Heard a guy on the radio yesterday saying that a certain top coach or manager is scared these days of having a go at players (behind closed doors) as some may get too upset, he may have even mentioned tears!

Good grief!

BTW.. Which player were u talking about who shouted his mouth off to the press?

Heard that, though can't be sure of all the details. Seem to recall though that he was referring to all or most managers of top PL clubs and the reason was down to the mental fragility of today's young prima donna players. Tell 'em they they are dropped and they are more likely to throw a hissy fit and complain to their precious agent than buckle down and fight for their place. Said agent will then head straight for the media...

That's how I recall it anyway and we already know of a few such cases! The discussion ended up pointing out that managers ultimately had the power... but of course that only extends to team selection, or rather non-selection (Schweiny, Yaya). And if selected, you can lead a player to water but you can't make him drink, so it works both ways.

Well it's obviously a player who's worked under Fergie, so Smalling, Jones, Valencia, Rooney ,Carrick, Young and De Gea have.

However considering this leak surfaced shortly after the captain was hammered by the press for his poor performances the popular opinion is that it's him.

I thought they were specifically talking about younger players. I had to stop fully focusing on listening after a minute or two as I thought it made these players sound so pathetic. It wasn't just fit, it was being upset and hurt etc...

Ah ok. I thought there was one that had come out in the press.

Romero; Fosu-Mensah, Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Schneiderlin, Carrick; Memphis, Herrera, Young; Rooney

Subs Johnstone, Darmian, Fellaini, Lingard, Mata, Rashford, Ibrahimović

Great to see F-M getting a start!

Hopefully he can impress José enough to be considered for more first team games.

Hope Rooney can get a goal or two tonight to get his confidence up, would rather he was dropped to be honest at the moment but it doesn't look likely so hopefully a goal can get him back to firing on all cylinders.

Well he's playing in his favourite position up top, so if he can't turn it on tonight then there'll be no excuses.

Wow! Welcome back Carrick!

Who else was there to play? Zlatan shouldnt be needed in a game like this and Rashford has nothing to prove. Martial is out injured so this is the ideal game for Rooney to find a purpose on the pitch. So far he is failing.

DO hope this is the last game Rojo plays for us!!!

Ahahahahhahahhahahhahhahahhahhahahahaha (I've decided to go for the laugh instead of cry option). This is like the bad old days of the 80's when everyone and anyone had a chance against us and we were scalped every other game. We have mostly the players we want and definitely the manager and we are still shite. Northampton have been excellent value for the draw.

We will still win, but no-one should be fooled. We are dire.

Fosu-Mensah has no more positional awareness now than he had last season. He goes AWOL and they hit the bar. He goes to sleep, allowing the ball to be put back in for the penalty to be conceded. He doesn't seem able to learn. He is a liability at FB, perhaps he should be moved forward. At least then his errors would be covered behind.

In other news United have no one on the pitch who can beat an opponent with the ball. They are confronted by massed ranks at the 18 yard line and back they go.

Thank gawd they are only playing Northampton. It could have been MK Dons......

Nice pass from Rooney to Carrick for the goal, it was if it was played for.... We may have had possession, we may be able to pass a ball to each other when 5 to 10 yards apart, but any further it's proving difficult, and it isn't the first time our passing has been all over the place recently.

Apart from the pinball in the box, and I'm not sure what TFM was doing not clearing the ball, but they've hardly posed to much of a threat, we just need to turn some of the possession in decent positions into chances.

Nothing is coming off for the Scapegoat, passes have been weighted poorly when he's made runs behind the defence, and he's trying to make things happen for himself. In a similar vein, I've enjoyed watching Memphis this half, it's been like watching Forlan many years ago. You know it's going to end badly, but he's making runs, looking for the ball, looking to play that pass, score that goal, he's looking for that something to spark his United career back into life, but it isn't coming off for him.

Herrera needs to step up this half, he's been relatively poor this past half.

Rooney playing shit as always and Rashford once more showing how good he is.

Is the draw for the next round straight after this?

Well tonight's game reinforces that Rashford should play instead of Rooney and Rojo needs getting rid of

Ahhh so this is what a win feels like, nice to get back to winning ways.

It is just after 10pm.

Yes it is.

Agreed on both points. That was a scruffy win but essential. We can build on it now if Jose picks the right team on Saturday. And even he must see now that the right team does not include Rooney.

I don't think Carrick should start either BTW however good he seemed tonight. League cup is his level now IMO.

Bit too early to state that.

We were dire for the majority of the match.