The only place to be

You're talking about a United academy that was streets ahead of us in the mid-90s so I'd again refer you to the earlier point that you just need to be patient. The club was overhauled almost completely when Roman took over, the academy and training facilities included. In recent years we've had great success in the FA Youth Cup and now we have players on the cusp of breaking through, although if you want to denigrate Chelsea players like Ryan Bertrand as 'Bench Warmer' than that's up to you. Personally I think he did alright when he started for us in the Champions League Final. Fuck off calling our academy crap OK. I'm trying to be polite but people like you who just want to moan and moan and moan really do test my patience. Maybe you should start writing letters to Points of View or your local newspaper and complain about potholes.....or just have a wank . Our academy's performance in tournaments is anything but crap. The results speak for themselves, but so do the performances of young men like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nat Chalobah. If you really want to compare us to Southampton then fine - they have lower expectations than us. When Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott broke through I believe they were in the Championship, although I commend them for sticking by Luke Shaw last season. Unfortunately the constant need for success and lack of patience from our fans (who also call our academy crap) means that players don't get the chance to learn in our team, and that's a real shame. Ultimately you people are part of the problem. You want all the reward without any of the discomfort and that's cancerous to any club looking to develop youngsters. We're about a decade into a new era for our club, so anyone who was expecting La Masia to spring up overnight (without a B team to help them) was going to be sorely disappointed.

If you understand the reasons (that it was pre-season, a time when players need to gain fitness) then how can you say it was a mistake? Some of the hysteria in this thread is funny, but then so was some of the hype in the other threads. Personally I think this pre-season has probably been as good as it could be for the new season. In the earlier games we saw new ideas being tried, new players being given time and a lot of good things but there's only so much you can learn from your victories. You need to be knocked down a couple of times to learn how to stop it happening in future and that's what we've had. Madrid put out their strongest side, a side that has been together for a while now (apart from Isco) and they looked better than us. There's no shame in that. This has probably come at the best time as there's still one more game to make a few alterations for before we go into the Hull game.

Someone I think said on a previous page that he isn't Baresi, and that's true. The problem is that there isn't exactly a Baresi out there who we could conceivably replace him with. If we go for someone like Mangala then we're buying potential, and if we stick with Luiz then we're doing so based on what Jose could do with him because he's by no means the finished article. I keep changing my mind with what we should do. If Barca come in with £40 million then it's got to be considered because Luiz isn't worth that much right now, but he could be. My current opinion is that it's probably better to go with the devil you know. Who knows? Next season Chalobah or Kalas could be in the first-team thinking and we can sell Luiz then.

Suarez is only about 15 months younger than Rooney isn't he?

I've got massive faith in Lukaku, but I think Rooney would be a good signing for us. If we get 5 seasons out of him then that's great and at the end of it Lukaku is 25 - one year younger than Drogba was when we signed him. I'd take his 34 goals in 2012 too.

Shevchenko sustained his goalscoring record into his late-20s. It was only when he joined us about 3 months before turning 30 that he eventually became the Sheva we all know and cringe thinking about. There seems to be this myth that Rooney had a bad season last year, but he was simply relegated to deeper role and seemed to fall out of favour with Fergie. Statistically though his bad season was roughly the same as Mata's in the league. And another little statistic just to allay the fears of those who think we're lost without new singing up front - we were the second-highest scorers in the league last year and that was with just Torres and Sturridge/Ba.

So that's who we are now? We've had one player found guilty by the FA of racist abuse that we might as well sign another one? JT built up A LOT of good graces with the Chelsea supporters in the decade before that incident. He was already one of us and he proved it on numerous occasions. You say it matters what they do on the pitch - Suarez has missed 25 games in the last three and a bit seasons just through punishment for biting and racist abuse and now he's trying to engineer a move away from the club who actually stood by him because the media in this country are too mean......oh wait, sorry that was the old excuse. Now it's because he wants to play Champions League football. There are cunts throughout football who are called cunts for numerous reasons, but that doesn't mean all cunts are equal. Throw in the nasty, spiteful challenges on fellow pros to the other things people have mentioned and I doubt you could name a bigger cunt in world football right now (Marlon King and Nile Ranger aside) which is why so many supporters would be loathe to have him at this club.

