Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

sky88 · 03-01-2017 4:37pm

If morgan and basti are let go this window and if he doesnt think blind suits the role we have 4 center midfielders carrick, ander, pogs and fellani. then mata and rooney if he changes the system back to 4231 as no10s or rooney back in midfield:(

Would think one cm is needed for cover at least.

StringerBell · 03-01-2017 4:49pm

It is possible Lindelof is being brought in to cover both the cb and dm positions

Rayne Wooney · 03-01-2017 4:55pm

TheDoc wrote: »

And in this instance, he did not. Was a terrible decision.

I got aggravated when the whistle went because I thought a)Jones had busted himself again and b)Jones got a foul given from him, cause it looked like he lunged more so then the West Ham player.

It was a terrible decision, I don't know why you are defending it.

If he didn't give a red card it would have been sheer luck him getting it correct, he made the decision on the angle he saw it from and gave a red.

Lukker- · 03-01-2017 5:06pm

StringerBell wrote: »

Been banging the drum about him for years at this stage, always been a big admirer as anybody who has seen me post over the years could tell you I guess. Think his potential for the role is huge and would love him at United.

He is appreciated there by Zidane for sure, he understands. But much in the same way as Madrid were actually happy to let Makelele go they will never appreciate a player like Casemiro properly, they will never be too concerned about letting him go or giving him the praise he would ever deserve.

The role he plays also will not garner huge attention in Spain but I think he would be gaining plenty of plaudits from the English media if he was playing here.

In short, he is overlooked by Spanish media and Madrid fans/board more then likely, but who cares really?Especially if it made him a more attainable in the future

The fact that he's so admired by Zidane mean he'll never be let go as long as Zidane is there imo. Zidane was the only Madrid player to speak up when Makelele left and said it was a terrible mistake. Kroos and Modric are the absolute hearbeat of the current Madrid team and are in my eyes the 2 most important players for the style they try and play.

yabadabado · 03-01-2017 5:33pm

Lukker- wrote: »

The fact that he's so admired by Zidane mean he'll never be let go as long as Zidane is there imo. Zidane was the only Madrid player to speak up when Makelele left and said it was a terrible mistake. Kroos and Modric are the absolute hearbeat of the current Madrid team and are in my eyes the 2 most important players for the style they try and play.

and that is the main problem,they could turf him out at the drop of a hat.

Jayop · 03-01-2017 5:38pm

As it stands today....

Chelsea P19 GD29 P49
Liverpool P20 GD25 P44
City P20 GD19 P42
Arsenal P19 GD22 P40
Spurs P19 GD23 P39
United P20 GD12 P39

Assuming that Chelsea win tomorrow or it's a draw then we'll either be 1 behind Spurs.
You'd have to assume that Bournemouth would suit Arsenal and they'll get all three points.

I reckon we'll go into GW 21 like this...

Chelsea P20 P52
Liverpool P20 P44
Arsenal P20 P43
City P20 P42
Spurs P20 P39
United P20 P39

Now to go on from there, just taking a leap of faith that we win all our games for the rest of the month and that our top 4 opponents beat everyone outside of the top 6 then I reckon....

14-15 January 2017
Spurs v West Brom
Swansea v Arsenal
Leicester v Chelsea
Everton v Man City
Man Utd v Liverpool

21-22 January 2017
Liverpool v Swansea
Stoke v Man Utd
Man City v Spurs
Arsenal v Burnley
Chelsea v Hull

31 Jan - 1 Feb 2017
Arsenal v Watford
Sunderland v Spurs
Liverpool v Chelsea
West Ham v Man City
Man Utd v Hull

Give Spurs and City a draw
Give Liverpool and Chelsea a draw

Chelsea P23 P59
Arsenal P23 P52
Liverpool P23 P48
City P23 P48
United P23 P48
Spurs P23 P46

That's all plausible and would leave us level on Points with the teams from 3rd to 5th. I think bar Arsenal we have the easiest run (Liverpool aside) and we should pick up the 6 other points.

