Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Notes in OP,22/7

newballsplease

If Utd get Vidal and a decent CB then they're title contenders. If they dont,they're not. Simple as that.

KH25

Vidal and Hummels. Those should be the clubs priorities right now. Two excellent players that will immediately improve the team. IMO, the alleged money for Di Maria could be better directed at both of them.

Maximus Alexander

Hummels won't happen. Germans don't play for United.

Al Capwned

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Hummels won't happen. Germans don't play for United.

Dunno if that's tongue in cheek or not, but just because something's not happened before doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.

If Hummels was approached, and clubs agreed a fee, I can't see him, or anyone else, thinking "Ah no one from my country has ever played there, I can't go."

GSPfan

Yeah Hummels, Vidal and maybe a decent bargain buy would probably be it for us this Summer. Then expect Strootman rumours to gather pace before January.

If we just got the Vidal one over the line we would be laughing.

NoviGlitzko

Another time for who would you take? Vidal or Hummels?

CB's and DMF's are in such short supply when it comes to world class status these days.

The_Kew_Tour

reckon we might go Dutch for winger and CB and hopefully push for Vidal which imo is on, but we face competition.

I think Depay could be United player by September.

Hummels would be nice , but i think we are throwing a lot of effort into Vidal and getting both might be asking even the great ED too much.

The_Kew_Tour

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

Another time for who would you take? Vidal or Hummels?

CB's and DMF's are in such short supply when it comes to world class status these days.

Vidal would be prority imo.

Quandary

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

Another time for who would you take? Vidal or Hummels?

CB's and DMF's are in such short supply when it comes to world class status these days.

Vidal all day every day. It has been close to a decade since we had a genuinely strong midfield and with Vidal and Herrera we would finally have that.

The_Kew_Tour

Quandary wrote: »

Vidal all day every day. It has been close to a decade since we had a genuinely strong midfield and with Vidal and Herrera we would finally have that.

Your're right and its crazy to think although i felt Scholes/Hargreaves was good combo

Al Capwned

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

Another time for who would you take? Vidal or Hummels?

CB's and DMF's are in such short supply when it comes to world class status these days.

Vidal without question.
All day every day.

HaveASnickers

Copper_pipe wrote: »

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/488297/32m-Arturo-Vidal-AND-40m-Angel-Di-Maria-nearing-Man-Utd-switch

Must not get hopes up

The express is up there with the metro and goal in terms of credibility.

Larry Wildman

If this happens, it will be interesting to see what all of the "we're not signing that many first team players" merchants say.

It is refreshingly wonderful to see United actually addressing the weaknesses in the squad with top class talent.

My old man has been following United since old God's time, and he was strong in his view that Fergie had "gone soft" and "lost the plot" during his last few years. I disagreed at the time but in retrospect he was probably spot on. I will never forget what Fergie did for us, but his neglect of midfield, his ludicrous claims before the 2009 and 2011 CL finals, the Pogba fiasco and the Moyes debacle tarnish his reputation to a degree (a small degree admittedly).

UnitedIrishman

If I was to rate our chances of signing players then I'd have us in with a 50/50 chance of signing Vidal at this stage, and a high chance of signing De Vrij and Depay. Wouldn't hold out much hope of signing Hummels or Di Maria.

If we sign Vidal and De Vrij, we would certainly be in with a shout when you look at what Liverpool did last season. I mean people are pointing to our backline and saying it's weak - they had Kolo Toure back there for a large part of the season, Sakho took a long while to settle into the team, Cissokho started 12 league games and he is dire.

We've a relatively handy start to the season and although Van Gaal tends to be a slow starter at clubs he comes to, there is every chance we could be close to the top after the first couple of months. After that point, any Van Gaal team with a bit of confidence is a very dangerous side.

HaveASnickers

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Compared Vrij with other CBs who had good world cup and its fair to say he is up there with the best in this world cup. Not sure who was the last CB who impressed me so much in such short time.

Hopefully we go all out for him.

