Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer/Gossip 23/24 - [New Thread Available]

FourFourRED · 29-09-2021 10:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957004#Comment_117957004

Decent cross for the goal alright, I guess that changes everything.

kerplun k · 29-09-2021 10:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117956903#Comment_117956903

Yep, and Villareal apparently finish with 2.6 XGs. Honestly I can't stop staring at it, My OCD has gone into overdrive. 😂😂😂

Drumpot · 29-09-2021 10:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957041#Comment_117957041

I don’t get those XG stats. Don’t suppose you have a simple summary?

wanderer100 · 29-09-2021 10:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957004#Comment_117957004

I've been vocal about my dislike for Fred as a player for a very long time but credit where credit is due. Came on and made an impact. Exacctly what you want your subs to do

As did all our subs in fairness. Cavani, Matic & Lingard all got themselves into the game with little time left and contributed to the winning goal.

Ole's in game management is atrocious but his substitutions worked tonight whether you like it or not

FourFourRED · 29-09-2021 10:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957046#Comment_117957046

Expected goals (xG) is a predictive model used to assess every goal-scoring chance, and the likelihood of scoring.

The chart shared earlier is the xG count against the 90 mins.

It showed that as the game went on, Villarreal had an expected goals of 2.6 but they only scored 1.

Man United had an xG of 1.21 but scored 2 goals.

Long story short, Villarreal scored less than they would have been expected to score based on their chances and Man United scored more goals than what they were expected to score.

FrankN1 · 29-09-2021 10:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957008#Comment_117957008

Who cares about them? Enjoy the night ffs. Then we can critique tomorrow.

29-09-2021 11:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957002#Comment_117957002

We can only hope. The day neither he or Martial are in the squad I might have to break out a bit of the bubbly.

EltonJohn69 · 30-09-2021 12:35AM

We probably won’t win anything but a season full of Ronaldo last minute winners wouldn’t be the worst.

TRC10 · 30-09-2021 12:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957085#Comment_117957085

In all honesty, while I'm always happy when United win, it's getting difficult to enjoy these performances at this stage.

The more times we fluke a win while playing awful, pragmatic, turgid football, the longer Ole keeps his job, the longer we go without winning anything.

Man Utd is like a social experiment where a guy from the pub is put in charge of a squad of world class players at the biggest club in the world.

To be honest, the squad is so good that the chances of us making top 4 is about 95%...

So there's a 95% chance that Ole will be our manager next season (unless Ronaldo cements his legend status by knocking on Ed Woodward's door and telling him how incompetent the manager is)

30-09-2021 05:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957008#Comment_117957008

Indeed, I would say liverpool, Chelsea and city fans were as happy, if not happier with that goal than United fans!

El Gato De Negocios · 30-09-2021 07:30AM

Serious deja vu from the 3-2 Newcastle game I mentioned yesterday. Absolute muck for most of the game but somehow pull a winner out of nothing.

The fact remains, how bad we were for most of the game cannot / should not be ignored.

Villareal were missing their first choice striker and if we give up chances like that against the likes of City, Chelsea, Spurs or LFC we'll get smashed.

Villareal are a limited team with a very astute manager in place who organises them to play to their strengths. Us on the other hand have a very good team with an extremely limited manager in charge.

It sickens me to see this charade continue week in, week out.

El Gato De Negocios · 30-09-2021 07:35AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957008#Comment_117957008

Why wouldn't they? Its as plain as day we won't compete with them while Ole is in charge. Its a huge handicap to us having Ole in charge, they know it, other rival fans know it, all United fans should know it too but alot seem to ignore it due to "good vibes". However if Boards can be used as a barometer for fan feeling, the tide has turned.

StringerBell · 30-09-2021 07:37AM

Delighted to win obviously, thank **** for individual moments of brilliance in games

Thank **** for Cavanis work rate, Fred's peach of a first time pin point cross, Lingards cleverness and ronaldos ruthlessness.

Also thank **** for Bruno's cleverness and Telles speculative technique.

De Gea still motm surely, didn't hang about for the post match shite from the manager.

We were absolutely dire, nothing quite like a last gasp winner though.

paulbok · 30-09-2021 07:48AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957072#Comment_117957072

That smells of alternative tables and "fachts".

paulbok · 30-09-2021 07:58AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957339#Comment_117957339

Isn't Woodie out the door shortly?

You are right that the squad is good enough for top 4, DM aside, but under Ole I don't share your optimism.

Pool and Chelsea are looking as the two who will battle for the title. City should be up there too, but they are struggling a bit without an out and out striker, something I expect them to address in Jan.

As it looks to me, 4th place will be as good as it gets for us. Going to drop too many points even by Xmas, to keep up with those 3.

S.M.B. · 30-09-2021 08:18AM

Did anyone get to see much of the Chelsea game last night? Apparently they were pretty poor against a Juve side that were in the relegation zone only a week ago. I also didn't see the weekends game but from what I hear they barely layed a glove on City.

Last night was poor, and it wasn't the first poor performance this season but other clubs are having their issues too.

I'm curious to see what this difficult run of fixtures has in store for us now. I'm hoping it's the last we see of a McT/Pogba midfield along with the Fred/Pogba combination we saw earlier this season. I think Ole massively underestimated Villareals ambition last night and it took him a long time to adjust.

Our season's hopes will be down to whether we can win against other top 6 teams as much as it is about getting maximum points against the rest of the league.

30-09-2021 08:23AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957524#Comment_117957524

Bruno trusting Telles to do that comes from training and getting to know the strengths of your teammates. You also learn the weaknesses in training so are better equipped to cover for them.

