Chez

A great game, best I have seen this year by miles. We started so poorly and defended like chumps once again. Cork has not solved the right back position and we offer both full backs little cover. Great fightback though and we were by far and away the better side in the second half. If only we had taken one of those chances Davis 6 - distribution choices terrible again. Cork 6 - too easily done in the first half (lack of cover not helpful) Lancashire 4 - too easily bullied again. Pearce 7 decent display Skacel 6 - worked harder than I have seen for a while in the second half. Still needs to do a lot more and to look like he wants to be here. Schneiderlin 7 - still waiting for that first tackle. Bottled one badly in the second half. However why do we take him off to replace him with a tired McGoldrick? Euell 5 - tackles and misplaced passes. Bit like what he offered when he played CM last season. Surman 7 terrible start but got better as th egame went on. Worked his socks off. Lallana 8 - did everything he could and played well. McGoldrick 9 - only the goal was missing. Terrific display Gobern 2 - ****e from start to finish. Don't come back till you are ready. BWP - 8 switched on immediately and caused them problems. Perry 9 - showed the sort of strength and bite that Lancashire fails to offer. Robertson - 2 failed to win anything, get the ball under or take the chance offered to him. Why on earth Jan took Scheiderlin off, replaced him with Robertson and then drop a knackered McGoldrick into midfield is beyond me. We were causing problems and shoud have stuck how we were. As soon as Morgan goes off we lose our shape, hoof it anywhere and look a poor side. Stop ****ing doing it Jan.

It will be interesting to see the red card decision again as for me the both went in studs first and couold both have been sent off. Sadly Euell got more of their guy than the other way round so off he went. I actually thought the callenge that caught Lancashire two minutes later was equally bad and the ref didn't even blink. Why on earth the ref felt more inclined to book Surman and Skacel (having wrongly punished both) for showing the slightest bit of descent I will never know. Funnily enough the worse the ref got the better we played.

it's not actually that poor a product. We are playing better stuff than last season to be honest, its just that we keep losing. The fact is ST holder numbers went down by about 3000 (guess not fact) in the summer and once people get out of the habitat of attending they simply stop going full stop. I think this shows the importance of getting people signed up as ST holders. The only thing that will get fans back now is a promotion campaign and that is not going to be any time soon.

I just want to point out that I am not a fan of Lowe, but this post is indictative of the lack of understanding and blame culture we have within our fan base. We went down, we didn't go straight back up, we gambled on promotion, we failed, we spent more money when we should have cut back, and now belatedly we are trying to cut our cloth according. Those are the facts and fans need to deal with them. he's only sold Andy Davies and that was forced on him because he could not get rid of Skacel and Thomas. The same `experienced footballers' hardly stabilised us in the CCC last year did they. Besides we were losing millions so there was little choice but to reduce the wage bil. The inly way of doing that is to let high wage earner go and they tend to be the more experienced players. like last season then. `come to see united' fans dissapear. he cares about hsi shareholding and for that reason he will do everything in his power to make the club successful. If that means seeling players to stop the club going bankrupt then so be it. we tried the big spending gamble and it failed. We now face the consequences of that gamble - ie paying off our debts. Deal with it. deluded. What happens on the pitch has a direct effect on the finances so Lowe cares a lot.

Davis Cork Lancashire Pearce Skacel Euell Schniederlin Gillet Surman Lallana DMG Bart, Perry, Mills, Thompson, BWP

can we sub-loan out Robertson and Pekhard while we are at it?

Pearce lacks pace, Perry lacks pace, Wotton lacks pace, Lancashire lacks strength, Svensson lacks knees. Inevitably the manager will try combinations that best hide our players weaknesses. I think its worth persisting with Lancashire as he will learn a great deal from the kind of mistakes he made against Adebola last week and hopefully blossom into a real talent. Perry has not been all that great to be honest. Its just a case of players becoming better when they are out of the side. Having said that I'm happy to see either at the weekend. I'm more concerned about centre midfield.

