Perhaps the nearest similarity in sport to taking a penalty would be walking out to bat in a test match.



Ricky Ponting recently described the 16 point checklist that he went through before facing his first ball. Some of it was fairly banal ("take out chewing gum"icon_wink.gif and a touch OCD (saying "watch the ball" twice as the bowler ran in). But there was also a lot of stuff that made sense regarding the pace at which he walked to the wicket, the routine he went through when he arrived at the wicket. All geared up to making sure that when he was ready to face the ball his state of mind was "what will be will be"



It did strike me tonight that a simplified checklist might be useful for some, not all, inexperienced penalty takers.

TBH while most of Chelsea's dumbest decisions have had Roman's fingerprints all over them I think he's blameless on this. I think that this sale will go against what Roman wants, and he's allowing it simply because he's given Jose the freedom to build his own side - which is exactly what I wanted him to do.



If I really, really dig for positives from this then I'd say that buying Mata will buy David Moyes extra time at Manchester United. And seeing that I don't think he's a top level boss (I mean he can't even beat Sunderland over 2 legs in a semi final of the only competition they could win) this is actually a good thing.



But in truth I just think this a Kevin Keegan seling Andy Cole to the Mancs type sale.

Two things strike me about the Mata deal (if the £37m being accepted is true). 1) It's more than Man Utd's offers for Fabregas IIRC, which just about confirms that their offers for him in the summer were stupid/insulting. 2) Is this Chelsea saying that they don't see Man Utd as rivals now?

For me Chelsea are taking the best offer we can get. We'd have preferred to have sold him abroad, but no comparable offers were made.



Man United have hopefully dipped far enough that they aren't rivals this season. But they'll probably be rivals next season and they'd be rivals next season even if they didn't buy Mata, because they'd have just bought someone else instead.



Despite what Wenger said, I don't think the reason we didn't loan Ba to Arsenal was because we saw them as competitors. I just think that the loan of Lukaku worked out far better for us. Ba is pretty much 3rd choice back up and we are prepared to let him sit on the bench. Lukaku would have suffered a lot more than Ba will.







Barca paid 35m for Fabregas. Has he really developed any more since leaving Arsenal. Seeing as Barca were spending big on Neymar they could have got lucky.



Don't forget Arsenal were offering 40m for Suarez at the same time. Most clubs at least were trying to claim FFP hardships as a way to not overpay for players.

I think I'm more surprised that they're letting it happen now, rather than wait and see what takers there are in the summer. Unless Chelsea just think that Man Utd's desperation right now means they'll get peak price for him.







It was supposedly £35m plus add-ons up to £40m. Seeing as Barcelona have won pretty much everything that's probably near to the full £40m. I don't think Man Utd were ever going to get so lucky as for Barcelona to sell him for less than they paid when he's still approaching/in his prime years. It may be contentious, but I also just personally think he's the better player of the two and slightly more suited to Man Utd's needs. Fabregas would be around the Ozil price, their first offer was less than they ultimately paid for Fellaini.



And don't you forget that the reason Arsenal were offering £40m (+ £1) for Suarez was because they thought that it would trigger a release clause Liverpool would not be able to refuse. As soon as they learnt different they dropped out of the running, probably because they realised how much it would take to get him and how much they'd just ed Liverpool off.

Mata is a good player, but he is a luxury player, and United do not need a luxury player, at least not while they still have Rooney and Van Persie (and a quickly developing Januzaj).



United are crying out for a midfield leader - Personally, I reckon they'd have been better advised to buy Cabaye from Newcastle - He's equally as classy and offers a lot more of what United actually need right now.

Totally agree. A wide man who cuts in will not solve their problems, not saying he's a bad player but spending the £37m on a £25m Cabaye and a £12m centre back would have been wiser IMO

David Moyes performance as united manager is laughable (to the rest of the footballing world) and abymal (to united fans).



