ToffeeWeb

Derek (21) I think that you are right to raise some questions about gushy #20. This is mere hyperbole and not true: ‘whoever came down Garner\'s side got shut down cold’. Why write this sort of thing? It was clearly a mistake to put Garner at right-back. It weakened the most important area of the pitch for us. As another poster said on another thread: Moyes put out ‘the shitest midfield combo we could field’. We did not lose the game on the right side. Man-Utd’s goal was a consequence of a match-long weak middle and appalling defending from the centre backs. Garner did fine – a very decent 7/10 – but the missing subtext in #20 is a continuing anti-Patterson rant that to be fair cooled down a little a few weeks ago but is now back at full steam. Many have called for Patterson on here and that I imagine is due to his encouraging displays when he did start including, of course, the excellent win at Forest. Moyes might be the only PL gaffer who would have changed that winning line up when he did not have to. Let me remind you what that line up was: Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, O\'Brien, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, Dibling, Röhl, McNeil, Barry. This was arguably our best performance of the season so far with Patterson where he should have been and Garner where he should have been. No Gana. Switch Ndiaye, George, and Branthwaite for Dibling, McNeil, and Tarkowski, and I believe that this eleven – Pickford, Patterson, Branthwaite, O\'Brien, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, Ndiaye, Röhl, George, Barry – would have had a better possibility of winning yesterday. I will absolutely venture that if he had started yesterday Patterson would have been fine and that the difference between this hypothetical performance and the one that we actually saw would have been nowhere near enough to justify shifting Garner out of position where he was needed more to right-back.

If Moyes wants to play 3 centre halves I would be ok with that provided he played two wing backs. He has an abundance of midfielders and from what I have seen of George, options for two up top. Unlikely isn’t it? That’s the thing that I find exasperating. By the way, Tarkowski wouldn’t be in my back three.

He should be playing up front. At least give him a run up top… it can’t be any worse!!!

We had 2 right backs and 2 lefts backs on the bench!!! But we played our best central defender and our best midfielder out of position to fill those spots instead… What. The. Actual. FUCK

Mark @ 23, do you remember the crowd excitement of the first home game against Brighton? The noise was insane from the supporters, and now the stadium is like a mausoleum. Moyes’s abysmal team set-ups, selection and tactics have killed the atmosphere stone dead. He hasn’t been helped by The Dividend Group, the only owners in the Premier League whose ambition for the season is not to qualify for Europe. As an interesting contrast to us, Roma signed 3 forwards in January. Lovely place Rome. Friedkin Snr and Jnr must enjoy a lovely plate of pasta and glass of red wine before enjoying watching a match in the winter Italian sunshine more than a game near the chilly Mersey. That can be the only explanation for neither of them turning up for a single game since they bought the club.