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Manchester United Thread

beachryan said:
I've said before that I want us to remain with more or less the current squad, as I think it'll help and the players we have are good enough. Assuming everyone heals up, we would have:

GK: EVDS, Foster, Kuszack, Amos
RB: Rafael, Wes Brown
CB: Evans, Rio, Vida, O'Shea
LB: Evra, Fabio
CM: Fletcher, Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Gibson, Possebon
SMF: Nani, Tosic, Park, Ronaldo, Martin
FW: Berbatov, Rooney, Tevez, Welbeck, (maybe Macheda)

That's a pretty reasonable squad imo, with the addtion of Llajic (who looks pretty good) in January, and maybe a few other youngsters (Eckersley, James) coming through.

Most useful person we could get would be a defensive minded utility man in the O'Shea mold (but good) who could play across the back 4. We didn't adequately replace Silvestre tbh.
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Don't forget Campbell and Manucho who are on loan. I think we can easily sell atleast 2 players from there and then getting one good signing to make up the final squad. With Wellbeck and Macheda, I dont think we need Campbell and Manucho so thats two players we can definately sell. And I think nearly every United fan in the world feels the same about Nani so we can get something from that as well. If the sale of those 3 got us Ribery or someone as good then that would probably be the only signing we need. That and making Tevez permanent.
 
Next season we won't have the WCC to worry about (as we're not going to win the CL) and I'm hoping we can throw the youngsters in the Carling AND FA Cup, because it's clear we can't quite manage the schedule. The pool game was our 5th in 13 days, this our second in 48 hours, and some players third in 6 days. Our squad is supposed to provide options, but Carrick, O'Shea, Fletcher, Evans and Evra all had to play again after an exhuasting game on Sunday.

Fergie needs to blood the youth. You can't tell me that a fresh, motivated Gibson could have done any worse than Scholes today. Likewise Fabio for Evra. I know it's risky, but clearly the players are too tired to perform.
 
I wouldn't rule yourself out of the CL just yet, you're too jammy to be ruled out already ;)
 
RuneEdge said:
I dunno. Maybe I like to put a lot more hope into our players than most but I still believe Ronaldo has more to offer us. We can always buy great players but to me that never compares to seeing a player like Ronaldo grow up with us at this club and become a great player. Regardless of how this season ends, we've still already had a good year and I'm sure if Ronaldo's still with us next season, he'll be more like the player we used to love seeing.
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I'd love to have faith in him, after his excellent time here, but it is absolutely clear he doesn't want to be here.

Just let him go to Real for as much money as possible and bring in some quality wingers that'll actually bother playing.
 
Absolutely gutted with our 'performance'.We simply didnt create enough chances.The midfield 3 failed miserably this time round and I honestly think that we were lucky to share the draw.Our chances of retaining the CL hangs by a thread now.We need to win at Oporto now which is a HUGE task.

So much for our goal against record...we are leaking all sorts of goals now...10 goals in the last 4 matches now if I'm not mistaken.Absolutely disappointed.
 
I still can't get over playing 4-5-1 at home.

I mean, I know Tevez played at the weekend after just coming back from Bolivia but ffs we're at home. And even if you're not gonna play Tevez, put young Macheda on whilst he's got confidence and he's a hero to the fans.

We played like an away team and payed for it.
 
matherto said:
I'd love to have faith in him, after his excellent time here, but it is absolutely clear he doesn't want to be here.

Just let him go to Real for as much money as possible and bring in some quality wingers that'll actually bother playing.
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Problem with this line is clear to see: watch a recording of Nani's performances and Park's performances. Those are the kind of alternatives out there. Unfortunately, there is no one that can offer us what Ronnie does. Maybe a fit Robben (a mythical beast), Ribery (not for sale) or Messi (erm, yeah).

Getting rid of Ronaldo would mean a complete shift of our system. Clearly Fergie doesn't think we're up for it, so the diving b*gger shall continue to be our most lethal weapon...
 
I dont think its wise to play Macheda after one 30 minute game. Its too big a risk if he has a bad game cuz the damage it would do to his confidence is a lot bigger than the boost he'd get from a good game.
And I think it if Berba was fit then we'd definately gone 4-4-2. Having Tevez and Rooney up front would have meant theres no reliable striker to come off the bench to save us.
The logical thing to do would have been to play Ronaldo up front with Park and Nani on the wing. That would still leave Giggs and Tevez on the bench for the last half of the match. And have Flecher and Carrick in the middle to hold the midfield since Scholes is usually at his best in the last third of the field. Rooney can always drop back and do some of the work Scholes does anyway and it would leave Ronaldo to roam freely, which would be a problem for any defence with his speed and finishing.

Oh well, back to the Premiership. I hope we dont have to resort to a last minute winner again.
 
marukomu said:
It would do me because you know we're going to struggle again.
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Berbatov/Ferdinand back => Big win

If not I can see us struggling. Fergie better spend the week getting the team ready for a performance, and get his team selection right for the first time in a while...
 
Talksport on the way home. Has Fergie bottled it or is he paying for expensive mistakes like buying Berbatov for £30m when he should've bought defenders?
 
we have enough defenders, they're all just injured at the same time. berbatov might turn out to be a flop though, he hasnt showed up against a big team yet barring maybe the chelsea game.
 
