Topic: FAC:ManU 4 vs 3 Liv McT 10’ Mac 44’ Salah 45+2’ Antony 87’ Elliot 105’ Rash 113’

[Fromola]

We shouldn't be losing it in ET. We were tired and got pegged back but we should be taking it to pens at the very least. That what makes it frustrating.

Bottling can also be complacency and shooting yourself in the foor. If Spurs lost like that, then no one would hesitate to call it a bottle job.

It's just a lack of experience that is normal when we have so many young/new players that aren't used to competing at this level. I hope we'll learn from this because it's easier in a cup game.

We are too open though. We concede a goal away from home and still play wide open and don't change anything and the opponent and the crowd get up and before you know it we concede again or are relying on the keeper or missed chances. We need to adapt to situations better. The same at the start of away games, just don't do anything stupid for the first 10 minutes, but right off the bat we're easy to play through.

[Eeyore]

When you are going for so many trophies then it is all about managing minutes.

Brooks failure to send off Fernandes for a blatant 2nd yellow, his decision to rule out Virgils first goal in the EFL and his decision to send off Virgil against Newcastle has meant we have played two unnecessary 30 minutes of extra time plus 60 minutes against Newcastle with 10 men.

Add in playing with 9 men against Spurs and 10 men against Bournemouth after incorrect decisions by officials and it mounts up.

[Redbonnie]

I'd be more bothered if we were on for a genuine quad ie Champions league instead of Europa. I'd also be more bothered if City were out of the competition even if we got past United it would have still been a 50:50 chance of winning. You can't ever prove it but if this result means we're not complacent and go and win the league game against these then it's worth it. Similarly I'd rather have been knocked out by Arsenal in the FA cup and won there in the league.

Trophy wise I only really care about the premier league and Champions league. The others are nice to have but are more of a nice bonus. If getting knocked out of the Europa league would help us turn a loss/draw in the league into a win I'd take that deal.

Agree with this except I want the Europa I have already booked flights and accommodation because to me Liverpool playing in Dublin will be a fantastic way to sign off on Klopp it will be packed with reds and a 2 day party

[MonsLibpool]

We're still missing key players. We've played a shit loads of games and we looked fucked at the end.

I think we've done amazing to still be in the mix with half the squad out.

We've been amazing even with many things going against us (injuries and decisions).

It's just that the way we lost yesterday was very naive. A schoolboy would get scolded for playing a square pass there. If we'd list maybe due to them showing quality or on pens, then it's easier to take but we handed it to them.

All we can do is to learn from this and show more nous in the big games going forward.

[MonsLibpool]

We are too open though. We concede a goal away from home and still play wide open and don't change anything and the opponent and the crowd get up and before you know it we concede again or are relying on the keeper or missed chances. We need to adapt to situations better. The same at the start of away games, just don't do anything stupid for the first 10 minutes, but right off the bat we're easy to play through.

I agree. We could adapt more to situations and that's what the leader on the pitch should be doing.

At a point yesterday,  the message should have been for us to be compact and avoid making silly mistakes.

[thaddeus]

We should have killed the game at 2-1 with the openings we had.  The xG doesn't reflect it as we frequently didn't get shots off but we had some fantastic chances to make it 3-1.

The Antony goal was the ultimate sucker punch as:
a) They hadn't been in the game at all for 30 minutes
b) It was Antony!

After that I thought we looked leggy and lacked the intensity to take advantage of their defence being really ropey.  A game too far I guess with our recent run of fixtures.  Having to manage the minutes of Robbo, Dom and Salah didn't help as they're three of our more dynamic players.  I didn't really understand the tactic of Gakpo going down the middle when he can't stretch the game and Nunez playing on the left - Gakpo in general seemed a bit lost after he came on.  That's nit-picking though as our tactics are usually incredibly effective.

It's doubly frustrating as Man U got the easiest semi final but realistically they're going to be played off the park in the final.

[Fruity]

Same. We can't carry 4 competitions with our constant injuries and this was the least important. Just would rather have gone straight out to Arsenal, than throw it away against these. But then again, in that mood we would have fucked it it we were away at Everton today had we gone out earlier.

We know it'll be a slog going there in the league as well.

I agree we could do without the extra games but it's the fact that they were there for the taking 2nd half. You could see they had given up and were in disarray for a large period of the 2nd half. You could actually see Klopp was frustrated with it as well. And it's at that point we just didn't look capable of finishing them off. We were playing our game but our attack were playing like individuals again. Bearing in mind two of our goals were quite big deflections. We just looked like our cutting edge had completely disappeared.

