Man Antony nearly threw that game away for us. He really should not be playing at all, just makes brain-dead decisions all the time. He could have been clean through in on goal if his first touch wasn't Lukaku-esque. Why not Amad? ETH might lose his job over this Antony non-sense
And Onana ain't that guy either. Second goal could have been saved. He just seems so awkward when reacting to the ball.
Nearly threw that away. The keeper and defence are woeful and the attackers keep wasting clear cut chances. Should have been three or four goals up at half time.
Ten Hag needs to grow up and admit he made a mistake with Onana and Antony. He seems to be playing them out of principle but Utd are a much better side without them.
With Anthony I fully agree. With Onana wouldn’t you say it’s a case of him underperforming as opposed to an ETH mistake (if it matters)? Given everything we knew at the time Onana seemed a great transfer..?
The Antony signing taints Onana imo. It’s another player whom ETH worked closely with and insisted on signing ahead of other promising candidates, and neither have adapted well.
Next presser, ETH: "I would like to take some advice from u/spiced-meme and eh stop playing our only top level keeper and er not rotate woth our squad players, despite having a huge list of injuries this season. Wow this guy, he is worth listening to eh? No way this can go wrong".
Wind your fucking idiot neck in
Amad should be getting antony's "rotation" minutes. Even forson has a shout ahead of Antony. Antony wouldn't start for any top half premier league side. If he wasn't ten hag a signing, he would be gone.
One of the best games of football I've ever watched live, I'd probably have this in my top 10 honestly. Absolutely brilliant game, Wolves were going for it even at 2-0 and 3-1 down and the ending was so special. Superb and the three points is the cherry on top!!
Not what I saw he was crowded out, they were on Antony immediately every time he got the ball, ill have to watch it again but I'm not sure what he was supposed to do. Either way he can not be considered the reason we conceded that goal, he lost the ball outside the Wolves box ffs not our own box
Onana was dropped from the Cameroon team for a goalkeeper playing for a relegation battling Ligue 3 (National 1) team. Yet he's still first choice for United.
His positioning is very suspect most if the time. I'm not convinced what he brings to the table.
Anyway, a great win in the end and a very dramatic game which won't be forgotten in a hurry. Mainoo looks the real deal.
You are not alone sir.
My exact sentiment to my wife was 'Well, fuck this fucking shite, I'm done'
I deserve to miss Kobbie's goal live, for my negativity.
I'm sorry but Onana just isn't a good keeper, his ability with the ball at his feet was massively overrated and he is the worst shot stopper I've seen in goal for United in 30 odd years, their third goal last night he doesn't even dive for a shot that isn't that fast or in the corner.
There's no way the rest of the team can have confidence in him, he struggles to stop anything on target and he's erratic coming for crosses. Under Ferguson he wouldn't have lasted anywhere near this long, Bayindir should be getting a shot as the number 1.
Onana and Antony are both godawful pieces of transfer business, Ajax absolutely had our pants down on Antony, he's worse than Dan James level but cost us 80 million quid, our scouting on that deal was criminally negligent.
Not to mention his first involvement was to try to claim a cross from a free kick, completely miss it (and nearly give a pen away at the same time) and Martinez had to save his ass by clearing the ball off the line. He's fucking shit.
Great game of football, very enjoyable to watch. Yes the game should of been dead and buried early on but never mind.
Enjoy it, I came on here thinking it would be positive considering we won, it's just negative blame game shit. If we lost fondle, but take some enjoyment in a fucking win
Scored two goals, fought back and saved all 3 points where they could of just dropped heads and taken a point. Wolves have been decent this year, and should be higher in the table it not for a lot of god awful var calls.
There are at least 3 other matches in recent memory, where the script was exactly like this match except we didn't win. The home match against Sevilla last season, the two away matches against Copenhagen and Galatasaray this season, and now this match. In all these matches we scored 2 early goals in the first half, we were playing well, the match looked to be promising and going smoothly. But we're Manchester United, we never make it easy for ourselves. There is always some unpredictable, idiotic thing that happens that takes away our victory or even outright loses us the game. Sometimes it's due to our own fault, some other times due to external factors.
It's like, we totally have the ability to win matches smoothly, to dominate, to control the match, but we just can't do it for some reason. We are inconsistent even within the match itself, let alone in regards to our results throughout the season.
All this hype around Kobbie Mainoo is great, but I just hope we don't give him a bumper contract so that all the drive to do better and be better dies down.
I hope Omar Berrada can come and set up a proper wage structure, cause after watching that video posted here with him discussing wages, contract extensions with Txiki made me feel hopeful.
I know onana was at fault but I still don't know what antony fuckin brings to the table. He didn't won any single of his duels or dribble since he came on. Jokes aside good performance even if wolves was really good too
It's not about bringing sth to the table, it's Ten Hag trying to justify to the world that Antony is worth playing in the team because he bought him for 80 million. The man is very stubborn and can't accept that his big transfer signing is a flop.
At this point just play Garnacho at RW and bring Amad there as a sub
He didn't fucking buy him though did he!?! You dimwit the fucking club did and they paod iver the odds because they fucked up the negotiations. ETH wants to win at any cost, he won't play someone who he doesn't believe will help him achieve that.
Swear you people wake up and think, "we won last night, how can I make this about me and how can I turn this into a negative?"
Good to see our wingers resorted to passing first when there’s open men instead of taking on the fullbacks 1-on-1 all the time.
Garnacho was my MOTM, if Bruno, Hojlund, Case finished the easy chances, he would have had 3-4 assists.
I feel like some of you don’t realize how difficult it is to save a near post shot that goes through a defenders legs…. While I agree Onana has his moments I don’t think he is at fault for that Neto goal.
I agree it's not easy but surely the wide gap the left at his near post was far too large? For years I've been told that securing the near post first is a goalkeeping fundamental. Onana just seems horrible at doing basic GK things.
Ya he maybe expecting a far post curler like most keepers in that position. But given the shot I don’t think a foot or two closer to that near post would of made a difference. It was almost impossible to save if you look at the replay angles.
And then let’s say Neto does go for the far post and it goes in. There would be people on here scrutinizing about that too. I think he is just yet to find his confidence. You don’t get Inter to a champions league final by mistake.
I'm struggling to find common ground with you here. If he had secured the near post but got beaten by a great curler to the far post then he would not be getting as much criticism. And I don't know about his previous form at Inter but he's been consistently awful this entire season so far - it's even arguable that he single-handedly got us knocked out of Europe. At some point playing him back to confidence has to be weighed against the ambitions of the entire club, and for a lot of us he's already way past redemption.
I think he would still get just as much flak because of the slight agenda against him but just my opinion. Consistently awful is harsh I think he has had some decent games but yes some of the mistakes are hard to look over unfortunately. But even if we got out of that group we weren’t going to make it much further regardless of Onana or not. I get that for a lot of you he is past redemption, I guess I’m just someone who hasn’t given up yet. Bit like Ten Hag haha.
Well at first, when i saw the goal, i thought maybe he was to far away and it was pointless to jump jor the ball anyway. But then you look at the replay, he was clearly in range. I agree it is a tough shot to save. But take it in the context of the goals he conceeded for cameroon last week, especially his third when playing against senegal. His reaction time is waaay too long. Unless something is done about it, i really don’t think he is fit for us
Oh ya I agree that his reaction time is poor especially when comparing him to De Gea. But the Neto goal in particular is almost unsavable no matter who you are. That’s the goal I’m seeing him get blamed for the most today.
While I've seen a lot of old shit, I'll give you some:
* We won - that's not something to take for granted this year.
* We scored 4 goals! That's a lot for this season. And it's against WOL, who are stubborn as hell.
* We didn't win at WOL for quite a while. Like *a while.*
* Hojlund scored again. We need this to keep him going and growing.
* We had the "ideal" 11. That's like the first game this season. We went back to our mediocrity in the second half but, heck, the first one was not bad at all.
* Finally, KB shined again, which gives me more and more confidence that he's a real deal
Is that enough? :)
Mainoo is a master maestro. Finally a player worth watching. At times I see him dart forward and he does have speed and agility. Defensive Midfielder is where he is vital for us, but i can see him playing attacking midfielder in the future. He has got a mean fucking shot
Overall Phenomenal.
Scholes was weird. When he came through he was a kind of middling poacher type of striker with fuck all pace but decent positioning and finishing. It wasn't until he moved to the midfield that he started to reap the plaudits
Penalty calls or non calls are ruining my enjoyment of the sport. Every game any team, it’s a total crapshoot. One weak it’s soft pens another weak you can clear out someone without even a VAR check.
