Manchester United Banter Archive May 24 2018

24 May 2018 14:15:13
Slighty surprised if the rumours of the deal for Fred being agreed today are true. He’s a CM/ DM and very short. Doesn’t sound like a Jose signing at all. Maybe he really is planning to add a few Brazilians to the line up. Fred, Sandro, Willian and I read something about Douglas Costa today also.

Not thrilled at all by the links with Mandzukic or Arnautovic. Any of those two would be shocking business. I hope we steer well clear.

24 May 2018 14:52:45
I'd take Mandzukic in a heartbeat.

24 May 2018 15:22:33
Claude Makelele was an inch smaller then Fred and was pivotal to Mourinho's early success at Chelsea, calling him 'Player of the Season' in his first year in charge so Jose does actually value other things then height in players.

One of those qualities is energy and Athletisism and Fred has plenty of that. I think there was a stat saying we were one of the bottom clubs for sprints and distance covered in the league. Fred is a proper box-to-box dynamo of a midfielder and might be the answer to that. Hope we sign him tbh.

24 May 2018 15:44:34
Sounds like a Brazilian Kante.

24 May 2018 16:07:19
As someone who is 5ft 7 and a half ( 6ft 1 on tinder) I reckon he will be fine.

24 May 2018 16:27:13
Could be great as long as he don't have the anderson eating gene!

I know its not top trumps but Douglas Costa 40m, Sandro 45-50m
. Who would take an hypothetical swap for returning Pogba with the need for very little money changing hands?

24 May 2018 16:34:28
An inch smaller? 🙈.

24 May 2018 17:48:51
Is he bald?

24 May 2018 19:03:06
He looks good from what I've seen but admittedly its only champions league and a few Brazil games. Size is irrelevant if you have the quality it will shine through. I hope he comes. Can be our Fred the red lol.

24 May 2018 19:22:20
Ive read somewhere today that his real name is Fredrico Anderson Kleberson Bebe Djemba Jones 😆😆.

25 May 2018 06:06:18
Maybe the club have identified him and not Jose.
Ed said that was the case with bailly for example.

25 May 2018 10:14:07
Asking if he is 'bald' was meant to follow the 'he looks like a Brazilian Kante' comment, I didn't realise the delay with posts going up so my joke kind of looks weird now, haha.

25 May 2018 11:18:36
He is more in mould of David Silva. the way he creates passes. runs forward and score goals. Mind word. I said mould of David Silva. not similar to David Silva.

24 May 2018 12:19:29
Di Marzio has just said the Fred an Darmian deals are done and we have interest in Mandzukic or Arnautovic.

24 May 2018 12:40:12
Also says the deal for savic has stalled as we don't agree wth lazios asking price.

Makes sense to get in fred at a cheaper deal to play alongside matic and pogba in a three in midfield.

No thanks on mandzukic and arnautovic though.

24 May 2018 12:40:49
Of course we do, we need a 30+ year old striker to play back up to Lukaku or maybe even replace him in the line up. God forbid giving Rashford or Martial a chance.

24 May 2018 12:42:47
Don’t forget that Mandzukic can play on the left too, and we’re really short on options there.

24 May 2018 12:45:06
Both of whom are better on the left.

24 May 2018 13:16:15
Mandzukic is not playing on the left in the premier league.

24 May 2018 13:18:30
Afternoon Toxics.

24 May 2018 13:52:55
I'd take arnautovic. Creative, powerful unpredictable, has work with Jose before so knows what to expect.

24 May 2018 14:06:50
12daysofhermida, Arnautovic is a solid EPL player. But he isn't top class as seen by him playing his peak years at Stoke and now West Ham.

Would you want him if it meant losing Rashford or Martial?

24 May 2018 15:21:58
This feels like our David Speedie moment.

24 May 2018 19:24:32
Showing your age Tony 😆😆.

25 May 2018 11:02:11
Rash and Martial are totally different players to Mandzukic! He is a hold up striker with great physicality! Everyone defends deep against us hence why Rash and Yony M are predominantly used on the flanks and not up top.

25 May 2018 11:17:30
We are very thin on left. on right we have queue for playing matches. lolsss.

25 May 2018 11:15:00
Shappy to you truly believe Jose has not given Rashford and Martial ‘a’ chance? Or like some do you believe they have fluffed their lines on a number of occasions. I’m not saying sell them, but I think some non-emotional Jose slamming perspective is needed?

24 May 2018 16:55:27
So Ed002 isn't commenting anymore but if you look at the post he did on player interest a few weeks ago he mentioned that Fred was an alternative to Kroos who the club didn't want and SMS who was far too expensive and priced out of a move, that is where you are best getting your information from, spot on as ever it seems.

25 May 2018 13:05:53
Id take him to play wide right as some have suggested and as a more physical presence too. I'd prefer Martial and Rashford (in that order) to him but I might chop in Mata (despite the fact I genuinely love him) at this stage as his effectiveness is on the wane.

