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Pre Match Man Utd (a) FA Cup - Sunday 15:30

With Jota we would have created more chance than Gakpo did and maybe taken a few more, and yes would have loved Konate today although Quansah played very well
How many chances do you need to create? Not that Jota is a creator himself. We scored 3. Our defending was a shambles and we could’ve conceded about 6, we knew we’d struggle with Utd’d pace like we did at Anfield and still did nothing to help ourselves. Jota wouldn’t have really helped much at all.
 
Reminds me of us from when we were - a decent cup team. We’d pip united occasionally but we knew they were the better team.

Also Reminds me of the Barcelona 3-0 loss: meant nothing in the end really. But it was baffling and we used it to go onto greater things.

Great lesson for the young lads here. And we need to use this for the must win game in a few weeks. I don’t care about anything except the PL at this point. We need one before the gaffer goes.

But it’s good to know we threw this one away rather than united winning it. We really need Jota back to kill off big games.
 
Letting in 4 goals isn't the sign of a trophy winning team. A lot of work needed as plenty of other teams will exploit us havingseenthat mess. We've been here before though so I expect a vast improvement next time out.
 
– Over the total 120 minutes, Manchester United notched almost twice as many expected goals as their opponents – 4.25xG to Liverpool’s 2.18.

From the 80th minute, when Ten Hag introduced Christian Eriksen, United registered twice as many shots (12) and shots on target (four) as Liverpool. Eriksen registered more touches (40) and passes (35) than any other player on the pitch after he was brought on.

Under Ten Hag, Manchester United have won both of their matches at home to Liverpool. Klopp’s title-chasers visit Old Trafford again in three weeks.

Antony’s equaliser was his first goal at Old Trafford in over a year. His last goal on home soil came 373 days ago, in March 2023. Prior to this he’d only notched one goal and one assist all season.

– While it looked in doubt – behind late in the second half and extra time – United maintained their record of not losing a home FA Cup tie against Liverpool, a run that stretches back over a century to 1921. United were the last team to register an away FA Cup win in this fixture all the way back in 1960.

– This was the 11th time that United have eliminated Liverpool from the FA Cup. The only elimination to occur more often in the competition’s storied history is Liverpool knocking out Everton (12 times).

– This was the first time that Liverpool have lost a game in which they’ve been ahead this season, and only their fifth defeat in all competitions.
 

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/1bh5d4v/the_5_on_2_attack_no_shot_taken/

This situation baffles me.
Gakpo is catching a lot of flack for it, but why does Bradley stop running?
And what is Elliott doing?

The more you watch this the more frustrating it becomes. I've just watched it back frame by frame a few times. I agree with Modo - I'm not putting this on Gakpo.

1. Gakpo could have ran on with ball a little more and forced the defenders to commit
2. There was no obvious early out ball - he passed at the right time and to the right player (Elliott). Diaz was likely to have been closed down. Between the two defenders to Nunez the other option - Nunez would have needed after-burners to reach it though.
3. This is where it went horrendously wrong. Elliott should have run on and shot - he had the time and space to do so as Nunez was deliberately obstructing the nearest defender to give him that space. Instead he slowed and moved towards the defenders (now 3 not 2).
4. Elliott tried to thread the needle to Diaz. It was never on. The pass square to a free Gakpo was - and Gakpo could then have easily put in an unmarked Diaz.
5. WTF was Nunez doing? Way offside and made no effort to get back onside (when Elliott slowed and went back inside). This may be over critical as the move was breaking down at this point.
6. Why did Bradley run in Elliott's footsteps and then drop off instead of going wide?
 
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The more you watch this the more frustrating it becomes. I've just watched it back frame by frame a few times. I agree with Modo - I'm not putting this on Gakpo.

1. Gakpo could have ran on with ball a little more and forced the defenders to commit
2. There was no obvious early out ball - he passed at the right time and to the right player (Elliott). Diaz was likely to have been closed down. Between the two defenders to Nunez the other option - Nunez would have needed after-burners to reach it though.
3. This is where it went horrendously wrong. Elliott should have run on and shot - he had the time and space to do so as Nunez was deliberately obstructing the nearest defender to give him that space. Instead he slowed and moved towards the defenders (now 3 not 2).
4. Elliott tried to thread the needle to Diaz. It was never on. The pass square to a free Gakpo was - and Gakpo could then have easily put in an unmarked Diaz.
5. WTF was Nunez doing? Way offside and made no effort to get back onside (when Elliott slowed and went back inside). This may be over critical as the move was breaking down at this point.
6. Why did Bradley run in Elliott's footsteps and then drop off instead of going wide?

