Sir Alex Ferguson has told Mancunian radio station Key 103 that we will not be dipping in to the transfer market in January.
“That has not come onto the agenda,” said Ferguson in response to the possibility of buying next month. “We hope that Wes Brown will be back in a week or 10 days’ time, Rio Ferdinand is improving, Gary Neville is getting there and Rafael Da Silva has now started training. We are not so bad and we are not looking at signing players.”
Anders Lindegaard Anderson Antonio Valencia Ashley Young Ben Foster Betting Blog Busby Babes Carlos Tevez Chants Chris Smalling Competition Contributing Writer Cristiano Ronaldo Current Players Danny Welbeck Darren Fletcher Darron Gibson Da Silva Twins David Beckham David De Gea Dimitar Berbatov Domestic Cups Edwin Van der Sar Eric Cantona Europe FA Fans Federico Macheda FIFA Football News Forum Gabriel Obertan Gary Neville Injuries International Interviews Javier Hernandez Ji-Sung Park John O'Shea Jonny Evans Just For Fun Kits Legends Live blog Louis Saha Manchester United News Match Day Match Reactions Michael Carrick Michael Owen Nani Nemanja Vidic Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Owen Hargreaves Past Players Patrice Evra Paul Scholes Phil Jones Poll Pre-Season Rants Reclaim Our Club Rio Ferdinand Rivals RoM's Best Articles RoM At The Audi Cup Roy Keane Ryan Giggs Shop Sir Alex Ferguson Site News Sponsored Post Staff Stats Tomasz Kuszczak Tom Cleverley Transfers/Rumours UEFA United > England Video Wayne Rooney Wes Brown Youth Zoran Tosic
© 2006-2012 Republik Of Mancunia: A Manchester United Blog by Scott the Red | Privacy Policy
Man Utd News 24/7
We’re fucked.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuck
Its not our defence that needs stregthening! It’s our attack!!
He has to say that –otherwise the price doubles automatically. Look what happened last summer.
On the other hand, if it’s true — then Fuuuuuck!
He said there will be no defensive signings, which we don’t really need anyway with players returning. I still think we’ll dip into the market for attacking based players.
I’ve always trusted SAF judgement, but I think he’s lost the plot if he thinks the squad (not only his defence) does not need strengthening.
Apart from being able to count on one hand the number of 1/2 decent performances this season, it is obvious the squad is lacking in key positions ( a creative midfielder, a top class striker and you could even look at the goalkeeping department)
It does make you question if we actually do have the money to spend
Once we get the injured defenders back there is no need to buy anymore during the transfer window, I would be hopeful of a creative midfielder however.
Saying that I’m not sure how much we should read into this, it’s not like he’s going to come out and say “I would like to buy this player” – he could be bullshitting us all!
it is easy to say we are looking shit up front – but the fact is with out the foundations of the defense you are losing so much out of the middle and up front.
Carrick – arguably the most creative passer other than the Ginger prince has been relegated to CB it takes a huge amount out of the team
Manchester united WILL buy this January . I’d bet my mutv on it. And I fought so hard to keep it
Erm…. good!
If it wasn’t for injuries i don’t think we were doing badly at all.
Have faith guys.
This isn’t just some manager talking, this is SAF.
Supreme faith in him, total faith in United. By the time any meaningful transfers could take place, most players will be back.
Just a point to note though, as Bruce Thomas said earlier he also knows prices would inflate massively if he even hinted at a purchase.
No doom n gloom for me!
fuck this! We’re in trouble if this is so
We lack creativity and we lack an out and out goalscorer
attacking wiseee we are okay!!
and we have a new superstar already.. just needs to play him
OBERTAN!!
defensive wise we should be okay next sunday.. should have vidic/brown back hopefully.. rafael and fabio.. so its looking okay..
but maybe a young promising defender would be good.. wot happened to DODO.. bring him in!!
He said that last season and signed Tosic. Probably a smokescreen. I’m just hoping our defence and Hargo are back soon otherwise we could be fucked. Saying that Chelseas draw at West Ham yesterday means that the gap is not that big, so it could be worse.
I think Fergie is being smart here, if he were to talk about possible signings, prices would skyrocket. This way, he can have some control over pricing. Smart move, Fergie!
I think Fergie is playing games again.
We desperately need a striker/creative midfielder.
If Rooney is not on form, we look ordinary
I think there is a big need to be spending big in January. I’d go for a guy like Shawcross to help us out in defence. He such a talent and we should have never let him go. Also with VDS’s persistent injury problems and bearing in mind he is 39 and out of contract next June, we should start looking to bring in another goalkeeper. Foster has tremendously disappointed when he was given the chance to show what he is made of. I think the time is right to let him go. Schalke’s Neuer seems a very good prospect although I would go for Fiorentina’s much more experienced Sebastian Frey.
In the middle of the park we lack the Hargreaves type of player so hopefully he’ll soon be ready for action. I would also recall Cleverly if it’s possible in January he would give us a much needed spark and some legs in our midfield.
Attacking wise we lack goals. Rooney isn’t that out and out goalscorer we crave for and Owen more often than not seems to disappear in matches. I’d go for a big money signing to get us out of this mess, possibly one from Villa or Dzeko. They look like United type players unlike Berbatov who has miserably failed to do so.
Apart from these three players I don’t reckon we need anymore signings. Also I would like to see Fergie resolve the matter with Nani. The same said for Tosic. Fergie seems to have already made up his mind on the pair using them barely and not even calling them on the bench. If the money is right we should let them go, possibly freeing up some space for another winger maybe.
