06 Dec 2018 08:57:23
I’m really pleased with last nights result, we are looking more and more like title winners lately, grinding out results! Last nights game was a game that we would lose or draw in recent years but last night the players showed fight and determination and but for some strange refereeing and an awful decision from the linesman we would have yet another clean sheet! Last night once again showed that even when we’re not firing on all cylinders up top, the defence and goalkeeper will offer the sort of protection that have made great teams title winners e. g. Ferdinand, vidic and van der sad! Really confident for the rest of the season!

1.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 09:28:39
Dyche sent his team out to leave something in every tackle too. I’m all for getting the ball but they consistently followed through on the player and the ref did nothing. No wonder someone got injured. Shocking display from Burnley and the ref.

2.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 09:50:10
No worries Bobby, they are already stressed knowing the the fact that they will be in the championship next season.

3.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 09:51:08
Agreed BB.

4.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 10:23:43
Agreed Bobby, I’m all for strong tackling in the game but some of the challenges last night were very reckless and dangerous, notably, bardsleys tackle on Moreno which could have caused some serious damage! But the referee did nothing to stop it all night.

5.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 10:49:39
Not sure there were instructions. It’s just Bardsley. He’s a bit of a door knob, a staunch Manc and hates Liverpool so every time he plays us these tackles come flying in. Most players seem to be able to remain professional in these situations when playing rival teams, but he reverts to playground bully. I may just be being soft, as in a derby you’d quite after expect these sorts of challenges, but it still makes you wince every time.

{Ed001's Note - to be fair, it is nothing to do with playing against us, he is just an animal.}

6.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 11:26:44
Their goal was a joke. Blatant offside and then kicked the ball out of Alisson's hands.

How good is it that we had the fight to win anyway though? They say the best teams make their own luck.

7.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 12:14:24
Bardsley is one of those 'old school' players who, for some reason, doesn't get penalized for his reckless, dirty play. He put in a number of those sort of tackles, designed to leave something on the player, and the ref failed to do anything. A number of their other players were also guilty - I don't mind hard but fair challenges, do not like it when opponents are deliberately looking to 'leave a mark' i. e. cause potential injury. We were the better team overall though and it showed, very positive.

Thought Keita had a number of bright moments too, hopefully we get to see more of them.

8.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 13:39:24
Keita will prove to be vital and key to how we perform for the rest of the season. He is the one midfielder we have, who can receive the ball in deep midfield and run with it while passing opponents, before threading in a final pass to one of the front 3. Last year's Ox role, remember? And we saw, last night, how effective that can be. He was drawing opponents to him and opening spaces up for those ahead of him. None of Henderson, Wijnaldum or Fabinho have showed the same ability this season. We're limited now to a nice tiki-taka between our midfielders and VVD, Gomez or Lovren lobbing long balls hoping to take advantage of Mane's and Salah's speed to get to the ball.

I think the time is ripe to drop Wijnaldum and play a midfield of Keita, Fabinho and Milner/ Henderson, with Keita being slightly ahead of the other two and placed in the center (he is not effective at all on the left below Mane) .

9.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 13:51:01
kieta was the best player last night. but as a team in the first 30 min we were awful. The biggest culprit of the night were the matip, Moreno and the biggest of them all sturridge.
but we did show a lot of character passed the ball around and got into our rhythm. I would still like to see more goals from the midfield.

10.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 13:55:24
To be honest, I’m a little surprised by the lack of pundits or match reporters picking up on the fact that the ball was kicked out of Alisson’s hand. I actually watched a stream which had Kevin Kilbane as co-commentator and he actually said of the incident and I quote “That is absolutely fine, nothing wrong with that” and I just thought to myself ‘how are you being paid to do this job when you don’t know basic rules of football’. 90% of these so called experts are absolutely clueless!

11.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 13:56:08
I didn't think the tackling was too bad but I grew up in the 80s watching real tackling. Anyone know how bad gomez is?

12.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 11:54:00
Agree with Ed there Red, he's just a dirty player, did the same to Rashford, kicked him after the ball went out and then managed to get away with it. Doubt it's anything to do with him being a 'manc'

13.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 12:25:34
Fair enough ed, it’s a wonder he’s not permanently suspended in that case.

{Ed001's Note - he does get a lot of suspensions.}

14.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 14:27:58
Completely agree ArAy, i thought Keita was magnificent and second half we looked so much more like the team from last season, with keita and shaqiri picking up the ball and looking to make things happen. Would try starting keita and fabinho together against bournemouth, maybe with milner as he was also excellent last night, exciting times indeed!

15.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 16:24:53
Robbie line it will b 6 to 8 weeks mate, gutted!

16.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 18:25:42
I thought that myself JK_RED. The goal shouldn’t have been allowed and Kilbane thought it was fine. Crazy. I’m really not sure what he was looking at.
Also the live commentary feed on Sky Sports was trying to say Alisson should’ve done better!? He did brilliantly in my view to save the first one, you can’t help it if then the hapless ref allows someone to kick the ball out of your hands!

17.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 18:45:25
Cheers hailstones. That is gutting coz he has been brilliant lately.

18.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 19:17:33
CrazyHorse, I disagree. It was clear as day that we would struggle to get into the game due to the SEVEN changes so saying that we were awful is OTT under the circumstances. This is football and there is nothing secret about this fact. Also, I don't agree with you that Matip was poor. I am one of his staunchest critics of him but last night, he was imperial vs their tall, awkward Rugby strikers.

He gave the ball away a few times earlier which tho unacceptable, can be understood cos he has barely played of lat. But when he got into it, he was on top of their strikers, using his height and physicality (Finally) to bully them. Just my opinion.

19.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 19:52:18
But you're right BRover. Matip had his best game for us in a long time, last night. I'm not so worried about Matip covering for Lovren for the rest of this month. It's actually Clyne covering for Alexander-Arnold that is the big worry. And given the number of games this month, he will play for sure.

20.) 06 Dec 2018
06 Dec 2018 20:53:20
True ra, that's a scary thought mate.