Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015 Mod Note Post #2331

The_Kew_Tour

When we beat Everton, away, around first quarter I thought that push us on.

We only played well in handful games, but I would rather go into game against Chelsea on back of good performance, then bad.

brinty

jayo26 wrote: »

Rooneys is way better Bobby did it in 754 games or there abouts.

Bobby Charlton wasn't a centre forward and played in the same team as George Best and Denis Law who were more advanced then he and are also in the top 5 club scorers..
I think goals to games its Tommy Taylor who has the highest ratio but unfortunately he was lost in the Munich disaster of '58

homerjay2005

excellent performance, our best at old Trafford in 10 months.

great to finally see the team playing with pace, intensity, speed of movement, positive play and being solid at the same time.

the early goal changed everything - lifted the tension inside the stadium, seemed to be a weight off the players and it all went on from there.

Mata had a good game, his first in months.
CBJ is turning into a fine player, is good on the ball and rock solid - great to say.
Fellaini did well.
7 in 7 for Rooney, one of the best runs of his career which is vital for us.
Martial once again superb, his goal was one of the best we have scored in a long long time.

hopefully this is the catalyist for a good remainder to the season but we face a huge task now of getting top 4, the rest of the teams above us (apart from Arsenal maybe) dont not look like they have any intention of giving up.

catching Leceister is going to be a massive challenge, people keep talking about them slipping but all they have left now is premier league games - they have plenty of resting time and no distractions.

overall though, a great performance and its great to be able to talk about that for a change.

Your Airbag

BoJack was very composed last night. Its great to see and VG must have had great faith in him not to buy a replacement in the window, faith which has been restored

Plus it was BoJack Crossmans 19th Birthday yesterday. So happy birthday to him.

I guess you could say we all got a great birthday BJ last night :pac:


I am so so so sorry.

StringerBell

jayo26 wrote: »

Rooneys is way better Bobby did it in 754 games or there abouts.

Bobby was (one hell of) a midfielder in fairness A striker should have a significantly better goals to games ratio

ElChe32

Martial last night was immense, every time he got on the ball I was on the edge of my seat - you just knew he was gunna have a run at players and make something happen, and he does it all so effortlessly. He took his goal so coolly as well. That goal was probably our finest team goal of the season. This kid is special and the price we paid for him will look like pittance should he keep on developing.

homerjay2005

just looking at the fixtures there, West Ham could play a key role in who gets top 4 in terms of taking points off teams.

we have to play them away however, which is a really tough game and they are absolutely flying.

they have the following big fixtures remaining

southampton (a)
Spurs (h).
United (h).
Arsenal (h).
Palace (h)
Chelsea (a)
Stoke (a).

for them to be only 1 point behind us, with so many difficult games already played (most of the big teams played away from home already and finished with Liverpool, City and Leceister) is a considerable achievement for them.

jayo26

brinty wrote: »

Bobby Charlton wasn't a centre forward and played in the same team as George Best and Denis Law who were more advanced then he and are also in the top 5 club scorers..
I think goals to games its Tommy Taylor who has the highest ratio but unfortunately he was lost in the Munich disaster of '58

StringerBell wrote: »

Bobby was (one hell of) a midfielder in fairness A striker should have a significantly better goals to games ratio

I agree guys I wasnt saying rooney is better then Bobby or anything i was just commenting on his goals to game ratio.

but at the same time rooneys position isn't too far apart from Charlton either rooney has been playing deeper then a trikes for most of his career apart from this year and also he has played wing ect. He has done extremely well over his career.

Owryan

Thought this quote from today's Irish Times summed up how different last night's first half performance compared to the rest of the season

"Old Trafford has recently witnessed games where you could count the attempts on target on the fingers of a mitten"

Mitch Connor

homerjay2005 wrote: »

just looking at the fixtures there, West Ham could play a key role in who gets top 4 in terms of taking points off teams.

we have to play them away however, which is a really tough game and they are absolutely flying.

they have the following big fixtures remaining

southampton (a)
Spurs (h).
United (h).
Arsenal (h).
Palace (h)
Chelsea (a)
Stoke (a).

for them to be only 1 point behind us, with so many difficult games already played (most of the big teams played away from home already and finished with Liverpool, City and Leceister) is a considerable achievement for them.

