Manchester United Rumours Archive September 02 2012

02 Sep 2012 23:14:25
According to Punto Pelota, Cristiano Ronaldo has told Real Madrid president Florentino Perez that he wants to leave the club.

chances of a return?

Nani out, CR7 back in! Before all on here and god, I swear to run down my local high street in nought but my boxers, eating an apple, screaming eureka if this happens....

Dan

I read the same thing but we couldn't afford him and I would hate for him to play for City or Chelsea. Those 2 and PSG would be the only ones to be able to afford him

FFP starts next season and if City buy him then they will show a massive loss and possibly be banned from the CL. Believe it or not we will be the ones making the big money signings from next season onwards if FFP is enforced.

LBH if CR7 where to leave RM for the EPL, I am pretty sure that he would return to OT. We all know and so does he that MU made him the superstar he is today and he has himself publicly thanked SAF and the MUFC FANS for everything he became. I'm sure he would not have forgot that and if he did return i will post a video of my self doing a run down my street in my boxers and my girlfriends bra lol

Agree with prev post, would love him back but lets be realistic here, can you honestly see us being able to compete with Sh..ty and Chelski when it comes to cost?!even with Nani thrown in we would still be looking at a min of 40-50 mill, be great to see him back but think we've got as much chance of that as Pele signing up.

Charla

Pretty poor timing on his behalf seeing as the transfer window has just closed!

I smell the words "I want an improved contract"
Invisible STuey

Could we afford NOT to put a Bid In. Nike would "Creatively" balance his salary against whatever rules may prevail

I think Invisible STuey has the right idea - perhaps he is looking for an improved salary now that the income tax implications have changed in Spain (I think)

Gav

02 Sep 2012 20:01:57
24M is a lot for a 29 year old. But besides the penalty, that's the kind of money you have to pay for WORLD class quality. Now that's value for money.
Redchad

Makes me laugh when they talk about players ages. So what if they are near the 30's so long as they can still do the job. Then people say there's no sell on value, sorry did we become a feeder club or something?
Money well spent, let's just hope it continues.

melwing28

Those 3 points belong to Scholes and Van Persie. We are going to have a massive problem replacing Scholes. IMO only Xavi, Iniesta or Modric could even try to fill the ginger princes boots. Modric not as good as Scholes either IMO.

Dan

24 million may be a lot for a 29 year old but 36 million is jot a lot for van Persia and kagawa now is it

Alot of people on here questioned the purchase of RVP - being 29 and injury prone but yesterday he proved everyone wrong albeit after a trully awful pen which had me ripping my hair out.

As fergie said the game changed when Scholes came on, not just that but when we changed to 442, Welbeck is not a wide man! i think we should continue to play 442, i understand Kagawa plays in the hole but are system doesnt seem to suit us for whatever reason maybe i need to give it more time?

RVP won that game on his own yesterday - besides scholes' composure to take control of the game no other player really stepped up

Defence was all over the shop although first game they have all played together in a while but what concerns me that any team that has a tall front man pumping balls into the box causes us alot of problems in which we were usually very reliable.

Midfield - Carrick had a reasonable game but didnt really produce going forward.
Cleverly again was tidy without any flash going forward.

Forward - RVP showed that 24m was a bargain imo - his three goals were completely different, shows that it can score anything (besides a pen ;) )

IMO we should revert back to 442 - play Kagawa centre mid with welbeck/Chic with RVP leading the line.

Giants14

Carrick was sh1t! He was off the pace and got caught numerouse times. Played 2 decent long balls the whole game but they were asking a lot. Every team is getting closer to the way Barca play with the players they have signed for midfiled and we are still relying on Carrick who has actually now passed his peak. I think next season the bulk of our transfer kitty will and should be spent on phasing him out. Cleverley did have a good game again but with both him and Carrick in the middle we find our midfield going sideways or back at pretty much every opportunity

Cleverley had a good game?!, what match were you watching then?, thought he was average at best!, he had that much influence he was dragged off for Scholes to show him how it's done, I may be in minority but I really don't rate Cleverley that highly, game seems to pass him by on too many occasions for me

Charla

Zidane was around RVP age when he went Real Madrid for big money so I don't why people go on about price.

