Nine

Yeah, that’s fairly impressive stuff tbf. I hadn’t realised he had quite as many assists as he does, likely higher than they would be if he was not assisting Isak but solid numbers nonetheless

Fair play to him for the honesty, Rashford must be a shit influence to have around if hes being that blunt. Also, its a decent distraction from their current results. Well played Amorim I say.

Man United look lethargic here, some of these players don’t have the athletic attributes to really play for this guy.

I agree with you, and it is the reality. Murphy’s current form isn’t likely to be sustainable just as Miggys in 22/23 was never going to be. Murphy obviously isn’t ideal long term for a CL chasing side, but as Howe has proved a few times now he can squeeze enough % out of more limited players by keeping them in the team week in week out and reap the rewards. I think Murphy will be fine for the rest of season, even if his numbers do drop off some. In the summer we will address the RW I’m fairly certain, but I wouldn’t be so sure whoever is signed will displace Murphy instantly and come straight into the side. The under lying point I’m making falls back to the tired PSR conversation as always.

He’s never been that bad, he’s just not of the quality that some of our fans would like to see out wide. When we are not playing well he tends to take a lot of the criticism. Could he be upgraded? Absolutely, but im not sure it’s a necessity right now. Hes the type of player that Howe gets a lot from, although he is limited in some aspects of his game he can be utilised in specific manners that emphasise his good attributes. Just like Howe did with Almiron in the ultra press of 22/23.

Kudus up top kind of reminds me of us attempting to play ASM there before we had Wood, it’s a lack of presence and structure. Paqueta is trying to fill the space when naturally Kudus drifts wide but it’s not working here.

Villa have a bit of a CB issue now

Yeah I can’t see Iraola for all the all the reasons above either

You really can’t, exactly why I’m here for it! Ange just waved the fans goodbye I think

Their fans have fully turned on Ange now, the narrative has inevitably moved from injuries to managers fault. I’m here for it.

Spursy

Ayew not taking a touch there for a player with his experience is criminal

We’ll win this game in midfield imo, Smith Rowe will especially struggle with us

The time to buy Kluivert was summer 2023, Bournemouth took the chance on him and fair play to them. He’d cost far to much now.

How far offside was their disallowed goal? Havnt seen it yet

I was behind the other goal in the home end (wouldn’t recommend) when he spanked that in, felt like it took an age for him to hit it from where I was stood

If true, that would have been a fine move for Edouard

Go on then, spill the details

There has to be a method to Howes madness on that, although I’m not sure what

That squad is so far away from being suited to him that it’s going to cost them multiple hundreds of millions to even play his system the way he needs to, and have it be effective. It’s another hell of an investment and commitment for a club that can’t spend money correctly.. just feels like the Man United manager cycle has begun again. He’s a good coach but he’s taken on the job of death They continue like this and it won’t be long before the fans decide that it’s Amorims fault, and that he should be adjusting his system to be more pragmatic while he can. It’s inevitable.

Going to this, a comfy win would be beautiful

Seen a lot of people saying we lost the game tactically today and I disagree. We just got comfortably beaten by a better performance than our own. It’s pretty ironic how we got blown away by a side that heavily resembles the 22/23 version of ourselves, how often did we do what Bournemouth did today during that season? We all knew they would come up here and go with that ultra press, and when it’s well drilled and everyone is on it sometimes you just cannot overcome it. We did it to PSG here. They were pro active and had the physical edge from minute 1, we saw signs of mental and physical fatigue vs Wolves and it was evident today as well. We do tend to struggle against a good press, I was excited to see how the inclusion of Tonali might change that but today it made little difference.. seeing Bruno struggle and get caught highlights the fact that he does lack the physical/athletic attributes in that 8 position against a good press. They exploited it well. Fair play to Bournemouth, not sure I’ve seen a better away performance here for some time. My only criticism of the set up/system is starting Botman on the wrong side, but then Schar comes on and drops a clanger One of them days. Getting beat like this isn’t always bad, gives us a chance to reset and gives plenty for Howe to work with. Onto the next.

To be fair, in that game any change he could have made wouldn’t have turned it in our favour. If the entire first 11 can’t get it going then our bench isn’t going to change much, we were blown away by them simply put.

Mourinho back in for some no doubt

Well it off today against a good side, fair play to them