Tomo

or what happened to us getting PL proven players off them? Torres over Aguero

Manchester United supporters up and down the land im sure fully agree with you.

----------------------Schwarzer----------------------- Azpilcueta-----Kalas-------Cahill---------Bertrand ------------------Lampard---Josh------------------- Moses---------------De Bruyne------------Schurrle -----------------------Lukaku-------------------------- Subs: Hilario, Terry, Ake, RLC, Oscar, Brown, Eto'o (if signed). Decent bit of youth and experience so we can throw on the main men (if it's going wrong) and give the likes or RCL game time if we are winning comfortably. Moses and Josh depends on if their still here ofcourse.

shit the fucking bed their is not a single weak team in any of the top 3 pots.

Also if you want to cherish them you have to carefully nurture them and not throw them in the deep end and pin your hopes for the season on them.

Terry and Luiz. I still believe our back four combination is Ivanovic, Luiz, JT and Cole despite Azpi's stellar displays last term, im not sure of the exact stats, but i think we keep clean sheets over half the time we have played that back four.

I laughed so much at the links with Spurs. Does Levy seriously think we would do business with him after the Modric saga? really?

Because The Brittania is the stereotypical small, compact English pitch with fans that will make the place intimidating and players that will get in your faces. Personally i think the fear factor of that team are long gone, they stagnated last season and Sparky won't be as full on with his tactics as Pulis was.

Big Sam, we will get the double every season

I remember when we topped the group after four games and could relax the last couple, would like that again, so for that we need the weakest group possible, although having said that you need other results to go your way for that to happen, even if you win your first four. It's also possible to secure your qualification to the knockout round after three games, that would be nice.

I can see why Jose is slowly integrating Lukaku. Yes he is better than Ba and Torres but Ronaldo when he first joined United was on the bench with vastly inferior players playing ahead of him, why? because Fergie was treating him with care and not rushing him. I honestly believe the same is happening here with Lukaku.

Lamela is still quite young, we have enough of that type of player for our attacking position's, we needed a player who is near is peak and will deliver straight away.

We should loan him out, even if we have to pay half his wages, that's £5m saved which could get us a gem off a player with our new scouting system.

I didn't see the sense of it when the news came out but the more i think about this, the more it does make sense. For a start we have got enough creative players but lack a pure winger, now we have our squad winger in Moses (if he stays) but we could do with one who is capable of producing against top opponents, now while Moses is a good squad player who can fill in, could you see him producing in a Champions League semi final at the Allianz Arena? i can;t. Also another reason is look at our attacking midfielders, we have Juan Mata who is approaching his peak, but Schurrle, De Bruyne, Hazard and Oscar are very good players but at 22 they are not the finished article players if Mata got an injury we would be relying on 22 year old's to drive us forward in two of the biggest competition's in the world, add that to a 20 year old Lukaku being our only current half decent forward also. The lack of experience in the front line was telling at Old Trafford. This signing on reflection makes me even more confident we will challenge for the PL title this season, the reason why we might struggle before is that our squad is young, well that is not the case anymore if you compare the lineup to what is likely to start the big games this season to the one that did in Mourinho's first stint, the team is a lot older and a lot more experienced. Cech (22), Paulo (26), Carvalho (26), Terry (24), Gallas (26), Makelele (31), Tiago (23), Lampard (26), Robben (20), Duff (26), Drogba (26). to now: Cech (31), Azpi(24)/Ivan(29), Luiz (26), Terry (32), Cole (32), Ramires (26), Mikel(26)/Lampard(35), Willian (25), Mata (25), Hazard (21), Eto'o(32),Yilmaz(28), avalible for £11m apparently or Martinez(26). All off a sudden we look experienced and strong enough to challenge on all front's

In a word, yes.

Its unbelievable how much the situation has changed in a couple of years. To have seen the mere word winger would have got us all blushing this time in 2011.

I have never seen such persistence in the media (regarding the David Luiz and Mata rumours) all summer. Has there actually been a single solid quote all summer in stories regarding these two players? It's pure guess work by people comparing the two players and the Mourinho stereotype. If Mata is gone this time next week, i will never critisise Torres ever again.

Arsenal played with 2 forwards where-as we play with one and Bergkamp was getting on a bit and couldn't play every game, either way It doesn't matter who was infront of who, the point remains the same that Lukaku needs time to be develop at his own pace, just like RVP did in 2004.

The kneejerk reaction's to him not coming on last night is getting beyond annoying.

He has came on in 2 of the 3 games so far, he is getting slowly nurtured into the mentality of having to win every game you play which is the right thing to do, he is getting a chance this season, their is a big difference between getting a chance and pining your hopes on someone, which half this forum seem to want us to do with Lukaku. RVP and Ronaldo spent a lot of their first season at Arsenal and United on the bench (sometimes not even coming on) and they didn't end up too bad, did they?

Liverpool blown a 2 goal lead at Anfield against Notts County to get taken into extra time. Whatever the score is now i don't see the big fuss over this team, i swear they are only hyped up because of what they were not what they currently are. Imagine if say Swansea had the team Liverpool currently have, who would be talking about them being top 4 contenders? no one will. The top 4 will be four of last season's top 5, with Liverpool in 6th (and they will only get that because Everton will take time to adjust to Martinez) and we will be hearing all summer how good they will be next season because they won 3 in a row near the end.

He was also on the bench in several games and i remember the opposition views from a WBA fan before our match at The Hawthorns and he said at that moment the team played better collectively when he didn't play. Ironically Forsell scored 17 goals with 1 less appearance than Lukaku on loan at Birmingham, i wonder how many wanted him as #1 when he came back?

By the time we go to White Hart Lane Mata will be number 10 with WIllian and Hazard flanking him.

Its 3 games in, you can't make an assesment on player gametime after 3 games. Oscar made 2 sub apps in August last season, Azpilcueta was an unused sub for ages until he got games. Check the striker stats for 04/05 and 05/06 under Jose, Lukaku will get more than enough playing time.