Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United

There seems to be debates all over social media, forums, message boards, though I can't say I've really heard them in the boozer after or before the games regarding style of play versus results. I just can't get my head around any red who can defend the style of football that's being currently served up. Football is supposed to be a relief, an escape from the everyday. Yes there will be games that disappoint, games where you'll be happy to come away with a 1-1 or even games where you're clearly second best and get a bit of a spanking.
Yes it is a myth that Fergie's teams played exciting attacking football all the team. Towards the end of his time it did seem to become more about getting the best out of a squad that was nowhere near the standards of his very best teams. But, when needs be, the handbrake would come off, think of the Newcastle game over that Christmas period that we won 4-3 with a last minute winner that helped propel us to taking the league title back from City.
Then look what happened on Saturday during those last twenty minutes. United had almost complete control of the game. Leicester had sat back for most of the game trying to catch us on the break. And I suppose you could say it worked to an extent for them during that first half, when there was only really one team that looked dangerous in attack and they weren't playing in red. But they had now pretty much gone into their shell. This was surely the team for United to really go for it, bring on attack minded players, ratchet up the pressure. Instead United just played the same old unadventurous sideways passing game that does more and more reds heads in. It's not as if it really gets us anywhere either. That we are in the top four is mainly down to the fact that big clubs are as weak as they have been in years. And that may not stay the case, Tottenham are rapidly improving and Klopp seems to have got Liverpool playing decent football and picking up points all of a sudden.
It's fucking painful to watch, it's not the United way. Ah the United way, there are some who now say the United way is a myth, go on define it they say. Fucking easy, fast paced attacking football with wingers who take their man on. The football Van Gaal has us playing is so far away from that ideal it's laughable.
Anyhow I was having a go at United for not upping the tempo during those last twenty minutes or so. So what can I say about the first forty five minutes. It was fucking dreadful, I could barely summon the energy to celebrate Schweinsteiger's equaliser as I was just hoping the whistle would go for half time to put us out of our misery.
We surely cannot win the league playing such turgid shite. There is an argument that it's such a poor league that we could win league. I'd say you could make just as valid an argument that we won't even finish in the top four. If as, I think most reds expect, we get knocked out of the champions league and we did manage to fuck up a top four spot, that would surely be the end for the Dutchman. What's the saying all the pain and no gain, there would certainly be a gain for all that pain in that scenario!

Music

Dam-Funk - Invite the Light: I've heard a couple of their collaborative albums over the last couple of years which I've liked but I'm afraid I really couldn't get into this. It's too long and the tracks seem to blend into each other, but not ina good way.

Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion: This is the first album of his that I've heard, It definitely won't be the last, this is a superb album. I'm not sure why but it reminds me at times of early Frank Zappa, amomgst others things.

Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - Twelve Reasons to Die: After listening to his latest collaboration with babadnotgood which was a pretty good album I went back to this album from a couple of years back. It's another belter, if anything even better.

Kyle Eastwood - Timepieces: Another decent slab of modern jazz from Eastwood junior.

LHF - For The Thrown: Don't know much about this London Collective, but I know that this is very good.

Mondo Drag - Mondo Drag: Excellent retro psych rock from this California band, I can never get enough of this type of music when it's done well and this is done well.

Wilco - Star Wars: They are a cracking band and whilst this may not be their best album it's another cracking listen, top man is Jeff Tweedy.

