Manchester United

I think the hysterics over the 3 losses have been over the top. Of course, it's schadenfreude from the general football watching populace - watching Mourinho fail is always a joy - but I do think Man Utd will get back on their foot sooner rather than later.

There seems to be a sector of opinion which is that United (and England for that matter) have better players available in all 3 positions that Rooney is being played and that at the moment his form doesn't really justify selection as a starting player in any of them.

He's captain of the national team and arguably the biggest club in the country at the moment (at least in value and recent history). He's been made un-droppable to a degree and it will be interesting to see if either his or Mourinho's ego can take the fall out. 

He is in poor form  but I would pick him over Mata or Fellaini  every time  Fellaini will give fouls/penalties away and Mata is just too slow-- certainly slower than Rooney.

Mata usually plays wide on the right. You can look busy and do nothing.

If you think Pobga is slow I better check my TV.

This is just before Pogba arrived.

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/no-place-in-the-top-thr...

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Feature...

I actually like Mata, but he is best suited to a team like RM or Baca that are full of quality players and he does not have to do the hard yards.

His skill is great but he is slow and is not strong on the ball, so far form being anti I just think in the Utd side he is a bit of a liability.

Leggy - I think you're underestimating how remarkably shark Rooney has been this season. Rooney has contributed nothing of note. I'm really stretching to try and recall a moment of quality from him (this season)

I never said he was in good nick at all. I was just making the point that he is still better than some players. His form right now is terrible and should be dropped. All players go through this. In his case it may be permanent.Time will tell.

He looked decent in that Sat morning (our time) game at the start of the season - I watched that whole thing, and ManU looked impressive all over the park. Rooney, Pogba, the whole lot of them. Haven't quite looked the same since. Although to be fair i haven't been watching a lot of them either, just that first game and the Man City game. 

Man Utd are looking like the team you expected v Leicester. Very, very good in this first 25 minutes. Almost scary.

Man Utd are looking like the team you expected v Leicester. Very, very good in this first 25 minutes. Almost scary.

As I say that..they score another 3. Jesus christ. 

What Leicester are missing is someone who can break down United's attacks, disrupt their play and prevent any fluidity they have.

Unfortunately I don't think Mourinho is going to bring him on.

Life does exist after Rooney and what a good performance

Fudgeing finally! A midfield consisting of players playing in their appropriate positions with ball skills higher than that of a 10 year old! What an absolute relief.

I actually think the biggest difference was having no Fellaini to ruin any form of passing. But Rooney comes in pretty close.

I'm just ecstatic. It was so nice to see.

Pogba showed a lot of class last night

It's hilarious how world class players become bad so quickly in the eyes of the media and your average punter. You would think that Pogba was the next Bebe.

World class. Debatable.

Guarantee he'll be seen as one of the best in prem by the end of the season. (unfortunately)

The only surprising thing about that was that it took this long for Jose to realize that Rooney and Fellaini shouldn't be starting in midfield

The cynic in me believes the opinion that it was done to showcase how poor they were/are before (hopefully in Fellaini's case) shifting them on in Jan.

this makes sense- has to prove early on to fans and directors that he should be allowed to play his signings and not be dependent on past reputations. Rooney has now been tried in several different places and hasn't seized his chances anywhere particularly.

Your comment  "Hasn't seized his chances anywhere particularly" is spot on. I am wondering if he is thinking " I am Wayne Rooney, I can play anywhere I want and I am the main Man" type scenario, rsther that putting the head down and giving it his best. Age is catching up but that is where his skill and experience should be keeping him in a starting position, not his reputation.

I am not praising Rooney but to say that he could be thinking that is pretty presumptuous. He doesn't pick the team. Of course, like any player, he wants to play whenever he can but there has been no indication that he isn't putting his head down and working for the team. 

He clearly isn't performing at the level we would expect. But there have been two comments by Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville that should be taken on board. 

Rio watch the Hull game and acknowledged Rooney didnt play well but showed that when the big moments come up, he wanted the ball, beat the player and set up the winner. (I know we want these moments more often but it still happens. People cannot judge players on 6 games in a season)

Gary Neville talked about how other United players have played through the twilight of their careers by managing their games and playing well when needed. Maybe thats what Rooney needs. Neville pointed out he has played about the same amount of games as he did, and Neville played 5 more years. 

Stoke get lucky. We should've buried them in the first half. Lame.

We won't be a serious title contender with finishing like that.

I was switching between that game and Valencia v Athletico Madrid. Sorry but the first game had a sterile atmosphere but the spanish game was brilliant. United should have been 2-0 up in the first 5 mins.

Then after 15 mins it should have been 2-2. In the last 15 minutes United threw everything including the kitchen sink in fairness and still Stoke held out. Some of the passing from both teams was not very good and the game play style predictable. 

In the Spanish game it was mainly a short passing game and was good to watch. The fans got right into it. How a goalkeeper can save two penalties and still be on a losing side was sad. He was in awesome form for Valencia. Nani was ok, 

We are a few  quality players short to even think about it. 

As long as players like Lingard start ahead of Martial and Mkhitaryan (only coming back from injury) are not playing then we have no chance.

The only good thing today was that we created chances. On another day we could have scored 5.

Bailly looks like a pretty good player, can't believe he's only 22

Both Bailly for Man Utd and Mustafi for us have impressed early on this season; they've settled in extremely quickly.

Only watched 2x ManU games this season in full, but in both, Bailly looked an absolute beast. 

A stung United vs a performing (but defensively fragile) Liverpool next up. Will be a 8am Tuesday game for us - might need to take a day off. 

Any United fans likely to make it down to Four Kings/Five Stags for the game?

The thing that amazes me with Bailly is his pace, he covers ground ridiculously quickly for such a big unit.