It's hilarious to see their empire crumbling. Failure to secure CL football this season will only be the beginning. What's most brilliant of all is that it's their own self righteous proclamations of sticking by their man that will be their ultimate undoing.



Moyes is a dour, clueless scot. He's nowhere near good enough. Martinez is now showing the true meaning of good football management and quality football over at everton. He's making moyes look like a turd covered in bird hair.



And the ever watchful ferguson sit's in the shadows, high in the stands at old trafford. Watching.....waiting, ominously casting a cloud of doom over moyes' obliterated facial structure, emaciated from the overwhelming pressures of keeping the empire afloat.



The british empire once ruled the world, but has now been reduced to little more than a scabby island being financially and morally raped by the rest of europe with crimes being comitted againts it's own citizens by illegitimate immigrants who would be described as doing nothing more than stealing oxygen from good humans.



I hope, nay pray, we see the same collapse in the once powerful manchester united empire.

Moyes isn't a bad manager. He will get United winning trophies if they give him enough time. Whoever followed Ferguson was onto a loser, it was completely a poisoned chalice. The reason United aren't great now is because the squad Ferguson left really isn't that good. Would they have been better under Ferguson this season? Of course. But not because of Ferguson being a genius, more because he was there.



When he left, the other teams thought 'Why not have a go at them?'. The castle walls were down and other teams pillaged. Teams going to Old Trafford in the past went there to lose, they prepared to lose and planned their gameplan around making things as hard as possible in order to minimise the scoreline, thus preventing themselves from scoring or taking control of the game. Now Ferguson has left, teams going to OT are having a go, getting men forward and playing at a much higher tempo than they would previously. It's a psychological thing, teams don't see United as an unbeatable force anymore. If you had put any other manager, no matter how good they were, into that job, this dip would have happened. It was inevitable.



The only thing Moyes/the board did wrong was not signing anyone in the summer. It was amazingly obvious that they needed strengthening in midfield and could have done with 2 or 3, yet they only managed to get one, and criminally overpaid.

United generate too much money for any decline to be more than temporary. The scale of the rebuilding that they're planning does create a risk that the new players don't gell. But if they get it wrong the first time they'll eventually get it right.



It does amuse me when people like Gary Neville insist that Moyes' job is safe because United give their managers time. The last time United had to make that decision was in 1989. Not sure that the Glazers were involved in the decision to give Fergie more time.



More relevant perhaps would be the Glazers recent record with the Tampa Bay Bucs. They've just appointed their 4th Head Coach since 2008.

Whilst I agree, United have been poor and even I didn't expect this. However, I really don't believe, after January, things will be as bad as people expect/hope. Liverpool really aren't that strong, when everybody is fit we can compete with any of the big teams in a game, but our strength in depth is poor and I can't see us finishing strongly unless we pull off a miracle in the market. We're essentially solely reliant upon Suarez/Sturridge scoring, if they aren't firing it's hard to see where the attack will come from. Even worse, we don't have a solid defence to rely upon, Rodgers hasn't looked convinced by any of our four centre halves and the full backs have been abysmal. Lucas remains a 7/10 player and he's injured, making our midfield look even weaker.



We need to sign a left back, a defensive mid and a versatile forward. Funnily enough, I said similar in the summer and we ended up with Aspas, Cissokho and Luis Alberto. Alberto has potential, but the other two haven't been great. I feel slightly sorry for Cissokho because he has lacked support and often looked isolated, but Aspas just isn't of the required quality.



With United strengthening so much in January (assuming they have another signing or two up their sleeve) and us looking weaker every time somebody hobbles off, I'm expecting United to step up at least another gear or two, whilst I can't see us getting much better.

