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

redbaron_99

overall I think the squad is much weaker.

Losing Vidic, Evra, Rio and Buttner has left us very exposed to injury. Rafeal already injured and will probably miss at least a couple of months throughout the year through various knocks and strains. Evans and Jones regularly pick up injuries that keep them out for a few weeks, and there is no real back up at left full. That has me very worried. Every year we go through an injury crisis at the back - this year it could really hurt us.

Herrera is a very good signing, but because midfield has been neglected for near 5 years, we really need at least one more midfielder - of good quality. Carrick is out for a couple of months and is 33. Cant depend on Fletcher. Cleverley is simply a poor excuse for a footballer. Anderson doesn't deserve comment. Weak midfield.

Our wingers really have stagnated and aren't up to scratch. Nani, Young, Valencia (now a wing back), Zaha. None are good enough. Hopefully Januzaj can make an impact again this year.

There was a lot of work to be done on the squad this summer. We're coming off the back of the worst season in over 20 years. And we've signed one of the most lucrative commercial deals in football history. With that in mind, it's all very disappointing.

Fingers crossed there can still be something done to salvage the summer.

Adamcp898

FutureGuy wrote: »

Sounds like a case of both parties (Vidal and Juve) hoping that the other pushes the deal along.

Yep, could well be one posturing for more money off the other.

J. Marston

Some quotes from LVG's interview that was on SSN a few minutes ago...

Van Gaal on the 3-4-1-2 formation: "I choose this due to the quality of the players. In this system the specialists are the wing-backs."

Van Gaal: If we switch to 4-3-3 I will need more specialists on the wings & in attack so I'll need to buy another kind of player."

Van Gaal: "Rooney can play at 10 & 9, he said to me he can play at 7 & 11 too but I like him more at 9 or 10"

Second quote is interesting. He wants to buy a winger? I'm all for that because our current options are useless.

some fella on Redcafe

Any of you keeping an eye on the Vidal thread over on Redcafe? It's gone fairly bonkers at this stage with a large amount of posters clearly losing the run of themselves (equally 'Vidal's not coming'/'Vidal is coming') They're after renaming the thread 'Arturo Vidal - Transfer thread hands in DNR order as prognosis worsens'

DNR = Do Not Rescusitate!

There is one post over there though that did make me laugh, in a good way...

some fella on Redcafe wrote:

Good lord, Vidal and Juve both trying to get the other to be the ones to initiate the "break up" so that they don't look like the bad guy. Can you imagine the conversation when he sits down with them?

Juve: Do you want to leave?
Vidal: Do you want me to leave?
Juve: We didn't say that. So do you want to stay?
Vidal: I didn't say that. Do you want me to stay?
Juve: If you want to go, we'll let you.
Vidal: If you want me to leave, I'll go.
Juve: So, do you want to go?
Vidal: Do you want me to go?
Juve: We asked you first.
Vidal: I asked you second.
Juve: They offered us a lot of money
Vidal: They offered me a lot of money, too.
Juve: So.
Vidal: So.
Juve: What do you think?
Vidal: I dunno, what do you think?
Juve: This is going nowhere.
Vidal: So you don't want me to go anywhere?
Juve: We didn't say that.

And then it continues like this for 3 hours, neither will commit to anything, so he stays resenting Juve because he didn't double his salary by moving, and Juve resenting Vidal because they missed out on some much needed funds.

Personally, I've switched off and accepted that he's not coming. So who is coming then? We need at least one more CM never mind the defensive signings also required.

Edit: 1000th post, only took me 5 years!

Adamcp898

J. Marston wrote: »

Some quotes from LVG's interview that was on SSN a few minutes ago...







Second quote is interesting. He wants to buy a winger? I'm all for that because our current options are useless.

Interesting.

Haven't seen the interview but that makes it sound like he's chosen a wing back system because he believes he doesn't have any wingers in the squad.

