Iniesta only scored 16 league goals in 181 appearances; shit stats
Alexis Sanchez | Signed for Arsenal
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
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Iniesta only scored 16 league goals in 181 appearances; shit stats
Sanchez is striker/winger.
Sanchez is not a striker, you've not seen him play have you? He plays in the same positions as Di Natale and Pepe, neither of whom are strikers - Udinese play two attacking wingers with one forward who used to be Quagliarella. Also, if you wish to compare the two statistics then how about adding the fact that Iniesta plays in a side who scored 150 odd goals last season and is a constant ever-present while Sanchez is not a first teamer and has 2 players ahead of him in the pecking order. The majority of his games were as a sub, play on the left/right wing.
Didn't he start more games than came on as a sub?
I guess that he started a match with more than 45 minutes (managers rarely make subsitutions in first half).
18 matches from 32 with more than 45 minutes.
That's more than a half (56,25%).
At the same age, Ronaldo scored 9 goals in total. Even a year later he only scored 12, and this was after being at the club for 2/3 years, which isnn't the case with Sanchez.
It's really pointless arguing about a player if you haven't even seen him play. We're not going to sign anyone like Ribery, so we have to look elsewhere. There are very few players that are either good enough and/or available, so it's perfectly reasonable to look at a player that's raw, but with an abundance of talent.
Sanchez is the perfect type of signing for United, whether it's him that we do sign, or someone else.
It's really pointless arguing about a player if you haven't even seen him play. We're not going to sign anyone like Ribery, so we have to look elsewhere. There are very few players that are either good enough and/or available, so it's perfectly reasonable to look at a player that's raw, but with an abundance of talent.
Sanchez is the perfect type of signing for United, whether it's him that we do sign, or someone else.
Manchester United Told Udinese's Alexis Sanchez Is Not For Sale
The Chilean front man is reportedly being tracked by the Red Devils...
Manchester United have been warned against making a bid for Udinese winger Alexis Sanchez by the club's president Sergio Gasparin.
The Red Devils were thought to be preparing a summer move for the Chile international, but have been told that the youngster is not for sale.
The Italian outfit have already rejected a €25 million bid from German giants Bayern Munich for the 20-year-old, and are not expected to accept any fee for the player just yet.
The Chile international has previously said that he would love to play for United one day, leading to speculation over his future, but he seems to be staying at Stadio Friuli for the foreseeable future.
Speaking to Antenna 3, Udinese president Gasparin said, "Alexis Sanchez is not for sale.
"From a technical standpoint, this player means a lot to us.
"He has a four-year contract with Udinese and there is no contact with Manchester United.
"We do not have any intention of selling Alexis."
The Red Devils are keen on replacing outgoing midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to join Real Madrid in a deal worth £80 million, and Luis Antonio Valencia and Franck Ribery are thought to be among their top targets.
Well we can scratch him off then.
The Chilean front man is reportedly being tracked by the Red Devils...
Manchester United have been warned against making a bid for Udinese winger Alexis Sanchez by the club's president Sergio Gasparin.
The Red Devils were thought to be preparing a summer move for the Chile international, but have been told that the youngster is not for sale.
The Italian outfit have already rejected a €25 million bid from German giants Bayern Munich for the 20-year-old, and are not expected to accept any fee for the player just yet.
The Chile international has previously said that he would love to play for United one day, leading to speculation over his future, but he seems to be staying at Stadio Friuli for the foreseeable future.
Speaking to Antenna 3, Udinese president Gasparin said, "Alexis Sanchez is not for sale.
"From a technical standpoint, this player means a lot to us.
"He has a four-year contract with Udinese and there is no contact with Manchester United.
"We do not have any intention of selling Alexis."
The Red Devils are keen on replacing outgoing midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to join Real Madrid in a deal worth £80 million, and Luis Antonio Valencia and Franck Ribery are thought to be among their top targets.
Well we can scratch him off then.
Good.
Nani, Tosic, Llajic, Welbeck, Macheda, Petrucci.
