Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool - In game and post match frustration

We attacked when 2-0 down.
Got back to 2-2
Then backed off again.
Could have took a win today, they were shaking at the back but we took our foot off their neck.
We need a proper wide man which we haven't had since John Barnes

Nani,seriously could give any top Hollywood actor a run for his money,except for the looks though

No, we should vote him for the academy awards for the best actor on the pitch!

We spend too much time passing the ball around in our own half. We've been the same ever since Sammy Lee took over  as trainer. Get the ball up the field a lot faster as it puts the opposition defence under pressure before they can get set.

Poulsen and Konchesky have been very bad today.. I don't what RH see in them, therefore I think they are just RH's favorite pets.. Konchesky's bad position and letting in cross, well done.. No wonder Alex Ferguson like RH so much..

Unfortunately, I was at work whilst the game was on. I say unfortunately, but in a way I'm glad that I wasn't home to watch it because I know I'd be a whole lot more frustrated than I am now.

Just had a quick look through the highlights. Looked to me that we really struggled to get anything going in the first half. Torres looked a little abandoned up top. It really is a shame that Berbatov had to go and get a winner because I think we'd all be pretty content with a 2-2 result at Old Trafford - especially in the comeback manner.

I must admit though, if we don't put a run of good results together now I think we're really going to struggle. At the moment it's looking like a repeat of last year with the potential of being even worse.

Obviously it's too early to say just yet. Onwards and upwards now hopefully.

We attacked when 2-0 down.
Got back to 2-2
Then backed off again.
Could have took a win today, they were shaking at the back but we took our foot off their neck.
We need a proper wide man which we haven't had since John Barnes

Totally agreed. But did Roy notice that 2 times we attacked from the middle resulted in 2 goals and yet he still persist to attack from the wing when we are so slow to move down the flanks and the scums have locked all doors. Roy should be more involved to give instructions and not just sit there like a lamp post, players on the pitch may not know or notice how to exploit situations because they're too involved with the game, the manager will have to be there to tell them what to do next. At least Rafa jumps out of his seat from time to time.

We were poor in the air today.

Maybe swap Skrtel for Kyri?

although a Kyri/Carra partnership is gonna be extremely slow.

Don't know what tho make of the team after this result,were clearly a team that struggles with corners and crosses after all three goals today came from our poor defending again.Also look back at the last game where Birmingham were denied goals from free headers by Pepe!
I'm not going to start judging the team or the manager until at least Christmas.
Disappointed not to get anything from the game but we can go on about the ref, but did we look comfortable even at 2-2?

Just to add to my previous post...

I'm still not understanding the selection of Skrtel ahead of Agger. In my opinion, Agger is the better player.

It wasnt the usual- we went out fighting!
Try to catch some highlights,

From reading this match thread and a bunch of reports on the game it sounds like the usual When people on here are saying we were lucky to get 2 goals and the ref had a good game, then that lends me to believe we were absolute sh*t.

Some really short sighted comments on here.  Johnson was defending on the ball side of Giggs knowing full well he can outpace him if he does turn him and start going forward.  Had Johnson won the ball via intercepting, you think Giggs had it in him to win the ball back?  Not a chance.  Good aggressive defending in my book.  Not entirely fair singling out anyone for a poor team performance, it was like we were playing at 80%.

Reina didn't look at his best today.  Johnson did well I thought, he bears a lot of responsibility for being the creative output down the right flank.  I thought Konchesky was worse as he offered nothing getting forward and was probably slightly poorer defending than Johnson although he did have a tougher job.  Paying that much for him, I'd expect better - but not every manager gets it right 100% of the time.  Carra/Skrtel looked just not 100% either individually or as a team, however Berbatov has actually pulled the finger out of his ass this season and starting to find his old form.

