Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Note in OP, 25/3

rob316

ElChe32 wrote: »

Says the Liverpool fan in a United thread..

Nice gif I'll have to use it sometime.

Cantona's Collars

I'm off to watch Game Of Thrones.A fitting end to an enjoyable day.

duffman13

irishfeen wrote: »

Speaking of Moyes - Sociedad drew with Deportivo today ... he has them safe with 38 points in 11th - delighted for him!

Think Sociedad will be expecting more than 11th next season, If I remember correctly they weren't much worse than 11th when he took over?

Nalz

rob316 wrote: »

Ye win a great game that has nothing to do with Liverpool and that's all ye talk about.

Obsessed, ye cant live without us lads!

Relax will ya.

Its the Internet.

Liverpool are our biggest rivals and it looks like we've seriously damaged their chances of getting into the CL spots big shhtyle

and yes its only banter imo

bucketybuck

LVG can't lose it seems. He ignored Herrera and Felliani for long stretches of the season, played people out of position and tried to force formations onto a squad that didn't suit them, and of course performances suffered because of it. Finally he started doing the simple obvious things like playing Herrera and putting Rooney up front, and so performances improved. Now people say that all that ****ing about earlier in the season was all just part of the plan. Yeah, sure it was. Give him all the praise he deserves now, but whats the point in whitewashing the earlier mistakes?

Regardless, delighted with todays game. It always feels better when we deserve a big win as opposed to snatching the points, and we deserved that today. Totally in control against the super rich former champions, thats as big a result as you can have in this league.

For all my criticisms over the last two years one thing I've constantly repeated was that the talent was there, it was just being misused. Even just a few months ago many people were of the opinion that the squad needed a complete rebuild, that this summer needed to see a big clear out. I wonder if those views have now changed, because the last few games have demonstrated beyond any doubt that we have the players, we always did.

Caovyn Lineah

Trilla wrote: »

Relax will ya.

Its the Internet.

Liverpool are our biggest rivals and it looks like we've seriously damaged their chances of getting into the CL spots big shhtyle

and yes its only banter imo

Is that more important that solidifying Uniteds top 4 prospects?

irishfeen

duffman13 wrote: »

Think Sociedad will be expecting more than 11th next season, If I remember correctly they weren't much worse than 11th when he took over?

They were in the bottom 3 I think...

keith16

Mitch Connor wrote: »

We now look to have a style, a direction, that the players understand and can actually execute - delighted.

I have to say that I was in here around 6 weeks ago after the Swansea defeat. It just looked aimless at that stage. I can't believe the results we have had since then, and even at 1-1 today, I could see that it was going to be a comfortable win.

Delighted to be eating my words!

irishfeen

Mod snip: Please don't post EPL videos, due to copyright infringements....

Nalz

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

Is that more important that solidifying Uniteds top 4 prospects?

God no, but there more or less the same thing in this circumstance... top 4 for United means not top 4 for Liverpool, unless City fall apart in what is an easy run in for them.

Things don't have to be more important to point them out or gloat about them either

Quandary

Brilliant result and performance again today. One thing is for certain however, and that is the importance of Carrick to the system we now play. He has herrera and fellaini covering the ground and doing the majority of the closing down in midfield while he can sit back, protect the centre halves and dictate the tempo.

Blind is not yet good enough to offer adequate cover for Carrick so I would hope that is the first area we strengthen in the Summer.

Great day today though

irishfeen

irishfeen wrote: »

Mod snip: Please don't post EPL videos, due to copyright infringements....

Ah OK sorry about that - I thought it was OK when videos were up on YouTube

Polo_Mint

United staying in top 4 is priority now for the rest of the season. anything better is a bonus. I would still expect a few new faces in the team starting next season

Will I Amnt

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

Is that more important that solidifying Uniteds top 4 prospects?

It's just a welcome byproduct.

Nalz

What's the "small" injury Carrick picked up?

Will I Amnt wrote: »

It's just a welcome byproduct.