Gakpo did the least bad thing there apart from maybe Diaz - all Gakpo did wrong was probably, as you said, pass too early.
 
Letting in 4 goals isn't the sign of a trophy winning team. A lot of work needed as plenty of other teams will exploit us havingseenthat mess. We've been here before though so I expect a vast improvement next time out.

2 of those goals came in extra time though when the team had run out of gas. I dont think its representative for were we are as a team. It was just one to many games, one to many youngsters and we got quite unlucky with the mistakes made at the end. The mistakes are again a result of the players being exhausted.
 
Elliott probably picked the most difficult pass, but equally due to the way everyone else was set up the only pass to get a decent chance at goal

Positionally that breakaway was awful from nearly everyone
 
This is where for me it feels klopp has told people not to shoot from range of they can help it.

Elliott could have got a shot away, but the easier shot was for someone else, so that's probably factored in to that decision
 
Yeah, I thought this was one of the few games this season were our subs made the team worse.
 
Not just the subs, but our tempo and impetus. We should sit back and control things too. And The lack of cover at The corner that led to their Winner was very poor.
 
Who cares ?

Positives
- No new injuries
- We took a few of our main players off early when we were clearly dominating and cruising, so we didn't really play our full hand, if you like, whilst United showed all their cards. We will know what to expect when we meet them again and it's obvious they haven't got any hidden aces. Amad ? Antony ? Eriksen ? Nah, don't think so. It's more of a case of we slipped up cos of fatigue, than they outfoxing us
- Even when they played their best hand, they still looked ordinary and laborious
- No more cup distraction and we have more time to rest. City is still in it and will likely go on to win it too. More matches and less rest for them
- Ten Haag may just get to stay a lil bit longer. Great news if it comes true

Only negative
- Gakpo

We all know the negatives and they're already being done to death. Anymore positives i've missed out ?
 
Elliott probably picked the most difficult pass, but equally due to the way everyone else was set up the only pass to get a decent chance at goal

Positionally that breakaway was awful from nearly everyone
Yes they didn't move into the spaces but probably the break looked better than it actually was in reality. That said many of our breaks breakdown - we have a lot and score from some so are known as 'clinical' on the break. I feel the reality is we balls up too many.

433369153-438373561877121-7481851902074536659-n.jpg


As I mentioned in my previous post Diaz (A) may have appeared to be the second best option but in fact maybe actually the best due to him being an actual attacker - he'd have gone to the box with the option of crossing to an overload of our players vs defenders.

Gakpo (E) could have continued going forward - with an overload once he reached the box. The defender would have had to come to him eventually.

A ball into space for Nunez to run onto (B) would likely not have worked, too much ground for Nunez to make up.

Gakpo chose Elliott (C) who promptly slowed play down instead of running forward, with Nunez blocking the defender, to shoot.

Bradley (D) for some reason pulled up instead of continuing into the box to give another option to Elliott.
 
Easy enough to forget we had Salah, Szobo, Nunez and Robo all still coming back from various lengths of injury.

3 of the 4 went off.

Nunez should have gone off as well, he was busted.

Then add in Endo, Diaz and Mac Alister to the list of people who haven't had much in a way of a break.

Not sure if Klopp could have managed the subs better other than having been allowed to make 8 subs.
 
I think we can ultimately say that we lost due to fatigue, both mental and physical from some of our key players.

The mistake for their winner came from Endo & Elliot - but they have been put through it lately keeping us joint top of the league, winning the coca-cola cup and into the next round of the EL.

United had the fresh legs of Antony & Amad off the bench, who ultimately made the difference. In hindsight that 5v2 chance might have gone our way if we had someone like Danns on, who would be fresh and incredibly hungry to score.

I'm proud of the performances we have seen from so many of these players. Not everyone has stepped up, but those who have have done it incredibly well, and it bodes well for April/May.

