Twitter Discussion [Archive]

[Will Absolute]

How is Reus 'just what we need' exactly? I think you'll find a centre half is certainly higher on the list of priorities given that we aren't even using a system that employs wingers.

I don't think our winger-less state is written in stone. Most posters would agree that Reus would improve us, and we need all the improvement we can get.

Besides, don't be so literal-minded. I'm employing a little dramatic license here.

 

[Mister Ed]

Nobody at the club, least of all van Gaal will be content with 4th place. We'll sign more players, everyone just needs to calm down and reserve judgement for the end of the window before we start panicking.

You know if a building is on fire most people start panicking when they see the smoke, not the second before they are about to be squashed by the rooftop coming down on them.

You seriously believe we are still going to sign a top midfielder, a top centreback and a winger ? If we end up getting Vidal, Benatia and Di Maria, I'll happily take my words back, but I'am not suspecting it will happen and whatever I'am ranting about is under the assumption that it ain't going to happen anymore either.

 

[walsh]

I don't think our winger-less state is written in stone. Most posters would agree that Reus would improve us, and we need all the improvement we can get.

Besides, don't be so literal-minded. I'm employing a little dramatic license here.

I agree that our system is not set in stone. I just hate the passive aggressive posts about us never trying to sign anyone good. They seem to be more regular than actual tweets in here now.

 

[bosnian_red]

Reus won't come to United, that I'm 99% certain of. When's the last time United have come out on top when all the big boys are in for a player? I honestly can't seem to recall. Chelsea, City, Bayern, Madrid and Barcelona have all beaten us to signings' time and time again and I fully expect them, once again, to be ahead of us in the queue for Reus.

The thing is this time most of them won't be in, or logic says they shouldn't be in. Barca have Neymar, Messi and Suarez. Madrid have Ronaldo, James and Bale (and Di maria for now). Chelsea have Oscar, Hazard and Willian and City have Nasri, Silva and Navas. Of course he'd still walk into all those teams, Barca and Madrid I think we can rule out because of their purchases this summer, and then Chelsea and City would probably be in for him, but so would United and Arsenal. If we show enough progression and finish 3rd for example, I think we'd be favourites to bring him in, because of the size of United, us being able to offer higher wages then anybody pretty much, and him fitting in perfectly here while people would need to be shifted around at the other clubs.

That is of course assuming he'd turn down Bayern.

 

[walsh]

You know if a building is on fire most people start panicking when they see the smoke, not the second before they are about to be squashed by the rooftop coming down on them.

You seriously believe we are still going to sign a top midfielder, a top centreback and a winger ? If we end up getting Vidal, Benatia and Di Maria, I'll happily take my words back, but I'am not suspecting it will happen and whatever I'am ranting about is under the assumption that it ain't going to happen anymore either.

World Class signings aren't the only way for a team to improve, as we've already seen in pre-season. People are getting far too focused on big name signings as if they guarantee success or are the only way to achieve it. I think we'll sign at least one defender and probably another midfielder and then we'll be competitive in the league.

 

[Joga Bonito]

Reus won't come to United, that I'm 99% certain of. When's the last time United have come out on top when all the big boys are in for a player? I honestly can't seem to recall. Chelsea, City, Bayern, Madrid and Barcelona have all beaten us to signings' time and time again and I fully expect them, once again, to be ahead of us in the queue for Reus.

We beat Real Madrid to Bebe. Don't you ever forget that.

On a serious note, Madrid and Barca don't need him with an already burgeoning forward line. Chelsea have forwards such as Hazard, Oscar, Schuerrle, Willian and Salah. With Hazard already in the side, I don't think Mourinho's system would be able to accommodate another low industry high flair player. City already spent their FFP limit on Fernando and Mangala. If I am not wrong both Chelsea and City have problems with the domestic players quota as well. PSG too are having problems with their FFP limits. It leaves the likes of Arsenal(don't need him), Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and United to compete for Reus.

 

[mufcwarm92]

Reus?!?! Hahahahhahahaha we can't get a third choice LCB from Sporting. Forget about any world class talent at United with that fool of Co.

Yeah, except for the fact he plays every game.

