Portuguese paper, O Jogo, has today claimed that Manchester United have agreed a £25m deal for Benfica star Nicolás Gaitán.
Gaitán’s current contract expires in 2016 and has a release clause of £45m, which means that United are likely to offer players as well as cash. Macheda, Bebe and Petrucci are the players tipped to be of interest to Benfica.
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FIRST!!!
We have to buy some players. Gaitan could be great but have not seen that much of him so can’t say anything.
Well, Jesnaldo, that was a fascinating contribution.
Believe it when I see it.
BAD day at the office last night. United never make it easy and Wigan were well up for it. Why does he insist on playing Giggs in the middle still? Everytime of late he has played he has been poor. Well they all were. Onwards to Sunday now anyway.
The scousers were giddy last night saying Henderson has made THIRTEEN forward passes all season and that is a good stat. Sorry? Scholes makes that in ten minutes. Also dismissing Evertons chances on Saturday saying they outplayed them in that 3-0 win. Err that was a reserve Everton side and are a very different proposition now. One cunt on about Hillsborough got all choked up and said United sing songs every week. No we don’t just about Heysel of occasion you lying cunts. Alright to sing about Munich wasn’t it,. Best thing was they said Jones penalty save was excellent. It was a fucking pearoller. They also said Doni walking was a blessing as Jones has “had an abudance of games”. He has played 17 games in EIGHT years. Always rely on the scousers to cheer me up after a horrible night.
Had to laugh at Durham last night who said Ingerlund MUST play Carrick and Scholes. You don’t say. So must United!
Haven’t had time to read any posts but I supoose KR showed up?
Hmm, could be an interesting move, but like Ash, I haven’t seen enough of him to make any judgement
Sir Giles
LOLZ…..that is indeed a quite brilliant way to put these ‘first’ contributors in their place…Hope you’re doing well. Although the defeat last night couldn’t have helped your blood pressure!
King Eric – Lol, deluded!
King Eric
Hi pal, spot on about Scholes and Carrick and with enough time between games I see no reason why Scholes should start all of them. I am sure the boss has something lined up for the summer.
As for KR, I did not notice him however captaink9 cunt was ever present along with his various other personalities megleeker, jasonpark etc spouting shit as usual ……
Red Devil
Bloody hell mate, you keep disappearing and then its cameo appearances! Hope all is well my friend
7th
We need a couple of central midfielders and what do we get another winger! Sometimes I would love to have some insight into the bosses thinking I think he does it sometimes just to wind us up lol, but he knows more than me and he’s prob forgot more about football than all of us will ever know.
King Eric
hey mate…hope wee Tom’s good…
You’re bang on about United never doing it easy….was saying the same thing myself to all my mates…I think the lads got a bit complacent in their heads with all the media blitz about being over and all that. Even Giggsy coming out and saying it would be massive and all….I thought it was all a bit premature.
I dont expect our lads to bottle it now, so hope the ass-kicking they sure must have got from Sir Alex yesterday will wake them up once again…
What was also worrying was that quite a few of them looked very tired, including Rooney, who usually has fantastic stamina and energy levels….We have been playing almost the same team for quite a few games…need to get Nani in as looked a threat when he came on…
This GayTan reminds me of Naseri before he joined Arsenal. Anybody else? Didn’t impress me against Chelsea and didn’t notice him for 1 minute against us.
Seems like winger, how would this type of winger/playmaker fit in at United, surely someone like Park would be given the boot but I don’t see that happening especially when Valencia, Nani + Young operate on the wings too. Perhaps a signing of this type of player (Gaitan, Hazard etc) may not operate on the wings but instead as a man behind the striker in a 4-4-1-1. This type of addition would count as our 4th forward (Chico,Welbeck,Rooney, Player x) and take the workload off Wazza. Could be another way of us maintaining our traditional 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 whilst keeping out width with the two wide men.
If SAF does want to sign this type of player, theres plenty to choose from in the world. But I’d rather see a Centre midfielder signing, who can also pick out a killer pass.
So United are gonna make up that £20 million shortfall startign with Bebe?
They’ll want a fair more better calibre players than that. Perhaps Ando will be on his way.
Always perfromed in fits and starts. Never really got going at United.
Fancy keeping Macheda as the 4th striker when Berbatov does one at the end of the season. Can’t see any point of keeping hold of Owen anymore either unless it’s to help in the development of Welbeck, Hernandez, and Macheda.
Spot on Clint. We are crying out for a central midfielder. Someone who can dictate a game, deliver a pass, track back, and just generally tie that defence and attack together like Keane used to.
I unlike you guys have seen him play on a number of occasions and he is shit. There’s nothing in his play that has stood out for me. The decision to sign yet another winger, and get this, he is not that quick either- baffles me. Yes he can play through the middle, but his ball control is just horrendous, and he just doesn’t have the composure to play there. It would be a real shame if another year goes by and we still don’t sign one or two CM. I would take Javi Martinez. Excellent on the ball and has great positional awareness, and more importantly unlike most of those European weaklings, can actually play in a 4-4-2. Seriously, I know it’s just rumours, but I really do hope we don’t sign him. If we do, then we better not sell Petrucci to compensate, he is a promising talent.
Cedars
Hello…you’re always looking out for me…thanks for that…
Hope you’re good. Yeah I cant seem to post regularly…too much work and interference…So I try to read up as much as I can…
Am feeling a bit sick in my stomach after yesterdays insipid performance, but I expected it…Coz we NEVER do it the easy way….I should have put money on it, i had a very strong pre-monition about yesterday!!
