The only place to be

Torres tried to pass a ball to him.

I think I was calling you unimaginative, not racist.

Last year's season review is available at the megastore.

Wow....that's a real facepalm moment. Gonna slowly walk away from that moment. Completely forgot that he left....even though he was at the Bridge last season with Sunderland. Anyway.... Hopefully the likes of Chalobah and Kalas (if fit) will get a game but Jose has always seemed to like putting down an early marker in this competition. Wouldn't be surprised to see a fairly strong team out.

Have to agree. The people who escape Swindon usually say they're from Wiltshire if you ask them. Imagine this could be on tv to capitalise on the Di Canio/Mourinho dynamic....because, ya know they're both controversial and they're both managers (sort of).

They need him right now though....without Kompany and Nastasic they're soft at the back, although they weren't much better in pre-season with Vinny. Mangala is an absolute stud though. Could end up with the best centre-backs in Europe with those three.

Is there a rule that says Lukaku can only be compared to other black strikers? How long before Henrique compares him to Mark Stein? Lukaku....the new Cherno Samba (about 3 people might remember him....oh how good he was supposed to be)?

Wow....great news for Stevie, great news for Chelsea and great news for England. Really out of the blue but fantastic news and it reflects well on both Steve and the club. It's also a fantastically progressive move by The FA to appoint someone who has a great track record and comes from a club who have a fantastic youth development setup.

Spot on. Juan Mata is a solid pro with a great attitude. If he's being asked to do something different or add something to his game then he should respond correctly. If he doesn't then we move on to other options. Oscar and De Bruyne may not be at his level yet (although neither has really been given a proper run in that position,yet both have shown flashes of utter genius) but if you were looking for young players who could make that position their own then there's not many other players in world football you'd choose ahead of them.

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Seriously, what the fuck? Pathetic.

Really excited to see what this guy can do now he's part of the squad. Presents us with something a little different but has undoubted quality.

Why is it sad? Should we ignore players deficiencies lest they read them and cry tears of sadness? Will you be writing a strongly worded email to Sports Interactive if they don't make his workrate and defensive attributes 20 in the latest Football Manager game? I'm sorry that you've been made to feel so sad by reading certain people's opinions. Nobody meant to do that and this forum really should be a place of happiness for everyone. I feel like I should post a picture of some puppies or kittens (your choice) to rescue you from the black cloud you have found yourself under. Anyway....back to talking about football and not people feeling sad. Mata has been our best player over the last two seasons - but over the last two seasons we've been oscillating between 'pretty shit' and 'the darkest moment in this club's recent history'. Yes we won the Champions League (and Mata did actually play in that game....according to UEFA's report on the game) but we haven't been the best team in this country for too long so excuse me for not feeling overly attached to the last two years when it comes to our league form. That isn't Mata's fault, and he's been one of the bright spots in that time but we're moving on from that. If Jose thinks that other players can help us be more successful than Mata then we should probably trust him. I'm not saying he thinks that though, but just in case anyone thought I did and felt a bit sad....here's a puppy.

If that's a pop at me then feel free to name me. I can take a bit of criticism. Every player has weaknesses and every manager will decide whether the strengths they offer fit what they want in a team or not. I love Mata but I'm not of the opinion that we can only have success with him in the team. We won the Champions League and yet he wasn't the great for us in the semis or the final. I've also always liked the idea of Oscar in the middle of the park which means pushing Mata to one of the wings, but there's a possibility that Willian and Hazard offer a greater direct threat than Juan and that's without mentioning Schurrle and De Bruyne. All this doesn't mean I think he'll leave, but I've said from the end of last season that I think he'll play less games and be less important to us this season. I may yet be proven wrong.

Cheap, young, could develop into a squad player, more than likely sold for a profit. Great bit of business.

If you look at our attacking midfield options, then Mata is something of an odd man out. De Bruyne, Schurrle, Hazard, Oscar and Willian all have that dynamic, physical nature in both defence and attack that Mata doesn't really have. It comes down to workrate - look at the game against Villa at the end of last season where his lack of tracking back created massive gaps between himself and the pivot. That wasn't a one-off either. Then look at Oscar's performance against United where he was all over the pitch, linking play together from deep and then popping up in the opposition box much like he does for Brazil too. I'm not saying we're going to sell him and I'm not saying it isn't possible for us to have different types of players for different types of situations, but if you're looking to play a high-intensity game based on fast attacking moves and high workrate in defence, then maybe you're going to prefer certain players over others.

Well they're off then.

Nice little twist - so they were happy selling him to us. That should add a few new wrinkles to this story. Either way, some people at United might have some awkward questions to answer....and you know how well Moyes deals with them.

You can say anything - but it's still just your opinion. We went up there not to lose and we accomplished that. We defended from the front and in that regard Schurrle was absolutely fantastic. He rushed their defenders into making mistakes and didn't stop. He sacrificed aerial dominance for defensive solidity, which Schurrle provided. He also made some excellent runs that we simply couldn't pick out well enough but that will come as the team gels. As for Lamps, he did a fine job and it's good to have that experienced head in a new team. United are the champions and they deserve respect. We negated one of the most dangerous strikers in Europe and came away from one of out title contenders with a point. That's how leagues are won - you need to win your home games against your rivals and United failed in that regard. Contrary to some of the posts in this thread, the season still has 8 months to run and no trophies are being given out yet.

https://twitter.com/Ms3don Half a million followers, but the translation is iffy. Anyone?

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Mata, Azpi, Luiz, Bertrand, Lukaku, Essien and Van Ginkel getting game time. Yes it's Bayern, but I'd much rather see these guys getting fitness under their belts for the league games ahead. Cech Azpi Terry Luiz Bertrand Essien Van Ginkel Willian Mata Hazard Lukaku

Thought he did ok when he came on. Kept it simple but showed a bit of urgency in his movement which has been sorely lacking for a while now. Maybe he's getting the kick up his arse he sorely needed.

A tough one last night. Worked fantastically hard in defence and put in some fantastic tackles but couldn't find a pass at all for much of the game. I've criticised him for that before, but this was a bit of an aberration for him considering his recent form and he wasn't the only player who struggled with basic 5 yard passes. Needs to improve but still an important player for us, and it's early days for this team.

Haven't their fans been through enough already?

He'll play. We're ONE WEEK into the new season and our third game was away to the champions. It's not a criminal offence. In fact it made a bit of sense (the game was getting stretched as players became fatigued so gaps opened up) especially when you consider Jose has to see Nando in action for himself. Lukaku is going to be a great player, but he doesn't have to be thrown in away to the champions when a point is a good result.