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

Nolars

GavRedKing

zerks wrote: »

Chelsea set a new record,the lowest possession over 90 mins since Opta started.

It wasnt THE lowest possesion stat in the league, it was Chelseas lowest possesion in the league since 06.

Fuhrer

zerks wrote: »

Chelsea set a new record,the lowest possession over 90 mins since Opta started.They had just 29% of the ball but they knew how to dig in and get the win.
With 4 players missing,we all knew this would be a tall order today,I wouldn't fear anyone,Everton are nothing special and there's a lot of talk of disharmony at the club.Despite the loss today,I'm not concerned.
The only thing as you say is the need to strengthen the midfield and defence as a priority.

I hate when people bitch about parking the bus, like any team can do it if they just sit back.

Rayne Wooney

don't do a Rodgers and look like a fool, what Chelsea did was admirable because they'll win the league from it. Reckon we would have beaten them if it was an open game but Mourinho made sure it wasn't. They played the best football of any team in the league up until Christmas, Mourinho got it wrong in Europe but the league title isn't a half bad fallback.

Regardless of the result we are still looking good, make sure of top 4, focus on getting the right players and Van Gaal's prediction of winning a league has a great chance of coming in next season I feel.

Vic Vinegar

GavRedKing wrote: »

It wasnt THE lowest possesion stat in the league, it was Chelseas lowest possesion in the league since 06.

Pretty pathetic for a top team playing at home though.

Cantona's Collars

GavRedKing wrote: »

It wasnt THE lowest possesion stat in the league, it was Chelseas lowest possesion in the league since 06.

That is the reason I'm not actually completely pissed off over today's result,injuries to 4 first teamers and we still dominated the champions elect.
A few more signings and we'll be challenging at the top next season.LVG spoke a lot about his philosophy and now that the players have got the hang of it we are starting to see what he was on about.

Fuhrer

Vic Vinegar wrote: »

Pretty pathetic for a top team playing at home though.

For a team comfortably ahead in the league and with nothing to lose by settling for a draw and hoping to hit on the break?

Perfect strategy really.

Cantona's Collars

Typical Terry tackle before the goal.

bangkok

irishfeen wrote: »

In one way you have to respect Chelsea... every trick in the book, park the bus and come away with the win.

Huge performance from United, I thought we did very well - had we Carrick, Blind, Jones I think we would have won. Our squad weaknesses are blindingly obvious though - without a few key players we struggle.

"Huge performance from United" and end with "without a few key players we struggle"?

Headshot

Go wan LVG taking no ****

Kirby

Stupid questions should be met with such scorn. If more managers followed his example, the quality of the journo's in the room would be the better for it.

Fuhrer

what did he say?

Cantona's Collars

Depay scores a screamer of a free kick.

https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/480E27C0081201275127787290624_3fa88a538b0.2.1.3390387219604348483.mp4?versionId=AT9E3rbJ4.z81IpRYuGu8ite4fiybaQC

fullstop

Cringe from Van Gaal on MOTD. Should have a bit more class than that.

Fuhrer

I wish his english was better
You can tell hes thinking horrible dutch things in his head but just cant get them out

Sand

Fuhrer wrote: »

what did he say?

He mentioned that the stats gave him a lot of pride in the teams performance, a journalist asked him what stats he was referring to, I thought trying to set him up for a "Goals>Possession, innit mate?" line. LVG began to answer, the journalist interrupted him with something intelligiable and LVG basically stopped him with "Excuse me, you asked me a question. Can I now answer it? Thanks for that" and then continued as if nothing had happened.

He was asked another stupid question about if he thought the title was now gone, and he responded that he had said a month ago that it was basically Chelsea who had the greatest chance to win and nothing had changed.

You do wonder where they get the journalists though - half of them ask the stupidest questions. Did anyone seriously think that even if United beat Chelsea today that the title was on? Chelsea would still be 5 points ahead with two games in hand.

Mars Bar

Not one journalist will ask about tactics. They never show any intelligence in regards to the game.

Kirby

Sand wrote: »

He mentioned that the stats gave him a lot of pride in the teams performance, a journalist asked him what stats he was referring to, I thought trying to set him up for a "Goals>Possession, innit mate?" line. LVG began to answer, the journalist interrupted him with something intelligiable and LVG basically stopped him with "Excuse me, you asked me a question. Can I now answer it? Thanks for that" and then continued as if nothing had happened.

