Gotta hand it to Wenger

he builds a fine football team. great stuff from them tonight - winning with style, movement, pace and cutting edge.

Should be a fine battle between us and them this season - and I for one don't begrudge them their position right now. So far this season, they've deserved it.

We're starting to hit gear now and Tevez is, for me, turning into a mini-Cantona. With him, Rooney, Ronaldo in the same team, Hargreaves holding, the emergence of Anderson, Nani and lets be dead straight - Vidic and an outstanding Ferdinand - we're a hell of a team too.

Makes the vermin and renters look an embarrassment with their efficient but ultimately turgid %@#$&!s

Originally Posted by UnitedRoad

he builds a fine football team. great stuff from them tonight - winning with style, movement, pace and cutting edge.

Should be a fine battle between us and them this season - and I for one don't begrudge them their position right now. So far this season, they've deserved it.

We're starting to hit gear now and Tevez is, for me, turning into a mini-Cantona. With him, Rooney, Ronaldo in the same team, Hargreaves holding, the emergence of Anderson, Nani and lets be dead straight - Vidic and an outstanding Ferdinand - we're a hell of a team too.

Makes the vermin and renters look an embarrassment with their efficient but ultimately turgid %@#$&!s

Post of the year so far.
Tevez is absolute class and anyone who doubted that at any time is a merchant banker first rate.

Originally Posted by penguin1

Post of the year so far.
Tevez is absolute class and anyone who doubted that at any time is a merchant banker first rate.

i love you talking to yourself.

the other turds have got my goat, i'm getting a whisky.

Originally Posted by UnitedRoad

Tevez is, for me, turning into a mini-Cantona.

I've heard this said a few times now and i have to say i have no idea why people are comparing Tevez to Cantona - they are nothing like each other as players, nothing like each other personality wise and nothing like each other in the perspective of how they came to the club. In fact i can see no reason what-so-ever to mention Tevez and Cantona in the same sentance!

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

I've heard this said a few times now and i have to say i have no idea why people are comparing Tevez to Cantona - they are nothing like each other as players, nothing like each other personality wise and nothing like each other in the perspective of how they came to the club. In fact i can see no reason what-so-ever to mention Tevez and Cantona in the same sentance

You mean apart from them both being swarthy second strikers with fantastic natural ability playing for Manchester United that put on weight quite easily and who's temperament has been at question in the past?

I personally get the same kind of feeling about Tevez as I had with Eric. Can't tell you what it is and why I feel it but I don't feel it about anyone else in the squad. It could be homoerotic.




Maybe that doesn't travel #@&%!s on the other side of the Atlantic?

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

I've heard this said a few times now and i have to say i have no idea why people are comparing Tevez to Cantona - they are nothing like each other as players, nothing like each other personality wise and nothing like each other in the perspective of how they came to the club. In fact i can see no reason what-so-ever to mention Tevez and Cantona in the same sentance!

Come on Lou - it's the attitude. You honestly don't see it?

Eric was more over-the-top, with the turned up collar and the Gallic strut. But it's pretty plain to see in Tevez as well. The overwhelming self-belief, even before any goals came, the pure confidence he has in running at players, the certainty he has that he's a dangerous and special player. I sure see it, even if I definitely wouldn't put him in Cantona's class as a player. He's more of an athlete though, so he could end up approaching the same overall level of effectiveness.

there are players who become the heart of the team through attitude, style and the effect they have on the players around them. players you can't ignore on the field - the play never passes them by, they demand to be involved and to at the centre of things. cantona had this, keane had it, rooney has it and tevez has it.

Does more feel like me in the sense that Ronaldo will score even more goals now. Its almost like he will play ronaldinho/kaka role for us from now on. His first goal yesterday was like a classic centre forward goal.

Back to Wenger, this showdown with Lehmann is really interesting. Firstly, it's fun seeing someone stand up to Jens. But does Wenger really think Manuel Almunia has what it takes when Arsenal (finally) have to leave London for hostile aways? I dont rate Almunia. He's decent, a good no. 2, but on his day Lehmann still is a top keeper. Almunia isn't. I'll be really surprised if Wenger sticks with him.

Call me old fashioned but i'm just not big on comparing players, they all have their own styles and attributes, strengths and weaknesses. They're their own man.

