Whilst I agree that Hibbo or Osman shouldnt start, especially Hibbert who isnt even of championship quality in my opinion, I think its a little naive to ever call a game against Man Utd as being "there for the taking" ! They are a superb side with lots of top top quality players that we simply cant attract. For all our very good players and lost of money spent only Arteta and Lescott would get anywhere near the Man Ure squad

Bollocks! Ian Turner would walk into the Man United team. Given his match-winning performance for the Mancs last season.

To be honest, no team deserved to win. Baines was excellent as was Lescott. Neville was abysmal and tried his best to aid United. Osman was anonymous again, Hibbert done alright after a shaky first ten minutes and we would of won if we had a bit more guile. Disappointing to lose it so late but still some good signs although we can?t keep clean sheets which is worrying. Man of the Match was Baines, he was simply excellent and looks a bargain, let's hope he can keep it up.

Gary I don't believe I was being naive mate. I thought United where poor, and only started to play a little after an hour, and I do believe they where definetly there for the taking, we just needed a bit more tempo and to get at them, unlucky that Gravs wasnt fit. Anyway hope Moyes sees sense and replaces Hibbert for the next game, come on the blues.

Although I?m not close to being Hibbert?s biggest fan, he was not to blame today. He actually managed quite alright although he?ll never be good on offence.

Baines looks more and more like a class act and our central pairing looked classy until Yobo lost Vidic on one occation and BAM!

Gutted as anyone but we have six games in the next three weeks to make it up, and we will.

Starting with Boris on Thursday.

A positive view some may say well in my eyes a balanced view but here goes.

Wessels not at fault for the goal over all had a quiet game but was confident with what he did. Only negative was that on a couple of occasions he did not come out for balls the centre backs expected him to claim. Overall from this appears to be good back up for Howard. It cannot be easy to not play in the first team and then be thrown in the deep end.

Hibbert solid not spectacular as expected, he is an out and out defender nothing more. It would be easy to criticise him for his distribution but today no one was making space for the pass. In addition Arteta tended to be drifting in looking for the ball so he had no one on the right to link up with.

Lescott solid dependable rarely looked in trouble only negative was he and Yobo dropped back to much despite Moyes shouting for them to push out.

Yobo as with Lescott shame he did not put the ball in the net at the end but still a solid game.

Baines my man of the match is he this years Lescott, confident, good touch, good engine can defend and attack down the left was our best player on the pitch by far. Made Ronaldo look ordinary which in itself takes some doing.

Overall the defence was solid and kept united at bay for most of the match this resulted in Ronaldo throwing him to the floor in desperation and receiving a deserved card for this.

Jags to be honest I was disappointed with him today played like a younger faster Neville, they got in each others way at times and because of this we lacked creativity in midfield. In addition they failed to close down players in possession allowing them to pick out passes. Neville you get what you pay for honest graft nothing more, would play him as right back as just that bit better than Hibbert.

Osman tried hard some decent touches but nothing special Pienaar replaced him and added nothing to the team. Yes he looked lively but running around is not enough and end product is needed. They appear to be similar in that they play in bursts. I will not criticise Moyes for starting with Osman as he did make a difference against Bolton in the last match.

Arteta showed glimpses of what he is capable but only glimpses. One telling moment was when he was shouting at Neville after yet again not being provided the ball when in space. He ended up looking for the ball but when he did receive it he was nearly always closed down by two players.

AJ and Yakubu is it me or do both look slightly off the Pace especially Johnson he does not appear to be as quick as he was hopefully this will come. Yakubu was provided no protection from the ref any barging was given as a foul against him even when the defender or in some cases defenders had their hands all over him. Too soon to comment on the partnership as this is only the second game.

Subs McFadden would have put him on before Pienaar to be honest too little time to make an impression but did make the keeper pull out a good save.

Big Vic tried to throw him self around but as with Yakubu any 50-50 was given as a foul to Utd.

Overall as I watched it had 0-0 written all over it as the two teams were cancelling themselves out.

Of the Team selection the only one I was surprised with at the start was Hibbert however if Jags or Neville had been right back Carsley would have been in midfield so even more defensive.

Other than putting McFadden on earlier I cannot think of what else could have been done with the players available as all of them were progressive in nature the only unused outfield sub being Carsley.

A disappointing result which for me re-enforces a need for a creative central midfield player. We do have a good defence we do have a good attack but we do not have the link in midfield. This is needed if you are to beat teams like Utd who were themselves off the pace today but still had a near first choice back line that marshalled the unsupported strikers well.

Best squad in years well we will see an improvement yes but we still need more anyway these are my thoughts you may disagree. That?s up to you. Here?s to Thursday when I will watch a match that ends with a better result COYB

I thought Hibbert had a decent game. Those shaky ten minutes where down to Arteta not tracking back. But after those 10 minutes he was solid. I also thought Jagielka played well. He is twice the player of both Neville and Carsley. Some of tackling was brilliant. Baines was the best player on the park no problem. He is quality going forward aswell as defending. Yakubu and Johnson where handfulls all game and will defo get us goals.