He was asked another stupid question about if he thought the title was now gone, and he responded that he had said a month ago that it was basically Chelsea who had the greatest chance to win and nothing had changed.

You do wonder where they get the journalists though - half of them ask the stupidest questions. Did anyone seriously think that even if United beat Chelsea today that the title was on? Chelsea would still be 5 points ahead with two games in hand.

To be fair to that particular journalist, LVG claimed that Chelsea didn't have a single chance in the first half. He was correcting him because that was clearly wrong.

Fuhrer

Sand wrote: »

He mentioned that the stats gave him a lot of pride in the teams performance, a journalist asked him what stats he was referring to, I thought trying to set him up for a "Goals>Possession, innit mate?" line. LVG began to answer, the journalist interrupted him with something intelligiable and LVG basically stopped him with "Excuse me, you asked me a question. Can I now answer it? Thanks for that" and then continued as if nothing had happened.

He was asked another stupid question about if he thought the title was now gone, and he responded that he had said a month ago that it was basically Chelsea who had the greatest chance to win and nothing had changed.

You do wonder where they get the journalists though - half of them ask the stupidest questions. Did anyone seriously think that even if United beat Chelsea today that the title was on? Chelsea would still be 5 points ahead with two games in hand.

Interviewers do that all the time,

They try and prompt the interviewee into giving the sound bite they want for a headline

Sand

Kirby wrote: »

To be fair to that particular journalist, LVG claimed that Chelsea didn't have a single chance in the first half. He was correcting him because that was clearly wrong.

Yep, I noticed that too, but LVG may have been disregarding that as a chance created as he stated he considered the Falcao challenge to be a foul.

Montroseee

I think there are a lot of positives to take from today, big improvements have been made. I'm quite certain with Carrick, Blind and Rojo in there, we would have at least got a draw today.

Tigerbaby

Blues fan here. Thought you played really well. Just we had the cushion of xxx points ahead at this stage, so José could knuckle down. We are like a machine at this stage, and everyone has tunnel vision for the title. Chelsea were a strategic masterclass today.

If you continue your improvement, you wont be playing catch-up next year. Mind you, you'll have to play a *lot* more games ( Europe etc )

cheers

Pro. F

Very frustrating game. I don't think Falcao was terrible, but he didn't offer enough. And Rooney wasn't smart enough in midfield and Young didn't do enough either. Just that little lack of quality seemed to make it impossible to convert all the possession.

I thought Hererra was excellent with the ball, made the Fellaini out-ball completely unnecessary. Before now I've been thinking that he's a bit too rash and inconsistent when defending, but I was impressed today. He might have been able to do better for the goal (I've watched the replay loads and I think Valencia was the biggest problem), but overall I was impressed. I'd be happy to see him getting more opportunities at DM to see how he gets on.

Shaw did well for having been out so long and McNair was very impressive. Januzaj didn't do much good when he came on - except for one flash where he ran it out from deep and won a free - but people need to calm down. He's a young lad getting little football who came on to play with Valencia behind him against a Mourinho team parking the bus.

Hank Scorpio

I thought Shaw was excellent, so strong and fast, best glimpses of what he has to offer since we signed him imo. I wouldn't be surprised if Di Maria was sold in the summer, I hate seeing players pull of challenges like he does so often or going down easy. He needs to bulk up alot and sort his attitude out. I'd prefer if he was kept but given he hasn't got a look in during all these important games is kind of telling

PhlegmyMoses

Di Maria should have been on the minute Ivanovic got a card for some direct running at him.

irishfeen

bangkok wrote: »

"Huge performance from United" and end with "without a few key players we struggle"?

Well I firmly believe if we had Blind, Carrick, Jones playing and Rooney up top them we would have won the game - Chelsea got lucky they were all out together but as I said I'm a happy boy tonight, we played very well today against a park the bus Chelsea - the 2014/15 PL champions!

macslash

Lads, didn't see MOTD or any analysis after the game, but what were the views on Herrera's yellow at the end. It was a strong penalty claim surely?

