OFFICIAL: Manchester United v Liverpool|Saturday 14 October|12.30pm|Sky Sports Premier League

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Liverpool struggle badly at home against teams who don't over-commit players forward and stay in their shape. The manager is under a lot of pressure as they've dropped loads of points recently and been walloped 5-0 off City. So do people honestly think our manager is going to look at that and go "Yeah let's just go there and try and play expansive, open football against a team who thrives on robbing teams of the ball in their own half and exploiting big spaces."

Yeah let's do that, with Jones and Smalling at the back, lose the game 3-2 and in the process give Liverpool a massive confidence boost, take the pressure off the manager and break our unbeaten start to the season.

I think you worry too much about liverpool. like jose.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Liverpool struggle badly at home against teams who don't over-commit players forward and stay in their shape. The manager is under a lot of pressure as they've dropped loads of points recently and been walloped 5-0 off City. So do people honestly think our manager is going to look at that and go "Yeah let's just go there and try and play expansive, open football against a team who thrives on robbing teams of the ball in their own half and exploiting big spaces."

Yeah let's do that, with Jones and Smalling at the back, lose the game 3-2 and in the process give Liverpool a massive confidence boost, take the pressure off the manager and break our unbeaten start to the season.

What about somewhere in between? Trying something crazy like scoring a goal or having a shot in the 2nd half are a bit outlandish for Manchester United to try it seems.

Originally Posted by Alan

What about somewhere in between? Trying something crazy like scoring a goal or having a shot in the 2nd half are a bit outlandish for Manchester United to try it seems.

Yeah United have been notoriously goal-shy in the 2nd half of games this season.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Yeah United have been notoriously goal-shy in the 2nd half of games this season.

What has that got to do with this game? United didn't have a shot in the 2nd half today.

Originally Posted by utd99

Which makes it more perplexing that we looked utterly petrified to take a chance. Liverpool are not that good, and their best player was out. We never even tested their biggest weakness. Baffling.

Don't disagree with that.

But, as I've said all week, better United sides than this have failed to hurt worse Liverpool teams than this. I don't think we intentionally didn't test them. Lukaku, Mickey, Martial and Rashford all came out second best against players they are superior to.

I don't blame the system. We were just shit.

Originally Posted by Alan

What has that got to do with this game? United didn't have a shot in the 2nd half today.

We were shit second half. Our passing was poor, we lacked composure and too many front players had off days. I don't think it had anything to do with ambition.

The way to play Liverpool is exactly like we did. We just didn't execute it properly.

we were disappointing, especially in the second half. however, let's not pretend that we haven't put in dogshit performances at anfield before, even under sir £#%&!er.

a point, considering injuries etc, is more than acceptable. it can't be 4-0 wins every week. we are clearly massively improved from last season.

Originally Posted by Billy Redface

Don't disagree with that.

But, as I've said all week, better United sides than this have failed to hurt worse Liverpool teams than this. I don't think we intentionally didn't test them. Lukaku, Mickey, Martial and Rashford all came out second best against players they are superior to.

I don't blame the system. We were just shit.



We were shit second half. Our passing was poor, we lacked composure and too many front players had off days. I don't think it had anything to do with ambition.

The way to play Liverpool is exactly like we did. We just didn't execute it properly.

Give over

Of course it has as when you have so little of the ball and then when you get it you’re deep and isolated makes it very difficult for your attacking players to play well

Originally Posted by Jack Duckworth

we were disappointing, especially in the second half. however, let's not pretend that we haven't put in dogshit performances at anfield before, even under sir £#%&!er.

a point, considering injuries etc, is more than acceptable. it can't be 4-0 wins every week. we are clearly massively improved from last season.

I think the issue is the approach rather than the performance

We’ve had shit performances their before but generally went there with the intention to take the game to them

Under Jose in these big away matches we don’t even have the intention of looking to play well
It’s all about being defensively organized and hoping we nick something
It’s shit to watch

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Give over

Of course it has as when you have so little of the ball and then when you get it you’re deep and isolated makes it very difficult for your attacking players to play well



I think the issue is the approach rather than the performance

We’ve had shit performances their before but generally went there with the intention to take the game to them

Under Jose in these big away matches we don’t even have the intention of looking to play well
It’s all about being defensively organized and hoping we nick something
It’s shit to watch

We didn't have the ball because we kept giving it away.

Young got forward plenty in the first half and couldn't cross for shit.

