Manchester United Banter Archive March 14 2013

 

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14 Mar 2013 22:29:00
With Rooney roumors about PSG. If he were too leave who do we think would honestly replace him and who would everyone want, I can't see him leaving but just curious. {Ed004's Note - Would love to see Gotze or Ronaldo}

Believable2 Unbelievable1

14 Mar 2013 21:42:51
any chance of alonso scweinstiger or marcheisio most of you will probably say their unrealistic but we are united one of the best teams in the world we can buy anyone apart from messi
Paddy The Irish Man

Believable0 Unbelievable11

Would love schweinsteiger, thinks its unrealistic though :)

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We are not one of the best teams in the world, we are supposed to be one off the biggest clubs in the world, and at one time we performed like it till the glazer family tightened the purse string pre-glazer ownership we could always bring in a top quality player year on year to add to the squad now its all about untried and tested the names bebe obertan would never have got look in at OT

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15 Mar 2013 00:05:45
Because solskjaer, johnson, Evra, vidic, schmeichal, ronaldo, hernandez, were all well known weren't they. Sometimes less well known or unknown players come off. If obertan or bebe had worked out the manager would be hailed. Mort

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There is nothing wrong with buying unknown talent for the future. But only if we can attract proven world class talent too to balance the team.
Apart from rvp, we have not bought any world class proven talent in recent years. If we are to compete with the best, we have to try to buy the best. So I agree with the original posters view.

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Seems we are buying too much unknown so called talent that does not work even the known talent ie veron berbatov uniteds 2 most expensive signings did not work out

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Boarshawred

Great post, very constructive (sarcasm) - so what do you suggest? Sounds like you're just saying we need to buy better players? Perhaps it is just that simple, sigh.

HBadger

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Go on then noname - who are these top/quality players we used to buy "year on year" before the Glazer's?

I can remember Rio and Veron - one was a massive success and one a huge failure. We bought Van Nistlerooy but he had only played in the Dutch League.

I also remember rumours of Batistuta and Ronaldinho which never came off.

But I don't remember this mythical time you speak of TBH.

HBadger

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The answer is clear - we need to sign Sneijder

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14 Mar 2013 20:30:05
Just watchin the Spurs game. can someone explain to me how the away goal counting in extra time is fair?

Believable8 Unbelievable2

Why wouldn't it? Its fair enough, you should sort out your home leg and keep a clean sheet, then it wouldn't matter.

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Because the home team still have that advantage, extra time or not.

Agree2 Disagree2

What's the score

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Spurs won 3-0 at home, Inter won 3-0 at home so what's your point? inter didn't get an extra 30 mins in the first leg to score an away goal. so its fair the away team in the second leg gets another 30 mins to score an away goal?

Agree12 Disagree1

Is it not also unfair that inter get to play an extra 30 minutes at home than spurs did?

It works both ways, guessing you didn't think of that.

Agree2 Disagree6

The home team still have the advantage? how so? what actual advantage do they have? whereas an away goal is an ACTUAL advantage in extra time what does being the home team get you? A psychological advantage? mental advantage? A 'boost' to the home team having the crowd behind you? an intimidated away team? This is down to how players react mentally so no I don't agree because going up 1-0 in extra time as the away team means the home team have to score 2 or they're out that's an actual advantage! and being that they were both equal in their home legs in normal time why should the away team get an extra 30 minutes to score an away goal?

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But they got home advantage for an extra 30 mins. The Sh1t they pull. You're right, it isn't fair. Second half of ET should have been back at The Lane. Bloody UEFA/FIFA conspiracy. I blame Blatter (allegedly)

;)

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My whole point was that away goals should only count in normal time they should mean nothing in extra time! and yeah I did think of that GDS! If you're the away team and both legs finish all square you have a clear advantage! Where is the actual advantage as the home team? As a rule and a fact if it goes to extra time if the away team scores the home team have to score more or they're out whereas the away team can settle for a draw and go through! that doesn't sound like an advantage to anyone? even though over 180 minutes they were completely even!

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Weather in extra time or not, i'm not much of a supporter of the away rule.

But if the away rule counts in the first 90 minutes, it should also count in the extra time. The home team will still have the home advantage.

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15 Mar 2013 01:16:47
If away goals count in penalties then that wouldn't be fair :)

EkD.

