Manchester United Banter Archive February 03 2015

03 Feb 2015 21:55:19
Fairly decent performance but worried about how LVG is still using Rooney. Even in a game where we have had about 75% possession and come the hour he is blowing out his ass. Rooney doesn't have the engine to play midfield for 90 minutes and this has been obvious in every match he has played there.

03 Feb 2015 22:43:44
If that is the only negative you can find then it must have been ok!

A decent performance I was scratching my a bit (again) with the formation at the beggining but as the game wore on you could see that the purpose was a n early goal and it worked to some extent.

After the first goal I thought we played some lovely stuff at times and it was nice to see Rojo on the scoresheet. I must say that Rooney looked a little leggy but worked his ass off again.

Overall no complaints and reasonably enjoyed the game .

Good result and performance but I agree that this Rooney in midfield thing has to end.

Like I said over all a solid performance by most of the side. Rvp again below par with needless flicks, just concerned about LVGs use of Rooney wasting a wonderful player who is starting to look exhausted already and it's only Feb. The shape of the team and movement of the ball was a lot better but can't really judge when playing a team so far down the football pyramid.

03 Feb 2015 21:49:24
Hererra comes on plays a forward pass and creates a goal. Would love to see him a lot more. In place of rooney while he goes back up top

03 Feb 2015 20:42:54
Paddy McNair, so far been great at right back.

Perhaps the best decision by LVG so far?

And Herrera on the bench all the time his worst decision

03 Feb 2015 22:48:03
Paddy mcnair man of the match for me tonight, great performance, if he can play like that against the better teams we have some player on our hands. Lvg giving youth a chance and looks like it's paid off with paddy.

I was quite surprised with McNair tonight, he looked very good at RB.

03 Feb 2015 18:59:43
I was just looking at the list if free agents and some very good players are available for free in the summer.
Khedira, De Jong, Luiz Adriano, Andre ayew, konoplyanka, maxi pereria, rannochia, Fabian schar, and Dani alves.

I personally would like us to sign Dani Alves, De Jong and both Schar and Rannochia. Maybe konoplyanka?

03 Feb 2015 19:30:50
No, just no.

03 Feb 2015 19:37:31
Some are decent mate, but I think u have seen the free agents and gone all Harry Redknapp.

Realistically United are half way through a rebuilding process and last night got rid of a few of the squad players surplus with prob another load going in the summer. Filling up with quantity rather than quality won't speed up the process.

One or maybe 2 if them could be shrewd squad signings but that is it. We need quality now. Just look what has happened to Liverpool opting for quantity rather than quality.

Haha, typical. The only sports channel that i don't have and quite frankly refuse to get. Is it correct that BT sports is owned by Sky and that they continue to monopolise the market?

{Ed002's Note - It is owned by BT. You are not the brightest are you?}

Sorry but I'm with Ozwald. The payers may may have had their day, we need to look to the future. Danny Alves? no, no, no

Maybe not ed but surely it's possible for companies under a certain name to be owned by a entirely different entity? What annoys me the most is that after getting the Sky sports package a few years ago they then split the matches with Setanta at the time. Always refused to roll out both packages, far to stubborn and stingy.

{Ed002's Note - BS.}

03 Feb 2015 15:30:07
Can someone ban gorge mendes from football, he put a price of 300 million on ronaldo.a former dj, nite club owner, now he is ruining football the mans a joke, can ueafa do anything about these people with their crazy figures, it's fraud the prices they come up with

{Ed002's Note - He is simply an agent - why do you take what he says seriously. Stay away from the press if it upsets you so much.}

03 Feb 2015 14:05:01
So we are 2/3rd's of the way through the rebuild and we still look all over the place on the pitch in my view. Up against the top European teams now we would get a hiding or simply not attack and play for a sneaky 1-0, like we do against any mediocre opposition at home or any game away from home.

