The criticism of Pogba last season was unnecessarily harsh On too many occasions and whenever you tried to point it out, they would always fall back to things like price tag, numbers and even big game performances.

The price tag argument is dead and buried now thanks to neymar, Mbappe, Dembele etc.

The numbers have started to stack up thanks to people like martial And to few others stepping up and Ibrahimovic out the way.

The big game performance nonsense go dissappear too.

Oasis007:
"It didn't look vindictive. It's 100 miles per hour and there can be accidents like that but I suppose the referee will say, by the letter of the law, he was left with no option. But it was a very, very unfortunate incident that wasn't intentional."

- RON ATKINSON

things are looking good for an appeal.

Leyqute:
I expect Mou to rest Lukaku for the midweek UCL game while Ibra starts. Any other player who is expected to feature prominently next weekend should also not be stressed on Tuesday/Wednesday. The others should play the whole 200 minutes.

Against city Mou will prolly deploy Rash, Lukaku and Mkhi as front 3. He likes throwing in surprises against big teams.

Mkhi? Na to off tv be that

Leyqute:
I expect Mou to rest Lukaku for the midweek UCL game while Ibra starts. Any other player who is expected to feature prominently next weekend should also not be stressed on Tuesday/Wednesday. The others should play the whole 200 minutes.

Against city Mou will prolly deploy Rash, Lukaku and [b]Mkhi [/b]as front 3. He likes throwing in surprises against big teams.

Miki should just play midweek and go back to the bench. Same with Mata. I see no need changing that front 3 of Lingard, Martial and Lukaku

Neymar cost 200m and cannot outscore merefish delay in that farmers league. Mbappe has 4 or 5 goals playing for that psg side in the league.

But nobody will talk trash anywhere, because common sense will somehow be in their heads.

At some point last season, they were talking about goal drought for Pogba, a CM .

Part of my new season resolutions was to avoid any form of back and forths, especially on these boards.
Na why I no go engage in any Lukaku argument and why I overlook all the people Wey don already write Lindelof off after 2 bad games.

Uncle time go resolve everything last last.

PietroRico:
The criticism of Pogba last season was unnecessarily harsh On too many occasions and whenever you tried to point it out, they would always fall back to things like price tag, numbers and even big game performances.

The price tag argument is dead and buried now thanks to neymar, Mbappe, Dembele etc.

The numbers have started to stack up thanks to people like martial And to think few others stepping up and Ibrahimovic out the way.

The big game performance nonsense go dissappear too.

They were not unnecessarily harsh. Dude was doing a one-man show while doing basic things looked hard to him, like always trying long range shots where simple passes would have sufficed and unneeded leg-overs, which got me infuriated. Even Jose complained of that. Pogba of last season, for the 2 assists yesterday, would have tried long range shots.

We need a good CM now so he can get a bit of a free role like in Juve

dubylhover:
. what is it with this group self,even when we win,they must find something to argue,I can bet my left balls that even if we win the epl and ucl,that there wud still b talk like y didn't Valencia lift d trophy well,or y wasn't degea laughing enough..
comon guys let's just enjoy the win and move on to d next game..

Don't mind them, I talked about naysayers few days ago and some people landed on me. Some will even complain that why didn't mourinho bring back cantona?
Lukaku has score 8goals and 5 assists in 14 games, scoring further 4 in other competitions, but no he an idiot, he is a fraud, he is lazy, he is a Judas. I am regretting criticizing Lindelof earlier for his struggles, yesterday he put in the most composed defensive performance by a 21 year old I have seen in United, they made me catch the bug. People calling for zlatan, forgot how we played slowly last season, with Lukaku our attack looks more fluid and fast, in the last two games he had a hand in 4 goals, look carefully all they goals scored yesterday he contributed to them, we need goals distributed across the field not 1 player scoring 28 of about 60 goals all season. We have not played half a season, Valencia has 2, Young 3, Martial 6, Rashford 3, Felliani 3, Lingard 3, Pogba 3, smalling mikhi ,Mata and even Bailly has contributed. Let Cut Lukaku some slack abeg.

slimghost:
Someone just wrote that Lukaku has not been getting chances. Lol. That person obviously is not being honest with himself.
Lukaku has been missing easy chances game in game out. Chances even an academy player will convert.
I have no problem with him having a goal drought but he the truth must be told about his performance.
He must be told his holdup play is horrible.
He must be told his first touch is below par.
He must be told his finishing is becoming erratic.
He must be told his off the ball movement lacks intelligence.

