PLAYER RATINGS: Man Utd 1-0 Spurs

As we all begin the painful process of analysing the opening game of the season, looking at where we went wrong, how to improve etc - let's actually see things how they really were. United had 1 shot on target all game. We had three or four chances with which we would score in another game. I'm not saying we dominated this - not by any stretch of the imagination - but it was an even affair in which Van Gaal's men were fortunate to come away with the three points.

Vorm: 7: could do little about the goal, had very little else to do - but his distribution was solid and his handling assured and confident.

Walker: 6: barring the own goal - which, had it gone wide, would have been a fantastic piece of recovery play - his first half was good, defending well against Ashley Young and offering an attacking outlet of sorts. However his involvement offensively dried up after half time; as did much of the others.

Vertonghen: 6: to be fair, he didn't have too much to do. After the only deserved booking we suffered early on, after a late sliding challenge on Mata, and the 10 minutes after we conceded, him and Alderweireld looked fine.

Alderweireld: 8: for a centre half, I thought Toby had a very good game offensively. He won headers from corners and his long passing was sublime. Didn't really do that much wrong.

Davies: 6: with Chadli playing as an inverted winger it is imperative that the fullbacks get forward as much as possible...Davies didn't. Looked brighter towards the end but still isn't close to Rose.

Bentaleb: 4: had a poor game. 77% pass accuracy, didn't win any challenges, 0 interceptions. With young players this is all part of the learning curve; move on.

Dier: 6: got booked for a dive, but played the holding midfield role really well considering it isn't a position he's played in frequently before.

Eriksen: 6: missed our great chance early on, and stung the gloves of Romero late on. Looked incisive with the ball at his feet, but was wasted out wide and ineffective as we know he is tracking back.

Dembele: 6: yet another game for Dembele where he was everywhere without really doing anything. Covers back better than Eriksen, still offers very little going forwards though.

Chadli: 6: He drifted in and out of the game, but he was always an outlet especially for Alderweireld's long diagonals. Wasted a good chance against Smalling late on.

Kane: 6: no real chances for Kane today, he worked hard and possibly should have done better with a late header. Nonetheless, he pressed high and didn’t do too much wrong.

Subs:

Lamela: 5: came on, and 10 minutes later hadn't touched the ball. I'm unconvinced as of yet, despite supporting him all of last year, I don't see anything different in him unfortunately.

Alli: 6: got booked due to another rubbish decision, which was typical of the game really. Didn't look disturbed by the occasion either.

Final rating for the referee who receives a stellar 3. Affected hugely by the fans in the first half and this continued into the second. In most decisions no free kick was given until a roar from the crowd - which is incredibly frustrating. Booked Dier for a dive, as Young was flying through the air better than Tom Daley after he knocked it past Dier.

 

Pretty good summing up. Same as ever and so predictable - Spurs the better team but don't take their chances then commit suicide - not Walker's fault, he almost pulled off a miracle recovery. Bentaleb repeatedly giving the ball away under no pressure and then just who was supposed to be marking Rooney? Referree gave every marginal decision to MU. Given the bookings he handed out elsewhere, how come Scneiderlin was still on the pitch and why wasn't Young booked for persistent simulation?

 

Disappointing not to have come away with something. Particularly seeing as we only had 10 players! Think you missed Chadli out in your ratings. Was quiet enough but did present a threat every so often. We need to recruit some speed up front and one experienced player in midfield. Come on Levy get your hand in your pocket. You had a nice little earner with the Munich tournament which was not best preparation for this early game.

 

We are slow but have gifted players therefore shoot from distance is the goal. If we have a gifted rounded striker though slow, he can't get to a through pass and he aint Defoe. We need to shoot like goal keepers but low at the frame outside the box. How much is Gylfi Sigurosson.

 

Another rather predictable display, lots of possession at times but not much in terms of creation. Defensively the performance was very good but going forward was again very narrow and predictable. The team lacks width going forward and trying to go through the middle will again prove to be not productive. Team selection also questionable. Bentaleb has repeated the same mistake he has done with the Real Madrid game. In that, from the same position he passed the ball to Bale who went on to score. It was clear against Real the Bentaleb made too many mistakes and had little positive influence on the game. Very similar pattern today. He simply did not deserve a starting place today. Trippier was the man of the much against Real and yet did not start (excellent motivation). Chadli hardly touched the ball today and yet he stayed on for the whole game. Sprus is a team that will struggle against most well organised teams. I do not think they will get any points out of the top teams and they will struggle against the bottom teams. I can see another defeat against Stoke next week. It is really a pity because there are very good players and with better organisation and selections could do better. Lets hope for a better game and outcome next week.