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Mick can I ask? being the "home team" in extra time what advantage do you get? can you name one actual advantage by rule or fact? whereas you can by being the away team given the fact that the away team in the first leg never gets this opportunity! an extra 30 minutes where your goals are worth more because you're away! I think if anything, being at home in extra time is a disadvantage because you know your goals are worth less! so that's an actual advantage by rule! and only one team gets this opportunity! You can't say a team went through in extra time because they were at home but you can say they went through based purely on the fact they were away for the second leg! would you rather play your second leg home or away knowing that you might get an opportunity that you couldn't possibly get in the first leg? an extra 30 minutes where your goals are actually guaranteed to be worth more!

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Jamal - so you don't think playing at home is an 'actual' advantage? That kind of goes against one of the major principles of football. Spurs one 3-0 at home, Inter 3-0 winners at home - but it's no advantage to play at home?

As GDS said, it works both ways - the home team are at home with home support so are more likely to score but the away team have the advantage of a goal being worth more (although less likely to get it being away from home).

At the end of the day Inter knew before kickoff what they had to do and that didn't change at 90 mins. I don't see the issue.

HBadger

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Jamal,

Pressing agree on your own posts loads of times and disagree loads of times on everybody who disagrees with you is not big or clever.

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Well Jamal, it's just like HBadger said. Inter had the home advantage in normal time, and still have it in extra time.

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No you miss my point Hbadger! As a rule being the away team in extra time means your goals are worth more! what do you get for playing at home as a rule? there's no defining rule that says playing at home gives you anything extra! whereas you can say it as the away team because your goals are ACTUALLY worth more! you can come up with all the scores you want inter won 3-0 spurs won 3-0 that proves nothing city beat us last season 6-1 at old trafford! there is no law that says playing at home gives you ANYTHING extra but there is one to say that being the away team in extra time gives you an actual advantage! because once you score you only have to match the home team where the home team HAS to score more or they are out!

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And can I just add to this by saying I didn't try belittle anyone else GDS I wasn't being smart just wanted to get my opinion across was just making a case and arguing my point I didn't try to undermine anyone by making smart comments just feel you have an unfair advantage being the away team in the second leg!

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"there is no law that says playing at home gives you ANYTHING extra but there is one to say that being the away team in extra time gives you an actual advantage!"

I honestly don't see what you mean by this. It's the same "law" that exists during the 90 mins, away goals are worth more. Everyone knows how it works so they play to the rules. And everyone knows that it's better to get drawn at home in the 2nd leg.

There IS an advantage for home teams, it's the age old advantage of playing at home in front of your own fans. It's because of this advantage that Inter managed an easy win at home whilst Spurs managed an easy win at WHL. So there is your advantage. On the night - Inter had Spurs on the ropes, they had the momentum, the confidence and the home support to go on and win the game. But they failed.

I still don't see the problem sorry.

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14 Mar 2013 19:14:30
yes I watched the game and I will be honest I was not confident from the start, and yes I should giv SAF some tips on coaching like reacting when needed unlike he did, same against chelsea if you see a problem and we had plenty against chelsea make changes some times they work othertimes not but at least have a go

Believable2 Unbelievable8

I agree that sometimes SAF seems lost for ideas when a change is needed. He took too long to react after Nani was sent off.

A quick tip for you. If you are replying to a post, click 'reply to post'. Otherwise all your posts go as new posts and don't attach to the discussion. Good discussion, just getting a bit spread across so many different posts.

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So what would you of done after the red?

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Personally I would have Cantona kicked the ref buying time for the Mike Phelan masterplan that was surely coming.

Realistically well all we could do was chuck on Rooney and Anderson to try and flood the midfield and cut down the space afforded to Madrid and sacrificed any forward oulet to try and cling onto the 1-0. It does show the lack of midfield options though given that we had 2 wingers and 2 strikers on the bench.

Honestly I always thought that as soon as we went down to 10 men we would struggle to hang on for the best part of 40 minutes against a team like Madrid and keep the clean sheet, they were always going to score in that situation. Jose reacted faster whilst our bench were too busy arguing with the 4th official about something that's happened. Madrid reacted and we didn't. Its a testament that we managed to push forward as much as we did and you got that feeling that if 1 of those chances in the last 10 minutes had gone in then we probably would have gotten the other 1.

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I would have got another defender on and parked the bus. We was looking comfortable until the red.

