Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

Mikeyt086

jambofc wrote: »

this is happening because full backs block the line off now,they have sussed him,when he comes inside he just passes the ball inside,he is most effective when the game is spread or we break quickly(note how de gea used to pass to him a lot but now he is nearly always tightly marked)and can run at defenders with his pace,when this happens he is lethal but more and more full backs are starting to mark him tightly and block the line,he really needs to either start useing his other foot(has he got one) or slightly change his game to come inside and drive on as he did when hitting the post against liverpool.

for me nani is the far more dangerous player and if i had to make the choice of one or the other it would be nani

Good post, but as ridiculous as it sounds I dont think he does need to change his game, what he is doing now is making English football's best left-backs look like non-league players. As long as that continues he can be as one dimensional as he wants.

MagicMarker

It's the Mirror, also not much of an exclusive considering the Daily Mail are reporting the same thing!!!

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-exclusive-Nemanja-Vidic-poised-to-return-this-season-after-knee-surgery-article866620.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+footballrightnow%2Fmirror+%28Mirror+Football%29

EXCLUSIVE: Vidic set to return this season!

Nemanja Vidic is poised to make a sensational return before the end of the season - and perhaps even in time for the Manchester derby.

Manchesyer United's talismanic skipper Vidic was ruled out for the season after suffering cruciate knee ligament damage during the shock Champions League exit to Basel on December 7.

But the Mirror has learned the defender is at least a month ahead of schedule in his recovery programme and could return to give United a major boost in the title race run-in.

Vidic had surgery before Christmas and is said to have progressed to the 'weight-bearing' stage of his rehab programme - and could even start running by the end of the month.

Sir Alex Ferguson and his medical staff are mindful of rushing the player back and running the risk of him breaking down and having to endure a longer spell out of action.

United did just that in their Champions League semi-final defeat to AC Milan five years ago, when Vidic was brought back from injury too soon and was patently not fit.

But the club's medical and fitness believe Vidic has a realistic chance of coming back before the end of the season - without major risk - to help in the battle for the title.

United are scheduled to visit City, who are two points clear at the top of the table with 13 games to go, for a potential title decider on Saturday April 28, although the game may well be moved for live TV coverage.

Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans have former United's regular central defensive partnership during Vidic's absence, with Chris Smalling and Phil Jones also filling in there.

The champions' injury crisis - Ferdinand, Smalling and Jones have all been ruled out at times - has been such that midfielder Michael Carrick has also been deployed at the back.

Ferguson currently has 10 players out injured, including Antonio Valencia, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and Anders Lindegaard, while Darren Fletcher is out for the season with a bowel condition.

Vidic has already outlined his desire for a swift return to action.

Speaking last month, he said: "Everything is going well. It's progressing in the right way.

"I have the motivation to work hard and I want to be back as soon as possible."

Not worth the risk imo.

Eathrin

I desperately miss Vidic. I can't help but think our defence is shaky without him and in fairness Rio isn't playing his best. Jones was immense at CB while playing alongside Vidic.

MoscowFlyer

I guess the pin landed on Vidic's name this time.

Jones has never been immense playing CB for us, he has quite frankly been shocking no matter who he has played with. He has been decent at RB or in the CM area but its so obvious he still needs a lot of work. Smalling is a much more accomplished defender at this stage.

Blatter

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

I guess the pin landed on Vidic's name this time.

Jones has never been immense playing CB for us, he has quite frankly been shocking no matter who he has played with. He has been decent at RB or in the CM area but its so obvious he still needs a lot of work. Smalling is a much more accomplished defender at this stage.

That just isn't true. He was fantastic against Tottenham beside Jonny Evans on his first start for the club and also had decent to good games at centre half against City ( second half, Community Shield), Arsenal, Chelsea and Stoke earlier on in the season.

MoscowFlyer

His positional sense is pretty much non-existent and it's only because he's English and THE FUTURE ENGLAND CAPTAIN that people seem to gloss over the fact he has made numerous errors. However you look at David Luiz and the media are killing him. Jones and Luiz both try to hard to win the ball therefore leaving huge gaps which their CB partner has to try and cover. The games in the CL were the real eye opener, they tore him to shreds. I'd def have him as our 5th CB right now behind Vid - Rio - Smalling - Evans.

Btw, the Tottenham game is funny because most people remember him tracking Bale back and sliding in to block the ball. Never seen so much fuss made of a single challenge.

Mikeyt086

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

His positional sense is pretty much non-existent and it's only because he's English and THE FUTURE ENGLAND CAPTAIN that people seem to gloss over the fact he has made numerous errors. However you look at David Luiz and the media are killing him.

