The only place to be

The club messed up his development last season unfortunately. You can't waste the first half of a season at that age and whilst Everton and Liverpool threw Barkley and Sterling in respectively and reaped the benefits, we sent Nat to a team that simply didn't suit him. That setback is no different to Van Ginkel or Romeu's injuries in the effect it has on their development.

I actually think he could become the most important player in there because he has the defensive workrate to help out Matic but also has the ability to pick a pass. It's also the reason I would've kept Van Ginkel around because he has the same potential to be a proper box-to-box midfielder. Ramires is a similar player but I think he's actually a little lacking in defensive intelligence and he's wasteful in possession. When a player gives the ball away 36% of the time he has it then you're not going to control the midfield.

I don't see how that's obvious in the slightest. We're three games into the season, where the best left-back in Europe hasn't yet had a start because we're trying to get the train rolling form-wise first. Salah will get opportunities. There's absolutely no reason to use either Costa or Ramires on the wings.

And Terry and Cahill completed 81% and 74% of their passes respectively. It was a sloppy performance from a lot of players. Matic and Fabregas have completed 83% and 89% of their passes so far this season. The Everton match was almost certainly a once a season aberration that people really shouldn't read too much into. The lack of Oscar had a lot to do with that.

I'm not trying to 'revision the past' (sic). I was actually responding to the notion that for Nigeria he is some beast player when he really isn't, but yes you have a point that in 2005 he was viewed as a good attacking prospect.

That might have been true of De Gea a few years ago but he improved under Eric Steele and even Chris Woods. He's a much more composed, reliable keeper now and quite a stable presence.

Balotelli has 20 goals in 54 league matches. Remy has 20 goals in 41 league matches.

Matic at his worst is still twice the player Mikel is at his best. Some people are criticising him for his performance against Everton, and he was some way off his best yet he still got a crucial goal, an assist, led the team in tackles and was about average in terms of passing accuracy.

Dyche is supposed to be a fairly progressive manager and he's not opposed to giving young players a shot (Trippier, Ings). Chalobah is probably a better player than Marney or Jones so should get game time. Best of luck to him because Burnley have got about 16 games before he can come back in January and if he can make an impression in those matches then he could certainly be in contention when Mikel takes his biennial holiday.

De Gea was probably the best keeper in the league last season whereas Szczesny is bang average for me. I'd put Howard, Begovic and possibly even Mignolet above him.

Mikel was not some amazing attacking talent. Maybe in the ACON he is, but that's probably more to do with the level of competition. I think he would've fitted quite nicely into this system, alongside Matic and Fabregas.

Szczesny is not a better keeper than De Gea.

I think you're being overly harsh on a player who is one of 11 adapting to a different style of football. Oscar is going through the same and I'll defend him as well. The problem on Saturday was that we missed Oscar and had Ramires in instead. He left space, he didn't make tackles or track runners and he mishandled possession time and time again. Honestly I'm not sure why you wrote what you wrote about Matic beyond you feeling like you had to say something. You don't. Not everything has to be written about in great walls of text. Is Matic playing as well as he was last season? No, not yet. Is the rest of the team as solid as they were in January of last year? Nope, but that's because it's still early in the season. Against Burnley we played a team who were buzzing for their first PL game and we ended the game after 45 minutes. Against Leicester we broke down a very solid team in a manner we couldn't last season, but that consequently left us open at the back. Fact is the breakthrough came from our right-back who was further forward than he was most of last season. Against Everton the game was crazy, but our second goal came from our right-back. Our fourth came from Matic who was further forward than you'd expect as well. Just have some patience.

The third goal is just one of those things. The reason that Eto'o is softly marked 16 yards out from the goal it because he's 16 yards out for the goal. If you want to try and head a ball back across the goal against a keeper of Courtois's ability then go for it, because unless it's a perfect header then it's not that dangerous. Eto'o's header was perfect though. Costa is there to deal with anything short and Baines clips it about a metre away from him but the finish is absolutely world-class. Sometimes you just have to applaud excellent execution like that. Could JT have been tighter? Yeah, probably. But 99 times out of 100 that header is 6 inches closer to Courtois and he deals with it or it's 10 inches further to the right and it goes wide.

