Twitter: @RedCafe_ATO
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Welcome to the return of Ask The Opposition. Before each game United plays this season, myself and KM will be asking fans of the opposing team some questions and we'll post a selection of responses in threads like this one.
After this, we're playing Chelsea in the league, so if anyone has any questions which they'd like to be asked, either reply to this thread with them, tweet @RedCafe_ATO or send myself and KM a PM.
This week, with us playing Swansea in the Premier League on Saturday, KM asked Swansea fans on Swansea forum Planet Swans some questions and here is what was asked, and their responses:
Q1: What are your thoughts/comments on what happened to you last season - in the league and the Carling Cup win especially?
MagicDaps: It was a fantastic season, to win the League Cup was unbelievable but in the League we showed that we had a lot more quality than we had in the previous season. It gives me confidence going in to this season that we'll be clear of relegation and that we've got a squad that will be able to build on last seasons success in the next few years.
bermudajack: The league was amazing, the start breathtaking, the cup run was surreal, although the final was a bit one sided, it was a great achievement in our centenary year, definitely our best ever season in 100 years.
Spokenword: Excellent, Far and beyond our expectations in the cup and the league.
Airedale: Over the moon with our final league position, but a bit disappointed with our run-in. A great day out at Wembley and our first ever major trophy capping off a great centenery season.
Q2: What are your expectations for the coming season and how do you think you will cope playing 50+ games with your squad?
MagicDaps: I'd expect a top half finish and the knock out stages of the Europa League, anything beyond that is a bonus.
I think we've got the squad to cope with 50+ games and European football, we've brought in a lot more strength in depth than last season and I'd be happy with any of our 22 man squad playing regularly in the Premier League.
bermudajack: Worried about our drop off last season after winning the cup, hope we're in much better shape this year or we could flirt with danger.
Spokenword: We've recruited smartly through the window and havent lost any players that would of been involved in the first team, most importantly we've added quality. I think we would again achieve mid table, and reach the quarters of the europa league....a cup run would be nice
Airedale: We hope to finish in the top half. The manager has assembled a squad of over 22 ‘first team’ players in anticipation of the 50+ games. (Old hat for you guys)
Q3: Swansea has been one of the busiest PL teams this summer in terms of incoming, so far you've signed up 8 players for a combined total of around 25m Euros. How do you rate your business so far?
MagicDaps:I think we've done fantastic business, even better than last season. Bony was exactly what we needed and he is perfect for us, he's good in the air, clinical and strong and will be a real focal point of our attack to link up with the wingers and Michu.
Amat, Canas and Pozuelo are all fantastic bargains. The three are very talented footballers and will all strengthen the squad and cost a combined £3 million.
Jonjo Shelvey gives us a lot of things that we've lacked in midfield, some directness and power. I think he'll be a shrewd buy. De Guzman is an astute signing on loan as well, and he and Shelvey give us a lot of depth and options in midfield.
On the whole I think we've invested very well, we've brought in young players who are already proven at the highest level and will improve even after Laudrup leaves at the end of the season. We've addressed all the main weaknesses of last season and have done everything (bar bringing in a back up striker) very early giving the new players time to settle in.
bermudajack: Exceeded our expectations, a very good striker will now complete our squad, for the first time we have 2 quality players for each position (except striker)
Spokenword: Business has been great, we've signed a prolific goal scorer in Bony to help Michu with the goal scoring, Shelvey looks like he could blossom into an important part of our team, and pozeulo could be another buy of the season in terms of price paid. Laudrup is very happy, but we are still looking for a back up striker.
Airedale: Well pleased from what we’ve seen in pre season and the Europa.
Q4: Michu, last season was heralded as one of the signings of the PL Era. Do you think he'll be able to sustain his quality in the second season or he'll turn out to be a one season wonder?
MagicDaps: I think he'll improve next season with Bony in front of him, it allows him to play in his natural position where he scores more goals and he has someone who can take the defenders attention away from him. He's put in two impressive performances in against Malmo and is looking in good shape for the start of the season.
bermudajack: Last season was his second really productive season in a row after his brilliant 11/12 season in la Liga, expect him to be just as effective this year. –
Spokenword: think he'll be as good, if not better. Michu wasn't played in his prefered position for most of last season, now he shares the goal scoring responability he could be even more dangerous. He has to much quality to be a flash in the pan.