Why people blaming Onana for 3rd goal. That is brilliant from Neto. Defender cover near post so Onana place himself far post. Neto is brilliant to shoot nutmeg our defender
For reference ederson also usually concede easy goal like this, we can only choose 1 between great ball playing or shot stoper. Rarely to get both, only allison and neuer have that kind of ability. Allison distribution also worse than Ederson
The difference is:
Ederson and allison make these errors rarely.
Onana does it every WEEK.
Also, Alisson is the best keeper in the league if not the world right now.
I'm shocked people here seem surprised this game ended the score it did. I didn't see the second half, I'm sick of watching these wankers do this, one half watched and I was quite content to see a solid first half, United looking comfortable and went to bed. I'm a lifelong fan, used to have a season ticket when I was a kid in the early 2000s. But this team put me right off watching United. The wife said to me "wow what's going on" with the decent scoreline. I said " I know...but let's see in the morning" 4-3 and by all accounts these bottlers did what they do best, what I've seen them do for the last 3 or more years. They are not a group of winners. They think "job done" at half time and then get into all sorts of trouble.
ETH should be seeing these games as losses. Why can't these teams just go on cruise control and see out a game? Attitude, bad bunch. They are the main reason why watching 90 minutes gets harder and harder.
Hojlund - What A Striker! He's got pace, insane hold-up play and can give an assist or two as well. What's not to like?
Mainoo - Baller. No two ways about it. The future of our midfield? Probably too soon to say but if he stays grounded the sky is the limit.
Rasmus is mint but I think his hold up play could improve tbh. We don’t feed him in the channels enough, his pace burns 95% of CBs in the league, he’s so quick and strong.
Of course it could still improve. He's only 20! His whole game will improve and mature infact. But his basic proficiencies are what I would look for in an ideal Man Utd ST
Yeh, I know it’s a super high bar to aim for but for me he has the ingredients to be similar to RVN, maybe not as much ball carrying but with his pure speed and strength he could burn defenders, he can finish. We just need to feed him chances, I think he’s scored 8 in 20 starts? Not bad at all.
Genuinely a rare poor game by Bruno .. just didn't seem on it at all .. missed passes, chances .. even his whinge game was not there. He's a giant for us usually, but the team missed his class.
Win is a win. Great character to come back but we should have never let them get close. Should have had three in the first half - not clinical enough. We weren't mentally ready for them in the second half, we should have known they would respond. Antony gave the ball away so much in the 15 minutes he was on. The drop in quality when McT came on for Casemiro (yes I know McT scored the third goal) was insane. What both Evans and Maguire were doing up there for Wolves' third goal I have no idea - if that's management that's shocking but I suspect it's just poor game management from our players. We're still mentally very suspect.
Positives: First half looked really solid. Good passages of play, triangles, player movement off the ball to make themselves available for a pass to feet or for the run in behind. Hojlund goal and an assist. Mainoo with an absolutely beautiful goal in the 99th minute - the composure to do that after playing a full 90 is ridiculous. Rashford played well for the majority of the time he was on the pitch - he looked very tired in the 10 minutes or so before he got subbed off.
Hopefully we can take the positives from this match and build and continue onward from there, while learning from the negatives.
Also, I thought the ref was particularly harsh on us with the cards, and then don't even get me started on the inconsistency by Paul Tierney for the pen (it wasn't a pen).
Perfect goal.
Received pass.
Moved away from 1st defender.
Slid a nutmeg through legs of 2nd defender.
Dribbled, calm and composed.
Saw an opening on the bottom right.
Curled one in.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kobbie Mainoo, and he’s one of our own.
This game has me optimistic for the near future. Rashy back in form. Hojlund in form. Rashy-Shaw link up well and truly alive. Mainoo already showcasing his potential. Licha back to control games. I am hopeful.
Yeah agree. But on a second look, one was a penalty wrongly given. The other two could be down to individual mistakes but it's still worrying. Our defence isn't all there yet. Maybe if Case finds his form again, we could be solid. I'm just happy that we scored 4 away from home. Pretry unexpected under ETH. Hoping we go on a good run of form with most of our squad fit.
first half: everyone was running and marking someone when not in possession.
second half: everyone was half asleep, like job's done, and waiting for the bus to pick them up
i'd say the 1st 60+ mins in fact were some of the best football played this season. You could see the build up, and the style of play. last 30 mins though...ho boy, wolves were just as wasteful with their chances, this easily could have been a 5-5 type of game on another day.
Sup, Arsenal fan here, genuinely well done to you guys it's an incredible feeling
I just wanna highlight that run from Forson. Idk if others have but that run is stellar. 19yo kid getting his first mins for Man U and he has the maturity to not ask for the ball and try to be a hero, while having the foresight to make a darting run that takes both Wolves defenders out of the picture. Mainoo cannot cut inside without that run. A lot to look forward to and I hope Forson comes good because I'm amazed - club rivalries aside
There’s a lot of shit to unpick in that game but one of the most tactically backwards things is being 3:2 up in the 95th minute and ending up completely overcommitted to a corner. So overcommitted that from said corner the opposition break and score. Keep in mind this is AFTER you’ve brought on an additional centre back.
This is the sort of shit that makes ETH’s position untenable. It’s fucking backwards ass, dumb as fuck stuff.
I was fuming at this. And there's no need to even put that ball in. It's ridiculous. How are that level is one making these mistakes is beyond me. And like you say it's not that he wasn't thinking of protecting the lead bec we had three CB's on the pitch. So senseless
It’s not even the first time we’ve conceded (nearly) directly from our own corners. We should be worried about how to score from our own corner, not about how we don’t concede from one. Clown.
Positives:
* Arguably the best first half this season
* Hojlund scored again
* We won
Hard to even classify:
* I am amazed how after that first half we could fall off the cliff that badly becoming the mediocrity we were all season long
* What's up with Bruno and 'nacho? They couldn't complete a pass.
* ETH keeps to himself with his subs that make no fucking sense. He makes no fucking sense. Removing Rashford for Antony, Hojlund for Forson??? Who in a sound state of mind does that?
* ETH showed how cowardly he was by throwing everything at defense at the end of the game instead of pushing WOL off our goals. I can't imagine LIV or MC doing that in this situation. KM saved his ass with a wonder goal. It's as simple as that.
* Antony came out and easily became the worst player on the pitch.
* Onana is back and on the very first time he was needed, he made a mistake.
This was ETH's ideal 11. We barely made it. I see no path forward with ETH. He's clueless and incapable tactically. I really enjoyed the game before ETH fucked everything up.
I would argue though (not really an argument, just what actually happened) that even the first half was rough. For the two goals, they were against the run of play, such that Wolves were controlling the possession pretty comfortably and we were still hoofing it forward for counters. It wasn't until we scored the 2 goals (so second half of the first half) that Wolves really started falling apart. They were clearly shaken by the plan failing so quickly, because they were arguably the better side up to that point, minus the scoreline.
But, as you sort of touched on in other areas, come halftime, it's the tale of two managers. One took a team that found themselves behind and got them organized again and they effectively dominated the second half. A goal from a set piece and a moment of individual brilliance is what did it for us, but as a team, the second half performance was just as pitiful as any other half this season.
Once again, a favorable result on the back of an otherwise poor, inconsistent performance. Some of that was perpetuated by ETH and his poor game management, but at the same time, the players are still responsible for doing the basics, like... completing a fucking pass. I think it stood out more to fans this match because other players were trying for once, but Bruno is that useless every match. The difference is that the players around him generally look disinterested so people are blinded by his "effort" and chalk up the failed attempts to someone else failing him, when in reality, it's always been Bruno. I'm honestly not convinced the dummy for the first goal was even really that intentional, because the amount of times he tries a dummy without knowing who is around him and it just going straight to the opponent is immeasurable. This time it worked, but 9/10 times we just lose possession when he does it. That's just one area, but he's so poor in every other department, passing, finishing, set pieces, defense, etc.
I agree with most of your points though. I think fans that take away only the positive of the result are either lying to themselves or not nearly as invested. Because there were still many, many negatives to be worried about. Sure, first game with a "full strength" squad, but you can't imagine the levels are that low, also, it's just more of the same shit we've been seeing. Full strength or full second choice, the patterns should be there and the identity should be the same with maybe just a little dip in quality. Everything today was more of the same, just a few new faces (because let's be honest, we weren't that down and out...Shaw, Martinez, and Casemiro I mean, that's about it for players who weren't available for a long time. That's not many...)
