The only place to be

Deco, Robben, Sneijder, Ozil. None of these players was known for their defensive contribution but they each played key roles in Mourinho's teams. The reason is simple - Jose is a good manager capable of covering his team's deficiencies whilst keeping what they bring to the team. As for Joe Cole, he wasn't at any of these players levels so it's harder to make a case that he should play when he doesn't bring a huge amount to the team.

Sorry....how is signing 3-4 players any less of a transition than putting in players that we already own? Let's not forget that signing these world class players actually costs a fair bit more, and there's nothing to stop the likes of Lukaku and De Bruyne from becoming world class. There's actually a lot of method involved and we have a fairly clear style of play throughout the club so I'm a tiny bit confused as to most of that post (the first team isn't settled and we don't actually have any manager at this point in time although the one we might get - think his name is Jose something - has shown a willingness to go with youth if they're good enough). In fact I'm bemused at the existence of this thread to be quite honest. Cavani is a good player and costs a lot of money. 7 years ago he wasn't quite as good, but he also wasn't quite as expensive. Now we have three options. 1. Sign Cavani now, spend lot of money, get good player. 2. Look to accrue more young players from around the world with the ability to become the next Cavani so we don't have to go for option 1 in the future. 3. Build a time machine, go back in time and sign Cavani before he's expensive. Now option 1 is what we'll probably have to do in this case, and option 2 is what we'll look to do in future to reduce the instances of relying on option 1. But option 3 is my personal favourite.

Just because you can't be banned for posting shit doesn't mean you should make it your raison d'etre. You seem to want to constantly shit on this appointment and bring up increasingly bizarre reasons to do so. Mata and Joe Cole aren't even in the same ballpark when it comes to their level of ability or even their value to this club.

I guarantee that some people will think that's a halo around his head.

That's very much a modern goalkeeping technique based on the way balls behave nowadays. Cech is the master at redirecting the ball away from danger - if you can't definitely grab it then ideally you push it to the side so it goes out for a throw in or a full-back can pick it up. If you can't do that then you redirect it behind for a corner, and if that not's possible then you push it towards one of your own players or into space. In my opinion Courtois has the intelligence to choose the right option in most situations. He's probably one of the most technically sound young keepers around. His positioning is excellent and he uses his legs well. When you look at De Gea, he was always brilliant at the spectacular saves but struggled with the more basic saves especially if they were close to his body. Courtois has that firm foundation and has built on that each season. I also like his distribution and his confidence to shout at his defenders despite his young age. United won a league title this season with uncertainty at this position and ended up with a keeper I don't rate as highly as Thibaut. That's why i absolutely believe that we wouldn't skip a beat if we made the change tomorrow, but I think he should stay as Atletico for one more year.

He probably won't play as many games as he did last season, and we have Oscar who is a lot more tenacious and contributes more defensively to play those games where we might face a bit more pressure. He'll be used like Ozil was used at Madrid, and he'll still be one of our most important players but he won't have to carry the team like he did last year. I think this is going to be a recurring theme with a few players simply because I expect our squad to be bigger than it was last year. Player rotation will be key in 60 game seasons and hopefully that will mean key players are able to perform at their peak more often.

Possibly. We've got Rami, Romeu, Chalobah and Ake for that role at the moment and we've been linked with Khedira. I've said it previously but this guy makes us proper title contenders simply because he knits the defence and attack together and makes us a proper team, rather than a shaky defence relying on a bit of magic from the front four. He provides stability and composure and keeps the team ticking over. Spurs losing him was like Liverpool losing Alonso - yes they still had moments of magic from Bale/Gerrard but they were a much worse TEAM and teams win league titles.

I'd still favour Rooney over this guy. Rooney is a big game player, would be available (possibly) at the same price point and is a lot more versatile than old Zlatan. But I don't see why PSG would be willing to sell at that price. They certainly aren't operating the same financial model that the Glazers are at United. They're both viable options if the price is right but I agree with Alex that £40 million would be closer to the real price.

How much does he cost? I've not seen a single mention of his fee, his wages or anything like that so how he could be a good buy for us without people knowing the cost is somewhat staggering.....yet not surprising at all at the same time.

I just think this is one more point where you're just dead wrong. I've watched Courtois a lot this year and he's got a great head on those shoulders, which is in keeping with a lot of the other youngsters we've got in our squad. I think you're just throwing around generalities that one might expect to be true and don't take a shred of knowledge of the player to spout. It's like that save of his against Madrid that you decided to criticise, but you simply showed up your lack of knowledge about goalkeeping. That was a world-class save that combined anticipation, reflexes and bravery and you still decided to tear it to shreds in a completely bogus manner.

I would love Benitez to put his money where his mouth is and take Torres (who is amazing in training) to Napoli in a p/x deal. I've not been the biggest fan of us getting a big name striker in, but if it takes Torres off the payroll then it's got to be worth it. I also think it's the best move for Napoli from a business perspective if they feel like Cavani leaving is an inevitability Torres is still a very marketable player and maybe he could prosper with a change of scenery. This could be the best move for all parties concerned.

Whereas Courtois just throws in worldies to win Copa Del Rays? Cech's a great keeper but his reputation isn't so fragile that we need to do Courtois down. We can certainly win the league next year with Courtois in goal because he is that good. Barcelona seem to think the same if the reports are true. If you honestly think Courtois would cost us points that Cech wouldn't then let's just add this to the list of things we disagree about. The point is that unless the defence and midfield improves, we're not going to win the title. I trust Jose to sort that out first (by shipping off some dead wood) and I honestly believe that swapping Courtois for Cech wouldn't damage our chances in the slightest.

