Man United Verdict Thread

[Perton Wolf]

Oh I agree that the defending was awful and said as much. It was comical at times. But overall display?

We showed good resilience the last 30mins but ManU should've been out of sight by then. That first 45 was somehow even worse than at the Albion on Sunday.

 

[QB Wolf]

We showed good resilience the last 30mins but ManU should've been out of sight by then. That first 45 was somehow even worse than at the Albion on Sunday.

I do wonder if we struggled to step up a level after Sunday, we only needed to play at 70% to beat Albion we carried that on and Utds £700m squad was too much for us.

Our passing isn't good enough either, we give the ball away too much in both games, and doesn't feel like we're direct enough either at times.

 

[Plovdiv Wolf]

We could lost 0-6. We fight back, unfortunate little. Wolves always fight to end. Wolves show good in end. One game, let win Sunday focus.

 

[Polish Wolf]

I think a large part of the poor showing of our defense last night was because we were overrun in midfield. They got free pass there far too many times in the first half. Doyle is just too slow for this kind of game and Lemina was below par.

Once RAN went on, Lemina started to play much better, so maybe he had to cover the ground for Doherty too much.

Doyle is just too slow for this kind of games. He is a good player and can be useful in certain game scenarios but the yesterday's one was perfect for Joao Gomes. I hope JG starts against Chelsea.

GON got it wrong with the line-up.

There are still many positives to take out of this game: we again showed great spirit and resilience, something that we haven't seen too much since Covid. Cunha and Neto ran themselves into the ground and were relentless despite having little luck early on. Sarabia is brilliant in finding space in the crowd and picking the right pass (apart from his last one in the game).

We've got a team, again, that is able to give a game to any side in this league.

 

[WolvesinBrum]

I just think there was an emotional hangover from Sunday's BCD to begin with and fair play they got going after that.

GON rewarded the starting xi on Sunday and definitely RAN and Gomes needed to start to give it some energy.

Great game and great fight.

The FA cup is vital now - it gives structure and meaning to the season.

 

[Bryce]

Sky sports. Complete Man U love in this morning. Pewk worthy

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

The kind of result that can turn a season on its head

 

[Dorbelflunk]

The kind of result that can turn a season on its head

Oh come on.

Give me the choice of winning this one or Albion and it's the latter all the way.

 

[Dorbelflunk]

Sky sports. Complete Man U love in this morning. Pewk worthy

Good day to tune out of any football media. They were good, but I don't want to hear it. They've even infiltrated the wolves YouTube highlights ("admit we were better" - erm.. yeah nobody is really doubting that. Now go away)

If they'd lost it would only have been about how they were bad though.

 

[QB Wolf]

Oh come on.

Give me the choice of winning this one or Albion and it's the latter all the way.

Last night I was in the rather beat United camp for PL points, but today knowing how long it had been since we won at the Hawthorns, I'd probably take the Albion win, even though I hate United a lot more than Albion.

 

[BarryM]

Had that last minute winner not gone in and come off the post, we would be celebrating a brilliantly earned draw from what looked like an impossible outcome.

1 goal went in and it’s like the world has ended on here!

We weren’t at the races defensively and first half the whole team hadn’t even arrived at the track. But that wasn’t a snatch and grab performance, we just lost on the day.

You win some you lose some, it isn’t life and death.

 

[SilverstoneWolf]

Disappointed with our naivety having equalised. Only Gomes didn’t get caught up in the ‘celebrations’ (as if we’d won). And he’s supposed to be our South American hothead….

Why pick Doc against 2 very quick wingers! Felt sorry for him. They had targeted our left side - and it worked.

 

[Perton Wolf]

Had that last minute winner not gone in and come off the post, we would be celebrating a brilliantly earned draw from what looked like an impossible outcome.

1 goal went in and it’s like the world has ended on here!

We weren’t at the races defensively and first half the whole team hadn’t even arrived at the track. But that wasn’t a snatch and grab performance, we just lost on the day.

You win some you lose some, it isn’t life and death.

We were ****e for two thirds of that game, that wouldn't have changed if we'd hung on for a point. Would've been a robbery, really.

