Very disappointing result yesterday in a "game of 2 halves". But at the end, despite the result i felt quite positive about the game. WHy?
1. United set up to counter us and were very effective in doing so in the first half. Spurs were far too open and Utd made the most of that. But the second half saw us make some small tactical changes and we really bossed the game.
Although United had a few chances, in the first half especially, we created probably half a dozen clear cut chances and should have never lost and probably won, on the balance of the chances created..
Spurs controlled the possesion in the second half and controlled the game. United never really did that and played effective counter attacking football, trusting their defence which really got away with it thanks to Spurs poor finishing. It was one of those days, but in the end I like the fact that Poch has Spurs playing as front foot team, one that often controls the game and looks to create chances and also has the ability to counter attack. United, in this respect, are currently a less complete team.
When we lost Sisokko, Eriksens deep sitting position worked really well for us, especially with the technically excellent Lamela who played well.
In the second half we closed off the routes that United used in the first half, without going super defensive, and they were not the same threat.
Gary Neville in commentary was gushing of Utds performance in the first half, and critical of Spurs finishing in the second but i actually felt Spurs should have been given a lot of credit for the way they changed the direction of the match strongly in their favour. If we had equalised (and should have several times!) and gone on to win I don't think too many would have said it was undeserved.
People keep making the same criticisms of our squad which i think are unfounded.
Injury list now contains, Dier, Wanyama, Sisokko, Lucas, Kane and Son off to Asia.
Take the equivalent out of any team (Matic, Hererra, Fred, Lingard, Rashford, Martial) (Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Hednerson, Shiqiri, Salah, Mane)(Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante, Pedro, Hazard, Willian) and they will struggle significantly.
We have been dealing with bad injuries for much of the season and the squad has coped pretty well. We're out of the title race really but still very well placed re: Top 4 and that is key for this club going forward.
Positives
posted on 14/1/19
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 24 minutes ago
There was a reason why DDG was Man of The Match!
And if you class a 20 yard shot from Pogba as "should have scored" then Winks and Eriksen should have scored too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
that sitter from 20 yards was a joke tbf.
posted on 14/1/19
Honestly the Untied fans trying to make out like they bossed a game, they hardly had a foothold in. They barely had a chance all game, and they are making out they should have been 4-0 up.
posted on 14/1/19
4 nil is a bit of hyperbole. We had multiple of good chances, especially that one where Pogba followed the ball into box and Lloris somehow got a hand to that chip.
Yesterday's game is basically a game of inches. Could've been nil nil if Lloris had better positioning. 2-0 us if Lloris didn't make the save on the chip, 1-1 y'all if de Gea didn't save one of the shot, 3-1 y'all if you were more clinical in front of goal. Really could've gone either way and to us, that's an improvement over the Jose bus parking style.
posted on 14/1/19
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 50 minutes ago
Honestly the Untied fans trying to make out like they bossed a game, they hardly had a foothold in. They barely had a chance all game, and they are making out they should have been 4-0 up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
pogba missing from outside the box is a sitter but de gea saving every clear cut chance we have is routine ffs sandy get a grip m8
posted on 14/1/19
comment by Phenom (U20037)
posted 1 hour, 46 minutes ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 24 minutes ago
There was a reason why DDG was Man of The Match!
And if you class a 20 yard shot from Pogba as "should have scored" then Winks and Eriksen should have scored too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
that sitter from 20 yards was a joke tbf.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah. I think these united kids have been playing too much Xbox. Press X and it flies into the top corner every time.
posted on 14/1/19
comment by Freedom FC 🇺🇸 (World Series Champs) (U7214)
posted 54 minutes ago
4 nil is a bit of hyperbole. We had multiple of good chances, especially that one where Pogba followed the ball into box and Lloris somehow got a hand to that chip.
Yesterday's game is basically a game of inches. Could've been nil nil if Lloris had better positioning. 2-0 us if Lloris didn't make the save on the chip, 1-1 y'all if de Gea didn't save one of the shot, 3-1 y'all if you were more clinical in front of goal. Really could've gone either way and to us, that's an improvement over the Jose bus parking style.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You didn`t have a multiple of good chances, the Pogba chance that Lloris saved was about it.
posted on 14/1/19
@sandy
That one and the one where Martial or Lingard laid off the ball for him and he decided to shoot left rather right was the other chance. A header that could've gone anywhere. Thought those were all good chances from Pogba alone.
Lingard whiffed a volley in the 1st half and Martial had a couple of good run in against your CBs.
Like I said, really could've gone either way.
posted on 14/1/19
United set up to target our weakness, our fullbacks, and it got them a goal. Spurs did more than enough to deserve the 3 points, but poor finishing and great goalkeeping kept us out. Mike Dean also did us no favours, we should have had a penalty first half and Pogba sent off. A decent referee would probably have changed the result in our favour, I can`t wait for VAR.
posted on 14/1/19
comment by Freedom FC 🇺🇸 (World Series Champs) (U7214)
posted 4 minutes ago
@sandy
That one and the one where Martial or Lingard laid off the ball for him and he decided to shoot left rather right was the other chance. A header that could've gone anywhere. Thought those were all good chances from Pogba alone.
Lingard whiffed a volley in the 1st half and Martial had a couple of good run in against your CBs.
Like I said, really could've gone either way.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
watch the highlights.
http://yfl.matchat.online/player/html/7KrNRiyffV?popup=yes&autoplay=1
Your chances were not only fewer in number but also few if any were clear cut.
I understand that any chance could go anywhere, but if the clear cut chances were finished by both teams it would have been 5 or 6 goals to Spurs, 3 or 4 to Utd.
Not sure Utd can point to any glaring misses. Spurs can, at least 2 i'd say.
posted on 14/1/19
Which is why my original comment said 4-0 us is a bit of a hyperbole.Both teams created chances, y'all more than us. We just out-Spurs Spurs with that one clinical finishing and Lloris being positioned incorrectly.