Come on guys, there’s no value in the market at the moment, remember?
We got Michael Owen on a free – now that’s value. We didn’t even have to break into that £100m war chest of ours.
Forget about Villa, Eto’o, Aguero, Benzema, etc. I wouldn’t take any of them over our great #7. Fortunately, it seems neither would Fergie.
Can’t say i am surprised by this. And i don’t think Fergie is bluffing either.
At this moment, i wouldn’t make a significant signing. I would look for a loan deal or a short term contract for a back up defender. Fergie believes that the injuries at the back will stop soon. Fortunately i don’t see it that way, unless we change the medical stuff. I hope Fergie is right.
Unfortunately i meant
@obertanthenewstar – exactly so. ’tis been in hiding but i do believe SAF bought obertan as ronnie’s successor. Simply no need keeping him on the bench. We needed him against fulham but what happened? If we want to talk about players who can make something happen in 90 mins, that’s him. Skillful, pacey and better he’s underrated(defenders’ eyes not on him at the moment). He is the new ronnie,no doubt.
OP: “it is easy to say we are looking shit up front – but the fact is with out the foundations of the defense you are losing so much out of the middle and up front.”
I don’t agree with this line of argument – UTD’s attack looked pretty lousy even before this injury list hit crisis levels.
The fact of the matter is that the Rooney/Berbatov axis has gelled; Valencia has both strengths – great engine and fearless – and real weaknesses – too predictable and soooo one-footed while Nani has been consistently inconsistent; Obertan might be more than a flash-in-the-pan but no one can predict that; Tosic hasn’t been convincing enough to SAF to give him a run-out; Park is, well, Park; and Giggs is 36 and can only play on the wing if he’s lined up with Patrice Evra who will do the running; LittleMikey has done fine as a super-sub but it’s ridiculous to expect more; Danny Welbeck and KikoTheKid missed large stretches in September/October for international u20 and now Kiko has hamstring issues.
Can the real solution be Mame Diouf ?
I never thought we really would be fucked if we didn”t sign any one. We have a very long list of young players who we need to test to see if they are woth it or not and signing any player would limit their chances . And if we needed to sign someomne i guess we need a player who can play as a winger and creative . We are suffering from our lack of creativity and we need someone to solve this out . A pacy one also . I”d make giggs drink secret magical stuff to make him 15 years younger . The boy is a genius !
Rightly said denton davey. I think Diouf will be good but still we need to be spending
Interesting.
Do we need to buy anybody – you bet we do. Midfield is ordinary and don’t frighten teams anymore – a creative goalscoring midfielder needed.
Will SAF buy? I just don’t know If he doesn’t then maybe there is some truth in our lack of money for players Only the end of Jan will tell us more
I fear that if we don’t buy a creative midfield player and maybe a goalscorer we might end up with nothing this season.
We have no money. we made a loss when we did the double and that about sums up the financial problems united have. If we arent able to finance the Glazer’s debt with the money won and support driven by a premier league title and a champions league trophy and we have spent very little of that 80 million received in the summer. something to me doesnt add up!
I’m ecstatic to hear this!
This is getting beyond a joke now. I am sick of all of the cutting back. Ticket prices go up year on year and what do we get to show for it? (FA) 80m for Ronnie? Even though i think that we spent well in the summer i just cannot understand why SAF didn’t go out to buy a world class creative midfielder and a deadly finisher! I can understand the last 2 results, given the injury list. We are fortunate enough that Chelsea didn’t capitalise. But 1 thing is for sure – come the 1st February if we do not sign any players. SAF would be best advised to get in his audi and drive the premier league trophy to Stamford Bridge!
Well if that’s true we’re in for a depressing couple of years at least. Ah well, nothing to do but try and support the team and hope we can get out of the dire financial situation we are in, because let’s be clear on things, if we didn’t have the debt to pay off then not even Madrid could have a better situation. We come out with the biggest profit at the moment and have had one of, if not the biggest turnovers for most of the last decade. The Glazers have improved our income streams, let us just hope that the next few years will see us get on top of the debt without falling too far behind.
Hold it guys. When did our midfield become bad? It’s basically the same one we’ve had for the last 3 years. And if anything, the midfielders have more goals this season, as it was expected when we lost Ronaldo’s goals. Lets look at the big picture. It’s the middle of the season. We bring in a goalscoring midfielder. A couple of questions: 1) Where are we going to find him? I don’t see many out there. 2) Who is going to get dropped to the bench? Carrick? Anderson? I can see these arguements being valid in the summer, but buying in January isn’t quite as simple.
I will stick by my opinion that until this team is near full strength we can’t be certain about it’s full capabilities. Not to mention that there have been plenty of times over the years( i.e. the season we won it with kids or the 02-03 season) when the team got better and stronger as the season went on. Who knows? Maybe the same will happen this season.
If it wasn’t for our injuries, we would be doing much better. Don’t understand why many of you think ‘we’re fucked’. Bit over the top there. We will be fine once our defence is sorted and when Rooney hits form. If SAF thinks the squad needs strengthening, then so be it.
Besides, does anyone remember a January signing that changed our season around? I can’t. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that whoever comes, they need a while to settle down(ie Evra and Vida). Another is the fact that by January the team has learned to play in a certain way and a new signing might disrupt that.
