Agree but how can United be effective when they are so poor at defending? United's defending has been under par since the beginning of the season mostly because of the absence of a no nonsense defensive enforcer in midfield.

Agreed, they need to be ruthless, I hope by now Mzee (Sir Alex) has given the team "THE HAIR DRIER" for conceding three goal at home. This is unacceptable considering our defense has been our key strength during recent seasons.Goal.com even voted Vidic as no. 6 among world's top players......where is that solid backline, how on earth can Manchester United throw away a 2 nil lead, end up with a draw, & even fail to do the usual magic of snatching the winner????where were the "Kings of Come -backs " they were missing in action. I hope this issue has been addressed, as Man Utd Players, the team is always judged harshly when they fail to live up to expectation. I have supported United my entire adult life (and I'm not so young), even when they were not doing well, then ...." Oh Ah Cantona" arrived with his magic etc, so my fellow fans should understand why I am so disappointed, I will not abandon ship, no way, there are some so called fans who support the club only when its doing well....I am with Man U & will cont. to support til death do us part. Sir Alex, pls, Yell at those men!!!!

I agree, they need to be aggressive and live up to expectation, the team will always be judged harshly when they do not perform. How on earth did Manchester United throw away a 2 Nil lead at home, & ended up with a draw?? they even failed to do the usual magic of snatching the winner...where were the "Kings of Come-back" its obvious, they were missing in action. I am one disappointed fan, knowing that in the recent past our back line has been one of strength, even earning Vidic no. 6 position in Goal.com votes....to see the team concede 3 goals at home is painful..Mzee (Sir Alex) needs to address the mid field & back line issues NOW. I hope by now they have received the well deserved "HAIR DRIER". I love Manchester United to bits and I expect a drastic improvement..One love, One United

We have allowed opponents more attempts at goal than ANY other team in the PL this season, on average 14 per game. It's little wonder we can't keep clean sheets.

First and foremost, the issue is not with the goalkeeper in my opinion, in fact it's largely thanks to DeGea that we haven't conceded a lot more goals.

The primary cause has to be our inability to field a stable back four because of injury. Rio and Jones partnered each other for the first time on Tuesday night and it showed. Jones should have tempered his tendency to charge forward given that he had a less than fully fit Rio alongside him, and unable to adequately cover, but these things come with experience. Valencia is a fill-in at right back only and Evra often - perhaps too often - sacrifices his defensive work to bomb on.

And the end of the day, we need to get our defenders fit. If we were able to field a back four of Jones, Rio, Vidic and Evra, we would look much more solid.

In the meantime, we will just have to hope we can outscore the oppo.

I think they have been winning ugly in the CL for the past few years now. I agree that United still need some hard nose players, particularly in the middlle. Anderson does not cut it Carrick is effective but slow Park well I think he should have been moved on.

I like the potential of Jones and Smalling and think they will be world class players, but United miss Vidic and I still think O'Shea was a useful player to have around. Does it really matter how many attempts on goal United have given up the bottom line to me is a win and for them to play attractive football, not park the bus and defend. You convince me that Barcelona are a hard team. I thought more than anything that United tired in the 2nd half, a tough game at Stoke and a short turn around.
Also think United still lack a proper captain someone who can grab the team on a night like Tuesday and carry them to the victory

Man United need to learn how to WIN in Europe, right up to and including the Champion's League Final. And they are unlikely to achieve that target with their present midfield. Players like Carrick, Anderson and (to a lesser extent) Fletcher are simply not good enough to control games against top opposition like Barcelona. United need to buy at least one world-class midfielder, preferably two. Get Sneijder or someone as good as him. Otherwise, Man United fans will have to resign themselves once again to failure in Europe at the decisive stage....the semi-final and final.

Last season United won ugly and we all wanted them to entertain.

I think I'd rather win 5-4 than win 1-0 and enjoy a nice kip.

It's easy to blame the defence but we have an absolutely awful midfield that should have been completely revamped in the summer but it wasn't. Just look closely at the games and you'll see opponents pouring forward through an extremely weak midfield towards an exposed defence. All that nonsense about defending up the field like Barcelona is exactly that...nonsense! It amazes me how people defend Ferguson no matter how bad a team he picks or how he glosses over weaknesses that he himself initially admits exist only to backtrack when he hasn't plugged the gaps. I don't know if he doesn't have the cash or if he can't persuade top players to come to United. Something is badly wrong but we'll never know the truth.

I will probably take a lot of flak for this. There is no way we can win the Champions league with this side. I don't think finishing 3rd in the group would be a bad thing (except for the financial side) dropping to the Europa league and then fielding some of the "upcoming" players, Pogba, Morrison, Keane etc. Let's see what we have coming through. If they don't show maybe the boss will get the message and sort out the midfield. I would rather know what we have for the future than finish second and get Real, Barca or Bayen in the next round and be out anyway.