saintant

Arsenal's first goal should have been disallowed for dangerous play - two of our players tried to head the ball clear but were faced with Koscielny's flyng boot. Spectacular finish that it was under the laws of the game today it constituted an act of dangerous play. In Europe you only have to raise your foot above knee height. The penalty was of course even worse. Does anyone doubt that had we cleared the ball and broke towards Arsenal's goal Madeley would have stopped play to allow treatment to Koscielny for an obvious head injury. Yet, because Arsenal were attacking he blatantly chose to ignore the rules of the game, let them play on and then compounded his error by harshly awarding a penalty for a tangle between Fonte and Giroud which could have been called either way. The fact that there was a long delay for the penalty kick while Koscielny received treatment says it all really. One of the most blatantly biased pieces of refereeing I've ever seen. Disgraceful and Madeley should be taken to task over it and forced to explain his decision to representatives of our club.

Will never play for the senior England team let alone captain them.

Any stats on how many of those shots have seriously troubled the opposition 'keeper? My guess is that it would be extremely few.

No pal, was thinking of the 18 games we won, plus the draws and even some defeats where we could easily have taken three points given the rub of the green.

You can't polish a turd and I don't believe we can make this diamond sparkle. it's clear that the players do not buy into it - if in doubt watch VVDs interview after today's tepid affair. Last season Saints gave the impression that they could give any team a run for their money and beat most of them and so it proved. I fear this is going to be a season where we wonder where the next win is coming from and we go into matches not expecting wins. It is evident that confidence is not high and we look beaten almost before we kick off. Where are the smiles, the swagger and the team spirit?

Some people keep banging on about how many shots we've had as though this is some indication of how well we must be playing. A better indication is to look at how many of those shots were genuine chances and did not result in goals due to bad misses - it will be very few.

Heat-maps do not score goals or win you points or affect your league position. If you're going to change your system at least change it to something that work. Madness by those making the decisions.

I can answer that - it doesn't work in the Premier League. Might be ok in France but that's not where we play.

How do you have 0.7 or 0.3 of a shot? Just asking.

Diamond system explained in three simple, easy to understand words, 'IT DOESN'T WORK'

As Harry Enfied would say, 'If Claude Puel came round my house and started spouting off about systems and said we're going to play the diamond I'd say, CLAUDE, NO!'

Can we have our football team back please. Does Puel know how to play any system but the one that doesn't work? If not we are deep in the mire and it's all our own making.

Diamond might work in tippy tappy tepid French football but is is not suited to the cut and thrust of the 100mph Premier League. If it aint broke don't fix it is a good maxim but for some crazy reason we've decided to abandon a style of play that served us well for this turgid diamond formation. I get the feeling someone at the club has been too clever by half and it's backfired.

Predictably dull performance from a predictably dull team playing in a predictably dull formation set up by a predictably dull coach. The sign of things to come I'm afraid. Watching paint dry suddenly sounds quite exciting.

Three major things have changed from last season and that sets alarm bells ringing because it's too much upheaval - those three things are the manager, the playing system and the squad which is weaker for the loss of Mane, Wanyama and Pelle. I can't fathom out why we had to opt for a manager who was going to change the system - a high risk strategy....changing the manager was something we had no option over but we should have brought in one who was happy to play our way to give continuity. If we are not careful we will find ourselves playing catch-up and to make the diamond work I think we'll need to sign two or maybe even three quality players which I don't see us doing. I thought we prided ourselves on being a forward thinking club always operating three steps ahead but to change both the manager and system is bonkers in my book. I don't call that good planning.

Let's hope diamonds are not forever.

Play him in a system that suits him and he will bang in goals - you wouldn't buy Rooney and put him in goal!

To me we do not look a brave team that is willing to take a few risks to create openings and chances. I just hope we are not going to spend the whole season playing this system because for me it is almost cheating and giving a false impression of whether we are actually any good or not. Much prefer a pressing game where you try to turn the ball over in the opposition half but I fear we are in for some pretty turgid football in the coming months. More bravery and risk taking required - no risk no reward was very evident tonight.

The diamond is a cop out for me. It makes us look half decent with lots of passing and possession in easy, non-threatening areas but that just hides our short-comings overall. We will struggle to score goals home and away this season. Unfortunately I think we're stuck with the diamond because Puel obviously believes in it and he comes across as someone who has a stubborn streak and not open to change.

Jose saying the closed diamond system didn't cause them any problems and we never troubled them.

This formation is totally sterile. Whilst the stats will show we had loads of possession and completed passes it was all in areas where Utd were quite happy to let us have the ball. We looked toothless and did not even win a single corner or force their keeper to make one decent save. Too many small players and not enough pace and power - as soon as they turned the ball over they went for us and with better finishing they could have scored a couple more. It's not acceptable to just pass for the sake of it with no cutting edge or threat. Will be a difficult season unless we bring in 2-3 quality players. Oh and Redmond is no Thierry Henry that's for sure.

If Woy thinks Sterling is good enough for our squad he must be mad but if he thinks he is good enough to start games maybe it's time for Hodgson to find another sport.

This is 100% the responsibility of Man Utd and as such they should receive a massive fine. As someone mentioned earlier surely every club must carry out a complete sweep of a stadium before a match. Obviously this did not happen at Old Trafford which shows that they are putting thousands of lives at risk every time they host a game. Outrageous and they should be made an example of.

Stonewall penalty and sending off for me when Mane's shot was stopped by the arm of the Leicester player. He could have tried to move his arm out of the way but made no attempt to which can only mean he was deliberately and knowingly using it to help block the ball.

No need for multiple angle views, slow motion replays, large screens or any other technology - you only had to watch Jack Butland's totally guilty reaction to know that was a stonewall penalty. As they said on MoTD he knew he'd got away with one. It was one of the most obvious penalties you could wish for and should have been a no brainer for the referee. He then compounded the matter and again demonstrated his utter incompetence by rashly sending off Mane. An extremely poor performance from the official that could easily have cost us.