Man Utd 3-2 Newcastle - Saturday 6th October

[Bluewolf]

Got to admire Toons for going there and attacking United... Unfortunate not to hold on for at least a point

[6666]

That penalty decision now becomes a lot more important but Newcastle seriously should be embarrassed. 2018 Sanchez scored against you.

[Cicero]

All setting up for us to sack him at the bridge. Would be glorious. 

[The Artful Dodger]

Brilliantly entertaining but dreadful quality game. Newcastle got it wrong second half. 

[The Artful Dodger]

8 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

@Harvsky you must be gutted 

Talk about rubbing it in someone's face 

[DeadLinesman]

Can’t decide whether I’m happy or disappointed. Not a good feeling when you’ve just come back from 2-0 down.

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, DeadLinesman said:

Can’t decide whether I’m happy or disappointed. Not a good feeling when you’ve just come back from 2-0 down.

Go with Happy.... and throw a Grateful in there as well while you are at it.. 

Maybe a small sprinkling of positive and a side order of thank fuck!

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Talk about rubbing it in someone's face 

Didn't mean it in that way but I guess it is a bit

[carefreeluke]

I remember in Mourinho's infamous final season with us, the players would almost only start playing when they were behind by one or two goals. It happened so often that it got to the point where I was basically saying that we need the other team to score as early as possible to provide our players with a longer window of time to get their asses in gear and to finally start playing with some purpose, passion and intensity. It was almost as if the players rose to the challenge of wanting to turn the game around and another thing is that being behind meant it allowed them to take more risks in attack and push more men forward which you could say suggests something different entirely as well. This all suggests though that the mentality of the players isn't in a good place from the beginning of the match and that of course isn't going to bode well for any team.

We also looked and played a lot better in the Champions League that season as well. The Champions League gave the players some fresh impetus, a new environment and represented a new challenge for the players which helped their performances.

For me there's definitely a mentality issue at Man United at the moment, a lot of this will stem from those in charge but the players have to take a lot of the stick as well.

[SirBalon]

This victory is definitely down to Mourinho.  Any other outcome and we could've started placing the bets on anyone but one.

[Vegan Kel]

Today's performance reminded me of the last few Fergie years. Start the game half asleep, go 2 goals down to teams we should be beating on paper, then getting a bollocking and coming back to win/draw. The slump started before Fergie retired but it only started rapidly declining after he went. I'd also argue that the signings Ferguson made in the last 3-4 years were seriously below the standard of previous players we had, especially when it comes to mentality and desire to perform well every week.

As much as I've never been a Mourinho fan and have never wanted him at United I have to admit that I definitely side with him over Woodward and, especially, players getting well above their station and challenging the manager's authority. That is never acceptable and neither are the performances that we've seen for the last five years (and a fair bit longer to be honest). It's all well and good saying that managers should motivate players but they should motivate themselves. They should be busting their bollocks off to earn their wages and to perform for the people who work hard all week to spend their hard earned on watching them perform to the best of their ability week in, week out and that's what they've been used to. 

Every club has certain standards to uphold and United's are very high due to the enormous success we had under Fergie. Too many players are nowhere near that level of player and questions have to be asked who signs off these cheques. I can think of only player in this squad who would even make the bench of one of what I would say were Fergie's three great sides (the Cantona/Kanchelskis side, the Beckham/Scholes side and the Ronaldo/Rooney side) - and he'd be on the bench too (De Gea, obvs). 

The club spunk the fans money on two bob ha'penny players on massive wages and there is no clear sense of direction at the club. They sign random managers who play different styles of football (yet all dull) and sign different sorts of players. We've been sacking managers like hotcakes and it's embarrassing. How can a manager shape a side when he doesn't get long enough to sort out about ten transfer windows of shite? Mourinho hasn't helped himself by making awful signings himslf so this is no defence of him.

The club need to get rid of Woodward or shove him in an office selling advertising space in the match programme which is about all I'd trust him with. I'd love to say that they should stick by the manager (and, in a way they should because they gave him a new contract this year) but I see no signs of improvement in three years. If anything we've declined even further. Fergie was given a long time to get things right because he had big ideas and made big decisions, he had a vision for the future and changed the culture of the club. Mourinho inherited a better squad (although I'd argue the 1986 side had a few much better individuals like Robson and McGrath) and has done nothing bar win a Europa League and a League Cup (although winning the Europa League was nice to complete the set). 

The first name out the door though should be Pogba who is a cancer to the dressing room and to the club. His mouth cashes cheques that his ability cannot cash because he is too mentally weak to be a great footballer. I can't even be bothered to write any more about this cunt.

Ideally I'd like to see the Glazers driven out but I don't think there is much chance of that while they're still milking their cash cow. Maybe a relegation or two might get them to sell and personally I'd snap your hand off if you offered me that for their departure 

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Thought Pogba was best player on the pitch on the second half. Really think a different manager could make him the focal point of a very good side, I don't see anything positive with Mourinho staying.

[SirBalon]

Players at the top end don't earn their wages!  They've already done that the moment you agreed the fact that those wages are the ones that allow the club to rent/lease their status, brand name and subsequently, their services.  It's about those qualities being used in the correct manner from the individual to that which surrounds him.

But there are rare cases which is another story...

[Honey Honey]

We blow half time leads away at the top clubs every year so it's not that painful to me. It's during the game that the emotions are strong, not so much after it's blown. It's always the case that once you concede 1 in the 2nd half the momentum takes over and you lose.

There is hope for this team yet and that is worth a lot right now.

Muto brought the best out in everyone and changed the dynamic of our attack. Said last week Dwight Gayle is the biggest miss because of the way he functioned in the team. So far we'd been playing Joselu and Rondon who are fairly static workers. Muto did the Gayle role and it brought the best out in Perez and Kenedy. We could have been 4 up at half time. The other bonus for our attack was how much space Shelvey was given. With the right movement infront of him for a change he was able to set us on our way.

It's a tired tackle by Diame that gives them the free kick to get back into it. He never has had the fitness to go this long in a game like that.

[SirBalon]

18 minutes ago, Harvsky said:

We blow half time leads away at the top clubs every year so it's not that painful to me. It's during the game that the emotions are strong, not so much after it's blown. It's always the case that once you concede 1 in the 2nd half the momentum takes over and you lose.

There is hope for this team yet and that is worth a lot right now.

Muto brought the best out in everyone and changed the dynamic of our attack. Said last week Dwight Gayle is the biggest miss because of the way he functioned in the team. So far we'd been playing Joselu and Rondon who are fairly static workers. Muto did the Gayle role and it brought the best out in Perez and Kenedy. We could have been 4 up at half time. The other bonus for our attack was how much space Shelvey was given. With the right movement infront of him for a change he was able to set us on our way.

It's a tired tackle by Diame that gives them the free kick to get back into it. He never has had the fitness to go this long in a game like that.

It goes to show how Benítez hasn't got what he wants in terms of quality because if there's one thing he was always good at is nullifying opponents once ahead.

[Dave]

As Kel had previously alluded too, this performance was very much like an Alex Ferguson sided performance in the sense that they never conceded to defeat and you could sense a goal eventually coming.  

Whilst I think the debate over if Mourinho is out of touch with the modern game will continue for however long he is at Manchester United, it was nice to see his players not roll over and admit defeat for once. The scenes at West Ham were unknown for Manchester United for decades.

Not sure where both teams go from here. Whilst this was a free hit for Newcastle, the lack of wins and ability to finish out games is a concern, whilst for United the knives I feel will always be out unless Mourinho can replicate Unai Emerys run of form.