The part about Kevin finally showing end product with that stunner captures something crucial, that sometimes players need that one moment to break through. But man, Bassey getting turned by Bruno right after the equalizer is the kinda mental lapse that seperates mid-table from top six. I've noticed similar patterns in lower league football where teams celebrate too soon and forget there's still time left.
Great comment! I'm quietly confident Kevin can kick on from his heroics today, even if his chance to save the points was robbed within a few moments. Hopefully being in competition with Chuk on the left will motivate him to fine-tune his end-product.
As for Bassey, you're exactly right when you describe the gap between us and the top six, and frankly I'd extend that to the top 9 or 10 - we repeatedly have these incidents, where otherwise decent players make mistakes amateur players would scoff at. Everyone in our defence, bar Tete, seems to have one of these every few games. Some of them have at least one per game!
Fulham's defensive fumbles aside, something has to be done about VAR. Elbows and other parts of the body that can't play the ball should not come into re[leay play, as originally intended - right? This is ridiculous.
As was the call on Cuenca. What is the reason for VAR? Was it a foul worthy of a PK? No, Cuenca got the first touch. End o'story, corner kick. Wasn't that the purpose of VAR - to examine close calls to see if they're worthy of overturning the call on the field? It's now expanded to simple foul calls in the run of play, well before the reason for the review. How far do we rewind?
The powers-that-be have to realize this is another brick in the wall ruining the game. It'll be interesting to see an analysis of VAR calls and the balance between the haves and have-nots.
And Fulham has to do something about the defense. Honestly rather than laying all the criticism on the players, who's coaching defense? I suspect that may be where the deficiency lies.
Thanks! You don't know how tempted I was to turn my review into a long tirade against the refereeing today.
I think we should give referees the best tools to let them officiate football. The best innovations, like goal-line technology, avoid game-sensitive calls going the wrong way (Frank Lampard's ghost goal vs Germany in 2010 is an obvious example here) - critically, they take seconds to produce a call, the referee still has complete control and once the call is made the game proceeds in the same fashion.
As you say, today's VAR interventions awarded United a goal-producing free kick simply because they pored over a sequence the referee assessed wrong. Ludicrous, and hardly the first time the interventions from beyond the pitch have caused chaos for the match.
But yeah, it's up to us to react better in those moments, and the players and Marco need to have a long think about why these incidents keep happening per game.
A thorough post-season analysis of VAR and its impact on individual teams will be interesting. Likewise, who were the officials - on-field and in VAR? Is there a common thread running through similar incidents? Plus, they have to codify (thought they had) what constitutes offside - can it be a part of the body that cannot handle the ball, i.e. 2mm of elbow? And, I don't want to get started on the wildly inconsistent handling calls during run of play.
Great review, thank you! I like seeing Iwobi in a central role, but think Lukic would have made a big difference today, keeping a higher tempo in the middle of the park.
Changing our fullbacks against Everton might stiffen up the defence and stop Robinson and Castegne’s respective dips in form become season-defining crises of confidence.
Excited to see Bobb enter the fray, will be interesting to see how Marco fits the attacking pieces together, especially with Muniz getting closer to fitness.
That's an interesting opinion on Lukic. I think he'd have added more physically - he might not have pulled out of as many challenges as Iwobi, and certainly could have offered a fiercer battle to Casemiro and Mainoo! However, without Iwobi's vision and passing range around the attack, I don't think we build enough momentum to get ourselves back into the game. It's tricky to call, but at the moment Iwobi has the edge for me - Lukic definitely has a role to play rotating in and out for them though!
Tete surely comes back into the team next weekend, and as you say I think Sess probably needs to step in for Robinson to let him regather his thoughts. A shame, because I think Sess ought to be given a shot further forward - another assist yesterday! And I too look forward to seeing Bobb in action - he's quite versatile, so hopefully he'll be able to link things together in moments we've struggled to connect the pieces up in.
Thanks again Owen, reading your review soothed the pain on the way back home, but it was hard to get such a cold shower in the away end 4 minutes after a crazy remontada culminating with Kevin’s superb curved ball. I was positively surprised to see Chukwueze moving to the right while Kevin took the left, this could work in future games. TC had a strong impact again, ensuring smoother build-up and adding pressure forward. It shows we have what it takes to crank up the intensity when needed. Too bad it was at the expense of defensive discipline. A point away at Old Trafford would have been a crucial step in our pursuit of European football. It’s not over but it will be really tough now. Finally, I see Sess as a way better option than Robinson at this stage, his chemistry with Kevin produces wonders.
Didn't see the game - but VAR isn't our friend it seems this season. Might be a bit of karma after winning vs B&H! Regardless - looking at the comments on various sites - blimey - are so many Man U "fans" so very paranoid? The lack of joy in winning and love of being WUMs seems all too clear. Really sad.
Having seen the game now.....it seems that a) there was no foul for their free kick, it was two players jostling for position,, nowhere on the pitch was that a foul, surely? and b) how on earth can your feet be onside....but be called offside? And after ages? Can an arm be offside?
