Official Matchday Thread: Manchester United v Nottingham Forest; K.O. 15:00, Sat 26th August 2023

[Malwood]

Elanga looks a good player, but Brennan definitely starts ahead of him.

 

[Raymondo Ponte']

Bi good to see um both flyin daarn the flanks.

D'ya still call em "Flanks"

 

[Mcbeth99]

Hendo in goal will mess up a goal kick, straight to Wood who will score with a bullet header from 35 yards, 1-0 bish bosh

(& if that happens I will run semi naked through the streets of Wrexham)

Cant believe you'd run naked through Wrexham with a semi.... ;-)

 

[IdiotTricky]

Cant believe you'd run naked through Wrexham with a semi.... ;-)

Good chance of getting on Netflix?

 

[IdiotTricky]

Apologies, on a bit of a Tifo run, but this is an interesting video on how Man U's press can be messed with (not that I think it'll have much bearing on how we approach the game on Sat):

 

[wrexhamred]

Cant believe you'd run naked through Wrexham with a semi.... ;-)

If you'd seen Wrexham girls you'd know what an achievement that would be

 

[isaacs]

Seen someone talk about United being unbeaten in 30 odd games at Old Trafford, brought back memories of 94 when we stopped their home record then, can anyone remember what it was? I think it was 2 years unbeaten at home until we turned up and rocked the joint

 

[Any Time Now]

United played Burnley behind closed doors today, got beat 3-0

 

[sammy the snake]

S

Mason Mount injured and won't play.

Shame. Let’s just say manure were characteristically rinsed lol

 

[HBB]

Once again taken a brief stroll to oppo forums and collected a few comments - and it is weird seeing us being taken very seriously by so many fans. Utd fans really worried about their own side of course and their lack of goals and they feel they are very vulnerable to sides that play a more robust midfield..

Everybody ready to lose to an Awoniyi brace?

2-1 to Forest? Gibbs-White and Danilo to cut through our midfield like it's non-existent like both Wolves and Tottenham have done? Or is Ten Hag going to abandon this fecking atrocious experiment of playing with both Bruno and Mount together and let Casemiro wing it out by himself in midfield?

Forest could easily take a point or more the way we are playing.

Can’t see us losing this one even though we have been poor the last two games. This is where our season starts.

Forest was competitive away to Arsenal only losing 2-1. So I'd gladly take a one goal margin victory for United here and get 6 points on the table.

All this doom mongering... This is exactly the game we need at the moment. Forest's away approach is to sit deep and treat the ball like a live bomb, so they'll just let us have the ball for 80 minutes and then actually make an effort with 10 minutes to go. That's perfect for us as it means no pressure on our midfield, and a chance for the players to get more used to playing with each other in a match setting. 3-1 and a useful attack V defence training exercise.

Forest won't be relegation fodder this season, but fortunately their manager doesn't seem to have realised that yet and still plays cowards' football like they're newly promoted. This would be a very different game in three months time.

If I were forest, I'd play MGW, Elanga and another strong runner in midfield. Boom, game won.

Even against Forest we will give away too much possession in midfield and will be impotent up front. Cannot see us do anything but struggle with present set up. Forest are very energetic and their back line too strong for our predictable forwards

Danilo and Gibbs-White to storm through our midfield at ease. Scraping a 2-1 win.

3-0 win. I think we'll progressively improve as the games come along and a home game against Forest is well timed for us.

Expecting a painstaking 1:0 win, where we are outworked and spend the last 10 minutes holding on to dear life against Nottingham Forest at home.

 

[Berkshire Red]

All this doom mongering... This is exactly the game we need at the moment. Forest's away approach is to sit deep and treat the ball like a live bomb, so they'll just let us have the ball for 80 minutes and then actually make an effort with 10 minutes to go. That's perfect for us as it means no pressure on our midfield, and a chance for the players to get more used to playing with each other in a match setting. 3-1 and a useful attack V defence training exercise.

I hope this poster is wrong, but that's my concern.

We play in a very different way to Wolves and Spurs. Does Coops have the confidence in this players to ask them to go to OT and get hold of the ball? I doubt it.

 

[PlayedOnGrass]

Ta mate. That's the day the football world knew we meant business

I was at that game - leaving the ground afterwards was the 1st time i thought we can win this league - Brilliant memories

 

[Quntib Hollox]

I hope this poster is wrong, but that's my concern.

We play in a very different way to Wolves and Spurs. Does Coops have the confidence in this players to ask them to go to OT and get hold of the ball? I doubt it.