This was how we continued shielding Mhki untill dude almost lost it.
Lukaku MUST improve greatly to contribute to our success this season.

I haven't noticed this much in his NT

Oasis007:
“He [Matic] did great work that he did in the last couple of days. Fantastic dedication from the members of the medical staff that were working with him and we managed to go from a ‘maybe’ to a ‘yes’.

"He was a doubt, he managed to play 90 minutes but I think the best words must go to Arsenal’s medical department because [Alexandre] Lacazette went from a ‘no’ to a ’90 minutes’ and that’s great.”


JOSE MOURINHO

Lol. Mourinho nah wacko i swear, wetin conscern am with lacazette.

Is Lukaku supposed to be doing better? absolutely.
But I am satisfied with whatever it is he is currently offering and calls for him to be dropped are absolutely rubbish.

Wether you like it or not, the rubbish he has been playing were vital in our last 3 wins, and I am satisfied with that.
The goals will come.

chrisley024:
Miki should just play midweek and go back to the bench. Same with Mata. I see no need changing that front 3 of Lingard, Martial and Lukaku

Seriously I do not know what actually Mkhtaryan problem is; I was hoping he's gonna be fantastic this Season, but he has let himself down.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind his Sale in the Summer, also Fellaini should be allowed to leave for Free, no need to renew his Contract.

eph12:

You still haven't told us the second best team in the league as at today sir

After City, Utd come second. This isn't based on the quality of football played, rather how expensive both teams cost to assemble.

When it comes to quality of football played, you lot are in the good company of Stoke, Huddersfield and Burnley, no debates there.

chrisley024:
I haven't noticed this much in his NT

The dude should see the 1st Lingard goal vs Arsenal and again Lingard goals vs Watford, then tell me he doesnt have intelligent off the ball movement. People just mention football parameters without understanding what they actually mean. SMH

Oasis007:


Seriously I do not know what actually Mkhtaryan problem is; I was hoping he's gonna be fantastic this Season, but he has let himself down.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind his Sale in the Summer, also Fellaini should be allowed to leave for Free, no need to renew his Contract.

Mkhi will eventually come good. Should he still persist with his ghost mode till end of season, he should be offloaded.

CapitalCee:


Mkhi will eventually come good. Should he still persist with his ghost mode till end of season, he should be offloaded.

I like him so much..... hoping he's gonna be donning the No. 10 Jersey after Ibra finally retires at the End of the Season.

Is he gonna come good again.....?! Hopefully!

If na someone else like Morata or any other white footballer with a reputation for fancy football slide that pass to martial for lingard goal, we for still dey hear of am.

But hey, it's Lukaku.. He is supposed to be jambody. Only the bad first touches or the misplaced passes will etch in their brains, because it is what will fit the narrative.

Against Watford, someone(a supposed united fan) was reviewing the game and he had only negative things to say about Lukaku’s performance, I was shocked

I hope we can kill the match against CSKA Moscow early enough so we can take our foot off the pedal, we need our players in top gear against City...Any news why Ibra didn't make the squad yesterday?

CapitalCee:


Don't mind them, I talked about naysayers few days ago and some people landed on me. Some will even complain that why didn't mourinho bring back cantona?
Lukaku has score 8goals and 5 assists in 14 games, scoring further 4 in other competitions, but no he an idiot, he is a fraud, he is lazy, he is a Judas. I am regretting criticizing Lindelof earlier for his struggles, yesterday he put in the most composed defensive performance by a 21 year old I have seen in United, they made me catch the bug. People calling for zlatan, forgot how we played slowly last season, with Lukaku our attack looks more fluid and fast, in the last two games he had a hand in 4 goals, look carefully all they goals scored yesterday he contributed to them, we need goals distributed across the field not 1 player scoring 28 of about 60 goals all season. We have not played half a season, Valencia has 2, Young 3, Martial 6, Rashford 3, Felliani 3, Lingard 3, Pogba 3, smalling mikhi ,Mata and even Bailly has contributed. Let Cut Lukaku some slack abeg.

Well said my brother,I pointed this out last time we played Basel when some of the so called fans were criticizing Lulaku saying all kinds of rubbish. Lukaku is a great contribution on so many of our goals, his goal drought doesn't mean that his contributions were not felt in the team. He's a bully,fast and not a selfish player,if he didn't score but provides assist for others to score,he's fine to the team.

