⚽ FAC5: Manchester Utd 3-1 West Ham Utd

[swash]

Glad we're out, to be honest - league and Conference League should be our focus. Continues progress in the FA Cup would have been an additional distraction.

Each to their own , but I could never be glad about being out of the FA Cup, had we held on last night, we could have had a decent shot at making it to the final.

[Ilford Paolo]

We were chasing shadows for the last 15 mins, couldn't keep the ball to make even 3 passes. I am actually livid because some of the players were poor tonight , especially Paqueta and his stupid little tricks and flicks that go nowhere plus the numerous times he lost possession. Ogbonna was our best defender while Aquerd had a terrible last 20 mins , slicing an easy clearance for the corner that ended up with him scoring an own goal. Then that absolute schoolboy error for that last goal which just rubbed salt into the wound (what the f*ck was he thinking?). Areola is unable to jump , that's his big weakness , he's too much muscle , leaden footed and particularly vulnerable on crosses. We are going to find the rest of the season pretty difficult if the the rest of the PL recognise how weak Areola is in the air. Also, what did Bowen do when he came on a for a very poor disinterested Fornals? I don't think he even touched the ball! Antonio has demonstrated what a sh*t forward he is in front of goal and he should accept that he's better on the wings.

Fornals who provided a peach of a through ball for the Antonio chance? Disinterested? That's the last thing Fornals is even when he plays badly.

[old fart]

(When Antonio shot instead of a simple pass to either one unmarked in front of goal, I turned to Ted and said we'd just lost the game. They were there for the taking..... we blew it.)

Terrific piece of goalkeeping though, could so easily gone out to one of those two but. De Gea pushed it back the way it had come.

Aggers getting the blame for the og, but Arèola should have come & taken that

[Ilford Paolo]

You can’t have been at Shrewsbury in his first stint?

That was properly cold.

[Morocco Mole]

If it had been a league game, I think we'd have seen a couple of different subs.

Yeah, he would’ve shut up shop and possibly nicked a point. Different dynamic in a cup game. Both approaches valid in the respective circumstances.

Bottom line is it would be hyper-churlish to find too much fault with anything we did last night. Polar opposite of Spurs the other week, although same outcome obviously.

[Ilford Paolo]

Not sure if it is a positive or negative, but I have a new most hated player. Garnacho will now take some beating in that department
That Myra Hindley hair is f******g scary

[PrinceHisback]

Fornals who provided a peach of a through ball for the Antonio chance? Disinterested? That's the last thing Fornals is even when he plays badly.

It was Benny’s peach pass.

[prophet:marginal]

I was watching with 2 neutrals last night and we all noticed how biased, almost desperate, Lee Dixon was, towards the home team.

Even with Man U's opener, which was ruled offside, he was gagging for VAR to confirm it as a fair goal.

It's almost as if the commentators think that, if neutrals are watching a match, they are going to root for the bigger of the two teams...

[hammerman11]

missed opportrunity last night. surely it ends antonio as a starting striker. two golden opportunities where we have to score one of them.
shame as we would have done fulham at home although we would probably have got the away tie !

league safety and ECL trophy is on for us if we keep ings fit and get scamacca scoring again. antonio as a sub only please from now on or wide player.

moyes should have brought downes on to help the midfield who couldnt cope in the last 25 mins.

ITV coverage was a man u love in before and biased commentary throughout. allowed keane to make cheap jokes about us in the championship, being a bad side,etc. entitled bunch of bankers the lot of them.

man city or man utd kept apart for the dream final ?

[Wilko1304]

I think there was a stark improvement in our use of the ball for Pablo being on the pitch.

He looks forward, he knows where people are before he’s taken his touch, he plays fast and direct when he needs to, he moves into space.

Benny’s pass to Antonio was beautiful, the only moment that even challenged his goal, but I thought Pablo sending it out to him was something different, because Bowen isn’t doing that so suddenly, before defenders have settled or the run has been picked up.

