Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - 2013/14 Mod warning post #718

tallaghtmick

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Right, here's one for you. How do you feel about Evra?

Not Evra the person (or more specifically the 'character'), but Evra the permanent left-back, main spokesman for the team and ocassional captain.

If he was a Horse I'd put him to stud :cool:

KH25

brinty wrote: »

Moyes now in the job six months

What grade would you give him thus far???

Personally a c-, other than getting us to last 16 in Europe and SF of the mickey mouse cup we've been worse than abysmal. Big changes needed this month and the sooner they start happening the better

Honestly, Im not too unhappy. Our league form has been cack, but we're still in all the cups and the CL. That's something.

What disappoints me the most about Moyes is how he sets the team up (IMO) to not be beaten, rather than to go out and win. I think he is being overly cautious. Combine that with a few WTF substitutions and sticking with players who need a kick up the arse and you have the situation we are in now.

Julez

brinty wrote: »

Moyes now in the job six months

What grade would you give him thus far???

Personally a c-, other than getting us to last 16 in Europe and SF of the mickey mouse cup we've been worse than abysmal. Big changes needed this month and the sooner they start happening the better

A 'D' for me, just a pass. Positives Januzaj, Rooney and champions league performance. Negitives, everything else. Our home for is completely unacceptable.

Jimmy Iovine

brinty wrote: »

Moyes now in the job six months

What grade would you give him thus far???

Personally a

Generous :pac:

bullvine

I think the fact that not a single team has been beaten comfortably by us in the league says its all really..

beno619

Atletico signed another midfielder surely Koke is on the way :rolleyes::cool:

homerjay2005

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Right, here's one for you. How do you feel about Evra?

Not Evra the person (or more specifically the 'character'), but Evra the permanent left-back, main spokesman for the team and ocassional captain.

Evra is playing like the rest of the team is - s*it. people have a tendancy to single him out, but the reality is only 2, max 3 players (rooney, DDG and Adnan) have played anywhere near their capability so far this season.

the rest by in large, have been muck.

Backstreet Moyes

Welllbeck is a big positive for me he has been much better in front of goal.

brinty

beno619 wrote: »

Atletico signed another midfielder surely Koke is on the way :rolleyes::cool:

ED Wood will screw it up

homerjay2005

i know its only day 2, but i hope to f*ck that we have something lined out to be announced this week in terms of transfers, we cannot make the same mistakes as the summer and wait and wait and wait.

if we have something in the pipeline, it needs to be sorted asap not just hope that clubs would drop their prices on the last day.

hopefully yesterday is the wake up call that everybody at the club needs.

beno619

Nuts102 wrote: »

Welllbeck is a big positive for me he has been much better in front of goal.

Always been there, its not like Moyes dropped a big name and gave him a chance, injury forced his hand.

Moyes has used Adnan well and wont burn him out, thats about as positive as I can be about the first 6 months of the Moyes era.

Would love the overpriced, cowardly, disgusting short term fix Cabaye right now and Coentrao.

Oregano_State

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Evra is playing like the rest of the team is - s*it. people have a tendancy to single him out, but the reality is only 2, max 3 players (rooney, DDG and Adnan) have played anywhere near their capability so far this season.

the rest by in large, have been muck.

True enough, but I thought Raf looked pretty decent when he came back. His return from injury coincided with our decent run of results. We really could have used him yesterday.

As Nuts said, Welbeck suddenly starting to score is huge. Ashley Young has played better in the past few games than he has for a long time. I'd still have him as a sub though.

Evans has played very well in patches, as has Jones. It's not black and white, but in general I'd agree that the players have not performed this season.

bucketybuck

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i dont know why people on this forum keep obsessing with this number 10 b*llix.

You have missed the point. There is a reason why all of a sudden the entire attacking department of one of the worlds biggest clubs has turned to ****e. Whatever we may think of them individually when 6/7 players all start putting in horrendous performances then there are deeper reasons behind that, namely a complete lack of foundation from midfield and some godawful tactics being used.