Another centre back and changed to five at the back, allowing zonal-marking of Ronaldo, Özil and Higuain.

ALDUtd

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I would have personally taken off Van Persie for Rooney, that way Welbeck will still have been able to keep Alonso at arm's length while Rooney shifted to the left

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15 Mar 2013 01:18:57
Zonal marking players? Is that some cross between zonal marking and man marking?

ekd.

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There was a lot of options. Evans and Anderson were on the bench, I would have put them on the pitch in place of an attacker and winger neither of whom were doing much anyway and crowd the midfield area.
But saf did not react, as he didn't react v Chelsea and also against Everton last year when fillaini was wining the aerial battles and that day we had smalling on the bench.

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Did you honstly just say you wou should give SAF some tips on coaching?

OsgoodIsKing

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OsgoodIsKing

I believe he did, bless him!

HBadger

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14 Mar 2013 18:24:19
did welbeck not miss an easy chance in second leg, think he has scored two goals in last 30 odd games including subs, we keep being told we have 4 strikers to compare with treble winning team, and a better squad all round I have my doubts

Believable9 Unbelievable7

You're a real ray of sunshine aren't you? I don't think anyone is saying Welbeck is a better player than Rooney but he did a great job against Madrid.

Perhaps the one area where we are not as strong as '99 is up front but the rest of the squad has far more depth than ever before. As some have said, the 1st 11 is not necessarily the strongest ever, but the squad is.

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Welbeck's goal scoring is definitely not goalscoring standard, and he can be very frustrating. But his build up play outside the box is extremely good imo.

He can be a very important player for us when it matters, he's versatile and hasn't complained once about being played out of position.

In 98/99 it was Sheringham who had a poor season and has said so himself, I think it's too much to ask to have 4 striker firing goals in all season long.

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Thats why you have 4, preferably all different types. So when 1 is off form the others can carry him. Form tends to come and go in different stages. Look at RvP on fire for the first 3rd of the season, dropped off in recent games. Start of the season Rooney was off but RvP carried the team. Its swings and roundabouts.

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Cmon'n guys two performances designed to play as a defensive winger does not make Welbeck a 4th striker. Before the Madrid games I doubt anyone would consider him as a united quality striker and let's be honest his composure and finishing inside the box or picking the right pass or when is it a good time to pass or
try and score is not united quality stuff.

If he was playing for another team I doubt anyone here would be saying we should go get welbeck. It goes to show how we desperately need some midfielders who can compete in the middle of the pitch.

Shahram

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AJH, I would say the midfield in 99 is much, much stronger than our current one. a central four of Scholes, Keane, Beckham and Giggs would give bArcelona's midfield a run for their money don't you think?

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100% agree mick.

Shahram

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Mick, yes they would but there was little in reserve. The team of '99 was stunning as was the one in '94 but the squad wasn't

AJH

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Our current midfield is way below the standard united fans would expect and hope for how we are 12 points clear is beyond me, think when giggs or/and scholes are selected we need five to protect them in the middle I watched spurs game and think dembele would have been good addition to the squad

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We are 12 points clear no name because we deserve to be, we have won all of our big away games despite a lot of negative pessimists on here suggesting we will lose. We have been the best team in the league this season and deserve to go on and win the title, which hopefully we will.

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I said earlier in the season we would win nothing this year and I hope i'm wrong in respect of the league. we are our own worst enemies, to suggest our midfield compares or is better than 99 is a joke. lack of strengthening the midfield which was obvious to everyone who goes or watches the games cost us the title last year and has caused major problems in games this season when we have been completely dominated in midfield. sundays game against chelsea we looked clueless in the middle and other than carrick don't have another midfielder that would get in any of the bigger british or european teams. we are now in the crucial part of the season and have lost our momentum.
johndenton

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May be the reason wellbeck does not complain is because he is living the dream, not scoring and still getting game time he is a striker let's get real its not the first season he has broke into the team been there few years now and there is no improvement in he's goal tally. the names gary birtles and peter davenport spring to mind

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The thing about squad players AJH is that noone remembers them. In 10 years time we'd still remember Csrrick and Clevs, but the likes of Anderson, Young. would be long forgotten.

In 99, we had Butt (47), Neville ( 44 ), Cruyff (11), Blomquvist (38) and also fringe players such as Wilson and Greening. And you also have to remember that on the form of the fantastic 4, they were able to play every game, few players in world football, let alone squad players at manchester united would be able to displace them.

