That was a suprise

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Maurice Maurice said:
Up until City scored that is. No good getting eleven men in our half when we're losing, especially in the 90th minute as we did today.
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Game was dead once it went to two. With a number of injuries and other missing players while rock bottom I am not really sure why you want us to charge out like lemmings against a side that exploit space better than any club on earth.
 

FredZeppelin said:
No entertainment, no ambition, no desire, no risk taking, no intent. Nothing.
It was boring for everyone in attendance and a complete waste of time and money.
Cowardice, just plain cowardice.
Wilder can wear this one. Hecky wouldn’t have been any worse.
Personally I’d sooner lose by 4 or 5 and have at least a bit of a go, but no, we just sit there and bore everyone. We are going down anyway so just have a fucking go.

Utb
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City have humiliated far better teams than us who've had a go at them over the years. Besides, we're not even good enough to do it if we wanted to anyway.
 
Weasel said:
Whilst I get the frustration in not opening up and having a go at them (as that is how I would nearly always want us to play the game) there are times that circumstances dictate that you cannot do that and you contain and manage damage limitation. This United side, this season, if it opens up against City we would get hammered and it could end up being a cricket score. The confidence in the side is on the floor at the moment as well, the last thing we need is to get another hiding score wise as that's hardly going to get our players feeling better about themselves. Remember this side had 5 out last them down the road at Burnley just over a month ago and that could have been a lot more that day too. I see no positive in going looking for yet another heavy defeat.

Take the defeat, know we were timid, but move on, get the players training hard with the new management team and learning how to defend and attack as a unit again. Get some players back who were suspended or only just back from injury. Also, hopefully we will have a few players in and some of the dross out of the door and we will have a fresher team to go til the end of the season.

I expected absolutely fuck all today from United. I just hoped we would keep the score down and not get embarrassed. We achieved that. We lost to the best team in the world and didn't shit ourselves in front of the footballing world. I'm actually just happy it's out of the way. Now, Mr Wilder. Get wheeling and dealing in the transfer window, get some lads in and get some out the door. Get us playing for pride in the red n white shirt again.
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Good post 👍. Only thing I'd say though is I'm not saying open up, not saying go all gung ho but for Gods sake, step up and get challenges in. We don't tackle any more, we don't even pressure them, we just hang off and let them do what they want. Way too passive, where's Trevor Hockey when you need him?
 
Maurice Maurice said:
Good post 👍. Only thing I'd say though is I'm not saying open up, not saying go all gung ho but for Gods sake, step up and get challenges in. We don't tackle any more, we don't even pressure them, we just hang off and let them do what they want. Way too passive, where's Trevor Hockey when you need him?
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There's probably something to be said for avoiding picking up bookings and suspensions in a game you're 99.99% certain to lose.
 
Berkshire Blade said:
Game was dead once it went to two. With a number of injuries and other missing players while rock bottom I am not really sure why you want us to charge out like lemmings against a side that exploit space better than any club on earth.
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Game was dead at one nil. The first goal said it all. One player trying to tackle, the others stand off and give him a free hit. We did that all day, all I ask is for more effort and less standing off.
 
Maurice Maurice said:
Game was dead at one nil. The first goal said it all. One player trying to tackle, the others stand off and give him a free hit. We did that all day, all I ask is for more effort and less standing off.
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It was probably over before the season. The fact is we can't complete toe to toe with state owned clubs and anyone thinking that's realistic with this side is off their heads.
 
Maurice Maurice said:
So you're ok with us not challenging for the ball?
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I’m more than ok with us not challenging for the ball in the parts of the pitch that we don’t need to against the best team in the world. If we had, we’d have seen what embarrassing really looks like. So the approach taken without the ball was fine with me.

I would have liked to see a lot more quality when we did have the ball. But if we don’t have the quality we don’t have it.

Today was the best approach we could have taken with the personnel we had. And I’m not a fan of Wilder. But I was happy enough with that given our current circumstances and the history of this season.
 
Johnyblade1 said:
A tv pundit describe us as Anti-football Wilder tried his usual spin to dismiss the comments.

But listen.. We are awful to watch, boring, this is never how the game should be played..

Anti-Football sums us perfectly I’m afraid.
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Correct

Yet it’s miles better than it was under Hecky. Dunno what that says for him, but it’s not good
 

There's a difference between being gung-ho and probably being destroyed and being defensive but trying to counter attack.

I'm a bit surprised so many contributors to this thread can't see the difference.

I don't know how it turned out in the end but on commentary we were on the verge of setting a new record for low possession and Manchester City beating their record of passes in any game. This is not the way for us, or anyone else, to play.

It's hardly surprising as early in the game we had everyone within 35 yards of our own goal, so unsurprisingly when we did manage to make a challenge and nick the ball, we had no hope of getting it, or our players, any further up the field.

