1 minute ago, Dixon said:

He's not a magician tho! It wont make that much difference who he plays with this current squad! We're a good 6 first choice players short and a couple of seasons from being title contenders. Defence  - Alonso is better going forward than defending. Dave's legs are starting to go. Luiz is same old Luiz and has been very lucky his errors have not cost us half a dozen points already. Midfield knocks it around nicely in non danger zone and does feck all else. And then we get to our strikers...eeek!!!!!  Sarri is doing as well as anyone could with a team being carried by one player.

You don't have to be a magician to realise that players like Morata & Willian don't grow into the game, Morata was terrible from the get-go and ruining all of our chances to break through on the final 3rd. Willian was also getting worse as the game goes on, something that he has always done since he has played in a blue shirt, as long as I can remember Willian does not grow into a game, he's an impact player. 

Keeping both those players on for so long particularly Morata ruined our momentum and I really think they massively factored into United getting two goals (as stupid as that might sound) 

31 minutes ago, Slojo said:

How did we go from disagreeing with each other all the time to agreeing with each other all the time? 

Don't worry, i'll drop an Alonso rant later and give you something to moan about 

we need a world class player besides Hazard, the team looked lost when Hazard is out of the game 

Willian or Pedro one of them needs to be replaced and  a Striker is a must 

Just now, RIP Mourinho said:

Don't worry, i'll drop an Alonso rant later and give you something to moan about 

It's a shame that I rate Emerson, otherwise, I could have berated you about him not being good enough. 

You know damn well how the media will spin this..........nevermind the fa and refs. Get ready, its coming. One of the reasons I utterly hate these useless breaks......it throws you off your game. I see why we were after Rugani.....as good as Luiz can be, he makes some weird sh*t on and off. He is good but can only get worse. We could and should have tried Cavani, would have given us 2 good seasons. How the Club thought we were good and set is amazing.......every single top team have better and more strikers than us........even arsenal have 3, 2 being quality ones, we have squad.

2 minutes ago, Slojo said:

You don't have to be a magician to realise that players like Morata & Willian don't grow into the game, Morata was terrible from the get-go and ruining all of our chances to break through on the final 3rd. Willian was also getting worse as the game goes on, something that he has always done since he has played in a blue shirt, as long as I can remember Willian does not grow into a game, he's an impact player. 

Keeping both those players on for so long particularly Morata ruined our momentum and I really think they massively factored into United getting two goals (as stupid as that might sound) 

In the past, Willian made up for his lack of offensive thrust by putting in a good, solid, workmanlike shift - he could also come up with a pearler of a goal even when his general play was anonymous.

These days though, he doesn't quite display the defensive energy of old and like you said, he can no longer seem to stamp his mark if he starts out anonymously.

I think his time at the club is slowly drawing to a close. 

19 minutes ago, BenCFC19 said:

And secondly, I love this club and am very proud to be a supporter, but it's hard to be proud on a day like this when you have such a disgraceful atmosphere. I am embarrassed by the fact 40,000 fans could not even muster a sound despite the fact we're second in the league, playing great football and up against one of our biggest domestic rivals. Maybe I just think differently than the fans who go regularly, but I could not fathom going to watch a game like this and not making a noise or trying to show your support. We have to be better, because sometimes we're pathetic 

Were you at the game? I agree the atmosphere wasn’t great today but early Saturday games rarely are probably due to a lack of pre-drinking time!

I barely heard the away fans despite being right next to them, they should be more embarrassed than us. 

3 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Were you at the game? I agree the atmosphere wasn’t great today but early Saturday games rarely are probably due to a lack of pre-drinking time!

I barely heard the away fans despite being right next to them, they should be more embarrassed than us. 

No I wasn't, but I agree the start time definitely has something to do with it, though for me today was just another in a long list of disappointing SB atmospheres

Edited October 20, 20187 yr by BenCFC19

Hard to believe we're top of the league after reading some of the comments in here.

6 minutes ago, DaRick said:

In the past, Willian made up for his lack of offensive thrust by putting in a good, solid, workmanlike shift - he could also come up with a pearler of a goal even when his general play was anonymous.

