Keep it in perspective

[toledo]

We just played the champions of the world on their own patch.

We were clearly and comprehensively outplayed but so have many other top quality teams.

This was never going to be a game we would get anything from but we left without head held high and every United player will be a better player for what they just experienced.

At the beginning of August, we would all have taken 8th place on Jan 2 and having played English champions and world champions in 4 days and only let in 4 goals against the top strikers in the world.

We have come along way from the Port Vale’s and Scunthorpe’s of this world.

We now move on and solidify our position for next year.

toledo

 

[Sean Thornton]

We just played the champions of the world on their own patch.

We were clearly and comprehensively outplayed but so have many other top quality teams.

This was never going to be a game we would get anything from but we left without head held high and every United player will be a better player for what they just experienced.

At the beginning of August, we would all have taken 8th place on Jan 2 and having played English champions and world champions in 4 days and only let in 4 goals against the top strikers in the world.

We have come along way from the Port Vale’s and Scunthorpe’s of this world.

We now move on and solidify our position for next year.

toledo

Common sense post?

Sorry, never catch on......

 

[BladeInIreland]

We would have lost to anybody in this league playing like that. Obviously a great season but that was really poor.

 

[Sean Thornton]

We would have lost to anybody in this league playing like that. Obviously a great season but that was really poor.

How many teams have bossed us like that? Deffo not at our best but it was THE form team this season.

 

[Jolly Buffer]

They'll give out some proper hammerings at anfield before the season's out.

We're doing alright. No drama.

 

[BladeInIreland]

How many teams have bossed us like that? Deffo not at our best but it was THE form team this season.

Not many at all. Nor do I expect them to in future.

The perspective is there, I'm not saying any of the lads arn't good enough or committed enough. I'm not saying we are a poor team. I'm obviously not doubting the capability of the manager.

BUT for me we were poor tonight, not just beaten by a better team. By our own standards we were poor. We conceded the wings for some odd reason. We played completely differently tactically from the real game we have them at home or any other game for that matter. Norwood who can pass a ball 40 yards with his eyes closed couldn't make a 5 yard pass. Fleck who is normally involved everywhere couldn't time tackles. We lacked any sort of energy and players who normally are desperate for the ball were hiding. We will move on but I was disappointed tonight

 

[oldblade]

Sometimes we just have to accept that the other team was better than us. No disgrace in that. It could have been worse, but the record books will forever show that the score was 2-0, not 4 or more nil.

 

[Stretch]

How many teams have bossed us like that? Deffo not at our best but it was THE form team this season.

I am not so sure that they dominated us as much as some are making out though Sean. They are an outstanding unit, no doubt about it, but I do think we made it quite easy for them.

Our passing was all over the place, even when we did have time on the ball, and we didn't press them effectively at all when they had it. It may be down to tiredness, but we just looked ragged, as well as lacking any kind of focus and communication.

The only time we looked half decent was in the final few minutes, when they were already cashing up the tills and pulling the shop shutters down.

I am normally at the front of the queue to praise this bunch, but they let themselves down tonight. Regardless of who they were playing, they didn't remotely even get the basics right.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Not many at all. Nor do I expect them to in future.

The perspective is there, I'm not saying any of the lads arn't good enough or committed enough. I'm not saying we are a poor team. I'm obviously not doubting the capability of the manager.

BUT for me we were poor tonight, not just beaten by a better team. By our own standards we were poor. We conceded the wings for some odd reason. We played completely differently tactically from the real game we have them at home or any other game for that matter. Norwood who can pass a ball 40 yards with his eyes closed couldn't make a 5 yard pass. Fleck who is normally involved everywhere couldn't time tackles. We lacked any sort of energy and players who normally are desperate for the ball were hiding. We will move on but I was disappointed tonight

I replied mainly to the any team comment. Yes, disappointing and totally agree about Fleck and Norwood plus Lundstram looked completely outclassed after about ten minutes. Below par without a doubt but Klopp was extremely happy with his teams performance.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Not many at all. Nor do I expect them to in future.

The perspective is there, I'm not saying any of the lads arn't good enough or committed enough. I'm not saying we are a poor team. I'm obviously not doubting the capability of the manager.