We dont need another attacking 'prospect'.
Nani, Tosic, Llajic, Welbeck, Macheda, Petrucci.
We dont need another attacking 'prospect'.
Yes ofcourse the moment a president gives a hands off warning we can safely assume he's never going to leave.
They already sold Quagliarella to Napoli, Pepe might leave (off to Wolfsburg it seems), Di Natale has an offer from Napoli and has always said he would love to play for the team of his city. Anyway, Sanchez is a surely a talented player but he's currently absolutely not Manchester United standard, he's still very inconsistent and unexperienced. He might be in two years.
We clearly need both wingers. Even when Ronaldo was still ours our squad was a winger short. With him gone that hasn't changed, the number is now up to 2.
As for E'too, he will only make sense if he can accept our squad system.
I agree we already have plenty of attacking prospects, which is a good thing. Surely buying another prospect who just stagnate the performance levels of the others.
Of those mentioned above Nani needs a make or break season to determine whether he will remain at the club. Welbeck and Macheda will contunie to play bits and pieces. Tosic needs to bulk up and impreove his defence. Ljajic has definite potential and we will see just how good he is in pre-season, and Petrucci will spend another year in the reserves and playing Carling/FA Cup.
Well, to be fair, two of the players mentioned are strikers, and another (Petrucci) is either a central attacking midfielder, or a striker that operates between the lines of the opposition midfield and defence — two very similar, but subtly different, roles, of course.
So that really leaves Nani and Tosic, as Llajic will arrive at United in January, and he'll only be 18, with a year-and-a-half of first team experience in a very poor league.
Look, even if we get Valencia, we will only have Nani, Tosic, Park, and Valencia, as our attacking mid/wide players. Last season, at times, we struggled to find a player on the left-hand-side, and that problem has just been doubled.
It is highly unlikely that we will attempt to buy Ribery, and even if we did, his first choice is Barcelona, according to Graham Hunter, and we all know how notoriously difficult Bayern are to deal with, in any case. We need to be realistic, so if anyone has got any better suggestions, I'm all ears.
Piotr Trochowski - Hamburg
I was under the impression that he was a winger or a forward. We are well stocked in both.
Welbeck has played wide alot. Hargreaves can play wide. Giggs can still play wide, regardless of popular RedCafe opinion. Anderson can play wide. Rooney can and probably will still play wide at times (although yes I prefer him centrally). I don't think that we need more than one new winger at all.
Basically, we'll lose Ronaldo, presumably buy Valencia, have Nani more involved, Tosic, Welbeck and possibly even Llajic as backup, and have established players in Hargreaves, Giggs, Rooney and Anderson who are more likely to start wide if needed than an untested 20-year old.
Look at it this way. It's a Champions League Quarter Final. Even if two of Nani, Park and Valencia were injured, we would still not play a kid on the wing. We simply wouldn't. Infact, lets say that 2 of the aforementioned 3 were injured, and say Hargreaves and Anderson are both injured as well, and Rooney is our only fit striker so has to play centrally. We STILL wouldn't play Sanchez. We'd play Giggs wide, and STILL have Tosic and Welbeck on the bench.
Maybe I'll be proved wrong but I can't see us buying another young winger/forward unless one of our current crop is sold on. And I have high hopes for all of Nani, Welbeck, Tosic and Llajic.
I am hoping that Llajic will be a creative, attacking centre midfielder for us in time. Giggs has proved that having someone central with the ability to dribble can make a huge difference in the current congested centre midfield area.
Well, at least you don't appear to have caught the "we've got £80m, and we should spunk it all on <insert name of the last player to be mentioned in the newspapers>" bug.
I understand your point, I really do, and I'm not exactly suggesting that we should definitely buy Sanchez, or any other player, but I do have several misgivings about what you have laid out in this post.
Welbeck is an 18 year old striker. Sure, he's been used in a deeper role, which is actually more of an auxiliary forward role, but I'm fairly certain that it has more to do with giving Welbeck some playing time, as opposed to something that he will eventually be asked to do on a regular basis. And in any case, the role of a forward is different to that of a winger, as both are different to that of an attacking midfielder. Danny Welbeck will likely only ever to become a striker or a forward, in my opinion.
