[NinjaZombie]

I think we're better off rid, definitely.

I do think there is something tragic about watching a once great sportsman coming to terms with the fact that his powers are fading prematurely. I'm sure that hurts deeply and his salary won't take that pain away. I feel sorry for him.

Yeah exactly. Which is why I said, I feel sorry for him. Then I remember his salary, and how he's set up for life. If his outlook on life is anything like mine, 10-20 years down the road, I reckon he'll do well to look at his time at United and go, "Oh well, can't say I've tried. Certain things just conspired against me during my time there."

My post was actually a train of my thoughts, rather than any snidey sarcastic remark. Although reading it back now, I can see why it can be misconstrued!

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Ok, that wasn't a horror show as most are suggesting on here. He had a few of awkward moments but on the whole I thought he was OK.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yeah exactly. Which is why I said, I feel sorry for him. Then I remember his salary, and how he's set up for life. If his outlook on life is anything like mine, 10-20 years down the road, I reckon he'll do well to look at his time at United and go, "Oh well, can't say I've tried. Certain things just conspired against me during my time there."

My post was actually a train of my thoughts, rather than any snidey sarcastic remark. Although reading it back now, I can see why it can be misconstrued!

To be fair, the snidey sarcastic remark came from me. Sorry about that.

But yeah, pitying multimillionaires is weird. I can't help it though. Probably mainly fuelled by my own (incredibly shit) football career coming to an end recently due to my own ACL falling to bits.

 

[Pexbo]

To be fair, the snidey sarcastic remark came from me. Sorry about that.

But yeah, pitying multimillionaires is weird. I can't help it though. Probably mainly fuelled by my own (incredibly shit) football career coming to an end recently due to my own ACL falling to bits.

Could be worse. You could realise you're 30 next year and you haven't played a competitive game in over 10 years due to work commitments. Best years gone without a ball kicked.

 

[NinjaZombie]

To be fair, the snidey sarcastic remark came from me. Sorry about that.

But yeah, pitying multimillionaires is weird. I can't help it though. Probably mainly fuelled by my own (incredibly shit) football career coming to an end recently due to my own ACL falling to bits.

A member of the ruined ACL club. Condolences to you. I lost two years of football I can never get back thanks to mine. I still remember how small my right thigh (where they took the muscle to rebuild my ACL from) was compared to my left. Also, how I kicked a ball like a wimp my first few weeks back playing Sunday league football.

Oh, and no worries about the remark. No offence taken.

 

[Orton]

@Orton - what did you make of Falcao's showing for the U21's?

Probably useless. Didn't watch it.

 

[Arruda]

But yeah, pitying multimillionaires is weird.

It is because we wrongly assume money means happiness and realization. Thing is millionaires are used to their own income, they replace their need to make ends meet for other goals and have their own challenges and frustrations. Empathy and putting yourself in someone else's shoes should allow you to feel pity for anyone going through a rough patch regardless of income.

Falcao finally reached the top-top tier, after wandering near it for very long and is failing miserably. He seems like a good bloke. Seems like a pity worthy situation to me. I doubt he's happy.

PS: Quoted you for context, not to disagree. I assume from your other posts you agree with most of what I said.

 

[Loublaze]

At the 1:34 mark in that video, he was one on one with a CB and he failed to do anything with the ball. His confidence is completely gone. I had high hopes for this guy. @Arruda great post

 

[matherto]

Is it just me or in the close up shots where he's just walking is he limping?

Is his knee that fecked that he just limps all the time?

Mind you, RVP often looks the same when he's walking around after he's just had a run or something.

 

[Silverman]

To be fair to Falcao, he is a brilliant professional. Always giving his all and I still see him posting on Twitter about encouraging United tweets. Not many world stars would celebrate a reserve goal like he did last night especially when he is not the one scoring.

 

[SATA]

Did he used to stumble around and bullied by defenders in his peak days as easily he was now? Pace probably yes, but i cannot believe the basics of football like holding up play will all magically disappear even after a serious cruciate injury

 

[sunama]

Tonight he looked like a player playing his 1st game back after a cruciate injury rather than one who's been back for 8 months. He was a yard off most balls that went into the box, let the ball bounce off him on numerous occasions, was outmuscled repeatedly by a 17 year old and when he attempted a dribble in the first half he looked like somebody who had never played football before with each touch taking the ball further and further out of his control

Could he not try playing against an U18 side? Or maybe U16?
He needs to get his confidence up a little bit and if he could dominate other players around him - this could help.

In any case, he isnt good enough to play in the premier league and he appears to be getting worse by the day.

I honestly dont understand why people are making excuses for him. The guy is struggling against teenagers - what will happen when he plays against grown men?

