Tomo

Judging by their two recent aquasitions, LVG won't be changing his possession for the sake of it then hoofball if we don't score anytime soon.Morgan and Bastian pivot will be solid but has next to no creativity in there. Will be interesting what happens at United this season, I think they gave LVG a 3 year plan of get top 4, make a credible title challenge then win the league in the 3rd season.

In life you have to grab what you can, very few people will accept less when they could get more.As much as I love Chelsea if I was playing for the club and I got a sniff of a new contract with my wages doubled or more I'll be all over it, doesn't mean I don't love the club or even doing it for money for that matter.

Sterling will shine at City, he isn't great as a main man but as a 3rd player there isn't many better, his best form at Liverpool was when Suarez and Sturridge attracted all the attention and with Aguero and Toure attracting likewise at City he will do very well.

MangalA is a good player, even Kompany looks a shadow of his best self under Pellegrino, he is basically a better version of Rodgers, i.e. a "style" obsessent who puts fuck all thought into the defensive side of the game. If we got him we would have seen a completely different player.

I see the overhyping City machine is back on full force here after a few months off.

Aranguiz isn't a like for like replacement.

Some just don't understand how a squad game works. Name one better DM that will happily play second fiddle to Matic without complaining? And ffs don't say Romeu he is living of the game against City 3 and a half years ago. As a starter he isn't good enough but as a back up Mikel is absolutely fine.

I would be horrified. The Champions League is so hard to win that even if you fully focus on that you are more likely to fail than succeed. Main focus should always be the league, and whatever comes with it great.

To expand on what I said here are the games Costa was rested/unavailable and Didier and Remy were fit and available and who started what. League Palace away Remy Spurs home Drogba City home Remy Villa away Drogba Everton home Remy Stoke home Remy Liverpool home Remy Champions League Schalke home Drogba Marinbor home Remy League Cup Bolton home Remy Derby away Drogba FA Cup Watford home Both Bradford at home Both So it's actually 7-4 in Remys favour and all the times Drog got the nod was the period he was actually in form. If Remy wasn't unfortunate to keep getting injured at the same time as Costa the numbers would be even higher in his favour.

I honestly think Mou has this job for as long as he wants it. Him and Roman are completely different people to who parted company in 2007, back then Jose could have hand picked any job bar about 3 likewise Roman with manager's, neither have that luxury any more and in their time apart I think experiences for both have made them realise how lucky they were to have each other, hence the second coming, I can't see Roman wanting to risk another Scolari lite error. In my opinion, I think we will have to drop out of the top 4 for Roman to as much as even consider giving Jose the boot and that won't happen (drop out of top 4), under Jose we will at very worst be challenging at a high level. Both know which side their toast is buttered these days, take Jose respecting/accepting the decision to sell Cech to Arsenal despite making it clear thst it wouldn't have happened if he had the choice, imagine 2007 Jose if that happened? He would have hit the roof.

I don't understand this favrotism to Drogs stuff, itisn't true, at least not in terms of starting games.Most times when Drogba started over Remy was during Autumn and that was because Drogba was playing well, he scored 6 goals in that period. Drogba was often preferred off the bench because of his hold up play but outside of that period between Old Trafford and Spurs at home (when Drogba was #2 on merit) the only times Drogba got the nod when Costa was unavailable/rested and him and Remy were fit was Schalke at home and Villa away.

I would bet my left nut Mou sacked won't even be a consideration unless we dive out of top 4.

Arsenal have a massive chink in their armour and that's Wenger, whenever they hit a patchy spell he loses the plot and it always gets worse (damaging title hopes significantly) before it gets better. If they had a top manager in touch with the modern game they would be a real threat.

He only has played in midfield at times last season, a bit like Bastian I think Rooney us finished as a consistent top level player but can still turn it on some times, I actually think a top class striker is a huge priority for United. Re his goals, Lamps got 54 goals in his last four seasons at Chelsea, that would suggest he was still in or around his prime, but we all know he wasn't

Ballack was brilliant at the second half of 07/08 and at the run in to the double but overall he was a shadow of prime Ballack at Bayern.

Excuses? Most of the reasons are valid, he is at a similar stage of his career Deco was when he signed for us and I personally think his United career will run a similar route, he will turn it on some games but as a regular top week in week out player i think he's done.

Last season was an anomaly, wrapping up transfer buisness early is very rare, we got lucky last season due to the fact the players had release clauses and were desperate to come in Costa and Filipes case and in Cescs case his club wanted him shipped out asap, making negotiations pretty simple, we won't get that lucky again for a long time.This day ten years ago we only had Del Horno signed.

