Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

Mitch Connor

If Jones, and Shaw could stay fit they would probably have made it - same with Schweinsteiger, he likely would have gone; so that would be 11. If Holland had qualified Memphis probably would have gone too.

TheDoc

Mitch Connor wrote: »

If Jones, and Shaw could stay fit they would probably have made it - same with Schweinsteiger, he likely would have gone; so that would be 11. If Holland had qualified Memphis probably would have gone too.

As would Blind

Players need to look at themselves also to be honest.

Martial has not only worked his way into the selection panel, but is a likely starter in the tournament.
Rashford in a short space of time has come into the fray, and a decent performance in friendlies who knows.
Not so long ago Smalling was the butt of jokes in the English press for his inclusions. He has established himself as first choice starter and looks about the only reliable thing in that defence.

I'm a firm believer that in football we deal in extremes, and the truth is always in the middle. Van Gaal does hold most of the blame, but players are not excused either.

ShooterSF

I suppose Carrick's exclusion during Fergie's reign is a black mark against Ferguson so? Silly argument.

Mitch Connor

TheDoc wrote: »

As would Blind

Players need to look at themselves also to be honest.

Martial has not only worked his way into the selection panel, but is a likely starter in the tournament.
Rashford in a short space of time has come into the fray, and a decent performance in friendlies who knows.
Not so long ago Smalling was the butt of jokes in the English press for his inclusions. He has established himself as first choice starter and looks about the only reliable thing in that defence.

I'm a firm believer that in football we deal in extremes, and the truth is always in the middle. Van Gaal does hold most of the blame, but players are not excused either.

True - forgot about him.

We have a few players that almost certainly would have gone if circumstances were different. I personally don't think LVG has been good for Herrera or Schneiderlin - I think under a better manager they could have done much better for us and Schneiderlin in particular would have gone, herrera has a bunch of top CMs to compete against for Spain though. Mata has played enough, just not well enough. Played on the right wing was never going to bring out his best though.

Mitch Connor

ShooterSF wrote: »

I suppose Carrick's exclusion during Fergie's reign is a black mark against Ferguson so? Silly argument.

indeed - and Carrick hasn't performed anywhere near his best this season either. Maybe LVG has some responsibility for that, but I wouldn't give Carrick the same sympathy I would schneiderlin or herrera.

bangkok

linked with Sane again, a player i think we should def make a move for this summer

bucketybuck

TheDoc wrote: »

Ibrahimovic has carried big clubs expectations on his shoulders since he first moved to Ajax, and has had no trouble with it. And he has always met those expectations.

This is a winner, a big character with big experience. A game never build on pace, he is strong, lethal finisher, incredible technique and a brilliant all round striker.

His injury track record is pretty good, keeps himself in incredible shape, and I see no reason why the club should not try to get him. Two seasons out of him would be a privilege for me.

Would also allow Rashford to remain with the squad and getting some game time, allowing his development to continue.

Nothing you have written negates the simple fact that he will be 35 for most of next season, coming into a new and far faster league than he has been used to for 4 years. Sure he is a winner, sure he has a good injury record, thats all well and good but still we should be looking elsewhere.

Seriously, we have all summer to find a striker that addresses our problem without being 35 years old, would we not be far better served looking for that player instead of jumping at shiny Zlatan just because he might be available?

Nalz

brinty wrote: »

True story
How many players do we have going
England - Mike Smalling, Wazza and rashers
Spain - Big Dave
France - Tony Marshall
Belgium - Bangkok's bestie
Norn Ireland - Paddy Macnair
Italy - Darmian (or is he injured)

That's 8 players from a Manchester united squad....
That's a disgrace

That England squad is a 26 man prelim squad... so I expect Rashford as well as Delph and maybe Drinkwater to miss out on the final 23

Michael D Not Higgins

Zlatan to United story is made up according to his agent.

UnitedIrishman

Lord TSC wrote: »

We may have a lot of money but we also need a lot of new talent, sadly. If we have, for example, 150m to spend this summer, and Ibra's signing lets us proportion more of that towards a right winger or a CB, I'm happy enough with that. But if we go and pay 80m for a Higuian or a Cavani, it means we have less to spend elsewhere too.

For me, it's really not a punt. Near 40 goals scored in one season, even if its the French league, is a no brainer imo. He fits what we need right now. This summer really needs to be about a big boost in the short term.

Starting to come to this conclusion aswell. Giving him a two year deal with a lot of incentives - on top of a decent wage because we'd be getting him on a free - would mean we could have more of our targets and we need around 3-4 players minimum this summer. Our midfield needs new additions for a second successive season - Schweinsteiger has been a bit of a disaster and Carrick is either going or will need to be replaced anyways. We need a striker, a winger, a right back and a centre back. That's before the likes of Dave and whoever else leave.

