Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016 - Mod Warning Post #6863

Liam O

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

Ah here. He will be first name on the teamsheet and rightly so.

Doesn't change the fact that he'll be replacing someone who's fitter and started the season well. I'd not be totally sure of him starting anyway.

Trigger

magnumbud wrote: »

or a movie

You must have been really slow googling that image if Zerks beat you to it :pac:

IamtheWalrus

zerks wrote: »

*In Alan Partridge voice* As impressive as the Utd crest looks on the left cab door window pane, it is in fact a health and safety breach.

ElChe32

Wha..what is going on in here today?

RobertKK

I wonder if Ed would try and work out a sponsor deal with Massey Ferguson to be the official tractor sponsor of Manchester United.
It looks like they do have John Deere's at Carrington.

Also who sponsors the lawnmowers?

No one???? Ed needs to work harder

Quandary

if Rooney works out for us and complements the team then I'd be delighted to see him start every game. I just hope our world record signing isn't asked to stay a bit deeper to accommodate Rooney.

If Pogba is asked to play a similar role to the deeper one he played for France at the Euros I can see him being underwhelming for us. He needs to be given plenty license to get forward to be effective. It would be pretty stupid to spend £90m on a fantastic player and not play them to their strengths.

bucketybuck

Quandary wrote: »

if Rooney works out for us and complements the team then I'd be delighted to see him start every game.

If Jose doesn't try to squeeze Rooney into the team, but instead rotates him with Zlatan rather than playing him deeper where we have plenty of better options, then I'd be delighted to see him as a valuable first team squad member.

Adamocovic

Quandary wrote: »

if Rooney works out for us and complements the team then I'd be delighted to see him start every game. I just hope our world record signing isn't asked to stay a bit deeper to accommodate Rooney.

If Pogba is asked to play a similar role to the deeper one he played for France at the Euros I can see him being underwhelming for us. He needs to be given plenty license to get forward to be effective. It would be pretty stupid to spend £90m on a fantastic player and not play them to their strengths.

Mourinho has already stated Pogba will be the box-to-box midfielder, taking on defensive responsibilities but also attacking. If anything you would expect more going forward now that there is another player from midfield adding to attack, something Carrick and Fellaini don't particularly do well.

So any talk of him being moved around to accommodate anyone isn't true in my eyes, it is quite clear Mourinho has a plan for him and expects him to contribute to goals, didn't he even say that in this role sometimes the player will score more goals than whoever plays in no.10 but will also get back and defend. So it is clear he will be given license to go forward.

Pogba in the midfield two contributing going forward and defending should help the team a lot, players I suspect will not have to drop deeper for the ball as Pogba is someone who will take people on and contribute going forward, as I said before, something that isn't expected of Carrick, Fellaini, who are defensive holding in nature.

johnnyryan89

bucketybuck wrote: »

If Jose doesn't try to squeeze Rooney into the team, but instead rotates him with Zlatan rather than playing him deeper where we have plenty of better options, then I'd be delighted to see him as a valuable first team squad member.

What about Rashford? I'd much rather see him rotate with Ibra, he'd give the team a different outlet making runs in behind the defence for the likes of Mata, Mkhitaryan and Martial. Rotating Ibra and Rooney is just swapping like for like.

54and56

bucketybuck wrote: »

If Jose doesn't try to squeeze Rooney into the team, but instead rotates him with Zlatan rather than playing him deeper where we have plenty of better options, then I'd be delighted to see him as a valuable first team squad member.

Zlatan is getting picked for every PL game he's fit to play in. No way he signed unless that was his understanding.

TheDoc

I assume Jose Fonte would have been part of a target list from Mourinho, should the links with him actually be true?

Granted I've never seen him outside of when we play Southampton, or at the Euros, can't say I'd be moving mountains to get him. And at 32, no longevity there.

