Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016 - Mod Note in OP, 13/9

RobertKK

Fabinho's wife has started following United on Instagram. Whether that means anything we will know in the coming days.

There are some reports which say Monaco didn't want to sell until after their CL qualifiers and now they have qualified, he can leave.
£25 million plus bonuses is what Monaco are suppose to want.
Fabinho was the top scorer last season for Monaco with 11 goals, all from the penalty spot.

GSPfan

RobertKK wrote: »

Fabinho was the top scorer last season for Monaco with 11 goals, all from the penalty spot.

Wha Da Fuk!

From right back? Monaco's strikers need a good talking to. Buying him means poor aul Valencia is gonna end up on the bench.

Thecon21

In a world where Troy Deeney is going for £30m+, I would be expecting a 9 figure sum for our Jones

bangkok

GSPfan wrote: »

Wha Da Fuk!

From right back? Monaco's strikers need a good talking to. Buying him means poor aul Valencia is gonna end up on the bench.

If Valencia keeps playing the way he is he will be undroppable for the forceable future

Lovely Bloke

GSPfan wrote: »

Wha Da Fuk!

From right back? Monaco's strikers need a good talking to. Buying him means poor aul Valencia is gonna end up on the bench.

Falcao :pac:

jayo26

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Falcao :pac:

Wasn't there last season

adox

GSPfan wrote: »

Wha Da Fuk!

From right back? Monaco's strikers need a good talking to. Buying him means poor aul Valencia is gonna end up on the bench.

Well and all as he has played against Bournemouth and Southampton he has shown us time and time again that he isnt up to being a RB, defensively at least. If you look at those two games what we are all getting excited about is the fact that he is attacking again with purpose and actually crossing the ball into the box.

I`m still of the belief that neither Blind or Valencia will be a regular part of the back four, especially going on what Mourhino said about players in the summer.

jayo26

adox wrote: »

Well and all as he has played against Bournemouth and Southampton he has shown us time and time again that he isnt up to being a RB, defensively at least. If you look at those two games what we are all getting excited about is the fact that he is attacking again with purpose and actually crossing the ball into the box.

I`m still of the belief that neither Blind or Valencia will be a regular part of the back four, especially going on what Mourhino said about players in the summer.

You can only go on current form and blind has been just as good as bailly in defence his reading of the game is first class he will be hard to dislodge from that defence.

Even last year apart from one or two mistakes he was excellent also and jose seems to like him there too so it all points to him staying put.

And also he is left footed

crkball6

Got to love some of the training videos that come out of car.

"United training for hull"

A few lads walking around laughing.

Hull must be sh|tting it. :pac:

yabadabado

I presume if Fabinho is signed ,Darmian will be sold? Fabinho in as RB and Tony V as back up.

ericzeking

GSPfan wrote: »

RobertKK wrote: »

Fabinho was the top scorer last season for Monaco with 11 goals, all from the penalty spot.

Wha Da Fuk!

From right back? Monaco's strikers need a good talking to. Buying him means poor aul Valencia is gonna end up on the bench.

I'm sure Steve Bruce was our top scorer one season or at least close to it. He used to take penalties too and obviously was good at set pieces.

brinty

ericzeking wrote: »

I'm sure Steve Bruce was our top scorer one season or at least close to it. He used to take penalties too and obviously was good at set pieces.

Brucie got 19 in one season i believe!!!! 1990-1991??

Lord TSC

yabadabado wrote: »

I presume if Fabinho is signed ,Darmian will be sold? Fabinho in as RB and Tony V as back up.

Would presume so. Could see us getting a fair chunk for him from an Italian team cause of their newer homegrown rules.

Delboy5

Fabinho is also 6ft 2".....another big lad to help attacking and defending set plays....

jayo26

Its like jose searched on football manager for players over 6ft and said I'll have him him and him oh and throw in miki aswell when your at it.

Love the hight and muscle he has brought in so far it's been missing from the team for years.

As much as we loved ander and mata they are not the most fearsome of guys in a tunnel.

Adamcp898

He plays in midfield a bit as well lads

RobertKK

Adamcp898 wrote: »

He plays in midfield a bit as well lads

Yeah, he was playing on the right side of midfield when I watched him play against Villareal.

