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fez said:
We've managed 0 goals for nearly 4xG this season so far. Not good so far.

The bigger issue is that we are still getting overrun in the middle of the pitch and team will target that and have a lot of joy. Amorim needs to work out how to fix that.
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Yes but looking past the stats, let's face it, Arsenal got lucky with their win and on another day Utd deservedly win that game 3-0. Against Fulham if Utd were up 2-0 by half time even without that dodgy var penalty it wouldn't have been out of the blue.

OK, you're right the midfield needs some tweaking and a better captain than Bruno should be found but I still see Utd in the top 4 come Christmas.
 
Bruno always annoyed me and I support united just the constant sulking and moaning from someone that's meant to be the captain , yes I was spoilt watching captains such as Keane , vidic
 
fez said:
The bigger issue is that we are still getting overrun in the middle of the pitch and team will target that and have a lot of joy. Amorim needs to work out how to fix that.
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Bruno will be Amorims downfall. Shoehorning Bruno into midfield doesnt work and I don’t see Amorim dropping him. Bruno is no good as a midfielder, he has no positional discipline and when things gets tough he tries to make up for it by running all over the place leaving gaping holes in the middle of the park.
 
Bear said:
Bruno will be Amorims downfall. Shoehorning Bruno into midfield doesnt work and I don’t see Amorim dropping him. Bruno is no good as a midfielder, he has no positional discipline and when things gets tough he tries to make up for it by running all over the place leaving gaping holes in the middle of the park.
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Bruno has been far and away their best player for the last few years but his demeanour often stinks and he has always been a defensive liability for me. Fulham's goal was in large part Bruno's fault for not tracking Smith-Rowe.

But I have confidence that if Amorim needs to drop him he will not be afraid to do so.
 
Bear said:
Bruno will be Amorims downfall. Shoehorning Bruno into midfield doesnt work and I don’t see Amorim dropping him. Bruno is no good as a midfielder, he has no positional discipline and when things gets tough he tries to make up for it by running all over the place leaving gaping holes in the middle of the park.
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Honestly I hate to be negative, but seeing him is just a reminder of the previous years and failure.

When he gave the ball away in the first half I thought, if that was some other player they might well have been subbed at half time .

Everybody knew we needed two midfielders in the window, instead we bought 3 attackers.. none of which have scored yet.
 
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dacads said:
Everybody knew we needed two midfielders, at least two forwards and a new goalie in the window,
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/fixed - I don't think you can really complain that the wrong positions have been targeted (at the expense of midfield). More that there were just so many gaps to address and you need to find and then work on securing the right option for each.

With Lammens seemingly next on the way, it's presumably just a question of whether they have someone lined up and realistic for midfield.
 
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Bear said:
Bruno will be Amorims downfall. Shoehorning Bruno into midfield doesnt work and I don’t see Amorim dropping him. Bruno is no good as a midfielder, he has no positional discipline and when things gets tough he tries to make up for it by running all over the place leaving gaping holes in the middle of the park.
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Amorim is himself to blame. The whole team was poor against Fulham.

Everyone got overwhelmed in the second half.
 
The fact they approached Brighton about Baleba shows they know what needs improving in midfield.

It’s a little concerning they haven’t then gone elsewhere, and we’re just going to have to carry on without one.
 
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Just watched the game. Pretty depressing that we went from a promising performance against Arsenal to the same old huffing and puffing but lacking the midfield substance to build anything from.

A point away at Fulham might not be the worst result in the context of the rest of the season mind.

Could really do with a morale lifting thrashing of Grimsby, get Sesko in the goals.
 
mid_gen said:
Just watched the game. Pretty depressing that we went from a promising performance against Arsenal to the same old huffing and puffing but lacking the midfield substance to build anything from.
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The key question is - why did this fall off happen.
Is it all because Fernandes got rattled by the penalty miss and sulked?
Did Fulham tactically adjust and we didn't?
Did the manager make the wrong decisions with subs?

I think it shows a lack of leadership on the pitch. For a long time we've lacked a character that can get a hold of the team and make an in game adjustment.
If Fernandes did leave who would step up? DeLigt?
 
Calpol said:
The key question is - why did this fall off happen.
Is it all because Fernandes got rattled by the penalty miss and sulked?
Did Fulham tactically adjust and we didn't?
Did the manager make the wrong decisions with subs?

