Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

Irish94

Cannot get over how poor Smalling was for the Blackburn goal yesterday. Not tracking a runner is a criminal error for a defender to make. The worst part was the runner was ahead of him the entire time and he could see all his movements. He's prone to 'brain dead' errors unfortunately.

Rossi IRL

Gotta love Ander

https://twitter.com/anderherrera/status/833658255809196032

Cantona's Collars

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Always get a good laugh when a few fans run on celebrating

Better behaved than Millwall at least.

paulbok

Rossi IRL wrote: »

Gotta love Ander

https://twitter.com/anderherrera/status/833658255809196032

Thought that was going to be an episode of Fake Taxi for a minute

KombuchaMshroom

Irish94 wrote: »

Cannot get over how poor Smalling was for the Blackburn goal yesterday. Not tracking a runner is a criminal error for a defender to make. The worst part was the runner was ahead of him the entire time and he could see all his movements. He's prone to 'brain dead' errors unfortunately.

Am I the only one who think's Smalling's role in this goal is being massively blown out of proportion?
If anything I thought it was much worse by Rojo and Carrick.
Rojo gets dragged out of position, and fails with 3 attempts to tackle the Blackburn player. Carrick then is covering Rojo, he tracks Graham but never gets goal side, and then stops tracking him right before the pass is played, leaving Smalling isolated, to what was a clever pass.

Sometimes as well you just got to give credit to the opposition for a good goal (as Jose did), but I think some here often look for any reason they can to criticise Smalling (not necessarily the poster I'm replying to, just in general)

jayo26

M!Ck^ wrote: »

https://twitter.com/AdamMcKola/status/833635631817437184

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQuu638FzkP/

He fell over and Ashley picked him up to carry him back to the fans.

Jayop

Who was the last player to come back from being the fans enemy no1 like how Young has done? Fletcher maybe?

A few years ago everyone was hating on Young and hoping to get him out of the club. Now he's seen as a very good player to have in the squad who seems an absolute gent and loves the club. Great turn around.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Rossi IRL wrote: »

Gotta love Ander

https://twitter.com/anderherrera/status/833658255809196032

Love ander. On a more serious note it's good to see Charlie Webster back at work after her brush with death during the summer.

jayo26

Jayop wrote: »

Who was the last player to come back from being the fans enemy no1 like how Young has done? Fletcher maybe?

A few years ago everyone was hating on Young and hoping to get him out of the club. Now he's seen as a very good player to have in the squad who seems an absolute gent and loves the club. Great turn around.

He was never consistently good enough for us to stamp his position in the team I don't think he was hated he was just not very good.

I think 8_2 at arsenal was one of his best games for us. He has a good position In the squad now for his age and abilities and he seems to be happy.

Lord TSC

Jayop wrote: »

Who was the last player to come back from being the fans enemy no1 like how Young has done? Fletcher maybe?

A few years ago everyone was hating on Young and hoping to get him out of the club. Now he's seen as a very good player to have in the squad who seems an absolute gent and loves the club. Great turn around.

Rojo and Jones are making good strides this year. Think everyone wanted them gone last summer, and yet they've been an important part of our league unbeaten run....

duffman13

Jayop wrote: »

Who was the last player to come back from being the fans enemy no1 like how Young has done? Fletcher maybe?

A few years ago everyone was hating on Young and hoping to get him out of the club. Now he's seen as a very good player to have in the squad who seems an absolute gent and loves the club. Great turn around.

I absolutely wanted Young out a few years ago but his eagerness to try and get into the team particularly under LVG was a bit of a turning point. Turned in some good performances too. Plus who could not love this

RobertKK

Fans get frustrated with players if they don't see them fitting in, Young as a winger was not scoring enough goals and fans wanted him gone for someone better.
It is like comparing Martial as a winger and Young as a winger. Martial at his young age is still better than Young ever was as a winger I would argue.
Young as a full back/wing back and it is like Valencia, does a better job in that role, and fans see them as useful.
But most fans would not want Valencia to be back as a right winger.
There is a tipping point, when a player is not getting the job done to a standard expected of them, the fans turn negative, and Young wasn't, Rooney isn't and I could name others, but if a player turns it around then fans are fickle and will be happy to be wrong.
Rooney has not worked out in midfield, Young and Valencia did enough to make themselves useful elsewhere.
Fans will be happy to see Rooney leave, they will appreciate what he has done for the club, but when you are no longer playing to the standard required and have been unable to adapt, well the fans will be looking for the replacement.
Young was replaced, but Young adapted to a different position, that is how one rescues their position in a team, and with the fans, who will admire the player for adapting, not complaining and being useful.
If one is unable to adapt, then the battle is lost, both on and off the field.