Put your toys back in the pram and pull yourself together.

 

[fallengt]

So now Atletico apparently bidding for a player is the signal to start the self pity again. When's the last time Atletico came out on top when all the big boys were in for a player?

Falcao

 

[Mister Ed]

World Class signings aren't the only way for a team to improve, as we've already seen in pre-season. People are getting far too focused on big name signings as if they guarantee success or are the only way to achieve it. I think we'll sign at least one defender and probably another midfielder and then we'll be competitive in the league.

Well in my book top teams have top players, maybay not on every position as you also need people to do the dirty work or whatever you'd want to call it and you also have young players who still need to develop their potential but they usually have atleast one top player, usually several on all different areas on the pitch. Were are our top players in defence and the midfield ? Were are our top player for the wings ? The only area we have quality in is upfront as strikers and attacking midfielders but wide players, controlling midfielders and centrebacks we are just so weak in those departments. Unless you seriously think somebody like Fletcher is going to do a better job than say Vidal in the midfield or Young or Valencia is going to offer than somebody like Di Maria could for instance I really don't follow you on this one. Sure we'll improve as a team, the players we have will do better than they did under Moyes, I understand that, but why in godsname should that be enough ? Ok there are the yough players and we ought to give chances and develop their potential but seriously apart from Blacket who can do something as LCB and Januzaj and Lingard who can something as wingers what good youth players do we have that can make that step up for us ? Signing top players is not the only way forward, but if we want to be a top club we have to grasp all ways to go forward and set the bar as high as we can. We need top players, especially in defence and midfield, they are out there, we can afford them, why aren't we getting them ?

 

[Offside]

They are behaving like that because we all want to compete for the title like how we have been for the past 2 decades. Right now, Chelsea and City squads are much stronger that ours. If 4th place is the target then the transfer window has been satisfactory but if we are aiming for the title (which we should) we need more strengthening in key areas. The frustration stems for the fact that the holes in the squad are obvious even to a 5 year old.

Agree,

 

[NK86]

I'am a pissed off muppet but I also made a point.

I have never known a team so unambitious as United in the last couple of years.

How do you measure the ambition of a club? Just by the players they sign or by the trophies they win?

 

[walsh]

Well in my book top teams have top players, maybay not on every position as you also need people to do the dirty work or whatever you'd want to call it and you also have young players who still need to develop their potential but they usually have atleast one top player, usually several on all different areas on the pitch. Were are our top players in defence and the midfield ? Were are our top player for the wings ? The only area we have quality in is upfront as strikers and attacking midfielders but wide players, controlling midfielders and centrebacks we are just so weak in those departments. Unless you seriously think somebody like Fletcher is going to do a better job than say Vidal in the midfield or Young or Valencia is going to offer than somebody like Di Maria could for instance I really don't follow you on this one. Sure we'll improve as a team, the players we have will do better than they did under Moyes, I understand that, but why in godsname should that be enough ? Ok there are the yough players and we ought to give chances and develop their potential but seriously apart from Blacket who can do something as LCB and Januzaj and Lingard who can something as wingers what good youth players do we have that can make that step up for us ? Signing top players is not the only way forward, but if we want to be a top club we have to grasp all ways to go forward and set the bar as high as we can. We need top players, especially in defence and midfield, they are out there, we can afford them, why aren't we getting them ?

But when have we ever consistently signed top players? We've won more titles than anybody by promoting from within, creating a whole than is more than the sum of its parts and then sprinkling a few top class players on top. I want to see signings as much as anyone else, but the obsession with these big name players borders on ridiculous at times.

They are behaving like that because we all want to compete for the title like how we have been for the past 2 decades. Right now, Chelsea and City squads are much stronger that ours. If 4th place is the target then the transfer window has been satisfactory but if we are aiming for the title (which we should) we need more strengthening in key areas. The frustration stems for the fact that the holes in the squad are obvious even to a 5 year old.

We all want to see signings and we all want to compete for the title. The fact that our issues are obvious to five year olds doesn't mean people have to act like 5 year olds when they don't get their way instantly.

 

[Señor]

So now Atletico apparently bidding for a player is the signal to start the self pity again. When's the last time Atletico came out on top when all the big boys were in for a player?

