[Zen86]

I actually thought it was a very mature performance today.

We knew they were going to come at us from the get go and prepared for it, hoping to hit them on the counter if the opportunity arose. While chances for us were few and far between, they couldn’t break us down and weren’t much of a threat. For all their possession, they were mostly limited to pot shots from long range.

Later on in the game, when they were tiring, we stepped it up and went at them. Looked like that was our plan all along to me, and it almost worked with us having by far the better chances.

You can say it was a missed opportunity, and it arguably was, but to me it demonstrated that we could be the real deal this season.

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

Feels like a loss.

We should hang our head in shame, we should have won this game easily! If Rashford was less greedy and Bruno+Cavani doesn't shoot it right at the keeper, we win.

We were solid defensively, although I was concerned everytime they were pressuring Maguire. He's so slow!!

 

[eltigreFalcao]

I think the set up was not looking forward to a win or to attack them consistently. Ole expected them to be bombing after our backline, which somehow they tried, but too much respect shown from the tactics.

 

[The Real Treble 99]

I would’ve taken a draw before the game but considering how unbelievably poor liverpool played I was actually really frustrated we didn’t grasp the opportunity to win the match. We had great certain goal chances which were squandered & that was hard to take because TBH they were there for the taking. Otherwise a draw is a very good result against the so called defending champions who barely caused heart stopping moments to us. From the the two we’re definitely the more happier & reading on their forum most of them are having a meltdown! Have to say for us Utd fans to be disappointed with the outcome says a lot about how far our team has come. Disappointing in the sense that we could’ve done better but I’m happy with the draw.

 

[Giggsy13]

Absolutely no complaints about that result. We defended well and limited their chances and could’ve had all 3 points if Bruno and Pogba took their chances. There were a lot more positives than negatives to take from this game.

The only concern is Bruno’s patchy run of form. He’s not looking like himself lately, his passes are off and it’s showing in his overall demeanour on the pitch. Hopefully at his best soon!

 

[dal]

I've got 1 post left today, so I am simply going to say this...

If we seriously want to mount a league challenge, then we need to sign Jack Grealish.

I’ve got 5 and I agree with you.

 

[Feed Me]

We’ve looked very good defensively of late, that’s one positive I’m taking from today. I just hope we can play ourselves into a bit of goal scoring form in the next two league games.

 

[justsomebloke]

Afterthought re the result: this means City is past us with a win in their game in hand.

 

[Foxbatt]

Good result always a point at Anfield. We could have won too. Now we need to win the future matches.

 

[11101]

I thought that was a great game. It wasnt end to end up stuff for the highlight reels but a proper chess-like tactical battle.

 

[van Nistelrooy]

Sorry, but you're wrong. Rashford didn't pass because he couldn't. There is no point there where he had a clear lane to Cavani. Because Fabinho took it away. Masterful defending.

I disagree.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Feels like a loss.

We should hang our head in shame, we should have won this game easily! If Rashford was less greedy and Bruno+Cavani doesn't shoot it right at the keeper, we win.

We were solid defensively, although I was concerned everytime they were pressuring Maguire. He's so slow!!

Hang our head in shame? a little hyperbolic perhaps?

 

[Berbasbullet]

I disagree.

Is Fabinho not blocking him? Not sure he’d win the race either.

It happens! Going alone is a reasonable decision, the best ball was the one after towards Pogba to play cavani in anyway.

 

[manichester]

Shaw and Pogba very good, Rashford and Bruno need a rest. Normally would be happy with a point but somehow feel we could have done more.

 

[Giggsy13]

I've got 1 post left today, so I am simply going to say this...

If we seriously want to mount a league challenge, then we need to sign Jack Grealish.

Grealish is not what we need though. What we require in the short term is a more attack minded RB to compete with AWB, a CB and an established right sided attacker. We lack width and forced to play Rashford out of position on the right where he is not as effective.

 

[Mickeza]

I disagree.

I don’t think Cavani is clear on goal if he passes there. What rashford should have done was check back about 5 seconds after this was taken - Cavani had a simple tap in then as all three of the Liverpool players follow Rashford.

 

[Berbasbullet]

I don’t think Cavani is clear on goal if he passes there. What rashford should have done was check back about 5 seconds after this was taken - Cavani had a simple tap in then as all three of the Liverpool players follow Rashford.