Lord TSC

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

On paper the squad is probably stronger but it doesn't really matter because it isn't good enough, when you see Liverpool will likely spend 50 or 60 million on their defence in the next few weeks it makes you wonder what the delay with us is

I want to see Ed's emphatic words converted into players signing

That seems harsh; you're giving Liverpool the benefit of using the entire window and at the same time refusing to give the same benefit to us.

We're equally as likely to splash out on players as they are right now.....

Liam O

J. Marston wrote: »

Some quotes from LVG's interview that was on SSN a few minutes ago...







Second quote is interesting. He wants to buy a winger? I'm all for that because our current options are useless.

I actually like Rooney as a right wing forward. The problem with him is when he's on the wing he takes it too rigidly and think that involves tracking back when he's a world class attacker and shouldn't feel the need to. It's like when he moved to being the main striker. He tried to be involved in everything but his game improved immensely when he started staying forward and not chasing lost causes as much, allowing him to play to his strengths.

homerjay2005

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

Surely Adidas after agreeing that massive deal will want the best players at United wearing their apparrel

i would assume, Addidas would be hoping that the big players are signed next year though.

IvySlayer

Liam O wrote: »

I actually like Rooney as a right wing forward.

Somewhere Pro. f has just punched a kitten :P

redbaron_99

Van Gaal on the 3-4-1-2 formation: "I choose this due to the quality of the players. In this system the specialists are the wing-backs."

Strange quote IMO.

Play with three centre backs, despite us only having four realistic centre backs. Smalling, Evans, Keane, Jones.

Play two in central midfield - despite being up against english teams that mostly play with three in the middle. You need two top midfielders to cope with this. We don't top central midfielders.

And we don't have specialist wing backs really. Rafeal is made of glass, which means its Young or Valencia on the right (fcuk!!) and only one realistic option on the left..

So how is he choosing this formation due to the quality of the players?
Seems odd. But who am I to question him.

Donnielighto

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I see this dark cloud coming my way.

I'm still in the sunshine bit and the cloud could disband to stay sunny or it could get nearer and come a thunderstorm.

I have been so confident all summer, but next 2 weeks will tell a lot.

The frustrating thing is we are only about 3-4 players from having a serious team. But those positions we need filling are huge.

I don't want to join the dark side but everyday for past week it getting less and less brighter

Have you been taking acid this summer man? Spending too much time at the music festivals methinks.

Whatsisname

Manchester United ‏@ManUtd 3m
FT: Gold Coast Academy 0 #mufc U17 11 (ELEVEN). An amazing start to the @DFMilkCup for the young Reds with Demetri Mitchell scoring four.

Jaysus

shadowcomplex

redbaron_99 wrote: »

Van Gaal on the 3-4-1-2 formation: "I choose this due to the quality of the players. In this system the specialists are the wing-backs."

Strange quote IMO.

Play with three centre backs, despite us only having four realistic centre backs. Smalling, Evans, Keane, Jones.

Play two in central midfield - despite being up against english teams that mostly play with three in the middle. You need two top midfielders to cope with this. We don't top central midfielders.

And we don't have specialist wing backs really. Rafeal is made of glass, which means its Young or Valencia on the right (fcuk!!) and only one realistic option on the left..

So how is he choosing this formation due to the quality of the players?
Seems odd. But who am I to question him.

Coleman would be the ideal rightwingback

Rayne Wooney

Lord TSC wrote: »

That seems harsh; you're giving Liverpool the benefit of using the entire window and at the same time refusing to give the same benefit to us.

We're equally as likely to splash out on players as they are right now.....

I'm not giving them the entire window, you could say they have the important part of their transfer business done, we urgently need at least 1 starting CM and 1 CB in the next two weeks to go into the team along with 1 more of each and maybe an attacking player also

What have we done so far, bought Shaw but sold Buttner and Evra. Are we much better off? I don't think so. Ander is promising but it's a small scale upgrade when we need an absolutely colossal one.