The difference is Atletico don't pride themselves as being apparently the biggest club in the world. No self pity involved at all, I just have zero confidence that United can secure big signings when the other big boys come to the table. And for what it's worth, I don't think Atletico will get Reus either.

 

[JohnDoe]

Atletico bidding for Reus? Must be fake surely, we all know he's not going there.

 

[Mister Ed]

How do you measure the ambition of a club? Just by the players they sign or by the trophies they win?

Being ambitious is about trying to win everything you can, including the CL ofcourse. Now you have to be realistic about these things and if you want to win the PL and certainly the CL, you don't just need a good manager, you also need top players. You need to be critical about your own club and spot the weaknesses, the points that have to be improved, you need to get everything out of every individual available but not just out of every individual, also out of every asset. Which means if you have the money to buy a player that is clearly better than anything you have atm, and this player is available and can be convinced to join your ambitious team, you get that player. Settling for less is surely not ambitious. Now does that mean you have to sign as much top players as you can, no it doesn't. You sign players that improve you, that can offer something you don't have in the team and that is usefull to you, usefull in the sense that it will increase the likelyhood of winning more matches. It is not about ego signings like Madrid do, it is about continious improvement on all areas. You should never settle for status quo and you should never lower the benchmark.

Should we go on and invest millions in someone like Cavani, perhaps not if he doesn't improve our options upfront seeing we already have RVP and Rooney and you can't field more than two strikers at once and they are to good to be put on the bench. But should we invest in order to improve our options in the midfield given that we have players like Fletcher, Cleverley, Carrick but that there are players like Vidal, Kroos, Strootman out there, absolutley, if you can afford them, than you go and get them !

I don't think you can measure ambition with how much trophies you have won, that is how you measure succes. Ambition is about setting benchmarks, in fact ambition is more about the trophies you didn't win and how that makes you feel and it especially is about the trophies you want to win in the future. You can't measure Manchester Uniteds ambition on the basis of how many trophies they won so many years ago under different circumstances, what you are measuring is how ambitious the club was in the past and how succesfull it was in achieving those ambitions. You want to talk about ambition, you talk about the future, you talk about our targets for the next years and how realistic it is for us it is to get them with what we have and what we intend to do about that.

People saying we're good, this squad works and can get us in the top 4, lack ambition, we should atleast be competing and why not dominate the league ? people saying we can do that with these players are not realistic and are not seeing the flaws in the squad. So if you set the benchmark high enough and approach this realsitically there is no way you can be happy with the squad we have at hand.

 

[Mister Ed]

But when have we ever consistently signed top players? We've won more titles than anybody by promoting from within, creating a whole than is more than the sum of its parts and then sprinkling a few top class players on top. I want to see signings as much as anyone else, but the obsession with these big name players borders on ridiculous at times.


We all want to see signings and we all want to compete for the title. The fact that our issues are obvious to five year olds doesn't mean people have to act like 5 year olds when they don't get their way instantly.

Well these issues have been going for years now, every year we complain about not signing a top midfielder and we never sign one, why is that ?

It is not an obession with big names, it is about frustration at the lack of signing these big names year in year out. I mean nodoby is asking for galatico style spending from United, but what we are doing is bordering on the other extreme and not strenghtening the team at all. If we get a big name, it never is a real big big name and it surely never is in the areas we need them most. This is not just an issue from last season, this has been something people have been complaining about since 2008 and has deteriorated our situation quite alot because in 2008 we were the best club in the world, whilst last year we were 7th in the PL, in 2008 we won the CL, now we aren't even in it.

We have never consistently signed top players that is true, but maybay we didn't need to, if you pluck away players like Beckham, Giggs, Scholes from your academy you don't need to, if you can develop players like Ronaldo, you don't need to. But if you can't than you go on and sign those big players. I'am not complaining persé about our lack of big transfers, I'am complaining about the lack of quality in the team, if that can be resolved by recruiting from within than I'am absolutley fine with that, but the reality is we can't anymore and we refuse to acknowledge that or do something about it. The end goal of a club like United is not to promote young academy players, the end goal is to win stuff and play good football and if you don't have the players for that in the academy you go and get them elsewhere, simple as that.

