Manchester United Thread

I've watched Matuidi since he was a teenager at Troyes. Then made the step-up to St. Etienne and then the step-up from that to PSG! In each and every club, he established himself as an integral part of the 1st team and I think he can do that with pretty much any team in any league.

As long as you know what to expect from him and what type of player he is, I don't see how anyone can be disappointed. If you want a playmaking technical #10, he's definitely not it. But if you want a box-to-box type of player with good speed and outstanding stamina who can do a bit of everything without excelling in technical areas, he's the one. Pogba is the far more technical player and they have other differences as well so I'm not really sure why those two are being compared as the #1 and 'backup' option to each other but both are great players in their own right. Matuidi does have the better attitude and work-ethic.

He's quite average technically but excellent in many other attributes that make for an excellent midfielder in modern day football. Put it this way, if the likes of Kante got amazing praise all year (and rightly so) and people seem to have fallen in love with him, I don't see why they can't with Matuidi, although they have their differences as well.
 
PLF said:
I'm not really sure why those two are being compared as the #1 and 'backup' option to each other but both are great players in their own right. Matuidi does have the better attitude and work-ethic.
Click to expand...

Not everyone has a good footballing analyst brain to differentiate player qualities/skills in relation to specific positions and jobs required to be done to achieve a certain goal ;)

I think I should have just summarized all that into one word; Tactical.
 
Matuidi has his qualities, of course, I just find it hard to look past clumsiness in a professional footballer.

Whilst Pogba and Matuidi are different Mourinho may be prioritising the box to box aspect and thus one may be a backup option for the other. Obviously Pogba offers more attacking quality at a younger age and as erratic as he is at present he offers a potential mix of height, power and skill which is hard to find, so is going to be the preferred/more expensive option if it is the case that it's one or the other.
The clear differences tho make me think he wants both. IIRC he said he has identified 4 positions, not 4 players, in terms of transfers
 
Indeed, his statement was he has 4 priority signings and once they are done we can breathe as they are super important to the team that probably plays most of the season (Jose doesn't like to rotate too much)

I'd honestly be happy with Matuidi, the Pogba deal as is the case with players of that stature is very hard to pull off.
 
13645106_1179333275462386_7019269352680342300_n.jpg
 
Eric Bailly and Mkhitaryan both looked good yesterday, the team in general had some zest about it thats been missing, Henrikh will link up with Zlatan and Martial fantastically.

Luke Shaw back at LB will be massive, missed him a lot last season but a great talent.

I just hope we can get 'the fourth' sorted and sealed before the Community Shield.
 
Last edited:
Alright, it's inching forwards and I hate modern football and the fees and so forth etc etc...anyone actually watch enough Serie A to comment on Pogba?

I was 100% convinced he'd be replacing Michael Carrick in our first team 4 years ago, obviously Fergie disagreed. But since then I've only seen him in CL and for France - where he's looked technically superb but hardly the best player on the pitch.

Given Serie A is hardly the most, erm, physical and robust league at the moment, how do you think he'd do in the premier league? Pretend for a moment he's free, or cheap. Would he/should he walk into our midfield and be able to elevate us?
 
gerd said:
He's seriously overrated imo.
Click to expand...

That's kind of how I feel from all I've personally seen. Undoubtedly talented, but to become the most expensive player in history? Craziness.

Ronaldo was worth it - was one of the top 2 players in the world at the time and has delivered 50+ goals a season.
Bale was worth it - unplayable when fit and delivering.
Zidane - yeah.

Pogba?!
 
Re: Manchester United Thread

I still don't feel we need another midfielder. Just an experienced central defender such as Godin and we should be good to go for the season

Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk
 
RM put a value price for Morata ,but refused Chelsea even when they met the asking price. Its either Morata doesn't want Chelsea or RM feels the option for a ST is few.

Juve really don`t want to sell (ridic. value fee) . Raiola is probably the biggest obstacle in this scenario. I think Mutd will suffer the same stumbling block Arsenal suffers when trying to sell average players w/ huge salaries. Its shocking players rather rot on the bench for 2 yrs on a good salary ,Then kick start their careers.
 
