Manchester United edged their match against Brighton last night, an unlucky deflection taking the ball past the excellent Mat Ryan and proving the decider.
Brighton played some excellent football. They challenged the United defence in ways that not a lot of teams have, especially in their use of pace and width to get in behind the United defensive line.
United used to tear teams to pieces with pace and width. Jose Mourinho will have to field questions about his tactics and about how United win ugly when they win nowadays. Is this the United way?
SBS pundits were split on this overnight. I agree with Mark Bridge, who said that it are results that you remember most as a supporter. Manchester City are bolting away towards the title, so any win is a good win. It’s not that long ago we were playing rubbish football and getting no results.
But at the same time I think that Jose wanted the United job because he wanted to be the true successor to Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of results and the brand of football played in getting them. His team isn’t as far away as results like the recent stalemate at Anfield and last night’s ‘squeaky’ win make it seem.
(Nick Potts/ PA via AP)
There are some great signs in the centre of midfield now Paul Pogba is back. He and Nemanja Matic are starting to boss things in a way reminiscent of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. Some of the interplay up front involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pogba and Romelu Lukaku reminds you of what Eric Cantona brought to United, linking with great strikers.
It’s the width that’s missing. If there was any truth to the notion that Gareth Bale wanted out of Madrid to join United, then the Red Devils should move heaven and earth to make it happen.
It was Ryan Giggs and David Beckham that set United apart for so long. I was lucky enough to be at Old Trafford a few times in the early 1990s when Andrei Kanchelskis was in his pomp, tearing teams to shreds along the touchlines. Giggs and Beckham continued that for Ferguson’s teams, strikers were lining up for their crosses that peppered the opposition goalmouth from both sides.
Lukaku is easily as good a striker as Ashley Cole. Given the service he received he would still be up with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah at the top of the goalscorer tables.
(AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young came to United to continue what Beckham and Giggs did, providing the pace and width that troubles even the best defences.
Both are still very good attacking defenders, but they are that little bit older now, and it’s only in glimpses that you see them do what they did so well game in, game out as younger men, bombing down the wings and getting the ball into the middle.
They haven’t really been replaced. Anthony Martial and especially Marcus Rashford offer glimpses of it, but they are different players and their natural instincts tell them to cut inside. Henrikh Mkhitaryan led United’s goal assists this season for a long time, but he is not a width player either.
Mourinho is his own man and has made the point that no-one would begrudge the results his team have earned so far this season. He knows as well as anyone the legacy he has been left by Sir Alex and Sir Matt Busby.
While his teams have played differently to those of Ferguson in the past, Jose wants as much as anyone to go to Anfield, Stamford Bridge and especially to The Etihad and win in style.
Give him the pace and width to stretch those defences wide and United will look so much more like the team of old.
Kangajets
Guest
Man utd till I die But u need to get realistic, with the wealth of the epl u can never expect united to win the epl every season . City will win the epl this season , but Mourinho has United in a far better position then when he started . 2019 and 2020 was always the defining years for this united team
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
With regard to Lukaku I hope that Jose sees him as being Drogba-esque. He doesn't have much praise for Romelu, but he hasn't gone at him yet either a la Luke Shaw. I was always a great fan of Edgar Davids, and remember how much time he spent cooling his heels at Milan before tearing it up at Juventus. Milan must have wished he'd remained bored and aloof at the far end of their bench, rather than running Juve's midfield alongside Zidane and making Serie A a one horse race.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
I saw that! Sterling flying down the wing in the dying moments and City are looking as uncatchable as ever. I'm not sure what the answer is re the youth system. I haven't got Fox but I would be interested in seeing the matches you describe. It's always the way that there are prodigies at age grade level who 5 years later have completely disappeared and you wonder what happened to all that potential. Watching the age grade in NRL is the same, so many young men look like world beaters. Injuries would play a role. More so would be the fact that that last step to really realising potential is exponentially harder than all the others. The class of '92 was a once in a lifetime thing for United. I have seen a doco (on SBS I think, a while ago) which was a bit of a wake up call about the reach of the Manchester City youth system, how the club was making things so enticing they were beating United to many signatures and even taking players from United. And Chelsea, and Arsenal. Not much evidence of the results yet, but then maybe Pep will unleash the class of '18 or '19 and then we will all be in a whole new world of trouble.