It helped the midfield to have a better receiver than Bowen, it helped Benrahma to have someone who could find him and read him, it just helped.

I really think the next step is Fornals in for Soucek. Or even Bowen up front and Fornals wide.

[westham,eggyandchips]

He absolutely would have for sitting back and not going for a second.

No he wouldnt.

[Liam]

Terrific piece of goalkeeping though, could so easily gone out to one of those two but. De Gea pushed it back the way it had come.

Aggers getting the blame for the og, but Arèola should have come & taken that

To be fair Areola was livid with Aguerd, suggesting he'd called his ball.

[Whufc06]

Yeah, he would’ve shut up shop and possibly nicked a point. Different dynamic in a cup game. Both approaches valid in the respective circumstances.

Bottom line is it would be hyper-churlish to find too much fault with anything we did last night. Polar opposite of Spurs the other week, although same outcome obviously.

Very true. We gave ourselves every chance of winning that game last night whereas we gave ourselves next to no chances at Spurs. I really hope Moyes doesn’t look at the goals conceded and come to the conclusion we need extra defensive players to cut out what we’re ultimately individual errors

[hammerman11]

areola has to build relationships with his defenders and fast. did ok but was at fault for some of the chaos in the end.
seemed to pull his hand away for one of their goals.

hopefully he will settle quickly as we need a good keeper to inspire the defence and get some clean sheets, starting on saturday !

[flysohigh]

Yep Man U were there for the taking. Whilst Antonio should have done better with his two chances Ings wouldn't have had those chances as he doesn't have the pace. Scamacca was probably the one you would want in there.

We played well for periods but our ball retention was poor last 20 mins as Soucek cant pass and Antonio wasn't holding the ball up. We really need a number ten next year.

[Eggs'n'nuts]

The other slightly depressing thought about this match is that we were playing half a B team. Man u could have selected a much stronger team to start with.
They brought two players on and it was game over.
We really are still miles off having a decent squad.

I said pretty much this at the start of the thread; they'll start with a weakened side and bring on the big guns if things don't go to plan.

[bubbles1966]

Yeah, he would’ve shut up shop and possibly nicked a point. Different dynamic in a cup game. Both approaches valid in the respective circumstances.

Bottom line is it would be hyper-churlish to find too much fault with anything we did last night. Polar opposite of Spurs the other week, although same outcome obviously.

We've had three games now where we've lost by two goals this season - Arsenal away, Spurs away, Man U away. We've kept all of them quiet-ish and goalless up to half time , and taken the lead in two of the games.

It's getting through the second half that's changed the outcomes.

It almost always feels like a question of 'when' rather than 'if' we will give up the lead. There's always a niggling doubt that the defenders can keep it going for 90, or that there's enough quality to put the game to bed when the opportunity presents itself.

Some similarities also in the league away at Chelsea (one up), Man U and Liverpool.

[Benaloon]

pleasantly surprised with the performance.

We were actually doing some nice one touch fast passing between fornals Paqueta and Benrahma - would like to see more of that.

Thought taking Fornals off was the thing that seemed to let them in/when we started to fall apart. Missed his work holding on to the ball and helping out Johnson (who was excellent).

Bowen and Scammacca were completely anonymous. Say what you want about Antonio, but I don't know if Scammacca even touched the ball?

[ToiletDuck]

If we had put the second away it's game over
However we didn't

More positives than negatives last night overall.

Antonio is Antoni-no!
Thought Moyes should have put Divin on to replace Antonio last night as we were then playing kickball rather than decent build up which appears to be Scammaca's strength.

Johnson had a good game but like others panicked at the end
Benny great game for me
Ogbonna decent game
Emerson same
Aguerd one brain fart but still good

[kenthammer1984]

Just seen some highlights and saw the bit when Antonio did brilliant to beat Martinez, through on goal, could square it to two others and decided to take the shots himself and missed.

That would have been 2-0 and I suspect a win for us. Fine margins and all that.