24 May 2018 11:18:54
Looks like we have signed Fred then 🤔.

24 May 2018 11:28:21
To play alongside Pogba or replace him? 🤔.

24 May 2018 11:49:13
Happy with that signing as long as it’s not instead of us going for SMS. He’s the one I’d be really disappointed to miss out on. Are they similar players? Don’t know much about Fred to be honest.

24 May 2018 11:52:08
If we get savic from lazio as well as fred then most certainly pogba will leave.

24 May 2018 12:00:18
Maybe Herrera is off?

24 May 2018 12:04:54
Where would Pogba go?

24 May 2018 12:10:31
Mou said he will sign 2CMs if Fellaini leaves. It looks like he will leave.

24 May 2018 12:22:33
Good signing. Has an eye for the forward pass and has the energy and tackling we are lacking in midfield. Really hope we sign savic as well. But I agree if he comes looks like pogba will be off. Not sure if I would be happy with that. But at this moment in time I would rate savic slightly more than pogba.

24 May 2018 12:24:42
Sanchez a dwarf and now Fred the red at 5 foot 6. Maybe Pep has convinced Jose you don’t need a team built like Rugby league players for success.

24 May 2018 12:26:56
midfield 3 of savic. matic and pogba? Looks good.

24 May 2018 12:37:33
We are linked with Lorenzo Pellegrini from Roma as an alternative of Savic as Utd see the price quoted by Lazio to be too high.

24 May 2018 12:39:44
Got to be honest haven't seen much of feed.
Don't watch the Russian league much.

24 May 2018 12:43:32
Do you watch the Ukrainian league?

24 May 2018 12:48:55
Me neither jred actually don't think I've seen him play so dunno wether to be pleased or not.

I would imagine we will sign 2 midfielder this sume with only carrick and felliaini leaving . I just can't see the club sanctioning the sale of pogba yet .

24 May 2018 13:00:43
Danny
Nope, but I'm sure he is just what we need .
I think I watched him against city and he had a good game, if it's the same player i'm thinking off.

24 May 2018 13:59:11
I think Jose wants both and Pogba to stay, the thinking being if a player is injured or suspended or in poor form then the drop down in quality is not catastrophic.

Compare our depth to City's in terms of true quality and that more than anything is where we are lacking. So a midfield of Pogba, Matic, Savic, Fred, Herrara, Mctominay look well stocked to cover even the worst injury crisis and allow us to change our tactics to suit the opposition. I would expect Fred to play against City as he is more mobile than some others for example.

More good players gives us more options from the start and off the bench.

24 May 2018 14:20:05
more competition for places should promote higher levels of performance from players to win that starting berth. City have that in abundance and this means their players step up there game knowing that their place is not safe.

24 May 2018 14:51:58
Cue, Fred is the best thing since sliced bread posts. Until we don't sign him, and we find out he wasnt really that good anyway.

24 May 2018 15:37:24
Wait until we find out it’s the other Fred.

24 May 2018 16:16:51
wouldnt be against naingolan or vidal tbh - couple of year back wouldve been great but still would like to see any of them in our mid.

24 May 2018 17:45:52
Totally agree noucamp. ☺.

24 May 2018 20:35:12
It had to happen someday, NoMid 😁.

25 May 2018 08:45:25
It had to happen sometime, NoMid 😁.

25 May 2018 11:12:07
I hope Fred wasn't Anderson' christian name.

24 May 2018 08:27:11
All this talk of Willian for our RW has me a little concerned. He’s probably better than what we currently have, but he strikes me as a slightly better version than Nani. can be a world beater or can be non-existent. Please correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t profess to have watched him all that much but that’s the impression I get.

I’d much rather see Andreas Pereira given a string of game on the right hand side. He was playing there for Valencia and by all accounts did a decent job from what I heard, and has a much better delivery, both in open play and dead ball situations, than most of our current players. What do you guys think? He strikes me as a technically gifted player with an eye for a pass (Mata and Coutinho come to mind) and I think he’s been patient and deserves his chance to tie down a regular spot.

24 May 2018 08:46:20
I agree mate I have really high hopes for pereira and think he could be the sort of coutinho player for us if given the opportunity and a run of games. He has ability from deadball situations which we have been lacking for so many years. I fear we won’t see his ability at united though.

24 May 2018 09:23:03
It's important that our signings are better or at least equivalent to our main rivals now as we have to catch up so much.

So is Willian as good as Sterling or Salah - resounding no for me.

24 May 2018 09:35:47
If we signed salah last summer would he have got 40+ goals?

Most likely would have struggled having to track his full back all the time instead of attacking spaces in the opponents defence like he has been in klopps system.

24 May 2018 10:32:06
Sterling is still dopey infront of goal . He needs 5 chances per game to maybe score one.

Salah does a lot of tracking at Liverpool he is just a special player.

24 May 2018 10:59:18
we tried the "we don't need wingers" we have rashford and martial, give them a chance,

look where that got us inconstant performances and lack of width,

not saying there not good just there not up to the level to play every game but hopefully they can become them type of players

as you say beast we need to be signing better than we have now and willan ticks that box.

24 May 2018 11:18:46
Salah and sterling are both great examples of players playing to there potential .
What's the point of buying players if you can't get the ones you have playing well.

