RaoulD

I think if we can get maximum points in our next 3 games then the pressure will probably shift to City as their last 3 games have greater potential than ours for points to be dropped. The big one for us is likely to be the home game against Spurs but the rescheduling of the Southampton away game could also impact on us. The effects of having to play 8 games in 23 days in 1989 were a major factor in the loss of the title to Arsenal and we are currently facing 9 in 31 days. The counter argument is that City have 8 games in the same period, have injuries to some key players, others are carrying knocks from the Atletico game and they do not have the same options as we do if they are struggling to score. Wolves away has also to be rescheduled for them and looks to mean that they are going to have to play their 3 toughest remaining fixtures in a week.

There is no point in trying to engage with them. I was at Heysel and what happened on that night will never leave me. Anyone who went to games at the time would know that what happened was not unusual at the time but the tragic consequences were and we were rightly punished for them. The fact that we don't normally play games on 29th May is conveniently overlooked as is the fact that when we next played Juventus in 2005, there was a minutes silence for Heysel. There may well be one at the CL final this year given that it takes place on 28th May but that ultimately depends on UEFA not us and I don't remember one last year when the final fell on the anniversary. There is also a memorial at Anfield where they could go and pay their respects if there are any fans that are genuinely concerned that we have forgotten Heysel.

At least we were the first team to qualify for the Champions League last night.

When I was a kid, United got relegated and we were winning everything. I just didn't think I would see it happen again.

As a parent who has lost an infant child, I know what he is likely to be going through at the moment. The fact that he is famous or a footballer who plays for United does not make any difference to the fact that in this regard he is no different from any other parent who has suffered a tragic loss. I understand your discomfort about being told you have to do something but I don't see it as anything other than an attempt to coordinate a gesture that is both appropriate and respectful of the man's grief. If it happens it is because people choose to do it and I for one would join in but that does not mean you have to nor that it would be indecent for there to be no such gesture from the crowd tonight.

I think we need Bobby to maintain the high press as otherwise their midfield overruns us and that is how they create most of their chances. Mo and Mane are still our most effective partners with Bobby although Jota is more effective in converting scoring chances that Bobby and Diaz is proving to be just as effective as Mane on the left. Midfield probably needs the energy and experience of Henderson coupled with Keita rather than the guile of Thiago for this one.

Saw the same thing with Chelsea forums. All of a sudden, the narrative becomes anti-Liverpool rather than pro-your own team despite historically having no real interest in us. I suspect that the large majority of the users of the forum are relatively recent followers of the club despite their claims to have followed them since the beginning of time. It only takes a few keyboard warriors to spread some vitriol for a herd mentality to set in and add fuel to the fire. I know having a dig at opposition fans about the team they support is fairly standard but the levels of hatred shown towards people who happen to support another team is mind-blowing particularly if they also claim not to be prejudiced against a person on the grounds of race, gender, disability etc yet know nothing about the vast majority of the people they are slagging off online.

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I think there is a case for all of the substitutes in hindsight. Milner is our first choice penalty taker and an experienced head in midfield which is needed if you are bringing on a youngster such as Elliott to inject fresh energy into midfield. Konate, as you say, was the right choice to counter a fresh Lukaku whilst Jota and Divock for Mane and Diaz reflected the fact that Jota would probably have started had he been fully fit and Diaz was showing signs of being knackered. The injury to Thiago in the warm up probably disrupted the game plan in that Keita went in from the start rather than being available to add energy in the later stages of the game if required and we could not replace Thiago's ability to hold and pass the ball in midfield so were more dependent on the movement of our wide and forward players for both creativity and defensive duties as we had less possession than we might have had if Thiago was playing.

I have not seen many teams passing through our midfield. They normally play the ball long to the flanks were there is space because Trent and Robbo are advanced and their midfield runners either run into that space or seek to exploit the cross that comes from the player picking up the ball on the flank. Midfield is so much the problem as the way we play and I think it is a fair trade off that we use our full backs as wingers to create chances at the other end to risk being caught on the break. Our high defensive line is intended to catch the other side offside so by and large it worked yesterday. At the end of the day you would have expected the current World and European Champions with a squad costing more than ours to make a few good chances against us.

Understand that but the rule still talks about the ability to play the ball rather than get to the man. The reality was that James could not play the ball or realistically challenge Mane as James was actually trying to block VDV's route and was out of position to challenge Mane.

I think they thought that VDV had fouled James in the build up so were leaving it to the Ref to decide. The ref then seems to have applied the old interfering with play argument and deemed VDV offside. If you look at the wording of the offside rule, interfering with play is only confined to touching the ball and interfering with an opponent is largely preventing him from playing the ball. The ball sailed over James' and VDV's head so there was no question of James' being able to play the ball hence VDV was not involved in active play. The rule states "A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by: interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball I can understand why VDV was pissed off with the decision after the game.

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Don't know where you get this from. The FA rules prohibit it (Rule C2.14.2(a)). The EFL Rules provide a right to have notice of any offer of re-engagement for a player under 24 but he cannot sign a pre-contract with any club. The FIFA Rules allow foreign clubs to negotiate with players registered with English clubs in the last 6 months of their contract provided the club is informed beforehand but the player cannot sign any agreement until his current contract has expired because of the FA Rule. Other English clubs are barred from contacting the player unless the player's current club agrees to it. The FA Rule might have been unlawful under the Bosman principle but since EU Freedom of Movement rules no longer apply due to Brexit, the prohibition on the player also applies to foreign clubs.

I am not sure it was necessarily Spurs but the fact that there was a risk he could be sold in this window meant that the club had to bring forward its plans for the summer.

On the whole January is not normally the time for big transfers largely because clubs normally look to retain their best players and team structure whilst there is still a lot to play for in the season. The transfers that take place in January tend to be either: 1. Players reaching the end of their contract where their club decides it is better to sell for a fee than lose them on a free transfer. 2. Players who are not regular starters for their current club. These are more often loan moves but can be permanent deals where their is realistically no prospect of the situation changing at the player's current club. Coutinho to us was a good example of this as, to a lesser extent, was Sturridge. 3. Players who were targeted in the previous Summer but for some reason the transfer did not complete then. VDV is a good example of this. There are of course exceptions (Suarez to us and Torres to Chelsea comes to mind) but on the whole there is a greater reluctance to sell in January than in the Summer because of the potential to disrupt the selling club's season.

I am not so sure he would improve City as at the moment the midfield are the ones getting into the box to finish moves ane whilst he might get on the on the end of some of them, I think he is still too static a player to fit in with City's high tempo game. He looks like a slower version of Aguero without the predator instincts that made Aguero such a threat.

We ruined the journo's history repeating itself story forgetting that had we not lost to Chelsea in 2014 we would not have been chasing goals against Palace and the 3-3 probably would never have happened. Forget that we won 7-0 last season ...

I would love to see Everton relegated in my lifetime!

I am the same, Arsenal, Leeds, Sunderland, Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton, Man U, Ipswich, Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham, Tottenham, Man U, Everton, Man U, Liverpool, Coventry, Wimbledon, Liverpool, Man U and then from 1991 onwards it gets a bit hazy. I remember us in 1992 and United in 1996 (for the wrong reasons) us in 2001 and 2006 and the final against Chelsea in 2012 but since then the final has been a bit of a non-event for me. Would be nice to be there this year on the way to a quadruple which would shut up everyone for time immemorial! Benitez at Everton, like employing Leonardo da Vinci but nor giving him the paints...

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