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Showing content with the highest reputation on 25/02/19 in all areas

  1. Considering how much I’ve been dreading this fixture for months I’d have definitely taken the draw beforehand. Even now, despite all that went down on the day, I’m not despondent about the result. We needed to avoid defeat to go back to the top of the table and we did it, so I’m good with that. The performance though, that’s something else entirely. Results don’t always tell the story of a game. This one did. Two teams who did absolutely fuck all in attack and would not have scored if they played until May. There are different ways to draw a game and some are more palatable than others. A draw in which the two teams had gone at each other hammer and tong and had to settle for a share of the spoils is easy to feel good about. The “Great game for the neutral” draw. There’s also the draw in which you batter the opponent but just can’t score because of bad luck or the keeper having a worldie. That’s frustrating as hell but still provides reason to feel encouraged. The “We’ll get ‘em next time” draw. Then there’s the draw when you get your arse handed to you and somehow escape with a point. You look at that as a point gained, stolen even. The “Great Escape” draw. This though? Klopp summed it up perfectly when he greeted the Goblin at full time and said “fucking hell, what a shit game”. It really was. For us especially. Not so much for United, the plucky underdog looking to throw a spanner in the works of our title challenge. They’ll see this as a good day, and to an extent it was. They had a lot to overcome on the day, yet David De Sea probably hasn’t had an easier game all season. That’s really disappointing from our perspective. That being said, it is Old Trafford and given the amount of times we’ve gone there and suffered all manner of misery, coming away having gone top of the league has to go down as one of our best ever trips there, despite the utterly woeful play in attack. It’s hard for me to be objective here as I’ve had a harrowing week on a personal level. Having barely avoided a family tragedy on Tuesday, we were not so lucky a couple of days later. I’m not going to dwell on it here, some of you will know from Twitter and also the Members Forum, but the point I’m making is that in my present state of mind I’m unable to see the positive in anything, let alone a performance in which we didn’t seriously threaten the United goal even once. I mean fucking hell, in a game in which we were the only side actually trying to win, they still somehow had the better chances and went closest to scoring. It’s hard to see anything positive in that, other than that they didn’t put those chances away. Normally in this fixture they would, and I fully expected them to get a late winner. Thankfully Smalling fluffed his lines. Up until an hour before kick off I wasn’t sure whether to watch it or not. In the end I decided I’d watch it, as it was impossible to feel worse than I already did, but I’d made up my mind that if United went ahead it was going off. That never happened but on at least three occasions I almost switched it off anyway as it was clear from a pretty early stage that we were never going to score. I knew in the first half we weren’t going to score and although the hope in these situations is that half time adjustments and a kick up the arse from Klopp can turn things around, ten minutes into the second half it couldn’t have been more obvious that we weren’t going to score. In fact, despite adopting Jose’s parked bus tactics and having a centre forward playing on one leg, United somehow still managed to look the more likely winners. They didn’t have many chances, but it was still more than we had. Alisson made a brilliant save to deny Lingard and then a more straightforward one to keep out a Lukaku header. Credit to Robbo there for doing enough to put the striker off, and for somehow managing to get up and continue to play after having the full weight of Lukaku land on top of him. There was an Andy Robbo shaped imprint in the six yard box after that, and for a while it looked like he might join a casualty list that included Herrera, Mata, Firmino and Lingard. Mad really, so many players off injured and not a bad tackle in sight. Thankfully Robbo survived, as no-one needs to see Moreno starting any of our upcoming games. Set-pieces were a problem for us too. Well actually they weren’t, but it felt like they might be. Matip put the ball in his own net but Smalling was correctly ruled offside. There were other dangerous looking situations that were correctly given offside. We defended them excellently but it wasn’t good for the nerves. We gave away too many silly free-kicks and that high line that West Ham were able to exploit was tested to the absolute limit. United clearly had a plan to counter it (which basically involved touching it to another player first rather than just taking it) but the discipline of the lads remained strong and thankfully the linesman did his job. The