If we are not getting Pedro because of Januzaj/Perreira etc...

RedStarUnited said:
I would honestly be satisfied of that. I am a big Pedro fan but it would please me even more to see our own players do well.
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Totally agree. I'd MUCH, MUCH rather see Januzaj and Pereira get gametime ahead of him. Tbh I don't even think Pedro would improve us that much, he's a decent player but nothing more. Januzaj and Pereira have the potential to be far better.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Take Aguero out of City, Costa out of Chelsea, Giroud out of Arsenal and Benteke out of Liverpool's team and they'd be similarly buggered...
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Even with Costa and without any other major injuries in their squad, Chelsea have looked out of sorts in their first two matches this season. That might have more to do with José looking more like the same José that up and quit Chelsea in September of 2007 though.

Anyway, I agree that we're no more susceptible to being weakened by injury than any other top tier team. I also think that our recent problems with injuries seem to not be the loss of any one specific key individual but rather, the loss of multiple players all at one time, for significant periods of time and, as was the case with our defense for large portions of last season, players who play the same position but are all crocked at the same time.

Dazzmondo said:
Ugh, this has started already. The Pedro situation was handled terribly, and there is no doubt we have missed out. There is no positive from this, stop looking for one...
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We're 2-0 in the league and we just won (by two goals) the first of a two-legged tie that, should we win, will get us back into the group stage of the Champions League. There's plenty TO be positive about around here, or at the least, there is plenty to be optimistic about.

This isn't a disaster and your opinions about what you think is going to transpire in regards to our youngsters and playing time and whatnot comes across as completely over-the-top whinging and belly-aching because we passed or were passed over in this instance.

I think plenty of people on here are making valid and logical arguments that Pedro wasn't needed as bad as some of you think, if at all. This isn't the end of the world or our season.

August 19th, everyone.
 
Not sure if Pedro being passed on has anything to do with Januzaj/Perreira but, do wonder perhaps if there were some reservations and with Darmian looking like the starter for RB, perhaps LVG is thinking he has the option for Valencia back on the wing to provide the option of pace/width not to mention Young. Though neither of those have the goals perhaps Pedro could have provided, don't think Januzaj/Perreira provide the goal threat either if that indeed was what Pedro was wanted for.

Pedro would have been a good solid signing and given us more depth but, there is the silver lining that it may mean that the two youngsters may get more minutes.
 
dave2528 said:
We're 2-0 in the league and we just won (by two goals) the first of a two-legged tie that, should we win, will get us back into the group stage of the Champions League. There's plenty TO be positive about around here, or at the least, there is plenty to be optimistic about.

This isn't a disaster and your opinions about what you think is going to transpire in regards to our youngsters and playing time and whatnot comes across as completely over-the-top whinging and belly-aching because we passed or were passed over in this instance.

I think plenty of people on here are making valid and logical arguments that Pedro wasn't needed as bad as some of you think, if at all. This isn't the end of the world or our season.

August 19th, everyone.
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We've done well with results for sure and our defence has looked great, which is why I didn't make a bigger deal about Otamendi joining City, but I don't think anyone could genuinely claim we've looked good in attack (apart from against Brugge, but honestly they were very bad). Januzaj hasn't actually looked great in either game imo. He got a good goal but outside of that, he really didn't offer that much. I don't think we should be making too big of a deal out of the results yet tbh, since Spurs played poorly against us and I would have expected us to beat Villa (by more honestly). Swansea and Liverpool will likely be the games where we see if our squad is really good enough to push for the title.

The fact that LVG clearly wanted Pedro should be indication enough that he doesn't want to have to rely on the youngsters. That he is seemingly going after Mané now indicates that even more clearly, and I'd say that pretty much confirms my suspicions that LVG doesn't see the youngsters as starters atm. It wouldn't surprise me if we end up paying a higher transfer fee for Mané than we would have needed to for Pedro which is pretty ridiculous. I'm not saying it's the end of our season but it's definitely a blow to our title chances, no point suggesting otherwise.
 