Yes, yes it is.

irishfeen

Well at least Michael enjoyed that!

https://twitter.com/carras16/status/587352211681910784

Mitch Connor

bucketybuck wrote: »

LVG can't lose it seems. He ignored Herrera and Felliani for long stretches of the season, played people out of position and tried to force formations onto a squad that didn't suit them, and of course performances suffered because of it. Finally he started doing the simple obvious things like playing Herrera and putting Rooney up front, and so performances improved. Now people say that all that ****ing about earlier in the season was all just part of the plan. Yeah, sure it was. Give him all the praise he deserves now, but whats the point in whitewashing the earlier mistakes?

Regardless, delighted with todays game. It always feels better when we deserve a big win as opposed to snatching the points, and we deserved that today. Totally in control against the super rich former champions, thats as big a result as you can have in this league.

For all my criticisms over the last two years one thing I've constantly repeated was that the talent was there, it was just being misused. Even just a few months ago many people were of the opinion that the squad needed a complete rebuild, that this summer needed to see a big clear out. I wonder if those views have now changed, because the last few games have demonstrated beyond any doubt that we have the players, we always did.

Personally, I would fear their may be too much confidence placed in the squad after recent results.

The recent results, and more importantly, performances of late have impressive from a United point of view. However, you can also say we beat a Spurs team that played very poorly, a Liverpool team that had been scraping results themselves and City side that have now lost something like 8 in the last 15.

The United squad still, imo, needs investment. We can compete at the top of the PL with the current squad - but competing with Bayern? Madrid? Barcelona? A long way off imo. To compete with, a beat, them - we need to be insuring a higher level of performance/quality a centre back, right back, central midfield, on the wing and possibly up front too.

Now, Jones, Smalling and Rojo have been impressing - but I would still argue the need to improve further and in the case of our 'future england pairing' prove they can last a tough fixture schedule without breaking apart. Valencia has been ok at right back, but we need an actual right back for the very top level.

Fellaini has been extremely effective, and he is turning me round in terms of deserving a long term place in the first team - but if we could get Vidal, Strootman (assuming fitness) or Gundogan to play his CM role and press him for that first team place, i'd be happy. Carrick is going to be 34 in the summer - we have to look at replacing him in the first team NOW. Arguably with one of the 3 CM players mentioned above (and add Pogba to the list).

I'm happy with how Young and Mata have been performing out wide. If we bring Nani back and he continues his Sporing form which is apparently very good, and add him to the current options - probably sorted here. Especially if we hang on to Di Maria and can get him playing to his best. Nani leaving and Depay coming in is probably a sensible bet.

Up top, there are some issues. Rooney is staying, no question. RVP could be off, current rumours are that he will be and Falcao be gone. That leaves us with Rooney and Wilson. Even if we are playing 433 with only 1 up top, we are going to need another option. A tough position to buy for - 2nd choice striker who will only play if the first choice guy is injured, or we go two up top against weaker teams. Beneteke would be a great signing, imo, but would be tough to convince him to fulfill such a role.

To compete for the title vs the top english sides that will invest over the summer, along with going for the CL as well (remember, we played almost the least possible amount of games this season) we are going to need investment - and we would want to be looking at players that will improve the current first choice side, that is how teams should look to improve. We spent too long under Fergie improving the depth of the squad by buying good players.

Mitch Connor

Trilla wrote: »

What's the "small" injury Carrick picked up?



Yes, yes it is.

stiff calf, apparently.

Liam McPoyle

I think RVP and Falcao will both be gone in the summer.

RVP is sadly past his best, and it just hasnt worked for Falcao.

Who is a viable option as a first choice striker/forward?

There has been all the talk of Bale or Ronaldo but I really dont see either of them being realistic, this summer at least.

Who is out there in the £30 to £40 million bracket which is the minimum we are going to have to pay.

TheDoc

Spurs and then Liverpool






Now City

Liam O

Business Cat wrote: »

I think RVP and Falcao will both be gone in the summer.

RVP is sadly past his best, and it just hasnt worked for Falcao.

