MrExcalibur100

Is there something wrong with him fitness wise? He was on the bench, so I doubt that. Today would have been the perfect day and perfect opposition to play him against. I was fully expecting him to start so that he could acclimatize with his teammates and so that we could have had at least some real attacking threat down the left.

Again, we get the win as expected and the 2nd half was good as expected. But it's only going to mask over the fact we were unacceptably appalling in the first half which surprised me. It's one thing being poor but that angered me. We were able to pick ourselves up against Burnley but we looked so nervous in front of our own fans. Once the team felt we were playing horribly after 20 mins, they let their heads drop drastically. I'm certain Jose is bothered by that. Against a team with more quality, we would have not won this game. How we can go from Burnley to THAT in the space of 1 game? Hopefully, it's not going to develop into a pattern. If we play like that against Everton, we will lose.

Roman's sweaty armpits.

Hate to say it but Fabregas has been beyond shocking.

If Mourinho can't see that playing Azpilicueta at left back compromises the whole system of play because he literally can't attack the by-line at all, I don't know what else to say. Filipe Luis should have started this game with Azpilicueta on the other flank. WTF is Azplilcueta still doing at LB?

Azpilicueta in space, he checks back because it's on his weaker foot. Laughable.

To say we look clueless out there will be an exaggeration. Absolutely diabolical performance.

Bloody hell! Liverpool are about to sign Balotelli on a permanent deal. http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/calciomercato/milan-and-liverpool-reach-agreement-in-principle-for-balotelli-raiola-will-meet-reds-today-to-close-the-deal/ Combined with Sturridge, that's a very decent strike-force. United should be worried. And Arsenal also.

I don't know, tbh. I believe Azpilicueta is much, much better as an attacking threat when playing his real position, RB, than Ivanovic. Based on what I saw when he played there under Benitez, his overlaps were fantastic. The difference between them attacking from the wings is much more than a small one. It's a little unfair to criticize Azpilicueta's "offensive contributions" when he was playing most of last season on the wrong flank. He is also as solid defensively, if not more solid than Ivanovic, who sometimes gets embarrassed when he comes up against top wingers and let's a lot of crosses come through from his flank. Brana is stronger and obviously a better aerial threat, but that's about it. Either way, once Filipe Luis has fully settled in, I expect to see Azpilicueta take Ivanovic's place at RB.

Puts this into perspective.

Welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMUEX9qK_rU

Really puts everything into perspective. Just how poorly run United are nowadays and how awesome we've been (one or two hiccups aside) in the transfer market since we won the CL.

I know what you mean

He was okay today. Not as good as Costa, Hazard, Schurrle or Fabregas were but we didn't need him to be. It's too early to say but I like what Jose is doing with him and Cesc. Both against Burnley were able to interchange positions. It's not the obvious "you're a central midfielder, you're an attacking midfielder" stuff in a static 4-2-3-1 like it was in the 2nd half of last season. Today, because of the fluidity of the system, it was more of a 4-3-3 when we didn't have possession/in build up play and that's good for both Oscar and Fab as none offer great protection/defensive cover, as it would be in a 4-2-3-1. The fluid 4-3-3 covers for the weaknesses of Fab and Oscar and amplifies their strengths. That's our midfield trio. Matic-Cesc-Oscar. We will control the tempo of most away games we play this season (something we were unable to do last season) and create far more chances. Mourinho player or no Mourinho player, I just don't see Ramires breaking that trio, except in the really big games when we need Rami's energy.

Or because we're overly critical of a 22 year old player?

Having watched Man City's game against Newcastle and the ease at which they won what is considered to be a tough fixture, it just solidifies the fact that we need more quality up front. Jovetic alone, their so-called 4th choice is considerably better (like a x1000 better) than Torres and Drogba are. The thing is I just don't see us signing another striker especially since we still need to let one foreign player go. Any decent alternative to Costa, not even a top striker just a decent one, it will make me feel supremely confident about our chances to win the league this season but right now, at best we are joint favourites to City with them just probably shading it. We can't be considered favourites right now.

Jammy bastards. Let's look on the bright side though. They look back to their mid-table, mediocre selves without Suarez.

Ha, Tadic is a beast. Beasting out there like Hazard and shit.

I'm watching the London derby instead. Cracking game so far. A pen just given actually. I'm going to ignore the Everton game. Don't want to have to see Lukaku's face.

West Brom 0-1 Sunderland (Cattermole)

Interesting to see how Lamela is going to bed in this season. He had a really awful and frankly bizarre debut season.

So West Ham vs Spurs?

Lol at Mike Dean just waiting and waiting till he blew that whistle. Off to redcafe!

The backlash will be hilarious if they lose this game after the wankfest by the press of van Gaal.