Manchester United Banter Archive March 20 2014

20 Mar 2014 19:46:11
Bentaleb looks a top prospect. Can use the ball even with tight marking. Reminds me a bit of a Veratti type player.

20 Mar 2014 18:53:41
Having avoided the papers and sly news since sunday it was nice to buy the paper this morning and read the back page of all the others.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that Fellani looks much more effective and comfortable playing much higher up the pitch. He is a nightmare for defenders. It where is put in some awesome performances for Everton against all the top sides (not just us) and is a real handful for defenders when he plays between the lines of midfield and attack, he actually holds the ball up very well and his link up play when playing with his back to goal is of a very high standard. He plays more attacking also for Belgium.
Im not for a moment suggesting we play him always as a second striker but I do think he is a lot more effective and his lack of pace is not exposed as it is when he plays deeper.

Three man midfield two behind a central striker midfield is optional probably Carrick Cleverly and Fellani this would allow Fellani to play higher up the pitch alonside Rooney and Mata behind R

Had a similar thought myself. I so want him to do well, but. !Guess we'll just have to wait & see. My heart says he'll fit in but my mind is not convinced.

Three man midfield with two behind the striker Fellani Carrick Cleverly behind Mata and Rooney With RvP up front this would allow us to defend well in midfield but have an out let between midfield and the two behind the striker

Paddy

That team is very solid in midfield but too narrow and offers no width. Unfortunately that is the exact problem we have with this squad our best defensive options are too much of a compromise offensively and vice versa.

He would also free up space for our more technical players to operate. We are missing a trick playing Fellaini as a DM, he needs to be more offensive, he attracts defenders and will win flicks, hold up the play and create space.

20 Mar 2014 18:49:16
I'm writing this at half time of the benfica v Spurs and Garay look like something that utd could look to have as a replacement for rio and or vidic

20 Mar 2014 18:35:31
Today my boy was allowed his first bottle at the hospital and I gave him it, his breathing is still erratic but none the less a massive step I the right direction.
So happy now and what witg last night too easily the best week of the year for me :-D

Great news Chris, really pleased for you and Mrs CTR, I hope everything continues to go well.

Tony

Super news Chris, well chuffed for you and the family mate!

That's great news Chris. Thanks for the update. Special moment for you I'm sure. Still keeping the little lad and yourself and the family in my thoughts and prayers. Hopefully he's at home with ya looking at us lifting the Champions League in a couple of months.

20 Mar 2014 19:01:50
Nice one CTR. MY missus has only ever read 1 post on this site and that was your story and letter of thanks for all the support you received from all fans and she has been asking about you every day since. So ill pass on the good news. BTW are Nurses not one of the most underpaid and under rated members of our society their job truly is a vocation I tip my hat to them all,

Cracking news, Chris. Hope you know everyone on these boards, across the tribal divide, are rooting for you and your family.

Warms my heart to hear it CTR! All the best to you an your family.

Congrats mate, I hope you have pick rout a shirt for him. I wonder what number :) I did:)

Great news for you and your family CTR. Hope he can be home soon, so he can watch the match with his dad.
YNWA

Everyone is with you fella, can't even imagine the worry that you and your family have been going through. I've got a 2 year old and if anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do. Keep the good news coming.

Ken, agree 100%, 99% of nurses do a fantastic job and compared to doctors etc are definitely underpaid/undervalued in my eyes. Then again, my wife is a teacher, and the hours and work she puts in for the money and recognition is a joke.

Anyway Chris, give your little lad a hug from us when you see him tomorrow.

Cheers guys :-)

Totally agree ken, the nurses are amazing people and for the job they do they dnt get half as much money as they should.

Fantastic news! I hope that you'll be able to bring him home soon. Keep on believing and soon he'll be in your arms at home.

