Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - See Mod Warning in OP, 09/11

Maximus Alexander

If only we had a team of players who looked like Luke Chadwick. Then we would be winning.

sReq | uTeK

I have seen a significant improvement in last years performances already, however is that a result of a star studded front 5? I believe the players play for Van Gall in a way they would never have for Moyes. Sometimes all you need is to command respect and hard work from your players and you'll be alright.

Jose does this, Wenger does this, Van Gall does this, Moyes didn't do this. I have no doubt that Moyes is a good manager and will turn out to be a great manager for the next team he chooses but I think the United job came to early for him, he would have done well with someone else for 3 years then coming on board, but hey that was never going to happen.

I think people also forget that this year our back 4 are just riddled with injuries, I have no doubt that our best 4 is - Raf - Rojo - Evans - Shaw but we've not seen it yet, if we could get these players playing together for a prolonged period of time I believe results would change.

We leaked goals upon goals but that seems to have stagnated (please god) against Chelsea we defended well and rode our luck at times but we also had genuine opportunities and I believe a draw was warranted.

Again against City we played well in the opening 15 and we were on top, City came back into it and had plenty of it but again we competed well and who knows if the Red didn't happen, what would have happened.

Conceding 2 against the 2 best attacking lineups is a sign of improvement, creating plenty even with 10 men against possibly the 2 best defenses in the league is a sign of improvement.

I have no doubt Van Gall will get this team performing, however I do believe that our defense needs some depth.

What I like about Van Gall that I didn't see in Moyes is that he has a willingness to change, he seen 3 wasn't working he changed it. Last year moyes played ball after ball out wide and it didn't come off but he never bothered to change it.

Am I ecstatic with the start? No. Am I optimistic? Yes. We're getting better, Livepool are getting worse and worse. Arsenal are finding some form and have players back, Spurs are not up to much as are Everton and I don't believe we will see Southampton last the distance.

I'd be very surprised if we finish outside the top4 , and anyone here would have bitten your hand off if you were offered top4 at the end of Last season.

Top 4 this season, with Strootman in for Fellani in the summer and a Defender or 2 and we will be VERY VERY VERY well stocked to go after the league next season.

sReq | uTeK

TheDoc wrote: »

I'm a big fan of Milner, he's shockingly unappreciated and is a really, really good player. He has been one of City's best performers this season. His expulsion to the wings is to England and Citys own detriment.

Have to agree, Milner is a very good player. Showed just how good he was when he upstaged everyone against Bayern last year. He works like a horse too and will never let you down.

The Moldy Gowl

Milner is under rated alright, would be a handy signing. I would kinda expect bigger signings though and then sign the Milners and O sheas.

homerjay2005

Headshot wrote: »

That zaha is fair ****ing woeful

Bizzare signing, like alot Fergie made in the last few years.

We shelved out the guts of £40m on Bebe, Young and Zaha and none of them good enough for the club. Would really make u wonder what on earth our scouting network was playing at.

Will I Amnt

The biggest and most telling difference between Moyes and LvG is that the latter realises what needs to be done.
Even after a win he is unhappy with many aspects of the game, Moyes was full of excuses and genuine bemusement as to why we weren't winning and just happy to compete with the bigger teams without actually trying to get something from the games.

bangkok

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Bizzare signing, like alot Fergie made in the last few years.

We shelved out the guts of £40m on Bebe, Young and Zaha and none of them good enough for the club. Would really make u wonder what on earth our scouting network was playing at.

we didn't pay anywhere near 40m for them. bebe 7m, that is the max you pay based on appearances, goals, international cap etc. We then loaned him to besiktas, rio ave, pacos de ferrera and then sold him to benfica for 3m plus 50% sell on clause. so id say we more than got our money back on him.

Zaha signed for 10m and the rest was related to playing time etc.

he went to Cardiff on loan and we received around 2m for that loan and now he is gone back to palace on loan and we received 3m on that and if palace stay up a deal in play for them to sign him for 8m.

Ashley young by all accounts signed for in or around 15m

v3ttel

The difference between Moyes and Van Gaal?

Moyes won one Division Two (League One equivalent) title with Preston.

Van Gaal has won La Liga (2 times), the Bundesliga (1 time), The Erdivisie (4 times), the Champions League (1 time). He just finished 3rd at the World Cup with a slightly above average Dutch squad. I'll ignore the domestic cups he's won for the sake of simplicity.

