Manchester United vs Fulham : Official Match Thread : 18/5/21 6pm

Originally Posted by 20LEgend1999

Our home results this season:

L-L-D-L-W-D-W-W-W-L-W-D-W-W-W-W-L-L-D

We took a while to get going and seem to have lost steam when we had little left to play for. 9 wins in 19 at home, all of which came during a 12 game period. 11 wins from 18 away. Possibly just a sign of home and away meaning less with empty stands. If it continues next season, then it's definitely an issue.

Surprisingly, only Chelsea, Spurs and City have more points at home than us this season.

Having support there for the first time this season made our attitude all the more shocking tbh. Fergie used to say one of the most important character traits he looked for in a United player was bravery; where’s that bravery today?

Originally Posted by utd99

Our lack of intensity as that game wore on was shocking. I’m not sure how many characters we would previously have classed as winners we have at the club these days. There was a time we’d have thrown the kitchen sink at them; nowadays our lot treat the ball like it’s a hot potato and the extent of their ambition is to get out of every game without being the fall guy.

This is multiple games now with the final whistle going while we’re in the middle of a 20 pass possession. Not the United I know.

That’s infuriating.

“Lads, the game is literally about to end. Throw the ball in the box”

A big issue for Ole is getting these lads to understand the game. When to push, when to back off, when to keep a team pinned back. Our game management is one of our biggest problems. We play in wildly different patches. We can be brilliant and appalling. All in ten minute spells within five minutes of each other. It’s not a sustainable way to play. Said it elsewhere, but how many boring, comfortable 2-0s have we had this season? They’re the bread and butter of a home campaign. There were more of those in Fergie eras than anything else. Control the game, get on top, stay on top, get the second goal and slow it back down again. We’re incapable of that now. We did it yesterday, but at 1-0. We played like it was 3 or 4.

Ole made a rare venture to his area yesterday to bring this up. They were #@&%!ing about at 1-0 in the first half. He was telling them to keep it simple. Do that and you’re in, it’s 2-0 and then you’ve got the freedom to mess about a bit more, but not at 1-0. He mentioned it post-match too. And our best players are guilty of that as much as our shit ones.

Not being funny, but our best teams had some £#%&!ing shockers once league places were sorted and there was a final/holiday on the horizon.

Originally Posted by dunk

Not being funny, but our best teams had some £#%&!ing shockers once league places were sorted and there was a final/holiday on the horizon.

Agreed. No problem with last night in those circumstances - my issue is that it’s not just last night - we £#%&!ed any real challenge to city by losing or drawing a whole host of piss easy matches at home all season. Sheff united ffs. The champs league exit and fa cup exits £#%&!ed us fo sho.

We only momentarily threatened city in the league but when we did, we saw what shit houses they were. But through our own self destruction, we ended up strengthening them.

An infuriating season - one that I should be reasonably happy about but am now struggling to shrug off being pissed off.

We do need to win the shittest cup in the world in a couple of weeks. Especially if city win too.

Originally Posted by dunk

Not being funny, but our best teams had some £#%&!ing shockers once league places were sorted and there was a final/holiday on the horizon.

So what? In a lot of cases the teams you reference had earned the right to a shocker by winning the league. This mob, with this record at home, playing in front of fans for the first time all season? No.

Anyway, it wasn’t the execution that was the problem, it was the attitude. If I’d started watching twenty minutes from the end and didn’t know who was playing I’d have had a hard time figuring out who was happier with the draw.

It is what it is; a team in progress with a soft center that needs to be addressed. They've done brilliantly over the season when viewed as a whole but pissed me off immensely all the way through.

They need a solid 3-4 players adding in the summer and then we can really start to ask/see the answers to the questions that have plagued us this year. More of the same and there is a deeper issue to address, further improvement, then we know the problem was with the squad options.

