I thought we ended up frustrating ourselves rather than frustrating the opposition. Golden chance against 10 men for 45mins away at Old Trafford... But we played that second half into United’s hands. I’d be surprised if any of their lot came off that pitch at full time feeling like they had a tough 2nd half and had to really work for that win.
Old Trafford is a big pitch. We lacked touchline width to stretch the pitch, we didn’t move the ball quick enough or play anything penetrating, we didn’t switch play enough to keep them running side to side (if at all?), we didn’t have any runners in behind (I don’t think their back 5 got turned once and had to run back towards their goal in the 2nd half). I’m totally bemused by what we were trying to do against 10 men? Or did their 3rd goal completely rock us and we just panicked knowing our golden opportunity meant we needed at least 2 goals now to win? Either way, we showed everyone how not to play against 10 men last night.
Another thing but I really didn’t understand the Davis sub. You had 2 strikers on the pitch together and you take your best crosser of the ball and player with most chances created off the pitch? Unless he was injured, it seemed odd to me.
Tactically that sub was all wrong for me. I felt we lacked width and needed to overload the play in wider areas, but instead we left Clarke out on the left on his own with no underlap/overlap run and no left back backing him up. That made it comfortable for United to defend down their right and could compact the midfield as Mazrouari could deal with Clarke 1 v 1 and De Ligt didn’t have to be dragged over. Like I said, their back 5 had a very comfortable 2nd half without being dislodged positionally. It was really poor.
|  |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