CapitalCee:


The dude should see the 1st Lingard goal vs Arsenal and again Lingard goals vs Watford, then tell me he doesnt have intelligent off the ball movement. People just mention football parameters without understanding what they actually mean. SMH

Some of them just criticize for no reason. Lukaku can do better but so far I am impressed with his all round contribution to the teams success so far.
Week ago some were on Lindelofs case so bad that they doubted Jose's reasons for signing him,when we requested the player be given time to settle down to the pace of the premier league,we were shouted down by know-it-all's on this thread. Did you see Lindelofs performance yesterday? He was calm and calculated in his play and kept Sanchez quiet.

Ukaku will come good, I believe in him.


If he's not scoring and not contributing anything to the team's general play, I'd be miffed by now. But the lad plays his socks off every match.


His work rate is astonishing, and he assists too. He's strong and pacy and helps our attack to be more pacy.

Though technically limited and way off from being a top striker, I believe he'll rediscover his form again. Lindeolf had a tough beginning, right now he's putting in good performances.

Ukaku will score. It's only a matter of time. I'm not panicking yet.

diggz:


Oooooooooooh.......today na Sunday I bin wan send some bottles of anything wey you dey drink Ur way........too much sense in ur post bros.

I dey church. Make I cast out the demons of good football from Man City first before I shayo.

PietroRico:
If na someone else like Morata or any other white footballer with a reputation for fancy football slide that pass to martial for lingard goal, we for still dey hear of am.

But hey, it's Lukaku.. He is supposed to be jambody. Only the bad first touches or the misplaced passes will etch in their brains, because it is what will fit the narrative.

Against Watford, someone(a supposed united fan) was reviewing the game and he had only negative things to say about Lukaku’s performance, I was shocked

PietroRico:
Is Lukaku supposed to be doing better? absolutely.
But I am satisfied with whatever it is he is currently offering and calls for him to be dropped are absolutely rubbish.

Wether you like it or not, the rubbish he has been playing were vital in our last 3 wins, and I am satisfied with that.
The goals will come.

PietroRico:
Part of my new season resolutions was to avoid any form of back and forths, especially on these boards.
Na why I no go engage in any Lukaku argument and why I overlook all the people Wey don already write Lindelof off after 2 bad games.

Uncle time go resolve everything last last.

PietroRico:
The criticism of Pogba last season was unnecessarily harsh On too many occasions and whenever you tried to point it out, they would always fall back to things like price tag, numbers and even big game performances.

The price tag argument is dead and buried now thanks to neymar, Mbappe, Dembele etc.

The numbers have started to stack up thanks to people like martial And to few others stepping up and Ibrahimovic out the way.

The big game performance nonsense go dissappear too.

PietroRico:
Neymar cost 200m and cannot outscore merefish delay in that farmers league. Mbappe has 4 or 5 goals playing for that psg side in the league.

But nobody will talk trash anywhere, because common sense will somehow be in their heads.

At some point last season, they were talking about goal drought for Pogba, a CM .

Refreshing to view posts from someone who has perspective as a guide.

Carry on.
From now on it is your posts that will bring me to comment. There's a lot of major league girly nagging going on in here. So much so that even after we won at a top 6 rival (something they nagged,b1tchef and moaned hard about our inability to do since Jose came in) folks will still complain.
So much so that folks suddenly retracted from their crying and had an appreciation for "bus parking" when we went a man down yesterday.
So much so that they are suddenly praising Lindelof and hailing him as the next Nesta after initially slating him and condemning him.

Hypocrisy and two-faced nature abound in bundles. The same people accuse raumdeuter of turning amala but are quick to do u-turns and flip flops in a heartbeat.

Make we dey look.

SailorXY:
Nobody's got time for back & forth.
It may surprise you that the chances Pogba created by this time last season is very similar in number to what he has created right now, difference being the conversion rate has gone up exponentially.
Where are the lashes for Lindelof now?
Smalling & Rojo were very nervous yesterday but still managed to see out the game. Matic didn't really do his screening job yesterday perhaps due to fitness.

Criticism should be mixed with common sense. There is a mighty gulf when a player is blasted for poor performances because of recent form & a player always blasted when he's trying to settle into a new setting even when everybody can see the effort put in. Some people just run mouth without understanding what they're even arguing about.

The message is clear enough to the blind: GIVE NEW PLAYERS A CHANCE TO FAIL.

Pogba was very poor last season from September/October to December. It was in the second half of the the season he started showing good signs.

