The only place to be

A lot will come down to what Rafa does on the right side of our team. Baines is key for them so whoever plays right-wing will be expected to track back, and we've seen that he seems to trust Moses to do that. This will also be Azpi's first big test, if he's picked to play and he's going to have to have a monster game. Midfield is a tricky one. Luiz didn't have his best game against Norwich but really improved when Mikel went off. Hopefully Rami will be back in the squad for this one.

Sturridge is a great player in theory. In practice he simply isn't that good. He's frustrating to watch and we got everything we deserved when we agreed to pay a player with less than a dozen starts £60k a week when his old club wouldn't. He's 23, he's been let go by 2 of the best 3 clubs in England and his only option is a mid-table side who have spent £70 millon on Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing in the last couple of years. I think we'll survive.

I've seen our midfield get ripped apart by a couple of good passing sides this season (Shakhtar, Juve). I haven't seen it happen in the past few weeks and again, it's an experiment that could save us millions of pounds and make us a better side.

Maybe he should've got more chances or maybe he should've impressed more in the chances he received.....the fact of the matter is we've shipped on a fringe player on a fairly expensive contract for twice what we paid for him before he had a chance to leave on a free, and we've replaced him in the squad with a guy who has been one of our best players in recent weeks. Now we just have to get back-up for Torres and it's a good transfer window.

He's new to the position and shown enough to be given more chances. I think he struggled a little more today because he was playing with Mikel for only the second time, and there was a tendency for them to cannibalise one another's space. It's not going to be instantaneous and do you know what, he's going to have bad moments. But we have looked far more solid and structured since he came into that position.

By the way, is anyone going to mention that our manager brought on a 17 year old when we were defending a one-goal lead away from home, having given another youngster his league debut in the previous game? Don't know about you but I like a coach who does that.

Other teams have more choices partly due to playing with more than one striker. We need backup but we're never going to be like United because we simply don't play with two up-top. And maybe Sturridge didn't get enough game time but the coaches have seen him for the last few years, and so have the fans which is why so few tears are being shed for a 23 year old who still surprises you when he actually passes the ball.

One bad game after two rather good ones..... In fact he was decent in the first-half, then had a poor start to the second but picked up after Mikel went off and we actually looked better from that moment on. More than anything, he looked a little tired which is understandable but the experiment with him in that position must continue.

Some people criticise both players. Torres isn't good enough but that doesn't mean Sturridge is, and I know it's just one game but that West Brom game really sticks in the mind when talking about him. Let's judge the club's actions with the striker situation at the end of next month.

He also got 30 minutes against West Brom where he had two golden opportunities and fluffed his lines. I'm happy he's going to Liverpool though, because I think he's completely wrong for their passing style and he'll be Joe Cole Mk.2, and I'm delighted we signed Moses who works his bollocks off and passes too.

He had chances but things just didn't work out. We're selling a player on an expiring (expensive) contract for double what we paid to him. This is the type of thing Arsenal fans wish their board would do.

Because in the Christmas period, the result is the most important thing. We went to a tough place and won fairly comfortably in the end. It was a good result.

United fans keep telling me that a 31 year old who has played about a dozen games in two years and is coming back from a serious knee ligament injury is going to solve their defensive problems, despite most of their defensive problems stemming from their midfield and not their defence. I disagree.

United will continue to drop points. Newcastle have been poor for a while yet they scored three goals. It didn't work when Keegan tried it, it won't work now.

I agree. In the second half he seemed to get tired, until Mikel went off and then he seemed reinvigorated. It's another good test in only his fourth game and another clean sheet. Nice to see Ake get a chance too - that's two young players getting their league debuts in the last two games if I'm not mistaken.

Good result at a tough place. Luiz had a poor game, but actually improved when Mikel went off. Moses was MOTM for me though, just edging Mata because of his tremendous work rate.

Mikel looked good when he was on, but we looked better when he went off in my opinion and Luiz improved without Mikel alongside him.

I think you've just to to thank god for giving you the ability to understand football at an almost molecular level. Not everyone has that - like you say they like 'flashy'....they like shiny things.

No. But I don't know if Lampard is 'good enough to come up against top level teams every week' so I don't necessarily agree with the premise of your point. Not old enough? If Luiz and Mikel are holding then that's two players about 26. Mata will be 25 and then you have wingers who are about 22. They also have the benefit of being pretty fucking talented and signing Stanley Matthews's corpse to bump up the average age won't change that in the slightest. The problem with breaking a policy 'just once' is that you tend to break it 'just once' over and over again. Once you've established precedent then it becomes meaningless. Let's just look at this in plain terms. We made a profit of about £1 million last year. Signing Lampard on a new contract where he earns 60% of his current wage would cost us roughly £5 million p/a. That is not an amount you spend to indulge a sense of nostalgia. Let's build a statue to the guy if you want to memorialise him. It doesn't even count towards FFP.

For every Giggs and Scholes, there's a Bruce, Keane, Schmiechel, Irwin or Hughes. The reason Scholes came out of retirement is because United didn't replace him, whereas we've got a crop of youngsters looking to break through. Out of all of our older players (Terry, Cole, Cech) he's the one who is less likely to play 30 games a season and the one we have most replacements for. There's a fine line between being respectful of out history and being slaves to it.

I tend to agree with the Cole point although his performances are less consistent than they used to be. I'd like to see Bertrand given an extended run in the team. Lamps has a different problem in my opinion. The role he played for us in the side doesn't seem to exist anymore and I do wonder if he can reinvent himself as a DM/double pivot/whatever. It's all very well saying he could be our Giggs but there are plenty of United fans who don't trust him in that role. Do we really just want to wheel out a player for a token 30 minutes when we're beating Sunderland/Wigan/Reading 4-0 at home? Does he want to be that player? Do we want him taking up a place on the bench that could go to Piazon/Ake/McEachran?

Cech - 30 Azpi - 23 Bane - 28 Cahill - 27 Bertrand - 23 Luiz - 25 Rami - 25 Moses - 22 Mata - 24 Hazard - 21 Torres - 28 One player aged 21 (could have put in Oscar to make it two, but then again I could've stuck in JT or Mikel). A few years ago there were moans about us being too old, now we've got too many youngsters??

Weird. He's one of those players we've always been linked with and it never seems to come off. Before him it was Vincenzo Montella. If we could get him on loan then it wouldn't be the worst move in the world, but it does make you wonder about our longer-term plans.

He's played 3 games in that position, impressing each time and you're prepared to write him off? There's a learning curve attached to moving to a new position and he will have bad games in that position, but so far he's been mightily impressive in defence and attack. I was actually very happy to see him covering for Azpi on at least two occasions when he ventured forward. And I'm starting to think I was very wrong about Luiz's leadership abilities. It's early days, but his personality might be something we need in midfield and it's something I think I might have underestimated. But it's early days and he hasn't faced the kind of pressure big teams can apply. Hopefully today he'll face a sterner test than previously and we can judge him fairly. But no-one has seen enough to suggest either way whether he can play in this position long-term.

Really? I know it's easy/fashionable to have a go at the board but I disagree with that assessment entirely. We're talking about Lamps leaving. Now he's a great player but there are 3 players who we might be looking at to replace him in the squad - Oscar, De Bruyne and McEachran. Those are three young players with massive potential whose combined wages are less than Lampard's. Yes Lamps is a legend and yes he played well against Villa but where was his experience and leadership in the CWC? The case for Cole is completely different because he's clearly still one of the best players in his position in the world, but the club has to stick by it's policy for players over the age of 30 otherwise what's the point?