Rage Online

Well that game had everything for a neutral supporter. United go a goal down, then hit the post from outside the box, and the resulting clearance is chased upfield for a second goal. As on Tuesday, we get one back, and then are gifted an own goal by Coventry. So it's 2-2 with five minutes of added time. Coventry have a great goal which hits the underside of the bar, goes behind the goal line and spins back out on to the pitch. Highlights show it is clearly behind the line. Then 90+4 Fankaty Dabo manages to score another own goal to leave the match at 3-3.

I thought we looked far better on the wings, with nice passing play and overlaps, but lacking a centre forward who can knock the goals in. Conversely we are still shaky in defence and are leaking goals this season and we can't rely on having to score three or more goals every game to win. Good to see Shandon Baptiste back in his first league game.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, there is an alternative NSFW Coventry commentary to the highlights.
https://twitter.com/MarvellousMR_/statu ... 5319999489
I'm not quite sure how it works, I guess you type in the commentary and it gets converted into speech.

That was my first game of the season, having so far merely followed from afar, as best I could, via the matchday threads on the other place. On that somewhat limited evidence base, that game seemed to sum up the best and worst of our seas.on to date. Lots of possession, some great passing moves but also some static tippy-tappy, lots of crosses but our players unable to convert any of them. In terms of defence, I thought that overall we actually did OK. Their first goal resulted from either a misplaced wall or misplaced goalkeeper. Their second resulted from a rapid break when we were pressed very high, and their third was, as Slappy says, great. This is not to say that conceding three is really tolerable, but it was not like some of those other goals conceded in previous matches, with an inability to defend corners in particular. And, according to KR (I did not spot this) one of their goals came from a throw-in that should have been ours but which was given to Coventry instead.

Also, the two own goals came from us getting crosses into the box. I thought that, other than those two own goals, Dabo had looked real quality (and Duberry was not turned into a bad player because he once did that for/against us). I was impressed with Gorrin - but I do wonder if he was exposed at times because of Cadden's continual runs forward (which, if he is a key source of crosses, means we need to ensure we have players who cover effectively for him when he does get forward). I recall seeing Gorrin over towards the right back position quite a bit. Forde did OK but was exposed at times for lack of pace. Fosu and Baptiste brought real energy just as we were flagging. Henry once again demonstrated how good he can be.

Ultimately, the latter part of the game was one of the maddest I have seen in a long while - and whilst it is never great to concede three at home, I saw enough to feel OK about the rest of the season...so long as Agyei does not go and get injured any time soon. Everything I have heard about Thorne from colleagues who are Derby supporters suggest that, if he can stay fit, he will be a massive asset. We shall see.