Davies4England

Diarra is quality but I wouldn't want him anywhere near the club. The guy has a bit of an ego and if he ever come to us it wouldn't be because he wanted to play for Aston Villa.

Gutted but couldn't be more proud, I expected a thrashing. At the end of the day Man Utd are unbeaten this season, and they're the best at what they do which is coming back from losing. However I did feel we could keep possession better, although as others have mentioned that is nerves and inexperience with some players. Also I thought the goals they scored were quality. Also I laugh at Man City, all the millions of talent they had in their team Wednesday night and they played for a point. On the other hand with our depleted squad we took the game to them and we were so close to finally beating them. As for the ref, was a total bottlejob, although I didn't get a clear view of the penalty the Nani elbow was a blatant red and too many times he was too happy to blow his whistle. + Hogg for his debut did superb. Albrighton was a lot more disciplined and gave Evra a torrid time. Luke Young was superb defending. Bannan's composure and passing. Gabby's work rate. Downing looks to be undefendable at times, although I think that's two shots he's knocked out for a throw in recently

He can be proud of himself today, it was always going to be tough playing your first game v Man Utd, especially when they have high energy players such as Park and Fletcher. I loved his one tackle down by the Doug Ellis. Saying that he doesn't look cut out for this level but I think he could have an excellent career lower down. His work rate is fantastic.

I guess that refers to my post, if so I suggest you read it again if you took it as negativity.

He did well at times, but had his poor moments too. However it's as clear as day he has talent. I thought he worked the channels very well but got somewhat bullied in the middle. Before he scored he looked at bench and saw Gabby ready and thought he better step it up, 30 seconds later he scored, although he was unlucky not to score before that. He just needs to get more game time and regular football, he was wasted here last season not going out on loan. The lad is just lacking confidence and come January a move down to the Championship would do him the world of good if we got another striker in. I think he was taken off as Houllier wanted Gabby to push them back as we were too deep, I hope that doesn't dent his confidence, he looked like he was tiring too. For his second senior game in about half a year I think he can be pleased with himself.

Alba easily.

Just started as Braintree. Signed: Michael Standing Joe Lolley James Dunn Mohamed Benyachou Kuami Agboh

Story of our season.

Defence So many gaps...

The kids are doing well so far.

The good news for us is that he has the work rate that Maloney never had Thought he was impressive when he came on today, ball stuck to his feet.

First time I was disappointed with Houllier from a tactical view, the decision to play Clark was a good one, he added the composing influence which Petrov usually gives us. The problem was the midfielders in front of him. Sidwell got stuck in but other then that was very anonymous as usual and I see him as a Championship level midfielder. Reo-Coker was great, bundles of energy and was safe in his passing but that's his limit meaning we had no creativity in the centre. As for the wingers they seemed more concerned about doubling up with the fullbacks, this seemed like a tactical plan which didn't make sense as Downing in particular was a huge threat when he did get forward. It showed when Bannan came on, he was moving about finding the space and we generally looked a better side, although he did have the tendency to run around like a headless chicken at times. I was very impressed the ball at his feet though, and seemed like a player who cared. Heskey I thought did very well, but what can he do with no support. He constantly brought the ball down with his chest and there were no midfielder in sight, this forced us to go all the way back to the start again. He also flicked a few chances into promising areas, maybe if we had an extra striker like at the end we could have caused them more problems. Can't complain about the defence though, as solid as ever, although Dunne did have his one mistake. Friedel didn't have much to do but I found it frustrating when he launched it to Heskey when he was the only player in their half. It's not gonna be a nice season, but we're a big club and the transition can be easily made in time, we certainly have the players. Fans just need to be patient, Houllier has a tough task of building squad with our obvious lack of depth. This isn't helped with the amount of players who have their contracts running down. It is also important to keep the spine of the team the same in order to gain consistency. We've lost two important players to our style of play (Gabby and Petrov) and its certainly showing.

Bad draw in all fairness, there's going to be trouble, our away form is woeful right now and they have one of the best home forms around. Add to the fact Man Utd and Arsenal have easy draws meaning they'll make the semi-final and no doubt avoid each other.

Who did he play out of position apart from Beye? Which he had to as we had no left back. well as we started with no striker i'd guess someone was? Well we originally planned to.

Who did he play out of position apart from Beye? Which he had to as we had no left back.

funny how its not the same for born again Nigel Everybody is different.

Some of the comments in here tonight have been truly pathetic, I'm talking about the ones which aren't opinions but purely bashing our team.

Heskey <3 Goal machine!

Maybe NRC should aim away from the goal and he might actually score?

Carew is "ill" apparently.

Carew didn't fancy the weather?

Who else would you have played there though? um, Warnock! He's suspended unfortunately, although I'd much rather it be tonight then Sunday.

Who else would you have played there though?

Good team, maybe would have preferred Fonz having a run out rather then Carew though.

Can't wait till he returns. No disrespect to Petrov but I hope he can take over his position soon. Although the midfield would still lack height...