Or lay to Pogba to play Cavani in. Think Pogba had a go at him when he didn’t for that reason.

 

[Counterfactual]

It's interesting that Lindelof, who had tomatoes thrown at him in the Matchday thread when the teams were announced, had a good game and is currently second in the MOTM vote behind Shaw.

Hopefully he's over his back injury and gives Ole a happy selection headache with Maguire and Bailly in contention for the CB positions.

 

[dal]

In games like today, we replace Grealish with martial and we probably win. He’s a serious big game player, I think we’ll sign him in the summer when pogba goes.

Grealish and Phillips and I’d be happy.

Then get rid of martial and sign a proper striker and we can challenge on all fronts.

Forwards

Grealish, Rashford, Bruno, Greenwood, Haaland?, Diallo, Pellistri.

Midfielders

Mctominay, Fred, Phillips, Matic,

Defenders

Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, AWB, Williams, Telles, Bailly, Mengi, Tuanzebe.

Goalkeepers

De Gea, Henderson

I’d very happy with that in august 2022, squad rebuilt, then its all about yearly management of the squad.

 

[Jericholyte2]

I don't think he made the wrong choices, or that making those substitutions would have amounted to pushing harder for a win. Really don't know why people obsess over substitutions, or imagine that it provides managers with huge tools to directlt affect the outcome of games. Most substitutions have no significant impact.

I think of all people this would be a moot point when discussing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But if that is the case then why even bother with the bench then? Why pay tens of millions for squad players if they’re generally ineffective?

To think that the likes of Mata or VDB with far more creative talent than McT and Fred couldn’t have had ANY impact on the match is preposterous. Why do you think Bruno was so agitated about going off, because in any moment he could have pulled off a match-winning assist, just like VDB or Mata could have if given the opportunity.

 

[Crackers]

I disagree.

Agreed, he runs in, drawing the 3 defenders to a small space where they're outnumbered.
Had he ran outwards, it pull 1 or maybe even 2 defenders with him. Heck, then Pogba might become a viable option too.

 

[Giggsy13]

I think of all people this would be a moot point when discussing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But if that is the case then why even bother with the bench then? Why pay tens of millions for squad players if they’re generally ineffective?

To think that the likes of Mata or VDB with far more creative talent than McT and Fred couldn’t have had ANY impact on the match is preposterous. Why do you think Bruno was so agitated about going off, because in any moment he could have pulled off a match-winning assist, just like VDB or Mata could have if given the opportunity.

Mata would’ve been absolutely destroyed by the liverpool press. He has his place in the squad and it is not in games like this one anymore.

 

[KW2006]

Ole got it right. He knows that if Pool score first we have no chance, they will murder us in counter attack. So the priority is not to concede first. With better finishing we could have won.

 

[Traub]

We had a bit of a Jose performance didn't we? An effective Jose performance.

 

[DeGea]

I disagree.

Bruno would have made that pass easily. Even Pogba. Rashy made the wrong call. Again!

 

[Member 101269]

Is anyone else looking at the table thinking/ hoping Everton wining the spare game

 

[Snuffkin]

Bruno would have made that pass easily. Even Pogba. Rashy made the wrong call. Again!

Cavani was furious I don't blame him.

 

[Foxbatt]

I think we do need a world class DM and a world class striker who can lead the line and score goals better.

 

[peridigm]

I think we do need a world class DM and a world class striker who can lead the line and score goals better.

You could have left off the word better.

 

[podurban2]

I disagree.

Yeah, Fabinho is looking at the ball. No chance he would have been quicker than Cavani if Rashford passed it as depicted above.

 

[Danillaco]

We deserved to win, we bottled two chances.

Bin dipping twats are lucky to escape with a point.

Will go unnoticed for a lot of people. Liverpool was toothless, with plenty of possession and no end product. We were concise and Bruno and / or Pogba should've scored. They were the lucky ones.

 

[city-puma]

Bruno plays in a role where he is high up the pitch. He roams across the midfield and play in between the lines. Bruno wasn't awful, he just didn't have the time and space to operate, in addition to not being as accurate as usual. But the fact remains, the players supposed to make those passes forward, Mctominay and Fred or win back possession, were only capable of positioning themselves in front of the ball, a trend we have seen in every big game. People put it as Ole simply choosing to play defensively, it's not that, it's us having midfielders who do not have the capacity to actually do their job outside of harrying and putting their body in front of the defence. Liverpool had 18 shots, we had 7 with 66 percent of possession. That isn't the fault of Rashford or Bruno, that is on Mctominay and Fred. The issue we have is that they are expected to perform like this and are therefore given a pass for it

TBF, can we stop this kind of blaming nonsense?
Liverpool is not a lesser team. Today’s game apparently both teams neutralized each other in the mid third. The fact that we grew into the second half and got the better chance to win already tells how we played.