Some of the other games look like banana skins. City away to Everton and West Ham, Chelsea away to Leicester.

Amazingly though we could go on a run of 9 league wins and still only go up one league position.

(Nb. All of the above is subject to wild assumptions and my propensity to make mistakes)

xtal191 · 03-01-2017 5:47pm

I'll have Veratti and Kroos please

Jayop · 03-01-2017 5:52pm

I also always find a really useful tool for judging where you are in relation to a lot of teams above you is to look at the combined points difference between you and everyone above you.

GW 10
League Position = 8th
Points difference above us = 39

GW 15
League Position = 6th
Points difference above us = 39

GW 20 (again assuming Chelsea or Spurs win and Arsenal get 3 points. If the Spurs/Chelsea game is a draw then remove one point from the difference)
League Position = 6th
Points difference above us = 25

So we've caught up a total of 14 points on the 5 teams above us in the last 5 games.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 6:01pm

Lord TSC wrote: »

Must be frustrating when a ref seems biased and your team gets hard done by.

Swings and roundabouts and all that....

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 6:03pm

Ps the name of the Man U fan that died at the match yesterday was Ronnie Greenwood. RIP

Jayop · 03-01-2017 6:07pm

Vic I can assure you that Lord TSC has no reservations in carding United fans if they break the charter. About half my infractions have come in the football forum and the majority of them from Lord. I was posting about Klopp in the Liverpool match thread and edited my post immediately because I had called him a name and knew I'd get a card if I left it up. Them's the breaks man.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 6:10pm

Jayop wrote: »

Vic I can assure you that Lord TSC has no reservations in carding United fans if they break the charter. About half my infractions have come in the football forum and the majority of them from Lord. I was posting about Klopp in the Liverpool match thread and edited my post immediately because I had called him a name and knew I'd get a card if I left it up. Them's the breaks man.

Fair enough and no malice intended lord tsc

yabadabado · 03-01-2017 6:21pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

a pathetic accusation to be throwing around.

Lukker- · 03-01-2017 6:23pm

yabadabado wrote: »

and that is the main problem,they could turf him out at the drop of a hat.

Absolutely. But for the first time in a long time I believe Madrid who not only is adored by the fans, but has loyal supporters on the board too and their form is fantastic, he won the CL in his first year. Honestly I think he'll be like Guardiola for them, I can see him there another 3 years.

Your Airbag · 03-01-2017 6:24pm

Personally I think its madness that the MF has still never been sorted out and we are still discussing it. This has been a conversation going back to the Fergie days and not finding a replacement for Scholes and even dating back to not replacing Hargreaves when he got injured.

Multiple flops, Ando, Cleverly forced us to play Giggs in MF and an aging Carrick was not seen as exactly a good solution.

This all probably dates back to 2011. Some might even argue that Keane's departure in 2005 was the beginning. It should have been sorted long ago.

yabadabado · 03-01-2017 6:30pm

Your Airbag wrote: »

Personally I think its madness that the MF has still never been sorted out and we are still discussing it. This has been a conversation going back to the Fergie days and not finding a replacement for Scholes and even dating back to not replacing Hargreaves when he got injured.

Multiple flops, Ando, Cleverly forced us to play Giggs in MF and an aging Carrick was not seen as exactly a good solution.

This all probably dates back to 2011. Some might even argue that Keane's departure in 2005 was the beginning. It should have been sorted long ago.

MS and BS have no future at the club and Carrick is 35.United probably need to get 3 midfielders in over the next 2 transfer windows.
TFM may get an opportunity but is totally unproven,possibly needs a good loan move first.
I would like to see a CM bought this month.No idea who but an injury to Pogba,AH or Carrick and its threadbare.

Flint Fredstone · 03-01-2017 6:31pm

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

If he didn't give a red card it would have been sheer luck him getting it correct, he made the decision on the angle he saw it from and gave a red.