I think it shows a lack of leadership on the pitch. For a long time we've lacked a character that can get a hold of the team and make an in game adjustment.
If Fernandes did leave who would step up? DeLigt?
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I do think Amorin needs to start finding different approaches, or at least different combinations of players, for different sides. At least Mount/Sesko offers a bit of different shape.

I don't think this system is going to work against defensive teams without some quality in CM....starting to come round to the idea of selling Fernandes while he's still got a lot of value and getting someone else in.

Captain is a question though. Probably De Ligt, although Mount/Maguire could albeit they aren't on the pitch for 90 minutes.

Amad continues to underwhelm when starting. Dalot underwhelms off the bench, I'd swap them round, Amad just has more impact coming on late in the game, Dalot doesn't have the pace to make a difference.

Yoro is continuing to be a highlight though, he's turning into a real bit of class in the side.
 
mid_gen said:
Amad continues to underwhelm when starting. Dalot underwhelms off the bench, I'd swap them round, Amad just has more impact coming on late in the game, Dalot doesn't have the pace to make a difference.

Yoro is continuing to be a highlight though, he's turning into a real bit of class in the side.
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I like that observation regarding Amad and Dalot. Makes a lot of sense at least whilst we are still bedding in.
Yeah, Yoro emerging as the most talented player in the team.

Anyone know what's up with Mazraoui? He's a good foil for Dalot/Amad
 
Calpol said:
I like that observation regarding Amad and Dalot. Makes a lot of sense at least whilst we are still bedding in.
Yeah, Yoro emerging as the most talented player in the team.

Anyone know what's up with Mazraoui? He's a good foil for Dalot/Amad
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If it was my choice, I wouldn’t even have Dalot on the bench and would use the academy or wedge someone else into the position. Just anyone… anything!

Mazraoui has been injured unfortunately since the end of preseason. Was supposed to have been back by now, I think I read. Hopefully soon.
 
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I would definitely try out Mazraoui in place of Dalot, he seems a really solid all round footballer. Dalot seems to be going backwards at the moment.
 
I am still worried about Amorim. Primarily his insistence to stick to his unusual system and the complete refusal to change or even tweak it... Also, he's only 40 with quite limited experience; does he really think he's stumbled upon something no other manager has thought of? There's no evidence that his system is anything special.

We have Grimsby tomorrow, which we absolutely must win and hopefully Sesko can score a couple of goals.

After that, it's Burnley at home and the season should take off from there. Fail to win and we're going into the international break under one hell of a cloud. A draw won't be good enough.

Then we're back in September and it's Chelsea and then Man City. We could lose both of those.

We could be in a full on crisis come October. Hopefully, things will start to pick up instead, but I think we're being hamstrung by his tactics at the moment. I just can't shake the feeling that last season was so very bad, it's damaged him beyond repair.

The club absolutely must get him a midfielder this week, too.
 
Amorim was scouted with the exact unrepentant knowledge that he played a specific system. When he then continues to play that specific system, you can not level the criticism at him, you need to level it at the people who brought him in. And again, he did not want to come mid season, they told him now or never, so the fact that united were woeful during last season under a manager that did not want to come in because he did not have an opportunity to change the squad, is not his problem, it is the people that effectively put a gun to his head.

United were a lot less impressive than against arsenal. I do recall in the first 10 minutes or so we had one off the post and their keeper made a great save from cunhna. And of course the missed penalty. But overall not great.

What's happened Mainoo, he was boy wonder the first season, and now amorim is effectively saying he needs to displace Fernandes to get in the team. Amad was at his best last season as an attacking threat, I think he is wasted playing wingback...but with the new signings hard to get him a more forward role.

Dalot got caught in possession for Fulham's goal, he has that in him.

Also I agree with the sentiment upthread that Utd do not cross anywhere nears enough balls in...what's the point of having a 6'5" striker if you aren't going at least sometimes get a good ball in from the byline.

And utd remain hopeless at defending corners, Fulham just not as good as Arsenal at execution. you would have thought that this would have been worked on a lot over the summer.

I give bruno a LOT of slack and continue to do so, because without him last season I'm pretty sure we'd be playing championship football this year....but the fact that a) he let a minor clearly accidental nudge from the ref annoy him and b) used it as a reason for missing the penalty is frustrating.

Regarding baleba, I don't pretend to have much knowledge of him, but that video package upthread shows him mostly running with the ball and going past people, not breaking play up and mopping up,...I thought he was supposed to be defensive ?...Mainoo in his first year or so showed similar dynamics as per that video package, being able to receive and offload in tight positions.
 
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