Manchester United Banter Archive June 03 2014

03 Jun 2014 19:19:57
Was having a chat with a few customers at a bar I work in earlier about our current crop of players and we were talking about how van Gaal would have done with them etc. So my question to the eds and all the other posters is this, do you think our current players could adopt a van Gaal system or would he himself have to tweak his system to get the best results? I mean only our current players (so no new transfers but can include some youth players who may make the step up). And try and keep team listings out of it lads. would prefer this on the banter page! Cheers!:)

I think we will be shocked as a couple of players who looked as if they were certs to leave will look like different players this season.

Cleverley is one player who springs to mind along with Nani, Rafael I expect will be back to himself and you never know Anderson could return. We just don't know really.

I would not discount Bebe being given a chance either after his heroics for Pacos. Pretty impressive to be fair and definitely worth giving a chance

Well, at the base of van Gaal's team is the goalkeeper who has to be like another outfield player who starts things off - De Gea is pretty good at this. He also likes attacking full backs who provide width, Rafael and Evra could do this as they go forward well but Evra doesn't get back anymore. We could potentially have a ball playing center back in Evans and an aerial presence with Smalling.

At the base of the midfield, the number 6, Carrick could fit in there and distribute whilst shielding the defence. We also have a few number 10 options in Kagawa, Mata and Rooney. The number 8 role is probably where we are lacking, perhaps out of the current bunch Fellaini would be best suited but hardly ideal.

As for up top, RVP obviously the main main. Welbeck, Januzaj and Nani are all players that would suit LVG as they can go wide or come inside and have good pace. Zaha could also fit this role.

I think a lot of our players could fulfill these roles, but they just wouldn't be good enough at them.

I can see Cleverley playing the box to box type. but I just wonder if his confidence was been irreparably dented and his lack of game time over the last season will be a worry too. Anderson couldn't play the deeper role, nor could he play box to box or AM in a van Gaal system, unless we hang some burgers from the opposition crossbar!;) Rafael will have a good season I think. he will suit how van Gaal likes to play and certainly has the engine for it. Hopefully his discipline can be worked on. I think we could see Fletcher playing the deeper CM role very well under van Gaal. he certainly has the intelligence for it and loves to get stuck in as we've seen countless times.

Whilst I think we need reinforcements I think a number of players would fair better. Nani (who.I think will stay) and young would be better in a front 3 than actual wingers in a 442.
Cleverly could have the energy for the box to box role.
Don't see rooney involved personally.

Damon, hopefully Rafael will be back to his best. If Anderson lost weight and stayed fit he would be the perfect number 8. But I think the big surprise will be Nani, he won't leave I don't think and will have a good season. He is an LVG type player so could benefit from his system. Cleverley may be better in a three also.

Cleverley I think will be so low on confidence from the general bullying that he has that I don't think he will be here much longer which is a shame because he could be good in this system. Nani will be the big surprise for me, Young I can't see featuring though - not technically good enough, no goal threat.

With rafael am worried lvg loves to get rid of brazilians a quote from a ex player
Van Gaal is the Hitler of the Brazilian players, is arrogant, proud and has a problem. He has no idea of football. His type is sick, he's crazy." - Giovanni, Brazil international who worked with Van Gaal at Barcelona plus lucio and rivaldo ect

Rafael maybe Brazilian, but he's a feisty little sh1t. We definitely need another RB so if we buy one then I see Rafael as back-up anyway. Perhaps MU will sign Arias or Janmeet.

04 Jun 2014 12:14:29
so nani will suddenly go past people and put perfect crosses in just because lvg is the new manager.

03 Jun 2014 18:33:25
Feck. Just got Japan in the work sweepstake.

I'd even have taken England :)

I'd have probably preferred Ireland Stevie!;)

03 Jun 2014 19:19:06
I got bloody Uruguay and Belgium for mine.

Guess 3rd place is a possibility.

I got Brazil and France! Someone in my office got Iran

03 Jun 2014 20:08:49
Weggy, two teams who should give you a run anyway - as long as it's not winner takes all. Andy, I wouldn't go that far, mate :)

03 Jun 2014 20:34:49
Yeah good point!

We have this 1st 2nd and 3rd prize winners luckily!

