Manchester United Rumours Archive September 23 2012

23 Sep 2012 20:13:12
are manchester united still interested malaga's midfield player isco? potential to buy in jan maybe?

thanks... {Ed004's Note - hopefully. I mentioned him a while back in my top 5 players to look out for and that was before Mott fever kicked in ;)

Isn't Mott fever something completely different involving appreciation of lady parts Ed??

RRED7 {Ed007's Note - It is to us big boys. Ed004 has still to discover such things. Ed002 and myself are trying to keep him away from such things for a while to concentrate on his schoolwork.}

23 Sep 2012 18:45:09
just got back from the game and i wonder is this the wake up call.
some people cant see no wrong they think every united player could be worldclass, every young player is a star in the making and that they know better than fergy.

but what if the honest truth is something myself and others have been saying for a while , we are a v good team but not a great team.
and maybe fergy is picking theteam he thinks is best.

our aim is to be the best team in europe well the last time we could claim that our back 4 and gk where

VDS, Brown ,fedy vidic, evra.
thats pretty good ,have our current players got the potential to match that imo no , i think raf evans smalling buttner could be very good but not great.

hargreaves carrick scholes.
i think it goes with out saying that a younger scholes and carrick would be better than todays version and what price a fit hargreaves in this current team.

tevez rooney ronaldo
enought said.

that should be the standard anything else is second best
jred

Stick Ronaldo in our team now and we would be a great team.

It's not easy to replace a player like Ronaldo mate.

Sydney!

Personally I think SAF has been great as he stands by talented players even through times when they are on a bad run of form for them to come good again. The problem is, he doesn't want to see the defficiencies of Scholes, Evra and even more applicable Giggs can't keep up with the pace anymore (although Scholes if fresh is very good at controlling the MF). Pogba has said he left the club due to broken promises by SAF and I feel this is because he knew that SAF doesn't want to sideline a loyal servant like Carrick even though Pogba has more potential, and given game time would oust Carrick in a season as no.1. SAF is too loyal sometimes I feel to the older players and doesn't like to see youngsters thinking they can do a better job than his old guard. It's good to put youngsters in their place sometimes but other times they deserve to be able to prove themselves.

Dan
Fletcher will be a Welcome return!

Dan, the editor has made it very clear why Pogba left and it had nothing to do with playing time. He was advised to leave Manchester United last summer (2011) by his reps and a third party. I have to say though that Pogba is just what we are missing in our midfield. I wonder if Vidal could be achievable in the summer? What do you make of him?

Sydney!

Yes we have midfield issues, I don't think you can substantiate any of the above though.

I know Sydney I was the one that asked the question. It is possible for both the 3rd party suggesting he leave and Pogba wanting to leave for the reason I gave above which he himself has given. I stand by what I said above I think SAF is too loyal to the old guard in terms of playing youngsters and in terms of investing in a new CM. Wanting Giggs to play in anything other than Cap cup next year would be ridiculous. There is a reason he was dropped from the GB starting line up, he was the best in the world at what he did but he is not a central playmaker, especially at nearly 40. I am Giggs' biggest fan and I would love to see him as our future assistant manager but not playing again in the PL especially 90 mins against a big PL team.

Dan

Dan, Pogba was on the brink of becoming a regular for Manchester United at 19 years old. There was much more to this that the editor cannot go into, but it was nothing to do with playing time or a weekly salary. The editor has made that very clear and he told us about his reps hawking him around Europe last summer (2011). he was advised to leave a year ago before the season has barely began. Anyway this is not important now as he is a Juventus player, sadly.

Sydney!

Don't deny that but you still can't discount what he said about broken promises. He is straight into the Juve squad now playing more often than he did at united even with stiffer competition at Juve than here. A few substitute appearances was a discredit to him even at 19 he is a finish product and the fact that he has started ahead of a player like Asamoah for some matches this season shows that. Giggs was starting at 18. I stand by the fact he wasn't given enough of a chance regardless of whether that was the total reason he left or not. The president for the youth team is set and I think it will be to our detriment. There has been terrible team planning from whoever is planning transfers as we are going from players in their late thirties with the next in line still in their teens. Having such a rep for working with young players I would have expected SAF to do whatever it takes to keep Pogba at the club because the whole plan for the team hinged on him. Now that he is gone we are in the sh***er and it should have been easy to persuade him to stay with the opportunities he would and should have been given.

Dan

I think the plan was for Pogba to take over from Hargreaves, but we spent £17+mil on him and he never got over injuries, it was only last season we gave up hope on Hargreaves so we didn't buy a replacement and made do with Carrick. Problem was that Hargreaves could have played until his mid 30's doing a very good job if it wasnt for injuries as his brain and energy were world class. Pogba would have been rotated and would have been a natural replacement, the gamble on Hargreaves didn't work and Pogba wasn't/isn't the same type of midfielder as our other defenisve minded one Carrick - which meant we would have to constantly change several players to get Pogba involved as Carrick isn't really a ball winner, more ball retainer - opposite of Pogba who couldn't pass straight.

