Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

Chucky the tree

cambo2008 wrote: »

It's gas how this team gets labelled poor and everyone rabbits on about how great City are.
Level on points in the league,went out at the same stage in both European competitions,knocked them out of the FA cup.
They have superior players no doubt but as an overall squad and how they play together there's f**k all in it.

When you look at the games between the two sides there is not **** all in it. City are a better team. United have the advantage of experience and their big name which has what helped them compete so well despite being of poorer quality than City.

Will I Amnt

Chucky the tree wrote: »

When you look at the games between the two sides there is no **** all in it. City are a better team. United have the advantage of experience and their big name which has what helped they compete so well despite being of poorer quality then City.

I think I get what your saying there,seems you might have been on the sauce today yea?
League table is a far better comparison than 2 games.Especially considering the circumstances of the one at OT.

Owryan

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Newcastle 1-1 Manchester United
Manchester United 2-3 Blackburn
Wigan 1-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 4-4 Everton.

These are the results that will ultimately cost us the league. It's so infuriating looking back on them. Even 1 point from Blackburn or Wigan would have been enough. The amount of chances we created against Newcastle, and then blowing a 2 goal lead against Everton.

What a waste of a season. I know it's not over yet, but lads, QPR at the Etihad? What a waste of a season.

Thing is tho, every team can look to freakish results that have cost them .

If we somehow win the title next weekend there ll be city fans pointing to the last minute defeat to Sunderland as one such result.

Likewise you can look at the matches Utd got something out of when they shouldnt.

Over the course of a season it balances out .

Chucky the tree

cambo2008 wrote: »

I think I get what your saying there,seems you might have been on the sauce today yea?
League table is a far better comparison than 2 games.Especially considering the circumstances of the one at OT.

Ha no, last night though and it takes awhile to wear off. I don't think league table is also a accurate comparison of one team vs another.

Will I Amnt

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Ha no, last night though and it takes awhile to wear off. I don't think league table is also a accurate comparison of one team vs another.

It's not uncommon for a lowly positioned team to do the double in a season over a team in the top 4.
So you could argue that the 2 games against each other are less of a gauge in comparison.

Chucky the tree

cambo2008 wrote: »

It's not uncommon for a lowly positioned team to do the double in a season over a team in the top 4.
So you could argue that the 2 games against each other are less of a gauge in comparison.

It's also not uncommon for a good teams to do poorly in the league and finish behind a worse team. It's not just two games, it's also looking at both first 11s and comparing them.

Will I Amnt

Chucky the tree wrote: »

It's also not uncommon for a good teams to do poorly in the league and finish behind a worse team. It's not just two games, it's also looking at both first 11s and comparing them.

Well I did say as an overall squad there's f**k all in it.They do have technically better players in their first 11.
You also have to take into consideration how lucky they have been on the injury front compared to our woeful bad luck.
We have missed vital players for long spells throughout the season.

Mr.Crinklewood

FC United has a bad day as well today. Youth team lost 4-1, and had five players sent off at the full-time whistle.

Cup final defeat for Youth



It was a game too far for the youth team as Warrington Town put up a much stronger performance in the Neil Thomason Cup Final, winning 4-1. Matters were made worse at full time when a mass brawl broke out. Richard Smith, Kial Callacher , Connor Naughton, Theo Kidd and Matthew Hassall all received red cards.

In the football match FC United started well, Theo Kidd, Sam Howell and Kial Callacher all went close in the first 15 minutes, but that in truth was almost as good as it got for the reds. In the 23rd minute a needlessly conceded free kick on the edge of the box from James Daniels, was allowed to squirm in off the near post as Farrimond in the FC net was unable to get across his goal line quickly enough.

Daniels got his second after 39 minutes with a free header from a corner, but a minute later the lads pulled one back with Richard Smith heading home a Matthew Boland free kick a minute later.

Chances were few and far between in the second half and it was not until the 73rd minute that either side registered a worthwhile strike. Luke Walkers long range effort was arrowing towards the top corner when Vaughan in the Warrington net pulled a top quality save from nowhere to turn it out for a corner. Shortly afterwards Warrington made it 3-1; Farrimond came out to deal with a hopeful ball lifted up to the edge of the penalty area, unfortunately he was unable to either catch or punch convincingly and Dylan Glass was on hand to punish him.