“The Glazers have improved our income streams, let us just hope that the next few years will see us get on top of the debt without falling too far behind.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!
good…dont need no1 else
Well Fred, I am crying to be honest, but it is getting near Christmas, I have made a decission not to lay into the Glazers for now, I am trying to look at the positive side of things because the way things have gone in general since those Yanks were allowed to’aquire’ our club, on credit that we the supporters will ultimately have to pay back – or see our beloved club perrish, and the way our faith continues to blind us to the fate that is unrolling before our eyes…now see…there I go again, I’m getting on my high horse again, no, let me bask in the positive light that so many of you want to bathe in – I’m sticking to ‘the Glazers have increased our streams of income’. much more in the spirit of things!
Merry Christmas to all of you, we deserve a good one!
Costas – Hi mate. Spot on. Really sick of hearing all the doom and gloom. We have lost ONE player. Admittedly the best in the World but all of a sudden fans think we sold eleven players. There is so much young talent in this squad that need to be given the chance. How the fuck is our midfield shit? Fletch, Carrick, Hargreaves, Ando, Giggs, Scholes, Gibson, Cleverley, James, Pogba. And just who is this “creative midfielder” we MUST buy? Carrick, Scholes and Anderson can all create as can Giggsy and Fletcher.
PS Is this sentence “We must buy a CREATIVE MIDFIELDER” just a standard sentence that everyone just regurgitates?
I dunno, Fergie chose his words carefully, only naming defenders, implying he doesn’t think our back line needs to be bolstered. Once we get Fletch back in his proper position our midfield will be loads better, though I thought Carrick was ‘meh’ even before he got slotted into his current role.
Obertan needs more time on the pitch, I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen so far, especially since he’s still just a kid. If Fergie thinks we’re going to be okay then we’re going to be okay.
You have to remember the man is a fucking genius. He’s looking at next year and the year after and is happy with what he sees. Most of us are focusing on the here and now. Yeah, right now we might want to shell out 20 mil for an attacking midfielder, but if Fergie doesn’t think we need it then we don’t bloody need it.
We have no money, I really cannot see us buying anyone at all plus if we had any money the players we would want to bring in the clubs would not sell in the Jan window.
Would be happy if we can sign some who is VFM but i am more than happy with the current squad too. Think Fergie has said all this taking into account all the injuries so i guess our injury problems are about to end soon. If things dont improve we need a defender but otherwise the team is good enough.I actually think Fergie wants to buy players but knows it is impossible with the inflated prices in the current climate so better be patient till things get a bit normal and then we can pursue our targets
I’d like David Silva King Eric.
Altonian – Fair enough but would he cut it in England? Hardly rips La Liga up does he. Good player but cannot see him adding much to United. Fergie ain’t gonna risk 30 million on him that is for sure. Modric would be a better bet. Proven in England. Again though he has probably found his level at Spurs and wouldn’t offer United anything.
King Eric, I admire your attitude, let me just bring things into perspective.
Hargreaves has not played for us for a year. His ‘comeback’ keeps being put back as it was earlier this year. When he does get back he will be nearly two years older than when we bought him, has not really played for this team and has lost out on two years of development. He will not be the player he was and may never be. He wil never be the player he could have developed into at United.
We need to invest in another top class midfielder before we hear Scholes tell us he has retired. I agree that Fletcher has really come on but he is miles away from a young and fit Scholes, and it is that level that should be setting the standard, however hard it is to find.
Carrick is not doing for us what he has done the last 3 seasons. Some say he got on the wrong side of Sir Alex at the beginning of the season and that is why he didn’t play. I don’t know what is going on but he isn’t performing. He has not been a regular this season and could end up getting his longest run in the team as centre back.
Gibson gets a pat on the back when his shots come off, but other than that he is largely invisible. He was nowhere to be seen on Saturday. That is not United standard I’m afraid.
Anderson…constantly threatening to have a great game this season, but it never comes and he still fades rapidly in the second half of games. Looks lively and purposeful at times and then gives the ball away very cheeply.
Cleverley, James, Pogba…we can’t say anything about their chances of making it as yet. They are looking good at the standard they are playing but we have had a hatfull of players we could say that about over the last decade. You can’t make plans based on players who have not played at the highest level.
Giggs …is Giggs. He will keep going and giving his all as long as he can, but the next serious injury could be his last. We could face next season without him and Scholes and it is very likely that next season will be his last as a player. We need to try and get a player of his ability – impossible I know, but we won’t get that from the present youngsters. We have to look at a Messi or Ribery type replacement, otherwise – again – we are saying we will accept a level of player that is miles away from the standard that Giggsy provides.
There are only so many comprimises you can make on quality. Are we close to replacing Ronaldo, Tevez, Scholes, Giggs, VDS, Neville? Have we even replaced recent losses such as Solskjaer, Roy Keane, Ruud?
I just feel that we are constantly falling that little bit behind until one day we will be looking at an impossible task just to get the team back to the standard we were two or three seasons ago, never mind making ground back up on the likes of Barcelona.
I didn’t want to get gloomy again, I am sick of thinking that way, but I can’t just accept that everything is rosey. That would be doing a Nero and many clubs before us have found out where that gets you.
20 goals in 5 years in Spain says it all really.
@Altonian
David Silva is very good player. Can create. can score from distance.good vision and passing. But for a 23 year old he gets injured too often and has to bulk up a bit.He really has become very injury prone. I also like Juan Mata who also plays at Valencia. I still think we should wait till the summer although if Silva does well at the WC his price may soar and real or barca may come for him.
