Manchester United Banter Archive February 18 2015

 

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18 Feb 2015 20:43:19
Interesting to see Phil Neville claim that we planned to bring in Blaise Matuidi this season before the board rung the changes. That's exactly the type of signing we need at the moment.

I am actually a little surprised that LVG didn't follow this up because he is exactly what he likes and what we need. Strong, powerful, versatile and has one hell of an engine. Wouldn't say no to him if we ever rekindled our interest in the lad.

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18 Feb 2015 21:08:07
I agree, good player.

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He signed a new deal at Paris and didn't want to leave them.

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18 Feb 2015 23:47:05
A year on though Fresh who knows what can happen. Contracts mean **** in the modern game.

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Yer good player

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19 Feb 2015 06:28:58
I suspect LVG was suffering from strootman blindness last summer hence we did not follow up our interest.

I would be tempted to offer PSG a swap of ADM for matuidi and Marquinhos and look to get some new wingers. ADM has shown flashes of brilliance, but not often enough. I accept he is getting used to a new league, new climate, new language and new team as well as injuries, but if we compare to Sanchez at arsenal, we are not getting value for money.

Let me know what you think.

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19 Feb 2015 08:11:51
Huggy I would snap your hand off for that trade. If not Matuidi or Marquinhos I'd also take either one of Veratti or Cavani.

I like Di Maria. He was awesome last year at Madrid but he is like you say been really inconsistent. His inconsistency isn't even what bugs me it is the amount of time he wastes and gives away the ball. No way should £57million player be doing that.

Also apparently folk at the has said his English has regressed since joining United. Is he thinking short or long term that is the question?

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Huggy

There is also a story that we could have signed Fabregas but he declined to bid. All heresy and will never know the truth maybe people just string the pot to upset guys like me :)

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19 Feb 2015 13:15:05
If we were going to sign a player from Roma, I'd choose Nainggolan or Pjanic every day.

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Totally agree ste, naingollan is my choice ahead of pogba and Vidal. Pogba, because he'll never come back to united and we'll be wasting our time chasing him. Vidal as he has had an attitude problem at juventus and the last thing we need is a player coming in with that sort of attitude.
If we bought naingollan and pianic or modric then I'll be delighted.
On the subject of di maria, he's been immensely disappointing, however, we have to give him time to settle into a new country etc, learn a not of English and let's see what happens next year.

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Nomidfield

I briefly saw Nainggollan and he looked very mobile and a good driving force from midfield so I agree with you he should be looked at.

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18 Feb 2015 16:36:22
Journos saying the reason Herrera does not play is because he was a DM signing and LVG does not rate him.

Funny they are also talking about Verrati being the kind of player we need. Also saying United will make a pitch for Pogba if we qualify for Champions League.

Also saying LVG is not a great recruiter and it will be down to Club to get certain players. Never thought about that and I wonder if it is true.

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I don't think Herrera, Shaw or Falcao were actually van Gaals signings the first 2 I think he was told they were already incoming after taking a year to get them

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18 Feb 2015 20:52:32
Very interesting GCU. I suggested the other day that Herrera could be seen as a Moyes signing and was shot down. Although if that's the reason he's not getting a game then shame on LVG.

As for Pogba, I would love the lad. He is a future Ballon D'or winner but I hate his agent Riola and I'm sure he will be unrealistically valued. His wages massive and his agent fees, well astronomical. If he signed I would like him here for 10 years but his agent has claimed in the past that if Messi was his client he would have convinced him to switch clubs at least 3-4 times. Loyalty huh?

Again in theory would love Pogba but at half the price I am sure we can find someone just as talented out there.

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Pogba will be too expensive. We have a lot to do, right back, centre back, centre mid, winger and striker. If we went for the likes or Clyne, Hummels; Pogba, Cavani and a winger that's a good £200 million spend which I would of thought is too much.

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18 Feb 2015 23:48:52
Not far off what was spent last summer though Fresh.

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19 Feb 2015 02:12:32
And also if you include the Mata deal the net spend for 2014 was pretty close to the £200million mark.

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Now story floating around Hoe Reus ignored a personal call from LVG before he signed with Dortmund. My first question would be is that legal?

If any truth to it, I can see how he just charmed the pants off of him and so convincing evident by Reus rushing to sign his Dortmund contract the next day lol

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19 Feb 2015 13:20:23
I couldn't care if Pogba would be overvalued I would rather get rid of some of the over paid players we have got and sign him. Get rid of RVP and give his wage packet to Pogba, Let Falcao go and give half of his wage to Cavani and half to a wide player with pace.