Airedale: Irrespective of the [now famous] goal tally of last season, Michu is a commited , quality team member. If the goals come again then that will be a big bonus.
Q5: Are there any more players you would like to see sign for Swansea before the transfer window shuts?
MagicDaps: Just another striker to cover Bony, someone like Fabio Quagliarella or Allesandro Matri would be perfect.
bermudajack: Need another cf, I would like Vydra from Watford or Lukaku on loan myself. But wouldn't be too disappointed if we played Donnely more into the team.
Spokenword: Looking for a striker, Maybe a player like Shane long or Lukkau (however you spell it) for back up to Bony
Airedale: I think we would all like to see another quality striker come in, and I believe this is the intention of the manager too.
Q6: Which of your players are you looking most forward to seeing this season?
MagicDaps: Wilfried Bony, hoping that he can fire the goals in for us and he's a really exciting signing for us. If he can get half the goals he did at Vitesse last season he'd be a success and will give us what we lacked last season.
BermudaJack: Bony scoring lots of goals, but I have a sneaky feeling that Shelvey will steal the headlines, he's been quite incredible so far. Pozeulo looks a bit of a direct talented player too.
Spokenword: Bony to see how many goals he scores, but has mentioned before be interesting to see how Pozuelo and Shelvey devlop.
Airedale: As I said above the unit functions as a team. However there s definitely something that excites me about Jonjo’s [Charge!] mentality.
Q7: From the outside, Huw Jenkins seems to have played an important role in the rise of Swansea City, how do you rate him as a Chairman?
MagicDaps: The best chairman in the Premier League.
He, and the board working with him are running the club better than anyone else in the country and it's been the key to our success. Players and managers come and go but the fans stay, and the board are fans of the club who have run the club the right way and are responsible for the rise of the club.
Whilst the board is running the club, we'll be successful. Even if we do go down, we'll be in a great financial position to push for promotion back to the Premier League again.
bermudajack: The best chairman we could have ever hoped for, the last 10 years has been a fairy tale of successes, so much so, their making a movie " from a Jack to a king" I think it's called :-)
Spokenword: 10/10, Financially shrewd, best interest of the club at all times, i couldnt praise him enough.
Airedale: I don’t know much about other club’s chairmen, but I would say that there wouldn’t be a better one. The bloke is a class act.
Q8: Any youngsters from the academy we should look forward to see this season? Ex-United youngster Kenji Gorre signed for Swansea last season, how is he doing?
MagicDaps: Kenji impressed in pre season and scored a couple of goals, I think he might make a couple of appearances this season.
Rory Donnelly would be the one to look out for, I'd expect him to be third choice striker this season and break through in to the first team. He scored goals for fun in pre season and I'd expect him to be given his chance this season, he seems to be a good goal poacher so I fancy him to chip in with a few goals himself this season.
bermudajack: Played well on tour pre-season, maybe a few sub appearances on the cards this season, would like to see Rory Donnely & Jazz Richards get some 1st team game time this season.
Spokenword: Havent seen enough of him to judge.
Airedale: We may see Rory Donnelly, a wonderkid striker brought in by Brendan Rogers, he played well in pre-season. Kenji looked very classy for the U21s last season, and he is one of a number of good quality youngsters brought in to the U21s recently.
Q9: There was a huge dispute between the Swansea board and Laudrup at the start of the season which threatened to disrupt a very successful and good Swansea season. What are your thoughts about it? Has that issue been resolved?
MagicDaps: The only issue is the press, there wasn't any dispute between the board and the manager. Laudrup wanted money and we were always going to give it to him, the dispute was mainly with his agent who was running his mouth to the media about Laudrup and trying to sell Ashley Williams without the clubs consent. The issue has been resolved as we've cut all ties with his agent and Laudrup doesn't seem too bothered.
bermudajack: A classic case of a manager wanting more funds than a chairman wanted to part with. No big deal. He got his way and Laudrups agent got told where to go. –
Spokenword: Was there a huge dispute??? I feel there was a dispute but not with Huw and ML, it was between Huw and ML agent. ML has always said that their relationship has been good. If there was any issue's, he wouldnt be here judging on his actions at previous clubs.
