Il Pirata

Cantwell for Hernandez 65 minutes should be a pretty standard substitution. Cantwell's performance drops off a cliff around the hour mark. Probably due to his first half work rate, but we end up carrying him. Completely unnecessary. Hernandez should start for me, but he has all the attributes for a perfect impact sub.

Not sure if your being facetious..... But it isn't a case of that, when the opposition uses their full entitlement of substitutions before we've made one, there's a good argument to support their team being fresher than ours. Simply put, 30% fresher! That's a potentially huge competitive advantage.

100% agree with the OP. I'd be really surprised if anyone can make an argument for Farke's decision to essentially not to make any substitutions. We've been punished too many times by teams finding a second wind, whilst we fatigue. It was unnecessarily close to happening again today. It feels like we have self created disadvantage. Would love to know Farke's thoughts on this. Be nice if Archant could press the issue a little.

Why isn't Hernandez coming on! We need his pace and directness. Win, Lose, or Draw this, Farke has again weakened us by not using subs earlier.

Happy Farke has picked Duda, but overall disappointed with the selection. Firstly, has to be Vrancic or Leitner next to Tettey especially at home. Secondly, no Hernandez again and essentially three number 10's behind Pukki. No raw pace or width. Relies too much on the fullbacks getting forward which leaves us vulnerable. Hernandez and Vrancic are game changes...Mclean and Cantwell are not. OTBC.

Completely agree. I can't see any first team player leaving in January. This is one of the main reasons players were put onto long term contracts - It protects the club against losing players on form during the January window, unless the bid is huge. I can quite imagine provisional agreements were put in place with the likes of Godfrey and Aarons that bids will be considered in summer. Our policy of long term contracts is first and foremost to protect the club, and to ensure at the very least market value transfer fees. The duration of the contract is completely irrelevant in terms of how long the player will stay at the club. I fully expect Aarons and Godfrey to be sold in the summer.

IMO, Krul doesn't save as many as he should. He doesn't seem able to dive with any real athleticism, and sort of just falls to one side or the other. But strangely, he looks far more competent and athletic when facing a penalty?! His shot stopping, generally, is nothing special and I'm not surprised to see a stat suggesting he should save more than he does. Great pro though, and no doubt a huge influence in the dressing room.

A large section of the Stretford End sang throughout. From minute one. The rest of the crowd were quiet, but no different to the Barclay and Carrow Road.

From the first minute, there was an air of resignation. Just wasn't the same at the start of the other two games you mention. Pockets of fans singing, but not all as one. I'm not sure a deep kind of support was shown today. It smacked a little bit of happy clapping at the end, if I'm being honest. Most around me just wanted the game to end.

A couple of Carling's served in plastic 'glasses' in the beautiful surroundings of a Premier Inn... followed by a bottle of Heineken decanted into a plastic 'glass' to reveal its inadequate attempt to make a pint. But still the most enjoyable part of the day!

Some did, some didn't. I didn't applaud at the final whistle. I'm not ashamed to admit it. We were dreadful and I just didn't feel like it.

Superb? Not compared to most away games this season. From the first minute we lacked any real enthusiasm. Compared to Leicester, chalk and cheese. Even before United scored.

Just back from the game. In summary, dreadful. Not even second best today, Manchester United pressed us to death and forced mistake after mistake. We lacked EPL class in every department today, and never got a foothold in the game. Cantwell and Mclean terrible, offered nothing all game. Vrancic and Tettey slow and cumbersome, Byram needed too long to get the ball onto his stronger foot and Aarons couldn't get to grips with the attacking Williams. Zim and Hanley defended with heart, but ultimately were fire fighting throughout and their distribution was abysmal. Krul's decision to challenge for the penalty was clueless and killed the game. Adam Idah offered Harry McGuire the easiest 90 minutes of EPL football he'll ever get. To be in a position whereby we have to throw an 18 year old in for his first league start at Old Trafford is criminal. Are we taking this league seriously? The only player deserving of any credit was Buendia. The only player Manchester United showed a yard of respect to. Men against boys, in some circumstances quite literally. As for the away fans.. compared to recent away game we were poor too, and from the get go. Rubbish, horrible, and thoroughly depressing day of football.

Or a decent ball playing side, like Coventry? Be nice to return a favour!

Yeah, agree. I think League one for the rest of the season would be great for him. A Portsmouth or Sunderland maybe?

Well, by your logic, probably so. It's nothing to do with trusting the coaching staff. I'm sure if they were asked about Famewo and Bushiri - they'd probably say there not ready yet either.

Whiner? A little uncalled for chap. I'm not 'whining' at all. Just questioning your statement, which is pretty much the point of a discussion message board? To say all three are "very capable" of championship football with just a handful of league one and two appearances between them is quite a statement. No-one in the club has said anything like this, so I'm just trying to understand the logic behind this confidence. Despite Idah's terrific hat-trick today, I still doubt he'd be ready for a full season at championship level as the main striker.

Are they? Bushiri couldn't get in a League one Blackpool side. Famewo's move to Norwich was a strange one from a Luton perspective who didn't seem to rate him that highly. The player couldn't get in their League one side after breaking through for them in League two. Obviously still very young, but has only made 16 League two appearances to date. Adam Idah is clearly a huge talent, but has made one cameo substitute appearance! So to claim all three are "very capable of championship football" is very premature IMO. There's little evidence to suggest they are currently.

It really isn't that simple though, is it. He's only played 105 minutes of football in his preferred and specialist position. for 90 minutes he was fantastic against Arsenal, followed by a difficult 15 minutes at Southampton - before being pulled into a very unfamiliar right side back three, to which he understandably struggled. He should be given more game time in his proper position. Furthermore, he's actually done a decent job as a makeshift centre half. He certainly didn't come here to play that position. I suspect another summer signing hugely frustrated.

We're simply not good enough. The fact we're so close to be is utterly depressing. We're going down. End of.

Sickening

Isn't it just. It's heading one way, again! Come on Farke.

Can we put two decent half's together? Farke's use of subs is vital to this.. Cantwell will tire, given his style of play, and Hernandez needs to be utilised in decent time. Come on city.

It's gonna turn.... Believe! Really happy Farke made changes tonight. We needed freshening up, and we earnt a decent point because of it.

Agreed. But check the stats, our results are better when Hernandez plays.