All of this gutter journalism that Moyes was doing better is hilarious. Look at the Premier league table. Are Southampton better than City? Are West Ham better than United, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs?

With Van Gaal, the club is in safe hands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7Bk7fhbb4

Mantis Toboggan

Will I Amnt wrote: »

The biggest and most telling difference between Moyes and LvG is that the latter realises what needs to be done.

That's complete bull**** tbh. Moyes new well that's needed to be changed. He tried to sign Kroos, fabregas and herrara but the board never backed him in the transfer market. He was was completely undermined and hung out to dry.

223vmax

Comparing Moyes & LVG is nonsense. Moyes inherited a PL winning squad and did feck all, cant even qualify for Europe.

LVG inherits a team bewildered and lost, buys 1/2 a new team and lads are calling for his head after 10 games. Are you serious???

Seans_Username

223vmax wrote: »

Comparing Moyes & LVG is nonsense. Moyes inherited a PL winning squad and did feck all, cant even qualify for Europe.

Calling that squad a 'PL winning squad' and leaving it at that takes away from the widely shared opinion that it was one of the worst squads to ever win a PL, it's not like he inherited the invincibles

intellectual dosser

It's probably been talked to death but this is the first time I've gotten on boards since Sunday. The most irritating thing about Sunday for me wasnt Smalling, but DiMaria and the corners....he consistently cannot beat the first man.

We had two corners in stoppage time and neither got into the mix because the first defender was able to easily sweep it away. It can be argued that he swung in the free that lead to RVPs equaliser last week but more crosses than not didnt make it to their target in that game also.

It drives me mental.

223vmax

Seans_Username wrote: »

Calling that squad a 'PL winning squad' and leaving it at that takes away from the widely shared opinion that it was one of the worst squads to ever win a PL, it's not like he inherited the invincibles

Agree, but should have done a lot better than he did....Moral wasn't on its arse when he got the team and OT was right behind him. Wasn't a bad position to be in at the start. Compare that with LVG position. Totally different. Also lads saying ah it was a terrible squad to get after SAF retiring is BS.

bangkok

Seans_Username wrote: »

Calling that squad a 'PL winning squad' and leaving it at that takes away from the widely shared opinion that it was one of the worst squads to ever win a PL, it's not like he inherited the invincibles

worst squads? nonsence

2 of the best strikers in Europe, one of the best goalkeepers, rio vidic and evra all top class players. Scholes giggs etc then the likes of kagawa, nani, evans jones smalling Rafael etc

Will I Amnt

Buddy Holly wrote: »

That's complete bull**** tbh. Moyes new well that's needed to be changed. He tried to sign Kroos, fabregas and herrara but the board never backed him in the transfer market. He was was completely undermined and hung out to dry.

He couldn't see what was wrong on the pitch with what he had, his bemoaning of luck and everything else conspiring against him was a regular feature of his excuse laden media appearances.

kryogen

Seans_Username wrote: »

Calling that squad a 'PL winning squad' and leaving it at that takes away from the widely shared opinion that it was one of the worst squads to ever win a PL, it's not like he inherited the invincibles

A lot United squads over the years have been called the worst squad to ever win the league etc, the squad needed work, it always does and always will. It was not as bad as the league position it achieved last season. City for example didn't become 30 points or so better then the squad over 1 summer.

Nalz

bangkok wrote: »

worst squads? nonsence

2 of the best strikers in Europe, one of the best goalkeepers, rio vidic and evra all top class players. Scholes giggs etc then the likes of kagawa, nani, evans jones smalling Rafael etc

Apart from the 2 best strikers in the world and an aging defence, you listed to 38/39 year olds at the time and a list of players that have been slated, criticised and sometimes prayed for that they leave our club...including Rafael and De Gea. They were never going to retain the title, although 7th was a shocker.

bangkok

Trilla wrote: »

Apart from the 2 best strikers in the world and an aging defence, you listed to 38/39 year olds at the time and a list of players that have been slated, criticised and sometimes prayed for that they leave our club...including Rafael and De Gea. They were never going to retain the title, although 7th was a shocker.

and who was praying for them to leave the club? the same fickle fans that want van gaal gone after 10 games and know little to nothing about football

TheFullDuck

football manager is so realistic, 2 games into the season my attackers are all out long term :rolleyes:

Maximus Alexander

TheFullDuck wrote: »

football manager is so realistic, 2 games into the season my attackers are all out long term :rolleyes:

I haven't played FM since FM12. I would really like to get 15, but I can't because it's a time vampire and I must be strong. :mad: You are not helping.