I don't see why people being frustrated with the situation pointing out the things they are frustrated about and why they are frustrated about them on a forum that is basically desgined to do such things is acting like 5 year olds.

 

[Canuckred64]

Being ambitious is about trying to win everything you can, including the CL ofcourse. Now you have to be realistic about these things and if you want to win the PL and certainly the CL, you don't just need a good manager, you also need top players. You need to be critical about your own club and spot the weaknesses, the points that have to be improved, you need to get everything out of every individual available but not just out of every individual, also out of every asset. Which means if you have the money to buy a player that is clearly better than anything you have atm, and this player is available and can be convinced to join your ambitious team, you get that player. Settling for less is surely not ambitious. Now does that mean you have to sign as much top players as you can, no it doesn't. You sign players that improve you, that can offer something you don't have in the team and that is usefull to you, usefull in the sense that it will increase the likelyhood of winning more matches. It is not about ego signings like Madrid do, it is about continious improvement on all areas. You should never settle for status quo and you should never lower the benchmark.

Should we go on and invest millions in someone like Cavani, perhaps not if he doesn't improve our options upfront seeing we already have RVP and Rooney and you can't field more than two strikers at once and they are to good to be put on the bench. But should we invest in order to improve our options in the midfield given that we have players like Fletcher, Cleverley, Carrick but that there are players like Vidal, Kroos, Strootman out there, absolutley, if you can afford them, than you go and get them !

I don't think you can measure ambition with how much trophies you have won, that is how you measure succes. Ambition is about setting benchmarks, in fact ambition is more about the trophies you didn't win and how that makes you feel and it especially is about the trophies you want to win in the future. You can't measure Manchester Uniteds ambition on the basis of how many trophies they won so many years ago under different circumstances, what you are measuring is how ambitious the club was in the past and how succesfull it was in achieving those ambitions. You want to talk about ambition, you talk about the future, you talk about our targets for the next years and how realistic it is for us it is to get them with what we have and what we intend to do about that.

People saying we're good, this squad works and can get us in the top 4, lack ambition, we should atleast be competing and why not dominate the league ? people saying we can do that with these players are not realistic and are not seeing the flaws in the squad. So if you set the benchmark high enough and approach this realsitically there is no way you can be happy with the squad we have at hand.

Good post. Agree 100% with the last part.

 

[RedStarUnited]

Being ambitious is about trying to win everything you can, including the CL ofcourse. Now you have to be realistic about these things and if you want to win the PL and certainly the CL, you don't just need a good manager, you also need top players. You need to be critical about your own club and spot the weaknesses, the points that have to be improved, you need to get everything out of every individual available but not just out of every individual, also out of every asset. Which means if you have the money to buy a player that is clearly better than anything you have atm, and this player is available and can be convinced to join your ambitious team, you get that player. Settling for less is surely not ambitious. Now does that mean you have to sign as much top players as you can, no it doesn't. You sign players that improve you, that can offer something you don't have in the team and that is usefull to you, usefull in the sense that it will increase the likelyhood of winning more matches. It is not about ego signings like Madrid do, it is about continious improvement on all areas. You should never settle for status quo and you should never lower the benchmark.

Should we go on and invest millions in someone like Cavani, perhaps not if he doesn't improve our options upfront seeing we already have RVP and Rooney and you can't field more than two strikers at once and they are to good to be put on the bench. But should we invest in order to improve our options in the midfield given that we have players like Fletcher, Cleverley, Carrick but that there are players like Vidal, Kroos, Strootman out there, absolutley, if you can afford them, than you go and get them !

I don't think you can measure ambition with how much trophies you have won, that is how you measure succes. Ambition is about setting benchmarks, in fact ambition is more about the trophies you didn't win and how that makes you feel and it especially is about the trophies you want to win in the future. You can't measure Manchester Uniteds ambition on the basis of how many trophies they won so many years ago under different circumstances, what you are measuring is how ambitious the club was in the past and how successful it was in achieving those ambitions. You want to talk about ambition, you talk about the future, you talk about our targets for the next years and how realistic it is for us it is to get them with what we have and what we intend to do about that.