“a Messi or Ribery type signing”. Ain’t gonna happen mate.
It sounds tacky and arse licky. But I honestly do trust in Fergie. He sees the squad every single day and knows more than all of us put together. If he HONESTLY thinks the squad is strong enough then so do I. Last year all the media were saying it is the greatest United squad ever. What has changed? Ronaldo and the Judas gone but the rest of the squad is the same albeit a year older.
The only i would really want in the summer is Manuel Neuer. Really solid keeper. germany’s no 1 although Kus isnt doing too bad.has been good in recent games Foster has no chance now. His days are numbered. Kjaer also looks good although i havent seen him that much but he was brilliant against Milan. I will sign him only if our crisis dont improve or in the summer.
King Eric
Hi mate.WE have lost just 2 players and one of them we arent missing at all in tevez but Ronaldo’s departue has left certain gaps which arent being filled.i want to see someone step up and become a consistent match winner or score when we arent playing well like on saturday.Rooney, giggs and berba have all done it but not consistently . Ronaldo used to induce fear in the opposition. That has reduced a bit now.Dont get me wrong We have players capable of doing it but we Rooney, Berba and the others arent doing it consistently.
@king eric
Whilst I dont like slagging off our players, it’s clear our midfield are struggling and we have been 2nd best on to many occasions this season to an extent that I think it is the weak link in our team
Cleverley, James, Pogba etc may be the answer but lets see them getting the chance instead of having to watch us being out played by third rate teams.
lyndhurst red – Of course they are struggling, they are missing Fletcher, Carrick and Hargreaves. Remember them completely bossing the rentboys? It isn’t a weak link. In most games they do control it but given the fact 3 of our best in that position are missing what do you really expect?
aig – Alright pal. Yeah can’t argue with that. It just really annoys me when people say our midfield is weak. We have more options and stronger midfields than any team in the Prem.
the article title doesn’t correlate with what Ferguson said…
As soon as we get our defenders back from injury I’m sure our problems elsewhere on the pitch will improve as well….
Costas: “I will stick by my opinion that until this team is near full strength we can’t be certain about it’s full capabilities.”
Since King Eric seconded that, I will third it.
Clearly this is an odd time-of-transition; YET – even after losing the single-best footballing talent in the world, the team is somehow (somehow !) just four points behind the world-dominating RentBoyz who have been widely anointed champions until cracks in their foundation have started to appear in the last three weeks.
YET – even after losing the single-best attacker in world football, this collection of players has somehow (somehow !) conspired to score nine or ten more goals than at this time last season.
YET – even though the the back five has been quite literally nearly-decimated by injuries as nine of them are out and the tenth (Cathcart) is on loan.
YET – even though the forward pairing isn’t clicking and Valencia is still feeling his way into the first-team and Nani/Anderson/Obertan are not yet consistently productive, this miserable collection of nearly men have still contributed to more production than last year when Ronaldo and Tevez flanked Wayne Rooney.
My glass is half-full – I’m hoping that it will be filled with the return to health of UTD’s first-choice defenders, the return to midfield of Fletcherinho and Carrick, and my belief that Berbatov has much more to offer IF he can be deployed to complement Wayne Rooney.
King Eric. i disagree with anyone who says the midfield is weak. its utter trash.
lets analyse it.
1.Carrick- one of the best passers around. has great vision and can shoot from distance as well. Is slowly getting back to his best.
2. Fletcher.only 2 words are enough ” football genius”
3. Scholes. Still has great vision and range of passing. dosent have the legs as before but he and fletch compliment each other well.
4. Anderson. Great talent. has been good this season. Only problem is consistency.
5. Nani. Only disappointment. Should be given one last chance though
6. Valencia. 6 goals already, great pace. Needs to improve his crossing and start using his left foot but he will improve given more time
7. Obertan. My pick to shine this season. has great confidence in himself and loves to take defenders on.
8.Park. Very hardworking. Needs more game as she has had an injury hit season. Will be useful especially in Europe.
9.Giggs. Wont say anything. at 36 he can still influence games.Playing like an 18 year old. that says it all.
Sorry if i have forgotten anyone but we definitely dont have a weak midfield
I do agree wit Fergie abt nt buyin nxt month,cum 2look at it,we got 2,3 evn 4players contestin 4every spot in d team.they mght nt b establish lads yet bt r young n got potentials.we need nt 2buy bt 2giv d lads encouragemnt n playin time 2grow.if we buy,places in d team wll b limited wit key lads on d bench whch will hinder their progress{chelski unda mouriho}.d u18 n reserves got exciting lads{pogba,petrucci etc.}who must b encourage into d first team in d quickest future n shud neva b lost 2other teams.My only trouble wit SAF is Obertan {can certainly make ronnie b 4gotten quickly} shud b playin often nt d selfish welbeck.Wazza needs d lad 2tak away defenders 4hm,somebody plz….talk 2 Fergie n Ando,is he really Brazillian?
@ king eric
Agreed we took the rentboys apart however how many other games can you say our midfield have dominated?
We have not had Hargreaves for over a year now and and both Carrick and Fletcher have both been injured, played out of position and in Carricks case he has not been selected – for whatever reason.
What I’m saying is why is it that a club of or stature with around £100m available rely on Hargreaves, Carrick and Fletcher.Yes Giggs has been outstanding but we are still weak in midfield and thats reflected in our forward play
omgz no signingz!!1 this is bad bcoz fergie has never proved his critics rong b4
people r right,, were finished
:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
Haha, Bebeto.