TheFullDuck

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I haven't played FM since FM12. I would really like to get 15, but I can't because it's a time vampire and I must be strong. :mad: You are not helping.

only €20 for fm15 on nuuvem

Giggsy11

I don't know how anyone can defend Moyes after last season or compare him to Van Gaal. Difference is so clear between the 2 teams.

Moyes was given PL winning team, team that didn't win by a whisker but a team that won league with 4-5 games to go.

Spazdarn

TheFullDuck wrote: »

only €20 for fm15 on nuuvem

Says not available in my region??

Timmyctc

Spazdarn wrote: »

Says not available in my region??

Activate with VPN badabingbadaboom

TheFullDuck

Spazdarn wrote: »

Says not available in my region??

use hola extension on chrome and change region to Brazil

bangkok

Giggsy11 wrote: »

I don't know how anyone can defend Moyes after last season or compare him to Van Gaal. Difference is so clear between the 2 teams.

Moyes was given PL winning team, team that didn't win by a whisker but a team that won league with 4-5 games to go.

and van gaal was given di maria, rojo, shaw, Herrera, blind, falcao

Vic Vinegar

Falcao & Jonny Evans will be back for the weekend (physioroom)

Will probably be Evans & Blackett as CBs then.

223vmax

bangkok wrote: »

and van gaal was given di maria, rojo, shaw, Herrera, blind, falcao

And you think they all should 'click' and play like champions after less than 10 games?

Cantona's Collars

bangkok wrote: »

and van gaal was given di maria, rojo, shaw, Herrera, blind, falcao

Not this sh1t again,Moyes had us playing dinosaur football,no flair & the emphasis on containment.At least LVG is building something & actually has us playing with flair.It's not his fault our entire backline is like bone china.
Remember last season when at times we actually had nobody up front as Rooney & RVP ended up so deep trying to get the ball they basically played as midfielders.

kstand

Van Gaal has his hands full trying to dig the club out of the hole that Moyes put us in. I cant actually believe there are still United fans who think Moyes didn't get a chance.

Larry Wildman

intellectual dosser wrote: »

It's probably been talked to death but this is the first time I've gotten on boards since Sunday. The most irritating thing about Sunday for me wasnt Smalling, but DiMaria and the corners....he consistently cannot beat the first man.

We had two corners in stoppage time and neither got into the mix because the first defender was able to easily sweep it away. It can be argued that he swung in the free that lead to RVPs equaliser last week but more crosses than not didnt make it to their target in that game also.

It drives me mental.

Be careful. You'll be told that you know nothing about the game and that smashing a terrible corner at the first man is a great idea. You'll also be told that dropping a corner into the middle of the box is a terrible idea because somehow the defenders win every 50:50 ball.

The fact of the matter is that football is full of mindless amateur aspects despite the huge amount of money involved (e.g. there's no point in practicing penalties").

Cantona's Collars

Anyone see Neville's analysis of RVP last night? It highlighted his intelligent movement yet nobody picked up on it.He was running off defenders yet anytime a player had a pass on,they ignored him or simply didn't see it & ended up playing the ball square.As good as Fellaini has played recently,he doesn't have the nous or vision to play in these passes or through balls.Perhaps this will improve with Herrera back in the team.
He complained of Blind playing too many square balls,Carrick has been doing this for years now so that's not the problem.
Look at how City played balls in behind to runners while we played in front of them & our chances came from players carrying the ball themselves ala RVP & Rooney (where he should have shot)

Mantis Toboggan

TheFullDuck wrote: »

use hola extension on chrome and change region to Brazil

Has the tablet version been released yet?

Maximus Alexander

TheFullDuck wrote: »

only €20 for fm15 on nuuvem

You're worse than Hitler. :P

Cantona's Collars

The Telegraph is saying the club is prepared to pay £1.4 million to cancel Anderson's contract if no buyer is found for him in January.

223vmax

Spot the difference.......

