For a Moment, Everything Was Brilliant
Now for one of those games where had you taken in any of the
national media coverage, there was only one team playing. There is a tiny bit
of interest in us, probably because Mark Hughes is a Manchester United legend
and because of course, the vultures are circling, even though they are probably
not because we have no Director of Football. Apparently, there was an out of
work manager in the stands against Fulham last week. There you go, 100% that
Hughes is on his way and some manager who had a couple of shit spells and
English football in the last 10 years, is coming.
Oddly and despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, I’m actually feeling quite positive about today. United are not the greatest and I feel like we’ve had least have a decent shout of not getting stuffed. The formation used at Leicester made us look like a proper team so I am expecting three at the back today.
United haven’t been very good this season. They haven’t been very good for the last three or four seasons and José Mourinho is being José Mourinho and blaming everyone else other than himself. Last week he was gesturing angrily to nobody when Marcus Rashford missed a sitter which is not exactly great body language for a manager. I irritate myself by quite liking the guy like I’m in some sort of timewarp back to the time when he first arrived at Chelsea and he was genuinely, a breath of fresh air. He is not anymore of course. This spirit of forgiveness doesn’t extend to Harry Redknapp who I’m told is proving likable in the celebrity jungle.
Due to my timing of getting in the ground, I actually hear the United team first. With a midfield two of Fellaini and Pogba, there doesn’t look to be much creativity in the side. Ah, Pogba – the player that me and my son always argue over – I generally think he’s turd whereas the younger not-so mini-me thinks he’s great. He was good in the World Cup when he was playing for his country which he obviously cares about, rather than playing for a manager he wouldn’t even piss on if he was on fire. United’s creativity - Mata, Martial and Lingard all on the bench and Sanchez out for months after he dropped his wallet on his foot. Lukaku dropped his wallet as well but he tried to control it and it went under a bush 30 yards away. Saints have gone with more or less the same side that played against Leicester in midweek - Targett is out injured so Cedric starts at left back and there are places for the two youngsters in Yan Valery and Michael Obafemi.
Oddly and despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, I’m actually feeling quite positive about today. United are not the greatest and I feel like we’ve had least have a decent shout of not getting stuffed. The formation used at Leicester made us look like a proper team so I am expecting three at the back today.
United haven’t been very good this season. They haven’t been very good for the last three or four seasons and José Mourinho is being José Mourinho and blaming everyone else other than himself. Last week he was gesturing angrily to nobody when Marcus Rashford missed a sitter which is not exactly great body language for a manager. I irritate myself by quite liking the guy like I’m in some sort of timewarp back to the time when he first arrived at Chelsea and he was genuinely, a breath of fresh air. He is not anymore of course. This spirit of forgiveness doesn’t extend to Harry Redknapp who I’m told is proving likable in the celebrity jungle.
Due to my timing of getting in the ground, I actually hear the United team first. With a midfield two of Fellaini and Pogba, there doesn’t look to be much creativity in the side. Ah, Pogba – the player that me and my son always argue over – I generally think he’s turd whereas the younger not-so mini-me thinks he’s great. He was good in the World Cup when he was playing for his country which he obviously cares about, rather than playing for a manager he wouldn’t even piss on if he was on fire. United’s creativity - Mata, Martial and Lingard all on the bench and Sanchez out for months after he dropped his wallet on his foot. Lukaku dropped his wallet as well but he tried to control it and it went under a bush 30 yards away. Saints have gone with more or less the same side that played against Leicester in midweek - Targett is out injured so Cedric starts at left back and there are places for the two youngsters in Yan Valery and Michael Obafemi.
It’s a 5.30 kick off and it’s dark and it’s on the TV so of
course we have to have pyrotechnic nightclub bollocks and then the game
started.
The game starts off tremendously with McCarthy taking a big
swing at a backpass and completely missing it.
Rashford backheeled it back into the danger area and Macca ended up
smothering a shot from Lukaku. Just what
you want. Saints started getting in
amongst it and looked dangerous, our midfield 3 looking much better than the
ponderous Pogba and Fellaini. United had
lined up with McTominay and Matic in a 3 man defence with Phil Jones so there
has to be opportunities for us there today….
We build up the right and it gets to Redmond who turns and
jinks inside Shaw and away from Fellaini, avoiding the elbow. A ball into Obafemi and the youngster holds
off the defender and plays it wide to Armstrong who takes a touch and absolutely
lashes it across de Gea and into the far side of the net. Fucking get in. My Dad is clearly heard above the noise
shouting “I’ve seen a goal”.
After we surprisingly don’t let in a goal straight away,
Rashford gives us the ball in midfield and makes up for it by trashing Lemina
and earning a yellow card for his trouble.
Redmond and Cedric are standing over it with me fully expecting a
Redders knuckle-ball into Row Z. Up
steps Cedric, over the wall and spearing into the near top corner with de Gea
helpless. “I’ve seen another goal”.
Bloody hell we’re 2-0 up…. Oh no we’re not and Lukaku has
his first goal for months. There is a
chance to cut it off at source but Yoshida gets manshamed by Rashford who pokes
it through a half arsed Stephens challenge and Lukaku can’t miss and his first
touch smashes it past Macca.