20 Mar 2014 16:24:40
Didnt any1 else notice how well the team played last night once rvp went off?

CTR, you haven't lost it mate, very good :)

Yep and the way he went off the pitch was just lazy. He couldn't even be bothered to walk. He just won't make the effort anymore

I agree mate and the way he was just carried off the to the side of the pitch too, didn't even pass Rooney! U could cut the tension with a knife between them 2!

20 Mar 2014 15:04:11
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it but well done moyes, he got it right last night .

It was all down to the players, jred. Except when we lose of course.

Steviek
I have a feeling he would of got more of a mention if we had got beat

Jred,

Haven't you heard, last night proved the exact reason that fans want Moyes out, the players decided themselves to attack and it was nothing to do with Moyes.

I actually read a post down the page that said that, people don't even realise when they are being ridiculous anymore.

Jred, you know it, if Olympiakos scored in the 95th minute the posts would have been so different. Personally I think he got it right yesterday. He had to play Giggs and Welbeck. What a difference a speedy left winger and a top central midfielder would make.

Moyes picked the right team and got the right result. It was a big victory, regardless of the opposition, and he deserves credit for it. Giggs was then big call, and he made sure that we had a real threat from midfield. So well done Moyes, despite the silly dropping deep for the last 30 min, he got it right.

But one big victory means nothing if he can't get the team playing well on a consistent basis, and against top quality teams. We need to carry on winning against West Ham, and then produce something against City. That is the real test and another blunt performance like we saw last weekend simply will not do.

It was good to see another English team get through to the quarter finals but you have to look at who you beat before getting carried away.

Olympiakos' best player was sold to Fulham and can barely get a sniff of game time for possibly the worst club in the Premier League.

Danny, I agree, but all jred was asking for was a little credit where it's due. At least you mentioned him.

And to be fair, Moyes spent the last half hour urging his defence further forward.

Stamfordred

Based on your silly logic your team struggled and got through against a team that got hammered 10-2 on aggregate agains real madrid and also lost Fc Kopenhagen. So what does say about your team.

Lol what? We never went behind in the tie and won 3-1 on aggregate, hardly a struggle.

My logic is that the best player Olympiakos had can't make an impact in quite possibly the worst team in the Premier League so over two legs should be beaten with relative ease by a team with quality players. I'm not sure where your comparison comes from? :)

What does being behind have anything to do with a convincing win. You looked poor in Turkey and did the usual got a goal and defended in numbers and just not great to watch. Your brand of football is so defensive it is quite boring to watch and if the results dry up it is like watching a villas boas team. Forgot he is comes from the same school of training:)

Your argument of their best player not being able to get into fulham is quite silly as he was injured and it will not be the last or first time that a player coming into the Pl in January does not immediately hit the ground running. Vidic and Evra come to mind but one season later arguably were the best at their positions.

That is quite a silly way of trying to make some sort of statement about the quality of the opposition.

Let's see how the quarters go

Stamford

BTW I think the way mourinho sets up a team defensively is the best and I wish we could defend like that.

20 Mar 2014 14:02:30
Evening lads

Not football related but last week I posted that my misses was going into labour. Well the little sod decided he wasn't ready to come out so they sent us home

But today he finally showed! Now his just made this week a whole lot better!

Congratulations UnitedLad!

I hope the little nipper brings you more joy than United have done this season.

Grats man hope they are both fine.

Congratulations mate :-)

All the best mate. Glad everyone is good!

Congratulations! Now the hard work begins!

20 Mar 2014 12:36:34
Gr8 result for you guys last night, good luck with the draw tomorrow.

Thanks Simon, I think it's safe to say we need it!

Bring on Madrid, it's going to happen guys so let's get used to it now :-)

Maybe Real will get a player wrongly sent off this time and allow us to sneak through.