Hope the lads can gather together for the final stretch…
We need so much in central midfield it’s not even funny.
this is the team that i would like to see start all remaining games
de gea
rafael ferdinand evans evra
carrick scholes
valencia young nani
rooney
never gonna happen though
The problem with modern media text e mail ect is it porvides a wide audience which can view knee jerk reactions. Now everyone is entitled to an opinion but when angry , please refain from wanting the managers players heads for losing a game .
Fuck me , we all fee angry and no doubt have an emotional hangover , but please be constructive . Anyone asking for fergie giggs ect to call it a day willl, like me shit themselves the day they do.
I believe in youth.Keep Petrucci,that boy can be 1st choice in our midfield for years to come!Gaitan is overrated and is a winger we’d be better off signing a proper midfielder!
I think Fergie will not spend that much for a player. And we have plenty of players on that position. What about Pogba, Cleverly? What we lack of next season is our striking department, knowing that Berba will leave. I heard rumor about Dempsey. But we need to sign great name, IMO. Greater than Dempsey. Someone who can carry the team, and kill off team like Wigan last night. Perhaps CR7 return to old trafford? But no Maurinho please.
I’m still sulk with last night match. But credit to Wigan after their game against Chelsea,they really determined to win last night.Anyway, still 5 matches to go. We’ll have to bounce back against Villa. No fucking mistake this time!
As I said yesterday on the live blog where posts were flying in at a 100mph the result at Wigan was due, we were due a defeat after 11 wins in 12, its the law of averages. We can look at tactics, team selection, complacency etc fact of the matter is a defeat was bound to happen. Yes there are things to address but NOT now in the summer. For now we have a title to win and we should just get back behind the team for that final stretch…..
If anyone here is old enough to remember, during the first PL campaign and whilst we were pushing for our first title in 26 years we went to Oldham who were rock bottom at the time and lost 1 nil….
For me, now is not the time to discuss transfers or who we may need etc, we need to focus and support the team, 2 wins from our next 2 home games should all but put our hands on the trophy…
UNITED
Get rid of them all but it would be a piss take if petrucci left, that guy is close to a first team place and if we let him go, we may regret it.
On gaitan, he’s more a playmaker than an out and out winger like valencia. He does seem to have the technique, composure and guile to make a difference but he would be a gamble like any other signing.
His performance against chelsea wasn’t as bad as people make out, he’s not that experienced and chelsea are & with their power, they can neutralize creative players. Then again gaitan should know how to wriggle out of that. He has one of highest assists rates in the champions league so clearly has something about him but i wouldn’t say he’s definitely the answer. Maybe Fergie sees something many don’t or maybe it’s another hopeless rumour.
Another winger *sigh*
Cedars, I was about to say
“Actually forget all this transfer talk, now is not the time, I’ve just remembered we have A league to win and a team to SUPPORT regardless of who’s in it because it is still a Manchester United team”.
I then refreshed and you beat me to it
Lets leave this for the summer,we’ll need it then !
CedarsDevil.100% right there.
The only thing we need to concentrate on is winning 20. All the other crap is just that.crap.
Distractions we cab do without, but lastnight might be a blessing in disguise. It might just concentrate a few minds and help ground a few players.
Anyway, 5 to go. Bring on Villa…
@Samuel:
£25mil, is he worth that much?
I’d rather to pick Pogba or Cleverly for MF. And Scholes is extending his contract. Fletcher is getting well soon (I hope). And we have so many options for winger. Nani, Young,Valencia, Bebe coming back. :p
I’m new here btw, came across this site by accident.anyone from south east asia?
Morning shit bags
Usually feel better after a nights kip after a performance! Hating to go off topic, Gaitain. Like most on here I haven’t seen much of this lad other than in the CL so can’t really comment. Reports suggest his better performances come from a more central role, again, I can’t comment. But what I do know as FACT is that Martin Feguson has been watching this lad for a couple ofyears now, so if he does sign, which is a big IF, then it will be based on a comprehensive evaluation of first hand eye witness observations by a well respected professional and not based on snippets from YouTube or the odd CL match!
Cedars
Just got your txt pal. Great stuff! My folks have a place over there. Dya know what, I thought about that Oldham game almost immediately after the final whistle. Hope springs eternal. Not slating or abusing before anyone starts, but Giggs should not start in the middle of the park. Someone came on here a while back with a stat (was it you costas
CedarsDevil- spot on last night was an accedent waiting to happen , we need to keep our heads while every one lose theirs .
-
Cedars
This is exactly why I come on here to look at posts of people like yours and King Eric after a bad result…It picks me up coz even a single dropped point is like a dagger to the heart coz I love this club so much…
Spot on about the transfer talk….all bullshit…no one new can be brought in before the end of season so why talk about it….
If we can get Nani back, he’ll be like a new signing at this point of the season and give our attack another dimension (forgive the cliche).
Also If Sir Alex can bring it in his heart to give Berbatov a game ffs…Welbeck and hernandez have been poor by their high standards in the last few games…Welbeck really needs to go back to basics and improve his bread and butter of FINISHING….! The guy gets into so many good positions, has at least a couple one-on-ones every game but manages to always stumble or miscontrol…
Micky Owen back for the last few games could also help us in the squeaky bum time as he knows where the back of the net is…
? That said we hadn’t won a game when giggs had started in the middle. Last night was not the night to test that stat. I also see no reason to tinker with a back 5 that has been a luxury for us of late. Chicharito and Wellbeck are on a very poor run of form (not great timing!) so if Rooney decides this run in ain’t for him, then we are going to struggle. I mentioned to cedars a few nights ago, we haven’t looked comfortable in our games since West Brom, regardless of results so last night was really no huge surprise. What we need to do now is start playing some football with our strongest team week in week out. Fuck me, if we can’t do that with only 5 games left we should think about a change of occupation.
