Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

Kylo Ren

Ah yeah Sean, but what about Pogba?

The_Kew_Tour

There is always January to sniff a player:)

Your Airbag

Sean Bateman wrote: »

Why is it rubbish?

Rooney's horrendous form during the last World Cup and subsequently for United coincided with his most recent transgression.

And look at Tiger Woods? The greatest golfer in the world in a game where there's more riding going on behind the scenes than people realise.

Giggs has been humilated and his legacy has been forever tarnished. Not for me...I'll always love the guy. But he was a model to step into the Bobby Charlton role and perhaps to be the football's next knight. That has to be all gone up in smoke now. There's no way Giggs could be knighted now...he's a Lester Piggott job. In my view Giggs will really struggle to recover from his public humiliation (and time isn't exactly on his side).

Fair enough. Mark my words Giggsies game wont be affected in the least. If he gets many games that is with the youngsters coming through but when he does it will business as usual.

Alligations about Rooneys private life surfaced in early August 2010, the world cup ended in early July. It was a lackluster England team as a whole, no player can do anything if he doesn't get service. Gerrard forgot how to pass the ball for some reason. The whole squad had problems.

The papers went after him, he wanted to get out of the country and told Fergie he wanted to leave. Fergie talked sense into him and he came back all guns blazing. Allegations about paying for sex happened years earlier and didn't effect his game.

Sean Bateman

Pro. F wrote: »

We were not very lucky against West Brom. We thoroughly deserved to win that game

You are completely wrong.

A draw would have been the fairest result in that game. Saying "we thoroughly deserved to win that game" is crazy.

Pro. F

Sean Bateman wrote: »

You are completely wrong.

A draw would have been the fairest result in that game. Saying "we thoroughly deserved to win that game" is crazy.

We are going to have to agree to disagree.

homerjay2005

DM-ICE wrote: »

Homerjay, did you want another 50 million spent or have the 50 million United did spend, spent on different players?

I don't think United had another 50 million to spend.

In an ideal world United would have bought a midfielder or two. But we have what we have and overall I think its an improvement on what we started last season with.

weve been told the money is there to be spent. weve been told the club has cash reserves of 150odd million and the club is just going to announce record turn over.

im f*cking sick to death right now to be honest, to more i think about it, the more angry i get. every season we fall for the same trap, fed bulls*it about signing this lad and that lad and more often than not, we sign players from lower clubs that have no ambition and their players jump at the chance to sign for us.

athletico, blackburn and villa. that is who with dealt with this summer and it cost us £50million.

tom cleverly is not the answer, i hope im wrong, but i just cannot see it. welbeck is already injured, watch anderson and cleverly go down the same route pretty soon and where are we then? back to square one with rio and vidic as number one choice at the back, jones on the bench and only ashley young new to the first 11.

just f*cking sick right now of being fed bulls*it and accepting that one of the biggest clubs in the world, hasnt bought a midfielder for 4 years.

DOC09UNAM

Lol, how has this clown not been banned yet, keane2097 +1 from me.

Sean Bateman

Your Airbag wrote: »

Fair enough. Mark my words Giggsies game wont be affected in the least. If he gets many games that is with the youngsters coming through but when he does it will business as usual.

Alligations about Rooneys private life surfaced in early August 2010, the world cup ended in early July. It was a lackluster England team as a whole, no player can do anything if he doesn't get service. Gerrard forgot how to pass the ball for some reason. The whole squad had problems.

The papers went after him, he wanted to get out of the country and told Fergie he wanted to leave. Fergie talked sense into him and he came back all guns blazing. Allegations about paying for sex happened years earlier and didn't effect his game.

My understanding was that Rooney had to tell his Mrs about the messing prior to the World Cup but that it was only made public after the World Cup?

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

just f*cking sick right now of being fed bulls*it and accepting that one of the biggest clubs in the world, hasnt bought a midfielder for 4 years.[/QUOTE]

That alone has to make ya wonder whats going on..

tbf I can see your point from rest your post too.

bucketybuck

DM-ICE wrote: »

Another I told you so merchant:(

Why would United want, Arteta, Parker or Barton?

We have experienced midfield players that have won multiple Premier League titles.

