Post match thread

[AFII]

Crouch is a million miles better than Kuyt and should've played today.

As for Kewell, he's ok but he has the reaction speed of a coma-victim and this wasnt ever going to work today.

No one Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin should have played today because no one of them is a good enough finisher.

Rafa should start to use the best midfield in the world in the best possible way instead of playing with a striker Crouch/Kuyt/Voronin that isn't good enough.

4-2-3-1, that is our best system if you look at the squad.

[badpiggy]

OK, some stats for the hard of thinking.

We had 20 shots, they had 4, and 60% of the possession. They scored from a ****ty sloppy goal when otherwise unthreatening, their other chances were counterattacking in the second half.

The better team lost, it's very very annoying - particularly when you have a 4 hour coach journey back - but for ****s sake some of you numpties are as usual (when we drop points) totally overanalysing it.

My only criticism of our performance today (other than switching off for the goal)?

**** crosses

absolutely - it's obvious no matter how many points we drop that we are still going to win the league...

[disco]

How many of those shots were actually threatening though?

Kewell volley (and subsequent Torres header)
2 Gerrard shots
1 Gerrard free-kick
Torres cross/shot
Babel shot
Kuyt waft at a cross (on the rare occasion we made a decent cross)

[Craig_H]

No one Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin should have played today because no one of them is a good enough finisher.

Rafa should start to use the best midfield in the world in the best possible way instead of playing with a striker Crouch/Kuyt/Voronin that isn't good enough.

4-2-3-1, that is our best system if you look at the squad.

So you'd go with:

Pepe
back four
masher alonso
babel gerrard yosser
torres

Yeah?

[Craig_H]

Kewell volley (and subsequent Torres header)
2 Gerrard shots
1 Gerrard free-kick
Torres cross/shot
Babel shot
Kuyt waft at a cross (on the rare occasion we made a decent cross)

Oh christ, dont throw all those at me, i've not seen it on the telly yet!

I can only, at this stage, give you the benefit of the doubt.

[disco]

absolutely - it's obvious no matter how many points we drop that we are still going to win the league...

I'm not sure how you managed to twist my words, but congratulations

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

I sometimes wish Rafa brough such and such on, like Crouch for instnce, I wanted him on at half time, but there was no way Rafa was going to sacrifice his pressure machine (Kuyt) which would have a big effect on the team, to introduce a player that would force us to use route one for the next 45 mins.

Here's the thing.

Why should we play route one just because Crouch is on?

And to be honest I don't think we do just becuase he's on. We were doing it long before he came on.

Let's be honest, it's deeper rooted in our football, against top class opposition we generally lack composure and belief in possession.

Perhaps the answer is better players, perhaps the coaching isn't good enough, perhaps it's the tactics, perhaps it's the philosophy.

Whatever it was today, it was a shambles. We never looked like scoring.

[bazza76]

OK, some stats for the hard of thinking.

We had 20 shots, they had 4, and 60% of the possession. They scored from a ****ty sloppy goal when otherwise unthreatening, their other chances were counterattacking in the second half.

The better team lost, it's very very annoying - particularly when you have a 4 hour coach journey back - but for ****s sake some of you numpties are as usual (when we drop points) totally overanalysing it.

My only criticism of our performance today (other than switching off for the goal)?

**** crosses

Overanalysing it why don't you give us a pie chart showing our possession and shots
While we are on the subject, I am sure the goal was their first shot on goal today too, before that we had something like 8 attempts to their 0.

[AFII]

So you'd go with:

Pepe
back four
masher alonso
babel gerrard yosser
torres

Yeah?

----------------Reina
Arbeloa----Carra-------Agger-----Aurelio
----------Masch------Lucas------------
-----Babel------Gerrard----Kewell-------
----------------Torres------------------

I think this is our best starting XI when everyone is fit, and yes, I would play Lucas instead of Alonso.

[Dan]

Overanalysing it why don't you give us a pie chart showing our possession and shots
While we are on the subject, I am sure the goal was their first shot on goal today too, before that we had something like 8 attempts to their 0.

