Taylor Swift

Genuine question: are we better off now than we were when he took over?

O'Shea's shite. He's not what we need at all. He's old, slow and wouldn't be able to cope in a team that's under pressure for long periods throughout a match. His best attributes are probably his positioning and anticipation, but that only gets you so far when you're playing for a team like ours.

Yup, just waiting for confirmation so I can order the third shirt with Ben Arfa - 10! Yep, me too. Although I've already ordered Ginola 14, so it'll be the away shirt that will have Ben Arfa on it. Frenchies ftw.

Umm, I would not love it as I have £500 on Liverpool not finishing in the top 4 at 1/1 and that's money in the bank if Arsenal just keep their fucking team together.

Umm, I'm not sure what I want more: us to sign Zoggy or this cunt to delete his account.

Me too. That's awesome, to be honest.

Carroll is way overrated, man. Ill judge them at the end of the window but the Carroll transfer was a laugher. He's never a CL player. His style just doesnt fit in with a team that wants to play the ball on the ground. We made bank by selling him and hopefully we can improve multiple positions by spending that money + improve the cohesiveness of our play as well. For what it's worth, I wouldn't take Carroll back at half the price today. He's just not worth it to a team who wants to play the ball on the ground. He won't last at Liverpool. He'll score goals in his career but not at Liverpool.

taxfree calling Malaga La Liga strugglers They'll challenge for top 6 next year, they are hardly strugglers. Were Spurs strugglers when Ramos was at the club and they finished in 13th or whatever? Malaga struggled for a period in the season, but they're not strugglers.

What a post that was

So what was the Douglas tweet about?

And I don't know how far along the Sanchez/Rossi/Fabregas deals are going for Barca, but isn't it completely fucking insane that when/if Barca sign any of these players, the fee will be less than what Liverpool paid us for Carroll?

Juve is a massive club. As big as Real and Barca, with the history to go with it too. It's a shame their attendances are shit, but that's the general story with Italian football at the moment, so it's unfair to judge them on how often they fill the Delle Alpi (never). They're a club that has more fans outside Turin, anyway, but they're easily in the top 10 biggest clubs in the world. In no particular order, the biggest clubs in the world based on current success, appeal and the history to back it up: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich.. maybe Liverpool, but they're too far behind too many English teams. Maybe Dortmund, 15 years ago when the financial gap between the top three leagues and the rest wasn't big, and that probably goes for Ajax as well, although I do have a bias for Dortmund because they were huge when I was growing up. There's a reason Juve's revenue from TV is actually higher than Barca's and Real's (or was for a very long period of time, anyway).

Cheers Dave. I have to order it anyway, bro won't be there for long in England and I need someone to bring it back.

Anyone know where you can get a gift certificate for kitbag.com?

I think Wellbeck becomes the 3rd striker, but they are still lacking in center midfield.

Man Utd have spent £52m this summer on Young (£16m), Jones (£20m) and De Gea (£16m). That's an awful lot of money, and not a single penny spent on the position they actually need reinforcements (CM).

With our three signings so far, one was when we activated a clause and two were freebies, which meant that the earlier these deals were done, the better. With the other players we've been linked with - the guys that actually need to be negotiated with and paid for - the later the deals are done, the better it is for us financially.

It'll go down to the last day, which probably means that Barnetta is going down to the last day as well. I can't imagine us signing two more wingers. If the reports about Barnetta having visited the club are true, then it probably means that everything is sorted and we just have to negotiate with Leverkusen/pull the trigger on the deal. But I suspect that N'Zogbia is our first choice and we'll be looking to buy him for a similar price to the one that Barnetta seems to have (£6m). If Whelan doesn't reduce his price on the last day or someone like Villa stump up the £9m then I can see us settling for Barnetta, although I'm not sure settling would be the right word since I very much think Barnetta would be a huge success in the Premiership. What is certainly not going to happen is for us to complete deals now when we can shave off £2m or so if we wait 60 days. I know we're all desperate for our signings to be completed so we have a settled squad, but £2m is a lot of money, and with us needing 3 more players, we could potentially save up to £7-8m by waiting. And I don't think we're taking a risk in waiting because if anyone stumps up the cash now, then we can also bid that amount if need be.

So was he right when he said barnetta was there then?

Agree with sewelly. Young has the raw talent and physical attributes that fergie can mould into a world class player. He's also English which is good for the homegrown rule thing. He hasn't played well in two years but I dont think it's a coincidence that villa have also been shit for two years. He's stagnated for whatever reason and I have a feeling that fergie is getting him on the cheap. Although it must be said that Sanchez has far more potential and would have slotted so well into a 4-3-3 man utd team with Hernandez, Rooney and him up front.

Of course he does.

If he plays up to his talent (which is obviously world class) then we might be able to keep him for one more year because he's signed to quite a long-term deal. But who knows, maybe we'll invest in players like Sturridge next year and actually consolidate our position in the top 6.

We can get top 6 finish if we play through him and he plays up to his potential.

Guthrie will look better this year, too.

Although Barton didn't play well whenever he was in the center last year, it was due to the fact that we had no movement up front and he was constantly pressed. Guthrie, who was all right for us when he first joined, now looks shit because we have no movement up front and he's not athletic enough to create time/space for himself. With a pacier and more athletic front 4 (two wingers, a striker and HBA), our midfielders will have more time and space on the ball, and Barton is a very capable CM if he has time on the ball. He would be all right on the right of a midfield three, as he was all right - well actually, he was pretty fucking good - when he was on the left of a midfield three for Keegan.