Manchester United Banter Archive April 14 2013

14 Apr 2013 23:22:53
"I thought he was brilliant, " enthused the boss. "I think he was possibly needing a different role in terms of getting his confidence back.

"He's been getting a little bit of criticism, not seriously so, but a few doubters. He's a fantastic player and our job is to get his confidence and form back. I thought a spell in midfield today would do him the world of good and, of course, it worked for us" fergy on Rooney

Might be an idea to play him in his normal position the Fergie.

Simmo

14 Apr 2013 22:39:04
I was very pleased to see Kagawa on the team sheet today. Watched his play closely throughout the match - he always amazes me with how well he passes and rarely loses the ball. Add another quality attacker and next season has lots of potential.

However, I will concede that he is less than average tackler - but I can live with that.

ts87

14 Apr 2013 23:52:07
Funny, I watched him too and he gave the ball away more than any utd player.

don't want it to be a downer post just saying.

ekd

Ekd, the main reason for this is when he tries to speed up the attacking play the players around him aren't aware of his movement and passes, apart from RVP. This is why we need more players like him.

-JakeW

15 Apr 2013 10:00:19
I don't understand why if kagawa loses the ball or plays pretty poor all season, its because the rest of the players aren't good enough for him. Whilst if any of our other players have a single bad game or even give the ball away once they are crap and should be sold?

ekd

To be honest a lot of the attacking players aren't any where near kagawa in terms of movement and passing. rvp yes, Rooney, on his day. I agree that when he try's to up the pace and move the ball quickly most of the other players are a step behind. If you look how he played the last couple of years for Dortmund you would have seen how good this player can be. With the right formation and the right players around him he will go on to be a very good player for us. My one worry though is that fergie will continue to play the same formation which doesn't suit kagawas game.
Nathan

Agreed EKD. Whilst I think he will go on to be a top player, but to say that Kagawa loses/gets bullied of the ball because of the players around him is BS.

Yes our style of play doesen't suit him as of now. He will thrive with quicker play down the middle of the park. But we have gotto agree that he is yet to adapt himself to the physicality of the league. let's hope he gets there.

Jake

I think he looked his best when combining with Rooney not Persie.

Deeps.

14 Apr 2013 20:59:19
Again, as said a few times this season we did enough, what we had to do without any real flair. That and Wednesday were and are the two important games for me, the first is out of the way.

Stoke are not what they were and are not as fearsome, however we won and the same result on Wednesday should see us close to the prize.

Rooney was excellent but in reality and especially in the first half they didn't get within 10 yards of him, give any player that much room and they will flourish. They gave him and us room to play. What was disappointing was that given all the time and space we really didn't look dangerous.
We kept the ball well without being incisive, Kagawa needed something a bit quicker and sharper to work with. Vidic was a warrior.

We won without being under any real pressure yet it is not inspiring

So to West Ham where they have taken great joy in beating us when it mattered, hopefully not this time

Red Man

"Kagawa needed something a bit quicker and sharper to work with"

Agree with this, kept a close eye on him today and noticed he was available in a bit of space quite often ahead of play - yet we chose the sideways pass most often. I don't think we were too far off a really good performance today. If we just had more faith in Kagawa to hold up the play or turn and create something I think we could have broke away faster and created more. Hopefully we buy another good AM/winger in the summer who can link up with him once he receives the ball, that will help.

Our buildup play needs to get faster to make the most of Kagawa though IMO.

Other than that, decent performance but more importantly the vital 3 points. And another clean sheet - thanks to Vidic and DDG (nice save at the end).

Kagawa would work excellently with playes like Ronaldo, Bale etc. Their runs and pace to get onto balls would be great. Kagawa plays balls either to or in front of the man, sometimes RVP & Rooney aren't quick enough to pick them up.

I rate Kagawa as a player, he has been getting better as the season has gone on and I think he'll continue to do so.

On the performance though, it was 'sufficient'. That's not a term I particularly like to use, we had some good play, but we have been missing some spark or flair for a few games now.

