Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - 2013/14

RasTa

Nike still might win

Manchester United are in line to secure a world-record kit deal worth as much as £70 million a year as a bidding war develops between rival sportswear giants.

sky88

Weve got really strong bench tonight for the first time i can remember this season

How Soon Is Now

sky88 wrote: »

Weve got really strong bench tonight for the first time i can remember this season

Id rather alot of those players where on the pitch instead!.

KH25

Jones and Giggs again. I love Giggs and I would love to see him get a goal for his record tonight, but my God does it highlight how badly we need a CM.

alwayssideways

KH25 wrote: »

Jones and Giggs again. I love Giggs and I would love to see him get a goal for his record tonight, but my God does it highlight how badly we need a CM.

Carrick and Fellaini are injured to be fair

Van the man!!!!!

KH25

alwayssideways wrote: »

Carrick and Fellaini are injured to be fair

I understand that but that in itself highlights our lack of options.

Al Capwned

Please oh please someone get a gif of Evra going head first into turf trying to get back on pitch about 10mins in!! :pac::pac::pac:

Hococop

Mata hopefully that's the start of many assists

jameshayes

RVP had a happy grin when leaving the field, seemed happy to get back playing and have a good #10 with him

Headshot

Not very convincing is it. But 3 points that all that matters at the end of the day I suppose

Moyes needs a CM this transfer window desperately

Kerrydude1981

I wonder is Moyes afraid to change the formation to 4-2-3-1

I really hope when everyone is back to full fitness I would like to see him give it a go.

PhlegmyMoses

40 points. We're safe!

Dublin Red Devil

12 points from the top.

4 wins

ankles

Our new era? Oh look, still the dilapidated overlapping full backs and wingers tactics. Ah, Giggs still getting his game in midfield alongside Jones. Valencia still contributing nothing on the wing.

Another immensely frustrating performance. Yet again we were incapable of holding onto any possession at all in midfield. Creatively despite Mata we created very little. Why? Because he was shoehorned into a number 10 position and left totally isolated by our 1980's style wingplay and total absence of ball playing midfielders or the tactical set-up to attempt it. Could he have played a different formation to try something more creative? Of course he could. Boards has been full of suggestions for the last few days. The bubble comprehensively burst by that display. 4th place is as far away as ever on that performance.

I know that injuries are costing us players, but let me repeat, its the tactical set-up and specific players selected that yet again have let us down. :mad:

Its All Wright

Things looking more positive now..big signing, top players back & teams above us will drop points with them playing each other in the coming weeks. If we can get within 6-7 points of the leaders going into March..dont write us off

Midfield needs to be addressed, Giggs should retire & Jones isnt a midfield player

jonnyfingers

Pretty average performance but to be honest not much more was needed to beat Cardiff. Thought Mata had a nice debut, love how quickly he gets his head up and is ready to make a pass. If we can get Rooney and RVP ahead of him I think he'll create plenty of chances.

Good to see Young bang another one in. Even thought Valencia had a bit more purpose about him tonight, without being fantastic. Defensively we were solid and the makeshift midfield did ok.

Good to see RVP and Rooney get a run out, and RVP to get a goal. That was exactly the type of chance I don't think we score without him.

So a good three points and if City beat Spurs tomorrow we're only one win off fifth and two off fourth. If we go on a decent run I can see us getting into that 4th place.

A good CM before the window closes and wins in the next two games would be perfect.

Maximus Alexander

Gas that there were no CMs in the starting line up.

Kerrydude1981

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

40 points. We're safe!

We're staying up,we're staying up,we're staying,we are staying up

MagicMarker

If we don't sign a CM this window then we're not making 4th. Not. a. chance.

PhlegmyMoses

Its All Wright wrote: »

Things looking more positive now..big signing, top players back & teams above us will drop points with them playing each other in the coming weeks. If we can get within 6-7 points of the leaders going into March..dont write us off

Midfield needs to be addressed, Giggs should retire & Jones isnt a midfield player

We are not winning the league.

