Saint86

Not a bad point all things considered. Could have won, could have easily lost. And after that first half we had no business being in the game. Fantastic game for the neutrals for a 1-1.

Hard to pass good balls forward when there is nothing (Mubama/edozie) in front of you making food runs to hit.

If WBA can run through us like this, Middlesbrough will absolutely murder us.

Manning poor, edozie appalling (so bad he may as well be in a WBA shirt so far), and Mubama is equally killing our attacks. Wellington and Dobbin on for 2 of edozie and Mubama at halftime for me.

Is edozie on the take tonight? Should be Yanked now based on this first 30min... Certainly shouldn't come out second half.

Just thinking exactly this.

Goal is manning's fault as much as Stephen's tbh. What was he doing, that pass was telegraphed a month in advance.

Terrible start from us though regardless.

Is that not a dive? He felt the (minimal) contact, and then a split second later throws himself down. Silly from Stephen's to give the ref a decision though - but still, that's more of a cheat than spygate 🙄

Good point, well made 😄

Interesting appointment with respect to how that will turn out. The locals won't be happy with his football. Could have an interesting impact on Middlesbrough - he'll have the international break and then a run of games culminating in boro at home - works out as about 7 matches. I wonder what state they'll be in then - Boro will struggle vs teams that can defend well and are dangerous on the attack. Not the nicest run of games for Boro when they get back from the international break either: Bristol City won't even play football with Boro, they'll just sit there and go long, by pass the midfield, and get at their defence (which is very porous). Long away day as well. Then a run of 4 games that includes Swansea (who they should beat lets be honest), then us, then the west ham game. If they drop points there and we close the gap, will their fanbase and dressing room feel the heat from last season's bottling?

Doesn't surprise me, i was making the point last season (re spygate and people wanting him sacked), that since he adopted the 4-2-3-1 with peretz and Larin, Tonda was delivering circa 2.46pts per game. That is absurd. I know i certainly waivered on him somewhere along the lines - fluctuated between thinking he didn't have it and him needing support / to learn quickly... Well on that last point, he smashed it out of the park 😄🤩

A bit like a young intern going up to watch boro's training a day late and getting Hackney's fitness status wrong?

That only tells half the story as well: Young inexperienced manager stepping into his first job. Picking up a club that had just finished in the prem on an embarrassing 12points and was staring at a relegation scrap. Not his team / signings - so had to adapt to suit the squad.

United need almost a complete dressing room reset - akin to what Spors has done at Saints following the 12point relegation. They seem reluctant to take their medicine on that front and never do it properly - and so they'll continue to circle the drain until they either get relegated or have a spurs style escape. IMHO, its going to take one of those two things to happen the way they're going. A relegation scrap is on the cards this year unless they improve drastically... and honestly, if they sack carrick and then the players all "magically" decide to start playing again, it only reinforces the need for a complete dressing room overhaul..