The Skipper

Well, you're satisfied because we came away with a draw. I'm okay with it but personally I think we could've won had Mourinho played a more attacking team, or more importantly, substituted in the right people when the game was opening up. Could've easily thrown on Lukaku instead of Torres (mind boggling decision IMO), could've maybe thrown on Mata. Could've maybe thrown on Mikel earlier to allow Ramires more freedom..Just those three subs would've given us a greater platform to nick a win whilst still pretty much keeping a pretty strong defensive unit out there. He played it too safe IMO, and that is what annoys me. I'm not the type of person that's completely satisfied with a draw when a win could've been attained as well, regardless if it was United at OT. EDIT: Re: Schurrle, I think that Lukaku could've done exactly what Andre did but would've helped us be more solid defensively as well because with him up front we wouldn't have lost the ball as soon as Cech booted a long ball up. Lukaku would've helped us keep possession a lot better and thus releasing the strain on the defensive unit.

Nope. Rather sign Eto'o. If we're going to sign Martinez I'd rather us give Lukaku a shot because they're quite similar as strikers. We're after a player in Eto'o/Rooney's mould because we don't have that sort of striker in our squad. Jackson Martinez is a great striker but he doesn't fit our system as the aforementioned do. He isn't good at holding the ball up, linking up play, having his back towards goal etc... No point.

I don't understand. Just because we got a draw against "The Champions Of England" people are not allowed to say that Jose selected the wrong team in their opinion? The Champions Of England were there for the taking, we are one of their main rivals not some sort of small club. Defensively we were very solid but our attack was a mess. It's all well and good playing 4 attacking midfielders but our attacking was a mess. We usually bypassed the whole team by booting a long ball up to Schurrle which is an automatic loss of possession because he stands no chance in the air against Vidic or Ferdinand. It would've been far more plausible to play Lukaku or Ba who are both more adept to that situation. Mourinho got it wrong in that aspect. He also got it wrong by starting Lampard. We needed more energy in midfield and there really wasn't enough space available to use Lampard effectively until later in the game when spaces opened up more. Would've been better to see Frank come off the bench for this one. The match performance, tactical set up and (especially) subs were poor IMO but we still got away with a decent result. The fact that United were there for the taking though leaves a bit to be desired. My biggest concern is that people (and Mourinho) gave United way too much respect and are seriously underestimating what our lads can do when they do play their football.

Not his fault we didn't look for more alternatives in time.

The biggest thing I didn't understand is why we kept booting the ball from Cech to Schurrle in the first half. Really doesn't make sense especially when Lukaku and Ba would've been better recipients.

You weren't impressed with Oscar's performances in the CL last season?

Glad we got the point. A point away at Old Trafford is always a decent result but as for the game itself... I'm disappointed in how Mourinho set us up initially, and disappointed that when he did make the changes, he didn't make the right ones (in my opinion). All of what I'm about to say is in conjunction to me believing we could've won it; We started the game off okay-ish but it was very evident from early on that we weren't playing to win the game which was disappointing to say the least. Schurrle looked lost up front - never want to see him there again. Can't fault his effort but he just isn't a lone striker. Looked much better on the RW in the second half. I thought that Lampard's inclusion in the line up was a bad decision too as I felt we needed a bit more tenacity and energy in midfield. It would've been better to bring Frank off the bench for this one. Lampard's inclusion restricted Ramires - Ramires was forced to be the more defensive player in the pivot and this really hurt our counter attacks. Would've preferred to see MVG or Mikel do that with Ramires given the freedom to do his thing. This brings me to the second half: we played better, but the game was really there for the taking. Even though Mou didn't start Lukaku he should've at least thrown him on because Romelu would've caused a lot of problems to the United defence. Unfortunately Jose threw on Torres which was quite mind boggling to say the least. United were opening up and we pretty much failed to take advantage. I would've not been annoyed at Jose had he made simply moves of keeping on KDB, subbing in Lukaku and Mata at around the 60 min mark we would've won in my honest opinion. I reiterate.We can play far better than we did today and I must say, disappointed in Mourinho with the negative game plan. Pretty pleased we got a point though. PS: I'm writing this half asleep so please ignore any errors!

Mourinho needs to throw on Mata. Still can't believe he isn't on.

Our record under Atkinson:5W, 1D, 1L.

Can't believe we're bringing on Torres instead of Lukaku. Lol.

Think Mourinho's playing for a draw/nick a result. There's no desire to score.

Bitee is back.

Yeah you're right - I meant our best attacking player.

Still been our best player. That's how poor we've been.

It really doesn't. First half shows that Mourinho picked the wrong team.

Mikel has to start in games like these as the holding midfielder, not Ramires. That's the problem I think.

I don't understand, it's really stupid. We have Schurrle up front ffs.

Mourinho picked the wrong team. Lampard and Schurrle shouldn't have started.

He isn't as motivated as he usually is. I've often seen a more on fire Wayne Rooney.

Nah. We really should've started Lukaku.

I also think we need more energy in the pivot.

Not started well.

I like this XI simply because all of the preparation United would've done to contain one of our strikers completely goes out of the window.

Salute. Great little player.

That's the old Eto'o. The Eto'o of late, especially since his Inter days, has pretty much reinvented his game to suit being a link up player a lot more. Mourinho knows this. I really don't mind if Eto'o scores around 15 goals this season. The importance is the quality in them, who they're against and how vital they were at said time. Eto'o is a good 2nd choice stop gap option just in case we don't get Rooney. I do agree though that Rooney is the perfect player for us to get. How attainable he is is questionable right now.