Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Note in OP, 13/8

ElChe32

Did twitter explode yet?

FutureGuy

ElChe32 wrote: »

Did twitter explode yet?

Yep. Got beak in my eye.

Larry Wildman

Seems to be more talk about Di Maria doing the rounds tonight than anyone else.

Would be a strange signing in my view.

Kagawa

ElChe32 wrote: »

Did twitter explode yet?

It seems like it was just BS after all

dahat

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Seems to be more talk about Di Maria doing the rounds tonight than anyone else.

Would be a strange signing in my view.

Where?

FutureGuy

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Seems to be more talk about Di Maria doing the rounds tonight than anyone else.

Would be a strange signing in my view.

What about Vidal?

Larry Wildman

FutureGuy wrote: »

What about Vidal?

I'm told it's happening.

Hard to believe that there's not something happening.

Very disheartening.

I oscillate between having faith and despairing.

Felexicon

Larry Wildman wrote: »

I'm told it's happening.

Hard to believe that there's not something happening.

Very disheartening.

I oscillate between having faith and despairing.

Who told you it's happening?

Your Ma?

MagicIRL

Kagawa wrote: »

Almost certainly BS but hey, could be something

@FootballMcD: Think Twitter might explode at 10pm.

WELL MR. ITK, WHAT'S THE BIG NEWS? :pac:

MagicMarker

Lads how do I join the boards FFL?

Rayne Wooney

So then who's going to do the match thread...

TheTownie

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

So then who's going to do the match thread...

Who will flinch first...

Kagawa

MagicIRL wrote: »

WELL MR. ITK, WHAT'S THE BIG NEWS? :pac:

Hey I said it was probably BS, and it is!

God, I can't believe this window will be the same as last year.

ElChe32

Kagawa wrote: »

Hey I said it was probably BS, and it is!

God, I can't believe this window will be the same as last year.

homerjay2005

Kagawa wrote: »

Hey I said it was probably BS, and it is!

God, I can't believe this window will be the same as last year.

there should be a quote coming up in a few minutes from LVG once the COT for news papers has passed.

and its going to be positive apparently but very short one.

Rubber_Soul

Very good article on Herrera from Sid Lowe,

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/15/ander-herrera-athletic-bilbao-manchester-united-sir-bobby-charlton

DM_7

Posting this to highlight how well Blackett did at times during pre season. Genuinely surprised at his use if the ball when an easy pass is not on and some good one on one defending.

Not saying he is the left footed Rio Ferdinand, although the video does make him look like it :pac: , but its a nice package of some of the good attributes United may get the best out of once he gets experience at Senior level beyond 10 Championship Games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSLWk9MSCrg

Yeah, yea we shouldn't need to to rely on him tomorrow etc etc

irishfeen

MagicMarker wrote: »

Lads how do I join the boards FFL?

Post # No1 on this thread - yermandan running it lad.

Leroy42

homerjay2005 wrote: »

there should be a quote coming up in a few minutes from LVG once the COT for news papers has passed.

and its going to be positive apparently but very short one.

So basically he'll say we are looking at some targets but I'm happy with our squad. If it wasn't for injuries etc

homerjay2005

assessing the team apparently, so nothing new there.

nothing to see really.

LvG: “I want to assess my team first... a player you can buy in 24 hours, believe me. That’s not a problem.”

not sure about this 24 hours thing or assessing the squad, as its a month on tuesday since Woodward said the following -

"We’ve been working with Louis over several weeks with regards to targets and we’re continuing to move forward on some of those targets

so weve been working on transfers for 6 or 7 weeks, but have not sealed any of them....

another one doing the rounds is as expected, United hope to seal deal quickly for Rojo.

Larry Wildman

Hmmm...so the spin is that Van Gaal hasn't sanctioned any moves yet?

Bullsh1t

Reedsie

Louis van Gaal admits United’s squad is below ‘top quality’
• Only two players signed since Dutchman took charge
• United manager wants players to prove themselves first

Louis van Gaal has expressed his first concerns about the state of Manchester United’s squad as he prepares for his opening Premier League match with a worsening injury pile-up and growing anxiety among the club’s support about their lack of transfer activity this summer.

