Manchester United Thread

So far we've been linked with Cavani, Muller, Ronaldo, Pedro, Benzema, Llorente for strikers. We still also have Otamendi and Romero. What a crazy summer (winter for me).

Oh, and Ramos, of course.
 
gerd said:
An underestimated player.
IMHO he is not well used at Arsenal.
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He's not well used at Arsenal because he's not good enough.

He left so he could try and become the central striker but he's just ended up as he was at United.

It's all well and good being able to 'do a job for the team' but you need to have consistent qualities to play all the time and he's simply not got them.

I'm pretty sure I could finish better than him and be more of a goal threat.
 
matherto said:
He's not well used at Arsenal because he's not good enough.

He left so he could try and become the central striker but he's just ended up as he was at United.

It's all well and good being able to 'do a job for the team' but you need to have consistent qualities to play all the time and he's simply not got them.

I'm pretty sure I could finish better than him and be more of a goal threat.
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Well i've never seen you play football, but having seen Welbeck, you're probably right :LOL:
 
Pretty sweet game for a pretty season and some lovely goals to boot. Was especially fun to watch our b team score against Barça s A team.

Enjoyed Darmian showing us the vision and anticipation skills we often missed in defense.
 
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Fellaini, Schweinsteiger, Herrera, (Blind), Schneiderlin, Carrick for the two midfielder positions. are some of these guys comfortable with the bench? i know the PL is long with FA and the cup, also with the CL but still
 
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Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Schneiderlin and Carrick with probably two games a week with injuries will be fine.

Blind will be seen more of a CB and LB option and is a squad player anyway, Fellaini is more of a AM and potential CF supersub and again a squad player.

So absolutely.
 
So it looks like Di Maria is off to PSG for sure after "missing his flight" to the US. I'm more angry about the loss we ll probably make on the sale than him leaving. Seems like him and/or PSG are bring proper dicks about handling this situation. I m kind of hoping we hold him hostage for a while and remind him of his contract. Despite the Financials, I for one won't be the slightest bit upset to lose the player. Never felt like a United type player to me.
 
The fact is that Di Maria is one of the best players in the world, but after what happened to him and his family in Manchester he never really felt safe and at his ease there.

Of course we will never now, but without that homejacking i have a feeling that Di Maria would have been a great player for United. In the end it was all bad luck for both player and club. Letting him go to another club is the best for both club and player.

Most of us would also underachieve in the same circumstances, he doesn't deserve to be criticised. The season befor he was Real Madrid outstanding player and perhaps he should have got the Ballon D'Or instead of Ronaldo...

PS: not that i think Ronaldo didn't deserve that Ballon D'Or.
 
I don't know Gerd, I get the feeling he was never happy to come in the first place going by how things have gone.

Seems a bit weak mentally.

Were kind of stuck in a odd position because we lack a big creative hole again IMO and Pedro isn't the answer but I expect to be the replacement.
 
Di Maria never wanted to leave Madrid... still i don´t understand why Real sold him... he started well at United, but then he looked lost as well as Falcao...

i think in Paris he could rediscover his Madrid form....

if i was Real supporter, i would be pissed off for the club to sell him...

United will do fine without him though...Mata and Depay will start on wings and with the system they play, there won´t be space for Di Maria anyway.... i think.
 
Depay and Mata outwide would be fine but you need strength in number's when playing twice a week. Depay is a novice regardless of his talents and potential (and he's actually been used a CF so far on tour not a winger)

Pedro, Mata and Ashley Young doesn't inspire me with confidence.
 
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Di Maria's performances dropped before the house break in.

He has always been hot and cold. Even in the same game that can be the case. He can go 80 mins giving the ball away constantly but then pull off a bit of magic and win the game.

Don't think he'll be a great loss ...but then you can't really know with him.
 
Di Maria was only really excellent for about 1.5 seasons at Madrid. Before that he was pretty flaky. But for that time he was arguably the best in the world.

I think the leagues need to be considered. Watching Barca even in the friendly yesterday you see how tiny contact needs to be to 'draw' fouls. In England it's kind of stereotypical but a lot of the fouls Di Maria would be used to getting in Spain don't get called. I'm not sure he's of the physique to be able to handle that week in week out.