When you look at the ball winning midfielders that have been acquired by top prem teams they aren't exactly world class. Players like Barry, Garcia, Mikel, Sandro, Parker, Romeu. One we missed out on was Tiote, but not many people had heard of him before signing for the Geordies and Yaya who was a massive gamble for the money, but that has paid off for City where as Hargreaves didn't for us, although Yaya is twice as good going forward than defensively. So in fairness I don't think we can blame Fergie for the current problems in the Def Mid area, he has stuck with Anderson, Fletcher and Carrick despite many people asking for their heads at some point over the past few years and no doubt Cleverly will slip into that bracket soon. But we know what each is capable of and it's just a case of waiting for it to click I think. We don't need a def-mid ball winning player like Pogba if we can get our left side sorted and a consistent 3 in the middle, dominating posession. Kagawa, Anderson and Carrick ideally for me, with Cleverley & Scholes as a back up.

Sween

For godsakes good bloody ridance to Pogba, get over it. Giggs got his chance at 18 because he was good enough, pogba was 19 last season and didnt get into the side because he wasnt good enough.
Did any of you actually watch Pogba play or do you just go on reputation? sure he had potential but he was too raw to play in important league matches, like Sween said the boy could not pass straight, it would have been a matter of 3 matches before you lot wouldve called for him to be sold on.
Give it a couple of years and he might have matured into a decent player but then he might not.

snakey

23 Sep 2012 17:13:42
we lack power and youth in the centre of the park
and have a few weak links ferdinand past his best gets found out against top class players,
evra pacey trickey wingers murder him now
carrick doesnt effect the game enough nani piss poor knows he is not wanted his performances reflect this. young andersson decent players just not united quality

fehgouli isco ogbonna capoeu fischer
would be good additions affordable

the games this week have been poor lucky on both occasions as well as against southampton and fulham and for the first half at wigan

Bit OTT there. Carrick is quality but whether he plays further forward is a good question. Young can play a part but granted I don't think he should be a key squad member.
My wish to sell: Nani, Ando, King, Macheda.
My wish to buy: Fischer, Fabregas/Cabaye, Ronnie/Isco/Bale

Before people say how unrealistic these targets are that's why they are called targets, I didn't say they had to be realistic.

Dan

Ferdinand may not be in his prime anymore but he was exceptional today and the reason we won the game Imo reminded
Me of his faultless season 07/08

Ferdinand and Evans were both quality against a very threatening Liverpool team. If you think we still have Vidic, Smalling and Jones we are sorted at the back and Ferdinand will be helping Jones & Smalling with their positional awareness in training all the time. The one key area the youngsters lack.

Evra can't seem to turn quick enough anymore and didn't perform that well today, looked on his heels for the goal as well. In saying that I was impressed with our back 5 as a unit and thought we handled the pace well.

RVP was anonymous and our midfield couldnt string more than 2 passes together until the sending off and it didn't improve much then. If Shelvey hadn't gone loco I think we would have been soundly beaten, we didn't look at the races and frankly we have been pretty much awful all season. Hopefully it will click soon. But we need to sort out the left pronto as teams just know we are focussing our play with Valencia and Rafael now.

Sween

23 Sep 2012 16:23:49
Honestly think our two best players were Carrick and Rafael today. Rafael was eager to attack and showed a hunger that no one else did, cracking goal too! Carrick gets a lot of stick on here and i'll hold my hand up and say I give some of it, but his passing was good and he slowed down or sped up the game when needed. Nani was awful and Valencia, while he is a great natural winger, is rarely seen because natural wingers are fast becoming a thing of the past! Really think a 4-3-3 should be investigated! Kagawa was always going to struggle against 'Pool, they're a physical side and he lacks physicality...but he's still the best passer of the ball we have and he will have a great future here if we can find a way to utilize him fully.

All in all I think we were lucky today, yes it was a penalty and no it wasn't a red card (IMO). They were lacking in the final third, but controlled everywhere else...if Borini had of had a better game I think things would of been different. But 3 points is 3 points and most importantly, I believe, the match was conducted in a way that respected the 96 and their families.

Andy!

Scholes is the best passer we have.

DodgyBanter

But he can't do it for 90 minutes anymore, and I think Kagawa is quicker at showing for the ball and has better vision for the return pass.

Andy!

I agree that carrick is a good player, but ultimately his situation reminds me of berbatovs. His contribution on the ball is always good. Great decision making, great distribution and an assured style. Off the ball, however, he dosen't have the athletic presence of a top level centre midfielder. His closing down is slow, it takes time for him to find free space to make passes from, and when a team is counterattacking he cannot get into defensive positions quickly enough to tighten the team's shape. These might seem like trivial flaws, but with all of our midfielders suffering from a lack of mobility, its the reason why teams are able to dominate possession in our own half. And that is a serious issue.

It was a good decision to sign van persie in my opinion, as it was a rare oppertunity, but having spent our 40m allowance, the owners have still been very naive to think of leaving the midfield in its present shape. They should have set aside some of next years budget if they really couldnt spend any more, and still gone out and signed midfield reinforcements.

We are relying on 2 38yr olds, and one naturally unathletic player to run the midfield of a team competing for the premier league and champions league. Need any more even be said?


'redbark

CARRICK?? R U having a laugh. No good having pace up front if we take too long to get the ball to them. We were totally overrun in midfield again ( becoming a regular occurence!) . carrick is piss poor.... only when Scholes came on did we start controlling midfield. Would like to see us play without Crrick for a few games to see how we do.

Bullseye50

I really hate slating players but ive got to agree that carrick is simply not good enough to compete at the top level. hes a good squad player like o'shea was but no better. He is to slow and not aggressive enough.
snakey