Manchester United Banter Archive April 10 2014

10 Apr 2014 21:49:24
Is there any truth in the rumours of united making a bid along with Barcelona for Marco Reus. Also, out of mangala, hummels, benatia, and garay who would you say would be the most likely and best additions to the united defence?

{Ed004's Note - Most likely Garay best I struggle to say they're all brilliant and would improve us in order probably, maybe Benetia, Garay, Hummels and Mangala}

I thought Barcelona couldn't sign players' for two transfer windows?

{Ed025's Note - your right mate..

I've not once been impressed wit Mangala but have never failed to be impressed with Garay.

Where did you hear about the Reus bid? I am hoping for either Reus or Di Maria this summer. We need a fast skillful wide player to play alongside Mata, Rooney and Kagawa.

I agree mangala was pretty bad tonight and his postional play and all round awareness wasnt too impressive. watch his movemrnt on the 4th goal.

Fresh, there's a theme developing here as I don't see anything special in Di Maria either. Reus is stunning and would be a superb addition for I really don't rate Di Maria.

What winger would you realistically sign then AJH? I don't see many options out there and don't think Reus will be got to this summer.

Ive always really rated Douglas Costa of shaktar, I dnt know how attainable he is though tbh. Ed any rumours of him moving on in the summer?

{Ed002's Note - Right now the sustained interest of Milan remains with Newcastle and Hertha Berlin making recent enquiries.}

10 Apr 2014 18:44:04
.................. nonsense deleted ..................

{Ed002's Note - Take all of this to the Betting page - it is not going on here.}

10 Apr 2014 18:07:48
All three goals last night involved errors by Evra and/or Vidic. Vidic was beaten to 2 crosses and on the third couldn't get across quick enough to do anything other than deflect the shot beyond the reach of De Gea.

Whether it was as a result of his toe or his general big game demeanour, Rooney had chances with which under normal circumstances he would have done better. The muffed shot in the second half was inexcusable and should have led to his immediate substitution by Hernandez.

Other than that, I thought over the two legs the team did remarkably well, and with a better rub of the green could have won it.

As we head into the last few games of the season I do hope Moyes will continue to play Mata and Kagawa together, and even give Nani a shot at proving himself while playing with class ball handlers, thinkers and space creators. Let Rooney take a couple of weeks off while his toe heals and try Hernandez up there with that narrow creativity behind him. Now is the time to set our stall out.

Pea

I think you will see some of what you want as we will be putting a few players in the shop window, however there are still 15 points to play for and the tolerance for any more losses is very low and he will play the team that he thinks will win games.

Pea find myself agreeing and disagreeing with you. If we had score those three goals we would rave about our play and as for rub of the green great teams make their own luck.
I like your thoughts on team selection and hope you are right but don't think Moyes as ever been adventurous and expect more of the same as this long disappointing season draws to a close

Whichever way you look at it, after 150+ mins. of football, we were beating, what most believe to be, the best team in Europe if not the world. Seemed in both games we scored then lost concentration :( still much better than I feared.

10 Apr 2014 17:23:25
With the ever increasing doubts over Kroos Coming to UTD. and believe me I wish he would come. I can't help but think that we will buy more bit part players. so what do you guys think of Bordeaux's Gegory Sertic as a back up option or is BVB Ruess a better option.

Possible outs

Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic. Anderson, Nani, Giggs, Hernandez and Young. that's possibly a min of 8 players leaving and massive saving on salaries so we need a minimum of 4 players in?

1 LB, 1 CB, 1 DCM or box 2 box and possibly a new winger

We will end up with Gundogan, that's my view anyway.

Fresh, you don't sound to happy with that? "End up with Gundogan". If he can prove his fitness I would be delighted with Gundogan. Slightly different player to Kroos but every bit as good in my opinion. My absolute 1st choice is Vidal, but fit Gundogan comes a close 2nd. All the talk of Gundogan being injury prone is not really true. He has been out for a long time but with one injury. Not lots of different ones like, for example someone like Owen Hargreaves who really was injury prone.

Fresh

No one is buying Gundogan as he offers too much of a downside, he will not pass a medical and will not be insured.

I'd be delighted with him if he was fit. Kroos agent has come out and said that he is seeing out his deal, Gundogan may never be the same again and Vidal is looking unlikely. Any outside bets ed because I think we may struggle to find someone suitable?

{Ed004's Note - Carvalho seems an option I think Lars is a very good player who we have watched in the past. Maybe one of Koke, Rakitic or Herrera as a creative mid beside Carvalho or Lars bender?}

GCU, I am not 100% sure of the facts but I read a while back on a German site (translated online, not by me!) that Gundogan has virtually fully recovered from the injury. But due to the nature of the injury (it was spinal rather than just a back injury), he is basically being wrapped in cotton wool and with not be exposed to any kind of physical contact. Therefore he will not be training or playing any football this season. I think he is doing some fitness training though, or is due to start. Like I said I am not certain of this. Perhaps ed002 could confirm?

