Paul Scholes was brought out of retirement after Manchester United struggled with injuries in midfield, with Tom Cleverley, Anderson and Darren Fletcher all ruled out for a period of several months.
It was a return not even Paddy Power would give you odds on, especially when United’s main problem seemed to be a lack of speed and dynamism.
Having not played any competitive football for seven months, aged 37-years-old, how did Scholesy get on?
vs Sunderland – 90 minutes
98/103 (95.1%)
vs Swansea – 68 minutes
48/50 (96%)
vs City – 78 minutes
47/48 (97.9%)
vs Everton – 86 minutes
51/56 (91.1%)
vs Villa – 78 minutes
63/67 (94%)
vs QPR – 74 minutes
114/120 (95%)
vs Blackburn – 80 minutes
74/76 (97.4%)
vs Fulham – 11 minutes
13/14 (92.9%)
vs Wolves – 90 minutes
96/98 (98%)
vs West Brom – 73 minutes
75/86 (87.2%)
vs Spurs – 61 minutes
34/37 (91.9%)
vs Norwich – 90 minutes
73/80 (91.3%)
vs Liverpool – 90 minutes
87/95 (91.6%)
vs Chelsea – 26 minutes
24/27 (88.9%)
vs Stoke – 90 minutes
113/126 (89.7%)
vs Arsenal – 15 minutes
10/12 (83.3%)
vs Bolton – 69 minutes
38/42 (90.5%)
How does this compare with other midfielders?
- Scholes’ pass completion over the course of the season was 93.1%. To put this in to perspective: Yaya Toure – 90.5%. Michael Carrick -90.1%. Scott Parker – 89.5%. Luka Modric – 87.4%. David Silva – 87.1%. Juan Mata – 87%. Frank Lampard – 86.9%. Gareth Barry – 86.4%. Ramires – 85.1%. Raul Meireles – 84.5%. Jordan Henderson 83.9%. Steven Gerrard – 83.1%. Marouane Fellaini – 79.7%.
- Scholes’ pass completion in the final third over the course of the season was 83%. To put this in to perspective: Carrick -81%, Toure – 80%, Parker – 79%, Barry 77%, Lampard and Gerrard – 75% and Henderson – 74%.
- Scholes’ number of touches per minute over the course of the season was 1.08. To put this in to perspective: Yaya Toure – 1.05, Carrick – 1.01, Gerrard – 0.97 touches, Barry – 0.95 touches, Parker – 0.88 touches, Lampard – 0.85 touches and Hnederson – 0.77 touches.
- Scholes’ key passes per game (as adjudged by the number of starts) was 1.29. To put this in to perspective: Gerrard – 2.25 key passes, Lampard – 1.92 key passes, Toure – 1.55, Carrick – 1.04, Henderson – 1 key passes, Barry – 0.98 key passes, Parker – 0.75 key passes.
———–
Carrick’s Season In Full In Comparison To Others
Stats comparison table provided by Opta and Duncan Alexander
Man Utd News 24/7
I’ve an unhealthy love for this man.
How I love you Paul Scholes… greatest midfielder of his time, only challenged by Zidane. Ecstatic that he will stay for next season, and we can see him play with KAGAWA! Our line up in Europe next season:
DDG
Rafael Rio Vidiç Evra/new signing?
Carrick Scholesy
Valencia Kagawa Young
Rooney
Still cant tackle . lol
First of all I just want to say hello, new user. I have been reading STR articles for a few years but just joined.
What else to say but Scholesy is a legend. I hope that he will be able to replicate his form next season, of course it will be, hopefully, in less games, to give him some rest, plus that would mean we signed a CM.
The future is bright
The future is ginger
And Japanese
OFF TOPIC!!!!!would just like to say my thoughts and im sure every1 elses are with defoe at this time..poor fella just lost his father with his brother also passing not so long ago….sad news…just thought id mention it as these are the type of comments that seperate us united folk from the scum…will not mention any n….CITEH!!!!!
ANYWHOS…….scholesy u may be an old ginger fart but by good is ur farts awsome or words to that effect……………LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!!!!!!!
Pretty good signing then?!
KungFoo… Good lad
What a Man!
Legend.
Handy to still have at the club,even though he’s a 45min player like Giggsy.
