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

redbaron_99

Play like that against Liverpool or Everton or Chelsea and it's gonna be a horror show

How Soon Is Now

I dunno what to say about that really......

We could of went on to win that when we went level and should of but Swansea responded well and our defense wasnt able for it most of the time.

Our play was good at start the second half but it went to **** again when we really needed to perform.

If we dont get the players in that are needed in next week or two seriously we will not be finishing top four and thats not being doom and gloom its the honest truth where just not good enough as things stand.

Really disappointed with this seriously.

billyhead

Time for Woodward to get the finger out and the board to sanction moves. That was a joke:mad: Woodward put your money where your mouth is and get Vidal and a top class defender.

edgecutter

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

Is that last bit sarcasm?

Not at all, we have needed big investment for some time and have yet to see it from the Glazers.

RobbingBandit

Nani managed 16 passes in the 2nd half,not a way to earn your place back on the team.

titan18

Lord TSC wrote: »

People will focus on defence cause it's the popular topic, but this match really showed me how much I wish Rooney was replaced. Despite a great free kick, he was ****ing dire all over the match; shooting instead of passing, when he did pass, he was lazy and misplaced them, and never looked like a leader trying to prove himself.

Meanwhile, Fletcher was anonymous at best, Young undid all the good faith he gained over the preseason, Nani did very little when he came on, Hernandez is already out the door.

Personally, I felt Jones and Smalling looked quite good; the goals, for me, came from deficiencies in the wing backs.

The biggest positive is that this should lead to transfers in ASAP.

Yup, defensively (at least Jones, Smalling and Blackett), I thought we were good. But anything going forward was shocking.

Rooney was anonymous for most of the game, Hernandez was invisible when he was on. Mata did nothing. Herrera was bullied in midfield and Fletcher was poor.

Januzaj provided a spark but faded and did nothing in the last 20 minutes.

Defence is going to get blamed, but was far more wrong in that game

irishfeen

I called 5th before the league started and we will be lucky to do it this season - problems all over the pitch, lose Rooney, Mata, De Gea and RVP and we would be a 8-12th level team. City, Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal are now so far on front of us in terms of quality its frightening.

LVG will turn things around but not this season - the next 2 weeks will IMO will determine Champions League football or 5th, 6th or 7th.

Jules.Winnfield

Nuts102 wrote: »

Jones been sensational.

What?!?! Are you serious! Jones has made some good recovery tackles but his positioning has been awful!

I think he will eventually be a good play living somewhat up to his hype but saying he has been sensational is completely wrong.

Liam O

That result wasn't because the players aren't good enough. Stupid formation to play when you have the perfect squad for a 4-3-3 with everyone playing in a familiar position. Mata and Smalling were an absolute joke today but outside of them nobody was really terrible. Just a poorly set up side.

TheTownie

Well since LVG said we can a player in 24 hours we should 4 or 5 by next weekend. :rolleyes:

Quandary

That was certainly interesting anyway.

The first team needs fairly major surgery in midfield. Fletcher was appalling. Herrera wasn't great but at least he was trying to link things up.

Our problem is where it has been for the last 7 years - midfield.

Vidal or his equivalent is what is needed IMO.

tinofapples

Note to self for the season ahead, don't back United to beat anyone at home.

Vinz Mesrine

edgecutter wrote: »

Not at all, we have needed big investment for some time and have yet to see it from the Glazers.

What was the motto at the time? "Green and gold til United are sold" or something along them lines? How did that workout?

madcabbage

So when are they gonna fly to Turin and abduct Vidal?...

RobertKK

Well what can one say...it was not good. Better than 4-1 like last season and it not being representative.

I think it means we will be breaking our transfer record and maybe more than once.

Adamocovic

Look lads I know it was a poor start but missing Valencia, RVP, Welbeck, Carrick, Evans, Shaw, and Rafael, and with two out of our back five making debuts, not to mention an attacking midfielder/forward playing right back with Ashley Young in left back...surely things weren't going to be perfect.

I'd wait a bit before losing the cool and going mad. Hopefully we can bring in another defender soon but honestly there is no need to panic yet. Give it 4-5 games and if were still struggling then it's time to worry.

Kerrydude1981

Didn't deserve anything from the game,looked like they would push on after drawing level as the team was playing some nice stuff at the time,

Then all of sudden the switch was flicked off again and things returned to last season's muck.

Mr.Prodston

At least we can't not buy players now.

It's better this happened now than say 2 weeks time. Obviously would have been better not to happen at all and had everyone signed about 2 years ago but this is the situation that the club finds itself.

A very big few weeks coming up.

edgecutter

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

What was the motto at the time? "Green and gold til United are sold" or something along them lines? How did that workout?