Although I made a passing comment on Shoutbox and was instantly patronised for it (yes, I have seen Man City play before, as I have the old Barcelona under Guardiola etc) I've seen enough to know how to try and make some sort of dent in vastly superior possession sides like this, and the only way is to use the boilerplate defence of two lnes of four about 10 yards apart strung across the 18-yard line, but have the bravery to leave one, or even two, higher up the pitch. Then, when you can get possession you have a reasonable chance of a counter attack before they steal the ball again, or stop your counter by fouling the runner out of defence.

What happened this afternoon was that, when we did get decent possession, we usually managed to turn back towards our own goal. It's bad enough having 80+ minutes of Manchester City attacking without us doing that to ourselves as well.

I'm relieved it was only a two goal deficit and that's the only positive from a team perspective.
 
gordoncharles said:
There's a difference between being gung-ho and probably being destroyed and being defensive but trying to counter attack.

I'm a bit surprised so many contributors to this thread can't see the difference.

I don't know how it turned out in the end but on commentary we were on the verge of setting a new record for low possession and Manchester City beating their record of passes in any game. This is not the way for us, or anyone else, to play.

It's hardly surprising as early in the game we had everyone within 35 yards of our own goal, so unsurprisingly when we did manage to make a challenge and nick the ball, we had no hope of getting it, or our players, any further up the field.

Although I made a passing comment on Shoutbox and was instantly patronised for it (yes, I have seen Man City play before, as I have the old Barcelona under Guardiola etc) I've seen enough to know how to try and make some sort of dent in vastly superior possession sides like this, and the only way is to use the boilerplate defence of two lnes of four about 10 yards apart strung across the 18-yard line, but have the bravery to leave one, or even two, higher up the pitch. Then, when you can get possession you have a reasonable chance of a counter attack before they steal the ball again, or stop your counter by fouling the runner out of defence.

What happened this afternoon was that, when we did get decent possession, we usually managed to turn back towards our own goal. It's bad enough having 80+ minutes of Manchester City attacking without us doing that to ourselves as well.

I'm relieved it was only a two goal deficit and that's the only positive from a team perspective.
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As I've said earlier it's not tactical it's confidence
These players can't keep possession or play simple 6 yard passes to feet
So how do you do anything other than set up the way we did ?
The amount of times they bottle it and look for the safe pass and even managed to mess most of those up constantly making hard work for the recipients
 
Maurice Maurice said:
Good post 👍. Only thing I'd say though is I'm not saying open up, not saying go all gung ho but for Gods sake, step up and get challenges in. We don't tackle any more, we don't even pressure them, we just hang off and let them do what they want. Way too passive, where's Trevor Hockey when you need him?
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Died of a heart attack, 1987, aged only 43..
 
Maurice Maurice said:
You're pleased it wasn't a cricket score, and therein lies the problem. We're content because we packed the defence for 93 minutes and came away happy with a defeat. Points are what's needed, we're already out of the goal difference league so get nasty, rile them a bit, try and so something other than sit in our own half, watching them lass the ball around for 5 minutes at a time.

On a separate note, I honestly take my hat off to every single fan who's still going to these games and making some noise, yes I'd be doing it if I was back home but in recent weeks, despite the dross, I have nothing but respect for every single one of them.
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I don’t think it’s a problem that I’m pleased we didn’t get battered. It makes little difference to any of the players what I want/ think. I’ll support and watch them regardless.

I’m sure Wilder asked them to show more of a threat than they did but they just don’t have the ability to do it.

Today we put out a mid table championship team vs the world champions. Have some perspective. Do you think Pep is worried that we might rough & rile em up a bit. Very few teams are able to do that, Palace did it to them recently, however, every single one of their players is better than ours & they have quality in attack with Olise, Ayew, Eze, Lerma, Meteda, Edouard etc. We had Slimane, Brooks & Osula not one of those gets in anybody’s team in this division and they’d struggle to get in most top 6 championship teams.

City don’t lose to teams like us at home for a reason, because they’re far far better.

I’d have loved to have seen the type of performance we put out against them in 2019 again, however, Henderson/ Egan/ Basham/ O’Connell/ Lundstrum/ Fleck (2019 version)/ Mousset/ McGoldrick etc were a far better team than the shite we have now.

With this current squad of players, honestly I’m delighted with 2-0 vs City away. As I said, Luton game was the issue.

If you attack City they pick pockets, it’s easier for them if teams have a go. We had a go 2nd half vs Luton & that showed our defensive vulnerability
 
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Maurice Maurice said:
You're pleased it wasn't a cricket score, and therein lies the problem. We're content because we packed the defence for 93 minutes and came away happy with a defeat. Points are what's needed, we're already out of the goal difference league so get nasty, rile them a bit, try and so something other than sit in our own half, watching them lass the ball around for 5 minutes at a time.