Of course, he doesn't get the players, the same problems will be apparent regardless

Originally Posted by Hyman_Roth

Agreed. No problem with last night in those circumstances - my issue is that it’s not just last night - we £#%&!ed any real challenge to city by losing or drawing a whole host of piss easy matches at home all season. Sheff united ffs. The champs league exit and fa cup exits £#%&!ed us fo sho.

would be more accurate to say that we missed pogba, with bruno playing poorly. players we have spent money on have turned out to be flaky shit. and we were robbed by the officials in the period we slipped behind city - sheff united tables turned, west brom assault on linde, city offside goal v villa (not that we should be relying on officials - we played badly).

under the circumstances, we should be £#%&!ing delighted with second from these @#%&!s.

if we don't buy a midfield, we'll be lucky to win anything ever again. for the money we spent on fred, the don and telles, we could have had something useful.

Originally Posted by dunk

It is what it is; a team in progress with a soft center that needs to be addressed. They've done brilliantly over the season when viewed as a whole but pissed me off immensely all the way through.

They need a solid 3-4 players adding in the summer and then we can really start to ask/see the answers to the questions that have plagued us this year. More of the same and there is a deeper issue to address, further improvement, then we know the problem was with the squad options.

Of course, he doesn't get the players, the same problems will be apparent regardless

You can never truly tell whether an academy kid or a new signing will have the required bravery to play for United until they’re here and wearing the shirt unfortunately. I’m talking about the difference between an attitude of being the difference versus just escaping from a game unscathed.

Watching this iteration of United leaves you with the feeling that playing for this club, with this much scrutiny and expectation, is just too much for many of them.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

That’s infuriating.

“Lads, the game is literally about to end. Throw the ball in the box”

A big issue for Ole is getting these lads to understand the game. When to push, when to back off, when to keep a team pinned back. Our game management is one of our biggest problems. We play in wildly different patches. We can be brilliant and appalling. All in ten minute spells within five minutes of each other. It’s not a sustainable way to play. Said it elsewhere, but how many boring, comfortable 2-0s have we had this season? They’re the bread and butter of a home campaign. There were more of those in Fergie eras than anything else. Control the game, get on top, stay on top, get the second goal and slow it back down again. We’re incapable of that now. We did it yesterday, but at 1-0. We played like it was 3 or 4.

Ole made a rare venture to his area yesterday to bring this up. They were #@&%!ing about at 1-0 in the first half. He was telling them to keep it simple. Do that and you’re in, it’s 2-0 and then you’ve got the freedom to mess about a bit more, but not at 1-0. He mentioned it post-match too. And our best players are guilty of that as much as our shit ones.

Some right Championship Managers in this thread

Originally Posted by utd99

You can never truly tell whether an academy kid or a new signing will have the required bravery to play for United until they’re here and wearing the shirt unfortunately. I’m talking about the difference between an attitude of being the difference versus just escaping from a game unscathed.

Watching this iteration of United leaves you with the feeling that playing for this club, with this much scrutiny and expectation, is just too much for many of them.

This is true, and fair enough. Where we’ve failed, imo, is by not being aggressive enough in determining they aren’t good enough and £#%&!ing them off. Just about everyone gets 4 years to prove themselves. It’s mad. I’m all for giving players time, but would anybody be surprised to see James, Beek and Tuanzebe still getting 10 starts a season in 2024?

We’re just not aggressive enough in player turnover and transfers in general.

Originally Posted by dunk

It is what it is; a team in progress with a soft center that needs to be addressed. They've done brilliantly over the season when viewed as a whole but pissed me off immensely all the way through.

They need a solid 3-4 players adding in the summer and then we can really start to ask/see the answers to the questions that have plagued us this year. More of the same and there is a deeper issue to address, further improvement, then we know the problem was with the squad options.

Of course, he doesn't get the players, the same problems will be apparent regardless

Yep.

I’m not buying it that we’ve progressed this season.

How does Chelsea and Liverpool having bad seasons mean that we’ve progressed from last year when we’re still miles off the champions?

How does getting one step further in a knockout competition spell progress?

We’ve lost points at home to Sheffield United, Fulham and Palace to name a few, these should be routine wins. If we’re being honest.. our away from won’t continue when there’s fans in stadiums.

It’s embarrassing hearing people say it’s been a decent season (or it will be if we win next week).

Originally Posted by ryanMUFC

I’m not buying it that we’ve progressed this season.