And you'd be right

[Sir Bob]

On the whole we weren't good enough today. We had plenty of possession but never really looked like scoring. We created next to nothing and our only 2 chances came from crosses VDS cocked up. We badly lacked enough guile and craft to open them up in he fianl third.

They didn't create much, but didn't need to. A point was always going to be a better result for them than us, and if they pinched a goal it would be a bonus.

The strk truth is we still aren't good enough. We've played the other top 3 teams at home and picked up 2 points. We may have been unlucky at times but equally we haven't been good enough in those games as a whole.

The league has gone for another season and once again its the cups and a top 4 finish as our aims.

[disco]

Oh christ, dont throw all those at me, i've not seen it on the telly yet!

I can only, at this stage, give you the benefit of the doubt.

Were you not there?

Redknapp and Gullit will only piss you off....

Fact is we didn't score, they did. You don't often see much magic/creativity in these games, they're high intensity with lots of challenges, no time on the ball and plenty of mistakes. Man U were ****ing good in defense and very professional (read 'cheating *******s') with their tackles/dives/time-wasting.

I look back at the 3 games against the other top 4 sides, and can't believe we only picked up 2 points. However, I honestly believe it's just appaling luck other than any significant problem.

This is the best squad I've seen us have in 16-17 years and we've destroyed teams this year (including Chelsea), bit more 'luck' and we'd be on 40 points at the mo., not Man U

[bazza76]

Here's the thing.

Why should we play route one just because Crouch is on?

And to be honest I don't think we do just becuase he's on. We were doing long before he came on.

Let's be honest, it's deeper rooted in our football, against top class opposition we generally lack composure and belief in possession.

Perhaps the answer is better players, perhaps the coaching isn't good enough, perhaps it's the tactics, perhaps it's the philosophy.

Whatever it was today, it was a shambles. We never looked like scoring.

I don't think we should, but you just know that Rafa sees it especially against a midfield and attack with Uniteds quality as the best way to avoid it, especially if someone with the lack of pace like Crouch is on, he won't run around a pressure like Kuyt does, and unless we play Torres deeper or take him off and replace him to accomodate Crouch as the main striker, we are missing a cog. Just my opinion.
I wouldn't say against top sides we lack composure and belief, we beat united in the cup last season, add Barca to that and the Chavs etc, aswell as an undeserved defeat to Milan in the CL Final.
It is apparent to me we need more quality, more tallented footballers of the highest quality, we are in the richest league in the world, with richer teams than what we possess. Unless Rafa is given time to bear the fruits of the youth squad, we need new additions to the first team asap.

[Craig_H]

Were you not there?

Redknapp and Gullit will only piss you off....

Fact is we didn't score, they did. You don't often see much magic/creativity in these games, they're high intensity with lots of challenges, no time on the ball and plenty of mistakes. Man U were ****ing good in defense and very professional (read 'cheating *******s') with their tackles/dives/time-wasting.

I look back at the 3 games against the other top 4 sides, and can't believe we only picked up 2 points. However, I honestly believe it's just appaling luck other than any significant problem.

This is the best squad I've seen us have in 16-17 years and we've destroyed teams this year (including Chelsea), bit more 'luck' and we'd be on 40 points at the mo., not Man U

I was there, but being at the game in person is less effective for me, when it comes to remembering all that happened, due to the emotion, the atmosphere and the fact that you're miles away from the action in most cases.

I'm always the same after a game, it's all a bit of a whirlwind and i remember certain bits, but the tv footage often fills the gaps for me.

[disco]

Overanalysing it why don't you give us a pie chart showing our possession and shots
While we are on the subject, I am sure the goal was their first shot on goal today too, before that we had something like 8 attempts to their 0.

I just analysed it. Generally the team with most shots should win etc. etc. Man U weren't that threatening, but were defensively very strong.

OVER-analysing is when you ignore everything you've watched, focus on the result and decide everything's wrong and the world is going to end