If you leave the ground and lunge in, you're leaving yourself in the hands of the referee's view.
That tackle could have looked quite bad from where Dean was and the reaction from Jones.

Wrong decision from the referee bit also a bad decision from Feghouli.

Flint Fredstone · 03-01-2017 6:33pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

What do you find unbelievable about that post? Is the pic Photoshopped or something?

03-01-2017 6:34pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

You should know. One post last night you're agreeing and stating that you "couldn't have said it better myself" when another poster throws the toys out of the pram at the "delusional, blinkered, out of touch" United fans of Boards. Next post, you're tripping over yourself to tell us about the unfortunate fan who passed away at the game yesterday, and you've been doing it across multiple threads now.

Slating United fans on Boards, to sadness about this departed fan, to butt-hurt about getting an infraction for something we all know we'll get punished for in the soccer forum, more butt-hurt about United not getting decisions against them, back to sadness for the departed fan. Just speaking for myself, you can piss off with your faux-sadness for the departed "fellow football fan".

deaddonkey15 · 03-01-2017 6:39pm

Lord TSC wrote: »

Must be frustrating when a ref seems biased and your team gets hard done by.

Swings and roundabouts and all that....

In the aftermath of Rooney getting kicked in the face, United are denied a clear penalty for a foul on Blind too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stfCWCopz7E

bucketybuck · 03-01-2017 6:42pm

Your Airbag wrote: »

Personally I think its madness that the MF has still never been sorted out and we are still discussing it. This has been a conversation going back to the Fergie days and not finding a replacement for Scholes and even dating back to not replacing Hargreaves when he got injured.

Multiple flops, Ando, Cleverly forced us to play Giggs in MF and an aging Carrick was not seen as exactly a good solution.

This all probably dates back to 2011. Some might even argue that Keane's departure in 2005 was the beginning. It should have been sorted long ago.

Did you mean to post this three years ago? Because it seems to ignore everything that happened recently?

There is a world of difference between our midfield options now and those of just a few years ago, to a large extent the core problems were addressed and the quality has definitely improved greatly from the days of Cleverley and Giggs playing there. We are even at the point where good midfielders like Morgan and Bastian are deemed surplus to requirements, its not long ago that would have been considered unthinkable.

We can continue to improve there but thats a given for any club, and considering we just spent a world record fee on a midfielder I think "madness" is really the wrong word to be using.

IamtheWalrus · 03-01-2017 6:43pm

First time being 6th in the table isn't the end of the world. We're playing good football at long last.

bucketybuck · 03-01-2017 6:44pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post

I for one very much enjoyed your frothing anger displayed in the soccer forum yesterday. It was very amusing.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 6:46pm

stankratz wrote: »

You should know. One post last night you're agreeing and stating that you "couldn't have said it better myself" when another poster throws the toys out of the pram at the "delusional, blinkered, out of touch" United fans of Boards. Next post, you're tripping over yourself to tell us about the unfortunate fan who passed away at the game yesterday, and you've been doing it across multiple threads now.

Slating United fans on Boards, to sadness about this departed fan, to butt-hurt about getting an infraction for something we all know we'll get punished for in the soccer forum, more butt-hurt about United not getting decisions against them, back to sadness for the departed fan. Just speaking for myself, you can piss off with your faux-sadness for the departed "fellow football fan".

Please don't be ridiculous. I assure you it's heartfelt sorrow when a fellow football fan passes away at my teams home ground. There was a club record attendance at our ground yesterday and sadly one supporter died there. Please don't try make out it's sinister as it's not. If a fan passed away at say the Sunderland game yesterday I would not have gone to that thread to say it, it was purely because I had been posting in the various man united/united threads and it happened at our home grounds. That's all.