So the summer is crucial, my problem is next season we would expect to be in Europe again so whilst getting rid of squad players for the wage bill is great, what about the depth needed to play a lot more competitive games, we surely need a lot of signings I'm thinking 6-8?

Also Herrera, Shaw, ADM, Falcao have not settled yet at all. So if we need to make a lot more big signings next summer will we not be in trouble with re-introducing yet more players to a dysfunctional squad and system? It clearly takes a lot of time to understand LVG so by this time next season we could be in a similar position with people not settled potentially.

The existing players are adapting to a style and system which we haven't seen effective in practice yet but I imagine we must do soon (or LVG will be sacked), won't an influx of new players unsettle the learnings? Also he prefers 4-3-3 we haven't played this yet, so won't they need to learn how to play this, basically back to almost square one?

Wont we need to see some big name players being moved on as well so that we can strengthen with other big players because of FFP wages problems? Getting rid of squad players is all well and good, but we don't have the youth to replace them with and we get our pants pulled down for signing squad players like Blind & Rojo.

I think we will have a massive influx and exodus this summer, do we then have to give LVG another season to get it right? I can see the excuse brigade on full march next Autumn:

No strength in depth, injuries, players bedding in, new system, Europe to contend with, Competitors stronger, young players need time, blah blah blah.

I think this Winter was a wasted opportunity to bid for players whilst other clubs have problems with Transfer fees - more competition in the Summer for Hummels, Vidal, Pogba, Reus etc.

I also worry about our players looking so unfit now, how will they cope next season with more games - will we see an even slower style (is that even possible)?

Certain players simply will not be able to grasp LVG's philosophy, so will need to be moved on, players like Herrera, Januzaj, Fellaini, Mata, Rafael, Smalling, Jones, Evans. All players that may be shipped out imo, maybe even RVP for wages, maybe DDG because of the obvious.

Just some general points to consider. LVG will certainly earn his crust if he can sort this mess out, obviously not all of his making by any stretch, but I don't think he is doing himself any favours.

03 Feb 2015 14:42:14
Nothing new to see here mate, all the same stuff you have posted before. All of the rhetorical questions you ask could also be turned around into positives, but you ask them all expecting the answer to be negative, clever strategy but I imagine people will see through it.

The window is over, the next 4 months are important, get behind the lads and let's see if we can finish in the top 3, or even higher with a bit of luck.

03 Feb 2015 15:07:50
Don't stop his fun before he starts, u didn't even give redfaith his chance to back him up lol.

Beast i sometimes wonder if you are simply bored and want a argument.

why is it everyone assumes we should be playing this fantastic all out attacking football with tika taka passing and goals galore, because we have spend 150 million it must mean we should be automatically be at the toP?? NO.

we lost the core of the squad in the summer rio, vidic, evra, giggs, and had to get rid of a lot of average players, we signed some top quality players who need more time to settle and bed in. and unfortunately we have had a massive amount of injuries.

rojo is starting to look solid, shaw and di maria have just come back from injury and are getting a run of games and falcao is starting to find his feet after injury. blind is a good player and maybe if herrera got to the gym and bulked up a bit he might play more games, yes his passing myt be good but he gets brushed off far to easy.

we don't need to sign anynoe untill the summer. the players we all think would make us better would have cost a lot more now than the summer.

if the players perfomed how they should, the likes of jones smalling evans rvp adnan, we wouldn't be having all this negativity.

the fact is it is going to take more than 150 million and more than a season.

the aim is to qualify for the CL and if we win a cup its a bonus.

i don't understand why lvg gets all this stick and negativity. maybe people need to stop playing football manager and living in a dreamland its going to take time, deal with it

Beast, your first point about squad depth I totally disagree with. Losing players like Fletcher, Hernandez etc and other squad players will not harm the squad at all, if anything it gives young players more of a chance. Look how small the squad is at Real Madrid for example, they don't have 40 odd players to choose from. They have a tight knit bunch of quality players and then promising youngsters coming through the ranks.