So, call it a number 10 or whatever you want, but bringing in another player up front isn't going to change anything. Bringing in Ozil wouldn't have changed anything. Bringing another winger won't change anything. Sort the underlying problems and we might even find the likes of Kagawa, Hernandez and Wellbeck actually start playing well again.

Oregano_State

Would love if we'd gotten Flamini. He would have been perfect for what we need right now.

bullvine

Look at Liverpool, from the moment Rodgers took over, you could see how he wanted them to play, hes getting the results now because of this. Moyes doesn't seem to have any sort of system whatsoever, if we could see signs of a formation or template we might be more confident but the simple fact is, the football is the same as under Fergie but the attitude of the players has dropped.

bucketybuck

brinty wrote: »

Moyes now in the job six months

What grade would you give him thus far???

I don't want him sacked or anything, but to be honest I don't think he has done anything right since he got the job, a massive disappointment in every regard which is reflected in both results and performances.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i know its only day 2, but i hope to f*ck that we have something lined out to be announced this week in terms of transfers, we cannot make the same mistakes as the summer and wait and wait and wait

No, no, remember, we have to give them time, we have to wait and see before commenting on the lack of transfers. You are only allowed to judge the transfer window when it is over, isn't that how it goes?

KH25

bullvine wrote: »

Look at Liverpool, from the moment Rodgers took over, you could see how he wanted them to play, hes getting the results now because of this. Moyes doesn't seem to have any sort of system whatsoever, if we could see signs of a formation or template we might be more confident but the simple fact is, the football is the same as under Fergie but the attitude of the players has dropped.

Have to agree here. There's been no real innovation from Moyes. We're essentially still playing 4-4-2 and with the players we have, thats not good enough to beat a lot of teams.

Fellaini was clearly supposed to strengthen the midfield, and possibly better accommodate the 4-4-2. But with our wingers playing as they are, the system doesn't work. We're relying on an 18 year old to create magic and Rooney. Id love to see Moyes try something different.

ericzeking

Back to boards (cough, sorry) work......

Only watched MOTD for last nights game but listened to 5Live for the second half, seems like we were ridden for a few decisions and were unlucky enough....jesus that Alan Green is insufferable, I remember he had some feud with Fergie didn't he? He wasn't sparing Moyes in his criticicizms of positional switches and substitutions (moyes being SAF pick afterall).

On Moyes so far, I'm not too depressed or upset, it looks a bit worse than it is, in a normal year being this many points back would have a little higher but it's ultra competitive in the top 7 or 8 this year. The cups are a positive as is Rooney and Januzaj, as well as some of the form shown by the likes of Young and Welbeck and even Valencia now and again more recently. I really felt things were coming together but yesterday was a setback for sure I can't comment too much on it though as I said, I didn't see it in it's entireity.

On Evra, he has been absolute muck and while alot of players are not performing, Valencias missed cross opportunities or Cleverlys sideways passes are not directly costing us the way Evras ineptitude is, he has been directly at fault for quite a few goals, basically by just not bothering.
I wouldn't attack him personally though, his circumstance is not helping his performance, in the summer he either wanted to go or Moyes wanted to replace him, eitherway his head is elsewhere and his performance was always going to suffer, he looks disinterested.
It may be to Moyes credit that he pre-empted this severe decline but he should have got the Baines thing done in the summer as Evra is a serious weak link for us.

Mitch Connor

Links to players like Vidal kinda worry me - cause I don't see us having any hope of getting him. What the feck would attract him to United at this point? He is one of the best in the world, and as such I can't see us getting him with the state the club is in at the moment.

We need to be looking at a level below him (still a massive upgrade on our turds). We need to be looking at players around the 20-22 age bracket imo - players who have the potential to be world class in 2 or 3 years time, cause we need to build a team - we don't have the money or attraction to buy one ready made now.