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Cgu and Juanmb, if you think that lvg was just going along with the Herrera and Shaw signings and that they are not really his kind of players then you clearly know nothing about lvg.
He will not sign anyone that he doesn't want. Simple as that.

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19 Feb 2015 20:29:42
Nomid- I think that when LVG got the job the board and the hierarchy spoke to him and said something along the lines of:

'this is your team, we have a lined up deals for Herrera and Shaw also. We have put a lot of hard work and man hours into securing them over the last year. But we will also give you a budget of £100million for the first treasnfer window for you to do with as you please".

That is my honest opinion.

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18 Feb 2015 15:08:30
Do you think de gea will leave this summer? If so, do you think timo horn would be a good replacement?

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Haven't posted for a while. Still been reading, though.

I hope the club has a plan in place. Valdes as the replacement for DDG would be catastrophic, never rated him highly, I don't care about what he's won. He's a liability. And he's mid-30's coming off an injury.

IF.

DDG leaves, I hope the club know its coming and have a solid plan to replace him. Lloris would be a great replacement, but we'd get rinsed by Spurs, but I guess we may have to do what it takes especially if they don't get CL and we do.

Other than Lloris, despite being a former GK myself, I am way off the pace. I don't know who the top-class European keepers are right now, and those who are available, would love someone more knowledgable to update.

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Tim Krul (yes I know) is apparently on the radar.

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Cech would be decent or the psg keeper

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19 Feb 2015 02:14:32
It will be intresting to see what happens with Petr Cech and I agree Sirigu from PSG is one of the top 5 keepers in the world for me.

But hopefully we don't need to speculate and De Gea signs up before the end of the season!

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19 Feb 2015 04:42:32
If DE GEA leaves, then ideal replace for him will be Hugo Lloris.

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19 Feb 2015 06:11:42
I like Lloris mate, I like him a lot. Lloris, Neuer, De Gea, Sirigu and Courtouis are the best five keepers in world football in my opinion. But Spurs would hold any team to ransom for their best player and as a direct rival they'll make us pay even more.

Again though hopefully De Gea commits and this keeper talk is pointless.

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Lloris!

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mbd              

Don't shoot the messenger but Heskey was spotted outside the Aon training complex wearing a pair of goalie gloves. You heard it here first.

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18 Feb 2015 13:35:09
Since moving to a Flat back four from a 3 at the back formation how does everyone think we've done?

The plus points are we are not conceding large amounts, bad points is we still look disjointed and need a settled back 4.

In Right back Raphael is constantly injured so I personally would love to see McNair get a more consistent run of games, he gives us something extra going forward.
Valencia is a good back up and although a winger I think LVG has done a good Job integrating him as a right back. He seems to be improving in the role.

In centre back I think Jones is alright but that's about it, average performances and I haven't seen any signs of Improvement.

Smalling I think has improved, his passing has got better, albeit slightly. Better than when he was played out on the right. He's making good runs into space from defence and completing most of his passes. Needs to keep concentrating for a full 90 though.

Rojo has done okay so far, he's new to the team and needs to settle, he also had no pre season with the team and is just off the back of a world cup, he gets slated by some but he works hard and has been quite steady. When he settles I think we'll have a decent defender in the ranks. Who is rarely injured.

At left back Shaw has had a few niggley injuries but he will come good, once he gets a run of 10-12 games you'll see his full contribution. Unfortunately we haven't seen that yet because he hasn't had that steady run of games.

I don't know what has happened to Evans he seems like he has lost all belief in himself. When he plays he's at sixes and sevens and adds an element of shakiness to our defence. I don't think he will add much more going forward, whether he's one of our own or not, which is a shame.

All in all I think we're doing okay but with 1 powerful commanding CB we'll have Just what our defence requires. Stability

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Makes you wonder why he played 3-5-2 if we look just as good defensively - still look poor going forward. Saying that I do notice Blind dropping into the back line a lot, so it's kind of a flexi 5-3-2/4-4-2. I don't think too much has changed in reality.

We clearly lack a leader and somebody comfortable on the ball so we can build from the back, this will stop our midfield from dropping so deep to pick up the 5 yard pass as well.

I would like to give LVG the benefit of the doubt, but I wont.

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The change hasn't made a massive difference because all we have done is played Blind instead of a centre back who sits deep anyway most of the time. The formation hasn't changed radically enough as we still don't have enough width.

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18 Feb 2015 15:06:49
Fresh that's true. But they don't look as shaky in my opinion even with blind so deep.

