18 Jan 2021 08:16:49
Neville said during the game we were playing Liverpool's reputation and not the Liverpool team and that struck a chord. Going to fortress Anfield when they are in their pomp means a tough game, a draw might be of merit, however, was that what it was yesterday? Or actually were United too afraid to lose against a weakened Liverpool with no crowd support? In honesty it doesn't get much easier than yesterday, yet we were full of fear.

As Micah Richards indicated we won't win the league doing that and we won't with a don't lose attitude. Much will be made of a point and still being top, yet there were Liverpool, no central defence and we resorted to sitting deep, denying space. It is the wrong mindset, it is the mindset of Mourinho who was lambasted for it.

If we really wanted to win we would have been more positive, put Bailly at CB enabling us to push higher because of his pace. Instead we sat deep and played Lindelof. Why didn't Cavani start? I don't understand the love in for Martial, why did Greenwood only get 4 mins? Why was Pogba on the right?

Whilst some glory in a point, City came right into the picture, Liverpool will come back and I suspect at the end of the season we will be scrapping for the top 4 again. I doubt anyone will run away with it this year, so our league trophy will be that, yay, closed the points gap trophy. A point is a point but yesterday was a missed opportunity to set out our stall as potential champions, show that we are back amongst the top two, yet we shivered in fear of losing. No doubt some will deny it but it is there in front of us, we could have rebalanced the situation, yet just didn't dare.

1.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 08:43:37
Agreed Redman. Shame on Solksjaer really for not having the courage to try and win.

Moreover, shame on Solksjaer for not having a plan apart apart from frustrating Liverpool; it's the mindset of Crystal Palace or West Brom.

The team selection was horrible and the tactics stank. I could have lived with trying to nullify them for 60 mins then making substitutions and going for the win but even that was obviously beyond the wit of Solksjaer.

I wanted Jose out because the football was rubbish and for the same reason I still want to see the back of Solksjaer.

Yeah sure Utd are top of the league blah blah blah but that's ANOTHER two hours of my life wasted watching joyless football. How many times has that happened in the last 7 years?

It really has come to something when Man Utd managers are scared or winning football matches and supporters are OK with it because they're so wowed with being top of the league.

Yesterday was embarrassing for Man Utd.

2.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 08:54:49
People need to get a grip the scouse are a good team .
Liverpool v United are normally crap games.
The same people who where saying we are average team with an inept manager think we shoukd put 3 on liverpool at there own place .
Redman think of all thd stuff you have posted and yet we sit top of the league and you still think you know better?

3.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 09:40:12
I think if we were sitting well off the pace in the table and played like that then it would be fair to say why didn't we go for it more but a draw away against a rival when we lead them isn't a bad result
For thirty minutes I feared the worst and I thought we were being given the run around and yet by the end there is a little frustration we haven't won . We didn't take the two best chances in the game and our keeper hasn't had a great deal to do
I understand you mancman that you don't want to see utd have so little possession and not attack more and it duznt matter to you who the coach is its just not the way you want utd to play, others seem to have no issue with a manager they approve of doing that but not one they don't approve of .
We sit top still i doubt we will win it but its the first time in a long time we are actually in the tittle race.

4.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 09:42:26
I agree with Neville and with Redman to a certain extent. But Liverpool did not play anywhere near the level that the 11 on the pitch are capable of. If they had we would have been well beat, and a point is a better result for us than it is for them.
Not to mention our 11 did not play well at all and should have done so much more. Have to agree on Martial - his form slump has gone on for 6 months now - too long for it to be considered a slump. We are cyring out for a CF and a winger to add to that front line.

We have setup to attack teams on many occasions this season - e. g. Leeds. I don't think we can expect the current squad to go toe to toe with everyone in the league yet. So i don't mind the pragmatic approach. The issue with MouMou was that he het up defensively agaist mid-table sides and Sevilla.

