19 Jul 2018 08:36:15
Unfortunately I do not think we will be able to get even second position in the league this year. City and Liverpool already had settled teams and only needed say two or three more players. Liverpool already had the German player signed up last year. City arguably only needed one player and signed up Mahrez who will be adjusted to the Premier immediately so they will hit the ground running. For the other teams playing catch up like Utd Spurs Chelsea it is so much harder to do business in a world cup year. It normally is vital for new players to bond with new teammates and to understand their roles in a new team during pre season. No other league is as competitive as ours so it does not matter as much in the French or German or Spanish or Italian leagues. I do have a lot of sympathy for Jose regarding the transfer market. He cannot control his own destiny. Also for players like Pogba who won the World Cup I fear we may expect too much of him. He just won the greatest prize in football. There has to be an anti climax for him at some stage. I hope people cut him some slack when the inevitable dip in form occurs. He is only human. We woukd all feel it.

1.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 09:38:15
We got 2nd position in the league fairly comfortably with the squad we had last season and have added to that and will be adding more to that so no reason why we can't get that again even if other teams have improved. Surely your point about players bonding works for all teams, any new signings who played in the world cup will be behind anyway.

Seems strange and overly pessimistic to write us off 3 weeks before the end of a transfer window where we haven't really done a great deal of business yet so have plenty to go at.

2.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 10:01:33
I hope your right GDS2.listening to Jose yesterday didn't fill me with a lot of confidence on the transfer front. Same old Jose whining already and the season hasn't even started.
I wish he would be a bit more up beat about things. he's managing the biggest club in the world.

3.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 10:01:33
I hope your right GDS2.listening to Jose yesterday didn't fill me with a lot of confidence on the transfer front. Same old Jose whining already and the season hasn't even started.
I wish he would be a bit more up beat about things. he's managing the biggest club in the world.

4.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 10:51:26
I haven't watched the press conference deliberately because I know most things managers say at this time of year about transfers are nonsense. Imagine he said 'yes, we have 3 deals lined up and they are all expected to be completed', what do you think this page and the back of the papers would be like today?

Read nothing from press conferences, they say what they want people to hear which is usually far from the truth.

5.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 11:52:30
How about looking at it more positively hendonred. Jose has flown out on tour with 7-8 youngsters along with Martial, Periera and Shaw. All these players will be putting in the hard work to show Jose they can push themselves into his plans. Imagine him sitting in the press conference saying ‘we’re after 3-4 new players for x y z positions’. 4 days into the tour the players will be wondering why they bother if he’s just going to go and spend on new signings.

{Ed004's Note - I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow night. It'll be interesting to see what shape Shaw is in and Martials attitude/position he is played in. I've found the links to strikers odd this window but it could make sense if we intend to play 2 up top (Martial and Lukaku) as it only leaves Rashford as cover. If Shaw and Martial are in Jose's plans and both step up we are only really a world class cb short of having a very good team. I'm hoping Sanchez is tried on the right hand side and given a free role to roam like Mata does.}

6.) 19 Jul 2018
19 Jul 2018 13:20:02
Ed004, much respect, but I disagree on your idea about the right wing. Whether it is Mata, Lingard, or Sanchez, they roam around, which ca be good, but that allows the opposing back four to stay tucked in and we have no threat in behind, nor do we stretch their back line out. I think that was MancMan's point above, as well as Shappy explaining why we don't have width. If we did keep wingers high and wide, and sent the backs forward to overlap and underlap, we actually might be fun to watch more often.

{Ed004's Note - Its good to have differing opinions. I think if Lukaku and Sanchez are tasked with pulling out to the right when the central areas get too crowded we could get away with it. We would need our full backs to offer a lot more width and certainly better crosses for it to work though}