CHOULO19

Fine...party pooper

Well that I agree with. But that is completely different than saying that we bought Moses because he is Nigerian. We bought him because he is a good young winger who had PL experience and would fit in the homegrown quota. The fact that he's Nigerian might have helped the deal but that's not why we bought him.

They didn't just decide to defend. They started the second half as the better side and had us pinned back until Mikel came on and we started winning the ball in midfield and we pinned them in. Even SAF himself said after the game that they did not plan on sitting back and defending.

For some reason I still feel like this deal will happen just like I did when we first made the bid official. In any case I guess we'll know by September 3rd. (unless it's like the Meireles sale and we only announce it days after the window has closed! Still can't understand how we did that..)

Our team is made up mostly from young talents that have a bright future ahead of them while their team is the finished article of player in their peak. I'm not saying we can't win, just that it would not be a crisis if we did not.

^^ Yeah I was just coming here to ask the exact same thing! Why don't we simply loan him back to Watford? He fits well with the squad, he did well with the manager who also seems to like him. He still has a lot to learn from the Championship and would benefit immensely from a loan back there.

The Villa game, for example, was crying out for someone like Moses. Villa had packed the center and there were tons of spaces on the wings yet Hazard, Oscar and Mata and even Schurrle later were for some reason insisting on cutting inside every time and playing a pass to Ba who had his back to goal and was surrounded by 5-6 Villa players. One small gap in your logic: We don't buy a lot of Nigerian players. We only have Moses and Mikel who was bought before Emanelo became the director of football at the club.

Vid or it didn't happen

I know it's still very early in the season but a win tomorrow is still a HUGE result. To open a 6 point gap with our strongest two title rivals 8 days into the new season is an immense statement of intention and it puts everyone under pressure.

I'm not talking about the CC game. I'm talking about the home game in the PL where despite conceding two early goals through two defensive mistakes by the back four Mikel-Rami dominated the midfield and were key to us getting back on level terms; we were still on top even after going down to 10 men. I'm talking about the FA cup game at Old Traford where united were dominating the midfield battle until Rafa brought Mikel on for Lampard and we managed to win the midfield battle and pin them back and get back on lever terms and have a chance to win it. I'm talking about the repeat FA cup tie at the bridge when once again Mikel-Rami won the midfield battle. And finally I'm talking about the PL game at Old Traford. Mikel-Rami performed in numerous big games last season and were our best pivot partnering. Let's be a bit fair.

City are still firm favorites. It's just one game..

Cardiff Starting XI= £13m Man City starting XI = £219.9m City loosing to Cardiff = Priceless

What just happened?! Get in there Cardiff!!

The four times last season that Mikel-Ramires played against United they won the midfield battle and we were the better team.

Would be so awesome if he wears an irrational number like Pi, or Plank's constant! I'd definitely buy that shirt!

Drop it, or take it out via PMs. Any more insults thrown around in this thread will result in official warnings.

We can definitely forget about the midfield battle with that lineup.

I think you just proved that it should include two DMs!

Please take to PMs, lads. We don't want to derail this thread.

Do you have anything on topic to say?

Was an unused sub for Valencia again yesterday. Starting to get a bit worried about this loan. He's not getting any minutes at all.

I know, I know, I was just teasing you

You can't make a post comparing two situations and then say "I'm not making comparisons"!

Mata is a 15-goals 20-assist player here at Chelsea where our whole system is built around AMs. Of course a player's compatibility with a team's system affects greatly his effectiveness. Would Messi get half the goals he usually does at Stoke?

Here's a question we did not ask ourselves: Would united even want Mata? They play with traditional wingers; they always have. Their system doesn't include 'modern' attacking midfielders. Just look at how Kagawa has struggled there because the system is not built to suite a player like him. The only reason I can see them interested in Mata is to play that second striker role, but even there they usually have a bit more 'physical' players.