Mitch Connor

zerks wrote: »

The Telegraph is saying the club is prepared to pay £1.4 million to cancel Anderson's contract if no buyer is found for him in January.

Awesome, the buyers will be lining up in January to get him then so. Brilliant.

DM_7

zerks wrote: »

Anyone see Neville's analysis of RVP last night? It highlighted his intelligent movement yet nobody picked up on it.He was running off defenders yet anytime a player had a pass on,they ignored him or simply didn't see it & ended up playing the ball square.As good as Fellaini has played recently,he doesn't have the nous or vision to play in these passes or through balls.Perhaps this will improve with Herrera back in the team.
He complained of Blind playing too many square balls,Carrick has been doing this for years now so that's not the problem.
Look at how City played balls in behind to runners while we played in front of them & our chances came from players carrying the ball themselves ala RVP & Rooney (where he should have shot)

It suppose its a lot easier to play with your head up and looking for those passes when you are used to the managers requirements, used to each other and have a (relatively) settled defence behind you.

I expect that type of play to improve from United as the team settles and gets used to each other.

Its a much better position than last season where the expectation or hope was players like RVP would improve United just because of their individual quality rather than an expectation that the players will grow as a group the longer they are together.

Giggsy11

bangkok wrote: »

and van gaal was given di maria, rojo, shaw, Herrera, blind, falcao

Van Gaal signed players, Moyes was given the money he chose not to because he didn't trust the previous regime plans.

If Moyes never happened there was a high chance that Thiago, Strootman and Garay would have been at United.

There were reports that we matched Madrid bid for Bale, so money was there and for Moyes to spend, he chose not to.

The Moldy Gowl

I have FM 12 with 01 squads. bought Ronaldinho for 100 million. RVN scored 60 odd goals every season for 4 seasons with Ronaldinho getting 40 odd assists. Then had a young rooney, Christy, RVP, Iniesta, Ibra, Pirlo, van der vaart to bed in to a team of Keane scholes, beckham and Giggs.

Mitch Connor

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Van Gaal signed players, Moyes was given the money he chose not to because he didn't trust the previous regime plans.

If Moyes never happened there was a high chance that Thiago, Strootman and Garay would have been at United.

There were reports that we matched Madrid bid for Bale, so money was there and for Moyes to spend, he chose not to.

United tried, and failed, to buy Bale, Baines, Ronaldo and Fabregas that summer - seemingly Kheidre, Di Rossi, Coentrao and Herrera too. Maybe he passed on Strootman and Thiago, but I don't think we didn't sign any of the previously named players because Moyes didn't want them - we simply couldn't get a deal done for any of them.

My opinion is that we never had a hope in getting Bale, Di Rossi, Coentrao and Kheidre were left too late. I think Woodward fecked up on the Fabregas deal, or let it go, and he screwed up our chances of getting Baines with the very poor initial offers. Herrera was maybe correctly deemed too expensive at the time.

I don't think it was Moyes plan or desire to only sign Fellaini last summer. I also don;t think it was his desire or plan to sign Mata.

Liam O

Giggsy11 wrote: »

I don't know how anyone can defend Moyes after last season or compare him to Van Gaal. Difference is so clear between the 2 teams.

Moyes was given PL winning team, team that didn't win by a whisker but a team that won league with 4-5 games to go.

Not comparing him to Van Gaal. He has achieved far less and is rightly rated a level below him atm.

That said, he was in a far better position to judge what needed to be done with the team. It was easier to excuse the bumbling around pre season last season because of the 2 new people brought in as difference makers and the fact they were PL champions so the extent of the problems not being immediately obvious but to start the season and the only thing LVG had changed was saying yes to 2 Moyes signings and instead giving Ashley Young more time was criminal.

Ed then pops in with his face saving exercise which worked out a whole lot better than it could have and still the team is short 2 defenders. No proper planning, just sign big names to try and appease the fans which I guess has worked.

People saying Moyes was happy just to compete against the big teams and then say the last 2 games are showing LVG's progress is very hypocritical too. I could spend 120 odd million and improve the team from last season.

Giggsy11

Mitch Connor wrote: »

United tried, and failed, to buy Bale, Baines, Ronaldo and Fabregas that summer - seemingly Kheidre, Di Rossi, Coentrao and Herrera too. Maybe he passed on Strootman and Thiago, but I don't think we didn't sign any of the previously named players because Moyes didn't want them - we simply couldn't get a deal done for any of them.