Are we really that strapped for CB's when we have Bailly,Blind,Smalling,Jones and Rojo? Granted two of those have historical injury/good enough questions, and one is a converted DM, so maybe fair enough.

Just thought with what we have done already this summer, Fonte seems like a bit of an odd target to be materialising.

Kirby

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

What about Rashford? I'd much rather see him rotate with Ibra, he'd give the team a different outlet making runs in behind the defence for the likes of Mata, Mkhitaryan and Martial. Rotating Ibra and Rooney is just swapping like for like.

Dare to.....Wayne? Dare to Wazza?

Not quite the same, is it?

MagicIRL

Fonte, back up CB with PL and International experience, for 8mill - why not.

TheDoc

MagicIRL wrote: »

Fonte, back up CB with PL and International experience, for 8mill - why not.

Just wondering do we need six CB's? Obviously not in tune with Mourinhos thinking and I suppose you really cannot rely on Jones and Rojo, but six sounds excessive.

If it's just a backup CB, what's wrong with keeping Mensah around?

The Fonte links just don't make sense to me. I can see the big name links and make sense of that, an established CB, let the rest jostle for the last CB starting spot. But I don't really "see" the need for a backup CB to be signed.

MagicIRL

TheDoc wrote: »

Just wondering do we need six CB's? Obviously not in tune with Mourinhos thinking and I suppose you really cannot rely on Jones and Rojo, but six sounds excessive.

If it's just a backup CB, what's wrong with keeping Mensah around?

The Fonte links just don't make sense to me. I can see the big name links and make sense of that, an established CB, let the rest jostle for the last CB starting spot. But I don't really "see" the need for a backup CB to be signed.

Ah but we don't really- We have Smalling and Bailly, a crocked Jones, A Defensive Midfielder and a hybrid CB/LB in Rojo. Fonte brings a lot of experience to that, especially with the Europa League to contend with.

Adamcp898

TheDoc wrote: »

Just wondering do we need six CB's? Obviously not in tune with Mourinhos thinking and I suppose you really cannot rely on Jones and Rojo, but six sounds excessive.

If it's just a backup CB, what's wrong with keeping Mensah around?

The Fonte links just don't make sense to me. I can see the big name links and make sense of that, an established CB, let the rest jostle for the last CB starting spot. But I don't really "see" the need for a backup CB to be signed.

Depends how much weight you put in the stories from a few weeks ago that we're trying to offload Jones and Rojo too. But either way I'd welcome him to be honest.

I think we can agree that the "main" business is done, any bits and pieces now are for the small gains here and there in the squad.

Pro. F

There were rumours a while ago that Jose wanted a more experienced CB, so Fonte makes sense. Jones could be crocked indefinitely. Any and all of Blind, Jones and Rojo could fall out of contention at CB completely.

StringerBell

Adamocovic wrote: »

Pogba in the midfield two contributing going forward and defending should help the team a lot, players I suspect will not have to drop deeper for the ball as Pogba is someone who will take people on and contribute going forward, as I said before, something that isn't expected of Carrick, Fellaini, who are defensive holding in nature.

I would be very, very surprised if Pogba is going to be competing with Carrick or Fellaini for the midfield spot, Herrera will be one to make way imo.

Polo_Mint

I smell a new thread on the way soon, We need a New OP

I think the OP should show Last year's V This year's score results and keep the OP updated

Cookie_Dough

Polo_Mint wrote: »

I smell a new thread on the way soon, We need a New OP

I think the OP should show Last year's V This year's score results and keep the OP updated

That will be a right pain for the mods/OP...

Polo_Mint

Cookie_Dough wrote: »

That will be a right pain for the mods/OP...

IS Lord TSC not our friend?

it would be copy / paste save in the OP.

5 secs

StringerBell

Wouldn't mind Fonte at all in the squad, he seems very focal and has plenty of experience. Being vocal in itself is something that would be hugely appealing to me about him, obviously he is a good defender too which is a nice bonus

Mensah needs to be sent on loan though this season if it does happen and I would like to see Tuanzebe go to Championship team too, he is too good for the reserves.

