Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Note in OP, 25/08

Maximus Alexander

Yer Aul One wrote: »

Is nobody else delighted that we lost on Saturday? If we had of played well there would be less pressure on LvG and Ed to get a job done.

To be totally honest, there never has been, nor will there ever be a time when I'm anything other than horribly disappointed when United lose.

Copper_pipe

https://vine.co/v/Mgj7eTQv0ja

Mitch Connor

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

To be totally honest, there never has been, nor will there ever be a time when I'm anything other than horribly disappointed when United lose.

Completely agree - and I have been one of the biggest critics of United this summer; but I still don't like my fear being born out as they were on Saturday.

LVG didn't help matters either, with did surprise me. Lingard then Januzaj are RWB? Fecking crazy.

redbaron_99

kryogen wrote: »

Random team, do you think they have done better business this summer then United?

Well, you have to look at it in context. Expectation and requirements at Stoke wouldn't have been particularly great. And they dont have the financial fire power of United. They've done their bit of business to keep them where they're at. Fair play to them.

We went into the summer a fair bit behind the other top sides in the PL. The gap has widened due to out inactivity in the transfer window.

So, in context, yes, they've done better than we have.

kryogen

redbaron_99 wrote: »

Well, you have to look at it in context. Expectation and requirements at Stoke wouldn't have been particularly great. And they dont have the financial fire power of United. They've done their bit of business to keep them where they're at. Fair play to them.

We went into the summer a fair bit behind the other top sides in the PL. The gap has widened due to out inactivity in the transfer window.

So, in context, yes, they've done better than we have.

We will leave that there so.

Crimson King

It's been clear to me for the amount of minutes he got during preseason that LVG does not trust Nani to put in a shift defensively and so sending him to sporting means he will get regular match time whilst also putting himself in the shop window so to speak.

titan18

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

To be totally honest, there never has been, nor will there ever be a time when I'm anything other than horribly disappointed when United lose.

Hmm, what about if last game of the season, we were playing Arsenal and beating them would mean Liverpool would get the title. I'd be quite ok with losing then.

kryogen

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Completely agree - and I have been one of the biggest critics of United this summer; but I still don't like my fear being born out as they were on Saturday.

LVG didn't help matters either, with did surprise me. Lingard then Januzaj are RWB? Fecking crazy.

Lingard, though completely out of left field for me in terms of thinking about him starting at RWB actually didnt do too badly in fairness, his position was alright, he make some good interceptions, he has the pace to get up the down the wing well, as he was doing, he did some good work and put in a couple of good balls. Shame about the injury, would be interested to see him tried there again in the future.

Maximus Alexander

Mitch Connor wrote: »

LVG didn't help matters either, with did surprise me. Lingard then Januzaj are RWB? Fecking crazy.

Bit of a weird one all right, but I have a feeling LVG will make a lot of odd decisions that leave us scratching our heads throughout the season and many of them will work out.

I thought it was very clever, for example, of him to change the formation for the second half. He played the same way with the Netherlands and then United all through pre-season, all anyone was talking about was 3-5-2, so the opposition would have been completely unprepared for the change.

If it had worked it would have looked like a stroke of genius. I mean, it sort of did work since United looked way more in control for most of the second half, but the result didn't follow.

Still makes me miserable even talking about it. I had let optimism get the better of me and really thought Swansea were going to get steamrolled.

bangkok

Saturday just goes to show how much we really missed Carrick and welbeck...

im looking forward to seeing Herrera beside carrick in midfield and welbeck stretching the defense in behind giving mata room to operate. Hernandez was terrible on saturday

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

All I can think is appeasement, much like the tv interview last night. They speculate a subsidised loan, I assume that means they will be making some wage contribution if it goes ahead

Before the start of the season I wanted Nani to stay but I wouldn't mind him going out on loan. Sporting can't afford him so there won't be an option to buy. If he tears the Portuguese league apart then it will only increase his transfer fee or it will increase his confidence and we all know how good confident Nani is.

redbaron_99

kryogen wrote: »

We will leave that there so.

Well don't go making vague remarks if you're not willing to engage in a discussion.
Stoke have done all right by Stoke standards.
United have done terribly by our standards.
If you disagree with that, then at least explain why.

v3ttel

Graeme Bailey just tweeted that Nani and Anderson (on loan) have both been offered as part of Rojo deal. €20m plus Nani and Anderson on loan, seems like a bonkers deal for Rojo. We should be moving heaven and earth to get Benatia who is a genuinely top class center half.