Jayop

And a few videos of him going to away games with the fans always look good.

paulbok

Jayop wrote: »

Who was the last player to come back from being the fans enemy no1 like how Young has done? Fletcher maybe?

A few years ago everyone was hating on Young and hoping to get him out of the club. Now he's seen as a very good player to have in the squad who seems an absolute gent and loves the club. Great turn around.

I don't think it's a case of Young winning people's respect back, more that he dropped off the radar long enough that everyone forgot what it was about him they didn't like.

Flint Fredstone

I don't think Young was ever enemy no1 and he hasn't come back from anything.
He was never so terrible as to get to that point, just never really good either. He's very forgettable.

Lithium93_

The highlight of Ashley Young's move to United for me anyways, those 2 stunning strikes he scored in the 8-2 demolition over Arsenal.

Other than that good back up to have.

bucketybuck

Lithium93_ wrote: »

The highlight of Ashley Young's move to United for me anyways, those 2 stunning strikes he scored in the 8-2 demolition over Arsenal.

Other than that good back up to have.

His first goals for the club as I recall.

Pity that his goal record since is so shockingly bad, especially since we are talking about the prime years of his career.

thelad95

Ashley Young became such a grafter under van Gaal that he kept record signing Di Maria out of the team from pretty much January onwards, I think he had a poor second season at the club but I don't remember him ever being public enemy number one.

Young was getting paid way more then his value to the squad so i think that went against him also. Did he take a pay cut when he didnt have to or am i just making that up?

Lithium93_

bucketybuck wrote: »

His first goals for the club as I recall.

Pity that his goal record since is so shockingly bad, especially since we are talking about the prime years of his career.

Aye they were, 14 goals for the club in 6 years, and 74 over the entirety of his career, decent return, but could be better, much better, didn't he also score a crucial winner for the club against Newcastle when LVG was in charge?

bucketybuck

thelad95 wrote: »

Ashley Young became such a grafter under van Gaal that he kept record signing Di Maria out of the team from pretty much January onwards, I think he had a poor second season at the club but I don't remember him ever being public enemy number one.

Young never kept anybody out of the side, he just benefited from Di Maria's "issues".

In fact, noted waster Di Maria still played more games than Young did that season.

Lithium93_

Deleted User wrote: »

Young was getting paid way more then his value to the squad so i think that went against him also. Did he take a pay cut when he didnt have to or am i just making that up?

No you are not, he took a pay cut to extend his stay at United in 2015.

Correcting myself actually, he offered to take a pay cut to stay.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3037670/Ashley-Young-offers-pay-cut-extend-stay-Manchester-United.html

bucketybuck

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Aye they were, 14 goals for the club in 6 years, and 74 over the entirety of his career, decent return, but could be better, much better, didn't he also score a crucial winner for the club against Newcastle when LVG was in charge?

Its not even a decent return, not for a winger in the prime of his career at a club like Manchester United. Even with playing 2 years under Van Gaal thats still a shocking record, even Bebe would have averaged more than Young has done those past four seasons.

I don't hate Ashley Young, he's there now and plays a useful squad role in certain situations and we may as well keep him, but with players like him around its no real shock we went into a decline this past few years.

Lithium93_

bucketybuck wrote: »

Its not even a decent return, not for a winger in the prime of his career at a club like Manchester United. Even with playing 2 years under Van Gaal thats still a shocking record, even Bebe would have averaged more than Young has done those past four seasons.

I don't hate Ashley Young, he's there now and plays a useful squad role in certain situations and we may as well keep him, but with players like him around its no real shock we went into a decline this past few years.

And that's the beauty of opinions, though I did say his return could've been better, but that's how the cookie crumbles unfortunately. And I doubt under Van Gaal with the conservative football that he could've added to his total tally.

M!Ck^

M!Ck^ wrote: »

https://twitter.com/AdamMcKola/status/833635631817437184

Gotta love the Ewood stewards' prompt response there /s

In one of the replays I saw of the goal aftermath, you can see the older lad running onto the pitch and there's a match steward on his phone in the background. The steward looks up from the phone, sees the pitch invader, looks back down at the phone and carries on :pac: He must have been cashing out on a Blackburn win in an accumulator or something. None of the stewards in the area seemed bothered at all. You can even see Zlatan looking over to check if they are on the way.