Great stats. I still feel stats dont tell the full story. We lacked penetration and pace in the middle and looked soft on the counter. Scholes made a difference, but due to lack of quality. Hopefully we can have Carrick, Scholes and Kawaga fit nicely and get that midfield sorted. We still need another in there.
Paul Scholes Scores Goals !
The fact that we had to pull him out of retirement to save our midfield made a mockery of Ferguson’s arrogant claims that our midfield was good enough in the summer. It’s a good job we didn’t Sneijder to replace Ginger Ninja because it would hurt the development of Pogba. It’s not like he’s going to Juventus now is he… OOPS.
Shit!!! Scholes a legend??? I never knew?! How much did he cost?? How can we possibly know how good he is if he hasn’t got a price tag???
Mike
It’s a good question so if we use my price marker he was 31.75 million less than 31.75 m
In real terms therefore he cost 0 therefore without doubt
Shit
Stewart Downing has said that England don’t fear France
Yeah but I fear them -losing and playing rubbish that is.
Blanc: “I know Rio Ferdinand well, and I think the choice not to take him, from afar, is not a sporting one.
“There are other things, but I don’t want to get involved in the affairs of the English team.”
England Team, The happiest place in the world………… well, outside Disneyland anyway!
Scholes isn´t class alone. He glues his class to everyone around him, making them go from average to worldclass players with his presence o the pitch.
MG
On the antiscousernomics scale, most our players are shit. Only Rooney n Berbatov are any good. Might send my season ticket back and move to London!!
Would’ve made a GREAT difference had he been present in the group stages of the CL..he’ll, the next time though. LEGEND.
I have to ask you this. ” How do write women so well?” ” First I think of a man, then take away all reason and acoutability.”
ZeZu, Xavi and Patrick V. All say he is the best. Who am I to disagree with them.
paul scholes= sat nav enough said:-)
I have never given birth, I have though have been given pain killers that backed me up so bad. I passed a log the size of a prikles can. For the rest of the world the old tennis ball can. Off topic. But topical to me.
scholes = jedi master
off topic check what this prick has to say!!!
http://www.madridgalacticos.com/2012/06/07/real-madrid-manchester-united-2/
complete and utter fuckwitwankybollocksfacistlovingdogfuckingcocksucker!!!
Mike
Nah mate you’ve got it wrong – Rooney initially cost us 20 million plus add ons so he’s shit!
And Berba too – he cost us the threshold – so if he was a penny over he would have been better!
Therefore they are all shit none of them are worth over 31.75 million!
And just imagine if he had Ronaldo since he cost us 12 million he would have been shit too!
Mike
Shall we just go to Abu Dhabi instead?
Better weather – you do the teaching I’ll play the Assistant – Bob’s your uncle
MG- Whhatt?
Bob
It’s an in joke do not ever take my jokes seriously
Watch the smiley for confirmation
I really do have an Uncle Bob by the way – Liverpool fan
MG
Wow, we really are shit. So did Ronaldo only become good after he left cos I thought he was ok!
Abu Dhabi too hot, how about Stockport?!
gotta love the ginger prince!
Bit off topic but i really hope these rumours of us going for modric are true, i also hope that with hazard being a moron and selling his career to a russian that we switch our attention to juan manuel iturbe of porto.. Perfect line-up next season:
De gea
Rafael (clyne), smalling, vidic, evra (cissokho)
Modric, carrick
Valencia (iturbe), kagawa (young), nani
Rooney
Iturbe, nani, young and kagawa are versatile and can play in any of those positions behind the striker, making it hard for the opposition to play against.
What would be really good is if we tried playing 3 at the back at old trafford and played 3 in midfield.
De gea
Smalling, vidic, jones
Cleverley, carrick, modric
Valencia, kagawa, nani
Rooney
That way on the attack we have a base of 3 midfielders setting up any of the front 4 players, and when defending the 2 defenders each side of vidic (smalling, jones) move out to a fullback position, and the central holding midfielder in the 3 in the middle (carrick) moves back and partners vidic at the back (javi martinez would be perfect for that, but cant see it happening) .. Some of you may think thats crazy but we will have so many players in the middle it seems like we would just dominate possession and 1 less man at the back wouldnt seem too much of a loss. And if we need a goal with 10 mins to go, just take off one of the midfielders for a striker and have a base of 2 midfielders and 5 goalscoring threats for the opposition to worry about
Trust me, it worked brilliantly on fifa
parryheid @ 17:56: “he’s a 45min player like Giggsy.”
