We have a laugh on here and there are loads of OT threads and long may that continue. However a challenge to you all. After each game I'd like to see a post match analysis posted here for us to discuss the pros and cons of the last game. Rules are...... No one liners ("We were ****." etc sorry Zingy) Positives and negatives so take a step back and look at the whole picture before posting a rant. This is a serious thread for debating our performance, no wums allowed I'll remove any innapropriate comments. Football discussions only No clique bollox I'm happy for other team supporters to join in but the above rules apply. If it's popular I'll sticky it or just make sure it gets bumped now and then.
Would love to see how he gets on in the first team - not sure if he's ready but would be a good experiment.
I'm actually quite confident of us getting the result at OT. MUFC are a wounded animal and they seriously lack real creative quality without RVP (bar Rooney). My only concern is how we control the midfield and this has been my worry for a long time. I get the feeling that once we take a lead in any match, we invite too much unnecessary pressure.
We'll see how the thread goes once we have a match to talk about as Jimmy says it may wander about on different topics but it is to remain football related.
Positives Suarez got 90 minutes under his belt We didn't give them any decent chances apart from the goal Negatives Lots of decent play, unable to create any good chances only 4 shots on target our of 20odd No Coutinho, lack of creativity again Another goal conceded from a set piece.
Disappointed with how soft their goal was.. And so early on. But overall we can take heart from that, Suarez made a massive difference to our game and that's the best Gerrard and Lucas have been so far this season, so plenty of encouragement there. Sturridge didn't look sharp tonight, I'm still not sure on whether or not he's match fit - But a trio of him, Suarez and Coutinho will be deadly.
Just another example of how we miss Coutinho. His off the ball play pulls defences apart and provides so much space for the likes of Henderson and Sturridge to piece things together, not to mention his sublime on the ball play. We looked horrendously stagnant today, we showed none of the 'win the ball back within 6 seconds' philosophy and we seemed to forget the 'move' part of 'pass-and-move'. There seemed to be a real lack of interest and even elements of fatigue which seems bizarre are this early stage of the season. Mignolet and Henderson continuing to be the only players I feel who have been excellent in every single game so far. Sturridge, Lucas, Gerrard I will single out for being particularly lacklustre. Credit to Skrtel too for being a rock at centre back. Today also showed, yet again, our complete ineptitude at corners, whether defending or attacking them. Enrique is fantastic in the standing tackle, and great on the overlap, but his lack of footballing brain let us down horribly today. Poor, poor defending to let Hernandez go. Suarez needs more match-fitness. That's all I can say about him at the moment.
That game reminded me of why I love watching Suarez play. He needs a few days on the treadmill though
Sorry but how is one less competition to worry about a positive? We're not in Europe so should have been looking to stay in all competitions as long as possible. It's frustrating that so many people think this is a 'nothing' cup - we weren't saying that when we won it. It's just an excuse that people use when a team get's knocked out in my opinion.
I think you could count it as both a negative and a positive. We want to be in the cups and win trophies but we also need top four. We should be able to manage both but ATM we're struggling to manage ninety minutes (tonights the exception)
Always hate losing to United. Always hate losing... ... on the plus side its only the coccup its united away... yes we had a big advantage in that moyes is their manager and they had a somewhat weakened team today... but losing there by one goal is excusible in our current state. No surprise we conceeded in 2nd half. Overall though my confidence is ebbing... we win 3 somewhat flukey games in which we relied on scrambling the ball the last 45mins and some amazing heroics from Minnie. Then we drop points against a weak swans and screw up against Soton badly. I'm not knee-jerking here but I'm not convinced we are better off than last year (at least end of last year). Sunder will be reinvigorated now... it is a match we can easily lose. 3 losses on the trot... that feel good factor will evaporate. We need to improve dramatically if we want Europe. Coccup exit isn't a big deal... if you have to get knocked out of the coccup... might as well do it early... and I'm not too bovverd... but... league performance has to improve. Its not too late... and most of our problem games have been 2nd half fitness.
I really don't agree with any of you. We were by far the better of the sides on the pitch. It was certain that Suarez needed the game and his lack of match fitness showed; as did the lack of playing time with Sturridge. I have to accept that we still have not worked out a defence system for corners and set pieces - but then that problem has been with us since Rafa's days!
I only got back from work to catch the 2nd half, from what I saw a bit of luck, better final ball or a more confident finish and we would have got the goal we needed, we played well and deserved to get a goal it just didn't happen.
We were by far the better side. However, we had a flash back to the season before last when we could do everything but put the ball in the net. Sure it wasn't quite clicking but all the signs were there. What it did show was that Moses is not a Coutinho However, I really cannot understand all this talk of Gerrard being lazy. It's just plain wrong.
Did we actually shoot on target? Can't recall De Gea making a save? The final ball was awful and when we did get a opportunity we hit it wide. The closest efferts we have were the Suarez freekicks! Fair enough if you think we were the better side but there is absolutely no way was we was "by far" the better side. IMO, they were better because they tried to attack and score rather than maintain possession. 0-0 wouldn't have been unfair on either side.
