Manchester United Rumours Archive December 05 2012

05 Dec 2012 21:05:57
10 changes and buttner is the only one who looks like his playing for his place, not saying he's had a great game but at least he's had a go
jred

I thought Phil Jones and Smalling played good too!

-JakeW

Crazy. Jones? Amazing.

All the defenders had a reasonably solid game but the forwards and midfielders were lacking creativity and the tempo was too slow, especially against a Romanian team. None the less Powell still looked good.

Ozwald

Jake very true
jred

05 Dec 2012 20:08:53
I really want us to score a goal on the break. Hasnt happened for a while and i miss them

James

05 Dec 2012 16:27:53
Seeing all this negativity towards Giggs and Scholes all the time, I'm curious to see if it's just me, or if anyone else agrees? The past 12 - 18 months I think Giggs poses far less ability than Scholes. Scholes gets away with having no pace, and has done for the past 4 seasons to be honest. However, Giggs has been a serious weak link each and everytime he plays. Where Scholes due to his postional and passing abilty has the ability to turn a game in a split second still, soemthing giggs doens't. What I'm trying to say is Scholes can play a part until the end of this season, but Giggs should have hung up his legendary boots 2 seasosn back. Thoughts? Cheers.

Grubbo

The only good performance of Giggs for a long time was the one against Chelsea in the league cup which we lost. He played just behind the striker and not in the midfield. He was effective there as he didnt have much defensive duty and with the vast experience he has got he is actually a good finisher and good in attacking.

baba octopus

I think giggs and scholes should both retire at the end of this season, just because they both feel they have another season left in them doesn't mean they are united standards..

Gary Neville knew when it was time and did the best thing for the club, i wish giggs and scholes will do the same in the summer because it's not doing their legendary name any favours.

Scholes is much more useful than Giggs. He's a game winner, in some games he can come on and completely turn it around (most noticeable the game against Chelsea 3-0 down at half time then drew 3-3).

Ozwald

Scholes should of stayed retired and giggs should of retired last year as both are far past there best. every game giggs has played in in midfield we have lost as he cannot run anymore and his passing was never the best anyway. scholes has not been the same player for 4-5 years yet i wouldnt bet against either one or both starting against city!!

They can both still do a job until the end of the season but in a very limited number of games.The worst thing is them stopping youngsters playing and getting a chance.Makes me wonder just how good the younger players are and if Fergie actually rates them.Could be bad times ahead.

Giggs's was good 2 seasons ago but during last season you could see his level dropping and so far this season he looks past it hope he retires this season. Scholes is still quality wit but will probably retire at the end of the season but the problem is when Fergie plays Scholes he plays a 2 men in the middle Scholes does not have the legs for man midfield and he always seems to play with carrick who doesnt run really which dosent help at all.
To play Scholes we need to use a 3 man rather like the sytem Juventus use with Pirlo sitting behind Vidal and Marchiso who do the running.

Agree with the last no name poster, Scholes i think would be best in a midfield trio. I'd love to see Scholes, Anderson and Cleverley in midfield with Rooney on the left wing, RvP on the right and then either Chicha or Welbeck upfront. Kagawa could slot in almost anywhere when he's back.

Ozwald

Scholes can still play a role coming on with 20 minutes left to calm down a match and provide possession. I'm not a fan of his starting matches as it lends a lackadaisical attitude in the team and we end up still 0-0 (or lately 0-1 down) with 20 minutes left. Giggs however, is done. Im fine keeping him in the squad for the season, but this should really be it for him as his performances have dropped off considerably in the last 18 months. Absolute legend, maybe the best we've ever seen in his prime, but he has become a liability offensively in addition to his already poor defensive abilities. Biggest testimonial ever, but it's getting to be that time. But the biggest worry right now is the form of Mr. Rooney. He scored a couple last weekend, but his overall play still looks about as bad as Ive ever seen him in terms of form. He misplaces short and long passes, his shooting has been poor, and his close control, which has never been a strong suit of his, is worse than ever. He may need his fitness improved, but its his form that worries me most of all as we have seen how he can become quite average for weeks, or months, on end when he's not on form. Something SAF needs to fix quickly, as our lack of consistent selection and formation is already causing some issues (it's a needed formation change, and squad rotation is fine, but its been particularly chaotic of late) and without an in-form Rooney Im afraid we may struggle in the short term, especially with the derby up next. -KG

Giggs has rapidly declined for me the last 18 months or so, he still occasionally makes somethin ghappen but very often gives the ball away now. Schols came out of retirement and was still excellent, controlling the tempo of the game, he made a difference. Sadly I can see Scholes starting to decline this season slightly as well. As sad as it will be to see them go, I think this summer is certainly the time and Giggs particularly shouldnt be on the pitch to often, certainly not starting games.
Invisible STuey

05 Dec 2012 14:01:29
An article worth reading lads. Bruno Gomes to Manchester United?

http://tinyurl.com/c7fwnt7

Sydney!