5.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 09:51:41
Liverpool haven't lost a home league game since April 2017. Three and a half years.

While a lot has been made about them being a "weakened" team due to injuries. Yet when I looked at their starting line up the only players I would consider to be first choice who weren't on the pitch was VvD and Gomez. They had their first choice goalkeeper, their first choice full backs, their first choice front three and all three of their first choice midfielders on the pitch (even if two of them started in defence rather than midfield) .

Fabinho started his career as a defender playing RB, he then moved into CDM and he clearly has the physical and technical ability to play CB and be a very good player there. I would argue his displays at CB this season have been better than any we have seen from our CB's this year. In fact several Liverpool fans I know think that Fabinho should be a starting CB for Liverpool in their strongest 11 alongside VvD in defence. With Thiago and Henderson in midfield with Jota playing a free role behind Liverpool's front three.

So while Liverpool are certainly struggling a bit for form currently, I would argue that their starting 11 isn't significantly weakened. When Liverpool were thrashed 7-2 by Villa earlier in the season they had what many would consider to be their strongest 11 out on the pitch.

Personally I remember something Sir Alex used to say about a winning team. He said that you always needed to add 1 or 2 players to a winning team to keep them up there. Players who weren't part of the success and are hungry to force their way into the side. Those players kept the others on their toes, and their hunger is infectious. I think Liverpool had that with Jota until he go injured. But with him out and the first 11 mostly being those who won the league last year they look tired and mentally drained. In need of a spark.

Could we have won yesterday? Absolutely, we had the more clean cut chances. While if we timed out runs slightly better in the first half we might have carved out an extra couple of chances.

That said, we made 33 clearances and blocked 8 shots. Had we not been so defensive solid and played in a more open manner then it highly likely that some of those clearances and blocks wouldn't have been made and we likely would have conceded.

The feeling I got from the match was that if we were a bit more adventurous we could have scored. Yet the facts suggest that if we were more adventurous we would also likely have conceded.

You'd be a fool to go to Anfield and try and out play Liverpool, especially with the likes of Maguire and Lindelof in defence and a midfield of Fred and McTominay.

Our best hope was to stay compact, defend well and try and hit Liverpool on the counter. It almost worked. But our forwards look a little jaded and out of form at the moment.

Greenwood is young and shouldn't be a player we should be relying on. While the lad has also had a hard time off the pitch and has been dealing with things few people of his age are equipped to deal with.

Rashford has been an absolute Trojan for us, playing through injury, and giving his all on the pitch. He looks like he needs a rest.

Martial continues to blow hot and cold. He does seem to struggle when he has competition for his starting spot. Some weeks he looks unplayable, while other like he can't play (or worse doesn't want to) .

Cavani is about to turn 34 and is playing in the EPL for the first time. When he has played he has moments of class that show through, but he does seem to lack the endurance to play at his peak level for 90 minutes.

Bruno looks exhausted, he has out ran every single United player, he has covered more ground than all bar 4 players in the EPL. That kind of physical and mental demands on him look like they are weighing him down. Personally with Pogba in the best form he has been for a while and with Fulham and Sheffield United up next I would rest Bruno for both games.

6.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 09:55:26
No one would suggest all out attack or going toe to toe but we were set up and played with an obvious fear of losing. Is that right for a team aspiring to win the league?

7.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 10:22:15
Red Man, we were playing the league champions on their turf. A team that broke records last season.

You seem unable to understand to difference between being cautious of a very good team and fear.

I don't think we played with fear, we were respectful of a team that on form is arguably the best team in the world.

Personally the only fault I could find with our performance was that we didn't take or make a couple more chances. I think a lot of that is down to both Bruno and Rashford looking jaded and tired. They need a rest, I think Ole has made a mistake in playing them in cup games where he could have rested them. Not playing them against City in the Semi might have had them slightly fresher for this game. Maybe they would have grabbed the winner.

This is exactly what I mean by saying we need to be selective over which games and which competitions we play our best players in.

