You have a great side.

You just need a few additions in midfield which you have been stubborn to address for years.

The only teams better than you in the Champions League are Real and Barca, you are perhaps even with Bayern and better than Dortmund.

a fully fit team could compete with ANYONE, however that depends on the lineup fergie would pick.

What also for me is important though is you dont go through an entire season without injuries, and certain areas are way to thin on decent players.

Dunc, that's fair but you have to admit we've been horrendously unlucky with injuries.

Every top team should have one extra player for each position and while the eleven replacements for that aformentioned eleven aren't as good it would be hard to do that in reality because 11 world class players aren't going to want to be subs.

Lindegaard, Jones, Rio, Smalling, Buttner, Cleverley, Scholes, Young, Valencia, Welbeck and Hernandez are all decent enough replacements with the exception of Scholes. But Powell isn't too far off and buying a CM now might delay his development by a few years.

If Barca lost Messi, or Bayern lost Schweinsteiger or Real lost Ronaldo I reckon their overall performance level would drop. And they're just one player on each team.

I reckon we're far too harsh on the boss and the team for something which is beyond their control.

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I think the one thing we have over most teams is we can cope with injuries. We can also switch our system during the game if something isn't working. Bringing off Kagawa for Valencia (for example) and we can switch to a 442 with wingers.

I also think Rio is still above Evans in the pecking order, but that's for another article.

Maestro

I think that too but was trying to pick a side that the majority of people on here have indicated they want to see

Btw, there are strong rumours on the intercyberweb thingy that Vidic will start on Sunday. Hmmmmmm.

I think we have a very good squad and first team, that can compete with anyone. But like others have said, injuries mean we rarely get to see our best team, its usualy just a jumbled up version of it.

Vidic is our captain, so when he's fit I would expect him to walk straight back into the team.

I would rather see Evans or Smalling start ahead of him this weekend, but if he's training well and he feels he's ready then he'll start.

I doubt it though.

I don't think we can blame injuries, we have a big squad and the gulf in talent between the injured layers and those taking their place is really insignificant (RVP and Rooney aside).

We look very disjointed but we have a great mentality within the squad, I think we could be anybody but we really struggle against teams who press us, which most of the European elite tend to do these days.

We are in a situation where we aren't playing well but winning, we look sloppy but clinical in front of goal. I can't see is beating any of Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Juve or Dortmund on current form, but there is a lot of time to go between now and the next CL stage.

Time will tell.

But Powell isn't too far off and buying a CM now might delay his development by a few years.

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lets not get too far ahead with ourselves regarding powell.

he has looked quite good, nothing more, nothing less.

you have to remember he is still a kid, and while he has looked ok against cluj and wigan, they arent barcelona or city.

against those teams i think powell would be shown up for what he is, a decent young player with tons of potential, but nowhere near ready for those types of teams.

besides, powell isnt the type of midfielder we need, so it wont hinder him too much.

BB

I get what you're saying but we can't talk about 'current form' because half that team in the OP has barely played this season so we can't judge 'that' team yet.
They may never play together for one reason or another but if we could get as close to that team as possible for a few matches then we might be in a better position to judge them.

Yes, we have a squad but like I said before, take 4/5 key players out of Barca/Real/Dortmund etc and they would all struggle to maintain the great performances they have done so far.

Dunc

Of course but Powell is 18. Playing well against Galatasaray and Wigan is still pretty good. By 20 he will be a starter in our side if he keeps up this progression.
He is meant to be a Scholes replacement which hopefully he can stay on track and do that.

For a more blood and thunder midfielder it may well be that Jones is being groomed to play that role. The fact that he came on for Anderson last week could be a sign that the boss reckons he has the attributes to play there.

While some people might not be too excited by a Jones and Powell midfield I don't think it's too bad. Time will tell.

We all know that team will never play Rob, ever, not in a million years.

Kagawa has been out for a few weeks, Nani looks on his way, Vidic may never be the same, it's all variable.

We can talk about huge form so far this season where all of the players in the OP have been involved and we haven't looked good more than 3 or 4 times. As I said, the difference in talent between those injured and those available is hardly any.

Let's face it, we are exciting to watch because we can't defend but we know where the net is. We will never control possession against any of he European giants, so being clinical is out main attribute.

I agree with BB.

The real worry in the side is that we 1) seem to get so many injuries, and 2) the side seems to suffer so much for it.

Many teams get injuries but can still play some decent football. Especially a lot of the top clubs due to their footballing philosophies.

It's all well and good saying "with this team and on their day they can beat anyone" but if these days rarely come and we are stuck with seeing the football we've played the last few years then it's a moot point.

Arsenal fans used to use this excuse (and some still do) because they weren't competing for things but could still play some greta football occasionally against the decent sides.

BB

I think it's quite likely that 5 of that front 6 will play a lot together in the next few weeks with just Valencia coming in for Nani on the OP.

Kagawa is back next week, Anderson is back in a couple of weeks.

The team in the OP isn't that far off what is very possible. We just need a bit of luck.

Darren

My point is that pretty much every top team in Europe would struggle with as many injuries as us over such a long period of time.

We are doing very well considering we're operating under a handicap of missing half of what would be considered our best team. See how Real do if missing Ramos, Ronaldo, Khedira, Benzema and Di Maria for a couple of months!

Before they get injured and/or rotated.

It's possible, west even see it once, but it will never become a regularity, never.

Just think about it, when has Fergie played the same side consecutively in recent seasons? The sides he puts out have 3 or 4 changes every game.

They'd bring in Kaka, Modric, Callejon, Higuain and Coentrao and still play better football than we have.

You've completely disregarded my argument and reasserted the injury excuse.

We are doing very well considering we're operating under a handicap of missing half of what would be considered our best team




But this isn't new is it? This is something we have seen for years now, and it's not going to change. Rooney gets injured, RVP will get injured, Rafael will pick up injuries, Smalling, Jones, Ando, Vidic, Balencia, Young, Nani. all of these pick up injuries on a pretty regular basis between them.

another factor for me is rotation.

teams like real, barcelona, bayern, juventus, and dortmund will 9 times out of 10 play their strongest team when fit, and they cope just as well as we do.

they have am understanding throughout the team, each player knows their role.

we dont do that.

i understand squad rotation to a degree, but not every week.

if we can do it and other teams can that tells me that either

a) the manger tinkers too much

b) or fitness/stamina level throughout the team isnt good enough and needs to be looked at.

if we can't do it and other teams can that tells me that either even

You did ignore my point too, the difference between the I hired players and their replacements isn't such a huge margin that should effect our performance so drastically.

We have been playing the same style of footballer for years, it's not because of injuries.

Busby

In the the last half of last season we saw 8 players rotate a front 6 of Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Valencia, Nani and Young.
So it hasn't always been change for changes sake.

And this season we kept the same side in consecutive league games for the Chelsea and Arsenal games showing that the boss liked what he saw and kept a winning side.

kagawa and vidic out of sundays game