I would still have Nani rated as the second best winger at the club (after Januzaj), ahead of Valencia/Young. Anderson is absolutely no loss.

Very frustrating that the weeks have ticked by, and we've not built on a great start to the window with Herrera & Shaw.

Maximus Alexander

titan18 wrote: »

Hmm, what about if last game of the season, we were playing Arsenal and beating them would mean Liverpool would get the title. I'd be quite ok with losing then.

Liverpool are an irrelevance in that context. I'd genuinely rather watch United win a nothing game than have Liverpool not win the league. United comes first, Liverpool's failures are just a bonus. Kinda like the crushed hazelnuts on top of your Ben & Jerry's when you go to the cinema.

Mitch Connor

kryogen wrote: »

Lingard, though completely out of left field for me in terms of thinking about him starting at RWB actually didnt do too badly in fairness, his position was alright, he make some good interceptions, he has the pace to get up the down the wing well, as he was doing, he did some good work and put in a couple of good balls. Shame about the injury, would be interested to see him tried there again in the future.

I thought he was caught out a number of times positionally in the short time he was on - playing the defensive side of his role more like a standard midfielder than a RWB. He looked a threat going forward, but I would expect that at the very least. For me, the defensive side of the game must come first in terms of skillset suitability, and Lingard is lacking there massively. I'm not agaisnt the lad because of it, he is a Kagawa type of player, imo, so asking him to play RWB is simply crazy to me. He played as I would expect him to - so i'm not blaming him, really - I just think he is completely alien to the role at this point.

I can only assume James was injured, but he was on the bench. I would have thought Janko a far better shout for RWB than Lingard too - but he played Friday night. It was very odd.

Professional Griefer

Pressure is on now to bring in some players. Get on it Woody.

FortuneChip

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Still makes me miserable even talking about it. I had let optimism get the better of me and really thought Swansea were going to get steamrolled.

Yup, guilty of using this phrase myself!
I thought Januzaj was the only real positive from the game.
Hernandez was really poor. Read that he had less touches than DDG in the first half. I wouldn't be sad to see him leave; he could definitely be put to better use at a different club.

Ordinary man

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Bit of a weird one all right, but I have a feeling LVG will make a lot of odd decisions that leave us scratching our heads throughout the season and many of them will work out.

I thought it was very clever, for example, of him to change the formation for the second half. He played the same way with the Netherlands and then United all through pre-season, all anyone was talking about was 3-5-2, so the opposition would have been completely unprepared for the change.

If it had worked it would have looked like a stroke of genius. I mean, it sort of did work since United looked way more in control for most of the second half, but the result didn't follow.

Still makes me miserable even talking about it. I had let optimism get the better of me and really thought Swansea were going to get steamrolled.

One problem was the united players seemed unprepared for the change too. Maybe he gave them too much credit and assumed they could adjust better. The 352 of the first half looked good but imo lingards sub should have been james. Keep the shape the same as what was working pre season and the players were used of

homerjay2005

im assuming signing Rojo means no Benatia??

cant see us being able to close 2 deals for defenders in 2 weeks after failing to so it in last 8 weeks especially with other needs also.

Lord TSC

MagicIRL wrote: »

Edit: And let's not forget Larry's Vidal's a done-deal nonsense.

Lads, a single fair warning since it's a new thread. The in-thread warning from the last thread is still in effect. Unprovoked attacks on a poster will be carded.

This isn't "protecting" one user, mind. I've already talked to Larry about "ITK" posts, and he's holding up his end. More, uncalled for attacks on a poster that are brought to mod's attentions, especially ones as part of a sustained campaign against a particular poster, will always warrant mod action, regardless of who they are aimed at. (And this is on the back of snipes at many other posters as well).

Feel free to attack posts, but never attack the poster. Don't leave yourself open to soft yellows.

titan18

homerjay2005 wrote: »

im assuming signing Rojo means no Benatia??

cant see us being able to close 2 deals for defenders in 2 weeks after failing to so it in last 8 weeks especially with other needs also.

More than likely. Especially two expensive defenders

Nalz

I agree with you v3ttel it all seems a little too much and a little desperate, but we've gotten ourselves into this few days to go panic signings situation again for whatever reason. It baffles me no dutch players have signed yet. I expected at least 2 (Blind, De Vrij, De Jong, Memphis etc)

v3ttel wrote: »

I would still have Nani rated as the second best winger at the club (after Januzaj), ahead of Valencia/Young. Anderson is absolutely no loss.