People saying we're good, this squad works and can get us in the top 4, lack ambition, we should atleast be competing and why not dominate the league ? people saying we can do that with these players are not realistic and are not seeing the flaws in the squad. So if you set the benchmark high enough and approach this realistically there is no way you can be happy with the squad we have at hand.

We simply have the wrong manager in charge for your type of thinking. Van Gaal wants to win just as much as anyone but he also has a philosophy and is a football romantic. He will want to promote, he will want to squeeze an extra 10% out of the whole team. These are the things he has done throughout his whole career. As long as the players we currently have, take in his methods in training, he wont go and sign players for the sake of it. Also, you have to remember that teams are built over years, you would probably struggle to name a great team that was put together over one summer. LVG has only been here a month or so, whether we like it or not, he wont rush into signings IF he thinks the current team follow his methods correctly.

Mourinho now, there's a guy right up your street. Mourinho doesn't build teams for the future, doesn't care about promoting young players etc. He cares about the present and what he can buy to win. with Mourinho in charge I am pretty sure we would have signed a few players by now. Its what he does. Put it this way, when players retire, not many of them will owe their careers to Jose, certainly not as many as those that will owe it to LVG. And that is what LVG is fully about.

PS - It annoys me to see someone like Scholes writing us off because we haven't made any major signing, when him and his 92 buddies benefited tremendously from Fergy given them a chance rather than buying ready made players ib the mid 90s. If anyone should understand, he should.

 

[El-Manos]

We simply have the wrong manager in charge for your type of thinking. Van Gaal wants to win just as much as anyone but he also has a philosophy and is a football romantic. He will want to promote, he will want to squeeze an extra 10% out of the whole team. These are the things he has done throughout his whole career. As long as the players we currently have, take in his methods in training, he wont go and sign players for the sake of it. Also, you have to remember that teams are built over years, you would probably struggle to name a great team that was put together over one summer. LVG has only been here a month or so, whether we like it or not, he wont rush into signings IF he thinks the current team follow his methods correctly.

Mourinho now, there's a guy right up your street. Mourinho doesn't build teams for the future, doesn't care about promoting young players etc. He cares about the present and what he can buy to win. with Mourinho in charge I am pretty sure we would have signed a few players by now. Its what he does. Put it this way, when players retire, not many of them will owe their careers to Jose, certainly not as many as those that will owe it to LVG. And that is what LVG is fully about.

PS - It annoys me to see someone like Scholes writing us off because we haven't made any major signing, when him and his 92 buddies benefited tremendously from Fergy given them a chance rather than buying ready made players ib the mid 90s. If anyone should understand, he should.

To be fair, we don't possess the same quality in our youth set-up than we did back then.

 

[RedStarUnited]

To be fair, we don't possess the same quality in our youth set-up than we did back then.

Knew someone would say that, you don't know that til they have been given a chance to show it. Fletcher was THE most hated figure in our squad around 05/06, 2/3 years later people were crying because he was suspended from the final in Rome. All because Fergy stood by him and gave him a chance. If you started a thread in here around the time he was hated, and suggested that in the future we would come to depend on him so much that our chances of winning a Champions League final will be dented without him. You would have got laughed at.

 

[Raoul]

We simply have the wrong manager in charge for your type of thinking. Van Gaal wants to win just as much as anyone but he also has a philosophy and is a football romantic. He will want to promote, he will want to squeeze an extra 10% out of the whole team. These are the things he has done throughout his whole career. As long as the players we currently have, take in his methods in training, he wont go and sign players for the sake of it. Also, you have to remember that teams are built over years, you would probably struggle to name a great team that was put together over one summer. LVG has only been here a month or so, whether we like it or not, he wont rush into signings IF he thinks the current team follow his methods correctly.

Mourinho now, there's a guy right up your street. Mourinho doesn't build teams for the future, doesn't care about promoting young players etc. He cares about the present and what he can buy to win. with Mourinho in charge I am pretty sure we would have signed a few players by now. Its what he does. Put it this way, when players retire, not many of them will owe their careers to Jose, certainly not as many as those that will owe it to LVG. And that is what LVG is fully about.

