Madmax

I'm not any more or any less worried than what I usually am before the start of a season, and I do hope people don't start comparing every game to last season and getting on Carlo's back if things aren't going as well. That being said, I do think this season will be a 3 horse race between us, United and le Arse.

Ozil .... or maybe Luiz (hope not)

Time to ring Paul the Octopus, if he hasn't ended up on someone's plate

One twat saying another twat is as good as a third twat.

The end of an era at the Bridge. Ballack, Cole and now Carvalho. Great servant to the club, will always be fondly remembered by everyone here. Good luck Riccy

I'm pleased we played good opposition on our preseason tour in Germany. Surely playing against HSV and Frankfurt (who did very well last season in the Bundesliga) is better than beating some unheard of Irish team 7-1.

Or maybe the diamond, which would make me go

I don't know what to believe anymore. One day he says he would love to come to England, next day he says he likes Spain. Then he says he'll stay put and see out his contract. Now this. Ain't gonna believe a word till someone puts pen to paper.

That ends it then. No point pursuing him now.

Never good to see a promising youngster go, but you can't fit them all in so it's probably best for both him and us. Good luck to him, hope to see him in the Premier League in the future.

DM is not his position. But then it isn't Ramires' position either. So Mikel as DM, Essien and Ramires to rotate at RCM.

Shocking. Very likable guy, am sure he will be back soon, maybe to take Mancini's seat when Citeh fail to qualify for Champs League

The cheapest 11 million ever. Hail Ranieri

Better than Hilario, tell you that.

Welcome mate

Well now you do.

Manuf, image not visible mate.

I just think though that it might not be that bad for the likes of Terry, Lampard and Cole to get some more minutes on the pitch against Hungary. Of course there's always the threat of injury, but they looked a bit short of match fitness today and maybe just maybe the midweek international might help with their fitness.

Expect more shite now. Oh well, haters gonna hate.

Okies, my bad, sorry.

Okay. Doing this - Benayoun

Cech/Turnbull Ivanovic Carvalho Terry Cole Mikel/Essien Essien/Ramires Lampard Sturridge Malouda Drogba Subs : Delac/Turnbull, Ferreira, Zhirkov, Mikel/Ramires, Matic, Benayoun, Anelka

Don't really get why everyone is hating on Benayoun. It's not like he was going to score a hattrick in 20 mins.

Okay, thoughts 1. First of all, I'm not too disappointed with the performance. It was a good run-out for the players. We certainly deserved to draw the game and with better finishing and better luck, would have done so. 2. Our defensive line was poor. We tried to play a high line but with slow defenders like Terry and Ivan in the middle, it was too easy for United to run in behind. There was no organisation at the back and the players seemed to lack a bit of agility and weren't synchronized and decisive in their actions. 3. We were also very narrow at the back, especially on the left where Cole was tucked inside too much. United always found a ready outlet on their right in the shape of Valencia and their first two goals were down to the frailties mentioned above. 4. The passing was a bit off today, especially in the first half and there were too many heavy passes, but that can be put down to the players still not being fully fit and lacking match practice. 5. Carlo got it wrong by not taking Kalou and Anelka off at HT. 6. Our game improved greatly in the second half, the players played with more freedom, purpose and conviction. The passing got much better but the defence was still quite worrying. 7. I really liked our fluidity and movement up front. United spent much of the second half defending deep and clearly on the backfoot. Good interplay between Malouda, Drogba, Sturridge, Kalou. 8. Essien was really impressive in the DM role. He got caught up the field once or twice but that is understandable given we were really pressing for goals. His vision and passing seemed to hit a whole new level once he was put there. 9. I think we lacked a creative spark in midfield. We kept the majority of the possession throughout the game, but didn't really have anyone to change the game with a moment of magic when United sat deep with 2 banks of 5. 10. Overall, an okay performance marred by a lack of clinical finishing and clumsy defending.