I think it is actually because he is 19.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSGvqjVHik8

Blatter

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

His positional sense is pretty much non-existent and it's only because he's English and THE FUTURE ENGLAND CAPTAIN that people seem to gloss over the fact he has made numerous errors. However you look at David Luiz and the media are killing him. Jones and Luiz both try to hard to win the ball therefore leaving huge gaps which their CB partner has to try and cover. The games in the CL were the real eye opener, they tore him to shreds. I'd def have him as our 5th CB right now behind Vid - Rio - Smalling - Evans.

Btw, the Tottenham game is funny because most people remember him tracking Bale back and sliding in to block the ball. Never seen so much fuss made of a single challenge.

I don't think anyone here glosses over the fact that he's made numerous errors and that his positional play needs to improve.

I just look at him as a extraordinarily talented 19 year old CB who has had a few bad to awful games for us, and good ones too. I watched him a few times for Blackburn there last season and he immediately stood out. Against United at Ewood Park, he was awesome. He barely gave our forwards a sniff. It was his performances at CB for Blackburn that had us, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal all willing to pay top dollar for him.

I would blame the constant changing of the back four and keeper for his poor performances more than I would question his current ability. He's not the finished article by any means, but there are people actually saying that they don't think he will ever be composed/positionally aware enough to be a centre half for United, which is rubbish tbh.

MoscowFlyer

I've never said he won't turn into a great defender but people seem to think he is great right now which is clearly false. He is still very rough around the edges in terms of being a CB, at RB he can get away with it. I think you will see Fergie being very cautious with him about playing as a central defender in the coming years.

Interested to know if you had Smalling and Jones both fit and had to pick one of the two to partner Rio in a big game, who would you choose?

Blatter

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

I've never said he won't turn into a great defender but people seem to think he is great right now which is clearly false. He is still very rough around the edges in terms of being a CB, at RB he can get away with it. I think you will see Fergie being very cautious with him about playing as a central defender in the coming years.

Interested to know if you had Smalling and Jones both fit and had to pick one of the two to partner Rio in a big game, who would you choose?

Oh I wasn't talking about you when I said there was people saying that Jones will never become a great CB, I was just pointing out that people have actually said that, which is ridiculous!

I agree that he is still raw, and has a lot of improving left to do but I still think he's a better CB right now than a lot are giving him credit for.

I'd have to pick Smalling, it's a no brainer tbh. He is already a fairly high quality CB who would probably get into most sides right now. I'd even rate him higher that Rio at the moment tbh.

Skud

Blatter wrote: »

That just isn't true. He was fantastic against Tottenham beside Jonny Evans on his first start for the club and also had decent to good games at centre half against City ( second half, Community Shield), Arsenal, Chelsea and Stoke earlier on in the season.

Thought he was immense against Chelsea, covered for Evans a few times. When he didn't, they scored, and Torres missed the open goal. Very good against Spurs also.

Son Of A Vidic

Regardless of what the Mirror has reported, I certainly hope no one at United is seriously considering or would risk rushing Vidic back.

homerjay2005

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Regardless of what the Mirror has reported, I certainly hope no one at United is seriously considering or would risk rushing Vidic back.

united have the most cautious medical team about. if a player has the slightest knock, he doesnt play.

vidic will be 100% ready when he comes back, i am sure of that. my main concern however is injury prevention, this is the 2nd season out of 3 where our injuries have been nothing short of shocking.

our defending the ball in the air is crap without vidic, most of the goal we concede come for aerial ball. look at our recent goals conceeded, 11 of the 15 goals conceeded have been set pieces or aerial balls into the box that we have not defended correctly -

liverpool - set piece
chelsea 3 - set piece
chelsea 2 - aerial cross into the box
liverpool 2 - long ball not attacked
liverpool 1 - set piece
city - set piece though not an aerial one.
newcastle 3 - long ball not headed away
newcastle 2 - set piece though not an aerial one.
newcastle 1 - long ball not headed away
blackburn 3 - set piece
blackburn 1 - set piece/penalty conceeded from a set piece long ball into the box.

for what its worth, the 4 other goals are -
van persie - rafael lost the ball and we were caught on the counter.
yakuba - defensive mistakes by carrick and jones
evans og v chelsea
ageuro - which came from our throw in and scholes/evra gave it away in the corner and AL should have saved it.

we can blame de gea all we want, but the entire team is suspect under set pieces, without vidic. id be pretty certain we would have avoided 4 or 5 of those type of goals if he was playing.

Blatter

Yeah, there's no doubt about it, we're vulnerable in the air without Vidic. That's why I think Smalling should always play with one of Evans or Rio, because he's fairly dominant in the air which is important.

MagicMarker

We only need Rafael in the box for set pieces, push everyone else further up the pitch for the inevitable clearance.

