[manusteve]

Falcao has been disappointing, but can we please remember he is a loan player? Also, what happened to giving a foreign player time to adapt to the Premier League?

The criticism of Falcao is excessive, but I agree absolutely he hasn't shown much of his previous form at United.

However, I also think RvP has been mediocre this season.

Lucky we have Rooney...

 

[JPRouve]

This really shows what a touch league PL is. Who knows, maybe even Messi would look average in england

In Spain teams don't close the space as fast as they do in PL they are well organised, they can be very aggressive, but you have a little bit of time to control the ball.
At the top a good first touch is crucial in England.

 

[Litch]

He isn’t the scapegoat he just isn’t very good and shouldn’t be starting games based on his performances and fact he seems to be getting worse rather than improving. You make the point about service and of course any striker is going to have more opportunities with better service but I fail to see how that explains his lack of movement, mobility, pace, why he gets knocked off the ball too often and why he can’t control the ball.

You also aren’t taking into consideration that Costa gets on the end of more of that service because he is faster, stronger, better on the ground, better in the air, works harder and creates opportunities for himself. Falcao has had 3 serious knee injuries and came back way to early from the last one, he is nothing like the player he used to be, signing him isn’t even an option and the question now should be whether we play him or not. On current form the answer is a resounding no and we will be better off without him in the side unless he improves dramatically in a very short space of time.

On the premise, who is good in the team over the last 10 games? RVP, Rooney in midfield, Di Maria, anyone at the back bar Shaw? Sorry the performances as a team have been dire so yes to isolate one player makes no sense.

His movement has been his strong point imo but you need quality of the pass to match the movement. You see when you look negatively at anyone, you'll always see the things you don't like. He's been as good as he has been bad. He's had good and bad moments but he's contibuted with assists and goals.
For me his attitude has been very good and he gives 100%. That's a player who's trying very hard. Now that might not be good enough but that's the least you'd expect from a utd player.

Costa is playing in a very good Chelsea team but Real or Barca weren't fighting for his signature. He's a very good player but not world class. Let's see what Falcao is like when we are playing better football because Costa would look very poor in this team as its only creating 4-5 chances a game hence our lack of goals.

 

[Litch]

Uhm, that's what you'd normally expect from your striker? Especially if you pay him above 200(probably above 250 but whatever) thousand quid per week and buying him will cost you around bloody 50 mln quid?

As for the last part of your post, are you suggesting that we should actually buy him out from Monaco? On what basis really?

Put down your Joypad its not FIFA 15. No striker scores goals at that ratio consistently. I'm not suggesting anything other than its too soon to make any assessment. The guys been here 6 months, probably 3 of which he was recovering or injured. Let's be realistic, he's not bloody Roy of the Rovers.....

 

[Kostur]

Put down your Joypad its not FIFA 15. No striker scores goals at that ratio consistently. I'm not suggesting anything other than its too soon to make any assessment. The guys been here 6 months, probably 3 of which he was recovering or injured. Let's be realistic, he's not bloody Roy of the Rovers.....

His ratio is one goal every 286 minutes. Let's be realistic, that's fecking shit.

 

[JonDahl]

Falcao has been disappointing, but can we please remember he is a loan player? Also, what happened to giving a foreign player time to adapt to the Premier League?

He's on loan, he doesn't have time to adapt. Either he delivers the goods or we get rid.

 

[Gopher Brown]

If I was Mendes, or Monaco, or whoever holds his contract, I'd pay handsomely to cut his loan deal short and get him back in Ligue 1. Every game he plays with us his stock falls a little further.

If Welbeck is worth £16m, you couldn't say Falcao is worth any more than about £10m at the moment - a fifth of what he was supposedly worth at the start of the season.

I am very worried that we have, in fact, signed him permanently already, and the arrangement we had was to appease book-keepers either at our end or Monaco's end. That might better he's reason why van Gaal is persisting with him so.

 

[Roboc7]

On the premise, who is good in the team over the last 10 games? RVP, Rooney in midfield, Di Maria, anyone at the back bar Shaw? Sorry the performances as a team have been dire so yes to isolate one player makes no sense.

