Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

Donnielighto

Hey Guys, I know some of you like the draft games, doing a tournament if anyone's interested.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057606351

glued

LostBoy101 wrote: »

Rumours floating around that Giggs is tipped for the Bolton job. It would be a good test for him to prove that he is managerial material.

Think Giggs is second choice for that job. He'd be mad to take it anyway as Bolton are a complete mess.

Pickpocket

Korat wrote: »

Who are the usual suspects at the top of the table?

Arsenal, Chelsea, City, United, Liverpool, Spurs and, to a lesser extent, Everton. They are the teams that I'd expect to be floating in around the top 6 spots each year, and allowing for some degree of fluctuation, that's what's been happening, certainly since the turn of the decade.

Okay, 'usual suspects' doesn't allow for Leicester and a downturn in Chelsea and City's fortunes, but I think we're a long way off a genuine revolution in terms of who's constituted the so called 'top teams' for the past 6-7 seasons (and beyond).

All credit to Leicester and West Ham, but when they're up their year in, year out, then they'll be part of the group of teams that I'll always expect to see in the top 30% of the table.

So my point was that if the 'usual suspects' hit the ground running, along with Leicester, and with West Ham mixing it up again, then United might have a tough time on their hands.

Personally, I think Jose is a fantastic manager (stating the obvious) and I see no reason why United can't make the top four next year with a lot left in the tank, and that's before any new signings have been made.

I simply interpreted an earlier comment as complacency and I'd warn against it, although I suspect most of us are well aware of United's new reality.

RobertKK

Anthony Martial will be on the cover of FIFA 17.

gosplan

Jose would probably get Southampton, Everton or Liverpool into the top four.

Utd will be no problem.

stephenl15

gosplan wrote: »

Jose would probably get Southampton, Everton or Liverpool into the top four.

Utd will be no problem.

But not Chelsea?

Cantona's Collars

RobertKK wrote: »

Anthony Martial will be on the cover of FIFA 17.

Still PES for me,maybe we'll have Messi in his United kit on the cover of that:pac:

billyhead

Jayop wrote: »

Impossible to predict with any certainty who will be the top 4 teams next season until we see who each of the teams gets on board next season. This season's top 4 will not stay the same, that is one thing I'm sure about.

Leicester are already bleeding their best players, and once two of them will go then the others will see the writing on the wall and jump ship. They'll struggle big time to replace Mahrez and Vardy who look certs to go and I wouldn't bet against them losing the likes of Kante and Morgan too.

Arsenal should be fine but they need to add to the squad just to stay still. It looked for a long time last season like they would finish 3rd and only a collapse by Spurs allowed them to get second. With the traditional big boys sure to be back in the mixer they may struggle but I'd bet on them getting 4th.

Spurs, another side who capitolised on the struggles of the big teams, but still seen a potential title turn into a disappointing 3rd place finish. Unlike Leicester I fancy them to keep their best players and possibly strengthen, but the champions league will take it's toll and if City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool have decent seasons then they'll drop out.

City are getting one of the best managers in world football and I fancy them to be a force in Europe, but it may take Pep longer to figure out the premiership. They've an aging squad that despite having spent a load of money on still rely's on the old boys to pull them through games, with injuries they look vulnerable and that's something he needs to sort out.

The other 3 sides that will challenge I'm sure are United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

United, signed a manager who know's the league like none of the other new boys and is already adding to an already very strong squad. I fancy United to do really well in the league this season and finish in the top 2 positions.

Chelsea have the furthest to come from, but last season is gone and this one is anew. Conte has pedigree but he'll need to do something drastic to change the attitude of the players there. They do though have one of the strongest squads in the league and I'd fully expect them to get into the top 3.

Liverpool are one of the few clubs among the top teams that have the luxury of having a manager in place from last season. Klopp has shown that he's a very good manager in spells at Liverpool and with a clean run at the league they will get close. I do think they need more quality added than most of the others and with no champions league they might struggle to attract the level of player needed. Coutinhio is their only real top top player who is fit regularly and he may be on the way out which will hurt them big time.



