Mr Stroppybollocks Christmas fart man Ronaldo cannot ruin the Man Utd buzz after Spurs win

There’s some talk of Ronaldo in the Mailbox but it’s mostly the brilliance of Manchester United and the rottenness of Spurs that dominates.

Send your own views to theeditor@football365.com

Difference between Bruno and Mr Stroppybollocks
Almost don’t want to draw more attention to it than it will no doubt get (and all of what I’m about to say is mostly pure conjencture on my part) but as many will no doubt leap to his defence, Ronaldo appeared to flounce off immediately after Elanga, a 20 year old boy with less than 30 appearances to his name, mis-controlled a decent through ball.

After the final whistle Bruno, with another couple of players in the same man hug, clearly spoke to Elanga in a bit of detail and seemed really positive and supportive towards him. Much like a number of senior players (ok, not Ruud) used to do with a shy, young and whilst unbelievably talented, often error-prone Portuguese winger we signed in 2003. Wonder if he’d have been as successful if everyone had behaved like a complete c-nut towards him back then.

Bruno annoys me with his shithousery (much like most of men’s football to be honest) but his performance and character tonight were fantastic. Ronaldo just needs to go now, to Saudi or anywhere that will have him that his ego will deign to go to as he is tarnishing what was, and should be, a truly special United legacy and relationship with the club.
Dylan (good again from Rashford tonight but needs to place his finishes rather than thunderbastarding every single one)

…Cr7 the living legend of the club is like the fat lady who farts immediately after saying prayers before the family gathering serves the meal during a Christmas get together.
Joe Nyawanda

A Man Utd performance worthy of Sir Alex
Absolutely delighted with the dominant performance by Man United against Spurs! In the last few years our best performances have all been in counter-attacking wins. This season we’ve beaten Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs at home with ease, with each of the visitors only getting scoring opportunities from defensive errors.

I don’t think I’ve seen Man United control possession, break the opposition’s defensive line or win the ball back with such regularity since the days of Ferguson – or if we have then it’s only been against a team ranked far below us.

With Arsenal and City looking like this season’s top two we should be aiming for 3rd and a cup, we are easily the best of the rest and the table at the end of the season will reflect that!
R

…What a result for United.

Before the game, my prediction was a draw as Spurs are very defensive and United are bad at breaking down a low block. The first half was very dominant for United. Everyone looked good. Casemiro continues to be a Rolls Royce of a player and Varane and Martinez were so solid and kept Kane and Son quiet for the entire game. Fred had a good game by just being everywhere and getting in the way.

Rashford was probably the weakest link on the pitch in my eyes purely because he’s not a complete striker so when we are putting crosses in it highlights the aspects of Rashford’s game that are lacking. I still would have played Rashford as a left winger cutting in with Ronaldo up top as the game suited Ronaldo with all the crossing and possession we had. Of course, I do not condone Ronaldo walking off before the end of the game. But, I understand why he did it as Ronaldo is hardly playing now and when he does the team don’t put crosses in or any good chances and the one time we play the type of football that Ronaldo excels at he’s on the bench for 90 minutes.

Overall, It was a fantastic result from United against a strong defensive Spurs team who were missing some key attackers in Richarlison and Kulusevski which if they were playing could have been a different story but from the goalkeeper to the striker every player for United played their role very well and showed a potential glimpse of what Ten Hag ball looks like.
Max Of Whitegate

…I think United showed some excellent credentials tonight, against a well fancied Spurs side who virtually nothing all match.

Fred deserves some credit, especially considering how poorly I’ve rated him – fairly because he’s been extremely poor at times – but he was excellent tonight. With actual end product too.

Bruno looks so much better without Ronaldo breathing down his neck. Hard to really understand why, but it’s fairly obvious the difference. Lovely finish either way, on top of a fairly monstrous defensive and pressing performance too.

Casemiro is really starting to look like the world-class player we know he is, despite what certain scousers in the comments like to say. Dalot too deserves a lot of praise for his work, especially attacking but also in defence. That back four is really working well as a partnership, and now that much stronger with Shaw really putting in performances. Best English left-back, without a doubt. You love to see it.

Rashford did well and was unlucky again. Not just with his shots either but with the refereeing.

So let’s get on to that. Ref had a proper curate’s egg of a game. Some really good elements, especially with playing the advantage for the goal, but some absolute textbook examples of inconsistency. Dier gets hit in the face: game immediately stops even though we’re on the edge of their box. Fine. But then Dalot gets hit in the face too and it’s all fine for Spurs to continue trying to score? Come on now.

Ok now, the penalties that could have been. First, Rashford completely dragged off the ball by the defender. Soft? Maybe. But it’s s a foul, clear as day. Second, he gets onto the ball behind the defender who fouls him. Again, soft maybe, but “you’ve seen them given”.