Nani can be frustrating at the best of times I get that, and has gone down hill a bit the last two seasons but Januzaj has only one bit part season under his belt.

It pains me to say it but Nani is our best winger in my opinion. I've no doubt that Januzaj will run close to Nani's form when he was class, and will probably be more consistent...but right now I think Nani is our best wing option ahead of Januzaj, Young, Valencia and Lingard.

beno619

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

To be totally honest, there never has been, nor will there ever be a time when I'm anything other than horribly disappointed when United lose.

Generally I would feel the same, but we were awful at Swansea last season until RVP bailed us out, if he didn't that window and last season may have gone down differently.

Lord TSC

Trilla wrote: »

It baffles me no dutch players have signed yet. I expected at least 2 (Blind, De Vrij, De Jong, Memphis etc)

Honestly, I never expected any, so to speak. I wouldn't have been shocked, but the reality is most of those links came off the back of lazy journalism.

"United need players, their new manager is Dutch.....United to buy the whole Dutch team."

kryogen

redbaron_99 wrote: »

Well don't go making vague remarks if you're not willing to engage in a discussion.
Stoke have done all right by Stoke standards.
United have done terribly by our standards.
If you disagree with that, then at least explain why.

You directly equated the amount of signings to whether a window can be judged as being good or bad for a club. This is clearly wrong, Spurs signed a **** load of players last season, did they do good transfer business though?

bucketybuck

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I thought it was very clever, for example, of him to change the formation for the second half. He played the same way with the Netherlands and then United all through pre-season, all anyone was talking about was 3-5-2, so the opposition would have been completely unprepared for the change.

Oh come on, you make it sound like a tactical masterstroke 3 months in the planning, an Oceans Eleven style bait and switch methodically planned for the sole purpose of bamboozling the mighty Swansea city.

He changed it because it wasn't working, thats all and we should expect no less.

Maximus Alexander

Trilla wrote: »

It pains me to say it but Nani is our best winger in my opinion. I've no doubt that Januzaj will run close to Nani's form when he was class, and will probably be more consistent...but right now I think Nani is our best wing option ahead of Januzaj, Young, Valencia and Lingard.

That's one thing I've loved about Januzaj so far. I keep expecting him to come out, have a shite game and then sort of fizzle out. Sort of like a mirage. Yet, for all that he's not a complete player (yet), he's been very consistent especially for someone so young which is what makes me so excited about him - he looks like the real deal. It's been a while since United have had an exciting young prospect like that coming through from youth level.

Maybe Welbeck, a bit, here and there. But he never had the consistency.

bucketybuck

kryogen wrote: »

You directly equated the amount of signings to whether a window can be judged as being good or bad for a club.

In fairness, no matter what criteria you use to judge the window it still won't look good on our part, whether its volume of signings or something else.

Your Airbag

Apparently Sport1, the newspaper that said Benatia is off to Bayern, have apologised for spreading nonsensical news.

https://twitter.com/OffsideLiam/status/501118451189301248


On, off, I just don't know anymore.

Coat22

Yer Aul One wrote: »

Is nobody else delighted that we lost on Saturday? If we had of played well there would be less pressure on LvG and Ed to get a job done.
I predict two signings before the window but I don't see them being the big names shouted around, especially in CM. I think LvG is unwilling to go for Vidal because he would prefer to take the risk in waiting till January for Strootman.
If that is true, I agree with it. Lets get in a stop gap for 5 months.

Part of me was delighted. Was going to stick my neck out on Friday and suggest just that but couldn’t see it happening so thought I’d just be setting myself up for a backlash.
I think Saturday was a wake up call for VG. I’m not sure he realised just how disasterous our midfield was based on what he’d seen in the States. Saturday for me was the same old story, no central mid field so Rooney and Mata spent their time coming back, wingers broke forward (or Rooney from deep) and then there was nobody up front to deliver too so ending the attack. When the opposition got the ball they simply strode through the centre as if nobody was there and the defence was left exposed.
I owe Jones an apology. Was very impressed with him Saturday but its not fair on him to be used at RB.
We need 4 or 5 players in the next 2 weeks. That won’t happen but hopefully we can get in a couple of defenders and a CM – if not a first choice one then at least one who’s a realistic option for rotation ahead of using Fellani / Cleverly. If Strootman is our target in January then lets proceed with it subject to a medical and not just hang around until Bayern, Barca etc realise they need cover in there midfield and we’re muscled out of it.
The sadist in me would love to see VGs reaction if Rojo and one other is the sum of what we achieve in the next 2 weeks. The united fan fears this maybe the case.