Mitch Connor

TheDoc wrote: »

I assume Jose Fonte would have been part of a target list from Mourinho, should the links with him actually be true?

Granted I've never seen him outside of when we play Southampton, or at the Euros, can't say I'd be moving mountains to get him. And at 32, no longevity there.

Are we really that strapped for CB's when we have Bailly,Blind,Smalling,Jones and Rojo? Granted two of those have historical injury/good enough questions, and one is a converted DM, so maybe fair enough.

Just thought with what we have done already this summer, Fonte seems like a bit of an odd target to be materialising.

My personal opinion:

Jose wants an experienced CB but can't get top targets such as Bonucci - possibly due to cost.

As we have not sold pretty much anyone there is probably a cost/wages issue at United after the signings we have made and Fonte fits a short term requirement of Mourinho at little cost.

He also seems to be more comfortable with Blind at CB than anyone would have thought so that could possibly have changed the CB signing requirements and now an experienced squad addition is more appealing than it was previously - when a first choice was (possibly) wanted.

If we sign Fonte, i will have no doubt its because he is a player Jose has identified, but I would also guess that the shortlist of CBs wanted by Jose has changed over the summer for a few different reasons. If Schweinsteiger, Mata, Rojo and Blind had been sold earlier in the summer (before seemingly playing their way back in, in the case of Blind and Mata) I reckon we may have seen a more prominent CB targeted.

Kerrydude1981

Was reading a report there about Pereira and Jose wanting him to go out on loan,Middlesbrough have been linked with him,that might not be a bad move for him

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/man-utd-news-pereira-future-11755427

zerks

zerks wrote: »

Wasn't he in Pirates of the Caribbean?

First thing that came to my head, nearly posted it straight away but glad I scrolled down and didnt pull a zerks :cool:

Friday night football is almost as exciting as the potential or our team this year loving it

Jayop

[Deleted User] wrote: »

First thing that came to my head, nearly posted it straight away but glad I scrolled down and didnt pull a zerks :cool:

Friday night football is almost as exciting as the potential or our team this year loving it

I hate Friday night football. I hate Monday night football. I work evenings. Bah.

Adamocovic

StringerBell wrote: »

I would be very, very surprised if Pogba is going to be competing with Carrick or Fellaini for the midfield spot, Herrera will be one to make way imo.

I agree it will be Pogba and Carrick/Fellaini, my point was that a combo of Carrick and Fellaini together, that we've seen already, or even Schneiderlin or Herrera put in there, all of those players are holding midfielders who sit deep, there is an argument that Herrerra can go forward at times but Pogba offers a lot more in that department than currently offered by the other midfielders.

With Pogba playing the box-to-box role we will without doubt get more in terms of attacking than we would with any of the other CM combinations. Due to this, like I said previously, you would expect the forward players not having to drop as deep as much because we have a midfielder who will push forward with the attack.

jayo26

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJK7jGjDC86/

Paul has a new hair cut and I think it's sh1t cool

Mitch Connor

In the pic of half a tactics board from a while back wasn't it Pogba and Fellaini that were listed for the same position? (not that it would mean it has to remain that way)

beno619

Liam O wrote: »

Because Rooney scores more goals than them and United have the majority of possession anyway. Pogba will be shoehorned in somewhere but I think the way the team was set up on Sunday was very good for taking on these bottom dwellers who were picking up results against United last season.

I think a fully functioning team i.e one without Rooney at 10 will win more football matches. A better #10 would mean more chances created.

Why shoehorn Pogba ? Play him in his best position which is imo #10.

Jayop

Was listening to the off the ball football podcast that had Andy Mitten on there and he was making some points on the squad that were interesting.


The side at the weekend had only 3 players left over from Fergies era and only two british players in the starting line up. Really stark example of how much the squad has changed in the last 3 seasons.

deaddonkey15

Rooney in Opta's best XI for matchday 1 of the Premier League.