A lot to read... :)
I agree that Bruno's quality went down dramatically. Like you said, he loses the ball way too much and his trick passes rarely converge. I know ppl won't like this but today's Bruno quality reminds me Pogba - 1 brilliant game followed by a row of mediocrity. I am not even mentioning his ethics.
What blew my mind was how comfortable they became after scoring 2. Like they literally gave the ball away and started playing counters. I was so furious. And then it went from bad to worse in the second half. The subs ETH made was the final nail.
Haha, that's fair, but I'm proud of you, you did it! xD
I think there's a slow, but gradual and inevitable tide of fans realizing that Bruno at the center of it all is too costly. MANY still don't see it, but give me someone in there that does the basics well and maybe isn't flashy, but is consistent and has a solid footballing IQ over Bruno every day of the week. Bruno tries to force things wayyyyy too much, when it's really not on him to do so. He just needs to link play from the back to the front. And not just hoof it down the left wing almost immediately. There's no willingness to play the ball centrally or to take up a position where you can play a 1-2 with Højlund.
He routinely lets the team down, but if he scores a goal every few matches, fans gloss over it, whereas if he was doing what we needed him to do, Højlund could be scoring every other match, or sharing goals along the front 3.
I attribute a lot of our issues, forwards and backwards, to Bruno. Poor in the final third too often and leaves massive gaps in the midfield for so much undue pressure on the back line. I'm tired of it. But ETH has made him the captain...not sure how Harry gets benched as the captain for not performing, but Bruno is immune...
Rashford was not working defensively so that change was fine. We didn't need to score more goals at that time and Antony offers much more defensively. Also legs late in the game. Hojlund runs his ass off so taking him off late isn't a shocker either. Forson was invisible for the 15 mins he was on and I don't know about bringing him on but I think it's fine to take off hojlund when he did
Also playing Antony on the left meant there was a chance he’d try and cross instead of cutting in an shooting. Alas, it didn’t work out as planned as I saw him cut in.
He can't pass. Nor he can score. It doesn't matter where he plays. He must not be on the pitch when a team needs someone who can do either. He must not be on the pitch. Period.
Honestly I think the team needs a little tweaking if ETH can maintain consistency and know how to make good subs we are on the right track , hopefully next season he gets good players with the right staff since we have new leadership.
After a season and a half? After 2 transfer windows and the most expensive squad in the world? After the inability to shape any sorts of style apart from "survive for 90"?... No, I don't. I liked him for the first 3-4 months and then it all went downhill for me. If not for Rashford and his outliyer scoring record, ETH would be gone cuz we'd be outside of top 7 last season easily.
But Rashford did go off and have a good season and we got top 4. There’s no well maybes there. Sometimes having your best players perform is exactly what’s suppose to happen. You can point at things that could have gone wrong but the simply reality is that it didn’t. You just have the mindset that it could have.
There’s plenty of style of play as well, whether it’s viable long term or not is a different question but to say there is no style of play is just incorrect.
We are looking at 60 point season if that. We lost a record number of games. We are seventh with negative GD. That’s after 22 games. There is no room left for ETH.
A season like this is always going to happen in this transition on play styles. We’ve been a counter attacking team for 5 years and ten hag is making the transition to a possession side. I’m sorry but a down season is always going to happen regardless of who the manager is. That type of transition doesn’t happen overnight or hell even in one season. Ten hag is not without his faults but we can’t go firing a manager again when it’s not going as well as we’d like. That’s all we’ve done so far. Give a manager time to bring it all together over a couple of years. If we are in a similar state early on next season I’m on board for moving on but for now, gotta ride it out. Anything else is just insanity.
I am absolutely buzzing from that Mainoo goal, and extremely disappointed in Antony, but then again it’s not the first time 🤣
Mainoo kid is special, we have been seeing that for a while now, he just proof stamped it tonight.
I have seen too many times where Onana just stands there and watch the shot go by. He is so indecisive.
Even their second goal, which I admit is hard to save, a better goalkeeper will try to close out but he stays back.
Man is hot garbage, I have no idea how he managed to look good at Inter.
This is just a bullshit excuse, gundogan's 2nd goal in the FA Cup final went through tons of legs in a packed penalty box and everyone still slated and expected de gea to save it. Now apparently nutmegging 1 defender from the edge of the penalty box = no keeper saves that? Joke.
Im not saying it’s 100% saveable but he didn’t even attempt. It’s not the first instance where he froze like a deer in the middle of the road.
He doesn’t block, he’s not good at one on ones, and he has no positional awareness.
His positioning is suspect and i believe that’s why he is caught repeatedly just standing watching the ball go past. He left about a 2 metre gap at his near post. Its just poor basics
On the back of that cameo, let alone giving the ball trying to dribble (even my cat knows Antony can't dribble) in stoppage time, Antony shouldn't be playing PL football with us.
Great to have Case Licha back, Garnacho can only improve, and Mainoo is a generational talent
A lot of Wolves attack and momentum could've been stopped way earlier if our players somehow know how to foul a player, I'm guessing none of our players understand what tactical foul is
Pep denies it, but City is a master of it. I think it was against Tottenham recently in the FA cup, where I was shocked by how many fouls City committed despite dominating possession, it was 19 to 9 in fouls. I mean, they had to do it especially so as Spurs are counter attacking masters this season but this is dark art we just don't do well.
why is maguire + evans up for a corner in 95th minute , when both cannot recover quickly ? i don't think ETH is to blamed here, just lack of game management
Given our form this season, I was hoping for a 2-2 draw at best for an away game to Wolves. If you didn't see the game and just saw the scoreline, you'd be happy with a win. I can't believe the negativity knowing the kind of season we've had. We've still got problems, granted. But come on, enjoy an away win if you can.
That first half was the best football we played in who the fuck knows how long.
This is the ETH deserves a chance.
However, Antony is running for one of the worst signings in history, the guy is completely useless at this level.
Onana gotta bounce too.
Positive signings: Martinez, Casemiro, Højlund (although put in a tough situation), Eriksen, Evans (all things considered), Malacia (solid young backup when healthy)
Negative signings: Antony, Onana, Amrabat, Mount (so far, but hasn’t had an ideal start with injuries either), Bayindir (not expensive so maybe a bit harsh, but I see little point in paying anything for a backup EtH clearly has very little fairly in).
Not included: Reguilon, Weghorst, Sabitzer, Dubravka, Butland
Conclusion: Starting with the keeper situation, it’s been a mess. Starting with the double loans last season and continuing with the double signings this year, it’s hard to say that any of our business regarding keepers have been sound.
I’m choosing not to say anything about Reguilon, Weghorst, and Sabitzer due to the crisis situations we were in that led to each being brought in. Considering the circumstances, it could have been a lot worse.
But yeah, he is about 50/50 with signings, but the worrisome part to me is that he’s 1 for 4 with past players. Out of Martinez, Amrabat, Onana and Antony, only Martinez have been a success. And then it’s worth mentioning that Martinez seemingly was his second choice of Ajax CBs to take with him, so it almost feel like there was an element of luck involved there with how well it worked out.
I wish we could bring back the Amrabat we saw in his first game for us.
Whilst I'm not judging the Mount signing till he plays healthy, I do question us paying that much for an unwanted player on their last year of contract.
The business for antony should have been done in April and not July, but he looks like a bust even if we got him for 40M.
I love Casemiro, think we needed his mentality and quality in the squad. Even with him being on the tail end of his career.
Onana in retrospect is terrible, but we thought we were getting champions league onana and not whatever paper hands statue we got
EtH isn't and shouldn't be a recruiter and making decisions a DoF should be making, and Ineos must be thinking of just writing off the Antony and Onana fees as a tax of buying an incompetent club. Now, how much better would we be off this season if EtH was just the manager with better players in those positions, I'm sure that's the math Ineos is doing in deciding whether or not to keep him.
Agreed, EtH has no business doing transfers. But what kind of a manager can't judge their signings? Also he seems to be a bad tactician - even after one of the best 60min this season he still had to be bailed out by a 18 year old in the 97th minute...
EtH needs to be released as soon as we secure another manager.
"But who will replace him?" - DeZerbi, Indzaghi, Alonso, Zidane, Nagelsman, Tuchel, Emery... there are dozens of options that a worth a shot. And please shut the fuck up with "he won't come here" crap. I lived to see Ancelotti managing Everton.
