Blue Steel

Im guessing Van der Vaart's wages are very high though, much more than Benayoun's/Bebes which people tend to neglect when talking about transfers.

Spuds lead, VDV was a great purchase for them.

West Ham equalise, Piquonne.

Berbatov isn't exactly an impact player, surely would of been better to start him and have Owen come on off the bench. Just hope Sunderland can hold out now, might need a goal to ease the pressure.

West Ham trailing 1-0 against Fulham at home, will do well not to get relegated this season.

United will be in for a very uncomfotable afternoon. Sunderland away is one of the harder league fixtures of the year and to drop their best player of the season so far seems pretty stupid.

You forgot Kalou and Ivanovic, both were written off as not up to scratch and are now important parts of our squad. Every faith Ramires will come good, don't judge him by his hefty price tag just yet.

Really hope McEachren starts. We lacked a natural ball player in our last two games.

We made a pretty poor account of oursleves. Defensive shambles, no real prescence in centre midfield (untill McEachran came on, who was excellent) with Turnbull, Paulo (probably the two most glaring deficiencies within our squad), Bruma, Alex, Benayoun, Zhirkov (£18m was it?) and Sturridge all havving a poor game. I for one can't wait for Bossy to return, people have forgotton how good he's been for us. Disapointed, but if we go on and beat City I won't be overly bothered.

Very soft penalty tbh, lets not waste our good fortune.

They can at least expect some decent game time off the bench.

With our current lack of fit wingers and looking at our fixture list, Kakuta and Zhirkov have a big few weeks ahead of them.

Turnbull really offers nothing as a keeper, I suspect we'll be in the market for a decent young stopper come January.

Seems like Carlo agrees with me, although I though Bruma would be coming off but Terry's obviously being rested for the City game. I would of preferred to seen Sturridge subbed as well.

Don't I know it, but Kalou is bang in form and we'll most likely concede another if we leave our defence the way it is.

Get Kalou and Alex on and try and win this game.

Turnbull really should of got a hand on that.

Manure 1-0 down againstt Sc**thorpe :lol:

Official site says Bruma, Kakuta, PVA and Sturridge will all start, and JT might play a half to help with the development of Bruma. Cole, Mikel, Essien and Drogba are all rested. Will be a tough match for our youngsters, but will be much more beneficial for them playing a Premier League side than a Champo/League 1 team. Hope we put in a good performance and get the win as although most undermine the Carling Cup, I'd still like us to win it.

I think Arsenal may be our main title rivals this year. The points they've dropped were at pretty tough places to go and will no doubt hit great form somewhere during the season, and Chamakh has settled into the Premier League nicely. Question is whether they can produce in the big games where they usually fall flat, if Fabregas can stay fit, and if Almunia continues to cost them points. I feel Man U will have a pretty poor season. Rio's fitness issues really hurt them and being without Valencia for such a long will be a big blow (who I thought was one of their best players last season). There best option in the centre of midfield is Paul Scholes, who while is undoubtedly still class probably won't hold up for a whole season. They've also uncharacteristically dropped points from winning positions, the sort of thing you look back on and rue as a missed opportunity. City (under Mancini) and Spurs have no chance whatsoever.

Lets hope for another hefty home win. Would also like to see Ramires make his debut and a few youngsters get a run out if we're winning comfortably in the last half hour.

I don't see how gagging orders are legal anyway, the press should be allowed to print what they like providing its true.

He had a two match suspended ban from his rant at Ovrebo I think. We still should win those games, Drogba is perhaps our best player but we still have more than enough quality in front of goal without him.

Does Drogba miss the trip to Marseille through suspension? Sad for him if he does. We should top the group without too much trouble. Arsenal could've hand picked their group, and Spurs have a decent chance to qualify in second place.

Would be a great deal for Milan seeing as Zlatan has already proved himself in Italy. It would definitely make them more competitve, although their squad needs a lot more investment in other areas if they are going to win Serie A. I always thought the Ibra for Etoo + cash deal was a terrible deal for Barcelona.