Martial subbed out, of course he can't do an assist from the bench *ba dum tissss* j/k Martial has not been showing his form of last season in the opening games of this season.

Hopefully just needs time to find his form. To be fair though, Martial played the game in a wider position so I'm not sure a direct comparison is apt.

The assist was a beauty (like the one that he did for Zlatan in the previous game), but it's also obvious the midfield and attack can further improve as well.

Around 1 month into the season and already civil war meltdown? Anyone who is saying look at Pep........ the season is 5/38 PL games in!

Trophies get handed out in May, and the real blender/breaker of a squad and manager is in the December crunch of games.

Expected stress and panic if we were in a bad place after December, not in the middle of September

Tricky call. He's always been streaky, but from memory he's also (mostly) been given time to play himself into form when he was younger.

Now that he is in his 30s, bench him = will he then be able to find a way to win back his place in the starting team, or will he be even worse over time and also end up affecting team morale with his unhappiness?

The other big problem is (from memory) every time Rooney has been benched/rested.. the media has gone nuts about it but the team has not found another gear either.

If he gets rested (e.g. Europa) and the team hits form then the manager can say it's justified. Since it's so open...... I think JM will give Rooney a chance for some amount of time.

Just that the fans are more impatient after 3 seasons of frustration with the team and Rooney.

Wow.. so much focus/drama/flaming over 1 player.

Minimal talk about team formation, tactics, other players pros/cons, or other in-game events involving the NEW manager/team/club.

Time to rename the thread to Rooney Street Talks?

I think in the last 3 seasons, it's not just a player who gets it. It's always a player and/or the manager who gets nuked to kingdom come.

If I got RM1 every time someone flamed/hated on LVG/Moyes/Rooney/Fellaini in this thread in the last 3 years, can probably buy a house

Strangely enough, the 1 guy who stands above the manager and team and is directly responsible for things like choice of manager and transfer activity gets minimal burns in comparison.

This is the same Woody that agreed/did not protest the appointment of Moyes. Ok, give him that one since SAF was a titan at the time and he recommended Moyes to the board.

The same Woody that decided LVG needed to be given a 3 year contract even when LVG himself only wanted the job for 2 years.

The same Woody that was a disaster in practically every transfer window before the last one, and even in the last one could not sell the players JM did not rate as good enough in order to reduce our squad size and wage bill.. which is supposedly why we did not push harder to sign Fonte.

Right now when our defence is not good enough, am I the only one wondering if we would be better with Fonte available to lend experience and leadership to the back-line?

Poor patch, but we got some guys who are bright lights.

Zlatan, Rashford, Bailly (mostly).

Valencia and Fellaini much improved compared to the previous 3 seasons, although still not perfect.

Gonna be interesting to see how Pogba settles, how the team formation and tactics change as JM adjusts and learns how to max the team performance.

Looking at his track record at Inter, Real, Chelsea 2nd coming...... his 1st season is about calibrating the team, and the team peaks in his 2nd season at a club.

This post has been edited by sunblaze: Sep 20 2016, 08:05 PM

Scholes had a good point, at Juventus he had experienced quality midfielders beside him for guidance and opportunity to show his ability.

Also, Juventus had a solid defence in place.

Our defence has room to improve, and our midfield is probably the biggest weakness at the moment because JM is working it out.

Hopefully Carrick/Herrera/Schneiderlin will get a chance to anchor the midfield so Pogba can do his thing.

Having spent so much on a young and dynamic midfielder, we should be setting up the team so he can display his ability and support Zlatan/Rashford.

This post has been edited by sunblaze: Sep 20 2016, 09:14 PM

Pretty sure he has been copping flak for years now, every time he has to defend it's time to pray and hold your breath

The main benefit he brings at RB is his energy levels/strength.

Crossing / assists = was outstanding for 1 season (2010?), then between his injuries and opposition learning how to handle him.......... the assists and danger dropped massively.

Gonna be interesting to see who the "leak" is.

Considering Mourinho basically nuked Casillas because he suspected him to be the dressing room leak at Real Madrid........... whoever it is can say goodbye, unless Mou has changed his reaction towards that kinda thing.

More likely Rashford, Young or Depay will come on to replace Martial.

Don't think it's anything to do with balls, think it's a case of Mou having the confidence/feeling he can get Rooney to perform. He has been pretty ruthless with players at other clubs in the past.