idea of taking that extra touch is to throw off our timing and hope that someone loses their discipline and doesn’t hold the line. That never happened and you could see the concentration from all the lads. It’s always worrying when you’re relying on the officials to get close decisions right though. As for our set-pieces, the less said the better. We did have one chance when ol’ Big Bird Joel got his 50p head on the end of a corner, but no surprise it ended up six yards over the bar. It’s staggering that we’ve scored the most goals from set-plays this year. How shit must everyone else be? The general cause for people’s displeasure seems to be that although a draw at Old Trafford is fine in theory, it was an opportunity missed because of how injury ravaged United were and that they had to use all three subs before half time. Klopp actually used that as the main reason for us not winning, saying that the stoppages disrupted our rhythm and we never got it back. Are also said that the changes forced United to change what they would normally do, and therefore made them play differently to what we had prepared for. I understand the “they were there for the taking” grievance and sort of agree. But it’s not the missed opportunity aspect that bothers me, it’s just how utterly shite we were. Graeme Souness tried putting a positive spin on the performance on the basis that we dominated possession and generally kept United well away from our goal. Two points to counter that. 1. It’s easy to dominate possession when you’re the only team trying to win. Additionally, that United midfield was more worthy of the u23 league than the biggest fixture in English football. McTominay and Perreira?? Kinell. That’s the equivalent of us playing Ovie Ejaria and Herbie Kane. 2. It’s easy to keep the opposition away from your goal when they’re playing for a 0-0 and are effectively playing with ten men because the centre forward is injured and was only still on the field because they had no subs left. So no, sorry, you don’t get credit for those things as they were as much down to United’s lack of ambition (and personnel) than anything we did. It says a lot about the current state of both clubs that they can play like that, at home, and have the full support of their crowd in doing so. Stopping us winning was all that mattered and they were made up with the 0-0. Is that a victory of sorts for us? Maybe, I couldn’t really care less though. What they do is up to them. Besides, we’ve been in their situation too many times to mention over the past 30 years for me to get all superior about it now. It’s not nice when the only thing you have to play for is to try and throw a spanner in the works to prevent your most hated rival from winning the title. So I don’t care how they approached the game or how happy they are with a 0-0. What concerns me is how utterly fucking shite we were going forward. As I said, maybe my current state of mind is warping things for me a little, but to me this was as bad as anything we’ve seen all season. Ok, we were probably worse in Belgrade (and Naples was bad too), but other than that we haven’t seen anything to rival this. United’s approach didn’t make it easy for us, but we come up against shite teams who just want to defend all the time, so we’ve had more than enough practice. For some reason though when we go to Old Trafford the forwards all stink the place out. None more so than Salah. That’s twice now he’s gone there and arguably been the worst player on the pitch in both games. I was actually glad when he got subbed. In fact, it probably should have happened sooner and no doubt would have done if our bench wasn’t so weak. How many times is Mo going to try the same thing before he realises it’s not working? Get the ball, back to goal, turn straight into the defender. Over and over and over. Fucks sake. Here’s a thought, maybe go a little bit wider, isolate your man and try and get a one v one instead of staying so narrow and running into a packed box all the time. Or hey guess what, maybe work a little triangle or two out wide. Yeah you know what’s coming next but I don’t care. That’s right, I’m gonna bang on about Man City getting around the sides and how we don’t do it enough. I don’t think we did it once in this game. Not fucking once. I’ve got no doubt whatsoever that City would have put three or four past this United team playing like that. We’re not City though and it’s an unfair comparison in many ways. We’re not financially doping the shit out of everything. We don’t have Sane, Mahrez and Jesus to bring off the bench if it’s not going well. We lost one player and the whole thing turned to shit. Bobby going off should have seen Salah and Mané step up their game to compensate. Instead they both took a massive dump on the edge of the box and then rolled around in it. As for Sturridge? What’s the point anymore? I mean why was he brought on? Jurgen couldn’t seriously have thought he was going to get anything more than what he got from him, surely? Last ten minutes when you need a goal it