He has the potential. He likes a trick but his overall technical play (close control, short passing), as shown by his high dispossessed stats, isn't up to scratch yet on a consistent basis and he doesn't yet dictate the team. If he was to improve on those he could be like peak Yaya because he has the presence, running ability and goal threat from range.

Unless there's a release clause or only a year left on a contract, prices have jumped 10-20m this summer - for PL teams anyway. With that said I'd say Pogba is worth around 60m in today's market so it's a bit mental to see 85m being rejected!
 
No were really not.

we're doing a 'Real Madrid' is a better fit.

onto Pogba, is he a 100m player, no he isn't and on the pitch he never will be but I don't think Bale was worth the fee paid at the time either. Pogba is a fantastic player with the potential to be one of the very best, no doubt his future lies as a '10' in a Gerrard/Kaka type role and the United-less Rooney era is in progress for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjmvcousUPg

------Pogba--Schneiderlin-----
-Mkhitaryan-Rooney--Martial-
----------Zlatan-----------

:...
 
I feel that it'd be better if we went for Kante instead....someone who connects the back four and the midfield, protecting them while stopping play and releasing Herrera or Schneiderlin to do their thing and orchestrate an attack. (Something like Xabi Alonso with Modric...) That'd make a lot more sense with the players we have and the fee would be much cheaper too.

I like Pogba from what I've seen, lots of raw talent and potential, but that is what it is....he doesn't deliver yet and with the price tag, he's only going to be a flop...how can he justify that amount (how can anyone for that matter)...
 
if a player is bought with circa 100 millions, he either makes wonders and brings some remarkable change and improvement to the team (results, playstyle, opportunities, ...) or he'll be considered a flop. For example CR & Suarez were bought with galactic amounts of money but each one of them was crucial to his team (titles, 50+ goals, ...). On the other hand, Sterling is a flop.
 
It's always easier to defend an attacking player (or striker) on such amounts as you have stats to back it up (goals, assists, etc)...but for midfielders or defenders, it is much harder to defend as there aren't much stats that can be used to judge or compare...

For example, if Pogba comes, provides some assists and some goals (not much), but then we win the League...is it worth it then? or we win Europa League as well, is it worth more?? What if we could've won without him? Or what if we don't win anything immediately, is it a flop?
 
Regarding Kante, we have that player in Schneiderlin, is he of the same calibre? probably not but he was fantastic at Southampton and it wasnt working under LvG but Jose could be the one to bring out that form.

He's a success as long as he makes an impact to our team, as long as he continues doing what he already has he'll be fine. especially if we go on to win the title this year then he'll have played an integral part I imagine.
 
I guess it's not the riskiest thing in the world, media perception aside. If he comes to United and is only okay, his standing in the world as 'best young midfielder' probably means someone would come in at reasonably big money to give him another try - possibly even Juve (what would be more Juve than buying for 1m, selling for 100m, then buying back for 50m! - so shrewd)

Or he uses us as a stepping stone to Madrid, in which case we probably get 3 years of service and our money back.

I guess we'll see. Would love to have things done asap though, I never understood why teams leave things so late in the transfer window and thus avoid having the squad together ahead of the season.

One thing is for sure, we're no longer going to have our youth/value/etc argument valid, so we better start winning and playing good football!
 
Every single EPL has had massive money injection Pipa.
You have to see this relative to other countries.
How could a club like West Ham attract a player like Payet?

I always have to laughing when English fans complain about Chelsea and City.

And would you say no to an Abramovich or a Mansour?

wouldn't you be happy if Messi would join Liverpool?
 
In order to do a CFC/City Utd would need to win the league first ;) Even before this summer, nearly 400m spent since Ferguson left without one - likely to be well over half a billion once this window closes.
 
gerd said:
Every single EPL has had massive money injection Pipa.
You have to see this relative to other countries.
How could a club like West Ham attract a player like Payet?

I always have to laughing when English fans complain about Chelsea and City.

And would you say no to an Abramovich or a Mansour?

wouldn't you be happy if Messi would join Liverpool?
Click to expand...

Depends, if he joined for 250m then the owner left, causing the club to do a Leeds because it can't stand up on its own, probably not.

West Ham's 'massive injection' came from a scandalous new stadium deal and the PL money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom