Leif

Throwaway comment nothing to do with this game, but it's absolutely shocking how confident the majority of AC Milan fans are that they'll get Conte within the next few months

3 top strikers on the field at once for them...and this without Ibra to potentially arrive again in January. It's mad.

Well shit, I forgot they have Fellaini. My confidence just went out the window

For this season only I can accept Zappa at right back given our clusterfuck of a summer. But next season he should be back-up, and Moses moved on. Alonso should also be back-up; they do bring qualities to this squad.

I'd honestly switch Ampadu with Bakayoko now. Not that this half has been bad for Bakayoko, it hasn't been, but he's still prone to the jitters, and we need calm pressure now.

We know what you are, we know what you aeeerrrreeee, Joseeee Mourinhooo, lives up Fergie's arse This is the best i can do with wine

Azpilicueta the playmaker.

Hazard the playmaker. So much more impressive to me than Hazard the winger. Wish it was his full time job, being central.

We aren't winning major honours this season - so we must win these big games. It's all we have. And I'm going into each and every one of them like it's a cup final, otherwise there's no fun to this season. Win win win. A draw will be utterly pointless.

The sad thing is, it's more a case of everyone declining than City being amazing. Pretty much every team should be able to play the way Man City or Napoli do, it should be default, and it basically used to be for all top teams. If our style now was compared to an animal, we'd be a turtle.

Our defence play such ambitious passes with eachother, then there's none of it up front. It's not healthy for our collective blood pressure.

Genuinely can't remember a midfielder as bad as Bakayoko being a starter for us in the past 10 years. Really cannot.

Cahill's stupid fucking face. Genuine mild anger whenever i see it.

It took 2 seconds for Alonso to decide 'nope, not chasing that, let me bring out a central defender to cover for me' *points* Genuinely average player.

It should be a football law that when a player has played as many games as Neville has for United, they can't commentate on their own club's games. Always does my head in.

1 thing we have, which United don't, is Hazard. Have all the balance and consistency in the world, but sometimes, Hazard can just do it on his own. Hopefully today that's the case. Though, being motivated by fun and not greatness, we can't put too much stock into it.

6 players in our line-up are fit for a team that finishes 6th each season. 4 outfield players fit for this game. (I'm lumping Christensen in with the 6 simply for lack of experience. Regardless, best case scenario, only half our team are good enough.)

Good gracious

Napoli are really struggling vs. little Chievo. We're not even in December yet, but Mertens has probably played just about every minute of every game for them. That alone is enough to say they don't have a top manager. The XI may play pretty football, but that is no measure of squad management.

We're genuinely the worst at judging our own players, or maybe just me if i'm more honest. Regardless, Stoke City fans who see him week in week out complain about him more than praise. They say he's got awful passing and gets turned inside out against the better forwards of the league. When we first signed him, before he played a game for us, I was deluded into thinking he'd basically be a Terry clone. He's definitely more like Cahill, simply less experienced. Neither are better than the other IMO - but of course Zouma's vastly younger, so he should be playing if it has to be one of them.

Lacazette being on the bench is both hilarious and admirable.

Agreed, all of that. Who will the top 3 players/forwards be next? I wouldn't know where to start.

He didn't play today, but the scoreline caught my attention and got me thinking: Neymar, having played with Brazil, having played with Messi and Barcelona, isn't near as impressive in Ligue 1 surrounded by the best players in the league compared to what we saw from Hazard before he joined. Perspective. Has Neymar been a stat bloater? PSG's bench is surprisingly weak this season too. I'd no idea so many no-names played for them still.

This La Liga season is pretty much showing me why I don't want Simeone here. Defend first, attack second. Draw first, win second, lose 3rd. The priority isn't to express themselves as a team, but stop the other team expressing themselves. Honestly not too dissimilar to how we do things, only less effective, despite better players. So, given all that, maybe Simeone isn't that great. Maybe he's the one who needs a plan B. It's kind of sickening to have all the amazing young players they have yet not letting them out of shackles. Self-expression is the point of football. We watch for the players and their inventiveness, not the manager (most of the time). 19 games of theirs so far this season (including CL); 15 games of scoring either just 1, or 0 goals. 11 draws, 7 wins. Edit: Though of course they just scored in the last minute. 0-1. Terrible game. Headache-inducing. Might never watch Atletico again if i can make it so.

Valencia with another dominant win; 3-0. Amazing what reshuffling the board can do, *ahem*. I think this was their 8th win in a row, and their last game, the 7th win, is their longest La Liga winning streak in history. 1 point behind leaders Barcelona. 7 points ahead of Real Madrid. And this is a team which for 5+ years has been roughly the same level as Sporting Lisbon. They don't have the 'family bond' of Atletico; they have none of the funds of Madrid; they lack the decades-long consistency of Barcelona; yet with just the board reshuffle, a few loan players in, and their veteran Parejo stepping up, they're instantly amongst not just the most attractive, but effective teams in Europe. I wish we could play them to get a true measure of them. They really deserve a bright future.