Manchester United Banter Archive January 05 2015

05 Jan 2015 21:51:54
West Ham asking for £4 million for Reid, must be worth a go surely?

He has potential and at 4 mill its worth the risk.

Better than anything we have right now and at £4 mil I would rip there arm off !!

One of the best central defenders in the league, I'd pay triple that for him.

Absolutely brilliant player!

Not sure he is up to the standard we want. can't help but feel that he is made to look better than he is when playing with Tomains. The whole being better than the sum of the parts, sort of thing.

Snap him up, if luiz is worth 50 mil.thats the bargain of the century

Brad at the moment he is at a better standard than almost all our CB's, the only negative is his age(26)

Shocking how a player for once is not over priced when linked to us. (Probably has to do with his contract expiring on 30th June). From the few games i have watched of west ham, he is quite good. He is a make-shift Rb as well. Managers had enough faith even in a younger Reid to let Collins, Gabbidon and Upson leave the club. Good in the air and wins enough tackles. Pops up with a goal every now and then. He isn't a stranger to bookings though.
However I don't know if he can command or lead our defense. But if that is anywhere near the actual price tag, Sign Him!
January quick-fix for me will be Vlaar.

26 is a great age for cb. As they mature at around 28.
I've not seen much of him so can't comment on that, but West ham have had a decent season and at £4m has no downside.

I think it is fortunate that he is coming out of contract in the summer and the boss has said that he has no future at West Ham. Very good player and an absolute bargain. He may not be 'the man' to solve the issue, but he would go part of the way.

Look how players have stepped up from teams lower in the table before like Cahill from Bolton to Chelsea. It can work out.

And let's put it this way, I would play him ahead of Evans, Blackett, McNair, Jones, Smalling or Rojo any day of the week.

Seems Arsenal bound to me though :(

06 Jan 2015 09:25:27
A very good defender for a great price, my only concern with him is his passing is limited. He would need to play alongside a passing CB or we would be in serious trouble.

For me Varane would always be first choice, but Schar, Otamendi, Garay, N'Koulou and Manolas would all be under consideration for the RCB role.

As for LCB, Laporte, Kongolo or Ogbonna.

Herbie, You are right on that front and if we are just looking at the next half year I am all in at that price. However longer term I am just not sure. but maybe that's the point. First choice now and a good 3rd choice when we pick up better ones if we are in CL

Hummels & Reid, job done with Smalling & Rojo as back up, with a young one.

I suspect MU will aim higher than Reid. It's not about money, it's about bringing in a leader from the back. Bringing in real quality no matter what the cost. Someone who is much better than what we already have. Hummels is clearly the number one target, but if not available then Otamendi or Godin looks like possibilities surely?

06 Jan 2015 11:07:35
Garay for me. Would slot in well with Rojo, which would be a bonus.

That triangle - DDG, Garay and Rojo - all Spanish-speaking. Sometimes it's the little things when it comes to communication, and a split-second lapse, while trying to remember the right word in English, can make a difference.

05 Jan 2015 20:53:15
Cambridge Utd, away. What do we think?

Do we play 4, or 5 centre halves?

I think we will play 8-1-1 formation with 6 cb.

05 Jan 2015 21:59:42
Gd tie

I think LVG will surprise us and go 2-1-7 for this one.

I like the sound of that 2-1-7 I might finally be happy😝

05 Jan 2015 19:32:51
Hi all happy new year to one and all.
Falcao, I am still a little undecided, like some have said earlier I would like to see a sustained run alongside 2 or more of our creative players such as mata / di maria / herrera but I have no doubt the quality and undoubted world class movement and finishing is still there, he is starting to prove his fitness, we have room for 3 top strikers backed up by wilson, in rooney rvp and falcao there are enough starts for 40 games each in a 60 game season assuming we play 2 up front and enough big games as so not to offend any of their egos, its as good a front 3 as most european top tier clubs and better than any club in england.
If LVG decides they are the guys to be our front 4 next season he will figure out the best way to serve them while keeping the back four protected.
we have improved a lot since last season in so many ways. LVG has done a terrific job to turn around a ship that had nobody at the helm sailing a long way off course, 'he' has spent a lot of money but has not had them all fit yet, in 5 months to turn the club and yes a club of our stature around in 5 months under the circumstances is a great achievement, the mentality has changed expectations have changed, unity has changed, perception has changed quality has changed the style is changing slower than some would like but if you build on style alone you have no foundations he is doing things the right way and i guess if he had more players 100% fit the style would be more apparent by now,
please don't be swayed by our favourite fifa 15 experts and look at things in the real world where issues can not be resolved with the click of the controller ')