Manchester United 0-0 PSV Eindhoven

Back comes Rooney and back comes the mind numbing going nowhere football. That's a touch unfair I suppose, he didn't have a particularly poor game but he never really did anything that was going to hurt the opposition either. This was a really bad night, the result and the precarious nature of our grip on a qualification spot says it all.
After seeing Memphis and Lingard give a performance of movement and threat as a front two on Saturday Van Gaal started with both player out wide and Rooney behind Martial. I think it's fair to say it didn't work as planned. Lingard had a decent first half, though he was as guilty as others in going into his shell a bit in the second half. Once again he missed a glorious chance, leading to people who have hardly seen him to claim finishing is a weak part of his game. It is actually one of his strengths, but I suppose when you create so few chances the pressure to put them away becomes even greater.
Memphis had another stinker, it's obvious he hasn't got the pace to be an out an out wide man. He never takes a man on the outside and can't even hold his own in a one to one when he comes inside. Once he knows it's not happening for him, it all starts to go latter day Nani, with him making bad decision after bad decision. I really do not know what to make of him.
After a very bright start, even Martial seems to have been brought down a level. He did some good things last night, but I think it would be fair to say he ain't hitting the form he showed in those first few games.
I wasn't that impressed with either of our two midfield men last night, Schweinsteiger laboured, whilst Schneiderlin had a night to forget that got steadily worse to the point where he was giving it away as often as he was finding a red shirt.
The substitutions were as baffling as ever, he takes Schweinsteiger off, which was fair enough, but brings on Fellaini as a straight swap meaning we had nobody with any guile in the middle of the park. If he was going to bring Fellaini on it had to be as the number ten, which of course is where he ended up when things got desperate at the end.
The first half wasn't that bad without being anything to write home about. We had chances but not really stand out ones. The first five minutes of the second half saw us create three pretty good chances with maybe Schneiderlin's header the best of the three. When we didn't put any of those away, I have to admit I started to wonder whether it might be one of those nights. We hardly created another three chances for the rest of the match. Though the Lingard chance was probably the best opening of the night, if anything he possibly hit it too well.
As the game went on they started to come into it and if anything looked the more likely to score during those last ten minutes or so. And I'm afraid there is no bigger indictment of our current woes than that, because PSV are a nothing team really. If they qualify above us, we really will know we are absolutely miles away from the top echelons of European football as if we didn't know that already. Van Gaal will be desperate to make sure we land up in the top four if that happens, otherwise he will surely be out of a job come the summer. Which to my mind will just mean more of the same boring horrible safety first crap we've seen during his tenure so far. And if Liverpool and Tottenham continue to improve, top four is no certainty as far I'm concerned whatever our position now.
And if that did happen, all this talk of galactico signings in the summer, will be just that, talk.

Watford 1-2 Manchester United

It's weird watching this Van Gaal United team at the moment, even when they're dominating games you're never entirely sure whether it's down to the philosophy or how much other team are willing to let United have the lions share of the possession whilst hoping to catch us on the break.
Yesterday's game followed the template of the last game against West Brom at home to an extent. What was noticeable from both games was that when both West Brom and Watford decided to go for it, they both created chances. That record of not conceding for ten hours or whatever it was, was a bit of a weird one for me. When teams go for it against us they do create chances, even when we line up with two defensive midfielders. Anyway Watford did eventually score, even if it was from a penalty that was needlessly given away from Rojo.
What was refreshing to see, was the way United then took complete control of the game during those last five minutes and really went for it. It wasn't just that we scored at the death, as fucking brilliant as that was and always is. It was the fact that we went all out for the three points and there was only one team that was going to take the three points if another goal was to come in theose last five minutes.
As for the rest of the game, I'll admit I was deflated to see Memphis up front of Wilson, I hope Wilson was injured because it does appear that Van Gaal has a bi of a downer on him. That said Memphis did probably give us his best performance in a United shirt that we've seen so far. There were still a few too many Naniesqe moments where he took the wrong option at the wrong time.
I have to say I was very impressed with Lingard again, this time playing as an out and out forward. Alright he had two great chances where he should have taken at least one, but his movement, the pace and intelligence he brought to the role gave us a dimension that we have sadly lacked over the last couple of years. Did anybody notice Rooney was missing?
I thought Schneiderlin had a very good game, but even though Schweinsteiger got all the attention through the winning goal, less so. There were times when he lost the ball or gave it away through sloppy passes, where you really should have been expecting a bit more from your experiened player. Still he was on hand to drive home that cross that the Watford defence couldn't keep out, so everybody forgets that!
I suppose the other main talking point was the substitution and tactical rearrangement after Herrera was forced of by that hamstring strain. I'll never be a fan of three at the back and I'm still not really sure if it worked or not. Yes we took an even bigger stranglehold of the game after Herrera went off, but we also allowed watford to get back into the game and get to the stage where they looked as if they had the goal in them that actually came. Thankfully De Gea is still here and is there any doubt that he is the best keeper in the premier league. Personally I can't think of a better goalkeeper in the world, he may not be better than Neuer but he certainly is at least at the same level.
So Leicester lead the table with us second after City's capitualtion at home to the dippers. Why couldn't that have been to anybody else, yes it was funny to City get smacked at home, but not funny at all to see Klopp getting those twats to play football like that. The one that got away!

