Man Utd Thread:

[Maroon Manc]

Don't know how anyone can say it was lucky we didn't sign Haaland. The lad is phenomenal, a special talent. The only clubs a special player leaves United for is Barca/ Real and their both very skint.

Getting him for £17m last January is one of the best buys of the last 10 years, giving him a new contract would soon get rid of the clause.

A huge opportunity missed for United.

Think you are miles off on this Maroon, the whole point of the release clause was to leave Raiolo in charge further down the line. Haaland wouldn't sign a new contract? A club spends a year or two developing to the point where hes a £100m+ asset and have to sell him for £50m or whatever the release clause is, guess where the rest of the moneys going? Raiolo of course.

You could argue that United would have the benefit of the couple of years he spent at the club but the day United get involved in a deal like that is the day they may give up. It probably suits Dortmund but if Haaland was really available for a straight forward £17m at the time every giant club in Europe would have been in the hunt

I can see those points but not every player is like Pogba who's going to let his agent cause mayhem, imagine Haaland was upfront in this United team. Realistically if he had come to United they would have to have given the agent and probably Haaland snr a fee for taking renegotiating the contract and taking out the clause but how much is he going to cost United a fortune if they want him in the next 18 months; The buyout clause is apparently 75m euros and probably cost another 20m euros in agents fees etc.

[Maroon Manc]

Good response to going a goal down.

AWB is still so naïve,  how many times did he get caught on the wrong side or got played around with a simple inside pass.
Better teams will exploit that and yes the CB's were at fault for the goal, but he was looking across the play and should have been able to either step up or snuff out the pass. I was in disbelief when the co-commentator said he was having an excellent season.

Outside of that some good positives and on to the next one.

AWB hasn't been great for a while and desperately needs more time on the training pitch, great to get the win but it was far from convincing. Pogba reinforcing the view he's a joke, all the ability in the world as last night showed but continued to go through the motions for his 4 seasons at OT.

Martial/Greenwood again were poor, Greenwood in particular is so low on confidence; He desperately needs a goal. I think we'll get punished sooner rather then later in these games we're only winning by a goal unless we start winning games more comfortably. 10 wins and 3 draws from the last 13 league games is some record and something nobody seen coming, lets hope it continues.

[NAG1]

Good response to going a goal down.

AWB is still so naïve,  how many times did he get caught on the wrong side or got played around with a simple inside pass.
Better teams will exploit that and yes the CB's were at fault for the goal, but he was looking across the play and should have been able to either step up or snuff out the pass. I was in disbelief when the co-commentator said he was having an excellent season.

Outside of that some good positives and on to the next one.

AWB hasn't been great for a while and desperately needs more time on the training pitch, great to get the win but it was far from convincing. Pogba reinforcing the view he's a joke, all the ability in the world as last night showed but continued to go through the motions for his 4 seasons at OT.

Martial/Greenwood again were poor, Greenwood in particular is so low on confidence; He desperately needs a goal. I think we'll get punished sooner rather then later in these games we're only winning by a goal unless we start winning games more comfortably. 10 wins and 3 draws from the last 13 league games is some record and something nobody seen coming, lets hope it continues.

Yeah the form of the front players outside of Cavani is definitely a concern, that is why I can't understand why DVB isnt getting more game time.

But to be fair to OGS and the squad they are finding a way to win. These are the types of games where points were being dropped previously.

[Look-Up!]

Good response to going a goal down.

AWB is still so naïve,  how many times did he get caught on the wrong side or got played around with a simple inside pass.
Better teams will exploit that and yes the CB's were at fault for the goal, but he was looking across the play and should have been able to either step up or snuff out the pass. I was in disbelief when the co-commentator said he was having an excellent season.

Outside of that some good positives and on to the next one.

AWB hasn't been great for a while and desperately needs more time on the training pitch, great to get the win but it was far from convincing. Pogba reinforcing the view he's a joke, all the ability in the world as last night showed but continued to go through the motions for his 4 seasons at OT.

