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Manchester United 18/19: finishing second best

Great quote from Pogba yesterday, every bit of it a dig at Mourhino. :thumbs:
“Maybe we have just realised that we are Manchester United and we need to be at the top of the league,” he said. “You’ve seen the reaction of the players. Everyone is enjoying themselves and that’s what we need. We need to enjoy playing football, work for each other.
“We still won some games with the old manager. It’s just a different style of play. We are more offensive, we create more chances, play higher. So this is how we want to play. We want to attack. The manager wants to attack. And that’s what we are doing.”
Click to expand...
Paul Pogba shines as Manchester United swat aside lacklustre Bournemouth

Have a feeling that as soon as we come up against teams in the top 4 some of the defensive frailties will be exposed again. But for now it's just good having a reasonable expectation that we can beat any of the rest (which is of course a measure of how far united have fallen this year).

I agree with what's been said on here and elsewhere about Woodward's role and certainly the players getting to the point where they weren't putting the effort in (not so much not trying, more taking a negative mindset into the games)*. But ultimately this is about Mouhino's priority this year of blame shifting, self justification and stinking the place out. That David Squires cartoon in the guardian perfectly sums him up.

* e.g. Joe Reilly
 
chilango said:
...and 6/6. Best ever start of United manager?
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Joint with Busby, maybe? *

I remember the heady days of 85-86 - opening with ten wins on the bounce. Then Robson's shoulder went, the board agreed to sell Hughes to Barcelona, & the team collapsed into a puddle as Liverpool did the double. 'Finished fourth in a two horse race' as some scouse wag put it.




ETA * You're absolutely right, beat Busby's record today.
 
Wilf said:
Have a feeling that as soon as we come up against teams in the top 4 some of the defensive frailties will be exposed again.
Click to expand...

That still seems to be the general consensus after the clean sheet yesterday. Spurs lost to De Gea not United and so on. 11 saves is cited as evidence. But how many of them were so clean cut De Gea had to seriously distinguish himself? Not many. Or arguably even any, due his deft positioning. The lloris save against the Pogba lob probably was the pick of the entire bunch in terms of sheer dexterity.

One key moment not mentioned as far as I know was when Lindelof put his face in peril in order to win a vital header on the edge of the box. Many would have ducked out of that. He's got considerably more physical and generally looks more imposing. Not quite Vidic as yet, but the improvement is marked. Could yet prove to be a steal. If Bailly recovers his own early career form then Utd may not need to dip into the transfer fund after all.

First half Utd had the best of it, but couldn't maintain pace after 60 mins. Which points to the most damning stat from the Mourinho era: that Utd had been outrun and out sprinted by every side they had played up to that point. An improvement in terms of general stamina and the dividend is an obvious one.

Top performers: De Gea, Lindelof, Herrera, Pogba, Rashford.
 
TruXta said:
Early tip from me is you'll end up with around 75 points and 5th place.
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Another 34 points over 16 games, a thou over 2 points per game. Would be a fair bit better than Mourhino got this year, but not enough to give Solskjaer the job (unless they did something unexpected in the champs league or at least won the fa cup).
 
LiamO said:
81 and 4th for me. Ahead of Arsenal & Chelsea and behind Liverpool, Citeh and Spurs.

Any other mystic Megs fancy their chances?
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Chelsea are so damned inconsistent it's hard to tell really. Arsenal are imploding slowly again so pretty clear to me that you'll overtake them soon and stay ahead.

That said the new manager bounce will be over soon and you'll start dropping points again.
 
Weird thing to say is, there haven't been many signings in the last 18 (?) months but I'm still not sure where the team is at. Not after the last 6 games and not after the Mourhino era. First 11 at least should be at the level of fighting it out with Spurs for 3rd best in the PL. This year, every chance of 5th but I'm not convinced they'll get past Chelsea. At least Pogba's beginning to look like the player he should be.

Be nice to see Solskjaer get the job, just on the grounds of a nice bloke who played for the club getting it. However I hope to god they wait till at least close to the end of the season before deciding.
 
Joe Reilly said:
That still seems to be the general consensus after the clean sheet yesterday. Spurs lost to De Gea not United and so on. 11 saves is cited as evidence. But how many of them were so clean cut De Gea had to seriously distinguish himself? Not many. Or arguably even any, due his deft positioning. The lloris save against the Pogba lob probably was the pick of the entire bunch in terms of sheer dexterity.

One key moment not mentioned as far as I know was when Lindelof put his face in peril in order to win a vital header on the edge of the box. Many would have ducked out of that. He's got considerably more physical and generally looks more imposing. Not quite Vidic as yet, but the improvement is marked. Could yet prove to be a steal. If Bailly recovers his own early career form then Utd may not need to dip into the transfer fund after all.

First half Utd had the best of it, but couldn't maintain pace after 60 mins. Which points to the most damning stat from the Mourinho era: that Utd had been outrun and out sprinted by every side they had played up to that point. An improvement in terms of general stamina and the dividend is an obvious one.

Top performers: De Gea, Lindelof, Herrera, Pogba, Rashford.
Click to expand...

The diminished fitness levels are shocking. The cheered & jeered 'Fergie time' jokes about added minutes disguised the reality behind the threat that United posed back then - a level of fitness that let them run other teams ragged, that became more effective the longer a game progressed. I remember us talking about this long before fitness-tracking became the norm - United releasing the fat percentages of the players & Cantona was the leanest. It was still just about visible under Van Gaal, but it's faded now & needs prioritising, especially with Ole's style of fast pressing play.

The worst thing about Moyes wasn't Moyes - it was his removal of the other key members of staff responsible for fitness & training, those capable of maintaining direct links to winning ways. Big Man History at play, forgetting football is a team game, putting everything on one individual. Ole bringing Phelan back to join Carrick & Dempsey seems to acknowledge this aspect - success on the pitch involves a network of people & social relations, not one figurehead.
 
If they win the next 5 - arse, Burnley, Leicester, Fulham and then psg, he probably gets the job. Maybe even after Fulham as a positive to go into the psg game. I will of course delete this post around 10 p.m. tomorrow.
 
PSG, Chelsea and Liverpool next, which will be... fun. Could lose all 3, could win all 3. Been a long time since the latter has even been a possibility. Even if they do lose some of these, I suspect they'll do it playing in a way that doesn't leave you in despair. :)
 
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