Can we get to half time without another defensive f….
No. Vestergaard gets easily spun by
Rashford who heads to the byline accompanied by Cedric and Yoshida and neither
put any sort of tackle or block in and he cuts it back and that little shit
Herrera flicks it cleverly under McCarthy to make it 2-2. Balls.
As half time approaches, Fellaini picks up a booking for a
swinging arm which means he won’t be able to go near anyone in the second half
because he can’t go near an opposition player without fouling them.
Ok, we’ve tossed away a lead again but we’ve actually played
quite well. Valery and Obafemi look
decent and the midfield is on top. The
defence puzzles me. For such a big guy,
Vestergaard is such a namby pamby defender.
He looks better than Hoedt but I just wish he’d get a bit more physical
with the strikers. Yoshida was worse
though – bloody crap on both goals. My
mind is taken off all that by the most
crushingly bad excuse for half time entertainment ever, with a painfully shit
movie quiz. Season Ticket Plus for more
of this shit anyone?
The second half starts quietly and it takes about 20 minutes
for anything to happen and it’s a break by Obafemi who lays it off to Redmond
and then pulls up in time honoured “I’ve done my hamstring” fashion. We keep it alive and Valery and Redders
combine to release Armstrong and his cross is into the hobbling Obafemi who is
cleaned out by McTominay and Kevin Friend is not interested at all. Off goes Obafemi and thankfully it’s
Gabbiadini and not the Hologram that comes on.
Gabbi soon combines with Armstrong before trying his usual
ridiculously optimistic 35 yarder which
is straight at de Gea. Pogba, for he is
still playing, then produces a lovely body swerve and just leaves the ball for
Lemina to take, lay off to Redmond and he leathers it from 30 yards and de Gea
gets airborne and tips over.
Time ticks down and usually you’d be waiting for United to
score but they don’t look likely to at all.
Young and McTominay try crosses which are a good 40 yards from the
nearest United player. There’s just no quality
there. Davis is on for the clearly knackered Lemina and Davo leads the charge
and feeds Gabbi who gets brought down by Young but it’s just too far out and
Gabbi’s free kick flies over the bar. We are definitely int he ascendancy and then the game gets stopped because Lukaku tries to control an easy ball and treads on it. He's been injured by his first touch. What a fucking donkey.
Lukaku Had Worked on His First Touch in the Warm-Up
94 minutes and Armstrong concedes a free kick on the edge of
our box. We all wait for the inevitable
goal but Young is on the free kick and he hits it about 5 foot off the ground
and the first defender heads it out. The
End.
For once we have some proper positives to talk about. In the
main the performance was very very good, just that five minutes spell where we appeared
terrified to out a challenge in at the back. The formation worked, the midfield
three were absolutely excellent, Redmond behind the striker but very very
dangerous and much more effective than when he plays out wide. He just need a goal and the boy will be flying.
Everything else is there and for me, one of the best moments of the game was
when Redders came over to take a corner in the Chapel/Kingsland corner and he
got a massive round of applause from everyone who was there. Redmond actually
looks genuinely emotional which I guess, shows what a journey has been on with
getting barracked last year by the moron minority.
The two youngsters were excellent with Obafemi again offering loads more than the usual incumbents ever do. Not only did he have pace and work rate, I was also impressed with his intelligent laying off of the ball and in particular his strength bearing in mind he’s not the biggest. I only hope that the injury he got was cramp and not a hamstring tear or anything more serious. Even when he was injured he should have won a penalty when McTominay went straight to the back of him but you don’t get penalties against Manchester United for things like that.
The performance of Yan Valery was exceptional. To come into the team for your first ever start in the Premier League at 19 years old and have the stones to bollock your fellow defenders and to go round like a captain geeing everybody up, are all signs of a player with a great attitude. The highlight of his performance for me was when Paul Pogba, who, lest we forget, is a World Cup winner for Yan’s native country France, a £90 million superstar player that’s at one of the biggest clubs in the world, tried to intimidate him. Yan took no shit whatsoever when Pogba tried to hold him at a throw-in and Yan basically just threw him away. What’s “get out of my fucking face” in French? Brilliant stuff.
On the left and clearly out of position was Cedric, never a player that I have been a huge fan of. He put in a great performance as well. Okay he didn’t go flying down the wing and put over a succession of left footed crosses but he played the position with a real intelligence and of course, spanking a free kick into the top corner is never a bad thing.
In my opinion, the back three needs tinkering with. Vestergaard needed to play in the middle of the three with Yoshida on the left. In my mind for the future however, a back three of Bertrand, Vestergaard and Stephens is emerging. Stephens was another who was decent today.
Okay it’s only a point but it’s a very positive one now we need to go to Spurs in mid week and put in a performance which is better than the shambolic one we put in there last year.