 

[Tapori]

Care to point at all those glorious chances they had?

1st half.
They were better in the first half an hour.

Apart from that, they pressed and had a few moments. Generally their attacking 3 has been poor.
Thiago played well.

 

[Tapori]

I actually thought it was a very mature performance today.

We knew they were going to come at us from the get go and prepared for it, hoping to hit them on the counter if the opportunity arose. While chances for us were few and far between, they couldn’t break us down and weren’t much of a threat. For all their possession, they were mostly limited to pot shots from long range.

Later on in the game, when they were tiring, we stepped it up and went at them. Looked like that was our plan all along to me, and it almost worked with us having by far the better chances.

You can say it was a missed opportunity, and it arguably was, but to me it demonstrated that we could be the real deal this season.

agreed

 

[Waynne]

Could have easily won that if Bruno and Pogba took their chances. Rashford not playing in Cavani was also criminal.
We threw away 3 points today and I feel encouraged that we went toe to toe with these guys.
No matter what happens in the league, I feel we as a club are heading in the right direction with this current setup.
We can only improve from here on out with a few signings in key areas.

 

[dogwithabone]

I actually thought it was a very mature performance today.

We knew they were going to come at us from the get go and prepared for it, hoping to hit them on the counter if the opportunity arose. While chances for us were few and far between, they couldn’t break us down and weren’t much of a threat. For all their possession, they were mostly limited to pot shots from long range.

Later on in the game, when they were tiring, we stepped it up and went at them. Looked like that was our plan all along to me, and it almost worked with us having by far the better chances.

You can say it was a missed opportunity, and it arguably was, but to me it demonstrated that we could be the real deal this season.

Completely agree. The major difference to me, for the best part of this season, is that we aren't hanging on in games, De Gea isn’t constantly our saviour. The maturity today was impressive, we managed the game brilliantly. Even the first half hour when they had much more of the ball we kept them at a safe distance.

 

[city-puma]

Sorry, but you're wrong. Rashford didn't pass because he couldn't. There is no point there where he had a clear lane to Cavani. Because Fabinho took it away. Masterful defending.

That opportunity actually shows why our counter attack is less efficient when pogba is playing (he did very well today. No blame on him at all). When Rashford run, pogba didn’t make the same quick burst forward on right to make him available. If it’s Greenwood or a proper RW, they will make those run. As a result, Rashford run to a dead end.

 

[Green_Red]

Some of our players have earned the right to be rested. They've been on a hell of a run but I thought Fred looked well rested today, as did Lindelof. Maybe rest Bruno and Rashford against Fulham. Martial needs to be dropped to force the need for him to discover his form.

Other than that, today was a good result. On to Fulham and continue our unbeaten run.

 

[Goku23]

Would of taken a point before the game but now it feels like 2 points dropped Bruno and Pogba should be scoring we seem to have no luck vs Liverpool but lets think of the positives stilk 3 pts clear at the top

 

[buckooo1978]

2 big issues today for me....overall not bad though

1. Mentality

Like the game against City and many of the other semi finals/crucial games we've played we seem to give a poor account of ourselves for long periods. We should have been matching Liverpool given their form and injuries but instead in the first half we looked nervy, lacking leadership and couldn't pass the ball. Just think this is something a championship winning team needs to develop and we need it fast. We were better second half but still we should have been tearing into Liverpool

2. The impact of no RW and CDM

No dedicated RW and CDM persuades Ole to tinker with the lineup and it really didn't seem to suit Martial, Rashford or Pogba.

Pogba and Martial played very wide and I thought it was a real mistake not to have Rasford left. If we had a good all round passing CDM who did the job of McFred then you can probably gamble a bit more. Just felt today there was a Sancho sized hole on the right that would have been a terrific outlet and let Rashford play left with Martial though thr middle. A player like Ndidi would allow you to play Fernandes and Pogba I think too. McFred haven't been good for a few games now either.