makes sense. Starting him at home against a bottom half team is something you can get away with too. He’s still got magic in his boots around the box, but asking him to come into this game early on and do anything is only going to end in disappointment and frustration. Bobby going off screwed us completely and if he’s out for any length of time then, quite honestly, we’re fucked. We might get away with it against Watford and possibly even Everton, but we need him back asap. Sturridge’s first involvement was to ridiculously shoot from about 40 yards. I’m not even going to condemn it though because it was the only shot we had on target in the whole fucking game. Yeah, it was a pea roller and didn’t trouble De Gea, but there was maybe a one in a million chance it might have gone in. Remember Collymore against Tim Flowers? If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. That’s not to say I want everyone taking pot shots from 40 yards, but I’m not going to take Sturridge to task for it when he was basically the only one who took a shot in the entire fucking game. Of course, after that he disappeared completely and probably should have been subbed. Klopp had plenty of choices as to who to bring off, and not enough good options in terms of who to replace them with. He subbed a furious Henderson, causing an unsavoury little scene on the touchline when the skipper blanked him when he offered a customary handshake. Klopp went back and told him off, and a suitably chastised Henderson then shook his hand. I kind of see why Hendo would be annoyed as it’s not as though he was having a bad game. He was alright, but the forwards were all shite and we needed to try something a bit different. Klopp understandably felt there was little point in bringing Shaqiri on for one of the front players as that’s not going to shake anything up, so a midfielder had to go and it was Hendo. It could just as easily have been Gini but it wasn’t, and Hendo didn’t like it. Personally I’d have moved him to right back and subbed Milner instead. He was on a yellow card and although he was getting forward and finding space regularly, his deliveries into the box were shite. Broadly speaking though, I have no real issue with Hendo being taken off and neither should he. Klopp looked agitated and pissed off throughout. I get it. He was watching that performance and wondering just what the fuck they were doing. You could see how bemused he was at times by what he was watching. His changes did nothing to help the situation though. Bringing Sturridge on first was definitely a mistake and it was a mistake that should have been corrected, even if it meant making Sturridge look like a tit by subbing him. Shaqiri should have been the one to come on for Bobby, with Mo moving inside. Alternatively, if keeping Salah out wide was non-negotiable, then go with Origi. At least he’ll run and put himself about. All Sturridge did was pick the ball up 50 yards from goal and lay it off five yards to whoever was nearest to him. When Shaqiri belatedly came on the game had completely drifted into nothingness anyway. He was never going to make the kind of impact he did in the meeting between the sides at Anfield and other than one sweeping 40 yard ball to Robbo I barely remember him doing anything other than fouling someone and getting booked. He almost seemed to be playing as a second right back with Milner at times. You want him around the box but he spent most of his time nearer the halfway line. Same as Sturridge really. They were coming deeper and deeper to get the ball because we couldn’t sustain any possession high up the pitch. In a game like this, you need something different. Someone who can get beyond the forwards, make a run to either get the ball or drag defenders away and create space for Salah or Mané. Ox was great at that, but isn’t that why we bought Keita? How he didn’t get on the pitch in a game like this is staggering to me. He’s been improving game by game and this was perfectly set up for him to come on and at least try to make the difference. Instead we got Sturridge, Shaqiri and eventually Origi. Did anybody think for a second any of them were going to do anything? Keita probably wouldn’t have either, but at least that would have been a logical change. The sooner Ox comes back the better. It would also help if Trent rediscovered his best form and stayed fit for the rest of the season too. I don’t blame Klopp for not picking him in this game because he looked rusty as fuck against Bayern and we’ve got two more games coming up this week. He needs to come back in and play well, because he gives us an added dimension that we can’t replace when he isn’t there. This is all pretty negative so far, which I don’t think is solely due to the dark place I’m in. It was a dire performance, there’s no getting away from it. You can’t dismiss it as just being an off day either, because since the turn of the year we’ve been bad more than we’ve been good. “Oh we’re top of the league, why are people not happy?” some cry. I get it. I really do. No-one