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Boga was so impressive in our pre-season games. He showed so much promise and I think these sort of games he would thrive. I would rather see him in that no.10 role tonight than Oscar. Boga has got that swagger about him that no matter who he plays he is willing to just cut holes through the opposition. We all got our hopes up that after seeing how good Boga was in pre-season he had a chance of featuring in the first team this season but it was never realistic and is not going to happen unfortunately.

Everytime I see Zouma play I keep thinking he is Demba Ba. They look so alike. Got a striking resemblence.

I was watching Academy Focus on Chelsea TV yesterday and Steve Holland was talking about how useful a learning curve it is for the likes of him, Ake and Christensen to be training with the first team on a daily basis, even if it means they are not playing. That is fair enough and I know Mourinho said in his pre-match conference that Baker has a long way to go but has the required potential, however the best way for young players is to learn ffs. The way to develop young players is by playing them as well. This is the perfect game. I mean he is young but he is not no 17 year old. He will be 20 next year without hardly any first team experience. It is good he has signed a new contract and that but how long is it going to be before he gets fed up? Hopefully Mourinho does have big plans for him.

Good thing I take about Drogba starting is that it indicates Costa will be ready to start against QPR and hopefully Remy will be back soonish as well. Regarding the youth, this is why I struggle to see how some of our top talents who actually came through thr youth system will make it. Baker has been outstanding in our youth and has been made a first team member but was unused sub against Bolton and can't even start against Shrewsbury. Like seriously I get that Mourinho wants the job done but how are talents like Baker going to make it if he can't be trusted to start games like this? Just don't understand.

Short tika-tika passing, Busquets is better. Long-range passing, Matic is better by far but who possesses the better passing range? Matic of course. Matic long range passing is really underrated. Look at Salah's goal against Arsenal last season for instance. Excellent vision and passing range. Would have Matic over Busquets all day long. Not even a debate for me.

Boga and Solanke both start for U21 tonight so highly doubt they will be involved. As to previous comment or so, Todd Kane starts as well so he won't play. Izzy Brown is not involved tonight so it is very possible that we will see him take part tomorrow or be on the bench at least. Baker, Christensen and Ake also not involved so hopefully we see them involved. Annoyed about Boga. Looked very good in pre-season but can't ever seem to make our bench. A shame as if he can't get into the squad for this game, can never see him getting a chance this season.

As soon as Hazard went off I literally said "what's the fucking point"? For someone as fast and quick on the counter as Hazard, we should have kept him on and took of Fabregas instead. When United are going all out for the goal we should have kept him and Willian on. I never understood it.

Come on Excalibur. I think you are an excellent poster but that viewpoint is a silly one with all respect. I wouldn't swap Hazard in the world for anyone and would not say Di Maria is better but you can't compare one game where they played against each other to say one is better than the other. For instance, Suarez had 2 average/poor games against us last season. If Ba scored in 2 of them, would I ever think Ba is a better striker? Of course not because Suarez is a better striker. Using games against each other is a poor way to compare who is better. Especially when one team is much inferior than the other. Ronaldo has got the better of Messi in recent El Classico's but that will never change my personal opinion that Messi is the better player.

Watching him, I think he has the full package. His work rate throughout the whole game is fantastic and it never seems to have a toll on his performance as he produces offensively as well. Excellent work rate and a complete player.

Willian is not everyone's biggest fan but I would love to see a trio of Hazard, Reus and Willian. Constant pressing with Willian doing the most of it, winning the ball and countering with Hazard and Reus doing the main damage on the counter. Willian does not score much but he is a regular in Mourinho's team due to his pace and work rate and that is why I don't mind him in the team. I just think we could do with another bit of class in that area with Hazard to become devastating.Teams would live in fear against that trio with the pace of that attack. One can dream.

He certainly done that today

Says the guy who is constantly crying in the Sterling thread to get other members warning points. You made that comment fully knowing I have Jamaican in me so why would you say it? Out of order and again shows how completely pathetic and immature you are.

Reported.

LOL like seriously the way some fans change reactions on a player based on one game is utterly ridiculous. If he had consecutive games where he was below-par then it would be understandable but like any normal human being, he has his bad days. Today was one of them even though he recorded an assist. He has been nothing but a revelation to his team and has turned us into genuine title contenders. Messi was poor on Saturday but judging by some of the knee-jerkers on here, that will probably mean he can't perform in big games Total clowns, some people.