We should be looking at the star young players in portugal, holland and france - and maybe players from some of the smaller German, Italian and Spanish sides. We have to forget about players like Gundogan and Fabregas imo, last summer was our chance to get a player of that ilk. There are two many sides that blow us out of the water for the biggest players now, for various reasons - Man City, Chelsea, PSG, Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern are all well ahead of us and we have little chance of competing with them successfully for players.

homerjay2005

didnt the team also suffer back in 2002 when Fergie announced he was leaving also? we went on and won the league in 2003, but then suffered for 4 years as the squad had been diminished and the majority of the 99-01 team was gone.

interesting enough, i took at look at the BBC website and Phil Macnulty had the report that Ferguson was retiring....two interesting things here from his piece.

Ferguson believes the squad he leaves behind "bodes well for continued success".

on Moyes.

"The choice will raise eyebrows in some quarters because the Scot has no serious European pedigree or trophies during his 11 years at Goodison Park but it is clear his stability, ability to build teams and willingness to give youth its chance appeals to the Old Trafford hierarchy.

"And his long-standing friendship with Ferguson will help ease potential tensions between the new manager's office and the boardroom. There is mutual trust and admiration between the pair."

to this day, ill never understand why Moyes got the job. he can be a success, but it could take him 2 or 3 years to do something that a proper candidage could have done in 2 or 3 months.

rob316

bullvine wrote: »

Look at Liverpool, from the moment Rodgers took over, you could see how he wanted them to play, hes getting the results now because of this. Moyes doesn't seem to have any sort of system whatsoever, if we could see signs of a formation or template we might be more confident but the simple fact is, the football is the same as under Fergie but the attitude of the players has dropped.

That's what saved Rodgers from the early chop, for all his **** talk he made us a very exciting team to watch again and has gotten the results.
Rodgers believes in himself and has always looked comfortable as Liverpool manager. Moyes does not look confident in himself, at Everton his way was to make them difficult to beat but at united he's not even doing that.
To be fair to Moyes its not his team its fergusons.

jonnyfingers

I have plenty of sympathy for Moyes after yesterday's performance. We were on top for most of the game and conceded two poor counter attacking goals. For the first one it was very bad tracking back by Evra and Januzaj which caused the defense to be stretched and in fairness to Adebayor it was a good header from him. Smalling could have done better but I'm sure he's not Moyes first choice at right back.

For the second goal Valencia let the side down defensively and Moyes can take some of the blame for putting him back there, but on the other hand he did that to facilitate some attacking substitutions which needed to be made so it's hard to criticise the manager.

A fit Rafael and a decent left back could have prevented both goals.

At the other end I thought Rooney had a poor game, as did Chicarito and Kagawa when they came one. All three were messing up easy passes towards the end of the game and if Chicarito's touch was better he could have scored a couple.

Even so we had numerous chances that should have been converted and we'd be easily looking at a 3-2 win. I thought Welbeck justified his place again and took his goal very well. Januzaj was much better on the right towards the end of the game and whipped in a few crosses that had nobody on the end of them sadly. And we could, and probably should, have had a penalty and a free kick towards the end.

So once again I feel for Moyes. The players at his disposal are certainly not helping him with their current performances. It would be different if every player was playing great but were were still losing, then we could look at the manager's tactics. But right now we're conceding poor goals and not scoring decent chances. There's not a whole lot he can do about that.

KH25

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Links to players like Vidal kinda worry me - cause I don't see us having any hope of getting him. What the feck would attract him to United at this point? He is one of the best in the world, and as such I can't see us getting him with the state the club is in at the moment.

We need to be looking at a level below him (still a massive upgrade on our turds). We need to be looking at players around the 20-22 age bracket imo - players who have the potential to be world class in 2 or 3 years time, cause we need to build a team - we don't have the money or attraction to buy one ready made now.

We should be looking at the star young players in portugal, holland and france - and maybe players from some of the smaller German, Italian and Spanish sides. We have to forget about players like Gundogan and Fabregas imo, last summer was our chance to get a player of that ilk. There are two many sides that blow us out of the water for the biggest players now, for various reasons - Man City, Chelsea, PSG, Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern are all well ahead of us and we have little chance of competing with them successfully for players.

