Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

Blatter

Was just looking at the remaining PL fixtures for both Manchester teams there. Looking very nice for us, especially if we beat Spurs on Sunday.

Man Utd

Tottenham (a)

West Brom (h)

Wolves (a)

Fulham (h)

Blackburn (a)

QPR (h)

Wigan (a)

Aston Villa (h)

Everton (h)

Man City (a)

Swansea (h)

Sunderland (a)


Man City

Bolton (h)

Swansea (a)

Chelsea (h)

Stoke (a)

Sunderland (h)

Arsenal (a)

West Brom (h)

Norwich (a)

Wolves (a)

Man Utd (h)

Newcastle (a)

QPR (h)



I think we undoubtedly have the easier run in overall. City have looked quite likely to drop points away from home this season so you would expect that Swansea, Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich, Wolves, Newcastle away could all be potential banana skins for them, and then they have Chelsea and Utd at home to boot.

The only Utd games that would have me particularly worried are Tottenham, City and Sunderland away. I wouldn't be too worried about Wolves, Wigan and Blackburn away as our record on the road has been very impressive this season. Saying that, I don't think you could call any away game in the PL as a 'banker'. We should be winning all of our home games as they're all against mid to lower table sides.

If we beat Tottenham on Sunday, we have a brilliant chance. Even if we draw or lose, we're still right in it imo.

Pro. F

kryogen wrote: »

Was that the bet with CHD, who I also don't ever see in these parts anymore?

I vaguely remember a prop bet between the two, don't actually remember what it was about though!

Yeah I think it might have been CHD now that you mention it. And CHD later got banned for trolling I think. /gossip

Blatter

homerjay2005 wrote: »

who is not away for international duty this week? should give us an idea of who is fresh for sunday...we always seem to have difficult games after international breaks and always seem to drop points. id take a draw sunday though to be honest, but its a game we can win.

rio, park,carrick, giggs, scholes, carrick, rooney, berba all are not playing midweek anyway, cleverly then is injured.

what about the others?

I'm sure Valencia won't be playing for Ecuador either, it would be brilliant if he was fit for Sunday then. Rafael isn't included in the Brazil squad either afaik.

---

de Gea

---

Rafael

---

Ferdinand

---

Evans

---

Evra
Valencia

---

Giggs

---

Carrick

---

Nani

---

Rooney

---

---

Welbeck

---

I think we'll see something along the lines of the above against Tottenham, injuries permitting. If Valencia isn't fit I could see Park on the right to try and counteract Bale.

SK1979

Re Developing young players

I'm pretty sure I saw one of the Youth followers on Twitter mention that of all the players that have represented us in the FA Youth Cup, 70% of them have gone on to play league football.

Thats an incredible % and shows the type of opportunity that we present them.

More or less 7/10 lads that play in the Youth Cup should be able to make a career for themselves as a professional footballer (with the odd waster probably).

Pro. F

Blatter wrote: »

I'm sure Valencia won't be playing for Ecuador either, it would be brilliant if he was fit for Sunday then. Rafael isn't included in the Brazil squad either afaik.

---

de Gea

---

Rafael

---

Ferdinand

---

Evans

---

Evra
Valencia

---

Giggs

---

Carrick

---

Nani

---

Rooney

---

---

Welbeck

---

I think we'll see something along the lines of the above against Tottenham, injuries permitting. If Valencia isn't fit I could see Park on the right to try and counteract Bale.

It was great to see Nani starting to pick up his form at the weekend. We could really do with him going on a run of good games now. If Valencia comes back early too, all the better.

G.K.

DM-ICE wrote: »

I was reading that David Fox (Norwich) used to be at united. I don't remember him but it got me thinking about other former united academy players playing in the premier league for other clubs. At least 15 more players I could think of (that includes Brown, Neville, JOS though). Would that be typical for an academy or a high amount?

others were - Shawcross, Richardson, Gibson, Eagles, Campbell, Ebanks Blake, Bardsley, Simpson, Tate, Wilson, Jones. Higginbottom is on loan to Forest but a stoke player and I think Pilkington may have played for Uniteds academy at some point.

