Match on tomorrow evening, 20.00 kick off. Terrestrial TV and everything, what's not to like? Looking forward to this, should be a good opportunity to put on a decent display. Most have had a good winter break, some plenty time to return for injury. I expect Pogba to play given Fred is on his way back from international duty and DVDB is no longer an option. Cavani and Lingard not being available also unclutters things, meaning a front three of Rashford, Ronaldo and Sancho surely. Take your pick in defence.
No Lindelof or Bailly so we can't Shaw defo starts as Telles only got back yesterday. Boro playing with a back 5 with their full backs bombing forward. I expect a proper cup tie. Games against Boro back in the day always were a banana skin. Obviously times change but some dynamics don't. I'm expecting a real humdinger.
Good first half too. I think we've played really well, could easily be two or three up. I know Pogba is marmite but I really can't help liking the guy. I wish he'd just commit to saying he wants to stay at United, and then he can be that man we need. The one we then don't have to buy from somewhere.
Pogba has been brilliant. With Bruno in that free role. It's brilliant. Last year there was a good partnership between Bruno and Pogba, but Rangnick seems to have tweaked the roles and is taking it to another level. We're actually controlling the midfield. When was the last time we said that?!!
When Pogba, Rashford (who played well but just lacked finishing) and Sancho went off we turned to ****. Lost all shape and guile. Having said that, we should've scored at least 5 before then.
Both keepers were poor tbf. Only way anyone was going to win it was exactly the way it was won, someone skying it.
when some of us said that the players needed to take responsibility for match outcomes they were told it was ****ing poppycock. It was all down to the manager and coaches and what happened in the training pitch. Middlesbrough have beaten a strong side at OT. The manager is ****ing useless and cannot inspire the players. What does he do on the training pitch?
I've been wondering if you've been on a wind up, but if you're being serious (which I'm still not sure about) I despair for what you're actually watching. Can you honestly not see the difference in the football we're playing? The cycles of play, the way we're passing it through midfield? Tonight we dominated Boro IN THEIR HALF for the full 90 mins. It's a million miles away from the "playing not to lose" cautious football that was sapping the confidence and ability out of our players. The only thing that let us down was the finishing. Ole is gone mate, get over it.
what’s the ****ing point of dominating if you go on and lose? Will we take defeats if we have “domination”. Forget about results. The aim is no longer winning but dominating. Middlesbrough are not even a top championship side. The aim of the 4th round is to go through not some feel good “performance “.
Well, i have to say i am very happy with the way we played tonight. fast, direct and inventive, totally controlled midfield and every player always had a pass on. That said, i can't believe how **** the finishing was, Ronaldo and Bruno snatching at everything, Rashford thinking he had to burst the net with every effort instead of just hitting the gap, we sorely missed a calm head like Cavani tonight. Elanga was brilliant when he came on, more experienced players than him have missed penalties in much less pressured circumstances, it was nice to see Ronaldo pointing to himself when consoling Elanga and it looked like he was pointing to himself as the player that lost the game with his first miss. Call out to McT and Fred as they both added a lot to the attack and still carried out the defensive side well. If we carry on playing like that and include actually scoring top 4 should be a shoe in but still lot's of improvement needed for any higher.
Because mate there's some direction in the long term. Tonight we lose but we carry on playing like that and we'll grow and win far more. If I was Rangnick I'd be telling them just that tonight. They played well and it's defo a work in progress.