I don't think he was enjoying it basically.

Don't watch enough of the French league to comment, but with his signing and others, PSG should basically have a cakewalk to the title, and focus on the CL. Could suit him well.

Wish him all the best, just hope we recoup most of the fee. Mendes is a boss.
 
Di Maria never wanted MUFC its simple, he was pushed out of RM they couldn`t agree w/ PSG. If, MUFC B-Team hammer Barca 1st team then you should be happy w/ the result. I didnt watch the game ,but hearing Barca`s coach saying Van Gaal could win the triple is a huge compliment.
 
Triple? I'll take Luis up on that. During the match, the defense looks clumsy sometimes. Giving silly balls away. Apart from it not bad at all. But after last years pre-season im wary about our matchshape.

Bit unsure about the Romero signing. He looks not like the quality we need between the sticks. Certainly he lacks match fitness over the last years, so maybe thats the reason for it but as No.2 and not as a replacement I'm all happy. If De Gea joins the los blancos I would prefer Lloris, like the lad since his Lyon days.
 
bebo said:
Di Maria never wanted MUFC its simple, he was pushed out of RM they couldn`t agree w/ PSG. If, MUFC B-Team hammer Barca 1st team then you should be happy w/ the result. I didnt watch the game ,but hearing Barca`s coach saying Van Gaal could win the triple is a huge compliment.
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Don't want to sound disrespectful to United or to bebo, but this is nonsense.

First of all, what those big clubs are playing now are Mickey Mouse Tournaments.

Second: it's logical that Man Utd (even a B team) is in better shape than Barcelona, since the premier league will start a month sooner than La Liga.

Third: if Luis Enrique sayst that Man Utd can win the treble, then he isn't speaking about Man Utd but (like most coaches) about his own team. That is some sort of damage control. My team has lost to a potential treble winner. Consequence: it's normal that we loose, so it's no big deal.

The more comprehensive reader will now ask himself: "why would Luis Enrique say this after a defeat in a Mickey Mouse Tournament?

Well, soon Barcelona will elect a new president. Those election are more political than any other real political election in Catalunya. And as Always the Barcelona coach is a mere pawn in this game of Thrones...Luis Enrique is saying this to protect himself.

This said: i think United will do very well and might go for the title...

Not for the CL. At the moment there isn't a single team that is better than Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and PSG.
Chelsea or Man United might be stonger in a cup than one or two of this teams, but that will not be enough to win the CL. Man City might even not be able to beat one of those clubs.
 
@gerd
Well, The presidential election was done weeks ago Bartomeu won w/ 54.63% votes . DNA Laporta had 33.03% Thank God lol (Arsenal players are safe)

Like I mention , I didn`t see the match. I agree friendlies are just that -its bleeding the line.EPL starts 2wks La Liga has 4.5wks they just started their training.

On MUFC winning the league,they done it w/ a lesser squad they had a magic 'mental strength 90%' before. The strength of the league is growing Stoke are getting good players under the radar.
Van Gaal said to compete you need to look at other clubs RM:Ronnie-Bale Bayern:Ribery-Robben Chels:Hazard-Willians.

Van Gaal added: "We still need more speed in front and also more creativity.
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He obvious wants speed n creativity on the wings.
Mou is now on 'They all buying the title campaign' lol He is special . He makes the EPL much more spicy.
 
Didn't realise the election was already over, i'm sorry bebo...i've been following the Tour de France too close...that is over now...roll on football season!
 
I was watching some of the cycling it felt like a month event. I didn't realise how dangerous cycling was. I couldn`t believe armstrong was doing a charity event @Toure de France :CONFUSE: First lied and defamed those who accused him . Too soon for me -_-
 
In the Chelsea thread, i had a discussion with spektarm and he asked me to post my opinion about Louis Van Gaal in this thread.

I will give it a try, but don't expect too much.

Van Gaal as a player.
He played for Sparta, and that should make him loved, because Sparta (Rotterdam), is a fantastic club. I never saw him play there.