PS - It annoys me to see someone like Scholes writing us off because we haven't made any major signing, when him and his 92 buddies benefited tremendously from Fergy given them a chance rather than buying ready made players ib the mid 90s. If anyone should understand, he should.

Good post.

 

[Offside]

Good post !

I think whats getting on supporters tits is seeing other teams like madrid , barca and chelsea not waste any time and get the players in that they want .

I cant stress enough how important it is for us to get back into the champions league , and to be honest , I'm clinging on to the hope that having a top manager and not playing in Europe this season will maybe get us top 4 .

Anybody who thinks were better than chelsea and man city with our current squad are seriously deluded and if were being honest here arsenal will take some pegging back and I don't think liverpool without suarez will fold like a pack if cards like a few on the caf have predicted .

As we kick off the season on saturday going in with 3 centre halfs (jones smalling and Evans) with an appalling injury record is nothing sort of crazy . When I look at the midfield options i dread to think what will happen if Herrera gets injured .

I'm not one for wanting the club to blow silly money on players just to please the fans but why all the pussy footing around ? Let's identify the players we need and get them in . Its not rocket science that we need a couple of CBs and a centre mid and a wide man so let's get it sorted .

I keep reading we are one of the biggest clubs in the world but our transfer dealings since 2009 av been terrible . Were have the truly marquee signings been ? . Granted we bought van persie and more recently mata but thats about it really .

Valencia , young , kagawa ect ect wouldn't even get in to madrid or Barcas b teams so let's start getting the big names in . I'm not saying throw money at anybody but a top drawer player would be nice every once in a while rather than penny pinch on mediocre squad players .

If van gaal wants di Maria (hes mentioned him so he must rate him) then let's go out and buy him . The same goes for Vidal and benatia . Let's get rid of the dead wood and address the situation . We will only end up paying it on the last day anyway (ala fellaini) .

I totally trust LVG but a part of me is thinking his ego may be telling him to get us top 4 with what hes got , just to prove a point .

Also a great post!

I take on board all you said and probably agree with you.

 

[RedBistro]

 

[The Mitcher]

So now we have the wrong manager? Barely a week ago he was the best thing since sliced bread, fecking fickle you lot.

 

[RedBistro]

So now we have the wrong manager? Barely a week ago he was the best thing since sliced bread, fecking fickle you lot.

Who said that?

 

[The Mitcher]

Who s
aid that?

This guy.

We simply have the wrong manager in charge for your type of thinking. Van Gaal wants to win just as much as anyone but he also has a philosophy and is a football romantic. He will want to promote, he will want to squeeze an extra 10% out of the whole team. These are the things he has done throughout his whole career. As long as the players we currently have, take in his methods in training, he wont go and sign players for the sake of it. Also, you have to remember that teams are built over years, you would probably struggle to name a great team that was put together over one summer. LVG has only been here a month or so, whether we like it or not, he wont rush into signings IF he thinks the current team follow his methods correctly.

Mourinho now, there's a guy right up your street. Mourinho doesn't build teams for the future, doesn't care about promoting young players etc. He cares about the present and what he can buy to win. with Mourinho in charge I am pretty sure we would have signed a few players by now. Its what he does. Put it this way, when players retire, not many of them will owe their careers to Jose, certainly not as many as those that will owe it to LVG. And that is what LVG is fully about.

PS - It annoys me to see someone like Scholes writing us off because we haven't made any major signing, when him and his 92 buddies benefited tremendously from Fergy given them a chance rather than buying ready made players ib the mid 90s. If anyone should understand, he should.

EDIT: Actually misread your post RedStar, sorry!

 

[Triple.Threat]

I'm as frustrated about the lack of quality additions as much as the next man, but this post is a little off the mark I think.

"lost 5 players". Evra - Upgraded through Shaw. Ferdinand - hardly played last year and wouldn't have the pace to play in this system this year. Vidic - Big loss but still time to replace him. Buttner - Rubbish. Rather play Reece James. The others? Bebe, Macheda, etc? Hardly a loss. In fact hopefully the likes of Fellaini, Anderson and possibly Hernandez can be moved on too.