To be close to United, in either direction, given the December we had, isn't something I find impressive from anyone. We should be in a relegation fight given our form and the fact we are still relatively close to the CL spot is an indictment of the teams around us, imo.

bangkok

Rooney back on song again.... where are all the doubters now

form is temporary class is permanent

bangkok

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/drunk-and-overweight-arturo-vidals-bayern-munich-future-in-doubt/62505

Vidal seems to have issues.. not the first time either

jayo26

bangkok wrote: »

Rooney back on song again.... where are all the doubters now

form is temporary class is permanent

Couldn't blame anyone for doubting him tho in fairness he hasn't been very good for over a year. He is doing well now but needs to keep it going until end of season.

Nalz

ElChe32 wrote: »

Martial last night was immense, every time he got on the ball I was on the edge of my seat - you just knew he was gunna have a run at players and make something happen, and he does it all so effortlessly.

Only saw MOTD but it looked like awful defending at times

bangkok

StringerBell wrote: »

That's great.

"Leicester will not be finishing top 4 this season"

so, do you still stand by that??

bucketybuck

bangkok wrote: »

Rooney back on song again.... where are all the doubters now

form is temporary class is permanent

It isn't particularly useful to have a striker who disappears for months at a time, even if he can then go on a good run of form.

Rooney deserved all the criticism he got, even allowing for rubbish support he was toxic for a long long time. Even at the beginning of this run of goals he was not playing particularly well so lets not get too carried away.

One thing I liked most about Rooney last night was the few times he pushed defenders out of his way to get to the ball. Yes they were fouls and no he didn't get away with it, but in doing so he showed some fire and some bite, something that hasn't always been evident this season. Rooney needs fire in the belly, hopefully he continues in that vein.

ElChe32

ElChe32 wrote: »

Martial last night was immense, every time he got on the ball I was on the edge of my seat - you just knew he was gunna have a run at players and make something happen, and he does it all so effortlessly. He took his goal so coolly as well. That goal was probably our finest team goal of the season. This kid is special and the price we paid for him will look like pittance should he keep on developing.

Just to add to this, When we attack down the opposite flank I noticed it wasn't possible for Stoke to double up on him all the time. More width on both ends benefits him as teams have had a tendency to specifically target him on the wing when there's nothing going on anywhere else on the pitch.

bangkok

jayo26 wrote: »

Couldn't blame anyone for doubting him tho in fairness he hasn't been very good for over a year. He is doing well now but needs to keep it going until end of season.

he makes huge sacrifices for the team though and has little pace around him. Ends up playing a good few games in midfield as well. a fit rooney and Martial could fire us up the table and hopefully be in a title race near the end of season

homerjay2005

bangkok wrote: »

Rooney back on song again.... where are all the doubters now

form is temporary class is permanent

some of it was OTT, alot of it was justified.

majority of people who were not happy with him were correct, just because he is in form now doesnt mean those people were wrong (and i say this as somebody who stood by him until much later than alot of people did as i was convinved the issues were around him and not directly him at all).

his performances around October/November were appalling especially.

homerjay2005

if we could get Memphis firing for the last 3 months of the season, it could be a huge help.

a front 3 of Martial, Memphis and Rooney could do serious damage with Mata/Herrera, Morgan and Carrick behind them.

jayo26

bangkok wrote: »

he makes huge sacrifices for the team though and has little pace around him. Ends up playing a good few games in midfield as well. a fit rooney and Martial could fire us up the table and hopefully be in a title race near the end of season

Its possible but im sceptical of the terms form, this was one game all be it against a decent hard to beat Stoke side but it was only one game out last game in premierleague before this was one of the worst performances I can remember off top of my head but it is a small step in right direction.

