24 Oct 2011 19:49:55
Saw a rather sheepish looking Michael Carrick at the bridge water hospital on the parkway earlier today. Didn't think he had an injury? Isn't that where united send their players for their medicals? Could preperations be being made for a January sale!?!
Mega Amazing Man
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Ridiculous, keep your BS to yourself
RED
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Ahaha preparations for a january sale?!?! so what they're doing the medical now then just make sure he doesn't get ill or pick up an injury or take any drugs for the next couple of months? some people do make me laugh
Ozwald
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I was merely speculating. All I know is that I definitely saw him at 11:30 yesterday morning. Just thought it was odd that he was there as I presumed most medical stuff would be done at carrington.
Mega Amazing Man
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This is really funny... though i want it badlly to happen... or if he get sick for 2 3 season.. that will also do..
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24 Oct 2011 14:36:08
Manchester United are still interested in Real Betis winger, Alvaro Vadillo
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They do NOT need anymore wingers! They have arguably two of the best wingers in the league. Plus they have both Wellbeck and Hernandez that can drop in if required.
I urge people to watch the first few games of the season again until Cleverly got injured against Bolton. We were playing the most attractive football in the league bar none, and the results proved that. The reason for this is that Cleverly brings the best out of Anderson - take Cleverly out and Anderson becomes an average player again. They simply 'tick' together, their one twos and link up play to Nani/Young/Rooney and Hernandez/Wellbeck was what was allowing us to play fluent football.
The problem with this is that our defence at the time was inconsistent, hence we looked weak at the back. However, we now have players coming back and as long as Fergie sticks with a defence, unless players are injured/tired/need resting for a bigger game etc, then he should stick with, in my opinion Jones (RB), Smalling and Vidic (CB's) and Evra (LB).
People will question this, however, Smalling is not as good on the ball as everyone thinks he is, hence Jones at RB. Jones wants to play CB but Smalling and Vidic are better in that role. Rio unfortunately is coming to the end of his career and whilst he offers experience, he can go missing in games.
My formation if everyone is fit should be:
De Gea
Jones Smalling Vidic Evra
Anderson Cleverly
Nani Rooney Young
Hernandez/Wellbeck
More than likely have Wellbeck starting with Hernandez to come on and cause damage towards end of the game.
The problem with this is that if either Anderson/Cleverly get injured we revert to a weak team because none of our remaining players have the ability (from what I have seen of late) to be able to compliment Anderson/Cleverly if one of them is injured. Unfortunately the likes of Carrick/Giggs/Park/Fletcher all slow the game down too much and this stops the fluent link up play to the top four four players, hence Rooney comes back to get the ball and ultimately leaves gaps that are too big to make up.
The solution, is to possibly draft Pogba in for the coming months to give him some game time and in January it has to be someone like your Goetze/Sissoko mould, someone who can both attack and defend but also offer the link up play that the team needs to 'click'.
Would welcome people thoughts on my analysis of where things have gone wrong over the last few games.......
Flying the United Colours in Bondi
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I think that pretty much sums it up mate! hope Fergie can see that we desperately need a midfielder in january.
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I totally agree with your analysis of Cleverley. He does bring out the best in Anderson (much like Hargreaves did in the early days) and this then brings out the best in the rest of our front players.
The movement of the players and the speed of movement of the ball is so much better with this group.
The trouble is Anderson can just not play with any of our other mid-field players. (we have not seen how Cleverley would play with them) so the injury to Cleverley was a hugh blow. Now is the time to integrate Pogba and Morrison into the squad.
Looking at your line up, I would change the full backs for the twins. Raf when fit is a great RB and Evra although going forward still looks at his best, defensively he just does not seem interested. I would give Fabio a shout there for now and see how he plays. This may also then force Evra to up his game again. Still I would consider Jones at RB depending on who we were playing if we needed the extra height at set pieces.
Oxred
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Just add my view and i've thought probably for the last 5 games that it's actually cleverly getting injured was the worst thing to happen to us this season because when he comes back he could feel pressure to pick the team up a bit. He does make anderson more alert and try a bit harder in games.. I think it's competition between two close mates playing in a similar role.. each one wants to do better than the other! I loved having that.. Carrick was in my opinion our best player against that romainian side otelul galati.. and fletcher did have some great moments against man city when others had given up.. But the combo of anders and clevers in the middle really made us dangerous as a team..
