Tomo

Benayoun did it after Mata's arrival and I vaguely remember Lucas Neil taking 34 when he moved to West Ham played a few games and number 2 then became vacant so he took that.

I honestly think Eto'o will have first choice position nailed down by Christmas unless there's some politics with price tag and Kenwright tells Martinez not to do it. The fact Lukaku is good off the bench will also work against him.

If he is on 4 hopefully he will conviently pick up a 5th before a capital one game.

and now he's in the ex blues. The only way this can get better is if this thread is destroyed.

How good does that loaned out tag look next to his name

I still have to pinch myself that we have overhauled a stagnant past it squad to what we have now in 2 years with relitevely healthy net spend. The importance of the victory in Munich runs a lot deeper than "mearly" winning the trophy, we managed to skip years of painful transition.

He lost his attributes that made him so great, he looked lost for Liverpool under Roy before we even signed him. He's crap for Spain aswell. imo he is another case of a player who lost it early due to injuries, ala Kaka and Essien.

I would, the guys is completely finished.

Probably because we couldn't shift him permanently, and the choice was loan him or keep him. No contest. A 2 year loan now means he has effectively left the club anyway.

True, which begs the question, could Cesc be the one sacrificed in big games in future?

On pre season form United would walk the league, if pre season was anything to go on Marin and AVB would still be here.

Not sure if Zouma will be left out unless we have no choice, the CL and COC is where the bulk of his games for now will be at.

Why? we are one of the top teams in Europe not a youth charity.

tbh there's an easy solution and that was to not register Schwarzer. He could still be third choice as we would be entitle to an emergency keeper if Thiabut and Cech got injured at the same time.

I going to call it now, he will win a balloon dor before long, he's truly amazing.

Exact same lineup I predicted last week.

That's the grass is greener people for you. A lot seem to go off the idea off a player when it looks like we will actually sign them, it's wierd.

But, but, but, in pre season............................. enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He had these type of performances for us more than people think, just no one wanted to accept it due to how reliant on him we were in the first two seasons.

Reading a United match thread and Mata's getting s fair bit of stick.

Within a season of returning we have solved a lot of our problems that have plagued us for years. Don't get me wrong the board deserve great credit for there work in making it happen but Jose surely played a part in really pushing for the reinforcements and changes that were so desperately needed. Looking back at our squad in 12-13 compared to now is unreal (won't even bother comparing 11-12 squad, the more I look at it the more I wonder how the fuck we pulled the CL off), holes in centre midfield, no top class striker, no real depth in attacking midfield, Ross Turnbull as back up keeper. That's why Jose us simply the best, Wenger for example has left key areas unfixed so many times, whereas within a year Jose has sown up so many weaknesses we had previous. But like I said the board deserve there dues for pulling it off to, to go from the shit we were in at the start of 2012 (let's be honest things looked dire and if it weren't for the Munich miracle we would still be at an early stage of recovery, it's understated just how vital that win was, it meant so much more beyond lifting the trophy, the consequences of losing would have been 100 times worse than Moscow) to a position were we could have another sustained spell of trophies in two and a half years with a healthy net spend is just unbelievable. Just think how much shit we looked in 2 and a half years ago, ageing squad, no one we could really sell, FFP looming, us looking like we were heading to channel 5. Hopefully lessons are learned this time, that being keep evolving when your on top because no matter how perfect the squad looks, there's always ways to improve further, next time we probably won't get a CL to speed up our recovery.

Not to mention, Eto'o got so much stick for so little in comparison and while he weren't brilliant he was so much better than Torres in every aspect bar heading. I remember Arsenal away last December it was all Torres worked hard this that bla bla bla, week later Eto'o scored the winner vs Liverpool and the same people were having a go at him (although that was probably his worst match forsus despite the winner but that ain't the point).He must have some dirt on quite a lot of people, there is no other explanation I can think off for the sheer amount of excuses and double standards he is afforded.

He didn't always worked his socks off, if he did there wouldn't be as much animosity for him as there is, Sheva is one player who truly did 'work his socks off' which is why you don't here a bad word about him despite it not working here. During about 2012 I kept a close eye on Torres for a few games at The Bridge and his attitude was an absolute disgrace.The Torres won the corner excuse is hilarious, only he can get credit for being tackled, Bosingwa made an interception just before Fernandos goal at the Camp Nou, which if he didn't would have meant almost certain elimination (two Barca players would have been up against Cech) that was a trophy winning contribution yet no one brings that up, if it weren't for Bossy Torres would have tossed away 180 minutes if hard work by the rest of the team.

We only play with one striker for a start and Furthermore United don't have four top class strikers they have two who as a partnership are horrific and even they are only going to decline from here on in, infact I think RVP will be finished before long. City have one Aguero, Dzeko and Jovetic are good as is Negredo but tbh I think he is a bit overrated from his purple patch last winter.

Just a thought, there must have been a fair number of our squad who privately had the same thoughts on Torres as we did. The way Lampard looked to him after the CWC final, if a picture could ever tell one thousand words ............ It must have been frustrating as fuck to play with him.