Stottie

Late to the party I know, but yeah, at an average of about twenty yards out. Check out Sewelly's vid for the evidence.

The Mata plus 10 million offer for Rooney came from Chelsea's new Portuguese Director of Football, Jose Kinnearho.

I missed that because I was writing my own post but basically that's what I meant. I thought it was snide of Fergie not to involve Rooney at that last home game finale and every else has followed on. ManU nearly got a record points total last year and the only notable defeat was to RM in a game that did not expose fundamental problems. I don't think major changes need to be made, not when a new manager is settling in.

I won't comment on the Rooney fitness issue but all the negative PR ManYoo have been putting out about him, starting with that clear snub by Fergie at his retirement finale, reflects worse on them than it does on him. The whole thing smacks of the grass being greener with some mythical player, a glory hunter fan level opinion. Negative PR about your own players is the type of stunt we pull, not clubs in the CL. fwiw, I reckon Moyes, and especially Moyes with no existing ManYoo coaches, will have little idea about how to get the best out of Kagawa from day one. Probably Fabregas too if he is indeed for sale. With the unproven manager coming in, the sensible thing would be to aim for continuity.

If you look at CRonaldo and Bale, both made massive improvements in their first few seasons. Ronaldo was some flashing stepover merchant and the commentators' stock comment about Bale when he was a left back was "Spurs have not won any of the twenty games in which he has played". Rooney was at Man U a couple of seasons before he developed into an aerial threat. I suspect it might take longer now for players to function properly within the tactical setup of a team. Back in the day where tactics were less micromanaged, "young and fast" or "young and explosive" would have had more of an impact. Perhaps the old saying that players peak at 30 reflected a situation where players developed tactically more slowly and mainly from experience, not so much coaching. Anyone who was 30 back then will have been kicked much more than a modern player, so if anything they would have been more physically worn down at 30 than players are today. Due to physical requirements, no-one peaks at 30 now. Well, maybe keepers and center halves do. Strikers and wide players will be around 25 and midfielders maybe 27-28. That would be 2002 for Scholes.

There should be no problem in paying more for Remy now than in January because he's proved himself in the league.

Chicharito scores a lot of important goals as a poacher. Fergie expects a lot of every player, but he was happy to play him, even as a starter in the CL final against Barca. Bent is cheap enough to be a massive upgrade on Shola without presumably blowing the transfer or wage kitty. Tactically, I reckon Bent would be a good buy because it would force any sensible manager/DOF to bring more creativity into the team, something which Cisse needs. I think our lack of creativity also leads to HBA and more recently Sissoko trying too hard. An active threat in place of Jonas alone would be a big step forward.

Marveaux's only started 11 league games for us. That's less than Gouffran. For the limited opportunites he's had, I think he's done reasonably well and shown a lot of promise. Well worth keeping.

Good player. I'd be happy with him. It shouldn't be such a big issue that we'd have to create chances for him because we already need to be creating much more for Cisse. It's an existing problem, not a new one. Another genuine door-opener simply to stop teams doubling up on HBA would be a nice start. (Not that our Pardew or DOF fills me with hope that the creativity problem will be fixed)

Well done to the lad for turning around his reputation here after a terrible start. However we need better cover at CB and creativity in midfield. The role typically played by Perch in the middle can be managed by others. On the assumption that CB cover and another midfielder are coming, this is a positive move. Good luck to him at his new club.

Evra and Rafael pretty much picked up the slack last year for a big fall in output from the wide positions, a traditional ManU strongpoint. None of Nani, Young, and Valencia had a good year. Evra might be on the decline defensively, but he put up some good, I dunno may his best ever, numbers going forward. He only scored one less than Baines, two of whose five goals were penalties.

Keegan won his constructive dismissal case so undermining Pardew to get him out would be daft. I've been hoping the 8 year contract was just to scare off the FA for England (already down to McLaren/Hodgson level) and didn't mean anything regarding compo for Pardew if we sacked him. Maybe that's not the case after all. The decline in Sissoko over just ten games was remarkable, so I know whose side I'd take in Carr vs. Pardew on player evaluations.

Indeed, if anyone froze or bottled anything, it was Man U two seasons ago who were seven points up with equal games played with just seven games to go. In those seven games they managed to draw a game they were winning 4-2 with ten minutes to go, and put in an insipid and honestly timid performance against their nearest and dearest in their derby. They barely managed a shot on goal in that game. The remaining points were lost against Wigan of all people. They lost the title on goal difference, but ironically goal difference lost in the first derby where it looked like suspiciously like they had given up at the 90 minute mark. The whole point of this is that the above happened with the players experienced at winning and the most successful manager of the modern era. Do not fall for simple narratives from journalists that paint everything in absolutes, if not in black and white.

Got ya. I looked it up on .com and rather than pull out of a tackle, he simply lost the ball and then pretended to be injured. The mistake made a 1-0 2-0, so perhaps it didn't change the game. Hughton's last game in charge, as it happened.

Was WBA the one where he pulled out of the tackle on halfway and it led to a goal that turned the game? for the general sentiment. Simpson's not that bad but most of our memories of him are with a stellar Colo in the team. No Colo and Eliot in goal is a whole different situation. The decision to keep or replace Simpson strikes me as a bit of a sideshow so long as Colo is off and Eliot is our backup keeper.

That sounds right. No more benefit of the doubt for Pards. Hopefully the fifth place last season will still be enough to a. keep the important team members and b. attract good players on the assumption that this season has been the exception not the rule. Another underperforming season and we'll struggle to keep HBA, Krul etc.

Mostly Pardew but I reckon Williamson cost us Reading home. We had a reaction off that one, so it wasn't a momentum changer or anything. So mostly Pardew. Cisse right wing ffs.

Aye good to see him get a run out next week. Not that I expect much.

Two time CL winner. Djimi Traore and that blerk that played for the Mackems only got one.

Counting the positives, I think that's outdone Shola on the unstoppable pelantyometer. Nice one HBA!

Sack the fucker now!

Bosingwa!

The wages mean the fee might be out of your hands, but he's a class player who people are too quick to criticize. I'm pleased you said Kagawa and not Young Player of the Year elect Wellbeck....

I can't see this working well, so bring it on. Just last week, they were saying Moyes has a terrible record in the Merseyside derby, and he's going to have many bigger games than that to come. Against better sides than Liverpool over the past ten years too.

We've scored twice in our last six matches. (plus the Cisse one vs. Sunderland and the borderline one today)