Second Half at Oldham

[William Henry Foulkes]

I thought we really upped the tempo in the second half. Went at them with real urgency and intent, which is something I've not seen us do much this season, if at all.

Nice to know we can do it if needs be.

We really could have won it but maybe our Fairy Godmother was another one who was tired after Tuesday.

A game of two halves

 

[Fulwood Blade]

I am putting this in BIG letters

Clough MUST take credit for changing it at half time.

First half was shocking, the pitch looked shocking (bumpy) and the wind was horrendous. Oldham WON the toss and altered how they played first half (like us kicking towards the kop first half), so they knew what they were doing. 1 of their goals was a TK mistake, the 2nd just a speculative shot that just sat up sweetly for Poleon - great finish though and swerved just before it got to Howard.

2nd half (as above) - completely different approach.

If ever you want an example of " a game of two halves", then this was it.

Please don't blame Mcnulty (some will) - the support from midfield first half was abysmal.

Scoogs and Coutts changed the game as well as different attitude from the other players - if Clough does the "hairdryer" treatment, then he certainly did it at half time.

Anyway - at half time it was a complete waste of my time, effort and money.

By full time, you had redeemed your self United - FFS......PLEASE start like that in future.

UTB

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I am putting this in BIG letters

Clough MUST take credit for changing it at half time.

First half was shocking, the pitch looked shocking (bumpy) and the wind was horrendous. Oldham WON the toss and altered how they played first half (like us kicking towards the kop first half), so they knew what they were doing. 1 of their goals was a TK mistake, the 2nd just a speculative shot that just sat up sweetly for Poleon - great finish though and swerved just before it got to Howard.

2nd half (as above) - completely different approach.

If ever you want an example of " a game of two halves", then this was it.

Please don't blame Mcnulty (some will) - the support from midfield first half was abysmal.

Scoogs and Coutts changed the game as well as different attitude from the other players - if Clough does the "hairdryer" treatment, then he certainly did it at half time.

Anyway - at half time it was a complete waste of my time, effort and money.

By full time, you had redeemed your self United - FFS......PLEASE start like that in future.

UTB

Agreed. They almost didn't get a kick and we could've won it from 2 down.

 

[Mendi]

Oldham were the best team in the first half.

 

[boo radley]

I am putting this in BIG letters

Clough MUST take credit for changing it at half time.

First half was shocking, the pitch looked shocking (bumpy) and the wind was horrendous. Oldham WON the toss and altered how they played first half (like us kicking towards the kop first half), so they knew what they were doing. 1 of their goals was a TK mistake, the 2nd just a speculative shot that just sat up sweetly for Poleon - great finish though and swerved just before it got to Howard.

2nd half (as above) - completely different approach.

If ever you want an example of " a game of two halves", then this was it.

Please don't blame Mcnulty (some will) - the support from midfield first half was abysmal.

Scoogs and Coutts changed the game as well as different attitude from the other players - if Clough does the "hairdryer" treatment, then he certainly did it at half time.

Anyway - at half time it was a complete waste of my time, effort and money.

By full time, you had redeemed your self United - FFS......PLEASE start like that in future.

UTB

Don't know if I should have my glasses on or off?

I will though blame Mc Nulty. His job is to score goals. He had two golden chances, the first was coming in from the left and he wanted too much time. The second was even better and again did not take his shot early and he always wants too many touches and he closed his own space and shot against the keepers legs.
We should have been one up or even two before they scored and if NC can blame MH for being caught out for their second, the M Mc can take the blame. some were quoting him as being the best finisher at the club before the Jan signings. if he was then he's certainly gone backwards in terms of development.
yes playing the lone striker roll can be hard but he should have had a third chance in the first half. Think it was Flynn who delivered a low cross which Done or Davies would have run across the front of the keeper for. Similar type of movement to how done scored against Donny. He did not make this run and if you were there you know most of us showed displeasure and astonishment he did not make that run. So he does not help himself because he does not work hard enough. Lack of service is one thing but he also has to make the runs in the right areas and at the moment he is not.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Don't know if I should have my glasses on or off?

