Manchester United Banter Archive December 24 2012

24 Dec 2012 23:15:35
Merry Xmas to United fans all over the world from beautiful Costa Rica. United fans are everywhere.

CR Mike

Merry Xmas to all reds where ever you are, from beautiful Perth, Western Australia. Off to the beach now - 39 degrees today.
PerthDave

24 Dec 2012 22:55:33
Hey guys why not use the Roy keane song for
RVP...oh van persies magic he wears a magic hat and when he saw old Trafford he said I fancy that he didn't sign for city or chelsea cause their rubbishe he signed for Man United cause they're dynamite

25 Dec 2012 09:53:27
Was meant to say he didn't sign for chelsea or city cause their rubbishE .......sorry

24 Dec 2012 22:07:18
merry xmas to all have a good 1. all the eds keep it going, you rock. the site is amazing. love to keep hearing from syd and others. happy holidays everyone
vishu red devil

24 Dec 2012 21:17:45
Merry christmas and happy new year to everyone let's hope for a successfull 2013 thanks to all the eds and regular posters for making the site so interesting informative and entertaining

Onecut

24 Dec 2012 20:54:05
All the best to everyone on here, we might not all get on all the time but we do have a laugh and we would miss each other if we didn't come on here regularly.

To all you no names posting, merry Xmas and I hope you get a set of balls for Christmas!

Jono, hope cabaye is in your stocking ;)

Kloot, I am pretty sure Irish rover will be in yours :)

Devil dust, all the best mate, can't believe people missed you off!

Everybody else, have a great one and see you Boxing Day to kill some magpies.

GDS

Should be GDS mate I asked for 'Cabaye in stockings!' so will see what shows up ;-)

Yeah mate have a good one and will see you all boxing day with a sore head while nursing it with another beer.

Jono

I missed off the eds, especially bond, never failing to make me laugh. Have a well deserved break and enjoy your turkey.

GDS

24 Dec 2012 20:37:26
Merry christmas peeps, especially the eds who as always do a top notch job, have a top one....
HERBIE {Ed007's Note - Merry Christmas Herbie and thanks. Us Eds hope all of you have a fantastic Christmas.}

24 Dec 2012 20:25:13
Hey guys, just wanna wish you all a very merry Christmas on behalf of the Liverpool fans, and a Happy New Year!
Cheers,
DublinRed.

24 Dec 2012 19:51:21
Just swinging in to wish all the regulars and the eds a very happy christmas. Have a good un and don't over do it( i'm looking at you Jono;-). Lol).

Shappy

You too Shapps!

I'm already half baked and I'm only half way through the wrapping!

I think there will be a noticeable dip in the quality haha

Have a good one mate!

Jono

24 Dec 2012 18:57:42
Merry Christmas everyone

|Ebenezer Glazer|

24 Dec 2012 18:17:56
Merry Christmas to all the posters and all the eds. Can't wait for it to be all over so we cn go bk to talking about our real passion (mufc) T45

24 Dec 2012 17:23:16
Seeing as nobody else is saying it !

Happy xmas Devil Dust.

Devil Dust.

Thats quality haha

Jono

24 Dec 2012 18:02:43
Yea! Dat's a nice one devil dust. I am wishing all posters, and readers around the world a merry christmas. Let's rout newcastle

stanod22 4rm Nigeria

I seriously started laughing out loud on my computer! Merry christmas mate .

Mick

24 Dec 2012 17:19:12
Merry Christmas to all from India!

Devil for Life!