In my opinion, we have to make it attractive for players to come to United. Results and success obviously help with that, but the club needs to re-evaluate its transfer policy. Im all for getting a good deal and not being ripped off on players, but every once in a while a player becomes available that extra money should be thrown at. We did it for RVP and look how that worked out. But when the club was supposedly after Fabregas we offered consistently ridiculous amounts. Low balling is one thing, but if the club seriously thought we had a chance at getting Fabregas they should have offered serious money.

FFS we supposedly wanted to throw away 100m on Bale. The money was there to buy big for midfield!

homerjay2005

brinty wrote: »

Moyes now in the job six months

What grade would you give him thus far???

Personally a c-, other than getting us to last 16 in Europe and SF of the mickey mouse cup we've been worse than abysmal. Big changes needed this month and the sooner they start happening the better

as a manager in the PL, i would rate him an F. to have only 5 points and 5 goals scored in 8 games against the top 8 teams, is just shocking. this alone, is the reason we will not get or deserve CL football this year. this is no other way to describe moyes 20 games in charge so far, as anything other than failure, too many "records" broken, too many poor stats, performances and what not, to give any other rating.

add in the CL and it of course improves Moyes rating, but how long will this last?

big changes are needed, the same changes that were needed in the summer, but he f*cking dithered and doped around along with that clueless **** of a CE and look where it has got us now?

we struggled to sign players as champions of England, how the hell are we going to attract players now i dont know unless we thrown obsecene amounts of money at players. if we wait until the summer, with no CL football, we wont be able to afford to buy them or attact them, so either way, we are in a right f*cking spot right now that could take 2 or 3 years to get out of.

beno619

Mitch Connor wrote: »

We need to be looking at a level below him (still a massive upgrade on our turds). We need to be looking at players around the 20-22 age bracket imo - players who have the potential to be world class in 2 or 3 years time, cause we need to build a team - we don't have the money or attraction to buy one ready made now.

While I agree with everything you said, there is no reason why we shouldn't be competing with the other top teams financially.

We are the biggest team in the world and playing at OT still means a lot, Juve were relegated a few season back yet still attracted top players.

If we can compete with the other top clubs or cant attract the type of young players you described, then questions will be asked of the Glazers and there commitment to the club/business.

Mitch Connor

The amount of work the United team/squad needs is scary.

Keep:

De Gea, Rafael, Jones, Smalling, Evans, Vidic, Carrick, Cleverley, Fletcher, Fellaini Nani, Januzaj, Kagawa, Rooney, RVP, Welbeck, Chico.

Even from that list, I would say there are question marks over Vidic, Nani, Fletcher, Kagawa and Chico, for various reasons.

Sell, Retire, Allow Leave:

Lindegaard, Fabio (cause we aren't using him at all), Ferdinand, Evra, Buttner, Anderson, Giggs, Valencia, Young.

Reality is, in an ideal world only De Gea, Rafael and Januzaj are showing they have a long term future at United right now. Rooney is a cert too if he wants to stay, based on his play this season. RVP has another 2 or 3 years maybe, if he wants to stay. I do have faith in Jones, Evans and Smalling too - but Smalling in particular is testing me this season.

Next season could/should we be seeing something like:

---

De Gea
Rafael--Jones-Evans-New LB
New RW-New CM-New CM-Januzaj

---

Rooney-RVP

Welbeck, Kagawa, Powell, Fellaini, New LB, Smalling, Amos

ericzeking

bullvine wrote: »

Look at Liverpool, from the moment Rodgers took over, you could see how he wanted them to play, hes getting the results now because of this. Moyes doesn't seem to have any sort of system whatsoever, if we could see signs of a formation or template we might be more confident but the simple fact is, the football is the same as under Fergie but the attitude of the players has dropped.

Whether you agree with it or not, I think it's pretty obvious he wanted to play traditional 4-4-2 with RVP and Rooney up front, and an emphasis on wingers with sitting midfielders.

