Manchester United Banter Archive April 21 2015

21 Apr 2015 23:32:45
Anyone seen the video of Van Gaal reading out the rumours from a piece of paper he has?

Quite funny, he goes "Hummels 36M, Clyne 50M, pogba75m, Bale 120m, Martinez of Porto 25m. it is easy for me, next year we are the champions"

Obviously he is just poking fun at the rumours in the paper.

21 Apr 2015 23:39:12
Sorry, it wasn't a response to the papers, it was a list he received from a fan when attending the dream day foundation.
Still, hopefully it makes him realise who the fans want.

21 Apr 2015 23:51:27
It was a list given to him by a disabled fan when the players/manager met fans with the MU Foundation. It will make that lads year knowing our manager has acknowledged it and read it out in the manner he did.

No doubt the papers will make money off it though.

22 Apr 2015 06:12:51
Yes a touch of class from the manager and he has a wicked sense of humour.

I must say I am really beggining to like the bloke :)

21 Apr 2015 23:07:33
This player sat in the reserves at International, was Andersons loan deal anything to do with our interest in him? Gladestony (on a short loan in 2011)? If so, what's your opinion on the lad?

{Ed002's Note - No.}

21 Apr 2015 22:09:25
Looking at Bayern tonight, Pep played a very direct style, lots of long diagonal balls not his usual style .
Wonder was he looking at lvg's use of Fellaini in recent weeks ?

22 Apr 2015 20:37:01
You having a laugh or being serious? I doubt he is watching United games mate and has plenty of stuff on his plate to worry about.

21 Apr 2015 19:53:33
Wow it is 16 years ago today when we played Juventus away 2nd leg in the champions league. 2 nil down after 11 minutes. Roy Keane picked up a yellow early on ruling him out of the final yet he played an absolute blinder alongside Scholes, Beckham and giggs in midfield. Up against juve who were at the time the best side in Europe besides us with Zidane, Davids, inzagi, conte, del Piero etc. It was a thing of beauty what unfolded that evening. What I wouldn't give to have a midfield at our club like that again.

21 Apr 2015 19:22:35
Chris Smalling has signed a new 4 year deal and I am delighted he has come on leaps and bounds this year and has been an great defender.I think we expected too much from him in his younger years and that he has matured this year.

21 Apr 2015 19:52:05
Last 5 or 6 games he has been very good. I hope he stays injury free and continues to progress.

21 Apr 2015 16:11:14
not united related but uefa have changed the seeding rules for next years champions league, pot 1 will now consist of the holders and the winners of the top 7 ranked associations.

anyone know how the rest of the teams will get seeded?

{Ed002's Note - For Pot 1 it will be the CL winners and the winners of the following leagues: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia. If the CL winners are also their national league winner, then the Ukraine are next up)

The seeding for the rest is simply based on the UEFA coefficients as used at present.

For information, the current English rankings are Chelsea (4th overall), Arsenal (9th), Manchester United (10th), Manchester City (17th), Spurs (20th), Liverpool (40th), Newcastle (68th), Everton (73rd), Stoke (87th), Swansea (89th), Birmingham (90th), Fulham (93rd), Wigan (98th), Hull (108th), Aston Villa (109th).

Once the season starts Manchester United will then immediately drop to somewhere in the mid late teens - probably just behind Manchester City.}

21 Apr 2015 17:49:23
Cheeres ed

21 Apr 2015 11:53:16
ED just a question regarding Dortmund (that you have probably had on another page) but with Klopp leaving do you think there could be an exodus of players at the club?

Obvously players like Hummels, Reus and Gundogan have been in the headlines but is there any major interest being shown in any of their other players. Also you said in January they were willing to listen to offers for Mkhitaryan is he still available?

Thanks.

{Ed007's Note - You need to take these type questions to the Euro Soccer page.}

21 Apr 2015 11:40:23
It must of been nearly a month (apart from eariler) that I have been an active member of this site. I hope I haven't been missed too much haha, been away, work commitments etc have filled my time. But I have seen all of the games and I have enjoyed every single one! 3 months ago if you had told me that we would take 9 points from Spurs, Liverpool, City and Chelsea I would of laughed at you, I thought City and Chelsea would roll us over and Liverpool would have a good go as well. What has impressed me is that we have finally seen this philosophy come into play - the players seem to get it now and the system suits them down.

It has surprised me though how well it has suited Mata. I never had him down as a wide player, but he is a wide player with freedom to roam and influence the game from all angles. This works tremendously. Similarly Young, although Di Maria will eventually be the starter in that role he has been brilliant along with Rooney up front who is by far and away our best striker.

