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

eagle eye

I just have to say that my opinion on United's woes are that Pogba doesn't fit into what Mourinho wants to do at the present time.

Something has to give because either you build a team around Pogba or you bench him. He has played deep and not looked up to it. He has played further forward and he doesn't look that great there either and if he plays the attacking midfield role then Mata is being left out of the lineup or out of his best position.

secman

If we could only get a Pirlo to play in middle of the park with Pogba:)

Flint Fredstone

I don't think it has anything to do with the system. Pogba has worked well in games where we have been on top. He's another player that functions well in a side that is functioning well.

He needs the movement around him to let him play his game. For me he's never been a player that will drag you to a result.

The team is bereft of any leadership and that's something that is quite hard to come by in a transfer window.
Rooney is the only real candidate and he's got his own problems, never mind trying to drag performances out of others.

Rayne Wooney

Is there a belief that another system would have us further up the league table?

The players still have to finish chances no matter what system we play and they simply haven't been doing that.

Your Airbag

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Had a read through all of today's posts just now. Some of the posts were excellent but the hack of the posts referring to Mourinho's tactics as being outdated and lying about him putting 10 behind the ball. This is just trite nonsense being recycled from articles written by professional journalists who should know better.

Hopefully Mourinho can get this show on the road soon so that we don't have to listen to the footballing connoisseurs beat on about "but dat pressing game tho" like they actually have a clue what they're talking about.

I agree its mostly hyperbole but after a start this bad its to be expected. After 26 games Jose has had a worse start than LVG and Moyes. We have lost 5 consecutive away european games for the first time in our history, not all Joses fault but he has not improved us at all but rather compounded upon our decline. Given the money spent and players bought in thats really really poor.

I was one of the sceptics when it came to hiring Jose given his previous antics, ego and passive aggresive nature but I didn't think it would be this bad this early and I'm not talking exclusively about the football.

His man mangement has been bizarre, the outing of Bastian and he seems at odds with Miki. People fell over themselves on here to say how Jose was taking a "tough no sh1t stance" with the Bastian decision and sending out a message to the squad and how clever it was that he will be getting a big wage of our books. There was nothing clever about that decision, thinking the Bastian has nothing I mean absoutley nothing to offer the squad was bizarre and smacked of ego tbh. There is absolutley room for Bastian.

Miki's attitude when he came on the other night seemed like a guy who did'nt want to play for his manager and thats not right from the player but who knows how he's being treated by Jose, my guess is he would love to be back at Dortmund.

Fenerbache played through us at will the other which is not the norm at all for a Jose team, it seems like the squad are not willing to wrok for there manager.

I feared Jose's ego would isolate some players and eventually the dressing room would turn on him but I didn't expect to see signs of it theis early.

Jose has gone into his year 3 meltdown right from the start it seems.

One_Of_Shanks

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Had a read through all of today's posts just now. Some of the posts were excellent but the hack of the posts referring to Mourinho's tactics as being outdated and lying about him putting 10 behind the ball. This is just trite nonsense being recycled from articles written by professional journalists who should know better.

Hopefully Mourinho can get this show on the road soon so that we don't have to listen to the footballing connoisseurs beat on about "but dat pressing game tho" like they actually have a clue what they're talking about.

I agree with this. I don't usually post in other teams threads (liverpool fan) but I read other teams threads time to time and admittedly more frequently view this thread when things aren't going so well for yee.

Anyway... For me it's bull-crap that Mourinho is suddenly outdated and equally bull-crap that you suddenly have to play this high press stuff to win games in modern football etc, that's all nonsense.
People see a couple of teams doing the high-press style and doing well out of it and suddenly that's the "modern game" but it's not.
Klopp and Poccetino haven't invented anything new. All they've done is gradually got their team playing in a manner that they're comfortable with.

Mourinho hasn't been at United long enough to get yee playing the way he wants and the way HE is comfortable with (yet).
But you have to give it time.

