Crab Lungs

Stephens has done admirably considering the circumstances. Didn't see him and yoshida do an awful lot wrong ... conceding three goals from four shots isn't a surprise though with FF in goal, even though he's not exactly to blame yesterday defensively. The only thing that strikes me about the current centre back partnership is a lack of leadership and when up against big lumps like Zlatan and the Watford strikers they aren't strong enough to win the 50/50s. Anyway...what an attacking display going forward. Exciting, incisive and Gabbas movement is absolutely top class. We've got so many exciting options going forward that it'll be interesting to see what we're like with a top class GK and van dijk back. Hopefully that'll happen next season. Oh, and I'll probably bet on our games as 'both teams to score' from now until the end of the season... should be printing money!

All those people who got slammed for daring to say Boruc was a better keeper....

Proper goalkeeper. The odd brain fart, but was excellent all round

He didn't lift the team though, did he? He barely had a shot to save for about 10 matches with the exception of Arsenal away.

I cannot stand Fraser Forster but I really wouldn't be swapping him out for s complete unknown quantity. His highlights reel doesn't exactly inspire confidence... just seems a like a smaller, stockier Forster. No real goalkeeping ability just seems to get hit by the ball. Fingers crossed McCarthys not too far away

For the older posters, is the injustices of this game going to be held in the same contempt as the Heath/Everton scenario? Always hear it talked about but never did see it/experience it

Oh, and I'm going to use one of my three posts to say Paul Pogba is a f()cking d1ck.

Absolutely gutting, still can't watch any re-runs but I will, eventually. You can bet your bottom dollar had van Dijk played, United (and specifically Ibrahimovic) would have had a considerably more difficult time of it. As it was though, to a man (apart from Forster being typically sh1te and Tadic being a bit anon), the team were superb and it's hard to be anything other than disappointed at the injustices but immensely proud of the performance from the team and the fans. Did anyone get that familiar feeling that we wouldn't win it at times during the game, despite how well we played? It was just the incredible amount of times we got the ball into a dangerous area and it was plucked away just in time, not to mention the moment Romeu hit the post. That moment did for me, I just thought United would go and nick it after that. Irrespective, we kept on going and still had plenty of other decent half-chances that got scrambled away, it was effectively a siege at times. And the other moment was the cross from Herrera.. the moment that ball left his boot you just knew it was over, though, for some reason, it felt that the ball hung up agonisingly for longer than possible; you knew the inevitable was coming and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Horrible feeling. That application and intensity has been amiss at times this year but despite the injuries we've had to carry and the injustices we've had to contend with, you can be nothing but proud of that team. I said to my dad at the start of the match I just hope we aren't "brave losers" again and whilst my nightmare scenario unfolded, what a performance. You really couldn't have asked for anymore.

On another note, we have completely dominated

Three shots, one dodgy save and two conceded. Terrible defending for the second goal didn't help but he really is terrible

Another piece of classic Forster goalkeeping

He reminded me of a really really **** Steven Taylor. And he was ****.

Nicola Cortese > Wang Jianlin > CITIC?

Woah, they seem like serious movers and shakers

I had him down as Tercera with a smattering of Primera Liga attributes. Anyone else?

As evidenced here, he is defending style is very South American.

I get the distinct feeling that a lot of the people who are voicing strong opinions about Caceres either way have probably never seen him play before.

Can totally understand the longing for the traditional heavyweights of yesterday to be restored to the top flight (Leeds, Wednesday etc) as I miss those days too. However, can't really begrudge or belittle clubs with similar ambitions and finances as us as small clubs because we're in that very same cluster of best of the rests. FWIW, quite enjoy Swansea being a top level club (Bournemouth still seems a bit weird though, as does Boro as it's been a while).

Boro and Sunderland Just not director on the third... It'll be touch and go for Hull and Leicester. Hull are improving and Leicester should have more than enough about them if they pull their fingers out. Not sure on Palace but it's way too soon to write off the Big Sam effect yet. Bournemouth looking very light defensively but I just think they'll do a mid 90's us and rally, win a few difficult games and survive.

Excellent win after the first 20 minutes which by contrast, were poor. Forster was his usual wobbly self but the defence and Romeu, once the team got a stranglehold of the game, were superb. Stephens and Yoshida looked incredibly well-drilled and dealt with Defoe superbly. Like others said, Stephens mugging off Defoe was a huge highlight of a very capable performance. At times, we did play some lovely stuff; neat triangles and incisive passing and I'm finally starting to see the point in Redmond; he's definitely getting better, gradually. I think he'll be an up 'n' downer in terms of performances but given the team I'm actually starting to think he's going to make me eat a huge slice of humble pie. JWP and Davis were competent but with only Romeu as the power-base, against more tougher, robust midfields we'll be trampled over (as already witnessed) this season. Romeu definitely needs a solid partner and Clasie also isn't the answer. J-Rod can f()ck off if he's going to whine and whinge about not getting on; he's hardly warranted the starts he's already been given and has been a huge disappointment. Puel was correct to introduce Hojberg and if J-Rod can't get with that it's about the team and not him then maybe he should move and we should cash in. Sunderland in comparison were embarrassing; they'll be better off going down, gutting the team and bringing in a manager with a solid tactical philosophy and enabling them to build from scratch. They are just a complete waste of space whilst they're in the top division. That said, I'm not going to complain too much - they're normally good for 4-6 points a season!

No, Forster has been well protected until this season... now his frailties are completely evident since we're defensively weaker. It's no secret as to why we kept so many clean sheets - superb defensive screening. With the exception of Arsenal away (twice) and a few other games, he's rarely called into action - god forbid he actually be a busy keeper like Heaton or we'd probably have shipped 10-20 goals extra. If you look at the seasons in which he received excellent defensive shielding, we're one of the teams with highest interceptions, blocks and least shots on target - that's not a mistake, that's because we had the likes of Lovren, Fonte, Alderweireld, van Dijk, Wanyama, Schniederlin and latterly, Romeu (doing it on his own). The bottom line is he's not a great goalkeeper; his kicking is poor, he's never, ever commanded his box with any sort of confidence or authority and is very cumbersome and slow at getting down to shots. He's capable of the odd worldy game - but so is every, single f()cking keeper in the world; that doesn't make him any good cos he plays well every once in a while - though this seems to stick in peoples minds more than all his poor attributes.

I sincerely hope we are not paying him that. I'd rather pay Stuart Taylor that wage.

Ahhhhhh, back in the day when midfielders could do four or five things as opposed to be a specialist in one.

JWP: "We must put this right" Yeah, we've started really well. Such fire in the belly.

You're not wrong, we've been crap. However, some of the specials on here seem to think a shot into row z x 20 and a cross into no one in the box translates as a gilt-edged chance so therefore we've been battering teams. At least the stats are finally proving one thing though... Forster doesn't save anything unless it unintentionally hits him