I will though blame Mc Nulty. His job is to score goals. He had two golden chances, the first was coming in from the left and he wanted too much time. The second was even better and again did not take his shot early and he always wants too many touches and he closed his own space and shot against the keepers legs.
We should have been one up or even two before they scored and if NC can blame MH for being caught out for their second, the M Mc can take the blame. some were quoting him as being the best finisher at the club before the Jan signings. if he was then he's certainly gone backwards in terms of development.
yes playing the lone striker roll can be hard but he should have had a third chance in the first half. Think it was Flynn who delivered a low cross which Done or Davies would have run across the front of the keeper for. Similar type of movement to how done scored against Donny. He did not make this run and if you were there you know most of us showed displeasure and astonishment he did not make that run. So he does not help himself because he does not work hard enough. Lack of service is one thing but he also has to make the runs in the right areas and at the moment he is not.

yes you make some good and valid points - when was the last time Mcnuts played?

he is hardly match fit.

The ball he tried to play (Holt?) in was over hit, but from memory he had about 4 Oldham players converging when he played it.

As for getting across players, yes, true, it is an art that Done is very good at and something that Mcnuts has to learn.

My opinion at not blaming Mcnulty was mainly due to the absence of midfield backup in the fist half, but it was noted, by the generous applause for Mcnuts when he went off that his total contribution was generally accepted by the fans. It is very easy to play Mcnuts as some sort of scapegoat in the first half and would only allow Bash any credit at all in that first period.

UTB

 

[boo radley]

yes you make some good and valid points - when was the last time Mcnuts played?

he is hardly match fit.

The ball he tried to play (Holt?) in was over hit, but from memory he had about 4 Oldham players converging when he played it.

As for getting across players, yes, true, it is an art that Done is very good at and something that Mcnuts has to learn.

My opinion at not blaming Mcnulty was mainly due to the absence of midfield backup in the fist half, but it was noted, by the generous applause for Mcnuts when he went off that his total contribution was generally accepted by the fans. It is very easy to play Mcnuts as some sort of scapegoat in the first half and would only allow Bash any credit at all in that first period.

UTB

So are you saying Mc Nulty was second only to Basham in the first half?

 

[diplomat]

I took in a rare away day today. I admit to having had a drink or three but I was surprised mcnulty started, not because I think he shouldn't but because Clough did that trick of relegating him to the bench when he just started looking good. He had a one on one today v the keeper but if you switch your goggles we'd have been annoyed if Howard didn't save it. Yes he should have scored but he's not played for an age. . . . I likened today like graves park. I saw a couple of delicate chips that turned in to a driven shot at the winger. We looked at all the corner flags and they were all flying in different directions. It was windy as fook.

The main thing I took from today was that we were 2-0 down but didn't lose. That's good. Even if we didn't go there and play them off the park and smash them. I've been going 20+ years and have only seen us smash a handful of teams (I've seen more shitty teams smash us) so let's get it in perspective a bit. We didn't win but we showed some Utd spirit and didn't lose.

As a theme, it's a clap from me.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

So are you saying Mc Nulty was second only to Basham in the first half?

We seemed to try quite hard but it all seemed misdirected, resulting in very poor performances from most. It was a very difficult half for us where as Oldham coped much better.

What I would say about Mcnulty, and considering he has had very little 1st team game time, he had 2 decent chances in the fist half.

He over hit a layoff pass to someone (Holt from memory) and a one on one with the keeper, but it was his movement that got him into both positions.

Considering it was one up top, he had very little support, and the fact that Clough has been critical of Mcnulty quite a bit, it was significant that the changes made at half time had nothing to do with Mcnulty but with other players and positional changes.

Flynn to RB
Brayford to CB
Coutts to right side midfield
Scooogs to a position of constant pest.

So, considering all of that and the generous applause that Mcnuts got when he came off, then yes I would give him 2nd best in a shocking first half. As with anything like this it's all about opinions and would be interested to know yours about the 1st half performance.

UTB

 

[boo radley]

We seemed to try quite hard but it all seemed misdirected, resulting in very poor performances from most. It was a very difficult half for us where as Oldham coped much better.

