Official Match Thread .. Southampton V Man Utd ..7:45PM Sky Sports

Originally Posted by dunk

What can I say, watched his Chelsea team too many times

The one that nearly always beat us comfortably beating us off the park a lot too, £#%&! knows though tbh I was drunk and high most of that time. What about his Madrid and Inter?

Originally Posted by andyroo

Duvet or not, the contention was that we may hardly be said to be winning this "in style", whatever happens in the final. I do not consider this a controversial opinion.

You're like the ankle nipping Jack Russell of doom. Leave it to the big boys eh kidda.

Originally Posted by andyroo

We played some good football in those seasons. Those finals were the culminations of glorious seasons, not desperate sweaty attemps to prove that a load shit compromises have somehow been worth it.

we were arguably the best team in the world going into those finals and on the verge of proving it.

we've produced some brilliant football this season and some great performances. we're erratic though, and overall our finishing hasn't been good enough.

this season certainly isn't going to sit long in the memories of the glory-hunters. which is a shame for them, because it could end with one of the greatest nights in our history. imagine what mugs like you would have made of 91

Hate that something tells me chant

£#%&!.

Has a European final ever been won in "style"? They, like most finals, are usually cagey affairs with both teams not willing to over commit.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

we were arguably the best team in the world going into those finals and on the verge of proving it.

we've produced some brilliant football this season and some great performances. we're erratic though, and overall our finishing hasn't been good enough.

this season certainly isn't going to sit long in the memories of the glory-hunters. which is a shame for them, because it could end with one of the greatest nights in our history. imagine what mugs like you would have made of 91

kind of odd to call people glory hunters because they would like us to play good football and aren't fooled by a trophy.

Originally Posted by believe

Has a European final ever been won in "style"? They, like most finals, are usually cagey affairs with both teams not willing to over commit.

Barca battered us at Wembley tbh

Originally Posted by believe

Has a European final ever been won in "style"? They, like most finals, are usually cagey affairs with both teams not willing to over commit.

you can get away with a cagey final if you have reached it in style.

Originally Posted by believe

Has a European final ever been won in "style"? They, like most finals, are usually cagey affairs with both teams not willing to over commit.

Barcelona a couple of times

Originally Posted by believe

Has a European final ever been won in "style"? They, like most finals, are usually cagey affairs with both teams not willing to over commit.

When Barcelona play United.

Originally Posted by dragflick

Not what you said though is it silentnight?

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

Barca battered us at Wembley tbh

Originally Posted by andyroo

Barcelona a couple of times

Originally Posted by itisme_panaflex

When Barcelona play United.

Originally Posted by jem

kind of odd to call people glory hunters because they would like us to play good football and aren't fooled by a trophy.

ooh yes, don't ever let those magical, fleeting moments fool you into thinking you're enjoying it will you.

difference here is that there'll be united fans enjoying it for what it is.

and there'll be glory hunters moaning about what it is..

Damn those trophies fooling us into thinking we're successful

Originally Posted by dragflick

Damn those trophies fooling us into thinking we're successful

it's like looking at throb's post count and assuming he's a great writer.

Originally Posted by dragflick

Not what you said though is it silentnight?

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

Barca battered us at Wembley tbh

Originally Posted by andyroo

Barcelona a couple of times

Originally Posted by itisme_panaflex

When Barcelona play United.

reel it in ffs

Originally Posted by Baron

True, but they were in isolation.

Missing the only chance you make in a game isn't the same as literally peppering the oppo goal & managing to hit the 'keeper relentlessly. The missed chances under Mourinho are borne out of shit finishing, the LvG era was a player being absolutely £#%&!ing startled at the fact we manufactured anything. Anything at all. God it was shit.

Mourinho has had a bit of a rollercoaster of a season, I have zero doubts that he's been genuinely shocked at just how big a job it is. The club seems to have a facade of being well run, somehow it just generates £#%&!ing money like no tomorrow, but as Siders is fond of relaying, the football structure is a shambles.

There's only so many hours in a day, if you have to deal with shit@#%&!s everywhere & a 64 game season (only played as many once in our history I believe) then you'll run out of time.

The summer is massive, the Europa final is massive, we're going full City with the amount of massive we have here.

Sometimes a process can take a while longer, but there were certainly far, far more positives over the course of the season than negatives. Calling out both doesn't make you a bed wetter or a Gay for Jose, it makes you rational.

I can see carnage over the summer with the Ins & Outs tbf, but the quality of player will undeniably improve drastically & next season is the one where there will be no excuses. Aside from maybe needing the players to gel.. which is why you want United to move double quick & get their deals done before pre-season.

There's also a difference between trying to dominate games and ceding the initiative to the opposition. As the season has gone on we have become more of a Mourinho side, and the supposed peppering of opposition goals has been less frequent as the previously natural inclination to dominate has been ebbed away.

