BuT hE cReAtEs ThE mOsT cHaNcEs In ThE lEaGuE
The workrate issue a bit difficult to evaluate. Like Ozil he is often tagged with this criticism but does put the miles in and generally is up there in terms of ground covered every game. Yesterday I think it was the 2nd highest from any team. There was notably one time, I think the Fati chance, where he was the one who tracked back to put pressure on the chance. But he gives off a vibe of being someone who gives up when itâs not going well.
4 Likes
The first 20 minutes Brighton was on the defensive, but there wasnât that much in the way of real threat and Brighton were composed. The OT crowd went ballistic when Hojlund went off, but he had only produced one shot (off target) in 64 minutes. I think half of their total of 8 shots were in that first 20 minutes. The only possible explanation for the outrage at Hojlundâs substitution was that he had over half of his touches in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half. Which is to say he was largely irrelevant for most of the first half, other than to allow the commentators to talk about how wonderful he was at bringing other players into the game - which game they were actually talking about was not clear, but it wasnât this one.
Once Brighton scored, they were calm, kept the ball, and just steadily built pressure. The player ratings I have seen giving ManU an average of perhaps 7 are laughable. They allowed a 3-0 lead at Old Trafford and only had the ball 44% of the match.
ShearerâŚgreat striker, absolute buffoon as a pundit.
6 Likes
Fuck me, Shearer might be out of a job soonâŚthat is far more insightful than he is.
4 Likes
I thought he looked good. Not 70m save our season good, but there was evidence of why is highly rated, including how well he did to take his goal. But he has been injured and this was his first start of the season. For someone coming off that injury he was only ever going to get 60 or so minutes. Even if you genuinely thought he was the only path you had back into the game and hated his replacement it would be completely unreasonable to react negatively to that substitution. The fact they did is a pretty good indication that things are not being viewed rationally and that is the point where rections can start spiraling out of control.
2 Likes
Ajax already out the title picture in SeptemberâŚcan see ETH back there in a few months.
1 Like
The current Man United midfield will get wrecked by Szoboslai and Macca and Endo even with Amarabat back because of piss poor coaching
2 Likes
When Matt Busby quit and moved upstairs, Man Utd went into the doldrums,
When Fergie quit and moved upstairs, man Utd have gone into the doldrums (apart from a cup here and there)
when Fergie quit Aberdeen for Man Utd, Aberdeen never recovered, they went from manager to manger making poor signings along the way with no long term success,
Man Utd look to be headiing the same way as Aberdeen, manager after manager, loads of poor signings and no real long term success
Its funny how history seems to repeat itselfâŚ
Yeah, I think that is a fair way of thinking about it. He was definitely having his best spell when he came off. But the heat map is notable. He was irrelevant in the first half, because ManU simply wasnât getting the ball into him in the centre. Every run he made was simply so that he could get a good view of Rashford blasting into the side of the goal. He got himself into the game by dropping deep, but he actually didnât have any clean touches in the final quarter of the field in that interval.
Maybe, at the same time he didnât track the goal scorer for Brightonâs second. He just ambled 5 yards behind him and when he scored looked around at everyone else. âNot my faultâ
Heâs well known for not tracking midfield runners. Weâve exploited that in recent seasons.
1 Like
I hadnt picked up on that difference, but itâs an interesting one given the scouting report on him on was that he was more suited at this point in his career to a counter attacking team (more comfortable looking for spaces behind than between the lines and his touches are often not clean and so can lose it when playing in tight spaces). So itâs notable that in the 20 min period at the beginning of the game where Utd were on top he was not able to impose himself too much and only started finding his way into the game once Brighton got on top and Utdâs opportunities with the ball were more counter attacking situations.
1 Like
To be fair, he did get his one shot in those first 20 minutes, ManUâs first of the match as I recall.
I thought United didnât want to play counter attacking football anymore. Why did they sign lidl haaland then ?
Yeah, the narrative about the sort of football EtH wanted to play changed at some point over last season without there really being any sort of explanation or even acknowledgment of the change. It could be just football journos reading tea leaves and speaking in certainties about things theyâve only assumed and then all repeating each other. But it could be EtH realizing it was just too big a job to build a front foot side with what he had.
2 Likes
Interesting that they tried the diamond formation yesterday. We did the same against Brighton away last season (a very weird attempt from us, to try and stop their build up) and lost 3-0.
Could also be recognition that his own signings have been gash. If Antony had come in and put in the sorts of contributions that Mane or Salah did when they first came here it might have been easier to deliver that transition.
Same. Will he be managing PEC Zwolle, FC Volendam or the Go Ahead Eagles is the only question.
1 Like
Let him be? Did neither of them hear the audio? Mark Goldbridge is increasingly becoming a parody of himself. And granted wealthy as hell on the back of it. Wait till he goes ETH out, will be glorious.
or he accepts that Pellestri is shit.