Not a single direct quote in the article - I expect better of you Syd

IrishRed

Sounds good Syd, imagine him and Henriquez as our two strikers in years to come, hopefully they can both continue to do well and have a future at the club.

-JakeW

Will Keane could be amazing if he carries on too! He's like a young stronger Michael Owen haha

Can't wait for Henriquez to break into the first team anyway, remember watching his debut for the reserves.

Ozwald

Anyone who hasnt seen Wilson in our youth team play then I really reccommend you do! He could be better than anything that has come out of our academy. 5 goals against newcastle, scores every match, I think he has 13 in 10 matches for the U18 and he has only justn turned 17!
Syd, in terms of playing style who would you compare Gomez to? Sounds promising but I dont know what kind of player he is.

Dan

Dan, never seen him play mate. All I know is he is highly thought of.

Sydney!

Very impressed last season with him after he came back from injury,this season he has progressed further and is scoring for fun
johndenton

Ozwald if you think Keane is good you should see Wilson play. A lot of them at carrington say he is even good enough for the first team squad now at 17.

Dan

05 Dec 2012 02:19:52
I remember in years gone by (90s early 00s) watching united the blood rushing through my veins, feeling the excitement as the whistle kicked us off then watching.. as we dominated teams the free flowing attacking football that had me on the edge of my seat from kick off till the final whistle! teams feared us we felt we could and should beat everyone! how do we get that back?? is that what we're aiming for here? because we dont dominate teams and lets be honest nobody really fears us most teams think they're capable of beating us on their day I mean thats ridiculous! some might say what the hell is he talking about we're top of the league and scored more goals than anyone and while this is true and am grateful for our strikers, the team just doesn't feel right in my opinion and has been declining over the last few years! I know we've been spoiled over the last few years but its our style that just really doesn't excite me the way it used to! Just an opinion, look forward to getting murdered now :)

thanks

Jamal

I will defenitley not murder you, I can feel you! I´m nervous everytime United play, and I feel it is possible to loose every match, when for some years ago (the Ronaldo/Rooney rampage-time/the late 90s/start of 2000), I could "relax" and get exited every time they played.

What is also frightening, is english clubs in Europe. City got hammered last night against a Dortmund side that had several first-team players on the bench. Chelsea got out-played against Juventus, Arsenal had a fight until the end, and got 2. place, and United have not been convinsing in one of the group matches.

I still look forward of seeing United play well for 90 minutes this season. Hope they can on Sunday...

Steffen

You are correct in your comparison with previous teams.But also there is a little bit of looking at the past through rose tinted spectacles. We have always had weaknesses in the team and usually we have corrected them eventually. Supporting United as I have for 44 years requires us to put up with this. The important thing as I see it is that Fergie is building a younger side which will take time. Younger players do not have the consistency of the older ones.But now the older ones like Giggs and Scholes cannot really compete for a regular place anymore. We are not doing badly in terms of position and competition and there are a number of promising young players to come through and establish themselves. We just need to be patient and all will come good again.

Well said. The reality is the whole PL league is average given their results in Europe.

We are leading a very competitive but average league with an average team. This weekend will probably go on to prove this as it will be competitive but will prove very little no matter how the result goes as both City and us are very inconsistent.

Realistically, we should focus on winning the league as a target and hope we make a few moves in the January window to achieve that outcome.

The beautiful football will not be here until we sign a couple of proper midfielders and a left winger in the summer. Those type of players are not going to be available in the Jan window as most of their teams are competing for major honors in their own domestic leagues and Europe and difficult to land anyway.

I would not be surprised if don't sign anyone


Shahram

Not at all, it's that nowadays we are playing in a league where the other 19 teams are now competitive enough to compete with us. Back then we were miles above the rest. With money being shared around more the other teams were always going to improve. Also Chelsea and City having a Sugar daddy has made them competitive. Real Madrid and Barcelona have been gobbling up ridiculous amounts of TV money and Bayern have good commercial deals. Then you have the PSG's, Malaga's etc who have Sugar daddies.

The league hasn't become average, it has become stronger and that is why it's harder for us to win.

Sydney!

Sydney I agree the league is very competitive because of the money going around. I believe the german and spanish league is ahead of the pl.

The difference is if you look at the rest of Europe they are producing more home grown players and can play at the top level with a lot less money spent in the transfer market and wages, Where if you want to compete at the top of the PL or CL, the teams are a collection of mostly foreign imports and in some cases very expensively assembled teams in order to compete.