Van Gaal revealed he had already warned the club’s owners, the Glazer family, and the chief executive, Ed Woodward, that the change of manager and implementation of a new 3-4-1-2 system might make it a difficult start to the season but, at that time, he had not factored in the possibility he might have only two fully fit senior defenders for his first game.

His assessment of their squad is that they need to bring in more high-quality players, admitting they are “a little below that level”, though he urged supporters not to panic despite a shortage of defenders meaning he is probably going to bring in two relatively unknown 20-year-olds, Tyler Blackett and Reece James, for their first top-level starts when Swansea visit Old Trafford on Saturday.

Woodward said recently that funds were in place for an extensive period of spending and to “watch this space” but United’s only additions so far came in June when Luke Shaw, now injured, and Ander Herrera joined the team that finished seventh last season, 22 points off the top. Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra all left, along with the second-choice left-back, Alexander Büttner, and that has left them desperately short of defenders now Jonny Evans has been added to their injury list.

Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia, Danny Welbeck and Robin van Persie are among their other absentees and Van Gaal, explaining why the club had not made more signings, said part of the issue was that he had wanted to give the current squad a fair chance before judging what needed to be done in the transfer market. “I wanted to assess my team. I can judge only when I am the coach and I transfer my philosophy and know how they perform. So that’s what I am doing. I think that is honest. We have to wait and see, because you can buy a player in 24 hours, believe me. That’s not a problem.”

United have been negotiating with Real Madrid about a possible deal for Ángel di María as well as trying to sign Sporting Lisbon’s left-back, Marcos Rojo. Van Gaal would not discuss the persistent links with Arturo Vidal of Juventus – “I’ll discuss it with Ed Woodward not with you” – and said he was relaxed about United’s position. “I am very confident. I am not nervous. Nine players injured and I am not nervous.”

That confidence, however, goes only so far when Van Gaal also says it will be some time before his team are able to challenge the top sides. “I cannot change everything [straight away]. I have to adapt to the culture. It’s a process and we have to make steps. Sometimes you fall and you have to make another big step. That’s the process but you are not champion in October. You are champion in May. I have another philosophy. I have another way of dealing with players to normal coaches. I’m not concerned where we might be [if we have a slow start] and I’ve said that in my meetings with Woodward and the Glazers.”

Van Gaal also revealed he had spoken to Wayne Rooney this week after Tuesday’s friendly against Valenciaout of concern the striker was being weighed down byhis new role as captain. “I said to him: ‘Maybe it was too much for you as captain ... let it fly, I say, let it fly!’ In the US [on pre-season] he scored a lot of goals and made a great amount of assists, so I wanted to say that. “Wayne was very proud to be captain. I asked him: ‘Were you already the captain?’ He said: ‘Yes, I was sometimes.’ But I said: ‘Now you are the official captain’ which is different. I think he wanted to show more than the utmost best to the public: that he is Wayne Rooney, the new captain. And I said to him: it’s more important how you perform, not the captaincy.”

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/15/louis-van-gaal-premier-league-manchester-united-transfers

Leroy42

homerjay2005 wrote: »

assessing the team apparently, so nothing new there.

nothing to see really.

Get a player in 24hours, teah coz that worked so well with Fellani.

Face it guys, history is the only reason we are a top club. Bayern, Real, Barca, City & Chelsea are on a different league

TheTownie

Dithering Louis?

Rubber_Soul

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Hmmm...so the spin is that Van Gaal hasn't sanctioned any moves yet?

Bullsh1t

He's clearly already sanctioned moves considering we've definitely bid for Vermaelen and Rojo.

DM_7

Reedsie wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/15/louis-van-gaal-premier-league-manchester-united-transfers

Nothing new there

FortuneChip

Let if fly Wayne!
Let it fly!

