Mails: If Mourinho dares pick Lingard now…

Daniel Storey

More to add? Sure. Then mail those thoughts in to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Faria law
Shall we just put Rui Faria in charge?
Calum (happy with Mourinho like the others), MUFC, Wokingham

 

Bastian’s back, alright!
The amazing thing about sport is that moments in games can transcend the match, the actual result on the night and for me Bastian Schweinsteiger coming on last night was one of those moments. It’s a shame that injuries and changes of management at both Bayern and United over the last couple of seasons have sidelined the career of one of the best European players in the last decade so it awesome to see the reception he received last night.

I still believe that a player of his class can share the weight of the role Michael Carrick is currently excelling at for the coming seasons but ultimately it seems last night was just a moment of respect for a great player and Jose Mourinho wisely dodging any future criticism over the treatment of this legend.
Parmjeet, Gravesend

 

On Mourinho’s strong team
I found it interesting how Mourinho decided to have a very strong team run out last night against West Ham when, in all honesty, it wasn’t needed. He only made four changes as far as I could see. Weirdly, some of the changes actually made United a better team.

He could have afforded to give Antonio Valencia a rest as he has been an absolute workhorse. He could also have rested Ibra to let Rashford have a go at the striker position and rediscover his goalscoring instincts. He chose instead to go with what would, with three changes, be my best starting 11. Those changes being Pogba in for Carrick, Mata in for Rooney, and, when fit, Bailly in for Rojo. Carrick and Rashford would be the unlucky omissions, for now.

It would be easy to say Mourinho fielded such a strong team because he can’t afford to lose/draw any more games, or he’s desperate to win anything this season, or that he was only able to field such a strong team because there are three full days between this Sunday’s game and last night’s EFL match but I found the lack of wholesale changes to be a sound bit of management from Mourinho.

United’s problems have been finding the back of the net and generally getting some rhythm in attack (a gelled team), so I reckon giving a team close to our starting 11 a run playing together would serve us better in the long run than playing reserves because it would give the players a confidence boost to score some goals and gel better as a team.

Anyway, great performance! Mkhitaryan looking as sharp as the FA’s disciplinary committee, Martial maybe rediscovering some form and…. well, I’ll let Guy S point out how good Rooney was last night.
Buchule, East London, RSA

 

And more thoughts
– Before anything is said West Ham were very poor. A shadow of last season’s team and Payet looks to be doing it all on his own. Even with all their players back fit I don’t see that defence keeping many clean sheets. Any top 10 premier league team would have beaten them tonight.

– United’s front four was outstanding. More of that please. I agreed with recent mail from a United fan saying he’s not worried about the team as the performances have been much better than the results. United really need to start taking more of their chances and it has come back to haunt them several times already this season.

With Mata and Rashford also to come in the attack looks the best we’ve had since Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez, on paper at least until the new breed show some ruthlessness. I haven’t enjoyed watching United play since Fergie’s days and this season has been a massive improvement over the last 3.

Maybe it is a confidence thing that we are lacking after the past pathetic few years but hopefully sooner rather than later we will be enjoying positive results too. At the end of the season it will be the results that are remembered more than playing pretty, as a wise man once said, “You don’t look at the mantelpiece when you’re poking the fire”

– Mkhitaryan has done everything he can to start on Sunday and has to be given a go. He is a delight to watch and as soon as he picks up the ball you get a sense of something about to happen, has certainly shown glimpses of how he racked up so many assists in Germany.

– Martial got a kick up the ass with Mourinho’s comments lately and has responded brilliantly, back playing like the Martial of last season, first game I’ve seen him play this season where he actually looked interested. Take note Luke Shaw.

– Luke Shaw seems to be playing like he has one eye on the touchline (stand/dressing room/office cupboard) for Mourinho and terrified to make a mistake. Early last season and beginning of this one he seemed at best playing with a certain freedom, which he himself seems hesitant to do now. Whatever his injury issue tonight is he needs a run of promising games in the starting 11

– Rooney was brilliant again, as he has been for the past 2/3 games for us. Maybe he has suddenly come to the realisation that he can’t live off his name anymore, hopefully the complacency in his game has gone. He looks much fitter, sharper and must have been doing work on the training ground to improve so much on the s***e he was supplying us earlier this season.

– Can’t believe how Phil Jones and Rojo have been playing, hardly a foot wrong in the past couple games but then again they haven’t had much to deal with. Smalling looks very much down the pecking order when you hear of Bailly’s return to training and Blind there to cover in CB too. Big fall for one of the first names on the team sheet under van Gaal’s reign, which in fairness was warranted at the time.

– Glad to see Herrera playing so well, his stamina is something else and tonight he had a great ability to close down and push right onto the opposition player without giving away a free, which is his usual party trick. Great feet for Ibra’s second goal and has probably been our best player this season.