*This topic may not be that interesting but far more interesting than people talking about Liverpool in this thread.

Who's this?

Blatter

Pro. F wrote: »

It was great to see Nani starting to pick up his form at the weekend. We could really do with him going on a run of good games now. If Valencia comes back early too, all the better.

The international game should do Nani no harm actually, he should still be relatively fresh for Sunday after missing around a month recently.

Yeah, I was delighted with him at Norwich. I was worried going into the game with Rooney missing and Nani's performances against Ajax, that he would be ineffective but he's came good.

Mikeyt086

G.K. wrote: »

Who's this?

Ryan Wilson.

Don't think he went on to make much of a name for himself.

Samich

I think the remaining games for City & Utd are pretty equal tbh. I can't see City dropping many points. Chelsea at home for them will be no problem I don't think.

They'll have to drop points somewhere but it will be just an off day on their part.

Blatter

Samich wrote: »

I think the remaining games for City & Utd are pretty equal tbh. I can't see City dropping many points. Chelsea at home for them will be no problem I don't think.

They'll have to drop points somewhere but it will be just an off day on their part.

City's PL away results:

Aston Villa 0-1 Man City

Everton 1-0 Man City

Wigan 0-1 Man City

Sunderland 1-0 Man City

West Brom 0-0 Man City

Chelsea 2-1 Man City

Liverpool 1-1 Man City

QPR 2-3 Man City

Man Utd 1-6 Man City

Blackburn 0-4 Man City

Fulham 2-2 Man City

Tottenham 1-5 Man City

Bolton 2-3 Man City


They were very impressive early on in the season but they have dropped 13 points out of the last 21 available to them away from home and didn't looked impressive in the two wins they got during that time frame. Only scored 4 goals in their last 7.

Swansea, Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich and Newcastle are difficult away fixtures and I'd expect City to drop 3-6 points. They play Wolves away as well who are capable of getting something if they raise their game.

I wouldn't be writing of Chelsea's chances when they play them either. Yeah Chelsea are playing crap at the minute, but it wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility for them to pick up a bit of form and put a run together which would put them in better shape for the City game.

G.K.

City have improved form their mini slump since they played Everton/Sundrland.

Plus I wouldn't be so confident that Utd won't drop points, remember Blackburn, Newcastle?

Professional Griefer

Kluivert saying Sneijder will come to the PL next season. Hopefully its rubbish, well at least, not us.

Disappointed if the Pogba stories are true.

G.K.

He'd only fit in a 4-3-3, or a 4-4-1-1 with no Rooney. No easy way to accommodate him, ooney and Welbeck/Hernandez

killwill

I would like to apologise to Mr. Alan who rightly pointed out from my post that I questioned Luiz Suarez' off field antics when only his on-field antics are really questionable. Sorry!

Blatter

G.K. wrote: »

City have improved form their mini slump since they played Everton/Sundrland.

Plus I wouldn't be so confident that Utd won't drop points, remember Blackburn, Newcastle?

They've been impressive at home all season. Away from home is still a bit of a problem for them, they have struggled to score when they come up against organised defenses. 4 goals in their last 7 PL away games says it all really.

When Blackburn won at OT, United had a catastrophic injury crisis. Carrick at CB, Park and Rafael in CM, no Rooney. A result like that is highly unlikely to happen again.

As for Newcastle away, that was a tough game. I've already said the games that would have me worried are Tottenham, City and Sunderland away.

Of course they could drop points elsewhere, but much less likely to.

Put it this way: Realistic potential banana skins:

City

Swansea, Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich, Newcastle away and Chelsea, United at home.

United

Tottenham, City and Sunderland away.


