Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

Trigger

jaykay74 wrote: »

Liverpool might have dropped points tonight but they played well and have a lot of free time in the weeks ahead. I had hoped their freefall was terminal but I think they'll turn it around and go on a run of wins.

I disagree there, it was all huff and puff and no penetration. I thought they were incredibly lucky with the goal too. Moses was way out of position, too slow to react to the long ball in by Henderson and then headed Milners long ball straight to wijnaldum for him to hoof it with his head into the net.

yabadabado

jaykay74 wrote: »

Liverpool might have dropped points tonight but they played well and have a lot of free time in the weeks ahead. I had hoped their freefall was terminal but I think they'll turn it around and go on a run of wins.

They were OK nothing more.Chelsea were happy enough to to let them have the ball but they did very little with it.

Jayop

niallo27 wrote: »

Good night for utd in fairness. Should bring them right back into the mix tommorrow night.

Need to play better than we did last week against Hull. The big win at the weekend albeit against a championship team should have blown off the cobwebs.

No-one from 2/6 is safe for a CL spot. Mad season in that regard even if the league looks like a procession at this stage.

niallo27

niallo27 wrote: »

Good night for utd in fairness. Should bring them right back into the mix tommorrow night.

You argued against me when I said the exact same thing in the match thread. Why the sudden change of thought?
Annoying to be honest

S.M.B.

I'd love to see us put in a decent performance tomorrow, control the game from start to finish, take a few chances leading to a comfortable win while at the same time improving our ****e GD.

Unfortunately based on our recent and not so recent form, none of those are a given and I genuinely can't remember ticking all those boxes in any game this season.

niallo27

M!Ck^ wrote: »

You argued against me when I said the exact same thing in the match thread. Why the sudden change of thought?
Annoying to be honest

I was probably wound up. Apologies.

Kerrydude1981

S.M.B. wrote: »

I'd love to see us put in a decent performance tomorrow, control the game from start to finish, take a few chances leading to a comfortable win while at the same time improving our ****e GD.

Unfortunately based on our recent and not so recent form, none of those are a given and I genuinely can't remember ticking all those boxes in any game this season.

If there is a time for the lads to start taking their chances then tomorrow night is that night

Need to be ruthless in front of goals

Early goal badly needed

adox

If we can't beat Hull at home we may throw our hat at it. I think we will win comfortably.

Top 4 finish and a cup win and I'd be happy. Don't see a top two finish as mooted earlier.

niallo27

adox wrote: »

If we can't beat Hull at home we throw our hat it it. I think we will win comfortably.

Top 4 finish and a cup win and I'd be happy. Don't see a top two finish as mooted earlier.

Well If you make top 4 you won't be too far off second. It's going be very close. Everyone being Chelsea will drop Points.

GSPfan

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

yabadabado

GSPfan wrote: »

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

I was wondering the same earlier it showed him basically goading the 4th official after the penalty save.

It made no real odds just very inconsistent when you consider what some managers get pulled up on.

Robson99

GSPfan wrote: »

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

He lets himself down a lot of the time, if that was Murhino the press would gave a field day

Trigger

GSPfan wrote: »

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

The video on twitter shows him a hell of a lot closer than 6 inches.. he was in shifting territory!

Special mention for Agent Moyes.

Sunderland's last point before tonight's game was against Liverpool, the last Top 6 team Sunderland played in the league before Spurs. Having beaten West Ham in our own match that day, January 2nd, we gained 2 points on a rival.

If United beat Hull tomorrow, after Sunderland drawing with Spurs tonight that will be 4 points Moyes has indirectly nabbed us against rivals.

Hopefully he has enough time to concoct a plan to pay us back another 2 points against City on March 5th, Sunderland's next game against a Top 6 team.

In all seriousness though, he could be gone by then. Sunderland have had horrendous results in their last 3 games before Spurs against mid-table opposition. That said, the point lifts them up off the bottom of the table, by goal difference, over Hull.

Hopefully that won't be changing tomorrow night.

adox

niallo27 wrote: »

Well If you make top 4 you won't be too far off second. It's going be very close. Everyone being Chelsea will drop Points.

I don't think the top 5 without Chelsea will be so tight points wise come the end of the season.

StringerBell

Costa with the worst penalty I have seen in ages, today at least. ****ing bottler.

GSPfan

GSPfan wrote: »

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

Heartensleeven, or more accurately - Leidenschaftlich. Seriously, look it up if you like :pac:

niallo27

adox wrote: »

I don't think the top 5 without Chelsea will be so tight points wise come the end of the season.

Really who do you see pulling away as I see all the teams having results like against Watford Swansea Sunderland and Stoke lately. Maybe city might go on a run but I don't see any of the other pulling away.