Falcao is clearly beginning to settle in, he has 4 goals and 3 assists in 9 starts - for me that isn't a bad return considering it has taken him a while to get fit. Herrera I agree needs more game time, but his problem for me is van Persie who is played ahead of him which shoves Rooney into midfield.

You miss out that Rojo and Blind have actually been good signings and have settled in well. We also do have capable young players that are coming in like McNair, Blackett, Wilson, Januzaj etc.

There is also no reason why the summer will be more competitive. We will be in for the best players and every pundit out there has said that the summer will revolve around us, we will be the centre piece of the transfer world.

Yes, the team is disjointed and yes it hasn't fallen into place yet. But we are currently tied 3rd in touching distance of City.

I do sometimes agree with you Beast, but not this time, sorry.

Maybe my point is being missed with this post. My aim wasn't to rehash my normal negativity about all things LVG. It was to make a point about how problematic this Summer will be and the potential ramifications, if anything it was aimed to highlight how tough this Summer will be for LVG and how he should have mitigated that this window a little if possible.

I think people are judging my intention based on previous posts which is fair enough, I made my bed. But I am concerned about the sheer volume of deals needing to happen in one window, especially as our Summer transfers haven't been a huge success YET. If this happens again then we will be in a similar problem next year because we have even more games and even more player turnover to deal with.

I am all for putting in Youth players, but McNair, Blackett for example are nowhere near ready to play top level games and be reliable. Blind & Rojo are good squad players, they have done well relatively, but we paid over £30m for the two of them.

I wanted Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Hernandez, Cleverly gone of course. But if we have to spend £15m to replace them each time it would be pretty damaging. We have had injury crisis after injury crisis for man years now, so I assume next year will be the same. If we have bare bones now, just think how bad it will be with Europe, League Cup etc.

03 Feb 2015 16:32:41
Haha what?! Herrera not settled? He plays well and is happy the manager just doesn't rate him! Shaw? Yet again he seems happy and has been carrying a constant ankle injury. ADM? Been played out of position. You really do struggle to grasp reality sometimes mate it's almost laughable.

You moan about how much money the manager has spent yet do you not think we'd be paying over the odds even more so during January?

Once again with players not grasping LvG's so called philosophy Herrera has not struggled to play to a more than reasonable standard, Januzaj hasn't been played in the position he's used to and at his age that's pretty important. He will not be moved on and you're deluded if you think he will be. Fellaini we know isn't really technically gifted enough to be of real use to us under any manager with the type of football we want to play and Mata as we've discussed before needs fast runners around him to best use his skills it's nothing to do with them not understanding the philosophy.

Like I think it was Danny who was saying LvG has clearly been told CL football next year is a must, so he's setting us up to be more defensive and pinch a goal here and there when we can. Hence Di Maria playing up top to latch onto longballs, sitting deep, trying very hard to keep the ball even if it means doing nothing with it except going backwards or sideways.

Next year if he is still here and we're in the CL, I bet we can expect to see different players, different formation, different style of play. let's just hope his plan works.

03 Feb 2015 16:35:23
Spb, similar upheaval and losing some of their best players, hasn't stopped Southampton from playing some tidy, attractive football. What's their excuse?

03 Feb 2015 17:02:08
Give more examples other than Southampton, of a team doing this in the premiership stevie? It's easy and seems to be the go to atm to mention Southampton when saying this team or person needs time but tbf there are many many many more examples if this being the case.

03 Feb 2015 17:05:15
Stevie,

Southampton are punching well above their weight and do not have the expectation that we have. They are now below us in the table but everybody says they are having an amazing season and us a poor one, look at the difference in reaction from Southampton fans to losing to Swansea at home than to ours on the first day of the season, it is not a realistic comparison.

Ozwald - You can't seriously expect me to clarify every point at length. "Not Settled" would mean not doing what they were paid to do, not a great success so far, I am not blaming them, I am simply saying we have seen hardly seen anything of Shaw, Herrera, Falcao or ADM compared to what we expected, for one reason or another.