City have 7 games that I look at and think they could realistically drop points, United have 3. Obviously City being at home in the derby gives them the edge in that game but overall I think it's fair to say that United have the easier run in.

G.K.

What we can agree on is that it's great we're already talking about promoted sides' ties as being hard palces to go to.

Samich

You can't say Utd only have 3 potential banana skins when we just about beat Norwich.

killwill

Samich wrote: »

You can't say Utd only have 3 potential banana skins when we just about beat Norwich.

Norwich are a potential bana skin for every team in the PL. Hence why they are doing so well in their first season in the PL. Only 6 teams have scored more than them this season and those 6 are the top 6.

nicklauski

Samich wrote: »

You can't say Utd only have 3 potential banana skins when we just about beat Norwich.

Twice.

Blatter

Samich wrote: »

You can't say Utd only have 3 potential banana skins when we just about beat Norwich.

Yes I can. As Killwill said, Norwich were a realistic potential banana skin.

The other games excluding the three difficult ones that I mentioned, United will be a shorter price than 1/2 going into every single one of them.

That's not to say they will win all 9 of those games that they will be strong favorites in, but they are sure as hell expected to win them.

MJRS

I dunno, we've seen it plenty of times in recent years, the teams who have the easiest run-in often seem to underestimate teams every week and drop more points than the "potential banana skins" would suggest! I'd rather not start thinking there's only 3 difficult games left this season, if only for my own nerves haha

kryogen

The game at the Etihad is huge, City have been so impressive at home I think if we are within touching distance of them it would be vital just to not lose that game, obviously a win is the ideal outcome, but a draw away to them is a good result.

You would hope they will drop points elsewhere and need to be in position to capitalise on any mistake they make.

wheres me jumpa

Blatter wrote: »

When Blackburn won at OT

That bloody game, grrrrr.

DM_7

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

G.K. wrote: »

Who's this?

Ryan Wilson.

Don't think he went on to make much of a name for himself.

Marc Wilson - Stoke and ROI.

I am fairly sure I read he used to be at United years ago as a kid. Maybe to long ago to even count for the list.

kryogen

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Ryan Wilson.

Don't think he went on to make much of a name for himself.

Funnily enough I think I may be the only one who got this? Surely not??

DM_7

Actually I am only getting that one now.

G.K.

I thought it was obvious...

kryogen

G.K. wrote: »

I thought it was obvious...

I thought it was obvious, I'm not so sure you did though

G.K.

I'm confused now.

Are we talking about who Ryan Wilson is or that 'Wilson' meant Marc?

Orando Broom

Would ye prefer to be one or two points ahead of City going to play them or one or two behind? There is a part of me thinks that United would be more inclined to go for the jugular if they were behind. Also the psychological blow of losing the lead in the defeat would be key too. What say the denizens?

Pro. F

Orando Broom wrote: »

Would ye prefer to be one or two points ahead of City going to play them or one or two behind? There is a part of me thinks that United would be more inclined to go for the jugular if they were behind. Also the psychological blow of losing the lead in the defeat would be key too. What say the denizens?

I'd say that United would approach the game with exactly the right attitude whether we were ahead, behind or level with them. It's the genius of Ferguson that he gets the attitude of the players right for games like these.

Your Airbag

This is a hypothetical of the run in with me being generous to City and giving us a loss to Spurs and them a win against Bolton and no losses for either team. Starting with the games after this weekend, with a bad away result against Blackburn as they turned us over this season. With differing results highlighted. Feel free to edit and deriede at will .