The_Kew_Tour · 03-01-2017 7:08pm

I just hope we continue to get the " refs are favouring United posts and other arent so lucky"posts as that means we are important more and thats good for us

Jayop · 03-01-2017 7:18pm

The London Stadium,
The London Stadium,
Is never full,
Is never full,
The London Stadium is never full,
Unless they are playing Man United,
The London Stadium is never full!

PhlegmyMoses · 03-01-2017 7:21pm

I've never understood the "United always get the decisions" argument. It's a logical fallacy unless one of two elements are present: inherent bias or corruption. Decades I've been hearing that refs like Webb etc were in our pocket and seen people dismiss bad decisions against United as "about time you got one against you".

If we all agree that referees are fundamentally lacking in bias and aren't corrupt, then surely it tells us that over time, no team benefits more than others over a large enough data set? Sure, over 10 games, you might feel a bit ****ed over , like I have with United at points this season, but over a large enough data set with referees being rational actors, the argument that any team benefits more, or can't complain when they get a bad decision because everything goes for them, becomes a complete nonsense and the ramblings of an idiot.

If you don't agree that referees are fundamentally lacking in bias and that corruption may well be present, then I don't think there's much discussion to be had anyway.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 7:24pm

Jayop wrote: »

The London Stadium,
The London Stadium,
Is never full,
Is never full,
The London Stadium is never full,
Unless they are playing Man United,
The London Stadium is never full!

Well of course not, it's licence is for 57k, it holds 66k. The BOM are doing everything to get the licence increased. That's the factual reason for anyone interested:)

Liam McPoyle · 03-01-2017 7:24pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

Calling anyone an asshole, be it a manager, player, official or other poster will get you carded in the soccer forum, its been like that for years so I dunno why you are so outraged about it.

Trigger · 03-01-2017 7:26pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Unbelievable post (and the penny drops as to why you gave me a yellow yesterday and not a fellow man united supporter)

Anyone can pick moments of madness by players, including those moments by man united on united, by googling.

Such as inside the ankle here

http://cdn.guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diafra-Sakho-957x598.jpg

Or the kick to the side of the face here

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9347410.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/Manchester-United-v-West-Ham-United-Premier-League.jpg

Selective is one word

Jaysus, you were giving a yellow because you

1. Called jose, moaninho or something like that.

and

2. Called Dean an arsehole.

2 clear breaches of the charter in the one post..

Jayop · 03-01-2017 7:29pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Well of course not, it's licence is for 57k, it holds 66k. The BOM are doing everything to get the licence increased. That's the factual reason for anyone interested:)

It's a standard chant sung by (Manchester) United fans. Change "London Stadium" to The Emitates, The Council House, The Bernabeu, The San Siro......

My particular favourite is Elland Road which is always full of sheep unless United are playing apparently.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 7:29pm

Rod Munch wrote: »

Calling anyone an asshole, be it a manager, player, official or other poster will get you carded in the soccer forum, its been like that for years so I dunno why you are so outraged about it.

Yes and I was wrong and mod was right.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 7:29pm

Jayop wrote: »

It's a standard chant sung by (Manchester) United fans. Change "London Stadium" to The Emitates, The Council House, The Bernabeu, The San Siro......

My particular favourite is Elland Road which is always full of sheep unless United are playing apparently.

:P

03-01-2017 7:39pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Please don't be ridiculous. I assure you it's heartfelt sorrow when a fellow football fan passes away at my teams home ground. There was a club record attendance at our ground yesterday and sadly one supporter died there. Please don't try make out it's sinister as it's not. If a fan passed away at say the Sunderland game yesterday I would not have gone to that thread to say it, it was purely because I had been posting in the various man united/united threads and it happened at our home grounds. That's all.

But what if you found out that this person who passed away had an active account on Boards or RedCafe (a Man United fan forum)? All of us in here, despite it sometimes being easier to pretend otherwise - there are real people behind the text on screen. Many of us in here attend United matches, home and away. Maybe this departed fan didn't post on Boards or piss any rival fans off on other internet fora, but maybe he did.