Ozwald
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It is not Anderson inability to play with remaining centre midfielders that is the problem, it the fact that the remaining midfielders are too slow and do not have the skill and quick thinking footballing brain to offer what both Ando and Clevs can offer. Hence the requirement for 2 similar players that can link up with them. Pogba i think could do the job as he has played with them previously and obviously trains with them day in day out, therefore it could only be one player that they need of a similar role.
Ultimately, and i hate to say this, SAF has got his tactics wrong on numerous occassions of late and his constant rotating of certain players, like Jones, into different postions has left the poor lad confused somewhat.
Not sure the twins offer what Jones does in terms of an all round game. Yes they are good going forward, good, not great. Jones is also good going forward and his contribution in terms of goals and assists so far supports this. the difference between Jones and the twins is that Jones can defend much better and is less likely to be sent off, always something that scares me when the twins play.
In Jan i believe a central mid will come in and i couldn't say who it will be, maybe SAF will go for someone as a stop gap until the summer, someone with experience? possibly De Rossi in a cut price deal? who knows, time will tell.
Essentially though the fault is with SAF for his rotating of player positions. Have no problem with squad rotation, but rotating positions and players is too much.
Thoughts anyone? Especially interested to hear whay Sydney! has to say? Maybe even an Ed too if lucky....
Flyign the United Colours in Bondi
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24 Oct 2011 11:04:26
Ed, what do you think the chances are that united will sign an established midfielder in either January or the summer, or do you think sufficient talent is there to be promoted from the youth ranks?
Also, with regard to funding transfers, do you think there is really money there if it is needed. For me, the centre of our Midfield was the blatant area that needed strengthening, I actually think that cleverly was an integral part of our early success, but something is lacking at the moment, which may or may not relate to his absence. The point is though, is there no money? or has there been what I would say is a serious mis-judgement from SAF by not signing a cm? (blasphemy to say I know)
Taff {Ed002's Note - Manchester United tried very hard to buy a midfielder in the summer but failed to do so. Panic buying a random player would not have been the solution. There is certainly money available and I am sure some one will come in.}
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Ed, do you think someone will come in January or not till the summer? I think there are plenty of quality CM'ers out there who would jump at the chance to sign for us.... HERBIE {Ed002's Note - There has to be a chance but it is always much tougher to buy in the January window. I think it is also most important to get the right player than buy for the sake of it.}
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Ed002 - At last someone talking sense. People cannot understand that it would have been too damaging to the club in the long-run if we had agreed to Sneijder's huge demands. For City to come out and say he wants too much money says it all.
Ed, do you know of any United interest in Moussa Sissoko at all? And do you think he would fit into the United team well?
Sydney! {Ed002's Note - Toulouse's Moussa Sissoko is a fine player and has attracted interest from Lyon, Roma, Genoa, Juventus, Liverpool and probably Napoli. Arsenal and Milan's previous interest waned over the summer. Damien Comolli let Sissoko's agent know that Liverpool see his man as the ideal long-term replacement for Steven Gerrard but for some reason Liverpool failed to make the final push in the summer. Sissoko is available but both Roma and Lyon appear to have the edge over other interested clubs.}
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Dont think Sissoko is the answer i think we need a Silva/Mata type player,I think if we could somehow snip Ozil from Madrid he is the Ideal candidate
PRR8
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There's no single solution for United's midfield. Simply put, United need to buy a few quality central midfield players. However, what we need above all now is a player that can command and organise his midfield. Sissoko is one possibility for this role, but I'm not sure that he has the experience that we immediately require. As far as January signings go, I'm not sure that it's possible to sign the type of player that could make the difference for us in the long term, but would gladly take Tiote as a short term solution to offer our defence protection against top sides.
Danny Pughnited
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'Dan'
Tiote is a good defensive midfielder, but awful passer of the ball. I do not believe we need a few midfielders either, two maximum IMO, there will be no room for Pogba, Tunnicliffe or Morrison otherwise. Even if we ditched Giggs, Carrick & Gibson we couldn't fit three more midfielders in plus the youth who are knocking at the door of the first team.
Sydney!
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Well it depends on what the team need...but players like cleverly, welbeck, pogba will start looking for gametime.