 

Our possession is just so laboured. Chadli didn't even break sweat and Kane can't play all season up front alone. Defences will just do what they did today and make him go deep but we have no one making rubs forward.
Alli is integral to our team and Eriksen needs to be further forward.
I thought both teams were average today and we were possibly slightly less average but I don't think Poch had a plan b. We need signings quickly or this could be a very long season indeed.

Alderwereld was a real plus. Confident and good going forward.

 

Quite agree with most ratings especially the ref. Clear favoritism of man u in almost every decision.
Dier before goal was a 6, but after the goal was a 5 at best, couldn't get involved in the attacks properly.
Kane was also a 5 at best. Looked like how he did in the 2 games in Munich. Seems clear the instruction to him this season is to hold up, get other involved in the attack, where last season the coaches left him to do whatever he wanted. More passes instead of shots, but still very much wasn't involved in plays.

 

Same Old story. can't believe we haven't sorted out the striker problem also were is the midfield man who can pick a pass cabye was the man we needed

 

We need a plan A before a plan B

 

220 mil to build a team of mainly bang average academy graduates.

Its all talked up because its academy and dressed up as exciting but in reality the current 1st team and squad is bang average.

A totally inept leadership from board down we have an average team, average manager, no leaders, no star quality we are going backwards.

A steady decline from the spreadsheet champions, charging top whack to short change fans and hide behind a stadium project.

Austerity est facere

 

Another underwhelming performance. Every1 talking up Bentaleb a few months ago; average player and gives possession away time and time again. Shocking performance IMO - he drives me mad. In addition, Vorm (and a Walker) still looks poor - god help us if we sell Lloris.

Need to get buying PDQ Levy, or we will be playing catch up AGAIN. Why bring in players so late?

Keep Lloris, buy a midfielder, 2 wingers and a striker with PL experience. It's clear to all, or stay a top 6/7 team.

 

Plenty of positives to take from this game, but our weaknesses were also visible.
Our defence today was on another level to last season. Alderweireld had a great game and showed potential going forwards.Walker seems to have got a kick up the backside from Trippier arriving; who I was surprised not to see start. We now have a defence with plenty of depth with players challenging for positions. The defence today restricted manure to 1shot on target.However the 2hold mids were shocking especially Bentaleb.Alright you can give away a goal in a worthless pre season game but not against our mason rivals for top four ffs.It is a wonder to me why Alli didn't start after performance against Real. Dier doesn't look comfortable for me but who are we meant to play?Levy must address this key weakness. Why did Dembele start in CAM?!He offers nothing:unless you count sideways passes!I see him in a holding role with Alli though.Chadli did nothing;come on Levy hurry up signing Konoplyanka!!Overall a good team performance and an improvement on last season but Pochetino must play Alli instead of Bentalab or Dier with Another midfielder we bring In or Dembele and eriksen slipping back into middle and Konoplyanka on the right.Simple.

 

After looking at all the press build up to the season from abroad I would have expected to lose about 100 - 0. Every time LVG farted it was headline news. We lost, but were as good as they were, so spending a fortune on average players does not guarantee a better team - we should know.
Next game start with Vorm as centre forward and Kane as goalkeeper - we pass a lot to the former but not to the latter.

 

Overall a bit lacklustre but the way NPB wants them to play so top points for any player that plays short balls preferebly sideways or backwards. Any player showing pace or guile should get lower points and then dropped indefinatly. Thort Toby played well but those long balls to a wide position have to stop, he might open up a bit of space and make someone run.

 

Toby was excellent. Bentaleb reminds me of Vinny Sideways.

 

This is the perfect game where you could use a fast paced winger LATE in the game, not Lamela. ie. Townsend, Yedlin,. If anything they cause problems for the defense get fouls against for free kicks. And Ashley Young is one of the biggest diver in the league, refs need to start booking that stuff

 

Tough day at the office for the lads, and certainly not what any of us would of hoped for, but I believe there were (far) MORE positives than negatives.

Spurs had started a game that throughout had a bit of a pre-season feel about it particularly well, controlling the possession and turning the United defence on a number of occasions. Indeed, for the 1st 20 mins or so, it was Tottenham that looked the home side, as we dominated proceedings.

Dier crunched, Dembele and co pressed, whilst Harry Kane probed with both physicality and finesse, in equal measure.

Eriksen (probably) should have done better with a chance Kane had laid on for him with a delicately weighted chip, whilst Romero did well to blockl a Kyle Walker effort.

The linesman wrongly adjudged Dembele to be offside when put clean through (again by Kane) and a couple of early corners underlined the suggestion that Spurs' COMFORTABLY in control.

And then, from almost out of nowhere, Spurs went behind. Sloppy ball in CM by the SUPREMELY talented Nabil Bentelab left the bk 4 exposed. Unable to recover any kind of shape, after being dragged out of position(more by Vertonghens reaction than any kind of wonderfully crafted Utd play) , Rooney was left in acres of room to force another (slight) error from the impressive (and slightly unfortunate) Walker.