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/765547650565496832

Jayop

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Rooney in Opta's best XI for matchday 1 of the Premier League.

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/765547650565496832

United thread...

Adamcp898

Jayop wrote: »

Was listening to the off the ball football podcast that had Andy Mitten on there and he was making some points on the squad that were interesting.


The side at the weekend had only 3 players left over from Fergies era and only two british players in the starting line up. Really stark example of how much the squad has changed in the last 3 seasons.

Don't think too much can be made of it when you put it into context though i.e. Fergie left a broken squad behind him three years ago. It needed to be changed in order to have ambition.

Jayop

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Don't think too much can be made of it when you put it into context though i.e. Fergie left a broken squad behind him three years ago. It needed to be changed in order to have ambition.

Oh I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Changes were needed and now it seems that this is pretty much a completely rebuilt squad.

Trigger

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Rooney in Opta's best XI for matchday 1 of the Premier League.

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/765547650565496832

Adamcp898

Jayop wrote: »

Oh I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Changes were needed and now it seems that this is pretty much a completely rebuilt squad.

Yeah, like Moyes is still the butt of a lot of jokes for various reasons. But if you go by the train of thought that Fergie left behind him a squad that had reached the end of it's cycle, and that another trophy winning team takes 3/4 years to build properly, then we shouldn't have been challenging until now anyway.

I'm not advocating that we should've allowed either Moyes or LvG to stay on btw, it was too turgid to entertain anyway, just being devil's advocate to line of Moyes/LvG were wasted years.

Jayop

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Yeah, like Moyes is still the butt of a lot of jokes for various reasons. But if you go by the train of thought that Fergie left behind him a squad that had reached the end of it's cycle, and that another trophy winning team takes 3/4 years to build properly, then we shouldn't have been challenging until now anyway.

I'm not advocating that we should've allowed either Moyes or LvG to stay on btw, it was too turgid to entertain anyway, just being devil's advocate to line of Moyes/LvG were wasted years.

I agree that any mere mortal manager would have taken a few years to rebuild after what Fergie left behind, but had Fergie stayed on we would still have been in the top 4 the last 3 years whilst rebuilding. Of that I have no doubt and that's Moyes and VanGaal's biggest failure along with playing crap football.

Leroy42

I don't think the whole squad was a write off after SAF, certainly it needed some serious additions though.

Moyes, and Ed, showed they were not capable of doing that in the 1st window, and after that Moyes just couldn't handle the job. I don't think it would have made any difference if we had bought Messi in that 1st window, Moyes just collapsed under the weight.

LVG was even bigger waste as it was clear what the problems were and someone of his experience should have been able to identify and the correct the problems but in reality he simply created more problems.

I doubt many people thought that MU would continue on as before once SAF left, hence why is was considered so great, but the depths that we fell to was amazing. So rather than taking the three years to slowing rebuild, Jose has been faced with basically having to jump start the whole thing again, so it was clearly 3 wasted years

Billy86

Jayop wrote: »

I agree that any mere mortal manager would have taken a few years to rebuild after what Fergie left behind, but had Fergie stayed on we would still have been in the top 4 the last 3 years whilst rebuilding. Of that I have no doubt and that's Moyes and VanGaal's biggest failure along with playing crap football.

I'd agree. The problem wasn't/isn't that we've won sweet FA outside of the cup last season, over the three years. The problem has been that we haven't even been close to competing, have been finishing outside the top four, and much worse have completely lacked in any sense of direction or focus as to where we wanted to go or what team we wanted to be.

Flint Fredstone

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Rooney in Opta's best XI for matchday 1 of the Premier League.

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/765547650565496832

The 50 sideways passes must have swung it for him. Perfect example of why stats alone is not a good measure of anything.
Ibrahimovic shouldn't be there either. Apart from their goals, neither did much else.