Ibrahimovic scores goals wherever he goes, and in Europe and for Sweden. I don't think he'll struggle to adapt to England. For the most part players that do struggle to adapt are ones who have only played or excelled in one league or another - Italian players struggled in Spain for a long while and vice versa. He's done it everywhere.

Korat

We had 7 players at the last Euros in 2012, only 4 in 2008 having won the league and CL double.

Arsenal and Liverpool usually seem to have a lot more players selected for these tournaments, a lot of good it's done them.

bangkok

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Zlatan to United story is made up according to his agent.

i hope so, if he was that good PSG would be keeping him. his performance against city summed him up for me, zero work rate, barley involved in the game. He is 35, the league is too fast for him.

PSG are looking at signing Ronaldo and giving up Ibrahimovic. We should be the ones looking to sign Ronaldo etc and not deadwood from the likes of Bayern, PSG or real madrid.

UnitedIrishman

bucketybuck wrote: »

Nothing you have written negates the simple fact that he will be 35 for most of next season, coming into a new and far faster league than he has been used to for 4 years. Sure he is a winner, sure he has a good injury record, thats all well and good but still we should be looking elsewhere.

Seriously, we have all summer to find a striker that addresses our problem without being 35 years old, would we not be far better served looking for that player instead of jumping at shiny Zlatan just because he might be available?

There's a difference between a 35 year old Zlatan and for instance a 35 year old Rooney in that Zlatan has looked after himself and his body throughout his career and has had no major injuries. He's technically gifted and doesn't just rely on pace or power to contribute.

At the minute he's a good option for us because we have few alternatives that aren't such a big risk.

TheDoc

bucketybuck wrote: »

Nothing you have written negates the simple fact that he will be 35 for most of next season, coming into a new and far faster league than he has been used to for 4 years. Sure he is a winner, sure he has a good injury record, thats all well and good but still we should be looking elsewhere.

Seriously, we have all summer to find a striker that addresses our problem without being 35 years old, would we not be far better served looking for that player instead of jumping at shiny Zlatan just because he might be available?

That faster league stuff is a bit of a myth. Granted this season it swung back a bit, PL has long since been moving to a less "helter skelter" type of football. Ibrahimovic has also played against varied types of defences, teams and leagues and been a massive success everywhere. This is one of the best strikers of the last decade, really don't see it a "risk".

And depending on what manager comes in, again it will be a single striker position. Rooney at this point doesn't look like he will be #1 anymore, but who knows if say Mourinho comes in, what his take would be.

ArmaniJeanss

brinty wrote: »

True story
How many players do we have going
England - Mike Smalling, Wazza and rashers
Spain - Big Dave
France - Tony Marshall
Belgium - Bangkok's bestie
Norn Ireland - Paddy Macnair
Italy - Darmian (or is he injured)

That's 8 players from a Manchester united squad....
That's a disgrace

BastianS Germany? Or has he been confirmed out?

Michael D Not Higgins

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Zlatan to United story is made up according to his agent.

What story about United isn't made up these days tbh

Korat

M!Ck^ wrote: »

What story about United isn't made up these days tbh

You can't even trust a suspect package to be real suspect package anymore.

Antibac

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

BastianS Germany? Or has he been confirmed out?

Out till next season

brinty

bangkok wrote: »

i hope so, if he was that good PSG would be keeping him. his performance against city summed him up for me, zero work rate, barley involved in the game. He is 35, the league is too fast for him.

PSG are looking at signing Ronaldo and giving up Ibrahimovic. We should be the ones looking to sign Ronaldo etc and not deadwood from the likes of Bayern, PSG or real madrid.

not even signed and you're running him down....
whats the back story here Bang????

Did it occur to you Ronaldo might not want to return to us and wants to move to Paris..

As for real, Bayern and PSG deadwood, most of them would be day one starters in the current united squad.. so I say sign em up

ArmaniJeanss

Antibac wrote: »

Out till next season

In the provisional squad announced in the last 5 minutes mind you. :P

The_Kew_Tour

Any United lads going to Woodshed in Cork this Saturday?

Going there as only place I know will show Scottish Cup final.

If anyone about let me know

JakeArmitage

Would much prefer us sign Higuain as opposed to Ibra

scudzilla

I said it earlier, maybe in jest, but could we really buy Chico back? He knows the club, the fans love him, he's proved himself (yet again) in the bundesliga, 26 goals in 40 apps this season and he's only 27

Disgrace that we only got just over £7mill for him

The_Kew_Tour

I would have him back in heartbeat.