In 2 games time we won't have Gakpo as our only attacking option off the bench, and we won't have Gravy as the only midfield option. The quality we'll be able to use will level up, and the quality we have starting on the pitch will be rested and ready to go again.
 
Y
Yes they didn't move into the spaces but probably the break looked better than it actually was in reality. That said many of our breaks breakdown - we have a lot and score from some so are known as 'clinical' on the break. I feel the reality is we balls up too many.

433369153-438373561877121-7481851902074536659-n.jpg


As I mentioned in my previous post Diaz (A) may have appeared to be the second best option but in fact maybe actually the best due to him being an actual attacker - he'd have gone to the box with the option of crossing to an overload of our players vs defenders.

Gakpo (E) could have continued going forward - with an overload once he reached the box. The defender would have had to come to him eventually.

A ball into space for Nunez to run onto (B) would likely not have worked, too much ground for Nunez to make up.

Gakpo chose Elliott (C) who promptly slowed play down instead of running forward, with Nunez blocking the defender, to shoot.

Bradley (D) for some reason pulled up instead of continuing into the box to give another option to Elliott.

Yep… decoy runs fro Diaz & Nunez take those 2 defenders out and all Gakpo needs to do is hold a little more and slip with Harvyey or Bradley through.

Bradley is probably the better option as Harvey was always going to do a Salah and cut back in on his left - Bradley needed to keep going, he could have given Harvey an option to slip him in.

Then Bradley can either take it on, square it to Nunez or Diaz or pull it back to the unmarked Gakpo arriving behind them.

Then we could instead get annoyed about Diaz spooning it wide, Nunez cracking it against the post, Gakpo shinning it high and wide or Bradley hitting it straight at Onana.
 
Yes they didn't move into the spaces but probably the break looked better than it actually was in reality. That said many of our breaks breakdown - we have a lot and score from some so are known as 'clinical' on the break. I feel the reality is we balls up too many.

433369153-438373561877121-7481851902074536659-n.jpg


As I mentioned in my previous post Diaz (A) may have appeared to be the second best option but in fact maybe actually the best due to him being an actual attacker - he'd have gone to the box with the option of crossing to an overload of our players vs defenders.

Gakpo (E) could have continued going forward - with an overload once he reached the box. The defender would have had to come to him eventually.

A ball into space for Nunez to run onto (B) would likely not have worked, too much ground for Nunez to make up.

Gakpo chose Elliott (C) who promptly slowed play down instead of running forward, with Nunez blocking the defender, to shoot.

Bradley (D) for some reason pulled up instead of continuing into the box to give another option to Elliott.
I'd argue that Gakpo picked the second best option which was Elliott.
Had Elliott continued running on the right he could have easily squared it to someone in the box.
The best option would probably have been Bradley if he kept running.
 
Yes they didn't move into the spaces but probably the break looked better than it actually was in reality. That said many of our breaks breakdown - we have a lot and score from some so are known as 'clinical' on the break. I feel the reality is we balls up too many.

433369153-438373561877121-7481851902074536659-n.jpg


As I mentioned in my previous post Diaz (A) may have appeared to be the second best option but in fact maybe actually the best due to him being an actual attacker - he'd have gone to the box with the option of crossing to an overload of our players vs defenders.

Gakpo (E) could have continued going forward - with an overload once he reached the box. The defender would have had to come to him eventually.

A ball into space for Nunez to run onto (B) would likely not have worked, too much ground for Nunez to make up.

Gakpo chose Elliott (C) who promptly slowed play down instead of running forward, with Nunez blocking the defender, to shoot.

Bradley (D) for some reason pulled up instead of continuing into the box to give another option to Elliott.
This should've been a simple enough break to score from, is this the point which Gakpo played the pass out to Harvey? He should've continued his run (at which point the 2 defenders continue to back off) then play it out wide left. Whoever that is simple fizz across the box with his left where 2 or 3 are waiting for a tap in far post. The pass was not only the wrong one but he played it too early which disrupted the runs of Diaz and also completely took player A out the picture and let Utd reset.
 
Gakpo should have just fucking ran at the defender. He either forces them to come out or keep backing off, making them focus on gakpo rather than Diaz (who should now have space), or Nunez to exploit the space. Even shoot from range himself
 
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