This is just paper talk that all. Like many people have said Another winger? Maybe its just his agent setting off rumours to try and get the bigger clubs thinking. I really cant see United going for this player.
Gaitan spends a lot of time on the ground doesn’t he? Nani’s twice the player, especially in PL conditions. Not what we need to be spending our money on. CM and a Berba replacement.
Worry not lads,
After the Villa game, we have a match every 6-7 days or so….this leaves Scholes available for every match.
Lets squeeze the fella of all his ability
What surprised me yesterday was that guys like Giggs,Carrick,Valencia looked rattled, lacked composure and played without discipline. Giggs was desperate to drive forwards. Carrick was sprinting up and down the pitch chasing shadows on 5th gear and Valencia…..God knows what he was doing ! He looked pissed off and was doing rather strange stuff like wondering into the middle and stumbling into a midfield when he started off very wide.
I think when we are ball chasing, it all goes tits up because we are not in the right places to start with. We are too desperately keen to get forward rather than doing the build up passes because of that possession domination by the opposition. It happened against Bilbao. We just need to stop chasing and hold our positions and be compact. Mourinho’s Inter did it best. They just used to sit back, absorb and then pass their way out. We chase too much in the middle and not enough emphasis is put on standing still, reading passes, making interceptions and being positioned perfectly.
When attacking we are;
………… De gea…………
………………….Rio………
..evans…………………….
…………. Carrick ……Evra
Jones…..Giggs……Young
Valencia…….Rooney………
………….Chicha………………
On the back foot, we collapsed due to odd discipline and positioning.
……………..De Gea…………….
……..Evans…………Rio………
Jones……..Carrick……………..
…………………………………………….
Valencia…….Giggs……..Evra
………….Rooney………………
…………………….Chico…..Young
The positioning was awful imo, we need hold back on the running, sometimes it feels we do more than necessary, sit back and absorb the attack until the poor team runs out of options and then we hit them on the counter.
ESPN classic now showing city v Utd .1993/94.
That should cheer us up.
Can’t see it unless someone is sold.
But who knows? I have a funny feeling that Park won’t stay next season so we might need anbother winger.
Defo hope this is a rumour as we have enough wingers…need 4 decent signings in the summer and that’s a CAM hopefully christian erksen as he’s young and has serious talent…a striker that is near enough on a par with rooney but the skills of berbatov (to bad we missed out on benzema) a new left back as evra is a bit hit and miss and an all around combative midfielder like keane or hargreaves as we have no midfield enforcer…with at least 3 of the above number 21 should be wrapped up by march 2013 as i have confidence SAF will see us through to 20 in may or hopefully at emptihad stadium
Can anyone tell me why SAF took rooney and young off when he did last night?
has to be the worst choice of video to promote this player, it just shows him falling over!
Been away for a while.
Lot to read.
The regulars missing in action list seems to be growing longer.
The same cycle of upset fans coming in here and ranting after games , most of thier rants show
how little they understand about thier club. And of football in general.
@max: Phil Jones is an exceptional talent, only 19, he needs to learn and grow. He has done more for us than henderson,caroll,downing put together have done for liverpool.
Fergie did not go for any of those players livers paid so much for, instead he and his team of coaches and scouts have been blessed that thier hardwork paid off.
They are going for the actual genuine talents. Example: Jones,David,Smalling.Anders.
———————————————————————————————————————-
As much as we love Giggs, his extraordinary record , he deserves the criticism he gets when he does what he did last night and what he did against barca at wembley.
He went missing,Fergie trusts him so much and wanted him to have that moment of magic,it did not happen.
Against barca , he turned up for a few minutes and helped Rooey score the equalizer.
Then went walkabouts.
Fergie dosent get enough credit for his honesty after games .
I hope all records of how well we have been doing and all the media hype and all the over confident fans will drift away to the side now.
If United carry on our tradition, we will take out our anger and unleash it on our next opponents.
Bouncebackability.
5 Games left, this game will get the team focused and determined to win the 5 games.
The shock to the system , while having that 5 point gap , keeps us in the advantageous posiition.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
@vilhelm: On a previous thread , u said most of us in our red tinted glasses,that players dont join our club out of loyalty and so on.
While u do have a point there, I like to point out that Fergie, Keane and many others had better offers from other clubs . They turned it down to join United. There is something about our club that appeals to so many.
And the club likes to find out about players before we sign them and sometimes it happens during the negotiating process., we get a glimpse into the player and his agent.
I am sure u are aware of how many talented world class players we did not sign or players who rejected us.
And later it turns out we dodged a bullet.
Most of the time we get it right. Then there are the mistakes. It comes with the business.
The key is how good are yr stats . For United it is getting better, we have a better success rate then most. Also the new improved scouting and youth system has helped.
Most players we signed ,did so becos of us being United,what it means to them as footballers.
Not just for the money. We also have the lowest number of players leaving cos of money. The last being Tevez.
————————————————————————————————————————————–
@Denise Williams: It does help seeing liverpool in the state they are in. Karma strikes back.
kkk and all his sins coming back to roost. Commoli has been sacked . Probaly madrd might come for suarez this summer.
Interesting.
Mancini has backtracked on his words about Mario
This guy is a funny old clown
“I thought Mario would be banned for six or seven games, that’s why I said he wouldn’t play again this season.He only got three games, so I’m pleased for this. He will be back for Manchester United. He will be ready.”
His agent is nobody else than Jorge Mendes.
Same agent of Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, De Gea and the list goes on.
Nani twice the player? When was the last time he was consistently good? Must have been when Tony V was out with his broken ankle.
Since then he’s that frustrating player again that he was with 19/20.