03 Jun 2014 16:41:33
Oh no paddy the Irish man oh no! As a fellow united fan I can not believe I am seeing this again from u on the liverpool page! First u wanted them to win the league now u think they can win the CL! Are u actually a Liverpool fan? Cringy mate!

Come on pal please stop this, I want that lot to win nowt except relegation ;-)!

He's either a very young lad or he is a Liverpool fan in disguise :)

It's very cringey the way he is so pally with the Liverpool fans.

CTR no United fan would want Liverpool to win anything, Paddy is a closet scouser. He should be banished.

I have to agree with that. I can barely take them winning a game let alone a trophy.

Gerrard, Ohhh he's slipped :)

Don't knock us youngsters, Syd. My first United game was the 2003 4-0 victory against Liverpool and nothing pleased me more than seeing Sami Hyypia getting sent off. Would still tell anyone it was the best day of my life, United was just bred into my blood. Out of everyone I knew, I was the only AC Milan fan in the 2005 CL final, due to this ingraining of United pride and therefore rivalry towards Liverpool. Don't think just because we missed the 'pool glory years we don't have to survive with those waiting for their return! The rivalry remains potent within some of us!

I can't stand them winning the toss of the coin before kick off!

Bit or sarcasm

03 Jun 2014 16:31:54
Am I alone in thinking that we are not going to get the cover we need fo certain areas, we were the team that needed to bring in quality more than the top three. If the top three strengthen themselves I can not see us getting champs league again this season! My faith in woodward is none existent van gaal can ask for whoever he wants but its upto the club to secure the player. i'm not expecting to bounce back and win the league but we don't stand a chance if we don't strengthen.

We will get the players, but they may not be our first choice players. Instead of Reus, Hummels, Kroos and Vidal it might be Konoplyanka, Indi, Schweinsteiger and Strootman. We will have a list of four or five for each position and work our way down it.

Suppose we have to resign to the fact that w e will have an inferior side to other top pl leams I for one am not to chuffed with this not that my opinion matters to much but boy have we lost ground still a big club. But how long didi it take liverpool to get back! Worrying times ahead! For the fans over 30 they will remember the pre prem times but I wonder if we will have to look on the scouse from behind again

It wouldn't surprise me if our transfer business was already complete, apart from maybe the odd youngster. It's all normally kept very hush hush. Then again Woody is a worry and seems to be trying to do everything on the cheap but we'll see I guess.
On the point about us looking at the scousers from behind, I would say that unless they get some serious reinforcements in during this window that they will struggle to keep up in the league. Champions league games are very intense and take a lot out of players. Do they have a squad big enough, strong enough to do well in both? I don't think so. But that's just my humble opinion.

I thing King Louis the 1st will have us playing attacking football again in no time and Old Trafford will become the fortress of old. I can't see us winning the league but top 4 is definitely not out of the picture.

The future is bright

Under the right manager, average players can excel. Look at the SAF factor. Players like Strootman, Shaw etc would all be good additions and if we can get them playing together well as a unit then we will have a chance.

Hope you boys are right I just see it being a real uphill struggle if we don't have the class that city chelsea and the scousers have

03 Jun 2014 20:43:14
Its difficult to attract the very top players in our current situation but hopefully we will get a couple of very good players mixed in with some very promising younger players.

Target for the season should be top 4 or ideally top 3 and a good cup run. Then look to attract the last pieces of the jigsaw next summer before mounting a more serious challenge the following yr.

Unfortunately there is no quicker fix because the situation we find ourselves in is the culmination of a chain of events over a number of seasons. We failed to strengthen in key areas, then handled the transition from old to new management poorly, which lead to 7th place finish which leads to making it even harder to strengthen the key areas adequately. We will get back challenging at the top but it may take 2/3 seasons rather than 1. Anything better would be a bonus but hopefully it will be a fun journey for us, if sometimes frustrating!

03 Jun 2014 16:15:29
hi ed if your around what u think of the fabergas situtation I honestly can't see him going to chelsea since he played for arsenal city don't want him do u reckon utd will bid for him or is van gaal looking elsewhere thank u keep up good work

That COULD be the only reason why he doesn't go to Chelsea. I imagine that he will want a return to Arsenal but if they aren't throwing their hat into the ring then he may end up at somewhere like City of Chelsea. If he doesn't fit the LVG mold be won't be coming here even though his name is Fabregas.