24 Dec 2012 16:33:42
Does anybody else like me get frustrated to the brink of throwing a wobbler when watchin Utd lately! I mean I wonder how Fergie cant see the main problem area of the team which is obviously IMO midfield.So far this season the best and most consistent midfielder we have is Carrick yes thats right I said it CARRICK,just in case you missed it.Now when a team of Utd's calibre is saying something like that then there is obviously a problem as I dont think he would make any of the other teams in the top half of the tables first team. IMO Tom Cleverly is not good enough,I cant take 'aw he's still young and learning' anymore,theres plenty of players his age making a show of him week in week out, Taarabt,Fellaini,Cabaye,Sigurdsson,Ben Arfa,Nasri to name a few,I can keep going.He NEVER passes the ball forward and cant shoot to save his life,he's like a younger crapper Carrick.Every ball and attack is slowed down and passed across the pitch or back.Ando is good but not consistent and injury prone.Kags I think is a waste of money because he wont fulfill his full potential wit Rooney around and I think with Fergie tinkering constantly with formation and players Kags wont shine or create a successful partnership like he had with Gotze.
I think this is the problem, we have decent/mediocre midfielders but they only shine in very specific roles and as we saw on the weekend when they are up against a team that have hard working lads in the centre they are out played and non existent.Am i being harsh in saying the middle of our pitch has been saved in every game by our strikers? Im watching RVP coming deeper every game,Rooney starting attacks from the centre where he should be getting supplied from and even our corners are being taken by our 2 best finishers as a result of lack of midfield quality.Surely defenses would crap themselves a bit more looking around and seeing the big defenders coming 4ward to back up Wazza and RVP.Teams dont fear Utd like they once did because they know if they throw down a challenge to our midfield they'll prob win.Is Rooney in midfield the answer?
Im a firm believer in the old saying 'In Fergie we trust' but I do think in recent yrs he's been a bit slow to bring the youngsters through.We have some serious quality in the youth teams that may not be keen to wait around especially if they look and see Pogba gone and doing really well,Sterling being made a fuss of and getting his new contract(still cant believe he has 3 kids wow),even Villa bringing youth tru along with the scousers and doing it with success.I believe Petrucci,Lingard,Cole,Tunnicliffe are better than the youth other teams are bringing through but are not getting the chance, throw Powell in that mix and all you can say is why not? Its this arguement which has me thinking please Scholes and Giggs retire!
Defense wise I dont think we have anything to worry about.Vida,Rio,Evans,Jones,Smalling,Wooton,Keane will all flow nicely into their roles and are distanced out enough in age to come through at the right time.Possibly another RB/LB would be nice.Our strike force is literally phenominal RVP,Wazza,Hernandez,Welbeck(?), still to come Keane,Henriquez,King.We've no worries in defense or up front but try this with our midfield and its impossible.I would like to see some youth unleashed or some real centre quality bought but with the tinkering around and looking at how Kags is 'settling' I find it hard to pinpoint who we need as its easy to pick random great players but try pick them and place them into this current team and its not as easy as one would think or is it? Opinions please people as I would like some ease of mind and/or arguements with this.Cheers folks and Happy Christmas, lets hope the New Year brings some silverware home.
Shine on,
REDKEN

24 Dec 2012 17:02:01
what a load of tut you do realise all those players you named like fellaini, nasri, cabaye etc are all older than cleverley not the same age. You do also realise that with cleverley in the starting eleven we haven't lost a game yet? Try watching games instead of following the ball and you might start to realise what players do on the pitch.

24 Dec 2012 17:47:06
Bit of a wild guess here but my money is on the fact that RVP started in those 11 games Cleverley did. Misguided love eh!

Easy to attack a whole post but argue the points made,I dont see a point thats wrong here.Watching a game is great when your sitting on your couch but from the stands when the team build momentum and you stand up excited and then the attack is killed with an unnecassary back pass,frustration really does kick in.Time and Time again it happens nd Cleverly and Carrick are your two main culprits,almost afraid to take on a man!

Poorly timed post.

Carrick has been incredible last few games, and has had a very high percentage of forward passes. remember the ball through for Young yesterday? fantastic weighted pass that split the Swansea defence in two... Young should have scored, but good run all the same. I actually think he would walk into any team in the premiership on current form... struggling to think of a team that he wouldn't get into.

I slated Clevs yesterday, possibly harshly, but he didn't have a good game playing in a two man midfield against 3 Swansea players. But he is developing and will be a very useful player.

Almost everyone on here recognises that we need bolstering in midfield with a top class energetic midfielder. Fergy does too if you believe the rumours of players he is looking at.

we have the biggest points lead we have had in 12 years at Christmas... that should fill you with Christmas cheer ;)

DodgyBanter

24 Dec 2012 15:49:55
Special thanks to the eds especially ed002,ed004 who are regular contributor and put up with our ramblings. Wish you guys a merry Christmas

Shahram {Ed004's Note - and same to mate and everyone else}

24 Dec 2012 15:42:58
Interesting to hear what Taarabt had to say on the link to Utd.

"I'd leave London only for Manchester United, the club of my dreams, where there is no number 10. For Mr Ferguson I'd also stay silent on the bench and I would work hard," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

I honestly think if we could get him in the summer for around £10 million or less that would be a steal. Still young, would develop massively under better management and around better players. He is a flare player who we are missing, Nani was it but he is out of favour, we miss that player brave enough to try a trick who can win a game on his own.

RedKnight

24 Dec 2012 16:56:17
his attitude stinks, fergie at his age doesn't have time, patience or inclination to iron him out. Also whats that rubbish about not having a number 10? Whats rooney and kagawa? A player i'd be very disappointed to see sign.

