Mr_President

Solid game. Should have been 3 or 4 nil but I felt we looked very comfortable all the way through. Hazard looked incredibly dangerous and should have had a few assists. I love watching him, he is just so electric and you know when he is on the ball he is going to do something. Oscar had a good game too and it was a beauty of a FK. Got to have the last word about Matic though. He is exactly what our midfield needed. Composure, quick forward passing when necessary -- not to mention multiple tackles and interceptions.

Matic, wow. Making a massive difference for us.

wow oscar! take a bow

Hazard is just awesome.

Can't wait for this game just so we can focus on our football once again instead of Mata's transfer and Salah.

Best of luck to him. Hope he gets his dream of representing Spain at the WC too.

They're playing a pretty strong team as well. Come on Watford

Have done it, thanks for posting. I didn't know any of the answers except the location. Shocking to see on £20m/year is being invested into prostate cancer research - my Granddad has just been diagnosed so I guess it rings closer to home now.

Would be a fantastic signing for us, even if it took all of his apparent 32m release clause. A top striker is what we now need to really push on for the title and I think it is a marvelous achievement that we have got this far without one. We saw against Man Utd where Eto'o had a cracking game what a top striker can do for a team, imagine if we had that danger up front nearly every game. The team still has a lot of work to do and it will take another season or 2 before it really hits its peak but I feel that with a top striker like Costa we would win the title regardless of our other weaknesses.

Your posts are starting to make more and more sense!

Cya. Please don't come back.

At home to Sunderland and they can't even take care of the business? What a mess they are at the moment. No doubt they will be back but I am only 19 so have never seen such a weak Man United side, it just feels...odd.

Good point, although as you pointed out the situation is different. I think the fact that Mata is going to United makes this much more difficult to accept (unless Mourinho does not see them as genuine title contenders even next season). If he was going of to PSG or somewhere like that I don't think there would be a fraction of the outrage.

Hope this is only happening if we have a striker lined up, otherwise it is ridiculous. On another point, he will make Utd much stronger but it does mean that if both Rooney and RVP are fit, then at least one of them will have to play out of position (and would, as a result, alter Utd's age old style of playing with great width). I see the rationale behind letting him go, especially for 40m+, but to see him strengthen Man Utd would be hard to take. Is it possible we are doing this to free up wage budget/transfer kitty for the incoming striker we so badly need? I hope that is the only reason. He has been magnificent for us and I will wish him every success (as long as it does not come at our expense) for the future. His considerable talent is wasted on our bench and it is best he moves on. He's a cracking little player and I've loved watching him.

Fuck. Just get in from a long day at work, see so many viewers/posts on this thread and think that we're close to signing him... then this. Argh.

Oh jesus, the 'who is a superior fan' discussion. Every set of fans have this discussion and it is absolute bollocks. The no. of games one has attended does not make you a better 'fan' -- whatever that means -- nor does one's nationality. All that matters is fans support the team and aren't flimsy, plastic supporters (which Stingray is most certainly not...[eta: nor are most of the Belgian posters]).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKIpLKFuZEA#t=0 Definitely on about Rodgers?

Been very pleasantly surprised by him this season. I always knew he could put in amazing last-ditch tackles but I used to say that the reason he puts so many of those in is because he puts himself in bad positions which necessitate those kinds of tackes... but he has been really solid (understatement) this season and has also been an attacking threat as shown today. Very pleased for him.

Doubt we will see him in midfield much anymore if Matic settles in quickly. I think today proved why he will not be playing CM consistently for us, at least not in the big teams. Not having a go at him because he is a CB and has done a decent job for us in MF in the last few games but if we want to be a top top team we cannot be playing a CB in CM.

No but most likely on the bench.

That was my reaction too.

Wait, how the hell did he get a 10 game suspension for that? If he was one of our players and I was watching that live (without knowing the other player got a broken leg as a result) I'd be roaring about what a great tackle it was, as would the rest of the stadium. Can't say that I know much about this guy having not seen him play but is anyone who has watched him able to give any insight into how good he is now vs his potential? How close is to to Varane's level when Varane left for Madrid?

Not sure if you're trolling with that comment, but I'll bite. I don't know Matic as a player but people seem to rate him and if Jose/the scouting network thinks he's a good fit then why not go for him when CM is a glaring weakness for us? For the sake of pride/embarrassment? That is bullshit. We have to be ruthless to win, and that means not caring about what people think about us when we chuck a player away for peanuts and then buy him back for 5 x the price, hell even 10x the price -- it doesn't matter. I do not remember anyone believing Matic would reach this level and he has done amazingly well to improve so vastly that we are interested in bringing him back. Who cares about the effect it has on DL's price? Ultimately, if he improves our team and does not have a detrimental effect on our finances then we should go for it; it really isn't an issue that he was once a Chelsea player or that it would make DL such an expensive player.

Absolute farce. Strip it from the Qataris and award it to a proper sporting nation like Australia (who should have won the bid). Hopefully there is scope for legal action if Qatar are granted permission to host the WC in the winter given that parties were invited to bid for an event that was to be hosted in the summer. They only won the bid because they were able to convince officials that they could make artificial bloody clouds and air conditioned stadia (and bucket loads in bribes to boot). The mantra the FIFA pedal about spreading the love of football around the world as being the reason why Qatar was awarded the bid is laughable, how Blatter and co are not too embarrassed to show their faces in public bemuses me. And, forgetting the disruption to the league for a second, what kind of place is Qatar for fans to travel to? FIFA/UEFA really don't give a shit about match-going fans do they? Part of me would love to see a fight between the top leagues and FIFA to block a winter world cup but they will probably fall in life and get shafted like the rest of us.

Very good away win at a tough place to go - that is part of what winning the title is about. Top of the table for now, too. Mediocre first half but a good response in the 2nd. Never really felt Hull sustained any pressure and thought we defended pretty well. Hazard MotM.