Arsenal were joint top of table a few weeks ago they are now slipping back to us only 5 points between us and third spot it dont take much for a team to slip up this year and if we can grind out a run for the next few games we are right in it but I'm worried about ur op league coming up.

bucketybuck

homerjay2005 wrote: »

a front 3 of Martial, Memphis and Rooney could do serious damage with Mata/Herrera, Morgan and Carrick behind them.

Funny how it only takes one game to show that just maybe our players aren't so bad after all.

homerjay2005

as regards the leceister debate, if they come out of the next two games relatively intact (i.e. still 6-7 points cushion over 5th place) then they are almost guaranteed top 4. it would take an injury crisis of mammoth proportions to stop them after that, as their fixtures from there until end of season are the best of anybody in the top 6 or 7 - they are home to Everton, away to us and Chelsea in their last 3 games but it could be sorted for them by then especially with all their rivals involved in Fa Cup and Europe.

the have been excellent for 13 months, there is no reason it cant happen for another 13 weeks.

Coat22

bangkok wrote: »

Rooney back on song again.... where are all the doubters now

form is temporary class is permanent

I am still here - he's on his annual streak and long may it continue but its taken him half a season to get there.

homerjay2005

bucketybuck wrote: »

Funny how it only takes one game to show that just maybe our players aren't so bad after all.

we are still 3-5 new players away from being realistic and consistent trophy contenders.

lets not absolve our players of blame here, they have not performed at the level needed this season, no matter what we all think of the manager.

Mantis Toboggan

What's the update on Rojo and Jones? I know both aren't great but they'd be better than Blind.

Korat

After watching hours of the worst, most boring, demoralising football from any Utd team, they bang in 6 goals in the last two games when I'm not watching.

I've only seen highlights but Utd looked much better. Lots of chances, actually taking shots, quick passing, all stuff we haven't done in a long time.

Just as I didn't write off LVG and these players after the first shyte performance this season they're not off the hook yet. It says all that a good showing against Stoke is a big deal, used be expected to do that every week.

Liam O

homerjay2005 wrote: »

if we could get Memphis firing for the last 3 months of the season, it could be a huge help.

a front 3 of Martial, Memphis and Rooney could do serious damage with Mata/Herrera, Morgan and Carrick behind them.

Barring Carrick's performance last night, Fellaini has been the best midfielder for the last 5 or 6 games. The only one who's shown any real fight in the middle.

ElChe32

Liam O wrote: »

Barring Carrick's performance last night, Fellaini has been the best midfielder for the last 5 or 6 games. The only one who's shown any real fight in the middle.

Our Cm's over the past few games have been poor, but to say Fellaini has been the only one showing any fight is ludicrous. He has been equally if not more shíte than the lot of them.

ElChe32

ElChe32 wrote: »

Our Cm's over the past few games have been poor, but to say Fellaini has been the only one showing any fight is ludicrous. He has been equally if not more shíte than the lot of them.

Needs more bangkok

Coat22

jayo26 wrote: »

Its possible but im sceptical of the terms form, this was one game all be it against a decent hard to beat Stoke side but it was only one game out last game in premierleague before this was one of the worst performances I can remember off top of my head but it is a small step in right direction.

Arsenal were joint top of table a few weeks ago they are now slipping back to us only 5 points between us and third spot it dont take much for a team to slip up this year and if we can grind out a run for the next few games we are right in it but I'm worried about ur op league coming up.

I have the same reservations - hope I'm wrong and really enjoyed watching the game last night but.....

- At home to Stoke at the moment was probably one of the better games we could have wished for. Apart from their game last week at Anfield (against a poor Liverpool) they have had an "average at best" run since the beat us at Christmas

- Our upcoming games could knock us right back down. Chelsea away against Hiddink will be tough and form will go out the window. Sunderland actually played real well against City last night and Arsenal hammered us off the park last time we met (although they are now in a bad place and VG typically does well against the better teams)

- Roney's streak will come to its annual end. One hope here is he is now so close to SBC's record this may spur him on.