How many of our current wingers would be able to displace Beckham/ Giggs? Maybe Valencia young and Nani would get the odd cup appearance or fill in when someone's injured.

In central midfield we had Butt, blomquvist and Nevill who are superior to all our central midfidelders bar Carrick, and they were only squad players.

The only area where we're significantly stronger than 99 is central defense. We have 5 top class central defenders and 2 amazing full backs. We also have able youngsters to fill in whenever needed. But in central midfielder at least, we are nowhere near as good as the class of 99. Valencia, Young, Nani and Kagawa are all good players, so we're stocked on the wings, but in central midfield, we have 2 semi retired veterans ( one of which is still able to perform consistently ), an overweight injury ravaged brasilian, a hard working player with a very serious illness, a young englishman who still has a long ( long ) way to go to silence his critics, and a 31 year old who is just discovering his best form.

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I'm not sure where all this knocking welbeck is coming from? Rooney was on the pitch against Real in both games, and how many goals did he manage to score? Fact is welbeck did a superb job in both legs and scored the all important away goal. So please stop building Rooney to be some kind of goal scoring machine. He's not in fact he was useless in both legs.
Problem is we didn't take our chances in first leg, rvp being the culprit, and in second leg, their goalie had one of these days where everything he did came off.
If we have it your way we'll sell welbeck and then watch him develop like pogba and then we'll be talking about another one that got away.
Nomidfield

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14 Mar 2013 17:48:44
tactics were ok but I think if rooney plays we put more pressure on RM back four, it allowed them to play further up the pitch

Believable1 Unbelievable7

You should give SAF a call, you're a tactical genius. Seriously, did you watch the game?

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One week too late.

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14 Mar 2013 16:57:07
Congratulations to Rio on his England call up, I say congratulations but I think he should of told Roy to stick it! Being Irish it doesn't really effect me in any way but being a big fan of Rio I think he was treated really badly I know it was a difficult situation with Terry however, even a couple of months ago Hodgson wouldn't even entertain the idea of Rio being in the squad now all of a sudden he's basically come out and said not only will he be in the squad but he'll more than likely be in the team! would like to hear some opinions from the English fans?

Believable8 Unbelievable0

He has been class recently, even if he has lost a bit of pace and sharpness. Didn't know Woy had it in him.

Supasub

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Apparently, Rooney has also lost a yard of pace

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Im irish two jamal and agree with you rio should of told hodgson to stick but he's a goog guy and apreciates it when he get's his chance on the other hand I think he wouldn't of been picked apart from a lot of english defenders are missing
paddy the irish man

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I think Rio wants to prove the point to all those that had written him off. Otherwise he might have told them to stick it. A lesser more petty man might have told them to hump off or just have retired from internationals.

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You're never Irish, Paddy the Irishman! :)

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Dont really think it is uniteds best interest for rio to be back in england squad we have a title to win

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Think if rio wants to extend he's contract at united SAF will insist he quits national team he can't play 2 games in a week now united pay he's salary after all

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14 Mar 2013 16:35:28
team was working ok does not alter the fact we should have gone with rvp and rooney with our none scoring striker wellbeck, remember first CL final against barca giggs supporting ron in attack instead of tevez sentiment + football = disaster

Believable4 Unbelievable5

Most people praised the tactics, I thought we got them spot on until the sending off TBH.

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Is this still going on?
tactics were spot on, rooney needs to realise that just because he is a 'big name' doesn't guarantee you'll start, he has to work for a place like everyone else, hence welbeck starting. He's not god, he's Only going to start games if he can be consistent and not drift out every game for 50-60 minutes

TRUMORS

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"Welbeck our non scoring striker" u said, well just remind us, how many goals did Rooney score against Madrid? He missed a sitter in second leg.

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Nani's sending off hid the fact that Rooney was not needed in such a big game. Giggs was excellent, the team played well and Madrid had no answers until the red card. Rooney wasn't missed.

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So let's say we had gone with Rooney and RVP. Do you think Rooney would've kept possession as well as Welbeck? Would he have worked as hard on the wings? The answers are no.

TK-Red

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Now now lads. Its good of Coleen to pop along and offer her support.