Why would we sign players with no record of success and play them ahead of Young players with the potential to be far better or experienced players with kit bags full of medals?

Anyone would think Carrick, Fletcher and Giggs were ****. They are far from it. Big deal United lost to barca twice, that doesn't make Arteta, Parker or Barton better.

You say I am a "told you so merchant", I say I am simply prepared to stand by my predictions. You are perfectly welcome to bring my post back up if we win the treble and Carrick gets player of the year.

You say we have experienced midfield players that have won multiple Premier League titles, I say its amazing how short some peoples memories are. We won the league last year by default, fact is Chelsea and Arsenal imploded last year and gave us the title on a plate. We did not win the league because of playing Giggs and Carrick in midfield, we won it in spite of having to do that. We were rubbish in midfield last year, am I the only one that remembers our woeful away record? Getting spanked by the City midfield in the FA cup semi-final? Anyone?

You say people think Carrick, Fletcher and Giggs are ****e?

- I say Fletcher is an honest player who has a lot to prove at this point, he hasn't played in a long long time, and nobody on this board has any idea what he will be like when he returns. People include Fletcher as a viable midfield option, but football is littered with the bones of guys who never properly recovered from serious illness/injury. Thats not even getting into the fact that at his peak Fletcher was no world beater, just an honest worker on the field.
- Carrick? Carrick has scientifically proven that he will cost us in the big games. All he was good for was passing the ball five yards to Paul Scholes, and now Scholes is gone so he will be even more the scared little boy in the middle of the field. He got his chance, more than once, and he has never done it.
- Giggs? He is 37 for chrissakes. 37!!! People here talk about him as if he isn't five minutes from making the exact same decision as Scholes and Neville. Any game now Ryan Giggs could possibly look down at his feet and think to himself, "I just don't have the legs any more". Anybody who thinks otherwise is just delusional about physiology. He is 37. A good option for making an impact in big games but it is absolute folly to include him in a seasons midfield strategy.

If you think all is hunky dory in our midfield then more power to you. If you think the injury prone Anderson, 37 year old Giggs, recently long term injured Fletcher, Mr Crab Carrick, and the unproven Tom Cleverly will dominate the EPL and Champions league, then I admire your optimism.

Personally I dont want to be sitting there watching a champions league last 16 match as Utd play with a midfield of Carrick and Cleverly and we find out that a year later nothing has changed and we still cannot keep the ball in midfield.

DM_7

I understand your frustration when you put it like that.

United are great at talking up the financial position but just because cash is in the bank it really doesn't mean its available to be spent on transfers.

homerjay2005

kryogen wrote: »

Overall I feel the squad has improved in most areas but is again going to be shown up in central midfield over the course of the season on the big occasions, time will tell whether we can use the combinations available to gather enough points to secure our 20th league title

yes, i agree.

our squad is better and squads win leagues. however, have we improved at the same level as city, chelsea and liverpool? i dont think so..

at this stage, the only way i can see us winning the league is if other clubs have worse injuries than we do.

god forbid what will happen if rooney gets injured in the next 3 or 4 weeks. the new regime is down to pace and counter attack. welbeck is already gone from that.

9 of the players who started in the CL final, have not played in the 2 games v spurs and arsenal. thats great for our squad size, but in the big games, we will revert back to rio, vidic, fletcher, park, valencia, hernandez, meaning we are back to same story as last year.

Blatter

If we desperately wanted a central midfielder, we wouldn't have spent £18M on Ashley Young or £16M on Phil Jones.

I think this is quite clearly a case of SAF being happy with what he has/not being able to bring in the central midfielder he wanted to.

Your Airbag

homerjay2005 wrote: »

weve been told the money is there to be spent. weve been told the club has cash reserves of 150odd million and the club is just going to announce record turn over.

im f*cking sick to death right now to be honest, to more i think about it, the more angry i get. every season we fall for the same trap, fed bulls*it about signing this lad and that lad and more often than not, we sign players from lower clubs that have no ambition and their players jump at the chance to sign for us.

athletico, blackburn and villa. that is who with dealt with this summer and it cost us £50million.

tom cleverly is not the answer, i hope im wrong, but i just cannot see it. welbeck is already injured, watch anderson and cleverly go down the same route pretty soon and where are we then? back to square one with rio and vidic as number one choice at the back, jones on the bench and only ashley young new to the first 11.

just f*cking sick right now of being fed bulls*it and accepting that one of the biggest clubs in the world, hasnt bought a midfielder for 4 years.