Dazzmondo said:
The fact that LVG clearly wanted Pedro should be indication enough that he doesn't want to have to rely on the youngsters. That he is seemingly going after Mané now indicates that even more clearly, and I'd say that pretty much confirms my suspicions that LVG doesn't see the youngsters as starters atm.
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Mane is still young and largely unproven. If we were to sign him it'd be for his potential, as he is far from being a world beater right now.
 
mu4c_20le said:
Mane is still young and largely unproven. If we were to sign him it'd be for his potential, as he is far from being a world beater right now.
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At 23, he has pace but not much else imo. A decent strike. Potential is one thing but the fact is that despite being 2 years older than Memphis he's nowhere near his quality. Honestly, that's not the type of player we should be looking for right now. If he does join, I will of course support him, but going from Pedro to Mané in just 1 day doesn't look good. There's also the inconvenience of him potentially being missing for the African Cup of Nations every 2 years.

EDIT: Also, if you were trying to suggest that he won't start because you are considering him to be a youngster, I disagree. At 23, he doesn't fall into the youngster category in the same way that Adnan (20), Pereira (18) and Wilson (19) do. I'm pretty sure we're signing him to be a starter or at the least rotation (but most likely the former).
 
Dazzmondo said:
At 23, he has pace but not much else imo. A decent strike. Potential is one thing but the fact is that despite being 2 years older than Memphis he's nowhere near his quality. Honestly, that's not the type of player we should be looking for right now. If he does join, I will of course support him, but going from Pedro to Mané in just 1 day doesn't look good. There's also the inconvenience of him potentially being missing for the African Cup of Nations every 2 years.

EDIT: Also, if you were trying to suggest that he won't start because you are considering him to be a youngster, I disagree. At 23, he doesn't fall into the youngster category in the same way that Adnan (20), Pereira (18) and Wilson (19) do. I'm pretty sure we're signing him to be a starter or at the least rotation (but most likely the former).
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Yeah. If we were going for someone in a similar vein to Memphis, as in young, big potential but very good already, then I would have thought Felipe Anderson would be the standout. Has loads of pace, is a creative player, scores goals, etc.. Mane is just underwheming in every way.
 
Memphis just showed he's better on the left than central. LVG may have decided it's gonna be Memphis on the left, where before Pedro slotted in easily in front of Young.

So the right attacker position is Mata, so do we want Pedro over him? That's a tough call, Mata is settled and known, it may be a toss up, not worth selling Mata to bring in Pedro thing.

Lingard on the right is good backup. We could put Mata central but then no Januzaj.
 
I never wanted Pedro in the first place. And I think it is a good thing if not signing him means Januzaj stays this season.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Rooney?

Take Aguero out of City, Costa out of Chelsea, Giroud out of Arsenal and Benteke out of Liverpool's team and they'd be similarly buggered.

In an ideal world we could do with better back-up strikers than Wilson, Hernandez and Januzaj but we're not that much worse off than our rivals.
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I'd go with Smalling actually.
 
I find this thread a little weird as Pedro is a winger, and surely he would be played on the right if we got him. So, it’s Mata who would (probably) lose his spot.

How many times has Januzaj played on the right? I always thought that would be his best position, but not sure van Gaal buys this idea. Pereira always played on the left but I imagine he’s more of a midfielder anyway.
 
Neither of those players provide the pace and threat from the right wing that we require... I'm all for giving them a chance, they'd get plenty of games this season even as the alternatives to the first choice 3 of Memphis/Mata/Pedro.
 
bosnian_red said:
Yeah. If we were going for someone in a similar vein to Memphis, as in young, big potential but very good already, then I would have thought Felipe Anderson would be the standout. Has loads of pace, is a creative player, scores goals, etc.. Mane is just underwheming in every way.
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Yeah, Felipe Anderson is a good player. Surprised we haven't really been linked to him tbh.
 
Borys said:
I find this thread a little weird as Pedro is a winger, and surely he would be played on the right if we got him. So, it’s Mata who would (probably) lose his spot.

