- What a horrible day to resume my weekly articles for the new season. It’s just one game and despite I am really tempted to go all out against the Board for not supporting Ole with the players he had identified and demanded for this season, I will resist. The Board and the owners should be slammed if they bring in players at the last moment and we start winning after that. New players coming in the team, inevitably lift the whole team and dressing room, not mentioning the fans. If the team continues to perform badly even after new acquisitions coming in, then we have to look elsewhere. Because let’s face it, United have an excellent first eleven. Maybe they are not the best in the Premier but not far off. The four players upfront are better than most in the other Premier teams. Maybe I will shock people with saying that I liked what I saw in the first half an hour from United going forward. I thought Greenwood and Rashford were sharp and Fernandes wanted the ball all the time. But we committed too many individual mistakes. Not sure what Maguire tried to do in the first goal and he failed to stay in front of the ball after committing the foul on Kane in the second. Matic just waited for the ball at the edge of his area for the third and Shaw decided to leave the first post to pick a player outside our penalty area in the fourth. Fifth and sixth had Pogba written all over them, first failing to track the run of Aurier and then sliding in on Davies in the penalty area. Individual mistakes that hurt us badly by players who are paid millions. Ole was not playing and I don’t point the finger at him for now. How we turn this round is where I will rate him however. He has to be ruthless, as he was during his playing career. His United team need to react and nothing less than a win at Newcastle would do.
- In today’s match, VAR system or the way it is applied has failed people like me who hate cheaters. In the Lamela-Martial incident, the offense committed by Lamela is worse than that of Martial. So, either they are sent off both or else no one of them. It is no alibi for the Referee that Lamela cheated by going to the ground after five seconds of the slight hit by Martial. He had the screen available on the side of the pitch and it was the duty of the VAR to ask the referee to look again at the incident. Jose knew well enough that the Referee would see the incident again during half time and that Lamela was a risk to keep on the pitch for the second half. And expertly, he took Lamela off. Old fox. I thought that we had got rid of cheaters and players trying to be smart behind the referee’s back. Evidently we have not. I am bitterly disappointed. That said, how stupid Tony Martial could be? He should know better.
- I was an advocate that Pogba and Fernandes could play together in United’s midfield at the resumption of the league in June last season. United where playing so well, scoring goals for fun and the team could support the forward thinking and inventiveness of Pogba and Fernandes together. More than that, the players were in top condition while at present, United lag behind in their condition. We finished the season late and a few players (Fernandes, Pogba and AWB) started training only two weeks ago, for various reasons. At the moment, Ole has to choose between Pogba and Fernandes. They cannot play both in the first eleven, unless one of the strikers is sacrificed. We need two mobile midfielders in front of our shaky defence, otherwise every match will be an uphill struggle. My opinion.
Looking forward to receiving your thoughts on the Facebook page. Keep one thing in mind. We support the team, always. GGMU
Article contributed by Contributor Roderick. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.