I can understand where you and Sean are coming from. I was certain we would strenghten in this area but we must trust Fergie. He rarely lets us down. Young is a midfeilder but I know you mean a central option. Jones was too good to pass up and his form shows that.

We are three games in and have three wins. I agree the competition hasn't been as good as it looks on paper. Arsenal were easier to beat than blackpool last year and even though we put three past Spurs the game was crying out for a creative player during the first 45mins.

Although away to West brom is no easy game especially under Roy. Look at how well organised they are and how well they played away to Chelsea. They are very unlucky to have nothing to show for it so far. The opening 35 mins we played wonderful passing football and could have been three goals up. Nani can be looked at for a couple of howling misses but on balance we deserved it.

I disagree totally with Seans point on Giggs. He'll be fine when called upon. Only time will tell which one of us is right.

We have some tough games before January and if our midfeild is looking vunerable Fergie always has the January windows to put things right. At the moment there is nothing to put right and some of the football has been a joy to watch. I was at the game Sunday and although the opposition was poor it was one of the best preformances I've seen at Old trafford.

kryogen

What is most puzzling is how some fans keep falling for the "no value in the market" "the money is there" etc.. comments that come out, Arteta would have been a nice option to pick up, not a big fee, we have all seen his quality, of course he is an injury risk, but this has not put Fergie off in the past and I dont think that would come into his thinking regarding a move for the spaniard.

Fergie is placing alot of faith in Cleverley and Anderson, something I am happy about, I dont mind having a trophyless season now and then to benefit the overall development of players at the club. This will be Andersons make or break year imo, and he needs to have a good run in the team, Clev also needs to play week in week out for a while to gain the experience and to see if he is gonna be able to make the position his own, his early signs are promising.

We may not have a midfield to play the better teams off the park, but we do have one adequate at doing the job against the teams outside the top 4-6 teams, but hopefully if the players develop wel over the next season or twol we may have a midfield already at the club who can boss the games against the top teams in Europe. I dont want United to ever change the policy of looking within first, or should I say singing and developing youth first.

Samba

Pro. F wrote: »

We were not very poor against West Brom. It's ludicrous to claim that we were. We dominated the ball for most of the game and we put some good passing moves together. They were extremely well organised and very tough to break down. We played well that day and we won.

We played well against Spurs too. Just because we didn't annihilate them like City did is no reason to worry. We played well and we won. We've also beaten City recently lets not forget.

Arsenal were terrible and we trounced them. Also playing some lovely football.

Sure there are some concerns about the CM just now. I've been saying that we should sign a good all round CM type like Fellaini, and it probably is a missed opportunity that we haven't got somebody in. But trying to pretend that we have been playing anything other than very well and predicting a meltdown is a joke.

I've probably criticised our central midfield for longer than anybody, but with Cleverly replacing Scholes and Fergie showing some faith in Anderson and the style of the performances that we've put in recently it's clear that we have actually improved in that department since last year. When Fletcher comes back we have a chance of sorting the balance in a 442 (trying out Fletcher and Ando or Fletcher and Cleverly) or going to a 451 in big games and still avoiding putting in Carrick (who should never be first choice). Things aren't perfect, but for the first time in ages there are actually some glimmers of hope there.

The way I see it, last seasons arguably strong DFM (Carrick? Shocking as it may sound, it's been argued with fairly compelling evidence he's been very effective in his role) negated our attacking abilities, much like this season so far, our strong AFM capability looks like they are doing a very good job of negating our DFM susceptibilities.

It's often the case, as with many great attacking teams, that it's defensive issues that go under the microscope.

I've been a bit concerned about how we seem to lack control for periods of games so far, but what always comforts me, is the teams ability to grab the game by the balls!