Might get 4th but better performances than that needed.

magnumbud

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Pretty average performance but to be honest not much more was needed to beat Cardiff. Thought Mata had a nice debut, love how quickly he gets his head up and is ready to make a pass. If we can get Rooney and RVP ahead of him I think he'll create plenty of chances.

Good to see Young bang another one in. Even thought Valencia had a bit more purpose about him tonight, without being fantastic. Defensively we were solid and the makeshift midfield did ok.

Good to see RVP and Rooney get a run out, and RVP to get a goal. That was exactly the type of chance I don't think we score without him.

So a good three points and if City beat Spurs tomorrow we're only one win off fifth and two off fourth. If we go on a decent run I can see us getting into that 4th place.

A good CM before the window closes and wins in the next two games would be perfect.

emmmm liverpool hammering everton at the moment still 6 behind them

jonnyfingers

magnumbud wrote: »

emmmm liverpool hammering everton at the moment still 6 behind them

Yes, but it's still only 6 points. That can all change with two sets or results going our way. If we can keep winning we'll catch them, I'm sure of it.

Also this was nice to see, Rooney running over to Ole after the final whistle.

bucketybuck

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Gas that there were no CMs in the starting line up.

And yet as we come to the end of the transfer window still nothing has been done about it.

I mean, people harp on about waiting until the summer and waiting for a real world class midfielder but for christs sake, our midfield tonight was Ryan Giggs and Phil Jones! Is there really nobody out there for a few million quid that can do a better job than a defender and a pensioner?

Said it before, unless the midfield issue is addressed in this window Moyes could be in big trouble by the time the summer comes around.

On another note, does anybody know how many of Phil Jones appearances have been in central defense? Theres a lad whose development is in serious trouble of stagnating.

IamtheWalrus

Comforting to hear Mata saying 'we' about Utd in his interview.

jonnyfingers

bucketybuck wrote: »

And yet as we come to the end of the transfer window still nothing has been done about it.

I mean, people harp on about waiting until the summer and waiting for a real world class midfielder but for christs sake, our midfield tonight was Ryan Giggs and Phil Jones! Is there really nobody out there for a few million quid that can do a better job than a defender and a pensioner?

Said it before, unless the midfield issue is addressed in this window Moyes could be in big trouble by the time the summer comes around.

On another note, does anybody know how many of Phil Jones appearances have been in central defense? Theres a lad whose development is in serious trouble of stagnating.

I think if both were fit we'd be seeing Fellaini and Carrick in center mid most weeks, with Fletcher coming in for one of them on occasion. I doubt Giggs or Jones would be getting too many runs out then. I do agree that I'd like to see Jones play in center defense more often, however Smalling and Evans are a decent partnership at the moment, would like to give them some games together.

killwill

So now that Mata is a Utd player and RVP, Rooney and Mata will surely be starters, is there any chance that we will see a diamond formation?

RobertKK

It says a lot when we have a 40 year old former winger, a central defender playing midfield, with a midfielder - Cleverley on the bench, shows Moyes doesn't want Tom. His problem is he is such a negative player, the opposite to a playmaker, ball going backwards instead of forward most time.

It does also indicate that Woodward and Moyes will be working hard between now and end of the month to bring in a midfielder.

Ashley Young had a class goal, and again a positive performance. Mata had a good start to his United career.

Good to see RVP and Rooney playing.

Woodward needs to get the cheque book out this week to make some sort of fix with the midfield.

yabadabado

bucketybuck wrote: »

On another note, does anybody know how many of Phil Jones appearances have been in central defense? Theres a lad whose development is in serious trouble of stagnating.

I was reading an article a few weeks back and iirc it said Jones had only played at CB 15 times in the league.