For the avoidance of doubt I like all of them, especially Herrera - but they haven't worked as intended. Out of position, injuries, not liked, not good enough form, all play a part and obviously LVG's bizarre decisions are key. Why would that differ next year?

West Ham

03 Feb 2015 17:45:24
Southampton were the only team similar to us in terms of upheaval, which is why I used them as an example. I'm only comparing like with like. Yes they're below us, but can you honestly, hand on heart, without the red tinted glasses, that we've been better to watch than then this season?

Considering their starting point, and their relative lack of funds, I'd say they've handled their upheavel with much less difficulty than us. And if we're talking more pressure at Its, is that not why we brought in LVG, a man who's been at the very big clubs, and is that not why we spent 150million - to get top players who are used to pressure?

I know it's not Football Manager, but it's not rocket science either. Sometimes I think people try to overcomplicate things, to cover our deficiencies.

Southampton have shown what can be achieved with a young, forward-thinking coach, who doesn't try to pull the wool over people's eyes by going on about a philosophy, and how good he is. He just keeps it simple - passing and pressing with pace.

We have needed a clear out for a long time. We bought badly at times particularly towards the end of SAF' tenure. On here we debated that Nani Cleverley and co needed shifting, Anderson was too overweight, etc. Yet sit back and ask how long had they been here and granted new contracts when they were not good enough? Sentiment, too much sentiment mainly by SAF and his acceptance of lessening standards kept some beyond the term they should have done. Now the clear out has started and not before time.
Just one point everyone has missed. LvG brought in a young powerful lad from Ajax Fosu Mensah who could be one for the future to, also I saw we were looking at another 16 year old yesterday. Building a flow of players from a younger age is key to building the future. He may get criticism for tactics but what I am seeing is absolutely what needs to be done

Gds
United had the biggest spend in world football during the summer and have the highest wage bill in the EPL.
To try and compare uniteds expectations to southamptons is stupid.
If southampton finish top 4 it will be by far a bigger achievement than united finishing top 4

03 Feb 2015 22:41:00
Jred,

Think we agree, it is not a fair comparison.

Gds
That's why people think they are doing well they are playing top of there game and the manager is getting 100% of his squad

But United's squad is far superior and is under performing.
Hence one is having a good season one isn't .
The comparison is that after losing there best players and after as much upheaval as us. With a fraction of the money and nowhere near as talented a squad they are playing at 100% whereas United are at about 60%

04 Feb 2015 00:54:11
but did Southampton really have that much more of a depleted first team this season or is a little bit of a myth?

They lost Shaw, a 18yr old who's best years are ahead of of yet granted but replaced him with Bertrand, a cl winner and playing top of his game.

Lambert was replaced by pelle, and lallana was replaced with a guy that had the biggest assist rate in Holland last year I believe.

Also this whole koeman a young forward thinking manager stuff to, is he? That's news to me. I thought he had been around a while really only being successful to a degree in benfica? I could be wrong though.

04 Feb 2015 02:29:47
He's 51 Chris - quite young for a top level manager, and certainly in comparison to LVG.

I didn't say he had been successful, but it is obvious what his preferred style is, and it is progressive, even if fairly simple. He's forward-thinking enough to have tactically outwitted LVG twice this season already.

The player replacements sort of back this point up - he knew what sort of players were needed, and he blended them into the team without any fuss. They bought into him straight away by the looks of things.

Chris
Lambert was replaced by pelle and lallana was replaced in the same way nani was replaced with di maria and chica with falcao.

shaw may be 18 but he was there best player imo last year .
And the CL winner bertrand who actually only played the one game (in the final) was playing for aston villa last season and struggling to get in there team

04 Feb 2015 10:03:29
Ok jred??? not a bad game to play in is it? pelle and tadic imo are better than the 2 that left.

Stevie yes 52 is not old I agree but the way some speak of him is as if he's this amazing new manager when in fact he's had chances elsewhere and not done great. Poch is the better manager imo and long term will do more.

