Totally agree. That was absolutely infuriating when we had brought Big Div on expressly for that kind of chance I’m assuming.
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I’d include both full-backs in it. Usually they provide our width against narrow defences, which allows our forwards to find space and time to combine and shoot. Yesterday, they were inefficient going forward, allowing the mancs to stay narrow and focus on taking Mané and Salah out of the game. Same scenario as against WBA, Newcastle and Southampton.
Bobby was the one who could have unlocked it for us (a couple of good chances in the first half), but he floundered them. He has lost his mojo again, which is a bit strange. He was on the ascendancy some time ago, and the match at Crystal Palace seemed to confirm it completely. But since then, he has been near to useless for us again. Strangely, his slump coincides yet again with no people in the stadium. He must be extremely sensitive to the lack of atmosphere I guess.
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I personally have no problem with the ref calling an end to the half during the delivery of a long ball from our back half to the forward half. This isn’t rugby. You don’t continue playing until the ball goes out of play. The ref decided it was the end of the half. The ball was in flight when the whistle was blown and the ball was delivered between Mane and two CBs. Was I angry at the time? Sure, due to the emotion of the game. But on reflection I’m ok with it.
My problem with that whole sequence was that De Gea held onto the ball for a good 90 seconds. The ref added about 20 seconds over the one minute added time from De Gea’s bullshit.
My biggest ref gripe of the game was Fat Shaw the Diver getting a free kick when he slid into Mane’s foot with about 7 mins left in the game. Mane had his foot planted. Shaw knew he made contact so did the whole pretending the contact was against him.
Again I don’t know why Mane didn’t go down. But it was in the penalty area. He’s just too stubborn I think. But Shaw clearly loves the taste of the Anfield turf. He was given a free every time he went down. No exceptions.
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A least they did not get a pen.
We are not far away. Luck will turn.
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For the life of me, I really don’t understand why football hasn’t adopted the transparent time keeping of Rugby and other sports. Have a clock that stops for injuries and substitutions that everyone can see.
I am convinced it will come in at some stage. It is far too arbitrary at the moment. I would even have a klaxon like they do in Rugby League. I don’t think the referee should have to worry about time keeping on top of everything else going on. It is now plainly ridiculous to have a referee looking at his watch to decide how long is left.
The argument I heard was that games would go on too long. Well make them 30 or 35 or 40 minutes of actual playing time each way then…
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Hope not. Andy is to one footed. One of the reasons he was a bit below oar yesterday. You will never knock him for effort but United closed him down on his left pretty well and he does not seem confident on his right. Trent ( although he is currently below par) can cut in and shoot on his left or simply switch feet and cross with his left. Best 3 against MU for me were Ali, Hendo and Thiago. The latter has so much skill and vision it is a dream to watch. Dominated the first half virtually on his own.
I feel our build up play is not good. We either play a long ball , hoping to beat the big defenders in the air, or an incredible amount of very short touches. It is very hard to beat a packed defence though no matter how you play. When you have players like Bobby and Mo out of form and seemingly dropping their heads you have no chance really.
I suspect we will see a shuffle next time out working on the theory that a change is as good as a rest. Ox is a bit more direct so maybe a place for him ? Millie always gives 100% and is a born leader so another option. I have not been impressed with Taki but I doubt he would be worse than Bobby so yet another possibility. We will have to wait and see what Jurgen thinks .
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One thing I’ve noticed is that with Mo and Mane tucking in along with the defense it packs that central area even more. It does give some space to TAA and Robertson but in most cases we dont exploit that space with pace. It’s there, play a bit and then put a cross into a waiting an set defense.
I’d like to see us exploit the space out wide with more pace.
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Thought he might have been right with the Gini one but the other two were so blatantly wrong it was hard to believe. Sad thing is commentators then start making excuses for the Refs decision. Have not got the balls to be honest.
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See your point. Fact is that when Mo and Sadio tuck in they take their markers with them making the penalty box more congested.If the held the width a bit longer and arrived later they would be harder to pick up . I also find it frustrating how we keep knocking high crosses in when we clearly are not going to out jump big defenders with our small forwards. Drive crosses in lower and we have a better chance of getting a deflected goal or a pen for hand ball or a mistimed tackle.
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That’s exactly why I would like us to get behind more and with pace. Defending while facing your own goal is super difficult. For me we don’t do enough of that, or don’t appear to try to do enough of it.
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I froze the frame at half time. Mane has a clear run on goal and the clock read 45.56. If you’re happy the ref decided it’s the end of the half then I really don’t know what to say.
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I actually thought he got that right. When I played we used to call that “making a back” i.e. leaning forward so the defender comes head first over the top which is of course quite dangerous and should be punished more often.
"Referees must watch for players “making a back " - in other words players tripping another by stooping in front of, or behind, an opponent in order to induce a fall”.
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Or as we now know it the street smarts of Harry “Dribbler” Kane.
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Defensively solid we just didn’t look like scoring easily at the moment. I also think having to use Henderson and Fabinho at CB is affecting our midfield.
In other words initiating contact, something Calvert-Lewin did in the derby to great effect a few years back.
Suppose it depends which end of the pitch it happens.
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I guess it just shows what happens when you put 2 world class midfielders in defence. You decrease the overall effectiveness of the squad by more than just weakening the defence. Yes they played well as defenders but my god we miss VVD. Possibly the most obvious post match opinion but doesn’t alter its validity.
Interestingly we look every inch the team that finished last season. Anaemic and lacklustre. Not a bad performance as such, just utterly without va-va-voom.
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This is an excellent suggestion, one I have not seen before.
I am what you would call (I guess) a ‘traditionalist’…this one, however, can feck right off.
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Harry Kane looks at the defender rather than the ball, and backs into the airbourne defender at the most opportune moment, then he falls feigning injury, and somehow wins the free kick.
Shaq looked at the ball, then positioned himself where the ball would land. He didn’t make those additional steps that Kane does. He didn’t pretend to be injured - and that really is the answer. The Premier League actively encourages cheating the way they ref the game.
Take the Rashford incident, when Fab goes into him in the box with his shoulder - ordinarily it’s a fair shoulder challenge. But in the hands of a Pogba/Bruno, they would’ve gone down and got Tierny to make a decision (odds on that it would’ve been a pen had he went down even thoughit was a fair challenge).
That’s not to say Rashford is a saint (on the field). His interview before the match confirmed that Mourinho instilled in him to get the ref to make the deciosn, and he has gone down for soft pens over the last two years. Lucky for us he had a brain fart moment and forgot to take a dive.
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I did not think Shaqu " made a back". he just stood still.
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We aren’t far off and yes that’s fine but I’m being realistic, 10 shots on target in the last 4 games, the three yesterday seem very generous to call them shots.
It’s blunt and it’s not just down to playing two MF in the back line, sadly feel until we find a spark and create one or two actual chances we will end up repeating ourselves til the cows come home.
You can believe in something but honestly realistically suggesting we will smash anyone at the moment is delusional. We may have won it with that excellent Robbo cross into Firmino yesterday and it’s going take putting them in to get us back.
Sadly some journo jinxed us post Palace suggesting it’s hard to see us not extending our lead. Since then it’s been dismal, as I said if we were missing 10 chances then I’d be a lot more confident in still having a chance, I’ve otherwise conceded it’s now a hard slog for top 4.
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