I agree we have a defensive midfielder a little 2 deep but there's no harm in it currently, but as beast said above and what I meant is, with a stable and commanding centre back we can play the ball out better from the back and we'll have the confidence to do so. Its the only thing our defence needs along with leadership.

Lately when we played Herrera,blind and 2 wingers it worked because Herrera will come to the ball and find the space, this means Rooney will drop a little deeper in the 10 role bringing our wide players into the game with Fellaini/Wilson upfront.

I personally would prefer Rooney up top alone with Mata in the 10 role with Blind in front of the back four, Herrera and Mata linking up bringing our wide men into the game adding pace and Rooney to finish them off ;)

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If you watch the preston game blind dropped in to make it a 5 at the back when they had the ball

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Maybe Blind drops deep because he is very slow to track back.

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18 Feb 2015 12:12:30
anyone see the video of Anderson getting subbed and then needing to have oxygen lol.

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18 Feb 2015 13:08:40
Shocking, I hope it was to do with the heat over there rather than his lack of fitness, he did play a few under 21s games for us and came through them without needing the oxygen! What a waste of talent.

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18 Feb 2015 13:36:09
It was altitude related

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18 Feb 2015 13:38:27
Its because the air is thinner where he was playing.It was in LaPaz I think which is 1200m above sea level.

You need to get accustomed to that environment

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Isn't the air always thinner in relation to Anderson?

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I think they just told him that his performance didn't warrant his contractual Big Mac & Fries.

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Everything is thinner than Anderson.

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18 Feb 2015 11:16:45
Having watched Cavani closely last night I must say I was very impressed and have not given him a fair critique in the last. He is much better on the ball than I thought he was and is quicker than I thought. His finishing is also excellent. If we are to see Falcao and RVP both leave in the summer then I would suspect that he is our number 1 strike target and for good reason.

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Fresh
All that from 1 game .

i think he would suit the epl , i though we might of gone for cavani and got rid of rvp last summer until moyes got the boot.
would be a good signing imo

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He is a great player but asked to do a lot of work for Ibra, who hardly moves now a days and the the whole tam is designed around him. He is much quicker than atone we have and when on form fantastic striker.

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I think he would lead the line well alongside Rooney with two quick wingers - great.

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18 Feb 2015 16:05:24
I agree Fresh Cavani or Benzema would be very nice. I really like the lad Lacazette but Ed002 has told us to forget about him.

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Meant to say "team" and "anyone"

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17 Feb 2015 23:16:58
Ander Herrera this season:
5 starts
5 goals
5 assists

This, plus how much better we look with him in the team, shows why he would be starting every week.

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You should send this to the manager, he obviously sees things differently unfortunately. Funny how Di Maria gets played every game although in all honesty he gives the ball away too many times for my liking and yet to give me comfort that 60 million was money well spent but herrera supposedly is not liked because he is deemed too forward thinking.

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But he doesn't give us balance, nor does he fit the philosophy, and he's write short, nor is he Dutch and he is called Herrera. No chance

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*quite*

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It's worrying that I have even seen posters on here saying Herrera hasn't done enough to justify a starting spot and that he gives the ball away far too much!

Free Herrera.

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18 Feb 2015 09:19:32
JMB,

Hope the posters you have seen here saying that don't include me? I haven't actually seen anybody say Herrera doesn't deserve a starting spot so I think you might be getting confused somewhere along the line?

That being said, that stat isn't really accurate as the goals and assists don't just include the games when he started, good stats nonetheless though.

Of course Hererra should be playing in the middle instead of Rooney, only one man knows why he isn't.

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18 Feb 2015 09:37:43
GDS - this is a quote from you:

"I actually do not think Herrera has been amazing when he has played, he gives the ball away quite a lot and doesn't defend as well as LVG would like, it is amazing how good a player can become when he isn't playing.

I think Herrera is better than Rooney in midfield, but he is not the long term answer in my opinion and that is why LVG will be looking to bring that long term answer in in the summer."

This to me suggests you do not think Herrera is good enough and you don't seem to rate him or his performances very highly.

Why can't he be the long term answer? He is 25 years old and awesome. What more do you want?

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18 Feb 2015 10:29:22
Yes I can see in there where I said Herrera doesn't deserve a starting spot, don't change things I have said to suit your argument.

I clearly state there that I think Herrera is better than Rooney in midfield, in other words, he should be playing in the midfield at the moment.

I have said I am not sure Herrera has shown yet that he can control the tempo of a game and be that main man in the middle, show me a game where he has done this so far and I will agree with you, but I can't think of one.