Give them time and I think we'll start controlling longer spells of games in MF as confidence grows. Depth of squad is a concern for players who can play to at the current tempo for 90 mins, but then again we do have another very young talented man in the shadows who could potentially rise to the occasion, yes it's asking a lot, but that's what Manchester United demands of you as a player.

Pro. F

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes, i agree.

our squad is better and squads win leagues. however, have we improved at the same level as city, chelsea and liverpool? i dont think so..

at this stage, the only way i can see us winning the league is if other clubs have worse injuries than we do.

god forbid what will happen if rooney gets injured in the next 3 or 4 weeks. the new regime is down to pace and counter attack. welbeck is already gone from that.

9 of the players who started in the CL final, have not played in the 2 games v spurs and arsenal. thats great for our squad size, but in the big games, we will revert back to rio, vidic, fletcher, park, valencia, hernandez, meaning we are back to same story as last year.

No it is not.

I've seen so many people talking about the pace of this team, but it is a complete red herring. The forwards and wingers are no quicker than what we had last year. Welbeck is probably faster than Hernandez, but Chicho's positioning easily makes up for that. Young is not significantly quicker than Valencia if he is quicker at all.

The biggest difference between this year's team and last year's is the ability to control the ball and put together good passing moves. Have you seriously not noticed that man?

With regards to whether we have improved as much as our rivals. We have the best selection of defenders on the planet. We have a top class selection of wingers and strikers. Our central midfield is lacking yes, but overall our squad is still in excellent condition when compared with our rivals.

DM_7

bucketybuck wrote: »

You say I am a "told you so merchant", I say I am simply prepared to stand by my predictions. You are perfectly welcome to bring my post back up if we win the treble and Carrick gets player of the year.

Saying you were going to bookmark something so you could bring it up again = told you so merchant.

I have no interest in bringing any individuals post back up next may.

bucketybuck wrote: »

Snipped

If you think all is hunky dory in our midfield then more power to you. If you think the injury prone Anderson, 37 year old Giggs, recently long term injured Fletcher, Mr Crab Carrick, and the unproven Tom Cleverly will dominate the EPL and Champions league, then I admire your optimism.

Personally I dont want to be sitting there watching a champions league last 16 match as Utd play with a midfield of Carrick and Cleverly and we find out that a year later nothing has changed and we still cannot keep the ball in midfield.

I didn't say everything was Hunky Dory. But I don't share your pessimistic outlook. If you read back I didn't object to the notion of signing midfield players. But I objected to the 3 players you mentioned as I don't think they have a proven track record that suggests they would improve United's squad.

Arteta who has had his own injury problems (Which goes against your own beliefs) wasn't the worst suggestion in the world. He could have helped retain possession more. But he isn't the type of player that fits into United standard 4-4-2 policy. 10 million for a 29 year old that wouldn't fit into the side easily was never going to happen.

PARlance

Blatter wrote: »

If we desperately wanted a central midfielder, we wouldn't have spent £18M on Ashley Young or £16M on Phil Jones.

I think this is quite clearly a case of SAF being happy with what he has/not being able to bring in the central midfielder he wanted to.

Think that's it myself.
Yes we're lacking in CM, but who's out there that was willing to come or who's club was willing to sell to us, that would have improved our CM?

I think everyone is aware the we are weak in CM but I'd be interested to hear the viable fixes to that problem

I've severely doubted Fergie in the past but I've since come to the conclusion that he probably edges me when it comes to being a better manager.

Blatter

kryogen wrote: »

What is most puzzling is how some fans keep falling for the "no value in the market" "the money is there" etc.. comments that come out, Arteta would have been a nice option to pick up, not a big fee, we have all seen his quality, of course he is an injury risk, but this has not put Fergie off in the past and I dont think that would come into his thinking regarding a move for the spaniard.

What are you saying then, that the money wasn't available for United to sign a central midfielder?

If they wanted a central midfielder and thought they needed one, then why spend £16M on Phil Jones when we have Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling and Evans?

Why spend £18M on Ashley Young when we have Nani, Valencia and Park?

Surely if that's all the money we had to spend this Summer, and we felt we needed a midfielder, we would have spent that money on a midfielder, no?

