Verbal Kint

Contact does not make it a foul necessarily. He made minimal contact and Benteke threw himself to the ground. Unfortunately the likes of Jamie Redknapp et all have now said "there's contact there" so many times that people have decided that any contact whatsoever justifies a foul. It's nonsense

We completely dominated the second half but the front 3 are all woefully out of form and it showed. We deserved at least a point

Yes we did, it's simply to wrong to say we didn't. We just didn't do anything remotely competent with it, and more often than not we pumped it long and gave it back to them. Romeu made more tackles and interceptions last night than Surman and Arter combined and was probably the only one who did ok. That's why you could hear our fans singing his name throughout much of the first half. Tactical stupidity was responsible for the first 30 mins, and after that it was down to a lack of creativity and ability on the ball. We really missed Clasie and Tadic should have been on far earlier than he was

No we aren't. Romeu put plenty of tackles in last night, the issue was a tactical one not a personnel one. Both JWP and Romeu were being dragged across to help cover the full backs because we were playing with 2 centre forwards out wide. It was a tactical disaster and we were never able to get a foothold in the game from that point on

Because he doesn't fit the 5-3-2 system and also because his form has dipped, as it will do with all players. If Tadic was consistent he'd be playing for a much bigger club than us. I've always thought he would make a great no.10 as he has all the attributes to play there (except maybe not enough goals) and there will be less need for him to do the defensive work in that position. With Austin out for a while now I hope he gets a chance to play there. Even if he doesn't, hopefully we aren't going to see centre forwards played out wide again as it simply doesn't work. Play to our strengths, 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2

We have one creative player in the entire squad (Tadic) and Koeman would rather his all defence tactic than play him

No he didn't. He said they all want to play centrally, which is true

I agree, and now that we have Austin hopefully on the end of the chances he creates rather than the wasteful Pelle I think it's time to bring him back in. Forster Cedric VVD Fonte Bertrand Davis/JWP Claise Romeu Tadic Long/Mane Austin The back 5 worked for us when confidence was low and we needed to be more resilient but I think now is the time to revert to a back 4. Davis/JWP on the right isn't ideal but I think they can both do a job there for now. It's a position we need to look at in the summer

No come on now, they'd go because they've always dreamed of playing at Anfield in such a special atmosphere (by special, they mean the speakers playing you'll never walk along at full blast followed by 90 minutes of total silence, unless they're losing in which case you can just about hear them slating their own players). Such a special place

And I seriously question the footballing knowledge of anyone who thinks he has natural footballing ability. And i didn't say he was ****. A big bloke who can intimidate players can be very effective in some games, why do you think he always has good games against Arsenal?

Disagree. He's just a big lump, very little footballing ability whatsoever and the only good games he has are against the better teams where he's able to bully and intimidate players. Ask him to do something with the ball and he's absolutely hopeless. Romeu is a better player and his partnership with Clasie will prove to be a very good one IMO

So? Why is it 'better' football to pass aimlessly amongst the back 4 (which is the only way teams have high completion rates and total passes) than it is to be clinical and effective when you have the ball? Leicester, in my opinion, have played the best football in the league this year. Direct, pace, power, and the talent of Mahrez thrown in as well

That's ridiculous to want that swap. Totally unrealistic but I'd love to see AOC back here, Wenger has done a poor job with him IMO

I just think he's suited to certain games and not others. His best games are against the better sides when we're happy to sit back and allow teams to try and break us down, and then he's able to put challenges in, win the ball and play simple passes to put us on the counter attack. That is a very different scenario to when we play against the lesser sides, have 60% of the ball and we ask our midfielders to actually do something with it. Then he comes up short. I expect him to have a good game at Arsenal and then revert to not looking like a proper footballer after that

I think something came up in his medical at Hull which they thought might make him more prone to serious knee injuries, but I don't think he's ever had any direct knee injuries so far in his career and since then I think Bruce has said it was the biggest mistake in his managerial career to not sign him. unfortunately that moron David Sullivan blabbed about him having "no ligaments in his knee" and, just like Gold mentioning him getting 100k a week, these things are believed despite them being gross exaggerations. Every time that pair of idiots open their mouths you wonder how the hell they've ever had any sort of success in life.

