MFletcher

I consider Mascherano the best defensive midfielder in the world. I think he would allow Gerrard to bomb forward from the centre with much more certainty. I think Alonso is better beside Masch as well, because he's able to get forward and shoot much more. However, any combination of Gerrard/Alonso/Mascherano is the best in the league. Never mind Sissoko/Lucas. I do think Gerrard should be on the right with the other two in centre midfield, but that's not going to happen. I'm sure I read when Masch signed that when Rafa went to speak to him, his "long-term" plan for Masch in our midfield was him behind Alonso with Gerrard on the right. I remember there being a lot of confusion as to why Momo wasn't in there as well.

United's squad depth is very, very poor. Their first team has some real talent - Ronaldo etc. - but their "reserves" are really youth and utility players. They're a good side, but their squad is much weaker than people seem to think.

Exactly. His list of injuries since December 2005 goes: - Broken Foot (Four and a half months) - Cruciate ligament damage (knee) (Ten months) - Concussion (Couple of weeks) - Groin (A month) - Hernia (Possibly two months) They're all different injuries and there isn't a hamstring there. A great player for us, but he will never be the player he was around 2001-2002. I didn't particularly like the way he handled himself in the summer of 2005, but he was very important to us during some rather lean years. I loved him when he was here, but he's not the 18 year old kid screaming past the Argentine defence any more. He's a 28 year old injury-ravaged striker who can't seem to get a run of games behind him and hasn't for a good 18 months now. He wouldn't improve our team and if we signed players based on their past exploits with us, we'd be calling Gary Mac out of retirement. To be honest, his current predicament at Newcastle (who won't be winning anything any time soon - already their first team have been knocked out of the Carling Cup to Arsenal's reserves and kids) serves him right. He mucked about with his contract, was sold at a ridiculously low fee to a club where he could "win trophies". They didn't. We wouldn't meet Madrid's asking price and he moved to Newcastle to secure his England place instead of holding out for a move back to us.

I speak as a fan of Trezeguet, but he's not the sort of partner Torres needs to thrive.

I got 10 myself. I had Hobbs in place of Finnan.

Torres Benayoun Arbeloa

We have to respect his religious beliefs. As oran says, it's an extremely important day for Jews and we should respect that.

Mascherano Torres Arbeloa

Benayoun was never going to play well when he's out on the left and Croch is up front. He needs to the front players to be making runs, so thathe can look for the wee through balls eg. Torres first goal in pre season, Kuyt's second against Toulouse. With Crouch in the team, he'll be looking for crosses. Out on the left, he'll have to cut back on to his right. It's not his natural game. Benayoun is a great little player, but he wasn't used correctly or in a team that suited his qualities yesterday and he looked poor as a result.

I was actually thinking we might move for Owen in January if Crouch was sold. English, not cup-tied, counts as homegrown, would be able to slot in easily as he knows the club etc. I suspect Rafa's rotation policy would suit him as well. I don't think it's any coincidence that his season at Real Madrid coincided with his best non-injured spell for quite a while. Then again, he'd have to take a huge paycut and I don't for one second see it happening, Then again, maybe Rafa would see Owen as another Fowler signing. The experienced player who would jump at a chance to rejoin the club and set about proving himself. It didn't work with Fowler, he just didn't have the legs. That doesn't mean he won't try his luck again. </Wild speculation>

Finnan Reina Sissoko

If he hasn't signed by mid-January, I imagine we'll make it known we are open to offers for him.

I have no doubt that some are deliberately exaggerating their "outrage".

They're also completely misinformed and dismiss reasoned argument completely because it doesn't suit their point of view. Most of them are trying to prove their credentials - which is jsut disgusting. The irritating thing is that Carra would no sooner break the boycott of the Sun that any of them.

I'm 19 and I'm firmly in the camp of maintaining the Sun boycott and the Sun boycott alone. I don't need to start a vendetta and expend fake anger in an effort to prove my supporting credentials.

Quite unbelievably, Masch has taken a long haul flight to Australia to play for Argentina in a friendly in Melbourne tomorrow night. He'll be too jet lagged to play on Saturday.

I think the same. That BHB character on RAWK presents himself as an uber fan. He feigns outrage all the time. He's usually misinformed as well, which makes it even worse. The voices of reason on RAWK were drowned out by those who refused to construct coherent arguments and instead filled the topic with "NOTW is the Sunday S*N!!!!!!!!!!"

The amount of misinformed people on RAWK is stunning. Some of the things being said against our players is sickening really.

Rubbish. The paper is not part of the boycott and there should be no problem.

Some of the s*** directed towards Chris Bascombe was terrifying. I got the genuine impression that some would have kicked the crap out of him if they bumped into him on the street. It's a disgusting way for our support to behave - it really is.

That BHB character is the worst one. He likes to portray himself as the "uber fan". I just think it's disgusting.

The club officially co-operate with the News of the World. As far as I'm aware, the Hillsborough families were consulted before Owen wrote a column for them. Some of the s*** in the RAWK topic is shocking. It's an embarrassment really and completely takes away from the real campaign.

My thoughts exactly. He'll be nice and fresh come Pompey away.

I think Tomkins is an excellent analyst. Very interesting article indeed.