Not seen enough of Gaitain to comment, but as a few have said, that’s not for now, let’s win the league first.
If I may go off topic. I’m no advocate for diving, but maybe Welbz should take some tips from Young. He got pulled in the box last night, if he’d have gone down, we may have got a pen, but he tried to stay on his feet and then him and Clevs got in each others way, chance lost. A similar thing happened at Arsenal when Welbz was fouled by a defender, but managed to stay on his feet, he then knocked the ball passed the keeper, the keeper also fouled him, but again he stayed on his feet, by the time he got his shot away, he was so unbalanced he couldn’t get enough power on it and the defender that fouled him in the first instance was able to clear off the line.
@Papii
Ha! I called it all along mate. Mancini would play Balotelli again this season. Spineless twat.
Why is everyone so hung up on us playing 4-4-2? Anyone thought that Fergie might use the pre-season to break us out of that mold and try something different? I know we’ve relied on wingers a lot in the past few years to cover our obvious frailties in the middle but there are other formations I’d like to see us try. Heck, I’d like to see a trial run of 4-2-3-1 with Rooney a the top instead (Being our top scorer and all) with Nani, Young and Valencia behind him. Carrick and Scholes could play the holding roles with Scholes beginning the attacks, it’d be an attacking formation while not letting us get over run like we did last night with Giggs in the middle. That or trial run a 4-3-3 with Cleverly, Carrick and Pogba in the middle if he decides to stay.
We do need a hard tackling midfielder to go with the creative one, either bring Fryers forward to put more competition on the LB spot and give Pat a rest every now and then as well as a new proven striker seeing as Berba is probably gone this summer. Also lose Owen, the champions league and the prem have evolved, its all about pace and technical play now, Wigan of all clubs showed that last night with their 3-5-2 formation.
Hopefully we’ll lash back at Villa on sunday with a vengeance.
Mike
You did mention it mate, which part of the Island? I will be in Limassol and if I extend I might even watch the derby match there. They have some decent pubs along the beach strip and usually a good atmosphere during matches…..
Costas
I am flying to Cyprus on Saturday to visit my mum, you should consider making the short trip over, we could meet up, have a few cold ones and watch a game together!
Its been tough week, we lost 3 crucial games.
The first team last night.
The reserves lost the final of the dallas cup.
The other united youth team lost in holland , in the final to penalties.
Giles, I think the question he was asked was:
“Where did you come in the pre-order replica shirt queue?”
What a baffling post. don’t sign a player because they spend more time on the floor. Isn’t that what ashley young has been doing since his arrival? and gaitan is not a pure winger, he can drift in and playmake. He probably isn’t the solution but then again he could be in terms of creativity. Who the fuck knows.
we badly needed a result like that
also, anyone who thinks we dont need a winger needs to revise their view in light of valencia,ashley young, and nani. the gaitan crap is nonsense just like the “gill flew to spain to broker a deal for sanchez” reports. i also hope we dont sign him. more importantly(and i thought this’d have a thread by now). Rene has said that yes indeed fergie was at lille to watch hazard for himself and that hazard right now is going through the same process de gea went through prior to his move.
Hello Guys.
Its great to see My dear friend CedarsDevil’s exceptional post.. Really missed this blog. But I felt I needed a big break from here. Only my true mates will know how Tough was it for me to post during that sachu fiasco. I will be back permanently when I am free with work.
Take care Guys, and Don’t forget to keep our Red Flag High.
20 will be ours.
Cedars
It’s a small village between protoras and aiya napa. The name escapes me. So I’m guessing TalkShite will be highlighting in detail the Wigan handball and the non corner on their show…. No ? Really? I guess then it’s all over the back pages how we were robbed?! No? Really?? I’m confused? I thought we had an impartial media here in England. Maybe it’s because our club has come out and said we deserved to lose, that Wigan played well, that these decisions happen, unlike some cunt clubs like Liverpool and city who place the blame for defeat squarely on the shoulders of bad decisions, however, when they benefit from them they don’t comment or make excuses!! Maybe all this conspiracy bull shit will die down now and we may get a bit of credit! Dowd and his officials were fucking useless last night for both teams!
@ Samuel
If we’ve already got a grazer, then why bring another one in? Didn’t see anything in CL this year to suggest he’s the one we need. Unfortunately I’m not sure who it is we should be going after – it’s easier to find reasons why not to than why we should. Would love to think Pogba and Clevs together are the answer. Got to give them a chance to find out.
cedars. Hello my friend. A defeat was always gonna come and had a feeling ut would be last night as Wigan have been in good form and always perform at this stage of season. As Clint said I can see a run of one nils now. We all know United make it hard for themselves at this stage. Last night was one of those games where everyone was a four out if ten. Bad night at the office. lets go on another run.
Red Devil . hey up mate. Hows tricks? Yes young Tom is sound thanks pal. four month old now.
samuel. alright man. Yes Petrucci has been superb and imo should be much nearer the first team.
Fuck off Roberto Madely. Making out he has conceded the title. you are fooling nobody. Tough lunchtime trip to Norwich for them which will NOT be easy. Swansea get all the plaudits yet for me Norwich have much more in their locker.
kudos to Ronnie whose goals were from the very top drawer last night yet that Barca loving cunt Armstrong discredits him at every turn.”Keeper should do better” etc. get fucked he now has more league goals than his gay lover Messi.
As for Gaitan why are folk taking it as read the rumour is even true?
Red Dead Kev @ 13:10: ” I’d like to see a trial run of 4-2-3-1 with Rooney a the top instead (Being our top scorer and all) with Nani, Young and Valencia behind him.”
