Bailey

I dont think its an issue.

Yep course he was.

He is just pissed that he hasnt thought of it before!

I think it was more to exploit the lack of pace in WBA's defence and the likelihood of them pressing higher up the pitch due to the new manager. When he scored the other week (Soton I think) there was barely a bad word said against him, yet he played the same way he has been in pretty much every game this season (although I would agree the WBA was below that standard, albeit mainly the second half).

I think its more to combat complacency if anything else.

Bollocks. No way.

Sooner or later though, we should have Deulofeu or Barkley available to play in those positions as well. If need be we can have Pienaar in the centre and swap with Osman at the end considering we have Mirallas, Naismith, Deulofeu and McGeady to play out wide. We do need a new player in the middle but I dont know where we are going to find one in this market and at the inflated prices.

One swallow doesnt make it summer or whatever that damn saying is! haha He was excellent in pre-season too and the other wide men have been poor or injured. Apart from the recent games, I dont think he has been starting week in week out either but I could be wrong. Of course he can fit into their team if they change the way they play but is Moyes going to do that? Is he fuck... He will be an improvement that's for sure but are Utd going to see the best of him? I doubt it, because they haven't seen the best of Kagawa yet and they play in similar ways (in terms of how they create and utilise space). With Rooney and RVP it means Mata will be used in more of a 4-4-2 and that then leaves Utd exposed on whichever wing he plays on. Must admit that I have never been completely sold by Mata. I thought he was at his best under Di Matteo when I did think he was excellent but that was the only time I thought he was worth the figures and praise being mentioned. I still think this might just be a ruse and Mourinho will wait till the last minute to pull the plug!

I don't see why we would need to rest Barry. They have had a decent amount of rest period in the last couple of weeks so I would keep him and McCarthy together in midfield. I think Osman looked shattered last time because he had to do a lot of tracking up and down that wing, especially given how the game developed, so I would be happy enough with him playing as the attacking point in the midfield. His guile and craft will be more than enough to pick apart a lower league defence. Back 5 picks itself in my eyes (Stones RB) so that leaves the wingers and I would go with either Mirallas or McGeady on the right and Pienaar (if fit)/ Naismith on the left. Grant wouldn't be a bad shout actually if he is ready. He looked solid in this position in one of the pre-season games I saw. Up front I would start with Lukaku probably, hopefully get in front early and then bring on Vellios rather than the other way around.

Personally I don't think it is the market to be buying too many players. I fully understand why we want/need players to come in but I wouldn't want to risk pissing that money up the wall or 3rd or 4th choices if there is the potential for the 1st or 2nd choice to be available in the summer at a more suitable fee. The suggestions so far are that both Kone and Gibson could be back before the end of the season in some capacity (both are more than likely going to be squad fillers at this stage anyway) and with Deulofeu looking like he is close to a return and possibly Pienaar/Barkley we probably don't need anyone else after these next couple of weeks. As long as two of those three come back sooner rather than later we will be in a healthy position once more and we can kick on again.

You don't know what question was asked of him, because in all fairness to him he was used as a target man in the last game and it clearly doesn't suit him. Its probably the first game he has been used in that way though and seems like a bit of a naive thing to say.

He doesnt have an option Matt. He is head and shoulders their best player at the moment. They would be even more fucked without him. Kagawa and Mata are similar in the way they play and if Kagawa isnt playing often etc I dont see Mata coming in amd doing a whole lot better. The most important aspect of the signing will be the morale boost that it brings to the club.

Tbh it would be funny if it was just United in general, its just an added bonus that Moyes is in charge!

Only one team wanted to win it really as well and as normal it took them conceding a goal to kick into life. Gotta be one of the worst penalty shoot outs i have seen though and apparently Englsh players missed 4/4!

That's what I thought tbh... Ran into trouble rather than using space.

I dont really see how Mata would fit into the team unless Rooney/RVP were injured. I think G Neville mentioned it on MNF and it just doesnt really work with how they play unless they drop one of the front two. Afterall they have a similar type of player in Kagawa that doesnt really see daylight.

I think we did for the most part. Mirallas dropped onto Yacob whenever we lost the ball but he looked to play more off Lukaku than just ahead of the midfield.

This. Jags and Distin were excellent before they both got injured and Stones has held his own but hasn't been as good as either of the other two (as expected given his age/experience). Its not like he is dropping out of the side never to be seen again like it happened in the last regime.

Liverpool 2 - 2 Everton Baines

Mirallas did play alongside Lukaku yesterday and at time we were more 4-4-2 than our usual 4-5-1. At one stage they showed that both Oviedo and Mirallas were ahead of Lukaku in their average position (as we were trying to get in behind). Personally I think its more important for us to have someone who can play as an out and out midfielder in that role, as opposed to an attacker. We needed that player to find space, get his foot on the ball and then look at bringing others into play. Barkley is the main man for that role but Osman/Pienaar can do it well enough for the odd game, but when we have the injuries all in the same areas like we have, our football is going to suffer. It was a bad day at the office for all concerned but hopefully we can draw a line under that performance and come out much stronger in our next game, hopefully with a couple of players back from injury.

He made some brilliant runs too. A couple of times he found himself a couple of yards of space for a cut back and the ball always went across goal. When he made his run to the near post it always seemed to get cut back. Lugano tried kicking lumps out of him today as well and on the whole I thought he did alright and bagged an assist. He certainly could have done better but its not like he didnt contribute sufficiently with the service he was given.

McGeady isnt fit and will be well off the pace of the Prem and his team mates. As you saw in his cameo his defensive work isnt postionally as good as it ahould be either but thats no surprise given he has only been here a week. I do think Osman should have been subbed first but Oviedo was just as anonymous IMO albeit he didnt look like he was running in treacle. We might have held on but it wasnt a game changer IMO and I dont think it would have changed the pattern of play. That also isnt the reason we couldnt keep hold of the ball. If anything we needed an extra body in the middle to create another passing option but we didnt have that option available. If anything I would have considered moving Osman centrally and using pace on the winga to support Lukaku but Osman was that off the pace Im not sure that would have helped either. There are a lot of things you could label that performance with but I dont think saying Martinez bottled it is one of them.

Lukaku everytime. We played into Vics hands whereas WBA (Lugano) kicked lumps... I mean defended against Lukaku quite. well. Put it this way Lukaku will create and score you more goals/oppurtinities than Vic will throughout the season.

I dont think Martinez bottled it. Its not like he had game changing subs, he just had subs that had more energy & drive. Whatever he did, it would have been like for like so its not like he bottled a decision. I think it would have helped and given us a chance of holding on but we would have been on the ropes no matter what. The players themselves have to shoulder a lot of blame today. Too many easy misplaced passes, too many poor touches, too many slow pea roller passes, too many long aimless balls and not enough movement and endeavour to make things happen. We constantly sat deeper and Jags wanted to give Vic the freedom of The Hawthornes. I wouldnt disagree if you said that the players might not have been motivated/focussed enough and blaming Martinez for his part in that, but in no way did he bottle it IMO.

Mirallas, only player that gave it his all Surprised to see votes for Oviedo if I am honest.