions are mostly baffling.

 

[PaulHalfway]

Very bizarre they were actually dire and had been outplayed, we then just let them dominate midfield and push players forward and run at us, you had the feeling it was coming
Why we dropped so deep I really don’t understand, a game potentially we could have ended up losing which would have been a disaster

 

[spongebobblade]

I could see Wilders thinking by matching up there 4-5-1 but we really got our knickers in a twist with two main issues. Firstly McGoldrick is no target/hold up player so there was little chance of the ball holding forward for us. Secondly we badly missed Basham in defence when the changes came. The warning signs were there before and after Preston’s first goal and nothing was done. If 4-5-1 was his preferred change of formation then I thought Bash at RB with Freeman in front (as we finished) and Lunny for Duffy. It was a gamble that almost backfired but credit where due we dug ourselves out. It’s 3 points, lessons to be learned but a healthy start to the season. Let’s remember that

 

[blade too long]

why are we concentrating on them pulling 2 back and ignoring us sucking it up÷
then having the character to win it all over again

a game we lost last season
but lets all focus on the negatives as usual

 

[S64 Blade]

It was odd. I fully expected it to be Washington for Sharp when I saw the substitution. We looked exposed as soon as the change took place. Let's take it as a lesson learnt.

 

[BettingBlade]

why are we concentrating on them pulling 2 back and ignoring us sucking it up÷
then having the character to win it all over again

a game we lost last season
but lets all focus on the negatives as usual

The point is the best teams win 3 or 4 nil today.

I can understand if PNE were having a real go and we managed to grind out a win then fair play but to just paper over the issues just because we won doesn’t help anything.

The fact we were able to turn it on straight away and score after sitting back so much second half shows just how bad they were

 

[blade too long]

The point is the best teams win 3 or 4 nil today.

I can understand if PNE were having a real go and we managed to grind out a win then fair play but to just paper over the issues just because we won doesn’t help anything.

The fact we were able to turn it on straight away and score after sitting back so much second half shows just how bad they were

paper over the issues

so no other teams dominated a game 2=0 and got pulled back in football history

the game is encapsulated in games like this

not always do the better team win

spurs dominated inter milan for 94 minutes ,,,, but lost 2=1

we won 3=2
not that youd know , no lets all discuss everything that wasnt positive

tell me whats does us scoring 3 times to their 2 say about our game

why does it say how bad they were

they won here in April , but not today
have we advanced since then , oooh no we won but we made hard work of it

lets enjoy a win not rip it to bits


we did not do our best not to win we won after a setback
thats positive

 

[Maidenhead]

paper over the issues

so no other teams dominated a game 2=0 and got pulled back in football history

the game is encapsulated in games like this

not always do the better team win

spurs dominated inter milan for 94 minutes ,,,, but lost 2=1

we won 3=2
not that youd know , no lets all discuss everything that wasnt positive

tell me whats does us scoring 3 times to their 2 say about our game

why does it say how bad they were

they won here in April , but not today
have we advanced since then , oooh no we won but we made hard work of it

lets enjoy a win not rip it to bits

It says we scored more than them

 

[blade too long]

It says we scored more than them

now tell me the gist of playing football
whats the main objective

ooh you already have

 

[SwissBlade]

Got out of jail in the end, but the better team won.

What really puzzled me was that Preston came for a draw, putting 11 men on the edge of their own box and making it very tough to break down. And it was working until they made a half hearted counter attack with just two players ending up over the halfway line and saw it fail, only for us to go direct and score as the rest of their team were out of position as they'd come out half way.

After all their time wasting and efforts to slow the game down they had no plan B... except to go toe to toe and attack us a bit, they actually looked decent when they did this.

Our second hit them and they didn't really bother to step it up, made a few changes and so did we, two quick goals looked so simple as we just collapsed.

But again, bizarrely they sat and tried to preserve a draw at 2-2 when their two goals had come so easily after they actually had a go. However, they seemed to only be half defending

Our winner showed character and showed that we can change the pace of the game and have a go.

They were pretty shit because they were so negative, but when they had a go, they proved that they had much more than just a negative park the bus in them. In a period where Wilder always gives us a team that has a go, i'd be disappointed if my team had tried to park the bus like they did when they are clearly better than that.

 

[blade too long]

The point is the best teams win 3 or 4 nil today.

I can understand if PNE were having a real go and we managed to grind out a win then fair play but to just paper over the issues just because we won doesn’t help anything.

The fact we were able to turn it on straight away and score after sitting back so much second half shows just how bad they were

really so leeds beat struggling birmingham today , boro didnt lose at norwich
you have a distorted view of reality
any team in this division can , on any day give a performance
we are 2 points off top spot so others are not demolishing teams

 

[BettingBlade]

paper over the issues

so no other teams dominated a game 2=0 and got pulled back in football history

the game is encapsulated in games like this

not always do the better team win

spurs dominated inter milan for 94 minutes ,,,, but lost 2=1

we won 3=2
not that youd know , no lets all discuss everything that wasnt positive

tell me whats does us scoring 3 times to their 2 say about our game

why does it say how bad they were

they won here in April , but not today
have we advanced since then , oooh no we won but we made hard work of it

lets enjoy a win not rip it to bits


we did not do our best not to win we won after a setback
thats positive

No ones saying don’t enjoy the win.