 

[Dorbelflunk]

Last night I was in the rather beat United camp for PL points, but today knowing how long it had been since we won at the Hawthorns, I'd probably take the Albion win, even though I hate United a lot more than Albion.

I'm probably the same, but we've bested United enough times recently that the Albion victory felt more important as it had been dragging on so long.

 

[crocos]

Some over-reactions on here IMO.

First half they were bang on it, we were bang off it. It happens sometimes. Midfield was the issue IMO.

To nevertheless come back to 3-3, albeit with a hoax penalty, just says so much about our mentality.

Gutting to then go and lose it, but that really was quite some goal to win it for them.

I'm happy despite, cos this is football as I want to see it; and this is mentality and spirit as I want to see it.

We go again on Sunday.

 

[Minimalist]

Doyle a class player.. but we can’t afford his talents in an underdog game like that. Not without changing our game considerably.

I think we should be able to afford his talents with the security of a back 3/5.
Maybe the problem is we seem to actually spend a lot of time with what looks more like a back 4?

 

[Oliwolf44]

Just a prime example of why we can trouble teams on our day but dont really have consistent and quality in depth to sustain a push for top half of the league. and why we should go all out for the cup. Also shows even playing badly we nearly got a point and can compete in one off games.

Thought it was our worst display overall of the season (havent watched every match) it was all wrong in the first half. Application, concentration (doc pass back to Sa anyone), tactics, team selection, it was bad from top to bottom.
Said on the comms thread it was Man Utds best half and our worst half of the season, if they were 5-0 up i couldnt have complained.

Think Utd sat off in the second half and the fact we were able to drag it back shows just how fragile they are, although credit for fight shown but to say we didnt deserve anything from the game would be an understatement.

Felt sorry for Bellegarde and GON deserves criticism for sticking him there. Should have rotated players from what would have been a draining afternoon on sunday. Gomes, Ait Nouri should have come in and then rotation again for chelsea.

Do fear for the legs going towards the end of season (we've only played roughly half our games yet) as players already look tired and some cramps etc but it is what it is. Will be the boards fault rather than manager and players overall but lets see how it pans out

 

[Fenrir_]

A lot of talk about Neto's dive and how we can't call ourselves hard done by by VAR any more.

Well we can, because one going our way doesn't really make up for the multiple balls ups against us. Do think it went our way though, any contact was initiated by Neto and it was minimal having seen the replays. We've still had worse given against us this season! But we got one for us

 

[Streathamwolf]

Start with a number 9 tonight and we win that game! Well done Hobbs and team! Well done!!!

Given that we scored 3 times I don't think that is accurate. We lost because we defended abominably and started as if we had just wandered back from a pub next to the Poorthorns. Bad day at the office, not sure we can put that down to Hobbs and Shi.

 

[Peszkywolf]

Going from the most boring team since the start of lockdown to one of the most exciting is great, I'm loving the football at the moment.
Gut wretching to lose like that after getting back in it and looking for a winner.
Bellegarde is a decent player but not a centre forward.

 

[Redhillwolf]

Given that we scored 3 times I don't think that is accurate. We lost because we defended abominably and started as if we had just wandered back from a pub next to the Poorthorns. Bad day at the office, not sure we can put that down to Hobbs and Shi.

I agree with everything you just said mate I really do but yet again yesterday we put so many crosses in with nobody on the end of them….a number 9 would at least sniff out 1 in a game. I just think they have failed GON massively by knowing what he wanted for months and failing to deliver. Bellegarde is most definitely not the answer!

 

[Streathamwolf]

I agree with everything you just said mate I really do but yet again yesterday we put so many crosses in with nobody on the end of them….a number 9 would at least sniff out 1 in a game. I just think they have failed GON massively by knowing what he wanted for months and failing to deliver. Bellegarde is most definitely not the answer!

Difficult to argue with any of that. The missing 9 is very frustrating and may well be a major issue in a month or 2. Last night though, was a bit of "after the Lord Mayor's show"

 

[North West Wanderer]

we’d have lost that 5-0 in previous seasons post Nuno. what’s pleasing is we could have won it despite being awful.