Actually I was basing it on the season before when he went about 30 games without a booking.

Grow up. Supporters spend 90 minutes giving players shit and if they want to give a bit back when they score a goal then good for them. I learnt that lesson years ago when Beckham was getting mounds of abuse about his missus. His response - to score a goal and then celebrate in front of the Shed. Some people actually complained to stewards about that - they're a fucking embarrassment. Were you one of them?

Really? Really? As for the rest of your bs, try wording your statements a little more carefully in future. Regardless, I disagree with most of what you're saying. I think we have a strong enough team to win the league with or without a new striker, but I think the club are playing this Rooney deal perfectly from every angle. Each day seems to make his position less and less tenable. As for Suarez, comparing him to Rooney is just stupid when it comes to character. Rooney has actually shown an ability to learn from past mistakes in both his personal and professional life. His disciplinary record has improved immeasurably whilst Suarez managed to get a ban for biting a player 3 years after receiving a ban for EXACTLY the same thing....oh and in between he managed to get a ban for racially abusing a player.

Sorry, are you simple? You said it would 'cost us this season if the club don't wake up and bring in Suarez'. How is that putting words in your mouth? Completely different levels of cunt. Rooney might be a bit thick, but Suarez got a ban for biting a player, left his club and then did the exact same thing three years later. That shows not just a lack of maturity but an inability to learn even the most basic thing - don't bite players.

So our whole season rests on us bringing in Suarez?

That's an inherent problem with ALL youth academies though. Whatever you do, however you scout and however much you pay you're always getting the exact same thing - potential. Right now we have arguably the finest academy and youth teams in England and possibly Europe. What we've lacked is stability in the managerial position to guide these kids through, but when you look at the quality in the young sides and the players we have on loan then I think there's every reason to be positive about our future and not just dismiss every single scout associated with the club as 'shit'.

Oh shit, didn't even see this. Strike has deserved this for months though so congrats.

He does look rather plump in that video and a little off his game. I'm hoping it's related to a bulking up diet or a new regimen designed around increasing his stamina, but if he's still looking bloated by the Roma game then I'll worry. Having said that I trust people like Rui Faria to know what they're doing.

Maybe he's so unfamiliar with how to write that doing that transfer request actually injured him?

Generally speaking players forgo loyalty bonuses when they hand in a transfer request. In my opinion the Glazers would never sell him without the formal transfer request, and Rooney's camp would always be loathe to make one if they don't have to.

Very reminiscent of Joe Cole's last season at the club. Both first choices under numerous managers, both played almost 300 games but once you're out of sync with your teammates, you're out of the club.

So he's the kind of player who does well in counter-attacking situations where there's space in front of him for him to use his pace and power to exploit (basically what he did at Wigan, but not what happened under Di Matteo or Benitez)??? If only we had a manager who liked to play that type of football.

Some players you can talk about on forums like this one, some you just stick to chatting about in pubs. Moses is one of those players - an honest, hard-working player who seems to be putting in shifts but not coming up with the stats or percentages some people need to support a player. I'll just say well done for a good performance young man and let people tell you how shit you are by air mail.

Make or break season for him. I expect Nat to kick on and already I'd say Mikel is not exactly a first-choice player so hopefully this will spur him on to really apply himself this year.

That is the rather surprising thing about him. He just slows play down so much when what you want is it just moved on quickly forwards, backwards, sideways....whatever. Van Ginkel seems to have that slick passing style that you'd expect from a top Dutch prospect. Very excited to see how he progresses this season, alongside one of Essien or Rami in all likelihood.

Looks like a real player and not afraid to get stuck in with the dirty stuff as well as moving the ball around. Early days but if he can keep this up then that midfield is already looking a little less fragile.

Not that worried by Spurs next season. They lucked into uncovering a proper match-winner and it'll be a long time before their fans get to see another player like that at the Lane. They could've built around him but now they're gambling on reinvesting £80 million in new talent. They'll be strong but they're a much weaker team without Bale no matter who they buy in my opinion.