TheBrownBottle

Nice Burn

It’s not that no-one thinks that a spending money in the window wouldn’t help - it’s the fact that the club is handcuffed by FFP are close to the spending limit on it. Most of the ones whinging about it I can guarantee are the ones who really thought this was a Man City-style takeover - those of us who knew it wasn’t are the one’s getting frustrated with this latter.

The results suggest we are where we deserve to be, but I don’t expect us to be there in May. That’s ok with me tbh - I can see where we’re headed. Some of the implosions which might follow next season will be seismic - this rebuild will take time, and I could easily see us finishing 7th/8th/9th for a couple of seasons until all the off-pitch commercial stuff is sorted and the squad is thoroughly rebuilt. It’s going to require patience

What we’ve been watching since Boxing Day is more than just about fatigue - there is an element where teams have worked out how to play against us. The ridiculous timing of the WC has fucked us, as we won’t be able to correct this until the summer. This side is still having an incredible season nonetheless. But Howe’s superb management of some of these lads can only go so far - a lot of it has been identifying how to play to their strengths and cover their weaknesses; Almiron, Burn, Schar, Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock etc - the tactics and management for these lads have been superb, and their buy-in and hard work have paid off. I’m certainly not advocating getting shot of them - but they’re the sort of players who you’d think are likely to be squad players rather than constant first XI picks if the club is to move to the next rung up the ladder.

Go on then, somehow FFP doesn’t matter and you can spend £100m. How does that fix what I just watched? Who do you bring in? For every cunt banging on about Maddison, he’s not in Casemiro’s class - and he’d be cup tied. I’m struggling to see how one or two players (at most) fixes today.

Yeah, some of those immediate control takes are incredible. The ball gets pinged, floated, drilled at him and it seems to make no difference. His dead balls are becoming annoying, but his all-round game is superb.

It was like watching a vastly superior boxer ahead on points after nine rounds just jabbing and not risking an unlucky KO. They made it look easy. We’ll get there

I also thought the better side won and it was a pretty straightforward win for Man Utd tbh. That’s as comfortable a cup final win as you’re likely to see.

One of the (few) benefits of not being there is that, unlike previous occasions, I don’t have to hang around and watch the other lot lift the cup. TV went off immediately

If your takeaway from that was that the keeper was to blame, you need a wee shake

Ritchie’s FK in stoppage time was the closest we came to a goal from a FK. Says it all.

You watched a different game from me. They looked extremely comfortable. They knew they could control us and hit on the break.

I think that’s the sales pitch his agent makes

Yep, agreed on all points. I’m afraid that the tactics used by lesser teams when used by Man Utd are going to work to perfection. We can’t break down Leeds, Palace, Bournemouth etc when they do it. For Man Utd they didn’t have to break a sweat second half - the were comfortably the better side.

Ah well, another Wembley defeat. Miles ahead of schedule and it looked it. Worth remembering that future NUFC sides at Wembley will likely look very different. Can’t fault the effort to get there, but the quality is lacking. Glad Karius had a decent game - didn’t want to see the man broken.

Superb by Karius. Good lad. Botman is doing his best impression of a liability.

What’s the fucking point of that by Wilson. Wasted a full minute.

Wish we’d stop calling for FKs. We do sweet FA with them

Nothing in it

Honestly, I don’t think Murphy and Willock could be a drop down at this point. Thought Bruno was really poor, ASM a bit wasteful

One shot on target 75 mins in. That’s a wee bit of an issue if you’re going to win games like.

Almiron’s attitude towards his right foot mirrors that he has towards the English language …

Isak oozes class

The attempts to walk it in are becoming annoying at this point. Have a crack lads

Not having that like, I don’t want to see anyone getting badly injured