So, what happened?

[Houston_Blade]

I've watched it back now and it was just how I saw it at the game last night.

Nothing Moore, Henderson or any other keeper could have done about their goals.

Goal no 1 - Baldock got sucked into the ball when he really shouldn't have leaving Williams in acres of space. He'll never catch another ball as sweetly as that and the keeper had no chance. I said as much to my mate when the ball hit the net. That was a sweet finish.

Goal no 2 - A great delivery across the 6 yard box that beat Jagielka and Greenwood couldn't miss. No keeper on earth would have stopped that and if Billy had scored it for us no one would be saying the keeper had gifted it to him.

Goal no 3 - James got in round the back and Moore had to go to his near post to narrow the angle. If he'd stood in the middle James would have simply put the ball in at the unguarded near post, as it was James had to cut the ball back and unfortunately it found it's way through the narrowest of passages to a completely unmarked Rashford who did what England strikers do. I was disappointed that three defenders couldn't stop the cut back, and at the space that Rashford had.

Such is life, fine margins went against us and I think if Egan had played we may have defended better on goals 2 and 3. I think it is extremely harsh to criticise the keeper on any of them, and for those that are what did you think of De Gea letting in Moose's shot from outside the box?

Mine wasn't a criticism. If I was being critical I'd say that he could have stood up at his near post rather than slide along the floor. That would have given him the option of diving back across the goal when the ball comes across. By sliding (unnecessarily in my view) he's taken himself out of the game completely.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

If you are looking for goals that were saveable, our 2nd goal was a low shot in the bottom corner from 20 yards, and our 3rd goal was at a decent height for a keeper, and he didn't get a strong enough hand on it. De Gea is a world-class keeper. From my seat behind the goal on the Kop, Moore did not have a chance with goals 1 and 2, and though he made a bad decision for the third one, I doubt it would have made any difference whatever he did. ManU were brilliant for 10 minutes.

 

[Conspiracy realist]

To be honest, we started exactly as I thought we should, despite being two key players short. Tight, reading each other and exploiting Man United's critical weaknesses - one of which is they aren't Man United of ten, fifteen years ago and have gone through some torrid times at the hands of some frankly shit managers.

Loved our ability to push them far into their half, loved the pressing, loved the ability to deny their front three of anything. Mouse was tactically placed to stand on the lumpen Jones, Didsy was class and our midfield was seriously, acut well above a midfield orth ten times their assumed value. We deserved to be three up by the break and De Gea was the difference in it being two more than it was. Everyone else in Man U colours was totally dogshit and they looked stunned to be having to go in at half time one down. The fact that we came out eager for more in the second half was not surprising but ... here's the weakness.

The first goal of theirs, we were practically in the shower and chucking our strip in the dirty kit bin. We'd not allowed Man U the width they suddenly had available and the cross would have been mopped up with the usual Basham-Egan-O'Connell combination. Great finish, mind. Be nice if Stevens or Baldock can do that from the deep lying wingback position. They can do it. But the second and third? Step forward Jags. Allowed the ball across his body to the attacker (fatal mistake for someone so experienced) and the second one was hopelessly out of position for the pull back. You could see it all in his face. I doubt that Egan - or Stearman - would have let that happen. I'm not taking anything away from Man U's ability to turn a wheezy jog into a lungbusting sprint, but as soon as we lacked the guile up front with Mouse and McGoldrick, we looked like that scoreline had been in place all match. It was tributes to the players for going at them for the equaliser ... and fuck off, it was nowhere near a handball.

Shame for us tonight. 70 minutes of class, five minutes of lack of concentration, ten minutes of struggling to get something back and five minutes of VAR. We deserved a lot more.

Moore 8/10: Good stops where needed. Possibly could have got down for the first. Hendo would have and there is the difference between them both.
Baldock 9/10: Great performance and looks PL quality
Basham 8/10: Still has those 'shit your pants moments' with his 50p heading, but left nowt out on the Desso
Jagielka 6.5/10: He's cracking on a bit ... and it shows. Brilliant times challenges at times but at fault for two of theirs
O'Connell 8.5/10: Great shift. I thought he was our best Centre Back
Stevens 8/10: Again, some quality stuff down the flanks at times even if he does hold it up a bit at times
Fleck 10/10: I thought he was fucking awesome.
Norwood 7.5/10: Less so. Telling moment was his mishit 'pass' into touch at the kick off after one of the goals. Sometimes 'simple' is better than 'complex'
Lundstram 9/10: Still defies belief as yesterday's transfer out possible. Can't see us completing the season without him now and we need to get his contract sorted, fast (if we haven't already)
Moussett 9.5/10: Christ, he's difficult. He just harries and badgers, never gives it up. Hope that hamstring injury is just a tweak
McGoldrick 10/10: Such craft and guile. Such a clever player. I hope to fuck he gets his goal soon