Mike

02 Sep 2012 19:37:53
'His too old', 'His too injury prone', 'His only had one good season', 'Thats too much money for a player with 1 year left on his contract', 'we shouldnt pay a penny over £15m' 'lewandoski is a better player', 'His going to block welbeck and chicha's progress.'

How many times were those statements uttered about RVP by posters on this site? Ever heard the expression ' keep your words nice and soft coz you may have to eat them'? I can think of a number of posters who should be served with tonnes of humble pie, but i feel sorry for you so i wont throw your names around for today :)
On a similar but unrelated note, how are all the Nani haterz doing? I see the transfer window's closed and his stil here, plus, he got a match winning assist....:)

Millz

Nani did indeed get his one corner of the season over the first defender!

Well all I can say is this guy is a class act.Yes he had a poor Euros for Holland but as a forward you rely on service, he got little to feed off.He may have a dodgy injury record but so did Giggs many years ago it didn't stop him from being an all time Utd great.Fact is injuries happen and it is not always the player that can control it,often it's just bad luck.

I'm a Nani hater, I'm still here. He had a shocking game when he came on, gave the ball away a lot for someone who only played 20mins or so, delivered 3 poor corners, then 1 mediocre one which van Persie got a brilliant head to.

Jaxer

Well done too nani for not messing up a corner for once 1 assist dosent make him all of a sudden amazing plus the corner was really that good as RVP to do all for the work for the header

FLASH

Nani haters are still here and justified you lunatic. how can you defend him cause he got one thing right and messed up with passes, corners, moving inside when he was brought on to play wide and just generally annoying to watch. Hate the thought of him with us for another season. Thats 2 summers now we couldn't get rid of him.

Longshanksneary

First corner nani put in right and im pretty sure he slipped a bit as he kicked it ha still he got past the first man a few times just a pitythey evaded the whole 18yd box too

To sum up Nani did ok he helped us win that is no more than should be expected of him... Today it was good to be Nani end of

Pardoe

I know he can be inconsistent and frustrating at times but 17 goals & 28 assists in the last 2 seasons in the league is as good as anyone.

I think you should maybe appreciate what we have incomparison to what's available in the market. Any winger who could be considered better than him would cost a fortune and come with a big risk.

Frustrating YES
Genuine Match winner YES

Thank got we did get RVP in to 'block' Wellbeck and Chicha's progres! All three played a part tonight and only one showed why he is true class. And at £15-24m that's good value in my boo.

Don't get me wrong I like Wellbeck and Hernandez but neither is close to being good enough to make us better than City at this moment in time. Thank god when Rooney got injured...we had RVP to rely on!

Well played Scholes tonight - he really made the difference when he came on. Worrying that our CM pairing was not good enough to dominate Southampton until he came on

Gav

Jason Puncheon looked better than Nani.

Did everyone notice how when Nani passed the ball to a Soton player when he wasn't on the wave length of Evra, how Fergie turned around in disgust to our guys on the bench. It was like he needed to play him as we lacked other options, but he hated the fact he had to. That's why we have been pushing so hard for a Moura. Young is injury prone and not that good and Welbeck is no winger, looked poor today, very much like Borini does for Liverpool stuck on the right.

I hope we get to Jan in touching distance, ship out Nani (unless the Russian window is till open and I would take the hit now and try out some young guns), then get some quality on the left in the next window - I'd even rather Bebe out there than rat face.

Sween

Congratulations Millz, you're the first person to leave your name on a post!, or are you actually Nani's mother?, come to think of it, if you are, do you fancy a game?, prob be more consistent than your son!lol

Charla

I think my fellow Nani-haters have already answered your question.

If you gave ME 5 years worth of trying even I could put in a decent corner at some point!

Nani is crap. Always has been. Always will be but with the odd glimpse of flair that folks seem to latch onto as him being the next best thing.

As for the transfer window the pecularities of the Russian league mean he can still be sold there and Zenit St Petersburg are interested if posts here are accurate.

Lets hope his 'match winning assist' as you call it puts a few £s on his valuation.

I find it rather bizarre that you think a winger that can take a corner is so awe-inspiring. What next ? A striker who can score ? A goalie who can make a save ?

Halesini

You don't need to throw my name around, I'll do it for you. And you can keep that humble pie, I'm allergic.

