Memories of that dismal night in Rome some four months ago undoubtedly still linger among United fans, players, coaching staff…well anyone even remotely connected with the club. Surely the perfect tonic to banish those memories would be to repeat that feat and have another bash at a third consecutive Champions League final. Madrid awaits if we dare to dream and it all starts here.

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Tottenham away has never been a stroll in the park. Saying that, our last eight Premier League visits to  White Hart Lane have yielded six wins and two draws. Easy pickings then, or so one may be led to believe. Well if you’re that naive then I’d advise you to stop reading here as Saturday’s trip to the capital will certainly be a massive test for a United side that have hardly stormed out of the blocks so far this season.

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United have released a list of their Champions’ League squad members, and importantly, Owen Hargreaves is a part of it. The 25-man squad also includes Kiko Macheda, Gabriel Obertan and Darron Gibson. However, Anderson has been relegated to the secondary list of additional 10 members which includes Welbeck and Evans.

Curiously, Zoran Tosic doesn’t even feature in any of the lineups.

25-man squad: 1.Van der Sar, 2.Neville, 3.Evra, 4.Hargreaves, 5.Ferdinand, 6.Brown, 7.Owen, 9.Berbatov, 10.Rooney, 11.Giggs, 12.Foster, 13.Park, 15.Vidic, 16.Carrick, 17.Nani, 18.Scholes, 20.Fabio, 21.Rafael, 22.O’Shea, 24.Fletcher, 25.Valencia, 26.Obertan, 27.Macheda, 28.Gibson, 29.Kuszczak.

Additional players registered: 8.Anderson, 19.Welbeck, 23.J.Evans, 31.C.Evans, 33.Hewson, 36.Gray, 37.Cathcart, 38.Zieler, 39.Chester, 40.Amos.

Edit: Another strange exclusion is Richie de Laet

Edit 2: according to UEFA rules additional players could be added i.e., any player born on or after 1 January 1988 who has been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday.

I have a secret to admit – I love the attitude of seventeen year olds. Cocky? Arrogant? I’ve always believed that confidence should exceed talent by a simple 2:1 ratio. When the sun-earth-moon align, the solar eclipse can blind one with power and beauty. However, in my opinion, there is nothing uglier than when vision-reach-grasp align.

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So here we are then. With just three competitive (if you prefer not to count the Community Shield as meaningful) games of the season played, we face our first big test in the shape of Arsenal.

While last season’s meeting at Old Trafford in the Premier League was hardly of massive significance, tomorrow’s encounter will certainly provide a decent benchmark to how we are shaping up in terms of our title credentials this campaign.

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The Arjen Robben story continues to gather steam, especially now that Wesley Sneijder has reportedly agreed a five year deal with Inter.

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The tale of Fletcher’s ascent is best sung to the familiar tune of “zero to hero.” The young Scot, originally billed as the next Beckham, experienced a break-out season last term, making 26 Premier League appearances  for United. However, when I try to explain his rise, I find myself at a loss for words. What makes Fletcher so good?

As per usual, low expectations play a part. Sir Alex struggled to find the best role for Fletcher, and, when finally moved centrally, he languished in the shadow of Paul Scholes. Fans abused him mercilessly, decrying his game as boring and languid. But now the chorus has shifted tunes to shouts of “efficient” and “tidy.”

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I thought that might grab your attention. I’ll apologise now for falsely raising your hopes and expectations as, let’s be honest, this sort of transfer doesn’t look likely to happen in the immediate future.

Although I have to admit that if I were in Sir Alex Ferguson’s shoes, I would be trying damn hard to ensure that this, or a deal of similar proportions, was completed before the end of the current transfer window.

I know it’s hardly a revelation, but I think it’s plain obvious that we lack a creative spark in midfield that is capable of unlocking even the tightest of defensive systems. Ronaldo was clearly capable of doing that from a wide area but now I believe it’s time for a whole new change of tack.

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This has been a topic I’ve been meaning to touch upon for a long time but kept procrastinating till now. A report was up on the Guardian yesterday, where Sports Direct, a sports apparel business owned by businessman-cum-Newcastle owner (and and part-time clown in the local circus) Mike Ashley, was forced to apologise for printing shirts mocking the Hillsborough victims. The t-shirt in question had ’96 Not Enough’ printed in front making a reference to the 96 victims of the tragedy.

So why am I talking about this? For one, the t-shirt cost £55. More importantly though, it was a Manchester United fan who bought it and uploaded photos of it on his Facebook page.

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… whilst I write the report for the Burnley game.

1. The Republik of Mancunia interviewed Rob Smyth. Smyth, of course, is a freelancer who also writes for the Guardian. He’s a United fan, and regular readers will recall our interview with him last year (you can read that here.) I like Smyth’s willingness to speak his mind on issues concerning United and football in general.

2. United Rant takes a look at the Vidic rumours that are doing the rounds and wonders what the future holds for our defence.

3. The Guardian‘s Sportblog asks about the Premiership action: “What have we learned from the Premier League’s tales of the unexpected?” I have two answers for that

• Upsets can happen. Shock. Horror.
• Hacks will open up drafts of published articles from last week, do a ‘find’ for ‘Rafa Benitez’, replace it with ‘Alex Ferguson’ and then hit publish.

4. Lawrence Donegan, of the Guardian again, looks at the Glazer influence on this summer.

Match report will follow later in the night/day, depending on where you are.