Who is a viable option as a first choice striker/forward?

There has been all the talk of Bale or Ronaldo but I really dont see either of them being realistic, this summer at least.

Who is out there in the £30 to £40 million bracket which is the minimum we are going to have to pay.

The reason it hasn't worked for Falcao will be the same reason it wont work for any other 30-40m striker that is signed. Rooney is the top dog and has to play every game in LVG's eyes, when that's up front he's not holding the team back like in midfield.

irishfeen

Chelsea (A)
Everton (A)
West Brom (A)
Palace (H)
Arsenal (H)
Hull (A)

Assuming the rest win all games (unlikely)

14 pts/18 (depending on GD) to secure 3rd.
10 pts/18 (depending on GD) to secure 4th.
18 pts/18 Second.

Nalz

Business Cat wrote: »

Who is out there in the £30 to £40 million bracket which is the minimum we are going to have to pay.

Benteke could be got for less... as could Austin and\or Ings. But I don't think they're options for us.

Depay, Cavani and Lewandowski links wont go away.

Then will Chico and Nani come back?

Mitch Connor

Business Cat wrote: »

I think RVP and Falcao will both be gone in the summer.

RVP is sadly past his best, and it just hasnt worked for Falcao.

Who is a viable option as a first choice striker/forward?

There has been all the talk of Bale or Ronaldo but I really dont see either of them being realistic, this summer at least.

Who is out there in the £30 to £40 million bracket which is the minimum we are going to have to pay.

this is the problem i spoke about in my post; do we actually WANT United to be spending that money on a first choice forward? Do we want to go back to a two striker formation? I want to United to continue with the 433 formation, that has been serving us well. Which makes buying a replacement for Falcao/RVP a tough nut - Ideally we need someone who can play on the wing and up front - but while on the wing they need to do the defensive side of the game. Not many players who can play striker would perform such a role. Sanchez (obviously not a target) would possibly be the type of player I am talking about.

United will clearly be linked with Ronaldo, and maybe we could carry him on the wing and cover for the lack of his defensive work. I don't think Bale can play as a striker.

Depay, whom we are STRONGLY linked with would obviously cover the wing option and according to what I read of him could possibly play second striker too - but could he lead a line if/when Rooney is out?

possibly the solution is something like Depay (or Bale!) with a very cheap Ings as a backup/rotation option up top as a central striker.

Vertigo100

Vertigo100 wrote: »

Today we play Manchester City and we will win.

Cough, cough, cough.

Great day lads, but I got temporarily put out of the game in the first half...

We all get a bit over-emotional at times when the ball hits the back of the opposition's net, right lads?? Well at 0-1 down, I thought the wheels might be coming off of the United revival and City were going to bring us back to a grim reality. I was watching the match on my laptop in the kitchen, and the moment Young found the net I leaped from my chair and made a dash of acceleration in the direction of my natural movement at the time which ended up being towards the kitchen sink.

Now, I'll never truly know what my intentions were in that impulsive second, but I reckon that I aimed to jump up onto the bit of the worktop that borders the sink and turn around and leap back towards the direction I came from and then take my seat again/continue on with the celebration, whatever. So, here's how it went in reality...

My left foot landed in the sink while my right leg went crashing into the press door under the sink. I immediately fell down on my back. Most of my right side and weight landed on the hard floor, while my left shoulder came down on the open door of the dishwasher which was to the left fo the sink.

For Fellaini's goal, I was unaware on my back on the couch in the sitting room in mild shock, wondering if I should be calling someone to let them know what happened in case I passed out as I was on my own in the house at the time. Now some hours later, my right side is aching from knee to shoulder, the missus is home from work soon and I've to explain to her why the dishwasher door is out of alignment therefore rendering the appliance broken, all because football which she isn't a fan of herself. For Juan Mata's beautiful goal and Smalling's header, I just smiled and nodded my head and that's the route I'll be trying to take from now on. Football...bloody hell

Apart from the physical discomfort, I'm feeling great about the result and the performance. Confidence seems to be bedding into the first 11 now and their football is at times breath-taking and exciting because of that. Most important of all though, it's effective and close to clinical.

