DuncanRG

Don't think anyone believes the score should have been 3-3. If we'd gone one up the whole game would have been different. Spot on. But even if the disallowed goal would have been a winner in the last minute, suing the authorities would be incredibly daft.

No reason at all we can't review goals, because the game has already stopped whether they're given or not. You'd need a cut-off point where fouls in the build-up don't void a goal, but other than that I can't see any issues. Penalties are a bit thornier, given the game can keep running all the way to the other end if one isn't given. But give captains the chance to challenge decisions and you'd cut down on diving too, I reckon, as no one would go to video replay for pens when they know they've dived.

Cardiff was much better in the buildup, but everything changes when goals enter the equation.

They're not all alike, you know. Not sure what's wrong with that interview anyway, besides his Twitter antics.

Eighth is achievable with West Brom to play, but top half is where we need to be. Seventh would take a proper collapse from Everton, which I can't see happening unless Lukaku gets injured, as well as a surge from ourselves which is far from guaranteed despite Gabbiadini and the end of fixture congestion.

Nah, that would be too much. We've got our song and that'll do.

Love the white kit, but only want to see it again if we return to Wembley. Make it special.

For spontaneous emotion, the Wanyama chant at Arnhem was brilliant. Wasn't really about Victor by the end.

I think Pochettino was the catalyst more than Lallana. Didn't Shaw say he would have stayed if Pochettino had?

“We don’t want to do what we did in the last three summers every year." Important quote from Krueger. Let's remember it.

Brilliant stuff, well done to them.

Seventh is just about possible but highly unlikely now. We can gun for a top half finish and hope Everton and West Brom slip up. Play like we did in the final and we'll do very well indeed...but we probably won't play like we did in the final!

Yeah, fair enough. But those people weren't at the game yesterday! For me the global support is a good thing anyway, in many ways. I'd love to be able to discuss my team at any bar in the world.

We already hold the team to a higher standard than our history would suggest. See the disappointment (and anger from some) at a mediocre mid table season. We are getting better and fan expectations rise with that, but we're not at the stage where we can demand cup wins. We can only expect to give them a bloody good go, like we did.

This is an ugly comment. You had to be a season ticket holder at Old Trafford to be in with a hope of getting a seat in their end. Walk around Manchester, or indeed any successful city, and you'll see plenty of 'foreign looking' people.

People have been overreacting, especially those stupid enough to assume they knew what it was about, but I'd like to think that if I were an opposing fan I'd just sit still and assume there was a good reason for it. Not like we were all gonna light up our phones simultaneously just for the fun of it.

You're right, we should have given everything by playing Caceres, Hassen and ???? (Sorry for biting, everyone)

Don't know why people are saying this, don't think they would if this were a league game. You can't expect wonders from Stephens, so it would be harsh to lay into him, but he and Yoshida were only on par today and were at direct fault for the winner. This was when I lost hope. He was puffing, but we weren't gonna hit United on the break at that stage. We just needed whoever had the best chance of scoring if we could get it forward, and that's Gabbiadini.

Nice analysis of our game and Gabbiadini here. Rest of the writeups are still half-baked. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/26/manolo-gabbiadini-southampton-manchester-united-efl-cup-final?CMP=twt_gu

That performance had a lot of quality and even more guts, but in the end United have players who can rise to the occasion. Tough to take when we outplayed them for so long, but oh well. It's a privilege to follow this club. Our fans were great once they got going, and the scarves were a nice touch. Sense our relationship with United might get a bit spicy for a while after their reaction to the lights.

Nothing interesting here, just a puff piece, but I can hardly believe the cheek of Ashton claiming Cortese was 'airbrushed from history', then making out like MLT was his biggest fan. Quite enjoyed the bit about our massive profits on Cork and Puncheon as well. If Cortese was really angling for a new job, here or elsewhere, he'd have fed a line into the interview. So it's a relief he didn't.

Didn't get home from work till 4am last night - still up at 7 like a kid on Christmas morning! Let's do this

He hasn't built the squad to challenge for the league and a European trophy, really, but they should definitely be among the favourites for the cups.

I wonder how this could bounce back on the owners in future. If they go down or stay up but continue to struggle, they may not have the same goodwill they would have earnt with keeping Ranieri. But that's an outsider's perspective!

I wonder how this could bounce back on the owners in future. If they still go down, or stay up but continue to struggle, they may not have the same goodwill they would have earnt with keeping Ranieri. But that's an outsider's perspective!