03 Jun 2014 15:49:07
There was a question earlier about which United players do you think will have a good World Cup. On balance, I think Welbeck will have a reasonable World Cup and always seems to do well for England but not us. I don't think Jones and Smalling will be starters and I think the pressure will get to Rooney who has never scored at a World Cup. Mata and De Gea won't get too much game time either I wouldn't of thought. The United player that I think will do best is Nani. I think he is due some good performances and a good tournament could be just what he needs to kick on - I watched Portugal vs Greece and he was very good in that one. A good World Cup and a bit of belief from van Gaal might just make the difference for him - at least we have him tied down for a few more deals so if he performs well at the World Cup and van Gaal likes him he won't be leaving if we don't want him too.

Agree with the nani comment, hope he plays out of his skin then his price tag bumps up and we can get rid of him. what a terrible signing he has been. please nobody bother even mentioning the good spells he's had here, they are few and far between and he's mostly been inconsistent and frustrating to say the least.

03 Jun 2014 16:28:41
I love the world cup, as it gives us the time to act as scouts by watching players were linked with or looking at player we've signed.
Im really looking forward to seeing januzaj play. I think belguim have a very strong team and will get far in the world cup. The experience and game time at such a big stage I think will help adnan get to the next level. We will see a transformed player come next season. Very excited!

Stretford, Nani is LVG's sort of winger though, fast, skillful and is happy to go inside or outside. If he has a fantastic World Cup then I am fairly sure that LVG won't sell him, not until he next disappoints anyway. I can see Young and probably Valencia going before Nani.

03 Jun 2014 15:02:03
Personally don't see fabregas at united.

I believe that barca and atletico will do a swap deal involving koke and fabregas

Never going to happen.

03 Jun 2014 15:38:00
I see Barca nudging Fabregas towards Chelsea, so that they back off Koke

Atleti won't be able to pay Cesc's wages. They could well get Koke though to replace Cesc. I think he will likely end up at Chelsea.

It's a strange one, 002 says there has been no contact between Chelsea and Cesc or Chelsea and Barcelona. Jason Burt who is a very good Chelsea journalist hasn't mentioned anything on his Twitter page regarding Cesc. It is a strange one I have to admit. Are people just putting 2 & 2 together and 15? Are people thinking Lampard out so Cesc in? Or are they correct and the editor is wrong? Time will tell I guess. The media got wind of Jose not wanting Mata and Luiz months before everyone else. But we know Chelsea want Pogba. Pogba isn't anything like Cesc. Definitely a strange one.

03 Jun 2014 16:30:04
I would of thought premier league but as we knows fabregas would prefer to stay in spain.
Possibly psg?

Oscar out fabergas in?

Yeah I can see Cesc and Oscar trading places.

Either that or PSG paying Chelsea £250m for Oscar and then Chelsea spending £30m on Cesc :)

03 Jun 2014 13:18:03
What current united player are worth keeping if we want to get back to the top, I think currently Rooney, RVP, mata, kagawa, januzaj, de gea and carrick are the only player close top a starting 11 that could win the league

03 Jun 2014 14:31:37
Rafael has already been in a starting 11 that won the league, as have Jonny Evans and Antonio Valencia, so I would think they could at least be squad players in a title winning team.

Jones, Smalling and Welbeck are also good squad players and will only improve, it is easy to forget how young Phil Jones is because of the amount of games he has played and how young he started.

03 Jun 2014 15:23:38
Totally agree with both your lists put together, that's about it really.

Yes, it is certainly easier to say which players should stay instead of which should go, the list is much shorter. De Gea, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Jones, Carrick, Kagawa, Mata, Januzaj, Roobey and RVP are the ones that spring to mind. Welbeck and Valencia may be deservant of a place too and also an in form Nani. The rest quite simply don't have the quality or potential (not including youth like Wilson here).

03 Jun 2014 13:04:46
I just wanted to follow on from shappys fantastic post yesterday which was a great job mate. I agree that kroos won't join utd and neither will fabregas. Kroos is at possibly the strongest club in world football at the moment and without champions league football whether he would fit into lvg's plans or not. To get him would mean rooney type wages. Fabregas who is a Barcelona born arsenal fan I think would be near impossible to sign without cl football. And for me is chelsea bound. Hummels is another I don't see coming and whilst for me he is one of if not the best around I think he will stay at dortmund. With the other world class act we were interested in vidal will either stay at juve or join real madrid.