DagsJT said:
Talksport on the way home. Has Fergie bottled it or is he paying for expensive mistakes like buying Berbatov for £30m when he should've bought defenders?
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We'll have to see in May. I don't think he's bottled it, he can only work with the players available to him, and as we've noted on here, injuries have robbed him at a bad time. No point in having too many backups, players like O'Shea are made to plug holes, not be the starters - but there's nothing wrong with our starters.

Berbatov isn't a mistake, he would have been so useful yesterday for holding up the ball up and retaining posession in their half. He was overpriced, but that's what you get when you're United.
 
matherto said:
I still can't get over playing 4-5-1 at home.

I mean, I know Tevez played at the weekend after just coming back from Bolivia but ffs we're at home. And even if you're not gonna play Tevez, put young Macheda on whilst he's got confidence and he's a hero to the fans.

We played like an away team and payed for it.
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Porto plays great away.

We have been struggling this year at home which is strange as hell.



Anyway, to this day I'm baffled that SAF can leave Tevez on the bench. The guy is world class.
 
he played like 85 minutes in bolivia then got back a day before the villa game and played another 85 there. 2 days later without the bolivia game i could have seen but he was knackered. we only see so much, nobody knows their players better than the coach and manager.
 
Oh yeah did anyone else notice some of our players looked like they had loads of fake tan on yesterday? I thought it might've been from Sunday afternoon as Rooney, Vidic and Scholes didnt look orange but it just didnt look normal at all.
 
I noticed that aswell..........

Anyway, after last nights result and Liverpool being knocked out I hope you win next week, just to keep you tired for the league ;)
 
marukomu said:
Anyone discounting Chelsea for the league yet? It would not surprise me if they pip us both for it.
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We'd need to lose 3 in 9. Not impossible, but that would bring our 'run in' to losing 5 in 12 - which is pretty catistrophic. Plus they'd have to win out, obviously.

I think Hiddink will focus solely on the CL, which is fine with me. What concerns is that Rafa will now only have the league to worry about, whereas if we get a result in Portugal (still a longshot imo) we'll have at least 2 more games to play, likely resulting in us v Arsenal 3 times in a week (!).

Really need Rio back for Saturday, and desperately need a clean sheet. To be honest I'd take 0-0 there just to get our defence back to normal.

On a side note, what does EVDS need to do to get dropped? I can't think of one truly game-winning save he's made since last May. He's prone to errors, has watched a few free kicks go in (imagine if he'd made some token effort at Arbeloas...) and just doesn't seem to have the 'off his line' pace that someone like Cech and Reina do. Personally I don't see how Ben foster could do any worse.
 
I think it would be stupid to drop VDS. He hasn't really done much wrong in the first place and I don't see the logic in using your 2nd choice keeper in an important title run-in. It would be the equivalent of McClaren dropping Robinson for the crucial qualifier against Croatia in 2007.
 
My thinking is that if we don't start playing Foster, he's going to bugger off. And that EDVS isn't actually that great a keeper anymore (though loads better than Roy Caroll. How they hell did that happen?!)
 
Foster is a England potential number one, he can't afford to sit on the bench the whole time. I think Foster might play more next season.
 
Argh, just seen the fixture list - now here's a bigger challenge to our league ambitions than the CL: We play City LATE ON SUNDAY, Wigan Wednesday and then Arsenal EARLY ON SATURDAY.
3 tough games in 6 days, and they couldn't have moved the Arsenal one back to the 5:15 kickoff? Or better yet, Sunday? FFS...
 
Well Sky have all the games between 'The Big Four' so that discounts the late Saturday kick off as that's Setanta's slot. Guess we could've had Sunday but Chelsea and Liverpool are both playing then, maybe something to do with that.
 
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Here are various interesting news/rumours about United from TeamTalk.com

Paper Talk.

Manchester United are closing in on Brazilian wonderkid Douglas Costa.

Manchester United made a loss of nearly £45million last year - and that will fuel fans' fears that star player Cristiano Ronaldo may be sold.

Manchester United will offer Fraizer Campbell a new contract in the summer.

On ManUtd.com

Manchester United are closing in on Brazilian whizkid Douglas Costa. The Gremio midfielder, 18, is attracting attention across Europe. He has been hailed as the new Ronaldinho and his club have just turned down an £8million bid from Villarreal for his services. United have been monitoring Costa through their South American scout - former centre-back Jaap Stam. Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Liverpool are also tracking the rookie, who is due to talk to interested clubs at the end of the month. Costa would not need a work permit to move to England because he has a Portuguese passport. Chris Nathaniel, Costa’s advisor, said: “The boy is special and loves the Premier League. He has a lot of offers to consider.”
Shaun Custis, The Sun
 
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EVDS - the problem of having a great defence for you guys most of the season is that the goalie's deficiencies have been covered up - so few people got past Vidic and Rio in particular that less seems to be more. Ben Foster looks pretty good but Fergie tends to have a bit of a problem when it comes to choosing keepers ever since the Italian disaster.
 
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