Top 6 for me next season.
United
City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Spurs

Nobody can predict what will happen next season until the transfer window closes. For all we know Man City could go out and spend 250mil and be favourites for the title.

bucketybuck

stephenl15 wrote: »

But not Chelsea?

Strange how if you win the title but then have a poor season, that its the poor season that people judge you by.

Of course Jose could get Chelsea top four, its literally only been one season since he won them the damn thing.

Jayop

billyhead wrote: »

Nobody can predict what will happen next season until the transfer window closes. For all we know Man City could go out and spend 250mil and be favourites for the title.

Exactly what I said in the first line in that post you quoted.

Cantona's Collars

https://twitter.com/Fellaini/status/739896528064675841

Bangkok is gonna love this.

Quandary

zerks wrote: »

https://twitter.com/Fellaini/status/739896528064675841

Bangkok is gonna love this.

He's like a young Carlos Valderrama

RobertKK

At least it will be easy to spot Fellaini at the Euros. as if it was not easy already :P :pac:

gosplan

stephenl15 wrote: »

But not Chelsea?

No, not Chelsea. He would never get Chelsea in the top four ever.

Like if you let him rack up say 6/7 seasons at the club, you'd be sure he'd never finish top 4.

bangkok

zerks wrote: »

https://twitter.com/Fellaini/status/739896528064675841

Bangkok is gonna love this.

Jose will make him shave it off........ And then sell him

Call Me Jimmy

looks like roadkill

Lithium93_

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

looks like roadkill

Looks a right monstrosity.. The hell was he thinking.

Billy86

Jayop wrote: »

Minderbinder wrote: »

There's literally nothing to suggest we should expect anything other than top 4.

Apart from our squad (as it stands, right now, today).

Billy86

gosplan wrote: »

stephenl15 wrote: »

But not Chelsea?

No, not Chelsea. He would never get Chelsea in the top four ever.

Like if you let him rack up say 6/7 seasons at the club, you'd be sure he'd never finish top 4.

Sorry lads, but Jos did not get them in or near the top 4 last year. I've got high, high hopes for him at OT but let's not go pretending what happened, didn't happen. He's a great manager, but he's not infallible.

Mitch Connor

Billy86 wrote: »

Jayop wrote: »

Apart from our squad (as it stands, right now, today).

firmly believe if we had sacked LVG in december and hired Jose we'd have made top 4, easily.

@DiMarzio

@DiMarzio - @ManUtd is going on for #Bailly defender of @VillarrealCF and approaches @ChelseaFC for #Matic #MUFC

bucketybuck

Billy86 wrote: »

Apart from our squad (as it stands, right now, today).

Our squad, right now, as it stands, is easily good enough to get top four.

That was always the most frustrating thing about the Van Gaal reign, the fact that we always should have been doing so much better with what we had. And even then, despite his mismanagement, despite our worst performances in decades we still only missed out on goal difference. It took us playing utter dung to finish fifth, had we a good manager things would have been a lot different last season.

Despite everything over the past 3 seasons I'd still take our squad over that of almost any of our rivals. We aren't perfect but then neither are they.

Unearthly

Thought Matic looked very poor all season. Slow, lack of mobility. I wouldn't want him

Rayne Wooney

I've watched two seasons of Matic, one incredible, one truly awful.

His game is reliability and if he's not reliable he's pretty much useless. Would be underwhelming

TheDoc

Unearthly wrote: »

Thought Matic looked very poor all season. Slow, lack of mobility. I wouldn't want him

Same. Wasn't blown away with him either in their title winning season, thought he was being a bit blown out of proportion.

Mitch Connor

Unearthly wrote: »

Thought Matic looked very poor all season. Slow, lack of mobility. I wouldn't want him

Looked very good in Portugal and I thought he did well the previous season at Chelsea, a key performer in midfield. Maybe jose thinks he could get the best out of him again. Wouldn't be a player I'd be mad for us to get though. If Jose can get Schneiderlin playing on top form for us we'd have that combative player.

GSPfan

I think I'd rather play Blind or Scheiderlin in the Matic role if I'm honest. Not sure why we'd be interested in Matic. It's a rumour so could be all nonsense. We were bound to be linked with a Chelsea player at some stage.

Juan8

Didn't Jose bring Matic on in a game last season and then take him off 10/15 minutes later? I can't see that link being true myself,

I doubt we'll sign anyone off Chelsea tbh

Thecon21

Don't really want any of the Chelsea players, bar maybe Zouma which obv wouldn't happen..

Think someone mentioned it previously, would Wijnaldum be worth a punt for around 10mill? Even if he was primarily a squad player, offers a bit of energy and dynamism around the middle, can drive forward a bit..

Would also hope United are in the mix for Mahrez too, not letting Arsenal have a free ride in their approach..

Crimson King

Matic was outstanding the season before last for Chelsea, one of their key title winning team. However Schneiderlin was equally impressive that season too for Southampton so if Jose can get him back to that level there is no need to pay the absurd money they would demand for him.

No signings yet but I expect something moving this week, otherwise we are into the Euro's and nothing doing this side of the world for the guts of a month. No real panic yet as the window doesn't even open until July 01st anyway.

larchielads

Did he sign yet or what?

Korat

larchielads wrote: »

Did he sign yet or what?

Well yeaah, Mourinho signed up officially the Friday before last.

Try and keep up.

duffman13

Thecon21 wrote: »

Would also hope United are in the mix for Mahrez too, not letting Arsenal have a free ride in their approach..

Vardy and Mahrez have release clauses in the contracts that can be activated by a champions League club. Unfortunately Arsenal have a clear advantage as Leicester appear to want to keep both and are offering new contracts however they can activate the release clause and speak to both.

larchielads

Korat wrote: »

Well yeaah, Mourinho signed up officially the Friday before last.

Try and keep up.

Thought twaz obvious I was talkin about zlatan. So I'll take that as a no so

Leroy42

Lets be honest, no it is very unlikely that an Leicster player would pick Utd above Arsenal.

Why would you leave guaranteed CL this year so anything other than another team with guaranteed CL? No point working all last year to get into the CL and then give it up and the promise that Utd will be fighting for a top four place.

That is the consequence of missing out on CL qualification

Korat

larchielads wrote: »

Thought twaz obvious I was talkin about zlatan. So I'll take that as a no so

Ahh right. No players signed as yet but we're learning about exceptionally talented and much sought after players we've never heard of before, nearly every day.

Lithium93_

Good thing United missed out on Neymar, because he's in big trouble with the Spanish authorities.

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/740091217304641536?lang=en

jayo26

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Good thing United missed out on Neymar, because he's in big trouble with the Spanish authorities.

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/740091217304641536?lang=en

Wouldnt think it will affect him in anyway, it will be a few years again it goes to courth an he will blame his dad and pay a fine and keep scoring goals in mean time.

Lithium93_

jayo26 wrote: »

Wouldnt think it will affect him in anyway, it will be a few years again it goes to courth an he will blame his dad and pay a fine and keep scoring goals in mean time.

Or use Messi's excuse of "I didn't know anything", surely players like Messi & Neymar, hell every player on earth have accountants looking out for their money and where it's going and what not..

If a normal joe soap did something like this, they'd have the whole freaking library thrown at them..

Juan8

Leroy42 wrote: »

Lets be honest, no it is very unlikely that an Leicster player would pick Utd above Arsenal.

Why would you leave guaranteed CL this year so anything other than another team with guaranteed CL? No point working all last year to get into the CL and then give it up and the promise that Utd will be fighting for a top four place.

That is the consequence of missing out on CL qualification

Arsenal will get to the round of 16 as usual and then be dumped out, I honestly don't see why them 8 games would sway a players decision, Arsenal won't be winning it, and that's all that matters

bangkok

Leroy42 wrote: »

Lets be honest, no it is very unlikely that an Leicster player would pick Utd above Arsenal.

Why would you leave guaranteed CL this year so anything other than another team with guaranteed CL? No point working all last year to get into the CL and then give it up and the promise that Utd will be fighting for a top four place.

That is the consequence of missing out on CL qualification

was it not that, we were offered Vardy first, refused to sign him as we getting Ibrahimovic, paying the way for Arsenal to go in and sign him?

Korat

Leroy42 wrote: »

Why would you leave guaranteed CL this year so anything other than another team with guaranteed CL? No point working all last year to get into the CL and then give it up and the promise that Utd will be fighting for a top four place.

Indeed and you'd think Leicester players would be more wary than most footballers of how fragile their new found stardom is. Having risen from obscurity overnight only a complete idiot wouldn't be aware that it could disappear just as quickly so they may only ever get one chance to play in the CL.

Kerrydude1981

Is Ibra making an announcement today?

Mitch Connor

bangkok wrote: »

was it not that, we were offered Vardy first, refused to sign him as we getting Ibrahimovic, paying the way for Arsenal to go in and sign him?

That is one of the rumours - that ourselves, Chelsea, Arsenal, City and I presume a number of clubs were offered him (by his agent) a month or so back and no one bit on it - something has happened since then to change Arsenal's mind.

It is just a rumour though - could be we wanted him but he wasn't interested and Ibrahimovic is a replacement target. Who knows?

Lithium93_

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Is Ibra making an announcement today?

Yup, 5 pm I think.

Flint Fredstone

As much as I hate silly season and all that goes with it, I'm cracking up here at the Liverpool fans on Twitter trying to figure out if some guy with Klopp is Higuain's brother or Klopp's son. Then wondering if some other guy beside them might be Higuain's brother if it is his son.
I thought we were bad for this sh*t :pac:

Lord TSC

Mitch Connor wrote: »

It is just a rumour though - could be we wanted him but he wasn't interested and Ibrahimovic is a replacement target. Who knows?

The rumour seems to be we were offered him after we had settled on Ibra, and also that we thought signing a striker of his age would negatively affect Martial and Rashford. There's been absolutely nothing to suggest we were ever interested in him at all.

https://twitter.com/RedDevilBible/status/739914374672973824

gosplan

Juan8 wrote: »

Arsenal will get to the round of 16 as usual and then be dumped out, I honestly don't see why them 8 games would sway a players decision, Arsenal won't be winning it, and that's all that matters

I doubt Leicester players are going to be stopped by reality right now.

Theoretically they can win it, that's practically nailed on for Vardy and Mahrez.

Mitch Connor

Lord TSC wrote: »

The rumour seems to be we were offered him after we had settled on Ibra, and also that we thought signing a striker of his age would negatively affect Martial and Rashford. There's been absolutely nothing to suggest we were ever interested in him at all.

Indeed - and that rumour makes sense, but all I am saying is that there is nothing official about it. Lord knows i've got it in the ear enough times in this thread over believing things about the club that have not been officially communicated. Fed up with it to be honest, so I will have to point out anything that is not officially confirmed by the club to be true, is just speculation and conjecture.

As it stands, I've no idea when/if Vardy was offered - I heard nothing about it a month back, nothing until the rumours that have been circulated over the last couple of days. It does make sense from looking at the development potential of Martial and Rashford. I have also heard it is down to United having targets that simply aren't Vardy and we are working on them for NEXT summer - so Ibrahimovic would sort an immediate need and give time on some other deal. No idea if that is true though - or who it could be. Maybe the club thinks if we get CL football for the following season we will be able to get Neymar, and that is the plan. fook knows.