24 Dec 2012 14:51:12
'Nadolig Llawen' from South Wales, to all the regulars and Eds! Hope you all get what you asked Santa for ;)

Gav {Ed002's Note - May all your muffins be fluffy.}

Blwyddyn newydd dda Gav, hope it's a lucky one as a mufc fan.

DodgyBanter

24 Dec 2012 14:15:48
I saw you write further down that Milan don't want to let Pato and Robinho go without replacements, has this in any way created interest in Nani from Milan?

Hoppy {Ed002's Note - No.}

24 Dec 2012 13:19:33
Just wana wish Merry christmas to everyone on here and thank eds for the great work they have done over the year. I wish you all a great Christmas oh yeah and 4 points clear ;D c'mon the reds! -Jord

24 Dec 2012 12:19:42
im sure if every utd supporter chipped in £2 they could come up with the money to get ronaldo back to the club if they really want him back so much. they do have all these millions of fans!
devilfan

I think chipping in a few hundred quid for a season ticket or £30-50 for a match ticket should be enough, don't you?

TK-Red

Given we have 650 million supporters, i don't think he is worth 1.3b :)

Shahram

1.3 billion ........ We should buy heskey...

CAIN

24 Dec 2012 11:21:49
Valencia has been in very bad form this season. But you all say he should play because he was good last season. Well we can do the same with Scholes and Giggs as well. Just because he was good once doesnt mean he deserves to ruin the team performance. I am not in favour of selling the guy, he is in fact a very good player but if he is recovering from an injury or trying to find his form back then he can do so playing for reserves for a few games and filling in when the team requires.
Also Ashley young works so hard for the team but he just doesnt have the quality to improve any further. Only reason I like him because he covers up for Evra very well but this affects his overall play, for example in the swansea match there were atleast 3 ball crossed from the right towards the far post and young should have been there for a simple tap in but he was busy covering for Evra.

baba octopus

Baba,

If you had read the site over the past 2-3 weeks you would not be saying 'you all say he should play'. There are many people on here who feel Valencia needs to find his form and many who are blaming him for every bad performance. If he is not careful he will be the next Gibson, Carrick, Nani...

GDS

I think we all agree that Valencia has been terribly off form, and carriying an injury. Last season when he started this badly Fergy gave him time to recover and a couple of months later he got back and carried our a** the remainder of the season.

Everyone on this site wants him to have a couple of weeks off. His injury from 2 seasons ago has affected his ability to remain fit for large periods of time, since the steel plaque in his leg keeps guetting dislocated and needs to be put back either by surgery or in the physio room.

Mick

24 Dec 2012 11:08:53
I hope to see a Welbeck given a game boxing day, over Rooney. Some of you may disagree but we need to show our other strikers they will have a chance to prove their selves, lets hope SAF takes action on Rooney's terrible performance, because for someone on reportedly 250k a week I'd expect a little bit better from him. Hope the lad comes back fighting in his next game.

Have a good Christmas Ed's cheers for running this site for us and some of the crazy people ;) And i wish everyone on this page a merry Christmas, although i only joined this site last winter, I've felt like i have met some rather nice guys, have a great holiday lads!

-JakeW {Ed002's Note - Have a nifty time Jake.}

Jake

I agree with you 100% and hope Welbeck gets a chance and let's face it we should maul NC given their injuries and suspension.

People will argue that when Rooney does not play well we don't play well and that it is fair point as he does have a major influence on our performance.

However for a player that is supposedly worth 50 million and on wages of 200k let's say, any team that has that much invested in any player would rely and expect him to deliver on a consistent basis and if not why the valuations and the salary.

The other side of the argument, which is my view is he has lost his pace and quite wasteful and does not have the greatest technical ability. I would swap him for Falcao or Ibrahamovic, they would cost less, technically far superior and clinical finishers if you want a pure striker.

I know it is not a popular to express this view and some guys here like to think he is the messiah and our savor, but the reality is we are half way through the season and he has 5 goals in the league and one was a penalty.

Then there is the argument that he gives his all when on the pitch which is a silly argument because under SAF that is prerequisite for playing in the club.

If I remember correctly Tevez was diving head first at peoples feet trying to stop a cross, does that make him world class and better than Rooney because you would never accuse Tevez not giving his all and would have thought he bleeds united, but then again he showed his true colors last year after the city won the league.

I don't believe Rooney bleeds united and if anything RVP is the best thing that has happened to us since CR7. It goes to prove a top quality player will deliver in a united setup and no one can argue who has been worth their salary more this year.

