lets be honest..chelsea are streets ahead of us

[Johnny]

both these teams are ahead of us for more reasons than just money.

I really don`t agree with that.If Chelsea and ManU had to battle with the rest of the PL in the transfer market and had a normal wage structure they wouldn`t have signed half the players they signed in the last 4 years.

[rage]

we don't have a wage structure either.

i agree chelsea's development has been rushed since the arrival of the russian but utd would always attract the players they have. they too have history and have always been a global brand long before the glaziers arrived.

if it was just about money any problem could be solved by throwing money at it. the likes of newcastle and indeed spurs have learned that football is about much more than who you can afford to buy.

[Woobus]

I really don`t agree with that.If Chelsea and ManU had to battle with the rest of the PL in the transfer market and had a normal wage structure they wouldn`t have signed half the players they signed in the last 4 years.

I would agree about United cant really take away from the great job Fergi has done there but Chelsea were hardly one of the bigger teams before they had 100s of millions pumped into them.

[dww]

The game sandwiched between the CL Marseille game and the PL ManUre game???

Rafa also put out a very decent team that night against Reading and the TEAM failed.

It was a decent team but the disruption in terms of personnel changes and alteration of the system was a disaster. I can see the logic of the tactic - to play to our strong suit in the centre of the park and allow us to rest players for other games but ultimately we didn't control the game and we deliberately exposed ourselves to their strengths down the wings by our formation and were undone.

I think this was an occasion where people have a valid point about rotation - we changed team and formation and lacked a consistent pattern of play and as such we had no fluency to our game and got punished. I generally think rotation is good and that Rafa picks his tactics well but that game was a genuine aberration.