20 Mar 2014 11:08:29
Did people notice how much better we were with Giggs in midfield? Simply because he goes forward and passes forward. A top quality central midfielder and it would transform this team completely offensively. 4-5 signings would complete this team, I just hope that we bring in the right ones. I think the Liverpool game may have made Moyes mind up on Rafael. I wouldn't sell the lad, but I can see us bringing in someone to challenge him at RB. A lot of Coleman rumours flying around. A new CB even if it's someone like Garay who isn't everyone's cup of tea would be a mass improvement. He like to push up into midfield with the ball and gets back reasonably well. Shaw is obviously a Moyes target, but he could be difficult to obtain. Will be a great player mind. That much needed, elusive, busy central midfielder that we are crying out for, someone like Kroos or Gundogan would do the trick and a quick breaking left-winger to add some much needed speed to our attack. Griezmann perhaps? Who would others recommend? The editor says the build will be over the space of three windows, but is it really out of the question that we could not sign 4-5 players this summer or at least bring in the important one's? LB, CB, CM & LW?

I agree with much of that Sydney. There are four main areas that we need to sort. I think Jones now has to be a mainstay at centre back and learn his trade there. Ideally I would like him to partner Smalling but with injury problems this may not be able to be a regular partnership. Garay fits the bill perfectly for me - I think the reason we haven't signed him in the past is because we are waiting for Vidic and Ferdinand to retire so we aren't over crowded there. For left back Shaw is clearly the main target, I would be happy with him or Kurzawa - both similar and both can develop. Right back isn't urgent and shouldn't be a priority. The difference that a forward thinking midfielder made yesterday was plain to see. Vidal ideally, but Gundogan or Kroos would be more than good enough. I think Gundogan will be the one. For the left Griezmann or Reus is perfect, but getting two from Dortmund would be a talk order. If not those two then Pedro or Muniain would be perfect with their pace and skill.

I don't think many will complain with Mangala, Shaw, Gundogan & Griezmann, but it will be tough getting them.

I will add another cb or Michale Keane getting promotion to 1st 11. And I think a quick ground covering DM will add a lot more to this

I don't see us getting Mangala, far too expensive and I think City are the most likely. Griezmann is probably between us, PSG and Arsenal. Gundogan I think is likely and as I said if we can't get Shaw we should get Kurzawa.

Rodio, I think that is why we are looking at William Carvalho, he is a pretty quick and powerful defensive midfielder. Depends on price.

I think we really need to sign two top quality central midfielders, just one isn't enough because if that player is out injured, we haven't strengthened that area of the team. Ideally Kroos and Gundogan would be the perfect two.

Also although Rafael was a bit rash in the Liverpool game, he was probably our best player with most desire to win, let's not forget his performance against WBA and the comments Moyes spoke of him afterwards.

20 Mar 2014 10:13:32
I'm sorry to be negative today but some people are getting far to carried away after last nights performance saying this will kickstart our season and we will beat city next tuesday let's face facts shall we it was a greek team we beat last night and if it wasn't for de gea and the fact their bloke cannot head a ball they could have scored 5 or 6 themselves from open play where we are still reliant on pens and free kicks etc as we still don't create enough while there were some encouraging performances we were still poor but the thing I don't understand is the love in with valencia yes he showed he was a trooper by playing on but the fact is he was utter **** all night personally I would of taken him off after he failed to pass to rvp when he was clean through on goal with no one within 10yds of him and valencia passes back to the half way line I appreciate that he is one of the few players who actually show some pride but whatever he had in that 1 season has gone and he needs to be moved on.

Although I agree with Valencia being move on and him always going backwards I thought yesterday was the 1st time for years I've seen him as a threat and actually trying to go forward. I normally hate him for always cutting back and not beating his man but yesterday he played well

Dear mr ryan
Ngiak does not appreciate your totally biased and absolutely incorrect opinion of valencia
Ngiak is very upset about these fingerpointing and scapegoating
Especially for players who give everything for the club that valencia does
Criticised all the time even when he plays well. Do soccer fans really know the game? Try playing it one day sir ngiak suggests
Gan

Well your a happy bunny aren't you. Some fans need to stop being negative and enjoy the good times however small they may be. Last night I was the most excited I have been in many a year watching United, I really did look forward to that game.

