Who has the better squad?

[friedk]

you win the league by not dropping points against the lower sides.

Arsenal's record against the top ten was better than us, manure and the chavs, but against the bottom half was the worst of the 4.

If you get as close to 60 points as possible against the bottom 10, then you only need an average of about 2 points a game in you remaining fixtures.

Ruthlessness against lesser opposition is the mark of a championship winning side.

[Craig_H]

GK Edwin van der Sar Pepe Reina - REINA
DF Gary Neville Steve Finnan - TIE
DF Patrice Evra JAR - EVRA
DF Rio Ferdinand Agger - AGGER
DF Wes Brown Hyypia - BROWN
MF Cristiano Ronaldo Pennant - RONALDO
FW Wayne Rooney Torres - TORRES
FW Louis Saha Voronin - SAHA
MF Ryan Giggs Kewell - GIGGS
MF Park Ji-Sung Babel - BABEL
DF Nemanja Vidic' Carra - CARRA
MF Michael Carrick El Jefecito - MASCHERANO
MF Paul Scholes Xabi - SCHOLES
FW Ole Gunnar Solskjær Kuyt - KUYT
FW Dong Fangzhuo El Zhar - PASS
DF John O'Shea Paletta - O'SHEA
MF Darren Fletcher Spearing - FLETCHER
DF Phil Bardsley Arbeloa - ARBELOA
DF Mikael Silvestre Fabio - AURELIO
GK Tomasz Kuszczak Carson - CARSON
DF Craig Cathcart Hobbs - PASS
MF Chris Eagles Momo - SISSOKO
DF Kieran Lee Roque - PASS
GK Tom Heaton Mihyalov - PASS
MF Nani Yossi - PASS
MF Anderson Leto - ANDERSON
MF Hargeaves Gerrard - GERRARD
FW Tevez Crouch - TEVEZ


I make that 12-9 to us, but mine is of course doused with a liberal helping of bias. The outcome also depends which players you put head-to-head, but I take your point. Man for man, we're not far off.

Man for man comparisons are sheer ****e and mean feck all.

And how you can rate Agger better than Ferdinand, and Torres (never kicked a Premiership ball) as better than Rooney, is totally beyond me.

Player by player comparisons are nonsense and we'll only tell by the end of the season. All i'll say is, they were 20 odd points ahead last year and we've brought in 3 players, as have they. Are the 3 players we've brought in THAT amazing, so as to bridge such a gap? I doubt it. We havent signed Ronaldinho, Messi and Henry, after all...

[Craig_H]

You've reduced both squads to mathematical equations that can't possibly equate factors like form, confidence, teamwork etc. It's admirable, but ultimately pointless. You could sign the greatest player for each position, and not have them gel as a cohesive unit. Ask Real Madrid. Or too a much lesser degree, Chelski. Much lesser.

[dww]

Man for man comparisons are sheer ****e and mean feck all.

And how you can rate Agger better than Ferdinand, and Torres (never kicked a Premiership ball) as better than Rooney, is totally beyond me.

Player by player comparisons are nonsense and we'll only tell by the end of the season. All i'll say is, they were 20 odd points ahead last year and we've brought in 3 players, as have they. Are the 3 players we've brought in THAT amazing, so as to bridge such a gap? I doubt it. We havent signed Ronaldinho, Messi and Henry, after all...

I think the difference is though that we underperformed last year and that the signing of Torres will allow Kuyt to play a different role, one he is better suited to. Also intelligently used pace upfront will improve the effectiveness of many of the midfielders we had last year. United on teh other hand in my opinion played pretty much to the best of their capabilities. They have as you have said strengthened - although to my eyes their improvements will have a bigger impact in the CL than the PL.

I also make 4 first team signings in Voronin, Torres, Babel and Benayoun. I think that Benayoun and Babel can add the much needed goals from midfield. The real question is can we form a good attacking four who have as good an understanding as Uniteds?

I think that we may struggle for options unless Kewell stays fit as it will be hard for Babel to adapt to a new league and position in wide midfield (I know he has played there before but when I have seen him he has mostly been a striker).

[Shaggy]

Man for man comparisons are sheer ****e and mean feck all.

And how you can rate Agger better than Ferdinand, and Torres (never kicked a Premiership ball) as better than Rooney, is totally beyond me.

Like I said...laced with a liberal sprinkling of bias.

[Parm]

To be honest I really wouldn't want to give a judgment at the minute. A lot depends on how our completely overhauled forward line works out in my opinion. We were as strong as anyone as a defensive unit last year and, other than Riise, I think would stand up well in a player for player comparison of those competing for the defence, keeping and CM positions.