I agree with this. Surely the style of play should be based around your centre forward(s) who you expect to score most of your goals? With Pelle in the team we should be playing with genuine wide players and full backs on the overlap, getting balls in from the byline as much as possible. With Long we can mix things up a bit more. I doubt Barcelona wold have much success with Messi and Suarez up front by having everything going down the flanks and crossing every time. Play to the strengths of your goalscorers as they are the ones that win you games

Compare his passing to Clasie. Morgan gets it, takes a touch, passes sideways or back to his centre halves. Clasie meanwhile is passing it forwards first time before teams can organise, releasing Long or Mane. If Morgan wants to make it there he will have to quicken up his passing and make it more incisive. Morgan is one of the best defensive players in the league, but to play as a central midfielder for a really big club you need more than just defensive skills. That may be harsh but frankly Morgan is playing his part in making United so boring currently. Certainly not the only one to blame, but he's playing his part

Because we weren't great. We were solid defensively but as Koeman rightly pointed out, our attacking play was very average. With 10 minutes to go I was irritated because I could see how awful United were but it didn't look as if we would punish them for it. thankfully Austin got us the goal and we won, but we have played much better than that this season and lost. the story of the game WAS just how appalling Man Utd are at the moment, despite spending obscene amounts of money

I doubt it. Fact is he just isn't good enough on the ball at the moment for him to impress playing for a big team. His best games for us came against the better teams, usually away from home, when we would be on the back foot looking to contain teams and his defensive work was highlighted. He's now being asked to be part of breaking teams down, and he isn't capable of passing quickly enough or ambitiously enough to to make an impression. His interception stats are irrelevant when you play for Man United and are being asked to break teams down every week, home and away. Look at Wanyama's best games this season: v arsenal and v United, for exactly the same reason The expectations of a defensive midfielder are different at the top clubs as the emphasis is on what they can do with the ball and not what they're doing without it. I doubt Morgan cares if he fails though, he's got the big contract he spent his career working for

Once again his passing stood out. Miles ahead of the rest (and Morgan in fact) at passing the ball forwards quickly and incisively. What he lacks in athleticism he makes up for with quality

Without a natural no 10 in the squad I hope we stick with two up front. Long term hopefully that will be Austin and Rodriguez

This. Gaston has done nothing wrong, it was Cortese that gave him a stupid contract and Gaston has simply honoured it. Only one person to blame for the Gaston and Osvaldo debacles, and that is Nicola Cortese

It's quite stupid to talk about a 4m fee and 100k a week wage for an 'injury prone' player as too much, but yet the 15m fee and 100k a week for Andy Carroll, with such a great fitness record, wasn't a problem... He won't be on that much anyway, probably more like 80k as was reported, and that sort of wage won't be beyond any PL club once this tv deal kicks in

The back 3 works for us and may be the answer moving forward for a few reasons. It suits Cedric and Targett who aren't the best defensively, it helps us get two up front (my only concern about Austin is I'm not sure he's at his best as a lone striker) and yet we can still control the midfield by having 3 in there. The main issue we have had with it before (v palace) was VVD and Fonte getting exposed against good wingers out in wide areas, but with Bertand playing as one of the 3 we don't need to worry about the left hand side. I would still be concerned about exposing VVD like this though

Pass completion stats are the most pointless and misleading stat going. The fact Wanyama's is higher than Clasie's says it all. Wanyama takes 3 touches to get it under control, can only play simple passes sideways and backwards. Clasie regularly looks to pass it forwards, often first time, and is always trying to make something happen which inevitably means his percentage will be lower. If you look at the top 10 in the league for pass completion I'd be surprised if it isn't full of centre halves and limited defensive midfielders doing nothing but passing the ball aimlessly between themselves, achieving nothing but slowing the game down and allowing the opposition to get organised. In fact, for Wanyama's to be as low as that despite only playing 10 yard balls backwards is pretty embarrassing for him