In Fergie We Trust.
We’ve got so many players to come back, each one will seem like a lifeline and a new signing in itself. Sure, we may sign an attacking midfielder, but I doubt we will or that we even need to.
@denton davey: I fully agree with your “YET”s. In our first 28 games of the season, we have had one of our best goal tallies of the last 10 years. The team is scoring more goals. The question that is raised, is if we score a goal when we desperately need it. As you said recently, against top 4 sides, it’s an issue thus far. But since our debate is about the January transfer window, is there someone out there that can fix this straight away? Personally, i don’t think so.
As we have debated recently, the key might be the Berbatov factor. If Fergie can get the best of him by the end of the season. If he can’t do it, in my opinion we have options within the club(Owen, Welbeck and Kiko) that can give our attack a different dimension. I honestly can’t see a transfer that will change that.
@King Eric:
I am willing to reopen the Silva topic in the summer mate. But for now, i truly can’t see it happen. If we go for him now, Valencia will sense our desperation and we will end up paying more for him. And i do have some doubts if he can handle the EPL’s physical game.
As far as the creative midfielder is concerned, United always create chances. It’s not just about having a Lampard, Gerrard or (the best option by far) a Scholesy of 5 years ago in our team. It’s about United playing with speed and penetration to the point where we become unpredictable for our opponents. That’s what we must focus on. We hammered Roma 7-1 and Scholes wasn’t even in the team. It was all about having a target man up front(Smith) and players like Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo interchanging positions.
he was talking about not buying any defenders, NOT overall.
Dont think we need any one this Jan. I would absolutely love to see david villa at the club but i cannot see it ever happening with our financial situation. I just wish our forwards would be a bit more consistent. Rooney and Berbatov and even little mickey when on form are unbelievable but i think they have all been a little hit and miss. I really hope we start getting the best out of Berba soon because I think he is a wonderful player but i feel that we are not seeing him fulfil his potential as of yet. Anyway, SAF is talking about defenders, but with the debt we are in and the fact we want but probably dont need any fresh legs means i dont think we will see any signings this January.
All this talk about Silva not be able to cut it in England is premature, plenty of foreign players have gone onto be world class. I don’t think we’ll buy in Jan but we do need a match winner in the team. Scholes and Giggs are still playing but the last minute goals from these two have dried up and not replaced, not a criticism just an observation. When the chips are down against a top side and we need a goal theres only 1 player I can see saving us and thats Rooney. If we need a late goal I just can’t see Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson or Valencia getting us one.
l very much agree with SAF. have u managed the team in a football mangaer game? who do u leave out. The squad is full of very good (maybe not brilliant/superb) players. Let’s stick with our guns and give the tyoung lads their chance! Mrry Xmas Y’all
Costas: “But since our debate is about the January transfer window, is there someone out there that can fix this straight away? Personally, i don’t think so.”
I don’t think so, either. Let’s say UTD purchase David Villa, who is right now the best striker in the world for club and country. Does that mean Villa would make an immediate impact ? Would Villa grasp the team’s organization ? Would Villa fall in love with Denton or Gorton ? Would he buggery, as my dad would have said !
UTD’s best purchases in the January window were Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic – they were pretty dire in their first few months but really came into their own after a time in which they became integrated with the manager, their teammates, and the city. Wouldn’t it seem likely that our hypothetical purchase of David Villa would follow this pattern of slow integration ?
The only players who would make an immediate, positive impact would be those with EPL experience – say, Teary Henry or Dirty Patrick or Xabi Alonso or Gerrard Pique. If you narrow the search down to players in the EPL then the choice becomes even more difficult – how many players outside the so-called contenders – or even the pretenders like ManShitty, LiverPoo, Aston Villa, or Spurs – would you consider good enough for UTD. Sure, anyone could name Fernando Torres but the Vermin wouldn’t sell to UTD no matter what the price offered would be – and it’s not clear that NandoBoy would want to travel down the East Lancs Road to play for a winner since his whole career has been playing for next year’s team in Athletico Madrid and now at Anfailed; does anyone reasonably think that, say, Drogba or Fabregas would be sold by their teams to their main rival ? who else ? – Dickhead Adebayor ? Robinho ? or real human beings like Ashley Young or Aaron Lennon ? do you seriously think that Young or Lennon would be guaranteed to be significant difference-makers ?
A couple of days ago I suggested that there are a few possible contributors lurking around on the more marginal teams in the EPL – I named Kenwyne Jones and Hugo Rodellaga; no one even bothered to write in and tell me that I was bonkers ! And what would Steve Bruce want for Jones – 25 million quid AND KikoTheKid ? what would Dave Whelan want for Rodellago – the same or maybe a few million less, a “hometown discount” for his favourite club ? Or, how about Kevin Davies from Bolton who is a real thug in the box, who knows that his job is to hang about and make a nuisance of himself to the oppositon central defenders – maybe Gary Megson would accept ten million for that 32 year old ? These guesses almost make a naughty bid for EmileIvanhoeHeskey seem both reasonable and reasonably cheap @ about two million. Or, how about buying back LouisLouisHaHa for eight million – he’s on fire, scoring lots of goals and apparently playing all the time.