Nalz

macslash wrote: »

Lads, didn't see MOTD or any analysis after the game, but what were the views on Herrera's yellow at the end. It was a strong penalty claim surely?

Nope he played for it. A dives a dive, one as bad as the other. His just looked almost believable.

Kirby

macslash wrote: »

It was a strong penalty claim surely?

Nope. A strong case of the old Pires leg. He kicked Cahill and then threw himself to the ground. Knew exactly what he was doing and the ref was one hundred percent right to book him.

To be honest, I'm amazed it wasn't Young who did it. Herrera clearly is a crafty fellow after all.

The_Kew_Tour

Watched the game again.

We were excellent. Football can be cruel.

Very proud of effort today. To keep Chelsea to 2 chances today was excellent.

I will wake up in morning disappointed and wanting to avoid papers etc but had we won nobody would have complained.

Shaw was excellent. Smalling was very good too.

You learn more when you lose they say, well if that is true today might be small setback for longer positive future.

IvySlayer

I agree but Chelseas season is practically over and they know it, they've won it. Southampton and Burnley managed to get a point each at the Bridge recently. They've been lacklustre and United still lost :P

Giggsy11

Pro. F wrote: »

Very frustrating game. I don't think Falcao was terrible, but he didn't offer enough. And Rooney wasn't smart enough in midfield and Young didn't do enough either. Just that little lack of quality seemed to make it impossible to convert all the possession.

I thought Hererra was excellent with the ball, made the Fellaini out-ball completely unnecessary. Before now I've been thinking that he's a bit too rash and inconsistent when defending, but I was impressed today. He might have been able to do better for the goal (I've watched the replay loads and I think Valencia was the biggest problem), but overall I was impressed. I'd be happy to see him getting more opportunities at DM to see how he gets on.

Shaw did well for having been out so long and McNair was very impressive. Januzaj didn't do much good when he came on - except for one flash where he ran it out from deep and won a free - but people need to calm down. He's a young lad getting little football who came on to play with Valencia behind him against a Mourinho team parking the bus.

Also the most impressive part was United didn't just hoof it when Chelsea pressed with numbers. ManUtd players were calm and played the ball so many times it was like watching a proper European team. I like the direction team is heading. Even Smalling looks like a midfielder and never panics with the ball.

Edit: Also MaNair is excellent young defender, hopefully he won't fade away or stop his development like others did.

Nalz

Smug Mourinho post match interview hindsight 20-20 job... blubbering out our "game plan" and how they dealt with it. Especially the "direct ball to Fellaini". Give me a break that didn't happen that often. He's the master of bullshítting and I'm sure he enjoyed getting one over LVG.

I love how him and others disregard our chances just because we kept the ball so much and they counter attacked after bus parking.

At least our form is still there and Shaw and McNair slotted in excellently. What to do with Adnan and even more worryingly Di Maria I'm not sure.

sReq | uTeK

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Di Maria should have been on the minute Ivanovic got a card for some direct running at him.

When he did come on he offered very little. He looks slow he tried to get up speed a few times to pass his man but just never looked like he had it in him.

I hope it works out for him but at this stage its not looking good.

Adnan, just makes mind boggling decisions and gives the ball away too easily. To have him coming off the bench trying to turn a game when you could have Nani...adnan on loan for a season or 2 let him develop and utilise Nani in the interim.

Encouraging performance, but due to Chelsea's league position they did all that was required. They nicked a goal in a game they were trying to draw.

Nalz

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Encouraging performance, but due to Chelsea's league position they did all that was required. They nicked a goal in a game they were trying to draw.

Exactly, one bit of truth Mourinho said in his post match interview. Negate Uniteds plan and maybe score a goal or two. Ah fair play to them the gritted it out.

Lord TSC

The Sun says Manchester United are keen on Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who is entering the last year of his contract and could be looking for a move now boss Jurgen Klopp is leaving.

A few reports saying Manchester United midfielder Angel Di Maria, 27, has told the club he wants to stay and is set to extend the lease on his new family home

The Star says Aston Villa's Christian Benteke has emerged as a possible transfer target for Manchester United this summer with boss Louis van Gaal looking to bolster his attacking options.

