Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

Adamocovic

Although overall I'm happy with what Mourinhos done at the club can't say his record/performances against our top rivals has been great.

Don't understand why so many people jump to the defensive when it's brought up.
He's done a lot of good but it is an area which we need to see improvement in.

If we are to have realistic expectations of challenging for the title we have to look to improve how we play against our nearest rivals.

Robson99

pjohnson wrote: »

Dont worry lad not everyone is a child

You cant seem to remember last season!

Was that the one where we finished 6th in the league 24 points behind the winners?

Jayop

Robson99 wrote: »

Was that the one where we finished 6th in the league 24 points behind the winners?

With two trophies. If you're not winning the league then I'd prefer 6th with two trophies over second with none.

Any press conference today?

Adamocovic

Deleted User wrote: »

Any press conference today?

Don't have a video of it but the recap is here:

http://www.manutd.com/en/MatchTrackerSeasons/201718/Press-conference-blogs/1-Dec-Jose-Mourinho-pre-Arsenal-press-conference.aspx

Jones and Bailly still out. Shame.
He says Matic may not be fit enough but can't see him resting him in a game like this.

Also talked about the latest Shia LaBeouf film:

"I play a game at a time and I think it's the way to do it. Yesterday I was watching an interesting movie: Bjorn Borg v John McEnroe. Bjorn's coach was telling him that all the time. 'One point at a time, think just about one point'. I tell my players to think just about the game. I always say this."

EDIT: Jokes aside on the last part I've been considering watching the movie and now Mourinho has called it interesting, may stick it on during the weekend :P

bucketybuck

My big concern with Mourinho's lack of belief against top sides is how it will affect us in the Champions league. You can't play with that mentality all year and then suddenly flick a switch and think it will be any different against a Real or Bayern in the knockout stages. It won't be, it will be ingrained in the players psyche at that stage.

Big performances and big results are important when it comes to the players belief, momentum, confidence, mental strength, desire and all those other intangibles that you dismiss at your peril.

TheDoc

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I'm loving a few Arsenal fans hoping they make theEmirates a fortress tomorrow. When did that start happening.

Hope we stuff it up their arse tomorrow(can I say that?)

Depends what we're stuffing up I guess?

Even with the dynamic change in what Arsenal have been doing, this is still "the big one" for me.

Liverpool has come on as I've got older and I learnt more the histrionics and stuff, think you've said the same before, United vs Arsenal in my head is always the big one from the rival years where I was at the age when football pure imprints on you.

Even though they arn't tasty/feisty affairs anymore still cant stand not beating them. They are in some decent home form, still want a win though

Cookiemunster

Robson99 wrote: »

Was that the one where we finished 6th in the league 24 points behind the winners?

That points margin was that large due to drawing 10 matches at OT, only 2 of which were against the other top 6 sides.

Liam O

bucketybuck wrote: »

My big concern with Mourinho's lack of belief against top sides is how it will affect us in the Champions league. You can't play with that mentality all year and then suddenly flick a switch and think it will be any different against a Real or Bayern in the knockout stages. It won't be, it will be ingrained in the players psyche at that stage.

Big performances and big results are important when it comes to the players belief, momentum, confidence, mental strength, desire and all those other intangibles that you dismiss at your peril.

Mourinho has done that against Reals and Bayerns before on the way to winning the tournament twice. United don't have the players to go toe to toe with those teams so another method would be needed to take them on.

United went for it more against Chelsea than Liverpool and probably played better overall. Yet left that game with no points after leaving with a point at Anfield. Wouldn't be overly confident in Smalling, Lindelof and Rojo against Arsenal so should be an interesting game.

Adamocovic

I don't agree with the opinion that we simply don't have the players capable of putting in a challenge against top teams, forcing us to play conservatively. Nonsense in my eyes. We've spent €500million+ since the 2015/2016 season on players to improve the team.

Was going to name some examples but that would require me naming most of our squad. We've seen United teams with much weaker players be extremely successful.

If we fail to perform against our top rivals the issue is not the quality of the players available in my mind. It now comes down to tactics and performance.

Cookiemunster

Adamocovic wrote: »

I don't agree with the opinion that we simply don't have the players capable of putting in a challenge against top teams, forcing us to play conservatively. Nonsense in my eyes. We've spent €500million+ since the 2015/2016 season on players to improve the team.

Was going to name some examples but that would require me naming most of our squad. We've seen United teams with much weaker players be extremely successful.

If we fail to perform against our top rivals the issue is not the quality of the players available in my mind. It now comes down to tactics and performance.

Money spent does not equal quality. Darmian? Blind? Shaw? Also included in that €500m+ are Memphis, Schneiderlan, Di Maria. Yes we've spent a fortune, but we've wasted a lot of money on duds.

bucketybuck

Liam O wrote: »

Wouldn't be overly confident in Smalling, Lindelof and Rojo against Arsenal so should be an interesting game.

I think people are awfully down on our centre backs a lot of the time, I can criticise the likes of Jones injury record and all that but I honestly think we have as good a selection as the best of them.

That thought reminds me of some of the posts before the Uefa cup final and some of the insults hurled at Jones and Smalling. "Dumb and dumber" as one poster said, "donkeys at the back" said another. Then Smalling went out and was fantastic in the final. :pac:

pjohnson

Joys of boredom.

We have played 14 games lets see how we have fared at this stage in previous seasons.

17/18 - 32pts (2nd)
16/17 - 21pts (6th)
15/16 - 28pts (3rd)
14/15 - 25pts (4th)
13/14 - 22pts (9th)
12/13 - 33pts (1st)

Seems to be our best start in 5 years by a distance. The only year we had more pts at this stage of the season we were 1st not second. And also romped to the title. Seems weird the manager is under pressure.....anywho


Now apparently according to some Mourinho's job should be in question after the next two games. Lets see how we have fared in previous years after 16 games. (Lets for the harbingers of doom assume we get no points)

17/18 - 32pts (???)
16/17 - 27pts (6th)
15/16 - 29pts (4th)
14/15 - 31pts (3rd)
13/14 - 25pts (8th)
12/13 - 39pts (1st)

Huh. It appears that even if we get no points in the next two matches (god forbid) we are actually still improved on our recent seasons....

We also currently have 32 pts after 14 games. Lets see how many games it took us to reach that milestone in previous seasons

17/18 - 14 games (32pts)
16/17 - 19 games (34pts)
15/16 - 20 games (33pts)
14/15 - 17 games (32pts)
13/14 - 19 games (34pts)
12/13 - 14 games (33pts)


So in our last title winning season we were pretty much performing exactly as we are now.....yet its doom and gloom time. Sure Manchester City are breaking records but what the fcuk can we do about them. We can only focus on ourselves and we are simply not having a bad season. It just happens that the ONLY team ahead of us is blowing apart records. We are having our best start to a season in years. Even if the next two matches go mammaries up we would STILL be having our best start in years. Doom and Gloom crisis the end is nigh etc. my arse.

FatherTed

pjohnson wrote: »

Joys of boredom.
.... Sure Manchester City are breaking records but what the fcuk can we do about them.....

What can we do about Man City? Well how about we beat them next week for a start?

Nalz

FatherTed wrote: »

What can we do about Man City? Well how about we beat them next week for a start?

Yes let's do that

beno619

pjohnson wrote: »

Seems to be our best start in 5 years by a distance. The only year we had more pts at this stage of the season we were 1st not second. And also romped to the title. Seems weird the manager is under pressure.....anywho


Now apparently according to some Mourinho's job should be in question after the next two games. Lets see how we have fared in previous years after 16 games. (Lets for the harbingers of doom assume we get no points)


So in our last title winning season we were pretty much performing exactly as we are now.....yet its doom and gloom time. Sure Manchester City are breaking records but what the fcuk can we do about them. We can only focus on ourselves and we are simply not having a bad season. It just happens that the ONLY team ahead of us is blowing apart records. We are having our best start to a season in years. Even if the next two matches go mammaries up we would STILL be having our best start in years. Doom and Gloom crisis the end is nigh etc. my arse.

Hyperbole & Strawman all rolled into one post.

nullzero

Nalz wrote: »

Yes let's do that

I agree with snrub...

jayo26

Anyone else think the use of strawman should be banned it's as annoying and childish as calling someone a noob.

The_Kew_Tour

TheDoc wrote: »

Depends what we're stuffing up I guess?

Even with the dynamic change in what Arsenal have been doing, this is still "the big one" for me.

Liverpool has come on as I've got older and I learnt more the histrionics and stuff, think you've said the same before, United vs Arsenal in my head is always the big one from the rival years where I was at the age when football pure imprints on you.

Even though they arn't tasty/feisty affairs anymore still cant stand not beating them. They are in some decent home form, still want a win though

Ya agree while Liverpool is easier to enjoy cause I know more Pool fans, no team put more fear into me in PL then Arsenal did from 1998 to 2005. Very little between us in that period we just had that little more about us hence why we won what we won, but they were still the team I hated playing and getting beat to.

Jayop

jayo26 wrote: »

Anyone else think the use of strawman should be banned it's as annoying and childish as calling someone a noob.

Especially when used by someone that clearly doesn't understand what the word means.

jayo26

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Ya agree while Liverpool is easier to enjoy cause I know more Pool fans, no team put more fear into me in PL then Arsenal did from 1998 to 2005. Very little between us in that period we just had that little more about us hence why we won what we won, but they were still the team I hated playing and getting beat to.

But that period was probably my favourite rivalry as a man United fan it was proper rivalry both quality teams that hated loosing to each other and equally hatedneach others players.

Chelsea and city have never been a rivalry like that it's to PC now. I even preferred winger when he was at war with Fergie it got boring when they became respectful near the end.

Tylerdurex

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Ya agree while Liverpool is easier to enjoy cause I know more Pool fans, no team put more fear into me in PL then Arsenal did from 1998 to 2005. Very little between us in that period we just had that little more about us hence why we won what we won, but they were still the team I hated playing and getting beat to.

The Arsenal team that won the league in 1998 was a great side and in my opinion Arsenals best ever side . They won the league that season finishing 1 point above us. It needs to be highlighted though that we lost Keane for most of the season that year due to injury . If he was fit we probably would have won it that year too

beno619

pjohnson wrote: »

Sorry if the actual facts and numbers dont suit the agenda hun xoxox

Mourinho = bad man
Easier for some to comprehend

What exactly is my agenda ?

It's getting very difficult to have any sort of discussion here with your condescending posting style.

AidoEirE

Right lads, have the work xmas party on 2mrw nte, bout 9/10 meeting at the venue early to catch the game tomorrow. Me and another lad utd supporters the rest arsenal/pool.

Jaysus i hope we win 2mrw or it could be a long f**king night!

Lithium93_

AidoEirE wrote: »

Right lads, have the work xmas party on 2mrw nte, bout 9/10 meeting at the venue early to catch the game tomorrow. Me and another lad utd supporters the rest arsenal/pool.

Jaysus i hope we win 2mrw or it could be a long f**king night!

You can always drown your sorrows with alcohol IF it goes terribly sideways, I'm working so I've to miss the damn game, also working the weekend of the derby as well :mad:

But yay to money though :pac:

bucketybuck

beno619 wrote: »

What exactly is my agenda ?

It's getting very difficult to have any sort of discussion here with your condescending posting style.

I can honestly recommend the ignore list.

AidoEirE

Lithium93_ wrote: »

You can always drown your sorrows with alcohol IF it goes terribly sideways, I'm working so I've to miss the damn game, also working the weekend of the derby as well :mad:

But yay to money though :pac:

I'll be drowning myself in the pints either way, crowd is a good bunch of of people, it'll be the following weeks of torment of 'yeah but we beat ya' ****e. These are the kind of lads that say ' we finished ahead of ye last season' yeah so what where that end up for you now? No trophies and playing europa league, which you were taking the piss out of last year.

KaiserGunner

Tylerdurex wrote: »

The Arsenal team that won the league in 1998 was a great side and in my opinion Arsenals best ever side . They won the league that season finishing 1 point above us. It needs to be highlighted though that we lost Keane for most of the season that year due to injury . If he was fit we probably would have won it that year too

Finished 1 point ahead, but had the league won with two games to spare and subsequently lost the last 2 matches as the league was won. So was a more comfortable title win than looks on paper.
Agree about the Keane injury, may have made the difference for Utd that year, but sure you can’t win it every year regardless of how good Utd were in that era.

AidoEirE

I have no idea how we'll line up 2mrw, our midfield has me scared without matic. Pogba needs to be the furthest up to do his buisness not try and do two roles at once. Who in the mid with him i dont know. Hoping the manager has a serious talking to herrera if he's playing. This is the kind of game as a player on terrible form to come out and play.

Martial needs to start as he's brillant running at players and the game could be won out that side, eapically with young on fine form. Valencia and whoever is in front of him that side need do get their defensive duties right as Sanchez and Kalasnic/Monreal could cause problems

Cantona's Collars

https://twitter.com/TeleFootball/status/936724089816969217

"Jose wants Ozil to solve problematic number 10 position."

Other outlets saying he's been in contact with Zidane over a return to Madrid.

AidoEirE

pjohnson wrote: »

I never understood "ignore" lists. If you old enough ro decide to come to a discussion forum surely you can'r get so offended by disagreeing views. You get sane and hysterical posters. If yiu only want an safe zone echo chamber where everyonr agrees with your own opinion then surely you need a parrot or a mirror? Othsrwise youre setting up for dissapointment.

If you get offended that much on a internet discussion board to ignore people then you should probably just quit the internet. (The 'you' was a general term, not directed)

Edit: last bit in case the ignore was incoming ;p

Trigger

pjohnson wrote: »

I never understood "ignore" lists. If you old enough ro decide to come to a discussion forum surely you can'r get so offended by disagreeing views. You get sane and hysterical posters. If yiu only want an safe zone echo chamber where everyonr agrees with your own opinion then surely you need a parrot or a mirror? Othsrwise youre setting up for dissapointment.

It’s nothing to do with being in a safe echo chamber, it’s more your posting style is pretty condencending and people are getting tired of it

Trigger

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

https://twitter.com/TeleFootball/status/936724089816969217

"Jose wants Ozil to solve problematic number 10 position."

Other outlets saying he's been in contact with Zidane over a return to Madrid.

Others are saying that Barca have also been in touch.. it’s sounds like his agent is bigging him up in the media if ya ask me

Trigger

pjohnson wrote: »

So using actual figures and stats is a condescending counter to hysteria. Good to know. Less facts in future then

By all means debate using facts and figures, hell I agree with some of those posts.. it’s more your follow ups with “hun” and “babe” .. it makes you come across like an adolescent teenager

jayo26

astradave wrote: »

By all means debate using facts and figures, hell I agree with some of those posts.. it’s more your follow ups with “hun” and “babe” .. it makes you come across like an adolescent teenager

Maybe he is hun....

Trigger

jayo26 wrote: »

Maybe he is hun....

Don’t you fûckin start :pac:

pjohnson

pjohnson wrote: »

So using actual figures and stats is a condescending counter to hysteria. Good to know. Less facts in future then

Your are very sarcastic tbf dude. Just be careful though someday you might get locked in a laundry basket and missus doyle wont let you out.

Unearthly

Goretzka is another possible free transfer. There will be a lot of competition to sign him I'd imagine

Cantona's Collars

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/936884924652519424

"BREAKING: @ManUtd interested in signing @s04_en midfielder Leon Goretzka - Sky sources. #SSN"

adox

pjohnson wrote: »

Meh. Speak like an adult when conversing with an adult. Speak like a child when conversing with a child.

The majority of your posts aren’t based on facts and are just “lol” type posts when quoting others and exaggerating what they said for apparent comedy effect ect.

Everybody is well able to debate in here and take criticism and many hold different views. When someone posts mostly nonsense(like yourself) then not interacting with it or ignoring it isn’t not being able to handle debate or criticism, it’s just ignoring someone who has little or nothing to say of substance.

adox

pjohnson wrote: »

Yes adox. This must be the quality of the posts that I aspire to.

I posted a simple table showing this season in relation to our last 4 or 5. Yet apparently its "nonsense" now because it doesnt suit the narrative of Mourinho is having an awful season and should be under pressure after the next two games?

I don’t know why you keep bringing up your stats post as no one is referring to that post on it’s on rather your general posting style(which I’m sure you understood well)

Even your above post is just more snarky comment so you obviously aren’t taking in what’s been said or choosing to ignore it.

jayo26

adox wrote: »

I don’t know why you keep bringing up your stats post as no one is referring to that post on it’s on rather your general posting style(which I’m sure you understood well)

Even your above post is just more snarky comment so you obviously aren’t taking in what’s been said or choosing to ignore it.

To be fair adox he was responding to been challenged as childish on his stat post. In that instance I though he was right in responding as he did with the repetitiveness of playing down what mourinho has achieved and his recent record against the top sides then been called a straw man for posting stats.

I don't agree with calling him out over his posting style but the person he was responding to was equally as bad and there are many in here that are just as bad and even worse.

Edit: just seen he called someone babe afterwards..... what the fuk like grow up ya child.

Lord TSC

So, game day then!

pjohnson

jayo26 wrote: »

To be fair adox he was responding to been challenged as childish on his stat post. In that instance I though he was right in responding as he did with the repetitiveness of playing down what mourinho has achieved and his recent record against the top sides then been called a straw man for posting stats.

I don't agree with calling him out over his posting style but the person he was responding to was equally as bad and there are many in here that are just as bad and even worse.

Edit: just seen he called someone babe afterwards..... what the fuk like grow up ya child.

Well theres a post of two halves. You can delete the pretend first bit appreciate the eventual honesty.

Trigger

Lord TSC wrote: »

So, game day then!

I’d say you're thankful right now

Reckon a midfield 3 today of Matic Herrera and Pogba with Matic playing 60 or so mins

adox

Lord TSC wrote: »

So, game day then!

Read earlier that Zlatan didn’t travel to London but haven’t seen anything confirmed. Be a shame if he’s not available.

I am optimistically cautious about the result tonight

adox

Deleted User wrote: »

I am optimistically cautious about the result tonight

I think Matic being fit or not will hugely influence our chances this evening.
Hopefully he’s fit enough to start.

s8n

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Not a Father Ted fan then?

Its a bit old at this stage

adox

adox wrote: »

I think Matic being fit or not will hugely influence our chances this evening.
Hopefully he’s fit enough to start.

Ya we have nothing even makeshift to put in instead of him.
Herrera and Pogba is a scary midfield 2