mrfahaji

We'd be horrendously overrun in midfield if we played that (as we were at Newcastle, for example). It might work if you play JWP on the right and tell Mane to drop deeper to pick up the ball & run at the defence. I agree with Adrian that we need a right sided player but actually think we need more of a midfielder than a forward if we want to play Mane as the 'number 10'.

Managed to get tickets for this, the membership finally paid off! Selhurst Park was also my first ever away game (Dowie brace in a 2-1 win, Salako missed penalty... 1992 I think). When I bought the tickets I was optimistic for 3 points, not so now... I thought our best team was obvious until recently, now I'm not sure who our two best defensive midfielders are, individually or as a combination. While I don't disagree that Mane is more effective more centrally, it's easy to say "push him up next to Pelle" without suggesting how to plug the gaps elsewhere. First of all, who takes his place on the right? Secondly, how do we cover the extra ground in midfield when our midfield already look to be sorely lacking mobility?

Not necessarily. If their 8 shots were all from glorious positions with acres of space and they all fell to Sturridge, that would suggest the goalkeeper did very well to save two of the eight... Even though I agree Stekelenburg hasn't pulled off many great saves since he's been here, I haven't been worried he's going to drop a clanger. It would be interesting to see how many brilliant saves keepers are generally required to make in a game - perhaps the bigger question is why/how we are letting the opposition create so many golden chances. It's also worth considering that we were never likely to sign a world class keeper with Forster due back at some stage.

Thanks for the summary. I'm out of the country so tried to get a recap from the BBC website. However, aside from the opening paragraph you'd barely know who Liverpool were playing! Unsurprising from McNulty I suppose. Any record of what Koeman said afterwards?

Well Yoshida is prone to mistakes which sometimes cost us goals, but his overall play, at CB at least, is decent. It sounds like Caulker was just permanently dreadful.

To be honest, I would probably take Hasselbaink over Sven if Koeman leaves.

Agreed. It's far too easy to say players aren't trying hard enough or aren't interested when results aren't going well. I'd say lack of effort is probably more likely when teams are doing well and complacency sets in. Don't get me wrong, the players may be playing badly (although against City tactics surely played a part), but assuming there are no behind-the-scenes issues, I doubt they are ever indifferent to their performance.

If only De Boer also had a famous footballing brother... I think Howe is the best prospect amongst up-and-coming English-based managers. There are a few others to watch, like Rowett, or even Hasselbaink (just seen he may be in talks with QPR), but can't see that we would risk that sort of appointment. Even though I'd be happy with Howe (not Monk so much, what has he actually shown at Swansea?), I do wonder whether we will again look to someone with a bit of clout on the European stage.

I'm disappointed we haven't seen more of Romeu. I'm not saying he should be playing, but the fact he isn't is a sign he isn't showing the level we were hoping - he has played less as the season has gone on, whereas I thought he might play more. Even though he was booked too often and occasionally gave away silly fouls, to start off with he seemed pretty decent, maybe thought he could do Wanyama's job effectively. But instead of being firmly part of a rotation, he is now very much a back up, and doesn't necessarily play even when Wanyama is out.

Probably because the Everton fans invaded the pitch when they scored the third. That'll teach 'em.

Inclined to agree, after 20 minutes I just wanted us to get some respectability, which we have done. However, second half we've turned it round and only some slack passing and poor decisions have made it a bit frustrating as to what might have been!

If our players could pass we might not be a bad side.

Wanyama's first touch always puts him in a difficult position. Sometimes he finds a way to still win possession but it always ends up being a 50-50 rather than having time to pick a pass.

Yep, I wasn't sure who it was but we needlessly gave it away when we were in a good position. Disappointing that Bertrand didn't clear it either...

Unfortunately at the moment his set pieces are a reflection of his all round play. "Nearly good enough".

If the game finished 2-0, as a scoreline you might have a point. But the first 20 minutes have been horrendous, I was relieved when my stream stopped working... Debatable team selection, debatable tactics, undebatable horrific performance so far.

Just what you need when playing 'park the bus' tactics at the Etihad.

I wouldn't add any other names to the ones listed already, but I'm surprised Gray isn't a bit higher. I thought he was shocking. Perhaps the Le Tissier last game at the Dell substitution rescues him a bit? I suppose it was a decision which led to the best moment of my life, so I shouldn't begrudge him that!

1. Strachan 2. Adkins 3. Koeman 4. Pochettino 5. Hoddle 6. Ball 7. Pardew I've gone with a mix of how good they are/what they achieved and how much I liked them. I guess it's more like a 'favourite managers' list (at the time obviously, since Poch wouldn't get near the list now!) Ball gets the nod simply because of the brilliance we got to enjoy from Le Tissier while he was here. Even though Nicholl was in my lifetime (first game in 1990), I don't feel I can include him because I don't remember enough of his tenure.

If my memory serves me right he actually came quite close to scoring...!

Surely the reason the French anthem was played at Wembley was because England were playing... FRANCE!

Same for Stuart Gray. I think that's what makes the Wigley appointment much worse - after the Hoddle-Spurs situation I could understand why Lowe might want to promote someone from within, who might blossom into a good manager. But having had his fingers burnt with Gray, why do the same again?

The reason I thought he was a good appointment was that we needed to sign some new players, and he seemed a good person for that. But as you say, he didn't have free reign and some of his signings were poor. I never understood his blinkered attitude towards the technology and felt he used the Woodward "keeping the seat warm for somebody" scenario as a way to pass the buck, as he always does.

I didn't want Hoddle to come back, but in hindsight admitted that we probably wouldn't have ended up relegated if he had returned. Mainly because I thought his main strength was organisation, and we went down because we couldn't stop the opposition scoring. Agree that Wigley was the biggest mistake in Lowe's tenure - Gray was awful (surely only got the job full time because of 2 wins against Arsenal & United, both of whom had nothing to play for), but he acted swiftly and made an unpopular but successful decision to bring in WGS. I thought Redknapp and Burley were both good appointments at the time, would be surprised if many didn't.

Graham Hiley.