Poulsen is far too determined to pass the ball back, but has the potential to win some good challenges.  Needs refining.  Just to go of on a tangent quickly, Lucas seems like he at least wants to keep the ball and passes back as a result, Poulsen looks like he wants to pass the ball back and keeps it as a result.  Gerrard was probably our best player on the field, which was nice.  Meireles looked pretty good for a guy playing in an unorthodox position, would've preferred him and Gerrard swapped but that doesn't always happen.  Still sloppy at times but he's against settling in (good idea to not play both Jovanovic and Meireles together who are both still settling in).  Cole looked decent on the left, took a little bit to get into gear but again picked up second half like the rest of the lads.

Torres wasn't at his best, I have zero faith in Hodgson's ability to bring the best out of him.  I'd comment on Maxi, but for the second game running I wasn't sure he was playing.  Should've been off shortly after the second half started when Hodgson's instructions didn't seem to set in.

Also, Skrtel is better suited to Woy's style of defending.  Yes, Agger is the better player but doesn't fit the system as well.  16th, not good enough.  Fact.

edit: stop blaming Howard Webb - he had a decent game (i only counted 2 mistakes - not carding Nani for simulation, not awarding a red for last man challenge, he also ignored a penalty claim against Carra which should have been given) certainly nothing match changing.  We got beat, let's fix it.  Of great concern is the lack of everything in the first half and we seem to wait until the second to get our ass into gear.

"I'm still not understanding the selection of Skrtel ahead of Agger. In my opinion, Agger is the better player." - I agree.

The only reason I can see that he's starting ahead of Agger is because Roy knew he'd have to take Konchesky off after 75mins, and that he needed Agger to play at LB. I guess he didn't want to risk Agger getting in injured and be left with no LB.

In all honesty I was prepared to give the ref a good walloping before the game, but he did reasonably well, did not side the scums openly, but sending O'shea off would be a tall order for him and he was fair to give us a penalty, not an easy thing to do at old toilet. But the fault really lies with ourselves with the TOTAL negative football/lack of urgency/lack of imagination on the offensive/poor marking/poor defending/ in both halves. These we can't fault Mr. Webb, can we? He was at least much fairer to us than before.

I agree with you about the off-field stuff but I really do not agree with the bit about winning trophies to win people over. The majority of LFC supporters support the club through the dark times as well as the good times. Waiting for the glory nights before deciding to commit yourself to a manager doesn't sound right to me.

First of all, I am not saying Roy has to win trophies to win me over, although that would be nice.  If we were relegated this year I'd still support Liverpool (it might even make it easier to get tickets, after the Yanks are gone of course ) so don't imply that I'm only after the glory times with LFC...we didn't have much of them in the 90s!!  Rafa won us over with a European Cup then carried that on to an established position in the top 4 and amongst Europe's elite, actually we were the best. Of course he then led us to 7th, no Champion's League football and got the sack.  Fair?  Not IMO although, as mentioned that was because of the board looking a yes man in Hodgson, and they got him. 

After 5 games we're 16th with a -3 goal difference under Roy but my main gripe that I have with him is his negativity, and not only on the pitch but in his interviews.  I may be being too harsh on him after today's game but I am just so pissed that after drawling level at 2-2 we didn't take the bull by the horns and try and win the game, instead we sat back and allowed them to attack us, inevitably scoring the winner.  I still stand by my opinion that taking Meireles off was a terrible decision and no excuse of his lack of match practice is acceptable, because he has had enough game time. Sending Aquilani on loan was a monumental F**k up, as was paying £4-5m for Poulsen, as was signing Konchesky.

Overall my problem with Roy is that he inspires no confidence in me, nor a lot of other fans, then how does he inspire confidence in the players who must already be low in morale as it is.  Torres is more isolated and frustrated than he has ever been and without him on fire, we are a mid table club at best.  It's up to Roy to sort it out and sharpish!

The guy's hardly had a chance to take his coat off and already you've decided that he's second rate? Maybe we are using different definitions of the word 'support'.

