Sniggleton

Honestly, it might well come down to your first league result. Remember when everyone had written us off in the summer of '06, with many predicting we'd struggle to finish in the CL places? We started the season with a 5-1 victory over Fulham and never really looked back. If you can start the season with a few 3-, 4-, or 5-goal performances, I don't see us really being able to compete (of course we are notoriously slow-starters). But come out like you did this season, with stoppage-time winners, and I think you may find things a little more difficult than you hope for.

Actually, yes, I see this point. You weren't necessarily tactically different, you were flying on confidence and lack of pressure. But you know what? Your performance this year en route to 2nd place is going to heap the pressure on come August, when your fans (and a good many pundits) will be tipping you to take the league. And just like we (United) played beautiful football for all of '07-'08 and yet found ourselves mostly wanting for expressive football for this entire campaign, despite mostly-identical personnel, so you too may find your results more difficult to come by in the new season. In a way, you should probably wish your upturn in form was due to something tactical, as that is something that can be replicated...you can't replicate confidence and relief from pressure.

Do you think Rafa will stick with the flair play though, once things are set back to zero in August? Note that you didn't start playing with panache until we'd separated a bit from you, but not so far that you didn't reasonably have a shot at winning the title if you went out aggressively. That 4-1 return at our place just started the ball rolling. Still, Benitez has now been at the helm for 5 years, and it's only been in the last three months in that entire time that you've really expressed yoursleves with "joga bonito". My guess is that he'll pull back to the old, cautious approach in August...not fully cattenacio, but definitely not the stuff of flair teams.

you clearly missed out on: (couldn't figure out how to embed the vid...?)

From an objective perspective, there's nothing to hate about Everton or Moyes. I know you lot have the Stanley Park rivalry, but putting that aside for a moment, it's an easy choice who to support They try to play attractive, even when lacking personnel through injury, and are never in the media whinging about bad refs, blown calls, etc. That they managed to finish ahead of Villa despite their challenges is worthy of all respect, as Moyes has been given in winning the Manager's award. Contrast that with the Terry crew, whinging, diving bastards almost to a man (Lamps & Essien the notable exceptions), spoilt children who've never not contested on-pitch and in the media a refereeing decision or dodgy surface, and who to support tomorrow becomes the easiest decision in the world. C'mon you Toffees, twat the rent-boys!!

I actually think Kuyt has a fair bit more skill than he's credited with, and usually because he works so hard (and also because he's a bit goal-shy from what he was brought in for). He's like Tevez in this way. I know it's popular to compare him to our Park, but...sorry, Kuyt's leagues ahead of Park in skill. I'd trade them in a nanosecond.

Quaresma is Nani...a perfect fit for a slow league, an 85' minute sub in the Prem.

It's obviously very hard to be both hard-working (on the pitch) and skillful...there's a tradeoff of pure physics, the faster you're moving the harder it is to stay in control. And the only variable in this trade-off is individual talent. Ronaldo can control himself at full gait. Torres. Arshavin. But they're the exception. And so having a limited supply of exceptional talents, a manager has to question which qualities he prefers to focus on...a less industrious, more skillful side, or a team that plays at full bore at the expense of control/technique. Given your current crop, I think your squad's in two minds. You've got real skill players like Benayoun & Riera, and then you've got workhorses like Kuyt and Dossena. I know the arguments for balance, but sometimes all balance does is keep you from being good enough in any one area to fully succeed. But with Benitez chasing both Barry (industry) & Silva (technique), it seems he disagrees with me about the questionable choice of striving too hard for balance.

this. the further up gerrard plays, the easier he is to frustrate/mark out of a game. he needs room to express himself with that long stride/dribbling, best achieved away from a CDM or centre-half. the only player on our team who's ever really had much success marking gerrard is rio...hargreaves also did a job on him, but in both cases, gerrard was too far forward. so yes, you need someone to join torres in attack ahead of him, and let gerrard create from a bit deeper or wider.

Correct, until he scored his first, he was absolutely missing from the game, and you lot were letting him have it. See: Commentary: Liverpool vs Arsenal - English Premier League - ESPN Soccernet At 24', they're saying he's not had a kick, and then at 33' he shanks a chance. Anyway, can't blame him celebrating like a numpty, 4 goals in a league fixture against a strong side is worth going a little bananas over...

I'll defend my ground when there's ground to defend, but you were right, I erred, and so I corrected myself. This is a rubbish response in your estimation?

You seem a bit xenophobic. I used that language (open-arms shit) because I knew as a United fan I'd be in for it, and no bullshit would be tolerated. But since I'm not here for bullshit, I figured I'd start by giving you what credit I feel is due, because that's the best way to ingratiate onesself to a hostile audience. If you are only interested in discussing things with people who have all of your beliefs/opinions already, then you're welcome to ban me or encourage it until you weary. Meanwhile, I intend to discuss football.

Fair play, I'm gonna hang around on some of your threads now that I've made my introductions and aired a bit of what I'm about. I'm sure you'll decide soon enough whether I'm worth banning. Cheers to those of you who read this honestly and replied in kind.

My mistake, it was the Golden Boot, not the Golden Ball.

Tevez was a remarkable young player at Boca & Corinthians, and won the Ballon d'Or at the Athens Olympics w/ Argie, but even though he's helped us to two titles, I assure you he's not a world-class striker. When Villa and Tevez score, each is frequently a "that's amazing!" moment. But you're thinking that for Villa because of the quality of his play, while you're thinking that for Tevez because you just didn't see it coming. Tevez's biggest problem is that he likes to dribble but just isn't that good at it. His touches are very heavy, which can help him sometimes actually as he shows so much of the ball to the defender that the defender takes a leap at it, only for Tevez to get to it before and cut it back, creating an opening. But he can't receive a pass. Or, rather, his receiving a pass results in his making a short pass, hopefully to himself or possibly a teammate, but who really knows where that ball is going once it rebounds off his cinder-block feet. You can have Tevez if you like, for me he's an average striker who gets the odd goal through industry.