Obviously it depends on Fred playing like that more than once but Man Utd looked good against Tottenham.
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Ba Dum Tish
Looks like Ten Haag has quickly learned the English for ‘lads, It’s Tottenham’.
Schlomo Jenkins
That Man Utd midfield is fly
When Christian Eriksen didn’t make the starting line-up for United, I worried that our midfield would struggle to break down a solid-looking trio of Bentancur, Højbjerg and Bissouma (whom I consider to be one of the best value signings of the summer window).
However, I was happily proven wrong. Whilst there was an element of fortune to each of Fred and Bruno’s goals, it can’t be argued that the scoreline was undeserved – especially given Casemiro’s first-half whistler and Lloris’s heroics.
United’s trio absolutely dominated the midfield, rarely letting Spurs into our half, creating and scoring our best chances. Whilst I’m not claiming anything close to equivalence with the midfield of our cross-city rivals, full credit is due to each of them for a superb performance tonight – hopefully what has long been a problem area for United can become the foundation for some long awaited improvement in the midfield arrest.
Leo, The Fields
Somebody has forgotten about Jose at Chelsea…
Following yet another big scalp very early on in his Man Utd career, it’s probably about time we evaluate Erik’s start as Man Utd manager. My question to the mailbox is, can you think of a stronger start from a new manager at a big Premier League club?
Erik has beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and now Spurs by a total of 7 goals to two. These are clubs managed by seasoned Premier League campaigners with settled squads, and Erik has engineered impressive wins against all of them with a squad filled with a mixture of new players and players who failed the club so miserably last season.
Context is important here. Erik inherited a squad of misfits bereft of confidence, with its star striker trying to engineer a move away from the club. The way he has gone about transforming the culture at the club in such a short space of time is hugely impressive, and with the signings of Antony, Casemiro and Martinez there is a real touch of South American flair now running through the team.
Casemiro is so, so good, a central midfielder without weakness. He is always in the right position, he never wastes a pass, never shirks a tackle. And hes only going to get better, this is just the start. Bruno is a player transformed with the Casemiro comfort blanket in behind him, he was wonderful this evening. Antony frightens the life out of every full back he comes up against.
What says the mailbox, can you name a better start to a manager’s Premier League career?
Super Sancho
Silly Ronaldo did have a choice
Ronaldo’s walk-off after Man Utd’s excellent win against Spurs (why don’t they play like that every game?) made me think.
I get that he wanted Champions League football and a shed load of cash alongside this but if he was so unhappy at staying at Man Utd or had been told by Ten Hag his game time would be reduced (I’m assuming like any good manager he would have said something), why not just reduce his wage demands to help secure a move.
Sounds simple to say, and I get that footballers and their families get accustomed to a certain lifestyle, but seems the best compromise for me. Assuming he has saved money sensibly, what’s the obstacle to a relatively small pay-cut for 1 or 2 years?
Elite, top-level players like Ronaldo DO have the option to take less money if they want to play in a certain league or tournament or play for their beloved club. If they have enough saved and can still live very comfortably, it’s just greed, end of.
Normal people don’t have this luxury and whilst some may disagree, elite multi-millionaire footballers live in another universe which I think removes them from ordinary job chat.
The other argument is that even with reduced wages, no elite club would want a 37-year-old who cannot play in a high pressing game and demands it be about him…
Tom
If
No, Not the Lyndsey Anderson film, a Spurs “If…” game.
You know “If” Spurs win, they will go above…secure third…be unbeaten in…do…something…ANYTHING” take your pick really.
Cue, drab pub team performance (if all your pub’s regulars were sleep deprived apes.)
Cue vibrant, energetic performance from team that have been ‘not all that’ in recent memory.
Cue team watching the game go past them like a dog listening to classical music.
Cue manager watching 80 odd minutes of eye-bleeding dreck thinking “OK, let’s just see where we’re going with this”
…Add goal from an unlikely source (ideally an ex-player, but not a deal breaker)
and voila. Another ‘If’ (only) Spurs game
This Nunoball without results, is still just Nunoball, just it’s more shouty in its current form.
Dom, eye-rolling of Tunbridge Wells
What’s so bad about Thursday-Sunday?
A random question for everyone in the mailbox, and sincerest apologies if this is dumb.
There is often a lot of talk around the Thursday-Sunday fixture struggle for teams in the Europa League, but nothing is made of a Wednesday-Saturday or Saturday-Tuesday struggle for teams in the Champions League, despite the time frames being the same
Why is this? Is this because you often have to travel to the arse end of nowhere in the Europa? I’m sure there’s an obvious explanation..
Tony (Gooner)
The West Ham view
Minty, LFC – fairly balanced write up of what was a pretty enjoyable game. From a West Ham point of view I was very disappointed with the first half performance (again) but second half was so much better.
First half we could not pass the ball, even Rice gave it away a few times. Joe Gomez gave us a massive boost with some really poor defending and between the penalty miss and half time we had two more good chances.
In the second half things were so much better. With some better decision making in the final third, and if Milner hadn’t come out of nowhere to make that block from Soucek we would have got a deserved point.
Moving forward I’d like to see Scamacca and Antonio given a bit more time on the pitch together, and Flynn Downes looks like he could be the guy to take over from Rice next season.
3 points against Bournemouth and last night’s defeat isn’t too bad, fail to win on Monday and we will be looking down again rather than up despite a few decent performances recently.
Andy the Hammer (Poor pen by Bowen, Virgil made no difference)
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