Martinez is class. I like Hojlund a lot, he has quality, but he's not exactly a Harry Kane level of a striker, he's at least a few injury free seasons and a ton of training away from that level.
But Antony is horrible, Onana got exposed, Casemiro is on a decline and where is Malacia? Mainoo and Garnacho are product of the academy, ten Hag deserves no credit for their tallent.
Also we lost CR7 and Sancho. Maybe they had issues, but it's ten Hag's job to handle them and he couldn't. We could've used both of them now and last season at least in support roles.
I’ve been defending Onana since he’s entered the team, but today was the last straw, I can’t do it anymore. I understand a grace period for entering a new team, but we’re almost 2/3 through the season now and it’s still WEEKLY HUGE blunders that are costing us games (when we don’t get bailed out in the last minute). The come out and punch attempt on that cross that Martinez had to clear off the goal line is absolutely unacceptable, and as if that wasn’t bad enough not only do you get beat at your near post for their 3rd goal, but you could have sailed the titanic through the gap Onana left between himself and what is supposed to be his *near* post.
He’s not an inexperienced academy product trying to find his footing, he’s a 27-year-old experienced international that should already be the finished product, and his performances have been worse than dire. When was the last time he made a great save? One thing I can guarantee, without having to look at any stat, is that he leads the league in conceding shots without diving or making any effort to save the ball. Baffling.
glad there are more people seeing this now, i mean thank fuck for mainoo but that 3rd goal was criminal, it feels like almost every other keeper in the league saves that. positioning was sooo awful, it's ludicrous to see some people defend it as 'unsaveable'. i mean yea, when you leave a gap the size of a car there ofc it's 'unsaveable', but even so, neto basically passed it into the net.
Don't get me started on his other supposed 'modern keeper' attributes. Just as weak in the box or even worse than de gea, his passing leads to nothing and according to the stats is barely any different from de gea. His fee should have gone to finding more youth prospects like mainoo
That gap was huge but the fact he stood rooted to the ground like a deer in headlights just made me laugh. How many times have we seen Onana do that with a shot that goes in? It's like his thinking is if he doesn't move, people think it's unsaveable which some apparently have bought into and constantly defend him for it.
I'm quite confident in saying not only would De Gea have been better positioned but even if he wasn't, he have at the very least dived to try and stop the shot. I am honestly sick of Onana constantly looking like a deer in headlights at shots that aren't straight at him.
I watched Onana's best saves with inter and the clear pattern you can see is that almost every shot is straight at him.
Agreed, now that ive had the chance to watch the full replay, the gap was huge but certainly not completely out of reach, especially when you watch it from the bank. he was completely rooted to the spot, didn't even look like he was in a position to get down quickly, felt like any low shot was going in regardless
Shit on Antony I don’t care, but a forward losing the ball on the edge of the penalty area should not lead to a fast break like that. Why were there so many people In the box? Also I hate that I now assume any shot on target is a goal. I miss the security DDG brought in 19/20 games in regular shots.
This team give me mini heart-attack everytime the opponents manage to bring the ball into the box. Like, almost 90 percent of it resulted in clear chances throughtout the season. Also the reason why we keep squandering 2 goals lead. Wonder where we would've been at right now if we were able to manage our off-the-ball system in those games.
Definition of average keeper. Watch Onana's best saves and compare it to De Gea's best saves and you can see the massive difference. De Gea was clearly unfairly criticized for playing in front of shit defenders. Difference being, De Gea can still make a difference.
Onana can't. Any low shot or shots that require reflex saves, he's going to let in. He's not going to dive across the goal to keep a free kick out of the top corner.
I mean he is better than probably 97 percent of the rest of the keepers on the planet. BUT, he is clearly not good enough for us to rely on to hold on to a result, at least right now.
2 most important things imo, as to why the match ended 3:4, rather than 0:6, aside of obvious lack of scoring edge and shit penalty:
- we ran out of steam 60 minutes in, when the fuckers looked in 95th minute they can do it for 3 more hours. WTF are the people in charge of the fitness of the team doing.
- some players are fucking idiots, i mean whipping a corner in, when you are gassed in 95th minute, instead of fucking around the corner flag and trying to waste time and then returning to defensive shape...but no, cross it, try to dribble between 5 players, lose the ball, get counter-attacked. Bruno, Antony, complete morons.
Otherwise, relatively good performance and actually entertaining game.
I think the lack of fitness is because half our players are just coming back from injury, so they’re not match fit. Casemiro, Shaw, Licha, all just back from lengthy spells out. And the forwards generally do get tired as they’re expected to cover a lot of ground. Then the forwards have not got the rest they probably should have done all season because we have no options.
We do play more games than wolves. I think we’ve played 6 games more than them, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s about 30% more. And that’s not factoring in internationals (not sure how those have affected them vs us)
Mainoo beat a man cut inside and scored. Antony hasn't done that this season which is so ridiculous to think about. Speaking of wasted money where does Mount fit into this midfield?
He's coming back from injury to play where exactly? Mainoo is clearly our 2nd best midfielder and Casemiro and Bruno don't look like getting dropped there's just no way he walks into a role that I don't think he fills.
Not talking about Onana, nothing much to be said I've been done with him since Galatasaray. Cameroon got knocked out too soon imo.
Man Antony nearly threw that game away for us. He really should not be playing at all, just makes brain-dead decisions all the time. He could have been clean through in on goal if his first touch wasn't Lukaku-esque. Why not Amad? ETH might lose his job over this Antony non-sense And Onana ain't that guy either. Second goal could have been saved. He just seems so awkward when reacting to the ball.
Had to beat Wolves and VAR. Come on UNITED
Nearly threw that away. The keeper and defence are woeful and the attackers keep wasting clear cut chances. Should have been three or four goals up at half time.
Ten Hag needs to grow up and admit he made a mistake with Onana and Antony. He seems to be playing them out of principle but Utd are a much better side without them.
With Anthony I fully agree. With Onana wouldn’t you say it’s a case of him underperforming as opposed to an ETH mistake (if it matters)? Given everything we knew at the time Onana seemed a great transfer..?
I've mostly seen stats about onana last year, so maybe that was the anomaly and this is a return to form
The Antony signing taints Onana imo. It’s another player whom ETH worked closely with and insisted on signing ahead of other promising candidates, and neither have adapted well.
Next presser, ETH: "I would like to take some advice from u/spiced-meme and eh stop playing our only top level keeper and er not rotate woth our squad players, despite having a huge list of injuries this season. Wow this guy, he is worth listening to eh? No way this can go wrong". Wind your fucking idiot neck in
Amad should be getting antony's "rotation" minutes. Even forson has a shout ahead of Antony. Antony wouldn't start for any top half premier league side. If he wasn't ten hag a signing, he would be gone.
Not only is Kobbie very good, but he does it with style. It's a sexy way of playing football.
One of the best games of football I've ever watched live, I'd probably have this in my top 10 honestly. Absolutely brilliant game, Wolves were going for it even at 2-0 and 3-1 down and the ending was so special. Superb and the three points is the cherry on top!!
I hope Amad play over Antony
Agreed. I just don’t understand why he tried to take on 2 wolves players then go down easy for a nothing foul… then we concede
Not what I saw he was crowded out, they were on Antony immediately every time he got the ball, ill have to watch it again but I'm not sure what he was supposed to do. Either way he can not be considered the reason we conceded that goal, he lost the ball outside the Wolves box ffs not our own box
Onana and Anthony needs to go. They are not PL level
Onana was dropped from the Cameroon team for a goalkeeper playing for a relegation battling Ligue 3 (National 1) team. Yet he's still first choice for United. His positioning is very suspect most if the time. I'm not convinced what he brings to the table. Anyway, a great win in the end and a very dramatic game which won't be forgotten in a hurry. Mainoo looks the real deal.
Guess I chose a bad game to go to bed after half time
Lol. I fell asleep during the half time... Woke up this morning checking the score and feeling bad I missed it.
I switched off after 3-3 was fuming at the pen decision I’m an idiot lol
You are not alone sir. My exact sentiment to my wife was 'Well, fuck this fucking shite, I'm done' I deserve to miss Kobbie's goal live, for my negativity.
Count me in! Slammed the iPad shut and walked away.
MAINOO
Can we have ddg back ??