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14 Mar 2013 14:04:16
first time post, let's forget the nani red card done and dusted, team against RM was chosen to accommadate giggs team that played so well and made enough chances to have won the tie in spain should have started in second leg,

Believable2 Unbelievable8

There was nothing wrong with the team it was working perfectly until the red card, had nani not got sent off we would have gone on to win and everyone would be hailing SAF a genius, however we didn't react quick enough and that cost us the game as much as the red card

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We were playing better in the second leg. Giggs was far more effective than Rooney on the right.

Danny Pughnited

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The team that started the 2nd leg had enough chances too - even with 10 men.
I presume you didn't agree with giggs' selection but he was immense that night and was all over the pitch like a lad 20 yrs younger! Like you said its done with now though so let's just get on with winning number 20


BABY FACED ASSASIN

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To accommodate Giggs with good reason. He was our standout player that night.

TK-Red

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How about we just forget the game instead!

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How about we just forget the game instead!

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Ridiculous. Sentimental or not, Giggs was our best player. The red card and the slowness to repsond to it changed everything

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What is it with Rooney that makes people make such statements. In the first game he was terrible and hence the change for the return leg. It is not a coincidence that he is benched, substituted etc a number times this year, because he is not playing good enough and not that integral to teams make up,

Shahram

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14 Mar 2013 11:12:34
I think the chelsea replay date could work into our hands. We've definitely got a better squad in depth, Sir Alex may even rest a few in the sunderland match if we're still 12 ahead, chelsea however will have to be at full strength against southampton because obviously they can't afford to drop points in the race for champions league places. Hopefully everton can get something against city at the weekend to give us an even better cushion.
Adam

Believable3 Unbelievable0

Don't depend on Everton doing anything against city. Everton were shambolic against Wigan. So I don't think they will give city any trouble.
Nomidfield

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As shocking as they were I expect them to give them a good game in the league. Everton need the points just as much.

ms85

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Everton will come back and have a point to prove. Moyes is a pretty good manager, the Everton players are pretty good players and are working towards Europe. Fellaini will also have a point to prove after being booed.

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14 Mar 2013 10:58:10
If we do sell Rooney, which I personally don't think will happen, then I genuinely believe the only replacement worth going for would be Isco. Even though they are different players, he would be phenomenal for us and be perfect behind Rvp or maybe even as well as Lewandoski. Plus he fits in with our transfer criteria. Obviously there is a few players who could play number 10, ie. Gotze/ put Kagawa there full time perhaps. What do you guys reckon? I think it will be a busy summer regardless, just hope we buy quality replacements for whoever goes.

Elvis

Believable1 Unbelievable4

Isco has been diabolical for malaga this year. overrated and not in the same class as modric, goetze, moutinho.
Stay well clear saf

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Yer well overrated, so much so that he won the Golden Boy award for 2012

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So isco scores last night and now he is the savior, even though he was nowhere in the first leg and nowhere last night until they had a man advantage lol

shahram

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I'm not all to fussed about him but, to be fair, people have been talking about Isco for atleast a year. Hardly MOTD fever.

TK-Red

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14 Mar 2013 09:42:29
I think if we are moving towards a team with inverted wingers then we should definatley keep Young & Valencia to offer that different option to change games - we don't want to become a one trick pony like City have been this year.

Say we had a team like this:

_____________De Gea
Rafael___Smalling___Vidic___Evra
_______Strootman__Carrick
____Kagawa___Eriksen___Rodriguez
______________RVP

This will be ideal for certain games, and the one touch, introcated play will be fantastic. However at times we will need to be more direct. I remember a game against AC Milan maybe 3 years ago. we went down to Ronaldinho, I think Rooney leveled it but we needed one more. The game was crying out for someone to hug the touchline, go past a man and put a cross on. Valencia came on, did just that and Rooney nodded in the winner.

What I'm getting at here is that firstly, squad players win titles, just as much as the big name stars do. And secondly, we can't totally change our style, we have to have a blend of styles that all fit in together.

So in summary, if we could get Rodriguez, Lewandowski, Strootman & EITHER Modric or Eriksen then we would have more options, provided that we keep both Young & Valencia and add to that Welbeck & Zaha.

Interested to hear your thoughts guys!

Believable1 Unbelievable11

Kagawa needs to be in behind RvP for me.

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Is Ronaldo on the bench? ;)

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Fresh I don't know how much you have seen of Eriksen, but he is nowhere near good enough to take over from Rooney.