What I would say about Mcnulty, and considering he has had very little 1st team game time, he had 2 decent chances in the fist half.

He over hit a layoff pass to someone (Holt from memory) and a one on one with the keeper, but it was his movement that got him into both positions.

Considering it was one up top, he had very little support, and the fact that Clough has been critical of Mcnulty quite a bit, it was significant that the changes made at half time had nothing to do with Mcnulty but with other players and positional changes.

Flynn to RB
Brayford to CB
Coutts to right side midfield
Scooogs to a position of constant pest.

So, considering all of that and the generous applause that Mcnuts got when he came off, then yes I would give him 2nd best in a shocking first half. As with anything like this it's all about opinions and would be interested to know yours about the 1st half performance.

UTB

As with most of us who were there, It was one of the worst if not the worst first half of any game I have seen this season. The pitch looked good but it was awful and so bobbly and bouncy. I thought McNulty was the worst player for us yesterday and I would question the "generous applause" you state to be more of welcome for the introduction of Davies. The people around me also thought his contribution to be extremely poor.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I thought we really upped the tempo in the second half. Went at them with real urgency and intent, which is something I've not seen us do much this season, if at all.

Nice to know we can do it if needs be.

We really could have won it but maybe our Fairy Godmother was another one who was tired after Tuesday.

A game of two halves

This is exactly what a lot of us were saying in your 'negative' thread

 

[wizadry]

As with most of us who were there, It was one of the worst if not the worst first half of any game I have seen this season. The pitch looked good but it was awful and so bobbly and bouncy. I thought McNulty was the worst player for us yesterday and I would question the "generous applause" you state to be more of welcome for the introduction of Davies. The people around me also thought his contribution to be extremely poor.

I understand what you're saying here boo but for me young Reedy was a lot poorer than McNulty yesterday but i'm not going to start saying Reed is shite because he isn't, he also certainly wasn't helped by the more senior pros having off days, whatever he tried just didn't come off, atleast McNulty got into some good positions not always spotted by our midfielders in the first half.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

As with most of us who were there, It was one of the worst if not the worst first half of any game I have seen this season. The pitch looked good but it was awful and so bobbly and bouncy. I thought McNulty was the worst player for us yesterday and I would question the "generous applause" you state to be more of welcome for the introduction of Davies. The people around me also thought his contribution to be extremely poor.

The applause was for Mcnulty - which is why he turned to the fans and applauded back.

You may speak for yourself but the applause at a substitution is (a) player off and then (b) player on. - Sorry, that is weird saying that when a player goes off, people are already applauding the player coming on.

UTB

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

The applause was for Mcnulty - which is why he turned to the fans and applauded back.

You may speak for yourself but the applause at a substitution is (a) player off and then (b) player on. - Sorry, that is weird saying that when a player goes off, people are already applauding the player coming on.

UTB

FWIW I applauded McNulty off bc I thought he needed the encouragement. I feel we should recognise their efforts, even if they have a stinker - which, for me, he did. It wasn't for lack of effort or poor attitude.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

FWIW I applauded McNulty off bc I thought he needed the encouragement. I feel we should recognise their efforts, even if they have a stinker - which, for me, he did. It wasn't for lack of effort or poor attitude.

True - and as oldblade quoted in another post - just because someone plays bad it doesn't mean they are not trying. Mcnuts tried as did Reid and TK, but on that day it just didn't happen for them.

UTB

 

[boo radley]

The applause was for Mcnulty - which is why he turned to the fans and applauded back.

You may speak for yourself but the applause at a substitution is (a) player off and then (b) player on. - Sorry, that is weird saying that when a player goes off, people are already applauding the player coming on.

UTB

Everyone speaks for themselves on here or do you speak for others? You and I have been going to games long enough to know that fans will clap for what they see as right or good. Some of us will always appreciate a players efforts, especially if you have played the game and know full well that we can all have a shit game from time to time. As with every single one of our players, I want McNulty to come good. If we are limited in options, then players who are not ready sometimes have to play. It does not change the fact that if you have judged them as rubbish on a particular day, someone else will think otherwise.