The problems being the only effective wide player we have is an 18 year old learning his trade and we have 2 central midfielder who can effective in a 2 as the foil to a main CM dictator (Carrick/Jones) and we have 1 central midfielder who may be capable of playing in a 2 but has taken time to settle and been injured (Fellaini)

DM_7

bucketybuck wrote: »

No, no, remember, we have to give them time, we have to wait and see before commenting on the lack of transfers. You are only allowed to judge the transfer window when it is over, isn't that how it goes?

Well no, calls for wait and see in the first window Moyes was in charge for were based on him new to a job and needing time to look at his own players before making a decision.

Anything United want to do should be done early in this window as the need for time is gone. Exception is if a player becomes available out of the blue late on.

Mitch Connor

beno619 wrote: »

While I agree with everything you said, there is no reason why we shouldn't be competing with the other top teams financially.

We are the biggest team in the world and playing at OT still means a lot, Juve were relegated a few season back yet still attracted top players.

If we can compete with the other top clubs or cant attract the type of young players you described, then questions will be asked of the Glazers and there commitment to the club/business.

Juve didn't attact the very top players though - they have some top players now because they bought them a level or two below that and they have grown. Pogba has developed brilliantly, Vidal was a no brainer (imo) at the time but he has improved again. City found it very hard to sell Tevez in the end, Juve were one of few options for him. They tried big summer before last for some strikers and ended up getting Bendtner on loan. Italian football in general has had a hard time attracting the top players really. The ones that are there have been there for a few years and have developed to that level.

homerjay2005

DM-ICE wrote: »

Anything United want to do should be done early in this window as the need for time is gone. Exception is if a player becomes available out of the blue late on.

as i said in June, United normally get business done early and this is why i was so worried that the window was going to turn into a disgrace, which it did. if nothing brews in the next week or two, the chances of us getting in players drops dramatically and we will get f8ck all done in late january.

we should be getting in bids today/tomorrow to clubs and if they are rejected, either move on or up the bids until they are. its time to see if Moyes and Woodward have learned from their mistakes yet.

Lord TSC

Being honest, I can't see why we could have had the bids in and negotiations underway before the window opened yesterday...

Julez

homerjay2005 wrote: »

we should be getting in bids today/tomorrow

Bids or at least initial contact should have already been made.

Mitch Connor

homerjay2005 wrote: »

as i said in June, United get business done early. if nothing brews in the next week or two, the chances of us getting in players drops dramatically and we will get f8ck all done in late january.

we should be getting in bids today/tomorrow to clubs and if they are rejected, either move on or up the bids until they are. its time to see if Moyes and Woodward have learned from their mistakes yet.

as a general comment and not specifically on United (though I certainly include them) I can't understand why clubs seem to wait for the window to open.

You all see people excuse slow transfer work (Moyes himself) saying the window has just opened.

Yeah, you can't actually sign players outside of the window but you can certainly talk to clubs and players and get your plans on order - ready to be executed on day 1. If I was in charge of a football club I know I would certainly want my business done as early as possible.

The_Kew_Tour

I would give Moyes E

I have backed him up to few weeks ago but our home form since December is a disgrace.

We need to buy ASAP. Lb and CM would give us some hope

Julez

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Being honest, I can't see why we could have had the bids in and negotiations underway before the window opened yesterday...

Beat me to it.

EDIT. And Mitch, ha

homerjay2005

Julez wrote: »

Bids or at least initial contact should have already been made.

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Being honest, I can't see why we could have had the bids in and negotiations underway before the window opened yesterday...

you'd like to think/hope so, but after the summer and the way we did things, would you be surprised if nothing was done so far?

i do know, united have been trying to get 2 deals done for the past month, but trying means f*ck all.

given our league position, you'd even think/expect that if they club was serious about getting new players in, we would have announced deals already to show off a statement of intent and lift things.

KH25

homerjay2005 wrote: »

you'd like to think/hope so, but after the summer and the way we did things, would you be surprised if nothing was done so far?

i do know, united have been trying to get 2 deals done for the past month, but trying means f*ck all.

given our league position, you'd even think/expect that if they club was serious about getting new players in, we would have announced deals already to show off a statement of intent and lift things.

Do you know who these deals are for?

