WHY SAY ANYTHING?

When the teams were announced before the game and James Milner was going to be playing at left back for Liverpool, myself and Paul Scholes both thought the same thing: play Martial on the right to have a run at him.

What did van Gaal do? Played Mata on the right! Apart from being slow, very left-footed and useless as a winger this was a stupid move. He also played Lingard, who should be dropped, on the left and he looked completely clueless.

Another stupid move was playing Varela at right back when he has the Italian right back sat on the bench. Darmian has nineteen caps for Italy so surely he is good enough for this Manchester United team!

Fellaini was retained in midfield for no apparent reason and huffed and puffed without ever achieving anything.

Even with all these players out of position, United started very well and threatened to score on a couple of occasions. The problem with this team is that they have nobody who fills the fans full of confidence that he will score when given the chance.

Consequently, when they took the lead through a penalty scored by Martial it was only a matter of time before their poor defence conceded the equaliser. Firstly Varela left Coutinho and let him run into the area, then De Gea showed far to much of his goal at the near post. It became an easy finish.

In the second half, van Gaal decided to shut the stable door long after the horse had bolted. He brought on Valencia at right back in place of Varela. This wasn’t a massive change in the game as Valencia can’t defend either.

He also managed to bring on another full back and a central midfielder in Darmian and Schweinsteiger. This was a manager who’s team was 1-3 down on aggregate so needed four goals to win and he brings on two defenders and a midfielder!

Liverpool had the better of the chances in the second half and went through quite comfortably. They are definitely showing signs of improvement under Klopp.

As for United, they are now out of everything except the FA Cup, another competition they can probably wave goodbye to at Upton Park when they play West Ham in their replay.

Why haven’t they challenged for anything this season? The answers are remarkably simple. This team is awful, the manager who has put this team together is even worse. Until a manager who knows what he is doing is brought in, then United will struggle. Until a CEO who knows what he is doing is brought in then United will remain stuck with a manager who doesn’t know what he is doing.

Several players are not good enough and need changing. At present, United don’t need someone who will give the kids a chance. They need someone who can restore the winning mentality and bring in players who are of the calibre required to play for them.

Is there anybody currently out of work who fits the bill? There obviously isn’t otherwise even somebody as stupid as Woodward would have employed him by now.