Actually, I think that SAF could get more out of both of these LEGENDS if he/they were willing to be “situational subs” – on the bench for every game but only used when something extra is needed. I’m not sure that either TheGingerNinja or SirRyanGiggs would be completely happy with that role but it would extract the last ounces of quality from them. Both could be on the pitch in situations where tracking back wouldn’t be expected but their vision and quality would be invaluable.
The statistics are somewhat misleading in that I’d like to see some sort of break-down that would take into account “defence-splitting passes” and the like. Footie-stats are notoriously blunt instruments – take the last one – “key passes per game” – I don’t understand what it means when StevieGBH can be considered twice as “key” as TheGingerNinja. That just doesn’t compute.
MG- Ahaha
how can someone with my name be a Liverpool fan?!?!? disgrace… 
got to think about changing it then 
Is your family Liverpool or United btw, my dad was a liverpool supporter until I finally got him to change to United (not a huge football fan btw, evident…)
Cabaye is better than all of them !
And some Chelsea fans seriously believe that Lampard is better than Scholesy. 0.0
Mike
Stockport?
No good mate the weather’s shit plus they haven’t got an Aston Martin showroom there and of course a better class of WAG
We have to think again – this is of serious importance
Ronaldo? Nah he’s far more better at Madrid – look at what he’s won at 80 million compared to what he won at 12 million at United
Bob
The older generation of my family are Liverpool and they can fucking have them for all I care – however the younger generation are all United – thanks to me
I never bothered converting the old generation they seem to live in a five finger bubble world
Papii
No chance –
MG and Clint
TBF to Cabaye, he is actually a class player…
I would take Cabaye in a heartbeat.
People say that the Gaffer relies on Giggsy and Scholesy because of sentiment. It is far from the truth. He relies on them because they are still quality and a patch above the rest. What they lack in pace they make up for it in their experience and cleverness. I am not being biased or anything but I haven’t seen a better midfielder than Scholes. The guy is a one off. There is nobody else in this world who comes close to him in controlling the midfield. The way he pings the ball to the wings with pace and accuracy is amazing. However, I do agree that these legends need to be used sparingly. Or as “Situational subs” as Denton put it. Kagawa has got a great teacher in Scholes and Giggs.
Mikelly
Same exact thought, we need one more midfielder!
Evening ROM – Scholes one just cant say enough about the man, an absolute genius, let us all rise in unison in respect of our Ginger Prince…….off topic Does anyone think there is any truth in the daily mirrors following article…..Manchester United are ready to test Tottenham’s resolve to keep Luka Modric – with a £22million bid?
Xavi
Scholes has it all – great sense of timing, classy touch, legendary finishing, jawdropping passing, excellent vision, and the best attitude of any player that I’ve ever seen.
In short, my favourite player of all time =)
Cabaye imho is not united class.
Martyred- didn’t they turn down a £40 million bid from Chelsea last season ?
Giggs12
He’s quality mate. Sort of player I think would grow at United. And like King Eric says, can be a right horrible little bastard in the middle of the park too.
Mike Keegan (from STR) M.E.N correspondent says there will be positive United News on the front page tomorrow. Says it’s not player related. Could be debt news?
MG -
I would Cabuye the lad in an instant
This Strootman has impressed me…his name is peculiar plus he looks like a deformed, smacked with a shovel version of Throbbing Van Persie.
A tough cookie, with a stinger of a left foot, vision, playmaking ability from deep, faster than Nuri Sahin, Cabaye etc, puts a lot into a tackle, ball winner basically… Not much to say or compliment about the kid judging the one match I watched.
My first judgement was “He’s nothing special, plenty do the same ….ok a few nice balls from deep but nothing buzzing me inside me saying he’ll soon be a world beater”.
Then something clicked….maybe that’s it….his simplicity and ability to carry out simple tasks on the pitch with no added glamour, he does the odd dummy and does the odd lighted footed footwork….but nothing compared to the other over-rated youngsters we have seen before.
I would say….like with Ruud, We Shoudl Be Interested in him, Why Not? Plus he’s dutch and we love the dutch here at United. They play similar to United do they not? minus the total football label applied to them.
I have a funny feeling we’ll be seeing a similar article at ROM in 2 years’ time…
I’m with G12 on this
Nah Costas Giggs and Scholes will retire next season after the sequel to the treble
Mark these prophetic MG words
“Debt is the road to ruin.” – David Alan Gill
Reducing debt is the road to greatness
MG
@MG
We’ll see mate. I’ve been thinking that this will be their last season for the last 3 years. At one point I also actually believed that Scholes retired.
Costas
I actually went to Scholes testimonial – did the clapping waving picked up the flag and all
Didn’t work.
@MG
Against Cantona’s world beaters hey?
And we all fell for it. We should have known that Scholesy’s real testimonial would have been against Oldham. 
Costas
Here here
After the Premiership CL and the FA cup comes out at OT will come out United and Oldham next July
Giggs and Scholes will retire into the sunset
And then turn the corner and back to Carrington for coaching
Manchester United will win the Champions League in the 2013-14 season….you heard it here first !
Papii
Excellent
That means we will be the first team to win it back to back
even though i’ve watched enough, i still treated myself to videos of our new signing shinji kagawa. We really have purchased genuine quality, a playmaker who has the potential to be world class when he hopefully settles in.
In order to extract the maximum out of kagawa and for us to witness him at his dynamic best, it’s important we play him as the main playmaker through the middle, we simply cannot afford to shift him to the left or right (let the genuine wing men take the roles). Kagawa has that burst of pace and acceleration, his intelligence on and off the ball is evident, his link up play and movement is impressive, his ability to time runs into the box is noted, he has a low centre of gravity which means he’ll drift past much stronger players with ease, he’ll find decisive passes that will be a nightmare for the opposition and gifts for our forward, he’ll dribble and show general magic that we’ve missed in recent seasons.
I could go on but i can see him being a potential bargain for united. If we could add another central midfielder, kwadwo asamoah for example or any renowned quality, cleverly hopefully progressing and staying fit, michael carrick returning fresh to continue his usual rollsroyce distribution and class. Scholes getting a game here and there just to add experience. I think we’ll finally have a strong engine room capable of going toe to toe with the very best (not Barca, a way to go before matching them). Kagawa won’t solve the problems all by himself but he’s a fucking great start!!!
MG
eh Why Not ?
I originally was told 2014-15 and then SAF would retire afterwards, but something changed, the date was brought forward….you knows, we could end up dominating Europe and win 3 in a row from 2013-2016.
How old would our team be in that period? I;ll answer that !
De Gea (23-26),
Rafael (24-27) Smalling (24-27) Evans (26-29) Baines (29-32)
Nani ( 27-30) Carrick ( 33-36) Cleverley (25-28) Kagawa (25-28)
Welbeck (23-26) Rooney (28-31).
With Chicha (25-28), Young (28-31), Fletch ( 30-33) Anderson out injured, Giggs and Scholes at (39/40-42/43), Jones (22-25), Valencia (28-31), Tunni (22-25). With Strootman being (24-27), Neymar being (22-25), Cabaye (28-31).
The key stat is those is the 0 in the goals assist column.
While we have a midfield that cannot move which is what it will be with a 37 year old we wont be winning anything.
Legends have to be moved on like anybody else.
you knows*?
Who knows !!!
Flipping eck !
I agree Daniel !
Fuck off Gerrard….you too Lumps ! Good for nothing Hobo’s…past their best too.
Henderson, Jonjo Shelvey, Jay Spearing, Scotty Parker, Mikel and Oriol Romeu are the future.
Gareth Barry vs Mesut Ozil Part II – coming soon to a T.V near you.
Get in Papii
The Neymar project begins
Legends have to be moved on?
Fuck off…Robbo would still run rings around Gerrard and Parker…even with the pot belly
Daniel – son? We got Kagawa – san!
looks like we take the option on Angelo Henriquez this summer cause of Keano’s bad injurie.
And the sun reporting that we will sign modric for 25£.
Daniel – while I agree with you in principal, the fact that Scholesy notched 4 goals negates your suggestion that the old boy is immobile imho. To put it in persepctive, Yaya Toure only scored 2 more than old man Scholes, and he is younger, faster, plays a more advanced role and played 32 games to Scholes’s 17.
Legends have to be eased out i agree and i’d hope we’d see as little from scholes as possible next season but he’s still quality but shouldn’t be a starter anymore.
Perspective even.
To be fair oriol romeu is a good younger player at chelsea, he’s an anchor midfield player and Will probably return to Barca, he will do a pique on chelsea.
Zelh
As are the mirror and the mail!!
mirror?
can’t find it on the mirror.
only mail and sun.
I’d be happy to have Scholes at United for as long as his short legs can carry him but he needs to be treated like a real vintage car and not an old banger. The more alternatives we have on the bench the more milage we can get from the old wizard, so hopefully we’ll see a real battle for midfield next season. The quartet of Scholes, Giggs, Carrick and Park unfortunately can’t continue forever.
Zelh
@MirrorFootball: Mod for it: United ready to offer Spurs £22m for Modric http://t.co/VCalRML7 #transfers
This is not an observation but a genuine question to the more tactically astute fan than myself. Do we really need both Kagawa and Modric, are they similar types of player or would they complement each other?
Scholes is great but, I hope this is not a hoax:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4360715/Luka-Modric-to-join-Man-Utd-in-25m-deal-from-Tottenham.html
All we need now is another left back.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4359448/Villarreals-new-boss-Manuel-Preciado-dies-of-a-heart-attack.html
Mikekelly12 – old one. just meant the new one by the sun saying that he’ll be joining for 25m£
Red Neck – xavi and iniesta are similar type of players, and look how they turned out. Modric would be the more controlled midfielder, where kagwa would have the freedom to play the lampard/scholes role and get us goals from midfield. We have lacked control and creativity and especially goals from this area, look at scholes/carrick axis, simular players but they both share the same essence, they control games, and give us the perfect platform to hold onto the ball. With scholes almost finished, and carrick not getting any younger, we need players who can control games
Great to hear that we’ve got Modric in the bag – a snip at £25m, when you consider what a hard-nosed miser Daniel Levy has been over the years. Maybe he was visited by three ghosts this past Christmas?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4360715/Luka-Modric-to-join-Man-Utd-in-25m-deal-from-Tottenham.html
Alan Shearer was signing too according to the Sun………
Willie – the Current Bun get all the best scoops: http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1995/ggggjv.jpg
Redneck – Modric and kagawa is a risk. Both are technically gifted players but you need to bring defensive balance. You mention xavi and iniesta but they have busquets patrolling deeper and Barca play a pressing game so that’s their main form of defensive play.
Kagawa and modric would dazzle but we need an all round central midfield player to shore things up. Kwadwo asamoah would be my ideal player.
Willie
So was Toure…
twatter rumour of the hour definitly being Wilshere tested positive on drugs
Sammy – where was the defensive steel in 06/07 when we won the league playing our best football in years?
http://m.mirror.co.uk/ms/p/tmg/mirror/s9IS52KMSsU7S0KvV9Oecvw/view.m?id=3554669&cat=Mirror-Football-Top&guid=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-are-signing-angelo-henriquez-866483
I think Modric would do our midfield wonders.
Wilshere drug cheat scum. Ban him for life.
Welcome to the MUFC, Henry Angel.
Fred – Ha! Cunts have form for this….
Zelh
I hear it was a bull shut rumour started by a Spurs fan??
samuel – united WE stand – if scholes/carrick can work, say we some how sign modric a midfield combo of kagwa/modric would be a dream combo, of movement, passing range, and goals. We also have carrick to play the DM role.
Mikekelly12 – Dunno mate. Take it with a big shovel of salt.
Mikey – Ya ya?
Goodnight!
Fergie is the boss
Thanks, having seen Modric and not having seen or heard much of Kagawa I wasn’t sure if it was realistic or just the usual papers linking us with just about everyone. Hope and pray that Fletcher can make it back next season to add some steel to the midfield.
Fletcher is finished pal. Sorry but it’s true.
Ta ta for now!!
Fred @ we:33: “the fact that Scholesy notched 4 goals negates your suggestion that the old boy is immobile imho.”
TheGingerNinja can get into scoring positions – that’s not the issue. The issue is can he get back when UTD lose the ball – from what I saw, he was pretty “immobile” when the opposition counter-attacked.
About the Modric rumours – no mention of Dimmy going the other way ? I’m no fan of Modric but SAF knows what he’s doing so IF he wants BOTH Modric and KagawaBunga then so be it. He knows more than me !