I know that no one was killed or got Monica Selesed, but I'd rather the fans celebrate in the stands and the players celebrate on the pitch, for both groups' own safety. For example, the kid yesterday was nearly stood on because who the fúck expected him to be there at that moment?

Although yesterday's incident did contribute to the comment "Even Tony Pulis celebrated that goal with the lads!" which gave me a laugh, these incidents are unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

It seems to be a Zlatan thing, with United anyway. Can anyone remember other instances in the last few years where a fan ran out to celebrate with one of our players specifically after a goal apart from with Zlatan? These players are celebrities, but Ibra seems to be on a different level altogether to some people.

I saw it happen 10 yards in front of me when I was over at the Leicester home game last September. Zlatan didn't score, but there was a similar moment in the celebrations following Mata's excellent team goal. Some young lad, about 20, who was the stamp of Zlatan (clearly idolised him) just wandered up beside Zlatan in the group and put his arm around him and started chatting away.

He came from the corner area and had to travel a relatively fair distance to get to Zlatan who was on his way back to the halfway line, but somehow no one really saw him until he was hanging out of Ibra. By 'no-one', I mean the steward who was sitting in front of me and nearly shat himself when he realised what was going on. He went on to remove the Zlat-a-like, and both of them tumbled over to get a 'Wa-hey' from the crowd.

Edit: Found it here...

Thankfully this guy was harmless to Zlatan, but it's a bit alarming to see how easily someone can blindside him in a highly emotional and televised moment. That young lad probably got a lifetime ban from Old Trafford even if he got to meet his idol, his idol probably thinks he's a tool, the stewards probably got a bollocking from their superior. Also, anyone watching who wants to try the same themselves can see how easy it is to get in on the celebrations with their favourite player(s) and have some pro-footage to show the grand-kids someday courtesy of whoever is broadcasting the game.

I disagree with it, but 1) I still would have loved to see Kew run on to celebrate that goal against Stoke with Chico! 2) Can't fault that kid from yesterday, and he got a great pic, just the older lads who should know better.

Liam O

Much derided Jesse Lingard is a better player now than Young was when he was 'keeping Di Maria out of the team'. Just like Januzaj, his skill at taking people on masks how bad his decision making and final ball was. He showed glimpses of what he could do but even in that Arsenal game when everyone was waxing lyrical about Young, Nani was the better player. By far as the season wore on.

I think what Young did show at the weekend was how the tactics can make anyone capable of getting up and down the line on the right look like a world beater. Based on that I'd even almost prefer Young to Valencia as his ability to take players on would allow him to beat the defender on a more regular basis than Valencia.

stankratz

stankratz wrote: »

Gotta love the Ewood stewards' prompt response there /s

In one of the replays I saw of the goal aftermath, you can see the older lad running onto the pitch and there's a match steward on his phone in the background. The steward looks up from the phone, sees the pitch invader, looks back down at the phone and carries on :pac: He must have been cashing out on a Blackburn win in an accumulator or something. None of the stewards in the area seemed bothered at all. You can even see Zlatan looking over to check if they are on the way.

I know that no one was killed or got Monica Selesed, but I'd rather the fans celebrate in the stands and the players celebrate on the pitch, for both groups' own safety. For example, the kid yesterday was nearly stood on because who the fúck expected him to be there at that moment?

Although yesterday's incident did contribute to the comment "Even Tony Pulis celebrated that goal with the lads!" which gave me a laugh, these incidents are unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

It seems to be a Zlatan thing, with United anyway. Can anyone remember other instances in the last few years where a fan ran out to celebrate with one of our players specifically after a goal apart from with Zlatan? These players are celebrities, but Ibra seems to be on a different level altogether to some people.

I saw it happen 10 yards in front of me when I was over at the Leicester home game last September. Zlatan didn't score, but there was a similar moment in the celebrations following Mata's excellent team goal. Some young lad, about 20, who was the stamp of Zlatan (clearly idolised him) just wandered up beside Zlatan in the group and put his arm around him and started chatting away.