05 Jan 2015 16:28:44
Instead of Falcao, should we try to sign Bony?

05 Jan 2015 16:59:45
And instead of Hummels, should we buy Shawcross?

What about moyes, his team beat Barcelona, bring him back quick

We should keep Anderson instead of buying Strootman, sit him in front of goal with a packet of Hobnobs n job done.

Haha its good to laugh for a change

Your right Leahy12, always good to have a little fun along the way.

Seems to be worth City's attention .

05 Jan 2015 15:29:08
Hi Everyone,

Just a quick thought on the situation surrounding Radamel Falcao.
I for one, want him to succeed more than I have ever wanted anyone to at Old Trafford. I do not know why, I think it stems from the humility and humbleness he showed from day 1 including the video of him entering dressing room for first time.

However, as much as it pains me to ask. Is he good enough? I know they say form is temporary and class is permanent, but does anyone think that he will reach the levels of 2-3 years ago? Its very difficult to judge because our midfield is creating very little for the front lads. But stats don't lie and they are stacking up against Falcao.

For me its a real case of age old battle of head and heart and I think we will let him go at the end of season.

Sorry for the length, and waffling, but wanted to know how others see this one panning out.

Sam

I agree, I know people will still say he is recovering from the injury the kept him out of the world cup and that's true but you can't justify paying what Monaco are asking for the permanent deal considering his age, time it will take for him to get back into form, and the wage he requires.

I do wish we had signed him a few years ago and things did go better but as things stand I don't think making him a permanent fixture at OT is a good idea.

I would buy him and let rvp go

Falcao when at his best is the most complete forward in world football.

take into account he hasn't had a stady run of games with the likes of di maria and mata and herrea players that are natural assist makers.

a striker feeds of balls and up 2 now he hasn't really had that, i look at the stuff he does off the ball, his runs and his hold up play and strenth for such a smaller player is exceptional.

once di maria mata and herrea start playing with him regularly we will see the best of falcao.

what other strikers out there is there to buy, because we need another striker rooney and rvp isn't enough with wilson as backup, hernandez isn't world class other thatn making the deal perminant for falcao who is their who is world class and ready now who we could sign??

Add to my previous reply how old was rvp when we bought him? ok for less of a fee but falcao is s much better player than rvp

Sam - Like you I really want him to do well, but I honestly think if you had any striker in world football upfront for us this season they would struggle.

He looks better than RVP and when you consider he is settling into a new side, a new league and a bizarre system, which is against strikers that earn their crust in taking chances because we create hardly any, it isn't any surprise he is struggling, couple that with the recovery from a bad injury I think it's too soon to judge.

I was expecting more, but I was expecting more of the whole team.

I still think he will come good and we will end up signing him permanently. He just needs to get used to the physical aspect of the PL. For me, he has shown glimpses of quality. His movement is still there as well. He just needs better support, IMO.

05 Jan 2015 16:24:29
Beast,

I 100% agree (I know) that a lot of strikers would struggle in the set up at the moment, we do not move the ball out fast enough and get the ball into strikers in space, we too often pass it and let all the defenders get back before we try and create a chance.

This post goes with this one and the one above about Wilson, it cannot be a coincidence that two of the best strikers in the world, RVP and Falcao, as well as one of the best up and coming English strikers, are all struggling to get many chances at the moment in the current set up. Hopefully it will start to change when di Maria and Herrera are playing well together.

05 Jan 2015 16:58:09
Yeh its a toughy but I agree with the majority, needs more of a run and to see how he gets on in a spell with Di Maria, Herrera and Mata feeding him. If we were judging on this season alone, would we want to buy any of our strikers? (hypothetically)

05 Jan 2015 14:29:26
A few random half way through the season observations:

1. Everyone's manager of choice, Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund firmly ensconced in relegation zone. Not so great after all?