I think the occasion definitely got to some of our players early on in the first half but really not sure what happened during that 2nd half. Might have been tiredness but feels like at times we were scared of losing the ball and giving them a counter, so rather than attack and get the 3rd goal we just played keep the ball to play it safe. Also felt on many occasions instead of playing the ball quickly into their box we would cut back and slow down attacks.

Overall though I don't think it was a terrible performance as we largely dominated in normal time but we very disjointed in the final 3rd and not as confident.

[Phineus]

Watched the extended highlights this morning … just a very dumb game of football.

Few things I’ve taken from this:

- our squad, with the injuries we have, isn’t sustainable across 3 competitions between now and May. Sucks to go out in fashion we did, but does put us in better stock for league.
- if the embarrassment of this focuses their mind and sharpens their decision making in final 3rd in league game, it’ll have been worth it.
- our attack, without Jota, and with Salah coming back from a decent layoff, lacks ruthlessness. Gakpo and Diaz could be upgraded in summer, depending on requirements system wise of the new manager.
- Elliott should play there in April. He uses and keeps the ball better than Dom currently and it’s painfully obvious that if you knit together 4-5 passes against this lot, you’re on their backline.
- Mainoo looks a talent and they should give Ten Hah a 10 year contract.

[Ziltoid]

Should have put it to bed in the 2nd half.  That 5vs2 break was piss poor execution.  3-1 and half the ground fucks off and their heads drop even more. 

[Felch Aid]

Long ball into the corners in the last 10 mins and we failed to manage it everytime they used that tactic. The 5 v 2 run on goal  was also unforgiveable. Getting caught up in the occasion was also poor. Compare that to the League Cup final with less experience.

We are going to get that against them again, Fulham, West Ham, Everton and Villa playing away. Learn from it and be clinical (as we have most of the season).

[MJD-L4]

No point dwelling on it. They put in their best performance of the season, we were shite & still looked like the better side for 60 minutes.

Sparta team selection came back to bite us on the arse. Half the lads were absolutely fucked in extra time. Out on their feet.


Reset over the international break and go again. One final 2 month effort to bring Jurgen another 2 trophies

[rawcusk8]

Guys, 28 pages in under 24 hours, does.. does this mean we’re shit?

[blert596]

Guys, 28 pages in under 24 hours, does.. does this mean we’re shit?

At least some of them actually contribute to a discussion instead of that shit.

To be honest if Jota was playing yesterday I see us winning that by a pretty good margin.

Saying that its probably the worst I've seen the defense play for a while now individually and tactically. Joe, whos been my player of the year so far, had a bit of a stinker, and I was shocked when he stayed on and moved to Robbos position.

I thought the subs were strange to be honest. Dont see why we had Gapko on instead of Gravenberch to help see the game out. We didnt need to chase the game, there were enough openings for us.

I also think we should have brought Gravenberch on instead of Gakpo

[MonsLibpool]

At least some of them actually contribute to a discussion instead of that shit.

To be honest if Jota was playing yesterday I see us winning that by a pretty good margin.

Saying that its probably the worst I've seen the defense play for a while now individually and tactically. Joe, whos been my player of the year so far, had a bit of a stinker, and I was shocked when he stayed on and moved to Robbos position.

I thought the subs were strange to be honest. Dont see why we had Gapko on instead of Gravenberch to help see the game out. We didnt need to chase the game, there were enough openings for us.

I also think we should have brought Gravenberch on instead of Gakpo

It was a very good performance that saw us boss the game. We just poor in moments and we were not ruthless enough (when on top) or savvy enough to see it out in ET.

Joe was ropey early on but I felt he was comfortable albeit a bit blunt in attack. Quansah was very good and Virg didn't break a sweat. Our midfiled was also very good and completely dominated theirs.

Crazy how we lost that.

[Pistolero]

Tough one to process this due to the opposition - and the nature of the defeat......we had them whupped, down, out, fucked....and had shut their shitstain mutants right up.....and then somehow from a position of clear dominance, managed to engineer a loss ......feels like a nagging, nauseous hangover this morning.....the Brighton game seems a long way off....

[disgraced cake]

Tough one to process this due to the opposition - and the nature of the defeat......we had them whupped, down, out, fucked....and had shut their shitstain mutants right up.....and then somehow from a position of clear dominance, managed to engineer a loss ......feels like a nagging, nauseous hangover this morning.....the Brighton game seems a long way off....