Casting a gaze forward to next season, where do I see the areas of the team that need improving. Starting from the back, Valencia is still no right back despite some very good performances. Clyne looks a fairly safe bet, he should improve us. Hummels also looks like having a good chance of happening, pairing him with Smalling would give us really good balance with Rojo, Jones and McNair as the back up. Shaw 'arrived' against Chelsea, he was fantastic and our best player. Between him and Blind we have two very capable left backs so there is no concern at all there.

Moving to midfield. Carrick, Herrera and Fellaini have worked very well. The cover for Carrick is a concern - would Gundogan be competition for him or are they too dissimilar? Or would we see Khedira? Also as well as Fellaini has done I still don't want to see him starting, a replacement there would be needed.

The big question is does Rooney remain our main striker or do we heavily invest in a new one? I personally think that we will invest in a new striker. Here is why:

I don't believe that Fellaini is the long term solution to our team (as useful as he is). But in order to drop him we need a big, strong replacement who puts himself about - that is where the striker comes in. Someone like a Cavani or a Benteke (not necessarily Benteke guys) who would move into the channels, compete in the air and knock the ball down while the likes of Rooney, Mata, Herrera surround him to pick up the loose ball and do something with it.

So, if it was me. Next season the same system and shape of the team needs to stay with a few changes. Clyne replacing Valencia, Hummels replacing Jones, Cavani replacing Fellaini in the starting line up and the rest staying the same. Then we simply need depth and rotation options like Depay and Khedira or Gundogan.

21 Apr 2015 12:50:01
I think Depay is going to be much more than just a rotation option. I think he will excel in the premiership Fresh. He has every tool at his disposal to do so.

I for one am very excited looking towards next season and with some strong additions, Depay being one and continuing the style of play, we will be hard to beat and tailor made for a good run in Europe.

21 Apr 2015 14:33:16
I'm very excited about Depay and I hope we get him. Reminds me of a young Ronaldo, all be it better at his age. Could mean Januzaj leaves.

21 Apr 2015 15:18:51
He is like a young ronaldo but his physique now is much better than ronaldos at that age, I still think there is room for januzaj and hopefully he can step up, ashley young is not getting any younger either.

21 Apr 2015 15:31:48
fresh, your post mirrors mine of a few weeks ago. I to believe in not putting square pegs in round holes and well as valencia has done i don't want a converted winger at right back anymore than i would want a centre half playing there( jones/smalling)
I am delighted that fellaini has proved himself but also believe that he is an option rather than a solution. He will always have role to play but he is a it of a one trick pony and as the chelsea game proved, when you nullify his strength he doesn't have any other strings to his bow.
I would let both falcao and rvp leave which if nothing else would take the best part of £500k off the weekly wage bill. I am not going to enter the debate regarding which striker we should then buy other than to say that i would be looking for a proven goal scorer with good pace and movement.

21 Apr 2015 16:27:24
TBH I don't really rate Cavani as much as people do here . We do need striker but someone that will be happy to play second fiddle to Wayne Rooney and yet is good enough to give us goals when needed. Cavani will never fit in that role and he is not a midfielder to replace fellaini . I would prefer Austin who is certainly not a fancy name many people like to have but he certainly would fit the role i am talking about . Ings on free also would be good

21 Apr 2015 17:01:51
Have to agree again Srestha, Charlie Austin would be a useful addition, I think we will see falcao and hernandez leave and possibly RVP. We would still need a top class striker, someone in the ilk of lewandowski who can hold the ball and link up well in play.

21 Apr 2015 17:02:42
Srestha, you would probably be referring to someone like Benteke then? A mid priced striker with a good eye for goal and is a handful.

21 Apr 2015 20:47:49
Not totally sure why so many people on here tend to view Fellaini as just a squad player for us. He has shown this season that he deserves to be starting most games, and despite any reinforcements that we recruit in the summer, I doubt we'll bring in a player more effective at doing what he does. I think people's criticism of Fellaini is more directly at the perceived style of play when using him: that we hoof it up for him to control and lay it off. Our last few games have shown that we are far from being a long ball team, but the advantage of having someone like Fellaini, who is one of the best ariel players in the game and a total nuisance for defenders, is huge. Of course it's a squad game and if we're in the CL next year then we're going to need to use a variety of different players, but for me Fellaini should be an integral piece of our team to be honest.

22 Apr 2015 04:02:25
Fresh ! Yes I would go for Benteke but only for low price . Any chance Villa ask for crazy money, there are still plenty of fish in the sea

21 Apr 2015 10:06:01
I would just like to comment on this Hazard love that is going on in the world.

Yes he is an excellent player, one that I would love to have here but he is not the 3rd best player in the world by any means. His dribbling is excellent but his goals and assists ratio is nothing special with just 8 this season compared to his team mate Fabregas who has 16! Even out of form Di Maria has 10. He also only has 13 goals to his name, which is less than the likes of Sanchez with 14 who is another wide forward.