Final one, not a penalty but just more inconsistency. He receives the ball, is axed down by the defender in a move that’s a foul in virtually any other place. Nothing.

Then about 5 minutes later, similar happens to a Spurs player, and that’s called.

Anyways, apparently Son played but I can’t say I noticed. Saw Kane a couple of times but who knew such a big guy would fit so easily in the small pockets of Martinez?

I do hope Barry is alright.
Badwolf

The big Mailbox question
Can someone check in on Barry?
Niallio, Dublin

Spurs…what the f*** was that?
Full disclosure, I’m a gooner, but I like to think an objective one. We’ve had a great start but my head says we won’t maintain the level required to really challenge City, however a good push for top four should be an absolute minimum.

I digress. Spurs… around the 80min mark. What am I watching? Spurs fans can’t be happy with this surely? I know Richarlison and Kulusevski are missing, but Conte set out to frustrate Utd with the extra midfielder in Bissouma. The 2 goals and 28 shots against prove this hasn’t worked, and yet he’s provided no tactical changes or even tweaks to try to wrestle back some semblance of control. Utd, who themselves haven’t been brilliant before this game, have been in total control.

None of this is meant to irk Spurs fans, not remotely. It’s just doing the rounds about the Spurs ‘identity’ and this type of football isn’t being particularly well received even when winning, what about when losing and resoundingly so? Just an off night or something a little more systemic?
Andy

…I’m going to start writing this after 80 minutes of the game fairly confident that when I get to the end, Spurs won’t have pulled one back against Utd.

A few conclusions –

Well played Utd. You just seem to love playing Spurs.

This system does not work away from home. Against West Ham, arsenal, Chelsea and Man U we’ve looked fairly abject

Conte. Please stop talking up the volume of games and then refuse to make a substitution. Dalot had Perisic in his pocket all night, it was crying out for a change on the left

The thing with Conte is that you always have the feeling he’s got one eye on what’s next. He is a winner and he is incredibly professional, that comes across clearly. But he’s never going to tell you to trust the process because the process is not an evolution that he loves and cares for. His process is built on the best players in the world making it happen in the here and now. And if it can’t happen in the here and now, then he seems deflated and disinterested. I’m trying to enjoy his football…conteball just feels a bit pointless sometimes.
Andrew

The only Spurs positive
I’m searching for positives from this game and the only thing that’s come to mind is Perisic’s delightful habit of chesting the ball back to the keeper. Even then, I’ve been getting annoyed at Jon Champion’s pronunciation of his name. Which for all I know may be the correct way of pronouncing it.

I’ve got myself all in a kerfuffle now.
Jon (United were excellent), Lincoln

Isn’t it about time?
I think I probably need to get a life but when are we going to ensure all football matches last the same length of time. Watching the Manchester United V Spurs game last night (have Spurs turned up yet?) there were about 42 substitutions (or thereabouts) – wonderfully slow exits from the pitch from the substituted United no criticism at United all winning teams do that) a couple of injuries, endless mini stoppages for throw ins etc….. which of course added up to a mighty four minutes.

Am I missing something or is there ANY argument against having a” ball in play ” regulation for every game.
Phil (and I didn’t even mention VAR) Liasides

That’ll do for Liverpool
Right now in terms of where we are as a team three gritty points and a 1-0 win against a team that played as well as West Ham was probably more valuable than a stroll in the park against someone rubbish. It served to remind the team just how hard they have to work to earn results like that but hopefully proved to them that they’re capable of it too. I think Klopp once said he loves a 1-0 win and it’s games like that which he meant it about, I think.

Alisson properly saved our bacon again today though. Gomez had a big fat brain fart right on the stroke of half time and when you watch that replay it’s genuinely hard to figure out why on earth he felt the need to jump and lead with his foot. The ball is moving away from the goal and whilst it’s in our box there’s literally close to zero danger in that moment. He must’ve read the mailbox and seen people putting him forward for England and decided to remind them why he was fit most of last season and didn’t get many games. He is a talented defender and has a lot of positive traits but I think he still needs a mature a little bit in terms of his decision making and his concentration needs to improve too. There was a weird moment towards the end where he let the ball bounce before then clearing it and that is potential car crash defending against a striker like Antonio who is stronger, smarter, faster and more skilful than you.

That said for the most part West Ham didn’t get much of a sniff until we got a bit nervous near the end. The team looked more controlled before Thiago came off but ultimately we have such a dearth of creative midfielders right now that he needs to be saved as much as possible.

Finally a brief word for Carvalho and Elliott who were both pretty good tonight. Carvalho was great off the ball and his press was excellent but he also had the confidence to be creative when he got on the ball. Elliott was top class again but also displayed a bit of nous as we ground the game out towards the end. Both have a bright future.
Minty, LFC

NOW READ: Five players Manchester United can sign to replace Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window