Liam O

Jones has been good this season in CM in fairness to him, struggled a bit when he was out and not busting his ass closing people down in there. Could do with a more adventurous person beside him though when he's there as he's not offering much link up play.

Moyes is picking teams and making substitutions that are still based around not conceding rather than scoring. He'll never fit in at the top level of managers until that changes. Then again Fergie was similar the last few seasons.

case885

Maybe the reason moyes is keeping a 442 because were too frail defensively for wing backs, think coleman shaw and world class cm would have us near the top again.

RobertKK

On a different not, I hope Ole can keep Cardiff in the premier league, even if the owner is an idiot.

Saucy McKetchup

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Gas that there were no CMs in the starting line up.

And yet we still won! Imagine what we'd do with a decent midfielder.

Rayne Wooney

4-2-3-1 is a long way away, tonight is a prime example of why. We simply don't have the players to do it. Cardiff could have easily scored a few from crosses, Evra doesn't care about defending and Raf has been poor.

If we tried to play 4-2-3-1 we would be shown up, our midfield isn't good enough and our fullbacks are shocking. Any of the top 15 teams in the league could easily cut the supply from the two man midfield to the 4 attackers and then kill us down the wings. Moyes plays 4-4-1-1 with wingers who will get back and help the fullbacks, it would probably be a lot worse if we weren't set up this way. Look at the goals we've conceded from crosses and how many chances teams have had against us.

Sadly the way we are playing now is possibly the best we can with the players fit and even when everyone is fit there's still a question mark if we can pull it off.

The next game is going to be interesting, with RVP, Rooney and Mata all fit, will he call a Hail Mary and just go for the change in tactics despite the huge weaknesses in our team or will he play Mata left wing with defensive responsibilities and stick with the crossing.

One thing I am certain of, if Moyes went for the change in tactics and lost, there would be people moaning why he changed it.

In the summer I think we'll get the players we need and next season we will see the good football we all want to see. We won't sign a top quality CM or LB in this window and if we went for decent options it would still cost a fortune and still may not improve us much.

RobertKK

Moyes not happy with the play, and would have liked more goals.

Says not enough United playing playing well, and he needs more competiton for certain areas.

TheDoc

That Kroos stuff needs to **** off, I really don't want to be dealing with those rumours going into the last few days of the window.

We could offer his wages easily, especially when you consider we will hopefully turf some players outbound in the summer.

RobertKK

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

4-2-3-1 is a long way away, tonight is a prime example of why. We simply don't have the players to do it. Cardiff could have easily scored a few from crosses, Evra doesn't care about defending and Raf has been poor.

If we tried to play 4-2-3-1 we would be shown up, our midfield isn't good enough and our fullbacks are shocking. Any of the top 15 teams in the league could easily cut the supply from the two man midfield to the 4 attackers and then kill us down the wings. Moyes plays 4-4-1-1 with wingers who will get back and help the fullbacks, it would probably be a lot worse if we weren't set up this way. Look at the goals we've conceded from crosses and how many chances teams have had against us.

Sadly the way we are playing now is possibly the best we can with the players fit and even when everyone is fit there's still a question mark if we can pull it off.

The next game is going to be interesting, with RVP, Rooney and Mata all fit, will he call a Hail Mary and just go for the change in tactics despite the huge weaknesses in our team or will he play Mata left wing with defensive responsibilities and stick with the crossing.

One thing I am certain of, if Moyes went for the change in tactics and lost, there would be people moaning why he changed it.

In the summer I think we'll get the players we need and next season we will see the good football we all want to see. We won't sign a top quality CM or LB in this window and if we went for decent options it would still cost a fortune and still may not improve us much.

Yeah , with our current midfield players it limits the formations United can play.

bryangiggsy

Phil jones is a class centre back when given the chance to play in the position we bought him for. Just looking at table liverpool playing good football 6 pts ahead and we playing poor football 6 pts below... That gap could be a lot more if that cm is not bought b4 friday. Our gd is 11 the same as evertons. Liverpools is 29. So realistically thats them 7 pts ahead. Honestly after all the performances so far i cant see us getting close to 4th.