On a separate note, I honestly take my hat off to every single fan who's still going to these games and making some noise, yes I'd be doing it if I was back home but in recent weeks, despite the dross, I have nothing but respect for every single one of them.
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I agree we should do a little more than park the bus when in the lead but don't you think you're being a tad over dramatic with the fans still going to see them?

We're failing in the best league in the world, we're hardly slipping in to the Sunday leagues. The fans are going to some of the best grounds to watch some of the best players all while getting to watch their team too. I'm not saying it's rosie and all fine, watching United lately does feel like a slog at times but the last thing it is, is a chore.
 
The worst thing for me is that the game today took place with 2 teams apparently in the same league. The league is meant to be the best league in the world.

You can’t have ‘the best league in the world’ when a team at the bottom of it is that far away from a team towards the top of it.

It’s really depressing and the coveted PL spot that we spend years working towards is only good for boosting the coffers and absolutely nothing else.

The only problem we have is that by some combination of luck/momentum/skill we managed to finish 9th in this league a few seasons ago so people consider being completely embarrassed as a failure.

In reality it’s where we are as a club, even more so when you sell your 2 best players on the eve of the season.
 
Houston_Blade said:
The worst thing for me is that the game today took place with 2 teams apparently in the same league. The league is meant to be the best league in the world.

You can’t have ‘the best league in the world’ when a team at the bottom of it is that far away from a team towards the top of it.

It’s really depressing and the coveted PL spot that we spend years working towards is only good for boosting the coffers and absolutely nothing else.

The only problem we have is that by some combination of luck/momentum/skill we managed to finish 9th in this league a few seasons ago so people consider being completely embarrassed as a failure.

In reality it’s where we are as a club, even more so when you sell your 2 best players on the eve of the season.
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I do wonder if in future a rule will be made that only clubs & owners that prove they have the finances to "act like they want to stay up" will be allowed to go up. Kind of like needing to have a fit and proper stadium, having the money to field a fit and proper squad.
 
Fjortoft's Aeroplane said:
I do wonder if in future a rule will be made that only clubs & owners that prove they have the finances to "act like they want to stay up" will be allowed to go up. Kind of like needing to have a fit and proper stadium, having the money to field a fit and proper squad.
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The only thing I can think of is to give promoted clubs the option of having their parachute payments up front and if they stay up then they pay it back over 3 seasons. If they go down after they’ve paid some back then they get the difference upon relegation.
 
Houston_Blade said:
The worst thing for me is that the game today took place with 2 teams apparently in the same league. The league is meant to be the best league in the world.

You can’t have ‘the best league in the world’ when a team at the bottom of it is that far away from a team towards the top of it.

It’s really depressing and the coveted PL spot that we spend years working towards is only good for boosting the coffers and absolutely nothing else.

The only problem we have is that by some combination of luck/momentum/skill we managed to finish 9th in this league a few seasons ago so people consider being completely embarrassed as a failure.

In reality it’s where we are as a club, even more so when you sell your 2 best players on the eve of the season.
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Going up with momentum, keeping your best players & then strengthening was key for us back then. Seemingly working for Luton too albeit they possibly will still go down.

I understand the reasoning for selling both NDiaye & Berge. It makes financial sense, but no wonder everyone who doesn’t follow us closely was thinking wtf are they doing 😂. I’d be thinking that if another club had done it
 

gordoncharles said:
There's a difference between being gung-ho and probably being destroyed and being defensive but trying to counter attack.

I'm a bit surprised so many contributors to this thread can't see the difference.

I don't know how it turned out in the end but on commentary we were on the verge of setting a new record for low possession and Manchester City beating their record of passes in any game. This is not the way for us, or anyone else, to play.

It's hardly surprising as early in the game we had everyone within 35 yards of our own goal, so unsurprisingly when we did manage to make a challenge and nick the ball, we had no hope of getting it, or our players, any further up the field.

Although I made a passing comment on Shoutbox and was instantly patronised for it (yes, I have seen Man City play before, as I have the old Barcelona under Guardiola etc) I've seen enough to know how to try and make some sort of dent in vastly superior possession sides like this, and the only way is to use the boilerplate defence of two lnes of four about 10 yards apart strung across the 18-yard line, but have the bravery to leave one, or even two, higher up the pitch. Then, when you can get possession you have a reasonable chance of a counter attack before they steal the ball again, or stop your counter by fouling the runner out of defence.

What happened this afternoon was that, when we did get decent possession, we usually managed to turn back towards our own goal. It's bad enough having 80+ minutes of Manchester City attacking without us doing that to ourselves as well.

I'm relieved it was only a two goal deficit and that's the only positive from a team perspective.
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Holy cow….you ventured into Shoutbox. You’re a brave man. Lesser folks have been destroyed.
 
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