FINALLY, someone has suggested a new approach to organizing the attacking talent. However, it was apparent that despite all the criticism handed out to DannyTheLad and Chicharito last night, UTD were decidedly better when Nani came on and then DannyTheLad replaced TheWayneBoy. But does that tell us anything meaningful – I mean, what can we “learn” when UTD’s talismanic attacker is taken off and the team plays better ?
Last night, the problem was two-fold – first, TheLads arrived in a stupor and never woke up; and, second, SirRyanGiggs went walkabout (not for the first time, not for the last time !). Yet, TheLads were second to every ball and rarely kept the ball under control for more than a few seconds – there was a eery reminiscence of those “lessons” given by Athletic Bilbao ! UTD tactically out-manoeuvred by another Spanish team – Bilbao got at UTD’s midfield by relentlessly pressing the ball; Wigan simply confused TheLads with their 3-4-3 formation.
Last night’s match was lost in midfield: last night it was comprehensively lost there. So, why look to buy another tricky winger when the immediate (and more long-term) evidence is that UTD need someone with the DarrenFletcherinho (“football genius”) tool-kit.
smartalex. If it IS you HELLO mate. get yourself back man. Been missed mate.
until SAF himself does not admit, it remains a rumour. I would rather like to see Javi Martinez and a quality striker come in to support Rooney, we already have Nani, Young and Valencia to play on the wings, with Park and Giggs as well available. If looking for a winger (god knows why) then why not muniain?
Can we have a right back that will actually be able to mirror Evra’s contributions on the right? I hear Rafael, but his fitness is a non-record against Evra’s. Wonder whether de Laet will be given a chance next season.
smartalex
Hi mate….missed your witty one liners….
Forget all the fighting and bitching crap and get back…
Always loved your sense of humour and your way with words
@Costas – Poor Mankini said he thought FA would ban Balloteli for 6-7 games. What a silly excuse.
Transfer rumors already going to be a long fucking summer
”The manager wanted to see Hazard by himself. That’s a sign he thinks it’s an interesting player. We talked a lot about him. Hazard is a special talent, but it always takes a while. As example: We’ve followed David de Gea for a long time before we got him. Ferguson wants to know the character of the player. Because of that he’s going to look by himself for players. Hazard is ‘the man’ at Lille. Ferguson wanted to see if that had an influence on him.”
“For a club it’s important that you keep refreshing your squad.” he told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International.
- René Meulensteen
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/transfer-news/Manchester-United-coach-reveals-Alex-Ferguson-has-been-scouting-Lille-star-Eden-Hazard-article889686.html
@Red Devil – no way!!! he used to insult me a lot on here
So Meulensteen said we’ve been tracking hazard?
Fuck won’t happen now.
Always the oppisite of what he says so we go for Strootman.
Apologies for posting potential gossip but This Rene fella likes to speak to the press a lot, so why not hear what old meulensteeniewienee has to say.
Agreed with King Eric & Red Devil…………. We have missed smartalex, always loved his play with words and sense of humor
Dunno why people critisize Rafael.
One of the best talents on his position and he definitly worked on his emotions on the pitch.
Still 21 and already played lots of games for us.
There will only be back-up for him.
De Laet?
That guy couldn’t even make the first XI for Norwich.
Rene Meulensteen said Stekelenburg is No. 1 GK target for us – we bought De Gea.
Rene Meulensteen said Sneijder will be a major addition the the squad – didn’t happen.
Now said Strootman isn’t good enough and that we want Hazard.
always take the opposite of what he says
Can’t be arsed with transfer talk. People should save it for the summer. Just about to watch a film called switch starring an up and coming French actor call Eric Cantona. I don’t know anything about it and I hate subtitles but if Cantona’s in it, I’m sure it will be brilliant.
@Papii: When defending our positioning is like this, slight difference on the left wing from what you mentioned
……………..De Gea…………….
……..Evans…………Rio………
Jones……..Carrick……………..Young
…………………………………………….
Valencia…….Giggs……..
………….Rooney………………
…………………….Chico…..Evra
And forget Hazard if Rene says so – he’s the designated smokescreen man.
I sincerely hope we don’t get Gaitan. Dont understand the fuss – done fuckall to impress, and there’s way better to be had for that sort of money.
@Smartalex: Take care friend, you’ve been missed. Godbless.
*called Eric Cantona*
Dave Malaysia
Apa kabar Malaysia? Do u speak Malay?
Villa games and the other 4 games ahead are must win games. No nonsense play please. I have a feeling that Shity will be crumbling against Norwich. They must win that game to put pressure on us. That’s the same pressure that they couldn’t handle against Gunners. A draw against Norwich would be nice result for us. But, we must defeat Villa of course.
My team prediction if not to early
De Gea
Rafael — Evans — Rio — Evra
Valencia — Scholes — Carrick — Nani
Rooney
Hernandez
Subs: Welbz, Smalling, Park, Young, Cleverly, Berba
Yes, Berba should be at least sitting at the bench. Its such a mistake to leave such his calibre frozen at this squeaky bum. Its bugging my mind really. Berba can hold up ball upfront, open some space, create chances which nobody did for us last night.
Take 20 home!
5 matches where ive felt really down this season in order. 1. Old Trafford derby. 2. Wigan away. 3. Newcastle away. 4. Newcastle at home. 5. Blackburn at home. Matches I’ve felt elated….. Fuck, too many to mention so… Let’s give the boys our backing and make sure we don’t feel like we have in the top 5 matches I mentioned and start getting that eccstatic feeling back!!
Not sure where this guy is going to fit in. We don’t need another winger, and we don’t need to bring in anyone to play behind the striker. I would say that we have all of the talent in our squad, we are just not using it. Carrick is a decent centre mid, nothing special going forward but alright defensively. We could play him with Pogba or Cleverley in the middle (this is assuming no Scholes) and stick to the same wingers we have.
