Man Utd Thread:

[NAG1]

Ended up a dull enough affair last night.  Utd just looked more and more devoid of creativity as the match went on.  I don't even know if I would blame Ole too much.  I took my phone out to see who was on Utd's bench that could change it up a bit and really the options are so limited.  Surely they now have to sign some creative players (i'm just hoping Grealish isn't on the radar).

Bruno Fernandez only stayed on the pitch as it was likely they'd need him to score a penalty.  I thought he was complete absent all evening.  Amazed that Greenwood got the hook before Rashford.  Maybe that was a look towards penalties too.

With Tom Heaton now coming in on a free that has got to be the last game for DeGea.

VR did their homework and nullified Bruno, if he is the only creative outlet in the last 3rd it is more easy to do. If Rashford and Greenwood were forcing the issue out wide then Bruno automatically gets more space, when that isnt happening its a way tougher job for any 10.

Quality players are required I would say up to 4 to get them to the next level.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Ended up a dull enough affair last night.  Utd just looked more and more devoid of creativity as the match went on.  I don't even know if I would blame Ole too much.  I took my phone out to see who was on Utd's bench that could change it up a bit and really the options are so limited.  Surely they now have to sign some creative players (i'm just hoping Grealish isn't on the radar).

Bruno Fernandez only stayed on the pitch as it was likely they'd need him to score a penalty.  I thought he was complete absent all evening.  Amazed that Greenwood got the hook before Rashford.  Maybe that was a look towards penalties too.

With Tom Heaton now coming in on a free that has got to be the last game for DeGea.

VR did their homework and nullified Bruno, if he is the only creative outlet in the last 3rd it is more easy to do. If Rashford and Greenwood were forcing the issue out wide then Bruno automatically gets more space, when that isnt happening its a way tougher job for any 10.

Quality players are required I would say up to 4 to get them to the next level.

Quality players and an actual quality manager instead of persisting with the caretaker.

[tiempo]

Bad ebening

But on a positive note, a result that puts the Glazers on the back foot, family club and all that MU is, clearly its only the family paying the wages who aren't welcome, a great result for all the true Red Dev's, in summary, a good ebening

[Keyser soze]

It is all fine and well listing all the form flair players on the planet but MU need to sort out their defence first and foremost, conceding more than a goal a game will win nothing.

That has been an issue all season [and prior to that] regardless which of the current personnel are playing. Conceding goals when they dominate games is an ever bigger issue for them.

[bigarsedkeeper]

Really disappointing night. Too many players didn't show up and Ole shit the bed a bit too. Think someone said our season ended after the Roma home game, they seemed to run out of steam after that.

As far as next season goes I don't know where you go to sort things out. If Ole isn't backed he's in trouble; if he is backed and nothing is won he's in more trouble. I hope it works out for him.

I thought outside Cavani and McTominay there wasn't many could be happy with that performance. AWB and Greenwood were decent. Pogba and Rashford were very poor. No point going through them all.

I've watched United get beat by teams we were expected to beat before, Sheffield Wednesday is one that sticks out, so I'm not cracking up or anything like that but it has raised a lot of questions again.

[rodney trotter]

That was a bad defeat. It was the time for Ole to get his first trophy. Didn't made a sub until Extra time,while Emery had used 5 before him.
Brought on Fred for Greenwood , when Rashford was ineffective.

[BennyCake]

I was actually pleased to see Villarreal celebrate. And at least it puts another nail in the super league coffin, although a lot of people have failed to see the ESL has been dressed up as the new CL.

United are seriously lacking in quality. Winning last night wouldn't  have changed that. Mata/James were probably the only players that could've come on and created something but they got little time to do so. United just didn't get going, bar a few minutes second half, but credit should go to Villarreal.

Cavani cannot carry the can for seasons to come, quality support needed. Pogba and Rashford very poor. Only Shaw, Cavani, AWB and McTominay performed well. As for DeGea, Jesus Christ. His attempt at stopping the goal was like a lad playing goal in his first communion outfit that didn't want to get them dirty. He went for those penalties like he was doped in diazepam, no urgency, no belief, no intimidating/psyching out the player, no making himself big. I've always said Kasper Schmeichel is 10 times the player. He would've won that shootout for United last night. So would Henderson. We'd had to endure 10 years of him, and I just hope this is finally the end for him.

[smort]

I agree it has to be the end for de gea. He needs a move more for himself than anything. His confidence and belief is completely shot, you could see it every time one of the utd penalty scorers went over to try and gee him up. Knew he was going to miss when it came down to the keepers.
To be fair to him, he was world class for 4 or 5 years, and without him utd would have been in real serious difficulties a few years back, he single-handedly kept them in games and in contention for european football. Didn't he win player of the year 3 or 4 years in a row?

[Louther]

Was a very good post on twitter from a GK coach who has analysed DeGea goalkeeper for penalties over the last few seasons.