– Finally, I’m not sure what Mourinho is doing with Schweinsteiger’s return to the first team, thank God Fellaini was suspended tonight too so we didn’t have to witness his lumbering around. I know most will feel Mourinho is putting Schweinsteiger in the shop window for January and that’s what is supposedly leaking from the club in the gossip columns. But part of me wants to believe that Mourinho has realised how valuable Carrick is to the team, how he helps get the best form Pogba/Herrera and at 35 he can’t give that to us every game. Step in Schweinsteiger to do Carrick’s job when he is not available, surely it is the most logical thing for United to do until a replacement for Carrick’s importance to the team can be found.

Again it was only a poor West Ham side and until we put away 5/6 wins on the bounce there is no point in getting excited.
Nipper D. Cork (West Ham fans were quality tonight, back and forth with the home supporters was brilliant)

 

So much for a ‘broken’ squad
* Now that wasn’t so bad eh? Jose, see what happens when you play with pace (martial) on the left and guile (Mkhi) on the right. Now try and do that in the league.

* Based on the recent performances, here are some things that should no longer happen: Rashford  playing on the left, Rojo playing at left full-back, Fellaini playing at all.

*Speaking of Rashford, Jose needs to find a way to play him a bit more in his real position of striker. This can be achieved by having Ibrahimovic sit out some games, especially as there are no international breaks till March  

* What’s happened to De Gea? The squad around him seems to have improved and he’s not making those key saves anymore. Should we play Romero a bit more in the cups?

* So much for a broken squad. We achieved this performance without Pogba, Mata, Bailly and Smalling and with Rashford barely featuring. Realistically we will need a striker in 2018, a defender (hopefully Van Dijk), a younger version of carrick and a right full back. Do those over the next few windows and  let go of the good players we don’t get the best out of (depay, Schmidfield, Darmian) and the rest (Young, Fellaini) and we are a formidable team again.
Timi MUFC

 

Fair
If Lingard plays ahead of Magik Mik on Sunday I am going to buy a doll, call it Jose, and stick several large pins into it.
Richard, Manchester

 

On Ramsey and a bad night for Arsenal
When you look at the squad we put out last night we got what we deserved.

I’m not sure what we can do with Ramsey but I’m not one of those that wants to hang him out to dry.

At the moment he reminds me of David Platt. While we would never play Platty over Petit and Vieira if they were fit, he always provided a useful option in the way he offered a goal threat that neither of these two did.

I wonder whether what we should be doing with Ramsey is playing Giroud as the target man and playing Ramsey off him as a makeshift striker. A couple of seasons ago he was a better finisher than Walcott and it would allow him to get his confidence back.

Finally – a message to the fans at the Emirates – would you shut the hell up and get off certain players’ backs? It’s counterproductive and does nothing to improve that players’ performance. I understand the frustration can boil over – I remember having a meltdown over Gervinho once and then feeling ashamed of myself – but don’t do it the whole game.

As for Wenger – looks like he’s never going to win the league cup. One wonders whether a certain George Graham had an added reason to celebrate his birthday knowing he remains the only Arsenal manager to have lifted the league cup.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

 

And more thoughts
Firstly, I knew we would lose this match so I’m not that upset. We had no chance of winning the trophy anyway  because the only manager of the top teams that takes it seriously is Jose. He knows it’s the only trophy they can win this season. Anyway, some thoughts:

– Without Sanchez and/or Ozil, Arsenal look very ordinary. Its not just that they are great players, but they improve the players around them.

– Southampton were pretty ordinary and they still beat us comfortably. That is quite damning.

– The only Arsenal player that looked good going forward or looked like they could make anything happen was Iwobi. Xhaka had some decent moments too.

– Ramsay is a talented player but my goodness he is frustrating. I just don’t think he is suited to English football. He could be a star in La Liga.

– Josh Sims looked ordinary to me when he came on out wide. I didn’t know what all the fuss was about. Then when Long went off and he moved more central, he looked a real player.

– Southampton have really mastered the dark arts. Players writhing around on the ground when there was nothing wrong with them to try and get the ball put out, running off with the ball when they commit a foul to prevent a quick free-kick, doing a substitution then another one seconds later instead of a double one to waste more time, and Forster throwing himself to the floor when catching an easy cross under no pressure.

It probably didn’t affect the result, but it’s so annoying. Since the refs are incapable of preventing it or adding on time for it, surely it’s time for 60-minute matches with the clock stopping when the ball is not in play.
Adonis Stevenson, AFC

 

News of MLS, Toronto and Jozy Altidore
Just got back from Toronto knocking off Montreal to reach the MLS finals, 7-5 on aggregate, that’s not a typo.  MLS playoff format is similar to Champions League knockout stages, except with one twist – if tied after 180 minutes and equal away goals, the away goals rule is scrapped for extra time.  Is that an unfair advantage?  Toronto went onto score twice and eliminate Drogba in the process.  Not sure I agree with that rule, but that’s what it is.

Side note, Sunderland flop Jozy Altidore set an MLS record by scoring in 5 consecutive playoff games.  The swap for Defoe benefitted both parties, that’s for certain.
Nick C