StringerBell

niallo27 wrote: »

Good night for utd in fairness. Should bring them right back into the mix tommorrow night.

Have you not seen what this United team do when opportunity presents itself?

GSPfan

stankratz wrote: »

Heartensleeven, or more accurately - Leidenschaftlich. Seriously, look it up if you like :pac:

Ive only just learned a new trick after having an iphone for 5 years. Hold down on the word for a second and the options will appear. One option is to "look up" the word. Very handy.

It was Passionate.

StringerBell

StringerBell wrote: »

Have you not seen what this United team do when opportunity presents itself?

Maybe in the few seasons before, definitely last season. This United team isn't just as bad. Recency bias with the draw at Stoke aside.

I pointed out in a post above an example of United taking advantage of a rival dropping points. Less than a month ago we won away at West Ham with a 5.15pm kickoff. Liverpool drew earlier that day against Sunderland.

Never mind that instance, the fact that this United team has gone from "Top 4 looks dead" in late November to now being in with a realistic shot at 2nd shows that they have taken advantage of rivals dropping points.

Stoke was a kick in the balls, and I'm not someone who is taking a win against Hull tomorrow as a given, but this United team have been doing quite well at taking advantage of points dropped as of late.

StringerBell

I may be remembering it wrong, both Stoke and Liverpool results were extremely frustrating but I hope you're right!

Nalz

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

StringerBell

StringerBell wrote: »

I may be remembering it wrong, both Stoke and Liverpool results were extremely frustrating but I hope you're right!

Yeah those draws do take the gleam off our genuine good run as of late.

At the start of December United were 9 points off 4th and 10 off 2nd. It's been a long journey to regain that ground, all the while staying in 6th which does the shine away also.

A win tomorrow night with our game in hand will see United 2 points off 4th and 3 off 2nd. Still staying in 6th, but still gaining that ground.

That's why anything but a win tomorrow night will be disappointing and frustrating. That win will finally bring us to a place where a win after it (hopefully against Leicester) could see United start to go up a place in the table, even break the Top 4 depending how other results go at the weekend.

It's a cliche of the thread and any football-related ones to say that "the next run of games is huge for us", but this is a time when I actually feel it is. After the hard work of clawing back from that wide-berth in early December, United are now on the cusp of seeing dividends for that hard work. Dividends which will only come from 7-9 points from the next 3 league games starting tomorrow at home to Hull.

Other teams have more Saturdays this February than games, but February is going to be important for United's season. By the time those 28 days pass, we could be in the next round of the Europa and FA Cup, could have won an EFL, and would have had the chance to enter the Top 4 with wins at home to Hull and Watford, and away to Leicester. It will be a Uuuuge month.

Not there yet though and still need to take it a game at a time. Especially when the last few performances have concerned me more than fill me with optimism.

PhlegmyMoses

Obviously those guys were pros, so they know what a winning mentality is - and who am I to say what should and shouldn't go on in a dressing room? But a few lads having the craic and doing a bit of dancing seems to be low down on the list of problems a team could have. He said if Fergie had been there it wouldn't have gone on, but it's not like these guys have some shrinking violet as their manager who is afraid to ruffle feathers.

All in all, I find those videos to be a good example of the team spirit building at the club and completely harmless.

Edit: And to add, I hate when people say "Could you imagine Roy Keane doing that?" No, I couldn't, but Roy Keane comes across as an incredibly tedious person who was probably even too extreme in his desire to achieve for even the most high achieving players. There's a spectrum for this stuff, with Roy Keane at one end, and Baloltelli at the other. If you're somewhere in the middle you're doing okay.

VW 1

McManaman comparing Pogba to Balotelli. Good one Steve.

The winners mentality is one thing, and being focused on the pitch, but that was 3 old lads giving out about young lads being young lads.

Much ado about nothing.

jayo26

GSPfan wrote: »

How does Klopp get away with screaming in the 4th officials face? He does be within 6 inches of their face screaming.

Dont be so over the top thats just kloppenchatting

Hmm...Simon Stone reporting more from the embargoed half of the press conference, Martial will be on the bench against Hull. When asked what Martial must do, Jose said "Perform better than others in same positions. Do I leave Mkhitaryan out after being man of match? I can’t."

https://twitter.com/sistoney67/status/826558204419178497

https://twitter.com/sistoney67/status/826558243258392576

Of course, these are tweeted quotes, I will have to hear them in context when the interview is released. However, these words are not ambiguous and there's little context required for me to think that Martial should be getting a spot based on his performance against Wigan. Not because it was world-class, but because it was promising and he needs another game soon to try to capitalise on that.

