Feck! I’d love the Palace to have a tenth of your worries.
R Madrid
4-3-3
1 Keylor Navas
2 Dani Carvajal
5 Raphael Varane
4 Sergio Ramos (c)
12 Marcelo
10 Luka Modric
14 Casemiro
8 Toni Kroos
11 Gareth Bale
9 Karim Benzema
22 Isco
Subs
6 Nacho
7 Cristiano Ronaldo
13 Kiko Casilla
15 Theo Hernandez
17 Lucas
20 Marco Asensio
23 Mateo Kovacic
Man Utd
4-3-3
1 David De Gea
25 Antonio Valencia (c)
2 Victor Lindelof
12 Chris Smalling
36 Matteo Darmian
6 Paul Pogba
31 Nemanja Matic
21 Ander Herrera
22 Henrikh Mkhitaryan
9 Romelu Lukaku
14 Jesse Lingard
Subs
8 Juan Mata
11 Anthony Martial
16 Michael Carrick
17 Daley Blind
19 Marcus Rashford
20 Sergio Romero
27 Marouane Fellaini
Matches
Tue 8th August
R Madrid 19:45 Man UtdOffside!
He actually did ok while he was on. Made a nuisance of himself. But for a good 40 minutes of that game Madrid were a cut above. Fortunately Utd won’t have to be playing them every week.
Meh.
Yep, Real in a different class for most of it, but their first goal deffo looked offside…
It was.
All the premier league teams are miles behind the best in Europe. I don’t see much changing this season.
Agreed. We seem to spend large amounts of money on lumps who can run all day rather than skills and holding play.
The best in Europe being basically Real Madrid & Barcelona. I’m not convinced there’s currently the same gulf between the PL’s best teams & Bayern, Juventus, PSG or Athletico Madrid. But we’ll get a better idea as the CL progresses.
Would you rather watch Barca, RM, PSG smashing 5+ goals past mediocre opposition every week, or the possibility of the likes of Huddersfield getting one over on the big 5 or 6 teams in the EPL?
The EPL may be full of overpaid wannabees but it does have the most exciting football in Europe.
I disagree.
I think this sums up the gulf in class. One of United players being lauded for ‘making a nuisance of himself’’ - he cost close to £30m and gets paid a fortune. Surely the ‘biggest club in the world’ should expect more?
Real Madrid beat Juventus quite comfortably in the CL final last May with Juventus having comfortably disposed of Barcelona in the QF. With Real also beating Bayern 6-3 over two legs I suppose there’s a good case for saying that they are currently out on their own. Monaco won’t be the team they were last time out. I think Chelsea & City may do fairly well in it this season. I’d hope Utd might reach the knock out stages. I’m not sure about Liverpool. Their first XI ought to be good enough but whether the squad has enough depth given the commitments remains to be seen.
Second best bit of selling Everton have done in recent years. Getting WBA to pay £6m for Anichebe being far and away the best.
Just because Liverpool fans developed an inflated sense of entitlement, it doesn’t mean that all other clubs fans have. 
Continued success has to be earned & Utd haven’t done enough over the past 5 years to have any such expectations regardless of money spent.
The transfer fees & the wages are a reflection of the PL’s popularity and ability to market itself. Perhaps less to do with the players abilities. But think what it would actually cost to persuade a Toni Kroos, a Neymar, an Isco or Messi/Ronaldo to come & play in England. That puts someone like Fellaini’s fee & wages in perspective.
And Andy Carroll, rite?
Not sure what Carroll has got to do with it really. Flopped at Liverpool & hasn’t been a great success at West Ham. For all his faults, & they are many, at least Fellaini has managed to win a title in Belgium and the FA Cup, League Cup & Europa League here so far. Some people evidently find him useful even if he isn’t pretty to watch.
He’s shite and cost a lot of money - like Fellaini, in case you’re struggling with the obscure connection.
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