aha_sender

Swansea had 4 shots and still won. That mean a 50% conversion quite high so from a defensive point if view we weren't awful just I'll disciplined.
Hernandez is not the right player for united he is a one trick pony unfortunately, 14 touches in a game not good.
We need a proper DM more than any thing. Who us available though.

redbaron_99

kryogen wrote: »

You directly equated the amount of signings to whether a window can be judged as being good or bad for a club. This is clearly wrong, Spurs signed a **** load of players last season, did they do good transfer business though?

Well, when a club like ours needs a number of players, it is justified to judge on them on the amount of players they bring in. Obviously you have to take into account the quality of players - you think i'd be happy with numbers without judging the quality??

As for Spurs, you can probably judge most of those signings this season, as their managerial problems last season ruled out any continuity for many of their new signings.

Lucas Hood

Your Airbag wrote: »

Apparently Sport1, the newspaper that said Benatia is off to Bayern, have apologised for spreading nonsensical news.

https://twitter.com/OffsideLiam/status/501118451189301248


On, off, I just don't know anymore.

They haven't

https://twitter.com/Sport_Witness/status/501266552361324545

kryogen

By no means did I think he was perfect there, how could he be sure! I thought I saw signs of potential there though in his display, as I said, shame we didn't get to see it for 90 minutes. It was encouraging to see him throwing himself about too and that he was not afraid to get stuck in.

Not really a fan of Janko if I'm honest, don't think he will do much for us at senior level.

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I thought he was caught out a number of times positionally in the short time he was on - playing the defensive side of his role more like a standard midfielder than a RWB. He looked a threat going forward, but I would expect that at the very least. For me, the defensive side of the game must come first in terms of skillset suitability, and Lingard is lacking there massively. I'm not agaisnt the lad because of it, he is a Kagawa type of player, imo, so asking him to play RWB is simply crazy to me. He played as I would expect him to - so i'm not blaming him, really - I just think he is completely alien to the role at this point.

I can only assume James was injured, but he was on the bench. I would have thought Janko a far better shout for RWB than Lingard too - but he played Friday night. It was very odd.

redbaron_99

aha_sender wrote: »

Swansea had 4 shots and still won. That mean a 50% conversion quite high so from a defensive point if view we weren't awful just I'll disciplined.
Hernandez is not the right player for united he is a one trick pony unfortunately, 14 touches in a game not good.
We need a proper DM more than any thing. Who us available though.

De Jong, Carvalho, Gustavo, maybe schneiderlin could fulfill that role.

bangkok

why would anyone be happy that we lost??!! even if we won 2-1 had that wazza free kick gone in, it would have been still obvious that we needed another signing or 2. don't forget, had we of having a fully fit squad there was probably 5-6 players that would have started on sat. Rafael, evans, shaw, carrick, van persie and maybe welbeck

aha_sender

redbaron_99 wrote: »

De Jong, Carvalho, Gustavo, maybe schneiderlin could fulfill that role.

Their the players we should be looking at. I think we would look better with this player. Di maria is great but great team are built through the spine. Our spine is missing a few vertebrae

MagicIRL

We had this "I'm happy they lost" talk last season over and over again! NONSENSE

Lucas Hood

I thought we looked quite comfortable with Lingard at rwb. Obviously impossible to be sure but I don't think we had have lost had he stayed on the pitch.

If we could go back though I'd have put James on instead of Nani at half time & kept the 3412
Ddg
Jones Smalling Blackett
Young Herrera Fletcher James
Mata
Januzaj Rooney.

markcahill1985

People are actually happy that we have lost? Come on get a grip, its a new season with a competent manager in charge, he knows we need players regardless of Saturdays result!

markcahill1985

Lucas Hood wrote: »

I thought we looked quite comfortable with Lingard at rwb. Obviously impossible to be sure but I don't think we had have lost had he stayed on the pitch.

If we could go back though I'd have put James on instead of Nani at half time & kept the 3412
Ddg
Jones Smalling Blackett
Young Herrera Fletcher James
Mata
Januzaj Rooney.