Hazard has potential to go on to challenge Neymar to be the next best player in the world. But right now he is a world class player, not one of the very best.

21 Apr 2015 10:19:15
Fresh,

You have just compared his goals to one player and his assists to another which doesn't really make sense. What you actually proved there is that he can score goals and also create goals, I would imagine that Fabregas and Di Maria have more assists but also scored a lot less and that with Sanchez's 14 goals have not come more than 8 assists. Surely you have to compare both for all players or it just seems like you are shoehorning stats in to suit your argument?

If you have watched Hazard play this season he has been fantastic, unfortunately he is a joy to watch, he glides past players and he is also not afraid to work hard for the team. Best player in the premier league this season no matter what your stats say.

21 Apr 2015 10:19:50
Stats Fresh are useless. Most of Chelsea's good play goes through Hazard and he is often the instigator of attacks and has done the hard work before someone lays on a pass. I personally think he is top 5 or 6 but don't base any opinion on stats mate they are pointless.

21 Apr 2015 10:29:40
I don't deny that he is a fantastic player. But he is not on the level of Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Neymar or Bale yet. He is probably around the 6th to 8th best player forward in the world.

21 Apr 2015 10:33:36
Messi and Ronaldo obviously top two, then in the few behind in no order if have Suarez, bale, hazard . And he's defiantly the best player in the league. As gds said you can't use stats from two players your merging two players to compare against one. He was the difference between us last weekend and has been the main reason Chelsea have won the league

21 Apr 2015 10:35:38
GDS Sanchez has scored 14 and assisted 8 this season in the PL. Very good player and I would go as far as to say if we signed him rather than Di Maria we may have won the title this year or be fairly close!

21 Apr 2015 10:38:58
Agreed JMB - ADM has been well and truly awful this season, if that doesn't tell you all you need to know about assist stats meaning jack I don't know what will.

Hazard makes stuff happen. There are only a few players in the world that can still dominate games despite the opposition focussing on them.

I said ADM benefited massively from opponent focussing on Bale & Ronaldo last season, which led to overhype and us being the mugs paying double what he is worth (probably less than that now). Similar to Sterling/Sturridge this season, opponents can focus on them rather than planning how to handle Suarez.

21 Apr 2015 10:57:45
I believe Thomas Muller and Robben are to some extent are up with them. Muller is one the players I really love and he is nothing short of world class.

21 Apr 2015 11:15:08
I think there are a group of players the level below Ronaldo and Messi, Hazard should definitely be in that group. Along with Suarez, Neymar, Bale, Robben and a few others. It's personal preference about who's best out of that group just like it is with Ronaldo and Messi.

Also special mention for David Alaba who in my opinion is the best all round footballer in the world.

21 Apr 2015 11:21:23
i honestly think in a couple of years he will be the best in the world.
he makes chelsea tick, there was a time he was just a winger but he is running the game now, he is turning into am iniesta .
i watched him a couple of weeks ago and he was amazing

21 Apr 2015 11:29:24
Surprised a lot of you have overlooked robben, for me he is easily the 3rd best player in the world currently behind the big dogs

21 Apr 2015 13:03:32
Every time he gets the ball there's a chance something big will happen. For me that's the mark of world class attacking player. At the moment I think he's in the class of Bale and Neymar. A bit behind Suarez, and obviously not in the same class as the big two.

Fergie's comments about his price seem sillier and sillier every season as he just gets better and better. And even if he does leave Chelsea they'll get a massive sum for him. But we got Zaha and he's world cla, oh wait.

The issue with Di Maria is when used properly he is an enabling player, that's why the likes of Ronaldo and Messi like playing with him. So if you have a few world class attackers in the side, he will create space and chances for them. We, however, bought him as a player who can make things happen on his own, and he isn't that caliber of player. Plus there are big questions about how much he wants to be here. In my opinion, he wanted PSG, but they couldn't afford him, so he got stuck with us. Although he is a very good player, I would try to offload him as soon as possible and make a massive push for Bale, a player who would be perfect for us.

21 Apr 2015 13:47:26
Agree Danny. A lot of people think he has the X factor, but for me he is a facilitator and he certainly doesn't look like he wants to be here or buys into LVG's way of playing (just my opinion).

Obviously the philosophy shouldn't change to accommodate one player, I think his head is in Paris, especially after the break in which just fuels negativity. I'd cash in if we can get upwards of £35m or even do a straight swap with PSG for Cavani. We'd take a big loss, but I don't see him pulling up trees in the future for us.

21 Apr 2015 04:41:45
Read an article about mourinho explaining that Hazard is among the three best player in the world .
As much as like him and was really gutted to see him sign for chelsea, I don't think he comes even close to top 3 . I know he is a great player and he is the major difference for chelsea this season for making them title holders but to be considered a player of Messi and Ronaldo's level is laughable . To consider among them a player must at least score 25+ goals and hazard has only 13 goals . Messi and Ronaldo are in different planet with too much gap between them and the third best player. I would rather have Robben, Bale, Reus, Neymar, Suarez before Hazard .
It is difficult to score 25+ goals every season hence, it is why they are considered top top players .

