Luis Enrique

it was 20 minutes into the game before it dawned on me that taylor was missing today. I didn't miss him. & I don't think the team did either.

I've never been to a match in this competition, I don't consider it a first team tournament. I'm no more interested in it today than I ever have been. our participation in it is merely a reminder of how :censored: we are & frankly I don't need that. i'm glad some people are getting enjoyment from it & for that reason i hope you get what you want out of it. no harm done.

ok, good, I'll wind my neck back in

did anyone else here people booing Mancini when his name was read out before the game & again when he came on? I despair sometimes.

I think a straight red for violent conduct is automatic 3 games. but for a technical offence (ie being last man) it'll just be 1.

it was telling that as soon as we went down to 10 bury put absolutely everything down our left hand side where mellor was struggling. taylor completely abandoned his responsibility to protect him. a joke. I thought we were pathetic first half. started slowly & then looked beaten & gutless with 10 men. second half was a great effort & with a bit of luck we would have got a point. bury clearly couldn't handle the ball in the air & smith scared the hell out of them. if we'd got one anything could have happened, they were rocking. simpson was MOM by a country mile. special moment seeing gerrard back in goal, shame we didn't get a result to go with it.

my city mates tell me the mancini jr that refused to play the other week is a different one, not the one we just signed. & scapuzzi looks a real prospect...

matty rush? a donkey? the world's gone mad, MAD!

i think cisak has had a great season so far but that third goal is an absolute howler on his part. all keepers have them every now & again, no harm done. you can't and shouldn't expect the ref to spare you there. you go for the ball and you clear out anything that gets in your way.

I not saying the lad doesn't have issues. but I saw it different today. he was still tracking back & helping lee right up to the late injury (cramp?)

I know he gets a lot of stick (on here at least) but can't see what the complaint could be with him today. worked hard going forward & supported his full back defending too. thought he & lee looked a really good combo. rightly got a great reception as he got subbed too. all in, a good day!

poor first half, really decent effort second half. thought morais was excellent.

oh my god. this was my first replica kit. I was 11. still my favourite kit of all time.

christ knows how he's got in this list. not what you'd call a talent, but a donkey? better than most players who've worn the shirt since he left.

adeyemi had a really solid game tonight. not amazing, but did all the basics well, worked his bollocks off & scored a good goal. how he can get stick for tonight I just do not know. I've seen his bad games. this wasn't one of them.

in match worn shirts top trumps, you are the winner

i have a match worn neil redfearn home shirt from our promotion campaign of 90/91. no amount of money could prise that from me.

morais seemed frustrated & angry the whole time he was on the pitch, not sure what it was about today. Shame, he's more talented than the rest of the midfield put together.

+1 if Taylor was ill then I'll forgive his abysmal showing today. but doesn't explain how he stayed on til the death. bizarre.

no money equals a small squad that isn't good enough for this division. not sure how this is dickov's fault. it isn't.

i thought the couple of times we got them right we looked a real threat, and obviously that's where our only threat came from. but when we got them wrong, they were dreadful. and more often than not we got them wrong. still, overall, not too worried after day one. so long as we don't repeat the same mistakes week in week out.

it's hard to judge anything on the first game of the season but here's my view for what it's worth: back four plus the keeper looks like it will be a really good unit & if they stay fit might just keep us up. smith & reid surely cannot be allowed to play as a pair again? that's one of the least mobile partnerships I've ever seen. the majority of our set pieces were absolutely diabolical. even by oldham athletic's standards. we're going to need better than that if we're going to score anywhere near enough goals this season as I don't see too many coming from open play. parker looks like he can make the difference. he'll quickly become a marked man if he keeps that up. looking forward to seeing him start. the over-riding feeling I have six hours later though is that £23 feels like a lot of money to pay for football of that standard. & I mean from both teams when I say that. I thought both teams were pretty poor today, defences apart. still, you can't expect the finished product on day one so hopefully the quality all round will get better.

i'd be as glad to see the back of him as everyone else, but it's not selfish of him to reject the move. we gave him a contract, the guy has a living to earn and a family to support, there's no reason for him to go down there and become part of their financial roulette. don't see how anyone can blame the guy, frustrating as it is.

no.

obviously i echo everyone's sentiments about alan's health and hope he looks after himself. the last bastion of common sense has now left the board of this club. i find this deeply troubling.