The area we need to improve is terms of attack and until we know how good Torres, Babel, Voronin are in the PL and Yossi is at a big team then it is very difficult to judge.

i think we have improved a lot, but before we can all say we're better than so and so, i'd like to see how our new boys adapt.
Got to say the mancs and chavs do look very strong, esp as a lot of the players they have both bought this summer are more squad players or ones fo rthe future (ie Nani, Anderson, Sidwell, Alex etc) whereas we've culled a lot of crap.

[El Jefecito]

You've reduced both squads to mathematical equations that can't possibly equate factors like form, confidence, teamwork etc. It's admirable, but ultimately pointless. You could sign the greatest player for each position, and not have them gel as a cohesive unit. Ask Real Madrid. Or too a much lesser degree, Chelski. Much lesser.

However, personally, I think we're awesome! **** off Utd!

No I haven't, you've assumed that. You are free to consider any or all of those factors in forming YOUR opinion.

[El Jefecito]

Man for man comparisons are sheer ****e and mean feck all.
And how you can rate Agger better than Ferdinand, and Torres (never kicked a Premiership ball) as better than Rooney, is totally beyond me.

Player by player comparisons are nonsense and we'll only tell by the end of the season. All i'll say is, they were 20 odd points ahead last year and we've brought in 3 players, as have they. Are the 3 players we've brought in THAT amazing, so as to bridge such a gap? I doubt it. We havent signed Ronaldinho, Messi and Henry, after all...

Bit of a sweeping generalization, no? It all depends on what conclusions you want to draw from the data. And I can see plenty that are perfectly valid.

[Craig_H]

Bit of a sweeping generalization, no? It all depends on what conclusions you want to draw from the data. And I can see plenty that are perfectly valid.

You can have better man-for-man teams that dont win. Surely our successful CL campaigns prove that, if nothing else?

The overall team play is what matters.

[Parm]

You can have better man-for-man teams that dont win. Surely our successful CL campaigns prove that, if nothing else?

The overall team play is what matters.

[disco]

GK Edwin van der Sar Pepe Reina - REINA
DF Gary Neville Steve Finnan - TIE
DF Patrice Evra JAR - EVRA
DF Rio Ferdinand Agger - AGGER
DF Wes Brown Hyypia - BROWN (YOU ****ING WHAT)
MF Cristiano Ronaldo Pennant - RONALDO
FW Wayne Rooney Torres - TORRES
FW Louis Saha Voronin - SAHA
MF Ryan Giggs Kewell - GIGGS
MF Park Ji-Sung Babel - BABEL
DF Nemanja Vidic' Carra - CARRA
MF Michael Carrick El Jefecito - MASCHERANO
MF Paul Scholes Xabi - SCHOLES
FW Ole Gunnar Solskjær Kuyt - KUYT
FW Dong Fangzhuo El Zhar - PASS
DF John O'Shea Paletta - O'SHEA
MF Darren Fletcher Spearing - FLETCHER
DF Phil Bardsley Arbeloa - ARBELOA
DF Mikael Silvestre Fabio - AURELIO
GK Tomasz Kuszczak Carson - CARSON
DF Craig Cathcart Hobbs - PASS
MF Chris Eagles Momo - SISSOKO
DF Kieran Lee Roque - PASS
GK Tom Heaton Mihyalov - PASS
MF Nani Yossi - PASS
MF Anderson Leto - ANDERSON
MF Hargeaves Gerrard - GERRARD
FW Tevez Crouch - TEVEZ


I make that 12-9 to us, but mine is of course doused with a liberal helping of bias. The outcome also depends which players you put head-to-head, but I take your point. Man for man, we're not far off.

You appear to have spelled Hyppia incorrectly

[Morph]

You can have better man-for-man teams that dont win. Surely our successful CL campaigns prove that, if nothing else?

The overall team play is what matters.

Technically tho the question was who has the better squad, not who's going to win more games using said squad. For what it's worth I don't think there's much in it at all, but can't really comment on any of ours or the mancs new signings until i've seen more of them playing

[El Jefecito]

You can have better man-for-man teams that dont win. Surely our successful CL campaigns prove that, if nothing else?

The overall team play is what matters.

You've ignored my point

[Craig_H]

You've ignored my point

No i havent, but it's easier to suggest that i have.

[disco]

Christ, you could start an argument in an empty room DJ

It's a straight forward question, whether we will play better together (than Man U) or not is a different question, feel free to start that thread