Hell I'd swim over to get him

Cookie_Dough

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I would have him back in heartbeat.

Hell I'd swim over to get him

Bring him back on the #PositivityBoat. Get rowing Kew...;)

Drumpot

Look at the United squad. They will prob finish level with city, even if it's been unspectacular. We lost the league on goal difference to city when SAF was in charge, but United bought a proven EPL top striker to fix that problem.

On paper city have much better players with little youth for improvement but they won nothing this season. On paper, United has a good squad with a lot more room for players to mature. I include the players who will of had one season under their belt at the start of next season.

Ibrahimovic would not be like the Larson 3 month loan. He would also be extremely unsettled and disruptive if his form wasn't great and any United manager tried to drop him. At a certain point a player, free or not, can be more of a liability then an asset. I think, as is the case in many instances, some fans are only interested in looking at the positives of signing him then even considering the potential negatives.

Leroy42

Well, whether LVG stays or not he should be given no input into buying players.

His record since coming to Utd is pretty shocking.

ADM
Bastian
Morgan
Falcao
Memphis
Rojo
Darmien

and last but not least making Rooney captain, undroppable and then making him the lead striker only to then pretend he is actually a central midfielder.

Sure he has got a few right, Martial namely, but overall his signings have been shocking.

Flint Fredstone

Leroy42 wrote: »

Well, whether LVG stays or not he should be given no input into buying players.

His record since coming to Utd is pretty shocking.

ADM
Bastian
Morgan
Falcao
Memphis
Rojo
Darmien

and last but not least making Rooney captain, undroppable and then making him the lead striker only to then pretend he is actually a central midfielder.

Sure he has got a few right, Martial namely, but overall his signings have been shocking.

His signings were not bad at all. His usage of those players has been utterly abysmal.

Manutd_4life

Find it hard to believe Rooney earns 300k a week for what he does.

He's had a terrible season and honestly I think we should cash in on him. He isn't going to get any better is he

scudzilla

Manutd_4life wrote: »

Find it hard to believe Rooney earns 300k a week for what he does.

He's had a terrible season and honestly I think we should cash in on him. He isn't going to get any better is he

Love to sell him but can't see us gettin much more than 10mill for him

bucketybuck

scudzilla wrote: »

I said it earlier, maybe in jest, but could we really buy Chico back?

It would completely depend on whats happening with the manager. If Van Gaal stays then it would be a waste of time bringing Chico back, he would look just as poor as he did before he left.

Antibac

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

In the provisional squad announced in the last 5 minutes mind you. :P

Fair enough! Don't believe everything you read in the papers😬

Polo_Mint

Ronaldo and Zlatan would be nice

duffman13

Leroy42 wrote: »

Well, whether LVG stays or not he should be given no input into buying players.

His record since coming to Utd is pretty shocking.

ADM
Bastian
Morgan
Falcao
Memphis
Rojo
Darmien

and last but not least making Rooney captain, undroppable and then making him the lead striker only to then pretend he is actually a central midfielder.

Sure he has got a few right, Martial namely, but overall his signings have been shocking.

You can add Martial, Blind, Shaw and Herrera to that list although the last two were scouted extensively under Moyes. Not one of those players listed was an unknown bar maybe Rojo and possibly Darmian.

The vast majority of fans and pundits thought they were all excellent pieces of business so to to call them shocking is unfair. As another poster mentioned its been his use of those players which is shocking, he would probably be a very good director of football, just no longer a very good manager.

Leroy42

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

His signings were not bad at all. His usage of those players has been utterly abysmal.

So why sign them except to use them in their best positions? He would have been better off signing players that were actually suited to the system he wanted them to play.

I don't have an issue with any of the signings, but such a load of poor signings from one manager really makes you question whether he know what the hell he is doing.

You accept that every transfer comes with risks, but you try to at least minimise that risk and look to get more right than wrong. LVG has done the complete opposite.

duffman13

scudzilla wrote: »

Love to sell him but can't see us gettin much more than 10mill for him

If he is open to China I could see us getting a good wedge for him and he would probably get a pay increase to boot. Sven is coaching over there so could see them two possibly linking up again but it would be the end of his England career in my opinion which looks like its coming to a close anyway

Drumpot

Leroy42 wrote: »

Well, whether LVG stays or not he should be given no input into buying players.

His record since coming to Utd is pretty shocking.

ADM
Bastian
Morgan
Falcao
Memphis
Rojo
Darmien

and last but not least making Rooney captain, undroppable and then making him the lead striker only to then pretend he is actually a central midfielder.