Mickey picked the ball up in good areas in the final third and kept dwelling on it.

Martial had some decent moments and drew some fouls, but mostly ran in to traffic.

As did Rahsford when he came on.

And Darmian's distribution from the back was appalling as ever.

Him being selected over Blind is my consistent gripe, but our options are poor back there.

I think our intention was to do more on the counter after initially quietening the crowd.

We just didn't do it.

Originally Posted by Cream

Meanwhile, Klopp:

'You can play this way (defensive) in Manchester but we cannot play like that here, not at Liverpool!'

presumably it's just coincidence that they've failed to win the title since the backpass rule was changed.

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Give over

Of course it has as when you have so little of the ball and then when you get it you’re deep and isolated makes it very difficult for your attacking players to play well



I think the issue is the approach rather than the performance

We’ve had shit performances their before but generally went there with the intention to take the game to them

Under Jose in these big away matches we don’t even have the intention of looking to play well
It’s all about being defensively organized and hoping we nick something
It’s shit to watch

Exactly. Shit performance, defensive formation, 0-0 result are all acceptable from time to time, especially somewhere like Anfield. But to spend the 2nd half kicking balls into the opposition half is too far, we've been great on the counter this season, no reason we couldn't even attempt it today.

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Give over

Of course it has as when you have so little of the ball and then when you get it you’re deep and isolated makes it very difficult for your attacking players to play well



I think the issue is the approach rather than the performance

We’ve had shit performances their before but generally went there with the intention to take the game to them

Under Jose in these big away matches we don’t even have the intention of looking to play well
It’s all about being defensively organized and hoping we nick something
It’s shit to watch

It amazes me how many excuses are made. It's not as if it was a top side either, it was the vermin with their shit defence and their best player missing.

Mourinho was mumbling on about the vermin having too much pace between the lines in his interview afterwards, basically admitting he shit the bed.

This United side isn't set up to park the bus very well either. Lukaku's hold up play is crap and Mkhitaryan needs runners off him to be effective so it's not even as if he's played to United's strengths, he's just scared of the vermin

Originally Posted by Alan

It amazes me how many excuses are made. It's not as if it was a top side either, it was the vermin with their shit defence and their best player missing.

Mourinho was mumbling on about the vermin having too much pace between the lines in his interview afterwards, basically admitting he shit the bed.

This United side isn't set up to park the bus very well either. Lukaku's hold up play is crap and Mkhitaryan needs runners off him to be effective so it's not even as if he's played to United's strengths, he's just scared of the vermin

This ffs. It was hardly a masterclass in frustrating the £#%&!ers. It was just a £#%&!ing mess.

Originally Posted by andyroo

This ffs. It was hardly a masterclass in frustrating the £#%&!ers. It was just a £#%&!ing mess.

A mess

Yeah no organisation at all.

If we were a mess, why didn't Liverpool batter us? Why couldn't they create anything?

You could question the lack of chances and football from us, but a masterclass in frustration is more or less exactly what it was.

We nearly always shit out at Anfield. Players shrink. Even if we win, it isn't easy and never pretty.

Honestly, when was the last time we went there and played beautiful expansive football?

We've had a couple of 3-1s 20 years ago and our most composed attacking performance under LVG still ended up with us beating them 2-1 against ten men.

The 94 side blew a three goal lead (a high scoring game exception)
The 96 side lost 2-0.
The 99 side blew a two goal lead
The 08 won 1-0

Even the famous o shea winner was a horrific game and performance.

It's a horrible fixture where our team seems to mostly shit out to one degree or another.

In the circumstances (injuries, international break) and the context of our start to the season, it's an instantly forgettable and meh result.

It's a daft as people thinking we'd go there and smash them.

Originally Posted by Billy Redface

If we were a mess, why didn't Liverpool batter us? Why couldn't they create anything?

Because they're shit.

Having played shit there before doesn't make it all right either for crying out loud. Must we be shit there forever because we were once in 1979?

Originally Posted by andyroo

Because they're shit.

Having played shit there before doesn't make it all right either for crying out loud. Must we be shit there forever because we were once in 1979?

You were still in your dads sock in 79

Originally Posted by Billy Redface

Don't disagree with that.

But, as I've said all week, better United sides than this have failed to hurt worse Liverpool teams than this. I don't think we intentionally didn't test them. Lukaku, Mickey, Martial and Rashford all came out second best against players they are superior to.