We looked a bit slow getting the ball from back to front, and we've certainly not been as clinical in the final third as earlier in the season.

Main thing though is the 3 points, the hammers will be a tougher game I think but I can see us winning reasonably comfortably there.

14 Apr 2013 18:42:00
Compare and contrast two teams with world class midfields playing against each other compared to a team with no midfield who just hits long balls over the top all the time.

It was an excellent Cup semi final, fair play to both sides.

What these teams have in flair and technical ability we seem to have made up for (in the league) through rescilliance and a good team/squad ethic throughout the season. If we could add a bit of the techincal ability/creativity these teams possess in the final 3rd we would be a force to be reckoned with on all fronts.

Hopefully Kagawa will have more of an influence next season and we make a good signing or 2 to help the likes of RVP, Rooney and Carrick in play-making.

14 Apr 2013 20:44:50
Yeah Milwall vs Wigan was quite a watch!

Mick

Agree with HoneyBadger. City and Chelsea are better technically but aren't as mentally strong as us. If we could add that technical prowess then we would be far superior to almost every team. We need 3 or 4 technically excellent players in the midfield and forward line.

14 Apr 2013 17:34:15
I think today was the perfect example of why Hernandez will never be anything more than an impact player. He struggles to get into games unless the defenders are tired or very slow. I can see why if the reports are true we would be looking at other options like Lewandowski or Falcao. Imo the perfect way to line up at the start of next season would be with Carrick and Strootman behind a interchanging 3 of Kagawa, RVP and Gotze and Falcao up top then the more direct options of Zaha, Valencia, Young and Welbeck {Ed004's Note - And if Falcao can't be signed then Rodriguez instead and push RVP further forward}

Or Rooney in midfield, RvP in the hole and Lewandowski upfront. I think it's pretty clear what the manager has in mind.

Sydney!

14 Apr 2013 17:52:57
Interesting idea but I don't think we'd be able to sign both gotze and falcao in the same transfer window even if we sold rooney. Add in strootman and zaha your looking at 110 million. Personally I can't see that sort of expenditure when sales, rooney included would probably fetch about sixty million, maybe even less. Lastly I don't see gotze moving until after the world cup and by then his price will be in the stratosphere.

Kind of agree on Hernandez but RP is best up top, not sure we need another word class number 9.

14 Apr 2013 18:27:55
So basically a money saving dodge in moving fatty into midfield instead of buying a proper midfielder. A player you've criticised all season Sydney. what's that sound? O its barca, madrid and bayern wetting themselves. With laughter not fear.

"So basically a money saving dodge in moving fatty into midfield"

Don't see how it's money saving as he's the biggest earner at the club. If we wanted to save money surely we'd sell him (for at least £25-30m) and release his wages to buy a cheaper alternative?

I hope Rooney doesn't get converted to CM but only becase I don't think he'd excell in that role, nothing to do with money.

I don't want it to happen, however I think that Rooney will be in midfield next season. However I'd then like Kagawa in behind RVP, with Di Maria left and an in form again Valencia on the right. We really could with Kagawa central, his passing range is excellent. We will hopefully switch between a diamond, a 4-4-3 and a 4-2-3-1 next season.

Put Rooney in against Chelsea or City and see what happens - its ridiculous to play him here. Sell him and buy a proper midfielder.

J Bones.

Bones, I think that may be what SAF would want to do, but it is hard to shift certain players, ask Nani.

Sydney!

So on the basis that Fergie picked Rooney in cm against a team that hoof long balls past their midfield, it's pretty clear that that's been the plan all along for next season?

Syd jumped so far to that conclusion that Greg Rutherford is starting to worry about retaining his title at Rio 2016. A few weeks ago you were convinced that Rooney was on his way out, but now he's the solution to our midfield problems? Rooney put in a pretty average shift against one of the worst midfields in the league, that doesn't say anything about what Fergie has in mind for next year.