I'll give it another week before the worry sets in, breaking our transfer record like Ed was talking about for Vidal will ease my worry

Starting the Swansea game with Cleverley in midfield and Jones, Smalling and Evans as our 3 CBs is worst case scenario for me

redbaron_99

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Coleman would be the ideal rightwingback

Signed a new deal at Everton before the end of the season. Seems genuinely happy to remain at Goodison. Fair play to him.

But he would have been ideal. (that's something I've said about a lot of players in recent years).

Van.Bosch

Ignoring the whole Vidal/Kroos sagas for the summer, the most depressing thing for me is that Ashley Young played at right wing back for Man Utd, granted due to injury and only for a short period of time but surely that is an indictment of the squad depth.

homerjay2005

Lord TSC wrote: »

That seems harsh; you're giving Liverpool the benefit of using the entire window and at the same time refusing to give the same benefit to us.

We're equally as likely to splash out on players as they are right now.....

Their need for further investment is getting much less than ours imo. They also seem capable of doing multiple deals quickly something we struggled with last August and so far there appears nothing in the pipeline.

Players will come but surely you will admit that our business should be more or less done by now to allow 3 or 4 players to come in and settle?

RayCun

Players will come but surely you will admit that our business should be more or less done by now to allow 3 or 4 players to come in and settle?[/quote]

You expected lvg to have 3 or 4 players signed within two weeks of starting work?

dahat

Saw the interview and my take was he started with RVP , Mata and Rooney then worked back to suit these.

One thing for sure he has no faith in our wingers, Nani, Zaha and Co.

irishfeen

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Their need for further investment is getting much less than ours imo. They also seem capable of doing multiple deals quickly something we struggled with last August and so far there appears nothing in the pipeline.

Players will come but surely you will admit that our business should be more or less done by now to allow 3 or 4 players to come in and settle?

Yep and we have to remember the very last thing we want to do is enter the "Panic Buying" AKA "the £27.5m Marouane Fellaini period"

Lord TSC

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Players will come but surely you will admit that our business should be more or less done by now to allow 3 or 4 players to come in and settle?

I'd like it done. I don't think it's 100% nessecary. Once we get them in, that's all I really care about.

MagicMarker

I really don't see what the big problem with Ashley Young is.

Is he good enough to be first choice? No

Is he good enough as backup? Abso-fúckin-lutely.

Hococop

MagicMarker wrote: »

I really don't see what the big problem with Ashley Young is.

Is he good enough to be first choice? No

Is he good enough as backup? Abso-fúckin-lutely.

I think the biggest issue with him is his wages, if he was on 60/70 k he might not be getting as much hate

Van.Bosch

MagicMarker wrote: »

I really don't see what the big problem with Ashley Young is.

Is he good enough to be first choice? No

Is he good enough as backup? Abso-fúckin-lutely.

Fully agree, no problem with him, always gives his all. His salary is not his problem.

I just don't think he should be right wing back

dahat

As regards players settling in there isn't as much emphasis on that time frame this season as apart from international football they will spend a lot of time at Carrington.

homerjay2005

RayCun wrote: »

You expected lvg to have 3 or 4 players signed within two weeks of starting work?

Ah come off it, he got the job almost 3 months ago. Herrera and Shaw were signed as it was clear of our need there, but likewise the gaps elsewhere(center half, cm and back up defenders) have also been clear for months.

We used the same excuse for Moyes last year until it was too late yet Chelsea and City ploughed ahead and got players signed. Or course van gaal needs time to assess certain things but the more time he gets, its looking like he is realising there are other problems too not just the obvious ones.

The obvious gaps should be sorted by now, allowing him the next 5 weeks to get rid of 1 or 2 players and then replace them.

DM_7

Van Gaal interview

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/9398436/van-gaal-won

I don't buy players for buying players. I buy players to improve my selection. First I have to see what I need in all the positions for the system we will play and at this moment I don't know for sure that we have to play this system.