FC tried without success to get back in to the game, a penalty appeal was turned down in the 84th minute but Warrington immediately broke down the other end and Glass was unfortunate not to get his second. As the game drew to a close Farrimond was able to provide a quality save to deny Oliver Wells, but in injury time his clearance kick was returned with interest when Glass ran clear of the FC defence and chipped over the advancing keeper.

Soon after that the full time whistle blew and whilst understandably disappointed to lose the players were left in no doubt that what happened has no place on any football pitch and certainly not at FC United.

The one consolation as the medals were presented was that FC skipper James Brooks was named Man of the Match by the NWYA Committee for a near flawless individual performance.

FC United of Manchester: Andrew Farrimond, Kyle Cunningham, Jonathan Poizer, Richard Smith, James Brooks, Kial Callacher, Sam Howell, Connor Naughton, Theo Kidd, Matthew Boland, Matthew Hassall. Substitutions: Luke Walker for Sam Howell (15 mins), Josh Smethurst for Connor Naughton (60 mins), Josh Matthew for Luke Walker (77 mins), Andy Lee and Jonathan Beisty not used.

Source

Mars Bar

Does anyone else think Hernandez has put on a reasonable amount of muscle? I thought it was quite noticeable today. Hopefully he finds his touch again next season. 12 goals with the amount of minutes he got this season is still a fairly decent return.

Drumpot

Mars Bar wrote: »

Does anyone else think Hernandez has put on a reasonable amount of muscle? I thought it was quite noticeable today. Hopefully he finds his touch again next season. 12 goals with the amount of minutes he got this season is still a fairly decent return.

Agreed, he was off the boil and never fully fit . .

Eathrin

Hate to bring it up but that 6-1 defeat to City has proved more costly now than we ever knew it would. Even had we lost 2-1 the goal difference would be +8 in our favour. That is massive, and is hurting now.

J. Marston

Eathrin wrote: »

Hate to bring it up but that 6-1 defeat to City has proved more costly now than we ever knew it would. Even had we lost 2-1 the goal difference would be +8 in our favour. That is massive, and is hurting now.

No, losing to Wigan and bottling it against Everton is what's hurting now.

MagicMarker

Eathrin wrote: »

Hate to bring it up but that 6-1 defeat to City has proved more costly now than we ever knew it would. Even had we lost 2-1 the goal difference would be +8 in our favour. That is massive, and is hurting now.

Nonsense, our goals scored and goals conceded throughout the whole season has proved costly. Putting it all down to that one game is ridiculous.

abouttobebanned

Wigan was a choke. Everton was a choke. Huge chance to voice back against man city, show the world what we were mad of, and ferguson bottles it and played for a draw. City were there for the taking and ferguson gibbed it.
Legend of a manager, best we have ever had and I love the man. But tired of these decisions and I think it's time
for the dawning of a new era.

Liam O

Wigan were playing well enough and United were never really in the game, Everton is the annoying one as it was in the bag and United let it slip. City is more annoying than both though as from the team selection to individual players it was rubbish.

Paul Tergat

No matter what happens I ****ing love this club. We'll never die!!

UDAWINNER

For me, personally when city beat spurs in in injury time when balotelli should have been sent off and defoe missed an open goal was the moment that citys name was on the trophy. Anyway, come on sparky, do us a favour.

Jimmy Iovine

UDAWINNER wrote: »

For me, personally when city beat spurs in in injury time when balotelli should have been sent off and defoe missed an open goal was the moment that citys name was on the trophy. Anyway, come on sparky, do us a favour.

Ah go away outta that. It was a big moment but definitely not the defining one. It was 3 and a half months ago. There have been plenty more important and defining games since then.

smokedeels

Re: the posts about the Glazers

Barca and Real owe huge sums of money to the taxman, which is disgusting when you look at the austerity measures being applied in Spain. While City and Chelsea simply won the lottery when some very nasty people took them over.

We can't and shouldn't want to compete with those teams if only because the way they operate is surely unsustainable.

I have some issues with our owners they are not negatively impacting the team. The proof is there, we've been handing out improved contracts to players and spent a decent chunk of cash last summer.

I agree we need more creativity in the middle of the park but it likely a genuine case of SAF not identifying anybody than our evil American owners, they need us to do well on the field.

SirDelboy18

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Wigan was a choke. Everton was a choke. Huge chance to voice back against man city, show the world what we were mad of, and ferguson bottles it and played for a draw. City were there for the taking and ferguson gibbed it.
Legend of a manager, best we have ever had and I love the man. But tired of these decisions and I think it's time
for the dawning of a new era.

Ferguson has made questionable team selections in big games for over 17 years, going as far back as not starting Mark Hughes against West Ham in 94/95.

See also - Madrid in Champions League around 2000.

See also - Chelsea at home in 2010

(many other examples)

Anthony16

Personally,i had no problem with his tactics at the etihad.
We could never have gone there and just opened up given what happened against them at old trafford and everton the week before.
We would have been slaughtered.
What i thought was odd was the personnel he selected for that game.
Scholes and giggs in thee same midfield against toure,silva,nasri.
Playing park after 1 full game all season.
Dropping valencia.
Not playing ashley young.

Also,having chris smalling mark kompany at corners while ferdinand was on aguero?
What was he thinking?

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Wigan was a choke. Everton was a choke. Huge chance to voice back against man city, show the world what we were mad of, and ferguson bottles it and played for a draw. City were there for the taking and ferguson gibbed it.
Legend of a manager, best we have ever had and I love the man. But tired of these decisions and I think it's time
for the dawning of a new era.

The_Kew_Tour

I thought I would never feel worse then when Leeds pipped us in 1992. The 2 CL final defeats, West Ham in 95 and Dortmund in 97 were also painful, but seeing City lifting the trophy after we blowing the league will be the worst feeling I have as a United fan in 23 years.

I now have sympathy for Newcastle fans in 1996 after all.

homerjay2005

we were impressive for about 20 minutes yesterday before half time, the rest of the game we were lathergic, static and lacked bite and flair. yesterday just summed up our season, did enough to get 3 points without doing anything remotely spectacular. rooneys end to the season has been very very poor and its very worrying.

once again, phil jones did nothing but worry me everytime he got the ball. even one stage de gea turned around with a huge look of disgust when he gave the ball away for about the 10th time and that sums up jones for me, the other players dont even trust him on the ball.

ashley young was very good yesterday though.

KH25 wrote: »

I think Siggurdson would be a good signing this year. Very impressed.

no way, i kept a close eye on him yesterday and he didnt do anything to suggest he was united quality.

jaysus christ lads, get a grip with this, he is just another charlie adam ffs.decent player he is, but he is not united quality.

kryogen wrote: »

Its not a very poor United side, its a United side that is level on points with City, who are certainly not a very poor side, ahead in the table quite comfortably of a team who will be playing in the Champions League final and has won the FA cup.

Very poor is the wrong choice of words there, they are not the best United team of recent memory, certainly the best squad in years though, if not ever.

its not a poor side nor is it a great one.

Blatter wrote: »

To stop you there, United spent circa £50m in the Summer.

I don't think much needs to change at United at all. A couple of tweaks here and there and an established midfield signing and I'll be happy. There's a lot of young players that are only going to get better next season which will bring the team along way. Better luck with injuries wouldn't be too much to ask either.

there are huge problems being masked by our league position. city will just florish from this league title and kick on. we have looked pityful at times this year and hung in there.

it took brining back a lad pushing towards 40 years old to revive a horrible season, that looks like being a total and absolute write off and disaster.

homerjay2005

a lad i work with who is well knowledgeable in all things benfica, is adamant that Guitan is a united player, done deal. he has been right about every big transfer that has involved a portugal club over the past 3 or 4 years, well in advance of it happening. i still have reservations that we will actually sign him though, it just doesnt make sense, we dont need him at all unless our days of 4-4-2 are officially gone.

i am convinced however that we wont address our midfield problems this year, at all :mad:

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

a lad i work with who is well knowledgeable in all things benfica, is adamant that Guitan is a united player, done deal. he has been right about every big transfer that has involved a portugal club over the past 3 or 4 years, well in advance of it happening. i still have reservations that we will actually sign him though, it just doesnt make sense, we dont need him at all unless our days of 4-4-2 are officially gone.

i am convinced however that we wont address our midfield problems this year, at all :mad:

Seen few things today on Net saying it was done deal. But no official quotes, just usual rumours.

gosplan

abouttobebanned wrote: »

City were there for the taking

Ha ha. 17/1/0 at home and they were there for the taking.