I agree with you that ideally we should be going for every competition. But the reality is that we don't have Solskjaer and Sheringham, or Berbatov on the bench anymore to bring in. We have a kid and an old man (Greenwood and Cavani), Lingard and James maybe.

We don't have the quality in depth that we once had that allowed us to go full tilt at every competition with squad rotation that didn't impact the quality of our starting 11.

Our choices now are picking which games we send out a weakened team in or burning out our first 11 by trying to play them every game.

8.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 10:49:12
Red Man. Are we trying to win the league? You keep telling everyone how poor we are and you take every chance you get to have a go at the manager.

It was widely regarded that our season objective should be CL qualification and to close the gap on Liverpool.

Yet here you are complaining that we didn’t put 3 past Liverpool at Anfield.

Which is it?

9.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 10:49:27
I think realistically if you take the league position out of the equation we are challenging for the position of 'best of the rest' behind Pool and City. We all believe that the league position is slightly artificial and that we are not playing 100% how we would like the team to play (consistently), OGS sees the game pragmatically (which is possibly why he was so good as a super sub) and OGS decisions are not always as we think they should be.
With all of the above, I think it was obvious that we would play this way against a team that have been dominant in recent times. For all of his talk of wanting to be attacking I think OGS unashamedly has his eyes on what he wants and nothing from us will change that. At the end of the season this point could be crucial.
I want what we all want, attacking football. However, after the past few years I am willing to accept the way we are this year to be in the title race but hope that OGS develops a lot along the way.

10.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 12:16:08
Wazza

I am not complaining we didn’t put 3 past Liverpool. I am pointing out what the pundits also said and that is we set up not to lose, it was our mindset and I thought we should ha e found a better balance. I think it was a missed opportunity to win at Anfield because we were scared to concede.

11.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 12:47:09
So just to get this clear in my mind. Ole is useless. Rashford and Fernandes are awful. McGuire and Lindelof can't play together. Fred and McTom a joke. And inspite of all this ineptitude Utd sit top of the table. Yes city can win their games and take over top spot, but we are top.

Imagine we go on to win the league and we look back and read some of these posts. Sometimes it is just embarassing.

12.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 13:04:18
Dodgy imagine we don't win the league then would you be embarrassed by your posts?

13.) 18 Jan 2021
18 Jan 2021 13:07:55
Wazza, we are trying to win the league which should be the aim every season. The league is won by winning football matches.

I'm not suggesting that we shoud go to Anfield and play like Keegan's Newcastle, but we should try and win the game.

It's pathetic that the only way we try and score is playing off the cuff like a Brazilian beach soccer team. That's not a plan for winning football matches.

Shappy pointed out that our forwards looked tired. Knowing that we were playing Liverpool who are our current rivals for the title, why were they not rested?

We have very talented players in our squad who are not getting a look in (eg VdB and Mata) . Why can't Solksjaer find a way of playing that gets the best out of them so he can rotate his creative players?

Shappy also pointed out that Liverpool were at their weakest in central defense. So why leave out a rested Cavani and play an out of form/ crap Martial who isn't going to bother them at all?

We struggle to move the ball from back to front so why play McFred?

Bailly has been great but he gets dropped for Lindelof and Utd play 10 meters further back and we find it even harder to get the ball up the pitch.

Why no plan B? Bring on Cavani, DvB and Greenwood for Rashford, Martial and Fred at 60 minutes and we look a different proposition.

Sure, a point at Anfield is not a bad result but its the way in which Utd approach and played the game which is so disappointing.

JRed says that these games are normally dull affairs. That doesn't make it OK then to continue the trend and be on the back foot.

Ultimately I suppose it comes down to what you want out of football. Why do you watch and follow the game? For me football is about skill and joy. It's about managers outsmarting each other to gain the advantage and win games. It's about bravery and excitement which are things that were sorely lacking at Anfield yesterday (and against City) .