Against Burnley and Stoke for example, United should have had 3 or 4 in both games but it didn't happen and both keepers had worldies.
If you'd won both games like you should have then you'd have 4 points more and the talk of "whats gone wrong?" doesn't need to happen so much.

Best keeper in the world and the defending is already improving, plus Luke Shaw will get sharper and he's a great defender.
Mourinho always loved a Droga/Costa type battler up front so Ibrahimovic should do that, for another year anyway. And Rashford and Martial are good options to feed off him.
It's the midfield that's the problem imo.
It's poor and Pogba will get all the flack for it just because of his huge fee but it's the lack of balance in midfield that's the real problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fellaini and Rooney are gone next Summer and if yee get the midfield sorted I think Mourinho will have yee back up in the mix.

Anyway...... just an outsiders view.

TheTownie

Utd's record for worst points total after 11 games in the PL is on the line this Sunday.

A draw would see Mourinho equal the record set by LVG (16 points in 2014/15). A loss would see Mourinho set a new record for a second consecutive season (11 points after 11 matches with Chelsea last season).

No pressure lads!

bangkok

sundays team i hope....

---

de gea

---

Fosu-Mensah

---

Smalling

---

Blind

---

Shaw

---

Carrick

---

Lingard

---

Mata

---

Mkhitarayan

---

Martial

---

Rashford

---

Lord TSC

The midfield trio would get savaged....

bangkok

Lord TSC wrote: »

The midfield trio would get savaged....

I think swanseas backline would be savaged with the pace of our attack.

Swansea are crap, absolutely no need for 2 holding midfielders. It's about time we brought the fear back.

Cantona's Collars

The mornings papers all have lists of players to be gotten rid of by Jose.

Other paper talk,apparently Martial's agent is saying Martial is upset that Zlatan got "his" number 9 shirt.

bmcc10

zerks wrote: »

The mornings papers all have lists of players to be gotten rid of by Jose.

Other paper talk,apparently Martial's agent is saying Martial is upset that Zlatan got "his" number 9 shirt.

Boo Hoo, Wish we had players who'd just appreciate getting to wear United jersey none of this precious s***.

sReq | uTeK

bmcc10 wrote: »

Boo Hoo, Wish we had players who'd just appreciate getting to wear United jersey none of this precious s***.

Jesus you'd think being on 80 grand a week you'd be happy with any number from 0 to 100

Flint Fredstone

To be honest, I thought it was absolutely disrespectful to take his shirt number and give it to someone yet to play a game for the club. Especially after the season he just had and the fact that the player it was given to isn't going to be around very long.

He should be well over it by now but it's understandable to me that he was pissed over something like that.

fergiesfolly

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

To be honest, I thought it was absolutely disrespectful to take his shirt number and give it to someone yet to play a game for the club. Especially after the season he just had and the fact that the player it was given to isn't going to be around very long.

He should be well over it by now but it's understandable to me that he was pissed over something like that.

This is exactly how I felt.
Came in as a young fella, for a huge fee, under a lot of pressure to perform and did so.
His reward was to have his jersey stripped off his back.
It showed slack of respect towards him and is, I believe, one if the reasons for his fall off in form.

If Martial should be grateful to don any Man Utd jersey, so should Zlatan.

Hococop

fergiesfolly wrote: »

This is exactly how I felt.
Came in as a young fella, for a huge fee, under a lot of pressure to perform and did so.
His reward was to have his jersey stripped off his back.
It showed slack of respect towards him and is, I believe, one if the reasons for his fall off in form.

If Martial should be grateful to don any Man Utd jersey, so should Zlatan.

I'd say his fall in form is his ex talking **** about him all the time

Nalz

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Jesus you'd think being on 80 grand a week you'd be happy with any number from 0 to 100

No way. Imagine wearing 13.... Or even worse 41.


41

Forty one!!!

Yuk

Liam McPoyle

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

I agree with this. I don't usually post in other teams threads (liverpool fan) but I read other teams threads time to time and admittedly more frequently view this thread when things aren't going so well for yee.