As for them only being a Greek team, they are Greek champions, with more right to be in that competition than 4th place Spainish and German teams that qualify. The clues in the name of the trophy the Champions League.

We did get a bit of luck now and again, none that we haven't desrved not just that game but over the season. De Gea is incredible but he had probably 3 major stops to mak, and one was at the near post that I would have been disappointed if it had gone in. Not taken anything away from the lad, everything he did last night oozed composure.

Their players couldn't head the ball, but they didn't mind heading ours and playing as agressive as possible. Honestly, they really where very physical and argumentive last night, which shows we got into their heads. Although where playing very poorly, we still have the name Manchester United and we have not lost until the end of the tie.

Valencia is what Manchester United is built on. Hard work, determination pride and heart. Grantted he has never been the same since his injury, but what he did yesterday, was offer the team a new dimension, something totally different from the front 4 on Sunday. My friend Valencia wasn't utter rubbish, he was very effective, he opened the Greeks back 4 up, making them play wider than if we had played Kagawa or Janujaz. With his width the Greeks could not push all four defenders within the space of the penalty area, so that RVP could get on the last man and receive balls from Giggs and rooney. Valencia should also have had a penalty, and the defender should have been sent off.

Before we start blaming players, that really did nothing wrong, let's condemn those that did. Evra was a joke. At times he was acting like he had been told he was gone and that he didn't want to put the effort in.

Fooball is a squad game and on occasions there will be times when Valencia is more effective than Janujaz or Mata, so let's strengthen before getting rid of perfectly capable members of the squad.

Oh and enjoy, it do you think RVP this morning is saying"I only scored a hat-trick against a Greek team" or is he saying "I scored a champions league hat-trick last night against a team that has beaten Arsenal a few times."

aaallj5

I'm sorry but you are talking absolute ******** aaallj5 I would run around and try hard but does that mean i, m good enough for the Utd 1st team of course not at this standard you need a hell of a lot more then just effort and by the way the way the foul on valencia was outside the box and there was a defender covering

Well 'red79' no one gives a f**k if you ran around for Manchester United because your not on the team are you, whereas Valencia is. You could add to that you don't have the stamina, athleticism or any other meaningful traits, which is why your posting on Manchester United forum site and not celebrating with the team today!

Valencia, has a hell of a lot more than effort, he covers who ever he plays in front of, he stretches opposing back fours, he offers quick movement, drawing fouls from defenders 'Outside the Box' (watch it again mate!). I would much sooner have a team of Valencia's than Clevery's, Evra's, Young's, Nani's, Chicarito's and so on.

Please there is much more deadwood than Valencia, ask anyone on this site. Apparently if you read the posts above i'm not the only one sticking up for Valencia. He played well last night, doesn't mean he is going to play well every night. However there will be occasions where we need his width and cover, so before trying to argue with your fellow fans, because United won last night and you had already pre-planned your post for if we lost, think about the bigger picture. why would we replace players that are of use, than those who are not. Who needs replacing first Young or Nani? or Valencia?

Thats just the wingers as well, what do we need more a left back, centre back, midfielder or right winger?

aaallj5

Red79 Valencia was terrific last night, he does lack skill and creativity but he more than made up for it with the work rate he had. The fact is he's a good footballer, not great but good and with the effort he put in last night he would have been more effective than a more skilled player with half the work rate especially in that type of game.

Red79, any chance of just enjoying the occasion as a fan, rather than watching the game to look for reasons to post something.

I swear some people on here watch games as would-be managers or coaches, rather than remembering why they're fans in the first place - nights like last night.

Valencia worked his socks off last night most of it with one eye, everybody sat round me last night applauded and appreciated his contribution when he was subbed by young who did nothing except hoof the ball down the right wing giving away possesion or a throw in every time.