Who gives a fuck? Fabregas bar couple games or so has been an excellent addition to our team. There is a reason why we have scored more goals and we find ourselves top of the league. You do realise that Fabregas in his Arsenal days controlled Liverpool many times right. WOW. Big deal.

Another solid game. Am I surprised? Not at all. Hope to see him at LB for a while now. Can tackle, defend, attack a bit and just generally a great all round LB.

At Arsenal he had many games where he performed in the big games. Us for a a start. The game they beat us 3-1. He scored and assisted 2 IIRC. Few seasons back as well he changed the game at OT when he assisted Adebayor for the winner in the last minute. He had many games for Arsenal where he performed in big games. Barcelona was the only team you can say he was not really effective in. Everton is harsh to say he bottled it. Yes, he had lapses of concentration but he made couple excellent passesm one of them being for Diego Costa's goal. Stop your rubbish. You are starting to piss people off with your constant bullshit. If you aren't going to post anything sensible just don't bother.

Fabregas on 4 yellow cards already . Get another yellow at the end of the match so you are out against Shrewsbury please. That will be perfect

The reason I mentioned the other game was because we were on a 40 match unbeaten run in the league and many thought we were invincible then and who stopped that run? United. I am hopeful we do win but with football you can never be complacent. Especially in this league.

For those getting complacent and expecting us to to just turn up and win, remember this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4387838.stm

:D

He has never needed to score with the likes of Ronaldo in his team. He creates and that is the sort of player he is. Look at his creativity and what he does on the football pitch. Just look at his stats at United in a short period of time. We have bought in Costa and that has taken the pressure of Hazard. The link is Hazard scores less because we are more of an all-round team with more capable goalscorers. Last season Di Maria was exceptional and what I have seen he has been nominated ahead of the likes of Messi for best American award in La Liga last season. Sanchez is Arsenal's main man and you see he has scored like 6 more goals than Hazard I think so far this season. That does not mean he is a better player, just that his team has more reliance on him than we do on Hazard. Di Maria was outstanding and it was not because he was an inferior player, Real decided to cash in. Many Real fans will tell you that James Rodriguez was not needed but that is Real for you. Last year is enough. Costa had his real quality season last seaosn but that is enough to recognise him as one the top strikers in Europe. Di Maria is in the same category. As I stated above he has been nominated ahead of some serious contenders as best American performers in that league. Says a lot. You can see the difference Di Maria has made to United already. There are some real biased/oblivious views on here. People are talking about Di Maria like he is some any decent player. He is quality and like I was saying, it is arguable to say he has put in more consistent performances than Hazard.

Bale and Modric were excellent yes but I excluded them because they were no better or worse than Di Maria was imo. I like Hazard a lot and I am a massive fan but I would argue that DI Maria produces consistencies of quality more than Hazard does. Don't get me wrong, Hazard had a very good season last season but he has his games where you see him rip apart an opponent then a next match he is not as effective. Real are starting to click but there have been times this season where you feel they could have done with him. They lost to Sociedad 4-2 and the creativity was just poor. For me there is no way someone can claim Di Maria is a worse player than Hazard when he has been playing brilliant football for quite a while not. It is totally oblivious to mention him as a flavour of the month. He is like Hazard an amazing player.

Disagree totally. Di Maria was arguably Real's best player last season. Ronaldo scored all the goals but Di Maria created so much of them. You ask any Real fan who was their best player last season and they would tell you it is between Ronaldo and Di Maria. Di Maria was not sold for footballing reasons. Also using that theory is quite irrelevant. It is like me saying Torres is better than Sturridge because we kept Torres and sold Sturridge. But who is better? Sturridge by far. Clubs make errors and I was surprised that Real sold him but you know what they are llike in the transfer window? They always want to buy players for astronomical fees who sell shirts etc. That meant Di Maria was sacrificed. You ask most Real fans who they would rather have in their team, James Rodriguez or Di Maria and most would have Di Maria imo. Both Hazard and Di Maria are very quality players. I wouldn't necessarily say one is better than the other but it is not a ludicrous statement to say Di Maria is better. He is not just some flavour of the month as well. He has been one of the most consistent players in Europe for a while. His form at United is not no luck. He is a quality player.

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