TheDrowningMan

Yeah, once. In about 10 seasons with Juventus and AC Milan. People talk about Rafa having "underachieved" despite having far less favourable circumstances and far tougher domestic opposition...

Let's not also forget that they have a manager who simply is not a 'league manager' - His record in Serie A is atrocious, bordering scandalous considering the teams he's been fortunate enough to be in control of.

So if, say, Steven Gerrard was sent off and accrued a two match ban in the penultimate game of the season, we could loan him to Plymouth Argyle on a 'special' 10 day deal just before the start of the following term and have him back and ready to play in our opener?

So we have Man Utd sans their best two attackers and an aging Chelsea with a manager whose forté isn't winning league titles (he has less than Rafa from a much longer career and has also had more favourable circumstances, but the press will ignore that)....

Only a (very) minor trophy, but the signs are promising for Owen putting the mockers on silverware for Man Utd, as he tends to.

Hahahahaha. More shit.

Giggs...Pathetic! Worst player (at the time of victory) ever to win a 'player of the year' honour, shit penalty.

Spurs lost 2-0 to South China in their last friendly, and before that could only muster a 1-1 draw with Barcelona's reserves (being kind to the side Barca put out) and a 2-0 capitulation to Celtic. They've beaten West Ham and Hull, but their form hardly has me quaking in my boots.

I think it's hard to say. Plenty of teams have ostensibly looked 'weaker' on paper but somehow managed to be a better team for it. Man Utd have pulled this trick a few times, most recently when they thrilled me by selling Van Nistlerooy and making Michael Carrick their only notable summer signing. Final nail in their coffin....

Shit...going to have to go a couple of weeks with the sort of team which played Man Utd at Old Trafford last season. We've lost before the season has begun. Edit: I must remember not to dawdle for a few minutes while writing posts in future. :)

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Italy has had 61 governments since 1945. When I learned that, I understood why...I'll be diplomatic and say 'questionable' beliefs are considerably more mainstream there. I've come to the conclusion that, outside the confines of their own nation, only a lunatic would put an Italian in an authoritative position of more importance than that of a football manager.

Better all-round player, better finisher, has scored the goal for his country in a major international final, has been genuinely adored by the fans of his two clubs, better looking, makes more money. Owen must literally despise him. The little sociopath almost certainly has a Torres picture on his dartboard.

The thought of Owen splayed on the pitch striken by an open fracture whilst Gary Neville looks on, grimacing in horror at his best friend's plight becomes more appealling by the second.

I want to retract calling Bascombe a "pathetic man" as I don't know enough about him personally to justify that, but my comments on his articles remain. The argument could be made that this latest bit of tattle doesn't quite plumb the depths of some of his other recent pieces but he's written so much utter dross of late - genuinely tacky rubbish which appears bereft of foundation - that it's hard not to view everything he writes through very jaded eyes.

Come on. I'm sure he writes some of this shit just to piss people off. I've lost count of how many people here said that such an article was inevitable after Owen's signing. My opinion is that he writes a load of tripe and deserves the criticism he receives for it.

Bascombe is such a fucking little weasel - He's the archetypal Sun journalist in every way, shape and form. Pathetic man, atrocious writer.

I doubt Owen will get a winner's medal during his spell there. Even if he was not cursed and consequently unable to win the biggest honours at any club to which he ventures, there's too much rebuilding to be done following the loss of their talisman, the player without whom they would presently be stuck on 15 titles. There is no single player in world football more crucial to the success of his team - they'll be affected more than people think, regardless of who they bring in. This isn't a Beckham or Cantona situation.

That's because Beckham is a good man. The likes of he, Scholes, Giggs and even the Neville thing have a fully functional moral compass, something which the evil, twisted Owen has never been in possession of.

I'm thinking that wishing for a Mabbutt / Cisse injury was wrong of me. No, having had his 'I always hoped Sugar Daddy Alex would come in and groom me to "play" for his "club" 'comments spin around in my mind the sort of fate which befell Dave Busst would be far more apt. Shame that such misfortune usually only hits good, honest professionals and not horrific individuals like Owen.

I think so, but you'd probably be looking at an aggregate score of 10-3 instead of 5-0. With their emphasis as it is at present, they'll score more goals but will be weaker defensively.

A few weeks ago one of the papers claimed that he was set to lure Torres to Old Trafford in a £40m deal. Surely they can't be wrong. Maybe senility has set in and he can no longer distinguish between "Liverpool strikers". :D

"I was always clinging to the hope that he would ask me to come and play for them one day." "I was always clinging to the hope that he would ask me to come and play for them one day." "I was always clinging to the hope that he would ask me to come and play for them one day." "I was always clinging to the hope that he would ask me to come and play for them one day." "I was always clinging to the hope that he would ask me to come and play for them one day." That's the thing that still leaves me boiling. It's always been his dream - He'd have agitated behind the scenes for a move in 2001 if he thought a deal could have been hammered out with Ferguson.

To be fair, I don't think Owen is clinical enough a finisher for that sort of scenario to occur. I can't be the only one who recalls him wasting opportunities like Andy Cole on speed, only to still score a lot because of his pace. Even Newcastle fans are jeering his distinctly non-lethal escapades in front of goal. I've lost count of the amount of times that Owen would be through on goal only to send the ball squirming towards the keeper in slow motion. Same goes for his "penalties", of which he appeared to believe the object of taking involved sending the an inch to the side of the goalkeeper at around three miles per hour. By the numbers, yeah, he's a good goalscorer. In terms of the amount of opportunities presented to him - in a team built around him, as it was under Houllier - he should have been scoring more goals than Van Nistlerooy. He should have been a 40+ per season man, and would have been if he could finish like Torres, let alone Fowler. Sure, he could be on fire for three or four games at a time, but you'd have a period inbetween of nine or ten in which he did exactly what I just said more often than not. Now the pace which enabled his 19 per season is gone forever, and for Utd to indulge a crude goal hanger like Owen circa 2009 would mean a distinct alteration to the fundemental style of their game. I can't see it working out.