Manchester United Banter Archive November 21 2018

21 Nov 2018 19:16:00
Looking forward to the league resuming this weekend.
Lukaku has had a good rest as did smalling young shaw herrera mata pogba fellaini and fred jessie only played 20 mins on monday so we can live in hope that we see some of them nice and fresh at the weekend.
Lindelof played really well and scored so that will do his confidence no harm.
As i say i'm hopeful that we can come back with a win.

21 Nov 2018 22:11:04
Yeah me too Ken. Can’t wait for the Prem to be back. It was a 4-0 win last season at home to Palace, how we could do with similar on Saturday. I’d like to see more of Dalot, looks promising from what little we’ve seen. Surely this is a game where Matic can sit it out, Pogba-Herrera-Fred for me, lots of energy and hopefully shift the ball forward quicker.

21 Nov 2018 22:40:58
Yeah rom good shout maybe this is one matic could sit out but 1 of him or fellaini is bound to start.

22 Nov 2018 12:01:17
Jesse looks a different player in an England shirt.

22 Nov 2018 18:08:02
If Matic can stand up he will play (unfortunately) . I wish we were seeing more of Pereira. I'd like to see either way whether he is good enough. His middle name is Hoelgebaum!

22 Nov 2018 20:09:39
I like pereira mancman. But even out on loan he has never nailed down a spot in the team. So its not just at united. Even as a youth player he played in lots of positions without being expert in any.
I think he will be like adnan end up at real betis or lazio score the odd worldie and have a decent career without ever being top quality. I think he falls just short of top class.

23 Nov 2018 09:07:06
You might be right there Ken, but compared to an out of form / knackered / aging / slow Matic he might be worth a run of games. He looked reasonable pre season.

It's another problem we have at Utd; too many players hanging around contributing nothing. If they're good enough to be part of the squad then they should be playing games. If not they should be moved on and better players brought in to replace them.

21 Nov 2018 12:37:18
Sorry Ed's if this is already answered, but do we have an interest in buying another striker in January or Summer?

Specifically in players like Piatek, Immobile, Jovic, Seferovic?

{Ed002's Note - Players like a random list of players you mean? If Rashford or Martial were to leave they would be replaced. If Lukaku left he would be replaced.}

21 Nov 2018 14:20:16
Personally I don't think we need a striker. We have Lukaku, Rashford and Martial. Plus Sanchez has played his best form for us and Arsenal as a striker.

Considering that while Jose is manager we will only on very very rare occasions play with two strikers, then it's clear we don't need anymore. Four players is more than enough.

What we do need is stability at the back, and to find the right balance in midfield. If after that a genuine winger who prefers to operate on the right hand side to give more balance to our attack.

21 Nov 2018 14:15:18
Thanks for your reply, possible replacements for Lukaku?

{Ed002's Note - It is a random list of players, no more.}

21 Nov 2018 17:35:37
I’d take a window of Alderweireld, Pulisic and Ramsey. All would be available considering their contracts are coming to an end. Pulisic and Alderweireld would be welcome additions were the squad is weak and Ramsey would be a replacement for Herrera if he doesn’t agree a new deal. These signing won’t catch City but won’t break the bank and if Jose leaves the new manager has 3 useful players to make use of, 2 of which would have sell on value if not wanted.

21 Nov 2018 17:36:15
Ed,

Sorry if this question has been answered before.

I just wanted to ask - Are we looking to replace Lukaku?

{Ed002's Note - Not that I am aware Singh.}

21 Nov 2018 18:50:00
Rom is Red, In theory they wouldn't cost as much as other options. At least in a transfer fee. However, our problem isn't having money for transfer fees, its keeping our wages under control. The reason both Alderwiereld and Ramsey are available is partially because at their ages they are looking for their last big contract. Both would want a wage in excess of 250k per week I would imaging. Perisic is in the same situation at Inter, although he has never played in the EPL so he could be considered a bigger risk. Between those three we could be looking at 750-900k per week in wages added to the wage bill. That's 40-50m in wages per year. We would likely have to get rid of 6-8 players to balance the wages out. After which we would still be in the same situation of not being able to buy unless we sell in order to balance out the wages. However we would have reduced the squad size by as many as five players.

As for how useful they will be to our next manager, well Jose has signed both Matic and Sanchez as 29 year olds on 4 year contracts. How useful do you think they will be for our next manager?

22 Nov 2018 02:11:36
Think Rom was referring to the kid from Dortmund. But a fair point on wages Shappy. Although for Alderweireld I would argue we could get rid of Jones and Smalling (unfortunately looks like it will be Bailly instead) in January as well as the likes of Rojo and Darmian. So that would easily balance out.

It also looks like one or both of Sánchez and Pogba are angling for a move sooner or later so that would allow us to buy a cm and right sided forward.

As long as we make room - as in move players on I think we will be fine with respect to wages.

22 Nov 2018 10:20:56
Does anyone know what's happened with Bailly? He started well, looking like he could be a long term starter for us, but seems to have disappeared altogether. Anyone know why? Eds?