How many times has Januzaj played on the right? I always thought that would be his best position, but not sure van Gaal buys this idea. Pereira always played on the left but I imagine he’s more of a midfielder anyway.
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If we had bought Pedro, Mata most likely would have gone into the cam position with Memphis on the left and Pedro on the right. The same thing is probably going to happen except with Mané playing on the right instead of Pedro. I don't think LVG seriously sees Januzaj as a starter right now and tbh I don't think his 2 performances were good enough to merit a starting place. Take out his goal and he really didn't offer much.
 
Borys said:
I find this thread a little weird as Pedro is a winger, and surely he would be played on the right if we got him. So, it’s Mata who would (probably) lose his spot.

How many times has Januzaj played on the right? I always thought that would be his best position, but not sure van Gaal buys this idea. Pereira always played on the left but I imagine he’s more of a midfielder anyway.
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I think if Pedro came then Mata would go behind Rooney in the middle. Or Pedro left and Memphis middle. Don't think Mata would be dropped. Right now, we don't really have anybody capable of playing on the right apart from Mata who (IMO) is doing a very good job out there these opening few games. So is Mata maybe on the right because the alternative is Januzaj who struggled a lot whenever played on the wing? Or is it because Van Gaal doesn't want to use Mata as the #10. Anyone's guess really. Mata is definitely our best right sided player right now though, so I think if we signed a right winger, then we wouldn't be forced to play Mata there and we could put Mata in the middle.
 
Pedro is quick, 5'5 and 28. Not a good combination for aging as a footballer. He'll be 31 and past it when Pereira is 21, so I don't think it was one or the other, necessarily.
 
bosnian_red said:
I think if Pedro came then Mata would go behind Rooney in the middle. Or Pedro left and Memphis middle. Don't think Mata would be dropped. Right now, we don't really have anybody capable of playing on the right apart from Mata who (IMO) is doing a very good job out there these opening few games. So is Mata maybe on the right because the alternative is Januzaj who struggled a lot whenever played on the wing? Or is it because Van Gaal doesn't want to use Mata as the #10. Anyone's guess really. Mata is definitely our best right sided player right now though, so I think if we signed a right winger, then we wouldn't be forced to play Mata there and we could put Mata in the middle.
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I honestly don't think LvG has any intention of playing Mata centrally as he's so easily knocked off the ball as he lacks the strength to protect it and the pace to get away from a CM. To me he's on the right as he's our best option at the moment, but if we bought a wide player with the pace and creativity LvG talked about Mata would be on the bench.
 
All these 20m signings add up. I think it would've been okay to have Pedro, but when someone better comes along, he's dispensable to the team but ends up being sold for next to nothing.

Mane would be the same don't get me wrong, but he won't demand as high a wage and surely knows he wouldn't come to United to be Johnny big bollocks.

We're waiting for Bale.
 
We prefer that random dude from Southampton
 
Agree wholeheartedly with the OP. Pedro's an excellent player and everything, but he's not exactly the sort to get the blood pumping and he's entering the end phase of his career. Much rather see us stick with our own kids, even if there are more bumps along the way as a result.
 
Pedro would have been a good signing because of his amazing composure in front of goal, but in all honesty I'm not completely blown away by him. Definitely an upgrade to Young, so a little gutted we pulled out of the deal.
Still think we have a tiny chance of pinching Bale with a potential De Gea deal, but it's looking less and less likely as 1st Sept draws near.
 
I've said all along I would love to see Januzaj in particular get games than buying Pedro, probably because I'm a huge Januzaj and Wilson fanboi and think they will both turn out to be very good players that absolutely need games to develop but I understand why some are gutted over Pedro.
 
Januzaj best position is as a #10, and he should be developed for that role as well. Perriera is much more versatile, he can play #10, attacking midfield and maybe on the wings a little, but we need a bigger threat on the right. Teams will concentrate on our main threat which is Memphis. Rooney just looks out of it at the moment, and Mata simply does not provide the threat on the right.
 
What a huge chance for Lingard that would be. He's still waiting on his run of games and to be honest he could have easily better scoring ratio than Young with his outside the box ability.
 
It's like the fact we are clearly trying to develop Adnan centrally and Pereira is not a right winger is just completely lost on this thread.
 
