[TBL] Man United (2-1) Chelsea [Rom, J Lingz]

[balo]

I didnt watch the match but let me guess... Man U were damn lucky to have won today right?

Man U won fair.

The Oga at SB got tired standing in his technical area while watching Morinho make adjustments that won him the game.

[joplass]

Chelsea has such a good first 11
Probably the most balanced in the league in terms of attacking and defensive prowess

choi

[Its a Goal]

[oloye]

How any sane coach can watch Pogba play so well and so fluid in this game and still doggedly insist he must play from the defensive position...such a coach is nothing but anti-football. Such a coach should be kept away from young and upcoming talents.

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

How any sane coach can watch Pogba play so well and so fluid in this game and still doggedly insist he must play from the defensive position...such a coach is nothing but anti-football. Such a coach should be kept away from young and upcoming talents.

beg leave our Jose alone. We like our defensive setup. Jose has been coaching since Pogba was in diapers

For real though, why does Jose sabotage himself? I am sure he is enjoying this 2-1 tight victory and feeling proud, even though he could have potentially decimated Chelsea. He has converted Alexis and Pogba to defenders.

What was the point of buying Alexis when Lingard and Rashford can "play well to instructions"? Maybe the future and Jose will prove us wrong, and Alexis will become the next Cantona, but Man U, as currently constituted, could have done really well without him. Allow Pogba to go on the offensive (and teams can't stop him), you have Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Mata to help carry the offensive load, with Lukaku as your striker. Kai, Baba Sir Alex would have had these guys flying...

[toyin133]

[danfo driver]

How any sane coach can watch Pogba play so well and so fluid in this game and still doggedly insist he must play from the defensive position...such a coach is nothing but anti-football. Such a coach should be kept away from young and upcoming talents.

What is McTominay's views on this?


A known sports lawyer/agent on twitter "claims," that Mourinho asked Pogba to wait until the summer when United can get 2 quality central midfielders, and he will stick to the 433 and play him in his correct position. Me, i wasnt there o! Na this lawyer/agent tok am.

Personally, I think United should go with this midfield until Herrera is back:


-------Pogba----------------------------

------------------------Ashley Young------

-------------Matic------------------------

[oloye]

How any sane coach can watch Pogba play so well and so fluid in this game and still doggedly insist he must play from the defensive position...such a coach is nothing but anti-football. Such a coach should be kept away from young and upcoming talents.

What is McTominay's views on this?


A known sports lawyer/agent on twitter "claims," that Mourinho asked Pogba to wait until the summer when United can get 2 quality central midfielders, and he will stick to the 433 and play him in his correct position. Me, i wasnt there o! Na this lawyer/agent tok am.

Personally, I think United should go with this midfield until Herrera is back:


-------Pogba----------------------------

------------------------Ashley Young------

-------------Matic------------------------

I am sure you will take offence considerably if i compare MacTominay with Pogba. So i will allow you to do that.

[wiseone]

Good win for Man Utd, but boy that was hard to watch. LVG bored us with constant possession and sideways passing. Jose is boring us with constant non-possessing and sporadic attacking. Chelsea were excellent until they scored. Played Man Utd off the park then suddenly stopped playing when they took the lead.

[paj]

Chelsea has such a good first 11
Probably the most balanced in the league in terms of attacking and defensive prowess

choi

abi o..someone flunking his Ganja probation right before our very eyes..
Pa

[tfco]

Good win for Man Utd, but boy that was hard to watch. LVG bored us with constant non-possession and sideways passing. Jose is boring us with constant non-possessing and sporadic attacking. Chelsea were excellent until they scored. Played Man Utd off the park then suddenly stopped playing when they took the lead.

abeg do not compare the LVG years to now. There has been a massive improvement

Uld Trafford crowd chanting "Attack attack attack" during LVG's time

We bossed them 2H btw

[tfco]

[marko]

Lingard, our new paul scholes, difficult to mark

[metalalloy]

[balo]

Conte and Morata killed Chelsheep today

Pretty much. Nothing more to add.

Even the Azpi/Morata combo ain't working no more because the guy couldn't stay on his feet.

[danfo driver]

Matic says na lie!

[wanaj0]

Pogba was a bit conservative today in his play, although he had a fair good game, good win for united and deserved, Lukaku was immense, still not sold on Sanchez, think he has destbilised the team formation

What is all these destabilized nonsense ,looks like once fans latch onto a phrase they will keep using it repeatedly. What was the form of United over the xmas? Was it not the desperation that made them hijacked the Sanchez deal?

There is nothing to destabilize in a team that had no rhythm to begin with.

Likely because of corruption. Just like the Torres/Andy Carol deal! They need to investigate all those transfers!!!

[paj]

THe lil hebitch who opened the thread actually left Willian out of the scorers of the match?

[benteke]

Good win for Man Utd, but boy that was hard to watch. LVG bored us with constant possession and sideways passing. Jose is boring us with constant non-possessing and sporadic attacking. Chelsea were excellent until they scored. Played Man Utd off the park then suddenly stopped playing when they took the lead.

You are being very honest here, the first half we were living on the edge, but credit that Jose adjusted and we came back, but this squad can do much better it doesn't feel like they are playing at maximum potential

[tfco]

from the Guardian

Credit where it is due: José Mourinho’s sometimes dour tactics do occasionally produce results. This was a big one for Manchester United, who had to come from behind after being not only outplayed but outdazzled in the first half by a Chelsea side who looked as if they had come to Old Trafford to hand out a lesson in entertaining football.

