With regards to defence i think there are a few factors contributing to why we have looked poor in this area at times.

1 – Consitancy – Too many changes.
2 – Fitness – Rio, Vidic, Evans & Brown have all played whilst not 100% fit this year.
3 – Missing VDS – Defence was a little Apprehensive of Foster which made them slightly nervious> I have faith in foster but he has yet to prove himself. Until he does that it will always effect the defences Mentality infront of him.
4 Rotation of Midfielders – For me i am a big fan of starting the defence from Midfield Back. If you have a steady 2 defending ie Fletcher and Carrick they become acustomed to their role. We have rotated quite a little this year in midfield to accomadate, Giggs, Anderson, Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher.Some games it works to freshing things up but at times we need the consistancy of players playing week in week out!

One thing that bugs me is that it has been obvious that Rio and Vidic have not been fit during games. Slightly off the pace. The Press jump on them making a mountain out of a mole hill and also implying that United have a problem… In my eyes we dont, just need to get them fit thats all……..

In Fergie I trust! only a fool wouldnt have faith!

Valencia – the jury is still out for me i think he has had abit more luck than nani had but, valencia is 10xs more frustrating for me than nani.

owen… class well taken goal, his movement was second to none but like someone else said you can tell his sharpness needs a bit more. but give him the chances and he will score no doubt!

He has tremendous potential and often frustrates but to slate him on this occasion is ludicrous.

the problem vs chelsea will be our attack..

- rooney needs to play the full 90 to keep chelsea on the defence
- berbatov needs to be there to bring another dimension to attack, but i’ve never seen him click well with rooney’s game
- owen goes well with both, but so much more with berbatov but he can’t risk a full 90, berba is capable of controlling the ball and passing in the toughest situations, and owen take any pass that comes his way and get it on goal

berba & rooney to start and then owen in for rooney?

hmm.. saf will probably stick to the regular berba & rooney start and owen in for berba in the 2nd half.

if only our defence were as rock solid as last season, then we could afford to go a little crazy with 3 up front lol

He is our perfect player.

That match was pure football entertainment. Wasn’t too fussed about the result because we were clearly going to go through. Finally a great game in the group stages. The Champions League is another definition of shit football. Tonight was a good game though.

The defending wasn’t great but rather today than Sunday.

Against lesser teams, Scholesy is the maestro. Him and Nev rolled back the years bigstyle tonight.

Owen scores again, great positioning and awareness of space and some day he’s going to bag a hat-trick.

Nani, my patience has gone. He will go this summer at the latest.

Akinfeev looks class. I believe the rumours will turn out to be true and we will be the team that signs. He’s only 25 as well.

Although only playing 15 minutes tonight, Gabby Obertan looked the real deal. Pace, already a good understanding with Patty and Wazza, trickery. I like him. Let’s look next summer and see who is the better player, Obertan or Nani.

Roll on the fucking flukey rentboy Russki’s.

Roll on Real next round, if they get through apparently we miss Ronaldo, have the media seen Madrid without him.

With Owen, if he keeps getting games i think he will start to convert more of his chances. At the moment he is not as relaxed as he could be which will come with time!

one thing for sure they way he plays he will get more chances than Owen and Rooney as he is always looking to dart into that space.

For me this weekend although i know its really early but if we loose this one it will be very difficult to take the tittle away from chelsea!

For me our saving grace last year was the poor form of drogba, when on form he is a points making machine! Simular to what ronaldo was with us at times!

This weekend i expect a high tempo game of a more counter attacking nature! I hope owen and rooney play up front although i think Berbatov will play with Rooney and Owen coming on in the last 30 or 20 minutes!