I still think that the 24m could have been better spent. Yes we wouldn't have had rvp to save us yesterday, but if we'd strengthened midfield properly, we may not have needed saving to begin with.

Having said that, he's here now so I'll have to content myself with having one of the best goalscorers around, rather than the cm I wanted us to get. Guess I can live with that ;-)

Thorne

Millz

No doubt he is world class Van Persie but if he hadn't scored the two goals after his missed penalty would you have posted that?
Fikkle!

Simmo

Personally my only worry of signing RVP was whether he could stay injury free as he is obviously a world class player.
As for Nani, frustrating as hell he really needs to bring consistency to his game, but I never in a million years thought he was goign in the transfer window, jsut like Anderson wasnt either. Dependant on how they do this season I think it may be an entirely different case come the next summer. And by the way was Anderson injured or something?
Invisible STuey

Few if anyone doubted RVP's ability, we're only three games into the season though, is it a bit too soon to be crowing like this - much as I'm delighted with the start, I'd be cautious about tempting fate

02 Sep 2012 19:18:44
Phew! Wow, that game was a rollercoaster!

Not to bring everyone down but I still feel as if there are some deep rooted problems in the squad.

1. Rafael and Evra are too small. Whenever we have a cross into our box I feel they are gonna score.

2. Carrick slows it down too much. Its fine to slow it down at times, but not when you need goals. It also contradicts Kagawa who tries to speed things up.

3. Welbeck needs to have a bigger impact on games.

4. Perhaps the most worrying, is that I don't seem to enjoy watching us play anymore. It's all well and good when we have an amazing comeback like today. But recently it seems as if every game is a frustrating struggle, I find myself constantly shouting at the TV. I don't know if this is just me, but we never dominate teams like we used to, or create as many chances.

But anyway, very happy in the end that we got the result and RvP was class (apart from the pen)

SB

I agree with the 4th point, its a bit like watching England play atm

1993

Couldnt agree more...I dont enjoy watching us anymore and Carrick slows us down when historically, we always played at a high tempo.

Dan

SB, it's not just you, I haven't enjoyed watching us for a couple of years. Good in spurts but generally lacking pace and creativity.

AJH

Agree with you on #4. It is painful at times, but we're a small step away from clicking, i think anyway. We're playing a new system, givem 'em time.

Totally disagree with you on #1 though. Don't think size is an issue. Evra is the same height he's always been and he was the best LB in the world at one point. Some of the best fullbacks are small..Carlos..not big. Rafael had a good game today. Fergie said they'd worked on back post corners in training, i bet that training didn't involve Rafael marking one of the biggest players out there.
Well, i thought he did ok anyway.

Great result anyway though.

RedMist

Point 4 no it is not just you,many feel just as frustrated as you do. We can see the glaringly obvious problems and are unable to do anything about it.The defensive midfielder is there to protect the back four not seeing much protection going on at the moment.Might be nice to see a few ball winning tackles but that seems to be as rare as a clean sheet at the moment.

I agree, we seem to be very boring to watch alot of the time. We really needed to get a creative spark in CM that could pick a pass from nowhere... Fingers crossed for January :L

JK

Re the shouting at the t.v dude i was the same i mean I was screaming "keep the king ball", "we are the ones in white". "will someone please take control of the midfield" and "why cant we defend the high balls?"

Boring to watch? Did you see the game?

Caolán.

Agree with #2 but the rest is rubbish carrick is not good enough should be ando and clevs all the way people who say they dont enjoy the games are being a little fickle would you rather exciting football every match or honours all we need is a little drive in the middle of the park if ando can stay fit i think he can be this guy would have liked dembele but we shown again today utd do not die and its this that has brought us 20 years of glory

We play exactly like England, I have been saying it for ages. The problem is 4-5-1, with no quality on the left. This means that teams sit deeper and there is less space for Kagawa and RVP to operate. If Valencia does get to the by-line there is normally one or two options max in the box, with several defenders picking up. It is the same with Rooney or anybody else.

We attack through our full backs to open the space - which then means we are isolated and leads to teams being able to stroll past Carrick, etc, who are not mobile enough.

Another major problem is that Cleverley and Carrick are stepping on each other's toes we need just one player like that in there and unfortunately Cleverly doesnt have the stature and Carrick lacks mobility, (and a rocket up his back side when he has the ball). They both have slightly different roles, but it isnt penetrating enough. Look how the game changed when we went 4-4-2.