Buddy
Guest
Marty, Its a great discussion piece in a space where we try and focus on more local issues although there isn't always a juicy topic to get your teeth into. BTW - I was not suggesting that United have reached the same stage that Liverpool have found themselves at, having been top dogs for some considerable period of time. I only meant to draw attention to just how difficult it is to climb onto the top rung and even harder to stay there. If you turn the clock back to the 90's and the talent that all emerged at the same time was it just extrem,ely good fortune with all the stars aligned or were they doing something much better with their youth teams at the time? What we don't see now are youth players coming through the ranks at the same club and breaking into the first team...yes there are some notable exceptions but a small minority. Chelsea are probably the finest example. Over the past five years their under 18 team and 21's have been brimming with talent and on Foxtel you get the chance to watch some youth team games which are often full of goals - many spectacular and highly entertaining; far more so than many EPL games. Where does their talent end up though. Certainly no room in their first grade side except for the occasional league cup outing. On another note, the acquisition of Lukaku this season was interesting in that it was JM that let him go when in charge at Chelsea - same applies to Debruyne. What we haven't heard from JM is any statement on the subject to reinforce his faith in the player and that always leaves a question mark especially if he is not scoring goals. My question is did he buy him for the right reasons and what he thought he could do for the team? When Rooney was a young man at Everton, there was a story that Roman Abramovich told JM to buy him even if he sat on the bench - to prevent MUFC from buying him? JM apparently refused as he was the wrong type of player at the time. These days, it is hard to believe that JM wouldn't do something like that irrespective of anything else going on. Is it good to have a manager that appears to lack integrity and a degree of honesty? Fergie may have played mind games but he would never have conducted himself in the manner being demonstrated these days...ok lunch over, back to work. Sterling rescued City again!
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
Buddy, I agree. United put together a good 'Fergie-esque performance and whopped Watford, and suddenly it's 'what are you whinging about?' all over again. Leading into the City game, and with the real Champions League to come, all that really sticks in my mind is the sight of United playing turgid nonsense to get a draw at Anfield. Living off the best keeper in the world, who will go back to Spain. Yes we are well on the way to being the new Liverpool, and if we're not careful will wake up after a couple of 'anomalies' and 'seasons of building' and realise we haven't troubled the engravers at the EPL in a decade. And once you get there in the modern environment there is just about no way back. You end up as Liverpool are now, buying the second tier players and those looking to showcase themselves for the real deal teams as in Suarez to Barcelona. I don't agree that United are anywhere near there yet. United is still a brand that can attract the best. There absolutely was a strange holding pattern feeling to United under Moyes, and he did inherit a team ready for a huge overhaul. And recruitment under Van Gaal was all over the place. Players probably saw him as dead man walking. We got players such as Falcao and Di Maria who were simply adding to their CV's. United threw up the class of their youth system in the early '90's and that was the basis of their success under Ferguson. But he also added the right players at the right time. Some great teams came and went during Ferguson's tenure, Wenger's Arsenal at times, Chelsea had a couple of world class sides. United always came back to the top of the pile because you can't beat playing the game fast with width and Ferguson recruited or developed the best at doing that. Mourinho recruited down the spine of the team, the thing that Ferguson always said had to be right before the rest can be. The first real sign that United are not a team that the very best players naturally look to is that Victor Lindelof is the best that could be found for the middle of a defence that was crying out for a Jaap Stam equivalent. Personally I think Pogba is the type of ego that a team could be built around, and Lukaku is the type of striker who could end up with a record to match the best that United have had. If he got the sort of service that Andy Cole, Dwight York, Ruud Van NIstelrooy etc got week in week out from Giggs, Beckham etc.
Buddy
Guest
United’s issues are nothing to do with pace and width or playing style or whether they are interesting or boring to watch or whether you love or hate them. The real issues are all the ones that go on inside the head. Whether its the collective heads of supporters or the board, or the owners or the coach it is all up there that is being wrestled with and it eventually manifests on the pitch. At times it all looks good and at other times it smells of desperation, sometimes it all opens up and is a delight and sometimes you wonder why you bother to look or perhaps like in an old horror film you watch half of it hidden behind the couch! The real issue is that the club is no longer seen as the benchmark of the EPL and the clock is ticking. Stability once reigned and it was assumed there would be a legacy and a succession plan which sadly was not true. In Fergies last season the club took the title with what was possibly the poorest team of Sir Alex’s time in charge - at least in the years they won silverware. There were possibly better sides around but MUFC knew exactly what it took to be at the top. That has slipped away and there has been four engravings on the trophy that do not mention United. If the pundits are right, there will be five this season and barring United supporters most people are quite happy about it as City are playing some fast paced flowing, exciting football and entertaining everyone. United are no longer the benchmark and the club is trying to restore that position but it isn’t easy. Nip down the M62 to Anfield and ask them why a club that dominated for so long cannot get back on the top rung. The answer isn’t just about money eiither. Besides, plenty of posters have stated United have plenty of money or more than City etc. It is way more than money. The club needs to be ticking as one, with everthing lined up from the tea lady to the stewards and the ball boys. The planning of player acquisition needs to be well thought out and structured. The coach needs to be the right person that fits the club’s ethos and the fans as well. It is even harde these days as player loyalty is possibly now something from “different times” how genuine is it when someone kisses the badge? This season it feels as though United’s acquisitions were somewhat ad hoc when compared to their neighbours. The appointment of JM last year was the first real sign that the board didn’t know what was needed. I find it difficult to believe that he is the person they most wanted and that they believe in his style and his mind games, negativity and so many other traits that must make Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex wince everytime the name comes up and probably makes Sir Matt Busby turn in his grave. They probably thought he could deliver the holy grail as he had delivered previously down south but they didn’t have a good look over the fence at what else is going on otherwise they would have noticed another shiny new Juggernaut with a very powerful engine that the football world is fascinated by right now...... so will it be enough to come second - if they manage that or will there be another big upheaval at the end of season 17/18?