 

[Manchie]

Glad that we didn't sign him

 

[RikRuud]

Maybe his confidence is shot because he is worried about not being offered a permanent deal? If we had just signed him on a full time bases in the summer I wonder if his contribution would have been more this season. We should start him against Tottenham in my opinion give him a run of games and actually give him some service. I feel he deserves one last attempt at a permanent deal.

 

[DWelbz19]

So we should sign him permanently to make him play better? I reckon we should pay him extra too. He needs the confidence.

 

[ravi2]

Maybe he's confidence is shot because he is worried about not being offered a permanent deal? If we had just signed him on a full time bases in the summer I wonder if his contribution would have been more this season. We should start him against Tottenham in my opinion give him a run of games and actually give him some service. I feel he deserves one last attempt at a permanent deal.

I like him personally and his highlight reel is amazing but he is not the striker we need.
He should go to Spain to reinvigorate his career like Forlan.

The last thing MUFC needs is LVG trying to shoehorn him (or RVP) into our lineup when it is clear Rooney is the better ST. We need top 4 and this isnt the time to feck around.

 

[RikRuud]

So we should sign him permanently to make him play better? I reckon we should pay him extra too. He needs the confidence.

I was stating that this could be the a big factor in his confidence being down. The more time goes on, the more it looks like he's leaving. I thought he'd get the chance when RVP was confirmed as a lengthy lay-off. But this has not occurred. I wish him luck if he does not stay but we should utilise him while we are paying his wages.

 

[RikRuud]

I like him personally and his highlight reel is amazing but he is not the striker we need.
He should go to Spain to reinvigorate his career like Forlan.

The last thing MUFC needs is LVG trying to shoehorn him (or RVP) into our lineup when it is clear Rooney is the better ST. We need top 4 and this isnt the time to feck around.

I agree with you, however the last few games have been crying out for a player of his ilk to come off the bench and make the difference. At the moment we are paying him to sit on the bench and play in the under 21's. Its a real shame.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

To be fair to Falcao, he is a brilliant professional. Always giving his all and I still see him posting on Twitter about encouraging United tweets. Not many world stars would celebrate a reserve goal like he did last night especially when he is not the one scoring.

Yeah, stuff like that makes me feel all the more sorry for him. His attitude seems excellent. Would be a huge fan favourite if he was at his best. The whole thing is just a terrible shame.

Sometimes I agree with @Adebesi's theory that the whole post-Fergie era is just karmic retribution for so much success.

We seem to be doomed to endure a whole lot of needless painful shit in addition to the team simply being less succesful. From watching Pogba slowly develop into one of the best players in the world, to getting knocked out of the FA Cup by own of our own, to megastars like Falcao and Di Maria being crushing dissapointments. No doubt our soon to be best keeper since Shmeicel (possibly ever) will be off in the summer an' all. We're all just part of some cosmic joke. Suck it, bitches.

 

[gza the genius]

He falls down, a lot.

 

[Roboc7]

I agree with you, however the last few games have been crying out for a player of his ilk to come off the bench and make the difference. At the moment we are paying him to sit on the bench and play in the under 21's. Its a real shame.

He has been so bad I think LVG is justified in leaving him on the bench nd rather than crying out for him I think the opposite is true, last thing we need is someone who can't contribute as we Re struggling enough already.

You can't fault him for effort, even in the reserve game he tried his best and wanted to stay on but that makes it even more worrying when he plays so badly because he is trying so hard but his body just isn't up to it anymore and maybe it never will be again. It is a real shame because he was genuinely a top class player but on current form he shouldn't be anywhere near the starting eleven and isn't even a good option coming off the bench.

 

[khoazany]

He has been so bad I think LVG is justified in leaving him on the bench nd rather than crying out for him I think the opposite is true, last thing we need is someone who can't contribute as we Re struggling enough already.

You can't fault him for effort, even in the reserve game he tried his best and wanted to stay on but that makes it even more worrying when he plays so badly because he is trying so hard but his body just isn't up to it anymore and maybe it never will be again. It is a real shame because he was genuinely a top class player but on current form he shouldn't be anywhere near the starting eleven and isn't even a good option coming off the bench.

Can't be more true.Yes he did try his best but with his current condition even sitting on the bench is a bit underserving and mainly because he's Ramadel Falcao plus our lack of strikers available.

 

[bosnian_red]

Felt sorry for him that entire video of his game against the u21's. Like he's realizing how much the injury took out of him that he can't do much at that level. Feel like he looked more fit and quicker and generally a lot better at the start of the season too then he does now. Seems like such a nice guy too, never complains publically, just gets on with it, works hard... Just isn't working out. Hopefully he gets back to a good level somewhere after this loan spell.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Yeah I hope he goes elsewhere (outside England) and starts to fire again. I really feel for him but we're in too deep shit to rehab him any better.