Of course, some of these suggestions are ridiculous – and the rest are ludicrous – but they make the point that there’s not much available for a quick fix. SAF is in a corner of his own making – selling Ronaldo and buying Berbatov the year before to ensure a transition. I think he just has to grin and bear it and hope that the injured defenders come back in January, that the RentBoyz continue to struggle, that TheArse hit a bump, and that Dimmy finally gets with the program. And, of course, Owen Hargreaves would be like a new signing.
I forgot to mention that Shola Ameobi might also be available.
@NotoriousRedDevil:
I was one of those who talked about Silva not being able to cut it. I like Silva because of his ability. He is a talented winger who can change the course of a match. I just think he is a bit light for Premiership standards. Ferguson has had his opportunities to buy him and he has opted not to. Maybe he is thinking the same? Or maybe he is thinking that Silva isn’t consistent enough?
You make a good point about missing a match winner. If we are missing one element of Ronaldo’s game, is that one. I think the team still has a couple of people it can depend on. Rooney is the most obvious one of course. However, Berbatov has the ability to unlock defences(Blackburn and Sunderland this season), Valencia rescued us in both games against CSKA, Fletch scored twice against City, Owen got the winner in that game and Carrick got the winner at Wigan last year and against Wolfsburg. So my point is that there are still players out there who aren’t shy of responsibility. The problem is what happens when we need something very special in a big game. That’s where we might be lacking.
@denton davey:
Yeah i agree. Not enough out there. Villa and Silva i put in the same category. Great players, but how long would it take for them to settle? A striker who made immediate impact at the club was Louis Saha, but he didn’t change our fortunes a great deal that season. Our problems were elsewhere.
I like your suggestions because you reminded me of some long forgotten names, like Shola! But i will give you a truly ridiculous one. We know that Fergie has always been fond of Duncan Ferguson, so what if he persuaded him to come out of retiremement for 6 months, hehe? In all seriousness, lets hope Kiko’s injury gives him a chance to reflect a bit on the last few months and come back more focused. From our current strikers, he is the only one who can lead the line as they say.
great news – no new signings, i’m sure all those Champions League teams wil be quaking in their boots at the thought of those midfield dynamos of Carrick and Hargreaves…..apart from the fact that one of them has as much character as a used condom and the other one is seen once every 15 months…..im v. worried by this whole situation
I can live with us not signing any players in Jan. Dont get me wrong, as a fan i would love to see some new stars lighting up Old Trafford. But if nobody is signed this Jan, it probably means the players SAF wants is not available or not available at a reasonable price. We are not playing well now i agreed, but man utd is not about success this season only. If (it’s a big IF because new player usually will need time to settle in) not signing any players cost us the 4th title this season, so be it. But in exchange for no signing, i would like to see our young talent given a run in the first team. If they are judge to be no good or not good enough, SAF will know best who to bring in during the summer. As i said, Man Utd is not only about this season. We will definetly be pushing all the way to get this 4th consecutive premier title, but if we fall short, we always have next season. The last thing i want to see is Man Utd paying over the roof amount to bring in new faces. Overall well being & properly managment of Man Utd to ensure long term success is more important to me than short term glory.
sign me fergie
SAF is killing us this year. He needs to give up scholes, Gary and Park. We do need players in Jan. No creativity in midfield. Sorry to say that, but we really miss Ronaldo as he made the difference
@ Costas. If memory serves me right we did try to sign David Silva just before we got Berbatov but he decided to stay in Spain. We pissed about with a certain ladyboy who plays for the dippers for reasons you’ve stated i.e possibly being lightweight. I don’t really want to see the same mistake again. I am 98% certain nobody will be signed in January, that I have no problem with especially with World Cup coming up but I hate to sound dramatic I will be seriously pissed off if nothing happens in the summer. We are 2 bodies short of a great squad and nobody seems to be stepping their game up from within the team in midfield. I like Obertan but its unfair to expect so much so soon from him. Gibson will become an important part of our squad I believe but he’s not the solution to our problem even if he improves. Finally I’ve never seen it posted here but I hope people realise Anderson has rarely played in his best position since he joined. He plays in midfield behind the front two like Deco did at Barcelona and Porto. This is why I believe he goes missing in games especially if there is nobody to help him out in midfield. It’s frustrating to see because we were supposed to have solved this problem after we spent £70 million on Carrick, Anderson, Nani and Hargreaves. However instead of going one step forwards it looks like we’ve gone 2 steps back.
@¡No Pasarán!:
Didn’t the same midfield reach the final last season? A final we would have won if it wasn’t for Fletcher’s absence? I know that this has been a rough week for the team, but lets not tear down the team completely. And i will say it again. What top top class midfielder is available right now?
These comparisons aren’t compared to other teams, quite frankly I couldn’t care less at how inconsistent everybody else is and how we’re 4 points behind. I’m more concerned with how we’re playing and if we look deadly enough to strike fear into our opponents before a balls been kicked. This year is going to be a transitional year and if we win the league fantastic. I am intrigued to see the type of football we’re playing going into the Milan games and also how we do in both the performance and the result against the main rivals.
@NotoriousRedDevil:
I honestly don’t remember the David Silva thing. I thought we were never truly interested. As far as Torres goes, from what i can remember we were interested, but he wanted to go to Liverpool. I don’t think there was a size issue there.
This past summer, i was one of those who was saying that we had to buy. I wa afraid about Michael Owen’s potential and the health of our defenders. At least the second fear was justified. I don’t see anyone available right now,except if we buy a defender on loan. However, i am with you in regards to next summer. The squad will need to freshen up then, no doubt.If that doesn’t happen, i will seriously question what happened to the ROnaldo money. I deided to put that issue to bed until then.