Lord TSC

homerjay2005 wrote: »

you'd like to think/hope so, but after the summer and the way we did things, would you be surprised if nothing was done so far?

No I agree with that. It was just in response to the idea we should have been getting bids in today. Personally think we won't see anyone in, and being honest, I don't trust Moyes to even get the players in that would improve the team in the way we need to.

DM_7

Well yes you would start negotiations as early as possible.

Sometimes though clubs won't sell unless they can get a replacement, tough to do in January. Also selling clubs don't want teams upsetting players outside the window as they can't sell them until the window opens and don't want a player that would be worried about getting hurt for example.

jonnyfingers

On the issue of United not being attractive to players I'd have to disagree.

1. If I was a top footballer I'd look at the United team and see an opportunity to bed down a guaranteed starting place. If you take Barca, R. Madrid, Bayern, Man City, Chelsea etc. you couldn't say the same. They have large squads full of top players so you'd have to accept some time outside of the starting lineup, unless your Messi or Ronaldo obviously! However a good winger, midfielder or defender would walk into the current United team. So move to United = first team player = pretty attractive.
   
2. It's a World Cup year and if playing for United means playing every week then it means you should get more exposure to your international manager and scouts. Would have been better to have gotten players in during the summer for this, but there's still the second half of the season.
   
3. United are a massive brand known all over the world. Become a star for United and you become a massive brand known all over the world. In the modern world of endorsements and advertising deals that should be pretty attractive to any player.
   
4. United have some of the best facilities in the world. If you're a top young player you'll get opportunity to train in the best facilities and also get treated by top doctors should you get injured. Ok, that's not as much as a draw for players that are coming from a club with a similar level of facilities but for those who are at "lesser" teams it could be quite attractive.
   
5. United still have a good chance of getting into Europe next season. Moving to United is not like moving to Stoke! We currently aren't as good as the teams above us but I'm sure everyone can see that we're under-performing this year and should improve. That may also appeal to some players' ego - if I sign for Man Utd and turn their season around I'll be a star.
   
6. Lastly there's the money. United have it and may soon have to spend it on wages to compete. I think there's a very good chance that the next few signings will be on good wages. Money always talks so that reason alone could see a few signings come our way.

The only real negative is I don't think that Moyes is a draw for the top players out there. However in a climate of football where managers are routinely sacked I doubt too many players make decisions purely on who their manager is going to be. Real Madrid, City and Chelsea are prime examples of this.

The biggest problem is the timing. January is a difficult time to sign good players, as most of them will be having good seasons with their respective clubs. The cheque book will need to come out and some generous numbers will need to be written in it to attract the players of the caliber we need. I'm not sure we'll do that, but I really hope that we do.

bullvine

Mitch Connor wrote: »

as a general comment and not specifically on United (though I certainly include them) I can't understand why clubs seem to wait for the window to open.

You all see people excuse slow transfer work (Moyes himself) saying the window has just opened.

Yeah, you can't actually sign players outside of the window but you can certainly talk to clubs and players and get your plans on order - ready to be executed on day 1. If I was in charge of a football club I know I would certainly want my business done as early as possible.

@Mitch, what was our wager again? I think it was 7 points on January 4th?

It would appear to be void.

DM_7

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

No I agree with that. It was just in response to the idea we should have been getting bids in today. Personally think we won't see anyone in, and being honest, I don't trust Moyes to even get the players in that would improve the team in the way we need to.

If i remember correctly you had faith in Moyes and his targets during the summer, what changed in the recruitment side of things to do that?

Playing performance of existing players can't be an indicator of how good he will be at recruiting players.

But the above isn't relevant if I am remembering incorrectly.

Leftist

those people banging on about giving moyes a chance and he will make it good;

what are you basing this on?

aside from blind faith and instructions from SAF who picked him based on his reliability and mutual nationality.

homerjay2005

KH25 wrote: »

Do you know who these deals are for?

not really to be honest, just heard that theres 2 deals in the pipeline, but the lad who told me (a journalist, not a "mate" as one certain person here keeps obsessing about) wouldnt say who.

our next three signings will be a Left Back, center back and a creative midfield player though not necessarily a predominately central one.

apparently we have a scout in Lisbon at the moment watching William Carvalho so he could be one, but again it seems very half assed that we are watching a player now and didnt get this work done September to december allowing us proper time to have this signed and sealed once the window opens.

