Man Utd Thread:

[Captain Obvious]

Over who?

Near neighbors Manchester City who have been poor since September.

[Minder]

Over who?

Near neighbors Manchester City who have been poor since September.

So how would that work, deduct points from City or what?

[Boycey]

'Red card'
'Never a free'
'Handball'
'Offside'

Did I leave out anything...

[OgraAnDun]

All ruled out now anyway.

[GJL]

Pogba and Zlatan brilliant. Referee terrible for both sides. Great to see UTD get a late winner instead of conceding late.

[Boycey]

'How's that **** still on'
'Penalty'
'Offside me hole'
'Dive'
'Zlatan!'

[Milltown Row2]

Plenty chances but Utd don't do enough to kill games!!

Zaltan has paid his fee back 14 goals before xmas, 35 year old!

[under the bar]

Performance wise I believe they do deserve to be in the top 4 but result wise mean they are 6th. Drew with West ham,Stoke,Burnley,Arsenal at home all games United should have won comfortably. Add those 8 dropped points onto the current total of 24 would have United on 32 points and 3rd in the table.

By that logic, Liverpool should be right behind or even above Chelsea.

United dropped points because they weren't good enough up front in multiple games (one or two you could write off as unlucky). Liverpool dropped points because they weren't good enough at the back against West Ham and Bournemouth or couldn't finish chances against Southampton or Spurs.

Common denominator for both sides - not good enough.

Correct.   If your good enough you typically  (1) score more and/ or (2) defend better than the opposition to get over the line.  Excuses are based on your team not being good enough in one or both of these areas.  United aren't currently good enough in either. 

[Captain Obvious]

Plenty chances but Utd don't do enough to kill games!!

Zaltan has paid his fee back 14 goals before xmas, 35 year old!

In comparison another free transfer Micheal Owen signed for Manchester United aged twenty nine, after three seasons he scored just seventeen goals.

[magpie seanie]

While not the most swashbuckling performance last night was a step forward. Obviously the result, the late winner to squeeze the extra two points which United had developed the opposite habit. Great that United get the points and aren't again talking about referee decisions (the standard of refereeing appears to be really terrible this season and last night was abject for both sides). For me the greatest positive was a player I've been a little critical of - Pogba. Think he was immense and not just in his play. What I liked most was his hunger and drive. When he got knocked he got up and got at it. That's something he had to learn. He looked up for the battle which I hadn't seen from him. Well deserved man of the match....lets hope it continues. That said though, Carrick gave a masterclass again. He's United's MVP. Worrying at his age and the top scorer is 35 but if anything Ibrahimovic will be easier to replace!

[Maroon Manc]

Great to get a late winner as opposed to conceding.

Pogba & Zlatan were very good, only a couple of weeks ago plenty of United fans were whinging about Zlatan and some still do; He's scored 14 goals so far and we've still got 3 games to go before the New Year. Win on Saturday and we're right back in the hunt for top 4 given that City play Liverpool and Arsenal whilst Liverpool have to go to Everton next Monday so points will be dropped.

[gallsman]

Rojo looks determined to try and get Christmas off with his two footed tackles.

[screenexile]

Rojo looks determined to try and get Christmas off with his two footed tackles.

Pogba very lucky not to be sent off for a dive last night as well.

[magpie seanie]

Rojo looks determined to try and get Christmas off with his two footed tackles.

Pogba very lucky not to be sent off for a dive last night as well.

He has been guilty in the past but definitely not last night if it's the incident I'm thinking of. The defender was cute and held his ground well. Pogba was steaming forward looking for the return and got tossed with a slight nudge. Not a free, not a dive.

[Maroon Manc]

Whats a dive these days?

Pogba was booked against West Ham for a dive when if he stayed upright he'd have been fouled which Noble confirmed after the match. Coquelin wasn't touched by Jagielka for the free that led to Arsenal's goal the other day yet nobody has even mentioned it. If a player is jumping out of the way of a bad tackle then he's entitled to go down, I've no issue with that. Every team has players that go down far too easily, Herrera is United's player who's always at it.

The only way to cut it out is with a retrospective ban.