McBurnie 8/10: Was there when it counted and did the job
Sharp 7/10: Didn't get much chance to make an impact
Robinson nm: See above

Wilder: 8/10: Deserved the lead but fuck me, if you lose your outlet and you ability to keep the opposition in their half, don't try to one-for-one with a different attacker. McBurnie isn't Moussett and really, we could have done with taking Norwood off and putting Besic on and going 5-4-1 to stop the wide play which led to their goals.

Fucking great game though. We are awesome value.

pommpey

ps: If you are going to disagree with my 'out of tens', please do it like an adult, eh? Opinions are like arseholes. You have one, so do I.

Pompey I totally agree with your view on the game being there myself.at the time I thought Moore dove like a salmon over the ball although I haven't seen any replays yet and yes fleck was awsome TBF I thought jag's had a good game will reserve judgement till I see the goals again

 

[Keen Blade]

I don’t see where Jags was at fault for two of theirs, you can slightly criticise the wide Centre backs but the first was a cracker and the balls in for the other two were world class..

Jags just had to step in front of the scorer of the 2nd but he inexplicably allowed it to pass under his nose

 

[Keen Blade]

I don’t see where Jags was at fault for two of theirs, you can slightly criticise the wide Centre backs but the first was a cracker and the balls in for the other two were world class..

Their first came coz Baldock inexplicably came central to challenge Basham for the ball , leaving his own man completely unmarked to score

 

[itsinyerblood]

This might have the appearance of someone who is caught up in the brilliance of our performance, but with the odd tweak here and there, I'd rather watch a team who play with such enthusiasm , are prepared to work their bollocks off, and play with craft (yes, that's right, our players were technically on the money). We played the ball quickly, with precision, and our movement was first rate. Moose was formidable and showed what we've missed, top man and over 5-20 yards he's like a fucking whippet! Fleck was something else, as if he's born to take control and orchestrate, the wee man has been a star for some time, but Sunday showed that he's as good an acquisition as anyone Wilder has brought to this club. Far more positives than negatives, at least to my mind, and what a base to build on.

The Prince has to support Wilder in January and the summer. The bar needs to be raised financially, assuming that's what Wilder wants, and we need to increase our wage bill in order to atract a better quality of player.......but to my mind, which player wouldn't enjoy playing in this team?!!???

The world watched a game that was exciting, full of passion, and Sheffield United announced themselves to the world in case anyone had imagined we'd be fodder for the so-called 'top teams'. We were excellent, period. UTMB

 

[Keen Blade]

The mistakes we made for their goals were the mistakes of a tired team. In mentioning them it's not the individuals I want to highlight but the way we seemed to collapse when out of possession for 10 minutes.
For 70 mins our heroic lads played at 100% intensity and in fairness should have been more than 2 up on their high £value but phlegmatic opponents.
Then inevitably a lot of ours had run out of steam.
Before the game I was surprised to find no Stearman on the bench - normally Jags is there as sub CB , so why not have another CB there in case our 37 yr old tires or one of the others gets injured ?
Once Man Utd put 4 across the middle we desperately needed some fresh midfield legs because we couldn't cope with their width.
And our best outlet Moose looked like a dead 'un way before he laid down.
Unless they change the rules to allow more subs or oxygen masks , the way we play on the front foot is always going to leave us short of breath towards the end.
But I'd rather have the excitement & pride from a team "leaving nothing out on the pitch".
It's brilliant when we match or overcome our illustrious opponents by sheer will.
That's on a match by match basis.
But on a longer term basis , injuries , bookings & exhaustion are going to bite.
So my personal take is that we need to strengthen the "2nd eleven" in January , due to the particular way we play.
CW will have noted , during the torrid ten minutes yesterday , just how quickly a Prem team can take you apart at the first sign of any tiredness when out of possession.