Also, the Depay stories continue; the word a little while back was that no move would be finalized until PSV won the title, which they did yesterday, so expect that story to flair up again now.

thelad95

Just on the Chelsea game, the one thing I'm really happy about is that we pretty much matched Chelsea in every single way. The only real difference was they had a little more quality going forward as shown by Hazards goal. We could just as easily have won though. Compare that performance to the Everton game this time last year and we've come a long,long way in 12 months.

Will I Amnt

thelad95 wrote: »

Just on the Chelsea game, the one thing I'm really happy about is that we pretty much matched Chelsea in every single way. The only real difference was they had a little more quality going forward as shown by Hazards goal. We could just as easily have won though. Compare that performance to the Everton game this time last year and we've come a long,long way in 12 months.

Yeah but you're not allowed to take any positives from the game, haven't you heard? You must be disappointed at all times so as people can satisfy their need to feed on your pain.

PhlegmyMoses

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

When he did come on he offered very little. He looks slow he tried to get up speed a few times to pass his man but just never looked like he had it in him.

I hope it works out for him but at this stage its not looking good.

Adnan, just makes mind boggling decisions and gives the ball away too easily. To have him coming off the bench trying to turn a game when you could have Nani...adnan on loan for a season or 2 let him develop and utilise Nani in the interim.

Encouraging performance, but due to Chelsea's league position they did all that was required. They nicked a goal in a game they were trying to draw.

When he came on he had Tyler Blackett playing alongside him. He and Shaw could have really troubled Ivanovic who was on a card. Either he goes in rashly or he has to avoid making a tackle.

I actually thought Di Maria was okay when he came on. Made some lovely passes and drove at them. Just had nobody on the overlap

FutureGuy

Will I Amnt wrote: »

Yeah but you're not allowed to take any positives from the game, haven't you heard? You must be disappointed at all times so as people can satisfy their need to feed on your pain.

Last night was a teaser for next season. A few signings and another year under Van Gaal and we will be going to Stamford Bridge with no doubts whatsoever we can win.

Can't wait.

adox

I really don't get that some people think Falcao did ok yesterday. I thought he was Utds worst player by some distance. Offere nothing. Every facet of his game was weak.

As said yesterday evening, I really hope that's the last time we see him in a Utd shirt.

Will I Amnt

FutureGuy wrote: »

Last night was a teaser for next season. A few signings and another year under Van Gaal and we will be going to Stamford Bridge with no doubts whatsoever we can win.

Can't wait.

It's all coming together. It was tough to keep the faith with all the bizarre positions and formations we had to endure but I firmly believe that van Gaal is the man for the job and yesterday, while it ended in defeat, was further proof of that.

Jose would have settled for the draw, he was content with counter-attacking but there's no way he set out to not have the ball for that long, the simple fact was that they couldn't get hold of it for the most part.
It's just a massive shame that we lost what Rooney brings to the frontline and just as big a shame that we had to endure his failed attempts to be Paul Scholes.

It's only going to take a few signings in the Summer and I'll be confident of United being a match for anybody,

pmasterson95

adox wrote: »

I really don't get that some people think Falcao did ok yesterday. I thought he was Utds worst player by some distance. Offere nothing. Every facet of his game was week.

As said yesterday evening, I really hope that's the last time we see him in a Utd shirt.

Some "fans" think he can do no wrong ever....its amazing.

Nalz

pmasterson95 wrote: »

Some "fans" think he can do no wrong ever....its amazing.

The more game time Falcao and Adnan get will be better for us... as long as it doesn't hinder our top 4 hopes obviously, which it could . So maybe I'm wrong there haha.

They'll either improve or will entice LVG to bring back Chico and Nani, or bring in replacements (more likely) like Deepay, Benteke etc

RVP coming back to fitness might be the final nail in Falcaos United career. Send Adnan on loan. Id have him in the "loan out" Wilson, Thorpe, Blackett, Periera group.

Feel for Falcao but no excuses. He's not up to it.

RobertKK

Falcao tried hard yesterday, but there was nothing to suggest he should be made a permanent signing.

Van Gaal said to be unhappy with the height of the players, and it is one reason Hummels is a target. Van Gaal spoke about height being important for set pieces.
Van Gaal wants Pogba but it is believed unlikely he will return.