He came from the corner area and had to travel a relatively fair distance to get to Zlatan who was on his way back to the halfway line, but somehow no one really saw him until he was hanging out of Ibra. By 'no-one', I mean the steward who was sitting in front of me and nearly shat himself when he realised what was going on. He went on to remove the Zlat-a-like, and both of them tumbled over to get a 'Wa-hey' from the crowd.

Edit: Found it here...

Thankfully this guy was harmless to Zlatan, but it's a bit alarming to see how easily someone can blindside him in a highly emotional and televised moment. That young lad probably got a lifetime ban from Old Trafford even if he got to meet his idol, his idol probably thinks he's a tool, the stewards probably got a bollocking from their superior. Also, anyone watching who wants to try the same themselves can see how easy it is to get in on the celebrations with their favourite player(s) and have some pro-footage to show the grand-kids someday courtesy of whoever is broadcasting the game.

I disagree with it, but 1) I still would have loved to see Kew run on to celebrate that goal against Stoke with Chico! 2) Can't fault that kid from yesterday, and he got a great pic, just the older lads who should know better.

The way that the Venkys are treating Blackburn, club and fans, I don't blame the stewards for their apathy!

Jayop

zorro2566 wrote: »

The way that the Venkys are treating Blackburn, club and fans, I don't blame the stewards for their apathy!

There's no way to stop someone getting into the pitch without bringing back the old fencing. It's taken as an acceptable risk having the pitch this open.

jayo26

Jayop wrote: »

There's no way to stop someone getting into the pitch without bringing back the old fencing. It's taken as an acceptable risk having the pitch this open.

True but you do expect stewards to be alert and on the pitch ASAP. Times we are in now stuff like that can not be taken for granted.

zorro2566

zorro2566 wrote: »

The way that the Venkys are treating Blackburn, club and fans, I don't blame the stewards for their apathy!

From the little I've read about that, it paints a poor picture behind the scenes at Blackburn. As someone who clearly remembers Blackburn in the mid 90s and the team they were then, the club they are overall, I think it's a shame. I would rather see them fighting for a place in the Championship play-offs than for a way out of the relegation zone.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the Ewood stewards as such in yesterday's situation, just making an observation. Even at Old Trafford where the stewards might be a bit happier and less apathetic in their working environment, things like that can slip through the cracks along with other general security issues. Never mind pitch-invasions, there was the Old Trafford self-inflicted bomb scare of last season.

bangkok

jayo26 wrote: »

True but you do expect stewards to be alert and on the pitch ASAP. Times we are in now stuff like that can not be taken for granted.

a lot of stewards are over weight men and some even near retirement age, probably half asleep for majority of game!!

Liam McPoyle

bangkok wrote: »

a lot of stewards are over weight men and some even near retirement age, probably half asleep for majority of game!!

Otherwise known as the Rooney's.

:pac:

Headshot

Arsenal are fair poor so far. Awful stuff by them

Headshot

my fault lol

still stand by it thou

jayo26

Headshot wrote: »

my fault lol

still stand by it thou

Hopefully no Sutton united fans follow the united thread they will have it in for you.

Jayop

Jayop wrote: »

There's no way to stop someone getting into the pitch without bringing back the old fencing. It's taken as an acceptable risk having the pitch this open.

Exactly. The pitch-side stewards are mostly a deterrent. Rather than blame stewarding, I think it comes down to personal responsibility as a fan within the open pitch environment. If we continue to act responsibly overall, we can continue to have this nice thing and not have to stare through a cage while attending matches.

Some years ago I did a bit of stewarding in a national stadium in order to see some matches and concerts, and in the induction they were very clear: If you are working pitch-side and someone breaches the barrier, unless you are very close to them you don't try to stop them. If they are gone running way out onto the pitch, forget about it, there are security teams pitch-side to come on and deal with them.

I know each stadium will have their own procedures, and it was a pitch-side steward at Old Trafford who ran on to grab the Zlat-a-like in the video I posted in my last post, but it is us at fans who bear the responsibility to just be cool in these situations.

Especially at Old Trafford, where many of the players and most notably Zlatan, will stay on to greet fans in a controlled environment outside the stadium afterwards.

No AFTV tonight

Rayne Wooney

You cant have a squad of world beaters but if you put Smalling and Lingard in a team like Watford or Bournemouth I don't think they would stand out much.

sReq | uTeK

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

You cant have a squad of world beaters but if you put Smalling and Lingard in a team like Watford or Bournemouth I don't think they would stand out much.