This thread is certainly quieter since M.U aren't winning all the time mind!

guilty, but i've been busy, honest.



not convinced by Moyes at all, was underwhelmed at the time of appointment, and that's no improved.



particularly earlier in the season he made a number of substitutions of a cautious nature when United were in winning (if not secure) positions, and they ended up dropping points after he appeared to be closing the game out.



some finger pointing from him last night at the players which is fair enough, but he's had some shockers himself, not least not addressing the midfield situation properly, and consequently play Jones in there, I like Jones but he's not a midfielder.



Delighted to get Mata, agree Cabaye would be a cracking signing too, but sounds like he's PSG bound.



As someone who sat through the (relative) glory days of Docherty, the dourness of Sexton, the roller coaster of Big Ron and the early, not so successful days of fergie, I've seen worse situations.



Ferguson's last couple of seasons, running City so close, then winning the PL again last year were amongst his finest achievements imo, and it was a real illustration of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole.



That said I also don't think United are many acquisitions away from having a very good squad, but a few positions need work.

And Liverpool doing ok is also having an effect.



Saddened has been quiet today, has he spontaneously combusted or something?

Pretty sure i'd hide away after that 'n' all

Best part about the derby was the response after it. At least three of my mates sent me the screen grab of the post game statistics, showing Everton's possession and shots, seemingly clutching at straws in some belief they 'dominated' the game.



Rodgers played it perfectly (much like Lambert did against us for Villa just a few games ago), he let Everton have the ball and we split them wide open every time we got it. We maintained shape and energy whilst our attack used its energy running into space, rather than making endless runs to no avail.



I really didn't see that coming, I thought Everton would have reverted to Moyes-esque tactics, settling for the draw and seeing what they could nick, but they didn't, they rushed in and got picked apart, whilst we blocked the majority of their efforts.

Hopefully liverpool win tomorrow and then man united are 9 points away from CL football.



If United miss out on CL football their loss of income initially won't hurt them as such. But the loss of prestige will. Their ability to attract the better players when other big guns can offer as much money + CL football, will be reduced. Which means in theory those teams will continue to thrive while united will start to find things abit harder than normal.



Miss out on CL football again and then the cumulative effect of the time away from CL football in terms of income and attracting the best players starts to bite more.



Hopefully this will come to pass, it will be great to witness the raw cyclical nature of sport in full swing and in the flesh, with the downfall of the red empire and the blue moon rising.

Moyes record breaking season so far:





Stoke earn first win over Man Utd since 1984

Swansea win first ever game at Old Trafford

Newcastle win at Man Utd for first time since 1972

Everton achieve same feat for first time since 1992

West Brom win at Old Trafford for first time since 1978

My favourite quote of the week:



"I don't know what we have to do to win," Moyes said after the game.



No sh*t david.



Keep up the good work, you clueless f*ck!!

You aren't obsessed with Man United, are you??.....







Every club has one main strength and United have recently lost theirs.... City and Chelsea's strength is their money, take that from them and they are in a similar strife to what United presently are, if not more.



Simple fact is that United have lost their biggest attribute, Ferguson, and are struggling to come to terms with it - Likelihood is we will never see such a dominant period by just one side in English football ever again.

Bye-bye, Joe.

I'm not convinced it was all down to some Rodgers masterplan. The fact Distin was missing and Alcaraz was partnering Jagielka and Stones deputising for Coleman was the most telling thing. The first goal was a header from a corner. The second was a bizarre goal, just where on earth was Alcaraz while that was happening? The third was a simple clip over the top of a sleeping defense, much like today's Adebayor goal. Jagielka day dreaming and ignoring the striker wandering in behind him. The fourth Jagielka passed to Suarez on the half way line.



Everton are a decent side, but offer little threat if Lukaku isn't playing, bar Mirallas' individual threat. Our inability to score will cost us a place in the top 7 let alone 4 IMO. It's not only Liverpool that find it easy to keep Everton at bay.

1 post in a week, jesus, it's dead on here.



Liverpool winning or something???

Yes, it is dead in here. But it's not because Liverpool are threatening to qualify for the CL again.

Come on, it must be. That's all people live for on here.