Frustrating isn't it. But I think the break has come at a decent time for us. If the Brighton game was this midweek or coming weekend I feel the ground could be a bit anxious, god forbid going a goal down! Think the fans need a rest right now it's been nonstop football since before the cup final.

[Nick110581]

It was a very good performance that saw us boss the game. We just poor in moments and we were not ruthless enough (when on top) or savvy enough to see it out in ET.

Joe was ropey early on but I felt he was comfortable albeit a bit blunt in attack. Quansah was very good and Virg didn't break a sweat. Our midfiled was also very good and completely dominated theirs.

Crazy how we lost that.

We were poor for opening 20 minutes and maybe the last 10.

Surprised Grav didn’t come on to offer some midfield protection but maybe he wasn’t fit.

Imagine they will be thinking how lucky they were.

Expect him to revert to type in April and be negative.

[MonsLibpool]

We were poor for opening 20 minutes and maybe the last 10.

Surprised Grav didn’t come on to offer some midfield protection but maybe he wasn’t fit.

Really bonkers game though.

It's normal for them to start fast against us when they are at home and they were obviously going to throw everything at it if the the difference was one goal with a few minutes to go. However, the bulk of the game showed their true level.

Grav's driving runs and passing would have been perfect agains their ''midfield''.

[blert596]

It was a very good performance that saw us boss the game. We just poor in moments and we were not ruthless enough (when on top) or savvy enough to see it out in ET.

Joe was ropey early on but I felt he was comfortable albeit a bit blunt in attack. Quansah was very good and Virg didn't break a sweat. Our midfiled was also very good and completely dominated theirs.

Crazy how we lost that.

I thought every time they hoofed it to one of their speedsters then we never looked comfortable at all. Luckily we dominated them enough for it not to really matter for most of the game as they hardly had the ball. But that release ball was their only outlet and so many times had us scrambling. They have 2 options really hoof it to Garnachu or Rashford and hope they have a free run.

I agree that we bossed the game for the vast majority but wasting chance after chance I feel certainly contributed to them being able to go for it with only 2 at the back. We really should have managed that game out easily - whether we scored a third or not.

A chance wasted.

[rawcusk8]

At least some of them actually contribute to a discussion instead of that shit.

Contributions in this thread have so far ranged from someone saying they want to kill themselves cos we lost, insulting certain players and all round hyperbolic reactions yet you call my contribution shit? Well I’ll be damned.

[Coolie High]

I think Kelleher was going long far too much, and he wasn’t the only one. In extra time all we seemed to do is do hopeless punts up field, shocking.

[Nick110581]

I think Kelleher was going long far too much, and he wasn’t the only one. In extra time all we seemed to do is do hopeless punts up field, shocking.

Think we were gassed.

[Eeyore]

I think Kelleher was going long far too much, and he wasn’t the only one. In extra time all we seemed to do is do hopeless punts up field, shocking.

Unlike City we can't really play keepball in midfield.We tend to use Ali's ability on the ball to play triangles with the centre backs. That then draws the opposition onto us and allows us to isolate Darwin 1v1.

Kelleher isn't as comfortable playing triangles at the back. That combined with Maguire coming on meant we were just giving them the ball back all the time when Kelleher went long.

Add in Trents ability to carve teams up, Ibous athleticism, Jones's ability to retain possession and Jotas ruthlessness and you can understand why things went wrong.

[redk84]

Our passing was wayford for large spells of that match.
At first maybe you could say United caught us on the backfoot too often and "wanted it more"

Then we find ourselves 2-1 up without playing really well just being able to get some attacking moves going.
2nd half we absolutely found it too easy and may have got complacent. In ET i think legs were the issue but this wasn't like a normal game against United from years gone by.

We weren't scared at any point, they looked like they were giving their all and it was visibly levels beneath us but we often play teams at their level instead of our own and its the story of what happened yesterday.

Absolutely can be used as fuel for the same fixture in the league and a good warning to stew on for a couple of weeks that there is work to do and have to be ruthless to get what we want.
Shit can and often does happen to us so we have to be better.

Just the run-in to go. Bad result out the way.

[Magz50]

United played their cup final yesterday, they'll get smacked by City in a few weeks and this will just be another footnote.

[carling]

Genuinely felt like being knocked out by a Championship side.

[Vauxy head red]

Remember looking at the clock and it being the 70th and thinking that they had barely left their own half since half time. That 5 on 2 is criminal, the 1 man holding in the 120th minute when not losing is criminal and I said it before the corner was took.