Citys run in

Sawnsea away (win) Chelsea home (win) Stoke away (draw)* Sunderland home (win)** Arsenal away (draw)*** West Brom home (win) Norwich away (draw)**** Woves away (win) Utd home (draw) Newcastle away (draw)***** QPR home (win)******

Utd's run in

West Brom home (win) Woves away (win) Fulham home (win)* Blackburn away (draw)** QPR home (win)*** Wigan away (win) Villa home (win)**** Everton home (win) City away (draw) Swansea home (win)***** Sunderland away (draw)******

* 3 points behind
** 5 pts behind
*** 3 pts behind
**** 1 pt behind
***** 1 pt ahead
****** 1 pt behind

Hopefully we can beat Spurs or at least draw, which would lead to a very exciting finish. The game at the Eithad should be monumentous.

Al Capwned

Orando Broom wrote: »

Would ye prefer to be one or two points ahead of City going to play them or one or two behind? There is a part of me thinks that United would be more inclined to go for the jugular if they were behind. Also the psychological blow of losing the lead in the defeat would be key too. What say the denizens?

Would prefer to be ahead of them without a shadow of a doubt.....

killwill

G.K. wrote: »

I'm confused now.

Are we talking about who Ryan Wilson is or that 'Wilson' meant Marc?

LOL think about it.......

Al Capwned

killwill wrote: »

LOL think about it.......

gonna hit ya like a spade in the face shortly man !!!

Blatter

Orando Broom wrote: »

Would ye prefer to be one or two points ahead of City going to play them or one or two behind? There is a part of me thinks that United would be more inclined to go for the jugular if they were behind. Also the psychological blow of losing the lead in the defeat would be key too. What say the denizens?

On a logical basis you would have to say you'd want to be ahead as you could (and would under Ferguson) still approach the game in the right way and go for the win but a draw would still keep us top.

But looking at it from a City point of view, if they were the ones in the lead before the game and just needed a draw, that could damage them mentally and knowing Mancini there's every chance he could play for a draw (especially after say 60 mins if the game was level) and end up bottling it.

So to answer your question, I would prefer to be ahead but could also see a possible advantage to being just behind.

daveyboy_1ie

killwill wrote: »

LOL think about it.......

Don't un-name him ffs

Al Capwned

Quiet day today....

Pro. F

alproctor wrote: »

Quiet day today....

Here's some news for ya:
Cleverley will be back next week apparently

Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley is on target to return against Atletic Bilbao next week after a scan on his injured ankle revealed there to be no serious problem.

Cleverley was injured in the Europa League match against Ajax last week after suffering a knock to his ankle when going in for a tackle and was subsequently brought off in the 60th minute of the game.

The injury saw the 22-year-old missed the visit to Norwich over the weekend saw him and also withdraw from a possible England debut. The second leg tie against Ajax was only his second match after coming back from a prior ankle ligament injury suffered last October, but Cleverley was quick to assure fans that it was not a recurring injury.

He stated on Twitter on Monday: "Very dissapointed not to be joining up with the England squad tonight. And again it isn't a reoccurence of the injury its the other leg!"

The scan results revealed nothing more serious than a bruise to his ankle and Cleverley has already resumed gym training, although he is not expected to rejoin the full squad trianing until later this week.

This means that Cleverley will likely miss out on Manchester United's visit to White Hart Lane this weekend but he could return in time to face Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League next week.

He took to Twitter on Tuesday, saying: "I'm not out for the season don't know where these rumours are coming from. I will be back soon!"

Cleverley' has only played nine games for United in his injury-blighted debut season but has impressed enough so far to be called up to the England squad.

Son Of A Vidic

That's good to hear about Cleverley. But I don't know how he got injured, since he didn't appear to be on the pitch during the Ajax game.

Pro. F

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

That's good to hear about Cleverley. But I don't know how he got injured, since he didn't appear to be on the pitch during the Ajax game.

Ah he wasn't that bad at all to be fair to him. He was quiet, but he put in some nice passes at times.

Professey Chin

Pro. F wrote: »

Ah he wasn't that bad at all to be fair to him. He was quiet, but he put in some nice passes at times.

And having to play CM with Park would throw any midfielders positional sense out the window

Son Of A Vidic

Pro. F wrote: »

Ah he wasn't that bad at all to be fair to him. He was quiet, but he put in some nice passes at times.