His movement has been his strong point imo but you need quality of the pass to match the movement. You see when you look negatively at anyone, you'll always see the things you don't like. He's been as good as he has been bad. He's had good and bad moments but he's contibuted with assists and goals.
For me his attitude has been very good and he gives 100%. That's a player who's trying very hard. Now that might not be good enough but that's the least you'd expect from a utd player.

Costa is playing in a very good Chelsea team but Real or Barca weren't fighting for his signature. He's a very good player but not world class. Let's see what Falcao is like when we are playing better football because Costa would look very poor in this team as its only creating 4-5 chances a game hence our lack of goals.

You can play a great pass but if the guy your playing it too can’t run then that’s no good either and to be fair his movement is nothing special, he tries spinning in behind but can’t out run anyone, he comes short but it’s hit and miss whether he can control it or not and he can’t turn his man. He is a goal poacher whose 3 serious knee injuries have caught up with him, he has only experienced being the focal point in teams and his limitations as well as his decline are being exposed.

I think it is laughable to suggest Costa wouldn’t do better in this side, he wouldn’t be as prolific as he has been at Chelsea but he would have scored a lot more than 4. Also don’t understand the argument about the top sides not wanting Costa, which ones wanted Falcao? He went to Monaco and was being offered to anyone who would take him in the summer and I think it is pretty obvious that any manager would rather have Costa than Falcao now, 2 years ago it would have been different but things change.

There are plenty of under performers but at this moment in time he is the worst and he deserves to be dropped, there is no argument against that, persisting with him is a pointless, he won’t be here next season, he isn’t improving and we have other players who can come in and improve the team

 

[Pogue Mahone]

One thing's for sure. He's been an absolute fecking albatross around Van Gaal's neck this season. He has to give him as much chance as possible to see if he can get back to his best and every time he drops him Mendes starts bleating. The same Mendes we're locked in lengthy negotiations with about extending the contract of our best player this season. Must be a huge headache he could really have done without.

 

[Brophs]

One thing's for sure. He's been an absolute fecking albatross around Van Gaal's neck this season. He has to give him as much chance as possible to see if he can get back to his best and every time he drops him Mendes starts bleating. The same Mendes we're locked in lengthy negotiations with about extending the contract of our best player this season. Must be a huge headache he could really have done without.

I suppose that raises the issue of whether he wanted Falcao, in which case it's difficult to have that much sympathy, whether he didn't push for him but was passive when it was mooted, which is something that may well have been the case with Herrera, or whether he had no choice in the matter, in which case it's pretty apparent our DOF is Mendes, using Woody as his faithful, albeit dumb, personal assistant (who looks like a troll with short hair).

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I suppose that raises the issue of whether he wanted Falcao, in which case it's difficult to have that much sympathy, whether he didn't push for him but was passive when it was mooted, which is something that may well have been the case with Herrera, or whether he had no choice in the matter, in which case it's pretty apparent our DOF is Mendes, using Woody as his faithful, albeit dumb, personal assistant (who looks like a troll with short hair).

We'll never know which scenario is the right one but Woody has been bulling for a "galactico" signing ever since he took the reins, so it does seem likely he was the whip hand here. And, as you say, exactly the kind of monied newbie CEO that Mendes could play like a fiddle.

 

[Brophs]

We'll never know which scenario is the right one but Woody has been bulling for a "galactico" signing ever since he took the reins, so it does seem likely he was the whip hand here. And, as you say, exactly the kind of monied newbie CEO that Mendes could play like a fiddle.

Yeah. This media line of us cosying up to Mendes sort of ignores the fact that it's just as likely he was very keen to get his hooks into us at a time when we had money to spend, a new, possibly easily led executive vice chairman (as a matter of interest, why isn't he chairman?) and a squad with lots of holes.

Mendes saw the opportunity, I suspect and was more than receptive to our advances.

 

[finneh]

One thing's for sure. He's been an absolute fecking albatross around Van Gaal's neck this season. He has to give him as much chance as possible to see if he can get back to his best and every time he drops him Mendes starts bleating. The same Mendes we're locked in lengthy negotiations with about extending the contract of our best player this season. Must be a huge headache he could really have done without.

