That is the best kid in the world.. Danny Welbeck.

Anderson and Giggs are both creative. So is Carrick. Barca just got the better of us tactically and we just had no answer. It was all us for the first 10 mins or so.. we were the one likely to score, but then Eto'o got the better of Vidic, and the rest is history. We badly missed Fletcher/Hargo that night, although like you say, we just couldn't do anything against them. A bit unfair to just focus on the Barca game, since they had the best front 3 and have two of the best midfielders in the world playing for them. Our midfield while not the best around, is more than a match for any team especially when one of Hargo/Fletcher is around.

Well, our first team is obviously weakened when we lose someone like Ronaldo.. best(one of the) player in the world. Nobody apart from Messi/Ribery could fix that. We'll cope fine without Ronaldo IMO. Whoever starts at any given time will have to get the goals Ronaldo used to get. I'm sure they're capable of doing that. And in Valencia we have someone who will create chances for us all game long. Whether he's good enough to perform against the big boys remains to be seen, but we'll find out soon enough. Signs are good ATM.. really looking forward to him cementing that RW position. It's Ronaldo's match winning qualities that will be missed. Someone else have to step up regarding that..

But we still have a fantastic squad and most of them are still young, and as the past three seasons show, we are very successful using this group of players. We don't rely on the old guards anymore(Scholes hardly a regular, Giggs as an impact player), and in Anderson, Nani, Rooney, Fletcher, Evans etc, you know they would improve with time, and right now they are already very good players. Then we have the likes of Rafael, Fabio, Cathcart, Welbeck and Macheda coming through.. there's plenty to look forward to IMO.

Rooney only play on the wings when we go with 433.. or when we decide to put all our best attackers in the team, which means he plays out wide even though that's clearly not his best position. Like you said, hopefully Nani nail that position so we won't see Rooney too much out wide.

Tosic won't be a regular anytime soon. Can see why he's stuck in the reserve last season when he didn't really do anything meaningful in the pre-season games apart from that one goal. He has ability, but didn't show it much so far. Think he's better playing like Park playing short passes and coming to the middle rather than be a winger who stays out wide and try to beat the fullback.

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Added on August 9, 2009, 1:05 amLooks like Tom Heaton our reserve GK scored a goal for the reserve playing some team in Holland. He was playing as a makeshift striker..

This post has been edited by Wan: Aug 9 2009, 01:05 AM

Our former player, Diego Forlan scored against Liverpool. His team won 2-1.

We already have Ribery..

Fletcher is first choice now...

He won't go with that. Rooney will only play out wide if we go with 433 and use Berba in the middle. As for other formation, depends on how the winger does.. if they were crap like last season, can see him play there again when we start the other two strikers.

I think Fletcher will take another step forward this season..

He did quite well in the first half. 2nd half, every player switch off a bit. And if anybody expect an attacking player to perform constantly in a big game, they're an idiot. Big game=tight affairs.

Park while maybe not supposed to be a regular for us, he is more than good enough to be a squad player for us. I can't believe people still have doubts about that. Are you really a fan or just want a superstar in every single position available, even subs? Park was one of our best player in the first half.. his movement was brilliant. Every good thing came from his side and because of his clever movement. But I guess Chelsea weren't big enough of a team eh?

And he was involve in a lot of big games for us and played a big part. In the CL especially SAF always plays him there. And last season he started on merit. Ronaldo on one side, and Park on the other. Who else would you play on the wings? Nani wasn't in form last season, we used Giggs in the middle.. Tosic was stuck in the reserve.. Tevez was in shitty form, and clearly SAF don't feel Berba suited to play as the lone forward in a 433. Do you actually think before you say all these stuff?

He even kept Ronaldo quiet most of the time.. he can be clumsy at times, but one on one, he's very hard to beat. And pace wise he could keep up with anybody.

Don't think we stop play.. but we were down to 9 man that time. Berba went to the sideline to fix his hamstring or something, then Evra went down when attacking, and clearly we were outnumbered at the back. Of course Chelsea don't have to kick the ball away and they can just go on and do as they please, but people got mad because just moments earlier if you remember when Evra and Ballack clashed, Ballack went to ground, we still had the ball but the ref blew the whistle and then went to inspect Ballack who got straight back up.. and yet when the same thing happened to us after that, the ref didn't do anything and just let the play continue. If he can stop play to attend to their injured player(s), why can't he do the same to us?

I hope we play to the whistle next time against Chelsea.. then you'll see Terry the Big Man and Drogba screaming at the referee why we didn't kick the ball out.

Still, it's a bit cheap going for it knowing we kick the ball away when their players were down.. was it not?

Our game is next Sunday right? Can't wait for that. Home game, plenty to prove, hope we play our best. Too bad about Nani. Hope he won't be out too long. Thought he was quite good against Chelsea. Certainly better than last season when he didn't do anything positive at all most times. Big season for him. And given that he started the match last night speaks volume. He's already a good player, just lack the maturity(consistency, decision making etc).

And we need to save Fletcher before the big games comes up. Clearly he's important for those. Add some more goodies to his play, there would be no more question about him being a regular for us. People say in his younger days he was more influential in his passing and going forward bits.. More to come from him. Midfield general.. heh heh heh

Yeap. Their players are good at them. Ours are kinda crap outside of Nani & Hargreaves.

Someone need to tell Evra to just blast them in from there.

People should not follow Berba's advice. Only he can do his stuff. Other won't do it as effective and beautiful.

No idea. I guess not. He missed one too when we went to penalties against Bayern in that friendly cup.