Blatter

homerjay2005 wrote: »

there are huge problems being masked by our league position. city will just florish from this league title and kick on. we have looked pityful at times this year and hung in there.

it took brining back a lad pushing towards 40 years old to revive a horrible season, that looks like being a total and absolute write off and disaster.

We obviously had problems this season but I'm pretty sure if Vidic was fit we would have won the league. Evans filled in extremely well for the most part but there is no denying that Vidic is one of the best centre halfs in the world. No way he would have been beaten in the air all day and conceded 4 against Everton and I'm sure he would have been worth a few more points. He only played 6 PL games, imagine if Kompany only played 6 games for City? And all the other injuries we got throughout the season was nothing short of ridiculous.

Would you not be happy going into next season with the following:

de Gea, Lindegaard, Amos

Evra, new full back (probably Clyne), Fabio out on loan, Rafael

Vidic, Evans, Ferdinand, Smalling, Jones

Carrick, new CM, Cleverley, Anderson/new CM, Scholes, Giggs

Nani, Valencia, Young, Kagawa/Gaitan etc.

Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez


I would be pretty content with it. I'd expect de Gea, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Jones, Cleverley, Welbeck and Hernandez to kick on which, as I said, would actually bring the squad a long way on it's own. And you have the likes of Nani, Young, Valencia, Rooney entering their prime. Supplemented with a couple of signings & better luck on the injury front and I see very little wrong tbh.

Red Crow

I wouldn't be happy with that. We don't need Clyne, we need a left back. We have to buy a CM, maybe even two. I don't see the need for Kagawa and we need to buy a striker.

Buying Clyne, Kagawa and Gaitan solves none of our problems. I hate seeing Rooney playing so far back and our forward play has been rubbish.

Without Valencia hitting top form injury and Scholes coming out of retirement the league would of been over a month ago.

De Gea, Scholes, Evans, Carrick and Valencia have had good seasons. That's it tbh. Rio has been solid enough too. Rooney's general play hasn't been great this year but his goals have kept us alive.

I don't think people should forget what the team and Fergie done in Europe this year. We should seriously be looking at a striker and a top CM if we have any ambition in Europe.

MisterAnarchy

kryogen wrote: »

Very poor is the wrong choice of words there, they are not the best United team of recent memory, certainly the best squad in years though, if not ever.

That is delusional talk .
Best squad ever ,lol.

Its easily the worst Utd team in well over 15 years .

Where are the players with a bit of flair or spark that get the spectator off their feet ?
Where is the pace in central midfield ?
How many world class players in the squad ? None.

There is too much hype about footballers nowadays.
Reminds me of the people who were heralding Jones as the next Bobby Moore,an England legend in the making after about 5 games.:rolleyes:

DM_7

Don't be too harsh on Jones,

He is only 20. He will improve his passing over time. He played far more this season than anyone could have expected due to injuries.

Re: Gaitan, United need a player who is left footed to replace Giggs. He is the type of player SAF would look to add to the squad as he can operate left, right or in the middle.

I know we all want a couple of central midfield players but i would also welcome recruits that force United to at least field attacking players in games like the City away last week. I can handle losing to any team but I hate losing when the team fielded never looks like it has a chance to win.

Jimmy Iovine

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

How many world class players in the squad ? None.

Rooney and Vidic are world class. Nani isn't far off it as long as he can stay clear of injuries. Valencia on his day is one of the most devastating players around.

MisterAnarchy

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Rooney and Vidic are world class. Nani isn't far off it as long as he can stay clear of injuries. Valencia on his day is one of the most devastating players around.

Vidic is indeed world class but I didnt include him as he was out for most of the season.
Rooney is borderline as is Nani who is very hit and miss.
Valencia is a good player ,not world class though ,too one dimensional.

Jimmy Iovine

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Vidic is indeed world class but I didnt include him as he was out for most of the season.
Rooney is borderline as is Nani who is very hit and miss.
Valencia is a good player ,not world class though ,too one dimensional.