Absolutely. It was an ambitious gamble that has ultimately failed. We should use him from the bench from now on, where perhaps fresh legs against a tiring defence won't make him look like he's running through treacle. Van Gaal has given him more than enough time to prove he's worth the £40m~ fee and short of turning into Messi for the remainder of the season he is bound to fall short of this valuation.

If he scores the winner from the bench against Arsenal in the next round or in an important PL game that could be the difference between getting 4th he'll be remembered fondly.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Have to feel for him... he's gone from World Class to being genuinely terrible at football.

He's a footballing experiment we can't afford to keep using.

 

[Cristiano Jonaldo]

I am genuinely shocked by how bad Falcao has been. Some players just can't adapt to the speed and physicality of the premiership though.

I fully expect him to play in Europe next year and be awesome again. Remember Forlan? Terrible for us, but amazing in Spain.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

His ratio is one goal every 286 minutes. Let's be realistic, that's fecking shit.

It's absolutely disastrous for any striker, let alone one with his reputation and salary.

He has had his recovery time and his time to "get used to the league" (didn't take Costa long did it?) and he still hasn't performed. Rooney looked better than him last night, before and after the change of formation.

Once RvP is back it will be him and Rooney up front, I don't think LvG fully trusts Wilson yet but I would have even him over Falcao at this stage.

 

[saivet]

Falcao has been disappointing, but can we please remember he is a loan player? Also, what happened to giving a foreign player time to adapt to the Premier League?

The criticism of Falcao is excessive, but I agree absolutely he hasn't shown much of his previous form at United.

However, I also think RvP has been mediocre this season.

Lucky we have Rooney...

When it's for a huge amount of money, for a guy who's 29. Time? He needed to make an impact immediately.

 

[RocK3T]

I said to my City supporting mate that he would finish the season with more goals than Aguero. I was half-joking to wind him up but I never imagined it would be this bad. Luckily, said City fan doesn't seem to remember me saying this so it looks as if I'm off the hook!

Thinking about it, I have a made some awful predictions in my time. I have no idea how any of my colleagues/friends take my opinion on football seriously!

 

[louvega]

While he's looked like complete shit so far, I wouldn't be surprised if he found much better form after changing the way the team plays. He's not the only one looking bad this season. I actually have a hard time finding anybody in the team looking good so far, everybody is performing below par so far.

 

[Dunk]

I am very worried that we have, in fact, signed him permanently already, and the arrangement we had was to appease book-keepers either at our end or Monaco's end. That might better he's reason why van Gaal is persisting with him so.

It seems like the opposite. I think it's clear to Falcao we're not too keen on him, so he's now not putting the effort in at all.

 

[Maldini's Hair]

I can't see any reason why he should start any further games for us, but he will though won't he? It's a shame because he was a beast of a striker in the not too distant past and now he looks out of his depth against League 1 & 2 sides. A Torres-esque fall from grace.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

He's getting hammered on here but I'd personally still have Falcao above Van Persie in my striker hierarchy at the moment, at least he puts in a shift and tries to make stuff happen.

edit - not to say Falcao should start, personally I'd drop both of them

 

[Sammyjunn]

And RvP actually makes something happen occasionaly, his touch is better, better hold up and link up play and he actually scores goals, and not only the crappy ones.

He's getting hammered on here but I'd personally still have Falcao above Van Persie in my striker hierarchy at the moment, at least he puts in a shift and tries to make stuff happen.

edit - not to say Falcao should start, personally I'd drop both of them

 

[Bojan11]

He's getting hammered on here but I'd personally still have Falcao above Van Persie in my striker hierarchy at the moment, at least he puts in a shift and tries to make stuff happen.

edit - not to say Falcao should start, personally I'd drop both of them

That's nonsense about RVP. Pretty sure there was a stat saying RVP was covering more distance. Also RVP doesn't get his agent to talk in the media, when he's not playing.

 

[Massive Spanner]

I feel sorry for him. He's obviously giving his all and desperate to prove himself and how good he can be, but it's just not working at all. He has to go in the summer.

 

[Pexbo]

I feel sorry for him. He's obviously giving his all and desperate to prove himself and how good he can be, but it's just not working at all. He has to go in the summer.

