Theatre of Dreams
I have heard of it, but never made it to the 'Theatre of Dreams', fans from other Clubs would be envious about not only in England but beyond, of this beautiful fortress. Unfortunately this fortress been breached more that the share that would be tolerated by its Fans.
Sir Alex has for sure left a void but things have to move on and the next legend is what the fans across the world are looking for. No one is bigger than the club, but if you are chosen to play for this club, you better be prepared for an attitude that comes along with the culture that is second to none.
Home game Vs Crystal Palace
The line up did surprise me a bit, James or Greenwood. I preferred Greenwood, of course he was in the news for all wrong reasons but the boy needs to change things and what best, than a good game to shift focus. But Ole had other thoughts, probably to protect him.
A make shift defence for the visiting team was a huge plus for us and of course home ground (not sure if it really matters with no fans in this COVID situation). But intuition it was for me, although an amateur I am, first game of a new tournament was always a wobbly performance and in this case a new season after a break is got to be wobbly and we have seen it season after season and no club is an exception. A shot break than usual but still a game or two is needed.
The negatives for Manchester United was that they are facing a team that was up and running the previous week and with a win already under their belt, Crystal Palace was surely motivated.
So, before the game had started, it was definitely not a confident 'win' as the verdict for Manchester United.
The match summary
We were slow off the blocks, and rightly so we were punished with a telling cross that our right back could do nothing about, fell in favour of the Eagles forward for an easy tap in. Shaw's dive was in despair.
Then it was all catch up till the end and of course with a high and attack minded defence line, we where bound to get punished for the smallest of mistakes. Luck did favour us a bit but not scoring on the other end only added to the pressure.
I was not particularly impressed with the mid field of Pogba, McTominay and Fernandes being the core and Rashford and James supporting on the wings. With all due respect for this opponent, Matic would have been a better choice (of course he did not even make it to the bench) than McTominay.
McTominay is better suited for high octane games and games where you see players covering Pogba in twos and threes and you are bound to shift the ball from side to side with slightly longer passes. McTominay does not play close to Pogba as Matic does which was needed for this sort of defence.
In this game the Eagles sat back and played a positional game and we did not test their defence. Passes to Martial close to the penalty box dried out so much that he had come back to receive passes, that helped the Eagles to add on numbers to the defence line and Martial could not run at defenders instead ran into them.
James and Rashford had their work cut out as we conceded a goal too early which allowed Crystal Palace sit back. Phase from both of them was of no use. Greenwoods introduction was good, but he was in a hurry and not his usual self. He blasted few shots on the defenders than the defenders actually defending it.
Fernandes and Pogba hardly had chances for any creative passes and soon ran out of ideas as there was no movement in front of them. Donny's substitution was a welcome one, as he showed glimpse of what he is capable of. A goal for him was an icing on the cake but with a loss, the goal hardly mattered.
Prolonged attack with no chances created does take its toll on the defenders. The fast beaks from the Eagles did catch us cold. And a resultant penalty which had to be taken the second time closed any ray of hope.
Over all, we weren't ready for it and very slow off the blocks. We need to shake off the result and come back strong.
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