At the end of his carreer he played for Antwerp here in Belgium. I don't remember him at all. But there is one strory that is often told here in Belgium. Van Gaal was a technically very gifted player who was often on the bench for Antwerp. His coach there was the legandary Guy Thijs who was the coach of the Belgian national team that was runner-up at the Euro's in 1980 and 4th at the 1986 WC. He still was our coach in 1990 when Platt scored his (in)famous goals against us. The story goed that one day Van Gaal went to Thijs and asked him why he wans't a starter more often. He claimed the following:

"When i have the ball, i'm the most skilfull player of thhis club".

Thijs answered him:

"That is undeniable, the problem is that you never have the ball".

Van Gaal as a manager/coach:
Van Gaal is a teacher. He is best with young teams without too much stars. He often interupts training to teach the players things and more experienced players don't like that.
IMO he also had his best results with teams without stars and with young players (Ajax in 1995, AZ - his biggest achievement and to a certain degree Bayern Munchen where he gave a chance to young players like Muller and Alaba).
If you look at his palmares, there is no doubt that he is one of the most successfull manager/coaches. But he has also had spectacular failures (notably the first time he led the Dutch national team). His "success" at the last WC is IMHO overrated: if Spain scores a second goal (i think it was Silva who missed a sitter) then Holland is out in the first round. They were also against Mexico and Cota Rica. I wasn't impressed with their football.

I'm not sure if he's the best coach for United.

Van Gaal as a human being. Of course i don't know him personally, but he seems to be a difficult person and sometimes very arrogant with the press (Ajax and Barcelona). I've read "the keeper of dreams" (the book about Robert Enke, the best football book ever) by Ronald Reng and if what is written about LVG in that book is true, then he is a coward and a bad person, but who knows if this is true...He (and De Boer) certainly didn't do Enke any favours.

In Borst's book (Oh Louis, and the writer seems a bigger prick than his subject LVG) there is a story about his second home in a Portugese golf resort. The story goes that Ronald Koeman and LVG have fallen out and that they can't stand each other. LVG wanted to buy a second home in the Portuges golf resort, but a Mutual acquaintance told him that he better could not buy a house there because his olde enemy Ronald Koeman already had a second house there. LVG's reaction was to intantly buy the biggest and most expensive house in the resort.
 
A very interesting read, Gerd, thanks for taking the time to write it.

I agree that the football The Netherlands played at the WC was mostly very dull, but, ignoring the "if's", it's still a big achievement to reach 3rd place with an average squad (except the 2 forwards).

About his rivalry with Koeman, I'm inclined to believe they're more or less over it tbh. I wonder what happened there when Southampton sold Schneiderlin to United...

Now when the season starts, he will have had the whole summer to buy "his" players and to prepare the team. We will see how he does without having any excuses this time. I sincerely hope he improves the crappy football we played for most of last season...
 
The United We Stand podcast host was talking about when he interviewed Luis Enrique before he was managing Barcelona, and he asked him who the best manager he'd worked with at his time there (and he was under some very good ones).

He said he learned the most from Van Gaal, in both a good and a bad way. He also said most players don't actually like Van Gaal much til he leaves, and then they appreciate all that they got from his 'philosophy'.

At United so far he's been largely mediocre. He's great in interviews and I appreciate his bluntness to the press, but on the pitch outside of a couple matches it's been no better than Moyes. In fact we scored less goals last year!

But, have to take into account the squad. The only time he had a healthy Carrick, we went on an outrageously good run and beat all of our rivals, sometimes confidently. Couple our injury-league-topping form with the fact that Falcao was forced on him and terrible, RVP is shot and Di Maria failed...dunno.

He took us to 4th in a season where players like McNair and Blackett featured reasonably regularly; Young and Valencia had the most minutes and Rooney was sometimes playing as a 6.

This year he has to improve the football. That's all I really care about in the end - we've got to stop being so awful to watch.
 
No idea at all, Lami.

Beach: what you are writing is what i'm thinking too: LVG is not doing better than Moyes. It's a mystery to me why the club didn't have the patience with Moyes, they have with Van Gaal.

My guess is because of the fans who have more trust in a big name manager than a manager who comes from Everton.

I still think that is extremely unfair, but life is unfair...
 
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