themanupstairs

JanMAAT!

Janmate chill

Giroud is absolute garbage man. Goodness me.

 

They might as well start Welbeck up there once he's back. Guaranteed to have more about him than lumbering slow Giroud.

 

Absolutely pants.

Giroud maybe shouldn't be leading Arsenal's line as their main striker, but things went proper downhill for them last night as soon as he came off. Walcott offered zero threat with Liverpool sitting back so deep. At least Giroud had a very good effort saved, and created one or two more chances with his sheer presence in the box.

Hiring a manager on a one year deal was never going to work was it. Craziness. 

 

Players are likely tuning the guy out, as he isn't around long term anyway.

Yup. Probably got used to playing shit for some time, getting a new manager in time for the derby, getting the points to stay up, rinse and repeat. Disgraceful bunch.

St. is just an abbreviation of Saint so technucally he is correct.

 

:lol:

 

Thanks Einstein

 

Who the hell's Ein saint Ein?

 

Didn't see the game today.

 

I have to ask though, given that we dug in today and battled to a point under pressure by not conceding, is everyone that was absolutely DISGUSTED by McClaren's decision to shut up shop at 2-0 at Swansea still feeling self righteous about it?

 

 

Were you one of them?

You're normally a very good poster but I don't understand what you're trying to say there like. How does us shutting up shop while getting beat last week relate to today's result?

 

Ok, I'll try to explain a bit better. The most important part of this is the big picture. In the dark days of Pardew one of the main things that kept the argument raging was that some people analysed every game in isolation, which I thought was a big mistake. It was short term thinking that lead Pardew to set up the team on a game by game basis, and analysing the way the team played in isolation for 90 minutes at a time every week told us little about what was actually going on at the club. Hence, a lot of very confused views about Pardew, and some people taking an age to work out he was awful.

 

It's worth pointing out here that the three people who have picked me up on my post Man U post are people I've largely agreed with in the past, especially on Pardew, which is why I think this is a discussion worth having.

 

With all this in mind, last week we didn't play particularly well and suffered from some extremely stupid play by Janmaat. We were away to a good team in form and the game was gone. McClaren decided to shut up shop and got pelters from plenty of people on here. At the time, I thought that was a totally understandable decision, and one that might go some way to increasing a fragile team spirit if we could see out the game without conceding again. What McClaren did worked.

 

Given that the team are being praised for being disciplined in defence, showing team spirit and togetherness in yesterday's game......it seems fairly straightforward to me that the decision McClaren took last week to dig in and not concede any more in a game we'd already lost...was a reasonable one, and went some way to fostering the team spirit and resolve to fight for each other that won us an impressive point at Old Trafford.

 

Back to the big picture, and the reason I was questioning the criticism of McClaren during and after the Swansea game. I think the criticism was harsh and indicative of a mindset that is a little too anxious to get on the managers back. I think some people need to fully let Pardew go and give the new manager a chance to prove whether he's up to it or not, because I think it's reasonable to suggest it could go either way.

 

Good post imo.

Very

I think it was obvious the way the defensive players celebrated at the final whistle that the overall objective was keeping a clean sheet (as a gameplan). McClaren said himself before the match that it was a relatively young group, with several new players getting to know one another, and that they would learn a lot about themselves from this game, if as instructed, they had a go.

I think Anita and Colback are as bad as each other. Anita is a bit better on the ball which makes him more popular on the forums, but is anonymous without possession 9 games out of ten.

 

In comparison Colback is defensively more noticeable in that he will press, harry and get some blocks and tackles in, but can't pass for s***. However that defensive presence, over Anita makes him seem less anonymous and is therefore more popular with the man on the street.

 

I know some say we need new defenders, others say we need a striker or winger. Both are wrong, we need one more central midfielder.

 

They're not wrong...

 

long term we need both.

 

Long term you could argue we need players for every position.

 

But if we have only one signing left this summer it needs to be a new CM

o

I think Anita and Colback are as bad as each other. Anita is a bit better on the ball which makes him more popular on the forums, but is anonymous without possession 9 games out of ten.

 

In comparison Colback is defensively more noticeable in that he will press, harry and get some blocks and tackles in, but can't pass for s***. However that defensive presence, over Anita makes him seem less anonymous and is therefore more popular with the man on the street.

 

I know some say we need new defenders, others say we need a striker or winger. Both are wrong, we need one more central midfielder.

 

They're not wrong...

 

long term we need both.

 

Long term you could argue we need players for every position.

 

But if we have only one signing left this summer it needs to be a new CM

nah, you've got wini and sissoko who can drop in. if we lose a centre half we're f***ed.

 

Don't think they complement each other at all as pure central midfielders. So we need to drop one back and sign someone else to play alongside them, getting rid of both shithouses, not just one of them.

 

It's like playing with 9 players at the moment.

Without doubt should be in the starting XI, hopefully McClaren will see that. Loved watching him sprinting back numerous times yesterday to stop the crosses coming in.