Anyway... For me it's bull-crap that Mourinho is suddenly outdated and equally bull-crap that you suddenly have to play this high press stuff to win games in modern football etc, that's all nonsense.
People see a couple of teams doing the high-press style and doing well out of it and suddenly that's the "modern game" but it's not.
Klopp and Poccetino haven't invented anything new. All they've done is gradually got their team playing in a manner that they're comfortable with.

Mourinho hasn't been at United long enough to get yee playing the way he wants and the way HE is comfortable with (yet).
But you have to give it time.

Against Burnley and Stoke for example, United should have had 3 or 4 in both games but it didn't happen and both keepers had worldies.
If you'd won both games like you should have then you'd have 4 points more and the talk of "whats gone wrong?" doesn't need to happen so much.

Best keeper in the world and the defending is already improving, plus Luke Shaw will get sharper and he's a great defender.
Mourinho always loved a Droga/Costa type battler up front so Ibrahimovic should do that, for another year anyway. And Rashford and Martial are good options to feed off him.
It's the midfield that's the problem imo.
It's poor and Pogba will get all the flack for it just because of his huge fee but it's the lack of balance in midfield that's the real problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fellaini and Rooney are gone next Summer and if yee get the midfield sorted I think Mourinho will have yee back up in the mix.

Anyway...... just an outsiders view.

Can't argue with most of that though personally speaking I wouldn't mind keeping Fellaini as a utility player.

We all know he isn't of the required standard for a regular starting place in a team with title ambitions but he is good back up to have.

What he lacks in technical ability he more than makes up for in professionalism. He has been a target of abuse since he joined but not once did he piss and moan about the fans giving him grief, about being dropped etc. He is like Herrara in that he looks genuinely happy to be at the club.

Plus he winds up opposition fans no end and that's always nice.

:pac:

eagle eye

bangkok wrote: »

sundays team i hope....

---

de gea

---

Fosu-Mensah

---

Smalling

---

Blind

---

Shaw

---

Carrick

---

Lingard

---

Mata

---

Mkhitarayan

---

Martial

---

Rashford

---

bangkok wrote: »

I think swanseas backline would be savaged with the pace of our attack.

Swansea are crap, absolutely no need for 2 holding midfielders. It's about time we brought the fear back.

I remember it was Christmas 2011/12 I think and United were at home to struggling Blackburn, the team I follow sadly, and I seen the United lineup and immediately wondered to myself what Ferguson was at. Rovers were 22/1 to win that day and I jumped on it because as bad as we were the United team was leaving us to control midfield.

Both teams had a lot of injuries that day but United started with Park, Valencia, Nani, Berbatov, Chicarito and Wellbeck as the non-defenders. Carrick started at centre-half.

The team that is suggested in the first post and agreed with in the second post will get destroyed by Sunderland who are bottom and by any team above them. You have to control midfield to win games and you won't control it with that lineup.

Rayne Wooney

Squawka say we have created more chances than City yet they've scored 11 goals more.

TheTownie

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Squawka say we have created more chances than City yet they've scored 11 goals more.

Makes sense. If Ibra alone had taken his chances it would nearly cut the difference in half.

edgecutter

Your Airbag wrote: »

I agree its mostly hyperbole but after a start this bad its to be expected. After 26 games Jose has had a worse start than LVG and Moyes. We have lost 5 consecutive away european games for the first time in our history, not all Joses fault but he has not improved us at all but rather compounded upon our decline. Given the money spent and players bought in thats really really poor.

I was one of the sceptics when it came to hiring Jose given his previous antics, ego and passive aggresive nature but I didn't think it would be this bad this early and I'm not talking exclusively about the football.

His man mangement has been bizarre, the outing of Bastian and he seems at odds with Miki. People fell over themselves on here to say how Jose was taking a "tough no sh1t stance" with the Bastian decision and sending out a message to the squad and how clever it was that he will be getting a big wage of our books. There was nothing clever about that decision, thinking the Bastian has nothing I mean absoutley nothing to offer the squad was bizarre and smacked of ego tbh. There is absolutley room for Bastian.

