deep blue

Agreed. The performance for me was an improvement. Team changes meant that we had an even weaker team physicality-wise than usual but I thought we made a reasonably good fist of the physical battle in the circumstances. Most persistant problem for me is that we need to be more focussed and ruthless in our finishing.

Against 10 men; makes a huge difference.

Good post.

Chilwell should have stuck tight to the man on the wing and made sure that someone else took responsibility for the player inside.

I was wondering the same. We have been performing like clockwork for a few months, and now the wheels have fallen off and players have lost their form. Is Rodgers changing formation/tactics to counter supposed dangers in the Man C/Liverpool teams and thus disrupting the flow, or is it simply because those 2 teams are so much better than the rest that they sure mullering us irrespective of our set-up. I've always veered to the view that it's better to concentrate on imposing your style on the opposition and let them worry about what problems you can cause them, rather than the other way round.

A foul is a foul no matter what happens to the ball afterwards.

Agree with this. I don't like the attitude that Man C were just too good for us and we have to accept it. If our players think opposition players are better then they should see this as a challenge, an incentive to strive to improve, learn and match them. If we have the attitude that we can't raise our game to their level then we never will.

Go back a few years and Sunderland scored lots of goals from Niall Quinn nodding on for Philips to burst through. It seems to me that if we had a similar player like Quinn to bring on then Vardy's pace to benefit from nod-ons could result in a lot of goals. In a match like yesterday, when we were getting into so much trouble trying to work the ball out of defence, an option for the quick clearance which could also present a possibility of a goal would be an excellent weapon to have at our disposal. Just a thought.

This first sentence is so true. No matter how much energy it takes to make the runs and space so that you can dominate a game and pull the other team around, it is far more sapping to be the team that is dragged all over the pitch to the opposition's tune. It also makes it more difficult for individual substitutes coming on to make any difference. That's why I am always disappointed to see my team give up the initiative to the opposition as we did yesterday. We behaved similarly at Man U with the same result. I hope it was more a tactical issue than a tiredness one, and that with a different mindset we can not only put in a much more positive performance against Liverpool but also recapture that confident approach in the rest of the season.

Totally disagree with those sentiments. Doffing your cap is exactly what you don't do. Rather, you show some fight and try to impose your will on them. They reduced us to noncombattants by pressing us all over the pitch. We should have done just the same to them, but done it better and with more determination.

I got the plan from a fellow called Baldrick... Actually, there's nothing to suggest that the Velodrome tram station is tied in any way, availability-wise, to the Velodrome stadium. In other words, I am pretty sure that is open all the time and all trams stop there. So I will give it a go rather than fight the crush at the Etihad Campus stop.

I live across the road from Parrs Wood metrolink station and will go by that route. The car park is a fair size. It's actual name is East Didsbury metrolink station (not to be confused with the railway station) and has postcode M20 5NP. The metro journey is about 50 minutes to the Etihad. Get the tram to Shaw & Crompton (Pink line), change at Deansgate-Castlefield for the tram to Ashton-under-Lyne (Blue line), get off that at Etihad Stadium. For the return journey I am guessing that the Etihad platform will be mayhem and intend to try going one station further back on the line to give me a better chance of getting on the tram. That is the Velodrome station, apparently 10 minutes walk eastwards along Ashton New Road (A662). I haven't tried this before so give no guarantees. Good luck.

Thanks for that. I'll probably give it a go this evening.

're parking - does anyone use the yourparkingspace to pre book parking? Is it legit and trustworthy?

I wonder whether Albrighton would have been a better call than Gray or Barnes on a day like this.