Sure he has got a few right, Martial namely, but overall his signings have been shocking.

LVGs input into signings isn't always "I want x player". At most top clubs managers are lucky to have any input into signings. In the case of LVG I have no doubt he has an input, but in many cases it's him being told that the club has scouted a specific player and they feel he would enhance his squad and he says "grand".

He hasn't spent 250mil like the headlines suggest, that's just a sensationist sun newspaper headline adopted by the masses who use it as a stick to beat LVG. 70mil was spent on Di Maria, most of it was recouped. LVG can hardly be blamed for Di Maria being a failure anymore then SAF with Veron. In LVG first season , most of the players had been earmarked long before he joined. Like most managers, he didn't refuse new players.

Some managers who have worked with players (like LVG with blind) can pick specific players with confidence because they know them well.

As for falcao? He couldn't handle the EPL under LVG or Jose. And he had no problems in the French or Spanish league. Bit like Ibrahimovic, only younger!

MagicIRL

Taking Falcao on loan was genius. Anyone who says otherwise is just reaching for reasons to complain.

It's not like the club spent millions on buying a flop, they took a risk on a post-injury world class striker. It didn't work. He wasn't kept. That's pretty much why the loan system exists.

Mitch Connor

Drumpot wrote: »

Look at the United squad. They will prob finish level with city, even if it's been unspectacular. We lost the league on goal difference to city when SAF was in charge, but United bought a proven EPL top striker to fix that problem.

On paper city have much better players with little youth for improvement but they won nothing this season. On paper, United has a good squad with a lot more room for players to mature. I include the players who will of had one season under their belt at the start of next season.

Ibrahimovic would not be like the Larson 3 month loan. He would also be extremely unsettled and disruptive if his form wasn't great and any United manager tried to drop him. At a certain point a player, free or not, can be more of a liability then an asset. I think, as is the case in many instances, some fans are only interested in looking at the positives of signing him then even considering the potential negatives.

Or he could be a winner with a winning attitude and arrogance that our side lacks.

Didn't City win the League Cup? I'm also not sure why you are bringing them up - they have had a shocking season and have made moves to rectify that - United haven't. Just because some other side did just as badly as we have, doesn't excuse how badly United have performed.

8-10

Drumpot wrote: »

As for falcao? He couldn't handle the EPL under LVG or Jose. And he had no problems in the French or Spanish league. Bit like Ibrahimovic, only younger!

No Falcao hasn't done it at any level club or country since the knee injury that kept him out of the World Cup. I don't think we'll ever see him back to his 2009-2012 best

Ibra has always kept himself in great shape. I think it's a lazy argument to dismiss him as too old. I still think he'd be the best in the league if signed, but I do get the Aguero argument, I just don't feel like that personally. He'd certainly be the best striker at a Europa League-level club next year if he signed.

Mitch Connor

Drumpot wrote: »

LVGs input into signings isn't always "I want x player". At most top clubs managers are lucky to have any input into signings. In the case of LVG I have no doubt he has an input, but in many cases it's him being told that the club has scouted a specific player and they feel he would enhance his squad and he says "grand".

He hasn't spent 250mil like the headlines suggest, that's just a sensationist sun newspaper headline adopted by the masses who use it as a stick to beat LVG. 70mil was spent on Di Maria, most of it was recouped. LVG can hardly be blamed for Di Maria being a failure anymore then SAF with Veron. In LVG first season , most of the players had been earmarked long before he joined. Like most managers, he didn't refuse new players.

Some managers who have worked with players (like LVG with blind) can pick specific players with confidence because they know them well.

As for falcao? He couldn't handle the EPL under LVG or Jose. And he had no problems in the French or Spanish league. Bit like Ibrahimovic, only younger!

I think you are mostly wrong.

I do think Shaw and Herrera were signed on the back of Moyes' scouting - with a simple OK from LVG. BUt they were players identified by Moyes, the manager at the time - not a transfer committee or similar.

However, United don't have the football structures other clubs have - the manager is the manager of the football team in all aspects at United. THe players signed since Herrera and Shaw have been players requested by Van Gaal. It is well documented that the scouting structures at United were shocking prior to Moyes coming in, and he didn't get enough time to fix them either. The fact there is a massive overhaul of the scouting and youth coaching at United going on is indicative of these prior failures too - all stemming from a reliance on Fergie and his contacts/style, which wasn't modernised in prep for his leaving. This continued through to LVG, where he has been expected to earmark the players he wants United to sign.

He has spent 250million on players - it doesn't matter what was recupped like you claim - the comment is he spent 250million, it was spent. It isn't a sensationalist myth.