My opinion is that we never had a hope in getting Bale, Di Rossi, Coentrao and Kheidre were left too late. I think Woodward fecked up on the Fabregas deal, or let it go, and he screwed up our chances of getting Baines with the very poor initial offers. Herrera was maybe correctly deemed too expensive at the time.

I don't think it was Moyes plan or desire to only sign Fellaini last summer. I also don;t think it was his desire or plan to sign Mata.

That more or less what I said. There was money to be spent but Moyes for some reasons didn't (like chasing unrealistic players, cancelling the deals that were close to be done).

Woodward deserves some blame but most of the blame should be on Moyes for how transfer activity was conducted.

Cantona's Collars

Wasn't Moyes known as Dithering Dave for good reason,he scouts & scouts players but goes into to much depth thinking & analysing targets that he forgets the reason why he started scouting them in the first place,that is signing said players.
LVG was rumoured to be actually angry with the delays in signing players by the club.A vast difference to the glacial pace Moyes had in getting bodies in.

Giggsy11

Liam O wrote: »

Not comparing him to Van Gaal. He has achieved far less and is rightly rated a level below him atm.

That said, he was in a far better position to judge what needed to be done with the team. It was easier to excuse the bumbling around pre season last season because of the 2 new people brought in as difference makers and the fact they were PL champions so the extent of the problems not being immediately obvious but to start the season and the only thing LVG had changed was saying yes to 2 Moyes signings and instead giving Ashley Young more time was criminal.

Ed then pops in with his face saving exercise which worked out a whole lot better than it could have and still the team is short 2 defenders. No proper planning, just sign big names to try and appease the fans which I guess has worked.

People saying Moyes was happy just to compete against the big teams and then say the last 2 games are showing LVG's progress is very hypocritical too. I could spend 120 odd million and improve the team from last season.

I disagree with almost whole post except the first line and first few lines of second paragraph.

Vic Vinegar

zerks wrote: »

Wasn't Moyes known as Dithering Dave for good reason,he scouts & scouts players but goes into to much depth thinking & analysing targets that he forgets the reason why he started scouting them in the first place,that is signing said players.
LVG was rumoured to be actually angry with the delays in signing players by the club.A vast difference to the glacial pace Moyes had in getting bodies in.

I heard a few months ago that Moyes had Carvalho scouted in 30% of his games that season. Bit mad that.

Cantona's Collars

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

I heard a few months ago that Moyes had Carvalho scouted in 30% of his games that season. Bit mad that.

It's like going clothes shopping with a woman:pac:

"I like this,no this one,maybe I'll take a look at the first one again,let's go to another shop.There's nothing that suits me,forget about it & let's go home".

Cantona's Collars

Interesting article about Hart on Sunday: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2819942/Joe-Hart-no-excuses-charging-Michael-Oliver-did-referee-bottle-sending-Manchester-City-man-off.html

I was wondering how he got away with it seeing as players have been sent off for similar against opposing players in games.

Pro. F

Imo there should be no doubt at this stage that Moyes wasn't right for the job and needed to go when he did. But that awful season is no excuse for the next manager to struggle so badly.

It was still a strong squad that LVG inherited and he was given buckets of money to spend. His indecision on formation, poor transfer work and poor organisation of the defence are all on him. The defensive injuries give him a bit of an excuse, but not enough. If LVG doesn't make huge strides with the team before January then I would be against giving him any more money to spend in that window; then look at sacking him if he still hasn't got it going towards the end of the season. Let him prove that he can get this group playing to their ability, never mind his CV at this stage. Only then will he deserve to keep the job and spend the budget.

On a positive note, I've been happy with how the team have been keeping possession and taking the initiative in the last two games. The players seem to be making a lot of clever decisions in that regard. That's something. Hopefully these are signs of Van Gaal's vision for the team starting to take shape.

bangkok

Giggsy11 wrote: »

That more or less what I said. There was money to be spent but Moyes for some reasons didn't (like chasing unrealistic players, cancelling the deals that were close to be done).

Woodward deserves some blame but most of the blame should be on Moyes for how transfer activity was conducted.

like who?! never read so much nonsense.

He WANTED fabregas and by all accounts he was available but it was the club that bid 26m and then 28m. Pathetic.

Toni Kroos would also be a united player now