Martial started slow against Wigan, but so did the whole team in fairness. He went on to have a very good game. I trust that Jose knows what he's doing with him, but Martial is not a player I want to see leave this Summer.

I swear, if I see Lionel Jesse in the line-up ahead of Martial...I'll write a post expressing my frustration here.

And here is the complete press conference, embargoed part from 7:15 on...

Nothing much in the second half of the video apart from the bits about Martial in the last 30 seconds. Those Martial quotes of Simon Stone's aren't much better in context as I was hoping they would be. Plus there's this - "enough to be on the bench" - Jose when asked about Martial's performance against Wigan compared to the "magnificent" requirement in order to keep his place for Hull.

More about the fixture congestion, Jose is using Watford having to play 2 games in 3 days as an example of the bonkers fixture planning. Seems that Jose is done with referees for the moment and is fixing his aim on the "authorities" who plan the fixtures. He says that "they must not be thinking", that's the only way Jose can explain it to himself. Fine incoming?

Jose agreed with a reporter who suggested that Southampton "threw" their FA Cup game against Arsenal, and this tied into Jose's point about fixture congestion. Says he understands what Southampton did as he had to do similar with a team of his a few years ago during a packed run of fixtures. Fine incoming?

Ok, maybe there was more than "not much" in the embargoed part of the press conference - two potential fines plus the possible demotivation of a resurgent, talented player.

DARK-KNIGHT

big game, big big game...

Wonder will Shaw get the nod at LB....
Darmian has offered nothing this season and drove me mad against Hull in the cup

Also Mike Jones ref tonight, could be another few clanger decisions pegged in for good measure. Hopefully not against us

Trigger

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Wonder will Shaw get the nod at LB....
Darmian has offered nothing this season and drove me mad against Hull in the cup

Also Mike Jones a referee is ref tonight, could be another few clanger decisions pegged in for good measure. Hopefully not against us

FYP. It really doesn't matter which ref it is these days..

Also on Martial. I believe that with his agent mouthing off last month he has lost Mourinho's trust a bit. Jose is trying to get him to buckle down and shut his agent up. While he was grand the weekend, he was nothing special when he was up top and looked very lazy. It was only when he moved out wide that he started to play better.

I reckon we will see Rashford and Mkhitaryan on the wings tonight Carrick, Pogba herrera in the middle.. Valencia is back so we will probably see Blind or Darmian on the left to give Valencia the freedom of the right side. (Still hoping Shaw gets the nod). Jones and Rojo to take the centre again.

adox

Its weird. It almost feels like Jose took over just before Christmas and we have been playing catch up ever since.

Thats not excusing him or the early season results and of course all the ground work was done then to get something resembling a stable club but it does feel like someone else was in charge at the start of the season.

Liam McPoyle

adox wrote: »

Its weird. It almost feels like Jose took over just before Christmas and we have been playing catch up ever since.

Thats not excusing him or the early season results and of course all the ground work was done then to get something resembling a stable club but it does feel like someone else was in charge at the start of the season.

Proshesh.

Nalz

VW 1 wrote: »

McManaman comparing Pogba to Balotelli. Good one Steve

I might have to watch it again but I think he was comparing them in terms of how well they were known for their off the pitch antics/hobbies and how they're always in the media or social media.

I'm not impressed with their video but I do agree it shouldn't harm anything or mean much.

Trigger

adox wrote: »

Its weird. It almost feels like Jose took over just before Christmas and we have been playing catch up ever since.

Thats not excusing him or the early season results and of course all the ground work was done then to get something resembling a stable club but it does feel like someone else was in charge at the start of the season.

IIRC it has taken a couple of months at each of his clubs to get them up and running his way..

jayo26

Nalz wrote: »

I might have to watch it again but I think he was comparing them in terms of how well they were known for their off the pitch antics/hobbies and how they're always in the media or social media.

I'm not impressed with their video but I do agree it shouldn't harm anything or mean much.

Didn't see what macca said but pogba couldn't be further from Mario off the pitch. Anytime anything comes into the media about Pogba its always taken from his social media. He is never out or in trouble or anything no news whatsoever about his private life.

The video is a bit of fun they are a completely different generation to me so I don't feel any right to judge him for it and I don't think the media should be using stuff like that to write about him.

jayo26

astradave wrote: »

IIRC it has taken a couple of months at each of his clubs to get them up and running his way..

Im really hoping when Europe starts up again he will be able utilise his squad better and results don't drop like in group stages or hopefully fatigue is kept minimal.

After the run of games we have he should know each member of his squad and what he can expect from them.

duffman13

Nalz wrote: »

I might have to watch it again but I think he was comparing them in terms of how well they were known for their off the pitch antics/hobbies and how they're always in the media or social media.