Didn’t know that about Ando. Good to know. There have been games where Fergie has used him in an advanced role behind one striker, but we never play with a diamond formation. It’s tempting to use him as a box to box guy because his engine room is fantastic. Over time, that’s how i would like to see him develop.
i want to see villa, silva,dzeko, aguero,neuer,kjaer,lahm and everyone we are linked with. Maybe then we can compete with massiveee clubs like Man shitty and the rentboys. we dont have world class players like cuntevez, adebawhore, robinho,bellamy, crock santaclaus and world class defenders like Toure, Lescott. WE need such players. Otherwise i feel we will just about finish in the top half of the table.none of our players would get into shitty or the rentboys team.SAF has to understand that adn accept we arent good enough.SAF has been lucky all these years to win trophies.His luck is running out now.
RE:mhihrh
“SAF has been lucky all these years to win trophies.His luck is running out now.”
What a load of shit you talk!
I just want to say my comments aren’t a knee jerk reaction to the Fulham game. You can’t continue to win games at this level without a centre back in the team. In my mind we lost that game due to a lack of defence which led to a lack of confidence around the team. @ Costas – My understanding about Torres was we could have got him the year before the dippers got him but Fergie got fed up of him signing a new contract plus didn’t think £25-30 million was worth it. Guillem Balague mentioned it as well and he’s one of two jouranlists I’ve got any time for. Anyway Torres is but I just think Silva will create a lot more than what we’ve got. Our midfielders should be chipping in with a reasonable tally of goals but the forwards should carry the weight. This next World Cup will be very interesting indeed, hopefully any targets we do have don’t perform too well like Hargreaves, Rooney and Rio did!
@knightsmith
it was meant as a joke.i did not mean it.i was being sarcastic there in saying that we should go for all those players.
¡No Pasarán! (Altrincham, Greater Manchester) You really are a clown, I don’t see you comment much which probably proves you don’t know much, but Carrick has been consistent since we signed him, he has had some great games in the CL and has never moaned when not selected, Hargreaves is one of the best Defensive Midfielders in the world – how do you know he wont be fit again – you probably don’t know this, but we had this guy called Ruud Van Nistelrooy once… He was brilliant, I sat in the SE time and time again this guy saved us, he was injured for nearly two years and no-one thought he would come back. You are the sort of moron who has written super Owen off, I will be reffering back to this when we are marching through the CL with these two. Shit Fan and Shit Opinion!
Some people are becoming influenced by pundits and national rags. Remember one thing,
IN FERGIE WE TRUST
We will see. they all said that Man Utd got strong midfield n the defence will be ok.it’s not the physios fault its the player himself.Hargo was said to play before the Chelsea game but now he will play in january.when january come, the players who supposed to be fit maybe will not be fit afterall. if we really want to lose a game a least give the youngster to play for gathering experiences.I don’t mind at all
There will be no signings in January because we are skint thanks to the bstd Hobgoblin. We’ll have to make do with what we have. If we get a few of the injured players back soon we’ll win the league at a canter. Four in a row and one more than the scousers. It’s a big “if” though.
And Rio says he’ll be fit for the World Cup!. Well that’s OK then Rio.
Big disappointment .. either it’s true we are in a financial crisis due to debt through the Glazers purchase or he’s playing mind games or in fact going for a ‘loan deal’ .. he says no buying but that statement doesn’t exclude loans … we need midfield and a forward for my liking .. if we don’t we’re going to have to rely on Chelsea and Arsenal slipping up more than we do .. and slip up we most certainly will .. Saturday’s perf was as bad as when RVN was last with us!!
RE: mhihrh
Please accept my apologies young man, and merry crimble
Notorious Red Devil – Morning. You like Guillem Balague? He is an idiot mate. Rafa’s best mate and always making stuff up. Personally I cannot stand the man.
No Pasarani – Stretford Ender is right. It is the same midfield that has got us to the last 2 European Cup Finals. Just because Fletch isn’t Brazillian or Italian. One of the best around nowadays.
@knightsmith
i myself get sick of people saying how SAF should do this and do that. The man has won everything and been in management for 30 years. He knows best. He knows the status of our injuries and if there is a need he will buy, if not he wont. He has proved everyone wrong so many times. Just another challenge for him.
CHEERS!!!
Merry Christmas
I just want to know who will be Jonny partner in defence in the future or Man Utd selling him just like pique.its ok to lose the league sometimes but been defeated by the scousers n chelski all the time its sucks. Man Utd got youngster that can prove themselves to the boss that they can do.young blood must bleed like the gooners youngsters
in fergie we trust, but we need morhinio as his successor.
I’m extremely worried about the Milan game now. Our performance this year indicates that we will lose with flying colours
Ozz, you have to wonder if
a) we can afford Mourinho’s salary
b) Mourinho would join a club that can’t compete for the best players
Man so many depressed people here.. should we not just happily support the team regardless of whether we buy or not?