After that goal went in, Utd had discovered the momentum we had just lost and the game became to swing in their favour.

Listen, at that point:

• Utd could relax a little bit, thus display more confidence on the back of a 1 goal lead.
• Spurs were left rattled by the shock of the goal, AS WELL AS the nature of it.
• Having just shot themselves in the foot, the Spurs TEAM would have felt dejected, with TWO players feeling even worse (i.e. Nabil and Kyle) for their parts in the concession of the goal.
• The crowd at Old Trafford finally woke up and are GIVEN the encouragement to find their voices and back their team.
• Tactically the game changes.

Now, however cliche and obvious this might sound, goals REALLY do change games. NOT only in terms of scoreline but in all those things I have mentioned above! Psychologically, emotionally, tactically AND physically.

Yesterday Spurs just couldn't cope with ALL those changes yesterday. It's as simple as that.

However, that is NO embarrassment. Infact those who understand the game and follow THFC will tell that it is quite the opposite.

Because, if you look bk over the last 5-10 years - an injustice, goal against the run of play ,OR a fluky/unlucky concession of a goal against Spurs, from a big side in particular, would in the past of resulted in a complete capitulation!

But there wasn't one against Utd. Because whilst we seemed to lack the wherewithal/ composure to reassert our authority back into proceedings, until VERY late on, the team did NOT fall to pieces.

Infact, the lads defended resolutely, kept their shape/discipline and as a unit continued in remaining compact.

Disappointment will always zap your energy for however long it takes you to move on from it, and yesterday the lads just found it difficult to recover.

Lets remember, although Utd didn't play particularly well, they are NO mugs!

Being able to turn to the likes of Herrera, Valencia and Schweinsteiger certainly worked in their favour but I still can see there is PLENTY of encouragement to take from our YOUNG teams efforts.

I would of like to see Dier removed earlier once we went a goal down, as he DOESN'T possess the skill-set as a midfielder to REALLY influence the game from an offensive standpoint when the team is chasing a equaliser/goal.

Given when we conceded, and how little headway we were making in creating opportunities after that, I would've like to of seen a more conventional midfielder step into his place, sooner.

Because whilst Diers performance from a defensive perspective was actually VERY good, he isn't GENUINELY going to hurt the opposition (consistently) offensively with his play in the middle/final 3rd.

Hey, when you restrict Utd to virtually 0 (zero) clear-cut chances in ANY game, but especially at OT, with all their talent, you know you've done something right, and credit must again go to Dier and the rest of the defence.

I mean, Vorm probably couldn't believe that he was on the losing side, with all the work he had to do!

Toby Alderwielrd impressed, though, and looks like a PROPER player. I think it's so refreshing to see an IMMENSELY talented ball-playing CB at Spurs, who looks like they love the art of defending. His competitive nature, excellent temperament and high-levels of consistency will serve the side well as the season wears on.

Kyle Walker played well, keeping Ashley Young and Luke Shaw quiet. And Ben Davies did a similar job on Juan Mata and Darmian.

Vertonghen will be disappointed with his part in the goal when he watches it back a few times, but overall his display with TA showed promise.

Kane was a nuisance throughout, and Chadli, Eriksen and Lamela will only get better with game-time/match sharpness.

Expect a fairly busy end to the transfer window, with at LEAST another 3 arrivals.

Progress IS being made...

PS Anyone who read the unedited version of this post, understand, I was hacked!

 

Ramos...."progress IS being made..."...with the exception of Toby there were no signs of progress...absolutely none. Decidedly average all round - both sides. At best we were a shade better than them, with only Bentaleb's mistake separating the two sides.

 

And Ramos "SUPREMELY talented Bentaleb". .....
(1) He showed zero signs of being so on Sunday
(2) he's had a few good games and has shown few signs, if any of being SUPREMELY anything.....

 

We watch the game from a COMPLETELY different perspectives Bazza, so it's understandable that we will view the match, as well as certain individuals, differently.

What I will say is, I am CONVINCED not only in my belief about Nabil's talents, but also the direction the team is heading in.

The positives/progress I speak of, a large proportion of which can be found in my original post, is based upon my analysis of the game as a whole, and all the little intricacies that go with it!

Listen, the team is NOT complete and the performance was far from perfect, but all things considered I think we can all be proud of the teams effort, commitment and mentality/attitude.

Lets have it right, Spurs was VERY good up until they scored, so all of the pessimism doesn't really wash with me!

As I always say , until the transfer window closes it's hard to make any EDUCATED prediction on how well ANY team will do because we don't know how said team will look come Sept 1st!

Still PLENTY of work to do. Still PLENTY to be excited about...