The only place to be

And? You can't reap the rewards of a man's professionalism and celebrate it for 13 years then criticise him for those very same qualities when he leaves.

I was for starting Luis in this match, but is Nathan Dyer the best player to line him up against for his first start when we have matches against Schalke and Bolton coming up in the space of a week? You'd expect Azpi to start at City as well so it might be a good time to rest him.

The notion that he will take that spot 'easily' is what I actually thought you were incorrect about. But you have a point that no player bought in for a big price and on high wages would have anything but 'ease' in acquiring a spot in that team.

Yep...no chance that a £30 million player could end up on United's bench.

Could be Chelsea material....would cost £30 million or so. Is he going to be better than Boga? Would you bet £30 million on it? He could be another Jose Baxter, but the fact is that Everton gave him a chance after a dodgy loan to Wednesday (I believe) whereas we had Chalobah on-loan at Watford in the same year, who performed exceptionally and didn't get a look-in. There needs to be a commitment to youth and that comes through consistency

3 games.

This lad is just saying and doing all the right things. Looking forward to the Bolton match because he should definitely get a start.

Exactly. Go into most pubs with Chelsea supporters and you'll see a lot of these types of debates about Oscar and other players. It doesn't mean all these blokes are 'bashing' these players or have agendas against them. People on a forum discussing players in forthright terms....whatever next?

He would take Joe Allen's spot on the left of their diamond or midfield 3. Every. Single. Day. Of. The. Week. Well Sterling is a more advanced midfielder, Henderson would play next to him (with slippy Gerrard in there) and Sturridge is a striker. He also wouldn't take Moreno's spot or Mignolet's spot. He'd give Gerrard the help he needs defensively without being as one-dimensional as Leiva, and support the attack without being as useless defensively as Coutinho. Essentially he's a link man like Modric, a better Joe Allen.

Yet he's also been praised for being very proactive in dealing with Lukaku, harrying him and not giving him time on the ball. Did you see that bit in the first half when he had the water bottle in his hand and simply refused to turn it into wine?

What a weird discussion. Barbara, I haven't read any of your posts so I'm not addressing you. Firstly, I think this whole discussion actually belongs in a different thread and not the board one. In terms of the board's handling of English talent, well they bought Gary Cahill in 2012 and that was about as good a bit of business that could be done in that regard in the last three years. I'll state from the outset that I want us to have an English core. We're an English club (very specifically a London club) and it's important to the supporters that we have English players. That won't change. But amongst the mewling for English players I see very few actual names of players that we should be buying and that's because there aren't many suitable ones. By suitable I mean a) good enough for this squad and b ) available at c) a decent price. Who exactly should we be targetting? Specifically which players? Shaw? £30 million when we just bought Luis and promoted Nathan Ake (young, talented and homegrown) to the squad. A guy who would earn more than Cahill, Oscar, Azpi, Ivanovic, Courtois, Matic and Schurrle? Not realistic. Stones? Possibly but the prices quoted are twice what we paid for Zouma, three times what we paid for Cahill (who he's probably closest too in terms of style) and more than what we paid for Kalas, Omeruo, Christensen, Zouma and Ake combined. The way forward for this club to produce young English talent seems obvious to me - produce it in-house.....and that's what we're doing. There is no new Lampard on the horizon for England, but maybe Loftus-Cheek or Baker or Boga can become our own. Ashley Cole is the greatest left-back this country has produced, but maybe we can get close with DaSilva. Then there's the Chalobahs, Solankes, Ainas and even Colketts who might come through. English talent needs to be exceptional to succeed here and exceptional English talent is thin on the ground. Until we have the framework to insert these players into the squad and the first-team then it's hard to get the production line going but we're getting closer than we have done for years and for that the board (to bring it back on-topic) deserves credit.

Yet it was absolutely a Jose purchase and he was pushing for it from day one. The marketing benefits was absolutely a bonus but he was identified for footballing reasons.

Great point. He tracked him superbly for much of the match and once again did most of JT's running for him.

Whilst turning over possession 34% of the time. He offers drive and penetration against teams who lose shape. That's something we can use, but in games like the one on Saturday I would've preferred someone who could've helped us retain possession and maybe even look to gain a decent share of it.

Our deal would've almost certainly have been less but there's also the added value he would've bought to the club as well as the possible increase in prize money. It was by no means a 'moment of madness' but a sound financial gambit.