@ King Eric to be fair to Ballague he gets a hell of a lot right when it comes to transfers. I understand your hatred because he backs Rafa (I tend to ignore that) but surely thats a good thing
Don’t get me wrong I don’t exactly watch Spanish football week in week out. From my point of view everytime I tune in when its regarding transfers he basically says which ones are true and which ones aren’t from the stuff I read on BBC’s gossip column. He got the Torres, Silva, Senna and sadly Ronaldo transfers spot on amongst many others. There are plenty of journalists who are far bigger muppets than he is Des Kelly and Martin Samuel instantly spring to mind, Henry Winter is abit of a tool as well. These guys change their views week to week and focus around the same players over and over again. Terry, Stevie-Me, Lampard always have at least 5 stories about them a year. They are always inaccurate about transfers. Sundays Soccer Supplement has 5 journos on there and there accuracy rate regarding transfers is abysmal. I know journalists have to sell papers but these clowns write more sensationalism than actual legitimate fact. It annoys me that now in football until it actually happens you can’t believe a thing.
I think he means defenders
Notorious Red Devil – Yeah fair play. I actually rate Henry Winter. One of the best out there. He was the only one sticking up for Fergie recently with the Wiley carry on so that is enough for me. Don’t like Samuel, Barclay, Custis or Stephen Howard.
Don’t like Ballague as I can’t stand anyone that has that ridiculous horrible Spanish cum Scouse accent!
“in fergie we trust, but we need morhinio as his successor”.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! We don’t want that horrible, classless cunt anywhere near OT. I really do despair sometimes.
I think we should make a bid for Stephen Ireland at Man City next month. He seems to be a pretty consistent attacking mid. Precisely what we need at the moment.
This afternoon I watched a friendly between “Catalunya” and Argentina. After hearing all the talk about Angel De Maria, an Argentine who plays for Benfica, it was interesting – he’s left-footed, very fast, and skilful but I’m not sure that he’s really a much better prospect than Gabriel Obertan. For sure, he’s already 21 or 22 and has none of that electricity that just glowed from the screen seven years ago when Cristiano Ronaldo made his first appearance in a UTD shirt against Bolton. But, he is left-footed.
Two players for Argentina did impress – Gonzalo Higuain, who is the guy keeping Karim Benzema on the bench at TheVirus; and, Pastore the physically-imposing, 19-year old midfielder who plays for Palermo.
For all their talent, though, Argentian were just dreadfully-abysmal at the back – you can see why they persist with Gabriel Heinze because the guys on the pitch today were less impressive than Fletcherinho/Carrick/De Laet. So, if any of you were considering placing a bet on Argentina for the World Cup – forget about it. They were sliced-and-diced by Barcelona’s second-stringer Bojan Krkic and some others who are unknown to me.
Apart from Xavi, the one player for the Catalans who was incredibly-impressive – again ! – was Gerrard Pique. I think that SAF really made a dog’s dinner in his dealing with that kid – he’s just awesome.
The old fucker has obviously lost his marbles or had his balls taken away from him by the Glazers.
Say what you want to band aid it but there won’t be any short term solutions presented. You’d think this current crisis would give Sir Alex pause to consider some other options but no.
Anyone saying we have that strength in depth to switch gears to overcome opposition like we did 5 10 years ago is deluding themselves.
Manchuchu, you watch your fucking mouth.
@ Denton Davey. Pique and Stam definitely 2 players Fergie got rid of too soon.
Morning all. Compliments of the season!!
was watching the MUTV Goal of the Decade nominees and something is apparent:
1) The Ronnie: Rooney partnership was AMAZING!!
2) Whoever said that RuudTheMan had no pace is deluded- the guy had grat close control, directness that is sorely missed…loan a la H. Larsson!!!
3)….that WayneWonderBoy Rooney performs very well with a target man is an understatement…
Anyway SAF is at it as usual- the reaction during the Fulham game says a lot- if not one or two additions in January, i believe we will get a big clear-out of underperformers this summer….Berbatov, Nani are the obvious names that are always thrown up but players that have not really been given much of a lookin like Tosic might be deemed as never going to make it…
the rumours of Di Maria refuse to go away- we’ve been linked to this guy since before he moved to Benfica…incidentally there is a bid of 9m+Nani…how true this is…well…
Javier Pastore has been linked to us before but strong indications are that we are going French or Belgian- Steven Defour of Standard Liege and possibly Axel Witsel his DM teammate or the very likely bid for Yoann Gourcuff who will surely be sought after by TheVirus after the WCup…Kjaer as a present/future prospect???ofcourse none of the above could happen but most fit the bill- price is quite low, most are quiet start performers for their clubs…crisis or no crisis our Legends are close to retiring and changes will gradually be made over the next 2-3 years plus players from the reserves and academy like Pogba, Eikrem, Cleverly, Petrucci, Kofie et al.
Oh and is Luis Fabiano fishing for a United move or what!!
Manchuchu. “The old fucker has obviously lost his marbles or had his balls taken away from him by the Glazers.” Are you seriously going to refer about SAF in this manner? As Fred so adequately said, watch your fucking mouth. Idiot.
For everyone crying out for a ‘creative’ midfielder I’ve got one word for you. OBERTAN. Enough said.
i think fergie has lost the fkin plot. he is a great manager, but im not sure what he is doing now. yes he has made 3 good signings this year and diouf the 4 looks really good, seen him play today. fergie really needs to sign 2 xcellent players in januray if he wants to win something big this year. imagine if rooney gets injured who do we have that can score that amount of goals he does. our team is excellent but we have lost a spark, since ronaldo and tevez left, also we keep on losing and drawing games. such as today against birmingham and how da fuk could we lose against leeds. i hope we do better. i have a feeling that fergie will do something big!!! but im also worried about what he is saying that he does not need anyone.