It's ludicrous to come to the conclusion we don't have the money for a central midfielder.

homerjay2005

right now, things look great, but things can chance quickly. i think in terms of improving or side, we have been 4th best this summer. liverpool were crap last year, but they are now twice the side they were then. city have looked awesome so far and chelsea is chelsea. arsenal signed 5 players in the last 2 days.

again, sorry to be all doom and gloom, but i think there are cracks in the team that will become apparent next few weeks once things settle down, injuries settle in and we start playing 2 games a week. we certainly wont win the CL this year IMO unless cleverly turns out to be the new xavi and anderson and fletcher go the season without injury.

one injury to rooney and we are in serious trouble.

kryogen

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes, i agree.

our squad is better and squads win leagues. however, have we improved at the same level as city, chelsea and liverpool? i dont think so..

at this stage, the only way i can see us winning the league is if other clubs have worse injuries than we do.

god forbid what will happen if rooney gets injured in the next 3 or 4 weeks. the new regime is down to pace and counter attack. welbeck is already gone from that.

9 of the players who started in the CL final, have not played in the 2 games v spurs and arsenal. thats great for our squad size, but in the big games, we will revert back to rio, vidic, fletcher, park, valencia, hernandez, meaning we are back to same story as last year.

I agree with alot of your sentiments, but I do think we will be able to compete with City still, Chelsea have problems again this year but will be one of our main rivals, for Liverpool i think this is a season too early for them to be realistic title contenders, next season possibly. Arsenal, who knows, think we can count Spurs out too.

It will come down to how good we are at picking up points on the road this season I feel as our return last year will be nowhere near good enough and I expect our home form to stay as solid as ever

City will go through a bad patch, the manager will most likely revert to type for the big games, I do not fear them but respect them now as genuine title contenders and they have to be considered the most likely team to take our title away imo

Havent been impressed by Chelsea but they have the players to grind out results and will always be there or thereabouts.

The domestic league is still very winnable for us imo, but we dont have a hope of winning the Champions League with our current midfield at its current development.

DM_7

Pro. F wrote: »

No it is not.

I've seen so many people talking about the pace of this team, but it is a complete red herring. The forwards and wingers are no quicker than what we had last year. Welbeck is probably faster than Hernandez, but Chicho's positioning easily makes up for that. Young is not significantly quicker than Valencia if he is quicker at all.

The biggest difference between this year's team and last year's is the ability to control the ball and put together good passing moves. Have you seriously not noticed that man?

Maybe Speed is a better work than Pace? The passing this year is certainly at a higher tempo. Far more movement in the side also.

Sirsok

anyone else gutted about Hargreaves? I just think its a bit of a kick in the teeth from someone who we showed alot of loyalty to, and im sure that was a major factor in citys decision to sign him, just to piss off the united faithfull

also the non purchase of a central midfielders is worrying if clev or anderson get injured, as has been alluded to. I dont think I could stand to watch carrick play after seeing the style we have seem to adopted. Arteta would have been a nice addition and Arsenal have done well there.

Any word on PIG and what he is doing for the season? and also any potential guys going on loan such a Diouf or Macheda?

Discodog

I don't think that our spending was restricted but SAF does have this bee in his bonnet about "value". We offered 20m for Nasri & made it clear that we would not offer any more - it was a take it or leave it offer. I suspect that the same may of happened with Sneijder. But also SAF only wants players that really want to join the club. His stubborn streak is part of his makeup.

I am extremely pleased with our signings. I wonder if Jones might play some games in midfield - maybe he is too good to leave out. Young is going to be a superb player & De Gea will make a few mistakes but he will improve - I think that his distribution is superb.

I wanted a CM to be signed but it needed to be the right CM. At the start of the transfer window there was a very good article about the fact that too many clubs were chasing too few quality midfielders. Maybe we could of offered a bit more but I wonder if it was more a case of the right player not being available coinciding with the youngsters having a good pre season.

ShooterSF

I think Fergie's thinking may well be that up to January games are spread out well enough and the group stages of the CL should be a walk so he's giving Ando and T-Clev the chance to make midfield their own. If it works, brilliant. If not we can go back to the market in January for the run in. If he bought now he'd have compromised his chance to try them out on a regular basis. This seems like good thinking to me.