These days though, he doesn't quite display the defensive energy of old and like you said, he can no longer seem to stamp his mark if he starts out anonymously.

I think his time at the club is slowly drawing to a close. 

I didn't rate him then though, in Mourinho's 2nd season Willian played about 37 games and a sh*t load of minutes and he only had 3-5 goals and 4 assists to his name in the league. He was just a workhorse, always in second gear when it came to attacking. That for me was Willians worst season, his first season and his first season under Conte were Willian's best seasons, when he didn't play as much and came off the bench and fought for his place. He was also our best player in Mourinho's 3rd season but I don't think he was particularly good then like many say. 

I still rate Willian, I just don't think he should ever be a nailed on starter, Pedro should have that luxury over him because Pedro is unpredictable, he can score out of nowhere and grab an assist, he will work defenders for over an hour a day quite comfortably. 

3 minutes ago, EmeraldBlue said:

Hard to believe we're top of the league after reading some of the comments in here.

You can bet your behind its highly likely spurs pool city ars will all grab 3pts come soon.......we undo ourselves at crucial times.....the Club aint much better at it. This was a victory for utd not us.

20 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

when last season ended and we suffered the prolonged uncertainty about Conte / a new manager I never imagined for one second that we'd be unbeaten after 9 games and (for the moment) top of the table

    

That's a good point. We may have a couple of problem areas in the squad but overall we should be extremely happy with how things are going right now. Not least of which is that we are playing some delightful football at times.

Mind you, given we started Willian and morata it is not surprising we were found to be toothless up front and hazard got no support.

Somewhat a disrespectful team selection from Sarri really. Putting in substandard players for big game players like Giroud and Pedro. He must have read this thread and expected a 4-0 win lol. United have been pretty poor but still 

Despite our first half lead we’d created little of note. Morata was reaching a new level of awful and Willian was playing like he’d left his brain at home. 

Two bad calls from Sarri. Giroud and Pedro start and we win that game comfortably. 

Credit to Barkley for being in the right place at the death and Luiz for the header, somewhat making up for going AWOL for their first goal. 

Good point in the end but Sarri needs to bite the bullet in future. Not sure he can just keep starting Morata and hoping he’s turned a corner. He hasn’t and he won’t. I’d start Pedro and Hudson- Odoi over Willian too. 

Edited October 20, 20187 yr by Socrates

45 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Class is important buddy, we give to people what they give to us, Mourinho gave us 3 damn good seasons and 5 good years at this club, he always deserves some respect off our fans and staff especially. If one of our staff members truly did something I hope action is taken. 

It's that type of tribal mentality that clubs like Liverpool always support that we berate them for, we're bigger than this. 

Couldn’t have said it better. Thanks Slojo. 

When you have alot of the possession and the oppostition team is sitting back then Pedro is a good player to have in the team. He makes intelligent runs for players like Jorginho, can go either way and shoot with either foot. Willian is too predictable and static in the final third.

We are still better off than we ever could have hoped for this season, we are top after all (for a couple of hours anyway)
 

One minus for me is deffo Morata.. If I never see him in a Chelsea shirt again I wont be disappointed !!

Well that's guaranteed Pedro and Giroud playing next time...

53 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Poor result at home against a team that is not playing well. Last minute face saver not withstanding.

And that is why Sarri says we are a step behind city and liverpool. Very disappointing.

Totally agree also this means we have played Arsenal , Liverpool and Utd all at home with only 1 win 

6 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I didn't rate him then though, in Mourinho's 2nd season Willian played about 37 games and a sh*t load of minutes and he only had 3-5 goals and 4 assists to his name in the league. He was just a workhorse, always in second gear when it came to attacking. That for me was Willians worst season, his first season and his first season under Conte were Willian's best seasons, when he didn't play as much and came off the bench and fought for his place. He was also our best player in Mourinho's 3rd season but I don't think he was particularly good then like many say. 