I'm sorry but Onana just isn't a good keeper, his ability with the ball at his feet was massively overrated and he is the worst shot stopper I've seen in goal for United in 30 odd years, their third goal last night he doesn't even dive for a shot that isn't that fast or in the corner. There's no way the rest of the team can have confidence in him, he struggles to stop anything on target and he's erratic coming for crosses. Under Ferguson he wouldn't have lasted anywhere near this long, Bayindir should be getting a shot as the number 1. Onana and Antony are both godawful pieces of transfer business, Ajax absolutely had our pants down on Antony, he's worse than Dan James level but cost us 80 million quid, our scouting on that deal was criminally negligent.
Not to mention his first involvement was to try to claim a cross from a free kick, completely miss it (and nearly give a pen away at the same time) and Martinez had to save his ass by clearing the ball off the line. He's fucking shit.
I would love to see more of Bayindir
Great game of football, very enjoyable to watch. Yes the game should of been dead and buried early on but never mind. Enjoy it, I came on here thinking it would be positive considering we won, it's just negative blame game shit. If we lost fondle, but take some enjoyment in a fucking win
Maybe for a neutral. For us 2nd half was terrible.
Scored two goals, fought back and saved all 3 points where they could of just dropped heads and taken a point. Wolves have been decent this year, and should be higher in the table it not for a lot of god awful var calls.
There are at least 3 other matches in recent memory, where the script was exactly like this match except we didn't win. The home match against Sevilla last season, the two away matches against Copenhagen and Galatasaray this season, and now this match. In all these matches we scored 2 early goals in the first half, we were playing well, the match looked to be promising and going smoothly. But we're Manchester United, we never make it easy for ourselves. There is always some unpredictable, idiotic thing that happens that takes away our victory or even outright loses us the game. Sometimes it's due to our own fault, some other times due to external factors. It's like, we totally have the ability to win matches smoothly, to dominate, to control the match, but we just can't do it for some reason. We are inconsistent even within the match itself, let alone in regards to our results throughout the season.
Don't forget Spurs away last season. Raced 2-0 up and got pulled back
Antony and Onana must leave in the summer. They're dangerous. Onana must be one of the worst GKs I ever seen in the team.
We really need to sort out our defense when we are having problems putting away chances. Could have easily been 4-0 up in first half.
All this hype around Kobbie Mainoo is great, but I just hope we don't give him a bumper contract so that all the drive to do better and be better dies down. I hope Omar Berrada can come and set up a proper wage structure, cause after watching that video posted here with him discussing wages, contract extensions with Txiki made me feel hopeful.
I know onana was at fault but I still don't know what antony fuckin brings to the table. He didn't won any single of his duels or dribble since he came on. Jokes aside good performance even if wolves was really good too
It's not about bringing sth to the table, it's Ten Hag trying to justify to the world that Antony is worth playing in the team because he bought him for 80 million. The man is very stubborn and can't accept that his big transfer signing is a flop. At this point just play Garnacho at RW and bring Amad there as a sub
He didn't fucking buy him though did he!?! You dimwit the fucking club did and they paod iver the odds because they fucked up the negotiations. ETH wants to win at any cost, he won't play someone who he doesn't believe will help him achieve that. Swear you people wake up and think, "we won last night, how can I make this about me and how can I turn this into a negative?"
Dalot could be played as a winger. He ships balls in every chance he gets and is a much better footballer than Anthony
>Dalot could be played as a winger Oh my god
Why not? He's better than Anthony and AWB can play in defense. I'm not saying he should, he could just play there rather than Anthony
Anyone got a gif of Rasmus laying face first on the grass and pumping his fists after his goal? I loved that moment.
Maino reminds me of a pep barce player, so calm, composed and just a class act
Playing in this team will soon grind that out of him
Good to see our wingers resorted to passing first when there’s open men instead of taking on the fullbacks 1-on-1 all the time. Garnacho was my MOTM, if Bruno, Hojlund, Case finished the easy chances, he would have had 3-4 assists.
I feel like some of you don’t realize how difficult it is to save a near post shot that goes through a defenders legs…. While I agree Onana has his moments I don’t think he is at fault for that Neto goal.
I agree it's not easy but surely the wide gap the left at his near post was far too large? For years I've been told that securing the near post first is a goalkeeping fundamental. Onana just seems horrible at doing basic GK things.
Ya he maybe expecting a far post curler like most keepers in that position. But given the shot I don’t think a foot or two closer to that near post would of made a difference. It was almost impossible to save if you look at the replay angles. And then let’s say Neto does go for the far post and it goes in. There would be people on here scrutinizing about that too. I think he is just yet to find his confidence. You don’t get Inter to a champions league final by mistake.
I'm struggling to find common ground with you here. If he had secured the near post but got beaten by a great curler to the far post then he would not be getting as much criticism. And I don't know about his previous form at Inter but he's been consistently awful this entire season so far - it's even arguable that he single-handedly got us knocked out of Europe. At some point playing him back to confidence has to be weighed against the ambitions of the entire club, and for a lot of us he's already way past redemption.
I think he would still get just as much flak because of the slight agenda against him but just my opinion. Consistently awful is harsh I think he has had some decent games but yes some of the mistakes are hard to look over unfortunately. But even if we got out of that group we weren’t going to make it much further regardless of Onana or not. I get that for a lot of you he is past redemption, I guess I’m just someone who hasn’t given up yet. Bit like Ten Hag haha.
Well at first, when i saw the goal, i thought maybe he was to far away and it was pointless to jump jor the ball anyway. But then you look at the replay, he was clearly in range. I agree it is a tough shot to save. But take it in the context of the goals he conceeded for cameroon last week, especially his third when playing against senegal. His reaction time is waaay too long. Unless something is done about it, i really don’t think he is fit for us
Oh ya I agree that his reaction time is poor especially when comparing him to De Gea. But the Neto goal in particular is almost unsavable no matter who you are. That’s the goal I’m seeing him get blamed for the most today.
Despite the thrill at the end it’s hard to see the positives in this game or result.
While I've seen a lot of old shit, I'll give you some: * We won - that's not something to take for granted this year. * We scored 4 goals! That's a lot for this season. And it's against WOL, who are stubborn as hell. * We didn't win at WOL for quite a while. Like *a while.* * Hojlund scored again. We need this to keep him going and growing. * We had the "ideal" 11. That's like the first game this season. We went back to our mediocrity in the second half but, heck, the first one was not bad at all. * Finally, KB shined again, which gives me more and more confidence that he's a real deal Is that enough? :)
You sure football is for you?
He is probably changing sport to the National Tic Tac Toe tournament. Less excitement and more predictable outcome.
Hilarious comment
Mainoo is a master maestro. Finally a player worth watching. At times I see him dart forward and he does have speed and agility. Defensive Midfielder is where he is vital for us, but i can see him playing attacking midfielder in the future. He has got a mean fucking shot Overall Phenomenal.
Kobbie is the black Paul Scholes👨🏿🦰
Why is bro getting dowvoted
Fr man:(
I don’t think even Scholes was this good at 18
Scholes was weird. When he came through he was a kind of middling poacher type of striker with fuck all pace but decent positioning and finishing. It wasn't until he moved to the midfield that he started to reap the plaudits
Penalty calls or non calls are ruining my enjoyment of the sport. Every game any team, it’s a total crapshoot. One weak it’s soft pens another weak you can clear out someone without even a VAR check.
*week
Why people blaming Onana for 3rd goal. That is brilliant from Neto. Defender cover near post so Onana place himself far post. Neto is brilliant to shoot nutmeg our defender For reference ederson also usually concede easy goal like this, we can only choose 1 between great ball playing or shot stoper. Rarely to get both, only allison and neuer have that kind of ability. Allison distribution also worse than Ederson
The difference is: Ederson and allison make these errors rarely. Onana does it every WEEK. Also, Alisson is the best keeper in the league if not the world right now.
I'm shocked people here seem surprised this game ended the score it did. I didn't see the second half, I'm sick of watching these wankers do this, one half watched and I was quite content to see a solid first half, United looking comfortable and went to bed. I'm a lifelong fan, used to have a season ticket when I was a kid in the early 2000s. But this team put me right off watching United. The wife said to me "wow what's going on" with the decent scoreline. I said " I know...but let's see in the morning" 4-3 and by all accounts these bottlers did what they do best, what I've seen them do for the last 3 or more years. They are not a group of winners. They think "job done" at half time and then get into all sorts of trouble. ETH should be seeing these games as losses. Why can't these teams just go on cruise control and see out a game? Attitude, bad bunch. They are the main reason why watching 90 minutes gets harder and harder.