Unfortunately the players and management at United seem more concerned with the individual rather than the collective so when Sancho picks up the ball, he's expected to beat 2 players and pelt one into the top corner or eye of the needle a cross (crossing generally not his game). What other winger at a top team is expected to do this much individually?

Ultimately it comes down to tactics and training and both seem to be very much lacking at United at the moment.

Drumpot · 30-09-2021 08:37AM

Thinking about Lingard and Donny and how h unhappy they are being left out of the first team. Good. It’s about time there was some competition for places and players were uncomfortable with how hard it was to break into the team.

Don’t get me wrong , Id like to see Donny get some game time , but for so long there was at best a starting 11 and f**k all else for a United manager.

Last nights performance up to the Villarreal goal was truly abysmal. On another night the game is over by that stage. How the team pulled it together and kept going was quite remarkable really.

The way they really pushed up on Villarreal in the last 10-15 mins was potentially a match hack for the future, at least in Europe where you can unload a load of fresh players (like Cavani) who will put a tired defence under immense pressure.

Others can comment on the manager , there are huge red flags that we all know about but I think the next few weeks fixtures may decide his fate. Just look at that run of games after the Everton game, even the Arsenal one looks tough the way they are building some momentum:

Leicester A

Atalanta H

Liverpool H

Spurs A

Atalanta A

City H

Watford A

Villareal A

Chelsea A

Arsenal H

After those games we get a real sense of how the season will go and whether Ole has any capacity to even “last minute fluke” his way to something. If United are a point or two off top and qualify out of group after that period can there really be much complaints? Be hilarious if Ole could somehow win a top trophy in spite of all the issues highlighted.

Interestingly , if things have gone off the rails at this stage , there is a massive opportunity to replace Ole and the new manager wouldn’t have any tough looking league game until March.

Drumpot · 30-09-2021 08:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957616#Comment_117957616

I didn’t see it but noticed Kante was missing. It’s easy to look at Spurs result and think Chelsea were awesome and Tuchel showed some sort of tactical masterclass to change things at HT (after poor first) but Kante came on in second half and changed it entirely. He is literally a game changer.

Chelsea very fortunate that Kante will only miss that game and Southampton at home cause he seems to be integral to how they perform.

StringerBell · 30-09-2021 08:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957623#Comment_117957623

Interesting, so you're saying its something they work on during international training :)

I woke up happy today, Moments FC rides on.

StringerBell · 30-09-2021 08:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957676#Comment_117957676

Kante is an absolute superstar, probably my favourite player in the game of football the last few years. Real shame he plays for them of course.

Mantis Toboggan · 30-09-2021 08:59AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957676#Comment_117957676

Ah yeah the tactical masterclass of bringing on one of the best midfielders in the world!!

If I was a Chelsea fan I'd be asking questions about why he wasn't starting in the first place.

30-09-2021 09:02AM

Lunchtime kick-off on Saturday will show how much Ole trusts his squad as a collective. There is no reason why we couldn't go with a team like the below (assuming Maguire & Shaw still out) and spring changes from the bench if needed but we all know how it normally plays out.

De Gea

Wan Bissaka

Telles

Varane

Lindelof

Fred

Donny

Fernandes

Sancho

Lingard

Cavani

That gives some players a chance to impress and also more minutes while keeping Ronaldo, Pogba & Greenwood in reserve if changes are needed while giving them a bit of a break.

30-09-2021 09:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957616#Comment_117957616

I didn’t see the game but really there is no comparison with our poor and theirs. They were well beat by city but they can do that to anyone and juve away is always a tough game. They have beat some good teams already and generally look like a well coached team, ourselves on the other hand rely on some good keeping, a lot of luck and an occasional piece of individual skill.

Drumpot · 30-09-2021 09:07AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957713#Comment_117957713

I agree, kante is just superb, if United could sign any player in the world, he would be the one who would give this squad the most. United will probably buy him when he’s 32 and his legs have started to go!!

Again look at Chelsea with Matic (at his peak) and then Kante bought while Matic was there to replace him. Top quality midfielders replaced at the right time, no drop in quality. United just dont ever do that, it’s usually players bought cause there’s a deficiency in an area for ages.

30-09-2021 09:23AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957706#Comment_117957706

Haha maybe I didn't put that the best way but there does seem to be a bit of a Portuguese (speaking) clique at the team who train and hang around with each other more than the others. Bruno is always putting Instagram posts up with him and Fred/Telles. I've noticed that Bruno seems to play better with Fred on the pitch as Fred looks for him a lot more.

The rest of the team looked like they rolled out of bed the last few games and only met the day of the match. This has been a consistent theme for years across managers and I don't know how it is still the case.

30-09-2021 09:25AM

Probably rename the club Momentchester Utd as long as Ole is in charge 😅

30-09-2021 09:42AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957616#Comment_117957616

The performance & tactics last night has been witnessed regularly for 3 years of his tenure now. It isn't a 'couple of weeks' thing or a 'blip' thing.

akelly02 · 30-09-2021 09:45AM

Didnt see the match last night.

Heard Cavani and Matic made good impacts off the bench .

How did the back 4 get on?

Also would like to hear thoughts on how Pogba got on in a 2 man midfield and did Sancho have much impact after starting a game rather than coming on.

Lord TSC · 30-09-2021 09:45AM

5 goals in 5 games for Ronaldo now. And from what I can see. All five were when we were either drawing or losing. No stat padding from him. I know it possibly won’t last but having him back and scorin such important goals is so awesome.

Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer/Gossip 23/24 - [New Thread Available]

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