The_Kew_Tour

I tell you right now you can tell Ed I have not given up hope of him signing a player
I would love if we signed a player
Love it!

case885

StarshipPooper wrote: »

Very good article on Herrera from Sid Lowe,

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/15/ander-herrera-athletic-bilbao-manchester-united-sir-bobby-charlton

Good insight into Herrera, seems like he could be a future captain and dont think he'll have a tantrum like rooney and demand excessive wages. Never thought Cleverly to be a leader :pac:

homerjay2005

StarshipPooper wrote: »

He's clearly already sanctioned moves considering we've definitely bid for Vermaelen and Rojo.

and sanctioned moves for Shaw and herrera, and apparently is happy to let Anderon and Fellaini go, after already letting Buttner and Rio go. how come those got no chance, but the all the others did?

this is what i cant understand, our CE says weve been working on things for several weeks and weve let several players go all BEFORE he had a chance to look at things

some things are not adding up. and as to how we can assess defenders that arent there is a mystery to me.

Larry Wildman

Jesus...I've heard it all now.

Van Gaal is surprised to have so few front line defenders?

Guess what Louis, when you play 3-5-2 and only have three centre halves and two fullbacks in your squad, you can run into these problems.

Mother of God.

TheTownie

homerjay2005 wrote: »

and sanctioned moves for Shaw and herrera, and apparently is happy to let Anderon and Fellaini go, after already letting Buttner and Rio go. how come those 4 got no chance, but the all the others did?

this is what i cant understand, our CE says weve been working on things for several weeks and weve let several players go all BEFORE he had a chance to look at things

some things are not adding up.

Just PR stuff from the both of them. The reality of the situation could be anything.

homerjay2005

TheTownie wrote: »

Just PR stuff from the both of them. The reality of the situation could be anything.

well the reality is we are trying to sign players (vermaelen and Rojo) but so far have failed.

theres perhaps other work (Vidal) going on also so this hole thing about assessing the squad just doesnt add up when theres major evidence to suggest that this was mainly already done 6 or 7 weeks ago.

adox

"Watch this space"

Watch this empty space.

Fenix

Think its really setting itself up for Strootman in the Winter. Van Gaal loves him, he fits a position of need for us and the club can tow the "want to give everyone a chance first" line.

Cant see Roma giving him up that easily all the same, I think they've strengthened well this Summer, while Juve have lost Conte. Good chance they could well be the two jostling at the top of serie A.

I do think however, that one of Rojo or Blind will join before the end of the window. Both are versatile, a good age, and most importantly, an instant upgrade.

Ed The Equalizer

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Jesus...I've heard it all now.

Van Gaal is surprised to have so few front line defenders?

Guess what Louis, when you play 3-5-2 and only have three centre halves and two fullbacks in your squad, you can run into these problems.

Mother of God.

Where did he say that?

homerjay2005

my boss (Italian) has just told me that they are reporting in his local press that Roma officials are in England for the weekend to close deals for Benatia and Destro (ive no idea who this lad is).

user2011

Supposedly tomorrows team..



More general football news, vines and gif's in the firing line.

In an interview with Newsbeat, Dan Johnson, director of communications at the Premier League, said:"You can understand that fans see something, they can capture it, they can share it, but ultimately it is against the law." "It's a breach of copyright and we would discourage fans from doing it, we're developing technologies like gif crawlers, Vine crawlers, working with Twitter to look to curtail this kind of activity."

He added: "I know it sounds as if we're killjoys but we have to protect our intellectual property." It costs £8 a month to subscribe to Sun+ which features Premier League goals Dean Scoggins, deputy head of sport at the newspaper, said: "It's important to underline that it's illegal to do this, we've obviously signed a very big deal with the Premier League to be a rights holder and to show it, we've got legal teams talking with them about what we can do."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/28796590

And boards not long after enabling vines to be inbedded :pac:

Blatter

LVG didn't even hint that he had a problem with the way the club are conducting transfers there tbf. Very unlike him if he's thinking otherwise.

TheTownie

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my boss (Italian) has just told me that they are reporting in his local press that Roma officials are in England for the weekend to close deals for Benatia and Destro (ive no idea who this lad is).

If true I would think its Destro to Spurs and Benatia to Chelsea.

The_Kew_Tour

Its been 7 years since we had a good summer transfer.