The kind of player that gets the crowd to its feet. He's essential especially at home. One of the few players we have that can provide tha bi o magikk.

He had the most important touch in the lead-up to our last minute chance. It was him that set Wijnaldum on his way with a first time pass into space. The guy barely touched the ball yesterday and someone on here isn't impressed that he didn't get Luke Shaw to consider retirement because he had played 70 more minutes. 

He's the one in our squad who's most unlikely to lose possession imo. Love him.

Mike Williamson IMO

 

You can't lose what you'll never have

 

I know the Spanish press are spoilt for choice when it comes to analysing players, but is there any mention at all of this kids progress?

 

No, he's pretty much off the radar. Won't get a look until he goes back to Spain or signs for a big(ger) English team.

gtfo

For me Colback doesn't look half the player Guthrie did and considering the later is struggling in the Championship it's a massive worry. It's hard to say what his role actually is. He isn't particularly creative, he seems miles away from players when closing down and he gets bullied in a defensive capacity. For all Anita has his critics on here, he was always snapping around the Man U players' heels yesterday trying to make tackles and interceptions, Colback seemed miles off the pace.

 

If our aim is top 10 we're really going to struggle carrying a player in such an important position.

Well said. You can't tell if he's on form or off form, because he's the kind of player that does absolutely nothing of note. Maybe he'll never really be off form precisely because what he does is extremely basic. I don't mind that in its essence, as long as this basic stuff actually contributes to getting positive results. At the moment it's a total waste of a shirt apart from a couple of last ditch tackles.

This guy is worth his weight in gold. And then some.

He's just positionally all over the place. Sometimes that means he's in the right place for mental last second tackles, most often it just means Anita gets to do the work of two, and then gets criticized for not being domineering. Please drop him.

If he continues to contribute nothing and McClaren drops him, I'll suddenly have a massive surge in confidence that our new manager actually has his wits about him, and genuinely wants to go places with this squad.

Can;t wait till someone does that fist pumps up pards arse. Odious cunt.

Grealish has a sumptuous touch on the ball.

Cowardly as f*** protecting a point at old Trafford. f***ing disgrace man 

 

nah man, no need for that, throw aarons on and we could win the game

 

Aarons for Krul: a real mans sub.

Apart from two great tackles on Mata and Rooney, he was terrible IMO. Miles away from the action for most of the game, and stupidly gave the ball away several times in dangerous positions.

 

He earned his shirt a long time ago, simply by being a right back. That and he's one of our best players anyway. He starts.

 

I don't agree that he should start automatically, it's not fair on the players who come in and play well.

Yup. Also he was directly responsible for 2 goals conceded this season already, in addition to a moronic red card.

Thread title had me for a split of a split second

Same! much improved today. You can clearly see he was out to the wide positions trying to block the crosses in at least. Perez gave him a lot of help though it must be said.

Anyone wanting to learn how to play the position should watch this match and watch this guy's movement off the ball. Filled in as a 3rd center back at times, without needing to tackle. Just by intelligently reading the play and covering the passing lanes/channels, he stunted several Man Red attacks. 10/10 off the ball today. Sensational.

I'd keep the same back four against Arsenal. Janmaat needs to earn the shirt back.

He's been off the boil since last season.

Best thing about today is Froggy getting mad as f*** at his team being dross.

This And dross isn't an exaggeration.

on the other side man utd looked clueless in attack, hitting the post aside krul was hardly making saves left right and centre

 

Two world class saves from Hernandez and Mata. Colo blocked three shots as well that were on target. How anyone can say Colo wasn't MOTM is beyond me. He saved it from being a spanking.

If this was a potential Man Utd spanking then you have to worried for your title chances this season.

 

I worry for Newcastle FC when a great performance is being stuck in your own box for 80 mins and having zero shots on target.

Trolling as usual eh? We'll not be the first team to come to OT and sit back. In Rooney you have an off-form forward who needs to get his touch and explosiveness back. Midfield and defense is sorted for you but the side is far from accomplished if you can't score goals.

As for us, yeah in the past we would have laid down and taken it up the poop hoop. The fact that we looked organized and fought hard makes a massive difference to us. Being a regular on NO, one would think you would easily recognize that.

Absolutely great team performance, no passengers today. Excellent.

 

Agreed, apart from Colback and Obertan.

Would have taken these two off at HT, put Aarons and Thauvin on, pushed Perez up front with Mitrovic and Wijnaldum back in the middle, and had a right go with 442. The extra center midfielder we had didn't make a jot of a difference, and I would have much rather played a more expansive game using more of the pitch. Really could have won this.

So unlucky not to win it. Rooney is impotent. Man U a load of fart and no s***. Defensively we have been excellent. Not hung on by the skin of our teeth as much as the stats would suggest. We were organized and disciplined. Perez MOTM imo for dat tracking back!

Looks evil in the training pictures.

 

Link?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40191515@N05/20574730529/in/album-72157657571433545/