Credit...

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Yeah we could have got a draw, whether we would have "deserved" it is another question. Though I doubt we would have minded much about that if we had

Id say we deserved a draw. How many saves did De Gea have to make? Sure we gifted city lots of possession and space but what did they do with it most of the time?

Then add in the clear penalty and red card on Bravo. What a £#%&! keeper he is btw.

Originally Posted by saffers

Id say we deserved a draw. How many saves did De Gea have to make? Sure we gifted city lots of possession and space but what did they do with it most of the time?

Then add in the clear penalty and red card on Bravo. What a £#%&! keeper he is btw.

Pep just saying it was the best performance he'd ever seen. deserves huge credit?

After the first 30 minutes I would have taken a 2-1 defeat
£#%&! me that was a horrible start to the game

Feels bad losing to those @#%&!s but at least we made a game of it

Well they say you learn more in defeat than victory and that is certainly true today
Mourinho needs to get a balanced team that simply isn't carrying any players
We can't go into these big matches not knowing if we can produce the high level performance required

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

After the first 30 minutes I would have taken a 2-1 defeat
£#%&! me that was a horrible start to the game

Feels bad losing to those @#%&!s but at least we made a game of it

Well they say you learn more in defeat than victory and that is certainly true today
Mourinho needs to get a balanced team that simply isn't carrying any players
We can't go into these big matches not knowing if we can produce the high level performance required

Very very confident after that 2nd half that we will go to places like Stamford Bridge and Anfield next month to win. We would have won today had we set up right. Already amusing to see some people underestimating us. Let them doubt and write us off.

The tattooed £#%&!face clattenburg bottled giving us a penalty. Real ref would also have sent bravo off. See what happens then.

Er, nah.

We showed 'character' for about 20 minutes?

That's what teams like Sunderland take away for 'credit'

At what point in the last 30 mins did we genuinely look like scoring?

Was more bluster than an LVG team, but no more end product

Starting XI and the way we were setup first half was gutless. Chasing shadows for the first 45 mins is why we were shattered so early. City were at the fair and we flattered them. Defensively they are suspect and we should have been setup to get at them from the start.

Credit to Mourinho for realising it and making changes at HT. But it was too late by then, chasing a game against a team like that is going to be fruitless more often than not.

Not hugely gutted but hope in future we don't fear teams so much. Doesn't get the best out of our players.

Still not convinced about Rooney and Zlatan starting together.

Originally Posted by bobbledinho

Starting XI and the way we were setup first half was gutless. Chasing shadows for the first 45 mins is why we were shattered so early. City were at the fair and we flattered them. Defensively they are suspect and we should have been setup to get at them from the start.

Credit to Mourinho for realising it and making changes at HT. But it was too late by then, chasing a game against a team like that is going to be fruitless more often than not.

Not hugely gutted but hope in future we don't fear teams so much. Doesn't get the best out of our players.

Still not convinced about Rooney and Zlatan starting together.

People on here were saying it was the perfect time for us to play them, when in reality it was the other way around. We're obviously still finding our feet where they have hit the ground running.

One of those things, early season wake up call I think. At least now i think we've got the personalities in the dressing room to come back from this and not just die on their arses like last season.

Originally Posted by Ethers

Er, nah.

We showed 'character' for about 20 minutes?

That's what teams like Sunderland take away for 'credit'

At what point in the last 30 mins did we genuinely look like scoring?

Was more bluster than an LVG team, but no more end product

About as much attacking intent in that 2nd half as for all of last seasons games under van gaal.

Every single thing points towards a stronger and much more enterprising united team. But of course you van gaal boys have to bring him up first time we lose this season.

Originally Posted by saffers

About as much attacking intent in that 2nd half as for all of last seasons games under van gaal.

Every single thing points towards a stronger and much more enterprising united team. But of course you van gaal boys have to bring him up first time we lose this season.

I think you saw the fundamental difference between where the two teams are coming from since last year. Last season you had United, who had mostly poor players lit up by two youngsters.. and were demoralised playing rubbish most of the time...and then you have city who had good players a strong squad but who obviously weren't arsed at all and basically just downed tools.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

People on here were saying it was the perfect time for us to play them, when in reality it was the other way around. We're obviously still finding our feet where they have hit the ground running.

One of those things, early season wake up call I think. At least now i think we've got the personalities in the dressing room to come back from this and not just die on their arses like last season.

Still think if we were set up to attack from the beginning we would have won. City are decent but they've conceded in every game so far, their defence is there for the taking. New keeper into the mix, missing Aguero and it seemed a no brainer to at least start Martial or Rashford and put them under pressure from the off.

Mid-table teams will get hammered by them because they'll shit themselves. We shouldn't be doing that.

Bleugh.

I hope every team goes long ball on them.

Missed quite a bit of the first half so much of what I saw was actually United attacking. Plenty of endeavour and the changes at half time worked to get us higher up, but the quality was poor for a team which doesn't actually lack quality.

Mid table sides get praise for running. We need to be much better on the ball, right from the back.

Originally Posted by bobbledinho

Still think if we were set up to attack from the beginning we would have won. City are decent but they've conceded in every game so far, their defence is there for the taking. New keeper into the mix, missing Aguero and it seemed a no brainer to at least start Martial or Rashford and put them under pressure from the off.

Mid-table teams will get hammered by them because they'll shit themselves. We shouldn't be doing that.

Bleugh.

This. Absolutely this 100%

"Credit"

The new proud?

Originally Posted by waynes ear's

"Credit"

The new proud?

Some shift from Valencia considering he's been half way round the world and only arrived back yesterday.

Thought Fellaini played well first half too, strange times

We saw a lot of things that we were badly lacking last year.

Most important to me was the fact that we made changes tactically and in personnel that actually effected the game. Last year if we started like that we would have got absolutely hammered because we wouldn't have tried to change anything.

We also saw a lot of direct, attacking effort and players giving absolutely everything they had. Last year half of them clearly couldn't be arsed.

There's not a lot of credit to take from today. We lost at home to our biggest rivals for the league. But it's far from all doom and gloom. City were good and we weren't ready for it. But once we got going we were as good as them.

Originally Posted by That Boy Ronaldo!

Some shift from Valencia considering he's been half way round the world and only arrived back yesterday.

Thought Fellaini played well first half too, strange times

Incredible physical specimen. The bloke can run all day. What's often overlooked is how tidy he is in tight spaces. Often closed down today but he didn't panic and nearly always found his man.

We wouldn't have started like that last year though, so it's rather irrelevant

Originally Posted by Ethers

We wouldn't have started like that last year though, so it's rather irrelevant

Don't think effort was ever really lacking last season either.

It's still very early but indications are as expected there's no massive improvement in individuals. We have better players now but they need a system that has balance that they all believe in. Looks a way off and quit disjointed right now but the nine early points on the board gives us some room for error while we figure it out.

Originally Posted by Ethers

We wouldn't have started like that last year though, so it's rather irrelevant

True. I can't stand LvG but he was normally decent in the bigger games. There's no way he would have beaten that City team today either. But the first 30 minutes wouldn't have been so embarrassing.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Don't think effort was ever really lacking last season either.

It's still very early but indications are as expected there's no massive improvement in individuals. We have better players now but they need a system that has balance that they all believe in. Looks a way off and quit disjointed right now but the nine early points on the board gives us some room for error while we figure it out.

Effort was lacking many times last year. The players motivated themselves for the big games but they just rolled over in some of the others. It is far from perfect right now but you can see the players are buying into it and it will eventually click. We're 4 games in and it's clear that we're still finding our feet.