Manchester United vs Manchester City: Official Match Thread: League Cup Semi Final:06-01-2021 7:45pm

If you don't think losing a semi final to City is a big deal I'm not sure why you bother to watch us at all.

Originally Posted by Whip Hubley

Exactly this. Some of the hysteria because we've lost, I get it from the press but from some folk on here...


It wasn't like we got it tactically wrong. They didn't cut through us with ease or anything. We gave away 2 shitty goals because of individual errors and when none of your front 4 turn up there's not a lot you can do.

Bruno was horrific last night, easily his worst game for us.

Both goals of set pieces as well! Martial and AWB for the second goal were just a joke.

Martial and maguire both had chances to score too. Rashford Bruno martial pogba were all lacking a sharpness/killer instinct .

Bad night but not a disaster. Man City just played better. Hate to say it but it happens, we didn’t lose because of tactics we lost because of two individual errors on set plays and a lack of sharpness upfront. They will have games like this, we are not the finished article , everybody knows we need a CB CM and possibly a RW. Until those positions get filled with competent players we will get up and down performances

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Think people have to stop getting their hopes up with this side

We are improving but we’re still a long way off the best sides

We just don’t control games or look after the ball well enough
We rely far too much on individuals doing something on their own and when like tonight that individual spark is missing we come up well short

Hopefully Ole and the coaching staff can get us to take that next step into becoming a top side however I have my doubts
Hopefully we remain consistent this season but can’t see us getting anyway close to winning the league

Getting sick of seeing City outplaying us at least once every season at OT

I think last night was a little reality check. When they play well, they’ll still a cut above us.

We’re progressing, but we also need to be aware of getting too excited too soon or it’s gonna be painful bump back down to earth. Six weeks ago we were worried for Ole’s job. Six weeks from now this apparent title bid could be all over the place. This isn’t to be negative, it’s just the reality of how tight the league.

The bigger picture is that we’re more consistent and we are steadily getting better every 6-12 months. We’re all looking for progress and that’s progress. I don’t buy the bottling semis narrative. We played a good team and lost. If we’d drawn Brentford, we’d be in a final. It wouldn’t mean we’d gone one step further or progressed, it would be because we drew Brentford instead of City.

It’s shit. Losing to them is shit, but the league is the main thing. It’s the main indicator or progression and if we can add 10-15 points to last season and stay competitive around the top, not being £#%&!ing 30 points off the top all season, then that would be progress.

We have a chance to go top next week for the first time since Fergie left (not counting 1 or 2 games into a season). That’s something we’d have all taken at the start of the season.

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

Martial and maguire both had chances to score too. Rashford Bruno martial pogba were all lacking a sharpness/killer instinct .

Driving me mad this season how many times he gets his head on the ball at corners vs how many times he converts. he's terrible. Might as well keep him back at corners.

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

we lost because of two individual errors on set plays

or we lost because we gave away a ridiculous and unnecessary foul in a dangerous area and because we are not organised enough on a set piece to have someone on the edge of the area to close down anyone who gets the ball from a clearance.

either way, it is laughable that we are top of the league (and there is no way we will win it), but it can't be denied that our record over the last twelve months has been awesome, if you ignore all of the actual performances. with a shit midfield. ole is, indeed, working miracles. without doing anything sensible.

Originally Posted by believe

If you don't think losing a semi final to City is a big deal I'm not sure why you bother to watch us at all.

indeed. the apathy is seeping from the players to the fans.

Originally Posted by silv

indeed. the apathy is seeping from the players to the fans.

It's the carabao cup. It feels like we go out at the semis every year ffs. Used to it. Can't even remember the score last time we won the trophy.

Originally Posted by shenwen

Driving me mad this season how many times he gets his head on the ball at corners vs how many times he converts. he's terrible. Might as well keep him back at corners.

Yep. We really don’t attack headers at all. They made those chances look far more difficult than they were. Not a set piece, but that Rashford one at Leicester in the first minute was awful. Just a casual nod towards goals. Last nights were similar. Put your head through it ffs. Attack it with some oomph.

Originally Posted by believe

If you don't think losing a semi final to City is a big deal I'm not sure why you bother to watch us at all.

It is a big deal, just a little perspective. Of Course losing any semifinal regardless of city or not is crap.

But we clearly have a team which needs players,we werent outplayed last night . Two stupid moments. The game is over , whats the point crying over it once its done. Move onto the next game. We are currently punching above our weight considering our premier league position , hopefully it continues..

We have a team which produces inconsistant performances so expect inconsistant results. Until we get a few players this will not change.

We lost , we deserved to lose, onto the next game.

Originally Posted by Dasilvatwins

It is a big deal, just a little perspective. Of Course losing any semifinal regardless of city or not is crap.

But we clearly have a team which needs players,we werent outplayed last night . Two stupid moments. The game is over , whats the point crying over it once its done. Move onto the next game. We are currently punching above our weight considering our premier league position , hopefully it continues..

We have a team which produces inconsistant performances so expect inconsistant results. Until we get a few players this will not change.

We lost , we deserved to lose, onto the next game.

And if this team has shown anything it’s that it usually responds pretty well to a defeat. Our form has been excellent recently. We had to lose sometime and when we did, it was narrowly to an inform City. It sucks, but it doesn’t require some massive inquest and condemnation.

The games keep coming and we have a chance to be top of the table this time next week. That’s a fantastic position to be in. We can call it a false position and we might not stay there, but it’s testament to our consistency in the last few months. And this has carried over from last season.

Hugely disappointing result, and performance.

