Hieronymus Bosch

Can't see why beating Porto and Besiktas at home and Marseille away is beyond our capabilities. Our form can only get better, and with Alonso, Agger and Torres likely to return, I can see us doing it

Megson appointed. You've gotta laugh

1. Babel 2. Benayoun 3. Gerrard Those three and Reina and Riise didn't do too badly. Carra, Hyypia, Finnan, Voronin, Pennant, Kuyt and Mascherano were very poor...

Will that above scenario defo take us through? This wasn't as bad as some of our woeful recent performances, but I don't hold out much hope for the rest of the season if Rafa and Stevie think that was a good display. OK, the ball didn't drop for us today, but we're f***ing Liverpool... playing Besiktas! We didn't exactly pepper the goalie with shots. We had a few chances, they had as many, and they were probably better ones too. Our passing, failure to control the ball and general attacking play in the final third is just not on. We're miles behind United, Arsenal and Chelsea on that front, and I can't see our Premier League aspirations lasting beyond Xmas if it continues. Our defence and solid shape normally make up for our deficiencies, but even that's gone t*** up. It was naive to think we could mount a title challenge with such a thin defence. Failing to find an alternative for Heinze was a big mistake - Hyypia's best days were behind him before the start of this season. As for Carra and Finnan, I don't know what's going on there. Few can be proud of themselves tonight. Babel, though raw, was one of the few players having a go at Besiktas. Benayoun also looked good when he game on. Gerrard was playing too many Hollywood balls (though did look a little bit more like his old self), Mascherano was well short of his usual level, Kuyt's quality on the ball, if not commitment, was again poor, and this was Voronin's worst game for the club. Rafa's stock's starting to wane a bit, too - our system is too rigid, we've got far too many players back defending (including strikers) when we need to be chasing the game, while the subs were again made too late on (particularly Crouch), and why didn't Alonso come on? F***ing livid!

Think Babel's been one of our better players, certainly one of our best attacking threats. Voronin and Finnan have been woeful, Carra and Hyypia have again looked shaky and Gerrard's playing too many difficult passes. Think we can get back into it, though - Besiktas are there to be got at. Would swap Benayoun or Crouch and Alonso for Pennant and Voronin. Still amazed how many misplaced passes and badly controlled touches a team of our quality is capable of...

I think after the game Benitez was quoted as saying something like he tried to talk to Gerrard, but he wasn't interested. I just get the impression that Gerrard feels he's above being taken off, like he's above being played on the right. Dissent's probably overblowing it, but rather talking to Benitez to seek an explanation, maybe he should just stick to the "I'm just happy we won" line. Crouch got a lot of stick on here when he spoke to the media about being dropped/rotation. I just think you should keep schtum - the media's going to go on about it enough without our players giving them some quotes to spin. As for United, I feel that Fergie commands a lot of respect in the United dressing room, and I hope Benitez does in ours.

Gerrard isn't even owed an explanation by Benitez. He's the boss, and he shouldn't be made to walk on eggshells around Gerrard, be it regarding substitutions or playing him on the right. You'd never expect to see such public dissent from a home-grown United player. Gerrard should concentrate on getting his form back rather than getting his own way all the time.

Correct. It's a bit of a myth that Gerrard's a consistently quality player. He's a world-class midfielder, but, for whatever reason, has too seldom shown it the last couple of years...

I thought it couldn't get any worse than Porto - I was wrong. While we'll always be well drilled in defence under Rafa (ie. scraping a decent draw in Porto despite playing abysmally), our passing, control, movement, etc, can, at times, be of Championship standard. I can take the odd poor result, but this run of sub-standard performances is ominous. This is the first time I've doubted Rafa (who I consider one of my biggest footballing heroes) since he's been here. I blame certain players more than him - Gerrard, in particular - but, ultimately, it's his responsibility. His European record since he's been here has brought us immense joy and bought him time in the league, but, at the moment, I can't help but be pessimistic with the way things are going...

Very good from what I've seen. Would love it if we got him. Can't see it, though...

Torres Benayoun Sissoko

Are all your other opinions based word for word on Fergie's?

The way your games are refereed, you're probably right...

And you just knew the ref would wait a while after the restart before blowing up for half-time, as if pretending there was more injury time to play. He blatantly waited for United to finish their attack...

Probably should have said quality rather than depth. I didn't, however, expect Arbeloa to be as good as he has been so far. I like Riise, but think we need a better first-choice left-back...

I thought/think we've too little depth at left-back and centre-back. We should have pursued options other than Heinze. Hopefully we'll get away with it. Arbeloa's form, so far, has been a massive blessing...

1-0 to United. Now there's a novelty...

That he made a mistake last night isn't the issue. He's been one of our best players this year. The fact is that people on here, including many of the site's moral guardians, don't like him, have never liked him, and are relishing sticking the boot in. Fair enough - but don't try to make out he's any worse a footballer for the myriad failings of character people on here seem to think he has...

Very true - a bit of a mystery really. Our away form has to improve dramatically this season. There's no reason why we should struggle on the road, given the players we have at our disposal...

Far too many dives being rewarded with free-kicks. It's no wonder they go down (our players too, to be fair - especially Torres) - if you dive, you get a free-kick; if you stay on your feet, the ref, more often than not, gives you nothing.

Unbelievably lucky to get a point out of that. Everyone, aside from Kuyt, had a bit of a shocker. Still can't believe how bad we are capable of playing...

Uncle Rafa

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They covered every topic under the sun - including Kenwyne fricking Jones - except, surprise, surprise, us. Spanking Derby, playing absolute quality, being top of the league anybody???

Really not arsed about the Milk Cup. However, it's a good opportunity to test the depth of our squad - hopefully the likes of Aurelio and Kewell will be fit for a run out. I think Reading played a reserve team in the competition last year, hopefully they'll do the same again...