Sure you are
Jason McAteer says not to worry about Sterling signing a new contract so that's good isn't it.
Don't be a knob. This is from a week ago:
Transfer Tweets - 2014/15 | Stay On Topic & No Blacklisted Tweets (see OP)
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Don't be a knob. This is from a week ago:
This is what I am worried about regarding Hummels. We need a no nonsense CB rather than a ball player imo.
That all depends on the overall style of the team IMO. Bayern and Barcelona made it more than work recently without what I'd call a no nonsense defender. I don't think should be focusing on that as a given, we should define what type of football we want to be playing and recruit according to it.
Damn you, I hadn't got that far yet.
They don't play in the Premier League though.
Puyol and Mascherano were/are no nonsense defenders surely?
You might have a point there. Reminds of another discussion about why no PL team has truly dominated Europe over the past 20/25 years. By dominated, I mean imposing their style of play on whoever they come up against. The gist of it was that the nature of the PL and the weaker teams in it means our teams cannot develop and hone a particular style of play. It is definitely a theory that has merits which make me think you may have a point there.
I was more referring to Gerrard/Mascherano in 2011 which the starting centre backs for what was for me as good a team as we ever seen. I wouldn't consider Mascherano a no nonsense defender which his height and his origins as a midfielder, certainly not in the same vein as Terry, Vidic and co. This for me goes back to an old fashioned idea about football that is stronger in the UK where defenders are supposed to defend, wingers to cross and strikers to score. Modern football in the continent at least does not have those strict definitions as everybody is supposed to contribute to both which is why Ramos and Luiz are considered great players whereas in the UK it is not the case at all. Having said that, like I mentioned in the previous post, the rigidity of these roles might be inescapable due to the nature of the PL.
I know what ya mean. Not many ball playing CB systems will get a chance to develop with Andy Carroll and Christian Benteke around.
Just removed a few spammy posts. Please don't derail this thread with off topic discussions.
It seems a bit odd though, he's said himself he underestimated the physicality of the league and has Fellaini and Rooney deeper to compensate for it, now his prime target is a pretty scrawny (albeit technically and defensively talented) CB?
He has a wiry frame but is pretty strong in one on ones from what I've seen, plus he's excellent in the air which is something we are lacking on set pieces.
If were going to spend that type of money on a young centre half and Varane isnt available I'd prefer to see us going for Gimenez from Atletico Madrid
Yes. So much this !
Not sure if he is good enough on the ball for LVG's liking. Lacks a bit of pace too. From what I've seen of him he looks a great prospect though. Only 19. Interesting to see if he can keep Miranda out of the team now that he is fit.
Ideally I would love us to get Laporte plus one of Varane/Gimenez/Marquinhos (in that order of preference) to partner him. That would be our CB pairing sorted for the next 10+ years. Not sure if Varane will be available (if he is I expect Chelsea to be all over him) and Marquinhos will cost crazy money.
Reckon there's business to be done with PSG if we will do a bit of player trading with them, buy Falcao then give him, and a year long loan for Januzaj to them, in return for Marquinos, Cavani, plus £20 million (to PSG).
Personally would rather we leave Strootman where he is.
That only would ever happen in FIFA. It would be an awful deal for PSG.
No it's an awful deal for us, lose Falcao and Januzaj to get an inexperienced defender and Cavani - no Cavani ffs!
Not so sure it would be, by all accounts they want to shift Cavani so a straight swap with Falcao (much as they don't happen) would be a fair deal.
Marquinhos deal maybe less so but he is only a very promising defender, he may not fulfill that promise, so £20 million + a player they really seem to want for a year isn't too bad really.
Probably give them Januzaj permanently knowing us and Woodwards love in for Cavani. But try £50m instead of £20m and it sounds about right.
I agree about Strootman, Blind and Carrick are good enough holding. We should be looking at Pogba instead. Not sure if I have faith in LvG with transfers, Herrera has had a bad do under him.
I'd be really reluctant to let Januzaj go permanently, but it could be will need to let one or two of our potential/top players go in the summer to get the players we need, Mata, RvP, DDG, and Januzaj most at risk imo.
Insanity
Ladyman is such a shit name, my god...
I'd rather we just bought Marquinhos and left it at that, Cavani is going down the other side of the hill at this point, we don't need anymore projects that need their confidence rebuilding.
I don't see the need for another striker to begin with when the manager's favored formation is a 4-3-3. Rooney, Van Persie and Wilson is good enough cover even with champions league football.
I'm with you here. Plus Cavani's main problem at PSG is being forced out wide due to Ibrahimovic being the main man, right? We surely need to be moving away from the 2 striker formations, in favour of wide forward options.
To be honest its kind of hard to tell how good he is on the ball when Simeone doesnt really encourage his defenders to play out that much and has them playing a lot of long balls. He really reminds me of Vidic in the way he defends and seems like a leader already. Marquinhos is probably the best on the ball of the 4 of them though and this is probably what Van Gaal is looking for but I'd be slightly worried about his size even though he is a really good defender. I think Varane is the most rounded of the 4 players but as you say hes probably the least attainable.
That's true about Simone. I can see the Vidic similarities too. He really is a no nonsense defender. He could be a good partner for any of the other 3 as they are more ball playing CB's with good pace. Could be the new Vidic-Ferdinand pairing!
I think Laporte is pretty likely to happen. He is left footed so that probably marks him out given LVG's liking for a left and right footed pairing. His release clause is pretty reasonable and Ballague recently said he is keen.
The ideal scenario would be Varane and Laporte joining but as we know Varane will be tricky. A few people have mentioned Marquinhos' lack of height but he is apparently quiet good in the air nonetheless. I've seen the least of him of the 4 so not fully sure how he ranks in comparison.
It might his favourite formation but it doesn't suit our two key players, Di Maria and Rooney. Rooney does not want to play as a #9 and I don't think LvG likes him there either, and Di Maria is best from left midfield and doesn't offer enough goal threat to play as part of a front 3.
So logically we should play 4-2-3-1 like Chelsea, with Di Maria/Rooney/Herrera as the 3 in behind a striker, but we'd need a striker as Wilson is not ready and RvP is past his best.
We don't own Falcao though.
Since when? Must have missed that interview
I don't have a link to an article but Rooney has said many times that he likes to play behind the main striker as a #10 because he can get more involved with the game.
In a 4-3-3, Di Maria's best position would be left side of the midfield 3, not the forward 3. As for Rooney, he needs to realise that his best position is up front and buck his ideas up because he's bang average in mdfield and if we were to play a 4-2-3-1 as you suggest then he's nowhere near as good as Mata in behind the striker.
Januzaj is Laurent Blanc choice, or maybe his wish, but Laurent Blanc will not be at Paris next year and it's almost certain, so you can't rely on Januzaj to be part of an exchange.
With Marquinhos, the point is whether he will play or not with the new coach.
As good as he's, he deserves to be a regular starter, and guess what, he’s starts every game as a right back now, but what about next year? He can play right back (he’s only 20/21) and take over T.Silva.
Other point with Cavani…. I would rather buy Falcao than Cavani…. He’s playing rubbish since the beginning of the season and his behavior is not acceptable, so I rather have Falcao or RVP than Cavani
Agree with this. Prefer to see Rooney up with Adnan and (if confirmed) Memphis on the 'wings'. Then we can play a midfield of AdM and Herrera with Blind completing the three. 4-2-3-1 would also be an option with Mata behind Rooney. The mobility in that team would be lightyears ahead of the stuff we're seeing at present.
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