Manchester United- v - Leeds United *** Matchday Thread ***

[ozleeds]

Gee glad it was another friendly and I don't have to worry! I mean cant wait for the real stuff to start.

[ozleeds]

Sorry Andy you had to watch this close-up and to the other crap around there, some things never change.

[ozleeds]

Positives
Phillips had a rest, Costa n Roberts got another game, Defence looked great when the ball was out.
Negatives
None was a superb effort all round from manager to water boy.
Super Positive
Some in here starting to say the exact same things some others have been saying and got crucified.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Not sure they had many of any players (bar Greenwood who is home grown) who cost much less than 50m and many that cost a lot more. The gulf in quality on the pitch and on the bench was pretty stark and we made things worse by have Koch (not his fault) as CDM.

The good news is we won’t play them every week but watching MOT there is a clear quality gap between the likely top 4 and the rest - thought Chelsea looked better still and Liverpool look back to normal now they have a fully fit first choice back 4.

Angus on the Square Ball last week was fairly clear the aim for this season is to stay up still - maybe they are saving up for the ground improvements. The other thing he spoke about in detail was buying players at 1 or 2 million before the become worth 15 to 20 million. Hope the fruit in the u23 ripens quickly.

Outside of the top 4 not sure there are many teams to be scared of.

[ozleeds]

Not sure they had many of any players (bar Greenwood who is home grown) who cost much less than 50m and many that cost a lot more. The gulf in quality on the pitch and on the bench was pretty stark and we made things worse by have Koch (not his fault) as CDM.

The good news is we won’t play them every week but watching MOT there is a clear quality gap between the likely top 4 and the rest - thought Chelsea looked better still and Liverpool look back to normal now they have a fully fit first choice back 4.

Angus on the Square Ball last week was fairly clear the aim for this season is to stay up still - maybe they are saving up for the ground improvements. The other thing he spoke about in detail was buying players at 1 or 2 million before the become worth 15 to 20 million. Hope the fruit in the u23 ripens quickly.

Outside of the top 4 not sure there are many teams to be scared of.

Maybe but no other team will be scared of us and keep playing like that and we won't have to worry about staying up.

[cherrypie7]

Like a colander at the back, toothless in midfield & a good impression of the TA up front - much for MB / Orta to chew over.

Good news is the goals were scored in quick succession, when the defence were in some sort of disarray. Bad news is its not going to be that easy to remedy. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals were all designed plays that bypassed the defensive midfielder Which would have been Phillips. 2nd goal - where was Ayling? With Firpo at left back, surely Ayling should have been at right back. Instead we had a line of 3 left footers as Greenwood made his run. I think this can be remedied. Not the 3rd goal. There Fernandes runs into the right channel in the penalty area, firpo correctly doesn't make the challenge, Fernandes cuts back, Cooper is now covering firpo but firpo doesn't commit to anything. He doesn't go closer, nor does he tackle, nothing, just tucks his arms behind his back daring Fernandes to shoot. Alioski would not have done this. Once he knew Cooper was covering him he would have committed to something. Alioski was many things, uncommitted was not one of them.

[Rev72]

They brought on their new 78 million pound signing and we brought on Costa..kinda tells its own story that doesn't it folks.

Not sure this O'Brien will make that much difference if Huddersfield accepts our offer of 2 packets of crisps and a small can of diet coke.

Deflated but not defeated.

MOT

[Monaco_Totty]

Good news is the goals were scored in quick succession, when the defence were in some sort of disarray. Bad news is its not going to be that easy to remedy. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals were all designed plays that bypassed the defensive midfielder Which would have been Phillips. 2nd goal - where was Ayling? With Firpo at left back, surely Ayling should have been at right back. Instead we had a line of 3 left footers as Greenwood made his run. I think this can be remedied. Not the 3rd goal. There Fernandes runs into the right channel in the penalty area, firpo correctly doesn't make the challenge, Fernandes cuts back, Cooper is now covering firpo but firpo doesn't commit to anything. He doesn't go closer, nor does he tackle, nothing, just tucks his arms behind his back daring Fernandes to shoot. Alioski would not have done this. Once he knew Cooper was covering him he would have committed to something. Alioski was many things, uncommitted was not one of them.

Positive,astute & correct as was your excellent comment post 87 of this thread.
Collect your gold star & login to Waccoe.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Rewatched the highlights so many of their goals were from us losing the ball and then exploiting the transition - with Koch in the wrong place or not tracking.

First goal - Koch doesn’t track Fernandes - suspect Phillips would have stopped that and Meslier unlucky.

Second goal again poor ball into the box and they break but quality pass and great finish.

Third goal was schoolboyesque - no challenge and the Ayling doesn’t know where the line is - crazy defending.

Fourth goal very good but again we lost the ball and had gaps.

5th goal lost the ball and then bad picking up.

Xg for Man U also 1.34 so shows how incredible some of those goals were.

Bad bad loss but on reflection we gifted them which has to be down to the set up.

Another thought - in the EFL - Bielsa briefly played 2 up front - wonder if he will ever try that again.

Robert’s at the end played a sublime ball in for Rapha - he is definitely improving just not at the rate some would like.

Phillips has to start against Everton surely and then Struijk and Koch at the back if Llorente not fit. Everton didn’t look that special so hopefully we can get back in the groove.

[norfolk white]

When they beat us last season, for the return match, Phillips man marked hernandez out of the game, if Koch was playing Phillips role why did he not do this?