12 Jul 2014 11:23:29
A newspaper is reporting that Danny Welbeck is a target for Real Madrid, to replace Juventus-bound Alvaro Morata. Can there be an ounce of truth is this rather bizarre rumour?

1.) 12 Jul 2014
Maybe he will teach some capoerea that he leant in brazil

2.) 12 Jul 2014
12 Jul 2014 13:33:40
Welbeck is far better than people give him credit for.

However, I'd be somewhat surprised if this where true.

There is a rumour that spurs are, or at least where, interested, but that may have just been before Moyes left, when he was supposedly unhappy with his lack of chances up front. They've also been linked with Chicarito.

3.) 12 Jul 2014
Thorne - I too would be somewhat surprised! Perhaps a direct swap for Di Maria - that sounds just as likely as RM being interested in Welbeck in the first place!

4.) 12 Jul 2014
Id pay for his airfare if true useless player utd really have to get rid of the deadwood nani cleverely young anderson carrick can go to never seen such a negative player

5.) 12 Jul 2014
Thorne - no welbeck isn't better than we give him credit for. He isn't a man united player, regardless is sentiment. The fact he's a local lads great but if your not up to scratch your not good enough. His finishing is woeful. This argument he give us energy is ludicrous! Pay me £50k a week and I'll run round all day and night 7 days a week.

6.) 12 Jul 2014
Mike - he's a good enough back-up, but don't get me wrong, I don't see him moving to another big team, as I can't see him moving unless it's for regular starts up front, which he won't get at a big team.

Fireman - seriously? Carrick has been our only decent central midfielder for the last few years. We need a long term replacement, but mainly because of his age.

7.) 12 Jul 2014
Stand-united - Welbecks finishing is fine. He was one of the most clinical finishers in the league last season, with a better ratio of goals to shots than any of our other forwards.

He's also fast, strong, energetic and difficult to defend against.

His problem is that he doesn't get into good goalscoring positions often enough, but he isn't going to learn that playing on the wing. That sort of thing is learned by playing up front.

I'm not saying he's amazing, because he's not. But he is still pretty good, good enough to be a useful backup to our main strikers.

8.) 12 Jul 2014
Thorne I hear wat u say but carrick is a bad player only wants to pass the ball sideways or backwards mata played only half a season last year and had more assists and goals that carrick has done in the last five seasons u can't argue with facts

9.) 12 Jul 2014
Danny welbecks a good player, not a natural goal scorer but very effective all the same,defenders nightmare when he's on his game. thorne its a waste of time trying to defend one of our own against these lot anyway, I hear the same rubbish down the pub all the time by clueless fans, if they got out of there armchairs and went to watch him live they might realise how good he was.

10.) 12 Jul 2014
Thorne seriously, Carrick has been the best of a bad bunch that's all. He can certainly find opposition players with his passes.

11.) 12 Jul 2014
Fireman - that's because Carricks job isn't to create goals. Mata is an attacking playmaker, his job is all about creating and scoring goals. Carrick is a ball-playing defensive midfielder, his job is to use intelligent positioning to break-up and disrupt attacks, to intercept passes, to keep possession, and to start attacks, not to play the final ball.

If you look at the stats, he actually plays a lot of forward passes now, which he didn't used to. He's passing from a deep position though, so he isn't going to get a lot of assists.

Judging the performance of a defensive midfielder based on goals and assists is like judging a centre-half on the number of crosses they put into the box. It's not his job.

12.) 12 Jul 2014
Carrick has been like a little boy lost since he hasn't been able to immediately pass the ball to Scholes.

13.) 12 Jul 2014
Thorne we will agree to disagree i'm a season ticket holder go to most games in europe when I can to and 90% of utd fans think carrick is not worth his place in utd side we need to get rid of deadwood that fergie left us about 7 players are needed 2 centre backs another midfielder left back cover winger with shaw and herrea

14.) 12 Jul 2014
It doesn't matter how many games you go to, you still don't appear to understand the role of a defensive midfielder.

That's what Carrick is, and he's good at it. He was never world-class, but he's still a really good defensive midfielder, one of the best in the premier league over the last few seasons.

He's also unusual for an English midfielder because he defends through intelligence rather than crunching tackles, which is why he makes so many interceptions. Only 2 midfielders had more interceptions per match averaged over the season (mile jedinak 3.7 per game, and youssouf mulumbu 3.1, Carrick had 2.8), also he completed 88.6% of his attempted passes, which could be better, but is still 12th best in the premier league for a central midfielder.

15.) 12 Jul 2014
Fireman you lost all credit to put forth a decent arguement when you compare the role of Mata to Carrick.

they play in different 1/3's of the pitch and again. Why does it matter if you go to all the games does that make your point more credible? I cringed at both the comparison and the season ticket holder points.

16.) 12 Jul 2014
Well he was the best for years he would have been in the england squad henderson even got in in front of him I don't mean to be smart but u seriously are having a laugh if u think carrick is a good defensve player take one look at joel campell goal in champions league against us he closed his eyes and pulled out of the tackle and that's only a example they have been plenty more i'm not arguing anymore carrick wnt get much playing time nxt season anyway he will only play against small teams

17.) 12 Jul 2014
And if England had taken Carrick instead of Gerrard we might have made it out of our group at the world cup. He certainly wouldn't have made moat of the mistakes Gerrard made against Uruguay.

Gerrard was a wonderful box-to-box midfielder a few years ago, but he's trying to adjust to play Carricks role and he simply isn't as good at it.

Why Henderson went to Brazil is anyone's guess, the only reason I can think of is that he's used to playing alongside Gerrard, and knows when to cover his captains mistakes.

Still, you're the one who said "you can't argue with facts" (while giving an utterly irrelevant statistic) and yet I've given you a statistic entirely relevant to his role and you are arguing with it.

18.) 12 Jul 2014
I will drive him there for free if this is so, though its not my birthday.

19.) 12 Jul 2014
Right thorne u want comparision my fellow irish man roy keane he is wat u call a defensive midfielder now if u say carrick is better your dotting that's wat utd have missed for years and carrick in my OPINION is not up to it and mark my words carrick wnt play much nxt season

20.) 12 Jul 2014
What? Keane wasn't a defensive midfielder.

He was more of a box-to-box midfielder, although not quite like the modern ones. He spent to much time getting up the other end to join attacks to be a proper defensive midfielder, and when he was further back he was chasing players down, pressuring them and winning the ball back, kind of like Fletcher did a few years ago.

Anyway, comparing him to someone like Keane is meaningless. Keane is one of the greatest midfielders ever to play in the premier league.

No-one is saying Carrick is that good. I already specifically said he isn't world class. He is good though. One of the better defensive midfielders in the league over the last few seasons.

Note I said "one of" not that he's the best.

Vidal is probably the closest we could get to directly replacing Roy Keane, and sadly I am doubtful that will happen.

21.) 13 Jul 2014
Thorne i'm not going to argue with u u think carrick is good I dont. we need signing this season I think vidal di maria de vry blind maybe hummels and we will have a good season

22.) 13 Jul 2014
If Carrick is so good how were mediocre players able to walk right through our midfield?

23.) 14 Jul 2014
Darn! I was going to fake post Young to Barca, but Welbeck to Real sounds as good as mine! ;)