Bailey

I think this game did prove that Ancellotti knows nothing about football... We have a world class defensive midfielder in our ranks and yet he plays Mason Holgate in that position ahead of him. #Ancellottiout

If Eric Dier and / or Serge Aurier play, we have to get in and around them because they are mistakes waiting to happen. I can see this being a cagey bore-fest however I thought that last time!

Hopefully he will be fit in time for a full pre-season.

I think it causes more problems when a CB is in and out with injuries because it is probably the most important position to have some stability. I would still rate him as one of our better CB's and if he goes, we would need someone else in because Keane and Godfrey are too passive together and Holgate isn't good enough to play week in week out.

I dont see Koulibaly coming to a midtable side.

Godfrey for me. Holgate an admirable second.

That was embarrasing. I get that injuries dont make things easy but that was turgid. No intent or plan of how to win that game. I will focus on the positives that I can find and that was Godfrey and to a large extent Holgate as well. Dont get me wrong, Holgate looked like a defender playing in midfield, but at least he looked like he had played football before (Im looking at Davies here). Some big last ditch tackles and blocks from Godfrey. He really impressed me. Hopefully we have a few more fit for Friday.

As an example, in the Utd equaliser from the Cavani shot Lloris did what you would expect from a keeper in this situation.

Yeh it did but it is unusual to see the keeper get set and then move to the near post when the ball goes in off the far post. Looking again, you could also park a bus between his legs. Put it this way, its a shot that many keepers would have saved. Goals like that happen and so I am not blaming him for it but its another one of those pieces in the goal that could have been avoided.

The other point is that if James plays, Lingard probably doesn't. It again proves the point that players can be found in January.

Anyone see that disallowed goal for Utd? McTominay is deemed to have fouled Son in the build up to the Utd goal. Personally I think it was very harsh. Son clearly tries to pull McTominay back and McTominay tries to fend him off and accidentally catches him in the face. There have also been two other decisions involving accidental hands/arms to the face that weren't given as fouls. Just to add salt to the wound, Son has just scored. The game has gone mad.

The point about this is the word "eventually". That implies an element of hindsight which Keane didn't have at the time. I agree it was a very simple goal that could have been easily avoided by any number of individuals.

Ah okay, closing down doesn't matter. Having a spare man creating an overload doesn't matter. A keeper with poor positioning doesn't matter. Leaving a man completely free doesn't matter. I give up, I really do. Have a good day Pete.

I agree with you and Romey that it is something that should be looked at. The problem I have with that type of formation is it leaves you a body light in midfield when defending. Teams will go 3 v 2 and expose those two central midfielders and against decent players it will cause us all sorts of problems, especially when one of those two has to be Gomes/Davies/Siggy due to injury. That isn't just a problem in respect of chances against but our ability to get the ball off them. To make the most of the talent of someone like James, you need to be able to win and keep the ball as much as possible

I am sure he probably is a bit tired just as most players will be at this time of the season but I don't think that has changed anything. He is still doing the same things he was before but the ball isn't getting to him inside the 6 yard box as it was at the start of the season. That quality chance was never going to be sustainable.