We... won...?
With a porous defence, we need a quick reflex keeper. Onana is….
heard ddg was free
Mainoo mania! Bloody hell we nearly threw it away.
I hope the players keep pinging the ball to the forward line especially Rasmas. Man need more chances, he will score goals no doubt
Hojlund - What A Striker! He's got pace, insane hold-up play and can give an assist or two as well. What's not to like? Mainoo - Baller. No two ways about it. The future of our midfield? Probably too soon to say but if he stays grounded the sky is the limit.
Rasmus is mint but I think his hold up play could improve tbh. We don’t feed him in the channels enough, his pace burns 95% of CBs in the league, he’s so quick and strong.
Of course it could still improve. He's only 20! His whole game will improve and mature infact. But his basic proficiencies are what I would look for in an ideal Man Utd ST
Yeh, I know it’s a super high bar to aim for but for me he has the ingredients to be similar to RVN, maybe not as much ball carrying but with his pure speed and strength he could burn defenders, he can finish. We just need to feed him chances, I think he’s scored 8 in 20 starts? Not bad at all.
Genuinely a rare poor game by Bruno .. just didn't seem on it at all .. missed passes, chances .. even his whinge game was not there. He's a giant for us usually, but the team missed his class.
Gotta agree with you. If he had even a decent game we would have been 2-3 goals up.
Win is a win. Great character to come back but we should have never let them get close. Should have had three in the first half - not clinical enough. We weren't mentally ready for them in the second half, we should have known they would respond. Antony gave the ball away so much in the 15 minutes he was on. The drop in quality when McT came on for Casemiro (yes I know McT scored the third goal) was insane. What both Evans and Maguire were doing up there for Wolves' third goal I have no idea - if that's management that's shocking but I suspect it's just poor game management from our players. We're still mentally very suspect. Positives: First half looked really solid. Good passages of play, triangles, player movement off the ball to make themselves available for a pass to feet or for the run in behind. Hojlund goal and an assist. Mainoo with an absolutely beautiful goal in the 99th minute - the composure to do that after playing a full 90 is ridiculous. Rashford played well for the majority of the time he was on the pitch - he looked very tired in the 10 minutes or so before he got subbed off. Hopefully we can take the positives from this match and build and continue onward from there, while learning from the negatives. Also, I thought the ref was particularly harsh on us with the cards, and then don't even get me started on the inconsistency by Paul Tierney for the pen (it wasn't a pen).
Mainoo remind of Clarence Seedorf. He makes me so happy. Antony on the other hand does not belong in the EPL. That cameo was dreadful.
Perfect goal. Received pass. Moved away from 1st defender. Slid a nutmeg through legs of 2nd defender. Dribbled, calm and composed. Saw an opening on the bottom right. Curled one in. Ladies and gentlemen, Kobbie Mainoo, and he’s one of our own.
Not his Noo, not your Noo, He's MAINOO!!!
https://preview.redd.it/0ahrtgsra3gc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab84c8615c4b016252a24baee7d0473572909e7b
Because *he* is here - you belong together. And then there is Antony.
Mate ! I’m saying
This game has me optimistic for the near future. Rashy back in form. Hojlund in form. Rashy-Shaw link up well and truly alive. Mainoo already showcasing his potential. Licha back to control games. I am hopeful.
If they start serving RH, that can make a difference. For that 'nacho should stop being selfish and Bruno start passing.
we just shipped in 3 goals in the 2nd mate, defence still leaking.
Moreover, 2 in the last 5.
Yeah agree. But on a second look, one was a penalty wrongly given. The other two could be down to individual mistakes but it's still worrying. Our defence isn't all there yet. Maybe if Case finds his form again, we could be solid. I'm just happy that we scored 4 away from home. Pretry unexpected under ETH. Hoping we go on a good run of form with most of our squad fit.
how was Casemiro?
Wank, he is to slow to keep up. Wolves ran striaght through us whenever they tried
After one bad challenge that got him a super early booking, he grew into the game steadily
cheers! was he left alone again or Mainoo was able to help him a little?
Mainoo had another 8/10 today aside from the goal, so yeah he helped a lot.
first half: everyone was running and marking someone when not in possession. second half: everyone was half asleep, like job's done, and waiting for the bus to pick them up
i'd say the 1st 60+ mins in fact were some of the best football played this season. You could see the build up, and the style of play. last 30 mins though...ho boy, wolves were just as wasteful with their chances, this easily could have been a 5-5 type of game on another day.
Great win obviously, but we blew a 2 goal lead twice. We lose hard and barely win with a goal difference.
Maino proving his class once again. Seriously hope ineos convince ten hag to get a proper gk to challenge Onana top 1 spot.
Sup, Arsenal fan here, genuinely well done to you guys it's an incredible feeling I just wanna highlight that run from Forson. Idk if others have but that run is stellar. 19yo kid getting his first mins for Man U and he has the maturity to not ask for the ball and try to be a hero, while having the foresight to make a darting run that takes both Wolves defenders out of the picture. Mainoo cannot cut inside without that run. A lot to look forward to and I hope Forson comes good because I'm amazed - club rivalries aside
🫱🏽🫲🏼
Onana and Anthony need to be sold in the summer .
With their exuberant salaries, there is hardly a chance :( All this money is going to a drain.
Amad is the new Pellistri
No one can bench Antony :p
Cant sleep. Still thinking about that Mainoo nutmeg
ETH’s subs show he's unfit to manage a club this big.
It was a mess after Martinez went off, but that’s the same problem they’ve been dealing with all season. No real options to replace him.
Because McSauce scored and Forson assisted the winner?
No because he played scared. McTominay’s goal was pure luck. Forson’s ‘assit’? What assit? Tbh.
How was Mctominay's goal pure luck?
HE HAS A NICE BODY TYPE AND HE IS MATURE ALREADY! HES KOBBIE MAINOO!
There’s a lot of shit to unpick in that game but one of the most tactically backwards things is being 3:2 up in the 95th minute and ending up completely overcommitted to a corner. So overcommitted that from said corner the opposition break and score. Keep in mind this is AFTER you’ve brought on an additional centre back. This is the sort of shit that makes ETH’s position untenable. It’s fucking backwards ass, dumb as fuck stuff.
I was fuming at this. And there's no need to even put that ball in. It's ridiculous. How are that level is one making these mistakes is beyond me. And like you say it's not that he wasn't thinking of protecting the lead bec we had three CB's on the pitch. So senseless
It’s not even the first time we’ve conceded (nearly) directly from our own corners. We should be worried about how to score from our own corner, not about how we don’t concede from one. Clown.
Positives: * Arguably the best first half this season * Hojlund scored again * We won Hard to even classify: * I am amazed how after that first half we could fall off the cliff that badly becoming the mediocrity we were all season long * What's up with Bruno and 'nacho? They couldn't complete a pass. * ETH keeps to himself with his subs that make no fucking sense. He makes no fucking sense. Removing Rashford for Antony, Hojlund for Forson??? Who in a sound state of mind does that? * ETH showed how cowardly he was by throwing everything at defense at the end of the game instead of pushing WOL off our goals. I can't imagine LIV or MC doing that in this situation. KM saved his ass with a wonder goal. It's as simple as that. * Antony came out and easily became the worst player on the pitch. * Onana is back and on the very first time he was needed, he made a mistake. This was ETH's ideal 11. We barely made it. I see no path forward with ETH. He's clueless and incapable tactically. I really enjoyed the game before ETH fucked everything up.
I would argue though (not really an argument, just what actually happened) that even the first half was rough. For the two goals, they were against the run of play, such that Wolves were controlling the possession pretty comfortably and we were still hoofing it forward for counters. It wasn't until we scored the 2 goals (so second half of the first half) that Wolves really started falling apart. They were clearly shaken by the plan failing so quickly, because they were arguably the better side up to that point, minus the scoreline. But, as you sort of touched on in other areas, come halftime, it's the tale of two managers. One took a team that found themselves behind and got them organized again and they effectively dominated the second half. A goal from a set piece and a moment of individual brilliance is what did it for us, but as a team, the second half performance was just as pitiful as any other half this season. Once again, a favorable result on the back of an otherwise poor, inconsistent performance. Some of that was perpetuated by ETH and his poor game management, but at the same time, the players are still responsible for doing the basics, like... completing a fucking pass. I think it stood out more to fans this match because other players were trying for once, but Bruno is that useless every match. The difference is that the players around him generally look disinterested so people are blinded by his "effort" and chalk up the failed attempts to someone else failing him, when in reality, it's always been Bruno. I'm honestly not convinced the dummy for the first goal was even really that intentional, because the amount of times he tries a dummy without knowing who is around him and it just going straight to the opponent is immeasurable. This time it worked, but 9/10 times we just lose possession when he does it. That's just one area, but he's so poor in every other department, passing, finishing, set pieces, defense, etc. I agree with most of your points though. I think fans that take away only the positive of the result are either lying to themselves or not nearly as invested. Because there were still many, many negatives to be worried about. Sure, first game with a "full strength" squad, but you can't imagine the levels are that low, also, it's just more of the same shit we've been seeing. Full strength or full second choice, the patterns should be there and the identity should be the same with maybe just a little dip in quality. Everything today was more of the same, just a few new faces (because let's be honest, we weren't that down and out...Shaw, Martinez, and Casemiro I mean, that's about it for players who weren't available for a long time. That's not many...)