Pro. F

jayo26 wrote: »

You can only go on current form and blind has been just as good as bailly in defence his reading of the game is first class he will be hard to dislodge from that defence.

Even last year apart from one or two mistakes he was excellent also and jose seems to like him there too so it all points to him staying put.

And also he is left footed

He was nothing like excellent last year. He is a non-entity in the air. Being a good CB takes more than just not making mistakes. By not going for headers he exposes the rest of the defence.

Cookie_Dough

It's interesting to see alot of Van Gaal's signings linked with exit (I know this would be expected with a new manager and obviously an easy article for a journalist).

It made me think though- of all Van Gaal's signings how many would you think have been a success?

Martial and Shaw are the only nailed on starters and Shaw wasn't helped by the extended lay off due to his leg break. I think Martial is looking a bit tired so far this season but hopefully he will pick up to where he was last season.

I would argue that, although I think his contribution is underrated, Blind is is a stop gap until Smalling is back as José probably wants a Smalling Bailly CM partnership.

Of the others-

Depay has been underwhelming but hopefully will improve under Mourinho
Schneiderlin and Herrera haven't cemented their places in the starting lineup but, again, this may change under Mourinho.
Romero is back up keeper so wouldn't be first choice which is fair enough.

Valdes is gone, Schweinsteiger is all but gone and didn't live up to expectation, Darmian is linked with an exit now, though I think he started out well. Rojo seems like he's gone too and I wouldn't be too pushed, he hasn't really done alot.

Di Maria was a total disaster and didn't seem like he wanted to be at the club in the first place. Falcao was a crock and didn't seem to regain his pre-injury form but thankfully he was only a loan.

Unsure if I missed anybody out What do others think?

Trigger

yabadabado wrote: »

I presume if Fabinho is signed ,Darmian will be sold? Fabinho in as RB and Tony V as back up.

I'd actually expect Rojo to be gone.. Darmian, if he is happy to, can be back up for Shaw.

jayo26

Pro. F wrote: »

He was nothing like excellent last year. He is a non-entity in the air. Being a good CB takes more than just not making mistakes. By not going for headers he exposes the rest of the defence.

Dont agree at all. A good defence is made up by a good defensive partnership and yes blind may not be the best in the air but that will be Smalling or baileys job blind reads the game brilliant.

Blind was rarely directly at fault for United dropping points last season and I can remember at least twice he saved us points from a last ditch tackle or goal line clearance.

Already this year he has won an excellent one on one challenge while been the last man back.

His distribution from defence is very good also they are the attributes he will bring to the defence.

Pro. F

jayo26 wrote: »

Dont agree at all. A good defence is made up by a good defensive partnership and yes blind may not be the best in the air but that will be Smalling or baileys job blind reads the game brilliant.

Blind was rarely directly at fault for United dropping points last season and I can remember at least twice he saved us points from a last ditch tackle or goal line clearance.

Already this year he has won an excellent one on one challenge while been the last man back.

His distribution from defence is very good also they are the attributes he will bring to the defence.

The idea that a CB can just have a specialised job where they don't need to be strong in the air is completely wrong. How can Smalling or Bailly, or whoever, win all the headers that need to be won accross the width of the two CB channels? What happens when there's a ball in the air to be won, but it's 10 yards away from where Smalling/Bailly is, in Blind's area? Do they try to swap positions in advance of the ball arriving? That doesn't work and would drag the defence completely out of shape if they tried.

Blind was constantly at fault for not dealing with aerial balls promptly and so causing the defence to stay under pressure unnecessarily.

Yes Blind has other strong aspects, but heading is an essential skill for a centre-back and he was awful at it. Almost certainly the worst first choice CB in the league in terms heading last season.

jayo26

Pro. F wrote: »

The idea that a CB can just have a specialised job where they don't need to be strong in the air is completely wrong. How can Smalling or Bailly, or whoever, win all the headers that need to be won accross the width of the two CB channels? What happens when there's a ball in the air to be won, but it's 10 yards away from where Smalling/Bailly is, in Blind's area? Do they try to swap positions in advance of the ball arriving? That doesn't work and would drag the defence completely out of shape if they tried.