My point about him not being the long term answer was for example we signed Vidal or Pogba in the summer they would be my choice ahead of a Herrera, or in the same team as him. I think we need a combative midfielder who can control the tempo of the game and that is the long term answer in our midfield.

I heard all the same arguments about Kagawa and people arguing like you about him last season, he wasn't getting game time and that was being blamed on the poor performances and anyone who said he wasn't the next best thing were shot down, but I don't see too many people now wishing we kept him. I am not saying Herrera is the same as Kagawa, I actually think he offers more, especially at this time, but you see the point I am making.

I am pretty sure nobody wants to see a GDS2 v JMB show on here today, as you can see from my comments above our opinions on Herrera don't differ that greatly, so no need to suggest I, or anybody else, have said he shouldn't be in the team.

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18 Feb 2015 11:31:29
Just telling it how I see it GDS. It is a banter page after all!

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Herrera is nothing like kags.
Kags never looked he could handle the epl i think he had 1 good game .
People who wanted kagawa in the team imo where dreaming of the kagawa at Dourtmund .
Herrera on the other hand looks like he has something and i think most people would agree he deserves a chance.
He is also a totally different player to say a vidal imo

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18 Feb 2015 13:06:07
jred,

I agree he deserves a chance, maybe with a run in the team he will be able to prove himself and I would love him to prove me wrong and show that he can control the whole tempo of a game on a regular basis.

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How do you expect Herrera to control the tempo of games when (a) he hasn't had much game time and (b) has rarely been given the chance to play in the centre of the park.

As far as I can see van Gaal believes that his defensive midfielder (Carrick or Blind) should be setting the tempo. They're the first point of attack and the other players are tasked with creating movement in front of them. This is probably why our tempo has been so slow - relying on deep lying midfielders to control the game. If Herrera gets some regular game time alongside Blind, he will have more of a role to play in setting tempo, and you can judge him then.

Another part of your strawman argument. You claim that Herrera hasn't convinced you because he loses the ball too much, doesn't contribute enough defensively and doesn't control the tempo of the game. However, all none of these claims are accurate: his ball retention is among the best in the team, anyone who watches us can see that he works harder defensively than the likes of Di Maria, Juanzaj and Mata, and on par with Rooney and Fellaini. The only midfield players who do more defensive work are Carrick and Blind, who are defensive midfield players. And lastly, it's obvious that because he has been deployed as a right-sided mid, it isn't his job, under van Gaal, to control tempo.

The lad hasn't been amazing this season, and he has certainly lacked consistency. But he has played well so far while adapting to a new league and playing in an unfamiliar position, and all your criticisms are based on gross misrepresentations of what is happening on the pitch.

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Gds
He is not really that type of player he will be a top player as part of a midfield unit.
Have u watched him play before we signed him ?

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Jred, people bigging up Kagawa were usually the "Anything but Rooney" brigade ;)

Deeps.

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Deeps
Very true .

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18 Feb 2015 16:48:39
Danny,

'The lad hasn't been amazing this season' is all I said in one of my posts that started this whole thing off. I hope he can be amazing and I can see he probably could be, I just have a feeling we will sign another midfielder.

I am fully aware he is a good player, I have never said different, I feel like there was a massive overreaction to a comment that you have just repeated whilst trying to argue with me!

Let's get this straight, for one final time, I really rate Herrera, I think he COULD be amazing for us, but up to now he hasn't been amazing in any game, he has been good, but I am hoping he can be amazing. That ok?

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But that isn't all you said.

You said he hasn't been amazing and he isn't a long term option for our midfield.

This isn't the same as 'he hasn't been amazing but he could be and I hope he will be'. It's more like I think he's good but not good enough. You constructed a strawman argument in an attempt to justify van Gaal's exclusion of one of our best performing players, and when people had a go at you, you just pretended that you had said something completely different.

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18 Feb 2015 20:55:47
I really wouldn't need to do that, I can handle people 'having a go at me' on a banter site. I said I don't think he will be the long term option as in we will sign somebody else in the summer, if he can prove himself then let's hope he can. Apologies if I upset you with a strawman argument, I've explained my comment enough times now I feel.

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"he is not the long term answer in my opinion and that is why LVG will be looking to bring that long term answer in in the summer."

Nope, you said he isn't a long term option and that is why van Gaal is looking to buy someone else in the summer. As in, Herrera isn't good enough so we need to bring in someone who is. If you backtrack anymore you'll end up in the Fergie era.

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Danny
You hit the nail on the head

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19 Feb 2015 00:10:52
Ok Danny, goodnight mate.

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