 

[Mark Rankines Lovechild]

It was a disappointing result and a poor first half but good second half.
Bellegarde is not a striker,
Doc didn't have a good game but, that said Man Unites targeted Semedo. Rashford was making him struggle to the point where he swapped with Doc for a while and Rashford simply followed Semedo - they saw him as a weak link.

 

[Perton Wolf]

It was a disappointing result and a poor first half but good second half.
Bellegarde is not a striker,
Doc didn't have a good game but, that said Man Unites targeted Semedo. Rashford was making him struggle to the point where he swapped with Doc for a while and Rashford simply followed Semedo - they saw him as a weak link.

I am finding the criticism of Semedo to be quite odd considering Kilman was primarily culpable for at least 2 of the goals if not three.

 

[Contrarian]

Think Santi deserves a chance

HE doesn't seem to have much pace and a lot of our problems last night were due to lack of pace in getting back. As well as their goals, several times they had clear chances because Toti/Kilman etc had pushed up too far and couldn't catch the Man U players on the break. It could mean the defence sit deeper, which generally suits us better anyway.

 

[Glow69]

It was a disappointing result and a poor first half but good second half.
Bellegarde is not a striker,
Doc didn't have a good game but, that said Man Unites targeted Semedo. Rashford was making him struggle to the point where he swapped with Doc for a while and Rashford simply followed Semedo - they saw him as a weak link.

Kilman was the problem. Not semedo

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

It was a disappointing result and a poor first half but good second half.
Bellegarde is not a striker,
Doc didn't have a good game but, that said Man Unites targeted Semedo. Rashford was making him struggle to the point where he swapped with Doc for a while and Rashford simply followed Semedo - they saw him as a weak link.

Semedo got no protection at all
It wasnt Rashford,who didnt go past Semedo all night btw,it was the fact that they always had another overlapping player to pass round him
Neto never got back once in the first half to help out and our 2 man midfield was totally over run
Second half we adjusted and Semedo got forward far more,with some good crosses for a change too
If he is our weak link god help the rest especially Doc who lasted 2 minutes on the right lol

 

[Contrarian]

A lot of talk about Neto's dive and how we can't call ourselves hard done by by VAR any more.

The VAR audio in full: "Man U are 2 goals ahead, so it's safe to let them have this one, Jarred. No more after this one, though".

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

It was a disappointing result and a poor first half but good second half.
Bellegarde is not a striker,
Doc didn't have a good game but, that said Man Unites targeted Semedo. Rashford was making him struggle to the point where he swapped with Doc for a while and Rashford simply followed Semedo - they saw him as a weak link.

Disagree, Semedo handled Rashford very well, he just got overloaded at times. Also don't think they swapped at any point, they just got stuck on the opposite sides after a corner and didn't get chance to switch back for a couple of minutes.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

A lot of talk about Neto's dive and how we can't call ourselves hard done by by VAR any more.

I mean onana punched kilman in head so cancels that out

 

[SA Wolf]

Explain ambition that can be achieved consistently, go.

Top half, edge of European places, which is where we would be if we could defend better than Sunday League. We deserved nothing last night, but defensively, we were shocking and that is totally out of character and not 'fine'.
We should be able to 'consistently achieve' that.

 

[optimuswolf]

3-4 and the nature of the late goal probably a bit misleading overall.

The Neto penalty is the sort of one we’ve had given against us all season. We’d be fuming if that was given against us. Not overturned because there is contact but it’s not given by VAR if the ref on the field doesn’t give it I don’t think.

Fernandes should have buried the game with a better pass at the end of the first half and the big chance at the start of the second.

My overall summary is - it’s enjoyable to be able to see Man United at home on the fixture list and think “we’ll give them a game”. Overall, though, when they turn up they’re a top 6 side and they turned up first half. Sometimes it’s a simple game - they’ve got a better team than us and sometimes that happens…

We were poor but i thought man utd were very good in the first half. Credit where credits due.