Blind was constantly at fault for not dealing with aerial balls promptly and so causing the defence to stay under pressure unnecessarily.

Yes Blind has other strong aspects, but heading is an essential skill for a centre-back and he was awful at it. Almost certainly the worst first choice CB in the league in terms heading last season.

Dont take this as me been smart and I mean in general but give me a few examples of blind causing us to drop points or even resulting in goals conceding because he missed a header?

If blind is such a terrible center back in a partnership that conceded so few goals last season well I'll take that all day long.

Out of the first 3 games this season we have including the charity shield we have concede 2 goals and both were etional efforts they were not from sloppy defending from our centerbacks.

Any partnership in defence is down to knowing each others strenght and weakness bailly or Smalling are in position to deal with headers and blind is in a position to deal with one on one tackles or start counter attacks.

Headshot

Id be quite annoyed a pissed if Darmian goes.

Im still convinced he should be starting instead of Val.

Val may have put in some good performances but against the big teams, he will be a liability I reckon

ericzeking

Given all the giants in the team now, I would sacrifice Blinds aerial ability in lieu of positional and ball playing ability.

Are there big strong dominant centre halves out there who are as good on the ball as Blind?

He also fulfils the role of the deeper play maker given we look to be playing more dynamic midfield pairings as opposed to a Carrick type sitting there.

Aaaand, Blind has great hair.

Adamocovic

I agree with most here. Valencia has been great the start of this season but I struggle to see him consistently performing there. Think when we come up against better attacking teams his defensive weaknesses may be found out a little.

I'd be interested in seeing how the team changes or alternates during cup and Europe. Darmian of course can play right back, TFM and Jones too. I remember people before claiming right back was his best position, it will be interesting to see what Mourinho thinks of this.

I think TFM is similar to Jones in the way he can play full-back, centre-back and a defensive centre mid. I hope we continue to use him as a right back personally.

With Mourinho saying he wants specialist players over utility ones it will be interesting to see where he thinks some of the players who's positions have been a question should really play. Then again maybe I'm taking that Mourinho comment a little too seriously since Rooney has already had a spell out on the LM/LW :P

duffman13

"MUFC will be my last club in Europe. I respect other clubs, but Manchester United was the only one which could make me leave FC Bayern München. I will be ready if the team needs me. This is all I can say about the current situation. I want to thank the fans for the amazing support over the recent weeks."

Schweinsteiger looks like he wants to stick around, might swan off to America but can't see him doing China, I wonder how much he really wants to stay and fight! He's closed a lot of clubs off with that statement.

jayo26

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

Headshot

Someone loves their money

Cotts72

Chinese window is shut,states makes the most sense especially with his wife's career

Would fans be happy with Fonte? I honestly haven't seen enough of him to form an opinion yet age and experience would no doubt be vital alongside Bailly and even smalling

As for Fabinho I'd be surprised if there was truth in it

Lovely Bloke

Headshot wrote: »

Someone loves their money

complete bollox, he has a contract he's entitled to see it out.

just because the new manager decides he's no longer required doesn't mean he should be subjected to some draconian employment practices.

The man is being very professional, not creating fake drama and fulfilling his obligations to his contract and the club.

football fans are very weird when it comes to situations like this.

bangkok

Bastian seems happy enough to train and pick up his massive wages

Pro. F

jayo26 wrote: »

1 Dont take this as me been smart and I mean in general but give me a few examples of blind causing us to drop points or even resulting in goals conceding because he missed a header?

2 If blind is such a terrible center back in a partnership that conceded so few goals last season well I'll take that all day long.

3 Out of the first 3 games this season we have including the charity shield we have concede 2 goals and both were etional efforts they were not from sloppy defending from our centerbacks.

4 Any partnership in defence is down to knowing each others strenght and weakness bailly or Smalling are in position to deal with headers and blind is in a position to deal with one on one tackles or start counter attacks.

1 No, I don't think you're being smart. Two goals conceded from Payet frees in the 3-2 loss to West Ham at the end of last season. Both of them could have been defended with a brave header from Blind, but that is not his game.