Music

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Travelling Kind: If You liked Robert Plant's stuff with Alison Krauss you'll definitely love this, the type of country music I do like.

Foals - What Went Down: I have liked their albums, though I never thought the debut was as good as some critics made out. They have got better with each album and this is definitely their best yet, very good.

Tom McRae  & The Standing Band - Did I Sleep And Miss The Border: A good album, it reminded me of I am Kloot's Johnny Bramwell amongst others at times, full of excellent tunes.

Toro Y Moi - What For: They pack a fair few different type of influences into their sound, but it gels into a very listenable sound, another impressive effort.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love: With a name like that you expect them to be some kind of psych/krautrock type band, but it's a far more foot tapping experience, maybe not quite as good as Tor Y Moi's album, but not far off at all.

Various Artists - Too Slow to Disco 2: I have to admit for the first few listens this veered far to close easy listening for my tastes, but I ended up loving it. The number of great lost tracks outweigh the few tunes that are probably still too easy listening for my tastes.

Various Artsist - Boom Peru! Bass Bleeps and Bumps from Peru's Electric Underground: Electronica with a latin flavour that I wasn't sure would work, but in fact works pretty well and every now and then magnificently.

Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool  2015: A decent indie album with bits of synth along the way, when it shines it really does shine, there is a bit of filler along the way though.

Manchester United 2-0 West Brom

I was as apprehensive as ever, ahead of the game, yes it was an improved performance in midweek, but it was still a display based on the philosophy and we have seen how that generally fares in the premier league, loads of possession with actual chances, never mind goals few and far between.
That's generally how Saturday went, United completely bossed the game for the first 80 minutes but chances did not come thick and fast. In fact it took a super goal from the once again excellent Jesse Lingard. to break the deadlock. A goal that didn't really owe anything to "the philosophy"
I had heard and read people saying that it would be a tough game against a Tony Pulis, but in actual fact his record as an away manager aty Old trafford is pretty woeful. His Stoke team were an almost guaranteed three points and he didn't let us down again. It was only during that ten minutes after we had scored that they really had a go. And they showed what could have been when Berhaino missed what was as good a chance in the game with an atrociously bad header.
Van Gaal picked Carrick and Schweinsteiger in central midfield and once again it didn't really work. A lot of people seem to have a lot more time for the German than I do. I think he's alright, but not much more. The bigger problem is Carrick, he just seems to have gone. I find this hard to understand. During that run of fixtures where we actually saw good football last season, the geordie was at the heart of things. In fact it was when he went off injured in injury time against City that the season that our season basically ended. And here we are, just a few months later and all of a sudden he seems either finished, or is he just completely bereft of confidence, I can't really work it out.
It's arguable that the biggest cheer of the day was for Rooney being replaced by Hererra late on. I had no problem with him being replaced, it's just that if you were going to replace him, it should have been earlier. At the time of Hererra coming on, West Brom were having a bit of a crack at us, and to me it was screaming out for Schneiderlin to come on for Carrick or Schweinsteiger. As per usual it was hard to see the logic in Van Gaal's use of substitutions.
Results wise it turned out to be a pretty good weekend with City and Arsenal dropping points and Liverpool getting beat at home. What is says about the quality of the present day premier league that this United side are two points of the top, I'll leave you to ponder.

