Another blow for Utd.....

NightStrike

Quentin Fortune has been ruled out for up to a year after knee-surgery following an injury in training.

He was just really coming good too. Had some poor games but on the whole was probably Utd's most improved player this season I'd say.

smiaras

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paddyduff

Yea he didn't live up to the previous season. All the same, bad blow.

NightStrike

I still think its good from the point of view that maybe now Ferguson will finally sign a left-back. Utd haven't sorted that position out since Irwin left really. Silvestre did well there for a bit (after a dodgy enough start) but he's a centre back now and O'Shea is not a left-back I'm sorry.

smiaras

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The Muppet

Bad luck on him but LB is one of the positions united needed to strengthen anyway . Fortune is no more than a squad player. He has been very unlucky with injuries hope its not as serious as it sounds.

The Phenom

Hey i like Fortune but i dont really see him as first team material yet anyway but since we are missing loads of people from the first team we could have used him.

carl carlson

Man utd are the richest club in the world yet they still play people like phil neville and Quentine Fortune . they are stricktly average players who won't aspire to great things . alex ferguson has been the architect of his own downfall buying good prospects instead of buying already established players like they should and can as they have the money

smiaras

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doozerjack

quote carl carlson:
"Man utd are the richest club in the world yet they still play people like phil neville and Quentine Fortune . they are stricktly average players who won't aspire to great things . alex ferguson has been the architect of his own downfall buying good prospects instead of buying already established players like they should and can as they have the money"

At the risk of being picky (but I dont think I am) and going on a rant (which I think I am, but its relevant), P Neville has won more club medals than any player at Arsenal, Chelsea, or any other club in England. The reason he's at the club is to provide a bit of balls and plug holes. Aspirations are not his problem. Skills are. He wasnt bought, he was "nurtured", like the guts of the team (9 of the starters against Porto last week).
Re established stars, one problem you might be missing out on (apart from the well documented one re the tight-ass Board) is the fact that no Brazilian / Spanish / Italian / French / other superstar, with his choice of team in the world, would choose to live in the north of England, rather than the Mediterranean. Money wont overcome that. And there arent really that many "established stars" who are native UK or Irish. Most of them were either "made" at OT, or are married to their childhood teams, eg Gerrard, Rooney.
One last point, re Ferguson's supposed downfall, even if he soldiers on another 10 years, winning nothing, he's still established himself as the most successful domestic manager in the history of British soccer. He might make mistakes, like the rest of us, but his rep is already legendary. Much to the annoyance of a lot of begrudgers.

re Fortune, its beyond bad luck at this stage. No club in the world has resources enough (or should have to) to cope with the curse thats hit that defensive line-up this last few months.

NightStrike

I think Peter Kenyon badly let Utd down, he messed up a lot of transfers this summer (more than just Ronaldinho apparently) and then when he did go to Chelski he went after the players Utd were after (Robben and more to come in the summer apparently).

Will be interesting to see what changes/additions are made to Utd this summer

NightStrike

Just as a side note too, Utd have four more points now than they had at this stage last season! Weird!

TwoShedsJackson

Fortune is a poor player, suspect temperament, and also injury-prone (correct me if I'm wrong but he's been out several times now for periods of three-four months or more).

His wages could be going to a decent left-back, which they will now have to try and sign - maybe they could get Maldini for a season or two

smemon

Originally posted by carl carlson
Man utd are the richest club in the world yet they still play people like phil neville and Quentine Fortune . they are stricktly average players who won't aspire to great things . alex ferguson has been the architect of his own downfall buying good prospects instead of buying already established players like they should and can as they have the money

you mean like veron?!

theres no point buying established players beacuse they've already won everything and have lost the hunger. only great players are worth buying- zidane, nesta, ronaldo etc...

plus utd want to establish their own team, not a manufactured short term one. young promising players are the way to go because they are hungry and young with time on their side, plus they are cheaper.

GreatKingRat

True. One thing ManU certainly has over Arsenal is the consistent success in churning out young players into the squad.
re the injury, it is a shocking run of bad luck alright. I think we've (Arsenal) we've lucky on the injury front this year. I still think we might have edged it, but it will be interesting to see the two teams at full strength next season.

Brian O'Leary

Ya they certainly have some class younger players coming up.Alex even thinks they are going to be better than the last bunch of home-grown players.ie.Scholes,Becks,etc.

Bungalow Bill

Originally posted by smemon
you mean like veron?!

theres no point buying established players beacuse they've already won everything and have lost the hunger. only great players are worth buying- zidane, nesta, ronaldo etc...

plus utd want to establish their own team, not a manufactured short term one. young promising players are the way to go because they are hungry and young with time on their side, plus they are cheaper.

You do know that there is such thing as young AND established??

Your point about players having lost the hunger is rubbish. Who can really imagine Beckham saying " I already won the Champions League, I don't really want to win it again!".
It's ridiculous!

I could list any number of established players who have moved clubs and remained great players.

Teams like Man Utd cannot rely on potential, they need quality all the time with a few up and comers, not a whole team of them!

JippoKelly

What United need is to play Tottenham over and over again to build some confidence. Saturday's win should provide a nice little morale boost for the Utd team.

How good were Keane and Giggs today?! They were ace. GInger Pele was s*** as usual though.

United aren't crumbling and they won't crumble. They've too many good players and as for them lacking hunger - that's rubbish. I refuse to accept that any team managed by someone as driven as Alex Ferguson could lack, or be allowed to lack, hunger. He hates losing too much. Like most of us, except most of us are used to losing at this stage (particularly us Liverpool fans ).

They mightn't be good enough to win the title next season ahead of Arsenal but they will be in the title shake up for sure.

As a bit of a Utd hater, I'm also apprehensive about Ole Gunnar returning from injury. He's an excellent, versatile player who'll pop up with some important goals and he's not a bad right winger either. His return is a massive boost for United.

And as for Fortune being injured, it's unfortuante for him but it might benefit Utd. He's been a liability as left-back. He's just not cut out for it, and United have better options there in O'Shea, Silvestre or, God forbid, even Phil Neville!

smemon

Originally posted by Bungalow Bill

I could list any number of established players who have moved clubs and remained great players.

so could i, duff, shearer, zidane, ronaldo, figo.... the list goes on. my point is you cant buy a world class team, you HAVE to have young nobodys in it to make it successful in the long term.

take arsenal, vieira and henry, heart and soul of arsenal were bought as nobodys and have turned out to be better than anything else arsenal could have bought at the time plus they were dirt cheap and had years and still do ahead of them.

SanFranMan

Utd did look a lot more confident on Sat. I think Ole G's absence was sorely abvious and thats why there was need to buy in Jan. I dont think the Beckham "issue" would still be a runner if Ole had been around this season. Its a shame we didnt see a full-strength Utd this year coz I think it would have been the closest and highest quality finish to the season since the PL began.
Theres are always next year tho, I think the top 3 will all be even stronger and tighter next season, frightening (and upsetting) as that may sound.

Ronaldo7

Why does everyone hate Phil Neville?

I think he has been one of the better players this season. In fact, he easily has been.

NightStrike

Yeah next season should be interesting all right. Utd are sure to splash the cash a bit after this season. I don't know about Arsenal because (a) they're the best at the min and Reyes is sure to leave a hole in their bank a/c but Chelsea could have a new manager and will more than likely bring in loads of players.