Son Of A Vidic

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my main concern however is injury prevention, this is the 2nd season out of 3 where our injuries have been nothing short of shocking.

Amen and I've done my fair share of ranting about that in the last few weeks. With Cleverly and Young coming back, I misled myself into thinking the injury crisis was easing. But then I did a quick check.

A Valencia Hamstring Injury 18th Mar 12
D Berbatov Knock no return date
R Giggs Ankle/Foot Injury no return date
A Lindegaard Ankle/Foot Injury 1st Mar 12
R De Laet Calf/Shin Injury no return date
Anderson Knock 26th Feb 12
D Fletcher Bowel Condition no return date
N Vidic ACL Knee Injury Jun 12
M Owen Thigh Muscle Strain no return date
T Bebe ACL Knee Injury

10 still out, but I suppose that's not to bad by our standards.

VW 1

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Amen and I've done my fair share of ranting about that in the last few weeks. With Cleverly and Young coming back, I misled myself into thinking the injury crisis was easing. But then I did a quick check.

A Valencia Hamstring Injury 18th Mar 12
D Berbatov Knock no return date
R Giggs Ankle/Foot Injury no return date
A Lindegaard Ankle/Foot Injury 1st Mar 12
R De Laet Calf/Shin Injury no return date
Anderson Knock 26th Feb 12
D Fletcher Bowel Condition no return date
N Vidic ACL Knee Injury Jun 12
M Owen Thigh Muscle Strain no return date
T Bebe ACL Knee Injury

10 still out, but I suppose that's not to bad by our standards.

In fairness it isn't as bad as it seems. Berbs Giggs and Ando should be back for the next game. Owen probably wouldn't get a look in. bebe and de Laet aren't first teamers.

That only really leaves 4 regular first team squad members out.

The_Kew_Tour

VW 1 wrote: »

In fairness it isn't as bad as it seems. Berbs Giggs and Ando should be back for the next game. Owen probably wouldn't get a look in. bebe and de Laet aren't first teamers.

That only really leaves 4 regular first team squad members out.

That is still quite a big number. Mostly 2-3 would be considered too many.

Son Of A Vidic

VW 1 wrote: »

In fairness it isn't as bad as it seems. Berbs Giggs and Ando should be back for the next game. Owen probably wouldn't get a look in. bebe and de Laet aren't first teamers.

That only really leaves 4 regular first team squad members out.

My post was to highlight the volume of injuries, rather than the actual seriousness of them. We just seem to have a continual floating reserve of casualties. In comparison, City haven't even one player listed as injured at the moment. Our injury record has been clearly shocking for the last several years.

homerjay2005

weekends without united are just s*it!

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

weekends without united are just s*it!

Tell me about it.

dahat

homerjay2005 wrote: »

weekends without united are just s*it!

I had to resort to hoovering and doing the washing up just there,chronic situation i tell ya....

Mars Bar

dahat wrote: »

I had to resort to hoovering and doing the washing up just there,chronic situation i tell ya....

I'm actually getting assignments done.

VW 1

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

VW 1 wrote: »

In fairness it isn't as bad as it seems. Berbs Giggs and Ando should be back for the next game. Owen probably wouldn't get a look in. bebe and de Laet aren't first teamers.

That only really leaves 4 regular first team squad members out.

That is still quite a big number. Mostly 2-3 would be considered too many.

Very true and I agree with you, but the likes of de Laet and bebe can't be counted as injuries when they have no games between them this season.

dahat

Mars Bar wrote: »

I'm actually getting assignments done.

Least that is productive!....Least Arsenal have put a bright spot on the day,fail once more,Wegner will be washing up next saturday at this rate!

Patsy fyre

Keano talks so much sence as a pundit. Really starting to like his analysis.
Wenger may want to hire Roy as a motivator. Would tare strips off them plus there would be no one wearing gloves

Mitch Connor

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Keano talks so much sence as a pundit. Really starting to like his analysis.
Wenger may want to hire Roy as a motivator. Would tare strips off them plus there would be no one wearing gloves

i really think Roy should have gone the Solskjaer route, or similar. I don't think he has teh experience or have the mentality at the moment to be a manager. He does understand the game well, but just doesn't the tact for being the manager.

homerjay2005

Mars Bar wrote: »

I'm actually getting assignments done.

i decided to read a java book that i bought 4 years ago but never read....as bored and all i was, i didnt even finish the first page....

jaysis thursday cant come quick enough

Mitch Connor

Just finished the Neville book.

Talks a lot about the influence of Kidd, McClaren and particularly Carlos Quiroez. Doesn't mention Phelan at all really...

The guy talks so much sense, reckon he'll be an excellent coach/AM.