We had Ferguson at the time and he was working wonders with the team, we no longer have that. I' am not saying that we should start it now. I would wait till the 2nd of September and see what happens. We can't be happy if we continue the rest of the campaign with this squad.

bucketybuck

Quandary wrote: »

That was certainly interesting anyway.

The first team needs fairly major surgery in midfield. Fletcher was appalling. Herrera wasn't great but at least he was trying to link things up.

Our problem is where it has been for the last 7 years - midfield.

Vidal or his equivalent is what is needed IMO.

I've been like a broken record on this issue for a long time now, everybody was focused on the defensive frailty but our biggest problem has been and still is our midfield. We had a shambolic midfield last season and this entire summer should have been spent properly addressing that issue, LVG and his ****ing assessments be damned.

The forward line did **** all because we have no midfield, the defense were left hanging because we have no midfield. It ain't ****ing rocket science.

RichFTW

Not one bit worried. Once Nani gets another 10 games under the belt, the consistency battery will be charged and he will start scoring goals for fun.

Seriously though Blind & Rojo would want to hurry up and get here already if reports are true!

Your Airbag

Lucas Hood wrote: »

We've looked terrible since Herrera went off.

nuxxx wrote: »

That Herrera sub was baffling alright, he was keeping things ticking in midfield

No we didn't. He looked vunerable out there today, too light for the EPL as it stands. He was a Cleverly clone today, lots of hard work and simple passing, no vision or defence unlocking passes.

Lord TSC wrote: »

People will focus on defence cause it's the popular topic, but this match really showed me how much I wish Rooney was replaced. Despite a great bicycle kick, he was ****ing dire all over the match; shooting instead of passing, when he did pass, he was lazy and misplaced them, and never looked like a leader trying to prove himself.

Meanwhile, Fletcher was anonymous at best, Young undid all the good faith he gained over the preseason, Nani did very little when he came on, Hernandez is already out the door.

Personally, I felt Jones and Smalling looked quite good; the goals, for me, came from deficiencies in the wing backs.

The biggest positive is that this should lead to transfers in ASAP.

Noting was coming to Rooney central. He was dropping back a lot. The service from midfeild was not there.

TheDoc wrote: »

While I "should" be annoyed, I'm not overly freaking out.

I think watching that LVG will have gotten himself very much equipped with the task ahead and what is needed. We looked a bit toothless going forward. RVP to come back will make a big difference. Herrera still to settle and the team to get a bit more equipped with what is required.

Fully expect signings to come in during the next week, and I mean fully. The squad is not top 4 material without making some quality signings I'm afraid. Real lack of quality.

RVP will struggle like he did last year with no service from Midfield and a poor defense.

Reedsie

Disappointing to lose on the first day obviously. A win would have been a big confidence booster. Our new formation didn't last the full game. Our new midfielder didn't last the full game.
Rooney disappointed me. Couldn't string a pass together at times and I think a lot of creativity failed through him.
Be interesting to hear what Van Gaal has to say after it. As long as he doesn't lose the plot any time soon I won't get too disheartened just yet.
Work to do.

brinty

LvG on BT sport

Chagan

That was anticlimactic to say the least.

I'm not panicking just yet though. If it somehow wasn't obvious before now that investment is desperately required then it has to be now. I feel if we were to improve the quality of the eleven on the pitch then the system, philosophy etc would fall into place.

It's really woeful that a club of this size and power needs several years to address issues that have cost us games time and time again.

brinty

oh sweet mother of jebus
short term view to make signings.....
GTFO of here

brinty

No decisions on who goes
Its up to the player
Its not up to me
oh my god

n32

Losing I can take but losing because of issues that have been blatantly obvious for years is very hard to accept. Anyone with even a passing interest in the game can see our midfield is crap and needs urgent attention. On top of a weak midfield we go and sell 4 defenders without replacing 3 of them!!!!!!
I dont have any faith that we will buy in this window. We have an accountant in charge of transfers who seems intent on getting a bargain instead of closing a deal. That fool is going to ruin the club if he doesnt get his act together. I d say Moyes is laughing his ass off and who would blame him

Son Of A Vidic

I can live with the loss and a bad start, but the mounting injury list is very worrying.

MagicIRL

Take a breath brinty.

billyhead

RichFTW wrote: »

Not one bit worried. Once Nani gets another 10 games under the belt, the consistency battery will be charged and he will start scoring goals for fun.

Seriously though Blind & Rojo would want to hurry up and get here already if reports are true!