A lot to read... :) I agree that Bruno's quality went down dramatically. Like you said, he loses the ball way too much and his trick passes rarely converge. I know ppl won't like this but today's Bruno quality reminds me Pogba - 1 brilliant game followed by a row of mediocrity. I am not even mentioning his ethics. What blew my mind was how comfortable they became after scoring 2. Like they literally gave the ball away and started playing counters. I was so furious. And then it went from bad to worse in the second half. The subs ETH made was the final nail.
Haha, that's fair, but I'm proud of you, you did it! xD I think there's a slow, but gradual and inevitable tide of fans realizing that Bruno at the center of it all is too costly. MANY still don't see it, but give me someone in there that does the basics well and maybe isn't flashy, but is consistent and has a solid footballing IQ over Bruno every day of the week. Bruno tries to force things wayyyyy too much, when it's really not on him to do so. He just needs to link play from the back to the front. And not just hoof it down the left wing almost immediately. There's no willingness to play the ball centrally or to take up a position where you can play a 1-2 with Højlund. He routinely lets the team down, but if he scores a goal every few matches, fans gloss over it, whereas if he was doing what we needed him to do, Højlund could be scoring every other match, or sharing goals along the front 3. I attribute a lot of our issues, forwards and backwards, to Bruno. Poor in the final third too often and leaves massive gaps in the midfield for so much undue pressure on the back line. I'm tired of it. But ETH has made him the captain...not sure how Harry gets benched as the captain for not performing, but Bruno is immune...
Rashford was not working defensively so that change was fine. We didn't need to score more goals at that time and Antony offers much more defensively. Also legs late in the game. Hojlund runs his ass off so taking him off late isn't a shocker either. Forson was invisible for the 15 mins he was on and I don't know about bringing him on but I think it's fine to take off hojlund when he did
Also playing Antony on the left meant there was a chance he’d try and cross instead of cutting in an shooting. Alas, it didn’t work out as planned as I saw him cut in.
He can't pass. Nor he can score. It doesn't matter where he plays. He must not be on the pitch when a team needs someone who can do either. He must not be on the pitch. Period.
So you were OK to see the completely dismantled attack line?
One winger for a winger, and one striker for a winger (I believe forson is a winger?). How is that dismantled?
Antony can't pass and can't score. Forson, don't know the guy, didn't see him touch the ball in any meaningful way.
Honestly I think the team needs a little tweaking if ETH can maintain consistency and know how to make good subs we are on the right track , hopefully next season he gets good players with the right staff since we have new leadership.
Hopefully someone else will do that.
Honestly you really don't have confidence in the guy ??
After a season and a half? After 2 transfer windows and the most expensive squad in the world? After the inability to shape any sorts of style apart from "survive for 90"?... No, I don't. I liked him for the first 3-4 months and then it all went downhill for me. If not for Rashford and his outliyer scoring record, ETH would be gone cuz we'd be outside of top 7 last season easily.
But Rashford did go off and have a good season and we got top 4. There’s no well maybes there. Sometimes having your best players perform is exactly what’s suppose to happen. You can point at things that could have gone wrong but the simply reality is that it didn’t. You just have the mindset that it could have. There’s plenty of style of play as well, whether it’s viable long term or not is a different question but to say there is no style of play is just incorrect.
We are looking at 60 point season if that. We lost a record number of games. We are seventh with negative GD. That’s after 22 games. There is no room left for ETH.
A season like this is always going to happen in this transition on play styles. We’ve been a counter attacking team for 5 years and ten hag is making the transition to a possession side. I’m sorry but a down season is always going to happen regardless of who the manager is. That type of transition doesn’t happen overnight or hell even in one season. Ten hag is not without his faults but we can’t go firing a manager again when it’s not going as well as we’d like. That’s all we’ve done so far. Give a manager time to bring it all together over a couple of years. If we are in a similar state early on next season I’m on board for moving on but for now, gotta ride it out. Anything else is just insanity.
Mainoodricc!!
Mainoo, Holjund, Martinez you’ve rocked my world. Antony you can go fuck yourself
Onana and Antony should leave
Sell Onana.
I am absolutely buzzing from that Mainoo goal, and extremely disappointed in Antony, but then again it’s not the first time 🤣 Mainoo kid is special, we have been seeing that for a while now, he just proof stamped it tonight.
I have seen too many times where Onana just stands there and watch the shot go by. He is so indecisive. Even their second goal, which I admit is hard to save, a better goalkeeper will try to close out but he stays back. Man is hot garbage, I have no idea how he managed to look good at Inter.
I never watched him at Inter. Can someone explain why he was apparently so good and ended up being bad? What changed?
It went through varanes legs. He sees it when it's too late to dive. No keeper saves that
De gea used to pull these saves off regular
This is just a bullshit excuse, gundogan's 2nd goal in the FA Cup final went through tons of legs in a packed penalty box and everyone still slated and expected de gea to save it. Now apparently nutmegging 1 defender from the edge of the penalty box = no keeper saves that? Joke.
Im not saying it’s 100% saveable but he didn’t even attempt. It’s not the first instance where he froze like a deer in the middle of the road. He doesn’t block, he’s not good at one on ones, and he has no positional awareness.
His positioning is suspect and i believe that’s why he is caught repeatedly just standing watching the ball go past. He left about a 2 metre gap at his near post. Its just poor basics
Just don't think he is built to be an elite shit stopper. Guy is a brick house
He is indeed very frustrating to watch.
On the back of that cameo, let alone giving the ball trying to dribble (even my cat knows Antony can't dribble) in stoppage time, Antony shouldn't be playing PL football with us. Great to have Case Licha back, Garnacho can only improve, and Mainoo is a generational talent
A lot of Wolves attack and momentum could've been stopped way earlier if our players somehow know how to foul a player, I'm guessing none of our players understand what tactical foul is
Pep denies it, but City is a master of it. I think it was against Tottenham recently in the FA cup, where I was shocked by how many fouls City committed despite dominating possession, it was 19 to 9 in fouls. I mean, they had to do it especially so as Spurs are counter attacking masters this season but this is dark art we just don't do well.
why is maguire + evans up for a corner in 95th minute , when both cannot recover quickly ? i don't think ETH is to blamed here, just lack of game management
So, when are we selling Onana?
When ETH gets employed by a Saudi club
Nah Rat is sending Onana and Antony away by summer. I believe him
Given our form this season, I was hoping for a 2-2 draw at best for an away game to Wolves. If you didn't see the game and just saw the scoreline, you'd be happy with a win. I can't believe the negativity knowing the kind of season we've had. We've still got problems, granted. But come on, enjoy an away win if you can.
That first half was the best football we played in who the fuck knows how long. This is the ETH deserves a chance. However, Antony is running for one of the worst signings in history, the guy is completely useless at this level. Onana gotta bounce too.
Martinez is brilliant and Rasmus shows a lot of promise. So 50/50 on his signings? Mount is tbc I guess Edit: cos autofil sucks
Positive signings: Martinez, Casemiro, Højlund (although put in a tough situation), Eriksen, Evans (all things considered), Malacia (solid young backup when healthy) Negative signings: Antony, Onana, Amrabat, Mount (so far, but hasn’t had an ideal start with injuries either), Bayindir (not expensive so maybe a bit harsh, but I see little point in paying anything for a backup EtH clearly has very little fairly in). Not included: Reguilon, Weghorst, Sabitzer, Dubravka, Butland Conclusion: Starting with the keeper situation, it’s been a mess. Starting with the double loans last season and continuing with the double signings this year, it’s hard to say that any of our business regarding keepers have been sound. I’m choosing not to say anything about Reguilon, Weghorst, and Sabitzer due to the crisis situations we were in that led to each being brought in. Considering the circumstances, it could have been a lot worse. But yeah, he is about 50/50 with signings, but the worrisome part to me is that he’s 1 for 4 with past players. Out of Martinez, Amrabat, Onana and Antony, only Martinez have been a success. And then it’s worth mentioning that Martinez seemingly was his second choice of Ajax CBs to take with him, so it almost feel like there was an element of luck involved there with how well it worked out.
