We dominated that second half. We had enough chances to win. All the shots were straight at De Gea. We snatched at them all. We totally dominated that second half..
I've been saying this for a while, but that isn't an aberration - it's a feature.
Our playing style is to create quick chances, at pace, with the least amount of time and passes possible between getting the ball and shooting. It's the central aspect of gegenpressing - vertical transitions, high-speed chances.
Normally, it works like a charm, because defenses just aren't fast enough to react to that style of play. But when we play against the big sides and they have a lot of men in the box, their defenders are good, and quick enough to close down the space when we do fashion chances. So we have to snatch at them more, because they're arriving in shorter windows of opportunity.
We will still win a lot of games that way, but there's times when we won't, because a great goalie (like De Gea) can cover his angles well enough to deal with the snap-shots that result. Whereas, if we had a more patient, probing game, we might see fewer shots, but more quality ones, where the player receiving the ball has time to turn, run and stick it in the corner.
But that would involve drawing the likes of Manchester United on to us and then playing behind them, releasing runners on the counter (like Dele's chance). Or playing it side to side for 60 or so minutes, waiting for the right moment to spring a great chance. We do that less, because teams are wary of just that, and because (in the latter case) it doesn't suit our players.
Long story short, it's a feature. We will still win most games playing the way we do, but occasionally this happens.
What's important is to *not give chances away* at the other end. And today, one mistake (predictably, from Trippier) did us in, and turned a draw into a loss.