The problem is that I don't think these players will improve the 1st team. They will add depth and strength to the squad but what we need is top class players that will go straight into the 1st team i.e Vidal however I don't know where this defender will be got. Hummels would be ideal but hes not available. Interesting times ahead.

Adamocovic

I think I'm going to stay away from the thread for the day. Morale is lowering.

Hopefully we can add some players because the depth of our squad seems very poor with injuries. Flat performance but not end of the world. Hopefully turn it around next week and get the ball rolling.

Time to go to the pub and listen to my Liverpool friends slag me for another week..*sigh*

dor843088

In the words of tony soprano " frankly I'm depressed and ashamed".

2moreMinutes

It is funny when people take a managers post match interview as being gospel and 100% indicative of what he's actually thinking.

Liam O

Blackett was a big positive today, I think United can run with him. The amazing Ashley up to his old tricks though.

Hank Scorpio

Scholes said the only player on the pitch today who would get into previous strong United teams would be Fletcher before he got his illness, a little over the top maybe but the lack of quality in the squad compared to Arsenal, City, Chelsea is frightening

PhiloCypher

brinty wrote: »

LvG on BT sport

Whenever I have the misfortune to catch an interview with Louis Van Goldmember all I hear is "very toight, very shexual" and picture him in Gold short shorts.

So Yeh, I'm gonna try not to do that anymore.

brinty

2moreMinutes wrote: »

It is funny when people take a managers post match interview as being gospel and 100% indicative of what he's actually thinking.

Maybe so kid but when he's done everything he's said already in interviews you can take what he's saying as the truth..

2moreMinutes

brinty wrote: »

Maybe so kid but when he's done everything he's said already in interviews you can take what he's saying as the truth..

Thanks, it's been a while since I was called kid.

How Soon Is Now

What was said in the interview?

Pro. F

Anybody demanding CBs to be bought today after seeing that performance is a fool. Jones, Smalling and Blackett all did well in two different formations and with far too little protection.

Young showed why he is not a defender on that second goal. Imo it was a mistake from LVG to trust him at LB and I'm sure those problems will pop up with him as a wing-back too.

Taking off Hererra was a wrong decision too. The team lost a lot of fluidity after that.

Mata was lost in the 3412. I think we need one of the front two strikers to be a properly dynamic runner when using that formation. One of Welbeck, Zaha, Young or Nani beside Rooney/Chicharito/RvP could open the game up a lot more for Mata then.

Rooney misplaced too many passes, but he still scored a goal, went close with a free kick and had some very good touches and movement in the box. So I wouldn't be criticising his performance very much. People will make out that by being captain of a losing side that it's his fault for not showing more leadership, but that is just a dumb excuse to bash a player that they don't like.

Nani and Januzaj both did well in the second half, so that's a positive.

It's very disappointing, but it's not a disaster. LVG has said it will take him a while to get things going and I see no reason to not be patient and trust him.

SlickRic

It's frightening how one-paced Utd are.

Quandary

Losing a few of these "easy" games should hopefully get the transfers rolling at least.

Every cloud and all that!

beno619

Already sick of seeing Jones & Smalling pass back to De Gea, defeats the whole purpose of having 3 at the back.

J. Marston

Blind and/or Rojo, that'll be it.

If Di Maria and Vidal watched that today, I think they'd laugh and say "No thank you."

MagicIRL

I thought Blackett played very well. Jones responsible for the first goal was a shame. Really need a strong experienced CB to partner the other two.

Fletcher is a great squad player at this stage... but not a starting 11 CM.

If those two positions are sorted, things will be better. I think the team played well over all, but lacked that final ball in the final third.

Ed The Equalizer

J. Marston wrote: »

Blind and/or Rojo, that'll be it.

If Di Maria and Vidal watched that today, I think they'd laugh and say "No thank you."

Yep, I reckon that's a big problem. The difference between Woodward talking things up and the reality is growing bigger by the day.

J. Marston

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

What was said in the interview?

LVG: 'It's not only up to me, it's up to the players to decide (if they go). I never say you have to go'

Van Gaal: "We need defenders, but that I've already said."

It shouldn't be up to the players to decide. Kick them out.

mufc1993

I miss the days when United would need a late goal and all the play was in the final 3rd towards the Stretford End. Them days you knew there was a great chance of United scoring. Didn't even think United would create a half decent chance late on today.

Pro. F

RobbingBandit wrote: »

Nani managed 16 passes in the 2nd half,not a way to earn your place back on the team.

16 passes in 45 minutes for a winger is not a problem at all. That is perfectly normal. He also took on and went past a good few players, opening up the game, and got in some decent crosses. Using that performance as a stick to beat him with just shows that you are desperate for any way to criticise him.