Michael Carrick is vital to this. Hopefully, his disappearance was just his own version of Mourinho's 'that'll do pig' walk-off that he used to do in the final minutes of games where Chelsea had the points secured. It was a bit bizarre and apart from injury implications it was amusing to watch. Carrick just went in his head something like "Shíte, me leg is at me. Right, 4-1 up, fúck this, I'm away for a shower". How badly beaten were City by United? That badly that Michael Carrick just left the field in the 87th minute without telling anyone as an injury precaution!

Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini have completely reversed their form from last season and it's great to see the effects of this, but for me Antonio Valencia is another who appears to be on his way back from the dark-side. I thought he was very solid today with both his attacking (he even took a man on and beat him!) and defensive game. I'm not saying that's the 11 sorted for a RB and we shouldn't seek to strengthen the position during the Summer, but I'm back to being at a place where I'm happy to see Tony V at United for the first time in possibly years.

As far as I'm concerned, whatever happens at the Bridge next week happens. I have absolutely no expectations and am just going to take the game as it comes. Not getting badly beaten and coming through the game with a point and no injuries would be nice and leave us well set-up for the remaining games. 9/9 points against Spurs, Liverpool and City is a dream and the table is a thing of beauty. That has to be C.L. football guaranteed now. With a good run of form with 6 league wins on the run, 8 more points are all that's needed from the remaining 6 games to guarantee Top 4...matamacadatly. That's not taking into account United's GD and the fact that Liverpool and Spurs will drop some points as sure as bangkok won't be seen in here until Tuesday. I reckon 5 more points should do it for 4th, but 2nd would be glorious.

TL:DR- Ashley Young made me jump into my kitchen sink, with undesired consequences. Delighted with the result and performance, and that should all but guarantee C.L. football for next season. Well done United.

Nalz

Vertigo100 wrote: »

Cough, cough, cough.

take some halls or vicks or benilin or exputex would ya?

Actually did you hear about Mr Vicks funeral?
There was no coffin at it!

Liam McPoyle

Trilla wrote: »

take some halls or vicks or benilin or exputex would ya?

Actually did you hear about Mr Vicks funeral?
There was no coffin at it!

:pac:


Im really enjoying the general positivity (apart from the usual suspects) thats been prevalent in here for the last while, keep up the good work guys and gals.

Headshot

So ****ing nice to see the club going some where ya know. You can see what the manager is doing and the players seem to be delighted with it and fully behind him.

Lets just get CL sewn up and come the summer and lets get a few top class players. I dont want utd to stand still in the transfer market, lets turn some heads

titan18

Mitch Connor wrote: »

this is the problem i spoke about in my post; do we actually WANT United to be spending that money on a first choice forward? Do we want to go back to a two striker formation? I want to United to continue with the 433 formation, that has been serving us well. Which makes buying a replacement for Falcao/RVP a tough nut - Ideally we need someone who can play on the wing and up front - but while on the wing they need to do the defensive side of the game. Not many players who can play striker would perform such a role. Sanchez (obviously not a target) would possibly be the type of player I am talking about.

United will clearly be linked with Ronaldo, and maybe we could carry him on the wing and cover for the lack of his defensive work. I don't think Bale can play as a striker.

Depay, whom we are STRONGLY linked with would obviously cover the wing option and according to what I read of him could possibly play second striker too - but could he lead a line if/when Rooney is out?

possibly the solution is something like Depay (or Bale!) with a very cheap Ings as a backup/rotation option up top as a central striker.

Oddly one of the better choices for that sort of player is the guy we let go last summer. Cavani could also do it, but I'd imagine he'd like to go to a club that will have him as the main guy again, instead of playing second fiddle to Rooney.

hufpc8w3adnk65

stankratz wrote: »

Great day lads, but I got temporarily put out of the game in the first half...