I don't think there's any questions over him being done here, I just worry what sort of gentleman's agreement we have in place over his play time. The powers of Mendes.

We'd be wrong to piss Mendes off and if we were to drop Falcao, like we should, it would be absolutely disasterous for him in regards to getting a contract somewhere next year. Can we really afford to piss off the agent of De Gea, Di Maria and so many potential great signings... or can we afford not to?

 

[mu77]

He's getting hammered on here but I'd personally still have Falcao above Van Persie in my striker hierarchy at the moment, at least he puts in a shift and tries to make stuff happen.

edit - not to say Falcao should start, personally I'd drop both of them

not a chance - RVP is better than he is. falcao can't bring a football down let alone bury it. mr. tap in and ffs he doesn't even do that consistently.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

I don't think there's any questions over him being done here, I just worry what sort of gentleman's agreement we have in place over his play time. The powers of Mendes.

We'd be wrong to piss Mendes off and if we were to drop Falcao, like we should, it would be absolutely disasterous for him in regards to getting a contract somewhere next year. Can we really afford to piss off the agent of De Gea, Di Maria and so many potential great signings... or can we afford not to?

I very much doubt this is on our/the managers mind, and rightfully so.

It makes no sense too, what's Mendes done for us this summer? He made a lot of cash by us overpaying for Di Maria. He brought Costa to our rivals, gave us Falcao - now if it were the other way around he might've done us a favour.

Did Mendes help us with Ando, I don't think so? Did he help us with Nani? Because the last time I checked we are paying most of his wages, yet there was no discount on Rojo? Is Mendes making us get Cristiano back? Yes he helped us getting De Gea, but we payed a huge fee for him didn't we? I don't know about potential great signings, but we don't need a whole new squad. And there are loads of world class players out there who aren't represented by Mendes.

If anything it's the other way around, especially with the FFP, we are one of the richest clubs in the world. And Mendes is the one who should be happy that we are in business with him. And so far he's probably helped Real Madrid more and Chelsea/Mourinho at least as much as he helped us.


As for Falcao, my assesment when he signed for us was that he wasn't as good as an overall striker or player as Rooney or RVP, yet out of those three he was probably the best 'pure poacher'. I quite liked this, because it gives us more/different options.

His first touch was pretty awful when he was top scorer at Atletico too, so it makes no sense at all to judge him on that. His strong point is his finishing. Which makes him useless in our team, we've been creating feck all for big parts of the whole season. Rooney had 0 shots on target from open play yesterday, same for RVP last week, Falcao was invisible in the last two matches. Not because they are piss poor players as some people on here suggest, but because our team can't create proper chances against a lower league team or Burnley at home at the moment.

Van Gaal should only use Falcao if he thinks we're actually going to create some chances for him. But then again, he probably didn't expect us to create nothing while playing against a lower league side like yesterday. I don't really care what happens to Falcao and if he doesn't make it here, fine by me. Let Mendes bring him to AC Milan or whatever 'top 7 club in the world' he was talking about. But I wouldn't be surprised if Falcao scores some good goals for us the moment we actually start creating something, because to me he doesn't look that different compared to before his injuries.

 

[bishblaize]

If anything it's the other way around, especially with the FFP, we are one of the richest clubs in the world. And Mendes is the one who should be happy that we are in business with him. And so far he's probably helped Real Madrid more and Chelsea/Mourinho at least as much as he helped us.

Exactly. It's true that you need to keep good relationships with powerful agents, but this is by no means a one-way thing. If he suddenly finds that he can't deal with United, what does that do for his reputation as an agent? Who would want to sign up with an agent who can't find you the best deals? You need to at least have the possibility of taking a player to United.

Besides, Falcao's performances are simply too poor to dispute. It's not a close run thing where we're not giving him the benefit of the doubt but someone else might. He's been abject in the last couple of games and I think LVG has been generous to give him as many games as he has done.

 

[wiz4231]

His ratio is one goal every 286 minutes. Let's be realistic, that's fecking shit.