 

[Contrarian]

I do wonder if we struggled to step up a level after Sunday, we only needed to play at 70% to beat Albion we carried that on and Utds £700m squad was too much for us.

Our passing isn't good enough either, we give the ball away too much in both games, and doesn't feel like we're direct enough either at times.

Agree with this. For all the flak thrown at our defence, much of the work they had to do comes about because we regularly give the ball away cheaply much further up the field. Difference being Man U had the players who could exploit it - even though they could have scored at least 2 more from catching us on the break.

It's the problem when 2 countering teams play each other. The one that counters best will win, similar to the West Ham match. Our counters were too slow, the difference between the two sides last night visible. In general, we were slowing down the further up the pitch we got,which meant Utd had got back, organised, the game slowed to a crawl, meanwhile our defenders were also pushing up. So when we lost the ball (which we did often), Man U sprinted away like we weren't there, because we weren't. And they broke with more numbers and picked each other out better, causing us real problems. They played more like how we played at Brighton. Deeper, but breaking faster and creating better chances.

I think we must have been mentally hung over from sunday and/or getting a bit ahead of ourselves after a really good run. Not the match to try and out score the opposition in an open game. You defend as a team, and we were very disorganised defensively, as a team.

 

[Mighty Thor]

I’ve stopped reading when you blame Semedo for the second

Maybe you should have kept reading? You would see that say it was calamitous once the ball came over implying full defence to blame?

...

 

[North West Wanderer]

Semedo got no protection at all
It wasnt Rashford,who didnt go past Semedo all night btw,it was the fact that they always had another overlapping player to pass round him
Neto never got back once in the first half to help out and our 2 man midfield was totally over run
Second half we adjusted and Semedo got forward far more,with some good crosses for a change too
If he is our weak link god help the rest especially Doc who lasted 2 minutes on the right lol

as great as Neto is he does have a petulant streak sometimes! when he scored the equaliser he was more worried about celebrating than scoring again!!! Great player mind.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

as great as Neto is he does have a petulant streak sometimes! when he scored the equaliser he was more worried about celebrating than scoring again!!! Great player mind.

Neto is a petulant,arrogant,bone idle,brilliantly talented god of a player lol

 

[crocos]

Some of our passing is electric and razor-sharp precise, to say nothing of its confidence too. Amazing sometimes. Also heart-in-mouth sometimes when playing out from the back.

I want this spirit.

The price to pay, however, is that just being "not quite on it" means we can give the ball away easily, as in the first half.

I love it though. Excitement guaranteed!

 

[Lobo de Ouro]

Not great defensively but that’s the price you sometimes pay for getting forward. Let’s not forget that’s the strongest United team for a while. My only gripe is Doherty starting instead of RAN

May have been said already (haven't read the entire thread) but the game totally changed the moment Rayan came on.

Bringing one of the best Leftbacks in the league on for one of the worst (Doc was never any good on the left, never mind now) was always going to have that effect though.

 

[Brian Law’s buses]

I think a large part of the poor showing of our defense last night was because we were overrun in midfield. They got free pass there far too many times in the first half. Doyle is just too slow for this kind of game and Lemina was below par.

Once RAN went on, Lemina started to play much better, so maybe he had to cover the ground for Doherty too much.

Doyle is just too slow for this kind of games. He is a good player and can be useful in certain game scenarios but the yesterday's one was perfect for Joao Gomes. I hope JG starts against Chelsea.

GON got it wrong with the line-up.

There are still many positives to take out of this game: we again showed great spirit and resilience, something that we haven't seen too much since Covid. Cunha and Neto ran themselves into the ground and were relentless despite having little luck early on. Sarabia is brilliant in finding space in the crowd and picking the right pass (apart from his last one in the game).

We've got a team, again, that is able to give a game to any side in this league.

100 percent spot on reference being over run in midfield, I think GON thinking reference RAN was to fill in the attacking positions given how light we are in that department, hence the reason DOC is starting /filling in at LWB. We cannot expect Neto and Cunha to keep running their legs off week after week, so many games so close together at the moment, injuries waiting to happen.