When we play 4-3-3 we shall use more or less the same players but for 4-3-3 I need more specialists on the wings and more attackers. Then we have yo buy another kind of player

Worth a watch I think.

redbaron_99

It's a tricky situation IMO. We do have a very good squad, but we are missing two key positions. And this could be the difference between 1st and 5th. Experienced Centre Back and Senior Central Midfielder. I've always felt that the spine of the team makes the difference. Look at City in recent times: Hart, Kompany, Toure, Silva. Chelsea: Cech, Terry, Lampard Drogba. With all four on the pitch they are a team to be reckoned with. Take one out and they are significantly weakened. Take two out and they start to drop points all over the place.
VDS, Vidic, Scholes, Ronaldo.
schmeichel, Stam, Keane, Cole
schmeichel, Pallister, Keane, Cantona
schmeichel, Bruce, Robson, Hughes
All of our great teams have had that solid spine in the team. I think we have a great keeper at the moment. Either Rooney or RVP make for a world class spearhead. We don't have the top defender though. And it's too soon for Herrera.

Edit: Vidal is a no brainer for the midfield. And if you're looking for a tough defender as a one year stop-gap, we could a lot worse than Vlaar.

homerjay2005

Lord TSC wrote: »

Squad would be weaker; we've lost 4 "top" players and only got in 2.

First team however, imo, is stronger and with less games to play, we don't need a massively strong squad. A stronger first team is a bigger priority to me...

On what basis is our first team stronger?

Wud think the loss of Vidic,Evra and Rio combined with complete loss of form to likes of Nani, Carrick, Valencia makes our first 11 much weaker.

If people were asked to pick their first 11 right now only 8 players maximum would appear in every1s team and that includes an injury proned full back and Johnny Evans, our 3rd choice CB in our league winning year.

The lack of quality in defence means our first 11 is weaker imo.

duffman13

MagicMarker wrote: »

I really don't see what the big problem with Ashley Young is.

Is he good enough to be first choice? No

Is he good enough as backup? Abso-fúckin-lutely.

I don't agree, I honestly think he is a nice guy but he is lacking in ability and can be lazy. He is not good enough and we have better options already be Nani, Januzaj, Valencia and even Zaha. Valencia gives 100% and the other 3 possess the ability to produce magic. Villa was his level!

JaMarcusHustle

Finally opened this today after getting it through the infamous United Store pricing error. Not bad for €16, certainly better than the current Nike offering!

redbaron_99

A fire started when we sold Ronaldo and failed to address the growing weakness of midfield. The alarm went off on the 23rd of October 2011. The club still hasn't put out the fire.

Cantona's Collars

@guardian_sport
Follow

Manchester United hold talks with Napoli over Marouane Fellaini exit http://gu.com/p/4vajz/tw

Whatsisname

United Report ‏@UtdReport 4m
#mufc have held talks with Napoli over the transfer of Marouane Fellaini. [via @guardian_sport]

this gif makes me laugh more

n32

It would be very interesting to see how much extra time can be spent training instead of dícking around airports and hotels for CL games. The travelling associated with the CL and the inevitable recovery time needed after coming home must be a bit of a drag for players. Not having to do it this season gives LVG a nice free run to work on the new system all week instead of having to move the whole operation to the likes Donetsk or Istanbul for a few days

Cantona's Collars

Manchester Evening News breaking it almost at the same time.

@amckeeganMEN
Follow

United will listen to offers for Kagawa and Fellaini with the axe also hanging over Nani and Anderson http://bit.ly/1pmXqAz #mufc

adox

Whatsisname wrote: »

I know you mean it sort of tongue in cheek and sort of serious but the last thin Utd need to be doing is decreasing numbers in the squad anymore, especially in one of the two areas that badly needs strengthening.

Hococop

zerks wrote: »

Manchester Evening News breaking it almost at the same time.

@amckeeganMEN
Follow

If all these transfer rumors are true then we will defiantly be getting 4-5 players in possibly

redbaron_99

zerks wrote: »

Manchester Evening News breaking it almost at the same time.

@amckeeganMEN
Follow

Would honestly prefer to see Cleverley, Nani and Valencia remain. Depressing.