Not looking at stats, Vlaar was the most impressive defender for Holland.

homerjay2005

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

I'm preparing for a battle for 4th and maybe us just nicking it at the end, obviously if we buy 3 world class players that's going to change and I'd expect us to at least challenge for the top spot

my expectations at the moment pretty much are exactly the same as that, currently our first 11 is not strong enough to mount a title challenge.

unless we actually sign at least 2 world class players, i dont think we will be in the shake up for the league tho the one thing that is in our favour is that Van Gaal, like Fergie, appears to be able to get the best out of average players.

our start is also very very decent so you'd never know.

HaveASnickers

Larry Wildman wrote: »

If this happens, it will be interesting to see what all of the "we're not signing that many first team players" merchants say.

It is refreshingly wonderful to see United actually addressing the weaknesses in the squad with top class talent.

My old man has been following United since old God's time, and he was strong in his view that Fergie had "gone soft" and "lost the plot" during his last few years. I disagreed at the time but in retrospect he was probably spot on. I will never forget what Fergie did for us, but his neglect of midfield, his ludicrous claims before the 2009 and 2011 CL finals, the Pogba fiasco and the Moyes debacle tarnish his reputation to a degree (a small degree admittedly).

If Fergie picked a midfield that worked for him (which is did with winning the league etc) then it's not his fault that the next manager couldn't get the same out of the players.

On paper the players in CM weren't good enough but we still were the top 2 every year.

KH25

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Your're right and its crazy to think although i felt Scholes/Hargreaves was good combo

Hargreaves was an excellent player and had he stayed fit midfield would have been far stronger than it was over the last few seasons. We got him a couple of years too late and unfortunately he had the tendonitis problem. Fully fit he was a brilliant player though and he played very well for us in 2008. I always hoped he would overcome the injury.

Quandary

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Your're right and its crazy to think although i felt Scholes/Hargreaves was good combo

Scholes Hargreaves had the potential to be incredible. The two styles complimented each other perfectly. Such a shame Hargreaves was so broken

DARK-KNIGHT

Loved hargreaves terrible ending up crocked the way he did

HaveASnickers

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my expectations at the moment pretty much are exactly the same as that, currently our first 11 is not strong enough to mount a title challenge.

unless we actually sign at least 2 world class players, i dont think we will be in the shake up for the league tho the one thing that is in our favour is that Van Gaal, like Fergie, appears to be able to get the best out of average players.

our start is also very very decent so you'd never know.

I think we HAVE to be challenging for the league.

Man Utd fans were expecting us to get close to the top with Moyes last season. We then have a stinker due to Moyes ineptitude finishing 7th which every Man Utd fans know the squad was good enough for top 4.

Now we get a world class manager with possibly 100m+ more of investment, some of the poor performing players of last season gone (Ferdinand, Evra) and no champions league football to contend with.

I guess pundits were right, the man after Fergie had the hardest job. The next guy has an easier job.

Larry Wildman

HaveASnickers wrote: »

If Fergie picked a midfield that worked for him (which is did with winning the league etc) then it's not his fault that the next manager couldn't get the same out of the players.

On paper the players in CM weren't good enough but we still were the top 2 every year.

The competition were in tatters...once they got their acts together (e.g. appointing Pellegrini and Mourinho and strengthening), we were in big trouble.

Thinking that Ryan Giggs was a reasonable opponent for the likes of Yaya Toure was incredible to be honest.

Yes we won the league in 2012/2013, but the squad inherited by Moyes was in many ways a hospital pass of the worst kind because there was the "we won the league" caveat but in reality it was substandard relative to where it needed to be.

Al Capwned

Larry Wildman wrote: »

The competition were in tatters...once they got their acts together (e.g. appointing Pellegrini and Mourinho and strengthening), we were in big trouble.

Thinking that Ryan Giggs was a reasonable opponent for the likes of Yaya Toure was incredible to be honest.

Yes we won the league in 2012/2013, but the squad inherited by Moyes was in many ways a hospital pass of the worst kind because there was the "we won the league" caveat but in reality it was substandard relative to where it needed to be.

Good post.
I'd be of the same opinion, but to be honest, I was sucked in by the hype at the time too. I honestly thought this time last year that we could be competing for a title. If there was ever a time where I thought we were better than we actually are it was 12 months ago. All our rivals improved in summer 2013, be that with players or managers. We didn't.