To be fair to people for slagging of Roy. They are probably not doing so just on his short time at Liverpool but, also they are judging him on his record and style of play throughout his managerial career and from what we have seen so far, it looks like he hasn't changed much.

Take today for example. Right from the start we may as well have had eleven defenders on the pitch, as most Liverpool players seemed to be inside or around their own box, certainly in the first half anyway. In the second half we did move out a bit more but, as soon as we got two back to draw the game, we went straight back to playing defensively and sat in and around our own area again and conceded another goal.

This has always been Roy's style of play before he came to us and this is why a lot of fans where not too enthusiastic with his appointment from the start. What we have seen so far does not give those fans reason to think Roy's style of football has changed and therefore this can lead to some justification of the criticism towards him we have seen.   

Some said the players are low in confidence, who gives them the right to be low in confidence considering they are paid 60k and above every week. The whip must be out, underperformed players to be shipped out in January and give the 2nd stringers a chance, at least they are hungry. But  ... but wait, we can't, the yanks will gladly accept that proposal. 

To be fair to people for slagging of Roy. They are probably not doing so just on his short time at Liverpool but, also they are judging him on his record and style of play throughout his managerial career and from what we have seen so far, it looks like he hasn't changed much.

Take today for example. Right from the start we may as well have had eleven defenders on the pitch, as most Liverpool players seemed to be inside or around their own box, certainly in the first half anyway. In the second half we did move out a bit more but, as soon as we got two back to draw the game, we went straight back to playing defensively and sat in and around our own area again and conceded another goal.

This has always been Roy's style of play before he came to us and this is why a lot of fans where not too enthusiastic with his appointment from the start. What we have seen so far does not give those fans reason to think Roy's style of football has changed and therefore this can lead to some justification of the criticism towards him we have seen.   

Second that. The capability of a manager is reflection of how a team plays, so far I haven't seen anything to suggest we are any different or better than last season.

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Reina, Johnson, Konchesky, Carragher, Skrtel, Poulsen, Meireles, Maxi, Cole, Gerrard, Torres.

Subs: Jones, Agger, Jovanovic, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Lucas, Ngog.

I think Lucas and Jova should deserve 1st 11 ahead of Poulsen & Maxi.
Reina not at his best.
And what really frustrated me is poor defending.

I think Lucas and Jova should deserve 1st 11 ahead of Poulsen & Maxi.
Reina not at his best.
And what really frustrated me is poor defending.

Thats all Rafa's fault though eh ?

I was out running a U 13s side and missed the match, even on the radio. The messages I was recieving from mates, suggested we were a lot better than of late, but reading on here, it sounds like RH tactics were negative again, and the good things happened when the playters took control and done their own thing. Will make my opinion if I see enough of it on the highlights tonight. Just pissed off the see we came back from 2 down, only to throw it away again.

Wait a minute, am I right to say that throughtout the 94 minutes we haven't tested their goalkeeper enough, except for the 2 goals, while they're swinging in crosses and shooting from all over the pitch? Sigh. Roy .... Roy please examaine the tactics again, too much of those side and backpasses and pinning ourselves to the sidelines is not helping ourselves at all. We attacked twice from the middle resulted in 2 goals.

Totally agree we were 2nd best and have to buck our ideas up to get some points on table ...16th bloody outrageous!!!  

If players are low in confidence or simply not performing you ship them out and replace them, but the board won't allow this.  Oh look, we're back at square one but it cost us nearly £10m to do so, we lost our voice at the highest tier of the boardroom and got a weaker tactician in lieu of someone who will probably get the best out of some of our weaker players but fail to bring the best out of our great players.  Brilliant.

I'm not as disappointed as most. But what bugs me was the lack of urgency and passion in the first half. And then when we got to 2-2, we had momentum and should of kicked on but brought on a defender instead, took off a creative midfielder and dropped back again.

If we went down 2-0, i would of been much less disappointed in a weird way if you get what i'm trying to say. The pain is there because we managed to fight back but left empty handed.