I also don't get this obsession with Leicester imploding. Has anyone watched them this season? Easily the best team in the PL since August. Mahrez and Vardy are key to them but every team has a couple like that. I've seen them several times and unless both the above and someone like Drinkwater get injured I don't see them finishing outside the top 3 and maybe even pushing City all the way.

But here's hoping I'm wrong. VG gets his purple patch. 4th place and a contract extension

Coat22

Tyson Fury wrote: »

What's the update on Rojo and Jones? I know both aren't great but they'd be better than Blind.

No no no no no - keep Jones in with the away supports please - he can do no damage there

homerjay2005

Liam O wrote: »

Barring Carrick's performance last night, Fellaini has been the best midfielder for the last 5 or 6 games. The only one who's shown any real fight in the middle.

that doesnt say alot for our midfield then, does it :o:o:o going off what LVG has been saying, Fellaini is in the team to offer defensive height and cover.

i know Morgan and Basti are two popular signings, but so far they have been under whelming and i think we still are 1 signing away at least in midfield. our creativity through there is almost non existent and this is carrying on from a big problem we have had in recent years.

herrera can solve that and form a good partnership alongside Morgan but so far this has not worked under LVG. maybe you could argue that LVG has not given them a consistent run, but individually they all needed to play better also and get into the team.

Flint Fredstone

Really impressed with B-Jackson the last couple of games. I was harsh on him here after a game earlier in the season but it's become infinitely more acceptable for me to see him in the lineup now. I still think his lack of pace is a major hindrance and he will be exposed in other games but he has a very old head on young shoulders when it comes to decision making and is completely unfazed with the ball at his feet.

Lord TSC

Have been a harsh critic of Rooney recently, but was extremely happy with him last night. I'll be honest, I've still not been overly impressed with him in recent games; despite scoring, there was still several games where he was missing for 99% of them, bad passes, bad control.

But last night, he was great from start to finish; really running his ass off, showing real passion, but in an effective manner. He had a great influence on the game.

Martial, though, is just quickly becoming my favorite player out there; cool, calm, ****ing deadly. Goals and assists for fun. Just an incredible player to watch, and while he's still young, he has that real sense of something special about him.

I'm still not convinced we've "turned a corner" or any other such BS. We've not played great teams, in terms of form, recently. But last night was a massive step in the right direction. And it makes me fascinated to see how we progress on from this.

The point was brought up about our record against top teams being something to give optimism to us against Chelsea and Arsenal in the upcoming games. I'd worry a lot of that comes from last season, not this season.

If we go with the top 6 teams at the moment (Leicester, City, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham), our record this year is...

1-0 win vs Spurs
3-0 loss vs Arsenal
0-0 draw vs City
1-1 draw vs Lecister
0-0 draw vs West Ham

So 1 wins, 1 losses and 3 draws in the 5 games played against the other teams in the top 6; we've not managed a win against a team currently higher than 7th this season since opening day, and only managed two goals in those 5 games. Chelsea obviously arent on the list cause of their place, but they were a 0-0 draw too, and for all people thought it was a good preformance, I thought we were lucky not to lose as much as they were. Be interesting, and a proper test of "turned corners" to see how we do going up against them over the next few weeks. I'd worry though that the attacking mindset will disappear when Chelsea roll round and we'll be back looking for an ultra-defensive stolen win.

If we can get over Chelsea with a win, we've got a string of "easier" games; Sunderland, Midtjylland, Shrewsbury, Midtjylland and then Arsenal. I'd be hopeful we'll march into that Arsenal match on the back of 4 straight wins. But it's been from the midtable teams (Stoke, Pool, Watford, Palace, Everton, West Brom) that we've made most of our points up so far this season. It will be interesting to see how we do now that we have to go back and play the other 5 teams in the top 6 again over the next few weeks.

jayo26

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

Really impressed with B-Jackson the last couple of games. I was harsh on him here after a game earlier in the season but it's become infinitely more acceptable for me to see him in the lineup now. I still think his lack of pace is a major hindrance and he will be exposed in other games but he has a very old head on young shoulders when it comes to decision making and is completely unfazed with the ball at his feet.