2. Does that mean we really want Hummels and/or Gundogan?

3. The "must be given a chance" James Wilson is yet to score, and has generally not impressed.

4. Barring the Leicester aberration which was aided by some awful refereeing, we have the best defensive record in the EPL.

5. Adnan Januzaj has probably seen his stock decline so far this season, having failed to impress whenever given the opportunity. How many times does he have to try and score from a 10% acute angle until he realizes he needs to look for a pass?

As for yesterday, it was a pretty turgid performance. Such games represent potential banana peels so at least we avoided the ignominy of a defeat.

Other than his goal I was very disappointed with Herrera who got caught in possession a number of times, and whose passing was often astray. Fletcher was more negative than Cleverley ever was, and looks completely off the pace. Wilson also slowed the game down far too often, especially in the last 20 minutes. We were unable, once again, to create any chances for our attacking players. Is the reason systemic or is it that we just don't have the inherent qualities in the squad? Are we just to easy to defend against?

I can't wait for the much vaunted better second half of the season to get underway!!

Our squad has no shape, making linking defense to attack difficult. Have u noticed that we have missed Fellaini? Our winning ratio dropped in his absence. I believe because he ideally fits into the type of football we play. As in the defenders play long balls, Fellaini takes them down and holds up play until runs are made.
We need to stop being one dimensional and display some of the flair which our some of our individual players have in abundance, and incorporate it into a team performance.

I think Klopp's fantastic success in recent years says more about him than this season's struggles. And Hummels and Gundogan are players of real quality.

Both Wilson and Januzaj have talent. Give them time and they will succeed. It's not like Wilson has been blowing clear cut chances. Januzaj, I agree, has been a mystery this year after last year's bright surprise.

05 Jan 2015 12:57:52
Hey Eds,

Do United have any interest in Berahino or is he Liverpool bound?

Thanks

{Ed002's Note - What?}

I was just wondering If United have any interest in Berahino? Sorry if its a silly question.

05 Jan 2015 09:41:36
This may seem a bit harsh, but what do you guys think about Wilson so far for the first team?

All of our strikers have underperformed and I think this is mainly due to poor service, but you do have to make your own chances from time to time. I was expecting him to have done more. The only memorable thing he has done for me was that run (I think against Villa but not sure) where he took a shot when RVP was on, but he showed great confidence and pace. Aside from that he has done nothing of note, he needs to start seizing his opportunity otherwise he may join the loan list and will then suffer as most do from a lack of opportunities in the future. I have been looking forward to seeing him every time his name is on the sheet, but underwhelmed so far unfortunately.

05 Jan 2015 10:00:27
I think at the moment he has failed to take his chance, but the experience he is gaining will stand him in good stead for if / when we start playing to his strengths.

He is a natural goalscorer but like you say, he is having to make chances for himself all the time, it is not like he is missing chance after chance each game like Forlan or something. It all boils down to us not creating enough for him. Maybe once di Maria is back and firing Wilson will thrive on the service he receives.

He is clearly a class act, there is something special about him, I think he needs a goal as soon as possible to take a bit of the pressure off, but I am not really worried about him, I have seen how good he can be at the lower level, he just needs to step it up now. It is great to see our youngsters getting a chance in such an important season for LVG though.

It hasn't really happened for him so far

He has been unlucky. He doesn't deserve to start games for me but you can see his potential. All of our forwards lack service though when we play 3 at the back because Smalling, McNair or whoever it is just plays long balls forwards.

You could see yesterday with the change of shape that the passing was much improved and we kept the ball better.

He has been nothing short of poor apart from a couple of runs

But he's only young and with the falcao rooney and van persie to learn from in the next 2 years he will be a regualr starter for united in attack, his pace and runs off the ball are brill.

the amount of times he has made runs in behind the defence but our midfield just don't play him in.

always a sign of a great striker that continuously moves off the ball.

If you have watched wilson all through his utd career you would know that he is a class finisher at every age level.doesnt matter how good a player you are if your team don't supply any service you will struggle to score, similar to rvp who some games this season has offered us nothing due to a total lack of service.

He needs to go out on loan to a Championship club for a season or 2 IMO.

Loan him out