Kerrydude1981

Things got so bad in the canoe tonight I missed Tom Clev coming on.

RobertKK

Now tomorrow, I guess we have to support City for 90 minutes...

Saucy McKetchup

I really don't understand all the negative comments after that game.
Van Persie is back and scored, Valencia had a great game, attacked, ran with the ball and looked dangerous, young had a good game, looked to play and passed well, giggs and jones played well, they got forward, giggs made a couple of nice runs into the box and maybe would have scored if Van Persie hadn't of taken it off his foot.
Rafael made some great runs coming inside, he should be back to his best soon, smalling and Evans both had a solid game in defense. Jaysus Evans ran from midfield to shoot, much better attacking wise and we kept a clean sheet.
This is definitely a stepping stone to better things

RobertKK

Saucy McKetchup wrote: »

I really don't understand all the negative comments after that game.
Van Persie is back and scored, Valencia had a great game, attacked, ran with the ball and looked dangerous, young had a good game, looked to play and passed well, giggs and jones played well, they got forward, giggs made a couple of nice runs into the box and maybe would have scored if Van Persie hadn't of taken it off his foot.
Rafael made some great runs coming inside, he should be back to his best soon, smallish and Evans both had a solid game in defense.
This is definitely a stepping stone to better things

As David Moyes said 'happy with the win, not happy with the play, too many players not playing good enough'.

Jimmy Iovine

Two clowns are having a conversation on the train beside me. It's painful.

I've just heard Kagawa compared to Anderson. Good God.

Decent match. Mata did alright. He's absolutely minuscule looking on the pitch. Clearly not match fit. Can't wait until he is.

I was down in the corner beside Evra for the second half and he was pathetic at times. Didn't give a ****. A CM and LB are really needed.

Saucy McKetchup

RobertKK wrote: »

As David Moyes said 'happy with the win, not happy with the play, too many players not playing good enough'.

Everyone knows we're not playing good enough, but tonight was a lot better than we've played in recent weeks and that was without carrick, vidic or fletcher and only Rooney coming on as a sub, much better things to come

Saucy McKetchup

RobertKK wrote: »

Now tomorrow, I guess we have to support City for 90 minutes...

No, we support Man Utd.

adox

Saucy McKetchup wrote: »

I really don't understand all the negative comments after that game.
Van Persie is back and scored, Valencia had a great game, attacked, ran with the ball and looked dangerous, young had a good game, looked to play and passed well, giggs and jones played well, they got forward, giggs made a couple of nice runs into the box and maybe would have scored if Van Persie hadn't of taken it off his foot.
Rafael made some great runs coming inside, he should be back to his best soon, smalling and Evans both had a solid game in defense. Jaysus Evans ran from midfield to shoot, much better attacking wise and we kept a clean sheet.
This is definitely a stepping stone to better things

Giggs and Jones played very well? They were totally over run in midfield. Valencia was mediocre at best and Rafael was poor.

I don't have the energy to respond in detail but you really must be easily pleased. It was the same old same old as far as this season goes.

Will I Amnt

Evra and Rafael piss me off no end this season. Absolutely oblivious to forwards slipping in behind them, it's really unforgivable at this level.

Saucy McKetchup

adox wrote: »

Giggs and Jones played very well? They were totally over run in midfield. Valencia was mediocre at best and Rafael was poor.

I don't have the energy to respond in detail but you really must be easily pleased. It was the same old same old as far as this season goes.

How many shots did Cardiff have? Yes giggs and jones played well

Kerrydude1981

Mata watch

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester-united-2-cardiff-city-6641033?

beno619

Giggs started in midfield so I'm happy with the result and the performance was as expected.

Hopefully Fletch is still fit he's missed 2 matches in a row now.