S-Clarke

At least they got to the group stage and did Valencia 3-0 on their own turf.

This is where we need you mate, you saved us last season from the mire, so we need you to come to the fore now more than ever.

Well they shouldn't be booed, that's for sure. A subdued welcome I imagine, which will hopefully be increased when we start scoring goals on Sunday.

It looked a hell of a lot worse mate! The comments from Koeman were the most concerning.

We look pretty blunt tbh, but it's not helped by the lack of balance from the flanks. It will come eventually, but unfortunately not in time for what we really wanted.

This. Could have been a once in a generation opportunity. The league comes round every year, the FA Cup comes round every year, for clubs like us European football comes round after a very, very good season which we won't always have.

I don't buy the relegation ********, that's just over-emotional rubbish. But you cannot fail to be disappointed by tonight, I think you'll be in the minority if you don't care about Europe. What else is there for us? This was going to be a great experience up to Christmas, potentially further, but to not even get to the group stage is a bit of a mess. Just don't feel we'll be back at this stage for a long time, and you just have to wonder what else is there to hope for if we don't want to play in Europe?

Lallana/Lambert/Guly/Chappers would have given that team a much bigger game, I'm sure. Sad.

Yes, the absences have come at the wrong time for us. But the guys we had out there should have been enough to see off FCM. I don't think we'll see the true team until after the internationals. Not sure what to expect on Sunday.

To be fair, we haven't tried the same stunt. We lost Morgan, which was always going to happen. We got one more season out of him, but he was always going to go. Everyone knew it, the club knew it. Clyne was the same really, kind of expected as he only had 1 year left - but we did seem confident for a bit, will be interesting to know what changed. (Lallana, probably). I think our losses last season were eased by the fact we still had the spine of Fonte, Clyne, Morgan. We don't have a 'spine' as yet, I'm sure it will come, but I'd say the impact of Morgan and Clyne over the course of the season was as important as the new guys - if not more.

To be fair, Caulker was never a replacement for Toby. He's cover for the injured Gardos. Hard to judge Clasie given that he hasn't played for us yet.

Nah, he was still a rock when Toby was out last year (which was quite a bit tbf). He just looks totally off his game.

I must admit, I'm more concerned by that post-match interview than the actual performance. What is going on.

Koeman seems to have totally lost his head there, what was he on about. Baffled.

Come on Koeman, we weren't unlucky. ''It was our best performance until now'' come on...don't start spouting ****! please....you're better than that.

I'm really worried about him this season so far. He looks very uneasy, making rash decisions, his touch is off, his positioning has been all over the show, he keeps losing his man. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, he's clearly better than this...so somethings up with the guy. The entire team is seemingly mirroring his form right now.

The balance wasn't there, we seriously miss Clyne there - or Cedric up to speed. Targett is a bit of a mess tbh, he offers nothing and I have more ability in my left finger than he has in his left foot. I think once we get Bertrand back in there and Soares up to speed, we'll look a hell of a lot better.

He has lost his way, we're carrying him.

I don't get the tactics tonight, to be honest. From the start we played a conservative formation which was clearly in place to get it up to Pelle quickly. It wasn't working after about 20 mins and we should have changed it then. The whole setup was disjointed and not cohesive for an attacking performance. If we were going there protecting something I'd understand, but for crying out loud this is FCM, not Barcelona. We should have gone all guns. Long, Jay, Tadic, Pelle. Feels like Koeman has no trust in our back 4, so he's trying to protect them as much as he can. It's gonna take me a long, long, long time to get over this one.

2p?

It's not even that good, it's just hell.

It was a mess from start to finish. No pace, no guile, no creativity, no zip, no passing ability, no brains, no composure, no idea. I am absoloutley devastated, this was our shot in Europe which clearly won't come in a long, long time again. I have no idea where we go from here, no idea where at all. This was just a mess.

That was a disgrace.

No changes, ok then.

A 2nd half to make last season worth anything what so ever, otherwise it was a waste of everyone's effort. The worry is that FCM are just trash themselves, all they can do is delay the play, play for fouls, fall over. They won't care for another goal themselves, they'll just time waste and frustrate an already frustrated side. We're going to have to show something totally different.