Lotus

Can't bring myself to praise a guy for these changes as they were forced on him. If Cabaye was still on we'd probably looking at 0-1 deficit right now with what was our 'set up'.

What would you try then? play him in behind a front two or alongside a similar player off a striker in front (and wide) of a middle 3, the main thing i'd be changing regardless is that the midfield look to get into attacking positions whenever possible instead of sticking to their positions at all times. I don't think he'd offer enough as part of a middle 2. If he's 'in the hole' then we do need our wide men to attack the box more (and better). Given the players we have i really think he might be better on the wing.

What would you try then?

So, he doesn't want Ben Arfa as a winger, he wants him as a 'working wide man.' Reminds me of someone else's patter now i think of it.....

Wasn't there some crap going around a couple of weeks ago about Krul having a £7m buyout clause? Probably the same rumour but with different names inserted.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Was great. A few points though: The players were very motivated. Credit to the manager, staff and the players themselves. They closed Manu down relentlessly, denied them space and time (for the most part). Pardew. In my humble opinion this was not a tactical master class. Clearly our game plan was to deny them time, don't dally on the ball ourselves and get it to the big men asap. Harrass them, keep a high line but put pressure on the ball so they can't find a clever pass because if they get in behind us, we're in trouble. As we started to tire, around 65 mins in, we couldn't pressure the ball as well. Then we see the ball over the top for Wellbeck that caught Colo out but Wellbeck miscontroled (luckily). I reckon if Allardyce had been our manger still, he would have wanted us to play exactly how we did. As Rednose said in his post match chat, we didn't tear them to shreds and he's right we didn't. We weren't working their keeper particularly. We had a couple of nice moves (Shola's ball to Ba that should have ended in a penaly) but on the whole, our 2 goals were wonder strikes that no one could have stopped. For the first, the ball skims of Shola's head, the ball bounced nicely for Ba who put in a truly cracking shot. Cabaye's freekick is a goal every day of the week, no one is stopping that. Tbh though, i reckon they were better around our box than we were around there's, which is probably to be expected given they have mostly better players (think Tiote and Cabaye will outplay Carrick and Giggs 9 out of 10) and a better manager. I don't think Ba and Shola raped Ferdinand and Jones for most of the game, they certainly gave them a challenge but they didn't dominate them. Our strikers would have had more shots in the box if we had. If you think to the first 20 mins, they really had some moments. Also, Simpson's block in the 2nd half was tremendous but those kind of things always have an element of fortune about them. We won because of Manu's team selection, maybe Nani on the left, Valencia on the right, Fabio and RB and Hernandez to start might haver been better for them. We won because Manu like to play through the middle but our middle 2 are better athletically and also very technically adept. We won because of 2 cracking shots of a quality which won't be repeated every week. We won because of our attitude which is to our credit and simple tactics of starve the opposition of time and bang it down field at the first opportunity and see if we get lucky.

I've heard this kid's mustard...

If i was playing as well as him i'd wait until the summer to see who we sell before signing a new contract. There must be teams all over the continent eyeing him up.

If he was just a bit quicker i'd say he'd be worth sticking with but he does lack a bit of acceleration against really quick players, and given the rest of his limitations, i only hope we one day find another dirt cheap player who's better.

I loved Enrique. I even loved Enrique when so many others were slating him. Santon looks better than Enrique did in his first season though, must be said.

Was helped out by Raylor. Also, wasn't really facing a LW. Great, great block on the line though, that was fantastic anticipation.

Delighted with the score line but it has been a bit like watching Newstoke Unicity at times. You can see Pardew's decided for a few games now that it has to go to the big lads upfront as quick as possible and see what happens.

Really not sure what your problem is with this one. He had space, he had the ball, he even had time. He did nothing with it. That's regardless if the other 4 were gods or monsters, Obertan contributed no where near enough. Actually, nothing. I'm not blaming him for the loss but he's share of our attacking (and defending tbf) was not met by his effort. Them's the facts. That doesn't make any sense at all, but fair enough Sure. If it's beyond your comprehension i certainly won't bother. As soon as 'fact' come in to play it's bad enough but proceeded by 'Them's the' I have quite trying to have a reasonable conversation Have fun. My brother in misery. You may have to edit that to make it the rebuke you intended

Really not sure what your problem is with this one. He had space, he had the ball, he even had time. He did nothing with it. That's regardless if the other 4 were gods or monsters, Obertan contributed no where near enough. Actually, nothing. I'm not blaming him for the loss but he's share of our attacking (and defending tbf) was not met by his effort. Them's the facts. That doesn't make any sense at all, but fair enough Sure. If it's beyond your comprehension i certainly won't bother.

Really not sure what your problem is with this one. He had space, he had the ball, he even had time. He did nothing with it. That's regardless if the other 4 were gods or monsters, Obertan contributed no where near enough. Actually, nothing. I'm not blaming him for the loss but he's share of our attacking (and defending tbf) was not met by his effort. Them's the facts.

He did nothing there. We were behind and squeezed for space with the wingers not worrying their FBs and he found no space. Didn't do much with the ball (saying that just to please Cajun so he doesn't think i'm singling out Obertan like).

Obertan a scapegoat!! You're f**king kidding right? I'm not using his as a scapergoat, i'm saying he wasn't useful for us today. Is that somehow treachery?

Vuckic should of, obviously, he didn't have enough about him, hopefully he'll grow into it. Jonas did try and make a couple of runs behind the FB. Tiote wasn't meant to and Obertan did nothing pass the half way line.

He has really posed no risk to Liverpool when's he had the ball. In fact, tbh, the only team he's threatened is his own. Shame.

If Santon's out though, as seems likely, it's gonna be the same old 4-4-2 Krul Simpson Willo/Perch Colo Raylor Obertan Cabaye Tiote Jonas Best Ba

It's not like he kicked him in the head. That would have been VERY different. One can't condone it but it is from beyond the reaches of understanding.

An idea. If Santon's fit: Krul Simpson Williamson Colo Santon Cabaye Tiote Vuckic Ben Arfa Ba Obertan Santon's seems a fairly solid defender so far so may not suffer from Vuckic not protecting him too much, also Obertan has the fitness to track their RB should he go on a run. Obertan may benefit from having the option to naturally cut inside on to his right there by forcing their RB to think about tackling with his weaker foot, Obertan also has the pace to go outside (if he uses it). We'll also have Vuckic to put in left side crosses should we need. Cabaye works hard and is disciplined, he can cover when Ben Afra inevitably drifts. Cabaye will also help out Simmo and both can offer crosses from the right. Reckon Jonas could do with a rest.

Way better then our current lot, except Demba. He's more direct and pacy then Demba though. Would suit us perfectly. So disappointed about how this has turned out. Fair do's. I haven't seen him play, just the usual Youtube stuff and tbh, didn't overly impress me but if he was as you've described him then it sounds like a loss. Have to say, didn't think going to a player who'd be off on a tournament the same time as Ba would've been good planning though. Maybe that started to belatedly factor into their decision.

Was surprised we were still pursuing this one tbh. He seemed a bit similar to what we have already. I think what we need is pacy guy who makes clever runs. Kind of like Sturridge at Bolton (although undoubtedly excellent for Chelsea he seems to play wider there than at Bolton).

You want to see him start ahead of Jonas?? Have you got some motive other than football?? Have i missed something here? Do you have a certain ''keeness'' for the lad or summat? His ability to receive a ball out wide and cross into the box one touch later. His ability to scamper down to the bye line and whip balls in. His ability to win tackles (like Jonas). His ability to shoot. His ability to get stuck in and tackle. Surely looking through that he'd be a better replacement for Obertan, no?