Next season? As things stand, we're not winning a league. We're top 3/4 I reckon right now, but incoming transfers will be the deciding factor.
We can win the league, but the right players need to be brought in to address the right problem areas.

HaveASnickers

RVP KNOWS

Evra is gone.

Di Marzio (Who are reliable) say Evra will write a letter to Utd fans.

20m bid for Paulinho possibly by Juventus.

adox

It's gonna be interesting next season. I said in the past not to judge any player on last season, as everyone(with the exception of De Gea)was well below par for various reasons. It's what I'm holding on to and makes me think that the squad is better than many on here think.

Certainly it needs strengthening and a CB and one CM are a minimum.

I'm pretty pessimistic about Vidal. There hasn't really been anything of substance reported and I don't really understand how people are convincing themselves that it's happening.

Here's hoping this posted is quoted multiple times in the next few days with rolls eyes gifs etc as Vidal signs on the dotted line.

duffman13

Larry Wildman wrote: »

The competition were in tatters...once they got their acts together (e.g. appointing Pellegrini and Mourinho and strengthening), we were in big trouble.

Thinking that Ryan Giggs was a reasonable opponent for the likes of Yaya Toure was incredible to be honest.

Yes we won the league in 2012/2013, but the squad inherited by Moyes was in many ways a hospital pass of the worst kind because there was the "we won the league" caveat but in reality it was substandard relative to where it needed to be.

Nail on the head in some ways. It was a combination of a lot of things, Moyes not being good enough for the job, Ed only being appointed at the same time as Moyes. Changing the top two in relation to the on field aspect of the business is always going to bring a lot of disruption.

HaveASnickers

Larry Wildman wrote: »

The competition were in tatters...once they got their acts together (e.g. appointing Pellegrini and Mourinho and strengthening), we were in big trouble.

Thinking that Ryan Giggs was a reasonable opponent for the likes of Yaya Toure was incredible to be honest.

Yes we won the league in 2012/2013, but the squad inherited by Moyes was in many ways a hospital pass of the worst kind because there was the "we won the league" caveat but in reality it was substandard relative to where it needed to be.

We beat City with our midfield.

And saying before they got their act together is a cop out really, Mancini won them their first league in how long and is a good manager.

adox

People rewriting history and making every excuse they can think of to explain Utds recent success is way off the mark and an insult to the players.

Chagan

I think the calamitous transfer window last summer did more damage than the actual squad left behind. All of our rivals strengthened, as they always do, and we sat still. Chelsea and City were inevitably going to pull away from us after that, poor management led to the disaster it turned out to be.

Had Fergie stayed on I highly he doubt he would have made only one signing, nor would it have been Marouane Fellaini.

Kagawa

HaveASnickers wrote: »

RVP KNOWS

Evra is gone.

Di Marzio (Who are reliable) say Evra will write a letter to Utd fans.

20m bid for Paulinho possibly by Juventus.

It's worrying that the Vidal transfer may depend on paulinho coming, knowing how difficult it is to deal with spurs unless they want to sell him

gosplan

I said it almost a year ago in this thread that it didn't matter who came in, once football's greatest ever motivator walked out the door, the players would stop playing.

Everyone joined Utd to play under Fergie and no way were they going to just carry on like there was no difference.

People generally disagreed with me saying that the players were pros and they'd motivate themselves but I think that's very ignorant of psychology at the top level.

In one way Moyes mad a lot of sense. It was a year long speed bump that I feel was inevitable. It's now firmly blamed on him, the players' reputations are more or less intact and so on.

I said that too a year ago. Moyes was a smart move because he was an easy guy to ditch once he failed. What would happen if Jose came in and they still bombed?

Jimmy Iovine

gosplan wrote: »

I said it almost a year ago in this thread that it didn't matter who came in, once football's greatest ever motivator walked out the door, the players would stop playing.

Everyone joined Utd to play under Fergie and no way were they going to just carry on like there was no difference.

People generally disagreed with me saying that the players were pros and they'd motivate themselves but I think that's very ignorant of psychology at the top level.

In one way Moyes mad a lot of sense. It was a year long speed bump that I feel was inevitable. It's now firmly blamed on him, the players' reputations are more or less intact and so on.