Miki's attitude when he came on the other night seemed like a guy who did'nt want to play for his manager and thats not right from the player but who knows how he's being treated by Jose, my guess is he would love to be back at Dortmund.

Fenerbache played through us at will the other which is not the norm at all for a Jose team, it seems like the squad are not willing to wrok for there manager.

I feared Jose's ego would isolate some players and eventually the dressing room would turn on him but I didn't expect to see signs of it theis early.

Jose has gone into his year 3 meltdown right from the start it seems.

We need to stand by the manager. If the players are downing tools because they don't 'like' another manager, then what does it say about the players we have.

A lot of the players wanted LVG out, even De Gea was set to leave if he stayed. The club is really toxic at the moment.

Liam McPoyle

edgecutter wrote: »

The club is really toxic at the moment.

It really is.

There are problems there that run a helluva lot deeper than Jose Mourinho.

dave_o_brien

edgecutter wrote: »

We need to stand by the manager. If the players are downing tools because they don't 'like' another manager, then what does it say about the players we have.

A lot of the players wanted LVG out, even De Gea was set to leave if he stayed. The club is really toxic at the moment.

By the same logic, one could argue we need to stand by the players. If another manager under performs because he doesn't 'like' the squad, what does that say aboyt the managers we're getting?

Of course, both arguments are bull. We support the club, not the players or the manager. They are all suppised to be representatives of United. I never supported Jose's appointment, and have been unsurprised by his antics to date because I never believed that he was a good representative of United. But it is way too early to say he can't turn that around. The season so far has been a few strokes of luck away from being very satisfactory. Poor performances, like Thursday, will happen once in a while. We learn from them and move on. So far this season, every poor performance has been followed by a convincing one, and I have no reason to believe this'll be any different.

I'm not happy Jose's the manager (nor will I be if we win stuff with him at the helm, an outcome I believe likely), but I support United and won't let a bit of impatience from the media cause me to panic.

bangkok

eagle eye wrote: »

I remember it was Christmas 2011/12 I think and United were at home to struggling Blackburn, the team I follow sadly, and I seen the United lineup and immediately wondered to myself what Ferguson was at. Rovers were 22/1 to win that day and I jumped on it because as bad as we were the United team was leaving us to control midfield.

Both teams had a lot of injuries that day but United started with Park, Valencia, Nani, Berbatov, Chicarito and Wellbeck as the non-defenders. Carrick started at centre-half.

The team that is suggested in the first post and agreed with in the second post will get destroyed by Sunderland who are bottom and by any team above them. You have to control midfield to win games and you won't control it with that lineup.

nonsense, carrick would control that midfield....

you pick one result from years ago to prove your point when sometimes the very same midfield went out and hammered teams.

when we beat arsenal 8-2 for example our team was

---

de gea

---

jones

---

smalling

---

evans

---

evra



Nani

---

Anderson

---

cleverly

---

Young

---

rooney

---

welbeck

---

secman

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

It really is.

There are problems there that run a helluva lot deeper than Jose Mourinho.

The club is toxic you say and the solution is to get in a toxic manager ! Sound policy that ?
There is the makings of a good side in the squad, Mourinho up to the task ?

Rayne Wooney

If we had Aguero we would be top of the league

Hococop

I always said pep is a busted flush, que me jinxing it

Flint Fredstone

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

If we had Aguero we would be top of the league

I can't wait until Rooney goes and we are in the market for a top striker unless Martial or Rashford takes up the mantle.

RobertKK

Moyes gets his first PL win since his time at United.