The difference in comfort in possession between our 'midfielders' and all City's players was disgusting tbh. Fred and The Scottish Player are useful players, but £#%&! me we need some actual footballers comfortable on the ball in midfield. Have to say the tenacity and efficiency in the tackle and when winning the ball back from all City's players is streets ahead of ours as well. There was definitely a huge difference in sharpness between the 2 teams, we looked leggy and they didn't. Too often our player's first instinct was to come back towards their own goal and consolidate possession rather than push forward.

Bruno isn't a midfielder. He's more like a second striker. He gives the ball away far too often and quite a lot of the time poorly, which means he needs a solid base behind him, which no 2 of Pogba, The Scottish Player, Fred, Matic, or DvdB is sufficient against the better sides imo. Even against Villa, we're giving the ball away and falling under repeated pressure and struggling to get the ball back and gain control of possession. I understand they want to transition from defence to attack quickly, but they're just too sloppy with it the majority of the time. In short; we need better midfielders.

Rashford isn't and never has been any good on the right. Think we lost every time Mou tried him there, he hasn't got better. Buy a proper right sided attacker ffs. Now. We need players capable of beating a man in attack, desperately.

We can't keep conceding sloppy set piece goals and getting away with it. Sort it out ffs. either ditch this zonal shit, or get it right.

Originally Posted by shenwen

It's the carabao cup. It feels like we go out at the semis every year ffs. Used to it. Can't even remember the score last time we won the trophy.

3-2, Ibra in the last few minutes

Although to me it was 3-0 as I missed both Southampton goals either side of half time down on the concourse

Ahhh cup finals, those were the days

Fred and The Scottish Player are both very good solid Premier League players but you can see the difference in class with the top players.

Martial seemed isolated a lot of the time - the shape didn't seem right.

Must be tempting to stick a man marker on de Bruyne as we did sometimes with Hazard and didn't Fergie use Pip sometimes in that role.

Originally Posted by dunk

Hugely disappointing result, and performance.

The difference in comfort in possession between our 'midfielders' and all City's players was disgusting tbh. Fred and The Scottish Player are useful players, but £#%&! me we need some actual footballers comfortable on the ball in midfield. Have to say the tenacity and efficiency in the tackle and when winning the ball back from all City's players is streets ahead of ours as well. There was definitely a huge difference in sharpness between the 2 teams, we looked leggy and they didn't. Too often our player's first instinct was to come back towards their own goal and consolidate possession rather than push forward.

Bruno isn't a midfielder. He's more like a second striker. He gives the ball away far too often and quite a lot of the time poorly, which means he needs a solid base behind him, which no 2 of Pogba, The Scottish Player, Fred, Matic, or DvdB is sufficient against the better sides imo. Even against Villa, we're giving the ball away and falling under repeated pressure and struggling to get the ball back and gain control of possession. I understand they want to transition from defence to attack quickly, but they're just too sloppy with it the majority of the time. In short; we need better midfielders.

Rashford isn't and never has been any good on the right. Think we lost every time Mou tried him there, he hasn't got better. Buy a proper right sided attacker ffs. Now. We need players capable of beating a man in attack, desperately.

We can't keep conceding sloppy set piece goals and getting away with it. Sort it out ffs. either ditch this zonal shit, or get it right.

well... yes, but.... pogba, like bruno, needs a solid base behind him, because he keeps giving the ball away and is more like a deep forward. and no two-man midfield works. fred, bless his little heart, cost more than partey.

also, part of the reason city's midfield showed more "tenacity" was that fernandinho kept going through the back of people at the inception of any attack and didn't get sent off. meanwhile, mctog's ridiculous and unnecessary hug on sterling in a dangerous area led to the free kick from which they scored. stupid reffing and stupid players.

Originally Posted by shenwen

It's the carabao cup. It feels like we go out at the semis every year ffs. Used to it. Can't even remember the score last time we won the trophy.

3-2 about 4 years ago ffs

No one can defy gravity
Bruno and Rashford need a rest, but Ole so keen to win a trophy we play full strength teams in the cups.
Now I hope we don’t go into the slump we have fallen into before.
it’s the league and only the league that counts this season.
I hope Woodward doesn’t use this as an excuse not to invest in the team and let all the air out of the balloon again.

Originally Posted by puressence

3-2 about 4 years ago ffs

I had to google.
says more about me tbf

As someone has said the shape wasn't right. Its tough though because in general we matched them and I do think city have a lot more respect for us.

I'd have maybe got another forward on earlier and got a proper front 3 together.

The midfield lacked quality so maybe he could have taken The Scottish Player or Fred off earlier and pushed Pogba back but then city could have ran riot.

Rest players on Saturday then go for it against Burnley and Liverpool. City have an easy run of games now but then in Feb they have 3 back to back tough games.

We were setup ok, individual performances let us down.

If Bruno, Pogba and Martial showed up we would have won. It was setup for all 3 to thrive but it didn't happen. Such is luck.

Disappointing result but hard to get angry about it.

Originally Posted by Lok

We were setup ok, individual performances let us down.

If Bruno, Pogba and Martial showed up we would have won. It was setup for all 3 to thrive but it didn't happen. Such is luck.

Disappointing result but hard to get angry about it.

Yeah, this is where I'm at. Our best players had a bit of an off night, that coupled with 2 shit set piece goals conceded and you get what happened. Shit happens, move on. We'd beaten the @#%&!s the last 3 times we played them before last night. We're improving. Get a couple of top class signings in the summer and we'll be closer still next year.