Manchester United Banter Archive November 29 2011

29 Nov 2011 22:00:29
Now i spoke the other day about what i thought was a need to change formation and tactics. Now i still feel this is whats needed but i said previously that i thought a change to 433 would be best and someone said that 4231 would be better. So i went away and apon reflexion i think they were right and 4231 is the way to go. For me this is because it allows better movement and more flexibility and it'll be easier to adjust to when considering the players we have and the tactics we've previously used. If we had a formation like this:

_____CM__CM____
_RF____AM____LF_
_______ST_______

then you look at our current squad at who could fit into role then it becomes obvious that this is the way to go.

CM- Fletcher, Carrick, Cleverley, Jones, Pogba, Tunnicliffe

RF- Nani, Valencia, Young, Welbeck, Rooney, Park

LF- Young, Nani, Welbeck, Rooney, Park, Morrison

AM- Anderson, Cleverley, Rooney, Berbatov

ST- Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Berbatov

So it would be easier to ask any of these players to shift around if needed in this formation, this flexibility is key to the success of a team in the modern game, it allows you to change and adjust and wrong foot opponents in order to gain the win.

As for signing i feel would be needed to strengthen using this system. We'll we would need a defensive minded player to sit in one of the CM positions to shield the back four and to give some stability to it. Also we'd need someone else who can play the AM and LF positions(preferably someone left footed) as we are short on natural lefties in the LF position. Also we could do with a left back to replace Evra but thats further down the list of priorities. The question is who do we sign, i'd go for

DM- one of Sven Bender, Sami Khedira, Sandro or Jack Rodwell

AM(LF?)- Shinji Kagawa, Marko Marin, Marek Hamsik, Stavan Jovetic or Brek Shea

LB- Jordi Alba, Emilio Izaguirre, Erik Pieters or Marcel Schmelzer

If there is any money left it would be good to sign a young-ish striker as we will proberly lose Berbatov Owen Macheda and Diouf over the next two windows. This could be:

Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Andre Schurrle, Erick Torres, Ruben Rochina or Wilfried Zaha

I think only the DM is needed in january as we could get along without the others until the summer.

I'd like to see: Sandro, Jovetic, Alba and Rochina as i feel these players would give us the added strength and flexibility and two of them are settled in england and proven in the league.

Let me know your thoughts on this.

Shappy

29 Nov 2011 20:07:59
Looking through comments on the banter page I think a lot of people may have mis-interpreted Sir Alex's comments regarding there being 'only 3 or 4 players out there that are United quality- and they aren't available'. A lot of people were quick to list examples of players better than our current crop of midfielders, players that are also considered to be available.

But if you look at this quote:
"Everyone's saying 'go out and buy a central midfield player'. Well, I would do that if he were a Manchester United player. If we'd seen a young Bryan Robson or Roy Keane, we'd have been the first there. The possibilities of improving our team are not lost on us."

Then I think it's clear that what he actually means is there's only a few players out there he thinks would fit into United in terms of quality, the system we play, the ethic we adopt and the mentality of the team. I think what he is trying to say is that there's no point rushing out and buying a player just because they are 'better than Gibson', we need to bide our time and wait until the perfect player becomes available. And I think he's spot on. Because, let's be honest, we're not doing too badly at 2nd in the table considering the injuries we've had etc, there's really no need for the panic I read on here day in day out.


APC

29 Nov 2011 19:36:01
Hi everyone,

I have a question and if anyone could help it would mean a lot.

I read somewhere that for a foreign player to obtain work permit in UK to play in any of the football leagues there is a condition that his country should be ranked in the top 75 countries in the world and he should have played in atleast 75% of the matches played by his country in the last 2 years.

If he does not fulfill these conditions then he can be only given the work permit on the basis of him being an exceptional talent.

Now what is the criteria for this exceptional talent??

this is my question and also if anyone can provide any information regarding rules for foreign players to be eligible to play football in england it would be deeply appreciated.

Eds please post in banter and please reply.

PRATEEK {Ed002's Note - The exceptional talent option will only generally be allowed for younger players. There is no specific criteria beyond the subjective type of "better than is available locally" type nonsense. There are plenty of examples of how clubs manage the process, one being Manchester United inviting a high profile dignatory to Wembley to lend his support to the purchase of a certain Mexican player. On the other side of the coin, Chelsea never managed to gain an exception for Rajkovic.}

29 Nov 2011 18:17:00
Name two players to sign in January! Mine are Rodwell and Alba!

29 Nov 2011 17:13:47
Good article on Paul Pogba and his future by Duncan Castles.

PRR8

29 Nov 2011 17:04:51
its been reported that inter have made a bid for lucas and are about to bid for hazard, if thats true maybe sneijder may be available.
now i know everyone is sick of sneijders name but if fergy really thinks there are only 3 players who could improve us sneijder must be one of them and i would of thought the one most likely to be available
jred

29 Nov 2011 15:35:24
just my predictions for january and summer signings?

january:

in:
cahill
martinez/m'villa

out:
gibson
evans? > if cahill joins
macheda - on loan
kuszack


summer:

in:
alba
RVP/higuain/
modric

out:
diouff
berbatov
owen
giggs - retire

29 Nov 2011 11:43:49
Could this be the line-up for tomorrow?

_______Amos
Rafa_Small_Evans_Zeki
Gibson_Pogba_JSPark
Toni.V_Berbatov_Diouf

Sydney!

29 Nov 2011 10:02:46
eds anyone else, do you think the ffp rules will make any difference, uefa have already said that they cant impose transfer sanctions so that just leaves expulsion from European comps but i really cant see them banning any of the top teams, so will this all turn out to be a wet blanket.
also cant believe uefa still haven't said what the sanctions will be
jred {Ed002's Note - The FFP rules are still a long way off in terms of sanctions being applied. I would personally not worry about them.}

29 Nov 2011 00:32:39
If we sign Iturbe and Vadillo both of which look likely then we'd have an awesome midfield/forward line of players 18yo or under look at this:

____Tunnicliffe_Pogba_____
_Vadillo__Morrison__Iturbe_
________W.Keane________

Imagin how amazing they would be when they hit 24-29 and their all at their peaks. it'd be the best team in the world. Plus the defence looks solid too:

__________DDG__________
Rafael_Smalling_Jones_Fryers

We'd be solid at the back with great control and ability in midfield and deadly upfront. And with an english spine. Exciting times ahead i think.

Shappy