TheDoc

Oh City

Can't wait for us to draw now tomorrow

Lord TSC

This is where Stoke and Burnley sting. Win them and we are going into tomorrow five behind top with the game to play

jayo26

TheDoc wrote: »

Oh City

Can't wait for us to draw now tomorrow

Tomorrow is our day I can feel it.

jayo26

Lord TSC wrote: »

This is where Stoke and Burnley sting. Win them and we are going into tomorrow five behind top with the game to play

Its also why no point in panicking about things until January or February few results go our way and pick up some scoring form sure won't be far off.

limnam

Press no good against 4th from bottom. Pressing outdated now surely.

bangkok

they always say you can't win a title in november or december but you can certainly lose it. 3 points is a MUST for us tomorrow, anything else and you can forget about winning the league

Stoke demolished Swansea on Monday night they beat them 3-1 hit the post 3 times (if I rememeber correctly)

Quandary

bangkok wrote: »

they always say you can't win a title in november or december but you can certainly lose it. 3 points is a MUST for us tomorrow, anything else and you can forget about winning the league

To be honest I think winning the league is beyond us this season. By the time Jose gets this team playing to their potential we will be too far off the pace to make up the difference.

The only way I could see us win the league this year is if all the other contenders start imploding and we figure out how to be ruthless and win some games.

bangkok

Quandary wrote: »

To be honest I think winning the league is beyond us this season. By the time Jose gets this team playing to their potential we will be too far off the pace to make up the difference.

The only way I could see us win the league this year is if all the other contenders start imploding and we figure out how to be ruthless and win some games.

yea cant see us winning it either but wouldnt totally write us off just yet.

i think it will be that close this year at the top that we could actually just miss out on top 4 as well

Robson99

http://www.theunitedpages.com/why-firemanmou/
Interesting read

Quandary

Robson99 wrote: »

http://www.theunitedpages.com/why-firemanmou/
Interesting read

The article is fairly heavily biased in favour of Mourinho but a lot of it does make sense out of what is happening at the club. I would tend to be in agreement that Mourinho should continue to be given full support even if things are looking ugly in the short term. The club have made a balls of post Fergie Utd up until now. I think Mourinho will get it right once he's given the time to do it.

Hopefully he can clear out all the dead weight and negative influences over the next two transfer windows.

bangkok

who was it said they weren't worried about chelsea getting a top 4 position?!

jayo26

bangkok wrote: »

who was it said they weren't worried about chelsea getting a top 4 position?!

Who was the poster that always looks to score points but disapeers anytime he is wrong......

Jayop

bangkok wrote: »

who was it said they weren't worried about chelsea getting a top 4 position?!

I didn't think they would. Still. Might not.

How Soon Is Now

Lol seriously how the **** are United getting near top 4 this season....

glued

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Lol seriously how the **** are United getting near top 4 this season....

Yeah it looks unlikely as the team is still massively unsettled at this stage. We're not even a third of the way through the season but it all looks a bit pear shaped at the minute. There is still plenty of time to turn it around but we have more question marks than answers from the season so far. I'd like Mourinho to stop ****ing around and start settling on a first XI.

Robson99

Quandary wrote: »

Hopefully he can clear out all the dead weight and negative influences over the next two transfer windows.

If its true and its not the first time the finger is being pointed at Rooney then he should be fukd out the door in January.
It also seems that a lot of what Scholes said the other night is true... that Mourhino will need 2 or 3 transfer Windows to build his team and get rid of rubbish and those past it

Kerrydude1981

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Lol seriously how the **** are United getting near top 4 this season....

The mountain is getting higher

Chelsea have really turned things around in a big way,after the hammering Arsenal gave them that was a real eye opener for Conte

Chelsea wont be far off winning the title.

How Soon Is Now

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

The mountain is getting higher

Chelsea have really turned things around in a big way,after the hammering Arsenal gave them that was a real eye opener for Conte

Chelsea wont be far off winning the title.

Thats the worrying thing you have city who will be there and abouts for 1st place Chelsea now in some serious serious form and very much so title contenders. Then you have Arsenal also in great form and obviously the big if IF they can keep it going will be up there to. Thats not even including Liverpool and Spurs.

Where do United come into all of this....

bangkok

jayo26 wrote: »

Who was the poster that always looks to score points but disapeers anytime he is wrong......

When have I ever disappeared when I was wrong about something and what have I been wrong of?