Herrara and Fabio Coentrao obviously are in there, but i dont think we will match Herraras release clause so thats a no go. no doubt we will try for Baines again, i reckon a deadline day scramble for him is coming. its brainless though....Coentrao much cheaper, younger and wanted by Juve, Milan, Spurs and a host of clubs yet we will persue Baines, 30 next year, relatively unproven and wanted by nobody apart from us.

Mars Bar

bucketybuck wrote: »

There is absolutely no point whatsoever in United getting another number 10 when we can't even utilise the ones we already have.

Mata, Ozil, Barkley, name whoever you want, they are going to be lost floating around in front of that abortion of a midfield we currently have. The only reason Rooney looks good there is because he works hard and acts like a third midfielder, a driving force rather than a creative one.

I would prefer Rooney played right up front, same as you. But unless we get a midfieder, Rooney up top with a different number 10 behind him isn't really going to make a blind bit of difference.

Do you mean an aberration of a midfield? Otherwise that's an extremely odd way to describe our...well, to describe anything!

KH25

homerjay2005 wrote: »

not really to be honest, just heard that theres 2 deals in the pipeline, but the lad who told me (a journalist, not a "mate" as one certain person here keeps obsessing about) wouldnt say who.

our next three signings will be a Left Back, center back and a creative midfield player though not necessarily a predominately central one.

apparently we have a scout in Lisbon at the moment watching William Carvalho so he could be one, but again it seems very half assed that we are watching a player now and didnt get this work done September to december allowing us proper time to have this signed and sealed once the window opens.

Herrara and Fabio Coentrao obviously are in there, but i dont think we will match Herraras release clause so thats a no go.

So you've been told that LB, CB and midfield are priorities? Interesting. I wouldn't like to see us sign Herrera for that kind of money. I think it could be better used bringing in someone more proven (lets say trying to tempt Vidal, for example).

ericzeking

DM-ICE wrote: »

If i remember correctly you had faith in Moyes and his targets during the summer, what changed in the recruitment side if things to do that?

Playing performance of existing players can't be an indicator of how good he will be at recruiting players.

But the above isn't relevant if I am remembering incorrectly.

If it's one thing that does give confidence it's the fact he has tried to address the midfield problem (Fellaini) as well as the left back situation. You could criticize Moyes for alot of things and many have but actually identifying the players and areas we need to strengthen cannot be one of them. When the Fabregas thing was ongoing, I was like, ' wtf, go on my son'...unfortunately it came to nought.

Now identifying them and getting them are two different things but I'm not sure Moyes is directly 100% responsible for not getting the deals done.

KH25

ericzeking wrote: »

If it's one thing that does give confidence it's the fact he has tried to address the midfield problem (Fellaini) as well as the left back situation. You could criticize Moyes for alot of things and many have but actually identifying the players and areas we need to strengthen cannot be one of them. When the Fabregas thing was ongoing, I was like, ' wtf, go on my son'...unfortunately it came to nought.

Now identifying them and getting them are two different things but I'm not sure Moyes is directly 100% responsible for not getting the deals done.

I think it would be unfair to blame Moyes completely for that. What happens on the pitch is his fault, but he's not the one with the cheque book. Im sure he would have paid whatever it took for Fabregas, for example, if he was in that position.

ericzeking

KH25 wrote: »

I think it would be unfair to blame Moyes completely for that. What happens on the pitch is his fault, but he's not the one with the cheque book. Im sure he would have paid whatever it took for Fabregas, for example, if he was in that position.

I would have given him a few quid myself towards Fabregas!!

He was THE solution. No doubt.

KH25

ericzeking wrote: »

I would have given him a few quid myself towards Fabregas!!

He was THE solution. No doubt.

Id have brought him to Manchester by raft if necessary :P