Personally myself I think his future is at centre back he needs to bulk up alot but he looks to be defensively solid and mature and would have plenty of pace and good ball control.

Lord TSC

Lord TSC wrote: »

Have been a harsh critic of Rooney recently, but was extremely happy with him last night. I'll be honest, I've still not been overly impressed with him in recent games; despite scoring, there was still several games where he was missing for 99% of them, bad passes, bad control.

But last night, he was great from start to finish; really running his ass off, showing real passion, but in an effective manner. He had a great influence on the game.

Martial, though, is just quickly becoming my favorite player out there; cool, calm, ****ing deadly. Goals and assists for fun. Just an incredible player to watch, and while he's still young, he has that real sense of something special about him.

I'm still not convinced we've "turned a corner" or any other such BS. We've not played great teams, in terms of form, recently. But last night was a massive step in the right direction. And it makes me fascinated to see how we progress on from this.

The point was brought up about our record against top teams being something to give optimism to us against Chelsea and Arsenal in the upcoming games. I'd worry a lot of that comes from last season, not this season.

If we go with the top 6 teams at the moment (Leicester, City, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham), our record this year is...

1-0 win vs Spurs
3-0 loss vs Arsenal
0-0 draw vs City
1-1 draw vs Lecister
0-0 draw vs West Ham

So 1 wins, 1 losses and 3 draws in the 5 games played against the other teams in the top 6; we've not managed a win against a team currently higher than 7th this season since opening day, and only managed two goals in those 5 games. Chelsea obviously arent on the list cause of their place, but they were a 0-0 draw too, and for all people thought it was a good preformance, I thought we were lucky not to lose as much as they were. Be interesting, and a proper test of "turned corners" to see how we do going up against them over the next few weeks. I'd worry though that the attacking mindset will disappear when Chelsea roll round and we'll be back looking for an ultra-defensive stolen win.

If we can get over Chelsea with a win, we've got a string of "easier" games; Sunderland, Midtjylland, Shrewsbury, Midtjylland and then Arsenal. I'd be hopeful we'll march into that Arsenal match on the back of 4 straight wins. But it's been from the midtable teams (Stoke, Pool, Watford, Palace, Everton, West Brom) that we've made most of our points up so far this season. It will be interesting to see how we do now that we have to go back and play the other 5 teams in the top 6 again over the next few weeks.

Still think you are being overly critical of him here.

His first touch, passing and movement has been consistently good since the 0-0 draw with Chelsea

When you talk of top teams I would still bracket Chelsea in there regardless of the position they currently find themselves in.

To Brinitys point earlier Chelsea will look to attack and will focus on there own strengths thus opening up the play. I think Mark Hughes may have been overly confidant in his approach last night and gaps were there to exploit, specifically on the counter.

bangkok

Liam O wrote: »

Barring Carrick's performance last night, Fellaini has been the best midfielder for the last 5 or 6 games. The only one who's shown any real fight in the middle.

homerjay2005

finding faults in Rooneys game at the moment is a bit bitter and petty IMO, he has scored in 6 of the last 7 games, scoring 7 in that process and also has set up another 3 or 4 directly.

give the man a break ffs, he has deserved his slagging all season but now is not the time to be focusing on what he is supposedly doing wrong. there no striker out there in the league who is perfect or in better form than him over the last 3-4 weeks.

Lord TSC

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Still think you are being overly critical of him here.

His first touch, passing and movement has been consistently good since the 0-0 draw with Chelsea

In fairness, it's opinion, and I'd acknowledge my patience with him is very short. The Liverpool game comes to mind as one of those "Does nothing for 89 minutes and 50 seconds, but has one 10 second window of absolute magic" that he was at for the previous two or three seasons in every game. Just feel that he's not been a massively positive influence over a whole game for quite a while, but at least he's scoring goals. Last night was the first time I felt he had a better-than-average game.