Danny Pughnited

I can see Rooney in midfield especially if we are after Lewi or Falcao (Latter I defo don't believe) Better to spend the 55m on 2 good midfielders+

Danny, when and where did I say Rooney is the answer to our midfield problems? I don't think Rooney is good enough to play midfield. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Rooney sold, but it isn't easy to offload players these days. If Rooney is here next season and we bring in Lewandowski, then I expect to see Lew & RvP upfront with Rooney much deeper. My opinion hasn't changed on this matter.

Sydney!

Give it up boys, he is not good enough to play there unless you start using him 4 or 5 games a year against teams like stoke. He would look terrible and worse for his confidence against a proper team with proper midfielders.

If fergie does this, he has lost the plot.

Shahram

Syd when you say things like "I think it's pretty clear what the manager has in mind, " on the basis of one game it's going to come across as silly.

If you want to say, "if we don't sell Rooney and if Lewandowski is bought I think Rooney might be used as a cm more often, " then just say it. Don't go around talking in certainties about what SAF is or is not planning because none of us know.

Danny Pughnited

Hmm, well SAF and Rooney have said countless times that Rooney will end up in midfield once he slows down.

Well, he has slowed down Danny. I think there is every chance that he will end up in midfield if he isn't sold.

Problem is I do not think he is good enough for midfield, SAF may disagree. Like I have said, my opinions haven't changed.

Sydney!

14 Apr 2013 16:26:07
Loved that RVP celebration! let's hope he can kick on now and beat rats tooth Suarez to the top scorer! That was a massive win for us today after recent poor performances and a glimpse to our future maybe with that team selection? Hopefully Sir Alex can have the confidence to try it against the better teams like arsenal and not revert back to his 4-4-2.

GALWAY RED

You can tell it meant so much to him, and Fergies face after said it all!

I loved the celebration, RVP and Di Canio have both showed what it means to score and win a match, a lot of the time footballers let themselves down but RVP celebration was great to see, the love of the game and respect for the team and manager from him is something else. The way he has conducted himself on and off the pitch is a credit to him as a person and it shows how much this title means to him.
Class Player. Class Act

Giants14

14 Apr 2013 16:12:16
just a few points about the game today.

firstly, I love chicharito, he has that knack of being in the right place at the time, but as seen today I think I can understand why fergie might be about to buy falcao or lewy, as technically they are better players, with holding up and bringing other people in etc.

secondly, wayne played well and seemed very comfortable in the middle, however, stoke are poor so i'm not sure how much to really make of it. regardless, I think he can play there and if he does stay beyond the summer, then we might seem him deployed there a bit more (if we sign another striker of course)

and finally, defense was top, jones and vida especially. valencia seemed to have a bit more about him today, but sort of faded out a tad towards the end. and thank god Rvp scored, he looked so buzzing and hopefully he can start banging them in for fun again. love it when he scores.

all in all vital 3 points and hopefully we can get the title wrapped up asap, how I would love us to win it at arsenal though

Elvis

Agree with most, only bit I don't agree with is Valencia. He was totally useless, I don't think he beat his man once. At one stage, he was through 5 yards, and he allowed the left back to catch him up. He has list his pace and is useless without it, as he has no dribbling or other skills.
He will be the first on the way out, followed by nani and Anderson and hopefully young.

No name,

Did you see the lead up to the penalty? Valencia beat his man like he hasn't done for a while and played a great ball to Rooney.

Beat a great stoke defender, world class!

So you argue he never beats a player and when he does it you moan that it only Stoke?

14 Apr 2013 20:48:05
Fact is Valencia is our most conpetent dribbler. He has the highest number of dribbles this season, and averages more dribbles than any other player in the team.

Mick

14 Apr 2013 16:01:02
A solid defensive performance. All the players as a team worked very hard today and got a good result at a difficult venue. We are still lacking in the final third, but still a good performance by the lads. Have to say Stoke offered little in attack, but their defending as a team was very good too. Just the seven points (maximum) to win the league. Four points from the next two fixtures will need us winning just one win from the final four games. Well done lads.

Sydney!

14 Apr 2013 14:45:37
Heard we're signing four more players in the summer. Two foreign based and two prem based. Strootman, lewandowski, mccarthy and adam johnson. Not sure how reliable but I can see the first three happening.