{Ed002's Note - That is pretty much it - he won't be risked until the start of next season.}

Betty

That might be the case but until he gets back on the pitch and plays, no one knows what he is going to be like and in essence can not value the player.

I think he will end up staying at Dortmund and maybe going on a free next year or renewing with dortmund. I can not see how anyone will move for him this summer.

GCU, I agree with that. My previous post was just saying that his injury has pretty much been sorted. You said earlier that he wouldn't pass a medical or get insured, but that is purely guessing. Only Dortmund and the player know the true full story. The rest is just speculation, just like the rumours that his career may be over. I guess time will tell.

10 Apr 2014 15:35:52
Would it been more effective to play a right footer at LB last night to combat Robben who likes predominantly to always use his left? Just a thought in hindsight.

Or maybe just anyone with any desire or inclination to actually defend! I know there is an argument that Evra is getting older and he is slowing down. But in my opinion at least, he is still quick enough and fit enough to get forwards whenever he feels like it. He has just lost the desire to defend. All 3 of Bayerns goals last night could have been stopped had Evra had any desire to win the ball. He didn't, and the rest as they say is history!
Going back to your OP, a right footer may have worked as Robben likes to cut inside, but he is also very quick and can go past players on the outside too and get crosses in. The main job of any full back is to defend. Evra seems to have forgotten that.

CTR it does sound like a good idea since Robben rarely goes by the line and crosses he almost 90% of the time cuts in and passes or shoots so a right-footed full back would work (so predictable yet difficult to contain :P - Robben is also one-dimensional :P )

Unfortunately Jones does not have a low centre of gravity to twist and turn along with Robben. Azpilicueta has a low COG and hence he could be successful against Robben.

Ribery and Robben were allowed to gang up on our full backs after we scored. That is what lost us the game, IMO; that and the fact we conceded within a minute of scoring.

10 Apr 2014 09:46:44
"Any players we've quietly discussed it with are more than happy to join Manchester United." - David Moyes.

This implies two things; one that the calibre of player United are able to entice hasn't dropped, due to this being said in regard to it affecting the clubs attractions to players. Secondly that talks with players are at a very advanced stage as that part of the conversation is unlikely to happen otherwise.

I guess whether or not he's right is still out for jury though. Eds, do you have any idea what players he could potentially be talking about or which deals are close, if any? Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - Why not read the posts rather than waste my time asking me to repeat everything.}

You've just been put in your place Raiden! Seriously though, if you scroll through the posts you'll see Ed's predictions for our summer spending.

I don't think there'll be as much business coming in as everyone hopes, IMO it'll be 3 signings.

Better luck on your next post though!

Raided it implies that Moyes believes what every player or agent says about players wanting to join us, so stand by for another summer of chasing players who sign new contracts at their existing clubs. I hope I am wrong but why can't we agree deals to be completed at the end of the season like others.

..........deleted nonsense................People can't spend 15/20 minutes scrolling through posts on the chance it might be there every time they want to know something.................more deleted nonsense...........

{Ed002's Note - You are lucky I bother providing anything at all on this page. I don't have the time nor inclination to keep reposting to save the knuckledraggers a few minutes.}

No name,

Ed002's opinion is extremely valuable on this site and is one of the main reasons a lot of people come on here, he gives us some facts instead of usual nonsense rumours. There is a search facility you can use, or maybe this site is not for you and you should run along instead of abusing the editors.

Ed 002 - Have you though about adding a section for any posts which have an editors comment involved?This way people won't moan about scrolling down and you won't have to keep referring people to read the other random posts - they can just scroll down a shortlist of potential ones where an Ed has offered their specific insights or rebukes. I'm not techy but pretty sure it would be easy enough to apply a rule like that to when you or your colleagues get involved.

{Ed002's Note - We are not going to do any more than we are doing. We have tried different things in the past but people still whine.}

Just put ed002 in the search bar, brings it all up

10 Apr 2014 09:47:45
Just re-watching the highlights yesterday and realised that the game was all about Patrice Evra

0-1 Scores a wondergoal to get everyone thinking, maybe Patrice was the right selection after all.

1-1 let's Manzukic get away from him, (not completely his fault as he has two players too mark but partly responsible) but still could have done more.

2-1 Looks shell-shocked and makes pretty much no attempt to stop Robben who has all the time and space in the world to pick out a cross

3-1 Robben again goes past him like he's not there and scores a great goal

Amazingly even though our midfield needs a lot of work, left back has to be an equal priority.

Saying that, really proud of the performance over the two legs and looking forward to the transfer window and seeing us back on top next season!

