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Match Threads Manchester United vs Spurs - Match Thread

Match Prediction

  • Spurs to win - Clean Sheet

    Votes: 20 6.8%
  • Spurs to win - But will concede

    Votes: 188 64.4%
  • Spurs to lose

    Votes: 20 6.8%
  • Score Draw

    Votes: 63 21.6%
  • Goalless Draw

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Total voters
    292
  • Poll closed .

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
For those of you who may have missed the edited opening post.

Man Utd have lost three of their last seven home league against Spurs (W4), including the exact fixture 0-3 last season. The had only lost 2 of their previous 36 at home against us in the top flight (W27 D7). They have picked up just 18 points from their opening 14 Premier League (PL) matches this season (W4 D6 L4), their worst start to a league season since 1988-89 campaign, when they also had 18 points and went on to finish 11th. Since keeping 3 consecutive PL clean sheets in February, Man Utd have only kept two in their last 25 games in the competitions (36 goals conceded).

The away side won both PL meetings between Man Utd and us last season, after the home side had won 7 in a row in such games. We have lost more PL games against Man Utd than we have vs any other side int the competition (34). We won our last away league game against West Ham picking up as many points in that game as we had in our previous 12 on the road in the PL (W0 D3 L9).

Our boss Jose Mourinho could become just the third Manager to win a PL away game at Old Trafford with two different clubs( after Martin O'neill and Rafael Benitez), having won 3-1 with Chelsea in May 2005. He could also become our first ever Manager to win our first first three top-flight games in charge of the club.

Both us and Man Utd have dropped 12 points from winning positions in the PL this season - only Aston Villa have dropped more (13).

Dele has been directly involved in 3 goals in his last two PL games (2 goals, 1 assist), as many as he had in his final 12 appearances under Poch.
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Why the "doh" rating @Hercules ?. I thought I would copy into a new post as most had already read the opening one, where I usually start with stats / info, but didn't on this occasion.
 

SugarRay

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2011
7,984
11,110
Time for a Jose defensive masterclass?

Keep hearing about these smash and grab tactics of his...this is the time to unleash!
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
17,270
It'll be nice to finally have a manager who is hopefully going to pick a team based on our own plan rather than the other teams plan in a game v another top 6 team.

Yes and no. Jose will pick a team based on OGS tactic, which is so obvious it's ridiculous. He only knows one way and that's the sit deep and counter tactic. The most one dimensional manager I've seen in a long time.
 

spids

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2015
6,647
27,841
It'll be nice to finally have a manager who is hopefully going to pick a team based on our own plan rather than the other teams plan in a game v another top 6 team.

Quite the opposite. Mourinho is famous for setting his team us to stop the other team when playing away from home. He defends deep, lets them have the ball, and waits for a mistake which enables a quick transition and counter. As such I would be amazed if Jose does not make a change to how we have been playing specifically to neuter United's attacking strengths. Away against a poor West Ham, and at home against Olympiakos and Bournemouth are a totally different thing to going away against Man U. Whilst they are a fairly average team overall they do have a front 3 with a lot of pace (James, Rashford, Martial). So we will defend with a low block, with both FBs fairly restricted IMO. Letting James get a 1 on 1 with a FB 30 yards from goal will be a disaster. As would letting Rashford or Martial getting a run in behind Toby. I expect to see a more restrained Dele, choosing when to join Kane, with Moura and Son countering from deep wide positions - they will be expected to double up with our FBs when United have the ball. I will be astounded if Aurier plays predominantly as a RW and expect to see him a lot closer to our CBs than the previous 3 games.

 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Im suspiciously confident about this. Not only are Utd always vulnerable under OGS, but Mourinho knows most of the players well so his usual shutting down the opposition tactics should theoretically be even more effective.
 

Jenko

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2004
5,290
4,157
Time for a Jose defensive masterclass?

Keep hearing about these smash and grab tactics of his...this is the time to unleash!

I wouldn't be too expectant in that regard. Only 2 weeks in the job and maybe the players aren't mentally geared to bind together so strongly the way we would need to to keep a clean sheet at OT.
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
17,270
Im suspiciously confident about this. Not only are Utd always vulnerable under OGS, but Mourinho knows most of the players well so his usual shutting down the opposition tactics should theoretically be even more effective.