It now looks like that is going to be 8.

onemorechance

homerjay2005 wrote: »

well the reality is we are trying to sign players (vermaelen and Rojo) but so far have failed.

theres perhaps other work (Vidal) going on also so this hole thing about assessing the squad just doesnt add up when theres major evidence to suggest that this was mainly already done 6 or 7 weeks ago.

Whether they are struggling to seal deals, which seems likely, or not, they still would not, or should not reveal so.

There was talk that Wenger was still bitter over RvP and didn't want to sell Vermalen to United. Also it was mooted that Arsenal wanted Smalling in return, which made no sense for United.

The Rojo deal has potential to head to court with seemingly a falling out between the group that paid 75% of his transfer fee and the club. If all that is true, it's gonna be a tricky deal to conclude.

Vidal also seems to be tricky, especially as it's been reported that Juve want big money plus several players. 40 million plus one player might be ok, but 40 million plus 3 players would be ridiculous.

It's kinda annoying though when Chelsea snapped up Fabregas for only 30 million and also sealed the Costa deal with little or no fuss.

TheTownie

user2011 wrote: »

More general football news, vines and gif's in the firing line.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/28796590

And boards not long after enabling vines to be inbedded :pac:

Most sites will just laugh off that vine copyright crap but no doubt boards will take it uber serious.

UnitedIrishman

Blatter wrote: »

LVG didn't even hint that he had a problem with the way the club are conducting transfers there tbf. Very unlike him if he's thinking otherwise.

Seems that way - to be honest it sounds like he wants to see these first couple of league games first before making decisions on transfers.

Larry Wildman

Back when Van Gaal was appointed, I was excited about this season.

Now I'm overcome with dread.

Van Gaal needs more time to assess the squad? It takes 24 hours to sign a player? Incredible stuff. We're playing three at the back and have three front line centre halves. How much f..king time is needed?

DM_7

homerjay2005 wrote: »

well the reality is we are trying to sign players (vermaelen and Rojo) but so far have failed.

theres perhaps other work (Vidal) going on also so this hole thing about assessing the squad just doesnt add up when theres major evidence to suggest that this was mainly already done 6 or 7 weeks ago.

I think its possible his words are taken too literally when he talks about assessing the players. He isn't going to go into detail about exactly what he is looking at maybe looking at what he actually did can give us more idea of exactly what he was doing.

For example he knew without looking at them that he wanted to make use of Rooney, RVP and Mata in the one team. He knew Smalling, Jones and Evans would be in defence. Herrera, Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverley would be midfield players.

When he spoke about giving players a chance I think he is talking about players like Young, Valencia, Nani, Zaha where it was a case of adapt to the role I need you to play or you will have to go. He could quickly see if these players had the attributes to play those roles but would need to see if they have the ability or football intelligence for the roles.

When he talks about assessing players I suspect its the young lads like Blackett, James, who he needs to see play as senior players. Looking at Cleverley to see if he is going to be good enough to fill in for the no6 role, good enough for the no 8 role or maybe neither.

When it came to Rio he wouldn't have to see him play to know he wouldn't be able to play his high line defence. Buttner may have wanted to go or with him being Dutch perhaps Van Gaal knew about his skills already.

These are just suggestions for what he may be looking at but I think its clear he didn't need to assess every player before coming to a decision on them.

MagicMarker

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Back when Van Gaal was appointed, I was excited about this season.

Now I'm overcome with dread.

Van Gaal needs more time to assess the squad? It takes 24 hours to sign a player? Incredible stuff. We're playing three at the back and have three front line centre halves. How much f..king time is needed?

Well Vidal should be done and dusted in the next 54 minutes or so shouldn't he?

case885

If gundogan recovers from his injury and has a good season then he should be targeted next summer would be cheap with only a year on his contract. Him with a possible vidal or strootman if one is bought would be awesome.

bucketybuck

Fenix wrote: »

the club can tow the "want to give everyone a chance first" line.

And why exactly should the club feel the need to tow that line?

jaykay74

24 hours to sign a player :eek:

We've just about clinched the transfer deals that were on the cards for Summer 13/14. Slow down, give Ed a bit of space. See ye next Summer.