Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United: In game and Post Match discussion

Heres the thing about the Scum.

They wont be making the top four anytime soon.

And yet you still couldn't score. 

Smiley faces suggest your quite happy with that performance Keith? If you are you know F**k all about football lad!!! You may be lucky and bore yourselves to 8th place

And yet you still couldn't score. 

Is that what you lot have come too though? Spending sh*t loads of money season on season to still be unable to go toe for toe with half decent teams away from home?

Players bragging on twitter saying 'come on!' And how 'proud' of each other they are.

I think you lot executed your game plan to perfection last night, but it was still only good enough to rely on the best goalkeeper in the league/world, and still only good enough for a bore draw.

Is that what you lot have come too though? Spending sh*t loads of money season on season to still be unable to go toe for toe with half decent teams away from home?

Players bragging on twitter saying 'come on!' And how 'proud' of each other they are.

I think you lot executed your game plan to perfection last night, but it was still only good enough to rely on the best goalkeeper in the league/world, and still only good enough for a bore draw.

Exactly mate, and that's why I'm not too down about it today.

Hardly tactical genius, but they did set up to nullify our attackers playing between the lines and disrupt our build up play, which they did successfully. That said, we were awful and for half an hour barely put two passes together. Even in the second half we rushed passes or took the wrong option once too many times. The few times when we made a good decision in the right moment we opened them up.

The fact is, that despite us playing pretty badly and impatiently throughout, despite their "perfectly executed" gameplan (putting aside all talk of whether such an expensively assembled team should feel proud to play that kind of football), despite all that the only thing that stopped us coming away with 3 points was two world class saves from de Gea.

cant believe we have signed another goalkeeper that flaps

It was a terrible match after all the hype before hand.
I actually thought that as the away team, Utd did exactly what we expected...they had a go from the start and closed up shop in the second half.
It was up to us to break them down and deliver that extra push to grab a winner, which we were unable to do. I blame this partially on the international break which ruined our momentum, but also a lay blame at our midfield combination of Hendo/Can/Coutinho who at times were too slow and indecisive in their decision making.
Players like Mane, Firmino and Sturridge never really got into the game to use their pace or strengths coz the ball was moved up too slowly  and inevitable they came deep to look to get onto the ball.
We saw the difference once Lallana came on and we had quicker forward movement, immediately we looked a threat.
For those still wondering what Wijnaldum brings, i think you saw a glimpse of what was missing yesterday...everytime Can or Hendo turned back toward the goalkeeper or defence, i found myself screaming at the TV to move it forward...its the link that Gini provides between defence and attack, and it was missed.

A draw is not the worst result and i reckon we will start regathering momentum again until the next international break.

When this thread was made I said that we would be in for a tough, frustrating night and we would find it difficult to break them down. We never do well against well drilled organised teams. We don't have enough quality in our team to break those teams down. As much of a c**t that he is, Mourinho can set a team up to not lose a match and that's what he did last night. I thought a large amount of our supporters were being a bit delusional going into this game thinking we would batter them 5-0.

Moving on to the game, I thought we were poor, especially in the first half. We weren't pressing, we weren't moving the ball quickly enough and when we did have the ball we were going sideways and not forward.

My season ticket seat is at the back of the upper centenary. Not the best place for atmosphere but what you do get is a good view of the pitch. You can see the movement of all players clearly and we had none in the final third at all. Sturridge has come in for a lot of stick after last night and I've seen some posters even suggest his legs have gone (rubbish), but he had no service what so ever. We weren't getting anywhere near him. We were sh*t down both flanks, I don't remember Mane touching the ball in the first 45 and it was noticeable how little Clyne & Milner got forward too. Can had a terrible time in the middle and Hendo wasn't much better. United were the better side in the first half, I don't even remember us having a chance, they were better in possession and they gave us no chances.

Second half we played a little bit better and Lallana made a difference when he came on. United went very, very negative and sat back behind the ball, playing 6 in defence. They were clearly playing for a draw. I was hoping we would use Mane more but whenever he got the ball he drifted inside with it, rather than hogging the touchline and looking to get in behind. He was up against Blind who he would leave for dead in a race, so why didn't we focus on that?

We had a couple of chances /shots which might have gone in if United didn't have a world class keeper in between the sticks. Still though, our play and movement in general was poor throughout the game and we didn't do enough to get the win. We didn't deserve it.

Very frustrating night for us and we need to find a way to break teams like that down. Sometimes we need a plan B. Saturday will be the same when WBA turn up. Pulis is another one who can organise a team defensively and we are going to find it difficult. Its games like that where we drop too many points and we need to find a way to win them. I've said it a few times on this forum but I worry we don't have the quality to unlock tight defences.

Matip was my motm. Kept a grip of Ibra all game. He looks like the best CB we've signed since Sami.

cant believe we have signed another goalkeeper that flaps

Same thing was said - rightly so - about de Gea when he signed for Utd. Give the lad time, he's young. I was more annoyed at his poor distribution last night, something he's meant to have as a strength already.

What the F**k are the FA upto how come we have to play West Brom twice in a week!

Exactly mate, and that's why I'm not too down about it today.

Hardly tactical genius, but they did set up to nullify our attackers playing between the lines and disrupt our build up play, which they did successfully. That said, we were awful and for half an hour barely put two passes together. Even in the second half we rushed passes or took the wrong option once too many times. The few times when we made a good decision in the right moment we opened them up.

The fact is, that despite us playing pretty badly and impatiently throughout, despite their "perfectly executed" gameplan (putting aside all talk of whether such an expensively assembled team should feel proud to play that kind of football), despite all that the only thing that stopped us coming away with 3 points was two world class saves from de Gea.

I agree with everything you said mate. United were negative, but thats up to them. We were poor ourselves and we need to improve.