The reality is he is not what he used to be and his best years are behind him. Some players peak earlier and go off sooner than others and he is in that category.


I am getting ready for a blasting :)


Shahram

Actually hoping everyone is out on a few drinks and I get away with this one, HoHoHo :)

Shahram

Totally agree Shahram, i was going to say some on the things you have pointed out but i though getting slaughtered by other fans wouldn't be the christmas spirit!

If I could I would sell Rooney and replace him with Lewandowski, and with the spare money buy a top class midfielder, if we had a much more stronger midfield Rooney wouldn't have to work his ass of all the time, he gets praise for something he shouldn't really be doing, yes it's great to see him work hard but he is meant to be our striker, we don't want him warn out at the 60th minutes because he has done everyone elses job.

With RVP we can see that if you buy world class players you will get world class performances, and he has also shown that for Rooney to be one of the best strikers in the world he should be showing the same performances as Robin.

I wish him the best of luck in his career and I hope he finds his old self soon, but selling him now would be a bigger benefit to the club, he will become our next 2012 Giggs, noone will want him in a few years because they will notice how bad he can be sometimes, and his pace isn't helping him out.

-JakeW

Difficult one this one. When Rooney is on form he's superb. There again, he's not been on form at all and has lost his edge. But we've got to hope he comes into form sometime soon as we're going to need everyone over the busy Xmas schedule.
Let's hope him and Valencia can come good soon.
NoMidfield

I think he is till carrying 5 to 7 kilos of extra weight and hence the loss of pace and general sharpness. If you watch any of the games from 3 years ago he is slimmer and sharper.

With Fergie constantly praising RVP, I think the manager is also not that impressed with his form and there is subtle message in all of this.

The good news is we are leading the league and have lots of guys coming back and some home games that we will win and probably open up a bigger gap again.

Shahram

24 Dec 2012 10:13:58
yesterday again showed that if Rooney doesn't play well united dont

As my close Chine friend says - borrocks

AJH

I watched the match finally today and the only thing about yesterday was we played quite well and just did not finish things off. Sure there were periods where we were scrappy but there was only going to one winner.

The other thing from yesterday was Rooney was poor and you can argue if another one of the strikers had started we would have won.

Stop using correlations because on that basis RVP is worth a 100 million and we would have 10 to 15 points less without him.

It's a team game and at this level you need 11 players, who pull their weight and Valencia, Rooney and Evans where quite poor and Evra was sleeping on the goal that we conceded.

Shahram

24 Dec 2012 09:22:22
personally come summer i'd sell all our wingers they've all been crap this season. Nani too inconsistant. Young tries hard but isn't good enough. Valencia god knows whats happened to him.

Valencia got injured and never properly recovered, that's what happened to him.

So you would sell arguably our best player last season because he's had a poor few months?

24 Dec 2012 11:49:24
if you mean valencia yes i would consider selling him if unable to shift the other two. I don't think he fits into style of play we're looking to build and we need technical fluid players to play that style. I'd far rather sell nani as valencia does at least offer something and could form a plan b. Young might be worth keeping if we could get a better left back behind him so he doesn't have to keep covering.

24 Dec 2012 08:26:12
i dont agree with the thoughts of Zaha becoming a utd player. similar went around to do with clyne last year. hes average at best Zaha.ince average/unproven. we still have plenty of youth at our squad to play now instead of buying more unproven players. let powell play then maybe consider Zaha

ms85

24 Dec 2012 05:14:20
Anyone have an injury update on Ando ? I thought he would be back by now ....
PerthDave

Go on physioroom.com...
It's gives some idea into how long players will be out....

BowlDonBowl

24 Dec 2012 01:17:50
"when I say to bring Giggs and Scholes on was purely stupid and never going to bring a possitive result"

Sorry KLOOT, Giggs showed more creativity in 90 minutes, than the whole team did in 90 minutes.

Rooney scuffing a pass 5 yards out to RVP, was the difference between us winning and losing today.

StevieK

'in 20 minutes'... Too much Bushmills tonight, sorry.

StevieK

I think we created enough to win the game easily... but unfortunately all those chances fell to Rooney who had an off day...
I feel he is trying too much to be clever or he is trying to pick passes too early or I don't know anything :)

AJ

23 Dec 2012 23:07:51
looking at the game today and just thinking Valencia should be right back and Rafael should be right midfielder

Watching the game today you made an opinion on rafael? Despite the fact he didn't play today?

GDS

Yea rafael wasnt playing but hes more creativity than Valencia