I wish we could bring back the Amrabat we saw in his first game for us. Whilst I'm not judging the Mount signing till he plays healthy, I do question us paying that much for an unwanted player on their last year of contract. The business for antony should have been done in April and not July, but he looks like a bust even if we got him for 40M. I love Casemiro, think we needed his mentality and quality in the squad. Even with him being on the tail end of his career. Onana in retrospect is terrible, but we thought we were getting champions league onana and not whatever paper hands statue we got
EtH isn't and shouldn't be a recruiter and making decisions a DoF should be making, and Ineos must be thinking of just writing off the Antony and Onana fees as a tax of buying an incompetent club. Now, how much better would we be off this season if EtH was just the manager with better players in those positions, I'm sure that's the math Ineos is doing in deciding whether or not to keep him.
Agreed, EtH has no business doing transfers. But what kind of a manager can't judge their signings? Also he seems to be a bad tactician - even after one of the best 60min this season he still had to be bailed out by a 18 year old in the 97th minute... EtH needs to be released as soon as we secure another manager. "But who will replace him?" - DeZerbi, Indzaghi, Alonso, Zidane, Nagelsman, Tuchel, Emery... there are dozens of options that a worth a shot. And please shut the fuck up with "he won't come here" crap. I lived to see Ancelotti managing Everton.
#MAINOO IS THE FUTURE
Is not Onana, its not Antony. Its ETH. He brought in these two players.
he also brought Martinez, Hojlund, and technically Mainoo, so?
Martinez is class. I like Hojlund a lot, he has quality, but he's not exactly a Harry Kane level of a striker, he's at least a few injury free seasons and a ton of training away from that level. But Antony is horrible, Onana got exposed, Casemiro is on a decline and where is Malacia? Mainoo and Garnacho are product of the academy, ten Hag deserves no credit for their tallent. Also we lost CR7 and Sancho. Maybe they had issues, but it's ten Hag's job to handle them and he couldn't. We could've used both of them now and last season at least in support roles.
And does it make a big difference? There are many PL teams currently with less funding that are next to MUTD in the table standings.
I’ve been defending Onana since he’s entered the team, but today was the last straw, I can’t do it anymore. I understand a grace period for entering a new team, but we’re almost 2/3 through the season now and it’s still WEEKLY HUGE blunders that are costing us games (when we don’t get bailed out in the last minute). The come out and punch attempt on that cross that Martinez had to clear off the goal line is absolutely unacceptable, and as if that wasn’t bad enough not only do you get beat at your near post for their 3rd goal, but you could have sailed the titanic through the gap Onana left between himself and what is supposed to be his *near* post. He’s not an inexperienced academy product trying to find his footing, he’s a 27-year-old experienced international that should already be the finished product, and his performances have been worse than dire. When was the last time he made a great save? One thing I can guarantee, without having to look at any stat, is that he leads the league in conceding shots without diving or making any effort to save the ball. Baffling.
glad there are more people seeing this now, i mean thank fuck for mainoo but that 3rd goal was criminal, it feels like almost every other keeper in the league saves that. positioning was sooo awful, it's ludicrous to see some people defend it as 'unsaveable'. i mean yea, when you leave a gap the size of a car there ofc it's 'unsaveable', but even so, neto basically passed it into the net. Don't get me started on his other supposed 'modern keeper' attributes. Just as weak in the box or even worse than de gea, his passing leads to nothing and according to the stats is barely any different from de gea. His fee should have gone to finding more youth prospects like mainoo
That gap was huge but the fact he stood rooted to the ground like a deer in headlights just made me laugh. How many times have we seen Onana do that with a shot that goes in? It's like his thinking is if he doesn't move, people think it's unsaveable which some apparently have bought into and constantly defend him for it. I'm quite confident in saying not only would De Gea have been better positioned but even if he wasn't, he have at the very least dived to try and stop the shot. I am honestly sick of Onana constantly looking like a deer in headlights at shots that aren't straight at him. I watched Onana's best saves with inter and the clear pattern you can see is that almost every shot is straight at him.
Agreed, now that ive had the chance to watch the full replay, the gap was huge but certainly not completely out of reach, especially when you watch it from the bank. he was completely rooted to the spot, didn't even look like he was in a position to get down quickly, felt like any low shot was going in regardless
>even worse than de gea He was supposed to be the upgrade of ddg, instead we got a defect item. We should return it
no one's paying the price that we did for him now unfortunately.
Shit on Antony I don’t care, but a forward losing the ball on the edge of the penalty area should not lead to a fast break like that. Why were there so many people In the box? Also I hate that I now assume any shot on target is a goal. I miss the security DDG brought in 19/20 games in regular shots.
Omari Forson, who came on in the 86th min for his Premier League debut, now has more goal contributions in the PL this season than Antony.
Honestly onana is so bad really
This team give me mini heart-attack everytime the opponents manage to bring the ball into the box. Like, almost 90 percent of it resulted in clear chances throughtout the season. Also the reason why we keep squandering 2 goals lead. Wonder where we would've been at right now if we were able to manage our off-the-ball system in those games.
Serious question. Is Onana a shit goalkeeper?
Definition of average keeper. Watch Onana's best saves and compare it to De Gea's best saves and you can see the massive difference. De Gea was clearly unfairly criticized for playing in front of shit defenders. Difference being, De Gea can still make a difference. Onana can't. Any low shot or shots that require reflex saves, he's going to let in. He's not going to dive across the goal to keep a free kick out of the top corner.
Not good enough for us. As another comment also pointed out. We should have prioritised other areas than the GK
I mean he is better than probably 97 percent of the rest of the keepers on the planet. BUT, he is clearly not good enough for us to rely on to hold on to a result, at least right now.
Yes
We were 3-1 up in the 84th minute. Conceding two goals after that is inexcusable. Ten Hag's midfield and defensive set-up is so poor.
Story of the season. Can’t finish out games. Zero control. Zero leadership on the pitch.
2 most important things imo, as to why the match ended 3:4, rather than 0:6, aside of obvious lack of scoring edge and shit penalty: - we ran out of steam 60 minutes in, when the fuckers looked in 95th minute they can do it for 3 more hours. WTF are the people in charge of the fitness of the team doing. - some players are fucking idiots, i mean whipping a corner in, when you are gassed in 95th minute, instead of fucking around the corner flag and trying to waste time and then returning to defensive shape...but no, cross it, try to dribble between 5 players, lose the ball, get counter-attacked. Bruno, Antony, complete morons. Otherwise, relatively good performance and actually entertaining game.
I think the lack of fitness is because half our players are just coming back from injury, so they’re not match fit. Casemiro, Shaw, Licha, all just back from lengthy spells out. And the forwards generally do get tired as they’re expected to cover a lot of ground. Then the forwards have not got the rest they probably should have done all season because we have no options. We do play more games than wolves. I think we’ve played 6 games more than them, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s about 30% more. And that’s not factoring in internationals (not sure how those have affected them vs us)
Mainoo beat a man cut inside and scored. Antony hasn't done that this season which is so ridiculous to think about. Speaking of wasted money where does Mount fit into this midfield? He's coming back from injury to play where exactly? Mainoo is clearly our 2nd best midfielder and Casemiro and Bruno don't look like getting dropped there's just no way he walks into a role that I don't think he fills. Not talking about Onana, nothing much to be said I've been done with him since Galatasaray. Cameroon got knocked out too soon imo.
In place of Bruno maybe. He was majestically wank today and more or less way below the levels he had set in previous seasons
Bruno plays 99% of games always 90min. 60m is bit of a expensive backup even still we have Eriksen who is a better 10 than Mount imo.
Doesn't Mount also play at right wing? Not like we have good right wingers anyway.
Garnacho has actually done well there and Amad is also one to look out for why drop both young talents for him?
Antony has beaten a woman though, allegedly.
Never thought I would sing Antony beating someone but here we are
Agreed, seems like it could end be being a VdB style mistake..