The only place to be

This match doesn't suddenly become 'must-win' after Arsenal's result...every match is until the end of the season now. Plus it's not a walkover. It's a London derby against a team who can cause us problems if we underestimate them. For me, Lamps has to play in games against the Hammers. That means I wouldn't be surprised to see us go 433, maybe rest Oscar and have Matic and Rami in the middle. Terry and Cahill at the back (why change this?) and maybe Ivanovic and Azpi as the full-backs. Up top might as well go with Ba.

Exactly. When we sign players like Feruz (the Scottish Rooney) or Piazon (the new Kaka) then a somewhat unheralded guy from Forest is perhaps not at the top of everyone's list to do well. He's not a spectacular player either. He doesn't have the strength and size of a Loftus-Cheek or the explosiveness of a Feruz, but he just seems to have that innate knack of being in the right place to put the ball away.

Seeing him in a United shirt would probably upset me more than seeing Mata in it. He's a great young talent who is already one of the better left-backs in the league and the fact that he's English, a Chelsea fan and from a Chelsea stronghold just makes it seem inevitable that we'll get him. Sometimes sentimental things like that are worth paying a little bit more just for the feeling it gives the fans.

I see the usual suspects are moaning about something. Personally I think this guy could make it here. He just seems to know how to put the ball in the back of the net and the club do seem to want to bring through the youth. He could also benefit from Islam Feruz going somewhat off the boil over the last year and not progressing as everyone had hoped. I'd love for him to get pre-season to show Jose his stuff.

Bertrand played as a makeshift left-winger in the final. Bosingwa also played in that final, as did a completely past-it Malouda....oh and we were a pretty poor team then. He might be gifted in an attacking sense but he's 23 and you can't say whether or not he's got a good enough defence to be tried here. It's a gamble to not go for a talent like Shaw because you think a 23 year old who has never done a single remarkable thing on a decent stage might be good enough.... oh and here's a Youtube video of him doing well in a game in which we conceded 4 goals at home, lost and in which we used Gael Kakuta (shit, why did we sign Salah when we've still got Kakuta on our books???).

Forget about Mata...this is the guy who would scare me in a United shirt. He's what they need, and he's what we might need too. Wage wise you could probably pay him and Shaw from what we would save from letting Cole and Lamps go and if he reaches the last year of his contract then he wouldn't be too expensive. Plus it would be beautiful to see Bayern lose a player for once, rather than hoovering up all the top German talent for themselves.

23 isn't old but people need to recognise there's a reason why he's 23 and still not established in a top league. Similarly there's a reason why Shaw was a first-teamer in a Premier League side at 17 and it's not just because he was at Southampton. Is Van Aanholt another player you're hoping will come back with his new team and destroy us then?

I doubt he'll go for £30 million. £22 million is a more realistic figure and then you're basing that on more than a decade of consistency at left-back. Even over ten years that's just £2 million per year (plus wages) which I think we'd have all agreed on for someone like Cole. Plus he's not just potential. He'd immediately make our first XI better, not just giving us a better left-back than we already have but enabling us to play Azpi at right-back more often. We committed up to £18 million to Lukaku for potential. We spent £30 million on Hazard when he wasn't a £30 million player, but had the potential to be. Same goes for Oscar. Luke Shaw is a good defender, but you're paying for what he could become and the fact that he's English and in demand. Van Aanholt probably isn't in the discussion and clearly Mourinho doesn't fancy Bertrand at left-back for whatever reason. But clearly we're not alone in wanting to get Shaw as every big club has been linked with him.

There were reports that Van Aanholt was about to be sold to Twente last summer so I'm not entirely sure how realistic it is that he'll return to us any time soon. Let's put him into context as well - he's older than Eden Hazard, Oscar and Lukaku yet he only has one international cap to his name and is plying his trade in the Dutch league. Luke Shaw is 5 years younger, will almost certainly get an England cap this year, is a regular in a Premier League side who are doing well and is on the radar of every big club in this league. If Van Aanholt wasn't a Chelsea player then he wouldn't even be in the discussion.