The part about Kevin finally showing end product with that stunner captures something crucial, that sometimes players need that one moment to break through. But man, Bassey getting turned by Bruno right after the equalizer is the kinda mental lapse that seperates mid-table from top six. I've noticed similar patterns in lower league football where teams celebrate too soon and forget there's still time left.
Great comment! I'm quietly confident Kevin can kick on from his heroics today, even if his chance to save the points was robbed within a few moments. Hopefully being in competition with Chuk on the left will motivate him to fine-tune his end-product.
As for Bassey, you're exactly right when you describe the gap between us and the top six, and frankly I'd extend that to the top 9 or 10 - we repeatedly have these incidents, where otherwise decent players make mistakes amateur players would scoff at. Everyone in our defence, bar Tete, seems to have one of these every few games. Some of them have at least one per game!
Excellent game report, thank you!
Fulham's defensive fumbles aside, something has to be done about VAR. Elbows and other parts of the body that can't play the ball should not come into re[leay play, as originally intended - right? This is ridiculous.
As was the call on Cuenca. What is the reason for VAR? Was it a foul worthy of a PK? No, Cuenca got the first touch. End o'story, corner kick. Wasn't that the purpose of VAR - to examine close calls to see if they're worthy of overturning the call on the field? It's now expanded to simple foul calls in the run of play, well before the reason for the review. How far do we rewind?
The powers-that-be have to realize this is another brick in the wall ruining the game. It'll be interesting to see an analysis of VAR calls and the balance between the haves and have-nots.
And Fulham has to do something about the defense. Honestly rather than laying all the criticism on the players, who's coaching defense? I suspect that may be where the deficiency lies.
Thanks! You don't know how tempted I was to turn my review into a long tirade against the refereeing today.
I think we should give referees the best tools to let them officiate football. The best innovations, like goal-line technology, avoid game-sensitive calls going the wrong way (Frank Lampard's ghost goal vs Germany in 2010 is an obvious example here) - critically, they take seconds to produce a call, the referee still has complete control and once the call is made the game proceeds in the same fashion.
As you say, today's VAR interventions awarded United a goal-producing free kick simply because they pored over a sequence the referee assessed wrong. Ludicrous, and hardly the first time the interventions from beyond the pitch have caused chaos for the match.
But yeah, it's up to us to react better in those moments, and the players and Marco need to have a long think about why these incidents keep happening per game.
A thorough post-season analysis of VAR and its impact on individual teams will be interesting. Likewise, who were the officials - on-field and in VAR? Is there a common thread running through similar incidents? Plus, they have to codify (thought they had) what constitutes offside - can it be a part of the body that cannot handle the ball, i.e. 2mm of elbow? And, I don't want to get started on the wildly inconsistent handling calls during run of play.
Great review, thank you! I like seeing Iwobi in a central role, but think Lukic would have made a big difference today, keeping a higher tempo in the middle of the park.
Changing our fullbacks against Everton might stiffen up the defence and stop Robinson and Castegne’s respective dips in form become season-defining crises of confidence.
Excited to see Bobb enter the fray, will be interesting to see how Marco fits the attacking pieces together, especially with Muniz getting closer to fitness.
Thanks!
That's an interesting opinion on Lukic. I think he'd have added more physically - he might not have pulled out of as many challenges as Iwobi, and certainly could have offered a fiercer battle to Casemiro and Mainoo! However, without Iwobi's vision and passing range around the attack, I don't think we build enough momentum to get ourselves back into the game. It's tricky to call, but at the moment Iwobi has the edge for me - Lukic definitely has a role to play rotating in and out for them though!
Tete surely comes back into the team next weekend, and as you say I think Sess probably needs to step in for Robinson to let him regather his thoughts. A shame, because I think Sess ought to be given a shot further forward - another assist yesterday! And I too look forward to seeing Bobb in action - he's quite versatile, so hopefully he'll be able to link things together in moments we've struggled to connect the pieces up in.
Excellent wrap - up; thanks!
Thanks again Owen, reading your review soothed the pain on the way back home, but it was hard to get such a cold shower in the away end 4 minutes after a crazy remontada culminating with Kevin’s superb curved ball. I was positively surprised to see Chukwueze moving to the right while Kevin took the left, this could work in future games. TC had a strong impact again, ensuring smoother build-up and adding pressure forward. It shows we have what it takes to crank up the intensity when needed. Too bad it was at the expense of defensive discipline. A point away at Old Trafford would have been a crucial step in our pursuit of European football. It’s not over but it will be really tough now. Finally, I see Sess as a way better option than Robinson at this stage, his chemistry with Kevin produces wonders.
Didn't see the game - but VAR isn't our friend it seems this season. Might be a bit of karma after winning vs B&H! Regardless - looking at the comments on various sites - blimey - are so many Man U "fans" so very paranoid? The lack of joy in winning and love of being WUMs seems all too clear. Really sad.
Having seen the game now.....it seems that a) there was no foul for their free kick, it was two players jostling for position,, nowhere on the pitch was that a foul, surely? and b) how on earth can your feet be onside....but be called offside? And after ages? Can an arm be offside?