Would rather have Strootman and Gotze from outside BPL, and Cabaye and Baines tbh {Ed004's Note - Id be over the moon with that tbh}

Tommy, that would solve all our problems, I'd be delighted with that summer.

14 Apr 2013 14:18:24
Shahram

I seen your doing ok without my tips haha.

What you win on mate?

I put hibs 3-3 on at 3-0 down. Then won a Bournemouth, Blackburn and hull treble and also doubled my money on a big bet on Wigan.

So yesterday alone was 300 up. Got Celtic, us and Ajax treble today and Kompany, zabaleta anytime scorers.

On the game we are all over them just now we need to press this on and if the second comes don't SIT BACK haha

I won everything yesterday which was 11 bets believe it or not.

Today has been a little bit good and bad.

Won on Real Sociadad early, lost on newcastle.

Got best on City winning
Athletico drawing with real
napoli and Ac drawing
Juve and Lazio drawing
PSV winning
Inter drawing
Big bet on us winning

Then I have a cheeky 3 draw treble with Inter, Napoli, Real :)

Have to keep myself entertained. I think the city Chelsea game will be really good.

Shahram

BTW forgot to mention Newcastle result cost me a lot as I had a 2 5 betters with 4 in and that one would have earned me a cool 7200k believe it or not.

Had villa and westham drawing, arsenal and everton winning.

The other 5 better

Had Malaga winning, Valencia drawing, Villa drawing and nc winning.

But not complaining, have a double on wigan and city as well.

Welcome back BTW, you need to give me some tips on scottish football and championship as I don't follow them and don't have time to watch the games.

Shahram

Sorry forgot to add sociedad winning in the second 5 better.

Shahram

7200k? Haha

Yeah after Celtic spazzed my treble I covered Napoli, city and Ajax treble and city Napoli double. So got interests all day.

Can't believe Kompany missed that sitter haha would have covered all my bets today had he slotted it.

I have got the Napoli game for a draw. Ballotelli is suspended but I still think Milan at home will not get beat and are on a good run of form.

Shahram

Amen,

Jono leave Italian football to me :) and take my advice do not bet on Inter as they must be the worst team to even consider in the simplest of games.

Shahram

You lot sound like prime candidates for spread betting! Check it out, betting isn't black or white with spread betting and getting close pays out too. Being miles off creates big losses too mind!
Ben

Where do you do that?

Shahram

14 Apr 2013 13:47:13
Love this line up, can't wait til kick off now.

Brendan81

14 Apr 2013 14:05:19
I am looking forward to seeing how Rooney does in the middle with kagawa on his left. Will be interesting.

ekd

14 Apr 2013 13:40:23
Am I the only person who can see us throwing the title away again. Call me pessimistic but Villa, Stoke, Arsenal, Chelsea, Swansea, West Brom and West Ham are all tough games at this point of the season due to most of them needing wins for certain positions in the league and if you see Citeh's run in you can see that they have a much easier fixture list. Here's hoping.

OK YOU'RE PESSIMISTIC!!
Steve

How is Swansea at home a tough game for us but Swansea away isn't a tough game for city?

Back the lads!

We will beat Swansea at home, however West Ham & Arsenal away and chelsea at home are not easy.

I would personally bet on draws on the two away games.

Shahram

14 Apr 2013 16:04:49
i smell a city or liverpool fan on a wind up. Villa, brom and swansea are all winnable and having just done stoke we only need two wins and a draw. Think we'll win those three and draw against west spam so it doesn't matter what happens in the arsenal and chelsea games as long as we do the job in the other four.

We'll beat West Ham. They're not in their usual relegation scrap and I think they'll get the points elsewhere.

StevieK

We only need to beat villa, Chelsea and Swansea at home and we're in there. No problem.
Nomidfield

14 Apr 2013 13:32:36
Interesting lineup today. Not sure if Phil Jones is playing as a right back, with Rooney beeing Carrick's midfield partner, or he's playing next to Carrick and Valencia is the right back.