24 May 2018 11:37:22
Sterling scores 23 goals in a season. Shot conversion rate increases by 10%.

Still dopey in front of goal.

24 May 2018 14:01:44
when given time in front of goal he isn't great, but when playing on instinct this season he has been.

Pep has really got him playing the best football of his life and I hope he translates it to the England team this summer then once we're out immediately forgets how to play.

24 May 2018 14:10:10
you should watch the chances he misses you will know what i mean.

24 May 2018 14:12:08
23 goals for. A wide position is a good return.

24 May 2018 17:50:14
Bolger. I said last year that we needed width and i stated that neither martial nor Rashford are wingers. But i was told that united don't need wingers.
I actually think we need a right and left winger. We are badly in need of width.

24 May 2018 20:36:37
My wife was asking for more width too, mate. 😒.

24 May 2018 02:39:14
Very interesting interview with Thomas Tuchel today. Asked how he believes football should be played and he simply replied ‘attack, attack, attack’. And when you lose the ball you work hard with intensity and pressing to win it back. Think he will do very well with PSG if he can manage the egos and his own. Would like to see him in the frame when Jose goes.

Some very intriguing managerial appointments this summer. Emery is a very astute appointment and someone I think will prove to be very good fit for arsenal. Ancelotti to Napoli is very interesting and I am looking forward to seeing whether he can do anything there. Sarri potentially to Chelsea is another which could be a master stroke. But depends on if he gets the board backing and if he can behave himself especially with some offensive comments he has made this season. Hazard under his style of football could be devastating.

I know it’s been a bit doom and gloom on here but I’m looking forward to seeing who we sign. If we get Alderweireld, Fred, Sandro, Milinkovic savic and potentially a rb and rw I will be chuffed. They key is to get more out the current players but I have faith that Jose can get this side challenging. If not it is bye and and onto the next manager. Let’s just enjoy the summer and the World Cup and come back hoping to see the beautiful Man Utd we all love.

24 May 2018 04:08:16
The key is to get more out of our current players, whilst also bringing in 6 top class new players? That my friend is a complete overhaul - at least call a spade a spade!

24 May 2018 06:39:07
Park, great post mate.

Think back to last summer and say to yourself. ‘I can’t wait for the new season, if we sign Lukaku, Matic, Lindelof, and Rashford and Martial push on, and Pogba steps up after his settling in season, what a team we’ll have. ’ I’m not having a go, I just think signing players doesn’t always work.

24 May 2018 08:03:25
Yeh I would agree Tony signing players is not always the solution. For me I will be very excited to see the defence sorted because then we there will be no excuses for us to be putting 10 men behind the ball. I miss our old fashioned full back play of the likes of Evra, Neville, Irwin who would provide and outlet and overlap the wingers. Perhaps Jose won’t play that way but I’m sure we will be more of a threat with 2 additions there. No guarantee it will make a difference but I’m still excited for next season and I expect Jose and the players to rise to the occasion because our rivals will all strengthen a lot as well.

24 May 2018 08:30:38
We don't have good enough full backs for the modern game. Lost faith in Luke Shaw and even in his better games his crossing is poor. and that's the key in modern game. Walker, Rose, Trippier, all very good with that.

However, Lindelof and TFM, Tuanzabee need developing, that's a coaches job, all 3 have talent you have to bring it out.

24 May 2018 11:26:04
AJH
Don't forget Miki bailly and ddg.
What high hopes people had last summer.
Park if we sign the 4 players you have listed at the reported prices that's 300 mil and you want a rb and rw as well?

24 May 2018 12:27:41
Jred I think a rw would be a luxury. I’m not actually too fussed if we sign one. Would prefer a rb or fosu mensah to be given a chance to contest for that spot. I would like to see us go with a back 3 if we sign Alderweireld to partner lindelof and bailly. Invest in wing backs with sandro and a rb. Then play 3 in midfield and two up top. That formation suits our squad far more as we lack any true wingers that will hug the touch line. Pairing Lukaku with Sanchez/ martial/ rashford/ Lingard will be a combination which could flourish. We need our wing backs to be have a quality in delivery for this formation to work. That’s how I would like us to go next season.

24 May 2018 12:43:26
Park
Can't see Jose playing 3 at the back week in week out .
I'm always surprised why people rate lindelof so highly, really struggled this season doesn't even make the bench when everyone available?

24 May 2018 14:10:10
Jred I agree he won't play it regularly. But it works if you look at our squad. I think lindelof really struggled at the beginning but improved in my eyes as the season went on. Had a really good game against Arsenal and then was dropped. Needs an extended run in the team to build the confidence up. rumours he could be going on loan to wolves which wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. I like him I think his distribution is streets ahead of our other cbs. we really struggle to build our attacks from the back when we have smalling and jones playing there. and when teams press us high with them playing there then they just hoof it up field.

24 May 2018 15:40:46
He gets bullied every game imo and looks very nervous.

24 May 2018 16:02:24
Both Vidic and Evra really struggled when they joined and they turned out more than ok. I trust that lindelof has the ability and will come good.

24 May 2018 20:07:52
What about rojo.