Bleating Lamb

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

Really impressed with B-Jackson the last couple of games. I was harsh on him here after a game earlier in the season but it's become infinitely more acceptable for me to see him in the lineup now. I still think his lack of pace is a major hindrance and he will be exposed in other games but he has a very old head on young shoulders when it comes to decision making and is completely unfazed with the ball at his feet.

Having not seen him play in the flesh I can't comment but from what I have seen of CBJ on TV I wouldn't call him slow??

grames_bond

Carrick is great - but this stat could still be misleading, does it include games we lost with him?

https://twitter.com/TeleFootball/status/694846569628061696

homerjay2005

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Having not seen him play in the flesh I can't comment but from what I have seen of CBJ on TV I wouldn't call him slow??

i think he has very poor/weird "posture" which makes him look alot slower than he actually is.

he isnt the quickest though but at his age, you can have that extra spring in your step/extra fitness which helps alot.

when he is older though, he may have a problem.

Lord TSC

Lord TSC wrote: »

In fairness, it's opinion, and I'd acknowledge my patience with him is very short. The Liverpool game comes to mind as one of those "Does nothing for 89 minutes and 50 seconds, but has one 10 second window of absolute magic" that he was at for the previous two or three seasons in every game. Just feel that he's not been a massively positive influence over a whole game for quite a while, but at least he's scoring goals. Last night was the first time I felt he had a better-than-average game.

I agree, your entitled to it no bother.

For me, It's slightly confusing if you can't class scoring winning goals as not having a massive influence over a whole game.

It's not just been his goals though. I have watched his movement and lay off to other players, one - two touches max, It's been much more positive and attack minded. He's not slowing down the play either like he was prior to Xmas, his donkey touch has been replaced with quick close control and he's been releasing the ball quicker. And in my opinion it's not just last night that this applies too, he's being doing it for weeks now.

Also to the point of the Pool game, the whole team was poor which impacted him but when he got his chance he was clinical. If that fell to him in November they would be still looking for the ball in Liverpool city center.

RobertKK

CBJ would make a decent winger in my opinion if Shaw returned to play. Think he could be a very valuable multi-purpose player.

He has shown again and again he is a great crosser of the ball, would be good with Rooney and Martial in the middle.

RobertKK

I should have added to my previous post, that hopefully Memphis starts doing what he did early in the season when he was scoring goals and what he did at PSV.

Flint Fredstone

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Having not seen him play in the flesh I can't comment but from what I have seen of CBJ on TV I wouldn't call him slow??

There was a game before Christmas, can't remember which one, where he was absolutely burned for pace a couple of times. A lot of people were commenting on his pace during that game.
He has a strange running technique, almost like he's working on his uppercuts :pac:

Kerrydude1981

RobertKK wrote: »

CBJ would make a decent winger in my opinion if Shaw returned to play. Think he could be a very valuable multi-purpose player.

He has shown again and again he is a great crosser of the ball, would be good with Rooney and Martial in the middle.

CBJ demanding the ball back from Mata last night in the build up to the first goal,great to see from a player that is only starting out,

If he keeps this form up then Utd should be well covered in the LB position for many years to come.

Mantis Toboggan

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

CBJ demanding the ball back from Mata last night in the build up to the first goal,great to see from a player that is only starting out,

If he keeps this form up then Utd should be well covered in the LB position for many years to come.

Just shows that if the young lads are given a chance they can turn into good premier league players.

Had the others not got injured he'd probably be on loan at tranmere now and no-one would have heard of him.

Nalz

Lord TSC wrote: »

Last night was the first time I felt he had a better-than-average game.

That your opinion as you've outlined, but my opinion is that you're wrong on that remark.

He's been poor\awful in some matches, but he's been a massive influcence and a good performer in a few games this season.

The beauty of opinions, say what you want