Lord TSC

Someone help me with the maths here.

Liverpool in 5th can get a max of 75 points, so am I right in saying that 11 points from our last 5 games gets us top 4, presuming they don't drop any more? We're on 65 points currently.

You'd hope Hull, Palace and West Brom should be 9 points. Palace and Brom should have nothing to play for. Hull might though, which is tricky.

Everton, I'd be hopeful for; midtable and nothing to play for.

God knows what way Arsenal goes.

Pool also have to play Hull, Palace and West Brom. They also have QPR (Relegation fighters), Chelsea (who are, you know, Chelsea) and Stoke (nothing to play for). So their run in is about the same as ours. I'd imagine they'll go down to Chelsea at least, which means 8 from 15 should be enough. Take on board goal difference and we can cut it down to 7 :P

RobertKK

Lord TSC wrote: »

Someone help me with the maths here.

Liverpool in 5th can get a max of 75 points, so am I right in saying that 11 points from our last 5 games gets us top 4, presuming they don't drop any more? We're on 65 points currently.

You'd hope Hull, Palace and West Brom should be 9 points. Palace and Brom should have nothing to play for. Hull might though, which is tricky.

Everton, I'd be hopeful for; midtable and nothing to play for.

God knows what way Arsenal goes.

Pool also have to play Hull, Palace and West Brom. They also have QPR (Relegation fighters), Chelsea (who are, you know, Chelsea) and Stoke (nothing to play for). So their run in is about the same as ours. I'd imagine they'll go down to Chelsea at least, which means 8 from 15 should be enough. Take on board goal difference and we can cut it down to 7 :P

Someone else can do the maths for you, sorry about to go out, but you probably have it correct.

I remember when I used goal difference as being akin to 1 point... Jose Mourinho did it yesterday when speaking about the number of points they needed, he said 8 points not 9...

FutureGuy

Lord TSC wrote: »

Someone help me with the maths here.

Liverpool in 5th can get a max of 75 points, so am I right in saying that 11 points from our last 5 games gets us top 4, presuming they don't drop any more? We're on 65 points currently.

You'd hope Hull, Palace and West Brom should be 9 points. Palace and Brom should have nothing to play for. Hull might though, which is tricky.

Everton, I'd be hopeful for; midtable and nothing to play for.

God knows what way Arsenal goes.

Pool also have to play Hull, Palace and West Brom. They also have QPR (Relegation fighters), Chelsea (who are, you know, Chelsea) and Stoke (nothing to play for). So their run in is about the same as ours. I'd imagine they'll go down to Chelsea at least, which means 8 from 15 should be enough. Take on board goal difference and we can cut it down to 7 :P

Chelsea will probably have the league wrapped up by the time they play Liverpool. Liverpool will be fighting for 4th. Definitely not a banker by any means unfortunately.

If we beat Everton, I'll be far more confident but they are coming into form too.

It could easily come down to the final day for fourth.

Nalz

FutureGuy wrote: »

If we beat Everton, I'll be far more confident but they are coming into form too.

There recent results make it look better than it is for them. They were shockingly lucky versus Burnley yesterday. I felt so sorry for Sean Dyke and co. Swansea draw and a narrow win over Southampton nothing to shout about really.

I'd be confident facing them to be honest.

More fearful of Palace, who were unlucky yesterday and seem to be playing great football with the pressure off.

9/10 points vs Arsenal, WBA, Palace and Everton would be excellent imo.

irishfeen

Just looking back on stats from yesterday's game and ignoring the 1-0 at the top of screen we had 607 completed passes - 91% passing accuracy with 71% of the football... Those numbers are staggering for any team let alone United given where we were only a few months back.

Our only let down was shots on target - 2/15 shots but Chelsea being so compact meant we were forced to strike from long range.

You would have to say it's only Chelsea who could have kept us out yesterday - no wonder they were celebrating so much as the spent the entire game under the cosh - if you sat someone down to watch yesterday's game who didn't know the table they would think its United strolling to the title - in one way it's a testament to how far we have come in such a short time that we're all disappointed that we lost to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 1-0.

I think all the lads deserve massive credit for yesterday's performance - results will follow soon after no doubt.