Look at CL results, City are out, Arsenal will be out early, we will go out early and Chelsea is out unless Juve lose tonight.

Shahram

What Sydney said. Thank God for a bit of common sense.

MDJ

Shahram, the difference is in Spain and Germany only the Madrid clubs, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, Bayern & Dortmund are any good, the rest of their teams are poor and well below the standard of our mid-table clubs. The EPL is a league of 20 clubs all capable of taking points off of each other, can we say that about La Liga or Bundesliga?

The problem with the English clubs is simple, City lack experience in the UCL and that has hampered them, it doesn't hamper everyone, but they are under a lot of pressure. Chelsea and ourselves are in a transitional period and Arsenal and ourselves have qualified and Chelsea still can.

To say we will be out soon is a little harsh, we will always up our game against the big teams. Have a little faith my friend. It's hard for players to get up for Cluj away or Braga at home, when the big boys come to town you will see a better United. With our defensive problems and key players off form we have done pretty well this season. Love to see how others would do without key players like Jones, Valencia, Smalling, Vidic, Nani, Young out for long periods.

Sydney!

I've never been too concerned with results (easy to say I guess when overall we win more than we lose!) but what concerns me now is the manner and style of our play; it just isn't exciting, infact sometimes we're boring, lacking pace and desire. Still, I remember us under Dave Sexton with Ray "The crab" Wilkins only ever passing the ball from side-to-side, so I guess I should be thankful for small mercies!
RedSince68

Hang on in there....... jeeeez!! Was flyhalfmitch.
Flyhalfmitch.

Have to say i agree with ya jamal and sydney its a bit of both the weaker pl teams are much stronger today than they were ten fifteen years ago and we have a lot less money by comparaison to the times of buying all the best players around think how good this team would be with the players that chose city or chelsea over us this just would not of happend then , money talks and thats that although a team such as ours i beleave should have had more youth players coming through lets hope fergie finds the answer and we get back to the fast flowing unstoppable attacking football of yester year Katef

Syd I basically meant what redsince68 said! I know we're getting results, scoring goals sitting at the top of the table, I said this! I agree the quality has improved making it more competitive compared to other leagues but its the style of play I'm worried about! I don't think our current squad is capable of doing great things and in my opinion we still need a few players! I'm sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but could fergie really be happy with the current squad? thanks for all your responses.

Jamal

Ive been saying for a while that the quality of the EPL has dropped.
City have improved but united chelsea and arsenal are all going through some kind of transition.
I think that most fans of them 3 clubs would admit that there team have gone backwards over the last 3 year.
a few years back the best team in the EPL would have been as good as any team in europe i dont think that is the case any more.
for example how do you think the current united team would do against the ronaldo united or the current Chelsea team against the mourihnio chelsea.

EPL is still the best league in europe in my opinion but the quality has dropped and more of the big name players are now in spain and germany.
jred

Totally agree. i am more nervous then excited during the build up to games as i feel or predictable style is getting outdated by the way football is changing and it feels that we are standing still with our formations and with the type of players we play. we are miles behind the top teams in europe and even a few teams in the epl. yes we are top but we have been beaten by teams who we should be beating and in every game we have not dominated like we should be, every game is a struggle.

Jred, I think the difference is Ronaldo. Stick Ronaldo in our team now and we wouldn't be far off what we were back then. Ronaldo wanting to leave was always going to be an issue as he was so important. Like Gill said when we had £150m in the bank and he was questioned about the money, he said the club would rather have £70m in the bank and Ronaldo on the pitch. Shame he wanted to fulfill his lifetime ambition and promise to his father.

Sydney!

Syd
i think we also had the best defensive unit in the world at the time.
van der sar and evra were top of there game and for me vidic and ferdinand were the best cb pairing in the world.
i think we had a stronger midfield as well to be honest.
as ive said before I honestly think the quality at the top end of the EPL has dropped.
jred

Couldn't agree with original post more.The league has become more competetive but because the top teams have gone backwards,we're miles behind in Europe now from what we were a few years ago and results are showing us this.City-out,Arsenal-unconvincing,Chelsea-struggling and Utd-poor in an easy group.

Could not agree more.... imo this is our worst squad and we are playing some of the worst football for many a year.

It just goes to show how poor the PL is at the moment considering we're top by 3 having played so abysmally all season.

God i couldnt have put it any better myself. I go to OT now not knowing if we will win draw or lose. In the 90s 00s we knew what teams we'd beat with ease which was the majority. Sick of saying it Sort the midfield out Fergie.