[Will Singh]

Mignolet had more touches than Lukaku fecks sake

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

This game gave me flashbacks of LVG, we were lucky to escape with the draw.
DDG is the best keeper in the world right now imo

What? LVG was amazing in the big games, the complete opposite of today @ravi2.

 

[Foxbatt]

Spot on automaticflare. Where did this defensive formation come into this. Same team we always played. Herrera was piss poor today and he has no excuse because he did not get involved in any internationals. The same with Martial but Matic and Mikhi played in tough games so both would be tired. Valencia had tough game and a very long flight too.
So it was poor play by individual players that led to a poor game and not because Jose planned it this way. Yes we had not any options in the midfield that would have done anything for the better.

 

[Unmutual]

Meh. Crap performance, but Liverpool always raise their game against us and we rarely play well there. De Gea showed he's world class, Lukaku showed he isn't. We got a point and our worst away fixture of the season is out of the way. Move on and forget about it.

 

[Denis79]

Or been picked off by Liverpool and lost. It's literally impossible to predict what would have happened if we had played a more open, expansive, attacking game - the only thing that is certain is that we have a point today. Other documentary evidence (for instance Liverpool's record in big games against the top 6) suggests that the odds would have been in favour of them beating us.

As you say, you never know. Can't shake the dissapointment off though... I really believe that their poor defending and our attack that has improved alot would have been a deciding factor. Not even trying is what's dissapointing not the result or the players attacking performance, they weren't even given a chance to try. I think I saw 2-3 attacking runs by our full-backs the whole game? Way to catious considering our goal scoring form.

 

[King7Eric]

What’s last season got to do with it? You expect a new manager to boss those fixtures in his first season?

Re Liverpool. Their record against the top 6 speaks for itself.

Look mate if you're just gonna argue for this kind of football then so be it. Big matches are the spectacle this sport is built around, I cannot endorse deliberately trying to turn them into duds like Mourinho has been doing. Nobody expects him to boss those fixtures or score tons of goals, even 0-0 is acceptable as long as we are at least approaching them with the goal to win. But If you're one of those guys who's gonna try to justify whatever our manager does, then I don't think there's much to talk about.

 

[R'hllor]

This game gave me flashbacks of LVG, we were lucky to escape with the draw.
DDG is the best keeper in the world right now imo

Goldfish alert.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Goldfish alert.

goldfish, landlords, flashlights? I genuinely don't understand half your posts...

 

[Foxbatt]

The first option should be not to drop three points. Then get one point at least and if we get 3 so much the better. This is not an easy game.

 

[sunama]

It's Jose Mourinho. I think we all know! Those who don't, I feel sorry for.

You're jealous that you don't have him. Instead you have Klopp, with whom you will struggle to win a trophy of any kind.

 

[sunama]

Some consolation if some need it, we were not at our best and they still couldn't beat us.

LFC played well today. They played hard and were completely "up for it".
But as you said, they still couldn't beat us.
Our players just did not turn up. Even Herrera, who can be relied upon, to give an energetic performance was off his game.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I am glad we didn't lose, disappointed we didn't win, but a loss would have killed my weekend. I can cope with the result.

 

[SNes]

Been up for this game all week and had to watch us play like relegation threatened team.

 

[sunama]

Meh. Crap performance, but Liverpool always raise their game against us and we rarely play well there. De Gea showed he's world class, Lukaku showed he isn't. We got a point and our worst away fixture of the season is out of the way. Move on and forget about it.

My thoughts exactly.
And actually, I am not too bothered by getting a draw. LFC were the better team, so I am satisfied.

And another thing: wtf is with the doom and gloom in here? We played at Anfield against a team who treat this fixture like a Cup final. On top of which were currently top of the league.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

Couldn't see the match, but i was content with a point from this fixture before the match. Never an easy place to go for us.

 

[sect2k]

To all those who think they could have done better, go watch Mourinho's post match interview and then wonder why he is managing a club like Manchester Untied, and you are posting on an internet forum. This place is really getting unbearable with all the PES/FIFA/FM armchair experts.