I said that too a year ago. Moyes was a smart move because he was an easy guy to ditch once he failed. What would happen if Jose came in and they still bombed?

So, the general point of your post was to say, "I'm better than everyone else."

Lord TSC

gosplan wrote: »

I said that too a year ago. Moyes was a smart move because he was an easy guy to ditch once he failed. What would happen if Jose came in and they still bombed?

I feel then that Jose would have been able to point at his CV and his records and go "Look, I've shown I can do things, let me build the team!". And that's presupposing Jose would have handled the transfer window the same way as Moyes did.

Moyes didn't have a track record to back him up though; when things failed, he had no come back for "Well, what did you expect? What has he ever done?",

homerjay2005

HaveASnickers wrote: »

I think we HAVE to be challenging for the league.

Man Utd fans were expecting us to get close to the top with Moyes last season.

Some were, but have a read back through previous threads esp 12-14 months ago and you will see a huge portion of fans dropped expectations as soon as moyes was announced.most said 3rd or 4th but you will also see others predicted(or feared) a failure for top 4

Fergies brilliance along with some world class seasons from the likes of Rooney, rvp, nani, rio, rvp and vidic dragged us through and covered alot of cracks. As time has progressed, those influences have regressed thus last year was always coming, our recruitment and transfer policy has been awful last 5 years - a serious amount of money spent yet he have perhaps 4 world class players in our squsd now, with the guts of £280m spent on building the current squad and that doesnt even include the likes of Nani,ando, rooney & carrick

Zico

Lord TSC wrote: »

Moyes didn't have a track record to back him up though; when things failed, he had no come back for "Well, what did you expect? What has he ever done?",

This.

That's why he made such a fuss about the tough fixture draw, he could probably see it coming. Get off to a bad start, then what?

homerjay2005

gosplan wrote: »

It's now firmly blamed on him, the players' reputations are more or less intact and so on.

incorrent, the reputation of 10+ players at the club took a serious bashing last year and its already cost (or will cost) alot of them their careers at the club.

Moyes is getting alot of the blame for last season, but the players played their part too.

HaveASnickers

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Some were, but have a read back through previous threads esp 12-14 months ago and you will see a huge portion of fans dropped expectations as soon as moyes was announced.most said 3rd or 4th but you will also see others predicted(or feared) a failure for top 4

I'm just going by what I seen on my newsfeed and comments on news reports when moyes took over.

I'll look over here and see if what utd fans thought.

gosplan

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

So, the general point of your post was to say, "I'm better than everyone else."

Not really. There's a bit of I told you so but there's a lot of revisionism going on in general.

My point back then was that Moyes was an easy shot to nothing because Moyes could be written off easily.

Trigger

Kagawa wrote: »

It's worrying that the Vidal transfer may depend on paulinho coming, knowing how difficult it is to deal with spurs unless they want to sell him

Sport Witness have said that this is actually the press putting two and two together and it stems from Juves interest in a striker of the same name that they were linked to last week, here's hoping anyways

NoviGlitzko

gosplan wrote: »

I said it almost a year ago in this thread that it didn't matter who came in, once football's greatest ever motivator walked out the door, the players would stop playing.

Everyone joined Utd to play under Fergie and no way were they going to just carry on like there was no difference.

People generally disagreed with me saying that the players were pros and they'd motivate themselves but I think that's very ignorant of psychology at the top level.

In one way Moyes mad a lot of sense. It was a year long speed bump that I feel was inevitable. It's now firmly blamed on him, the players' reputations are more or less intact and so on.

I said that too a year ago. Moyes was a smart move because he was an easy guy to ditch once he failed. What would happen if Jose came in and they still bombed?

Fire Van Gaal. This man is our new manager.

Fenix

Exactly why he was given a 6 year contract... If players can't motivate themselves to give 100%, they shouldn't be anywhere near the club. Part of the reason why I was glad to see Rio go.

