Four point clear with a win.
So that means a bottle job.
2-0.
I did actually predict 1-2 on Super Six.
Four point clear with a win.
So that means a bottle job.
2-0.
I did actually predict 1-2 on Super Six.
0-3
Think there’s an air of inevitability about this.
Obviously would love a huge statement win but I think it’s probably going to be a defeat.
1-0.
Well Mike Dean is probably a shoe in to be the VAR official and with the 12th man they usually get as ref see us losing 2-0.
Odegaard and Ramsdale were both training yesterday looking comfortable
So the referee for today’s game, on top of being an incompetent piece of shit, lives in Manchester - that’s just fucking great, it really is.
Unless we put this one so far out of sight that it doesn’t matter we’re 100% getting screwed here. At least one red, one pen against and one disallowed goal incoming.
As I have said previously we don’t have the central midfield to get results in difficult away fixtures, this was even before the injury to Partey.
If Partey was fit we could have got a draw, but doesn’t feel possible to get anything. I was adamant that we needed an improvement upon Xhaka and Elneny in that midfield quartet in our squad and Arteta was too hubristic to see it himself.
Top 4 is going to be a tall order for us I feel
Seriously don’t understand all the doom and gloom.
They’re not all that. It’s never an easy place to go and I’d be happy with a point but I’m certainly not writing us off.
They aren’t all that. Definitely the weakest United team in the last thirty yearsQuote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I’m not doom and gloom I just have realistic expectations of what happens when we travel away from home with a non existent central midfield. It will be doom and gloom if Partey is not fit for the Brentford game which in my view will be a tougher fixture than this one.
I can't work out if I'd rather Ronaldo started or not.
I’d rather he started than came off the bench tbh.
Sometimes things are just the way they are in football and Arsenal blowing it at Old Trafford is one of those things. Doesn’t matter how strong or weak the teams are this is a fixture we rarely turn up at. Would be very surprised and impressed with a win.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
It’s got nothing to do with the history of the fixture. This is as I say the worst United side since Ron Atkinson was managing them. Games against them at Old Trafford have all been settled by one goal since Ferguson left. We’ve drawn as many games as we’ve lost.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
We can’t look at it as anything other than a game against a slightly better than mid table side. But we are completely ill equipped to play away from home anywhere currently, no attacking threat from full backs, the central midfield will not be given the space to attack. The attacking front three won’t see enough of the ball and we will get bored to death.
Brentford is a game where we could get really humiliated, that won’t happen here
So if he's from Manchester he's probably a Citey fan so we could be in luck :unsure:Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
We really have to stop that shit if we are going to go up a level.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
I’m ok with us losing if we go toe to toe with them. There are fine lines in football - like last season when the ref fucked us over vs City. Yes, we lost but I couldn’t have been prouder of the performance. I’m looking for the same today. If we lose limply then Project Arteta isn’t taking us anywhere
If we collapse again
Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
1) I think you need to get over the idea that what fans think or don’t think has any bearing on results. I think we are going to lose not because it’s man United but because I don’t think we are equipped to be playing anyone but mid table sides at home with Xhaka and Lokonga (and even then it’s a tall order). But the fact is I could be wrong
2) I’d argue blaming the referee for disappointing results is more evidence of defeatist thinking. We lost the game against City because we threw it away. Xhaka had no business having his hands all over Bernardo Silvas shirt. Gabriel put himself in a position to be sent off for talking back to the referee and then giving away a needless foul, it was amateurish.
1) I don’t think that.
2) I’m not one of those people who believes that refs are generally against us, but I saw that game and the ref fucked us over in that one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
1) “We really need to stop that shit” - why? What possible difference does it make? Unless you think somehow that our attitude transfers itself onto the coach and players I genuinely don’t get what you’re driving at
2) No we fucked ourselves over, even Arteta admitted as much…told the players they were great in every area of the pitch apart from our own penalty area and theirs. He was right, even foregoing the fact that it was a penalty on Bernardo Silva and Gabriel should have been sent off. How many chances did we miss in that game?
1) We as a club
2) Agree to disagree
But again I have to ask is that a mentality you believe the club currently have? I can’t see how it is…for example Arteta isn’t going to be obsessive about this as you or I because he was playing in Scottish football going back to the time when they ended our long unbeaten run. Those who are in important posts at the club don’t have that historical sense of grievance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I like to think Arteta is helping change our mentality so we don’t go into these games defeated before we start. I see today as a test of that. If we lose then fine, there’s no disgrace in losing up there, but make them earn it.
Unless we basically decide to throw the game which we won’t do, we aren’t going to lose by more than a goal two at the most. I absolutely cannot see United scoring more than two goals against us. The issue is going to be how effectively we attack.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Tierney has given up on football, so Martinelli won’t get service….Ben White isn’t a right back and arguably neither is Tomoyasu so Saka won’t get service….Odegaard is usually completely anonymous in potentially tricky fixtures anyway and with Xhaka and Lokonga behind him he might as well just sit on the bench and have a cup of tea.
Jesus will try to torment their defenders but will be feeding off scraps. They will try and be in our faces as much as possible (absolutely don’t blame them either) they aren’t going to give Xhaka time to prance about like a tit…they will absolutely try to isolate him and Lokonga and it will work.
If we do a deep block in front of goal we could sneak a 0-0 if they have an off day in front of goal but then you’re inviting a soft penalty award.
Its not going to be fun to watch, it will be frustrating….it won’t be about not having a strong enough mentality it will be about the players themselves in certain positions not being good enough.
We can’t counter attack for a start, anyone looking for a reason why we lost all seven away games where we conceded the first goal (and didn’t score in a single one of those games) only needs to look at that.
I’m beginning to see why you never got a job at Sky promoting Super Sunday.
Smoking Crack outside the main reception didn’t do me any favours eitherQuote:
Originally Posted by Xhaka Can’t
Zinchenko back in the team after two games out. That’s the only change from midweek
United Casemiro not starting yet again but Antony is
Manchester United: De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Malacia, McTominay, Eriksen, Antony, Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford
Subs: Heaton, Dubravka, Lindelof, Maguire, Ronaldo, Fred, Casemiro, Shaw, Elanga
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Lokonga, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Jesus
Subs: Turner, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Nketiah, Holding, Soares, Tomiyasu, Vieira, Marquinhos.
Interesting question has arisen as to who Arteta regards as his first choice left back
McTominay in to get away with red card tackle after red card tackle.
Nice line up - I like it.
God I want to give these guys a battering!
Don’t really have any animus towards United anymore….they are like a work colleague who you used to not be able to stand but you just feel sorry for them now.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Chelsea, City and Spurs are the sides I can’t stand
I don’t really care about City. I just can’t take anything they do seriously, we all know how they’ve “achieved” it. You could say the same about Chelsea I guess although their fans are such cunts it’s easy to hate them.
Good to have Zinchenko back.
Come on Arsenal. :bow:
Brilliant from Jesus.
There’s no such thing as Earned achievement anymore and it’s silly to claim otherwiseQuote:
Originally Posted by Letters
United essentially bought their success, the only difference is Chelsea and City have done so on steroids
Liverpool have bought their success too, of course you have to factor in they’ve benefited from the silly money Barcelona gave them down the years for Suarez and Coutinho but they bought that title winning team.
To a lesser extent same for us, Danny Fiszman gave us the money for Overmars and Petit when we won the title in 1998
And if we get 4th place we will have bought our way there having spent well over 300 million in the last couple of years
First team to score wins imo
I thought Eriksen put that in.
Good chance for Saliba there.
McTominay strategy is quite obvious.