00:00Hi everyone, Phil here. As ever, all my analysis, play ratings, post-match reaction over on the
00:07Sunland Network website, but we're going to have a very, very wet and windy walk back to the car
00:11here at Old Trafford, and I'll have a little bit of a chat through the game. I have to say, the old me,
00:15I thought Sunland were really deservedly beaten today. I thought the first few minutes, they
00:18actually started quite brightly. There was that little pass that Odinga played for Traore that
00:22he should score, and though the offside flag went up, actually watching him back, I think it was a
00:25really close decision, so I think that definitely would have been VAR checked if Traore had scored.
00:29So that would have made it interesting, but then, really unusual to be honest, Sunland
00:33conceding two goals, not defending their box anywhere near enough. Mason Mount scoring a
00:38really good volley, but not enough pressure on either the cross or the ball. And then the
00:43second goal, obviously from a long throw, which you expect Sunland to defend set players really
00:46well, and they didn't today. I thought for most of the first half, I thought the Man United
00:50were with a quicker, better team. I thought they played through the press well. I thought,
00:54as we probably expected, that match was tremendous for this dribbling. I thought it was a little
00:57bit of an error from Labrise, if I'm honest. I thought that Sunland were a bit too open.
01:01They were a bit too aggressive in the press, and certainly down that left-hand side,
01:04I thought Odinga and Masuaki were quite exposed. I think if you compare it to say when you had
01:08Ray Niel doing Lafayette, defending down that flank in recent weeks, you obviously get a real
01:13sort of defensive strength from them. Masuaki and Odinga have got attacking qualities,
01:17but I don't think today was the day for them. Sunland did improve a lot when Dan Ballard came on,
01:22but ultimately, they never threatened enough that they were going to come back into the game.
01:26I think they're the guys that deserve the winners. There's no need to panic, because I thought
01:29Sunland did quite well, and they were competitive despite going 2-0 down. I think you can see
01:33there's a resilience in this team, and they're not going to be beaten too easily, too often.
01:37So I think there's plenty of positives to take, but I think the big thing for Sunland
01:40is that they've got to get back to basics defensively. They've made too many mistakes
01:44defensively today, and that's something that they...
01:48Sorry, I've just gone through a barrier I wasn't supposed to go through. Never mind.
01:52So yeah, I think it's just a case of brushing this one off and getting back to those defensive
01:56basics as the wind gets louder and louder here. I hope you can hear me a little bit.
02:00Man of the match, I would have to go with either... I thought Ahmad and Buemo and Fernandes
02:05were all terrific for Man United. I thought Fernandes dominated midfield, and I thought that
02:09Ahmad and Buemo were so clever. They were so quick. Sunland really struggled, really, to go
02:15man for man in the press, and they played around them too easily. From a Sunland perspective,
02:18obviously Rubs made some more excellent saves, and I still thought Grand Jacques had a really
02:22good game. He obviously should get an assist for Ballard's header just before half-time.
02:26I thought his use to the ball was really good at getting another tackle display from him.
02:30Labrice, after the game, said he was really disappointed with the opening half an hour.
02:34He said this decision to take Dinger off after half an hour wasn't about Dinger specifically.
02:37He just needed to change something in the whole team.
02:40And he was also asked about the penalty decision, and also the try-out right yellow card for
02:43diving. And I thought he was spot on, really. He just said it's not a day for me to talk
02:47about refereeing because we weren't good enough, and I don't think one decision would necessarily
02:50change the game. And I thought that was spot on as well. So, yeah, a really disappointing
02:55one from a Sunland perspective, but I think ultimately you have also got to take a step
02:59back and say that it's been a really positive start to the season. And I thought there were
03:03some good signs on show today at times. I just think it's one of those where maybe when
03:07Sunland reflect on it, they'll kind of see that they need to get back to the basics of
03:10what they've done really well this season. But I always felt that the Man Utd crisis thing
03:15was a little bit overblown when you look at their players. And certainly having Casemiro
03:18and Ahmad back today made a huge difference. These are top, top quality international players.
03:23And we are, unfortunately, going to have days like this this season. So, no need for panic,
03:27but I think a lot that Sunland will reflect on and be a bit disappointed by. So, yeah,
03:31as ever, there's still loads more to come, both in the coming days. Analysis over on the
03:35Sunland website and stacks of stuff over the international break as well. So, thanks for
03:39watching. Thanks for listening. Hopefully, some of this has been horrible, despite the
03:44horrendous conditions here in the northwest.
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