I'm not impressed with their video but I do agree it shouldn't harm anything or mean much.

The thing is Pogbas "antics" amount to him having a laugh and a joke. The odd dance thrown in for good measure. Balotelli was shooting people with pellet guns and setting off fireworks indoors.

People say Keane wouldn't have it etc but you need to remember Roy was initially part of the drinking culture at the club. Pogba is an absolute professional and looks after himself well. Keane became an inspirational leader and player, hopefully Pogba can too but these videos are a lot better than sitting in a boozer or bookies.

Mcmanamam is trying to get a dig in anyway he can if he tries to compare those two players.

duffman13

jayo26 wrote: »

Im really hoping when Europe starts up again he will be able utilise his squad better and results don't drop like in group stages or hopefully fatigue is kept minimal.

After the run of games we have he should know each member of his squad and what he can expect from them.

He needs to utilise it more, before xmas he was trying to play players into form. I think over the last month he's given players ample opportunity to perform so hopefully we see some changes between cups and league

jayo26

duffman13 wrote: »

He needs to utilise it more, before xmas he was trying to play players into form. I think over the last month he's given players ample opportunity to perform so hopefully we see some changes between cups and league

I think he just knows his squad more he seems to have a clear idea of who is going to play where and when now. It's something fergie use to know nearly two weeks in advance sometimes.

duffman13

jayo26 wrote: »

It's something fergie use to know nearly two weeks in advance sometimes.

I think I read in someones book (maybe Neville) that Fergie would sometimes have the bones of a team picked months in advance especially over busy periods. Your right though, Jose seems to be really getting to grips with the squad and seems to be picking on form for the most part to be fair

TheDoc

niallo27 wrote: »

Good night for utd in fairness. Should bring them right back into the mix tommorrow night.

#forever6th

TheDoc

duffman13 wrote: »

I think I read in someones book (maybe Neville) that Fergie would sometimes have the bones of a team picked months in advance especially over busy periods. Your right though, Jose seems to be really getting to grips with the squad and seems to be picking on form for the most part to be fair

Bar the one or two personal preferences, I can't remember having a real issue with team selection for some time now. The team is essentially picking itself, with the LB and LW position really the only places up for grabs.

That for me, is a really good and positive thing and as mentioned, a real sign the side has settled and the manager has settled.

Should help him when it comes to the transfer windows also, that he knows where improvements can be made in the first XI.

Jayop

After game week 15 we were 13 points behind Chelsea, should we win tonight we'll be 12 points behind them. Chelsea have been in fantastic form since then and although it's only a point and we're not ever going to catch them it's nice to know that after that crap start that we've made some ground and more than kept up with them.

The only team above us that we won't have made ground up on with a win tonight will be spurs who back then after ten were 3 points ahead and will still be tonight.

The table is so frustrating though. Those two points dropped to stoke or pick any other draw have held us in 6th.

Still, unbeaten in the league since October. Keep this going!

Jayop

TheDoc wrote: »

#forever6th

6th is the new 4th.

jayo26

Jayop wrote: »

After game week 15 we were 13 points behind Chelsea, should we win tonight we'll be 12 points behind them. Chelsea have been in fantastic form since then and although it's only a point and we're not ever going to catch them it's nice to know that after that crap start that we've made some ground and more than kept up with them.

The only team above us that we won't have made ground up on with a win tonight will be spurs who back then after ten were 3 points ahead and will still be tonight.

The table is so frustrating though. Those two points dropped to stoke or pick any other draw have held us in 6th.

Still, unbeaten in the league since October. Keep this going!

Its so frustrating to still be in sixth but oh my God it's getting exciting a win tonight and we are 3 points off second spot that's five teams fighting for spots 2 to 4 and I'd be thrilled to be apart of it. If Westham can do a job on pep tonight we could be fifth wooohoooo.

Trigger

TheDoc wrote: »

Should help him when it comes to the transfer windows also, that he knows where improvements can be made in the first XI.

He said the other day when asked about transfers that he knows what he wants. I'm absolutely certain that we already have deals in place for the summer irrespective of our finishing position

Jayop

Can't see a west ham result but the way the big teams have dropped points recently anything is possible.

StringerBell

Keane absolutely loved Ronaldo, even in his early days, he was also a big fan of Yorke. Point being, as long as you give it all on the pitch and in training he would not have given a ****e what kind of stupid dancing you did or haircuts you had.

The vids with Pogba, Lingard (even feckin more so!) and some of the other young players are harmless, once they are giving 100% to their work nobody should care. I can guarantee that Jose would have no issue stamping it out if he felt it was in any way negative, whatever helps create good team spirit and unity is a good thing.