I'm not at all suggesting that you are happy for this fan or anything sinister, just that your posting has been erratic. Therefore I found it hard to accept your heartfelt sorrow for a "fellow football fan" and your "It's only a game, this puts things in perspective" mantra. All the while you were still showing that despite making those wise statements, you were clearly still hurting about aspects of the match and the infraction you received from a United-supporting but very fair mod. If someone dying at a match puts the sport as a whole in perspective and makes you stop to smell the roses, what does it take to put a 'yellow card' on an anonymous internet forum in perspective?

Man United fans on Boards are the worst, RIP to the Man United fan who died in my team's stadium, Man United get all of the decisions, It's only a game, this puts things in perspective, I got an unfair yellow in the match thread yesterday - I'm not saying that none of these are valid or genuine opinions you hold, but all of them thrown out in the manner you have dilutes each one down IMO.

vicwatson · 03-01-2017 7:48pm

The fan Ronnie Greenwood passed away after I received a yellow card and my post referencing his passing had nothing to do with that yellow card. He was a fan of football who passed away at our home ground.

I'm not making anymore comments on this as it's off topic, FYI I've PM'D the mod in question to explain myself directly to them.

03-01-2017 7:56pm

vicwatson wrote: »

The fan Ronnie Greenwood passed away after I received a yellow card and my post referencing his passing had nothing to do with that yellow card. He was a fan of football who passed away at our home ground.

I'm not making anymore comments on this as it's off topic, FYI I've PM'D the mod in question to explain myself directly to them.

Fair enough, we'll leave it at that.

Robson99 · 03-01-2017 7:58pm

TheDoc wrote: »

That can be learned though, at 23, he has A LOT of learning and improving to do. The fact he has consistently banged in the goals, arguably the harder part to teach or learn (and some would argue you can either do it or you can't) I'd say there is still **** tonnes of potential there.

Although I kinda just rule it out now considering Mourinho is our manager.

I'd like to see maybe Martial or Rashford getting more opportunities up front, but clearly they are going to be few or far between.

Also very much depends on how Ibra goes for the second half of the season. Unfortunately when your dealing with players his age, regardless of talent, it can be a quick fall of the cliff as we have seen plenty of times before.

If Ibrahimovic just couldn't hack it next season, is Martial or Rashford ready to lead the line for a team with title ambitions? I'd probably say no.

So I hope we don't blindly walk into a bit of a problem next season(although, that is next seasons problems, I preached early on only a fool writes of Zlatan)

If we are to sign anyone I would go for Grizeman. He can play in any of the front 3 positions and would be able to interchange with Rashford and martial in a front 3
Both martial and Rashford are superior to lukaku and signing him would only hinder Rashford and martial getting a chance up top

keane2097 · 03-01-2017 8:00pm

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

I've never understood the "United always get the decisions" argument. It's a logical fallacy unless one of two elements are present: inherent bias or corruption. Decades I've been hearing that refs like Webb etc were in our pocket and seen people dismiss bad decisions against United as "about time you got one against you".

If we all agree that referees are fundamentally lacking in bias and aren't corrupt, then surely it tells us that over time, no team benefits more than others over a large enough data set? Sure, over 10 games, you might feel a bit ****ed over , like I have with United at points this season, but over a large enough data set with referees being rational actors, the argument that any team benefits more, or can't complain when they get a bad decision because everything goes for them, becomes a complete nonsense and the ramblings of an idiot.

If you don't agree that referees are fundamentally lacking in bias and that corruption may well be present, then I don't think there's much discussion to be had anyway.

Why would you assume refs are lacking in bias? Humans are basically skin wrapped around a melange of biases.

Observer expectancy bias among various others are widely regarded as leading to favouritism towards competitors with bigger reputations in all sports.

Your Airbag · 03-01-2017 8:26pm

bucketybuck wrote: »

Did you mean to post this three years ago? Because it seems to ignore everything that happened recently?

