TRon

They've got a couple of very dangerous players in MGW and Elanga. Wood is scoring a lot of goals this season, but if the CBs don't take their eye off the ball, he's easy enough to snuff out of a game. He's just a target man at the end of the day. We know where the danger is coming from, we should be able to impose our game and watch for the sucker punch accordingly.

Midweek games are just a handy excuse for when you are going through a bad spell of form. Get sick of hearing how a free week will give us plenty of time to prepare and rest up, and then we inevitably turn in a half-hearted performance and get turned over by a team that''s played three days earlier.

Like I said yesterday, I watched the game again on the Sky extended highlights, and Willock was doing his job up until they scored. After that the whole team fell apart and we lost our shape. Miley brought some good composure to the game, but it was already lost by then, and the game had slowed down anyway. Not really sure how much you can judge off that second half. The other thing to consider is that Willock has played down the left side previously, and he's more of a natural replacement for Joelinton. If Miley comes in, he's either playing centrally or down the right, so that means shuffling the whole team around to accomodate him. Tonali ended up on the right yesterday, I'm not sure that's what I want to see in future games.

Agree. You just have to look at the goals conceded, we played right into your hands. There might be an argument that it was the players executing the plan badly, but that first goal...fuck me. How do you end up with two slowcoach centre backs on the halfway line where just a simple punt takes them out of the game? It looked to me like we planned for Haaland, but had no idea what Marmoush was going to bring to the table.

Was probably the worst defender on the pitch today. Awful.

Looked like Tonali shifted out to the left and Miley went to the right to accomodate him so not sure the balance will be right over a longer period. Felt a bit sorry for Willock, the midfield was quite solid until the first goal, then everything fell apart. He was doing his job up to then, even if he wasn't pulling up any trees.

Dubravka was in no mans land as well. None of the defenders came out of that well.

Sometimes it really is as simple as that. There's been a lot of criticism of the midfield, but we were set up quite well until they scored. For some reason both our centre backs were on the halfway line with no recovery pace, and a simple long ball left Trippier isolated against a younger, faster striker in acres of space. That goal was tragic, and we never recovered.

I'm no less or more worried than I was before today. I've never seen us play well in a cup final, and that goes back to the League Cup final against Man City. I was a kid then and not sure if they would rank as really top class opposition, but every final we've played seems to be against really top tier teams. To win against Liverpool, we'll have to make sure we turn up for once at Wembley, and actually play. That would make a change in itself.

They are doing it with a smaller squad and with plenty of injuries to contend with as well.

Their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much an open book, we need a repeat performance of the one we put in down there. We neutered them very effectively on the day.

But if you've got ageing players who lack pace, you then have to make sure you don't leave too much empty space where they will get exposed.

They've been hamstrung by the conditions they agreed to with the PL when the takeover was allowed. We'll only know the real extent of their ambition if they are given an avenue where they can flex their muscle. The APT rules being ruled illegal might be that avenue.

If we get the tactics right, and the players stick to them, we win.

I think it's borderline. We are at a crucial part of the season where it could kick on and really go up a notch, or we could limp our way out of a European position. Even though Chelsea, Man U, and Spurs are having shit seasons, teams like Bournemouth and Forest have stepped in. We don't have Europe to contend with, we just need to learn how to get results when we aren't playing 100%. Too many results like today in one season.

He's got a far higher ceiling than Longstaff though. I just don't think he prefers playing in a side that sits back more so he can attack the space. We know he can play in a pressing side, because he was mint in our CL qualifying season, but he played out of his skin that season. Doesn't look like he can do it consistently.

If we are looking for positives to take from this game, at least Man City will have dropped out of the running for his signature after today.

I think we'll beat Forest. Said last week as well, but I'm more worried about Bournemouth, that gives us one less spot to chase unless we can rein them in.

Said in the pre-match I hoped he turned up today. He didn't.

He needs to spot these things coming though. He's not going to get it right every time, just to put it in perspective. He's won plenty of these battles as well, but we have been on the end of a few hidings now, so seems like when we get it wrong, we get it badly wrong.

You wouldn't expect our team to though.

They didn't look like they had bought into whatever the game plan was.

Think it was just a tactical car crash tbh. We know we can give teams a chasing when we play at 100%, but you have to know how to win when everything isn't perfect. This was Man City away. Felt like we forgot that they have been the best side in England for the last few years.

Really need Willock to step up now that Big Joe is out for a while. He might not be as physical, but technically he should be better if he is on his game. There's real potential in a midfield 3 of Bruno, Tonali and Willock.

The PL are just lucky that Everton or Leicester didn't get relegated on the back of points deductions, otherwise they could be facing very costly compensation claims. It's the clubs who are ultimately paying for this, at some point they have to stop funding this breaking of the law.