I felt Coutinho especially at times in that first half was trying to be the hero when a simple ball would have been better.

We will get injuries troughout a season and we have to be able to adapt. Injuries to Wijnaldum and Lallana really did seem to effect us.

Not the end of the world, but the nagging feeling is United always seem to manage a point at Anfield and then to beat us at Old Trafford. I hope we are able to get something at their place in a few months time.

l think we learn two things last nite, emre  is a  great player but too slow for way we play, and pain me say these Daniel Sturridge lost lot pace from injuries he had,

l think we learn two things last nite, emre  is a  great player but too slow for way we play, and pain me say these Daniel Sturridge lost lot pace from injuries he had,

On Emre.  Started really bad - agree.  But he wasn't alone.  It was his first league start this year and he did improve throughout the game along with the rest of the team.

On Sturridge difficult to say if he's lost the pace from the injuries but it just didn't look right for him last night.  His first touch was hopeless.  Let's hope it was just an off night for him - but if it isn't there are two other strikers there who should be given their opportunity to see if they can do better.

I agree with everything you said mate. United were negative, but thats up to them. We were poor ourselves and we need to improve.

I felt Coutinho especially at times in that first half was trying to be the hero when a simple ball would have been better.

We will get injuries troughout a season and we have to be able to adapt. Injuries to Wijnaldum and Lallana really did seem to effect us.

Not the end of the world, but the nagging feeling is United always seem to manage a point at Anfield and then to beat us at Old Trafford. I hope we are able to get something at their place in a few months time.

I agree and I also felt Can's decision making left a lot to be desired last night. We sorely missed the creativity of both Lallana and Wijnaldum. In all honesty though the game was never going to be as cut and dry as some made it out to be and it's hardly changed things after the weekend. Two points off top with an over balance of home games moving forward. The advantage is still very much to us.

cant believe we have signed another goalkeeper that flaps

Give the lad a chance. He's new and young. For all we know he could be the next De Gea. He flapped in his fledgling days and he's now arguably the best keeper in the world.

I think it's becoming more and more obvious unfortunately that Studge is no more than a luxury player for us and is increasingly clear he doesn't fit in with Jürgens style of play. Still a classy act on his day, but his days at Anfield are numbered if you ask me.

Dare I say it, I think Ings suits our type of game play more than Studge. Perhaps he may have made a difference if given 20 mins last night. Was he on the bench ? didn't notice.

cant believe we have signed another goalkeeper that flaps

Foreign keepers, in their first season in England, tend to do that, evenue De Gea, who is arguably the benchmark for keepers in the league right now.

We should have ripped them a new one in the second half, they put the bus into reverse and were unwilling to undertake any consolidated threat.
Their crew on the shitecaff were made up with the half chance when bollocks sent a cross in with nobody within 20 yards of it to get a foot to it!!
Once again had it not been for De Gea we would have taken 3 points.

They play like a side with mid-table aspiration, that is exactly what they will achieve with Mourinho closing down any kind of attacking tactics from his players; that and the fact he does not seem to have a team capable of intimidating the opposition to any extent whatever.

Just gone past the United and Liverpool bars in Marmaris, one set of supporters are happy with the result, one ain't. I feel our lads played the fixture and not the actual game, harried themselves into mistakes and, because of that, some became far too cautious in their play. United were very lucky to end with only four yellows.

Last night confirmed just how great it is to be a Liverpool fan. Under our manager, there is no way we would visit a rival and play to not lose as opposed to wanting to win. ManU fans cannot say the same now with their manager. It was a typical Mourinho away display, and I couldn't imagine having to try to be excited for such boring play.

We should have played better, no doubt but we were without two of our key men for most/practically all the match. We dominated play in the second half, and what an impact Lallana made. Still, we needed to create more genuine chances than we did.

And, is there a more despicable duo than Fellaini and Herrera? Can't decide which one I hated more last night.

They play like a side with mid-table aspiration, that is exactly what they will achieve with Mourinho closing down any kind of attacking tactics from his players; that and the fact he does not seem to have a team capable of intimidating the opposition to any extent whatever.

Is right Stu.
They are and now will be a mid table side.
They've had their time in the sun.
We are still ... on the overall haul ... one trophy in front of them but that gap will widen again .
We gave them two and a half decades to catch up.

Was last night the best they had ?  The lowest possession % since stats were taken ?

Their tactic was the only one they could play. They had no Plan B.

Movin on .......

Outright F***ing gibberish from Mourinho - goes in tandem with the F***ing nonsense reporting by BBC Sport/Man U supporters group. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37685976

Have to give mention to the ref Taylor last night who I thought had a very poor game.

It was a very astute tactical choice by the authorities to have him oversee our game, and he worked hand in hand with Mourinho to ensure that we could never get going with our flowing attacking football. Every time we went forward we were fouled, and time after time, Taylor would just give a verbal warning. I recall on two occasions I really thought he must have given a yellow (such was the nature of the foul, consistency of the fouler, and the way the individual was spoken to) but no, just a warning.

Ibra could have had 3 yellow cards, but ended up with just 1. Rashford could have had a yellow in the first few minutes.

The ref basically sat back and allowed Man Utd to break up our player, and with his reluctance to show the cards, he enabled the players to each make 3 or 4 fouls before they would have to worry. Perfect for Mourinho.

As for that "foul" that Coutinho was pulled up for in the Utd box just as he turned in the direction of the goal.. absolutely ridiculous. If anything, Coutinho had been fouled.

What of Can? On his shot, replays show Smalling was clearly pulling at his shirt, and prior to that some Utd play had kicked at his ankle. Possibly 2 penalty shouts not given.. and the ref came out of this with no-one asking questions.