expected us to be where we are and it almost seems ungrateful not to just be falling at the feet of the team and praising them for what they’ve done so far. There is another side to it though. Having done so well to put themselves where they have, that brings hope, expectancy, and a higher standard of judgement. When they fall below the standards they’ve set for themselves, people will worry. We’re top and that’s an incredible effort considering what the lads are up against. You can’t really blame fans for being agitated though when it wasn’t that long ago we had a chance to go ten points clear. TEN POINTS! Imagine that. Now it’s one. Ok, the ten point gap never happened because we didn’t get the rub of the green at City and suffered our only defeat. No cause for alarm there. We had a chance to go seven clear a few weeks later. All we had to do was beat Leicester at home. Didn’t do it though. Oh well, beat West Ham and remain five clear, that’ll do, no need to be greedy after all. Nope. Lucky not to lose that one actually. And just like that, we’re in a situation where we needed at least a draw in what is traditionally our worst fixture of the season just to avoid being overtaken. So yeah, we’re top and nobody should try to diminish what a phenomenal effort it has been to get there. But we’ve drawn four of our last five games in all competitions. Since the start of 2019 (disregarding Wolves in the cup when it was a scratch eleven) our record is P 8 W 3 D 4 L 1. Only one of those wins was convincing and it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re spluttering along and just hanging on grimly. The hope is that we can now kick on again and sprint for the line. The worry is there might not be anything left in the legs for the sprint finish. The truth is though none of have any idea. For weeks I’ve been saying we’ll have a clearer idea of where we are after that United game. Now I’m not sure. Position wise it looks good, sure. That was the game in hand and we took something from it to ensure we have a slender advantage over City. If we were playing well I’d be somewhat more relaxed about things and if we beat Watford and Everton this week I’ll be much, much more relaxed about things. Carra made that point after the game and he’s right. If we can come out of United, Watford and Everton and still be ahead of City, we’re in great shape as that’s a massive test we’d have come through. The draw with United won’t look bad at all providing we win the next two, but then I said the same thing after Leicester and we went and fucked it up at West Ham. The odd draw doesn’t do you any harm, but if you bunch them together it catches up with you quickly. Spurs have lost seven games this season and they’re only six points behind us. Seven defeats? They should be miles back but they haven’t had any draws so they’re still just about in touching distance. I look at the league table and it’s great. Looking down on everyone with only 11 games left? Hell of a job so far by Jurgen and the lads. Only one defeat all season and that was a knife edge game against the reigning Champs. Brilliant effort, I might be wrong but I think this is still the best season we’ve ever had points wise. I watch the games though and more often than not I’m thinking “what’s wrong with the attack?” It stems from last season and the high bar they set themselves. Maybe it was always going to be impossible to repeat that but I genuinely thought they could. They’re all in their mid 20s and coming into their prime and last year was their first season together, so if anything they’d only get better, right? Hasn’t happened though. That’s not to say it won’t, but they’ve taken a couple of steps backwards this season. Thankfully the rest of the side have taken a couple forward. Maybe it’s just a dip in form. Maybe it’s tactical (have we been found out?). Maybe it’s tiredness. After all, they were all at the World Cup and none of them are ever rotated. Maybe last year they caught lightning in a bottle and this is just a natural reverting back to the mean. It’s probably varying degrees of all of the above. The defensive side of the game is why we are where we are but if we’re going to stay there then the forwards need to step the fuck up now, starting this week against Watford and Everton. Star man? *Blows out cheeks* That’s hard. Fabinho and Gini were decent and Alisson made a decisive save when we needed him to, but I’ll go with Van Dijk. Not even sure why, it’s not like he was exceptional or anything, but he did what he needed to and I can’t think of anyone who was better. Team: Alisson; Milner, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson (Shaqiri), Wijnaldum; Salah (Origi), Firmino (Sturridge), Mané:
    7 points
  2. Well fuck me that was fast. Brought the missus down to the maternity hospital at 10.30. They told us to go home as she was a few days away from giving birth. Got home at 11.30, I went to bed, the missus woke me up at 1.30 saying we had to go back in. The baby was born at 2.05. Fucking crazy. So all in all, not a bad day