"Only brought in 2" - There's no Europe this year, so we'll have 10-15 games less than usual. Squad doesn't need to be as huge. The two we have brought in both improve our first XI immediately. We have never been lacking squad numbers. So quality over quantity is important. Also worth remembering that we brought Mata in, in January without moving anyone else on.

Moyes has gone and Van Gaal has come in. This is the biggest single strengthening factor of any team in the league. Our squad isn't great but nearly all our players underperformed woefully last season. If Van Gaal gets a 10-20% improvement out of everyone, the difference come May will be huge. We still have several players who are either top class, serial league winners or full of potential.

A lot of our young players are being criminally under rated on here. Two years ago Smalling and Jones was being touted as the future of not only our defence but the England defence too. Neither has had a consistent run of games together. Expect that to change this season. Both have enormous potential and both have already shown in patches that they are top quality defenders. On form Evans is one of the best defenders in the league. Another who is criminally under rated. If it wasn't for injury concerns, I would be very happy to have Jones, Smalling and Evans as our first choice three. All are good on the ball, relatively quick and natural defenders.

Cleverly is one young player who has not developed as I hoped. But Welbeck is a player I have so much time for. His close control, teamwork and pace are top drawer. I think we look a much better team with him in the side. His pace alone changes the dimension of our attack. He's never had a run in his favoured position. For me, this season would see him cement himself as first choice striker partnered with either Rooney or RVP. Wilson as the 4th choice striker.

It's a cliché to say it but I have to say it anyway. Fletcher's return to form is like a new signing. He's not the top tier level we need but he looks so much better with a full pre-season under his belt and has an awful lot to offer. He's just going to get stronger and stronger over the coming months I feel. And one thing we should all know about Darren Fletcher is to never underestimate his fortitude or ability to triumph under pressure. He took more abuse as a young player at United than I have seen before, it was shameful. He went from absolute zero, to cult hero in about 3 seasons.

With the change in formation, we are not going to be reliant on productivity from wide areas to create the bulk of our goals. Which is just as well because our wingers are shite. It's amazing Moyes put so much emphasis and pressure on the weakest area of our squad. So again, we have improved hugely here, potentially anyway, by playing to our strengths.

We are going to be so much more competitive this year than we were last. I see our rivals being very worried about us. Arsenal have done well to sign Sanchez, but running and creativity from deep was never a problem for them. They still haven't addressed their two biggest weaknesses, in CDM and CF. Chelsea have upgraded very well and I see them as clear favourites. Liverpool have CL distractions with a squad that isn't CL experienced. The loss of Suarez only makes them less dangerous. Their other additions could be good, could be bad. They spread the money quite thinly and in some cases speculatively. And Man City have brought in Fernando, who won't start and is only a slightly better version of Garcia and Mangala who was absurdly overpriced and can't get in the France team ahead of Sahko.

Good post but you got a bit carried away, Evans hasn't shown anything so far not even when he was on loan at Sunderland where he was excellent or in our world record breaking run of keeping clean sheets in 08-09 (our defense was rotated like crazy that year to give Evans full credit for that run) to class him as one of the best in the league.

Also Smalling is horrible on the ball and I won't call Jones ball playing . Evans how ever is excellent on the ball I will agree with you on that one.

 

[.Rossi]

Changed my mind...Sign anyone....Sign anyone now!!

Don't care who it is, just sign them!!!

 

[Sid234]

Woodward has little over 2 weeks to prove that he can walk the walk after his "watch this space" comments.

Personally after that speech of his got my hopes up, I don't think anything less than a big signing would make me happy.

I'm not being a spoilt fan or anything like that but Woodward had no reason to get everyone's hopes up like that and if he doesn't deliver on his ambitious claims, we have every right to slam him regardless of Shaw and Herrera's signing.

I don't think we were expecting too much until his big interview on MUTV

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Real won Europe last season and strengthened with Kroos and Rodriguez and here we are getting excited about an injured Jonny Evans and calling Darren Fletcher a new signing.

 

[.Rossi]

Real won Europe last season and strengthened with Kroos and Rodriguez and here we are getting excited about an injured Jonny Evans and calling Darren Fletcher a new signing.