There is a world of difference between our midfield options now and those of just a few years ago, to a large extent the core problems were addressed and the quality has definitely improved greatly from the days of Cleverley and Giggs playing there. We are even at the point where good midfielders like Morgan and Bastian are deemed surplus to requirements, its not long ago that would have been considered unthinkable.

We can continue to improve there but thats a given for any club, and considering we just spent a world record fee on a midfielder I think "madness" is really the wrong word to be using.

Of course our midfield is different, its been years as you say but Carrick is still heavily relied on and next to Pogba our best MF. Fellaini is not a solution, Morgan either and Bastian was took off and was never going to be a solution.

Like the other poster said we still need 3 signings. Our problem are mainly in DMF and finding a defensivley good player who is also creative, right now Carrick is the best we have and that shows the lack of progress.

StringerBell · 03-01-2017 8:44pm

Pogba and Herrera, hell even Fellaini are signs of progress.

Given that the manager is in the job a few months I would be ok with him needing another couple of windows to get the exact midfield he wants for years.

There is absolutely no lack of progress in a midfield, it is not the finished article in terms of having replacements to come in and out maybe, but to say there is a lack of progress is a bit mad.

PhlegmyMoses · 03-01-2017 8:48pm

keane2097 wrote: »

Why would you assume refs are lacking in bias? Humans are basically skin wrapped around a melange of biases.

Observer expectancy bias among various others are widely regarded as leading to favouritism towards competitors with bigger reputations in all sports.

Because it would require 20 different people -whose job it is to implement rules/laws in an impartial way - to have the same bias for the data to make sense. And what would the bias be? Liking big clubs to do well? Good players deserve preferential treatment? Fear of the stadium turning against you? If that's the case, the bias will not only exist for United alone. Observer expectancy bias is largely qualitative and the data is quantitative.

The data for decisions like penalties, red cards for and against etc does not tell us that story when looked at in large enough sample sizes. United are not currently, and have not historically, benefitted more than other big clubs, who are usually the biggest accusers in this particular instance.

Flint Fredstone · 03-01-2017 8:52pm

Can we not just all agree that the referees are sh*te, for every team.

wanderer100 · 03-01-2017 9:02pm

Arsenal 1 nil down

wanderer100 · 03-01-2017 9:05pm

Arsenal 2 nil down

03-01-2017 9:05pm

On topic...

United's recent run of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions is the longest run since Sir Alex was in charge. He last oversaw a strong unbeaten run with 18 games in 2012/13. It was Jose's Real who ended it on the night of Nani's harsh red.

Whether Jose can stretch this run out to 18 or not in this competitive PL season is hard to tell, but at 13 at the moment it is a tremendous run in fairness. Obviously the last 7 wins in all competitions make it so, if the run of draws had have continued we'd be looking at it from a different angle.

Looking at the next few games, Reading at home in the FA Cup is a win on paper, but for whatever reasons, be it the giant-killing history of the competition, maybe I'm still a bit PTSDed from the last 3 seasons and find the current run too good to be true, whatever, I'm not marking it down as a United win until some goals are scored.

Likewise against Hull in the EFL next Tuesday. It's easy to look beyond these matches because we're all eager to get to the next league game and keep that train rolling, but it will be interesting to see how Jose treats these two tournament games coming up. As much as I want to see some underused and/or younger players get minutes, I do want to see the club advance as far as possible in all competitions.

Reading is a must win, we could do without a replay, and therefore I hope Jose fields something resembling a strong, surefire side rather than an experimental one. Hull the following Tuesday, because it's the first of two legs and it's at home, I think that is the game Jose could and should rest some of those surefire players.

Although they got the job done yesterday, some of our own players look like they could do with at least one game's rest. Pogba, Herrera, Ibra, Valencia, guys who have played a lot over the last couple of congested weeks, hopefully they won't play both games before the next league match.