We all get a bit over-emotional at times when the ball hits the back of the opposition's net, right lads?? Well at 0-1 down, I thought the wheels might be coming off of the United revival and City were going to bring us back to a grim reality. I was watching the match on my laptop in the kitchen, and the moment Young found the net I leaped from my chair and made a dash of acceleration in the direction of my natural movement at the time which ended up being towards the kitchen sink.

Now, I'll never truly know what my intentions were in that impulsive second, but I reckon that I aimed to jump up onto the bit of the worktop that borders the sink and turn around and leap back towards the direction I came from and then take my seat again/continue on with the celebration, whatever. So, here's how it went in reality...

My left foot landed in the sink while my right leg went crashing into the press door under the sink. I immediately fell down on my back. Most of my right side and weight landed on the hard floor, while my left shoulder came down on the open door of the dishwasher which was to the left fo the sink.

For Fellaini's goal, I was unaware on my back on the couch in the sitting room in mild shock, wondering if I should be calling someone to let them know what happened in case I passed out as I was on my own in the house at the time. Now some hours later, my right side is aching from knee to shoulder, the missus is home from work soon and I've to explain to her why the dishwasher door is out of alignment therefore rendering the appliance broken, all because football which she isn't a fan of herself. For Juan Mata's beautiful goal and Smalling's header, I just smiled and nodded my head and that's the route I'll be trying to take from now on. Football...bloody hell

Apart from the physical discomfort, I'm feeling great about the result and the performance. Confidence seems to be bedding into the first 11 now and their football is at times breath-taking and exciting because of that. Most important of all though, it's effective and close to clinical.

Michael Carrick is vital to this. Hopefully, his disappearance was just his own version of Mourinho's 'that'll do pig' walk-off that he used to do in the final minutes of games where Chelsea had the points secured. It was a bit bizarre and apart from injury implications it was amusing to watch. Carrick just went in his head something like "Shíte, me leg is at me. Right, 4-1 up, fúck this, I'm away for a shower". How badly beaten were City by United? That badly that Michael Carrick just left the field in the 87th minute without telling anyone as an injury precaution!

Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini have completely reversed their form from last season and it's great to see the effects of this, but for me Antonio Valencia is another who appears to be on his way back from the dark-side. I thought he was very solid today with both his attacking (he even took a man on and beat him!) and defensive game. I'm not saying that's the 11 sorted for a RB and we shouldn't seek to strengthen the position during the Summer, but I'm back to being at a place where I'm happy to see Tony V at United for the first time in possibly years.

As far as I'm concerned, whatever happens at the Bridge next week happens. I have absolutely no expectations and am just going to take the game as it comes. Not getting badly beaten and coming through the game with a point and no injuries would be nice and leave us well set-up for the remaining games. 9/9 points against Spurs, Liverpool and City is a dream and the table is a thing of beauty. That has to be C.L. football guaranteed now. With a good run of form with 6 league wins on the run, 8 more points are all that's needed from the remaining 6 games to guarantee Top 4...matamacadatly. That's not taking into account United's GD and the fact that Liverpool and Spurs will drop some points as sure as bangkok won't be seen in here until Tuesday. I reckon 5 more points should do it for 4th, but 2nd would be glorious.

TL:DR- Ashley Young made me jump into my kitchen sink, with undesired consequences. Delighted with the result and performance, and that should all but guarantee C.L. football for next season. Well done United.

Post of the month surely!!

Sand

Mitch Connor wrote: »

To compete for the title vs the top english sides that will invest over the summer, along with going for the CL as well (remember, we played almost the least possible amount of games this season) we are going to need investment - and we would want to be looking at players that will improve the current first choice side, that is how teams should look to improve. We spent too long under Fergie improving the depth of the squad by buying good players.