Alternatively, we could mould Valencia into a defensive midfielder (he’s really strong and already does half of our defending) and have our pick of centre mids to pair with him (Scholes, Cleverley, Pogba).
Right, off to the lakes for a couple of days, get away from these blue cunts on my fucking doorstep!! Be back for Villa at OT!! I’ll try and check in when my mrs ain’t looking ; ).
@denton: not so sure about having nani-young-valencia behind rooney. I don’t like the idea of young in a central role. My formation would be back 5, with carrick and pogba as the 2, and cleverly as the middle of the 3. Any 2 of the 3 on the wings. Rooney the frontman.
Mike
Enjoy your time away mate, have a blast………..Get your voice lubricated for Sunday
UNITED
Hello Everyone on this site!!!!!
Wat the hell happen united last nite!!!!!!!!!!! United was out of form still united are 5 points clear of city what the next match 4 united
Cedars
Likewise pal. I must say, I’m torn between whether I’d rather be watching Villa at OT or in limmasol you bugger! On a parting note, I’d hate to miss out on the title having been beaten by such wank teams as Blackburn, Wigan…… Oh, and City!!!
Sounds like a lot of money really and would be a bit surprised to se SAF spend that amount. 25 and a player, hmmmm, just can’t see that SAF wants to part way with any players… maybe Berba?
As fro midfielders, I agree – but I can also see SAF moving either Nani, Young or Valencia in central – maybe Nani (and Young) more than Valencia and buying another true left winger. All three are fast have great shots and can win the ball back up high in the field.
Mike
Get your arse on a plane, I am there for a while, we could catch the Everton game together!
If we play Rooney as the lead striker doesn’t that make Danny and Hernandez redundant and we could’ve done that and put Berba in Rooney’s currant role,don’t see that happening
Jeet Nice
Gaitan has been linked for weeks and reports last week said Benfica had rejected another deal for the same money. Can’t believe that Bebe would be a make weight for much of anything. Petrucci would seem the type of talent we keep.
All to much like a typical crap story so far.
Still would love Bebe to win an EPL or CL title with us. What a pistake that would be
Nani and Young in the centre? fuck no.
Who the fuck are we that we have to play our best wingers out of position cause we are reluctant to buy a FUCKING midfielder.
I don’t want to see Young or Nani or fucking Giggs ever again in that position.
buy a fucking midfielder instead.
@wayne: That’s the problem. Which is one of the reasons I don’t see us moving from 4-4-2, as much as I think it would benefit us.
Unless you play something like
Back5
Carrick – XX (Pogba/Cleverly?)
Winger Rooney Winger
Welbeck
Problem is I don’t see Cleverly being a good fit for the deep lying midfielder role.
2 ways of looking at Rene Meulensteen comments. Either he knows nothing or he knows exactly what he is talking about. Either way, we have no way to say which it is. Actionable truth, smoke screen or pathetic meanderings of a number 2 out of the loop.
I tend to think Rene is very bright and knows exactly what he is saying and how it will be reported. That said, I don’t think he is revealing anything substantiative and is very likely to be on smoke and mirrors duty for the club. Sort of like Carlos Queiroz when he was here then.
PS At least the press listen to Rene so he can serve the purpose. Always laugh whenever Steve McClaren would open his mouth.
Did anyone see RVP’s penalty from last night? Cheeky bugger
@Cedars
Ha! Just checked it out. The saucy devil.
In other news, good to see Ravel’s maturing and getting his head down these days: https://twitter.com/#!/DarylJ_IV/status/190446760999665664
Twat.
kanchelskis
Nice to see Ravel finding his promised land! Saw you had a bit of RoM romance with Maxine last night! ha ha ha
This guy was pants against Chelsea! Go to 0.59secs in that video to see da reason we won’t sign him!
@CedarsDevil
LOl. My set-to with Maxine was earlier today actually. I’ve never seen someone chat shit with so much conviction. He’s so clueless yet seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying. Disturbing.
Gaitan is a winger. Unless we are bringing him in to play in the middle then I don’t like this signing. and 25 million? OMG. we could have easily used this money to bring in an actual central midfielder.
89th
. A good time for Utd to score the winner at Wastelands.
Like Ash says I’m the same, I haven’t seen much of him to really comment on him. I know some rate him.
Jones was at fault for the goal as well. Even though it never looked like a corner, where was he to close down + mark maloney. He went past Jones like he wasn’t even there. Shambles! That’s not defending. Rafael would have been all over Maloney and he wouldn’t have had a chance to get a shot at goal. Yet again this guy has cost us and its not the first time. He’s cost us in the Champions League and he’s just bot good enough. Simples.
max – Jones is 19 pal in his first season. Fuck me quick to write players off arent you! Bet you were on Jonnys case not long back.
The fickleness makes me sick. As Wayne said on previous thread the players are NOT robots and once in a while may just lose a game. Get over it.
As I said why is everyone taking this Gaitan story as gospel? We should know by now half the rumours are bullshit.
max
Your obsession with Jones is disturbing as well as bizarre
Just clueless.
As for your bumming of Rafael, I could cherry-pick moments from his Utd career that make him look like a catastrophic buffoon and a liablity, far more than I could with Jones.
I happen to think Rafael is becoming a fantastic player. But guess what? It took a good few years of stupid sendings-off, poor positioning and overly-cavalier attacking before he became even close to looking dependable. You remember, back when he was erm.. 19? Like Jones is now?