However people are making legitimate arguments that we very nearly threw the game away because of poor decision making from the technical area.

You talk about advancing as a team yet that won’t happen unless we acknowledge things that we can improve on. In fact the only reason we have advanced is because Wilder has noticed faults in our play and where to improve them. If we just sit there and say yep a wins a win all the time we become very easy to play against because teams will work out how to get at us.

You can’t honestly believe that Wilder and his back room staff don’t meticulously study recent games in order for us to improve. I’m pretty sure CW isn’t sat there tonight thinking ‘yeah we let them back in and conceded twice but fuck it a wins a win’.

 

[BettingBlade]

really so leeds beat struggling birmingham today , boro didnt lose at norwich
you have a distorted view of reality
any team in this division can , on any day give a performance
we are 2 points off top spot so others are not demolishing teams

What other teams have done in other games against other teams really is irrelevant. In those situations that we found ourselves in today, the top teams in this division will manage that game better.

It’s literally pointless comparing those results when they involve different scenarios.

 

[blade too long]

No ones saying don’t enjoy the win.

However people are making legitimate arguments that we very nearly threw the game away because of poor decision making from the technical area.

You talk about advancing as a team yet that won’t happen unless we acknowledge things that we can improve on. In fact the only reason we have advanced is because Wilder has noticed faults in our play and where to improve them. If we just sit there and say yep a wins a win all the time we become very easy to play against because teams will work out how to get at us.

You can’t honestly believe that Wilder and his back room staff don’t meticulously study recent games in order for us to improve. I’m pretty sure CW isn’t sat there tonight thinking ‘yeah we let them back in and conceded twice but fuck it a wins a win’.

thats their job , not ours
thats the crux of the matter
no scapegoating , they wont say its because we brought Clarke on
weve come back into games after being 2 down nd playing shite
but football will always be full of games like this,

Had we not upped it again and won thered be a problem
but over the 90 we won , by right despite errors
and the day we eradicate all errors is the year we win the champions leaguwe

 

[blade too long]

What other teams have done in other games against other teams really is irrelevant. In those situations that we found ourselves in today, the top teams in this division will manage that game better..

Really, again I ask why are we only 2 points off the top then despite only starting in game 3 if they manage games much better than us
how many of those above us have played 3 other top 6 sides

 

[SandyMcBlade]

The part I don't get is, we are not set up to defend, our strength is in attack, players like Duffy and Norwood are at their best at this not defence.
Then to bring on Johnson, (probably the fastest player at the club right now ) and put him in defence instead of using him as the out ball in much the same as we use to use Jamie Murphy very successfully was a waste.

 

[BettingBlade]

Really, again I ask why are we only 2 points off the top then despite only starting in game 3 if they manage games much better than us
how many of those above us have played 3 other top 6 sides

Okay let me spell this out in the simplest terms possible....

I am talking just of this game against Preston, not of any other game that United have or haven’t been involved in. I am simply making the point that when we play better teams we have to make sure we manage those situations better because they will make us pay.

We are 4th in the league on merit because in other games we have played well and thoroughly deserved to win games. In today’s game we let our performance slip for a time in the second half and it cost us and we can’t afford to let that happen against the teams that can really hurt you

 

[BettingBlade]

thats their job , not ours
thats the crux of the matter
no scapegoating , they wont say its because we brought Clarke on
weve come back into games after being 2 down nd playing shite
but football will always be full of games like this,

Had we not upped it again and won thered be a problem
but over the 90 we won , by right despite errors
and the day we eradicate all errors is the year we win the champions leaguwe

I think the more pressing concern is that Preston didn’t even need to ‘up’ it to get back into the game. Their manager was clueless but we sat off that much their confidence grew and got themselves back into the game.

It may be there job but you are literally on a forum where discussions about the game take place. If we aren’t allowed to pass comment on it then this is a pretty pointless site don’t you think?

 

[blade too long]

What other teams have done in other games against other teams really is irrelevant. In those situations that we found ourselves in today, the top teams in this division will manage that game better.

It’s literally pointless comparing those results when they involve different scenarios.

but you are comparing it saying other teams will do better with absolutely no proof preston would collapse completely
in a different game

 

[BettingBlade]

but you are comparing it saying other teams will do better with absolutely no proof preston would collapse completely
in a different game

They’d already collapsed. They weren’t interested you could see it in their body language.

There was no need for us to drop back and invite them on.

I can only assume you weren’t at the game cause this was glaringly obvious