Yeah, agreed - the squad, and more specifically the first team needs significant investment. Certain players are in great form and outperforming expectations currently, and that's welcome. But the table doesn't lie. We're incredibly dependant on a soon to be 34 year old Carrick.

irishfeen

Match of the Day just started - Nice viewing!

bangkok

Great day in the boozer, United hammer city, Herrera is a little genius, carrick is class, mata magician, fellaini goal, young brilliant, even a bit of bergkamp for his goal :pac:

All in all a ****ing brilliant performance

Hococop

Kompany was very luck not to see red

The_Kew_Tour

Hococop wrote: »

Kompany was very luck not to see red

He saw plenty of Red

Backstreet Moyes

The first goal Fellaini throwing himself about shoving Zabaleta out of the way.

Th 3rd goal he throws himself about winning the ball back.

Its the first time in years we had someone to stop Yaya from bullying the midfield, i just thought he was brilliant today.

Trigger

bangkok wrote: »

Great day in the boozer, United hammer city, Herrera is a little genius, carrick is class, mata magician, fellaini goal, young brilliant, even a bit of bergkamp for his goal :pac:

All in all a ****ing brilliant performance

Never change bangkok, never change :pac::pac:

Liam McPoyle

bangkok wrote: »

Great day in the boozer, United hammer city, Herrera is a little genius, carrick is class, mata magician, fellaini goal, young brilliant, even a bit of bergkamp for his goal :pac:

All in all a ****ing brilliant performance

God you really cannot give him any credit at all, can you.

Hococop

Can't believe they think fellaini goal was offside

Whatsisname

Phil Neville saying United are so strong in midfield. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say that, its beautiful to hear.

thelad95

I hate this shíte talk 'a red card would've ruined the game'. That's a load of rubbish. Kompanys tackle was a possible career ender. He should've been sent off. End of.

Nalz

thelad95 wrote: »

I hate this shíte talk 'a red card would've ruined the game'. That's a load of rubbish. Kompanys tackle was a possible career ender. He should've been sent off. End of.

Agreed. However I think Neville has to keep it slightly neutral. Plus one team going down to 10 men can ruin a game for a mutual.

UnitedIrishman

bucketybuck wrote: »

LVG can't lose it seems. He ignored Herrera and Felliani for long stretches of the season, played people out of position and tried to force formations onto a squad that didn't suit them, and of course performances suffered because of it. Finally he started doing the simple obvious things like playing Herrera and putting Rooney up front, and so performances improved. Now people say that all that ****ing about earlier in the season was all just part of the plan. Yeah, sure it was. Give him all the praise he deserves now, but whats the point in whitewashing the earlier mistakes?

Oh do one. Yeah, because we won no games then either? He did what he thought was right with players he spends every day of the week with. Do you want an applause for supposedly being right or something? Just bloody be happy - we won 4-2 against City. Does it have to come with a 'but' at the end of it?

KH25

thelad95 wrote: »

I hate this shíte talk 'a red card would've ruined the game'. That's a load of rubbish. Kompanys tackle was a possible career ender. He should've been sent off. End of.

I agree. A red is a red. The rules are there for a reason and not to make it 'a good spectacle'.

Vertigo100

Trilla wrote: »

Agreed. However I think Neville has to keep it slightly mutual. Plus one team going down to 10 men can ruin a game for a mutual.

Neutral?

Nalz

Vertigo100 wrote: »

Neutral?

Yes neutral lol apologies

UnitedIrishman

Liam O wrote: »

The reason it hasn't worked for Falcao will be the same reason it wont work for any other 30-40m striker that is signed. Rooney is the top dog and has to play every game in LVG's eyes, when that's up front he's not holding the team back like in midfield.

A) Falcao has done bugger all to justify starting. He's been horrific on the ball when he's played. To be honest his injury has done him in IMO. The way we're playing now means you have to have a striker that's able to do a lot of things - hold up the ball, create and let the wingers go past you, and score goals of course. There aren't many complete strikers like Rooney that can play as a 9 and 10.

MagicMarker

thelad95 wrote: »

Kompanys tackle was a possible career ender.

That's just hyperbolic nonsense.

MythicalMadMan

irishfeen wrote: »

These two boys have been transformed under LVG!

Is that a pic of LiamO and Bangkok?