03 Feb 2015 10:47:19
Hey e's, just wondering if you've heard of the Bolton boy Andy Kellett? Seems abit strange to be signing him on loan for rest of season, also sad to see fletcher leave, hope he does well at his new club

{Ed003's Note - must have impressed the youth coaches whenever they've seen him mate plus his brief spell at Plymouth was apparently a success - no harm in seeing him on a daily basis for a few months.}

Read that he was signed purely for the youth team having impressed warren joyce

03 Feb 2015 11:56:36
Hi Guys

Well we got the center half everyone called for how many people thought it would be Andy Kellett and not Hummells or Marquhinos.

03 Feb 2015 12:15:54
He is a left back and he will be covering in the under 21s for players who have gone on loan.

The overreaction to this on twitter last night was hilarious.

I absolutely agree GDS2, so many folks are missing the whole point of this signing. He hasn't been brought in for first team action!

I never said he was a first teamer its obvious that he was brought in to replace Janko while he is on loan at Bolton.It was said as a bit of fun obviously failed miserably.

03 Feb 2015 14:43:04
Bazza,

Sorry mate, I wasn't having a dig, I got the humour in the original post, but if you had been on twitter last night the meltdown was incredible.

Hi GDS2

No worries mate.

Lets hope for a good result tonight.

03 Feb 2015 11:01:57
I have been very impressed with how LVG has trimmed down the squad over the last two windows getting rid pf a lot of players. We have seen Vermijl, M. Keane, Zaha, Fletcher, Anderson go with others as well like Evra, Nani.

Yes, some need to be sold permanently, but he is clearly trimming the squad and favouring quality to quantity.

03 Feb 2015 06:26:51
Ed do you know the current situation regarding a new deal for James Wilson? Given his contract runs out this summer its a little worrying we haven't tied him down yet.

{Ed002's Note - Sorry, I really have no idea.}

03 Feb 2015 08:47:58
The overall transfer and contract related work done by our club is a bit underwhelming imo.

Not saying in terms of number of players signed but I am hinting towards the below:

- Transfers like RvP and Berbatov and high prices given their age
- We are taken for a ride by clubs as far as transfer fees are concerned
- We are taken for a ride by agents as far as wages are concerned
- Leaving it until last minute to offer contracts to promising youngsters (Wilson, Pereira this season and Januzaj last season)
- Failure to offload unwanted players - Anderson is a big example of our incompetence here (Not saying we were to blame for his current condition but we are to blame for not canceling his contract earlier if nobody wanted to buy him)

I am not saying that everything is negative because I think Rojo, ADM and Herrera are good signings.

MB mate, why would you think Rvp was an overpriced signing? Have you forgotten than he almost single handedly won us the league? I thought that was a fair price considering we bought him from a rival club.
Berbatov may have been a little overpriced, but he was also instrumental for us in a title winning season, shame he could not fully adjust to our style of football.
Although I do agree we need to start tying down our best youngsters quicker. I feared we would do another 'pogba' with Januzaj last year.

03 Feb 2015 10:43:26
Kdevil I am not denying the contribution of RvP and I do remember Berba was top scorer for us they were not good "investments".

03 Feb 2015 10:52:54
MB,

People complain when we don't sign the top players, and then people moan when we do sign the top players because they aren't good 'investments'. Can you see that the club can never win whatever they do?

03 Feb 2015 11:59:29
GSD,

The club would win if we signed a Hazard for 32 million pounds who could potentially stay at the club for 10+ years or give back a hefty transfer fee if sold early.

The club would win if we signed DDG for 17.8 million pounds and turn him into a world class shot stopping machine.

The club would win if we signed a bargain like Eriksen for 11 million pounds (When was the last time we signed a bargain?)

The club would win if we signed ADM for 59.7 million pounds and he is played at the position we know he is world class at.