By far? Not at all. Courtois is a very good goalkeeper and one of the best in Europe. I think you could swap Courtois in for Cech next season and not see any negative effect on our team.

He had a dip for a while after his head injury, but he's come back and is one of the best in the world. Look at it long-term though. What an achievement it would be to go from one great keeper to another, creating two decades of stability at that position. That's almost unheard of - just look at how United coped with Schmeichel leaving. Maybe Cech could play for a few years more but there's been plenty of rumblings about his body's ability to cope.

But that's exactly what we've been doing for the last 5 years. We also haven't won a league in three years. We haven't been one of the top two clubs in England for the last two years. So what is this winning forumla? Crossing our fingers? See to me, that is a great way to halt Courtois's progression as a footballer. Yes Cech is a great keeper but sentimentality is the best way to ruin a football club. Once the club decides that Courtois is ready to be the first-team keeper then it should be a swift and decisive change. Fucking around trying to placate people's feelings is a great way to create uncertainty in the squad. People need to realise that this club is over 100 years old and changes will happen. Players are ultimately paid professionals brought in to do a job. They know this.

Over 30, costs a bomb in wages and transfer fee and can be disruptive....can't see this happening.

We bought De Bruyne for about £7 million. He's now worth at least double that and is one of the best young players in Europe. We bought Courtois for around £8 million. He's now worth about double that and is probably the best young keeper around. We're doing this so we have options, rather than waiting until these players are 'stars' (like Cavani, Bender or Modric) and cost four or five times as much. I don't think that chimes with how footballers think in the slightest. A 17 year old's career has basically been beset by rejection and competition since he was 9. They understand that they have to claw and scratch for a shirt and that's good preparation for first-team football. I doubt very much they would throw their hands up and ask to leave, and if they do then they probably aren't the type of player we want anyway.

Spot on. This idea of swapping keepers every week is absolutely absurd. Goalkeepers thrive on consistency and building a rapport with their defenders. Arbitrarily switching them would be to the detriment of the team. Plus he'll get his first experience of the Champions League next year and it'll be interesting to see how he copes with the title of best keeper in Spain. Right now I'm of the opinion that we could make the switch to Courtois without noticing a drop in the team's performance, but Cech is a legend and it's going to be a tough move to make unless he has a drop in form. When we do make the change then it has to be definitive, probably moving Cech on so that Courtois knows he is the number one.

I just hope that he scores a hat-trick in his first game for us, because if he doesn't then there will be calls to sell him.

There's nothing to be gained from loaning him to another Championship club. There were 'supporters' like you trashing Lukaku in his thread about 12 months ago. I suppose that's sort of a good sign for him. I'm hoping Jose has watched more than one game (where his coach was completely outmanoeuvred by his opposite number) and told him yesterday that he'll be moving on. But this thread has revealed there is a part of our support that really doesn't give a fuck about our future, a future that this player represents and should be celebrated. We've got a fantastically exciting academy and players like Ake have put paid to this notion that the jump to first-team football is insurmountable by giving very good performances when given the chance.

Palace thoroughly deserved that and Zaha has a lot of raw potential for United to work with. Holloway just stopped Watford from playing their normal game and Zola had no answer. As for Chalobah, time to come back home for pre-season and try and win a spot in the squad next season. Didn't have a good game but no-one on the Watford team did apart from Almunia, but he can look back on a great first season of first-team football and he's shown a lot of promise. Exciting to see what Jose can do with him.

Sorry, but I think you're confusing two separate groups here - the people writing players off don't tend to be the same people who were hyping them (or even following their progress). There are some people who actually watch the NextGen games and the Youth Cup games and understand how young players develop. There are also people who watch players when they're on loan and get suitably excited at those who have such a high level of composure. Then there's this other group who bowl into threads having read my gushings about Nat and expect him to be a world-beater. I'm sorry to disappoint those people - I underestimated my influence ( ignoring the ex-pros and current managers who have praised him to the rafters and suggested he could play for England now) and for that I apologise. As for the last bit, you've got the wrong end of that particular stick.

Nope. More than that this year, and in his previous jobs. Wow you went headlong into assuming I'd just watched three games of his this year. Well done on that. Have a cookie. My honest view is that he's a decent manager with good players and that if the opposition team is stupid enough to allow them to play their game, then they will probably overrun them. His problem is that when his team is somewhat stifled then they don't have any other ideas. They were very lucky to progress from the last round of the playoffs and for all that I dislike Holloway, he has sent his Palace team out there perfectly equipped to win a match.

Because I've watched his progress over the years, seen what he's capable of made and made a judgment based on that. I've also watched Mikel progress, and then regress over the years. But I'm sorry to all the people whose expectations I raised. I should put a disclaimer on my posts that explains that players can have bad games every now and then and that when their coach is out-coached by the opposition coach then that performance may further suffer. Still, Selhurst Park next year

They have done well. Penalty to Palace. 1-0 to Palace. I didn't I had such influence round here to raise everyone's expectations so high. No reason for us to be snidey cunts to one another on the internet though now is there. We can always do that over a friendly drink on the Fulham Road.