United got a point due to our defensive frailty and nothing to do with anything that they did. Mourinho picked an unadventurous, and uncreative team and that is the performance that you get. Pogba and Fellaini got completely outplayed in central midfield by Hojbjerg and in particular, Mario Lemina who was absolutely excellent throughout. I’ve seen it said that it was a shop window match for Lemina and there may be an element of truth in that but I really don’t care as in the past, when he’s played against the big sides, Mario has basically downed tools because everything just got a little bit too difficult. No one will be complaining if he continues to put in performances like that.
As an aside, by the time we walked back over the Itchen Bridge to the car, the radio Solent coverage had finished because of the late kick off so without thinking, I flicked on talkSHITE which I very rarely do…. because its fucking garbage. They were running an interview with Mourinho what they ask him if it was a poor result from United bearing in mind where Saints are in the league table. He said that it didn’t matter where Saints were in the league table because they have dangerous players and are a good team, basically saying that Saints are in a false position. After the interview, they had a debate in the studio about Mourinho saying that the leage table doesn’t matter, completely out of context implying that Mourinho said that Manchester United’s. League decision didn’t matter. On the next call was Mr Angry, a United “fan” from London who said he switched off after 35 minutes and said he was never supporting United again. Any presenters worth their salt would have said, well if you switched off then you clearly not a fan and your views are therefore irrelevant. Alternatively, they could have asked him about the opening 35 minutes and really taken the piss. Football media and Manchester United plastic fans. Don’t you just love it?
Finally, Mark Hughes needs to get a bit of credit for formation and players selected. There was no rocket science to what he put out on the pitch today and a lot of it we have been obviously crying out for for quite awhile, particularly the benching of Austin and Hoedt and playing Armstrong in his best position. It’s not a win but it’s promising.
As I said, off to Spurs in mid week which really is a free hit.
The two youngsters were excellent with Obafemi again offering loads more than the usual incumbents ever do. Not only did he have pace and work rate, I was also impressed with his intelligent laying off of the ball and in particular his strength bearing in mind he’s not the biggest. I only hope that the injury he got was cramp and not a hamstring tear or anything more serious. Even when he was injured he should have won a penalty when McTominay went straight to the back of him but you don’t get penalties against Manchester United for things like that.
The performance of Yan Valery was exceptional. To come into the team for your first ever start in the Premier League at 19 years old and have the stones to bollock your fellow defenders and to go round like a captain geeing everybody up, are all signs of a player with a great attitude. The highlight of his performance for me was when Paul Pogba, who, lest we forget, is a World Cup winner for Yan’s native country France, a £90 million superstar player that’s at one of the biggest clubs in the world, tried to intimidate him. Yan took no shit whatsoever when Pogba tried to hold him at a throw-in and Yan basically just threw him away. What’s “get out of my fucking face” in French? Brilliant stuff.
On the left and clearly out of position was Cedric, never a player that I have been a huge fan of. He put in a great performance as well. Okay he didn’t go flying down the wing and put over a succession of left footed crosses but he played the position with a real intelligence and of course, spanking a free kick into the top corner is never a bad thing.
In my opinion, the back three needs tinkering with. Vestergaard needed to play in the middle of the three with Yoshida on the left. In my mind for the future however, a back three of Bertrand, Vestergaard and Stephens is emerging. Stephens was another who was decent today.
Okay it’s only a point but it’s a very positive one now we need to go to Spurs in mid week and put in a performance which is better than the shambolic one we put in there last year.
United got a point due to our defensive frailty and nothing to do with anything that they did. Mourinho picked an unadventurous, and uncreative team and that is the performance that you get. Pogba and Fellaini got completely outplayed in central midfield by Hojbjerg and in particular, Mario Lemina who was absolutely excellent throughout. I’ve seen it said that it was a shop window match for Lemina and there may be an element of truth in that but I really don’t care as in the past, when he’s played against the big sides, Mario has basically downed tools because everything just got a little bit too difficult. No one will be complaining if he continues to put in performances like that.
As an aside, by the time we walked back over the Itchen Bridge to the car, the radio Solent coverage had finished because of the late kick off so without thinking, I flicked on talkSHITE which I very rarely do…. because its fucking garbage. They were running an interview with Mourinho what they ask him if it was a poor result from United bearing in mind where Saints are in the league table. He said that it didn’t matter where Saints were in the league table because they have dangerous players and are a good team, basically saying that Saints are in a false position. After the interview, they had a debate in the studio about Mourinho saying that the leage table doesn’t matter, completely out of context implying that Mourinho said that Manchester United’s. League decision didn’t matter. On the next call was Mr Angry, a United “fan” from London who said he switched off after 35 minutes and said he was never supporting United again. Any presenters worth their salt would have said, well if you switched off then you clearly not a fan and your views are therefore irrelevant. Alternatively, they could have asked him about the opening 35 minutes and really taken the piss. Football media and Manchester United plastic fans. Don’t you just love it?
Finally, Mark Hughes needs to get a bit of credit for formation and players selected. There was no rocket science to what he put out on the pitch today and a lot of it we have been obviously crying out for for quite awhile, particularly the benching of Austin and Hoedt and playing Armstrong in his best position. It’s not a win but it’s promising.
As I said, off to Spurs in mid week which really is a free hit.
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