I think Lindgard is in the team for his energy. He has a phenomenal ability for running exceptional lines and creating massive amounts of space for his team mates to run into. However I think this is a trait that however that is more useful when a defence is tired. I'm all for him getting game time but I think it should be in the latter stages.

I think smalling is a better defender in defensive teams he's looked shaky in teams that are more expensive and open. Again, I wouldn't sell him.

bucketybuck

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

I'm all for him getting game time but I think it should be in the latter stages.

I'm all for him getting game time in the lower leagues.

He is just another Cleverley, an average player who looks good the odd time but just isn't good enough to excel for a top team. He should hope and pray that he gets to stay at United because just like Cleverley once he leaves for a smaller team he will fade into midtable obscurity like every other bog standard Premier league professional.

I'm all for squad players, but I don't think it would be particularly hard to have better squad players than Lingard, even if the criteria is lots of energy and running around.

KaiserGunner

stankratz wrote: »

No AFTV tonight

There will be, as there is after match. However it's not as entertaining for the neutrals if Arsenal win. :pac:

Jayop

Lingard is far better than some will give him credit for. The space he creates for others is overlooked, he's a valuable squad member and as a local youth product I'm delighted to see him continue to get games.

Giggsy11

Liam O wrote: »

Much derided Jesse Lingard is a better player now than Young was when he was 'keeping Di Maria out of the team'. Just like Januzaj, his skill at taking people on masks how bad his decision making and final ball was. He showed glimpses of what he could do but even in that Arsenal game when everyone was waxing lyrical about Young, Nani was the better player. By far as the season wore on.

I think what Young did show at the weekend was how the tactics can make anyone capable of getting up and down the line on the right look like a world beater. Based on that I'd even almost prefer Young to Valencia as his ability to take players on would allow him to beat the defender on a more regular basis than Valencia.

Young ahead of Valencia? :rolleyes:

It's like every season you have agenda against 1 players and all year you post so much nonsense about that player. 2 seasons back it was Young, last season it was Smalling and this season it's Valencia.

Great M8

https://twitter.com/ManUtd_HQ/status/833966903253143552

Game is 5pm tomorrow
I'd hope the squad is shuffled about in consideration for the final Sunday
Herrera is suspended so will get rested regardless
I think Felanni will feature tomorrow possibly alongside Carrick & Miki / Mata

jayo26

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Game is 5pm tomorrow
I'd hope the squad is shuffled about in consideration for the final Sunday
Herrera is suspended so will get rested regardless
I think Felanni will feature tomorrow possibly alongside Carrick & Miki / Mata

I think Jose is doing a pretty good job at the squad rotation so far. I don't think any players should be near burnt out yet even pogba looks fresh still. Hopefully his team know exactly what way to handle them all individually.

TheDoc

Jayop wrote: »

Lingard is far better than some will give him credit for. The space he creates for others is overlooked, he's a valuable squad member and as a local youth product I'm delighted to see him continue to get games.

He is getting to Tom Cleverly levels with me. Getting time from me to impress, but the nagging feeling he simply won't be good enough.

Don't feel the need to rush to judgement, but I think he gets "more" credit then he deserves for his movement, more often then not just crowding the space of more talented players trying to get himself involved.

I wouldn't be rushing to turf him out personally, but from a Jose point of view, I will be surprised if he makes it through the summer and is a United player next season.

The Smalling turnaround is incredible. Gone from a defensive rock under Van Gaal to being shaky,nervy and generally concerning under Mourinho. He all of a sudden looks like another that could easily slip out of the club. He's 4th choice CB for me now with everyone fit, which is an incredible thing to say considering last season. I suppose that is credit to Jones and Rojo and Bailly's quick settling period.

TheDoctor

Going to have a back log of away games at the end of the season.

Away to Southampton now to be rescheduled with the FA Cup game V Chelsea.

Away to City already postponed due to the cup final on Sun.

Away to Burnley will be postponed if we reach the FA Cup semi.

Lord TSC

Just realised I wont get to see the game tomorrow Its my brother's birthday on Thursday so we have tickets to see Jack Whitehall in Dublin tomorrow evening

jayo26

Lord TSC wrote: »

Just realised I wont get to see the game tomorrow Its my brother's birthday on Thursday so we have tickets to see Jack Whitehall in Dublin tomorrow evening

If your going to miss a game for any reason that would be a good one he is one he'll of a funny man love him.