Yeah it was lifeless but it's really because the players are becoming jaded due to a small squad, playing game after game - factor in a long flight to Japan, a quality opponent and this kind of performance/ result was on the cards. I thought we were average against Monterray as well, nowhere near as good as some people have made out.

The guy who is renowned for trolling is accusing me. He is looking for a chance to get me banned . Its poor.

I'll leave you to your thread because i don't want a ban.

No, Codeblue wouldn't do that. He's ok, just likes a bit of banter now and again. We're all mates here aren't we ?

The guy is accusing me of trolling. I think I've proved myself in that regard.

I'm not looking to get you banned whatsoever. I want debate, not to stifle it

Cantona..changing the subject, how do Man Utd to do it year after year ?
Its impossible not to admire your continuity at the top. Even when you look comparatively weak on paper, you are always there or thereabouts. What's the secret ? I've said in this thread before, you never hear Ferguson talking about "transition" at United, every season he expects to win everything.

Fergie time, the ref having a drink after the game, the FA not applying discipline?

That, and buying the prems top striker. Without RVP united would be nowhere. I wouldn't swap our team for theirs.

Winning is Man U's DNA - last season they would have won the league with an inferior squad to Man City's but had the worst injury list in the league.

This is just my opinion but its about having a squad. Not the best players but a squad.

Everyone knows their place. Hernandez may be a bit unhappy right now (i'll bet he isn't and it turns out to be a paper story) but he knows that he is the young guy breaking through along with Welbeck, rather than the established guys like Rooney and RVP.

Look at City, they have 4 top strikers, probably better than our players individually, but they are all £30m players who feel they should be first choice. If you aren't playing you are unhappy.

Its not your first XI that wins titles. Its the 7 or 8 other guys below that.

No one rated Park or O'Shea or even Evans but look at the amount of times they have come in and "done a job" when the first choice guys were injured. THATS what win titles.

Indeed

winning is infectious. thats why i cannot stand clubs putting out a 3rd rate team expecting to be battered. See LFC v YoungBoys this season.

It's their continuity and having a manager that knows what he's doing in control of all the playing and players decisions.
Last year they won nothing. If that had been us the manager would be sacked despite anything they had achieved the season before (Ancelotti). They get to continue with the same guy and make a few tweaks for a new challenge this year rather than have a new guy come in with different ideas, shuffling the pack.

No, neither would I. But that's what makes it intriguing. Their midfield and defence has weaknesses, but they're still up there.
Even RVP was a bit of a gamble, he had done little at Arsenal to suggest he was going to be a great striker until last season.
I actually thought they were making a mistake, he hadn't looked that great playing for the Netherlands.

Without RVP we would be nowhere?

We lost the league by a goal in injury time last season without him.

If you don't rate us thats fine but don't make shite up.

I honestly think that, its a reasonable opinion. For someone who is hypersensitive to "trolls", your posting style is quite aggressive. You also seem to be doing similar in the Liverpool thread.But dont worry, im not going to 'alert', just want a reasonable debate.

The current united team (sans rvp and possibly rooney) is the worse in the last 20 years, in my opinion. Fergie must do something to get them winning. I rate Fergie very highly.

Yes, all of that is true. Ferguson also rarely makes expensive mistakes in the transfer market. There was Veron of course, but then we were stupid enough to give you some of that money back. There were doubts about Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke but they proved a success.
Your namesake was an absolute "steal", he's become a legend but it was quite a gamble at the time. Ferdinand and Rooney have been exceptional signings, so were Van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam before falling out with Fergie. Perhaps that's his one weakness, he can allow things to get "personal" sometimes.

Another reminder today of how pointless it was to swap Di Matteo for (anyone) Rafa.

Really struggling to even discuss football right now. Can't believe it's only December and I already can't wait for the season to end.


(And, no, it's not an overreaction to today's loss.)

Snap. Very hard to care too much. Very meh about this season and not really looking forward to any of our matches (except Leeds which I've blagged tickets to for the nostalgia factor). Hopefully the fog will lift after xmas, but if not bring on next season.
The only consolation is this is a new team and should get better as most of them are very very talented individuals. The majority of our first team have been with us for less than two years and the Mourinho/Ancelotti core we won things with have mostly gone or are on their way out. The new guys deserve a bit of time to gel together and we shouldn't get on their backs while they do so.

Im an agressive kinda guy, thats life.

People have been saying its the worst Utd side in 20 years for the last number of years, yet look at where we are.

Im not going to spend time in a Chelsea thread "bigging up" my team, but the question was asked and i'll answer it.

We have been shite since we sold Ronaldo and when we had him we were a "one man team". RB asked about it and i gave him a genuine answer, thats all.

Perhaps it is but very few players have left us and gone on to better things.

RVN was a fantastic player but he ****ed us right up, we needed rid of him.

Stam was probably a mistake to be honest but at the time we sold him he was a shadow of his former self.

Ive had that feeling since the start of the season. Its all a bit "after the lord mayors show" having won the Champions League in such a tremendous fashion in summer.


This year was always going to be a let down, and all of our new players need a season to bed in. I forget that they are so young! hazard is only 21, as is oscar. moses and mata are no age neither. It is asking a lot of them.

The mistakes were made at the start of the season thinning out our squad leaving them ill-equipped to fight on multiple fronts. DiMatteo lost his job because we ran out of steam and couldn't rest anyone. There is nothing whatsoever that Benitez can do about that until the transfer window.

All that is going to happen now is we are going to have to shell out a lot more in January to buy replacements when we had the players in the first place.

We need midfielders and a star striker to make torres buck his ideas up. He could definitely still do it, but he needs a kick up the arse.

I know what you mean, but I think it could be a very interesting period. A lot depends on whether we try to add some obviously needed strength in the January window, and who's available. If Falcao did arrive, along with a powerhouse midfielder, it would change everything.
What I wouldn't like to see is a couple of panic buys. Better to make the most of the players we've got than make signings who have no long term future.
What's even more annoying is that there's players out on loan that could be doing a job for us and gaining valuable experience. But to be honest, I've no idea about the current rules about squad limitations.

As Daryl said earlier, it was lifeless today. I couldn't even say we were terrible, there just didn't appear to be a lot of interest for what was supposed to be a "big occasion".
On reflection, Luiz and Cole were probably the pick of our team. But there was none of the magic we saw in the previous game, even allowing for the fact that it was weaker opposition.
Corinthians did stifle the game cleverly, but we appeared to lack the determination or conviction to counteract that.

His glimpses of form will hopefully be enough to help us off load him. We can't afford to rely on him.

indeed, if it is a swap deal for falcao i would not lose any sleep over it