I still rate Willian, I just don't think he should ever be a nailed on starter, Pedro should have that luxury over him because Pedro is unpredictable, he can score out of nowhere and grab an assist, he will work defenders for over an hour a day quite comfortably. 

RE 2014/15, you're right in saying that he didn't pull up too many trees offensively (he did win us a game against Everton though). However, I saw him as being like the offensive equivalent of Paulo Ferreira (for want of a better comparison), in that you could usually rely on him to come in and deliver a solid 7/10 performance. He was an important cog in that title-winning side because he could be relied upon to track back, win the ball and help trigger counterattacks. TBH, In 2013/14 I thought that he was OK but I'm not sure he was actually better - he played fewer games, had nigh-on identical offensive output and got himself booked more.

I agree that his 2015/16 wasn't great. It was solid (aside from the spectacular free kicks) but it was just that everybody else (bar maybe Begovic) was sub-par at best. 

Agree about his 2016/17.

Modern Willian (patchy, not as energetic in defence, less able to stamp his mark on a game should he start poorly) IMO has been around since 2017/18. 

Giving that we were losing with a few seconds to go I’m glad we got a point. Yet i had a bad feeling in general about this game for some odd reason. I said before the game that with United seeming wounded and unpredictable that makes them dangerous.

 

 

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, DannyLB said:

Couldn’t have said it better. Thanks Slojo. 

No problem, but we need to be serious here. 

If this was Liverpool we know their fans would be defending it, Exhibit A: The Suarez T-Shirts. We called them out on that, how can we defend this? It's that sort of tribal nonsense that showcases the blatant hypocrisy of clubs & supporters. I didn't like how Arsenal fans (particularly Piers Morgan) were celebrating Wenger assaulting Jose in the technical area. That was totally classless, but if you slammed Wenger and Arsenal supporters for that and you're fine with one of our coaches trying to wind up Jose after he conceded a goal at the very end you're a hypocrite, it's that simple. 

We're better than this and we should know that's not the right thing to do, I hope our club apologises to Jose and takes action against that Assistant. 

36 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Were you at the game? I agree the atmosphere wasn’t great today but early Saturday games rarely are probably due to a lack of pre-drinking time!

I barely heard the away fans despite being right next to them, they should be more embarrassed than us. 

Interesting you say that Munkworth, I often wonder whether the effects mics are turned up more on the away supporters. On the TV for most of the second half you could only here United.

On a separate note, glad that Sarri and his assistant apologised. Good form. We don't disrespect a guy who won us a first title in 50 years. 

12 minutes ago, DaRick said:

RE 2014/15, you're right in saying that he didn't pull up too many trees offensively (he did win us a game against Everton though). However, I saw him as being like the offensive equivalent of Paulo Ferreira (for want of a better comparison), in that you could usually rely on him to come in and deliver a solid 7/10 performance. He was an important cog in that title-winning side because he could be relied upon to track back, win the ball and help trigger counterattacks. TBH, In 2013/14 I thought that he was OK but I'm not sure he was actually better - he played fewer games, had nigh-on identical offensive output and got himself booked more.

I agree that his 2015/16 wasn't great. It was solid (aside from the spectacular free kicks) but it was just that everybody else (bar maybe Begovic) was sub-par at best. 

Agree about his 2016/17.

Modern Willian (patchy, not as energetic in defence, less able to stamp his mark on a game should he start poorly) IMO has been around since 2017/18. 

The goal against Everton was extremely fortunate though, it took a deflection, their keeper had no chance. Willian would on average deliver a 6/10, 7/10 performance every game of the season then. I think he thrives when he has competition and when he comes on against slower legs, that's when he's best utilised and we have a lot of evidence over recent years to support that theory. 

He's always been a patchy player, he's a squad player lets be honest, and he's fooling himself if he thinks he can go to Barcelona and start games. 

We really need to take a step back and realised we are 4 months in with a new manager new system new philosophy. No matter how bad United were before this game they will turn up for the big matches.

Spurs, Liverpool, city and United have been with their respective managers minimum two seasons.

People are acting like Sarri isn't aware of our deficiencies which is why he continues to tell us we are below City and pool.