Ollie

Funny how the commentators, think it was Alan Parry in particular keep on saying how brilliant Kagawa was... what did he do? He was more scared than anything, got the ball, passed it, looked comfortable but showed no desire to actually go the next step and do something. Nice on the ball tho but more suited to West Ham at home rather than Everton away. Have Kagawa in my fantasy team and Carrick, left em both on the bench, this isn't the game for good footballers. Been a great few days tho, other than City digging themselves out if a hole, it's been near perfect. Man Utd, Liverpool and Tottenham all lost. We've not lost an opening game since 1998 against Coventry. Well, we never used to win there, they beat us on consecutive opening days in 1997 and 1998. I still remember how unlucky Casiraghi was in that game, Hedman had the game of his life, fucker. We have to now beat Reading and make it a great week.

I hope this happens so much now seeing the other strike forces in the prem. We need to keep up and we need to show that our intentions are to win this prem and not target the top 4 like fucking North London dirt. Hulk can play anywhere in the front 4, i still think that Torres will be the main striker tho regardless but we do need Hulk or Cavani, another big name forward. I'll be so happy when it's done.

Said it for ages. He played behind the striker today but you just know he could play holding role too, he could play anywhere he is that good. That's the 2nd best i've seen him play, the best was in the 4-4 at old trafford against them again. All the big teams need to really consider this guy, he's a fucking beast. This is Man Utd we're talking about and he completely owned them. They backed off him, they were shit scared of him all game but what could they do about it? Absolutely nothing. Phenomenal display.

Funny reading the first page of this. So we've been linked with him for 5 years, this thread has been open for 5 years.... wow. Even before he went to Tottenham. Just go to Madrid so we can close this already lol.

they look alright i suppose....

Sounds like a great debut for him.

Wrong thread but good news, even tho i like him a lot. Let them suffer for a fucking change.

YES!! 1-1 against Barca now! Good stuff. Let them both suffeeeeeeeer! (Will probably end 4-1). Ah fuck... Messi is underway again. 2-1. EDIT 2: Messi again. How did he react so well, fucking hell this could be anything. I'll predict 9-2.

We play on Wednesday for sure, 7:45 KO so we have plenty of time, especially having the early KO today. I'll be happy with 3rd place but i still really want us to win the league of course. If we get another striker, Hulk or Cavani, we can win the league. Utd having Rooney and Van Persie doesn't necessarily mean they are gonna work together amazingly tho, we thought Drogba and Torres would be the best strike force ever and that didn't work. Well, we didn't use 4-4-2 enough even tho both Manchester sides seem to know how to use it well. We need Torres to have a great season to challenge for the league. If not, we'll battle 3rd-6th again.

Ok, maybe there's nobody bothered then?

Torres wasn't that bad, just some final passes let him down, most notably Ivanovic near the end and a couple of shit ref decisions, 1 of which should've been a penalty and of course an effort off the line. I think he looks alright, the worst player again was Mikel, i dunno what's going on with him. He finished last season so well but is now what he used to be. Very lax on the ball, not commanding enough and keeps giving the ball away or going back all the time. He just walks through games doing sweet fuck all. I'm happy tho, it was a pretty comfortable win in a potential tricky game. We scored 2 early goals and strolled through it with minimal fuss, keeping a clean sheet and that's good for our match on Wednesday. Bit of confidence restored and not much energy consumed. Also in a weekend where Arsenal drew, City struggled, Liverpool and Tottenham lost and Man Utd have a potentially hard game tomorrow, a win for us was huge, really, really big win already. Whenever our rivals falter, we need to take advantage and today we have. Also nice to see Oscar get on and Hazard get MOTM, shutting many idiots up in the process.

YES!! 1-1 and Pepe is busted open, the best moment ever!

Us - 3 Premierships, 1 Champions League, 4 FA Cups Them - 1 Premierships, 0 Champions Leagues, 1 FA Cup We're ahead, we've already accomplished our goal. We're starting again, Man City are just starting. They may be better than us today but we will rise above them in the future.

Southampton showed a hell of a lot more bottle than we showed in the Community Shield. It's a real shame they lost but they showed everyone that if you attack Man City, you can score against them and really trouble them. Man City have won but they have conceded 2 goals at home to Southampton which on paper was probably a much easier game than ours. Funny, people were moaning at our game..... at least we were solid and managed to play out a comfortable victory. City suffered today and if other teams show Southampton's desire with more quality against them, they wont enjoy it. This has still been a good weekend.

I like Mirallas already simply because he said he would rather play for Everton than Arsenal as he has more chance of playing. Not the bullshit about playing UCL and being in a big team that could challenge for trophies, the lad just wants to play and good luck to him.

I thought Lescott won the ball. Was a tough challenge but imo was fine.

I don't think it's right playing Ryan LW just because he can't get in the team ahead of Ash. He seems too desperate to fit him in. If Robbie really trusts Ryan, he'll let Ash have a rest in the cups and against the likes of Wigan, West Ham, Southampton and play Bertrand 10-15 times a season as our LB. I like Bertrand a lot but as a winger, he doesn't have the desire or skill to beat a man and attack. He always wants to go back or get rid of the ball. Ok he may develop it into his game, he has the pace for sure but leaving out Sturridge who is desperate to play for Bertrand isn't the right way to go about it. he was ok today tho i suppose. Needed to try n test their RB more tho.

Probably could be a massacre now. Tevez will get a hattrick and it will finish 5-0. Was always going to be a tough ask for Southampton with their Championship squad. There's not 1 premiership quality player in that squad. Will be amazed if they survive.

And Man City miss it. Weird start. Why didn't Tevez take it? He's great at them.

Talk about put the mockers on that lmao what a curse job, my team is completely fucked now, nooooooooooo Aguero might be out for weeks.

It's obviously because half the board was disabled like viewing new posts. makes it easier to run that way.

Well Adam Johnson is a boyhood Sunderland fan and all his family are Sunderland so it's nice for him but i think he could play for a much better team unless it's a loan. Adam Johnson could be good even for us, he's really good, showed it against Italy midweek too. I really hope his career doesn't just pan out into mediocrity. Man City vs Southampton in 25 mins, this could be a horrible score, seriously.

I'm doing shit but now i have Aguero and Tevez up front against Southampton at home with Aguero as my captain. This should be a massacre tbh. I want at least 30 points from this match alone.

Very disappointed that Danny didn't get on tho. Just sends out the message saying 'you ain't part of my plans'. The last 20 minutes on for Bertrand wouldn't have hurt in the slightest. Pity.

Horrible performance but a win's a win. It will get better but while everyone's still settling in we're settling in as a team, it's imperative just to win. We killed the game in 10 minutes. No dramas, no Seattle 2-0 up winning 4-2 looking defensively hopeless. Just a routine win which was needed. Clean sheet too which will breed some confidence. Wigan away isn't easy. 1 down, 37 to go. Roll on Wednesday and Reading.