I was about to make this exact same point.
Wolves were outstanding and deserved a reward for their approach. We can’t/won’t have the same approach but we may still get something.

 

[Omar Devone Little]

I hope this poster is wrong, but that's my concern.

We play in a very different way to Wolves and Spurs. Does Coops have the confidence in this players to ask them to go to OT and get hold of the ball? I doubt it.

That poster has our cards marked. It's like he watches us every week.

 

[IJPS]

Looking forwards to Ten Hag’s pre-match interview regarding their lineup and injuries. Suggestions knocking around that Mounts done a Matty Fryatt.

 

[Rzar]

Elanga looks a good player, but Brennan definitely starts ahead of him.

I wouldn’t start either of them, I would play the 5-3-2 with MGW & Taiwo up top with Brennan & Elanga coming off the bench. I think both players will have more of an impact on the game that way.

 

[Rzar]

Wolves also pressed them all the way back to Onana to force mistakes, which we won't do.

I agree we are better on the counter. Utd under pressure to get the points after an average start and having to visit Arsenal next week before int break. We might have to just hold out for the first 10 barrage before stepping it up.

Like our first away game I think we will get the chances, just need to make the most of them when they come.

I will put the defence out of the team and say it is what we are doing & trying to do. We have pressed more and higher up the pitch in both games this season, we have just picking our times to do it and not done it all match.

You mention chances, that’s the perfect example as Brennan’s 1v1 came from us being high up the pitch and Boly winning a header against their midfielder.

 

[Berkshire Red]

I will put the defence out of the team and say it is what we are doing & trying to do. We have pressed more and higher up the pitch in both games this season, we have just picking our times to do it and not done it all match.

You mention chances, that’s the perfect example as Brennan’s 1v1 came from us being high up the pitch and Boly winning a header against their midfielder.

Wasn't Boly still up there because he hadn't crawled back over the halfway line following a set piece? He certainly wasn't there because we were keeping a high line by any means.

 

[Omar Devone Little]

Wasn't Boly still up there because he hadn't crawled back over the halfway line following a set piece? He certainly wasn't there because we were keeping a high line by any means.

Exactly this.

If you actually watch the chance Boly is about 15 yards further forward than the other two CBs and is more in line with the midfield (he's pretty much in line with Mangala).

Absolutely no chance that's part of some tactical plan and if it was you'd have to question Cooper's sanity in asking one of his CBs to suddenly leave the defence during the first half at the Emirates when it's 0-0.

I know we all want us to play higher and press more but that's just clutching at straws.

 

[rockhopper]

I hope this poster is wrong, but that's my concern.

We play in a very different way to Wolves and Spurs. Does Coops have the confidence in this players to ask them to go to OT and get hold of the ball? I doubt it.

Exactly as I see it as well unfortunately, think he's got us spot on!

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

 

[PynchonForest]

This is a tough one to call. Let's face it, United are much better than they have shown in the first two games. Whether they suddenly show up this weekend is probably the biggest question mark of any game. And we are coming off of a poor performance (for the most part) against a side that is shit. If they show up and we play like last weekend, we'll get killed. If we play similarly as we did against Arsenal, and they put in another anonymous performance, we have a chance for one point, or even three. I would expect we will see a few changes for United. Certainly not Henderson. Hjolund will probably start, and I'd expect Rashford on the wing.

 

[Cloughie1975]

Realistically,any points return from Old Trafford on Saturday is a bonus (it’s still a very difficult game despite
Manchester United’s unconvincing start to the season).
Given other forthcoming away trips,we probably need to continue our good run of results at the City Ground
to avoid falling into trouble (the next 3 games against Burnley,Brentford and Luton are eminently winnable).

 

[Battered Sausage]

I will miss all the game as I will be on a canoe on the Wye all day and my phone locked in a barrel, so this’ll be a nice surprise to come back to.


2-3 to the famous team , we start where we left the last ten minutes of the Arsenal game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RianBrice]

That’s a great afternoon out… just done it from Symonds Yat on Monday! Dog jumped off the canoe though and had to rescue the daft bogger.

 

[Captain Sinister]

Having just watched the Garibaldi Red podcast, and I am moved to suggest a stating XI:
Turner
Worrall Boly Niakhate
Montiel Yates MGW Danilo Aina
Elanga Awoniyi

Subs: Horvath Aurier McKenna Kouyate Johnson Wood Mangala Williams Dennis