On this occasion, I am with the penguin

20 Mar 2014 09:09:24
Had a dream last night that we get Real at home in the next round, Chelsea get Dortmund, Bayern get Athletico and Barcelona get PSG.

What's everyone else's thoughts?

I have a feeling we will draw Athletico. DDG to have another stormer and a streaky last minute goal from Fellaini to put us through!

The other ties will be Chelsea v Real, Dortmund v PSG and Bayern v Barca.

I had a dream last night but it involved Jennifer Anniston.

Supasub

Where was she playing supersub? On second thoughts don't answer that ;)

I honestly hope we don't draw Madrid. For me the best draw is Dortmund.

I think we have a shot if we draw chelsea or athletic.

PSG, Real, Barca, Bayern are terrible draws for various reasons:)

As long as we stay away from the main three we should be happy. We are certainly the worse side left in the comp.

20 Mar 2014 08:26:04
Magnificent result last night! Qfinal's going to be a real challenge, but to be up there at the Qfinal along with the real Europe's top sides is just what I was hoping us to achieve. I can see us securing for the 5th if we try real hard, then at least we have Europa to play for. I think if he can achieve that, he'll have a stronger team next season and maybe in two seasons, we maybe a title contender again.

20 Mar 2014 07:51:34
Great result last night!
Has anybody seen the crossbar challenge between Manchester United and super league? Type in Manchester United vs super league on yotube, just a bit of fun.

20 Mar 2014 07:20:46
Enormous De Gea, Superb RVP and SUPER Valencia(For keeping playing with that horrendous thing on his eye).

Let's now concentrate on the next game and enjoy a little bit o joy.

Nice win.

20 Mar 2014 06:24:47
Great display and result. All we need now is to play like that consistently for remainder of the season. And Giggs, you are never too old.

20 Mar 2014 00:09:13
Congratulations Jred, good call there! I would like to congratulate all my fellow reds, let's just forget everything that has happened so far this season for a little while and soak this in. The season has been dismal, but we the fans deserve this more than anything else. Atleast that sense of pride is kind of back. There is life left in the (old) dog yeah. The spirit shown far eclipsed the result or the scoreline. The atmosphere and the crowd - par excellence. One of those shiny nervy European nights. I had predicted RVP to have a brilliant game, boy did he have one. Giggs rightfully gets all the praise. Welbeck was superb( never said I would say that). There are 2 players who perhaps didn't have the quality of performance like the ones mentioned earlier, but were the absolute epitome of what Manchester United means.

Wayne Rooney - Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Played like a man possessed. Covered every blade of grass. Look at the lads reaction on full time - Superb! That is what we want from our players. He had his few poor touches and gave the ball away a few times, but more than compensated for it by literally dragging us along. He even skipped past players for a change ;)

Phil Jones - What a presence in the 2nd half. He really puts his body on the line sometimes. It may look ugly, but his effort was commendable. Really wanted to win it.

The only player that I was disappointed with today was Michael Carrick. I have been a long standing supporter of his, but this season it just looks like he hides when we need him the most. After we 3-0 up, he just disappeared.

Lets keep it at, great day. The pride seems back!

Deeps

Deeps cheers.
Rooney was very good, people are right he his not a 10, he is much more.

Jones was good what a difference having a world class mind next to you makes .
Jones Evans smalling have a lot to do to make the vidic fergy grade .

Rvp imagine if he wasn't playing today, imagine if he was injured last year

Rooney excelled in the number ten position last night, he even played deeper at times. It was his best performance in two years. A player on his salary should be playing at this standard in every game, so let's hope he can keep it up and see if he can get near the 2009 Rooney. Jones was solid and showed just how poor Ferdinand is now. Jones was defending for Ferdinand and Evra last night. Jones always needs a couple games to get into his stride once he returns from injury and looked better last night as opposed to Sunday when beside Vidic. Smalling and Jones is 100% the way to go until a new CB is signed. They are the two best defenders, just a shame they are always injured. We could have conceded 3-4 easily yesterday so we will still need to improve. I would probably say Chelsea will be the easiest tie to get next, but none of them will be easy.