Its stats like this that show you don't have a clue. How many goals have we been scoring lately? how well have we played? How many chances have been created? Its goes on and on... We are not getting the best out of him and nor are we getting the best out of any of our forward players. Change the set up to put our best team out in the position that they excel in and then judge.

 

[Kostur]

Its stats like this that show you don't have a clue. How many goals have we been scoring lately? how well have we played? How many chances have been created? Its goes on and on... We are not getting the best out of him and nor are we getting the best out of any of our forward players. Change the set up to put our best team out in the position that they excel in and then judge.

It's posts like this that show you don't have a clue. How many easy chances has he fecked up? How badly has he played? How many chances does he need to actually score a goal? It goes on and on. We're not getting the best out of anybody in our squad yet RVP and Rooney managed to score moe goals than him, Herrera and Fellaini, despite being midfielders, managed to get the same amount of goals as him.

Yesterday we've probably had the best attacking/service players on the pitch, maybe only Mata was missing. He's done feck all and looked the worst of the bunch. 0 runs, 0 shots on target, contributed absolutely noting. Rooney made a couple of runs behind the defence and it was either him or ADM's service that didn't click in the end but at least he was doing something.

One goal per 286 minutes, it's one goal per more than three matches, let that sink in. He's a goner at the end of the season, nothing personal against the guy himself, seems like a very likeable lad but he's been a woeful striker for us. His one year loan had a pretty simple rule: either deliver or you're gone. He didn't deliver obviously.

 

[bishblaize]

It's posts like this that show you don't have a clue. How many easy chances has he fecked up? How badly has he played? How many chances does he need to actually score a goal? It goes on and on. We're not getting the best out of anybody in our squad yet RVP and Rooney managed to score moe goals than him, Herrera and Fellaini, despite being midfielders, managed to get the same amount of goals as him.

Yesterday we've probably had the best attacking/service players on the pitch, maybe only Mata was missing. He's done feck all and looked the worst of the bunch. 0 runs, 0 shots on target, contributed absolutely noting. Rooney made a couple of runs behind the defence and it was either him or ADM's service that didn't click in the end but at least he was doing something.

One goal per 286 minutes, it's one goal per more than three matches, let that sink in. He's a goner at the end of the season, nothing personal against the guy himself, seems like a very likeable lad but he's been a woeful striker for us. His one year loan had a pretty simple rule: either deliver or you're gone. He didn't deliver obviously.

I dont like digging the lad, but I had a quick look back through his recent stats. Not pretty. He's not had a single shot on target in three games now. He's only managed 3 shots in the last 3 games, all off target. That is simply dire.

This would be the biggest comeback since Lazarus if he plays his way to a transfer at this point.

 

[Raoul]

He's getting hammered on here but I'd personally still have Falcao above Van Persie in my striker hierarchy at the moment, at least he puts in a shift and tries to make stuff happen.

edit - not to say Falcao should start, personally I'd drop both of them

Seems to be a confidence issue with him (much as it is with Nani). A few goals and many will likely follow, although its a bit late at this point. He would have to put in a few ridiculous performances and show a clear aptitude towards continuing that way next year for LvG to consider keeping him.

 

[wiz4231]

It's posts like this that show you don't have a clue. How many easy chances has he fecked up? How badly has he played? How many chances does he need to actually score a goal? It goes on and on. We're not getting the best out of anybody in our squad yet RVP and Rooney managed to score moe goals than him, Herrera and Fellaini, despite being midfielders, managed to get the same amount of goals as him.

Yesterday we've probably had the best attacking/service players on the pitch, maybe only Mata was missing. He's done feck all and looked the worst of the bunch. 0 runs, 0 shots on target, contributed absolutely noting. Rooney made a couple of runs behind the defence and it was either him or ADM's service that didn't click in the end but at least he was doing something.

One goal per 286 minutes, it's one goal per more than three matches, let that sink in. He's a goner at the end of the season, nothing personal against the guy himself, seems like a very likeable lad but he's been a woeful striker for us. His one year loan had a pretty simple rule: either deliver or you're gone. He didn't deliver obviously.