 

[7even]

I am not sure where the defensively set up thing has come from. We basically played the same system as we have all season with young coming in for mata which I can understand. I could understand the defensive shout if we took out miki and put in lindelof.

We were forced to play defensively. Partly because Liverpool played well. However with mane out they had no real threat behind and we knew that and allowed them to pass the ball in front of us so it became easy for us to defend. Teams need to do this. It is a valuable asset.

That being said our attacking threat then needs to come from pace on the counter attack. Today we couldn't establish anything like that. Smalling distribution from the back was dreadful as usual and stopped a couple of counters. Valencia must have sliced ball out of play 3 or 4 times when we had chance to counter. Herrera and miki were absolutely awful on the ball. That's 2 of our midfield 3. Literally could not pass the ball 4 yards. Martial was ineffective except for the one two for lukaku chance. Lukaku himself didn't hold up the ball well although that was in part down to poor distribution into him. Rashford didn't get fed the ball once when he came on.

So now with all that said how the fook were we supposed to come and attack. We could t even establish a fundamental threat on the counter because s lot of our player simpler performed poorly with the ball. That is not down to manager it is just poor individual play. If we can't hit a counter which most of the time envolves a ball into space in the channel after transitioning how the feck are we going to control possession and establish dominance especially when 2 of our 3 midfielders had potentially their worst games ever for us with the ball.

Be glad that we can perform so poorly as individuals in attack but have a manager that can still ensure we don't do anything stupid and give away a game like Klopp has by having a foundational defensive solidity.

A point away at anfield and some are complaining, some of you need your head checked folks.

Very good post and I completely agree.

Put our injury list in to context and our performance was what I expected. Without Pog and using Smalling/Jones/Darmian in our defense our options to play ourselves forward with speed and quality from the back where limited.

Another thing was that a majority of our players performed below normal standard. Herrera and Mhiki had a nightmare in the middle. Bad positioning, poor passes and soft in 50/50 duels. Matic had a bad day at the office. He wasn’t bad but he looked tired and a little bit sluggish. That affected us very negative and made us vulnerable when when we lost possession.

It’s clear that without out a proper ball holder like Pogba we don’t have the tools to create clear counte attacks without losing defensive stability. I perfectly understand Mourinho and why he sets us up defensively against a energetic team like Liverpool. If we played a open box to box game we would had been killed.

Bottom line is that our squad isn’t deep enough to handle injuries to two our midfielders without we starts to look impotent in our counter attacks.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Or been picked off by Liverpool and lost. It's literally impossible to predict what would have happened if we had played a more open, expansive, attacking game - the only thing that is certain is that we have a point today. Other documentary evidence (for instance Liverpool's record in big games against the top 6) suggests that the odds would have been in favour of them beating us.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Reasonable first half but second half we offered so little.
Mkhi poor gave nothing to the forwards, Rashford provided little and Lingard must have disappeared down a hole .
Defended quite well and DDG was MoM even if he actually didn't have that much to do other than the great save with his feet.
Atkinson gave us nothing per usual and I think he has a personal grudge against Young.

Anyway we didn't deserve to win so happy enough with a point.

 

[sunama]

Out of interest, was the Stoke game, after an International break?
If so, we have 2 draws, both of which occurred immediately after an international break.

 

[King.of.Red]

well, 1 point is not bad. and thanks De Gea for saving us. I almost couldnt breath when he made that world class save for liverpool 99.9% must goal chance with his leg. amazing.

 

[Gasolin]

My thoughts exactly.
And actually, I am not too bothered by getting a draw. LFC were the better team, so I am satisfied.

And another thing: wtf is with the doom and gloom in here? We played at Anfield against a team who treat this fixture like a Cup final. On top of which were currently top of the league.

City is top of the league m.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Out of interest, was the Stoke game, after an International break?
If so, we have 2 draws, both of which occurred immediately after an international break.

Certainly was. We always have problems after international break and it was another away game.

 

[BullishBull]

Good result. Jose's tactics were spot on. I can accept that he set up to draw for 2 reasons.