The theory going around is that he is giving Rooney time and rope to hang himself, so that if Mou swings the axe there is ample proof "see? I gave him so much games/backing and this is all I got"

Interesting read, in particular the comment about England managers was interesting.

On a separate note: https://www.facebook.com/dreamteamfc/videos...81314388554149/

I'm not worried about ours since Pogba does have time to come good, but the rest was pretty hilarious

Eh can stop waving kok at each other or not? Lose also kok out, winning also kok out.

Can always get a room/PM if want to keep sword-fighting / measurement

Given his cross to RvP against Spain in the WC, I think he might have always had it in his locker.

Just that he was never picked to take corners before, and he's having a good day today.

Gotta add that with Smalling/Pogba/Zlatan in the team this season, we some got height to pressure opponents in set pieces.

That pass from Pogba to Zlatan to turn and hit was glorious, if it had gone in it would have been my pick for goal of the season

This post has been edited by sunblaze: Sep 24 2016, 08:30 PM

I blame Zlatan for inspiring the team

That was an away game.

JM is not LvG, he will direct the bus to park if necessary

Gone, although it was a good strike.

Our play has dropped down a notch in terms of speed and intensity, and some sloppiness is coming in

Looks like a good time for a Mata to Carrick swap

in MUST, nobody is safe from the flames

For Mkhitaryan, depends on his positioning and how the team is setup. BvB team is quite mobile/fast and he did well there.

Probably a case of needing mobility around/in front, then he can pick a pass to unlock defences.

Not only that. I felt we missed Martial in this game, even though his form has not been electric lately.

Him and Rashford both have speed and ability to go direct which is great for us looking threatening on the counter, both of them buzzing around Zlatan gives us a nice balance in attack.

Youngnaldo is not so dynamic, so our counters looked less dangerous. Add to which Shaw was only on as a sub, Blind is too slow to scare the opposition defence.

The overall reduced pace from the above situation = our attack is similar to last season, lacking in zip.

At home and neutral ground, I normally have optimism we can find a way to win. Win easily? that is a different matter, unless they have a rubbish game or their guys make hilarious mistakes to shoot themselves in the foot.

At Anfield? Even their most pariah Pool squad will do anything to give us a hard game there, otherwise their fans will not let them hear the end of it.

Vidic had a lot of rough games versus them, agreed. But in general I think games were always intense for obvious reasons.

Smalling looks like the same story as Evans and Jones. Solid sidekicks, looked promising when they were younger because of their youthful potential... but somehow it has not happened.

Under LVG it looked (for a while) like Smalling might step up in quality enough, but after that he has been erratic. Fine for a younger player, but he is not a kid anymore.

Rotate those out then who comes in at CB?

Jones = someone in Japan sneezes and he breaks down injured again. Is he even fit and available to play at the moment?
Rojo = heart attack risk at CB, he seems more likely to play at LB if Shaw is not fit than to be trusted at CB.

I blame Kayu and the board. Could have signed Fonte, but insisted that we need to sell players first to manage finances before we could sign him.

Seriously? At this club, and for a player of his age (experience and cost) and his salary.... and we can't sign him immediately and offload players later?

Now look at what happens. No experienced leadership at the back, the minute Bailly is injured we are all looking at Blind and Smalling and going "hope these guys can deal until Bailly is back".

January is African Cup of Nations, Bailly out again. If Smalling or Blind gets injured, we look even worse.



Good read: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/footbal...n-learn-9103216

Bet his logic for playing Fellaini is height in team so we're stronger defending and attacking set pieces.

That said, Chelsea these days are not the same physically imposing team they were a decade ago. Was surprised Fellaini played instead of Carrick, but maybe the idea was he would make Chelsea suffer when we had free kicks and corners.

I don't disagree that rotation is required over the course of a season.

That said, we are only in October (August was basically a 2 week month and we've had 2 international breaks so far) and we are less than 10 league games into the season with a new manager and changed team trying to play in a different way.

Change too much = Chopping too much, disrupting team, players can't form partnerships, etc etc. With the international breaks it's already going to be more challenging for managers to get team playing the way they want. Add in injuries, suspensions, and fatigue from travel / international games..... it's a tricky balancing act.

Change 5 or 6 players for an away game in Europa League = lose and get blasted for messing team rhythm too much and bad performance.

Change too little = lose and get blasted for not giving players enough rest.

Pro players can't play 3 games a week in defence? Think the midfielders and strikers might have more miles on the clock since they have more distance to cover.