Why did he contribute nothing? How many times did look for him in box? All we did while he was on the pitch was hoof the ball to Fellaini, that is all we did nothing more. This is how deluded you are, poster like you praise Fellaini for yesterday when forget that he was god awful until the formation change. He constantly gave the ball away, couldn't hold onto the ball, couldn't pass, didnt win any Ariel duals, got pushed off the ball for fun but still labeled as the MOTM, Fellaini was 1 of the worst players on the pitch, absolute s*** until the formation change but we'll forget that because he scored a goal, it was all Fellaini who got is the equaliser and Rooney's penalty wasn't it? No its was the formation that would have suited falcao, next game that's what we should play, Falcao as a lone striker then judge him

 

[Kostur]

Why did he contribute nothing? How many times did look for him in box? All we did while he was on the pitch was hoof the ball to Fellaini, that is all we did nothing more. This is how deluded you are, poster like you praise Fellaini for yesterday when forget that he was god awful until the formation change. He constantly gave the ball away, couldn't hold onto the ball, couldn't pass, didnt win any Ariel duals, got pushed off the ball for fun but still labeled as the MOTM, Fellaini was 1 of the worst players on the pitch, absolute s*** until the formation change but we'll forget that because he scored a goal, it was all Fellaini who got is the equaliser and Rooney's penalty wasn't it? No its was the formation that would have suited falcao, next game that's what we should play, Falcao as a lone striker then judge him

So now nobody's passing to him? Everybody's literally pretending that he's not there? You're pretty silly to call me deluded when you're coming up with the bolded part, none of which is true and such bullshit as 'couldn't pass' (90% accuracy with 49 passes) and 'didn't win any aerial duels' (unless you mean Ariel from The Little Mermaid) can be easily dispelled with statistics that are well available. Keep telling yourself that Fellaini did feck all but it still didn't stop him from having 4 shots, 2 of which were on target.

Another thing is that even compared to Rooney Falcao looked bad yesterday. He's had just 26 touches (compared to Rooney's 60) and made just 18 passes (compared to Rooney's 47) so it just shows you that he's the one hiding from the play.

And we should change the system to suit Falcao because of what? You usually try to play to your strengths, unless we're all pretending to be retarded now nobody will claim that a striker that scored 4 goals for us is our 'strength'. Yesterday's system wasn't playing to Rooney or Fellaini's strengths either but somehow they both managed to be echelons above Falcao in terms of being useful. And it was hardly down to their perfect games, it was just Falcao who was that shit in yet another game. And yea, it was all Fellaini because he gave us another win (alongside Herrera who got us level and let us push on) while Falcao gave us virtually nothing.

 

[bugmat]

Falcao has been disappointing, but can we please remember he is a loan player? Also, what happened to giving a foreign player time to adapt to the Premier League?

The criticism of Falcao is excessive, but I agree absolutely he hasn't shown much of his previous form at United.

However, I also think RvP has been mediocre this season.

Lucky we have Rooney...

Hmmm right now I'm thinking Wilson is our only on form striker. Bar the penalty Rooney did little. But was still better than Falcao or RvP have been the past 4 weeks. It's sad as he was looking much better when he was being used as a sub - since he's started the past month he's gotten progressively worse - one suspects he's still far from match fit and having to play so deep (which was never a facet of his game) is also an issue.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

I feel sorry for him. He's obviously giving his all and desperate to prove himself and how good he can be, but it's just not working at all. He has to go in the summer.

Agree with all of that bar your last sentence, but only because of his loan status. He will go in the summer when his loan expires. I'd be shocked if it played out any other way.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Agree with all of that bar your last sentence, but only because of his loan status. He will go in the summer when his loan expires. I'd be shocked if it played out any other way.

I don't know how that's disagreeing with me Dwayne? What I meant is that he'll go because the loan will expire and we hopefully won't pay the cash to land him.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

I don't know how that's disagreeing with me Dwayne? What I meant is that he'll go because the loan will expire and we hopefully won't pay the cash to land him.

I disagreed with your wording I suppose as to me it read like we already have him on a permanent deal. Stupid loan agreement.

 

[Massive Spanner]

I disagreed with your wording I suppose. Stupid loan agreement.

I disagree with your face.

No, no, that's a lie, your face is lovely, I'm just emotional right now.