1. Injuries. I think derbies are the games where injuries are the most likely. We played to avoid injuries to our players because at the moment, we don't have much cover. An injury to matic, lukaku or jones could end our title aspirations.

2. Complacency. Yes, if we attacked liverpool, we could beat them 4-0. If this happened, the confidence of the team could skyrocket. But I think that this more often than not leads to overconfidence and complacency. In this first half of the season, overconfidence is fatal. What we need is to keep grinding out victories and draws like this, while maintaining touching distance of the title. This keeps the team on their toes and alert for every game. I believe that is also what fergie used to do, which is why United used to be notoriously slow starters. In fact, I can't remember a single moment under fergie where a draw at anfield was a bad result, no matter how badly or negatively we played.

We drew, its over. Let's move on, the title is still on.

I have no idea how you think United could beat Liverpool 4-0 if United attacked. Mourinho doesn’t open up because he isn’t as dumb as Wenger and the others. If Mourinho opened up I’m confident we would score at least two goals.

 

[TheReligion]

We were also missing Mane, Lallana and Clyne. Don't think your prospects were bleak enough for that kind of approach.

Agree about the point fwiw.

The issue for United was the spine was weakened without Pogba, Fellaini and Bailly. That is our strength. It's like you lot without your attack.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The issue for United was the spine was weakened without Pogba, Fellaini and Bailly. That is our strength. It's like you lot without your attack.

Lot of physicality missing there.

 

[golden_blunder]

Big result! A big important point! Believe me!

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Thanks. For. That. :-)

A premier league trophy at the end of the season is what I'm most interested in to be honest.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Big matches are the spectacle this sport is built around, I cannot endorse deliberately trying to turn them into duds like Mourinho has been doing. Nobody expects him to boss those fixtures or score tons of goals, even 0-0 is acceptable as long as we are at least approaching them with the goal to win.

Exactly.
People on here went mad when Moyes said Manchester United must aspire to City but now defend a manager who is scared to play against Liverpool.

 

[King.of.Red]

I am glad we didn't lose, disappointed we didn't win, but a loss would have killed my weekend. I can cope with the result.

me too. every time we meet them, I'm satisfied as long as we dont lose. of course I hope next meeting with them at Old Trafford, we can show better performance and defeat them.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Thanks. For. That. :-)

A premier league trophy at the end of the season is what I'm most interested in to be honest.

And me but that isn't the way to go about it.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

And me but that isn't the way to go about it.

What, drawing away to your closest rivals and steamrollering everyone else isn't the way to win a league? It's certainly worked many times before...

 

[DomesticTadpole]

me too. every time we meet them, I'm satisfied as long as we dont lose. of course I hope next meeting with them at Old Trafford, we can show better performance and defeat them.

He won't play like that at OT. Also by March you would hope we are at full strength.

 

[tombombadil]

What, drawing away to your closest rivals and steamrollering everyone else isn't the way to win a league? It's certainly worked many times before...

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Fully Fledged]

What, drawing away to your closest rivals and steamrollering everyone else isn't the way to win a league? It's certainly worked many times before...

Not having the guts to play.

 

[Litch]

Not bothered once we didn't lose.....

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Not having the guts to play.

Nothing to do with guts, it is a tactic. I completely understand some people not being overly happy with it, but please don't pretend that drawing at Anfield is somehow a barrier to us winning the league.

 

[Escobar]

Exactly.
People on here went mad when Moyes said Manchester United must aspire to City but now defend a manager who is scared to play against Liverpool.

No one can defend Jose today. Poor attitude, poor tactics. At least give it a proper go, especially after mentioning the same in the presser

 

[MrSingh2002]

We were awful on the ball today. Nullifying an attack shouldn't mean we can't make a 10 yard pass.

In the circumstances with Pogba, Fellaini and Bailly missing a point is acceptable but we won't win the league playing with this tactic vs the top 6.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Nothing to do with guts, it is a tactic. I completely understand some people not being overly happy with it, but please don't pretend that drawing at Anfield is somehow a barrier to us winning the league.

It could very well be. City slaughtered them 5 (I know it was at City) while we don't even try to attack. Results like this against mid table teams cost us big last season.