03 Feb 2015 06:46:51
What's everyone's opinion on rojo? IMO since his return frm injury he's been pretty solid hasn't he?

Best cb we have, just needs to improve his short passing and I can see him becoming a real player for us, reminds me of Koscielny at arsenal

Hopefully by the start of next season he gets a decent partner beside him

03 Feb 2015 02:19:11
I have been reading over all the posts on here lately and the only posts that have not been critical or judgemental where that of " Shappy " & the " Beast ". I myself have moaned that we don't pay the price other teams ask for players but when we do some of you still moan. " We overpayed for him bla bla " & yes i agree that our negotiations staff need to be replaced but what people forget is we are Man United and every team will make us overpay no matter what. We are UNITED and we could go and buy WC players for every posistion like Chelski and rubbishty but ots not in our DNA because we are and will be the only team to win the league with youth players we groomed. could any other EPL team do that. i don't think so. The only problem we have is we become a feeder club because when we produce a rare talent, We face competition from Real and Barca etc to hold onto them as seen before and now with DDG. This all been said i would love UTD to spend big again in the summer and update the defence and find a replacement for carrick sooner rather than later. i would also welcome a midfield enforcer who gives 100% and drag the team into shape. then when we have a winning team we can look to the youth again and find more gems. just as long as we don't wait till players are OAPs before replacing them and leave us back at square 1

You are 2 months early for April Fool's mate. 'Beast' not been critical or judgemental? That must be a joke, right? I think even Beast himself would have a little chuckle at that one :)
As for buying WC players, I think half of our squad is toilet already. They need to be flushed out before we go down the pan completely.

03 Feb 2015 09:51:41
Don't think I'm entirely comfortable with the idea of grooming youth players.

Just choked on my cornflakes (other cereals also available) reading that! Beast is THE most critical and judgemental guy on here. So, either this is a wind up or Beast has a 2nd profile name.

03 Feb 2015 10:54:34
Haha Shappy and Beast, two men of the people, sitting on the fence all the time, that is what I hate about you guys, must have splinters in your backsides!

You say we don't pay the price other teams ask like city or chelsea do ? city and chelsea have both bought talented midfielders a lot cheaper than we paid out for herrera and particualy mata

I think MU are just being extra careful with the dosh during this rebuilding period. MU have set targets and will stick to them unless they are unavailable or purchased by another club. I think the Strootman interest will shift come the summer due to his knee, but I think Coleman/Clyne and Hummels will remain key targets. Hopefully Pogba and Reus become key targets too :)

03 Feb 2015 00:03:48
So we've signed Bolton youngster Andy Kellett on loan with janko going the other way, what's that all about???

03 Feb 2015 00:14:14
He must fit the philosophy.

Its a weird one given his age.

Andy kellet and Sadiq El Fitour, 2 worldies there ??????

Belfast

Everytime you show up on this page with your childish rubbish you guys end up having a mare right around the corner. I am guessing a thumping defeat in the league next or even better CL getting your butt kicked. What are you 12.

City will rope you in mate, by far the better team.

Anyone seen him play? I would not dismiss a player just because he comes from the lower divisions.

Shamus Coleman was a 60,000 purchase by Moyes and probably worth 20 to 25 in this market and a great right back and better than rafael IMO.

03 Feb 2015 09:11:35
The U21's are short on numbers after a few have gone out on loan so it makes sense. He'll nowhere near the 1st team

It's pretty simple really, MU feel Janko needed competitive football and the U21's needed a replacement, Andy Kellett is Janko's replacement for the rest of the season. It has little relevance to the first team.

If kellet wasnt playing for the 1st team why will janko get game time ?

Don't get me wrong, MU will still have a look at the player and see if he has anything to offer, but he is essentially a Manchester United U21 player until the summer.

John, because Janko is a better player than Kellett with bags more potential.

I hope i'm wrong but i can't see janko getting much game time, bolton are only 7 points above the bottom 3 in a very tough championship, why would they throw an inexperieced youngster into that .