Was far too risky to play both James and Blackett down the same side of the pitch hence Lingard starting

homerjay2005

Yer Aul One wrote: »

Is nobody else delighted that we lost on Saturday? .

absolutely no f*cking way. devastated, but delighted? your having a laugh.

i can eventually handle the defeat if its the final eye opener to get them incompetent shower running our club to finally sign the players we need in the next 2 weeks.

but its a disgrace that its come to this, our business should have been done weeks ago allowing us to start the season with a team this club should have, not be scrambling around Europe now looking desperately for players everybody connected at the club should have known were needed 3 months ago.

Copper_pipe

https://twitter.com/DT______/status/501091316361887744

Lucas Hood

markcahill1985 wrote: »

Was far too risky to play both James and Blackett down the same side of the pitch hence Lingard starting

But playing Blackett an inexperienced defender & Young a winger who has only played a handful of games at Lb/Lwb was ok?

Mikeyt086

markcahill1985 wrote: »

People are actually happy that we have lost? Come on get a grip, its a new season with a competent manager in charge, he knows we need players regardless of Saturdays result!

No. They aren't. One poster posed a question and every reply immediately shut it down.

Honestly this happens so much for so many things in this thread it wrecks my head. Not a shot at you Mark btw it's just happened a lot recently where one person's outlandish claims gets taken up as the common opinion.

homerjay2005

aha_sender wrote: »

Swansea had 4 shots and still won. That mean a 50% conversion quite high so from a defensive point if view we weren't awful just I'll disciplined.

dunno about that, my take on it was that we controlled the game but that was because Swansea sat back and then played on the counter. we had most of our possession between 20 metres either side of the half way line though and did f*ck all with it.

ill put it to you this way - if a team gets into our box 3 times in the entire game and ends up scoring twice, it doesnt bode well for our defence against the big teams who will get through us 10+ times a game.

if you want to take points at Old trafford it really is simple - put 10 men behind the ball and leave us have it. watch us pass it sidewards, backwards and then belt it long up field.

then take the 1 or 2 chances that come your way and presto - youve won.

thats happened about 10 times now in the past year, mainly against very poor sides like Swansea.

Coat22

I’m definitely of the opinion that if we’d knocked Swansea for 3 or 4 on Saturday the sense of urgency at the club would have disapated.Its been almost 8 months since Vidic announced he was off, the decision on Ferdinand must have been taken around the same time, Evra might have come as a shock and we’ve needed a defensive midfielder for how long?

And yet we start the season by signing 2 players! I would say before Saturday Woodward and VG would have been happy if they landed Rojo before the deadline – at least now reality might have set in with the manager and Ed can get the good kick up the hole he needs.

Leroy42

Where is it possible to check the gross spending of teams over the last few years? People talk about us being a top club, but my feeling is that we are not anywhere in the same league of City, Chelsea, Real, Barca or Bayern. Even the likes of Aresenal and Pool are starting to overtake us.

In fairness to Woodward, he has done brilliant from the commercial side of the business and that should be allowing us to be the behemoth over everybody else. Of course you will always get City etc with unlimited spend but tbh that is really just to bring them up to the top level and then they will have to operate as a normal club.

twam2008

Leroy42 wrote: »

Where is it possible to check the gross spending of teams over the last few years? People talk about us being a top club, but my feeling is that we are not anywhere in the same league of City, Chelsea, Real, Barca or Bayern. Even the likes of Aresenal and Pool are starting to overtake us.

In fairness to Woodward, he has done brilliant from the commercial side of the business and that should be allowing us to be the behemoth over everybody else. Of course you will always get City etc with unlimited spend but tbh that is really just to bring them up to the top level and then they will have to operate as a normal club.

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/

homerjay2005

Leroy42 wrote: »

Where is it possible to check the gross spending of teams over the last few years? People talk about us being a top club, but my feeling is that we are not anywhere in the same league of City, Chelsea, Real, Barca or Bayern. Even the likes of Aresenal and Pool are starting to overtake us.

In fairness to Woodward, he has done brilliant from the commercial side of the business and that should be allowing us to be the behemoth over everybody else. Of course you will always get City etc with unlimited spend but tbh that is really just to bring them up to the top level and then they will have to operate as a normal club.

here you go...

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/


i didnt check Chelsea, but in the last 3 years our Net Spending was higher than Citys until recent weeks. the deals for Mangala/Fernando has changed that i reckon, though with surely 2 or 3 signings coming it will change again in our "favour"...