Nani isn't the type of player to walk back into a team and produce an amazing game. He needs a few under his belt and he needs to get a good long run in the team. If he does that then he's the best winger in the league imo.

Valencia is horribly one dimensional. You saw it again yesterday. Get him to face back towards his goal and all of a sudden he can't do anything. It's an absolute joke that he refuses to use his left foot. He slows up the play so much with it. He had a chance to pass with his left to Carrick, turn and then be in behind the left back but he chose to dilly dally with it and we got nowhere.

When he does perform though he is lethal. There is no left back that can contain him. Enrique was taken to the cleaners against him. I'd still have Nani ahead of him due to the fact he's more of a goal-threat and can use both his feet.

Jimmy Iovine

homerjay2005 wrote: »

no way, i kept a close eye on him yesterday and he didnt do anything to suggest he was united quality.

jaysus christ lads, get a grip with this, he is just another charlie adam ffs.decent player he is, but he is not united quality.

What did you make of the sign that was up at the match? I'm presuming that it's real and not a fake because I saw the same image on the Associated Press' site.

homerjay2005

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

What did you make of the sign that was up at the match? I'm presuming that it's real and not a fake because I saw the same image on the Associated Press' site.

i never saw that yesterday at all, unless it was only up for a few mins.

Kylo Ren

United will play Vålerenga at Ullevaal in a pre-season friendly on Aug 5th in Oslo

Jimmy Iovine

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i never saw that yesterday at all, unless it was only up for a few mins.

Probably was only up for a few minutes. I doubt they'd have been happy allowing the ".com" to be covered.

homerjay2005

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Probably was only up for a few minutes. I doubt they'd have been happy allowing the ".com" to be covered.

im actually surprised that the glazers arent using that space all around the ground where manutd.com is printed to be used for advertising or something!

Jimmy Iovine

homerjay2005 wrote: »

im actually surprised that the glazers arent using that space all around the ground where manutd.com is printed to be used for advertising or something!

It is alright but then again the camera would never really pick it up so I can't imagine many would want to advertise there.

Then again the Glazers managed to get that £40 million pound deal for the training tops which must go down as one of the deals of the century. I still can't understand how they managed to pull it off.

PHB

So, I've kinda calmed down now. Still devastated about probably losing the title. Not over yet, but I expect it to be.

Either way, this has been a horrible season. We've been ****. The football's been ****. The performances have been ****. And frankly, let's not delude ourselves, it's been coming.

The fact that Ferguson has managed to get this team to the level it's reached for the past two years with the deficiencies it has is a testament to his incredible brilliance as a manager. The fact that the squad has all these deficiencies is a testament to his poor decisions in recent years. Fergie has already come out and said we can't spend like City. Frankly, I'm fed up with his Glazer fed crap that he spews. Even in spite of that, he's made poor decisions.

Why buy two center backs and a winger last summer when we were crying out for a midfield? Why continuously miss out on players like Nasri and Sneidjer due to restrictions. It's really a joke that our midfield has gotten to this stage.

Summer dealings:

Out:
Berbatov
Owen
Park

In:
New defensive central midfielder
New attacking central midfielder
New left back youth prospect

Aside from that, I wouldn't be sad to see Evra sold.

We desperately need a new defensive central midfielder. IT is number one, ahead of everything. Cleverely/Scholes/Carrick/Anderson could do a job going forward, but defensively, we've never replaced Keane, tried with Hargreaves, didn't work out, and then also lost Fletcher. We need steel in the middle, desperately.

Owen_S

^I agree with the players being let go, but it is very unlikely that Evra will be sold. He is the captain atm, and the manager has already confirmed that Fryers and Fabio will be out on loan next season. It would mean that 2 left-backs would need to be brought in.

Reluctance to move from 4-4-2 will make any potential signings in midfield even more difficult. Fitting a player like Nasri into that formation would be difficult. I'm not expecting many signings in the summer, as usual we will be linked to dozens of players in the papers, but our actual transfers will remain secret until completed.

Shane St.

Last summer when we refused to address the midfield, I thought maybe the likes of Pogba and Morrison would begin to make inroads into the 1st team. This has not happened. Obviously losing Fletcher was a massive blow in his planning and can he be relied on to come back next season?
It is absolutely criminal if we don't address the midfield this summer. I will be raging if we don't. The time has come for some dynamism and athleticism in there. We need a physical presence, it is amazing what we have won without one but the time has come.