Oh and as for Giggs, what's his stats? 2 sub appearances and at least one assist?
Oh and also, top of the league after winning our first 3 which we haven't done in how many years? (Years that included a to be relegated Newcastle at home and a poor Reading (at home?))

PARlance

Sirsok wrote: »

anyone else gutted about Hargreaves?

Not again... Go back about 35 pages and you'll find a few!

Samba

homerjay2005 wrote: »

9 of the players who started in the CL final, have not played in the 2 games v spurs and arsenal. thats great for our squad size, but in the big games, we will revert back to rio, vidic, fletcher, park, valencia, hernandez, meaning we are back to same story as last year.

Remember we've yet to test out jones in a DFM role, I suspect he'll do a much better job than Carrick in defence and attack. (as limited as it may be)

We also have Fletcher, he doesn't really count as being a part of the squad last season, it was clear for all to see he wasn't at his best

You've got a point, but I don't think things are going to be as bad as you're envisaging.

DM_7

ajcurry123 wrote: »

I've severely doubted Fergie in the past but I've since come to the conclusion that he probably edges me when it comes to being a better manager.

Just about!

Your Airbag

Last year we were not good enough to beat Barca. One match against what people are saying might be the best club side of all time. Sometimes you can't compete with way players come through like they have had. Its a golden generation. We have had our own. WHo knows we might be seeing the next one develop. Barca have had two Scholes come through the youth system. Its been incredibly well utilised and lucky on their part.

Berba missed a couple of sitters and we lost to City. We beat the improved City from two goals down already, yes it was a friendly in name but both teams were playing to win.

Rooney can drop deep and supply creativity. We dont always have to rely on central midfeild. Nani has been good and Young a revaltion. Getting the ball to the wings can be done by any of the Carrick, Giggs, Fletcher, Anderson and Cleverly group of players. It can be done from defense too. Giggs is capable of a killer pass from midfeild.

I agree when put under pressure Carrick goes to pieces quicker then a Leper in a wind tunnel but does Fergie plan to use him as much as last season? Fletch coming back and getting paired with Ando or Cleverly could give a different dynamic. Lets wait and see. There are a lot of unproven players doing a good job at proving themselves so far.

There is a lot of energy in the side. Cleverly gets forward a lot. Smalling and Jones too. We are in good shape imho.

UDAWINNER

if SAF is waiting until january, then most of the good players will be cup tied for Europe,which surely has to be priority. Besides that, there will no value in january, 50m for torres, etc.

Kylo Ren

We got some fantastic signings in during the summer. Young looks like he's been in the squad for years, Jones is scary good and he can only get better. De Gea has made quite a few mistakes but he's got better distribution than a lot of PL midfielders and he has pulled off some amazing saves. He's only gonna get better and can't wait to see him in a few years.

That being said we did need a CM or 2. While we have Anderson starting to gain momentum and consistency in his game and he's working well with Clevs (who is also going to be a great little player for us) but when injuries start and the season start to gain pace the players will feel the fatigue and we are gonna be stuck then.

Pro. F

DM-ICE wrote: »

Maybe Speed is a better work than Pace? The passing this year is certainly at a higher tempo. Far more movement in the side also.

The passing has been at a higher tempo because it has been of better quality. When you put two central midfielders that are skilled on the ball into the team then you get faster passing and better movement. The more comfortably the team can hold onto the ball, the more movement you can have off it. The more skilled the central midfielders, the faster they can pass the ball around.

I said it before this Cleverly/Anderson partnership arrived: Once we have proper technical ability in the central midfield the whole team will play better and people will be amazed by the quality we have. This is what the team looks like when it is playing better.

homerjay2005

the city game is the yardstick for the entire season on october 23rd. if we get to that game, having come out of bolton, stoke and liverpool away and chelsea at home with lets say 10 points out of 12, then we are going places....

i will reserve my judgement until then, but right now i think we could struggle if we get injuries. thats our biggest problem, i think the others can manage better in CM if they get them. definsively we are ok with cover and we have lots of width and up top we are ok, great in fact.