For CaolAin - everyone who watched this game would have been entertained, but it wasn't enjoyable, it was horrinbe how a team with only a couple of players most people have heard of were able to almost beat us and we didn't create too many chances yet again. I have said it before, but the fear has gone from teams playing against Utd and that fear has gone into the players that do play for Utd, it's all safety first. We need to release the shackles, go 4-4-2 and start attacking again, teams will soon have to change the way they play, once we start smashing the goals in again and terrifying defences.

Sween

Dont understand all you Cleverley worshipers. He doesn't have the technical passing ability or footballing brain. He was schooled by a 17 year old in the Southampton midfield until he came off and then Scholes ran the show. I dont know why SAF doesnt play Ando instead of Clevs with Carrick. In the end we need to replace our centre mids entirely next summer when Scholes retires again.

Dan

Never in a million years would of thought i would say this but i realy think its time for fergie to say good by and let some one younger take over. Im bored of the the same old problems not being addressed and to much loyalty being shown in average players (carrick, welbeck, evra, nani, anderson) to name a few! These players are simply average players who should not be in our first team. Why is it that we can see that but fergie seems blinded by that fact! To stubbern to admit he has bought rubbish and has been trying to polish turds for the last few years instead of being firm and getting rid of the players we are carrying and replacing them with quality. Sick of seeing us play the same old same old and nothing i have seen so far this season fills me with any hope of our style of football changing! We used to be the best team in this league playing the best football, who out there now reckons we play the best football??? Not many i reckon.

Apart from the first point I would agree. Last couple of years we have tried to change the style of our play and it is too pedestrian.
Yesterday was a prime example, we played a possesion game but we were very slow moving the ball forward allowing the opposition to get back and make two walls of four to shut us out, and further on we were even being out pressed.
One of the best periods for me as a fan was watching us learn from the great Juventus team with our youngsters. We really learnt a hell of a lot about pressing the opposition and playing at a high tempo.
I dont see it as coincidence that it is when we go behind a end up chasing the game we generally start playing much better football, and interesting that yesterday as soon as we switched to more of a 4-4-2 and moved the ball forward quicker we scored goals.
I see little wrong with the squad that we have or our still never say die attitute, I would like to see us go back to being a bit more gung ho and playing and pressing at a much higher tempo.
Invisible STuey

I totally agree SB, last season if we had played say wolves 3rd game of the season i would be 00% confident of a convicing win, yesterday i found myself at kick off wondering wether we could win after the start we had, yes we relied on RVP finishing and scolesys playmaking, iwe dont look like creating gscoring opportunities.
Our 3 goals were a pen, a corner and a good cross, what was worrying is no one- one ones against any of our opponents in the first 3 games. We are having to graft for goals instead of them coming naturally, hopefully we will see this improve after the international break.

I agree as the short passing was very off, as if it was still pre-season football. The style of play to much too slow with players stopping to look before passing (until no.22 arrived), Valencia didn't attack players and come inside he just went up wing to cross. Anderson and Cleverly are not the answer, as they have had time and not proved thier worth. I still think the twins should have both been sent out on loan, not just one, as I expect to see them get injured in every match ( its always the same) and I expect Buttner to get a chance to play both sides a lot during the season. We have not had a decent scoring midfielder since scholes and Dempsey might have been an option - 6million!.

I agree to an extent, we don't counter attack like we used to but then today's tactics teams just throw ten men behind the ball when they play us. What frustrates me is how we concede goals so easily. We ave most the ball then a team will have one chance and take it. Dont diss the boss tho he put us on the pedestal we sit today! Pity some of u don't remember the dark old days when we went 26years without the title

Totally agree with point 4. we used to do it the "hard way" in style. now we just do it the hard , unattractive, jammy way. The midfield is a joke. Keane never replaced. Scholes, giggs, Ferdinand done. Last yr at aldersghot vidic was outpaced and booked 5 mins in, he has lost it for a while (hummels plz). We are totally inept of ideas , creativity. We are a stagnant team while the other prem teams are moving with the times. Southampton dominated us in midfield! I fuse all remember we never needed a 30 goal striker cos all our goals came from midfield. not any more. GOOD BUYS BUT we should have signed tiote,(a little terrier) and hummels and probably took a chance on a kaka loan. How many player of ours in midfield would our rivals want? anderson..no, carrick..no, nani..no

02 Sep 2012 15:29:48
Abit of a shock seeing Rio back in the line up. I'd have thought Evans would have been closer to full fitness. Well defensively on paper we look much stronger. It'll be interesting to see how Kagawa RVP and Welbeck link up. Looking forward to the kick off.