Manchester United 1-0 CSKA Moscow

Fair's fair, I 've had a go at United under Van Gaal and I'll go record as saying that i hope he isn't here next season. But last night wasn't the night for booing and attack chants. United played at a higher tempo, played with width and attacked with purpose. Yes it all went a bit flat in that second half, but that was because we hadn't got that goal when we'd had the chances and the opposition's pretty negative tactics were starting to gain the upper hand.
I was glad to see Lingard start, and I don't think he let his manager down, in fact he would have been my man of the match. Unbelievably he was getting a fair amount of stick from people within the ground towards the end of the first half with a couple of misplaced passes. But he had given us energy, was willing to take people on, didn't hide and did his defensive duties. The chance he blazed wide during that first half was no gimme, he had to hit it hard there was a man on the line plus the goalie. Some joker behind me had shouted pass it into the net, as if that would have worked.
What impressed me even more about his performance, especially during the second half, was the way he was playing as an out and out winger staying wide, taking his man on. Because if you have followed his career, even though he has often started wide, he is definitely not a winger. Well on yesterday's performance and his substitute stint against City, he's doing a better job as a winger than Depay is at the moment.
The crucial moment during the match was probably the one and basically only chance they spurned just before we scored. It was a glorious chance and though De Gea made a great save and Smalling then made a great block, he should have tucked away one of those chances.
The mood had become pretty mutinous by then, with Martial's withdrawal not widely appreciated. Martial hadn't had much of a game and in the normal course of events, taking him off would have been fair enough. But with Rooney's current form and his replacement being Fellaini, the unhappiness was understandable. The fact Rooney managed to put the winner away doesn't change the fact, he didn't do enough during the 90 minutes yet again. He had a glorious chance put on a plate for him by Mata that he managed to get stuck between his feet and then have the ball taken of him. It's hard to imagine Martial not tucking that away.
It was fitting that the winning goal was also probably the best move of the game. Memphis lost the ball, but Carrick managed to then find Lingard with a great pass, Lingard bettered the pass with a glorious vollied cross that just begged a striker to finish it off. Thankfully, even the woefully out of form Rooney couldn't spurn that chance and Old trafford went mad, a goal, at last.
Where we go from here, fuck knows, the Russians came for a draw and weren't far away from getting it. For the most part they sat back and got men behind the ball. So though I have said it was a far better performance, we were aided by the visitors tactics. How we'll fare against West Brom on Saturday could be a whole different kettle of fish.

Cryswtal Palace 0-0 Manchester United

I don't look forward to any games at the moment, but I really wasn't looking forward to Saturday's trip to Selhurst Park, I mean how can any sane red look forward, when you know exactly what you're going to get. Even when we win it's painful to watch, Everton must really wonder where the fuck they were after that defeat to us a few weeks back. That result looks more and more what I suspected it was at the time, a freak result where the home side simply failed to turn up.
Apparently we were absolutely abysmal for the first 20 minutes, I didn't see much of that down to Halloween being apparently a bigger pull in the Eccles locality on a Saturday afternoon. And if the rest of the game that I did see, when we were apparently "not as bad" is anything to go by, I'm with the trick or treaters.
I think most reds big question ahead of the game was, would this be the day, the day in question being the dropping of Rooney. We live in hope and not much conviction that Van Gaal will do the right thing. He didn't and got exactly what he deserved, yet another performance from Rooney, where it felt as though United were playing with ten and a half men. His current game was summed up when put through by a perfectly weighted pass from Martial, he was so slow he couldn't even get a shot away before the goalie beat him to it. Oh that it would have been the other way around, except then of course the weight on the pass would have been almost certainly awry.
United did at least get a grip on the rest of the first half, without ever looking as if we were going to score, I mean if you aren't going to take risks, you aren't going to create chances. Saturday was never going to be a pushover, Palace away, is a tough place to go away nowadays. But the way United play under Van Gaal every game is a potential banana skin.
The second half saw us ride our luck a little I suppose, but a point was probably deserved, or was it, you lose the will to live watching United at the moment. Personal opinion is that this is as bad as under Moyes, yes we're harder to beat than under the hapless Scot, but to what end if you dread almost every game coming up.
Some reds think the addition of a couple players and a release of the shackles and United are not that far away. We have certainly got the players to see far more entertaining fare than we are at the moment, but I still don't see enough pace and flair in any potential line up you care to mention to see us really fly!
How big a game is tomorrow night now, I dread to think if the crowd reaction if we don't win tomorrow. I'd like to think that even if we won, but played the slow tedious crap common place under Van Gaal, that Old trafford would somehow register it's displeasure at the current state of things, but that's probably too much to hope.