He identified what is known as a negative step in his dive for penalties - if he diving to his right hand side, his right moves inward towards his left foot, a negative movement, as it then shortens his length of dive. If he guesses right, a well struck penalty near to post will be scored regardless of him guessing right. It would have to be poorly hit for him to save - his perfect example was De Geas penalty itself and the other keeper who also had a negative movement in his footing. Same
For Shaws penalty where he should have saved but was on shortened dive with 1 hand.

This coach said the first few penalties he faced he didn't do the negative step but was diving too early and was easy for takers. Rule for keepers is dive at contact of ball even if committing to one side. Often why takers delay final few steps of run up, like Rashford, to get them to go early as the keeper will try to time their dive with the run up.

After first few he reverted to type and was moving slightly early and on shortened dives. This combination has hindered him when facing penalties over last number of years.

It was well thought out and he showed previous tweets of this he'd done on the same subject with De Gea.

In the defence of the keepers. A lot of penalties where very well struck but interesting to see the breakdown by a GK coach and how technical they can get.

[gallsman]

Henderson has to be back in? Really?

[bigarsedkeeper]

Was a very good post on twitter from a GK coach who has analysed DeGea goalkeeper for penalties over the last few seasons.

He identified what is known as a negative step in his dive for penalties - if he diving to his right hand side, his right moves inward towards his left foot, a negative movement, as it then shortens his length of dive. If he guesses right, a well struck penalty near to post will be scored regardless of him guessing right. It would have to be poorly hit for him to save - his perfect example was De Geas penalty itself and the other keeper who also had a negative movement in his footing. Same
For Shaws penalty where he should have saved but was on shortened dive with 1 hand.

This coach said the first few penalties he faced he didn't do the negative step but was diving too early and was easy for takers. Rule for keepers is dive at contact of ball even if committing to one side. Often why takers delay final few steps of run up, like Rashford, to get them to go early as the keeper will try to time their dive with the run up.

After first few he reverted to type and was moving slightly early and on shortened dives. This combination has hindered him when facing penalties over last number of years.

It was well thought out and he showed previous tweets of this he'd done on the same subject with De Gea.

In the defence of the keepers. A lot of penalties where very well struck but interesting to see the breakdown by a GK coach and how technical they can get.

De Gea never looks like he'd reach the post even if his dive was continued. There was another stat how the number of penalties saved has reduced with VAR checking the keeper is on the line. Years ago that first step took them out and across. Tim Krul was one of the better stoppers and he was half a yard of the line most of the time. The keepers are missing that momentum in the dive so they're not getting as far across. The stop start runs aren't helping the keepers either. Even a bog average keeper in amateur leagues used that positive step to get out a bit.

[bigarsedkeeper]

Henderson has to be back in? Really?

I'm not convinced on him either you know. He's a bit too rash some times, and he seems to think he should be secured 1st team football very early for a keeper.

Get rid of the 4 of them. Donnaruma is now a free agent, better than both options Utd have.

[gallsman]

Henderson has to be back in? Really?

I'm not convinced on him either you know. He's a bit too rash some times, and he seems to think he should be secured 1st team football very early for a keeper.

Get rid of the 4 of them. Donnaruma is now a free agent, better than both options Utd have.

All I can think of when people talk about Henderson is Salah's goal against him a few weeks ago. Basically invited him to pass the ball into the net. I get the distinct impression that the reason lots of United fans want Henderson (along with recency bias of de Gea not saving some world class penalties) is simply down to the fact he's not de Gea, rather than truly believing he's the answer.

Henderson has had plenty of opportunity this year and hasn't looked up to it in my opinion.

[Taylor]

Difficult to blame De Gea for those penalties last night.

Villareal's penalties for the most part were top notch.

If any keeper should have saved a few it was the Villareal keeper - some of Utds penalties were decidedly average.

Looks like De Gea is getting nailed for missing the actual penalty but people can see how daft that is so are going after him for not saving any

[bigarsedkeeper]

Henderson has to be back in? Really?

I'm not convinced on him either you know. He's a bit too rash some times, and he seems to think he should be secured 1st team football very early for a keeper.

Get rid of the 4 of them. Donnaruma is now a free agent, better than both options Utd have.

All I can think of when people talk about Henderson is Salah's goal against him a few weeks ago. Basically invited him to pass the ball into the net. I get the distinct impression that the reason lots of United fans want Henderson (along with recency bias of de Gea not saving some world class penalties) is simply down to the fact he's not de Gea, rather than truly believing he's the answer.

Henderson has had plenty of opportunity this year and hasn't looked up to it in my opinion.

For a keeper he's very young but he seems very impatient. Some things he did improved the team to be fair to him but United can't carry an erratic keeper.

It feels we are more at the Bosnich/Bartez/Howard/Carroll stage keeper wise. All had their strengths but all had massive gaps that made the team less than when they had Schmeichel and Van Der Sar. That might seem unfair as they are probably 2 of the best there has been but that's were you need to be.