21 Apr 2015 08:04:25
Yeah considering him top 3 is a stretch for sure but Hazard definitely falls into that next tier of incredibly talented players that includes the likes of Robben, Suarez, Bale, etc and I would probably call him the best in the premier league.

21 Apr 2015 08:07:27
I think he comes in at top 5 at the moment for me when you look at the postion he occupies. Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Bale, Hazard or Neymar. Remember the days the number 9 up top used to be the most marketable player? Times change quickly!

21 Apr 2015 08:20:26
Robben and Reus are frequently injured though, and IMO Hazard is better than Bale. Suarez is probably still better but I think Neymar is on about the same level as Hazard. Maybe top 3 is a bit much, but I wouldn't call it that much of a stretch. I wouldn't want to see Hazard traded for any of the players you mentioned! :)

21 Apr 2015 08:57:56
The only thing hazard best to these player's is that he is not one dimensional player . He can run in all direction but still i think Robben , Reus , Bale , Neymar , Suarez are better than him . Hazard usually goes missing in big matches (not all though ) and still is not as clinical though . He also lacks long range shooting and does not have that good passing range a top 3 player should have

21 Apr 2015 08:57:56
Id' say he is third best.

The gap from the top 2 is quite large, then you have 5-6 players vying for that 3rd spot, Hazard would get my vote, he is consistent, injury free and is often the difference.

21 Apr 2015 09:31:56
I disagree Beast Luis Suarez is definitely a step ahead of him and the closest to Messi and Ronaldo at the moment but then Hazard, Neymar and Bale are not far behind. Another thing to note about Hazard is his injury record is impeccable he seems to play most games.

The worrying thing is if you name the top players in the world how many actually ply their trade in the PL? We had a discussion yesterday about the standard of the league and it's quite worrying that our top regarded players would be down the pecking order on the continent.

21 Apr 2015 09:44:35
I have nearly just fallen off my chair but I would have to agree with Beast. I would be tempted to say Suarez but I can't bring myself to say it!

21 Apr 2015 10:50:20
JMB - I think Suarez is quality, but he is benefiting a lot from Neymar & Messi. If you put Hazard in that Barcelona team I think he would have more of an impact than Suarez, but fine margins in it, it could go either way to be fair (plus Hazard seems a nicer guy!).

I agree about the league situation. It's quite funny how some people see the likes of Leicester or Burnley beating the top teams now and again as a sign of how strong our league is, but you can easily look at it the other way and say that the gap is so small in terms of quality and the median level is sub-par.

Would Madrid or Barcelona struggle to beat a Championship level side in a cup semi-final? Would the Readings, Sheffield Utd's, Bradfords etc of Spain and Germany beat the top teams domestically as often?

We have been well below average with a lot of average players this season, yet have amassed a half decent points tally. The league is going backwards the more mercenaries it attracts.

It is definitely the most enjoyable to watch for me but not for the quality unfortunately.

21 Apr 2015 12:51:49
Let's not forget Bale's last season in the PL didn't he score 20+ goals with most of them being spectacular and that was a couple of years ago Hazard has still not reached that level and arguably in a better setup. Hazard's ability to take the ball past a player and make it look easy is his best attribute but there's a lot more to being one of the very best than that.

Hazard is best in the PL but top 3 best in the world? it'd have to be Bale, Suarez ahead of him as they've proved to be something extrodinary in the PL. He's on par with Neymar, Robben and Rues.

21 Apr 2015 12:57:29
The only thing I will say about Hazard and Suarez is do you think Hazard could have carried Liverpool last year the way Luis did? I don't think he could.

Agree completely about the league and it is something which must be addressed sooner rather than later. Some folk say it comes in cycles which is fine but the PL accumulates more cash than any league in Europe and has done for the best part of a decade which should result in the most competitive league with the most competitive players.

If for instance you took the bottom three teams from Spain, Italy and England and pit them against each other I believe the English teams who accumulate much more revenue would be taught a lesson by our European counterparts.

21 Apr 2015 12:57:38
Also JMB the standard of the league hasn't dropped, maybe you mean the standard of the top teams in the PL have dropped? As for the league itself we're seeing a lot more competitive teams playing good football from the bottom to the top, unlike in other leagues especially La Liga there's a big drop in quality of the top teams and the bottom. Our league is much more competitive and exciting to watch. Also the best players in the world have often gone to Spain with either Madrid or Barca, it's been like that for years not just lately? Establishing themselves here and moving to Spain has been the pattern for the past 20 years!