It wasn't that Falcao couldn't handle the PL - it is that Falcao has never got over the injury and his knee is fecked. He could go back to Spain or France and he would still be a terrible shadow of the player he once was.

Leroy42

So ADM just didn't settle, and sure we got rid of him anyway.
And Falcao was on loan (though the wages were huge)
And Bastian has been terribly unlucky with injuries
And Memphis just needs time to settle
And Rojo is only getting worse because of how good his start was
And same for Darmien
And Morgan just had a lucky two years before joining us.

Wow, for one of the top clubs in the world many of you are happy enough for any number of failures. It's not even the money, although I think the money is actually the problem. Utd see no risk in spending money and thus can afford to waste it. If money was tighter you can bet they would put more into getting these things right. Most clubs just wouldn't afford to have Rooney continue to offer so little for such a large outlay. Of course, I don't know the legal contraints in the contract, but most other clubs (see RM and James) would be actively looking to offload ASAP.

And as I said, even accepting that all transfers carry risk, the decision over Rooney, particularly to hand him the goal scoring responsibility was shocking and again points to LVG totally removed from what is required.

Juan8

Falcao before his knee injury was easily the best no 9 in the world, He'd have destroyed the prem, ridiculous to say otherwise

Mitch Connor

Looks like the same squad/team that was named for Sunday.

Just watch Smalling or Martial get an injury tonight.

bangkok

brinty wrote: »

not even signed and you're running him down....
whats the back story here Bang????

Did it occur to you Ronaldo might not want to return to us and wants to move to Paris..

As for real, Bayern and PSG deadwood, most of them would be day one starters in the current united squad.. so I say sign em up

yea but then we should go and find the next Ronaldo or a player coming into his prime, not some player that has played the last 4 years in France at the end of his career. Ben arfa even scored 17 goals in france this season and he was rubbish in the premier league!!

Schweinsteiger has been poor enough for us, di Maria was a waste, linked to James Rodriguez for 60m, wouldnt go near him at that price, wouldnt go near Gotze either from Bayern.

We need players that will work hard for the team and get us out of freefall from where we once were, not luxury players who will cost a fortune in transfer fees and wages.

Would like to see us sign

Stones
Pogba
Sane

players with something to prove and hungry for success

Lord TSC

Man United's full squad vs Bournemouth (via MEN): De Gea, Romero, Valencia, Varela, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson, Carrick, Herrera, Mata, Pereira, Memphis, Young, Lingard, Martial, Rooney, Rashford twitter.com

Full strength by the looks of it, though maybe he will leave Martial and a few others on the bench.

Nailz

Why the fuck?

Mitch Connor

bangkok wrote: »

Would like to see us sign

Stones
Pogba
Sane

players with something to prove and hungry for success

Ok - say we signed those three players.

So we have a centre back, central midfielder and a winger added (i agree we need all those positions). None of those signings address the need to add another striker to the squad - but we have possibly spent 170million on those three players, may not be much left in the pot. Maybe we could find an experienced striker to add to the squad without much of a transfer fee. How about Ibrahimovic? On a free, vastly experienced and if he leaves after one (or two seasons) we can hope Martial and Rashford are established as a world class pairing. Could be a good idea as a short term signing, freeing up funds to be spent on other areas of the squad.

Juan8

bangkok wrote: »

yea but then we should go and find the next Ronaldo or a player coming into his prime, not some player that has played the last 4 years in France at the end of his career. Ben arfa even scored 17 goals in france this season and he was rubbish in the premier league!!

Schweinsteiger has been poor enough for us, di Maria was a waste, linked to James Rodriguez for 60m, wouldnt go near him at that price, wouldnt go near Gotze either from Bayern.

We need players that will work hard for the team and get us out of freefall from where we once were, not luxury players who will cost a fortune in transfer fees and wages.

Would like to see us sign

Stones
Pogba
Sane

players with something to prove and hungry for success

How would the 3 players you just named not cost a fortune in transfer fees and wages, Gotze and Pogba are about the same age and have both had success already, yet you criticise one and want the other, why?

bangkok

MagicIRL wrote: »

Taking Falcao on loan was genius. Anyone who says otherwise is just reaching for reasons to complain.

It's not like the club spent millions on buying a flop, they took a risk on a post-injury world class striker. It didn't work. He wasn't kept. That's pretty much why the loan system exists.

We spent £16m on Falcao including the loan fee and wages.

Also, the loan system exists for young players to gain first team experience and then either be sold or come back to parent team and break into first team, not for £50m pound assets that some russian billionaire can no longer afford to keep to move to another club on loan