Albert Quixall

De Gea did well too. Martial was trying to beat his man but, as is always the case, he was constantly having to run back to help out Shaw and then look for the ball deep. Two man midfield made it easier for Juve to stifle counter attacks and keep the ball when necessary. No subs either when the introduction of Fred might have freed up a bit more space to allow Mata to get in amongst them. I still think we'll get out of the group but I can't see us progressing further than round one of the knockout stage. As for Lukaku, I was hoping it was a patch of poor form that he'd play through but he really has been dire.

Just look at the recent history of the British game and you'll see that British managers are far from dumb and tactically inept. Sure, we have a physical game in England but it isn't a case of either-or. I've listed examples above of managers, great innovative managers, who married brains and brawn to create teams that won the biggest trophies. I seriously doubt that a single one of them ever espoused any 'hostility to theory' which is at the core of anti-intellectualism. At club level, we were unmatched for years. International football is another story but England managers have had to deal with FA committees for a long time now. Why do you think Clough never got the job?

The British Isles once produced some of the finest players in the game anywhere. As I said before, from 1977 to 1982, the European Cup stayed in the UK. Forest were not a side a brilliant individuals by a long chalk but Clough and Taylor's tactics were played to perfection and that team beat the best Europe had to offer. They were disciplined and each player knew his job well. The Liverpool side that won it in 1977 and 1978 were, essentially, Shankly's boys and they dominated continental opposition. Even Villa, under Tony Barton, copied the format laid down by Liverpool and Forest and beat the mighty Bayern. Jock Stein won it once and lost one final, beating Leeds United home and away in the semi; and in those days, Leeds were a phenomenally good side. We have produced numerous players with brains, skill, and guts. For Ireland, there's Best, Brady, Giles, Stapleton, Whiteside, Keane, O'Leary, Jennings, McIlroy, to name but a few. For England, Charlton, Moore, Mullery, Bell, Banks, Ball, Peters, Stiles, Cohen, Wilson, Greaves, Channon, Clarke, and that's just a few. The Scots provided Law, Dalglish, Bremner, Baxter, Johnstone, Grieg, McNeil, Lennox, and Gilzean, and the Welsh have given us Hughes, Cliff Jones, Charles, and Giggs. My point is that we have produced players and managers every bit as good, and better, than their continental counterparts. Shankly was a great thinker, as was Busby and Jimmy Murphy. They were innovators and men who realized that football wasn't just about the chairman making money, but society as a whole. Brian Clough was another man cut from the same cloth and he made no bones about his contempt for the men who ran the game. Quite why England and the other nations from the British Isles have failed to produce the same quality of players and managers in later years is beyond me. Every now and again you get a Robson or a Shearer who comes along but the standard overall has dropped. Germany, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength as have the Spaniards, the French, and the Italians. We don't invest in young players. We haven't got the number of coaches required, and grassroots football suffers from a chronic lack of funding. @Stretford End Phil will no doubt be able to point to the German system as being the model we should follow and he'd be right to do so. So why aren't we?

I can understand him picking Newcastle but, in any event, Blackburn refused to do business with United. There was a lot of bad feeling back then that only started to thaw when Berg was signed. The Keane transfer really soured things with Dalglish and Walker but if it were a choice between signing Keane from Forest or Shearer from Blackburn, I'd go for Keano every time.

Good point. I did. Gazza was a brilliant player who would have lit the place up. Fergie would have handled him well. Shearer was 30 goals a season guaranteed.

Andy Cole, Ruud, Rio, Veron? Fergie had no problem paying massive fees for players. Martin Edwards had fits at the money we spent. Fuck the Glazers. Underinvestment from 2005 onwards is one of the reasons we have spent crazy money since Fergie stepped down.

Ole and Shearer together along with Andy Cole. Goals galore.

McTominay's improvement over the space of a couple of months has been self-evident. At this time, he is, perhaps, a decent young player, but he played Hazard like a veteran. Fergie, apparently, rates him and you don't get praise higher than that. Agree with you about Shaw. As for Rashford, I think Martial will leave at the end of this season and Rashford will step up.

Might have bagged the CL before 1999 with Shearer in the team, but, there again, we wouldn't have signed Yorke.

The UK and Ireland has produced some of the finest talent - on the field and in the dugout, the game has seen. Busby and Shankly were years ahead of their time and the League didn't care for it. The league wanted to ban the league champions from playing in Europe because of the 'wogs and dagos,' amongst other things. The European Cup stayed in England from 1977 to 1982, won by teams predominately comprised of men from the British Isles. Celtic won it in 1967 with lads from Glasgow and in 1968, we took the crown with a great mixture of Englishmen, Scots, and Irish. Bob Paisley outfoxed the best Europe had to offer and so did Brian Clough. Those man had 'intelligence and tactical discipline' in spades. So did men like Bill Nicholson and Jock Stein. Almost forgot (shame on me) Sir Alf. He failed to evolve after 1970 when men like Rinus Michels were revolutionizing the game. Funny how Ramsey went from innovator to has-been in just a few years. You could argue that he had lesser players than 1966 and 1970 but I think it's more than that. Other managers adapted, adopted, and improved. Ramsey didn't.

Just dug out my box set of 'I Claudius' with Sir Derek Jacobi and a host of big names. I might intersperse with season one of 'Midsomer Murders' or Joan Hickson's 'Miss Marple'.

I used to go out with a girl from Stand Grammar years ago. I heard they knocked it down.

I'd love to see Willian in a United shirt. He'd make a huge difference to our forward play.

Arsenal getting a right leathering. If you think Smalling is bad, thank your lucky stars we haven't got Mustafi.