Horrible defeat that, even the way Bradley slipped for their 4th. Looked like he might have had that under control until then, they did nothing. Was obvious they’d get that draw as well so the media, desperate as they are for their revival can point to them getting to a final as some sort of progress despite there not being any and a 10th terrible season in a row.

[number 168]

We should have won comfortably, I doubt (hope) Nunez will ever make another daft pass like that again, 5 on 2 breaks will be finished off, TAA, Jota, Konate, Gravenberch, Alisson to come back, the FAC was the least of our priorities and sending 9 up for a last minute corner should not happen again. Looking forward to seeing off Brighton and wiping the floor with United on 7th April.

[Nick110581]

Genuinely felt like being knocked out by a Championship side.

Said the same.

[Andar]

Genuinely felt like being knocked out by a Championship side.

Even the celebrations from their side made it seem like it.

The young fan in tears was a bit crazy. Neville seemed overcome and close to tears himself.

[Nick110581]

Even the celebrations from their side made it seem like it.

The young fan in tears was a bit crazy. Neville seemed overcome and close to tears himself.

The mad thing is they will probably lose their next two in League before playing us.

[spider-neil]

This game will focus minds for the league game. They stopped us from scoring in the league and beat us in the FA Cup. They may be shite but we have to put the idea to one side that we will simply roll over them. I listened to a few podcasts before the game the attitude was the game was done and all we had to do was turn up.

[Nick110581]

This game will focus minds for the league game. They stopped us from scoring in the league and beat us in the FA Cup. They may be shite but we have to put the idea to one side that we will simply roll over them. I listened to a few podcasts before the game the attitude was the game was done and all we had to do was turn up.

I think some it as a free hit with not that much pressure.

As Virgil says, we only have ourselves to blame.

[Jookie]

I think the last 2 games (City and United) have been a lesson in ruthlessness. We win both games, with differing quality of performance and different quality of opposition, if we are more ruthless in attack. City was a case of missing chances we had created. Yesterday was a case in not maximising our control and creating those chances when opportunity arose.

Hopefully it’s been a good lesson for all. You need to press home your advantage against any opposition. There’ll be times in the last 10-15 games where we’ll need to show our ruthless side. I think a fully fit Salah and Jota help with this massively. I think having more than 3-4 fit midfielders helps also. Yesterday we probably could have done with some fresh legs in midfield in last 15-20 mins of normal time. Probably could have taken advantage of them being stretched.

[Nick110581]

I think the last 2 games (City and United) have been a lesson in ruthlessness. We win both games, with differing quality of performance and different quality of opposition, if we are more ruthless in attack. City was a case of missing chances we had created. Yesterday was a case in not maximising our control and creating those chances when opportunity arose.

Hopefully it’s been a good lesson for all. You need to press home your advantage against any opposition. There’ll be times in the last 10-15 games where we’ll need to show are ruthless side. I think a fully fit Salah and Jota help with this massively. I think having more than 3-4 fit midfielders helps also. Yesterday we probably could have done with some fresh legs in midfield in last 15-20 mins of normal time. Probably could have taken advantage of them being stretched.

Grav was on bench.

No idea why he didn't come on.

[Wullie160975]

Like I said the last time I remember us doing that was the 5-0 game but we were 4-0 at halftime and 5-0 when Pogba got sent off. We were out of danger from any kind of response from United.

Yesterday we were one goal up and decided to keep tapping the ball to one another which is asking for trouble. United were always going to give it a bit of a go int he last 10-minutes.

It also highlighted the mistake of pushing Nunez wide left later in the game. United had taken off most of their centre halves and Maguire was constantly pushing up front to play as a target man. But we had no-one through the middle with any pace to exploit the big gaps they left at the back.

I didn't understand why we didn't switch him back after we went to extra time. Or switched Gakpo to the left and brought Danns on for Nunez if he was too knackered. What happened to fresh legs as the reason for the Carabao final. Why not fresh legs here?

[Funky_Gibbons]

I didn't understand why we didn't switch him back after we went to extra time. Or switched Gakpo to the left and brought Danns on for Nunez if he was too knackered. What happened to fresh legs as the reason for the Carabao final. Why not fresh legs here?

I suspect we wanted to keep Nunez on in case it went to penalties.

[spider-neil]

I suspect Nunez was kept on the pitch because we thought it would go to penalties.

[spider-neil]

I suspect we wanted to keep Nunez on in case it went to penalties.

[TONY STARK]  You beat me by, like, one second. [/TONY STARK]

[spider-neil]

If you need therapy just watch the 5-0 and 7-0 again. Always a pick-me-up.