When Eden Hazard and Willian were taking it in turns to cut elegant swaths through United’s defence in the first half the script seemed familiar. The Antonio Conte team would attempt to create, the Mourinho one would do its best to stifle. This was precisely what was happening until United pulled a goal back, at which point Chelsea seemed to lose their sense of certainty. They ended up withdrawing Hazard in the second half in an indication they would settle for a point, only to be trumped by Romelu Lukaku creating a winning goal for Jesse Lingard.

That sums up Chelsea’s season, by turns brilliant and mundane, and it is no wonder Conte finds managing this team frustrating. Chelsea began with all the class and confidence, only to leave empty-handed after sitting back and inviting United to grow into the game. Mourinho’s players did not need asking twice. Though they began timidly, apparently in awe of Chelsea’s ability to launch devastating breaks from almost anywhere on the pitch, they ended up the stronger and Lukaku might have finished with more than a goal and an assist as he finally managed to prove himself against top-six opponents.

None of this appeared likely when Chelsea were bossing United around in the first half. Mourinho did not send out his players to park the bus but they were clearly under instructions to stay compact and mostly behind the ball. Every time Chelsea fancied a breather Antonio Rüdiger or Danny Drinkwater would dally on the ball near the halfway line, challenging United to break out of their confines, and the action would be effectively paused until the home side sent a token runner forward.

Chelsea held the initiative early on, in other words. Conte’s side deserved to take the lead on the half-hour because they had shown far more enterprise in attack by that point. They could have gone in front after four minutes but Álvaro Morata hit the bar instead of claiming the goal of the season from Marcos Alonso’s outrageously good volleyed cross. It was clear by that stage that Chelsea would be providing the exhibition football, United the collar work in the form of disciplined defending and occasional counters, yet despite the excellence of Willian’s opening goal the home defence held firm for the rest of the afternoon.

Few would have put much money on that after watching Willian win the ball in his own penalty area, set Hazard free from the centre circle then advance into the box to rifle the return past David de Gea. But the truth was that Chelsea created several similarly promising situations without managing to take the game decisively beyond United.

Hazard had a chance right at the end of the first half, for instance, another good opportunity at the start of the second, and between those a wonderful run and pass from Willian created an opening that Morata was unable to accept. United were nothing like as incisive, yet there were signs, albeit small ones, of a growing understanding between Lukaku and Alexis Sánchez even before they combined for the equaliser.

Once back in the game the pair began to enjoy themselves; it was a Sánchez cross that brought the acrobatic volley from Lukaku that Thibaut Courtois had to tip over the bar. Mourinho could also claim credit for making an effective substitution when sending on Lingard but chose afterwards to dwell on the team performance rather than picking out individuals.

“I wasn’t expecting us to create a lot of chances but you could see we were organised and we worked hard,” he said. It might not be the swashbuckling style United followers have come to expect, but it was enough to see off Chelsea and leave Conte complaining his side need to be more clinical. Lukaku’s shift was workmanlike rather than exceptional though, had he been playing in blue, as Conte hoped last summer, the journey back to London might have been a happier one.

[wiseone]

They were chanting that during the SAF years too!

abeg do not compare the LVG years to now. There has been a massive improvement

Uld Trafford crowd chanting "Attack attack attack" during LVG's time

We bossed them 2H btw

[benteke]

Good win for Man Utd, but boy that was hard to watch. LVG bored us with constant non-possession and sideways passing. Jose is boring us with constant non-possessing and sporadic attacking. Chelsea were excellent until they scored. Played Man Utd off the park then suddenly stopped playing when they took the lead.

abeg do not compare the LVG years to now. There has been a massive improvement

Uld Trafford crowd chanting "Attack attack attack" during LVG's time

We bossed them 2H btw

One thing i always liked about LVG is that he had a clear plan and identity about how he wanted United play, he wanted a Possession based style starting from the keeper and it's a shame he didn't ultimately get the quality players that suited style.

But with Mourinho i still cannot see what his plan is. I am still looking forward to next season to see if he will bring in exactly what he wants and give the team a proper solid style that scares everyone in Europe.

[wiseone]

To be fair to LVG he never got credit for:

*Improving some members of the team who fans thought were average (Mike Smalling, Fellaini, Martial all played their best football under LVG).

*Taking a chance on youth and introducing several youth team teenagers into the first team (Rashford, Fosu-Mensah, Pereira). If Mourinho had been coach in 2014-2015, Rashford would never have got near the first team and would probably still be playing for the U23s.

One weakness of the LVG team (that Mourinho) has addressed was that they used to physically get bullied especially away at tough fighting teams like Burnley and Leicester. Mourinho saw that and increased the physical power of the team with some of his Land of the Giants signings (Zlatan, Lukaku, Pogba, Bailly).

One thing i always liked about LVG is that he had a clear plan and identity about how he wanted United play, he wanted a Possession based style starting from the keeper and it's a shame he didn't ultimately get the quality players that suited style.

But with Mourinho i still cannot see what his plan is. I am still looking forward to next season to see if he will bring in exactly what he wants and give the team a proper solid style that scares everyone in Europe.