OhForAGreavsie

Most important is that we win today. If Leicester loose that's just a bonus.

Sod Wednesday, We are going to need him at some point today. As for RLC & CHO, I am very, very happy that Frank is picking the team not you.

No it won't. People have got to get off this defeatist kick. If we fail to make the CL it'll be because we have not been good enough, not because we tried to win a football match three days earlier.

Even then, with the decision to go three at the back, it's a choice between Willian and Pulli. In that situation, I can see Willian getting the nod for his greater defensive work rate.

I don't think you understand him.

The club's position is that it was punished for operating in exactly the same way as many other clubs who were not punished. This is still being considered because the FA has appealed against their sanction and, if that is overturned, then there is no way CAS could avoid also overturning Chelsea's. The upshot of all of this is that Chelsea do not believe they did anything wrong, the FA do not believe Chelsea did anything wrong, and the CAS decision on our appeal went so decidedly in our favour that maybe they don't really think Chelsea did anything wrong either. If we believed all along that we operated within the rules, then there would have been nothing to blame Michael Emenalo for.

Yep. It's taken Arteta a while to decide which pegs go in which places but he's beginning to shape a good side there. A side that won't fear us if we should win our semi-final.

And yet they are favourites to claim one of the remaining Champions League places whereas we, despite rotating significantly, have looked a pathetic side at times. This has become received wisdom but is it supported statistically? I haven't seen such evidence. Anecdotally at least, the relative form of Chelsea and United argues against this idea. Instead we see that the better team has the better of the play in most games, and, more often than not, the side which enjoys the better of the play wins the match. Needless to say I don't care what Solskjaer does, but I want Frank to go with his top team. There's room for debate about what that means, but for me it must include Willian, Giroud and Pulli.

Hope the job is as well paid as it sounds it ought to be.

Virtually all of my posts need to be edited so they are readable and say something close to what I meant them to. The first attempts are often just ludicrous.

Gook luck to the lad. I think he's a good 'un.

Ah, yes. This would make more sense. 25% less than the base level, which for Europa League participation, rather than 25% more than the base level for CL. Amounts to an enormous bonus for CL qualification. It makes the numbers add up for United and also rescues the maths of the reporter, which would then be correct if only he had described it the right way round. You've got this right I think. Thanks.

I would bet good money that you'd have done exactly that! I make it £93,750 but, either way, that goes beyond almost in my book. Using the fifty-week year which typically features in football salary conversion, that's well over £300,000pa. At this scale that's too wide a discrepancy for almost. Based on ManU's last reported annual wage bill, a 25% increase would cost them an extra £98m. Liverpool earned less than £75m for winning last season's CL, while we collected just under £18.6m for our Europa League triumph. The difference between those amounts, just more than £56.4m, cannot justify such huge wage bill inflation. Even when additional incomes are calculated, United would do better entering the Europa league and avoid having to pay that huge additional wage cost. All of this assumes United win the CL. A very optimistic assumption for them to make. The argument in the article makes no sense to me.

I offer maths coaching. It seems whoever wrote this article could use my help. A 25% increase would take a weekly salary of £75,000, up to £100,000pw would it? Oh dear. I'm sure that I shouldn't allow it to, but seeing such poor numeracy causes me to doubt the writer's credibility. Even without demonstrating that arithmetic isn't his strong suit, I find the claim of a 25% salary increase across the squad for champions League participation to be nonsensical. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that bonuses might rise 25%, but basic wages? Not a chance. From a financial point of view, it would make more sense for United to settle for the Europa League and avoid the wage increase. In fact, the club would have to go to any lengths necessary to avoid paying those increases, since doing so would cost them more than they would earn for winning the Champions League, never mind simply playing in it. I couldn't take anything else in the article seriously after that.

If Varane is their Ramos, then who is Ramos? 🙂

I didn't like to mention that.

I genuinely like everybody here. I don't get annoyed by people with opinions who are able to articulate them. We seem to have scared away pretty much all of the people who want to throw insults around, or say stuff just to sound clever. What we're left with is a collection of posters who have something worthwhile to say. I enjoy the forum very much. People who can't articulate their thoughts are more likely to annoy me. For example, I only personally know one Trump supporter. I'd love to hear from him what he sees in the president, but he is utterly incapable of explaining himself. I suspect that he may just be too embarrassed to admit the real reasons and I find that very frustrating.

There is logic on both sides. Disagreement is not a failure of logic it's a difference of perspective. If people don't care about The FA Cup, I can't cause them to change their minds. I can only attempt to explain why i take a different view and rejoice in the fact that our club have never yet contemplated playing a weakened side in a semi-final. Don't let me down Frank.

Anyway, let's hope United loose on Thursday so that Ole is the one with with the headache about resting players on Sunday.

Then stuff 'em. If they join us we are paying them to play for us, not to tell us what impresses them. I don't hire a gardener to take care of my mum's garden so he can plant what he wants. I hire him to plant what she wants. Sorry, but I'm completely intransigent on this. The FA Cup is a major target each season. I accept that we will fail to win it almost every season, but I will never accept that we fail to try even for just one season.

I genuinely don't think giving 100% on Sunday is going to make any difference to the results of our other two games. Get out there and try to win at Wembley, then we can think about Anfield.

I don't believe you mean that. I think you mean you hope to win all the games but if you were picking the side for Sunday, your line up would betray the fact that you don't care all that much. I do want to win them all and expect the manager to pick a side which reflects that he does too.

Yep, when the magic isn't with him, this kind of performance is what we've come to expect from Willian. The kind that annoys people so much. Me, I'm not in a mood to moan at any of them. Our situation reminds me of the old Irish joke. The one that goes, "If you're trying to get to Dublin, I wouldn't start from here." If we're looking to attack a season, none of us would choose to start with the squad we have now, but we are where we are.

J, You can't choose results, you can only choose how you approach matches. I demand that Frank approaches both United and Liverpool as must win occasions.

I agree about Frank. I think he get's Chelsea and will respect the club's tradition.