Owen Hargreaves is, as you well know, a central midfielder. He can certainly perform a role on the right-hand-side, but it's only really for tactical purposes, and one that we are likely to use sparingly — if he's fit, may I add. 90% of our games require little or no tactical adjustment, especially along those lines. Manchester United expects others to change in an effort to negate what we do, in most games, not the other way around.
Giggs is 35 years old, and while I'm sure that he can still perform a role on the left-hand-side, he is rarely used in more than one game a week, which is a situation that can only extend further to what is effectively one game a fortnight, etc.
Anderson is certainly the most interesting case that you have highlighted. When we bought him, he was, at that time, expected to go on to become an attacking midfielder, in the mold of the likes of Ronaldinho and Kaka (very different players, of course). But that role — in Brazil, at least — is very different to anything that you find in Europe. Brazil have often used a 4-2-2-2 formation, with two defensive midfielders, and two attacking midfielders playing in front of them. Ronaldinho became a forward at Barcelona, starting out of the left, and Kaka has consistently been used as a central attacking midfielder, at Milan, in a 4-3-2-1 formation.
So, Anderson could be used as an attacking midfielder, but only in the 4-2-3-1 formation that we sometimes employ, and it would require Sir Alex to move away from his initial thinking, which was to convert him in to an attacking central midfielder, in the mold of Paul Scholes.
Rooney can certainly be used as a forward, on either side, and I'm far less skeptical about that role than some on here. I don't see football in the black and white terms that some do, where each position is totally distinctive, and a players should only ever be asked to perform in the one role. I have no doubt that there is considerable overlap between roles, and that Rooney, not only should be expected to perform well in other roles, but that it's good for his appreciation of the game.
But still, using Rooney in a forward role would mean that we would probably need another striker. Tevez looks to be about to sign for Man City — although that obviously hasn't been confirmed — which would leave us with only Rooney and Berbatov as anything like an experienced strike force. Expecting Macheda and Welbeck to be anything more than 18 year old's, needing time to fully develop, would be dangerous for both our chances of achieving anything, and more importantly, their careers.
So, as I've already said, that effectively leaves us with Park, Valencia, Nani, and Tosic, to fill a role that United almost always need filling — and excelling in — in at least 90% of our games. Just look at those names. Only one — Park — can be expected to actually perform, and he's not exactly been the go-to-guy for creativity and flair, let alone, goals.
I'm an admirer of Valencia, and I expect him to instantly improve our first eleven, especially now that Ronaldo has been sold, but there are certainly no guarantee's. And he can hardly be expected to take up the role, and everything that came with it, of Ronaldo. I doubt that he would ever be able to do that. He's an excellent player, but not one that will ever be considered for WPOTY.
I also have high hopes for Nani and Tosic, but again, they have a lot of work ahead of them. You appear to be placing a lot of trust in players that, at this moment in time, have shown very little to warrant that trust.
Of course, you can certainly throw some of those accusations back at me, and perhaps I should have been more clear about what I see a player like Sanchez adding to our squad. But that would miss a crucial point. Unless we are prepared to spend in the region of £40-50m on a player that would instantly fill part, and only part, of the huge, gaping hole that Ronaldo has left, we have to look to the future. Park and Valencia will never fill that hole, either on their own, or even as a pair. We have no idea how Nani and Tosic will turn out, but neither is likely to become as important as Ronaldo was, in my opinion.
Now, as I've already said, elsewhere, that there is no need — and in fact, it's impossible — to directly replace what Ronaldo brought to the team, but we do need those "fantasy" players at this club — the special players that make that difference. Sanchez has the potential — and it's only that — to be one of those players. Our job is to look for what is potentially the next big star of world football, and before they become £50-80m players. Even if one of our players becomes that, it's worth the outlay on three or four.