Martial/Greenwood again were poor, Greenwood in particular is so low on confidence; He desperately needs a goal. I think we'll get punished sooner rather then later in these games we're only winning by a goal unless we start winning games more comfortably. 10 wins and 3 draws from the last 13 league games is some record and something nobody seen coming, lets hope it continues.

Yeah the form of the front players outside of Cavani is definitely a concern, that is why I can't understand why DVB isnt getting more game time.

But to be fair to OGS and the squad they are finding a way to win. These are the types of games where points were being dropped previously.

OGS doing much much better than I expected and Utd are in a great position at the moment. Fernandes has been phenomenal since joining in both hitting the ground running and carrying that form into his second season. Him staying fit will have a huge bearing on Utd's fortunes.

Are they overachieving at the moment or are they only starting to click with some of their stars not yet hitting consistent form? That's the million dollar question but if Fernandes stays fit then City or Liverpool will have to put in a big second half of season.
I've always thought they had the quality to rival any team in league and no matter how bad they were they could always raise it a level and match the top teams in the big games. Now they've got that bit of consistency and focus in finding ways to win against the lesser teams, and barring a crisis I think we have a proper title race on our hands. I suppose that brings its own pressure but ATM they look to have the quality and confidence to handle it. If Liverpool can find a bit of form too it could be an epic finish.

[Milltown Row2]

I expect a full senior team selection from Liverpool at the weekend

[Maroon Manc]

Good response to going a goal down.

AWB is still so naïve,  how many times did he get caught on the wrong side or got played around with a simple inside pass.
Better teams will exploit that and yes the CB's were at fault for the goal, but he was looking across the play and should have been able to either step up or snuff out the pass. I was in disbelief when the co-commentator said he was having an excellent season.

Outside of that some good positives and on to the next one.

AWB hasn't been great for a while and desperately needs more time on the training pitch, great to get the win but it was far from convincing. Pogba reinforcing the view he's a joke, all the ability in the world as last night showed but continued to go through the motions for his 4 seasons at OT.

Martial/Greenwood again were poor, Greenwood in particular is so low on confidence; He desperately needs a goal. I think we'll get punished sooner rather then later in these games we're only winning by a goal unless we start winning games more comfortably. 10 wins and 3 draws from the last 13 league games is some record and something nobody seen coming, lets hope it continues.

Yeah the form of the front players outside of Cavani is definitely a concern, that is why I can't understand why DVB isnt getting more game time.

But to be fair to OGS and the squad they are finding a way to win. These are the types of games where points were being dropped previously.

OGS doing much much better than I expected and Utd are in a great position at the moment. Fernandes has been phenomenal since joining in both hitting the ground running and carrying that form into his second season. Him staying fit will have a huge bearing on Utd's fortunes.

Are they overachieving at the moment or are they only starting to click with some of their stars not yet hitting consistent form? That's the million dollar question but if Fernandes stays fit then City or Liverpool will have to put in a big second half of season.
I've always thought they had the quality to rival any team in league and no matter how bad they were they could always raise it a level and match the top teams in the big games. Now they've got that bit of consistency and focus in finding ways to win against the lesser teams, and barring a crisis I think we have a proper title race on our hands. I suppose that brings its own pressure but ATM they look to have the quality and confidence to handle it. If Liverpool can find a bit of form too it could be an epic finish.

Its hard to know, can make an argument for both sides of it. Going to have to start winning games more comfortably to keep in the race which will be easier to do if Greenwood & Martial can start hitting top form.

[Look-Up!]

Good response to going a goal down.

AWB is still so naïve,  how many times did he get caught on the wrong side or got played around with a simple inside pass.
Better teams will exploit that and yes the CB's were at fault for the goal, but he was looking across the play and should have been able to either step up or snuff out the pass. I was in disbelief when the co-commentator said he was having an excellent season.

Outside of that some good positives and on to the next one.

AWB hasn't been great for a while and desperately needs more time on the training pitch, great to get the win but it was far from convincing. Pogba reinforcing the view he's a joke, all the ability in the world as last night showed but continued to go through the motions for his 4 seasons at OT.

