The only place to be

Because with Ramires in the team we wouldn't lose 1-0 away to a lower team???

£64 million for such silky interplay between Fellaini and Mata

Doesn't every club need quality players approaching their prime who are available for decent money? We don't 'need' Marco Reus because we have Hazard but if he was available for £12 million you'd buy him every time wouldn't you? Well here we have one of the best DMs in Europe, a colossus for the mighty Nigeria, a giant in Munich restricting Bayern to just 34 chances and a man picked by so many Chelsea managers. And how do Real Madrid not need him? His pass completion % is higher than all their midfielders. Luka Modric might seem like a good player but his pass completion % is 0.2% lower than Mikel's. That's why Modric has never won the Champions League like Mikel. Maybe they offered us a swap deal for him and we told them to fuck off. Didn't your favourite player used to be Mikel? Why have you deserted him?

Surprised no really top teams are in for him. I mean he's been picked by all these great (and sacked) Chelsea managers and he was brilliant against Bayern Munich in 2012. Why aren't Real Madrid or Barca or Bayern or Arsenal or Liverpool or Atletico or Juventus or United in for him? Have they not seen the annotated diagrams that show he is one of the top defensive midfielders in the world?? :carlo2:

When they came up against one another in the Champions League, Costa scored and Balotelli managed to argue himself into a yellow card....one that would have seen him banned from the 1st leg of the next round. He's not becoming more mature. I'd love it if he would because then he'd be worth a punt but at the moment he is wildly inconsistent. You yourself admit that Costa has stepped up this season whereas I don't think the same can be said of Balotelli. As for the nationality thing, who gives a fuck? If the guy feels a greater affinity with Spain than Brazil then good luck to him.

I do sometimes wonder if people forget where we were just a year ago. Rafa's appointment was one of the worst moments I've ever had supporting this club and the Europa League really doesn't make up for that. The atmosphere at matches was toxic, we were directionless and really weren't going anywhere. Now we not only have a manager that we all love, but we have a clear path laid out for us. There's a spine to this team being built with truly world-class talent stepping up and performing week-in and week-out. This year was never about the title, but laying the foundations for the next 5 titles.

No the reason he was sent out on loan is because he earns about £70,000 p/w and QPR play in the Championship. Their finances are a mess so they needed to remove at least some of his wages from their bill, as well as getting a fee from Newcastle for the loan. Not true. It's highly likely that even if QPR got promoted these guys would either be loaned out again or sold because QPR are massively in debt. They would probably look to go a more frugal route to achieve survival rather than repeat the mistakes of before. Highly likely. As for Granero he probably could play for Cardiff, but Cardiff couldn't afford him. QPR DOUBLED his wages when he joined them so moving him on is very difficult.

Costa is Spanish.

Liverpool haven't won a title for over twenty years and have been relevant to the title race about as many times as Blackburn Rovers in that time. United's value is no guarantee of anything if they're going to spend £27 million on the likes of Fellaini.

United aren't building for the future, nor are they in a transition period. They don't have an identifiable footballing identity (80 crosses one week, trying to play through the middle with Mata and Kagawa the next), they don't have a cohesive transfer policy and they're even falling behind in the youth development side. Do you know what else used to be valuable? Myspace. But that bubble burst too.

That is perhaps the most ridiculous point I've ever heard. So player's only become better players in FIFA? Is that what you're saying? Scholes point (if you actually bothered to listen to it) is that he hasn't grown as YOU WOULD EXPECT A PLAYER TO GROW. In fact watch the video and you'll see Scholes and Neville, two players who most definitely improved as players from the age of 18 (in fact I think both also changed positions around that age, Scholes possibly a few years later).

How is age irrelevant when we're talking about a long-term investment in a player whose value is based in no small part on his potential?? Micah Richards has been unlucky with a number of injuries.

He was happy to chop and change between Coentrao and Marcelo, Lopez and Casillas and even Arbeloa and Essien to a certain extent at Madrid. We're talking about an 18 year old who is most definitely one for the future, and I would hope that Mourinho is actually looking to the future because left-back is an area we struggle at in the youth ranks still.

I wouldn't have thought he would play once in a blue moon. In fact I think he'd probably play roughly the same number of matches that he's going to end up playing this season with the added European matches and the likelihood we'd advance further in the cup competitions. He's an elite English talent at the end of the day and there's very few of them around and available. If we're not going to play him because Jose wants to play a 30 year old then that's his prerogative.

Whilst Ivanovic and Azpi might be first-choice next season, there is the question of depth. We have five players for the three attacking positions so why not three players for the two full-back positions?

He was always a panic buy for United, and in completely the wrong position. Rooney had that number 10 position sewn up. He drops into the same positions Mata likes to occupy and is far more direct which suits United's game. Mata simply shouldn't have played last night. I said it before the match but if Jose was managing that team then you'd have seen three workhorses in midfield and Welbeck and Valencia on the wings looking to counter-attack with pace. Mata is a passenger in games like that, but what was really surprising was how poor his set-pieces were. £37 million for him is almost as good a bit of business as Matic for £21 million. He needs a system built around him to get the best out of him, but he's not a good enough player to build a system around and compete for titles.

Jay Rodriguez - scores goals, works his bollocks off in a high pressing game, good on the ball, English. Loic Remy - scores goals. Not saying they're definitely better, but worth a look.

This is one of United's better performances probably.

NO REFUNDS

43 seconds.

Manchester United starting XI: De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra; Carrick, Cleverley, Fellaini; Mata, Welbeck, Rooney Man City starting XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany ©, Demichelis, Clichy, Yaya Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Silva, Navas, Dzeko Looks like a 3 man midfield for United. Worried about Mata's lack of pace countering and his tracking back but fingers crossed.

I'll compromise - David Luiz can play in games where Mario Gomez is the striker. We could probably give our goalkeepers the day off in those matches too.

Bosingwa Bertrand Mikel Kalou Cole 34 chances 21 on target Take your pick.

The whole team defends better, but there's a reason that despite this he was dropped twice and hasn't played a match there when Cahill and Terry have been fit for about four months. Matic was only signed in January as well and in the games the two played together Luiz was very much a liability (although you can put that down to lack of playing time if you want). But yes, we've looked much better defensively when Luiz hasn't been in defence. If we were better in defence or even as solid with Luiz playing then Luiz would play. But he doesn't and I can't see Jose deciding to put him in there just because there's a misconception that he makes us in any way better as an attacking unit. He doesn't.

In the beginning of the season he was the best player in the team.