I'd put Lloris above Cech at the moment. Neither is world-class though. For me there are two keepers in a class of their own at the moment - Neuer and Courtois.

I quite agree. Whilst Fabregas isn't exactly busting a gut to track Mirallas's run for the first you have to ask what exactly Ramires is doing? Doesn't apply pressure to anyone on the ball, saunters back into the box and is completely unaware of anyone making a run from deep. When people talk about his strengths being his engine and his defensive capabilities, you really have to wonder what he's doing. The Naismith goal is simply an example of what happens when a team just attacks with pace. Three players get sucked into tracking Barry's run leaving gaps in midfield for McGeady to run into. Ramires just dangles a leg at him before ushering him through, Matic can't get back across, Lukaku makes a good run which suckers in Ivanovic and Willian has no chance of getting back. Mistakes combined with crisp movement and passing that you have to give Everton some credit for. Third match of the season, a new midfield trio and a freakish match mean it's really not something that needs overanalyzing or worrying about too much.

Mourinho didn't want him for certain reasons, and United have brought in a coach who has similar demands to Jose. He was a desperation purchase and their recent purchases (as well as the decision to make Rooney captain) have left him marginalised. I'd be surprised if he wasn't sold in January. He won't be cup-tied in Europe and I reckon he could end up somewhere like Valencia for about £20 million. Would be rather amazing if he never actually got to play against us.

Ba was bought to be a main striker though, Remy isn't. He's very much second-choice. I disagree. I don't think Drogba has the legs to start a game anymore, but is fantastic as an impact sub in certain matches. Remy on the other hand is more than capable of starting matches in the league cup, FA Cup, Champions League group matches and some league matches. Remy has never played in a team as good as our's either. He's never had someone like Fabregas or Hazard playing balls through for him, so I'm actually quite excited to see just what he can produce.

All of a sudden, City look a little bare up front, Arsenal in the space of a few weeks have gone from Giroud to Welbeck, whilst we've gotten stronger. Liverpool have strengthened since the start of the season too, whilst United have spent money in no focused direction. Feeling rather smug tonight.

He's the reason our defence is conceding so much. He's the reason. Our defence. Is conceding. So much. Matic is responsible for our defence letting in so many goals. After three matches. Where we've kept one clean sheet and conceded a great goal at Burnley, we're conceding 'so much'. Fuck me . We conceded 3 goals against Everton, lost the midfield battle, struggled to use possession effectively for most of the first half in a way we didn't in the first two games. Why is that? What changes were made? Oh right, Ramires came in, had 68% passing accuracy, was caught out of position numerous times but you thought Matic (our most important midfield player) could be replaced? Matic doesn't get replaced. Matic has started every league game since he came to the club. He's not quite at his dominating best yet but we're playing a new style of football and it takes time. Matic is not the issue. Ramires, who has been the issue many, many times previously is still the issue.

Wow....would doubt it more if that wasn't written by Mark Ogden who has excellent sources within United The desperation of United....

Only until January apparently so he could be recalled then because Mikel has better things to do than play for us around then. Fantastic talent, we mucked him around last season but we need him next year.

We're not going to rotate keepers. Simple as that. Remy as backup will play for us. Luis has already played more league minutes than Cech probably will. Same goes for Mikel, Schurrle, Willian and Drogba. To win the league, you don't need a world-class back-up keeper. United won the treble with van der Gouw, we won a league title and Champions League with Ross Turnball. I like Cech but we've replaced him with a better keeper and I think a transfer fee and £5 million off the books is more useful to us in real terms than a world class sub keeper....although now that the window is closing he may as well stick around until January.

Some people will be digging their United shirts out of their cupboards if this thread is anything to go by. Oh shit, they're signing Moutinho....who is essentially Ander Herrera but older.

We dropped Cech and played Schwarzer last year. No reason we couldn't do the same this year. The difference here is that Courtois is demonstrably superior to Cech in almost every aspect of his play. We'll be paying Cech more this season than Arsenal pay Ramsay. He'll earn three times what Raheem Sterling does. He'll earn more than Cahill, Ivanovic, Azpi, Matic, Oscar, Schurrle and Courtois. That to me is a waste.