Manchester United Rumours Archive April 20 2014

20 Apr 2014 20:13:19
Is there any truth in the rumours which suggest that Welbeck favours a transfer?

Personally I'd rather sell RVP or Chicha and keep him

{Ed002's Note - I have no idea what he wants.}

He will no doubt be pissed off that RVP is injured and he still isn't starting. Especially with World cup coming up. Can't blame him, hope he stays

He has asked for a transfer I can guantee that but if he leaves is different I know that he will find it hard to leave but it is a path he is looking at.

You'd rather sell RVP or Chic? Haha, what planet are you actually on? Welbecks strike conversion rate is about 3 million to 1. I'd rather my gran up front . Glad your not the manager

You are joking that you'd sell RVP or Chico before welbeck?!?!
Welbeck never has been and never will be United quality nor considered an out and out striker.

I second Stand-United there. You can't be serious about either RVP, arguably World Class, or at least on the cusp in terms of strikers world wide, or Chic! For me, I'd keep both of them ahead of that over rated £300k a week scouser we have.

Todays game was screaming out for somebody playing behind Everton instead of infront of them. Out of all our strikers, Hernandez is by far and away the best at playing off the shoulder. Welbeck is also good and he works hard, but if I was to be offered either of the two in a one on one situation, there is only one winner.

In an ideal World, DW can improve his finishing and become a decent Premiership striker. At the moment he is no where near Sturridge, but he has the potential to be. Unfortunately, he needs to realise that potential very quickly.

Would you rather keep a 31 year old striker on 200k+ per week or a 24 year old on a third of that wage?

Also we look better without RVP!

Of course I wouldn't rather sell RvP, but Stand-United, Welbeck's strike conversion rate is better than Rooney's, RvP's and Hernandez'. Believe it or not!

We don't look better without RVP. We look better without RVP and rooney together.

Did we look better without RvP yesterday? Utter nonsense.

Sydney!, DW has been involved in 11 of our goals (9 goals; 2 assists) in the league this season. In terms of goals involved in per minutes played that's a goal/assists once every 118 minutes.

Rooney has 27 (15 goals; 12 assists) at one every 87 minutes.

RVP has 14 (11 goals; 3 assists) at one every 104 minutes.

Hernandez has 7 (4 goals; 3 assists) at one every 103 minutes.

I thought I'd bring in some factual data to compare our 4 first team strikers there. Welbeck has started a lot of minutes too compared with Hernandez, yet still has a worst return. People also say he's a good team player, and he sometimes has to play out wide, yet he has 2 assists. Hernandez, who you could argue is a much more selfish striker, has more assists in pretty much half the game time.

So the question I ask is: how can you say you'd prefer Welbeck, who is only a couple of years from his 'prime' over the others? Can you imagine him getting a sniff at any of Europe's elite overseas?

I haven't said anywhere that I'd prefer Welbeck.

And what has assists got to do with striker conversion rates? Assists are unimportant and completely irrelevant here. It's shots per a goal and DW has the best record this season at this time.

Of course assists come into the equation. On your basis, SAF missed a trick in the nineties by not playing Peter Schmeichel up front, because he had a better strike conversion than Cole, Yorke, Cantona and any others. I think he scored 3 goals in only about 7 shots.

The point I'm making is, of course it matters if your striker can't even finish his dinner, but its one aspect. Other aspects which are just as important are:

* Areas of the pitch they are receiving the ball,
* Actual attacking contributions per game (i.e. chances created).

Welbeck and RvP could play in the same game, yet Rvp could have 75% of his touches centrally in and around the area, in behind the defence and have 5 shots and 3 key passes which create scoring opportunities. He may convert 2 of those shots. Where as Welbeck could be drifting deeper to receive the ball and have only 30% of the ball in the same areas as RvP. He may have only 2 shots and score 1 and create only one key pass.

This actually shows that Welbecks conversion rate is better (50% as opposed to 40%, yet RvP scored more).

Do you see what I'm saying? In a system where we have the likes of Mata and Kagawa, we need a player up top who can get in behind and be involved in as many scoring opportunities, be it goals or assists, as possible. Otherwise our playmakers will get shut out, like we did at Everton yesterday because Rooney decided to also drop deep. We dominates possession and territorial possession, yet created very little. And its not because we didn't have the quality to produce opportunities, it was because we didn't have that player (s) to get in behind!

This is where we come back to last weeks discussion on needing a combination of our playmakers, quick direct forwards, and a striker, such as Hernandez, who will get into goal scoring/providing areas more often.

I'm not saying assists don't matter in general. I am saying they mean nothing when it comes down to a striker's strike conversion rate.

I wonder who I'd be more worried about up front, Chico or welbeck.
Hernandez is the only striker we have who plays off the shoulder, like Owen used to. He doesn't home deep or drift wide.

IMO Hernandez would be ideal in a team with a playmaker, or two, in CM and 2 quick, direct forwards playing to his left and right and also breaking the defensive line. I honestly believe he would score a lot in a Real Madrid team for example. I wouldn't be disheartened to see him much more next season with Reus and a more advanced Januzaj in a 4-3-3 and have Mata and Kagawa playing the CM position with a top quality deep lying CM coming in, a Vidal or a Carvalho.

20 Apr 2014 10:50:33
Ed002 have united got any interest in cavani

{Ed002's Note - Manchester City and Chelsea are still interested interested in Cavani - I would not be surprised to see Real Madrid try and get involved again if they cannot get their first choice target. Chelsea want to see an early resolution.}

I think Chelsea will get Diego Costa and Cavani will probably go to City or Madrid. I don't see us bidding when we have Rooney & RVP.

I think Cavani is a hugely over rated player with (in my opinion) a price tag that is £30 million over what it should be, if we ay £50million for a just over average striker then it will be a complete and utter waste of cash