I'm slightly worried. Their players are going to want to prove Mourinho wrong and Mourinho might be too keen on proving Utd wrong. I'm hoping he stays cool and let Utd screw themselves over with their below average midfield.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,957
I'm slightly worried. Their players are going to want to prove Mourinho wrong and Mourinho might be too keen on proving Utd wrong. I'm hoping he stays cool and let Utd screw themselves over with their below average midfield.

yeah I don’t think we will win. Our defence has just been too porous.They will be pushrod by their fans who will be up for it because of Mourinho’s return.
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
17,270
yeah I don’t think we will win. Our defence has just been too porous.They will be pushrod by their fans who will be up for it because of Mourinho’s return.

At least it won't be a dull affair!
 

hellava_tough

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2005
9,429
12,382
Probably never have an easier opportunity to take three points from Old Trafford. They are awful and majority want Ole sacked. Clueless tactically.

A big part of the reason I wanted Mourinho is for his ability to win fixtures like this.

Winnered your post for that last line; you couldn't be more spot on.

We haven't be able to go away to the Top 6 rivals and be confident of getting points, for a few seasons now.

Mourinho is the man with the plan!
 

Haddock

Captain
Oct 16, 2017
2,025
6,357
I'm confident that Mourinho will set us up accordingly. That's not my concern. My concern is that we have looked so vulnerable in defence when our opposition pressure us. It will take longer than two weeks to remedy that and there's just so much you can do from a tactical perspective. I've alluded to before that I believe it's a mentality / confidence thing. As soon somebody makes the smallest mistake, like a misplaced pass or forget their man marking, the whole defensive line look sh*tscared.

I mean yeah most of our defence may be entering the last years of their career and they are so to speak "over the hill", but they are some of the most experienced defenders in the PL, with loads and loads of international and European experience. They shouldn't be crapping their pants when Antonio from Westham or some random dude that no one ever heard from from Greece runs at them.

I hope Mourinho can instil some confidence in our backline. United is a mess but they still have some real quality up front.
 

Kingellesar

This is the way
May 2, 2005
8,706
9,209
This game is shouting 3-2 either way, neither team can defend but both are stacked up top.

Hopefully we can get the 3 points, would be huge considering everyone around us has a home game. Keep up with them and the confidence growing. Worst case, walk away with a point and continue this unbeaten stretch, we need to put together a long unbeaten run.
 

Mark_147

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2011
1,807
3,019
I'm confident that Mourinho will set us up accordingly. That's not my concern. My concern is that we have looked so vulnerable in defence when our opposition pressure us. It will take longer than two weeks to remedy that and there's just so much you can do from a tactical perspective. I've alluded to before that I believe it's a mentality / confidence thing. As soon somebody makes the smallest mistake, like a misplaced pass or forget their man marking, the whole defensive line look sh*tscared.

I mean yeah most of our defence may be entering the last years of their career and they are so to speak "over the hill", but they are some of the most experienced defenders in the PL, with loads and loads of international and European experience. They shouldn't be crapping their pants when Antonio from Westham or some random dude that no one ever heard from from Greece runs at them.

I hope Mourinho can instil some confidence in our backline. United is a mess but they still have some real quality up front.
Screenshot_20191203-084757_YouTube.jpg

Judging by the average positions in the game against Bournemouth the gap between the midfield and defense is far too big, hence why Bournemouth were able to have so many shots at our goal.
 

Meercat

Well-Known Member
Jul 4, 2008
1,119
6,292
Looking at the raw data, I suspect it’s a case of lose and get sacked for Ole, and he’s probably told his players that. So the question is will they find another gear to actually play us, or will our mini revival roll on? We need to win, I think, given last year’s result in the corresponding fixture and the fact it would be two consecutive away wins. That’s big for us right now. Home crowd pressure will be massive on them, though, and I’m sure the higher ups will be desperate to be proven right for sacking Jose (who has considerably better stats in his final fixtures there than Ole does) so we will see. They have problems in defence and our strikers have scored for fun for the last three, so we should see goals. A lot will depend upon our midfield protecting the back line and giving Gazza a chance. If he plays like he did vs Liverpool it could be a good night.
 

Mark_147

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2011
1,807
3,019
I suspect the average positions with and without the ball would be different though.
If that is the average position with the ball it still leaves a lot of ground to cover for someone like Dier if we lose possession of the ball.
 
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