Man Utd vs Aston Villa post-match thread

[PaulTheVillan]

Not felt this pissed off the day after a game for a long time.

[VillaTim]

out of interest , for these boxing day away games do the players travel up on Xmas day or do they go up the morning of the game. Be interested to know if our prep or away game routine was any different yesterday

[Flamingo Lane]

I stopped watching after their second, but I find it interesting that, after each of their goals, we reacted immediately, sliced through them and created good chances... Straight afterwards we were pegged back without a clue. I don't know why that was, but it really stood out for me.

Yes, I noticed that too.

[KevinGage]

The upside of all this is Erik Ten Haag will get longer in the job there, hopefully.

He's already made them a nondescript shot-shy (apart from when they play us, obv) mid table side. Another year there and he might make them relegation contenders.

[Steve67]

Not felt this pissed off the day after a game for a long time.

I feel the same Paul. We bought it on ourselves because of the poor passing, lack of movement. I guess the boss is right though as we have 39 points and sit in a Champions League spot. I hope he is allowed to bring in another couple of players to keep the forward momentum.

[algy]

The big positive from the night was our first goal, having the player on the line but not interfering with play or the keeper in any way screwed with Onana. The ref/var tried really hard to find something to not give it but it was really clever.

For the 2nd we've also managed to trick a lot of teams into leaving space at the far post and not really got the rewards for it.

Pat on the back for McPhee for them both.

Over all I think that despite us playing poorly I think we had the better chances but never got the bit of luck they did for their 2nd and 3rd where a big dflection and a bit of pinball went in their favour, as always seems to happen to us there.

Yeah, our set pieces are really, really good these days. Credit to McPhee there, his work must be getting us 10-15 goals a season.

[VillaTim]

Not felt this pissed off the day after a game for a long time.

I feel the same Paul. We bought it on ourselves because of the poor passing, lack of movement. I guess the boss is right though as we have 39 points and sit in a Champions League spot. I hope he is allowed to bring in another couple of players to keep the forward momentum.

Emery looked pretty shaken after the game, never seen him stroking his face so much, obviously seething underneath

[Bobby Boy]

Not felt this pissed off the day after a game for a long time.

I'm the same. Much worse than the previous defeats this season because of the specific nature of the opposition, our history with them and the fact that we handed the game to them on a plate.

We seemed to be playing a game of 'chicken' with them regarding the high line, inviting them to have repeated goes at it until they got it right.

I get that Emery has a way that he wants to play and clearly it has largely been incredibly successful but surely a dose of pragmatism isn't such a bad thing sometimes?

[London Villan]

As long as we finish above them i can take last night’s result.

Disappointed obviously and 2-0 up at 60 minutes we should be able to stifle and close out a game. However, with 6 first teamers out once Digne had gone off, players out of position and some tirednes, nights like yesterday can happen.

[brontebilly]

My frustration with emery is why wont he put a youngster like k young or kellyman on the bench? When you have a squad suffering fatigue why waste a spot with two keepers? I mean look at Newcastle they gave miley and a chance and he has been a revelation

He totally messed it up yesterday.  Should have made the subs alot sooner than he dod as we all saw this happening.

Get some young energy in the team to help ffs rather see that than having tired players who cant be asked. Second half they were a disgrace

I'm not buying the tired player excuse. Luiz & Digne both had a game off recently. Donk and Lenglet, two of our better players on the day, have hardly played, tired a bit late on fair enough. Carlos has been rotated regularly. Moreno and Ramsey should be very fresh but struggled badly yesterday.

It was an awful performance and defeat yesterday. That second half collapse was embarrassing.

Logically you are absolutely correct but what about players like ollie? Konsa? Mcginn? Luiz?

They all looked completely depleted that 2nd half. They were not even trying. It was shockingly poor.

I do think it may have  played a role in the above players but players like dendonker amd lenglet i agree. They have absolutely zero excuse.

I do agree with the above poster though emery has to take responsibility yesterday.  We all saw the warning signs before it happened and he failed to react.  For him to not even use torres yesterday depsite the awful performance from carlos says to me he wasnt fit so why have him on the bench? Why not get a cb from the u21s like feeney for example?

Konsa and McGinn were playing out of position. McGinn could and should have been switched with Bailey. Konsa little could be done really, United realised this and let him have the ball. Moving our best CB to RB needs to stop anyway, it worked v City and never before or since. If Cash isn't the answer then we simply need a new RB.

Watkins was appalling yesterday, up against likes of Evans who is years past his best and he made no impact. If we are whinging about injuries and fatigue, look at the state of their defence and midfield yesterday. Their keeper produced a hologram act for our first and still we somehow found a way to lose.

[wolfman999]

After having slept and reviewed what happened last night, my fury has calmed down to incandescent rage. I hate those fuckers with a passion, not least because they have done this to us so many times.  We just don't do boxing days do we. Our record is shocking.

[Proposition Joe]

Still mightily pissed off too. If Bournemouth can wipe the floor with them with the minimum of fuss, why did we shit the bed? Of all the teams, of all the days ... fucking hell.

[dorsetvillian]

Strange how we couldn't adapt second half and set up with the system that Uni employed in some of his earlier away games like Brighton and Spurs when we sat deep and almost had a back six. We looked so compact and in control in those games and teams simply couldn't play through us.  The Kamarra sending-off is really coming back to haunt us.

[Chris Smith]

I agree tactics lost us the game.  I still reckon we have better players than them. Keeping the high line was suicide. There's nothing wrong with parking the bus deep sometimes like sheffield utd.

Maybe but if individually players are underperforming then the best tactics in world won’t mean a lot. We gifted them chances and missed decent ones ourselves due to good players not being at the level we know they are capable of. I imagine harsh words will be spoken at Bodymoor this week and Unai will be working twice as hard to make sure there is no repeat.

[Ian.]

I agree tactics lost us the game.  I still reckon we have better players than them. Keeping the high line was suicide. There's nothing wrong with parking the bus deep sometimes like sheffield utd.

Maybe but if individually players are underperforming then the best tactics in world won’t mean a lot. We gifted them chances and missed decent ones ourselves due to good players not being at the level we know they are capable of. I imagine harsh words will be spoken at Bodymoor this week and Unai will be working twice as hard to make sure there is no repeat.

That’s it Chris, too many had a stinker. Well below par which really isn’t worth pondering and worrying about for far too long given with what they have given us for the last 12 months. It’s how we turn it around now that will count.