BUT for me we were poor tonight, not just beaten by a better team. By our own standards we were poor. We conceded the wings for some odd reason. We played completely differently tactically from the real game we have them at home or any other game for that matter. Norwood who can pass a ball 40 yards with his eyes closed couldn't make a 5 yard pass. Fleck who is normally involved everywhere couldn't time tackles. We lacked any sort of energy and players who normally are desperate for the ball were hiding. We will move on but I was disappointed tonight

This is precisely how I feel. It seems that those that can’t hear a bad word ever said about the team, wilfully conflate valid criticism of a single performance with overarching condemning of the season as a whole.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Forgot what it was like to be played off the park.....it’s been so long.
I bet in Wilders whole 20 year career as a manager he‘s never witnessed his team dominated like that.
Still can’t decide whether it was us that was so bad or Liverpool that was so good.

There is a positive though...it was only 2-0.....I remember when every season we‘d pick up the odd 4-0 or even a 5-0 defeat.

 

[S40BLADE]

This was never going to be a game we would get anything from

Not the biggest fan of this statement.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

I am not so sure that they dominated us as much as some are making out though Sean. They are an outstanding unit, no doubt about it, but I do think we made it quite easy for them.

Our passing was all over the place, even when we did have time on the ball, and we didn't press them effectively at all when they had it. It may be down to tiredness, but we just looked ragged, as well as lacking any kind of focus and communication.

The only time we looked half decent was in the final few minutes, when they were already cashing up the tills and pulling the shop shutters down.

I am normally at the front of the queue to praise this bunch, but they let themselves down tonight. Regardless of who they were playing, they didn't remotely even get the basics right.

The other lesson is probably to tone down the pre-match puff pieces, like how excited our scouse brethren are to play at Anfield. Especially when we end up resembling a team doing a star tour.

 

[Shirty Blade]

They are a lot better than us, but we knew that before the game. No disgrace in losing to and being outclassed by such a team! We did well to keep the score down and create the odd chance. Thought we could have played better but they didn't give us any time on the ball. They were fantastic!

 

[Cheesebored]

We just played the champions of the world on their own patch.

We were clearly and comprehensively outplayed but so have many other top quality teams.

This was never going to be a game we would get anything from but we left without head held high and every United player will be a better player for what they just experienced.

At the beginning of August, we would all have taken 8th place on Jan 2 and having played English champions and world champions in 4 days and only let in 4 goals against the top strikers in the world.

We have come along way from the Port Vale’s and Scunthorpe’s of this world.

We now move on and solidify our position for next year.

toledo

Great post. Minus points for signing off pommpey style at the end.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I am not so sure that they dominated us as much as some are making out though Sean. They are an outstanding unit, no doubt about it, but I do think we made it quite easy for them.

Our passing was all over the place, even when we did have time on the ball, and we didn't press them effectively at all when they had it. It may be down to tiredness, but we just looked ragged, as well as lacking any kind of focus and communication.

The only time we looked half decent was in the final few minutes, when they were already cashing up the tills and pulling the shop shutters down.

I am normally at the front of the queue to praise this bunch, but they let themselves down tonight. Regardless of who they were playing, they didn't remotely even get the basics right.

They certainly dominated our central three and nullified both wing backs. Defensively we were often at sixes and sevens as they pushed men forward. Wilder said they won every first AND second ball. At that level they think quicker a lot of the time, we didn’t settle, not for the first time in the opening 45mins, whilstnot the best performance from us, l wouldn’t over egg the easy for them pudding. They were comfortable because they played well.

 

[BladeInIreland]

I replied mainly to the any team comment. Yes, disappointing and totally agree about Fleck and Norwood plus Lundstram looked completely outclassed after about ten minutes. Below par without a doubt but Klopp was extremely happy with his teams performance.

No doubt they were good, but we we're missing our usual basic ingredients. I put it down to us not them.

Not an important point but there was a moment where we switched it to Stevens who has every game this season multiple times controlled it with his chest and had runners ready. Tonight couldn't control it and no runners even if he did.

We just forgot how good we are tonight.

 

[Sean Thornton]

This is precisely how I feel. It seems that those that can’t hear a bad word ever said about the team, wilfully conflate valid criticism of a single performance with overarching condemning of the season as a whole.

Any examples on this thread?

 

[Roygbiv]

We were poor by our standards. If we had been our usual selves then they'd have likely upped it and won anyway.

I am absolutely fine with probably our biggest "off day" of the season coming in a 2-0 defeat to the best club side in the world. I'll be much more pissed off if we played like that next week.