Oh, what could have been if his volley against Leicester went in... Not just for him, but for us as a team as well.

 

[Dion]

I still think we let Hargreaves go too soon, surely if we offered him a new contract he'd contribute more?

Falcao is a nice guy but he's fecking done and has looked every inch of it since he first put on a United shirt.

 

[RedMachine03]

 

[NoLogo]

More like we loaned the wrong player.

 

[Bobcat]

I think we're better off rid, definitely.

I do think there is something tragic about watching a once great sportsman coming to terms with the fact that his powers are fading prematurely. I'm sure that hurts deeply and his salary won't take that pain away. I feel sorry for him.

This. Believe it or not, but even though footballers get paid obscene amounts of money they still love playing football at the big stage. Being one of the the worlds top athlethes and then being reduced to a nobody by injury must be difficult.

At this point, i would say the only sensible thing would be to keep him if we got him for free. Except a couple of moments of (near) brilliance he has been sub-par the whole season.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Just to save anyone else gving that awful fecking rag some clicks, the article is all speculation, no quotes at all.

 

[RedMachine03]

Why would he admit openly that he joined the wrong team.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He didn't.

 

[Adebesi]

I accepted he joined the wrong team. But the Daily Mail editor didn't think that was a particularly strong story.

 

[Barca84]

Just to save anyone else gving that awful fecking rag some clicks, the article is all speculation, no quotes at all.

Absolutely. Is this the same Ian Ladyman who some regard as a quality journalist? An article of pure guesswork. He may be right but it's guesswork nevertheless.

 

[lifted]

As a journalist, people have far too healthy an obsession with quotes in articles.

 

[DWelbz19]

As a journalist, people have far too healthy an obsession with quotes in articles.

Such an article needs quotes, to be fair.

 

[devilish]

He should have gone to a smaller club were pressure is lower and he is guaranteed regular first team football. However I doubt those teams could afford his salary.

 

[ivaldo]

The guardians rumour mill did make me chuckle today:

he Mill has never been to Cheltenham. There, we’ve said it. That’s not to say we haven’t been to the races – this Sisyphean existence of tittle-tattle propagation shows you how well that financial venture worked out – but the Cotswolds, lovely as they may be, lie far outside our experiential range. So, being a kind soul beneath it all, we feel at one with Radamel Falcao, who did not join Daley Blind, Ashley Young, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones in cheering on the horses yesterday and therefore provided further evidence that he’s … you’re going to like this … not at the races! The guy’s lost it. Gone. Finished. If proof were needed, this is the proof.


At the races. Photograph: Kieran McManus/BPI/Rex
In Falcao’s defence, he has already been to Yeovil, Cambridge and Preston this season so his knowledge of the provinces looks laudably sound for a Colombian who only moved to the country in September. But, as we all know, when footballers are not touring the regions they are locked in tense, nerve-racking talks in windowless, halogen-lighted rooms, concerning themselves with the future. And Falcao, so multiple stories would have it, has accepted after much brow-furrowing that his own destiny lies away from Old Trafford and knows that –having been selected for their Under-21 side on Tuesday night – he has no long-term future at Manchester United. And boy, with that empty padded seat in Gloucestershire sticking out like a sore thumb, doesn’t he know how to show it. Of most concern, surely, is the fact that those queuing up to make hilarious, wry, self-fulfilling comments about the form and apparent decline of a striker who has recovered from a serious injury, been pitched into the world’s most demanding league and asked to perform for a side going through the most tortuous of revamps, only have a couple of months left to do so. Knock yourselves out.

 

[Amir]

A team that struggles so much to create chances was probably not the greatest place for a striker who's recovered from a long injury to get his mojo back. I'm not so certain he's 'done' and he could prosper elsewhere, who knows.

 

[lifted]

Such an article needs quotes, to be fair.

Off the record sources are so painfully prevalent in sports reporting that it makes it nigh on impossible to give direct quotations each and every time. Unattributed quotes do not provide a direct link to accuracy.

 

[Adebesi]

Its quite possible to have a considerably better informed and more authoritative article without quotes than one with. Id rather read an article from a respected journalist who had been briefed off the record by someone who knew what he was talking about, than a load of speculative mumbo jumbo backed up by a few meaningless platitudes from footballers or managers who are essentially trying to give as little away as possible, if not outright lie ("he isnt going anywhere" or "there has been no contact with the club" a few days before a deal is officially announced.)

Im far more interested in the identity of the journalist and the publication than the presence of quotes. If you have a journalist with a good track record they probably have well placed sources in a club who will be far more candid if their name is kept out of the story.