It's no surprise that Jones had a good game playing next to Ferdinand to me

It's also no surprise that Sydney doesn't have a clue why

Why is it no surprise Jred? Vidic is far more vocal than Ferdinand and Jones struggled on Sunday. Why not just admit that you are wrong? Smalling and Jones would be fine together and certainly do not been someone like Vidic or Ferdinand next to them to succeed. Utter nonsense. Jones and Smalling are not Keane and Thorpe. Both are more than experienced enough to play together.

If you watch the WBA game again, Smalling marshalled the back four brilliantly. He was our most vocal defender surprisingly. Ideally we need an experienced CB and I have said that 100's of times, but until the summer I wanted to see a Smalling and Jones partnership. You said it wouldn't work, IMO they could 100% do a good enough job together. Just like I said. I doubt there are many (if any) that don't think Smalling and Jones could have done a job til the end of the summer apart from you.

Sydney
We are looking to be the best team in Europe that is the standard I don't think a smalling Jones partnership is good enough for that level, Wba maybe.

I think it needs to be one of them 2 and a more experienced defender, I would go for Jones. I will be surprised if the club don't, I will be surprised if smalling and Jones are our first choice partnership next year.

What exactly I'm I wrong about?

{Ed007's Note - I have to agree with you J, I can't see Smalling ever being anything more than an average squad player at Utd, just like Cleverley and Welbeck. Celtic have a 22 y.o Dutch CB just now called Virgil van Dijk and 24 y.o. Smalling couldn't lace his boots. Van Dijk will be the next big money sale from Celtic, he is a ball playing CB, has pace, good in the tackle, can pick a pass out, pitches in with goals from headers and can ping a mean free kick. I know he has been watched by at least both Arsenal and Man City since Christmas.}

Sydney

Smalling and Jones are poor passers of the ball and tend to hoof it upfield when under pressure. We need CB in the mold of a young rio ferdinand, who are not scared of receiving a pass and have composure on the ball.

Jred, I agree with that. I am all for buying an experienced CB to sit beside Jones (Vidic's natural successor). I said that I'd like to see Smalling and Jones until the end of the season to see how they get on. You told me it won't work, they are too inexperienced and that one of them will need to partner Vidic. A week later they play against WBA and they were fine.

007, Smalling's achilles heel is ball playing. That will prevent him from making it to the very top level. Well first choice anyway. What do you make of Garay? I haven't seen much of him, but for ball playing he is meant to be pretty decent.

GCU, Jones is the better of the two, Smalling really struggles and that plus injuries have held him back. I noticed in the WBA game that Fellaini was Smalling's outlet and it worked very well. Who would you go for this summer?

Sydney
I don't think Jones was that good against WBA.
Read my post above again.
I don't think Jones and smalling is a good enough pairing for a top team like united. Even if they did have a decent game against a poor WBA .
I honestly don't know what your point is .

Sydney

Personally I like Garay or Benatia who everyone is mentioning. I also like hinteregger from Salzburg if you want a young centre back for the future.

I think we are mad to pay Mangala's valuation, he is not worth it and not 15 million better than some of the other prospects.

I realise Ginter in being mentioned but I think the guy from salzburg is better. I also think Moyes might surprise us and buy someone domestically that is under the radar.

19 Mar 2014 23:31:28
Great result tonite, but we are still a few sandwiches short of a picnic, evra is finished, left back must be a priority, Ferdinand is crocked hasn't got the legs anymore, our left side is weak, and the other side isn't much better, Valencia is a warrior but can't cross a ball he doesn't know whether to shoot or cross, moyes was good at buying players for a bargain at Everton but can he cut it buying top quality players we need