Adamcp898

redbaron_99 wrote: »

A fire started when we sold Ronaldo and failed to address the growing weakness of midfield. The alarm went off on the 23rd of October 2011. The club still hasn't put out the fire.

The fire started before then I'm afraid, the first of the arse handings we got from Barca was the first glaring in your face symptom that our midfield was nowhere near being good enough to be considered one of Europe's top teams.

We have only signed Maroune Fellaini and Ander Herrera in the intervening 6/7 years since.

adox

zerks wrote: »

Manchester Evening News breaking it almost at the same time.

@amckeeganMEN
Follow

I just refuse to believe that.

Cantona's Collars

adox wrote: »

I know you mean it sort of tongue in cheek and sort of serious but the last thin Utd need to be doing is decreasing numbers in the squad anymore, especially in one of the two areas that badly needs strengthening.

After LVG's talk earlier,I reckon there'll be an announcement sooner rather than later about new signings.
Just because he said he needed a few weeks to assess players,it didn't mean he was going to wait the full term to do it.

glued

We need to buy players not sell them!

DM_7

homerjay2005 wrote: »

On what basis is our first team stronger?

Wud think the loss of Vidic,Evra and Rio combined with complete loss of form to likes of Nani, Carrick, Valencia makes our first 11 much weaker.

If people were asked to pick their first 11 right now only 8 players maximum would appear in every1s team and that includes an injury proned full back and Johnny Evans, our 3rd choice CB in our league winning year.

The lack of quality in defence means our first 11 is weaker imo.

Van Gaal in for Moyes
Herrera in
Mata in from start of last season.

Rio is no major loss with age factored in, Evra was a liability thanks to getting overworked in previous years

I reckon 10 of 11 players could be named as the first choice team (De Gea, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Rafael, Herrera, ???, Shaw, Mata, Rooney, Van Persie.

The squad has a great back up in attack.

The defenders need less individual quality for a domestic only season if they are playing in a three rather than two.


The first team is short one player for what is needed next season (a midfielder) and the squad two additional players short (Defenders).

No doubt we need to add more players, i think everyone here would say that. Its not all doom and gloom and I think the arrival of Van Gaal offsets the losses of senior players right now.

Cantona's Collars

adox wrote: »

I just refuse to believe that.

DM running with it.

@AdamCrafton_
Follow

#mufc hold talks with Napoli over Fellaini, who want a loan. Kagawa,Nani,Anderson could also be out (@Ian_Ladyman_DM) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2708852/Marouane-Fellaini-talks-Napoli-moves-closer-switch-away-Man-Utd.html …

And The Telegraph:

@MOgdenTelegraph
Follow

Manchester United flop Marouane Fellaini wanted by Napoli coach Rafael Benítez

MagicMarker

duffman13 wrote: »

I don't agree, I honestly think he is a nice guy but he is lacking in ability and can be lazy. He is not good enough and we have better options already be Nani, Januzaj, Valencia and even Zaha. Valencia gives 100% and the other 3 possess the ability to produce magic. Villa was his level!

He's neither lacking in ability nor is he lazy.

Tbh I'd say Adnan and Young are at about the same level. Except Adnan will get better, Young won't.

dahat

Ed has been on the blower it seems

Unearthly

Looks like the media were briefed.

Cantona's Collars

Unearthly wrote: »

Looks like the media were briefed.

Will tomorrow be Artuesday?

bucketybuck

I don't buy players for buying players. I buy players to improve my selection. First I have to see what I need in all the positions for the system we will play and at this moment I don't know for sure that we have to play this system.

When we play 4-3-3 we shall use more or less the same players but for 4-3-3 I need more specialists on the wings and more attackers. Then we have yo buy another kind of player

I hope LVG isn't making the same mistake that Moyes made, the mistake that ultimately cost Moyes his job.

There are so many gaping holes in our team that our rivals could and will drive buses through them, he simply does not have the luxury of taking too long to figure out what he wants. If he thinks he can muddle through until he identifies the perfect players for his "system" then he is in for a rude ****ing awakening.