Sheaf Saint

Yes, he was left in a situation where whichever option he chose, we would have been in trouble. But he still has to make a decision, not back off and do nothing. If James had played it to Mata then IMO we would have had a much better chance of defending the threat than just allowing someone who is known to have a good long range shot on him the freedom to have a go unchallenged.

If he'd got close enough to James he could have prevented either a shot or a pass to Mata. Instead he backed off into nomansland and could do neither. Yes he was left exposed, but he needs to make a decision in that situation. If he had closed James down then yes he could have played it outside to Mata, but there would still be work for him to do to get a shooting chance, and Bednarek would not have had to charge out to attempt the block that Cedric should have made himself. Therefore he would have been in a decent position to defend against Mata.

Yep. We were looking the team most likely to score again up until the red card. Given how much pressure they put us under after that, I'll gladly take that point. Not a chance we would have held on to that last season, so the signs of improvement are there.

That's a great save from Gunn. Kept us in it!

Fantastic through ball to a Utd player there from Shane Long. FFS!

Commentator reckons Utd have been much better since they made their tactical switch with the substitutions. Nothing to do with us having a player sent off then.

Yoshida on for Ings

Correct.

Yep, very silly. The first yellow was harsh, but regardless of that he should have been much more careful.

Armstrong on for Boufal.

YES! It's about time JV scored a header (or any goal, come to that).

Poor from Adams. Has to do better there, because opportunities like that will be few and far between today.

That was a decent cross for once from Cedric.

Time and space, yet a pathetic attempt at a cross from cedric.

Well I hate to tempt fate here, but it looks like we have ridden the storm a little. That 15-min period after they scored was horrific, so to have come through it still only 0-1 down is probably the best we can hope for at this stage. I'm (perhaps foolishly)clinging on to the fact that we seem to have been so much better in the second half of games so far this season. If we're going to get anything out of this, you sense that it's going to come from Boufal. By far our best attacking player so far.

https://www.eplsite.uk/stream1.html

I'm usually as optimistic as they come, but I really worry we are going to get roasted here if we don't buck our ideas up. Defensively we just can't seem to get anywhere near their players when they get forward. It's too easy for them to waltz into our box and it's only a matter of time before we concede more.

Cedric innit. It's what he does best.

Good effort from Boufal there, just wide with De Gea beaten.

Even the direct quotes from the player saying he had made the decision to leave and "there is no turning back" ? I don't believe even the Daily Mail would sink so low as to print a completely made up quote like that, let alone the Echo.

Yeah I did. Thanks.

When and how did he do that?

So that's 3 of our forward players out injured following the Fulham game then. Great I thought it was reported Obafemi only had cramp. Is he even capable of playing 90 minutes without getting crocked?

It's quite obvious why they chose that game, given Newport's cup run and giant-killing achievements last season.

Is that all that matters to you?