And just looking for examples of goals where Daily missed a header is missing the point. You need to look at all the times he didn't even try to go for the header; look at all the times he could have prevented a corner, or relieved pressure with a header but didn't, because he didn't even try because he's so weak in the air; look at the marking assignments he's given on set pieces; look at Smalling having to try to move out of position to cover for Blind because he knows he won't do it himself.

Being a good CB is about a lot more than just not making obvious mistakes. Good CBs dominate their area when the ball comes near them in the air, Blind tries to leave that to others.

2 That's odd logic to me. I'd like to see the team look to improve when there is a position with an obvious weakness. And our defence had some serious problems last season.

3 Sample size.

4 You are just ignoring the counter argument I gave you. Here it is again:

The idea that a CB can just have a specialised job where they don't need to be strong in the air is completely wrong. How can Smalling or Bailly, or whoever, win all the headers that need to be won accross the width of the two CB channels? What happens when there's a ball in the air to be won, but it's 10 yards away from where Smalling/Bailly is, in Blind's area? Do they try to swap positions in advance of the ball arriving? That doesn't work and would drag the defence completely out of shape if they tried.

Lord TSC

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

complete bollox, he has a contract he's entitled to see it out.

just because the new manager decides he's no longer required doesn't mean he should be subjected to some draconian employment practices.

The man is being very professional, not creating fake drama and fulfilling his obligations to his contract and the club.

football fans are very weird when it comes to situations like this.

Not disagreeing about the fact he's entitled to his contract, but he seemingly wants to make this a very public dispute, starting with getting his friends in Germany to give out about United, and now posting constantly online before matches.

For me, "very professional" would be accepting that a new manager has come in and has no plans for him; at that point, either shut up and take your money, or shut up and go to another team. But when you decide to take the issue into the public medium, then professionalism starts to take a hit.

The reality is though that when a manager says "You're not in the first team plans", and you say "Fine, I'll just collect a paycheque in the u21s", don't expect much support from fans.

Pro. F

Headshot wrote: »

Id be quite annoyed a pissed if Darmian goes.

Im still convinced he should be starting instead of Val.

Val may have put in some good performances but against the big teams, he will be a liability I reckon

If Jose thinks he can train Valencia to the position, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Valencia has all the physical attributes and seems like a tough fella, so it wouldn't be a big surprise if a great defensive coach like Jose could convert him.

But I do hope Darmian stays around and gets to show his Torino form again, maybe even just as cover for both fullbacks.

v3ttel

Loves his money? Happy to pick up his wages?

Are people thinking that the clubs he's been linked with (AC Milan, Inter) wouldn't pay him?

He's never publicly said or done anything negative against the club. Statements like United being the only team he'd have left Bayern for are actually a positive reflection on the club, despite him being treated poorly. He is good enough to be in the first team squad. He still seems to be attending the games and showing support for the club. He could easily have come out and said "well, yer all a pack of bastards".

I hope (even though it's highly unlikely), that he can feature at some stage this season. The man is a legend and deserves more than training with the reserves.

raze_them_all_

Jesus, Bastian has been treated poorly by the club, he has not complained once, and people are complaining about him?>?

jaykay74

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Jesus, Bastian has been treated poorly by the club

In what sense ? Is there an obligation on the new manager to pick him for his 25 (?) man squad for the season ? Or is there something else the club has done poorly?

raze_them_all_

jaykay74 wrote: »

In what sense ? Is there an obligation on the new manager to pick him for his 25 (?) man squad for the season ? Or is there something else the club has done poorly?

How many world cup winning players can you think of get relegated to training with reserves?

jaykay74

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

How many world cup winning players can you think of get relegated to training with reserves?

So the new manager is obligated to plan with him then ?

Cantona's Collars

So much cringe:

https://twitter.com/DaveMUFC16/status/768381188784390144

The_Kew_Tour

Headshot wrote: »

Someone loves their money

Who's doesn't!

Mitch Connor

jaykay74 wrote: »

So the new manager is obligated to plan with him then ?

he should be given a fair shot at keeping a senior squad spot, which it doesn't appear (from the outside) that he has been - imo.

jaykay74

Mitch Connor wrote: »

he should be given a fair shot at keeping a senior squad spot, which it doesn't appear (from the outside) that he has been - imo.

