I don't care about the price paid too much, but it will be interesting to see if he adds that much to our squad. With Fletcher and Scholes out we did need another midfielder but I was hoping for something a little different. Still, 11 goals last season? I'd take that much at the least, but I still feel that we could use a little something else. Will be interesting either way and as ever with new signings, I'll wait and see how he plays with us before making a firm judgement. Not one that excites, though! Not sure I'd pay £27m for him, but then I don't think I'd pay £86m for Bale, either. It reminds me of when we signed Carrick for what was considered to be an inflated cost by Mr. Levy, but it turned out being good business for us in the long run as Carrick is one of our better players these days. Of course, it also reminds me of when we paid a similar sum (to Carrick's) for Hargreaves and I never, ever felt it was worth it.Originally Posted by Psychotic
It wasn't. It was very, very poor. United had a lot of possession but didn't do anything of any value or create any real threats with it.I also have to ask about how you feel about him coming out and saying it was a good performance against Liverpool and the best this season.
I will, however, say that in the second half we were probably the better team (not by much), but you don't play a game by showing up for one half. It was a sloppy goal to concede to, but an awkward final touch to defend against. My main concern was up front, though - I can't help but feel we missed not just Rooney, but also Kagawa who didn't even make the bench. I think Kagawa should be played a lot more than he is, personally. Finally, I felt that our width and aggression was lacking - our crosses were terrible when we actually bothered to fire them in. I don't know whether I would blame Moyes for it all or not - I felt the players made a lot of really bad touches in the game, gave away a lot of balls and (again) those crosses were just awful. The good ones? Nobody was there to receive them! The manager should correct such things, absolutely, but I expect better of the players.
Liverpool won the first half considerably by being the first to every ball and closing down at every opportunity - and a bit of old fashioned muscling and bullying. Not of the reckless kind, but basically enough to wind up our players and unsettle them. It was clever work, and I couldn't believe how often our players just gave up or didn't even try to chase down the ball. The second half we were better, but still, not good enough. Needed Rooney or Kagawa... RVP was fairly absent. Hernandez did bring out the better, more aggressive nature of our play when he came on, but you can't always win games for your team when you come on with ten minutes to play. Welbeck is good, but I don't think he and RVP make the best forward pairing.
