The old Man Utd Thread

[AlwaysBeClosing]

And what's yours?

[Guest]

And what's yours?

The players car tyres being stolen after every match so they have to get taxis home.

[feltmonkey]

Unbeaten in three!

God we're awful. I'm guessing you guys have already seen this, but here's the half-time scores for our last ten home games, including today: 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0

[Gabzy]

????????

So shit. And the worse thing is, completely expected.

[SaintM]

To be fair, it takes a special talent to spent so much money on a squad and still end up so bad. Perhaps LVG sees it like a perverse Brewster's Millions style challenge.

[Liamness]

Half time "expected goals" (a measure of how many goals you would expect a team to score, based on the quality of their chances) map against Sheffield United:

Bigger squares would mean better chances. The three chances add up to 0.1 expected goals. By the end of the game we were up to 0.5 (this does not include the penalty). So statistically speaking, we cumulatively only managed to create a half-chance all game.

[aidey6]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35282080

"United were booed off at half-time, but Van Gaal suggested the early exit of fans was not necessarily a criticism.

Asked why supporters had left early, Van Gaal said: "Maybe [because] we haven't scored. Maybe the traffic."

He added: "There are many reasons why someone might leave early."

[Mr Do 71]

He's got to go.

We're so fucking slow, by the time we get into the opposition half. We're trying to attack against the whole fucking opposing team.

[ckny]

We've not looked too bad so far. Newcastle seeing plenty of the ball is helping, we're getting forward quickly when we get it.

[Guest]

Penalty wasn't a penalty. But then Fellaini was booked for an appeal that should've been a penalty.

[Liamness]

I thought he was booked for barreling into a Newcastle player already sprawled on the floor but whatevs.

Tremendous hold up play from Rooney. I dare say, he seems to be having quite a good game.

[Guest]

We've scored twice in the first half. What's going on?

[davidcotton]

We've scored twice in the first half. What's going on?

You're playing Newcastle.

[Liamness]

Seems we have to choose between creating chances at one end and being solid at the other. Open season on our goalmouth at the minute.

Fellaini and Schneiderlin are not exactly a calming influence in front of the defence.

[Liamness]

[Guest]

Has he been sacked yet?

[ckny]

Don't even care about the result. It was a hell of a game, Rooney was fantastic. I'll take that over the dirge we've had lately.

[Liamness]

Agreed. Although I could've done with a bit of LVG tedium once we were 2-0 up. It would've suited us to slow down the tempo, but ultimately the second half was played on Newcastle's terms.

[Gabzy]

At least it wasn't boring!

Ugh.

[Guest]

At least it wasn't boring!

Ugh.

And that'll be his excuse. Regardless of how the game was played, it's still telling that he isn't the right man for the job when we can't even beat Newcastle. As far as I'm concerned he's just bought himself a temporary stay of execution.

[Marlowe]

Bullshit. We had plenty of chances to kill that game off, and inexplicably lost all defensive shape in that last few minutes. Can't blame the manager for that.

Not surprising though coming from the guy who was still moaning back when we were winning titles.

[Guest]

Fair enough if you're happy with how we are playing this season, but I'm not going to get too excited yet.

It was good to see a more attacking display, but throwing a 2 goal lead away taints that a bit.

I'd just rather people judge van Gaal on everything he's done so far, rather than one game. Personally I think he's too stuck in his ways to take us forward, regardless of the occasional break from his usual routine.

I'd be happy to be proved wrong though, so let's see where we are at the end of the season. My money is on us being in a worse position than last season, which, for me at least, would mean it's time for a change.

[boxoctosis]

I'd be amazed if he was here next year. The season has been a slow car crash so far.

Looking at it dispassionately, last night was a disgrace. Newcastle are a terrible side, any way up.

[Guest]

I also forgot to mention, if we don't at least equal our position from last season, which personally I don't think would be acceptable, then there'd be no champions league. I'm pretty sure that'd be the end for him.

Didn't I read somewhere that the Adidas sponsorship money would be cut as well if we don't get in?

[ckny]

Has to be two seasons in a row IIRC.

[Liamness]

No Schweinsteiger or Carrick for the trip to Anfield. I really don't want to see Fellaini protecting the defence against a high press, has to play in an advanced role or not at all. Buuuuut Van Gaal doesn't trust Herrera in a deeper role seemingly, despite him doing fine in that role last season when it was him or Rooney. Plus we've got this guy called Schneiderlin now, you may have heard of him.

[feltmonkey]

How has Lucas not been booked yet?

I have a feeling Fellaini will be seeing a red card sooner or later as well.

[Bleeders]

This has been the worst half of football I've seen. Such little quality on display.

[feltmonkey]

We're comfortably second best. We're lucky to go in 0-0.

[feltmonkey]

Lingard is having an absolute stinker.