Welbeck maybe able to placate himself to the 3rd striker role and displace berbatov with owen as standby.
but cleverly will want to start soon especially if england selections go his way..and if united do buy a sneijder or gotze he will want out soon.
and PRR8...Ozil is madrids most efficient player and not for sale, infact the case for kaka to be sold shows how much they like Ozil.
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As much as I think the young talent is very exciting, I don't think we can afford to continue to play the waiting game, I wouldn't encourage a spur of the moment trophy signing, but certainly there must be some value out there.
We definitely lack creatively in midfield, but more concerning for me, is that I don't believe we ever signed an accomplished player to replace Keane. I think many people underestimate the value of players like him, just because they don't hit 10-20 goals in a season.
Being realistic, are there are players of that type that are plausible signings for us?
Taff
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The perfect way to sort our midfield out is clone Roy Keane lol failing that we desperately need a DM player
Pardoe
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Tiote could do a job for us and of the players that are likely to be available in Jan he's one of the best options. He would need to be part of a 5 man midfield and he wouldn't offer anything creatively but just think of the difference it would have made if we had Tiote there to man mark Silva yesterday. I'd take Tiote as a squad player over most of our midfield at the moment. he wouldn't be replacing youth, he'd be replacing our ineffective senior players.
Danny Pughnited
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If we say that Giggs, Gibson & Carrick are gone next season. We will have Fletcher, Cleverley, Anderson, Pogba & Tunnicliffe looking for a midfield spot. So realistically we could only spare one spot. If we sent Tunnicliffe to a PL team for a season to complete his transition, we would have two spaces available. So although I believe we need two CM'rs, I think three will be too many bud. We know SAF wants a CAM, hence the bid for Sneijder, we also know he was interested in Rodwell/Barkley too, so could he go for two, one attacking, one defensive? We will use Sneijder as an example, would people be happy with this set of midfield players? Tunnicliffe to replace Fletcher 2013/14 season.
Tunnicliffe (Loan)
Pogba
Cleverley
Rodwell/Barkley
Sneijder
Fletcher
Anderson
Sydney!
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Syd I would keep Carrick ahead of Ando and get better money for him and instead of Everton youngsters go for an established holding CM ie De Rossi, Cambiasso, Diarra, etc. Not much choice but thats what happens when you go stale in the market in an area renouned for having very few top drawer players.
Jono
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I rather say a bid of 40 Millions for Schweinsteiger,..bayer would never say no for this amount and then they might go for Gotze.
He is the person we want to play beside someone like cleverley and pogba...
Anderson is s**t,....fletcher has lost his touch after that flu,...carrick was just a back up,...then who are we left with..
MD_11
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The issue isn't as simple as just buying 2 new midfielders. We need to look at changing our formation in some games. Any 2 midfielders would have been overrun last weekend with the lack of help they got from the 2 wingers.
Pip
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I think there are 2 areas that need addressing, we need to make some hard decisions on the back four, although we have a lot of quality individuals, Twins, Smalling, Jones, Ferdinand & Evra we are struggling to put a settled four out week in week out. OK there will always be the odd injury or suspension but for 3 years it's been a revolving door.
The midfield has been turd since 2003 from having a midfield 6 of Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Veron. Beckham & Butt we have seen a string of average, s**te & out of position players playing there. We have only made 2 biggish signings in 10 years to address the problem, Carrick never really stepped up to the demands of a big club & Hargreaves needs no explanation. In the meantime we have had to watch Djemba, Kleb, Miller, Smith, Richardson, Fletcher, P Neville, Anderson, Fortune, 37 year old Giggs & Gibson none of which are anywhere near the a fore mentioned 6 play in an area of the pitch where most games are won and lost.
Why is this such a blind spot with the manager?
As for the guys banging the drum for the holy trinity of Pogba, Morrison & Tunnicliffe, if they're good enough they will break through regardless of who's at the club, the manager will always give youth an opportunity. It is not a reason to sit back and watch us capitulate in big games over & over again.
ajk
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Syd, Sneijders wages were never the issue- you must have know heard the stories coming out and that is why we didn't buy him. City said it was the cash to save face. They tried all summer to get him and he refused no matter what they offered and he would have been on the same wage as Aguerro. We dont as you know buy players without investigating and then when we find this type of problem as we did with Sneijder its a no go. Lets face it we have enough players with off the pitch carp to deal with already.
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