Castiel

I'm looking at the performance in game a bit more positively. Its obvious that today was one of those days where everything was going to go wrong regardless of how many chances we created. In any other game we'd have been 2 or 3 up in the first half with the way we were playing. But usually when these things happen our players get frustrated and start making stupid mistakes - and that's when we end up getting sent off and we let people back into it. Didn't see that today, they held the line and clawed the win from a bad situation. All of that pales in comparison to the fact that we have the double now though!

Gave it to Cech for the epic saves and the penalty stop. If that penalty had gone in Pompy would have parked the bus.

Cech is such a legend - but seriously its like Gods are conspiring against us

This is turning into a nightmare....

I'm convinced there is some Voodoo ward on that net.

Remember Malouda's miss?

Don't overreact, even the best have had ridiculous misses. And so far nobody has done any better.

Can anyone believe that?!

Cech makes a hallelujah save...

I was wondering how they'd find a way to mention Man United, they had to replay highlights from some game 40 years ago or something. Wasn't paying much attention just laughing at the effort invested in that.

Not nervous at all, the lads will bring home the double. There isn't a team I'd trust more to do it at the moment. But I'm expecting Pompy to put on a good show. What's the bet that if we win today its played as Pompy's final nail rather than our victory?

Going for the obvious Messi, you can't deny an act with that kind of class. Though I think his partnership with Xavi makes the magic happen at Barca.

All the manc fans I've spoken to want him badly. Can't see 'Arry selling him though, he'll need to be improving his squad if he doesn't want to be completely embarrassed in the CPL.

I don't think its worth thinking about him any more, Man City have publicly declared interest in him - and I seem to remember him saying that he wouldn't mind having to qualify for the champions league again (though that might have been exclusively for the scoucers). Regardless, City will try and make a ridiculous bid and even if he says no that'll be the benchmark price. The points about him changing our formations are very valid too, Drogba is our Torres and throwing them together will just cause problems - the only way to accommodate him is to change our winning formula. That's not a great idea. I'm just hoping City don't get him and he moves to Italy or something. Torres and Tevez might be a force to be reckoned with.

If Carlsberg played football...

Yeah I had the impression that his English wasn't the best and he was agreeing with a lot of what's been said about reported prices/wages. If Atletico think they can take Roman to the cleaners because of the media hype over him and they're in horrible debt then I'll be happy to hear Roman tell them to f**k off again. If we signed him at all costs, regardless of Atletico's demands then we'll look like idiots especially if he flops. £50m transfer is frankly ridiculous, we'd be better off looking at Torres who is proven in the league for that money. Another thing about Aguero though is he can play in different forward positions, his current club just plays him off Forlan at the moment; but I've seen him work as a lone striker and in Drogba's role. Can't say I've seen him on the wings before but I don't think Atletico have the versatility to use him like that. I think most agree that he'd be a good signing - its just the prices the media are quoting that are ridiculous. Hopefully the new negotiations aren't going like that since I've seen no connection between him and Man City, their only other option would be to sell him to Barca and help their league rivals or United for a lot less than we'd pay.

Damn look how close we were to having Terry and Ivan hit by injury in the same week... Hope he's ok.

I can't quite remember where I read it but someone somewhere asked where the "Anelka hate" was coming from considering all he's done for us with people happy to shaft him for Aguero. For me it isn't hate, I rate Anelka highly but lets be realistic. We've been playing him out of position every time Drogba has been available and when we tried to force a partnership it just didn't work out. I feel Aguero would make a more natural partnership (though I base that on nothing but observation) and Anelka would still have a place considering its unrealistic to expect Drogba and Aguero to start every game of the season. The problem is our two star strikers are the wrong side of 30 and we need to make an investment before these young prospects are bought by a good club and get a chance to really shine. If we leave it till after the world cup the prices we'll be looking at are ridiculous and we can completely forget it. Investing in Aguero, experimenting with partnerships with Drogba and Anelka and rotating between them is a good idea in my opinion. When Drogs and/or Anelka finally move on or retire, we promote because our hopeful new star will have had a few seasons to settle. If we don't address this while we have the chance, we'll find ourself in the same position as Man United when it comes to striking options. Its also interesting that City don't seem to be interested in him, in fact only United share links with him and we can outbid them with whatever we find under Roman's couch. I'm not necessarily overcome with Aguero hysteria either, parts of our squad are ageing; but we have a few seasons in them yet. I just think it'd be wiser to think a few steps ahead rather than go through a United style "rebuilding" period - and he's just the prospect that's impressed me most so far.

Just playing on the irony of the pattern emerging with City v Chelsea bidding wars. We've been down that road before after all. :)

Yep that's what I'd do. Also agree, if Yuri could play on the right it'd be incredible, I'd like to see some experimentation with him next season because I think he's developing into a real asset and just needs to find his place. Paulo should be able to cover nicely in this match - I just hope complacency doesn't set in generally. That's the drawback to 8-0 scorelines and a premiership trophy. Having said that I can't think of anything pompy have other than desire that could seriously derail us. If we have a slow start lets just hope the lads realise they're in the FA cup final and on the cusp of the double so they shift it up a gear.

Anyone else get the impression we're entering into these bidding wars with City just to make them overpay for these players that'll ultimately fail? Robinho, Torres (rumours) and now Ibrahimovic... If so I love it.

I hope he makes both FA cup and World Cup. England's already dim hopes of winning it would be dimmer without him - and he deserves to be there if/when we win the double. It'd be a cruel twist of fate if he couldn't make it because of a training injury.

I just discovered that Citeh have confirmed that Torres is a summer target and they have the money to blow on him. I'm starting to get worried that City will be the biggest threat to our title next season. Its only a matter of time before they qualify for the champions league and then I think we'll have Liverpool's permanent "big 4" replacement on our hands.

We don't even need many signings, all we need to do is make sure we keep the squads average age balanced with young stars in the making. I'm loving our youth production recently, we've got better home grown prospects than United! I'd love to have Aguero most of all, because he's my favourite rising striker and I think he's the perfect long term solution to the Drogba void. But we don't need him, Pato, Messi, Di Maria or Xavi - this isn't football manager! On the other hand though, I can't see the markets going back to the way they were any time soon and I'm just thankful that Abramovitch is willing to fund the occasional star signing if its necessary to improve the squad. Right now Arsenal and United can't afford or refuse to partake in it and are restricted to scouting for unknowns who may or may not work out. That puts us at a direct advantage over our main rivals until City start challenging for the title. But seriously, Real and City should be enough to prove that signing everyone with a name doesn't necessarily make a winning team.

I'm a big fan of Aguero and he's one of our two consistent long term Drogba replacement links - the other being Pato. I'd prefer Aguero over Pato purely because I feel Aguero would adapt quicker to the EPL, he doesn't give me the impression of being a nancy boy on the ball and its tough to dispossess him. If we make one mega signing this summer I truly hope its him, though you can't trust the rumours so why is everyone trusting the figures?! I'd expect something in the realms of 40m for the signing which I think is a steal in the current inflated market. Look at how much Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi are vauled. There is no reason why Aguero wont reach those heights in his prime and we can make a killer profit selling him on to Real after he peaks with a name. Not only that but the guy is currently the top scorer in the Argentinian national team through the world cup qualifiers (remember Messi's in that team too). Putting his age, his ability to score, his pace and his play making skill into the equation; I think failing to sign him this window will be something we'll regret for a long time. Seven minutes of reasons to sign Sergio Aguero: