Manchester United Banter Archive December 10 2014

10 Dec 2014 19:52:45
Naingollan is a great little box to box player, keep an eye out for him tonight too. (Sorry about spelling)

Anybody watching the chelsea game and how is Carvalho doing(sorry about the spelling lol)

Sounds terrible but i would actually like to see city go through. Keeps them busy with fixtures and they have two of my favourite players in Silva and Aguero unfortunately playing for them. It is also good for the PL to have 3 teams in the final 16. Pjanic is a very good player.

I'd rather them still be in it, makes it more interesting + keeps them busy like you said

I heard Carvalho did not look good against Chelsea, anyone get to see the game? I admit to being very much for him in the summer.

I was also all for Carvalho last summer but he seems to have declined a little since then.

11 Dec 2014 06:17:10
Would it not have been better if city had gone out? Would they not have gone into the Europa league and had to play in thursday with less recovery time?

City did well to get out of that group to be honest. Maybe Strootman will be available in January now.

Herbie did u say a little? The guy has lost it this season so far! can't seem to get anything right.

Carvalho was nowhere to be seen last night, he didn't look good.

10 Dec 2014 17:39:40
Great chance to see strootman on show tonight against city. For those who have not seen him play often and go by the media stuff, here is your opportunity:)

Shame Toure is not playing:) but still the city midfield will be a nice measuring stick.

Im not a fan at all so no doubt he will have a great game .
I really don't get the hype

He is on the bench unfortunately and not in the starting line up as he just came back from injury. I like Iturbe from Roma's bench.

I think this will give us a good look at his sitting ability and his pensively watching the game face. These are important skills for any current United player as they will likely spend most of the season injured or returning from injury.

LMAOF danny.

I maintain that the previous time I saw Strootman he was very slow and unless something has changed I am concerned if we think someone who was slow before, has since had a major knee problem is the answer to our midfield. We lack pace around the team yet people think Strootman is the answer, it is a concern for me.

He was anonymous tonight.

Redman

I agree with your assessment and have been totally against this deal all along and hope it is just newspaper talk.

He went to Roma for 11/13 million euros I think and believe me if he was a top class midfielder the likes of Bayern, Real, Barcelona, Chelsea, City would have been in for him.

City's second string midfield dominated the match last night and he did not even get on the pitch for a 20 minute appearance when they needed to turn the tide, so not sure how he solves anything for us.

11 Dec 2014 11:51:57
Yep. Just what we need. Another injury-prone player with no pace. Sign him up!

11 Dec 2014 14:13:14
Noucamp99,

To be fair he sounds like he would fit in well, shouldn't take him long to settle!

A midfield of strootman, Herrera and di Maria doesn't seem that slow to me. If we add a pacey right winger to the side, IMO speed wouldn't be that much of a problem

Dip

Look at our performance on Monday, we can't move the ball quick enough as it is. Against good teams you need to be able to close down and also move the ball and get into positions they don't want us to be in, that needs a bit of pace in more than one player. When DiMaria arrived it shocked us because suddenly we had pace, when he has been out our ball transition from area to area on the pitch has been slower and more deliberate. We don't need to sign a quick sprinter but someone quick enough to support and get quickly to new positions, Strootman doesn't look that player to me.

Red man I get where you're coming from. Like you say against the better teams we should be able to close down faster, move the ball faster and get into good positions, I completely agree. But I've actually watched quite a bit of strootman and I do not think he's as slow as people make him to be on here. Don't get me wrong he's no di Maria but makes up for it with his tactical know how. His passing range isn't shabby either

10 Dec 2014 15:55:04
Afternoon all,

I thought it was about time I posted again!! Haven't been on for a while as I thought I needed to "take a break" from the site, a la Beast!!
I found myself getting more and more animated while reading the site back in mid September due to all the negativity and whinging about the team and the manager. Although some of it was probably justified, I was winding me up bit too much.
Anyway, I've had my break and I will be posting again, although I have still be reading the site.
I think most people knew that, realistically, it was going to be several weeks before we started to put a string of results together.
I now recent performances haven't been great, but we are getting results and picking up points. At the en of the day, we were ever going to win the league this year. It was more about rebuilding and qualifying for the CL next season, and think we are well on the way to achieving that goal. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the signs are looking positive, at least in term of results.

Anyway, its nice to be back, and its good to see the likes of Syd! and some of the other regulars back again. Its a shame Peashooter has departed, likewise Beast whom I think has himself taken a break. Hopefully we will we him back soon, refreshed and maybe even with a more positive outlook!!

Is also only 2 weeks to Christmas now, so I hope I'm not too early in wishing all the readers, posters and most importantly of all the Editors, a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

{Ed007's Note - Nice to see you back, BS, best wishes to you and yours for the festive season.}

10 Dec 2014 17:02:05
Betty,

Welcome back mate, we could do with a few more positive souls around here. We did know realistically that we would not be challenging this season, and if people had been offered 3rd place, at least 5 points above the rivals we would expect to challenge for top 4 at this stage everybody would have taken it.

The problem is as soon as we start doing well the expectations increase and people are saying now we should be challenging for the title, meaning when we don't win it there will be disappointment.

For me top 4 and an fa cup run was a success this season, and a title challenge next year after a few more signings would be fantastic. I think they are realistic targets at this stage.

Again, welcome back pal, and Merry Christmas to you too.

GDS2

3rd place for me or I will be disappointed. No one wants a tricky qualifier to secure champion league football at the time when players are coming back from their summer binge holidays.

An FA cup run is a must given the size of our squad.

I don't think anyone expects us winning the league but better football would be nice.

Some people will say i'm mad but we could still win the league

City and chelsea are stand out but that's it imo .
3rd place should defo be a target

Betty my man, welcome back, good to see you again.

Talking about Pea, is his absence self imposed or has he been banned Ed?

{Ed007's Note - He's not been banned as far as I know.}

I agree with Jred and Shahram, 3rd is the for the taking.

However, Shahram is also correct, we have the players or play good football again, let's hope LVG can get the best out of them.

10 Dec 2014 19:16:08
Matas Beard. You're mad.

For what its worth, I think 3rd place is very achievable. But I believe our aim this season is CL qualification, so anything better than 4th place is a bonus. I think GDS hit the nail on the head when he said expectations become too high after a few good results. Until we address the CD and CM issues, we will continue to struggle against the top sides. Domestically, City and Chelsea are a level above us at the moment. But they are the only teams that have a better starting XI than us when everyone is fit. And I am sure those issues will be addressed as soon as possible.
On a side issue, I just wanted to apologise to all those Liverpool fans that I upset it the summer when I suggested that they would struggle without Suarez. Clearly I was wrong, and like many of them said, Liverpool are a far stronger team without him :) he he

AJH

I think what was surprising with the Southampton after watching it was the fact that we looked like late august early september again and hope it is a one off as december is the wrong time of the year to lose your form and maybe this southampton team is a lot better than I give them credit and us playing poorly had a lot to do with them being good.

09 Dec 2014 21:20:35
Hi fellas, Liverpool fan in peace, please be gentle with us on Sunday ha ha, although a good hammering may push brendan nearer the door, at this moment in time he's making moyes look like a tactical genius

10 Dec 2014 06:42:03
"The Carefully Chosen One" , how things changed in just 9 months.

Be carefull what you say mate, Brendan Rodgers is a "Football Genius" well according to the historians that is

I think you will have a new manager next year. I know losing Suarez was difficult but what he has done with the money spent is pretty poor and no where to hide.

His issue like many managers is their head gets too big and they actually start believing they are messiahs and can just buy ordinary players and making them into great teams because they are tactical geniuses.

The reality is managers like mourinho, ancelloti, guardiola and etc are good but what makes them great is the fact that they have world class players applying the managers vision on the pitch. BR is learning the hard way and unfortunately for him I think this season will be too much. 6th is where you will finish.

GCU, Do you not think scousers will make top 4?? :)

GCU, I know you don't rate the scousers and let's face it, they have played rubbish this year, but Sunday is not going to be a walk in the park, if we win and that is a big "if", it will be by the odd goal.

Nomid

I don't believe they will finish higher than 6th and you are right I don't rate them as highly as you do. Suarez was an unbelievable player who created havoc and opened up the pitch for the rest of them and made some their players look better than they are.

Sundays game will never be easy as it does not matter if we were leading the league and they were in 18th place. They will be up for it and so will we. I just think we have more quality than they do and will win the game.

I don't think we will get top four, somewhere around 8th I reckon, unless rogers goes, which I can't see happening, he's just not learning from his mistakes.you guys are more than welcome to mignolet, Enrique, Johnson and skrtel, thought not ha ha.really can't see us getting anything on Sunday, 2 or 3 nil to you guys I reckon

10 Dec 2014 17:09:22
Form goes out the window in these games. We should win, but can't rule anything out. They will be fired up for this one. I think the team that makes the least mistakes wins.

Form often does go out the window, but we've both got poor defences and you have by far the better attacking options at the moment, if we got a draw I'd be delighted

Rob, if you were in Division One you would still give us a good game. Form means little in derbies like this. I suspect it will be tighter than some think, but a fully fit ADM would have caused you serious problems. Our severe injuries will even things out.

Worryingly for Liverpool fans is they are struggling financially and going out of the group stage is looking like a hefty loss in cash that the owners were probably highly reliant on. If you do not make the UCL next season you will be in sh!t street.

If there was ever a time to sign a "Higuain" or a "Sanchez", it was in the summer. It's going to be very tough for you to attract top players without cash and UCL football.

Sydney, have you changed your medication, for once I agree with you pal ha ha