They're like new signings though......

 

[Triple.Threat]

Don't know if this had been posted.

 

[.Rossi]

Don't know if this had been posted.

Sign him!!

EDIT: Just realised who it is....Sign him anyways! Again! Sign anyone at this point!

 

[Shane88]

We're going to sign someone today.

I can feel it in my bones.

 

[Robbie Boy]

We're going to sign someone today.

I can feel it in my bones.

I admire your optimism.

 

[.Rossi]

We're going to sign someone today.

I can feel it in my bones.

I sign on today.......Does that count?!

 

[Getsme]

And who are you to judge?

I've got common sense, I don't pretend to be an ITK, and he's a proven bullshitter, so yeah, I can judge.

Majority of people thinking they know something doesn't prove anything, especially the right to judge.
If you are a mod ban me if not stop fecking wasting my time.

You need to grow up.

 

[Lawman]

Yeah but I just love how he's hated for a whole year, is revered after signing Shaw and Herrera in the same week and then is a 'lying cnut' when we have a period of inactivity (which LVG explicitly warned/informed us about). We're almost certainly going to sign some more players before the end of the window and I'll be interested to see if some of these hysterical children change their tune again.

Walsh your not meant to speak this much sense in this thread buddy. You'll end up getting a ban!

 

[Kayo]

We're going to sign someone today.

I can feel it in my bones.

I can feel it that my bones that van Gaal says he is happy with the squad in his press conference!

 

[Lawman]

We ended up 7th last year and out of the CL !
Our football has looked like shit for years.
It has been years since we've had any realistic hope of lifting that CL trophy again.

But oh no we've won the PL a couple of times in the last years under SAF so everthing is good ? Where the feck is your ambition ? Manchester United is supposed to be the biggest or atleast one of the biggest clubs in the world, but right now we should already be content with a top 4 finish and a CL spot. I'am sorry but this is the club that has the biggest fanbase in the world and just signed the biggest sponsorship deal in sports ever which will make the club earn like £75m a year for the next 10 years for making their shirts and selling them. But we act like a fecking midtable team in the transfermarket and we have the squad of a fecking midtable team. We are supposed to be a top club, we have the infrastructure of a top club, we talk like a top club, we have the fans and the financials of a top club but we act like a fecking midtable team and we perform like a fecking midtable team (atleast last season).

The last time I have remembered United the way they are supposed to be was in 2008, with genuine top players, a C.Ronaldo, an attack consisting of Tevez and Rooney, a midfield with Scholes, the best centreback pairing in the world and the best manager. Nothing is left of that now, you know why because we started doing things like replacing Ronaldo with Valencia and Obertan, refusing to sign decent replacements for players like Scholes and not wanting to invest in players like Modric, Bale, Hazard and a dozen of others I could name but being content with purchases like Bebe and Owen and if we ever make a big transfer it never is for a position we need in the team (like Kagawa, Mata RVP), half the time the player fails to live up to his price tag, which happens if you spend £27m on a microphone, but hell no what fantastic business we do. In 2008 we were the best club in the world or atleast among the best clubs in the world, right now we are not, we aren't even close to Bayern, Real, Barca, hell even small clubs like Chelsea, City, PSG have eclipsed us and why ? Because of money ? I don't believe shit about that, this club makes so much money if it would want it could buy any player it desires, no the reason we we are dropping behind is because this club lacks ambition.

It lacks ambition big time, hell we get humilated like never before, we end up 7th and what do we do ? We let our most experienced players go on a free and replace them with 2 massively overpriced teenagers. Whilst watching the rest of the teams that outperformed us by like such a distance that it ain't even funny anymore, sign players like Fabregas, Costa, Mangala, Suarez, James, Kroos, Lewandowski etc but oh no we are good, because he yea you remember in the past under another manager that was like the best manager ever we won a PL title so we are like the bestest team that ever existed on the planet. Fecking hell man, stop setting the bar so ridiculously low and start expecting the things that should be expected from top clubs ! What are we just a money making machine for the Glazers, because it is starting to look like that and people are supposed to be content with that ? Jezus !

Think you'd be better of supporting City or PSG! You'd be much more happier!