Last season a popular take was that other teams allowed us to dominate games and control most areas of the field. We are increasingly seeing how much it has to do with approach as we are more inclined to cede much of the play. It's been going on since before Southampton largely hammered us in the cup final. Even West Ham with ten men had more of the game in December.

The transition from being a proactive side to a reactive one is almost complete, which is a huge change in approach, but aside from hearing people who complained endlessly about style last season now ignore the issue, the bigger concern is that it doesn't appear to be effective for us. Chelsea at OT worked out, but our performances in recent months as we have become more defensive have been really poor.

Mourinho has inevitably seized on the chance to complain about a few injuries and fixtures as an excuse to go full Mou, but the Chelsea game aside he's been unable to use that pragmatism on the field to great effect. We are very fortunate to be in the final later this month, and he did us no favours in getting us there with the tactics last week.

One thing seems certain: the approach is unsustainable at this club without results. Although given the way he's serenaded by the fans after they've watched us finish 6th while not bothering to compete in games he's said he doesn't want to play, maybe he will ride the popularity wave for a while.



Bring it, bitches.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

There's also a difference between trying to dominate games and ceding the initiative to the opposition. As the season has gone on we have become more of a Mourinho side, and the supposed peppering of opposition goals has been less frequent as the previously natural inclination to dominate has been ebbed away.

Last season a popular take was that other teams allowed us to dominate games and control most areas of the field. We are increasingly seeing how much it has to do with approach as we are more inclined to cede much of the play. It's been going on since before Southampton largely hammered us in the cup final. Even West Ham with ten men had more of the game in December.

The transition from being a proactive side to a reactive one is almost complete, which is a huge change in approach, but aside from hearing people who complained endlessly about style last season now ignore the issue, the bigger concern is that it doesn't appear to be effective for us. Chelsea at OT worked out, but our performances in recent months as we have become more defensive have been really poor.

Mourinho has inevitably seized on the chance to complain about a few injuries and fixtures as an excuse to go full Mou, but the Chelsea game aside he's been unable to use that pragmatism on the field to great effect. We are very fortunate to be in the final later this month, and he did us no favours in getting us there with the tactics last week.

One thing seems certain: the approach is unsustainable at this club without results. Although given the way he's serenaded by the fans after they've watched us finish 6th while not bothering to compete in games he's said he doesn't want to play, maybe he will ride the popularity wave for a while.



Bring it, b***hes.

come off it s/side, teams deliberately let us keep the ball last season because it saved them having to time waste against us. for starters they almost always left smalling in particular completely free, knowing full well we were going nowhere if he was the spare man.

i longed for it to work, and for us to master the change of tempo required, and for our individuals to know exactly when and how to exploit the patterns we used. but it never. and the opposition pretty much knew it was n't going to.

the threat we've carried this season has certainly lessened as it's gone on. but unlike last season it has been almost completely down to a lack of goals. mourinho is more reactive than van gaal, nqat. but he also gives more freedom in attack, and they have largely failed to meet their remit.

I reckon Mata, Mkhi and Lingard may have preferred more organisation playing in the last third than more freedom when they break forward from their full-back positions.

Some players don't mind having some semblance of a plan of attack. Much talk of how erasing the players' memory would be Mourinho's remit, but the more time he's had with them the more clueless they've looked going forward

Can't help but wonder how Rashford and Martial would have got on this season with some help playing the straighkacket style of last spring

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

I reckon Mata, Mkhi and Lingard may have preferred more organisation playing in the last third than more freedom when they break forward from their full-back positions.

Some players don't mind having some semblance of a plan of attack. Much talk of how erasing the players' memory would be Mourinho's remit, but the more time he's had with them the more clueless they've looked going forward

Can't help but wonder how Rashford and Martial would have got on this season with some help playing the straighkacket style of last spring

overall i think we both agree that the forward line issues have run exactly as we thought they would once zlatan was signed. i think rashford has pretty much proved that lately.

also only fair to say that he has come on well and clearly has in no way been held back by mourinho in terms of his development. just wish we'd seen a bit more variation and flexibility in team selection at 9.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

overall i think we both agree that the forward line issues have run exactly as we thought they would once zlatan was signed. i think rashford has pretty much proved that lately.

also only fair to say that he has come on well and clearly has in no way been held back by mourinho in terms of his development. just wish we'd seen a bit more variation and flexibility in team selection at 9.

I felt at the end of last season he was good enough and ready enough to be a star this season. He's had a good month but based on the way the season has gone it probably would have been better to have given him the responsibility of top man. Would have been a risk, but the short term stop gap Zlat signing hasn't paid off, as well as he's done individually.