Mars Bar

Cleverley mentioned about a documentary on him called Boy To Man being shown on MUTV. Found it on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeVimsIfc-8

He was tiny!

EDIT: And he played at LB for the U-18's?! :eek:

And if you don't wanna watch the whole thing, at least go to 4:07. Class!

homerjay2005

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Just finished the Neville book.

Doesn't mention Phelan at all really...

The guy talks so much sense, reckon he'll be an excellent coach/AM.

i know ive been lashed for saying it before, but i think phelan is as useful as a chocolate tea pot....

honestly cant see how he has such a job. my opinion of course, but i just dont see him as being able to offer much. i hope im wrong, he just doesnt seem to have respect from the players either.

yabadabado

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Just finished the Neville book.

Talks a lot about the influence of Kidd, McClaren and particularly Carlos Quiroez. Doesn't mention Phelan at all really...

The guy talks so much sense, reckon he'll be an excellent coach/AM.

Just finished as well.Was much better read than I was expecting,he talks a lot of sense.I reckon he would be the sort of lad that will try to learn the trade as a manager ,working his way up the ranks.

fox007

Speaking of Gary Neville has anyone heared he wants to build a hotel beside Old Trafford? Thinks its knocked on the head tho,
http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/man-utd/news/man-utd-block-neville-hotel-plan_16976.html
Sorry if it's already being covered

Al Capwned

Tomorrow, the 19th of February marks the 102nd anniversary of football in Old Trafford.

The first game in OT was on 19 February 1910, with United playing host to Liverpool.

Liverpool won 4-3, but sure we'll say no more about that....

MagicMarker

Lol Rio

RT @RhysWill22: @piersmorgan @rioferdy5 #tears4Piers trending all over twitter tonight »» hahahahaha its what we do fella!

kmart6

Morgan has been too busy with one of the most OTT funerals ever!

Mitch Connor

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i know ive been lashed for saying it before, but i think phelan is as useful as a chocolate tea pot....

honestly cant see how he has such a job. my opinion of course, but i just dont see him as being able to offer much. i hope im wrong, he just doesnt seem to have respect from the players either.

from reading what neville says, it really read like the Assistant Manager is a lot more important to United than you would really like. Does the training, and has a LOT of input into team style. The semi's vs Barcelona in 08 for example, seems pretty much Carlos Q managing the side - set out the tactical plan and trained the players through it.

I know what you mean about Phelan, to me it seemed like a reward for loyalty rather than actual ability. I really fet it should ahve been an outside appointment, bringing in new ideas and insights - Phelan can't be offering anything new.

JerryHandbag

Boring non football weekend alright, so.....favourite Ronaldo goal for United?



His goal to make it 3-2 in the 5-2 win over Spurs in 2009. Starting to seriously wobble in the league with Liverpool hot on our heels, 2 nil down at half time and I seriously thought we were in the process of handing that league title over to the arch enemy. Up steps CR7 with a diving header from heaven.

If you look at the crowd reaction behind the goal when that hit the net, multiply that by 100 and that was my reaction Ah good times. Rooneys cross wasnt half bad either.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

The back-heel against Villa or the free-kick v Portsmouth.

eugeneious

His one in Moscow or his 2nd at the Emirates in the CL semi.

Will I Amnt

The 200 yarder v Porto in the champions league.

Jax Teller

Fulham away a few years back ran passed a load of players . The celebrations were great as well .

Mikeyt086

His winner vs Fulham where he beat all 10 outfield players, the 5 players on the bench, came back and beat another 3 players then the keeper. The moment we won the league and the moment I knew he would be the best player in the world.

This is a very good top 10, awful music though, mute it and put a song you like on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCMcvIR2vt8

Scorpion Sting

I always remember him for that wonder goal against Porto but I think his best goal was that sublime free kick against Portsmouth.

Al Capwned

cambo2008 wrote: »

The 200 yarder v Porto in the champions league.

This one - every time i see it, I'm still amazed.....

Phenomenal.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnGmBJV4xA

G.K.

His dead ball skill was ridiculous.

That said that was brilliant music, hardly awful. :pac:

Will I Amnt

alproctor wrote: »

This one - every time i see it, I'm still amazed.....

Phenomenal.....

I remember when he hit I was thinking
"ah what the f**k are ya doing shooting from.........holy shítballs"

Mars Bar

G.K. wrote: »

That said that was brilliant music, hardly awful. :pac:

Agreed. Pleasant change from dance and trance ****e!

kryogen

Giruilla wrote: »

It doesn't matter about him only having one foot (which I don't actually fully agree with)

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

JerryHandbag

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Fulham away a few years back ran passed a load of players . The celebrations were great as well .

Wasnt a great performance that day at all, and he turned 1 point into 3. A bit like John O'Sheas winner at Anfield the week before