Shoukd be interesting

Mick {Ed004's Note - Hope it is the latter}

Looks like Rooney is in midfield today.

Sydney!

The latter I would think, and hope! I'm quite happy with the lineup. Let's hope we come out quick from the start.

14 Apr 2013 13:50:46
I think its a midfield diamond. Carrick at the base with Valencia on his right and Kagawa on the left with Rooney playing at the tip leaving Hernandez and RvP to plaly up top.

14 Apr 2013 13:30:20
Shappy, I understand you watch a fair bit of Portugese football, and I just read that we're looking into Benfica's Matic.
I've seen him play a number of times, but he never really caught my eye, at least not enough to form an opinion. He's really strong and a decent tackler but his passing seems kediocre at best and he doesn't seem too comfortable on the ball.

Do you think he's worth a pubt?

Mick

14 Apr 2013 13:55:46
I wouldn't he's a poor mans Javi Garcia, and he's hardly set the world alight at City. I think these links to Benfica players comes from the fact that we regulary have a scout at their games. The fact that we've been linked to Gaitan Garay and Matic shows that they don't know who it is were watching. If I was to have a punt at who i'd say Gaitan as we scouted him before he moved to Portugal. But it really could be anybody.

Totally over hyped. I'm in Portugal and all benfica fans think he's average.
Strootman and modric for me.

14 Apr 2013 17:02:06
Cheers guys. That's exactly what I thought but judging him by a couple of performances seemed harsh.
As for Gaitan, I wasnt too exited about him last season, even less now. He woukd definetly improve our options but there are much hetter players out there, or even in our youth system.

Mick

Strootman had a poor game today and I thought Ericksen outplayed him. Not sure if he is slow or Ericksen is very fast but ran by a couple of times quite easily.


Shahram

14 Apr 2013 20:54:18
Ajax were the better team imo, and Eriksen had a motm performance. As for Strootman's performance, he got himself a nice assist but struggled against the pace of the Ajax attack, but that was more down to the lack of mobility of his midfield partner, Van Bommel. So Strootman had to do a job of a midfield 2 by himself. It's like Carrick struggling when Scholes/ Giggs partner him. He has too much to do and ends up not doing enough

Mick

14 Apr 2013 13:24:18
According to 3 teams have put a deposit on Falcao, they are Manchester United, PSG and Chelsea. The reason for the deposit is Falcao has 3rd party ownership who have requested all interested parties put some money as a down payment. Whichever club Falcao does make the move to, the other two clubs will receive a full refund of the down payment.

I know with today's comments that SAF has denied report that we are interested, but did he not say the same thing when we were interested in De Gea?

It's interesting, but I recon it may just be a false avenue of interest to throw people off as our real target is lewondowski. What do you guys think?

MS

14 Apr 2013 12:35:36
Hello Everybody,
This one is people already striking off names/targets calling them unrealistic, How many of you were actually in the know this time last season that we would sign a 29 year old Strikerfor 25 million odd named Robin Van Persie? Unrealistic wasnt it?
I understand that there are many criterias required for availability but a lil optimism never Harmed anybody? ;)
ps how good it would be if RVP scored at the emirates to win the league?
Have a nice Sunday

14 Apr 2013 11:18:11
i really hope that the rumours about cabaye are untrue, 20 million for him, I don't think he's good enough.

Any option at this time might seem good considering how the midfield is, but buying stopgaps or one season wonders for loads of cash would just make United like. umm. liverpool.
I would prefer strootman over cabaye. Has the skill and the leadership badly needed in the middle

Cabaye not good enough? Hmmm that's certainly one opinion I have not heard before ;)

Cabaye is a decent player but not for £20 m my other concern would be his discepline he seems to pick a lot of cards up and has a bit of a nasty streak
johndenton

Cabaye is average at best, in fact it will be a total waste of money. We need players to improve our team, he's average at best.
Nomidfield

14 Apr 2013 09:03:54
The cabaye rumors are doing the rounds again, it appears that martin Ferguson has run a check on him. Believe what you want. Two questions, what do you think of our scouting system and off all the possible midfielders we can get who do you think will be the best two midfielders we can get.
Personally, I would like Dortmund's scouts! And I would like strootman and modric if possible. I know that this will be unlikely, but interesting to see what posters views are.
PS. Good luck to the Reds today, let's get the 3 points.
Nomidfield

Yep, it is time for everyone to earn their multi million pound salaries. No excuses today as stoke have been horrible and even though we are playing away from home a win is a must. Very curious to see the starting team sheet.