10 Apr 2014 09:07:04
I really don't see the point in all the negative posts following the Bayern game. When the draw was made, how many of us genuinely expected United to go through? The reality is we all know we have had a terrible season. We know we need 4 or 5 new 1st team players to compete with the top teams, and we were never going to progress to the semi's. All we did by scoring last night was awaken the monster. I thought that over the two legs United gave a good account of themselves with the players we have available.
There is no point going over the same old points over and over again. We know we need a left back and two top midfielders urgently, and realistically a centre back and a wide player too, and that cannot be addressed until the summer. So banging on about it after every game is pointless. So is all this nonsense that we are United and we DEMAND better. Yes we all want better for out team, and we should be challenging for every trophy. But this "we demand" attitude just makes United fans look arrogant. We have no divine right to anything, whether it be titles or even CL football. Truth is, we don't deserve CL football next season after the way we have performed this season.
Whether or not Moyes is the right person, nobody can sort the problems in our team any quicker. The transfer window cannot come quick enough for us. We all know that, so let's just wait until the summer and pray that we get the right players in. We can demand all we like, but it means jackdaw. We must earn the right to be the best again, but it will not happen overnight. When it does, and it will, it will be even more satisfying to shut these gloating fans from our rivals up. Liverpool fans will always gloat, but Everton fans gloating? Its nothing short of laughable.
Daveyboyboy Blue, who are you? Serious reality check needed.

Well said! agree with every word, no amount of demanding will get success, spotlight shifts directly on to Moyes, will he sign the right players? but perhaps more to the point do the Glazers trust him enough to allow him to do so!

We all know the team needs a major overhaul. But, can people see United getting to Champions league final in 2 years time? I certainly can't. We should be playing fast attacking football on the floor. Not lumping the ball in the air and hoping (Moyes's favourite word) the striker can get on the end of it. The Bayern player on the ball always had at least one player to pass to. How many passes did we string together? That is why I think if a manager of better pedigree is available, we should get rid.

Alex, if Moyes is still here I'm not sure we'll even be in the champions league in two years, let alone the final. If we hope really hard though, all our dreams may just come true.

10 Apr 2014 03:26:40
A 3-1 defeat being our 'performance of the season' as stated by some shows how bad we have played over the course of the season. credit to the lads they defending fantastically. However this is our problem as our top performances this season have been defensive and trying to hit them on the break. But, we have been getting better if late, and I have a feeling kagawa/mata will be the names on everyones lips next season ;). let's hope the transfers are right, again like most, Moyes wasnt our first choice and it will come back to haunt us sometime in the future but for now we stand by him and let's hope we can get top 4 next season.

Redster

Redster

My position is well known, but Moyes comment after the game where he said about getting back in the CL, "hopefully it will only be one year". He uses the word "hope" all the time and it isn't building confidence when we need a bit more Churchillian spirit when we are down. Leaders inspire and "hopefully" isn't inspiring anyone.
Even you used the word hope, so if our manager only "hopes" we can get back in it where does that leave us?
You say "we" stand by him, well some will, many won't, but what gives anyone confidence that he can do it as he has only managed to get Everton in once plus he just can't seem to win against big teams?

Agree he can't help it, he really does 'hope'we can get back in the champions league, we on the other hand demand champion league football at least but this loser is eroding out expectations daily! cue the spoilt fans bit from the persons who would follow this clown off a cliff!

Perhaps under Moyes we need to change the mantra from 'believe' to 'hope'

What makes football great is the unpredictability of the game. So you can say we demand CL football but if it doesn't happen then it wont. Its abit obvious that moyes is here to stay till atleast next season so shouldn't you be so fickle and start backing the team . Liverpool went through the same transition of different cirmumstances and so are AC Milan, so am sure we can be great again. Also its obvious that Moyes doesn't give the best of post match interviews, however its obvious that if he doesn't make CL then his job would be on the line. Therefore to use the word 'Hope' in the heat of the moment has nothing to do ith what he is realistically aiming for.

Redster

It isn't in the heat of the moment, he uses the word hope all the time. It is a state of mind and it comes over that he isn't convinced himself.

Liverpool took 24 years and still may not have cracked the league, they dealt quickly with Hodgson though.

IMoyes is negative manager and no amount of signings is going to change that.
Team played with spirit yesterday, but his substitutions were wrong again.and why did Rooney stay on when he was clearly not fit.
We seem to be going on about these things all season and yet nothing has changed.
I didn't think Bayern were brilliant in either of the games, and yet, we couldn't bring ourselves to have a go at them. Would it not have made sense to take Rooney/fletcher off and bring Giggs/Hernandez on. He could have played Giggs on the left and allowed welbeck and hernandez to get the goal we needed.
Also, buttner played well against robben in first game, and he knows his game well, so why change back to evra?
I give up!