HaveASnickers

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747521&postcount=4794

where do ye expect us to finish? without a world class CM, i think we will finish 3rd. with a world class CM signing, i think we will win the league.

in saying that, another RVP style signing and keeping nani and Rooney, will do us also.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747552&postcount=4795

3rd within a few points, fine by me. 3rd, but miles off, not so much.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747600&postcount=4796

Right now.

1. Chelsea(hope people got on at 9/2)
2. Man Utd
3. City
4. Arsenal
5. Spurs
6. Liverpool

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747606&postcount=4797

If we don't make two quality signings in MF I can see 3rd for us and I would not be happy with it. We have had 3-4 yrs to address this one area but here we are with it in the balance once again.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747728&postcount=4801

I'm going to go with

1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal

If we sign a good midfielder we'll win the league.

I can also see an even bigger gap between 5th and 6th this year. Don't think Liverpool or Everton will be near Spurs again this year.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747799&postcount=4802

I think United are in with a very decent shout this year, despite the hole in midfield, purely because, in my opinion, after watching Lingard, Januzaj and Zaha in pre-season, I think the attacking options coming from midfield have greatly improved.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747829&postcount=4803

Atm, I'd have

1. Chelsea
2. City
3. United
4. Arsenal
5. Spurs

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85747878&postcount=4805

United should win the league easily. No big losses to playing staff now that it looks like Rooney and Nani are staying. Chelsea's only significant signing is Mourinho and even he's not worth that much improvement for them to win the league. City will still struggle with the players they have though Navas offers something different that may stop them falling off this year. Arsenal would be my dark horses, if they can keep up the form they finished the season with they will be up there.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056993519&page=121

Predictions:

1. Man UTD
2. Chelsea
3. Man City
4. Arsenal

I could go on and on. So many people thought we'd get at least 3rd.

Now with a better manager, so much investment and some deadwood removed some are happy to sneak into 4th place?

gosplan

Fenix wrote: »

Exactly why he was given a 6 year contract... If players can't motivate themselves to give 100%, they shouldn't be anywhere near the club. Part of the reason why I was glad to see Rio go.

In ways you're right but not many players can just go out and give their best performance. it's very different from ideas such as 'trying' 100%. then you also have to consider that Fergie actually motivated players to be better than they are.

gosplan

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

Fire Van Gaal. This man is our new manager.

Excellent contribution, well done

Lord TSC

HaveASnickers wrote: »

I could go on and on. So many people thought we'd get at least 3rd.

Now with a better manager, so much investment and some deadwood removed some are happy to sneak into 4th place?

12 months is a long time. Is it really that hard to understand why people's expectations would have changed, given our performance last year and how other teams have gotten better? Happy is the wrong word.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Fenix wrote: »

If players can't motivate themselves to give 100%, they shouldn't be anywhere near the club. Part of the reason why I was glad to see Rio go.

Harsh on Rio, I think the mind was willing but the body couldn't give anymore, not at the top level anyway.

Rio owes United nothing.

Maximus Alexander

HaveASnickers wrote: »

Now with a better manager, so much investment and some deadwood removed some are happy to sneak into 4th place?

I think you're confusing people expecting 4th with people being happy with 4th. It's a monumental distinction.

Backstreet Moyes

HaveASnickers wrote: »

Now with a better manager, so much investment and some deadwood removed some are happy to sneak into 4th place?

City and Chelsea have better managers. Both have improved their starting 11 hugely.

United have a new manager who still didn't meet up with the players. United have lost loads of experienced players.

Getting 4th this season would be grand if we see some decent signings and play good football. If we signed Vidal and Hummels that would be different but right now our midfield and defence is not good enough to be winning the league.

Zico

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

Rio owes United nothing.

Apart from those few months he was missing when he was suspended for missing a drugs test.

I like the phrase "X owes the club nothing", please don't abuse it. I'd like it to carry some meaning when referring to a player with an exemplary record.:)

Backstreet Moyes

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

Harsh on Rio, I think the mind was willing but the body couldn't give anymore, not at the top level anyway.

Rio owes United nothing.

I don't buy it really Rio was fantastic the second half of two seasons ago. Then last season he looked so poor. Maybe it was his legs but i think it's more likely after so much success under Fergie he slacked off when Moyes came in. I think a good few players were slacking off last year which i don;t think LVG would have stood for.