Shappy

I know Lindergard needs games but dropping De Gea is a mistake for 2 reasons...

1. he is better than lind
2. it may have an adverse effect on his confidence.

Totally agree think its a bit rough on him he made one mistake otherwise some of his saves where top notch, vidic didnt get dropped but then thats why fergies the boss
cantona's legal team

I agree with dropping De Gea for this game. Fergie was definitely taking Southampton's style of play into consideration. Lindergard is the better keeper against teams with a dangerous areal target man.

A proper talk with De Gea should settle his confidence. He has to know where his weaknesses are and until that is sorted he may not play all games.

KB

I wonder if we will lose this game cause of our midfield and defence ?

If it was not for RVP we would of lost the game. we can see from this game our midfield is not up to standard of Manchester Utd.

Well you got youre answer - shocking - we will win nothing this year

Quite right. There was the argument again for top class midfielders.

Disappointing today think rvp might get a clip round the ear for the penalty but win is a win in the end. couple more games we will be up to speed

Dropping De Gea on account of southamptons use of the diagonal ball worked well for their first goal didn't it?
De Gea has been one of the better players so far this season IMO. How many would we have conceded against Everton if not for him?

Van Persie is exactly what we needed, someone to score goals when it counts. He made up for the penalty miss.

We still need a strong midfielder, I like cleverley but he was absent for me today.

Too many 7/10 of players at Utd, we lack genuine World Class, only really RVP fits into that mould, Kagawa has looked good but was poor today. What was with the dwelling on the ball by Carrick all about, playing at the back has made him even slower with the ball, if that were possible?!

It's going to be a long hard season, just hope Chelski suffer now after their loss on Friday, shame the Intl break has come along though. Come on UTD, we need more assertiveness.

Sween

Yes it is 3 points but still worrying that the game is transformed by the substitution of a 38 year old (albeit a genius). Then there is time, vision and telling passes. I thought up to then Carrick was in dreamland, Cleverley lacking in creativity and Valencia obsessed with staying on the touchline and banging in long balls (though one did come off). Why does there seem to be no pace in attack? Why are so many passes sideways or backwards? Why can't we counter teams that think they will overrun us in midfield and bully a goal or two? Answers on a postcard to SAF.

Don't think RvP will get a clip round the ear at all, yes he missed the penalty but you can only praise him after that game for he won it for us. Clinical finishing i think even Rooney would not have been capable of.

Ozwald

Am I the only united fan in the world that thinks welbeck is utter toilet?
I know Nani's inconsistent and possibly still going but he should have started today. Welbeck is worse on the left than he is up front.

I agree with this anonymous post above ^. I honestly believe that welbeck is an over rated player, Hernandez is 10 times better IMO.

But other than that yes I agree we need a new midfielder, but there's no point moaning about it now, we ain't going to get one now until at least the January transfer window (probably next summer).

And fergusons done it time and time again we will win the title this year!

Oswald he will get a clip round the ear you dont take penalties like that when 2-1 down yes he pulled us out the proverbial but had he not he would have got a boot kicked at him

I think Welbeck has been improving his all round game, as part of that process he is going to look a bit ropey from time to time. Also doesn't help being stuck on the left where his languid movement isn't suited. Hernandez will be a very useful Robbins/Solskjaer player, but nothing more his game is just pace, but I didnt like how that Soton centre half, Hoogvield or something caught him so easily. I think his injuries have cost him his major asset, maybe?

Sween

02 Sep 2012 15:02:58
Any good links for todays game guys?

Macca!

Go to vipbox and click on the football link usually get a decent stream
johndenton

01 Sep 2012 20:00:49
Eds do you know of any present interest to sign Nani before the close of the Russian transfer window?

Dan {Ed002's Note - Zenit remain interested.}

After his performance today i hope its true,other than the cross for the winner he did absolutely nothing
johndenton