Manchester United

Step 1 of keeping players morale with the constant rotation is bringing in and growing the right players in the first place. Ferguson talks about this extensively in his books and is probably why I question some fans who think we should throw money at anyone...

If anyone is interested why Pogba is worth his price tag then you need only to watch last night's game.

Pretty good result, team didn't play as well as expected but the work ethic and concentration was high quality. Southampton actually played really well and kept hold of the ball, but couldn't turn this into chances. 

Was very impressed by Southampton, but its nice to be getting wins when we aren't on top of our game!

100% my thoughts.

Clinical away performance this morning, Martial was outstanding and United looked very solid and assured until about 5 mins to go. Depth showing too. Lets hope for more goals against Palace!

Awesome TL, very jealous. 

Awesome stuff Topleft.

I went through a similar experience visiting Arsenal for my first time in 2010 and it was an amazing experience. Feels a little bit surreal when you've been into it for so long, and then finally get the chance to visit. 

TopLeft - how'd you pull it off???

TopLeft that is so awesome, good on you for winging it man! 

Unreal!

At any stage did you think of a cheeky knee slide towards the Stretford End?

Are those grow lamps???

So that's why United are cash rich!

Amazing mate. Well done.

That's f*cken awesome topleft, amazing stuff

Good on you man, and I hope his holland feelers turn up something!

What a place to move to btw, holland is great

Know what you mean, but it actually the Netherlands. 

I'm glad you know what I mean.

TopLeft that's amazing man - amazing what can happen if you just be friendly with people!

Photos are sick. Wow. Speechless.

Something to really throw at someone when you're next accused of "never even gone to Old Trafford"

Yeah growth lights, most big stadiums have them now. OT has enough to just about cover the whole pitch.

I’ve never really understood why people say if you haven’t been to your clubs ground that you aren’t a fan. That’s complete bollocks IMO. How many kids in NZ haven’t and probably never will go to an all blacks game despite idolising the all blacks their whole life? I know you were just saying that because it’s pretty cool that I got to do that but I’m no different to fans from anywhere just fortunate. At the same time I don’t quite put myself in the same category as the people who haven’t missed a game for 20 years etc but there’s no rules to being a fan. 

My family are dutch as well, all from Limburg in the south, and they all call it Holland generally. I used to say the Netherlands but after spending time with them I found myself saying Holland more often than not. 

Yea I hate getting into all that crap but there's something to be said for following your team for years and years from the other side of the globe, and getting up at all hours to watch the games. It's actually more difficult to do that than physically go to games in your own city in my opinion. It's just a different type of fandom with different sacrifices - less financial, more detrimental to sleep/wellbeing etc. Although the internet age with on-demand tv, and easy recording on tv boxes etc has made things more accessible for us now. 

Awesome stuff dude. I was lucky enough to go to OT twice when we were living in the UK 13/14. Two special games, the first was SAFs last ever home game where we were also presented the EPL trophy for winning the league!! Second was Champions League against Bayern Munich. Sitting there and hearing the Champions League music play is something else.

So lucky. When you're going for these one off visits it feels a little bit unfair. I went for 2 Arsenal games and was so f*cken excited, then i got in there and it kind of dawns on you that this is just standard for the locals, and the team themselves, and there aint gonna be no special performance just for me today! I saw a 1-0 win and a 1-0 loss. Very un-arsenal to score just the one goal across two games... and Alex Song the scorer of all people... obviously don't regret it one bit but for goodness sake I coulda been a bit luckier with the fixtures eh!

I think we'll line up against the Scouse like so

De Gea

Valencia Bailly Jones Blind

Matic Herrera

Mkhitaryan

Mata Lukaku Martial

With Herrera being deployed as an attack dog on Coutinho when on defence. I predict a 2-1 win to us, with maybe a third snatched in the dying minutes of the game.

To all the guys that rubbished me about City last week. Still think the same.

We were as bad as one can get last night. It was embarrassing.Not one player would have scored a 5 on that performance.How Darmian can sleep at night collecting his wages is a joke. He would not make any A league side.

Not even De Gea? God I hope we don't lose him anytime soon. Thought Jones put in a solid shift as well.

Agree with everything else. Part of me knew that Mourinho would play like that, but I was hoping for something different. 

The way we just sat deep, especially at the start of that second half was abhorrent, often 8-9 players behind the ball and when possession was won it was hoofed straight back to them. 

The worst thing from the game though is it made us look like we were afraid. Afraid to play in case we're shown up or we lose. 

I don't mind losing if we go out and give it a go, however after that performance I would have been raging, no question about it we deserved to lose last night. I hope this is not the precedent we follow when we play City, Chelsea, Spurs in the very near future.

But we all knew this when Mourinho got the job, right?

While I don't mean to lessen how bollocks we were - to be fair to Mourinho, if Lukaku buries his chance he'd be hailed as a genius.

But you've put it spot on. Looked afraid. I'll give the benefit of the doubt since we were away. But if we play like that at home I will be fuming.

And again to be fair to Mourinho, all will be forgotten if he delivers the silverware!

Do agree with you about De Gea and Jones but I was so angry watching that game that I lumped them all together.

Have just watched the game again and it does not get any better, They all seemed far too slow and tackled like girls. Young , Luk,Martial, 

and Mkhitaryan were woeful.