Man Utd Vs Chelsea (PL) Sun 16/04 2017 KO 16:00 GMT

[old git]

7 hours ago, DELBY said:

The worst performance since the Arsenal loss. We were just not at it. Costa is contributing nothing at the moment. We still have a small cushion with 4 points ahead and it's fortunate we play our next match against Southampton before Spurs play theirs. We will have to regroup and these players will have to show more hunger and desire than they did today if we want to win this title. That said Spurs will still drop points no matter how good they look at the moment.

I thought we played like a team that is feeling the pressure. Even Conte was subdued in the technical area. Lately, it's like playing with ten men with Costa in the team. He's a complete waste of space. If Conte has no confidence in the ability of Batshiuyi, I'd rather have Loftus -Cheek playing as a number 9 than that sloth. This kid is a similar player to Rashford, has a physical presence, has far more pace and has an eye for goal, he needs a proper chance to start rather than being brought on a couple of minutes before the end

[STATS]

This match also showed me a lot of things. We need a Pogba/Dembele type of player to gain more control of midfield. Kante is class but you can see that he is not a player who can dictate a tempo of the game, shield the ball and lay of passes. If we could get a player who controls the game Like Dembele it would help us because it is worrying how we could not string any passes together. Kante needs this type of player alongside him. He will run all day and win tackles but we don't have a real ball keeper and today showed because without Fabregas there was no one who was comfortable in keeping ball. Matic can but is clumsy.

This is why Spurs are winning matches so easily atm and keeping clean sheets while scoring for fun. They got a midfield destroyer in Wanyama while Dembele is the one who dictates tempo and passes it to the more potent attackers. It is really brilliant tactics from Poch. Allows them to dominate possession and you can see why they are just on another level this season. It is why when we play Spurs, I fear them more than any other team. Look how much Kante struggled in the two games this season against them. And because we don't have players like Wanyama/Dembele we will be dominated for large periods next week looking to counter. Could work but also annoying to see your team being outplayed.

United just dominated us all game and it was worrying.

[just]

5 hours ago, cuppaT said:

In important areas like Striker and midfield we've zero options to change things. Cesc vs Matic is about the only regular swap, and only one of them can run. 

Not true. We have options, whether they will be better or not is up for debate and we won't know until we try them, but we have options. At the moment Antonio chooses not to use them.

Personally, for me, RLC or Chalabah would start every game centrally before Matic and Batshuyi would be getting the nod over Costa.

[enigma]

 

[JM7]

I think the manner of the defeat that is the worst. Cystal Palace fair enough, we dominated but just couldn't break them down. Yesterday, we deserved nothing. If anything, we flattered United. 

Seeing Conte so flat is a worry. He came across as defeatist which is not like him. 

Neville's point about Alonso's was interesting. He said he can't believe that we're that highly tuned that Alonso has such a massive impact - not to the extent of yesterday anyway. 

Hopefully, the player will reflect and pull themselves together. At the minute, we don't look like champions - we look found out. 

[EdinburghBlue]

7 hours ago, cuppaT said:

In important areas like Striker and midfield we've zero options to change things. Cesc vs Matic is about the only regular swap, and only one of them can run. 

Surely not referring to Matic? He's slower than a week in the jail, the only difference between him and Cesc is he's huge so it's strides are much bigger, but he's certainly not fast IMO.

 

So is Cesc admittedly but I've never understood the comments about Cesc's running because Matic to me has always been equally slow.

[Don Conte]

The problem is we have no subs for alonso or moses in a 343. We shd switch to a different formation when either is out instead of putting square pegs in round holes

[dellaw]

i dont understand why in big games we never line up to attack if we keep sitting back against the big teams we will keep getting beat So alonso was sick just bring in ake and get on wth it dont move moses to left  bye doing that we lost both attacking wings and invitd united o to us giving are midfield no chance as they always had options i advanced positions to pass to as we did not sorry this one is Conte fault  

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by dellaw

[old git]

3 hours ago, STATS said:

This match also showed me a lot of things. We need a Pogba/Dembele type of player to gain more control of midfield. Kante is class but you can see that he is not a player who can dictate a tempo of the game, shield the ball and lay of passes. If we could get a player who controls the game Like Dembele it would help us because it is worrying how we could not string any passes together. Kante needs this type of player alongside him. He will run all day and win tackles but we don't have a real ball keeper and today showed because without Fabregas there was no one who was comfortable in keeping ball. Matic can but is clumsy.