Pro. F wrote: »

I said it before this Cleverly/Anderson partnership arrived: Once we have proper technical ability in the central midfield the whole team will play better and people will be amazed by the quality we have. This is what the team looks like when it is playing better.

they both wont play 50+ games this year...thats my worry. they will, especially anderson, get injured...

bucketybuck

Your Airbag wrote: »

Berba missed a couple of sitters and we lost to City. We beat the improved City from two goals down already, yes it was a friendly in name but both teams were playing to win.

Once again I am mystified at how short peoples memories are, or how people are happy to put on the rose tinted glasses.

We did not just lose to City in the semi final because "Berba missed a few sitters", we lost because Ya Ya Toure bent our midfield over and made them his bitches. We got bloody well spanked that day and its to nobodies benefit to pretend otherwise.

curry-muff

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i think the others can manage better in CM

I'm an awesome manager in CM

ShooterSF

Out of curiosity as it may put people's posts in a new perspective (and give this place a needed change up) what do ya's think points wise will end up being enough to win the league this season?

Edit - Nobody post "more than everyone else"

awaits smartass

PARlance

homerjay2005 wrote: »

right now, things look great, but things can chance quickly. i think in terms of improving or side, we have been 4th best this summer. liverpool were crap last year, but they are now twice the side they were then. city have looked awesome so far and chelsea is chelsea. arsenal signed 5 players in the last 2 days.

again, sorry to be all doom and gloom, but i think there are cracks in the team that will become apparent next few weeks once things settle down, injuries settle in and we start playing 2 games a week. we certainly wont win the CL this year IMO unless cleverly turns out to be the new xavi and anderson and fletcher go the season without injury.

one injury to rooney and we are in serious trouble.

Here's my tupence...hope it lifts a bit of the doom and gloom

1. Citeh.... Yes, they made some really impressive signings, there are akin the Chelski when Roman took over. They are my number 1 fear this season. What we mustn't forget is that, although they arguably have a stronger looking team/squad on paper, they have not got the United factor, they are not a winning team, and this, hopefully will take a few seasons...Mancini is not the same manager that Jose was and hopefully it will take longer for them to win the league (we're not going to win it every year and it kills me to say it but they look most likely to win it when we slip up over the nest few years)
We'll see how they cope with us at the business end of season!

2. Chelsea... Really dubious about AVB, in that, I don't think he's the next special one that they may be hoping. As long as Lamps, Terry are the spine of the team then we're fine. I think there's a hell of a lot of work to do at Chelsea and it may take a couple of years. They'll have fired AVB at that stage, and hopefully the continuous rebuilding cycle that comes about with replacing managers will keep them off our heels.

3. Liverpool, have improved on last year. I'm not getting worried about them at present. Being twice the side they were last year means they still wont win the league. Kenny factor and Suarez looking impressive is potentially worrying though, but only if they build on this over the next 2-3 years. They don't have a good enough team/squad at present

4. Arsenal.....Yes they've signed 5 in last 2 days, but I seem to remember them selling 1 or 2 off their players. 1 wasn't half bad and they other will also be a missed. (Bender going on loan virtually rules them out of any silverware too ) The 5 new guys aren't world beaters.

Re Rooney getting injured, If any of the teams above had their best player injured it would really affect them. I don't think we'd be in "serious" trouble, a lot of Prem/FA Cup/LC/Champs Lge group stages are won fairly easily, we could do without him for most. We'd obv need him fit for the big ones but every team needs their best player fit for those games.

Re Not Winning the CL this year. I don't think there's many United fans out there that think we are a better team than Barca at present. We're prob the 2nd best team in the world at present, behind what I think is the best club side ever.
Without signing 3-4 of their players, I don't see us being a better team for a few years.
We would need a bit of luck (avoid them, put a massive game in against them which is possible) to win the CL... that's if we didn't slip up elsewhere. We dont get to CL final every year, its competitive.

Samba

ShooterSF wrote: »

Out of curiosity as it may put people's posts in a new perspective (and give this place a needed change up) what do ya's think points wise will end up being enough to win the league this season?