The only two players I was dissapointed with where Mikel and Leon. If Arteta wants to get into the Spain squad then he has to turn up for big games. He was good in patches but the Utd, chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal games seem to just pass him bye. I said I didnt want Osman starting yet lots of people objected. I heard things like he has been on good form. Erm, no he hasnt one bit actually he has been very average. His performances bar Spurs have been very dissapointing. Pienaar may have looked a bit rash in the challenge but when he got hold of the ball he looked like he was going to do something useful and his pace unnerved Brown a few times.

Im not to down hearted though. We played well. We made Man utd luck lacklustre it wasnt because they played bad at all. All we needed was a goal yet Vidic and Ferdinand played well. Roll on the uefa cup.

At the end of the day Hibbert is shit. He can’t tackle, pass or run. He was simply outclassed by United and he looks completely out of his depth at this level as the league has improved but he hasn’t.

Hibbert Did tackle, did pass, did run well today anyway he is a decent squad player at the most. But to say he was outclassed by Utd is bullshit to say the least.

don’t know what game you watched dominic but hibbert had a decent game

maybe you should change your name to dominic blaird vision.

I think if anyone is going to get us out of our rut it will be team captain Phil Neville, I think he has been an oustanding talent this season and totally consitent all season, he brings many qualities to the side like his superb passing range and dogged tackling.

I think we should try and build the midfield around the Captain.

Domonic.

Now you really are trying to take the piss??

dominic i’ll say it again, did you watch the game today?

neville was abysmal, worst player on the pitch by a country mile, constantly giving freekicks away and gave posession away all game, if hibbert gave that performance he would of got slaughtered.

right back is the only position neville can play.

Sorry Andy & Tony, if my philosophy doesn’t fit the norm, if I like to think outside the box, but deep down you know I’m right, Neville drives the team on from midfield, our fullbacks are terrible - no passion, no drive, especially Baines who looked like a headless chicken out there today.
if you can’t see that, then you need to take the blue-tinted specs off.

Err keep taking the pills fella

now i know your taking the piss.

Today’s game just reinforced how important Gravesen is to our team. We never had control of the game where it counted..in the middle of the park. Mad Dog get well soon...we need you! Baines for England..he’ll be our player of the year by miles!

Baines was good apart from one crucial point: his crosses are useless. Absolutely useless. He should sort them out, I know he can do it as he has all the qualities, it just takes a little practice.

And as for Arteta, I know he’s taboo but still. On one occasion he couldn’t even pass five yards. He badly needs some confidence-boosting performance.

Refereeing was ridiculous, as expected. Scholes should never have been allowed to play 90 minutes but a few other yellow cards were also left in Wiley’s pocket. And as for that comedy jump the Manure defender did in front of Yakubu...

Dominic

I agree with your opinion of Neville to an extent - I don’t think he’s agood enough to build the team around but I think he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet and that he’s good enough to fit into whichever system we play. My worry about him though is that he gives away free kicks in dangerous positions.

As for Baines I thought he was excellent at times today. Some great runs forward culminating in foul on the edge of the box and Arteta wasting a good chance from the free kick.

It’s pointless trying to defend Hibbo as I’d just be ridiculed, but I think he does a good job. Ok going forward he doesn’t set the world alight but he’s pretty solid and reliable at the back. We always seem to be more consistent as a team when he’s playing.

Mark Culbert - I wasn’t sure about Pienaar mate - he seems to get caught in possession and he’s always a yard or two off the pace. I think McFadden would have been a better bet than him.

Peter, a defender’s main job is to do just that..defend. Baines had Ronaldo in his back pocket all game and that’s saying alot. Ronaldo was practically his bitch for the full 90 minutes! I don’t think his crossing was all that bad to be honest. His running off the ball is great, not to mention his ball control and positioning. As you may have guessed...I can’t say enough about this player!

Mark i agree mate,when i said lively about Pienaar probably just remember his two foot challenge when he came one,which id love to do to any United player given a chance,McFadden has looked dangerous when hes come on on the wing late on,especially when hes playing as good as he is,maybe start him there for next game,who knows,think osmans always going to be to lightweight,although hes got great feet and chips in with the odd goal,lets just put today to an off day

i travelled to the game today from doncaster,and i carnt belive people are saying hibbert did well today, he was shocking and the midfield was shite,we was lucky man u played shite or they would of had a field day today,jags didnt do bad but went missing for long periods,it the worst ive seen arteta play,hopefully he will pick up and for neville was he playing for united today,there were a few good points i have to say baines is class no other word for him,yak played well for me he was all over the overratted rio,aj was slow today (never thought id say that)but he look like hes really struggling,cb were class aswell is there any better than them 2 in the prem,also everton fans were class aswell never let the team down well done boys,as for moyes i like him but as he took us as far as he can(only time will tell)im going to local team tommorow donny rovers lets hope they win and play some dicent football if not a bad weekend allround,before you have ago about donny rovers i take my 9 year old son plus its a new stadium so dont mind going,but i still attend all everton home games,and try to get to some away but thats hard so i go to donny insted,anyway lets cheer the boys on thursday,and hope fully play better than today

Hibbert may not have played great for Premiership standards, but he played great for his own standards. This was the first match this season, they he didn’t cause me to have a near heart attack. Neville needs to be scrapped, he hurts us every minute more he’s on the pitch.

Nick, that’s fine but if he does get forward (and he does, which is fine as well), he may as well learn how to cross. I’m not saying he’s not a good defender but if he would go that extra mile, he could be world-class.