A player like Sanchez would not be brought in with the expectation of winning us the Champions league, at least, not in the short term, but then, neither were Tosic or Llajic. That's not really the point, either.
Lennon is onw of the most overrated players in the PL. His pace is a valuable asset but he lacks any sort of consitency, his control is poor and his crossing often dire.
Ashley Young is a much better prospect and I wouldn't be surprised if United had some interest in him.
probably put off by the price it would require. villa don't need the money and it would cost us over 25 million quid IMO for him.
Things have gone a bit quiet on this one!
He is more of a winger than anything else.. He plays on either left or right for his club week in week out.. He plays in a free role for his country i.e just behind the lone striker.. I doubt that he will be given that role at our club.. he will be played as a winger and that is what we should expect..
He is more of a winger than anything else.. He plays on either left or right for his club week in week out.. He plays in a free role for his country i.e just behind the lone striker.. I doubt that he will be given that role at our club.. he will be played as a winger and that is what we should expect..
I don't have any link or anything, but a Barca friend of mine told me they were in for Young with a £30m offer
isnt that a lot?Ridulous money considering they lambasted Real's transfer policy artificially inflating transfer fees...I don't have any link or anything, but a Barca friend of mine told me they were in for Young with a £30m offer
Isn't it sad that the top three posts on the front page are all mega-threads on young Latino players who we won't sign.
I would normally agree.. But with Ronaldo & Tevez gone there is every chance of us signing either one of Valencia, Alexis or Costa.. If indeed you were referring to these players.. The other being Aguero.. Which one is not part of the 3? Now don't say Valencia..
Perhaps - it would depend if he eanted to leave at this point in his career.
Even at £25 million I'd say he may be worth a go.
When I made that post the top three threads were Aguero, Costa and Sanchez.
I don't have any link or anything, but a Barca friend of mine told me they were in for Young with a £30m offer
He'd be crap for Barca.
I did say in time, I would expect him to play wide in his first few seasons and then we'll have to see how he'll develop. I would like to see us abandon the system of 2 defensive midfielders, and maybe the loss of Ronaldo means that we can be a little more adventurous and progressive from the centre of midfield.
How I knew that was coming
I agree..
We play a 4-3-3/4-5-1 in Europe & we play a 4-4-2 in the PL almost every week.
We also do not have 2 DM's to play.. We truly have only 1 DM (Hargreaves) and that too is questionable.. We have Fletcher and Carrick who do a good job defensively.. but they are not DM's nor are Anderson or Scholes..
I am very keen to see Ljajic develop and also see which position he could take up.. But IMO at present it looks highly doubtful that he would play through the centre for us... Moreover I cannot see us playing him in Midfield in a 4-4-2 formation.. The only chance we would ever play him through the centre is if we play a 4-3-3/4-5-1.. But as I said I highly doubt that at present..
If SAF saw him as a central player my guess would be he would atleast play a few games for his club from the middle.. But he hasn't.. He has only played from either the left or the right..
Imagine Sanchez, Douglas Costa and Valencia that would be something
Do you seriously think that we wouldn't play Sanchez because of age and have both Tosic and Welbeck ahead of him?
Well we had a certain Ronaldo at the club and didn't hesitate to play him in all kinds of important games even in his first year at United.
Yeah if Sanchez were to join us I would suspect he would walk into the starting 11.. Probably with Park on the other flank..
I have a sneaky feeling we might be interested in him.. Not saying that we will sign him as Udinese seriously don't look like selling as they just lost Quagliarella and will not want to compound their misery by selling Sanchez too..
I have a sneaky feeling we might be interested in him.. Not saying that we will sign him as Udinese seriously don't look like selling as they just lost Quagliarella and will not want to compound their misery by selling Sanchez too..
Where's he gone?
To his hometown Napoli, if I m not wrong
What he said.
Thanks both.
Apparantly Benitez wants to battle SAF for him. Cute...
Bring out the battle notes then. Why he should join Liverpool...
They are a club on the up! DOn't take my word for it though, just as Harry "Fat Bastard" Kewell.
This is the story that won't go away.....
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