Fred – I would not write fletcher off totally, but defiantly guys like anderson I would cash in on him, pending if we can sign another midfielder. But even if we sign 2 midfielders, I still say we are short of another midfielder, with scholes/carrick’s aging, and fletcher still not right, cleverly does seem injury prone. The midfield is still in need of total rebuilding. and lacking that identity has the rebuilding of the engine room begins its next next face-lift, with Kagwa a start.
Fred
I know that in all honesty it doesn’t look good for Darren Fletcher but I do hope you are wrong. Call me old fashioned and i know the modern game has changed but I do love to see a player in the Robson/ Keane mould in our midfield.
Ángelo Henríquez: “The Chilean Michael Owen”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y2KRnVZaIM
Don’t see Modric coming in so cheap, not going to happen. That said, we still need 1 more midfielder to add some steel to our midfield. So far the only player linked to us that fits that category is Asamoah.
Its sad to say this but Fletcher coming back is a pretty long shot, its not some injury he is having that operations can clear up, its a medical condition. Going into the new season pinning our hopes on Fletcher is not wise at all
Got to say, that Henriquez looks fucking crap tbf.
Modric join United?
More chances of me taking shit from a bitch literally.
If Cabaye joins though?
I will become a piss taker….literally.
Welcome to the club Angelo!
£3M sounds good business.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2156203/Manchester-United-agree-3m-deal-Angelo-Henriquez.html
WOW Angelo Henriquez? Can’t say I saw that one coming. Let’s hope he is a good buy or else that’s 3 million down the drain.
Fergie will bring in a true central midfielder. Whether it will be Modric or someone else is a different matter.
no way levy will let him leave for £30m,and if he delivers for Croatia in the euro then that will up the price further.
i think we should go for a strong cm,witsel is better version of y toure
United has actually been following Angelo for at least 2 years. Been looking at his stats in the Copa Libertadores and they are pretty impressive.
5’11″/1.80cm is a good size for a striker and this guy is built already, not like Danny who is still in need of a couple years in the weights room.
Here is an interview of him after a Copa Libertadores win. It’s in spanish so might not be your cuppa. But he sounds level headed and gives credit to the team and support. Level headed like we need at this club.
Only spanish, no goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9r3qeVwF8mA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SNkewM1B8kM
hope he will get his works permit
Think signing Angelo Henriquez is Clubs response to injury to Will Keane.
Keano would have been in the first team before his devastating injury for U19s.
icedearth….
Looks identical to Freds linked video with diff music and slightly tweaked color??
Morning reds around the world..
No matter how much you talk and read about scholesy facts, its not enough for the legend he is..
##
ON THIS DAY IN 1968 -
Matt Busby was knighted, to become SIR Matt Busby !!!
FletchTHEMAN
agree with you about Angelo Henriquez signing,and freds linked video
iced earth
Cheers.
Red Dreams lads…. I’m off!
a midfield trio of Strootman, Carrick, and Kagawa would be love, with Clevs subbing for Kagawa, Scholes for Carrick, and Tunni (hopefully) for Strootman not bad but not upset with what we got to be honest
Henriques is one for the future for sure. WHo knows he may be the next sanchez.
Modric is a OK player for me. Not so great and not so bad. The problem with him is he doesn’t score that many goals and neither his defensive skills are great. We need a defensive midfielder. I liked jones playing in that role instead of rb. But honestly we need a defensive midfielder. Makelele type player is what we want imo.
Thinking about will keane makes me sad. I know he will come back stronger. But really He would have been in our first team next season. Now he has to wait for whole season in home. In 2013-2014 season he will be going on loan. In 2014 he will be 21 only. I hope by then he would have become more stronger and ready to compete in our striking department.
I will also give chance to petrucci and tunni this season. They both deserve it. Tunni is a defensive midfielder and can be very useful in a year or two. I also love the way Petrucci plays. He is fast and create goals and also scores.
Another young midfielder in our academy who has impressed is barmby. He has loads of talent and could be a asset to our midfield in coming years. Many compared him with gerrard. But I say he could be better than gerrard.
Ash @ 04:18: “We need a defensive midfielder. I liked jones playing in that role instead of rb. But honestly we need a defensive midfielder. Makelele type player is what we want imo.”