I take contract stuff posted on here with a pinch of salt, but if it was on the OS then fair enough (link please). If he isn't on such a deal then can I say that £5k a week (or whatever he is on) to train kids is a shed load of money and not a great deal for the club. I wish him well on this come back as I know what a top class player he is, but if he is only ever going to get back to the fitness and mobility shown in his last game then there is not much to get excited about.

sell Surman to pay Saga? I know the game is all about opinions, but FFS I could not disagree with yours more. Surman is the future of this club (if we have one at all) and we must do everything we can to keep him here.

Not sure anyone came out of the Hull game with much pride. Euell was derided for much of the season (and at times rightly so) as he simply did not have the quality required to play in the middle. He always showed great heart and really got stuck in. Some of the tackles he made took me back to the 80's. But it wasn't until Pearson got hold of him and moved him to the left did he start to change peoples minds. Many on here applauded his displays and even changed their opinions completely. I would suggest that was largely down to him playing on the left where he had a bit more time and space, the opportunity to get forward and a little less responsibility that playing in the middle demands. I like his attitude and I love seeing a player overcome the boo boys. You're not a fan then?

McGoldrik has 7 in 19 (and has played right wing in quite a few games) whilst Stern had 10 at the same stage last season (and we faired reasonably well in those 19 games compared to this time round). I actually think we are not missing Stern much to be honest. I think our real problem is a lack of bite in centre midfield, a totally unsettled back four (due to suspensions and injuries) and no right midfielder. Added to this a lack of height throughout the side that has seen us vulnerable to set pieces. The formation also hampers us at times. It may well be playing to our strengths (passing) as we flood the midfield, see a lot of the ball and dominate posession. What it tends to do though is make us flatter to deceive as everything is in front of the oppsition and not enough bodies actually get in the box. Without doubt there is a lack of quality throughout the side. Wotton may drag the average age up a bit but he certainly does not increase our quality. There is also a lack of pysical presence especially at the back, and down the centre of midfield. Wotton should be ideal but he is so slow he chases shadows rather than makes tackles. I don't have the answers but getting Euell intot he side is a good start.

can you point to how we can improve our chances of doing just that, perhaps with a new person at the helm as you request and with that person facing the same financial restrictions (and please don't popint to past mistakes as we all know them)?

have to question why he got another contract if his knee was not fully recovered. Were we scared someone else would cherry pick him jus as he got fit or did he take £2k a week?

Euell got it together last season when he was moved out to left midfield. He lacks that tight control you need in the centre and that was perhaps why he struggled. However when he played in the middle it was noticeable how much more mobile he is than Wotton, Schneiderlin or Surman. He also has that physical strength that we are missing. For me Wotton can do one and Euell come in to replace him.

I really don't undersand why people don't see the great potential in Surman. He is a quality player still learning the game and he will only get better.

its obvious what happened. He looked up the word tackle in the dictionary and then tried it for the first time on Friday, injured himself and had to be withdrawn from the squad at last minute.

Is a £9 saving really going to bring the fans back? I seriously doubt it, but at least it shows the board is listening to fans (or is this a sign of desperation?). Can't say I'm impressed at paying more to get in than someone going to one game but I imagine ST holders will get some sort of loyalty bonus at some point like an extra ticket for a fiver (are you listening?)

in a nutshell.

You miss out `losing games this season' on your list otherwise it is spot on. 5000 down opn last season can NOT be attributed to Lowe alone and anyone suggesting such is talking ****e. I presume you meant you hadn't bought a ST seeing as you go to games.

arry should have played Walcott earlier and much more regulary. Perhaps Lowe was asking him to do so?

he's on £7k a week from Sky and works one day a week. Why on earth would he want to give up that cushy number to earn far less for a shed load more work?

cos all hell broke loose last season and they wanted to prevent the same thing happening.

not that fussed if any of them come back to be honest. We can't afford their wages and will they want to be here? Stern JOhn didn;t look like he could be arsed, Rasiak only comes back to pick up his summer wages and Saga was our own Scott Dobie.

he can't kick it as far as row Z.

Never understood why JP takes Schneidelin off as wwell. We tend to go to pot afterwards. I'd be interested to see the stats showing games that Wotton has started. He is terrible.