 

[Sean Thornton]

We were poor by our standards. If we had been our usual selves then they'd have likely upped it and won anyway.

I am absolutely fine with probably our biggest "off day" of the season coming in a 2-0 defeat to the best club side in the world. I'll be much more pissed off if we played like that next week.

If McBurnie had scored wonder if anyone would claim “we could have won that if we hadn’t been wank”?

 

[Roygbiv]

If McBurnie had scored wonder if anyone would claim “we could have won that if we hadn’t been wank”?

Certainly. It would have made people more angry probably.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Any examples on this thread?

On this thread, no.

 

[Stretch]

They certainly dominated our central three and nullified both wing backs. Defensively we were often at sixes and sevens as they pushed men forward. Wilder said they won every first AND second ball. At that level they think quicker a lot of the time, we didn’t settle, not for the first time in the opening 45mins, whilstnot the best performance from us, l wouldn’t over egg the easy for them pudding. They were comfortable because they played well.

They did play well, I am not arguing against that. But again, I stress that we didn't do nearly enough to even get the basics right, across the whole team. I actually thought the defence looked ok, but were constantly put under pressure from us giving the ball away. Our midfield was dominated because they couldn't pass to each other, something they normally do well under pressure, and didn't display any of their usual levels of confidence to take the ball way from an incoming opponent and then work it forwards. Fleck and Lunstram are normally very good at this, but tonight just seemed to panic, pass it backwards, or just lump it forward to their defenders. I will give Liverpool credit for making it tough, but we were well under par.

 

[bromtom]

We were poor by our standards. If we had been our usual selves then they'd have likely upped it and won anyway.

I am absolutely fine with probably our biggest "off day" of the season coming in a 2-0 defeat to the best club side in the world. I'll be much more pissed off if we played like that next week.

The thing I'm most pissed off about after that is people on social media saying you're not allowed to say we were shite when we clearly were quite shite.

Doesn't mean I love them any less, just means I have eyes.

 

[Ridgeway Blade]

Wilder's interview said it all. We were unfortunate way to go behind after just three minutes in that way but although we were outclassed we were still in the game until that second goal which came from a quick break from one of our attacks. Disappointed in that we didn't play a more composed game but Liverpool were bang on it tonight, which in itself is a compliment to what we have achieved. They knewe they would have to be.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

They did play well, I am not arguing against that. But again, I stress that we didn't do nearly enough to even get the basics right, across the whole team. I actually thought the defence looked ok, but were constantly put under pressure from us giving the ball away. Our midfield was dominated because they couldn't pass to each other, something they normally do well under pressure, and didn't display any of their usual levels of confidence to take the ball way from an incoming opponent and then work it forwards. Fleck and Lunstram are normally very good at this, but tonight just seemed to panic, pass it backwards, or just lump it forward to their defenders. I will give Liverpool credit for making it tough, but we were well under par.

Completely agree. For me, the biggest disappointments were the aspects of our performance that, as good as Liverpool were, they had no impact on, namely our poor work rate, conceding too much territory, and the number of unforced errors.
But I’d have taken -4 GD prior to both away games, and it’s still been a fantastic season. I just don’t like seeing our players acting as though they don’t fully deserve to go toe-to-toe with the best team in the world, because they do.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

The thing I'm most pissed off about after that is people on social media saying you're not allowed to say we were shite when we clearly were quite shite.

Doesn't mean I love them any less, just means I have eyes.

But, but remember Scunthorpe?! Or some such other irrelevant point?

 

[bromtom]

But, but remember Scunthorpe?! Or some such other irrelevant point?

If I wanted "but int this a grand stadium, look at where we were last season, we were never getting owt I'm just happy to be here and the lads gave it a go" I'd ask Warnock.

The reason why we all love Wilder so much outside of him being a genius, is, he's one of us - a fan. What he says is what we think, and he was disappointed, which tallies with my thoughts so I'll go with that.

Some accounts I really respect have been full on cultists tonight.

Usually, when people's replies to reasoned criticism are things like "give your head a wobble" and "you need a head check" I'm quite satisfied that I'm on the right side of the argument.

 

[wizadry]

No perspective required tonight, we were fucking terrible, we couldn’t pass wind!

 

[GrayBlade]

We would have lost to anybody in this league playing like that. Obviously a great season but that was really poor.

Sigh. No we wouldn’t because we wouldn't have played like that against most other teams in the division.