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
Sanchez would be a fantastic addition. I don't follow other European leagues very closely, Bayern based their game around the pace of Robben and Ribery, are there other wide players taking their place in Germany? Accordiing to everyone United have unlimited funds, I'm not sure about that as a listed company but what the hell why not go for Sanchez and Bale?
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
very lucky
Gavin R
Guest
Alexis Sanchez is actually 100% available, unlike Bale. No doubt Bale has unique quality but I still don't think he is what United need at present. I dont think they can afford to take risks on his injury history.
Gavin R
Guest
He's actually avoided any action and cleared to play.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
gone for 3 games now apparently, that's perfect with big games coming up
Squizz
Guest
Romelu Lukaku lucky to be on the pitch. He should have been sent off just before the goal - which would have meant the goal wouldn't have occurred. The Seagulls very unlucky.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
Ibrahimovic being back will change a lot of things as you say, but I agree wholeheartedly that Rashford and Martial are excellent as attackers, they don't add enough naturally from the flanks for the real strikers in Lukaku and Ibrahimovic. I'm not sure about the Rooney thing, they need a 10 definitely, a no. 10 and 2 flying wingers and things would be different.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
I think Pep is a lot closer to his ideal team that Jose is at the moment. I don't think that you can diminish what Jose achieved in Portugal, the UCL does throw up some strange connotations, especially once the later rounds come at the pointy end of domestic seasons when teams are tiring / dealing with injuries.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
maybe I'm biased about Bale, I just think he has a quality about him that doesn't come along very often, the ability to do things at extreme speed and if there is one thing that no defence handles very well it is extreme pace. I'd be interested who you think is a better option, and available
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Just because someone wins with a minnow team doesn't mean they're a greater manager. The UCL Champion isn't always won by the best team in Europe either — there's a certain element of luck involved ala Liverpool, AC Milan etc in recent years/decades. I'd hardly say Mourinho has an inferior team either. United have far greater resources than City — they had the highest revenue of any football club in the World last year (with exception of the Dallas Cowboys), far exceeding City. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan wealth is extreme for sure, but nothing United can't match.
Kangajets
Guest
Rick Guardola is quite possibly better , but he underachieved in the champions league with a great Bayern team and at Barcelona, well I could have coached that team with those world class players . Mourinho gets the most from what he has. Winning a champions league with Porto a minnow in that competition will never be surpassed by guardiola .
Albo
Guest
I just don't think Mourinho has the balance right in the team as yet. Not enough creativity coming from midfield and build ups are too slow. They are missing Rooney at 10 for mine, and another creative midfielder. Mkhitaryan & Mata have been disappointing in recent weeks. Herrera offers little creativity . Fellaini offers aerial ability but little else creatively. Rashford & Martial both would prefer being upfront strikers so they are drifting centre field regularly without creating too many opportunities. Only Valencia & Young on the flanks as attacking fullbacks are still United's prime creators of opportunities, but both are a little suspect in defence. Their central defence still struggles from set pieces and corners. Matic & Pogba are the stars, but need more support in the front third. Maybe the use of Zlatan up front with Lukaku might draw out opposition defences creating more room for others like Rashford & Martial to exploit ?
Gavin R
Guest
35 to 45 is about average for someone who finds themselves as an established first 11 as Bale would expect. Based on the last 2-3 years history, I wouldn't take him for anywhere near what Spurs sold him for. Much better options out there than Bale in my opinion.
marty beauchamp
Roar Pro
I like it, his game plan is different to Pep's at the moment..... because he needs width and pace! As much as City's strikers are making their season what it is, Raheem Stirling is carving it up.....