    6 points
  3. Negged for having a weird Sturridge fetish.
    4 points
  4. If Labour don't demand and push through a second referendum them I'm going Green. Full on fucking crusade for the plants and the lawns.
    3 points
  5. Alan has emailed his colleagues at the BBC.
    3 points
  6. Replays are currently wrecking the coverage of games on TV. Directors now think we need multiple replays for any and every incident, no matter how banal or obvious it is. And when a keeper can throw the ball out and his side can reach the other end of the pitch in about eight or even fewer seconds, if you show a replay after a save you'll miss the entire counter-attack. Only directors seem to be oblivious about this. Yesterday, for example, Alisson made a save and immediately they showed a replay of it. And when they finally cut back to the action, we had a throw-in right by their corner flag. It's moronic direction. The half-time break ought to be where many of the replays happen, not while there's action on the pitch.
    3 points
  7. Get Trent, Shaq and Keita in. We'll really give them a game if we field 14 players.
    3 points
  8. Two joints, a donut, a snickers and a chocolate milk shake. Feels pretty perfect about now.
    3 points
  9. May I refer you to Cicero. You helmet.
    3 points
  10. I'd imagine Salah will play centrally and Shaqiri will come in to the front three. That's what I'd do against Watford if Firmino can't play.
    3 points
  11. Always thought 'It's My Life' was brilliant.
    2 points
  12. Purdah put a muzzle on the papers and Corbyn got more popular and May got less popular in the space of a matter of weeks if not days. It's that simple. Every Labour leader since Blair has been singled out and destroyed by the press, none of it for policy or leadership reasons.
    2 points
  13. Bet that's rise in debt due to unpaid bills from grannies who are still alive rather that have you switch them off.
    2 points
  14. The term EX PATS for British people that move to another country. If anyone moves to the UK, you're deemed an immigrant, but the British call themselves ex pats when they nice away...
    2 points
  15. The problem is any 3 pairing of Hendo Gini, Fabinho and Milner offer the square route of fuck all when looking to force the play. Very few goals or much in any of them. Milner has looked on his last legs the past few months. Gini is a better player than Henderson for me. Should only be 2 of them and keita/Shaqiri for remainder of the year. We need a spark in the middle and someone needs to fucking step up
    2 points
  16. Luckily we have Sturridge to come in and wear crutches as well.
    2 points
  17. Argument about squad depth? Man City spent twohundredfuckingmillion on fullbacks...they’ll probably spend another m80-100 this year on fullbacks without mentioning the other positions. We are playing tennis with a cricket bat and still fucking winning. Their triumphs will always have an asterisk next to it.
    2 points
  18. Good to see he's still pitching programme ideas.
    2 points
  19. about to get a hell of a lot more exciting and stressful. The missus is going into labour and we're on our way to the maternity hospital soon
    2 points
  20. Jaws is fucking brilliant, went to see it about 5 years ago at the pictures when they reduxed it & it was a magic experience. I even got to say to the boy when I bought the tickets, "What's it about, mate?", one of the highlights of my pathetic existence. Duel is my second favourite Spielberg film behind ET though, it often gets overlooked.
    2 points
  21. Anyone who lays flowers where a shitbag has been killed, especially more than a year after it happened. Tree by ours where some scrambler wanker got pancaked about five years ago looks like the fucking Sistine Chapel.
    2 points



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