Martial/Greenwood again were poor, Greenwood in particular is so low on confidence; He desperately needs a goal. I think we'll get punished sooner rather then later in these games we're only winning by a goal unless we start winning games more comfortably. 10 wins and 3 draws from the last 13 league games is some record and something nobody seen coming, lets hope it continues.

Yeah the form of the front players outside of Cavani is definitely a concern, that is why I can't understand why DVB isnt getting more game time.

But to be fair to OGS and the squad they are finding a way to win. These are the types of games where points were being dropped previously.

OGS doing much much better than I expected and Utd are in a great position at the moment. Fernandes has been phenomenal since joining in both hitting the ground running and carrying that form into his second season. Him staying fit will have a huge bearing on Utd's fortunes.

Are they overachieving at the moment or are they only starting to click with some of their stars not yet hitting consistent form? That's the million dollar question but if Fernandes stays fit then City or Liverpool will have to put in a big second half of season.
I've always thought they had the quality to rival any team in league and no matter how bad they were they could always raise it a level and match the top teams in the big games. Now they've got that bit of consistency and focus in finding ways to win against the lesser teams, and barring a crisis I think we have a proper title race on our hands. I suppose that brings its own pressure but ATM they look to have the quality and confidence to handle it. If Liverpool can find a bit of form too it could be an epic finish.

Its hard to know, can make an argument for both sides of it. Going to have to start winning games more comfortably to keep in the race which will be easier to do if Greenwood & Martial can start hitting top form.

True although I wouldn't have a lot of faith in Martial but Greenwood looks like he could be something special.

I suppose everyone would like their team to be more comfortable but winning or finding a way to win is all that counts and at the elite level of PL the margins are always going to be small enough. Liverpool for all their great performances and laurels collected last season, rode their luck in tight games and habit scraped them through quite a few close calls. The points tally though tells a more comfortable story.
For Utd as well, think it might have been one of Ronaldo's last seasons with them, with his goal scoring exploits off the charts, masked a lot of their problems that season (and some fan rumblings about squad). They won a ridiculous amount of games by the odd goal with the Portuguese coming up with impossible strikes.

The points tally end of season is all that really matters though and for me Utd look confident enough at the moment and are reacting very positively to any on-field adversity comes their way. Of course all teams should strive to improve but sometimes you also need to ride the crest of the wave and not get bogged down too much by the how or whys. For now the jitters that plagued Utd for the last few years seem to have vanished and have now worked their way 30 odd miles over the M62. It's a funny old game.

[Milltown Row2]

Team selections should be interesting today, can't imagine both too concerned about the cup, had fans been in the ground I'd expect both to have picked their strongest teams...

I'm expecting Utd to have a stronger lineup than Liverpool, but Liverpool to have a better performance than they've had recently..

[Rich Ricci]

Really enjoyable game to watch that, both sides going for it as opposed to last week. Thought Pogba was quality as was Rashford. Good to see Greenwood get one also. Hopefully he gets a bit of confidence and kicks on.

Top class strike from Bruno too!

[Milltown Row2]

Must have missed Klopp after the game, did he have much to say?

[Cunny Funt]

A rare good open game between these sides, the beauty of a cup game. Impressive win good character on display again.  Klopp in fairness to him picked a strong team and took that match very serious, something he doesn't normally do in the FA Cup but he and his team got the first taste of the Bruno impact.

Rashford going off with a knee injury was the one bit of bad news for Ole and he was one of the stand out players this evening.

[Jeepers Creepers]

Good oul ding dong cup tie and some decent football being played by both teams. Good to get the win.

[GJL]

Always good to beat them no matter what the circumstances. Cavani is a class act. Works hard.

[Boycey]

A stat that means absolutely nothing but surprised me when I read it there on Twitter, Rashford equalled Cantona's goal tally for United in this evening's game.

Pointless post of the week 

[Boycey]

Looks like we're going to the Superbowl too unless Rodgers gets his finger out....