This is why Spurs are winning matches so easily atm and keeping clean sheets while scoring for fun. They got a midfield destroyer in Wanyama while Dembele is the one who dictates tempo and passes it to the more potent attackers. It is really brilliant tactics from Poch. Allows them to dominate possession and you can see why they are just on another level this season. It is why when we play Spurs, I fear them more than any other team. Look how much Kante struggled in the two games this season against them. And because we don't have players like Wanyama/Dembele we will be dominated for large periods next week looking to counter. Could work but also annoying to see your team being outplayed.

United just dominated us all game and it was worrying.

We could have had Dembele for buttons when he was at Fulham. Someone at the club didn't recognise his talent and passed him over.

[CFCCAN]

16 hours ago, bluedave said:

 

Thanks for spoiling the Grand Prix by the way. Was going to watch it later.

 

Sorry for not being a mind reader....should have sent a PM ahead of time.

[bluedave]

8 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Sorry...

Very mature of you - apology accepted.

[STATS]

40 minutes ago, old git said:

We could have had Dembele for buttons when he was at Fulham. Someone at the club didn't recognise his talent and passed him over.

Poch has developed him into a quality CM. He is so underrated. Brilliant player and someone we could do with.

[Mod]

I keep seeing how good United were, Jose masterclass etc etc 

I didn't even think they were that good at all, we were just terrible.

Any team would have beaten us, some by a lot more than 2-0 just by the way we played.

They missed countless chances. One goal by a handball we should've been given and the other a deflection while Cahill was picking his Mrs up off the floor!

Courtois would have saved at the very least 1 of the 2.

I don't think they were good, any other team in form would've come away from there with 3 points or a draw.

[The Brit]

Been too angry, too gutted to post since my horrible trip to old trafford until now...can't go through the agony of watching the game back, or tuning in to sky sports news to see them gleefully talking about us choking...it just felt we gave up yesterday from the moment courtois and alonso were ruled out and then they score a goal that should have been disallowed cos of a blatant handball...the lack of fight and character shocked me the most and we looked a very limited team...with costa now well off the boil and hazard man marked, where was the magic going to come from? Conte's lack of subs at half-time shocked me too, sent out the wrong message that the first half display was ok...dare I say it, but he looked a bit startled by what was going on too.

I don't care how we beat spurs on saturday, but we just have to...there is more than the fa cup final at stake here..if we lose to them, you have to worry about what it will do our fragile morale

 

[ashwin]

Worrying... Alonso is so vital at the moment. Just hope our defence stays fit for the rest of the season. All others have good replacements at the moment.

[g3.7]

Feels like our season hinges on that game now. 

 

Incredible really. At the start of the season 4 points clear of 5th would have been good, but now we can't shy away from the truth : losing the title would be a massive, massive blow and would probably affect us badly well into the future. 

 

[timetowaste]

All I can say is I think we have been very fortunate to have not had to deal with many injuries this season, two players were different yesterday and we looked like the same team that finished 10th. The summer transfer window needs to be a very busy one.

[Brutos]

We will get it done we will get there this is just adding to the spice of the premier league. Tottenham will get the same treatment at old Trafford, at Leicester at hull. Then they have 3 London derbies

[Ukraine Bolt]

I was trying to stay away from the match day thread but thought i'd come in and give my view of things:

1) If Alonso is unavailable Ake has to play there. A natural left foot, athletic and has experience at full back. Square pegs in round holes don't work. Playing a right footer on the left hand side makes it easy for the opponent because they don't want to get wide and hit balls into the box. Ake proved he was good enough at Watford and Bournemouth and should be on the bench ahead of Terry now. 

