Jype

Zlatan at a younger age wasn't that much different to Balotelli now and he has certainly had his fair share of controversy on and off the pitch. I think his character is part of the reason why he's become so good at playing the beautiful game and I see no reason why the same couldn't apply to Balotelli as well. Don't get me wrong, Zlatan is definitely one of my all-time favorites outside of Chelsea and I rate him very highly as a player but he's no saint and few people would describe as a top professional.

Would take Balotelli in a heartbeat. People talk about his attitude and immaturity but forget he's still only 23 years old. He has more than enough time to mature and if he does, the sky's the limit, and even if he doesn't he will still be one of the very best of this generation. He's got a lot of similarities to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who in my opinion is the best player in the world at the moment despite all his character flaws. Balotelli also has experience of playing together with another striker and at Man City he even played out wide a lot so him coming wouldn't jeopardize Lukaku's chances at all. All teams need more than one striker and I think a strikeforce of Lukaku, Balotelli and possibly one of our current bunch would be nothing short of amazing. Anyway, I don't see much chance of this move happening but one can never rule out anything when talking about Mino Raiola's clients. Who knows, maybe a double swoop for Balotelli and Pogba is on the cards next summer?

That's horrible. We should have no problem winning this by at least a few goals if they start with that.

Ba Willian - Mata - KdB Mikel - Essien Bertrand - Luiz - Kalas - Azpi Schwarzer Not bad for a second string.

68 points this week. All of my strikers scored a goal and all three defenders kept a clean sheet but the midfield failed me this time around with only 15 points coming from four players. Thinking about transferring out Olivier Giroud. I've had him from the beginning and in that time his price has gone up from 8.5 to 9.6 so I would lose a lot of money if I sold him now for a mere 9.0 and I probably wouldn't be able to afford him if I wanted him back later. That move could backfire on me badly if he kept playing and scoring goals but keeping him doesn't sound that good an option either because Arsenal have very tough PL fixtures coming up, not to mention their vital Champions League games against the likes of Napoli and Dortmund which could force Wenger to rotate his team a bit. I also have Özil and Ramsey from Arsenal so one of them has to go and Giroud would probably be the easiest to replace. Benteke maybe?

So proud of the team. For the first time in a couple of years against Manchester City the lads showed great attitude and didn't give up too easily like they've always done when up against the likes of Yaya Toure and I'm sure we have Mourinho to thank for that. Torres and Ramires the standout performers, their workrate was fucking amazing and Fernando scored the winning goal too. Two points off the top but we have ridiculously easy fixtures coming up and I'm quite certain we'll be well on top by Christmas when we face Arsenal. All the other big teams will be facing each other almost every week for the next two months but we have only Southampton to worry about, the rest are midtable at best.

Yes, because Javi Garcia is so fucking good. Maybe we should just let them have the three points, if the game is already lost then why bother?

Late goals for København and Bayern so the total was 27 goals in eight games. Not a bad night of football.

Another one of Moyes' many shortcomings. Zaha hasn't even made his Premier League debut yet and is rarely on the bench anyway so why wasn't he loaned out? He's a very talented player and he could at least be given a chance because it's not like their other wingers have done anything to justify their place in the team so far this season. Not that I'm complaining though, I absolutely enjoy seeing Manchester United struggle and it might just make some of their fans a little less arrogant.

Yep, that's the one. Over five years ago that, time really does fly...

How the fuck are Bayer Leverkusen beating Shakhtar 4-0? I know they've been very good ever since Sami Hyypiä took over as manager but beating a quality team like Shakhtar Donetsk by that much doesn't happen every day.

Was just about to post this. Reminds me of some group stage match at Euro2008, don't remember which teams were playing but the conditions were very much similar. Olympiacos just had a wonderful opportunity to go two up but the water ruined it. Any other day that would have been a goal as it had already beaten the keeper and was on target with no one to clear it but now the water just stopped the ball after a few meters.

Isn't he more of an attacking midfielder than a CM though?

Made a €10 bet at 33/1 this summer that Holloway would be the first manager to leave, too bad Sunderland were so hasty with Paolo Di Canio or I would've got me some extra money.

Not a bad birthday present for you, eh?

What a great result and it got even better when I saw the final score from the Steaua - Basel match. Torres man of the match no doubt about it, he was everywhere on the pitch. Two great goals and unlucky not to get another when he hit the post with the header.

So sloppy with the ball, need to do better or they'll score any minute now.

So sloppy with the ball, need to do better or they'll score any minute now.

Couldn't agree more. Sends out a bad message that he can't get in the team even though he was very good against Cardiff. Of course Azpilicueta wasn't bad in that game either and he deserves to play too but not at left-back.

Boateng up front for them?

Happy birthday @milan.cech!

Could a part of the problem be with Dortmund's training methods or their medicals staff? Are their other players often injured? I'm sure Eva would fix him.

Charged by the FA and could be banned for the Manchester City match on Sunday.

Nah, I don't think they even made a concrete offer but AVB had been interested in him for ages and IIRC it was rumoured that he was planning to make a move after the Olympics but we beat him to it.

Since when has Fabian Delph been this good?