MagicIRL

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

The 50 sideways passes must have swung it for him. Perfect example of why stats alone is not a good measure of anything.
Ibrahimovic shouldn't be there either. Apart from their goals, neither did much else.

To be fair, what more than scoring goals do you want your striker to do? :P

Jayop

Like who would you guys have put in for Rooney and Ibra?

deaddonkey15

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

The 50 sideways passes must have swung it for him. Perfect example of why stats alone is not a good measure of anything.
Ibrahimovic shouldn't be there either. Apart from their goals, neither did much else.

Over exaggeration once again.I'd say the fact that he scored didn't do him any harm.

crkball6

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

The 50 sideways passes must have swung it for him. Perfect example of why stats alone is not a good measure of anything.
Ibrahimovic shouldn't be there either. Apart from their goals, neither did much else.

All they did was score the goals that resulted in winning the game and 3 points, strikers, who needs em!

Ibra OUT! Rooney out!

I didn't think Rooney was awful or anywhere near it on Sunday. Overall though, I am worried about him and his effect on the starting 11. 'Not awful' is not good enough. We clearly have more capable players to fill a deeper role and/or that number 10 position. I fear that he is going to keep some talented players/prospects out of the 11 for the wrong reasons.

I know Jose said Rooney would not be a 6 or 8, but the captain was occupying those territories at times during the game on Sunday. He wasn't playing as how a traditional 10 operates, and a lot of his play and movement seem to indicate that he enjoys playing deeper. He dropped to take the ball out of defense ffs! Surely he isn't going against his managers instructions is he? But Jose said 'never a 6 or an 8'.

The Rooney situation is a bit of a thinker for me at this stage. What is he? He comes across as someone who is assigned a rough position, but basically given free roam. Teams do have those players, but usually that role is assigned to someone who can make a lot more happen than Rooney has done as of the last few seasons. He just seems untouchable now for the wrong reasons.

Pogba needs to be played, no two ways about it. It's unfortunate though that it'll probably automatically be Herrera/Mata/Fellaini to make way for Pogba to get into the 11. I'm not arguing that these players shouldn't have to compete for a place like almost all the rest, just that Rooney should also have to compete for his place. If that was the case, he would have spent a bit of time on the bench last season, and now wouldn't be so sure of a starting place with Jose's additions to the squad in the meantime.

I know it's early days in Jose's reign, but not in Rooney's apparent period of decline. It will be interesting to see how Jose handles it if it continues. I hope I'm wrong, I hope Wayne can crack on have at least one more huge season for us. However, I've been hoping for that for a few seasons at this stage. As it is now, I don't want to see him gone, just subject to the same scrutiny when it comes to getting into the 11 as the rest. Also, I'd like to see his role in the team more defined, and even refined, now that he is entering the latter stages of his career.

I'm of course delighted about where the club is now compared to only months ago, but Wayne Rooney is a concern.

After this, you can put your house on him scoring two on Friday night :pac:

Alright I'll settle the Rooney debate statistically Rooney was our 2nd best player behind Fellaini but in actuallity was in the bottom half of our performers the other day :cool:

Jayop

Jose dropped Terry at Chelsea who he was close to for most of both their top level careers so he'll have no issue dropping Rooney if he doesn't like what he sees.

Billy86

MagicIRL wrote: »

To be fair, what more than scoring goals do you want your striker to do? :P

Create chances, link up play, hold up the ball, play others through keep defenders occupied, open space for others, exploit spaces for themselves, be incisive, pass and move...

That's some of 'em.

Nalz

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

Ibrahimovic shouldn't be there either. Apart from their goals, neither did much else.

Bit harsh. He set up Rooney for his 1 on 1 and that layoff to Rooney when he went down in the box shortly afterwards.

He took a decent freekick too in that half before he scored.

He destroyed Harry Arter down the wing late on too but his pass wasn't great once he got into the area.

Depends what you mean by "much".