2) Leading into my next point. Ake should be on the bench over Terry. The only thing Terry offers now if his presence and he can still travel with the squad and offer that without taking a place on the bench. Ake has the versatility to cover a number of positions and Terry doesn't suit 3 at the back at all as proven with Zouma constantly picked over him.

3) Costa NEEDS to be dropped. It isn't just that he isn't scoring but his play is beyond atrocious. I'm going to leave it at that and carry my Costa rant over on the Diego thread.

4) Matic isn't good enough for a two man midfield. He's slow, struggles to dribble, isn't creative. This is the second most important position to upgrade in summer behind ST as i firmly believe Costa will leave. Get someone in with an all round game. At the moment i'd choose any of Cesc, Chalo or Ruben over him. 

5) The club needs to do everything in their power to keep Courtois in the summer and in future in general. Having Begovic in net really makes you realise just how much of a fantastic keeper Tbo is. 

6) Conte has to take some of the blame for the defeat. We've become predictable with the same players all season. Its good when its working but the last few games there has been sides of it not quite clicking and Costa has been needing to be dropped for a while. 

Yesterday has certainly made the run in nerve racking and Spurs will be breathing down our back until the very end now. With the games they have left i still believe we will win the league but certain players really need to pull their socks up and knuckle down now. Beating Utd 3 times in one season would have been a miracle mind you. 

[The Brit]

^ regarding your point about utd, you're right...and as I said in build-up, Jose was always going to be fired up for this...he couldn't afford to lose to his old club for a third time...the defeat that has really hurt us was palace...we created enough to win that game and defended both goals poorly...but for that we'd still be seven points clear

[General]

Arrived in Manc land with a 4 point lead, left with it.

The windows shut, the manager has a pecking order, up until yesterday he got most of the critical path decisions correct, yesterday he played Dave when it could of been Ake, lost the game 2-0 for a culmination of factors - this was one of them, Costa not scoring regularly is another, Tibo injured, Spuds applying pressure, handball for their 1st, Hazard not showing up etc.etc.

The team has over-performed to date to put it into this still brilliant position, 4 points ahead with 6 games to go, yes more players are needed in, but you cant have your cake & eat it, we have younger ex-academy players in the squad whereas 2 of the main rivals - City & United have much better squads, and the main rivals Spuds have worked out how to build a squad to nearly win the prem but fail in Europe, bottom line is its not easy to win the premier league nowadays or manage a squad expected to compete on 4 fronts. Antonio now saying title is now 50/50 is just a kick up the backside to the players. So we now play in this order - Soton (H), Everton (A), Boro (H), WBA (A), Watford (H), Sunderland (H).

Lets forget about what Spuds will do, one game looks tricky (Toffees) we have one more 'get out of jail free card' left, 4 home games 2 away , the last 2 games when points may be needed are at home, to beatable teams. Come May the 21st only need to be ahead of Spuds by 1 bleeding point like in 2010 - keep the faith.

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by General

[The Leigh Limpet]

6 hours ago, Brutos said:

We will get it done we will get there this is just adding to the spice of the premier league. Tottenham will get the same treatment at old Trafford, at Leicester at hull. Then they have 3 London derbies

Not that it will make a difference, but they have Man Utd at home ( not away ) after the London derbies. Although they have more away games, this will probably suit their game better, as there will be more space to exploit.
Bottom line is, we have an easier finish to the season, and I still think we're win the League with a few points to spare.

 

[g3.7]

9 minutes ago, The Leigh Limpet said:

Not that it will make a difference, but they have Man Utd at home ( not away ) after the London derbies. Although they have more away games, this will probably suit their game better, as there will be more space to exploit.
Bottom line is, we have an easier finish to the season, and I still think we're win the League with a few points to spare.

 

this is what I want to hear. I hope the players feel this resilient. they'll need to be. 

[coco]

Raising the hopes of the spuds fans, to the point of delirium, and then watching them blow it away to Leicester....................If the shedend did league finales..........

[gazza]

like i said at the time we should have bought at least one player in jan ,the team looks jaded