Liam O

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Vidic is indeed world class but I didnt include him as he was out for most of the season.
Rooney is borderline as is Nani who is very hit and miss.
Valencia is a good player ,not world class though ,too one dimensional.

Do you think Robin Van Persie is world class out of interest? He has a similar goals to games ratio to Rooney and Rooney does more work deep than RVP does. To say Rooney isn't world class is to pretty much say there's no world class players in the PL ...

Kess73

PHB wrote: »

So, I've kinda calmed down now. Still devastated about probably losing the title. Not over yet, but I expect it to be.

Either way, this has been a horrible season. We've been ****. The football's been ****. The performances have been ****. And frankly, let's not delude ourselves, it's been coming.

The fact that Ferguson has managed to get this team to the level it's reached for the past two years with the deficiencies it has is a testament to his incredible brilliance as a manager. The fact that the squad has all these deficiencies is a testament to his poor decisions in recent years. Fergie has already come out and said we can't spend like City. Frankly, I'm fed up with his Glazer fed crap that he spews. Even in spite of that, he's made poor decisions.

Why buy two center backs and a winger last summer when we were crying out for a midfield? Why continuously miss out on players like Nasri and Sneidjer due to restrictions. It's really a joke that our midfield has gotten to this stage.

Summer dealings:

Out:
Berbatov
Owen
Park

In:
New defensive central midfielder
New attacking central midfielder
New left back youth prospect

Aside from that, I wouldn't be sad to see Evra sold.

We desperately need a new defensive central midfielder. IT is number one, ahead of everything. Cleverely/Scholes/Carrick/Anderson could do a job going forward, but defensively, we've never replaced Keane, tried with Hargreaves, didn't work out, and then also lost Fletcher. We need steel in the middle, desperately.

Drive 35 miles down the M62 and I will show you what a horrible season looks like.:D

Granted you lot need to bring in some quality in three or four positions so that you can compete in Europe as well as domestically, but right now you are going into the last game of the season and still have a chance of winning the title. If that's a horrible season then I will have a few of those for Liverpool please.:)

MisterAnarchy

Liam O wrote: »

Do you think Robin Van Persie is world class out of interest? He has a similar goals to games ratio to Rooney and Rooney does more work deep than RVP does.

Last year I would have said no but he has improved alot and his right foot is no longer just for standing on.
He is borderline World class,yes and by world class I mean top 5 players for that position .

To say Rooney isn't world class is to pretty much say there's no world class players in the PL ...

That would be based on your presumption that Rooney is the best player in the PL,which he isnt .

Mikeyt086

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Last year I would have said no but he has improved alot and his right foot is no longer just for standing on.
He is borderline World class,yes and by world class I mean top 5 players for that position .

That would be based on your presumption that Rooney is the best player in the PL,which he isnt .

He is in the top 5 though.

Liam O

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Last year I would have said no but he has improved alot and his right foot is no longer just for standing on.
He is borderline World class,yes and by world class I mean top 5 players for that position .

That would be based on your presumption that Rooney is the best player in the PL,which he isnt .

Who's better than Rooney in the PL? You could make an argument for RVP and Silva, that's about it. Also other than Messi, Ronaldo and debatably RVP who's a better forward in the world?

G.K.

Rooney is clearly in the top 5 forwards in the EPL.

Comparing forwards to deep CM's or CB's or GK's is pointless.

Pro. F

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Vidic is indeed world class but I didnt include him as he was out for most of the season.
Rooney is borderline as is Nani who is very hit and miss.
Valencia is a good player ,not world class though ,too one dimensional.

Vidic doesn't stop being part of the squad just because he's injured.

On the broader point of what sort of shape the squad is in: We have one certainly world class player in the shape of Vidic; two debatable ones in Nani and Rooney; a few below that in Valencia, Young , Rio and Scholes; and a host of young and improving talent in DDG, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Rafael, Fabio, Cleverley, Welbeck and Hernandez. The squad has some problems but it's not in terrible shape like you seem to think.

G.K.

Like I said before, the squad is 4 players of world class standard. 2 CM's, 1 LB, and a replacement for Berba, be it an AM or CF