West Ham Utd 1-1 Manchester Utd (08/02/15)

[Rocketron]

Opinions eh....I thought Nolan ,although better, was still our least productive midfielder and struggled to keep up with the game.

How some have made out he was MOTM leaves me wondering where they sit....or what he did.

Thank feck, I thought i was the only one.

[Iron Bhoy]

I really don't think Nolan had a good game. He contributed well enough defensively, but other than that he seemed to just jog about, point/yell and attempt to avoid being anywhere near the actual game.

Other than about 4-5 two yard passes backwards I remember him doing absolutely nothing of note on the ball.

[smuts]

Nolan wasn't MOTM, but he did have a very good game breaking up play, nicking the ball away and did play a lovely ball over the top for Sakho who couldn't control it properly.

[Markt85]

Nolan had an excellent match. Nice touches, range of passing and ran his bollox off - also made a couple really great tackles , he is as always over anaylised and its a shame he's not allowed a bad match but others are, it's obvious his the scapegoat when results don't go our way but he's proffessional enough to not let it get to him and carry on. When everyone's fully fit I don't think Sam sees him in the starting eleven, kayoute would have played his role yesterday if ginge was available. So Nolan is filling in wherever required and doing a pretty decent job in my opinion.

[Romford]

Nolan had an excellent match. Nice touches, range of passing and ran his bollox off - also made a couple really great tackles , he is as always over anaylised and its a shame he's not allowed a bad match but others are, it's obvious his the scapegoat when results don't go our way but he's proffessional enough to not let it get to him and carry on. When everyone's fully fit I don't think Sam sees him in the starting eleven, kayoute would have played his role yesterday if ginge was available. So Nolan is filling in wherever required and doing a pretty decent job in my opinion.

Give me 3 decent Nolan Performances this season....

I can give you 3 for every other regular player.

It's not a scapegoat at all....I honestly feel sorry for him.

Nolan isn't filling in anywhere....we are moving our best players to fit him in !!

[Beavis Danzig]

this is all speculation, but noble seem to get worse and worse the closer to the end of the transfer window we got - with his worst performance coming right when the fletcher saga was at its peak.

since it closed, he's put himself about all over. done talksport (mentioned he had the whole team over for a meal on friday), done sky, did the pre-match interview on the official site, the post match interview on sky and was the first man on the ref as well as being called over to the gaffer a few times. put in a proper performance too (though so did everyone else).

maybe i'm imagining things and he was just well up for the game, but he was doing a decent impression of a club captain for someone not wearing the armband. just wish he put away his chance.

[Sarfend Hammer]

Some good points being made on Caroll vs. Valencia to pair Sakho. No doubt that we are a much better team with Valencia and Sakho up front. Caroll is a good option to bring on, like Fellani was yesterday for Man Utd.

Thought Nolan was mediocre at best. We will see what happens when Reid or Collins is fit again. I suspect that Allerdici wil drop noble.

[Nesticles]

Feel sorry for Nolan. I over analyse all his performances so I can defend him for all the criticism he gets. Makes me sound pathetic I'm sure, but it's just the way it's become with him imo. Sure he has some bad games, just don't buy into the fact he is as bad as he is made out to be by some of our fans at times.

[steveyrockstar]

Nolan was good for the majority of the game and excellent for the last 20 minutes. He now justifies his place for the next game which is all anyone really wants.

This is the problem I have, I'd rather always put out my strongest available team. If that means dropping a player who had a good 'last' game and putting his nose out of joint, so be it. Football's a cruel game.

I'm pleased to have someone of Nolan's experience and quality in the squad but with everyone available, I think we have better options for the first XI.

[Nesticles]

maybe i'm imagining things and he was just well up for the game, but he was doing a decent impression of a club captain for someone not wearing the armband. just wish he put away his chance.

Agreed. He had looked well out of sorts for a while, looked sharp and up for it yesterday though.

I don't know what's been up with Song lately, ever since around the time of Arsenal game he has looked well off the pace. That said, he was looking better in spells yesterday until the last 20/25 when he looked like he was struggling.

I think Fletcher would have been a good signing in January on a sensible contract.

[richneal]

Enjoyed the match yesterday - was a great one to watch - credit to all involved. With all their near-misses point blank ManYoo were probably worth the draw but it was great to see us taking the game to them.

Really enjoyed watching Kouyate bringing the ball out of defence - haven't seen one of our so CB's comfortable on the ball for yonks - Rio, Stretch, Galey, Bilic and Bonzo take a bow, along with Kouyate . . .
I know the gaffer has fits about our defence but I'd love to see a starting CB who knows who to play the ball. Man Yoo nearly **** their pants when Kouyate came strolling thru' the centre circle heading straight for the corner of the 18-yard box. More please.

[hammer1975]

Posted in the Kouyate thread - don't think anyone in midfield was poor but can't help feeling that if we'd had a Kouyate type in midfield as well as the one at the back we'd have won yesterday.

Bit more energy to press up the pitch physically, someone to carry the ball up the pitch to allow the defence to push up a little.

Have no problem if Kouyate plays at CB against Soton as he has showed he can play there but also think we then lose something in our ability to go toe-to-toe with Schneiderlin/Wanyama if they're fit to play

We need someone else in the squad to ensure Kouyate stays in midfield or can do what Kouyate does in midfield when he doesn't play

[bubbles1966]

Mbodj, isn't it?

A CB that can play DM, along with a DM that can play CB in Kouyate.

[hammer1975]

Must admit to not having heard of him before we were linked Bubbs but based on what I've seen written and the bit of what I saw of ACON he looks the part. I will leave it to the club to decide if he's the one but either way I think we need a player like that and hope we didn't miss a trick by missing out on him in January.

Without meaning to make sweeping statements - the Senegalese seem to build footballers that complement us well when merged with the technical types we tend to bring through or attract.

[mattjp]

So, it seems Sam well and truly rattled Van Gaal, who rocked up to his press conference today with a four-page dossier of 'stats' to counter the 'Long Ball United' claim :lol:

[Estuary]

Any way you cut that they played 13% more long balls into forwards.(our 32 v their 45).

[Jarvo]

What a tool :lol:

However you look at it, for the last 30 mins, our defenders were straining their necks...

[Aceface]

People saying Nolan was MOTM are almost as big wind-up merchants as anyone who says he's complete sh*t. We've clearly reached the point where his performances can't be assessed in a sensible way.

[Turns to Stone]

People saying Nolan was MOTM are almost as big wind-up merchants as anyone who says he's complete sh*t. We've clearly reached the point where his performances can't be assessed in a sensible way.

This.

He was better than Daley Blind though.

[giantsteps]

Hahaha. I can't believe van Gaal came out with those stats in his press conference.

:lol: Brilliant!

Well done BFS.