TheBrownBottle

Could it be the opportunity to do it? It’s a free hit. Though I’m guessing that if we change it up for that one and get hammered then it’ll kill the change stone dead

Neither are world class - neither actually start for their national team, never mind get into a world XI

Agreed - while I understand that one of the world’s better goalies might get fingertips to the second, the reality is his positioning was fine and he was beaten by an unfortunate deflection

I can see ASM being moved on in the not too distant future, but I think the others will all be members of the starting xi in a couple of years time

He wasn’t our worst performer, but I thought he had a poor game. Daft foul for the opener too.

Agreed. Bruno certainly didn’t look close to Casemiro’s class, and Botman is still all potential.

Bruno and Botman didn’t look close to that today. Thought they were two of the worst performers.

This is why the rebuild will take longer than that, and if people are expecting a revolution in the summer they’re going to go on being miserable as sin. I’ve no doubt there’ll be two or three really good players added, but I don’t think top four was the aim this year or next year. We’ve got at least three or four more windows to go before we will have the strength in depth - people need to stop stressing about ‘top four challenges’.

I think that final sentence contradicts the point you made in your first. Though I think that fallacy is the least of the issues, like.

He didn’t manage the first half last year in fairness. Though I think the WC break this season has a big part to play. That Howe has this squad where it is speaks volumes. He’s been the perfect man for the role - I think he’s one of those managers who are smart enough to learn from everything. I don’t doubt today will hurt him, but if (when!) we get to another final with him, he’ll take shitloads of learnings from today and make sure he implements them. The man inspires complete confidence from me

Chucking that FA Cup tie at Hillsborough doesn’t seem such a great idea atm *ducks*

A tired Man Utd sitting back and watching us ineffectually knock the ball around might just skew some of the possession statistics. They looked more dangerous than us second half via their counterattacks. They played Barcelona a couple of days ago, yet somehow looked fresher first half. If we scored, they’d have stepped back up a gear.

Have to say I’d like to see ASM start again vs Man City, with Isak and Gordon also up top.

Yeah, I’m not convinced by that

He’d have been sat with Gordon if we signed him in Jan, mind. Though getting an attacking MF in the summer is likely to be high on the list. The issue is that there are a few positions where that can be said - which is why this isn’t going to be a quick rebuild

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