Players I think and hope to see at ot next season are shaw, classie and indi. Whilst more are needed i'm hoping the likes of cuadrado, witsel, depay, eriksen, Carvalho and de sciglio are in the mix with rooney, Cleverley, kagawa (he's way over rated plus powell deserves his chance) buttner and wellcrap sold on.

We need to bring in a top notch CB. We already have three good CB's, we need an accomplished experienced CB so we should be going all out for Hummels. Shaw would be great for LB. If Konoplyanka can be brought in then great. Sanchez would be another good option. I would hope to see someone like Schweinsteiger bought for midfield. We have all these Dutch options, but we need proven quality this summer and if no UCL makes it difficult, then we need to pay the players more to sign. It's important that we do not bring in a load of average Joes to find out that we actually have players better than them already at the club. That would be disappointing and pointless.

We have to target Hummels. PSG have signed David Luiz, Bayern have got Garay and Barcelona want Marquinhos so I think we are fairly high up on the list if he is to leave Dortmund this year.

03 Jun 2014 12:01:24
Big shout to Ed002 and any other eds.
I'm a nurse, a psychiatric nurse at that. I have some insight into the garbage you guys get!
Everyday I come home looking at this site, for what you've put some days I agree but others I don't.
My point being in some respects your the highlight of my day, just because there are love truncheons in the world don't hurt everyone. Like me we do our job for the many not the few.
It's in rubbish times we realise our value, please try and just pass over the persons, karma will catch them it always does.
Take care, if it's until September see you then you'll be missed Ed002!
Karl marx

03 Jun 2014 15:01:57
Thats where I know u from ;-)

03 Jun 2014 02:38:22
What's everyone's thoughts on United players who are featuring in the World Cup? Who do you think will perform best and hopefully carry the form onto next season? We have a few players who are the shining light for a few smaller countries such as Valenica, Kagawa and Hernandez but these teams aren't favourites to progress however I feel Japan may shock a few I'm currently sat in a bar in Miami watching them against Costa Rica and they play as a well organised unit, no great individual talents after Kagawa and Honda but a great unit. as for Mexico and Ecuador the only thing they have going for them are being from the continent, no real squad depth and not the easiest of groups.
English players I don't think we have the best, out of our current crop I'd actually lean towards welbeck having the best tournament if Jones isn't up to playing right back, he always puts in a performance for England and has a really good goal scoring record, if LVG doesn't see him as a united player I'd take the money and run if he has a good tournament, at 23 he may command a price of £15m and upwards based on his performances this World Cup. As for Rooney I can't see him doing very well, he very rarely performs for England and with this World Cup being in a climate he isn't known for playing well in I can't see him doing much, I hope I'm wrong but he just isn't the player he was in 2004 for England.

I can't see Mata or Dave starting for Spain but if they do I'm sure they'll shine, Mata when played in his preferred position for Spain is often dangerous but they use him more as a left winger which he played often in his Valenica days if I'm not mistaken, however with Spain's current crop I think he's fairly down the pecking order, similarly to De Gea who in my opinion based on form should already be Spain's number 1 and will be in the next 2-3 years, stuck through thick and thin with Dave as the potential has always been clear and if he carries on the way he is and stays with us I think we may have a future captain well worthy of being mentioned along with the Great Dane and Van Der Saar.

And the last player I will be talking about is Robin Van Persie, who in my opinion is one of if not the best out and out striker in the world. His attitude has been questionable this season and quite frankly disrespectful to only to DM but the club. However his attributes and abilities are outstanding and he is finically matured into the player he was talked about being at the age of 21/22, if the Netherlands can get it right this tournament I can see them making the final with this current young crop of players, they aren't the team they were but they're a solid team who have a brilliant work ethic with a few world class players; which is a dangerous combination when it's done right, I can see him scoring a few if the service is there and he will be my tip for next seasons top goal scorer in the BPL.

I feel like I've covered most of the bases here but feel free to discuss and disagree :)

Agree with the Japan post mate Kagawa and Honda link up well a bit like Kagawa and Mata here