Sounds just what we need then.The CM in big games was a problem last year, with the priority being the league Jose brought Cesc and let Lamps/Luiz go and we flat track bullied our way to the title but lost the power we had in the big games the year before. If we played Matic-Cesc in big games the opposition targeted the latter's not so great defence game, if we played Matic-Mikel we were non existent going forward and Matic-Ramires the latter's lack of football intelligence always handicapped us. If he's exactly like you described him he would be a huge asset to us and should help us play better in big games. Also his goal record since 2011 is roughly one goal in five games if wiki isn't lying to me, which is a pretty handy return from CM if he can emulate that here.

You aren't the only person, he blows far too hot and cold in games when I see him play. He's young so can iron that out but I'm not that big a fan of him.

The way I see it is while the prices quoted for him are extreme to say the least, would you pay that money for the best part of a decade for a Vieira/Essien type player? I know I would. Also like BlueLyon said 70-80m is in Euros so in pounds is about £57m which while excessive isn't THAT bad.If rumours are true Neymar cost the best part of 100m and like Pogba now some people thought he was massively overhyped and worth £40m max, tbh I actually love what I see of Pogba and everyone who I have asked who have seen him play regularly say he's the real deal. If we want to compete regularly with the top teams in Europe we need to go after the cream of the crop and unfortunately they don't come even relatively cheap unless we get lucky with a release clause (Costa).

Doesn't have to necessarily be a world class player, just players that add to us and give us more tactical flexibility and strengthen us, take for example United in 2007, they just won the title and brought in Hargreavs, not exactly world class but improved the team, gave them a new dynamic defensively and was a vital part in them retaining the title, am I expected to believe that profile off player isn't out in the market somewhere? Ultimately we ourselves are living proof off the danger off getting to comfortable, the way to stay on top is to keep evolving when on top, if we win the treble next season including the league with over 100 point's I will still want us to enter the market and strengthen/evolve the squad with 2-3 player's.

Looking beyond the bitter verbal exchanges, its clear that Mourinho is the most flexible and capable tactician in the Premier League. When the pitches are in decent shape and his squad isnt heavily affected by suspensions and injuries, he sets his teams out to play dynamic, attacking football. When conditions are against the players or his side are failing to conjure their best form, he simplifies things. He doesnt mind appearing unfashionable in order to cope with the unique challenge of a wet, windy Tuesday night in Stoke. That is one of the key differences between Jose and the self-excusing purists he jousts with domestically; he builds his teams around an infectious battling ideology rather than handing players a manual detailing the trajectories of passes they can and cannot play. As a result, they fight for him and for the cause --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nail and head is an understatement. Now Chelsea, City and Arsenal all had excellent spells last season were everything was going good and we were playing great stuff, we all also had spells were things weren't going so great. When things are not going good THAT is when the quality of the man in the dugout comes in, that is when he really has to earn his money, that is when even a minor mistake in the tactics can be the difference between a crucial draw or a costly defeat, or a vital win and unnecessary draw, and most importantly off all, that is where Mourinho showed he was not only miles better than Pellegrino and Wenger, but on a completely different planet. The latter two looked clueless last season when things were going shit, whereas Mou knuckled down and made sure we still found a way to win. It's not that hard to bask in the Sun of your team's good form, even we looked irrestiable under Scolari for a while, its who can stand up and be counted when things aren't going great, that's when the true test of a manager comes to the fore, Mourinho past the test, Greenie, Arsene and Brendan failed.

Because after 2006 we stated resting on our laurels a bit and within a few years the squad stagnated and we had a major transition period that we only got out of relatively quickly thanks to Munich and Mous return. We should always be improving and evolving, even if we win the league next season with 105 point's we should still sign 2-3 players the next summer.

If you mean bad game as in looked all over the place then not many, but when he was getting regular games in 12/13 it became clear he was never going to be better than a squad player here, he didn't seem to want that so he left, fair enough.He does have one huge weakness, he lets crosses into the box time after time (we scored vs Saints from a cross his side aswell), I remember that Everton League Cup game at Goodison under AVB and the crosses he allowed in that game (including for the Everton goal) must be a record. Ivanovic gets mullered for this side to his game yet Bertrand who's 10 times worse at it gets a free pass, I'm guessing because it doesn't fit in with the myth that he is a complete solid defender who we royally fuked up selling.

Fair enough, I still disagree mind, in 2007 Drogba and Villa were unreal, although Eto'o and Henry were a bit off mainly due to injuries, both had lengthy spells out IRRC. One for a greavsie explains the "Torres wasn't as good as made out in his prime" opinion a lot better than I do.