I disagree – and so, apparently, does SAF. Fergy was quite explicit in saying that he wasn’t going to sign a midfield “destroyer”.
I take that to mean he wants someone who can “play a bit” with the ball at his feet. Robson could do that; Keane-o could do that; Hargreaves could do that; DarrenFletcherinho could do that. Can MrJones do that ? I think so – but does SAF ?
As far as I can determine, SAF wants TheLads to play a fast, up-tempo game with interchanging ball-players which would seem to suggest that Michael Carrick will again be the “defensive shield” – i.e., a version of “Biscuits” – and Michael Carrick is no “destroyer”.
So, in terms of formation, what I think we’re likely to see is some version of a 4-1-5 (whatever that means !). Hopefully, the sheer drudgery of too much of last year’s crab-like defensiveness will be superseded by a more open and exciting style – injuries permitting.
Wow what a read. I’m trashed. Drunk high and loving KagwaBunga.
S am spot on this guy for me is awesome. In the prime of the Giggs, Scholes, GNev, Becks Butt class SAF HAD SOME 5 CMF AND 4 WINGS TO PICK FROM?
All good with compitition at a”l spots.
For me some 8 years back asz I became a MUFC FAN, THAN YOU GOD! Paul wad hurt and transitioning into a deedper lying MF. When you fellas and all others mention PS he was hitting 20 goals a year. Not me, he was the Pirlo type. So cool the Ginga Ninga. One of my 3 favorite players. Keano, Wazza and Paul and all players who come through the academy next.
Thank you god you are first. Fraudian type O. Not then God. Wow.
Denton all good I see it. In the modern game a CL wining team can not afford a one dementioal player. No old number 9 all big offense no defense and no just deffensive playe in MF or in the back4!?!?
We all lov Fletch. DD has his alement. I have done medical under writing 5% chance of him coming back to full strength. 3% moe then the God factor.
Denton Davey
Currently carrick does that role very well. But honestly I think we need a Makelele type player. We were quite successful in 07-08 season because of Hargreaves playing as a defensive midfielder. I have seen us conceding goals in counter because we lack a true Shielder.
Carrick has done that job well but he tends to go forward and then his partnering midfielder ie scholes or Cleverley to do that job which they fail to do. Fletcher does that job very well. I would say even better than carrick but unfortunately he is out with virus.
Our current squad looks good with the arrival of kagawa but we still need a defensive midfielder in my opinion.
Stress is a key cause of relapse. So maye a good start but the EPL has stress let alone the worlds largest sporting club.
Missed out on Sanchez and looks like we got ourselves the second coming of RVN in Angelo, Missed out on Nasri and now get ourselves Kagawa(someone who actually wanted to come to United and is far better than Nasri), Missed out on Sneijder with his ridiculous wages and now we could be getting Modric!
hello fellow reds..scholes is my favorite united player to date..but are we getting luca ?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4360715/Luka-Modric-to-join-Man-Utd-in-25m-deal-from-Tottenham.html
Ash
I agree, we need to replace Fletcher.
Modric is a Scholes replacement. I wouldnt say no, but I would rather see in order of preference
Martinez
M’Vila
Strootman
Cabaye
Asamoah
These players are not ‘destroyer’ types but all play defensive MF and also can play, just like Carrick only different!!
Morning RoM! Happy to see the Angelo thing working out – Welcome to United, kiddo!
On Modric, I won’t believe a word of it till it’s official. Too many things going against such a deal – one – Levy, two – player’s preference for London, three – its being reported in The Sun.
@Cubs: It’s probbaly none of my business, but if you are consistently getting a pain while peeing you should see a doctor. Dont mean to scare you, but ask Sir Giles.
@Samuel: I saw some posts from you talking about how this Asamoah kid would be good for us. I haven’t seen him (except for youtube, and he didn’t look that great to me), so curious to know about him – could you describe him please? Thanks as always!
PS: went for a vigorous swim in the morning, did a few hundred meters and left shaking my head thinking of buggers who cross the fucking english channel…jeez!!!!
Sky Sports reports that Brazilian midfielder Willians has signed for Udinese after departing Flamengo.
His move probably means that it could pave the way for the exit of Kwadwo Asamoah, who going by his latest quotes suggests that he’d prefer a switch to England (speculation is United) than to staying in Italy (speculation is Juventus)
http://the4thofficial.co.uk/2012/06/07/uniteds-tactical-decline-since-carlos-quieroz/?