I don't blame the system. We were just shit.

I didn’t blame the system, or Mourinho for that matter, unless he was telling the players to play that poorly. Sitting deep and countering is two parts, not one.

How many times did we just boot the ball into the crowd or hoof it forward? Why is it asking too much for the players who are supposed to support Lukaku when he’s isolated to actually make an effort and support him? Why is it asking too much of Smalling to play a five yard ball a yard or two in front of someone so they can move onto it instead of having to check back or stand stock still and invite the press? Why do we take seven passes to work it back to De Gea to punt when the first player could have done that himself from a better position? This was VG revisited.

Originally Posted by Billy Redface

A mess

Yeah no organisation at all.

If we were a mess, why didn't Liverpool batter us? Why couldn't they create anything?

You could question the lack of chances and football from us, but a masterclass in frustration is more or less exactly what it was.

We nearly always shit out at Anfield. Players shrink. Even if we win, it isn't easy and never pretty.

Honestly, when was the last time we went there and played beautiful expansive football?

We've had a couple of 3-1s 20 years ago and our most composed attacking performance under LVG still ended up with us beating them 2-1 against ten men.

The 94 side blew a three goal lead (a high scoring game exception)
The 96 side lost 2-0.
The 99 side blew a two goal lead
The 08 won 1-0

Even the famous o shea winner was a horrific game and performance.

It's a horrible fixture where our team seems to mostly shit out to one degree or another.

In the circumstances (injuries, international break) and the context of our start to the season, it's an instantly forgettable and meh result.

It's a daft as people thinking we'd go there and smash them.

Precisely. Nothing wrong with people wanting us to have done better - we were shit. But we so often are there.

One to pass over as quickly as possible - get Pogba, Bailly back ASAP and try and get something from the next two league matches.

If we can stay within shouting distance of city up until feb then who knows - they’ll £#%&! up at some point.

Originally Posted by andyroo

Because they're shit.

Having played shit there before doesn't make it all right either for crying out loud. Must we be shit there forever because we were once in 1979?

I know it's very top red to dismiss them.....but no they're not. They score a lot of goals if you don't defend well against them. If you do, you can nullify them. We did.

We were shit coming forward, but we were hardly a mess. If we were, we'd have lost.

No. Not once since 1979. Numerous times. With some of the greatest sides we've ever had. Historically, this shows that this fixture often becomes a war of attrition.

Originally Posted by utd99

I didn’t blame the system, or Mourinho for that matter, unless he was telling the players to play that poorly. Sitting deep and countering is two parts, not one.

How many times did we just boot the ball into the crowd or hoof it forward? Why is it asking too much for the players who are supposed to support Lukaku when he’s isolated to actually make an effort and support him? Why is it asking too much of Smalling to play a five yard ball a yard or two in front of someone so they can move onto it instead of having to check back or stand stock still and invite the press? Why do we take seven passes to work it back to De Gea to punt when the first player could have done that himself from a better position? This was VG revisited.

I think you're being pedantic. The wider point is that we did our job in terms of one aspect of the game, but not the other. The system step up to stop them, first and foremost. That part worked.

What didnt work was the counter attacking.

Too many players had off days and too many players panicked at key moments. Also thought Liverpool got better as the game went on and forced us back more. The lack of an option on the bench in midfield didn't help.

We still have too many players at the back who are shit on the ball and that shows when you're trying to break from the back.

I don't diageee with what you're saying in terms of what you saw. I just think it was down to how we executed a plan, rather than the plan itself.

Once it got to 80 mins, both sides looked scared to lose it. As I've said elsewhere,klopp did £#%&! all to open that game out either. Seven points behind and at home and he still leaves his two holding midfielders on.

Originally Posted by Billy Redface

I know it's very top red to dismiss them.....but no they're not. They score a lot of goals if you don't defend well against them. If you do, you can nullify them. We did.

I think you're being pedantic. The wider point is that we did our job in terms of one aspect of the game, but not the other.

they missed about three open goals. that's not us nullifying them. that's them being shit finishers. that's not being pedantic. that's just waking the £#%&! up.

The only really weird thing Tombstone Teeth did was taking off Salah and Coutinho. That was a bit of a relief. Don't think they had much of a chance after that, but that was them stopping themselves, nothing we did.

Anyway it's over with minimum damage. Wanted better, but apparently the "winning mentality" everyone was shiting on about before the game is no big deal after all