Gallowgate Toon

Does Sissoko want to do the dirty work of a CM is the biggest question. My gut says no and he'll always see himself as largely above it and want to play a position that demands less close physical work than that. He's probably best dribbling in wide areas too, as his close control isn't the best. Dyer's short passing was good, mind. As was his finishing when he got older.

It's a squad game, man. This is the benefit of having competition.

He might, just might, have decided to protect 2 young players and gone for more experience up top to try and lead the team better.

Pardew's gameplan was to sit deep, we didn't do that for long stretches of the game. Our pressing game stopped after de Jong went off, I don't think that's a coincidence, mind. We tried to play but we don't have a really balanced set of players so it can be very patchy in how it comes off. I thought Thauvin looked alright for the moments he was on, really would like to see him come in against Villa and start on the left with Mitro ahead of SDJ. Would prefer to see Perez come back in next weekend as our best chances will be counters and he's a better option away from home as a 10, IMO.

He got stuck in too, which is massive for a side like ours. Nicked the ball, stuck his head in etc. As much as I like Perez, he can be a bit of a bottler.

Most have praised his work off the ball, rather than what he did on it. Today was his first start in how long? He was better than Perez has been in his last couple of matches and may well get better with more time. Personally, I saw a pretty big benefit in having an experienced, intelligent head in a key area. He stayed in similar areas the whole game and that suited our structure more, IMO.

He was decent. Helped Liverpool's midfield is pretty pissweak.

We're on tele again next week know what you mean though. Absolutely infuriating.

The first goal is so simple, just put in an early ball with whip and it'll usually cause problems. Second was great. Still thought he was really patchy overall.

I think de Jong was massive for him, today. Someone on the pitch, with a bit of gravitas, that marshalled our play. We actually pressed really well on occasion and I think that was largely down to having SdJ there.

I thought today was his best overall effort. Seemed more involved in general play and had some lovely moves. Second was a lush goal.

Siems much more suited to starting games, rather than coming on as a sub. I was really impressed with his intelligence off the ball, he led some really good pressing and you can see that's something that's been properly coached into him. He was actually talking too, pointing to players where they should be and always communicating. As much as I like Perez, that's just something he can't provide that we really do need (there should still be a place in the starting XI, imo). On the ball, he was decent, tried to keep play moving quickly with good touches but sometimes ahead of his teammates. Some nice movement too.

As we're so rank at the back, I'm not against going with a 3 to try and shore us up in the middle a bit. But if he's going to drop Wijnaldum and Perez for it, that's absolutely minging. They should both be in there, easily.

We don't have any capable wingers and we'd still be easy as piss to get through.

No one was saying that about Sunderland a few weeks ago. We have forced out some of our players with a bit of fight like Abeid under McClaren's watch. He has to take some responsibility for it. He's made no effort to change the formation or personnel to get more out of what he has got available. He's got no game plan, even sides like Bournemouth who have a bunch of championship players know what they are about. From what I've seen of the mackems, they looked more open under Advocaat and were sliced through with ease, Allardyce has just got them back to basics and is playing to their strengths at the back. What are our strengths? Abeid shouldn't have gone, that's a given and whoever took that decision is a moron. We've tried quite a few formations, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and now 3 at the back and we never look any better, it's almost as if there's a common denominator there. Bournemouth have been built up well and Howe has a structure to the team that he's created over years - they're a tight bunch and he's got the personnel to do exactly what he wants. Quality is only a part of the situation, balance and mentality are equally as, if not more, important. His biggest mistake has been not being radical enough with the man management of the squad. He's tried to come in and ease some of the tensions between players but it's not worked, he now must show authority as it's all he has left.

Sunderland have an easy gameplan because of their defence and midfield. They're a crap team of footballers, generally, but they have physicality and are passable backs-to-the-wall style players to be a typical Allardyce side - there's a theme there, at least. M'Vila is a good protector of the defence too and streets ahead of any of our CMs. Our lot are a completely different kettle of fish and, frankly, are more difficult to work out for a situation like this, IMO. We can't push up the pitch because we're slow and light in the middle, don't exactly have the warriors to do a lot of penalty box defending. We're a side with absolutely nowt going for it defensively.

Exactly how I'd play it now. We're shit, let's just accept it and try to grind a few points out. We're weak as piss in the middle, teams walk through us, so counteract it with numbers and hope for the best.

Pretty sure all he said was that they'd tried it on Wednesday, not all week. Fair enough, but that's even worse tbf. In what way? Teams try different formations in training a lot. Keegan rocked up before a game one time and just said we're going 3 at the back Well he's citing as a reason why we got botted up the arse by Palace 5-1. I didn't hear his full quote, just heard fat gimp ask if he'd have gone 5 and he said they'd tried it on Weds. Obviously, it's not the reason we got bummed, if that's what he thinks

Pretty sure all he said was that they'd tried it on Wednesday, not all week. Fair enough, but that's even worse tbf. In what way? Teams try different formations in training a lot. Keegan rocked up before a game one time and just said we're going 3 at the back

Pretty sure all he said was that they'd tried it on Wednesday, not all week.

Let's go 3 at the back, just for a laugh. It's not like they have any width anyway.

I love watching him. He looks effortless when he plays.

A 'special Sunday training session'

Man U doing their best impression of us in midfield.

Imagine our left back playing a ball like that