I've said it before. I'd rather see Januzaj, Lingaard or Pereira have chances in the team than see another big money signing. Not too bothered at losing out on Pedro, to be honest And I'll say that even if he proves a success for them. It irks me more when we lose out on younger players like how Hazard and Robben chose Chelsea over us.
 
Devil may care said:
It's like the fact we are clearly trying to develop Adnan centrally and Pereira is not a right winger is just completely lost on this thread.
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It's not as if 2/3rds of Januzaj's gametime in both the reserves before he broke into the 1st team and post it for us hasn't been on the right, but LvG does seem to be trying him centrally lately so I take your point.
 
settembrini said:
I guess this thread is as good as place as any...

Anyone else think that swapping Mata and Januzaj round would give us a really good attack? Januzaj's pace and ability to beat players is more valuable out wide and Mata superior use of the ball would be better used in a central position.
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I think they both are better in the middle, problem with both of them at present is they easily get knocked off the ball BUT Januzaj can build himself up as he's only 20 and got his whole career ahead of him...
 
BennyBlanco said:
It's not as if 2/3rds of Januzaj's gametime in both the reserves before he broke into the 1st team and post it for us hasn't been on the right, but LvG does seem to be trying him centrally lately so I take your point.
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I think with Adnan he probably feels his strengths will be better utilized centrally as he's lacking the acceleration on the wing and while Mata is ultra slow he has more experience too offset it to a degree.

Borys said:
Read my post a few above yours, but yeah, I don't get it.
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Sorry, there's just so many Class of '92 style romanticism posts in here without even taking the players positions vs Pedro's into account.
 
Devil may care said:
It's like the fact we are clearly trying to develop Adnan centrally and Pereira is not a right winger is just completely lost on this thread.
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I think most are overlooking that fact because they are assuming that if Pedro came in that Mata would be pushed central, thus moving Januzaj out of the squad.
 
Dazzmondo said:
If we had bought Pedro, Mata most likely would have gone into the cam position with Memphis on the left and Pedro on the right. The same thing is probably going to happen except with Mané playing on the right instead of Pedro. I don't think LVG seriously sees Januzaj as a starter right now and tbh I don't think his 2 performances were good enough to merit a starting place. Take out his goal and he really didn't offer much.
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bosnian_red said:
I think if Pedro came then Mata would go behind Rooney in the middle. Or Pedro left and Memphis middle. Don't think Mata would be dropped. Right now, we don't really have anybody capable of playing on the right apart from Mata who (IMO) is doing a very good job out there these opening few games. So is Mata maybe on the right because the alternative is Januzaj who struggled a lot whenever played on the wing? Or is it because Van Gaal doesn't want to use Mata as the #10. Anyone's guess really. Mata is definitely our best right sided player right now though, so I think if we signed a right winger, then we wouldn't be forced to play Mata there and we could put Mata in the middle.
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I don’t see van Gaal playing Mata in the hole. My view on that point is that he likes there somebody with ability to turn a defender and make himself some space to shoot. Mata, although clearly a second striker, doesn’t possess those attributes.

But the most important thing is, Mata is no winger. I said it yesterday, last year he was sort of a wide attacker drifting inside- Young was the one keeping the width, while he was playing much closer to the goal than he does now.

Now, it seems we will stick to Depay on the left and the roles have changed- Memphis is the wide striker, while Mata is doing much more job for the team on the right. Thing is, he’s not a threat at all. We simply cannot play like that because once the opponent shuts down our left wing, we will be toothless- especially with Rooney in such form. Our right side is very restricted because we’re attacking on the left, and someone like Pedro could change it.

That said, I’d rather switch Mata and Januzaj (who is much faster and more suited to the wing than Mata IMO) and see what comes out. Personally I don’t rate Mata that high in general, and I’d be happy to drop him if we get a good option for RW.
 
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dave2528 said:
I think most are overlooking that fact because they are assuming that if Pedro came in that Mata would be pushed central, thus moving Januzaj out of the squad.
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Which is strange to me since LvG has basically played everyone but him there for the reasons @Borys states.
 
Mata does a good job from the right and Memphis from the left. LvG probably wants someone to play being Rooney.
 
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