Airedale: Swans supporters are unaware of any rift between the Board and Michael Laudrup at any time. Although like yourseleves we noticed that a lot was made of ‘it’ in the media. You guys must be well used to this sort of of thing.
Q10: Speaking of managers, what was the main difference in your playing style when you replaced Rodgers with Micheal Laudrup?
MagicDaps: He made us a more direct passing teams, going from a mentality of 'you can't concede when you have the ball' to 'every pass has a purpose'. A lot more of our passes are played forward, and we've got players like Shelvey and Pablo who will more often than not look for a killer ball rather than a simple one.
The other main difference is the use of the wingers, under Rodgers the wingers would be on the touchlines but with Laudrup the wingers cut inside a lot and try and cause problems through the middle of the defence rather than going around them. It's more of a Spanish mentality, and when you do get through the defence down the middle it's much more likely to result in a goal.
bermudajack: We are now managed by a legend who loves to win things, more attacking threat, less tippy tappy on the halfway line.
Spokenword: ML has given us a more counter attacking style, we are more direct attacking wise and have scored more goals under ML. Under BR we were more focused on ball retention, and worrying about what the oppostiion were going to do.
Airedale: Brendan preached possession football, ‘if they haven’t got the ball they can’t score’. ML improved the squad and introduced a more attacking mentality, still based around possession football.
Q11: Ryan Giggs is arguably the greatest Manchester United player, however there has been an argument that he didn't ever give his best for Wales National Team, do you think he is Wales's greatest ever player?
MagicDaps: I don't think he's even a contender due to the way he played for the national team. Faking injuries to get off playing international duty and his lack of commitment and effort when playing for the nation was disgraceful.
bermudajack: He never seemed bothered about playing for Wales, United was his priority. I think Bellamy showed more for Wales than Giggs.
Spokenword: There's no question that he is a great player, but for Wales it's questionable. Giggs could of doubled his cap tally if he was avaiable to do so, but somehow this didnt materialise. There was few games that he peformed for us at the same level as he did for united, of course this could of been down to the players playing with him with Wales, as other international teams would target Giggs. Greatest welsh player? Yes, for Wales? No.
Airedale: Giggsy is definitely one of the MU ‘greats’. He is also one of the best to ever play for Wales.
Q12: How do you think Manchester United will fare under David Moyes this season?
MagicDaps: I think you'll finish 3rd, and I don't think you'll win anything other than your Community Shield. I don't rate Moyes as a manager, I don't think he'll be able to bring in a big name, I don't think he's got the experience for Europa and his record on the big occasion is awful.
bermudajack: Depends if you keep Rooney, with him Champions, without him 3rd, IMO he pushes the team forward, he demands a win, a really sore loser, just the type of player every team needs.
Spokenword: We will see. I feel he will do well given time, but it depends on how much patience United have with him. I wouldnt mind putting a cheeky bet that Sir Alex returns in October.
Airedale: believe that Moyes could be a great manager for MU, and I also think he is his own man (he wouldn’t have got the job if he wasn’t). MU will be 'top 3' again
Q13: Finally your predictions for the match?
MagicDaps: 2-1 Swans. –
bermudajack: 1-2 loss but it will be a close one, (word is Bony will not play as he has to play a friendly for the Ivory Coast in USA).
Spokenword: 2-1 Swans, I think we will be sharper and catch united cold.
Airedale: Score draw (1 – 1?) Be nice to win though
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Link to full thread with all responses
If any of you have any suggestions on what we should do as part of this, or any questions for future games, reply to the thread, send myself/KM a PM or tweet @RedCafe_ATO.
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TBF the Giggs stuff is no different than what some Wales fans have been saying for years, I've heard from plenty of Welshmen who are proud of him too.