How does Chelsea and Liverpool having bad seasons mean that we’ve progressed from last year when we’re still miles off the champions?

How does getting one step further in a knockout competition spell progress?

We’ve lost points at home to Sheffield United, Fulham and Palace to name a few, these should be routine wins. If we’re being honest.. our away from won’t continue when there’s fans in stadiums.

It’s embarrassing hearing people say it’s been a decent season (or it will be if we win next week).

You can’t compare football seasons like that. It just isn’t fair and doesn’t tell the full story. At the end of the day we have gone up a position in the league and have made back to back champions league for the first time since ferguson(I think) . Of course it’s not where we want to be but it’s general progress compared to what normally happens to the team. We can only really compare with ourselves rather than other teams from other seasons


We have also scored a shit tonne of goals more under ole than any other post fergie manager , I’m sure there was a stat about 5+ goals and how many games.


And yes it’s not a trophy but I’m pointing out progress when I say we have lost the same number of games as the “greatest team in the world “ who is at top of the league. We have a platform, it needs building upon, but for the first time since Ferguson we can say , with the right signings we can challenge for the league.

This has all been underlined by the worst recruitment team in sports today. He’s got rid of shit@#%&!s who have been stinking the team for years and looks to have a clear plan. Fellaini, Sanchez, young, Valencia, smalling , darmian, etc I’m sure they’re more

Originally Posted by sweetleftfoot

Some right Championship Managers in this thread

Just talking about controlling a game. Hardly false 9, key contributions stuff mate.

Originally Posted by ryanMUFC

I’m not buying it that we’ve progressed this season.

How does Chelsea and Liverpool having bad seasons mean that we’ve progressed from last year when we’re still miles off the champions?

How does getting one step further in a knockout competition spell progress?

We’ve lost points at home to Sheffield United, Fulham and Palace to name a few, these should be routine wins. If we’re being honest.. our away from won’t continue when there’s fans in stadiums.

It’s embarrassing hearing people say it’s been a decent season (or it will be if we win next week).

Everything is relative. Decent in the Fergie era? No. Decent for what we’ve witnessed in recent years? Absolutely. It can’t be underestimated how much shit Ole had to shovel from the mess this club had become under the three headed monsters. I think it’s taken almost his entire tenure so far just to get back to parity.

Originally Posted by utd99

Everything is relative. Decent in the Fergie era? No. Decent for what we’ve witnessed in recent years? Absolutely. It can’t be underestimated how much shit Ole had to shovel from the mess this club had become under the three headed monsters. I think it’s taken almost his entire tenure so far just to get back to parity.

You gotta fight for your right to parity

Originally Posted by andyroo

You gotta fight for your right to parity

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

You can’t compare football seasons like that. It just isn’t fair and doesn’t tell the full story. At the end of the day we have gone up a position in the league and have made back to back champions league for the first time since ferguson(I think) . Of course it’s not where we want to be but it’s general progress compared to what normally happens to the team. We can only really compare with ourselves rather than other teams from other seasons

The position in the league is dependent on other teams as is back to back qualification for the CL. In my opinion there isn’t much improvement from last season. It’s lazy analysis.

We’ve pretty well considering the lack of investment (apart from a bench-warmer, a striker who can’t start every game & 2 RW who aren’t ready) but nobody should be saying that the teams improved.

A routine win means nothing. City have routine wins because, well, they're City and have the best in every position as highlighted by the gap in points.

For everyone else it's business as usual.

Originally Posted by utd99

Everything is relative. Decent in the Fergie era? No. Decent for what we’ve witnessed in recent years? Absolutely. It can’t be underestimated how much shit Ole had to shovel from the mess this club had become under the three headed monsters. I think it’s taken almost his entire tenure so far just to get back to parity.

We were in 3 semi-finals last season and finished 3rd. It’ll be great for Ole to get a trophy as manager next week but win or lose.. I don’t think it will change an average/fair season into a good one considering we started the season in the CL.

We have Phil Jones hiding somewhere and just gave Eric Bailey a new contract. I wouldn’t agree completely that the manager has removed a the muck from his predecessors.