Edit - Nobody post "more than everyone else"

awaits smartass

It's an interesting point alright, but it's still probably far too early in the season to start talking about that, far too many variables to consider over the length of a season. Look at the start Chelsea got off to last season.

bucketybuck

ShooterSF wrote: »

Out of curiosity as it may put people's posts in a new perspective (and give this place a needed change up) what do ya's think points wise will end up being enough to win the league this season?

Edit - Nobody post "more than everyone else"

awaits smartass

I say 86-90 points, mainly because I dont think City will drop many points to anybody below the top five, they are just too solid for that.

I also think City will be the only challangers. Chelsea and Liverpool are way of the pace this year, and Arsenal are gone.

smokedeels

Has Kiko gone on loan? His wiki page and some articles say Newcastle, some sources say QPR

Raze_them_all

i reckon 86 points

ShooterSF

Samba wrote: »

It's an interesting point alright, but it's still probably far too early in the season to start talking about that, far too many variables to consider over the length of a season. Look at the start Chelsea got off to last season.

I know it's tough. I guess it just hit me reading homer's post about 10 out of 12 points from the next 4 games. If we got those and kept up that kind of return I'd feel we'd canter to the league as I think City and Chelsea will drop points.

bucketybuck wrote: »

I say 86-90 points, mainly because I dont think City will drop many points to anybody below the top five, they are just too solid for that.

I also think City will be the only challangers. Chelsea and Liverpool are way of the pace this year, and Arsenal are gone.

Fair enough I don't agree and I think City will drop points this season in games you wont expect. They might be better up front this season though I would not say hugely as Tevez was fantastic last season and I can't see him contributing significantly. He needs to playing regularly. I still think their defense isn't great apart from Kompany and I think when De Jong and Toure are not playing CM they will be vulnerable at the back.

Samba

Btw, is it just me or does anyone else look at Keno_92's sig and think of Riverdance?

Kylo Ren

Samba wrote: »

Btw, is it just me or does anyone else look at Keno_92's sig and think of Riverdance?

Is it just me or does anyone else look at Samba's sig and think of Gamblers Anonymous.

homerjay2005

goal scoring predictions for this year? all comps.

rooney 28
welbeck - 12
hernandez - 14
berba - 11
young - 11
nani - 12
park - 7
valencia - 6
Anderson - 7
Cleverly - 5
Carrick - 4
Fletcher - 4
giggs - 5
owen - 4
Macheda - 3
vidic - 3
jones - 2
smalling - 2
fabio - 2
rafael - 1

Samba

Keno 92 wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else look at Samba's sig and think of Gamblers Anonymous.

Sorry if I offended you in any way, certainly wasn't my intent, was only meant as a light hearted joke, looks like Young is in the midst of a jig!

You're welcome to come play a degenerate gambler such as myself at poker any time buddy

Kylo Ren

Samba wrote: »

Sorry if I offended you in any way, certainly wasn't my intent, was only meant as a light hearted joke, looks like Young is in the midst of a jig!

You're welcome to come play a degenerate gambler such as myself at poker any time buddy

Haha I was only playing too man! After your comment I went back and took a look at my sig and was like "**** it does" :P I can never look at Ashley Young the same way again now thanks to you!

El Inho

so you guys happy with your window...

LFC fan taking a breather from the debates over there

PARlance

ShooterSF wrote: »

I know it's tough. I guess it just hit me reading homer's post about 10 out of 12 points from the next 4 games. If we got those and kept up that kind of return I'd feel we'd canter to the league as I think City and Chelsea will drop points.



Fair enough I don't agree and I think City will drop points this season in games you wont expect. They might be better up front this season though I would not say hugely as Tevez was fantastic last season and I can't see him contributing significantly. He needs to playing regularly. I still think their defense isn't great apart from Kompany and I think when De Jong and Toure are not playing CM they will be vulnerable at the back.

You seem to be contradicting yourself there Shooter.
10 out of 12 point average should indeed win us the league at a canter.
It would give us 95 points, the total Chelsea won it with in 04/05...at a canter :mad:

However, bucketyboy went for 86-90...which seems to be the range required to win it in a competitive season when you look back at the tables... but you seem to be saying that we don't need this much?

How much do you think is required?