If we are to sell Rooney, I would but Gotze and play him on the left and play Rodriguez on the right, with Kagawa down the middle. If we can't get goetze we should go for Isco, and that way we'd have a Chelsea-like 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers able to cut in and create chances and score goals, while Carrick and Strootman would provide cover for Rafael and Evra ( or Shaw ) to advance and give us width.

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I would switch Kagawa behind RVP, and play Nani on the right

RedDub

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How many players do we need in our squad? Valencia, young are not up to standard, might as well sell them and raise some money. We have zaha coming in. And hopefully, cr7 on the other flank.
We need midfielders please.

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14 Mar 2013 13:40:51
Fresh makes a good point we need a plan b at times and good squad players to push others on and provide rotation. I don't see us spending massive amounts. Think a lot depends on outs. I think we'll prioritise midfield this summer and leave the rest till next summer.

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Lol Mort, think that's what we all said last year

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Yep i'm having dejavu. ;)

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All these big words are doing my head in!

What's an inverted winger? An attacking midfielder that's not good enough to play in centre or a winger that's not quick enough to hug the touchline? Someone explain please

ALDUtd {Ed007's Note - An inverted winger sounds painful.}

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Well considering Cristiano Ronaldo is an inverted winger I think you got it wrong.

An inverted winger is a winger who plays on the opposite side of his strong foot.

And since what I said makes no sense whatsoever, an inverted winger is a left footed player who plays on the right or a right footed player who plays on the left.

They usually cut inside and shoot/ produce a through ball.

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14 Mar 2013 08:11:57
Just a quick question Eds. can you see us really going in for CB this summer? With Rio getting towards the end and Vidic still struggling with injuries now and again will this position be more of a priority than LB? I think Evans has been great this year but for me, Smalling is still a season or two away from being in a first choice CB pairing. Cheers in advance! {Ed007's Note - If a CB is brought in it I don't see it being someone of the calibre of a Hummels for example (although I personally prefer Subotic) unless Ferdinand or even Vidic leaves. With the two already named along with Evans, Smalling and Jones there is not much room available in the squad for another CB. Although I always think that Jones would make a better CDM but sadly I'm not the manager.}

Believable0 Unbelievable1

I think that we will get a deal in place for Zouma in January. much like we did with Smalling. Then Rio will leave in the following summer.

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14 Mar 2013 07:37:40
Hey Jono, hope everything is ok. I think DDG cost a lot given he is still not the finished article but I like him and think we should stick with him. He will still drop the odd clanger but he's very young and has huge talent. If we are scouting keepers, I hope it's as a back up

Believable7 Unbelievable1

What clangers has he dropped recently? He's been mom in a lot of the matches. Give the poor guy a chance.
Nomidfield

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I'm pretty sure AJH was saying exactly that - to give the guy a chance?

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Read the st NoMidfield, that's exactly what I said!

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14 Mar 2013 01:34:02
Heh guys

Not posted in a whole due to family issues but was recently at the Norwich game and although I missed Kags first goal (early ht beer was calling) I was thoroughly impressed with the second half! But anyways I think the topic raised about tactics is a good one. One thing we pride ourselves on is our expansive wide play, it has always been the case and under SAF he has always prefered 2 wingers than going for the more advanced 4-2-3-1.

Now I'm all in agreement that if we had any newer age no2 he would be pushing for that change of inverted wingers rather than old school touch line players so IMO we need to replace phelan as no2 in the summer.

But what I find wierd is that when we have played against the big teams this season so far we have done extremely well! We have beat teams on paper that we would struggle/be very competative against and it was down to top tactics that we have managed this. Madrid both games are prime examples recently and we still are a very potent countering team especially with the added impotess RVP has given us in hold up play.

So the thing I would live to know is who is calling the shots on these plays?

I'll agree like KLOOT says we shouldn't be doing this all the time but against the big teams it has worked a treat for us so far (barring that ridiculous nani red). But does anyone think it's SAF? Probably not after the barca lesson, phelan? Probably not as he has wasted enough time saying yes boss! So IMO as has already been said on here hats off to rene meulenstein as I think he has been the master stroke behind the current squad linking well together and playing very well v the best opposition!