Despite it being a shyte team performance overall against Ajax, it was his disappearance which disheartened me most of all. He should be raring to go and trying to prove himself on the pitch at this stage in his fledgling career. A couple of nice passes doesn't cut it with me. I just hope he hasn't got the early signs of an incurable case of 'Andersonitis'.

wheres me jumpa

Spurs game is crucial. Pick up three points there sets us up nicely for a favourable run of games up to the City game. Maximum points between now and the City game would see us overtake them imo.

adox

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Despite it being a shyte team performance overall against Ajax, it was his disappearance which disheartened me most of all. He should be raring to go and trying to prove himself on the pitch at this stage in his fledgling career. A couple of nice passes doesn't cut it with me. I just hope he hasn't got the early signs of an incurable case of 'Andersonitis'.

Very unfair imo. The weakest part of his game by far is his defensive side. What he is offering us at the moment, which we didnt have, is creativity on the ball in the centre of midfield and also a high tempo to our game. He is far from a finished article in the middle and needs a strong midfielder to play alongside him and may even be more suited to a three man midfield short term.

From the display against Ajax, I think he did alright for the first half hour and granted the game did pass him by after that, but as previously stated, it was always going to be a nightmare for him with Park alongside him. Add to that the poor display from the rest of the team and he really was fighting an uphill battle to impose his game. Plus it was only his second start back from injury.

hes a hugely important player to United imo. We have no one else in the squad who can pick a pass as he can and play the game from midfield at such a high tempo. Of course we have Scholes back now whos passing is near flawless but beyond this season, unless we sign someone, Cleverley is the future of our midfield. He would be one of the last I`d lay criticism at for not being involved enough against Ajax.

SK1979

Blatter wrote: »

On a logical basis you would have to say you'd want to be ahead as you could (and would under Ferguson) still approach the game in the right way and go for the win but a draw would still keep us top.

But looking at it from a City point of view, if they were the ones in the lead before the game and just needed a draw, that could damage them mentally and knowing Mancini there's every chance he could play for a draw (especially after say 60 mins if the game was level) and end up bottling it.

So to answer your question, I would prefer to be ahead but could also see a possible advantage to being just behind.

I definitely think that it could be better to be slightly behind (2 points or less) rather than slightly ahead (< 3 points). Obviously, I'd love to be about 6 clear of them but thats unlikely.

I think that being behind them would coax Mancini into adopting the "Italian" mentality about not wanting to lose and while I acknowledge that they are superbly organised defensively, teams that play that way against us usually lose.

If you even look at the cup game against them, Kompany gets sent off, they sit back and we go 3 up. Then in the second half, they decide to have a go at us and we nearly throw it away.

I think we are very vunerable to good teams having a go (even poor teams can beat us), but when they sit back, we eventually (almost always) break them down.

SK1979

SK1979 wrote: »

I definitely think that it could be better to be slightly behind (2 points or less) rather than slightly ahead (< 3 points).

.

I doubt Fergie agrees with you !

keane2097

lol @ "ahead or behind" question

SK1979

rarnes1 wrote: »

I doubt Fergie agrees with you !

Probably not, but psychologically I feel City would find it more difficult if we were only a couple of points behind them with a few games to play. I think that scenario is more likely to see them drop points.

Anyway, tis only a hypothetical question, it would obviously be better to be well clear of them before the game.

SK1979

SK1979 wrote: »

Probably not, but psychologically I feel City would find it more difficult if we were only a couple of points behind them with a few games to play. I think that scenario is more likely to see them drop points.

Anyway, tis only a hypothetical question, it would obviously be better to be well clear of them before the game.

The way I'd look at it is 2 points ahead plus a win and it's 5 ahead with 2 games left !

Also remember City have been unreal at home in the league, won 13/13.

Anyway, it's all hypothetical as you say.