Fucking stupid reactionary attitude, which I’ll be more than happy to remind you of if you crawl back on here in a few years’ time when Jones is fucking bossing whatever position Fergie asks him to play of a Saturday.
Would have been great to read a blog about yesterday’s game not some garbage rumor.
It was a horrible day yesterday. Not only the players but the fans and even SAF got complacent. Why wasn’t Scholes not even on the bench I will never know?
Jones is also to blame for this pissy weather too.
Can’t actually understand it we lost a game of football and fans are screaming for heads to roll. Phil Jones has just arrived at the club, I mean fair enough if he’d been here for years and wasn’t pulling his weight but come on FFS. Carrick comes in for unfair critisism, Gibson had to go but again very unfair to a Utd player what he had to go through , DDG well enough said, although someone still probably thinks his Gran can play better in goal,Evans proved all the doubters wrong and so will Phil Jones. Rally round Reds and stop this stupidity of slating your own. I’m wondering how many of these slaters actually sat there when Shitty got their 6th and how many who did stay booed the team?
I actually have not slagged Evans off once surprisingly. When all my United supporting mates were having a go @ Evans I was not on their side. Evans is a top defender. He can play with both feet, pass, get forward, header etc. He’s done really well this season + has been a really solid performer for us ever since Nemanja got injured. He’s been @ United for a long time and he knows what its like and what it means to wear the red shirt. I don’t think the same can be said of Jones.
@max
Gonna respond to my point about Rafael, or just the ones that suit you?
I am very supprised you haven’t slagged Evans and will indeed have to take your word for it. The way you are tearing into a player who is still finding his feet at the biggest club in the world is totally insane. Imagine the pressure on his shoulders at 19. Is there any chance you didn’t slag off DDG either.
I still thank Jones for his goal against Villa away, the team was under par after the Shitty Mauling and Big Phil stepped up. His injuries haven’t helped him get established either so maybe cut some slack on this one take a deep breath and wait and see.
*Still Under Par* Bloody keyboard.
Ad. Dave Malaysia
I still believe that money through wages is the most important factor when a player decides to join another team, then the possibility of winning trophies and CL, then the actual club. I am talking about established players that are sold ala Gaitan, Eriksen etc.
I also believe SAF has drawn this conlusion and this is the reason for working harder and spending more time finding young talent to develop through own system, because then United can build loyalty and skills.
I might be wrong
APRIL 12, 2012 AT 13:33
smartalex says:
Hello Guys.
Its great to see My dear friend CedarsDevil’s exceptional post.. Really missed this blog. But I felt I needed a big break from here. Only my true mates will know how Tough was it for me to post during that sachu fiasco. I will be back permanently when I am free with work.
Take care Guys, and Don’t forget to keep our Red Flag High.
20 will be ours.
Hello man. Waiting for your work to lighten.
Max @ 15:58: “Jones was at fault for the goal as well. Even though it never looked like a corner, where was he to close down + mark maloney. He went past Jones like he wasn’t even there. Shambles! ”
I think it was TheWayneBoy who was dozing and then realized – too late – that he had responsibility for marking Shaun Maloney. Rooney was by-passed and Maloney found that pocket-of-space that gave him a clean sight on goal. OOOPS !
Forget £45m. Release clauses are always silly money, no one ever pays that much (isn’t Ronaldo’s release clause a billion Euros?)
I don’t see why we should pay more then £20m for anyone. Over the last few seasons lots of very good midfielders have moved clubs for less than that. This year we should buy one. Or maybe two.
The fact is that we don’t need to be too fussy. Any decent central midfielder would improve the team a lot. Sell Anderson to make room (I love the guy and it hurts me to say it but he’s just crocked).
I actually would prefer Gylfi Sigurdsson at Swansea over Gaitan. Fits perfectly into the English Premier League and is still only 22 and has proved he can play at Premier League level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saLMJEaMM6M&feature=related
Reports say our Portugese scout Tonihno Cruz has sent glowing reports about Gaitan. The last glowing report he sent, was about Bebe, a glorified sunday league winger. I hope SAF has had a
good look himself this time before he splashes the cash.
@ mancdub.
Not everything Eric Cantona stars in is good. Have a look online for an impulse advert starring him, It’s cringeworthy
Probably not the most convincing vid on account of all the clattering and rolling around. Can’t see Fergie paying that much for him, he’s far too astute for that. The lad’s got flair though, I’ll give him that. That last volley was slightly reminiscent of the ginger prince. I think Fergie will surprise us yet as he has managed to do the past few seasons with acquisitions. Whoever comes in has big shoes to step into and needs to be world-class for us to pick anything up in Europe in the coming seasons. Pogba (if he’s still here) needs more time to run out, and it’s game over for Ando in my estimations. He’s had plenty of time to make a difference and performances have been far too inconsistent, unlike his injuries. I’m all for getting the lads out of the reserves but you need a nice mix of young and old, experience and genius to win trophies in the modern game. If Scholes could only roll back the clock eh! I’ll reserve judgement on should woulda couldas
..until our new signing is holding up his new shirt at Old Trafford. Fergie keeps you guessing, I wouldnt like to put my finger on ins and outs just yet. Let’s get the small matter of killing off this season first!
13:33 Seems a bit fishy
I think Eriksen is the best choice for our midlle..and one of those guys from Bilbao midlle….
Barca debt is 578 mils and Real s 589 mils…great…LIke Hoeness said…EU pay for Messi and Ronaldo and then we admire to their football…hahahaha..he hit the spot
GAITAN a great talent but buying him will invite the biased comments of ref award decisions in favor of united. LOOK at HOW easy Gaitan fall down each time being tackled?
and, what will happen to Nani and Young if Gaitan comes
-David Lee, Klang, Malaysia.