I find it very interesting that during the games SAF sits in his seat next to Rene while Phelan gets the technical area job! Maybe SAF has started listenening to rene next to him and is using MP as an in between man to the players during match day? I don't know. But I think Rene has had a massive part to play in this (IMO) under strength united team doing so well.

I think SAF will keep it as it is going into next season (if he is here) and will utilise Rene more and more. The big thing is IMO that when a manager moves on the assistant rarely stays so could it be that MP appointment was done with an eye on keeping Rene for the next manager to utilise as he sees fit?

I think so!

Also an added point!

I am renowned for a bit of DDG bashing but I'll hold my hands up and say he has impressed even me with his keeping of late! Although never really tested on crosses and commanding much his shot stopping has been nothing short of outstanding and IMO his best save in a utd shirt to date was the star footed save from mata in the dying seconds v Chelsea. Very much identical to the great Dane and far more toward the keeper I want to see.

Still room for improvement mind but definitely some good steps in the right direction!

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Mata brings the best saves out of him.

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BOOM! .

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Haha G. A. G. U. S I knew you would be in the top two or three replies ;)

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Nice1 Jono, takes a big man that pal :) DDG has been more vocal of late too on top of the shot stopping. Let's hope he keeps on working on the aerial side of things and fingers crossed he is still here next season.

HBadger

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That cse at BZN must have knocked some goalie sense into you Jono. Ps sorry I missed you I was watching a very dodgy ref knock us out of Europe!

Red Snapper

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It's nice to see people finally realising what a good GK DeGea is and how great he can become. There was a time not long ago I thought I was alone in seeing what a fantastic young keeper we had on our hands, but bit by bit even the blindest out there are finally seeing this aswell. People are far too quick to shoot down our players sometimes and we need to be a bit more supportive, especially when they are so young and have come from a totally different country and style of football.

In David we trust.

Brendan81

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14 Mar 2013 00:00:02
Nani was sent off for a challenge less dangerous than the one made by Javi Martinez tonight? Where was his red card. Consistency in referees is needed.

Caol�n.

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So did you think Martinez should have been sent off? Have you heard of the saying 2 wrongs don't make a right?

It was a different referee and this one got the decision spot on, the one last week got the decisions horribly wrong, but we already knew that. Consistency is something that cannot always happen as they are different refs and have different views of every situation.

Don't you think the ref tonight will have seen the mistake from last week and knew full well that it wasn't a red card, just like everyone else that saw it?

Like I said further down I do understand the sentiment behind what you are saying, but we just got a bad decision against us, it happens sometimes, we can't expect every ref to make the same bad decision just so we have consistency.

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Somebody disagrees. Must be Roy Keane.

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Nani was a red can we get over it.

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I would prefer common sense tbh Martinez wasn't a red a neither was nani
Chris the REDman

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Fair point GDS - but it would be nice for the ref or UEFA to admit it was a wrong decision at least. Didn't they come out and say they saw no problem with the decision? That's the only bit that gets me is that they say that, yet similar challenges go un-punished onm a weekly basis.

HBadger

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I don't think uefa commented at all gav but the ref backed his own decision and still think it was a red card, pathetic really and he should never be allowed to ref again.

I think we should move on, we can't look at every high foot forever and complain it should be a red card as I am sure we will get away with one down the line.

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GDS - I'm totally up for moving on, in fact I had moved on before getting to bed last Tuesday. That's the beauty of football - there is always the next game and the next trophy to go for. I was just under the impression one of the governing bodies had backed the decision (maybe I was wrong) and that would be my only issue as it muddies the waters around what is/is not acceptable.

I agree there's no use going on about it and luckily there are still plenty of exciting times ahead for us, starting this weekend!

HBadger

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Did p#ss me off when seeing the yellow card challenge last night. More annoyed about all the "what if's" which go with the decision "our" ref made.

Red Snapper

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14 Mar 2013 13:09:40
The thing is gds it always seems to be United on the other end of these horrible decisions in europe. Or english clubs usually in general. You never see barca getting incorrect red cards or madrid getting penalties against them and I think this is what annoys most people. Especially when getting a ref like that who every single time he refs an english side he sends someone from that team off. Now you can't say that that isn't bias or that a few decisions were wrong. what's done is done and we have to move on. But if we don't kick up about it chances are we could very well be here in twelve months having the same discussion.

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No name,

That sounds like a post from a Liverpool fan about United and what we slag them off for.

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