Tevez is a good little player, he works hard and can link up well with both the midfield and other forwards, i think he has his own style, i actually dont cant remember a player in recent history quite like him that has played for us. We had hughesy who definitely carved out his own style, Cole and York that also were great and had their own style, Van Nistelroy, again a real force and again a unique and distinctive style and more recently Saha, who unfortunately is starting to be remembered for his time off the field rather than on it. Let Tevez develop his own style and bring his own uniqueness to the field and lets celebrate that rather than comparing him to Cantona.

I dunno, maybe there's no harm in comparing him to Cantona, maybe i'm just too old school these days.

Alright Crumps

I'm really looking forward to it being between two sides who play proper football this season. It would be a disgrace to football if Chelsea and Livepool were to be up there. Mind you, Arsenal look good but they havent really played anyone yet, the next 2 weeks will tell us a lot about how good they actually are. Cant wait for the Emirates game.

I am genuinely looking forward to the title race this season - football purists can't fail to be impressed with the quality of football that both teams are playing (in our case, for the last 2.5 games anyway)...

If Scholes is injured we may struggle against them down there without a first choice midfield but I think we're finally playing the stuff we are capable of.

Love them or hate them you can't say the gooners aren't playing some great stuff right now. I just want to see what will happen when they play some 'top' sides (the vermin this weekend will be a tough test).

I know the press get overexcited by Arsenal, but I have to admit - they looked absolutely devastating last night.

There'll be bigger tests for them to come and there's questions about them that simply can't be answered this early in the season - but that's not their fault.

They have won every game bar one and would've won that at Blackburn had Lehmann not screwed up. The way they've ignored the post Henry obituary has been very admirable and Wenger has a lot of faith and belief in his young side and they're repaying that confidence.

They seem to play with more pace and are more direct than they were the last couple of years. The criticism has always been that there's one pass too many. Well, now they seem to be a little more decisive and can mix it up physically too.

The demands of the season are yet to kick in and test their squad but as we stand they are pretty irresistable and deserve the current plaudits.

I think we'll learn a lot about them in the next week and a half.

As said on here before they've got us, the vermin, portsmouth and a few away games in December... the table come Christmas will tell us all more about their potential.

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

As said on here before they've got us, the vermin, portsmouth and a few away games in December... the table come Christmas will tell us all more about their potential.

Indeed. If we can avoid defeat their next week then we're in a great position considering some of the difficult fixtures we've already got out the way and the comparatively easy ones Arsenal have had thus far.

Again, though, that's not their fault but we should learn a lot more about their credentials in the next few weeks.

I dont need to wait, they may have not played anyone yet but mostly they have the same team as last year and that was a team that was coming together well, they had some inconsistency but their fluid movement last year was good and at it's best very hard for any team to deal with. This year they have all been together a year longer and will improve and move up another gear which will likely be in getting more consistent. They are bound to have a few blips but they are going to be up there, i'm sure.

Our squad is stronger though and thats what should see us though in the end.

We have better players than Arsenal in all areas of the pitch.

Arsenal are terrific team playing some fine football by all accounts.

United are a dynamic and irrisistible force, packed with high class players, coached by the best around, and feeding off as strong a team spirit as you could hope to find. And they combine technical and tactical excellence with high speed and stunning movement to devastating effect.

United do have a weakness, however; their limbs are target practice for the opposition in countless games refereed by supine officials. This phenomenon added to the prerequisite straining of every sinew in the United cause often leaves us in the midst of selection headaches.

On the brightside, in the old days that meant Robson was out and we were £#%&!ed

Be interesting to see how well we do during this little injury spell...

an extremely, extremely good manager.

I don't have him up with Fergie, Paisley, Clough etc. but he is most certainly on that next rung down.

Like him or not, he has built some decent teams down there and he is doing it again.

We should be pleased. Look at 98/99 - a strong Arsenal forces us to even greater heights. This is now our main professional rivalry - not the JCLs at Stamford Bridge, the scousers or laughably, the hatstands at the eastlands.

Originally Posted by Jez Quigley

an extremely, extremely good manager.

I don't have him up with Fergie, Paisley, Clough etc. but he is most certainly on that next rung down.

Like him or not, he has built some decent teams down there and he is doing it again.

We should be pleased. Look at 98/99 - a strong Arsenal forces us to even greater heights. This is now our main professional rivalry - not the JCLs at Stamford Bridge, the scousers or laughably, the hatstands at the eastlands.

what more impressive is he has built those sides keeping a net profit in transfer market and playing attacking football always.