Smalling did very well against Watford making many clearances, but many were quick to praise Lindelof just because he is picking up. Yesterday, the defence was scattered, but Smalling still tried. I cannot blame or praise one individual from yesterday's game. I am unable to tell if they were poorly shielded by midfield or whether Bailly and Jones would have given us a better stability.

But truth be told, Matic and Pogba couldn't cope with the pace and swift movement of the Arsenal midfield, that was why Herrera was brought.

You are fast to blame Matic, Smalling, Rojo but still stop short of saying Pogba offered no shield to the defense. He contributed two Assists, yes, but the first one was down to the hard work of Valencia, and even my mother could have given that return pass. The second one was a good craft, but again the initial work was by Lingard (I think).

You too try to balance your criticism, Pogba is not a sacred cow you should never be able to tell he was poor when he played poorly.

PietroRico:
Neymar cost 200m and cannot outscore merefish delay in that farmers league. Mbappe has 4 or 5 goals playing for that psg side in the league.

But nobody will talk trash anywhere, because common sense will somehow be in their heads.

At some point last season, they were talking about goal drought for Pogba, a CM .

Forget this nonsense you typed here. Pogba was poor last season not because he didn't score or give Assists, but because he was playing like badly. Even Ibrahimovic had to state why he was poor.
......
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Paul Pogba tried too hard at the start to justify £89 million Man Utd transfer

30 DECEMBER 2016 • 12:13PM
latan Ibrahimovic believes Paul Pogba struggled at Manchester United earlier in the season because he was trying too hard to justify his world record transfer fee.
But the United striker is convinced Pogba is now starting to show why the club paid Juventus £89 million in the summer to secure his services after finally settling down.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/12/30/zlatan-ibrahimovic-paul-pogba-tried-hard-start-justify-89-million/

PietroRico:
If na someone else like Morata or any other white footballer with a reputation for fancy football slide that pass to martial for lingard goal, we for still dey hear of am.

But hey, it's Lukaku.. He is supposed to be jambody. Only the bad first touches or the misplaced passes will etch in their brains, because it is what will fit the narrative.

Against Watford, someone(a supposed united fan) was reviewing the game and he had only negative things to say about Lukaku’s performance, I was shocked

Don't mind them. Someone here said our win versus Watford was disgusting, that was when I gave up.
We have score 12 goals in 4 matches, 7 away versus Watford and Arsenal, but hey, the attacks of spurs, pool,arsenal and Chelsea is more incisive and purposeful while ours is "hit in the box and hope".

- Nobody pointed out Lukakus movements and pass to martial. No one is talking about how he outmuscled koscielny to free Lingard for the third goal or how he prevented Koscilny and monreal from venturing forward.
- Ashley Youngs FIFA style running to the back post to head away ozils back pass was never mentioned.
- Lindelof and Smalling defensive masterclass was never mentioned.

It's only negatives we see.

CapitalCee:


The dude should see the 1st Lingard goal vs Arsenal and again Lingard goals vs Watford, then tell me he doesnt have intelligent off the ball movement. People just mention football parameters without understanding what they actually mean. SMH

Exactly! Depends on what type of off the ball movement one means; within or outside the box?. That we're getting goals from all areas and have gotten 7 goals in 2 away means he's doing sth right, besides we don't know what's happening behind the scene; possibly the instruction given to him here is different from that of NT. I laugh when guys say they prefer Ibra. People are too quick to forget no one scores if he doesn't score last season not to mention his lethargic play most times and missing of chances.

elampiro:


Pogba was very poor last season from September/October to December. It was in the second half of the the season he started showing good signs.

Smalling did very well against Watford making many clearances, but many were quick to praise Lindelof just because he is picking up. Yesterday, the defence was scattered, but Smalling still tried. I cannot blame or praise one individual from yesterday's game. I am unable to tell if they were poorly shielded by midfield or whether Bailly and Jones would have given us a better stability.

But truth be told, Matic and Pogba couldn't cope with the pace and shift movement of the Arsenal midfield, that was why Herrera was brought.

You are fast to blame Matic, Smalling, Rojo but still stop short of saying Pogba offered no shield to the defense. He contributed two Assists, yes, but the first one was down to the hard work of Valencia, and even my mother could have given that return pass. The second one was a good craft, but again the initial work was by Lingard (I think).

You too try to balance your criticism, Pogba is not a sacred cow you should never be able to tell he was poor when he played poorly.

the initial work was not done by Lingard, it was Pogba that drove with ball and passed to a waiting Lingard

you no know ball