I watched him vs Chelsea. He is definitely a United type of player, though whether he’s good enough, only Sir Alex knows
@Corea
Hi mate….so nice to see you here once again…you’ve dissapeared completely off the track…no facebook…etc How are you? Hope you’re good.
About Smartalex, dont worry mate, he used to abuse a lot of people but only because he was a nutter red at heart. I certainly liked his sense of humour and the ability to manipulate words…Him and Willie could bring the house down with their one-liners one after another…
A few weeks into the summer break … BREAKING NEWS… City sign longstanding target Manchester Utd target Nicholas Gaitan after paying his 42 million release clause……. Rene’ … genius!!!
Sorry Rene’s man is Hazard not Gaitan, my bad!
Hazard story now on sky! Conspiracy to distract Utd wingers!
They can have berbatov….I want Petrucci to stay great lad, attitude & footballer
@bayoRed.: Agreed man . that would be awesome cause i think he is way overrated . He was not at all class against Chelsea and more so he was not fantastic against us apart from a few dribbles and some dart runs. ( Tony V outclasses gaitan)
from the comment or rene i think united will look at strootman and eriksen . Personally i would love to have strootman in a united shirt .
PS Hazard would be a good buy as well , ( But would prefer a natural left footed left winger to sign for united …….united really missed out on shaqiri(well according too me that is)
Mara @ 22:50: “Barca debt is 578 mils and Real s 589 mils…”
Let’s not forget that their wages-bills are also astronomical, out of any sensible relationship to their incomes.
Say what you want about UTD’s debt – it’s been red-circled and is only connected to the purchase of the club. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the relationship between income and wages – that’s an entirely separate set of calculations.
Yeah, yeah, I know that if the Glazers hadn’t bought the club then there wouldn’t be any “debt” but let’s not forget that they spent 275 million quid and THEN took on debt to finance the rest of the purchase-price. They’ve significantly increased the level of “commercial revenues”, too.
PLUS, of course, even the post-PLC club was going to “fritter away” tons of money on dividends to shareholders. So, there’s a lot of swings-and-roundabouts concerning UTD’s debt-load but the salient point is that it seems to be under control – who is “paying for” the Glazers’ purchase is quite another question. AND, it seems to me, that the only alternative to “long-term investors” like the Glazers would be a sugar-daddy like Abramovitch or the Sheikh of Eastlands. The reality is that UTD are a huge, multi-national marketing machine whose base used to be a “club” but is now profiting from satellite television and the internet rather than match-goings Mancs. We may not like that reality but in the capitalist world order of the early 21st century what reasonable alternatives are there ?
ssj4gogeta @ 13:50: “Hazard would be a good buy as well , ( But would prefer a natural left footed left winger to sign for united …….united really missed out on shaqiri(well according too me that is)”
I haven’t seen much of Hazard – is he the real deal or the flavour-of-the-month ? – but his left-footedness is intriguing. (Shaqiri, too – but that ship has sailed and Bayern really got him on the cheap @ ten million Euros).
However, all the discussion of Gaitan, Hazard, Shaqiri, Goetze, Eriksen, and even Muniain is slightly off-sides. UTD currently have three very, very good wingers in Nani, Young and Valencia. They are all in the prime years of their careers. Valencia is very one-footed (so is Young) but Nani has shown that he can be a devastating force (when healthy and his mojo is ticking-over) on the left side of the field.
Furthermore, not one of Gaitan (et al) really addresses the big issue with this UTD squad – since DarrenFletcherinho’s health has disintegrated (after Owen Hargreaves’ knees disintegrated) there is no ankle-biting, box-to-box midfielder. That absence has been extraordinarily evident in a series of key matches – the two CL defeats to Barcelona as well as the “humiliation” inflicted on UTD by Bilbao and any other team that is willing to play a high-tempo, pressing game (Wigan the other night, for example).
I hear promising reports about Ryan Tunnicliffe – and Paul Pogba, too. BUT for this particular assemblage of players to even begin to think about regaining the level of the 2008 CL winners there is a black-hole in the middle of the park that just MUST be addressed. The Scholes/Carrick partnership can paper-over that black-hole against inferior and/or passive opposition but TheGingerNinja just isn’t mobile enough nowadays – and SirRyanGiggs is simply not the answer.
IF money is going to be spent then it has to be spent on a ankle-biting, box-to-box midfielder UNLESS MrJones’ career as a defender is ended and he is re-tooled into that role. He’s just a kid – 20 ? – and it simply can’t be good for his development to shuttle him between central and wide defence as well as midfield. He a great young talent – but the key word is “talent”; to be a great young “player”, he needs more than talent. I’d be very disappointed if SAF persists in tinkering with his talent rather than making a commitment to making MrJones into that successor to Keane-o/Hargreaves/Fletcherinho that is UTD’s number-one priority.
i dont care who we buy as long as its someone proven worthy for a first 11 start.
The way i see it, we need another worthy striker (to fill berba and owen who are finished, and macheda + diouf not proving anything yet)
and one really solid attacking midfielder to play where rooney is playing now so that he can be brought up front where he is more effective.
@denton davey
Yeah that role will be perfectly filled by strootman … check his videos on youtube…he well could be our star midfielder and he his leftfooted.
ssj4gogeta – This kid, Strootman, has been mentioned by other people, too. I know nothing about him but I don’t pay much attention to YouTube videos; they could make “me” look like a fourth-division player and I’m 65 !
It’s good to hear that he’s left-footed – the squad is currently imbalanced with only two natural left-sided players (Giggs/Evra) and I’ve got no idea if any of the kids (apart from the full-back who played a few games in the winter) has that in his tool-kit.