Cronky

Can anyone doubt now that this manager is our greatest ever?

Seeing that thread title has finally brought the tears flowing. It's taken a while to sink in. This is Eddie's triumph. He has pulled off many an unexpected result in his time here, but this was going to have to be the greatest, and so it was. He reduced the best team in the country to a shambles.

Yet again, our Eddie proves himself the master of the occasion. It would have been easier and safer to have rested or protected some players, but he went for it. Sunday will be a different matter, but at least we will now be entering the contest unafraid. Our guy has cojones as well as brains. The selection of Joelinton with his 9 yellow cards was particularly noteworthy. Big Joe does like to get stuck in, but Eddie showed faith in him.

I haven't seen the entire game, but on the basis of what I saw, I agree. He seemed to be trying to do too much on his own.

The two players that I've got my eyes on are Mbuemo and Huijsen, and they look like possibilities.

I don't think Eddie was playing his full hand, and Slot realises that. There's still some hope for Wembley, even though at the end it felt like men against boys. Isak makes a big difference. Bad sight of the night was Gordon insisting on taking that free kick in the second half instead of Schar. I hope Eddie has a word with him.

Hojlund looks like he's trying too hard. He's only young, and it can't be easy with all the chaos going on around him. Meanwhile, it would help if Amorim could keep his mouth shut. The latest gaffe is him blaming the staff cuts on the poor quality of his team.

With the likes of Hall, Willock, Joelinton, and Gordon to choose from, we attack well down our left side, and Liverpool are relatively weak down their right. It's the one area where I think we have an advantage. Having said that, and considering we're away from home, Eddie might choose to play more defensively tonight. He might want to keep his more attacking approach under wraps until Wembley.

Salah is an obvious threat but maybe we should look at it another way. He doesn’t do very much defending so we can then have Gordon and Hall bearing down on Trent AA who isn’t the world’s greatest defender. Also bear in mind that if we can get the ball to Isak in space, he will cause problems for any defender, including Van Dijk. I think we can score against them. It will depend on how well we can defend.

I've had another look at it, and I'd still split the blame. Murphy was having to deal with a high bouncing ball, facing his own goal, and I think the options of a pass back to Burn or carrying the ball across the pitch would both have carried some risks. Footballers have to make these quick calculations about their best options, and instinct has its part to play. Tino often looks a bit tense to me, and he should in this case have been more cautious. After all, Murphy is not Zidane and he was put in a vulnerable position.

Livramento worries me a bit. He often doesn't look like he wants the ball and is prone to panic. Hall has made much more progress on the other side. I would hold Livramento equally to blame for their goal. As the taker of the throw-in he has to accept responsibility for judging what's on and what isn't. It was a really poor decision.

What would alarm me most if I was a Man U fan would be the regular stream of negative messages that he keeps giving out. 'Everything is going wrong' is the latest. How is he going to motivate his players, or indeed himself, if he's publicly wallowing in misery? You might say he's being honest, but they do have a few decent players, and that can't be the way to bring out the best in them. I would also worry that the younger players like Garnacho and Mainoo - good players both - may be suffering the most. I know I go on about him, but Eddie inherited a far worse situation, but right from the start, and in so many ways, he was telling the players how good they were.

Agreed, but fortunately games aren't won on paper. If we can defend well, there's always a chance with Isak around.

I do wonder whether at least part of the problem is now Pep himself. He seemed to be mulling over the possibility of leaving / retiring before deciding to give the club another two years. Not long afterwards, the job changed. Instead of maintaining a successful side, it's now a rebuild. There's also the PSR issue on the near horizon. Instead of a serene march to a triumphant farewell, it's a task that really needs someone with a long-term commitment who's prepared to weather what could be a difficult period in the short-term. Of course I don't doubt his ability, but I think this is a new situation for him. He's only managed clubs on an upward trajectory. Either he's facing a two-year slog only to hand over the reins to a new manager, or he'll have to make a longer-term commitment which a few months ago he didn't seem to want to do.

Centre mid just isn't the priority. The club seem to have identified the areas where we need new blood - right wing, centre back and, to a lesser extent, goalkeeper.