If a manager doesn't fancy a player I don't see why he should be obliged to give him a shot. He is entitled to see out his contract obviously if he wants to stay.

Cookie_Dough

Obviously we don't know the reasons why José doesn't want Bastian but he's been nothing but professional, he hasn't been bitching like Valdes was or sending passive aggressive tweets etc like Valdes's wife was when he had been relegated to training with the reserves and exiled by Mourinho like Valdes was under Van Gaal.

Was at the game on Friday and while everyone was waiting around at the teams buses Bastian walked by and stopped to sign autographs for a lot of people. Carrick also walked by and just kept his head down and didn't look twice at anybody.

Schweinsteiger didn't even have to show up at the game let alone stop to acknowledge the fans. He could just be sitting at home on his ass picking up a wage but he does seem to be interested in the club and how the team are doing. I'm sure there's a lot of teams that would take him.

Mitch Connor

jaykay74 wrote: »

If a manager doesn't fancy a player I don't see why he should be obliged to give him a shot. He is entitled to see out his contract obviously if he wants to stay.

From the outside (and it is the only perspective we can speak from) I don't get how Mourinho could form any opinion on him given he banished him to the reserves first day back. Are you ok with Mourinho forming such final opinions before even working with the players at the club?

Seemingly he is keen to sell Rojo, so obviously not a player he is keen on - but he hasn't been banished to the reserves - so why has Schweinsteiger been treated differently?

eagle eye

Just reading the last couple of pages and two things I have to say.

Firstly the Smalling/Blind situation. Personally I don't rate Smalling as highly as some people. He is a good centre back but no more than that for me. He makes mistakes and Blind covered for him a few times when I watched them last season.

Bailly looks top notch and I think you want a football playing CB beside him and Blind certainly fits that mould. Blind looks every bit as good at CB as Mascherano does for Barca and that's saying something.

On the Schweinsteiger thing. I cannot believe that he is not even getting a chance at United. I'd have thought that he would be the perfect replacement(at the very least) for Pogba when he is rested or you want to take him off early in a game.

I honestly don't understand why Mourinho has decided he is not worth a place in the squad but that Rooney is. I was a huge fan of Wayne Rooney for years but imo he has gone past his sell by date and is only holding back that team. What happens when Mkhitaryan is fully fit? Does Rooney lose out and Martial go into the middle behind Ibra? I don't think Martial should lose out there anyways.

Minderbinder

Is Schweinsteiger a lot more active on social media since he was put in the reserves or are his messages just being highlighted more?

In any case I think people would be very naive to think Bastian was not encouraging half of Germany to speak out against Mourinho a few weeks ago.

Lord TSC

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Seemingly he is keen to sell Rojo, so obviously not a player he is keen on - but he hasn't been banished to the reserves - so why has Schweinsteiger been treated differently?

With Rojo, during pre-season, we were short on defenders; with Jones and Smalling unavailable, and with a lack of depth at left back, Rojo playing was a necessity. Midfield, however, is kind of packed; Herrera, Fellaini, Carrick, Schnederlin and kids, along now with Pogba added to the fold. A midfielder was always going to get shifted on.

Jose, presumably, felt that, based on the reports he had and the contribution that Schwi had offered at United the year before, Schwi was the one who would get no time. At his age and wages, there's no point having him sitting on the bench as a 6th choice midfielder, especially when the fans are crying out for youth development and all that. And its not that Jose started two months ago blind to the situation; by most accounts, he was working on plans for the squad since he was fired from Chelsea.

Rojo is probably our second choice left back at the moment, and while we'd be open to selling him, I think he'll get games if we keep him. Schwi won't get a second of game time, even in the secondary matches.

Mitch Connor

Minderbinder wrote: »

Is Schweinsteiger a lot more active on social media since he was put in the reserves or are his messages just being highlighted more?

In any case I think people would be very naive to think Bastian was not encouraging half of Germany to speak out against Mourinho a few weeks ago.

he has been very active from the moment he signed for United - i don't think there is a change there.

His statement today does leave a sour taste in my mouth - not a fan of playing off the fans like that.