I won't deny that Southampton are willing to give youth a chance, but managerial stability....pushing it a little. Van Aanholt and Bertrand are 23 and 24 respectively. Both are internationals, both have appearances in the hundreds and yet neither is really at the stage where the club or Mourinho trust them. I'd love to see where people are still habitually backing McEachran. Most think he's in the last chance saloon or approaching it at least, whereas Chalobah has had one bad loan after a great season at Watford. The reason Shaw is a target is because he's already an exceptional talent despite being half-a-decade younger than the two guys you're talking about. You can't categorically state that either one of these guys who have hundreds more appearances than Shaw are better...that says a lot about his talent.

Is that the same judgment you applied to Rio Ferdinand when you decided he didn't rely on pace as a younger player. " But what has changed for Rio is that he has lost that electric yard of pace that he had a few years ago and so he needs to rearrange his game a little bit." Rio was once blessed with pace and, when he was at his best, was undoubtedly one of the best defenders in the world.

Huh? Shaw came through under Adkins who was then sacked (after the game away to us when there was already a fair amount of buzz about the guy) and replaced by Pocchetino. How is that stability? Without pressure.....except Cortese explicitly stated an aim to get into the Champions League and spent £69 million net over the last two seasons, more than Liverpool.

There's a reason why Shaw is about to make his 50th Premier League appearance before the age at which Van Aanholt had even made his professional debut. Physically he's stronger, he has better touch than Van Aanholt had at that age, he's composed and defensively he's already better. True, but there's the English tax to think about and the fact that he's a Chelsea fan, plus United want him. All these factors mean he's probably overpriced by between £5-10 million depending on the source.

He didn't. He built his team and Oscar fit what he wanted - Mata didn't. One more thing....Mata isn't a good enough player to build a team around. There are 3-4 players in the world who are....he ain't one of them. Actually I take that back. I can't think of a top team who are built around one player. Bayern and Barca have distinct systems that players have to fit into. Real Madrid might be built around Ronaldo...possibly.

Journalist just said that none of them could understand how the situation with him arose. Sums up football journalism. Cunting journalists really trying to get Juan to say he's joined a bigger club, or something similar. Twats.

We need a striker now, we don't need a new keeper for a few seasons....but still I don't like this. Does this make us a better team next year? Almost certainly if Costa is the real deal. Does it make financial sense to do it like this? Pretty much yes. Do I like it? Not really, but I trust Jose.

With him leaving and Mata also going, it's the end of not one but two eras. The guy was a beast for a few years and those injuries robbed us of a potential all-time great. Hope he does well under Seedorf in Milan though.

But...but...but....a gender Of course he's going to be compared to the player who he is closest to in the squad in terms of style and who he will be competing with for a spot. Oscar has been endlessly compared to Mata as well. It's what fans do. Hope to see Matic build on his debut. He looked good but a few passes were a bit sloppy and I expect him to start against West Ham as well.

Everything I heard was actually pretty positive. The club have handled this superbly so far. As for the match Stoke simply weren't ever in it. It was an efficient performance, although it was nice to see Oscar get the winning goal. He's been our most important player all season and once again he won us that game, this time through a magnificent free-kick. Hazard was once again imperious in his dribbling and Ashley actually looked interested for the first time in a while. Should've had more goals but 1-0 wins are only bad things between the 82nd minute and the end of the game. Once you're past that then it's just a tidy win with a clean sheet.

Absolutely fantastic full debut and just a massive presence. Does the simple stuff efficiently and speedily, but also isn't afraid to take the ball on himself and go at players. Well he's the guy he's competing with/replacing in that position so comparisons are absolutely inevitable and unfortunately for John Obi Mikel, a lot of the things people don't like in his game don't seem to be issues with Matic.

Stay and fight how? He lacks the physical attributes and he's never going to develop them. John Terry is never going to be Micah Richards and Juan Mata is never going to be Willian. He had no place here so he left, and he's done it in an immensely dignified manner. Try and be dignified in return.

Our best player this season has been either Hazard or Oscar. What we've sold is an immensely talented player that unfortunately didn't fit our system and whom we didn't need. It's not like we had to sell our best player to, oh I don't know, Real Madrid. Fortunately we've got a manager whose judgment we (well most of us) trust. Remember when you had one of those?

One word. Moyes. :tophat:

Jesus...now I just feel sorry for Juan.