Shahram

To be fair if we got both Strootman & Cabaye (unlikely) that could really sure up our midfield, without being too flashy. Hopefully we could get both for less than £40m combined which is pretty reasonable IMO. If we sold Anderson that would leave us with main options of Carrick, Strootman, Cabaye & Cleverly. Jones could play DM in a 3 man midfield in certain games if required and Giggs & Powell would provide extra options.

I'd be happy with that personally, so long as there was enough cash left over for a top winger/AM and ideally (buf if not then summer 2014) a LB too.

Meant to say - Strootman & Modric would be my 1st choice too (huge Modric fan) but I'm not sure Luka would be attainable right now.

Strootman and Cabaye. Get them both for around 30m and very reasonable wages. On top of that the differing options they both add would cover multiple uses in CM for differing formations and benefit the 1st team instantly.

IMO these two are no brainers for that price!

That's what I was thinking Jono, get both of them for £30-35 and that's midfield improved and greater depth too for a decent price. Hopefully that would leave enough cash for a top AM/winger like Bale (ideally) or Di Maria or Rodriguez. Then any left overs to get a LB. {Ed004's Note - I'd love Strootman and one of Cabaye or Modric}

14 Apr 2013 00:00:10
i am commenting without much current scouting knowledge of falcoa but I do believe an apparent 55 million fee for a 27 year old striker is absolutely ridiculous. he's had one or two good seasons which doesn't justify that sort of money. united against city clearly lacked creativity in the wide areas so a fee of 55 million for bale would be much more value and he still scores goals even though still I think it is expensive. plus there is other good strikers available like lewandowski who is much younger and suits the premier league much more due to his good height and plus his wages/transfer fee would be significantly cheaper so another move for marchisio or a good centre midfielder to partner carrick could be funded

£15m Lewy is destined for Bayern. Gutting.

Patzi: both bayern and united are in the race, and even though newspaper reports suggest there already a deal struck from bayern for lewandowski so do reports suggest united have also, highly doubt that borussia would accept 15 million of bayern in favour of united

I just read through several reports about the idea of levandovski going to Bayern. All of them say this is pure speculation. furthermore Dortmunds manager Zorc said there has never been a transfer from BvB to Bayern, the only one ever was Hummels going the other way. He said in the interview that Lev. should go abroad with both Manchester clubs looking at him, stating that he's done all he can in Germany. He also said he would offer Gotze an ' old age pensioners' contract if he could, and keep him at the club till he's 35. but said Gotzes agent was being very careful about planning Marios future.
Jomo.

If we have a spare £55 million going then I believe we should head straight for Dortmund and get Goetze and Reus, 2 of the best young players in Europe. Link them up with Kagawa and put them behind Van Persie, with Carrick and Strootman sitting in front of the back 4. Jobs a good 'un.

Away for a while, good to be back.

An Dun Red Devil

14 Apr 2013 07:41:50
Falcao is taylor made for the prenmier league. He is one of the physically powerful players in the world and atm, the best header of the ball in Europe. He might not be the tallest of players but he has a frog- like leap and is as strong as Valencia, if not stronger.

Lewandowski on the other hand may not be as good a goalscorer as Falcao per say but he is much more creative and brings other team members in play. Ina club like ours, and with any club with good attacking midfielders/ strike partners, bringing other into play and creating chances for other is a must, that's why I think Lewa would be better for us.

Mick

Scout. Sometimes the player himself has a say ;). Again, I hope I'm wrong as I think he is steal at that rumoured price.