A MUST read on the tactical aspect of United. A very long article but I would urge all to read it.
Maybe it should be a thread of its own. Something I have thought to be the case for a while now.
@robbo, yeh i read that too it’s a read of rare quality
http://static.diario.latercera.com/201205/1545752.jpg
http://static.diario.latercera.com/201202/1477290.jpg
More Insight here
http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/why-man-utd-arent-panicking-over-growing-euro-interest-chilean-superkid-angelo-henriquez-31
Good Morning ROM!
Some nice comments in this thread.
I see some people asking to sign Luka Modric. I cannot see it happening. For one, it would be unnecessary since we have got Kagawa. And hopefully (really hopefully) Tom Cleverley can be injury-free. Provided the latter happens, we can get the same mileage out of Kagawa-Cleverley that people are hoping we would get out of Kagawa-Modric. Personally, I am really excited at the latter partnership. Cleverley proved last year in the early stages that he as a great one-two touch player who can link up and bring others into play. And the partnership with Kagawa can only be good for him. It is something that has got me watering in my mouth. Secondly, Modric will definitely be overvalued at Spurs and, frankly, there’s no way we will be able to pay the asking price.
Also, I am on Denton’s side as far as Jones is concerned. I am not willing to write him off as a mid-fielder like some are doing without solid proof. So, I would definitely like to see him used in the destroyer role more next season along with Carrick. That would definitely help shore up our defense a lot.
Balaji
I also want jones as a defensive midfielder rather than as a rb player. I won’t be surprised if england use him at that position. Would love to see that. He did well against spain in that role if I am not wrong.
Ginger Ninja is the best of them all. Xavi will tell you the same. On the Modric story, I aknowledge Modric would be a good signing but I cant help thinking that would be the end of Cleverely and the possible promotion of Tunni coz then we have Carrick, Modrick, Kagawa, Anderson, Scholes,Cleverely, Fletcher (haven’t given up on him) and possibly Phil Jones all contesting for the 2 center midfeild spots! I’m basing this reasoning on the fact that in the EPL we will mostly play with 2 wingers and a front two that will incude Rooney and Welb/Chicha. I wouldn’t coplain if we didn’t sign anyone else.
Jones has never actually been convincing in this so called defensive midfield role. It’s not his natural game, i don’t think he even knows his best position due to an average second half to the season from him. What i’m sure of is, he’s not a midfield player of any kind, he hasn’t got the attributes. I think people’s obsession to have another roy keane means they want to transform an entirely different player into one.
Jeet – youtube is decent at checking players but it doesn’t tell the full story. Kwadwo asamoah is a left footed box to box midfield player. Powerful and energetic, similar in some way to michael essien but i believe he has the potential to be better due to his technical abilities. He can be a driving force and is passing skill is good and he can also defend. I think asamoah and kagawa would bring a different dimension to the team with their dynamism and mobility, we’ve missed that for a while now hence why we get over-run.
I think after being at udinese for a while now, practically being one of the best midfielders in the italian league, albeit not getting all the hype, I think he may want to depart serie A, he suits the type FERGIE would want to bolster the team. Asamoah is 23 and will develop at old-trafford
Here in Manchester the talk is all about Modric, few top reds who have their finger on the pilse think its a given……I hope so he is absolute genius.
Also the box to box midfielder we crave……Tom Cleverly anyone? I think he is best suited for that role after the charity shield last year.
@Balaji
HI mate. Can’t see the Modric deal happening either. Nor do I want it to be fair. Whether it’s Kagawa, Scholes or Tom, we have creativity in the heart of our midfield. It’s a box to box midfielder we are lacking. One of the main reasons the team had a frustrating campaign this year was our defensive issues. And that’s not just down to Vidic’s absence. It’s because of Fletcher’s too. And I don’t see how Kagawa (or Modric) would help that problem.
As they say, defence wins you titles and looking at our 2 most succesfull seasons over the last decade (07-08 and 08-09) we either had Hargreaves or Fletcher providing some bite in our midfield.
Costas / Baliji
Scholes is 37, Clev is injury prone, Kagawa plays off the front man! We can be in a position again like we was a few years back when Giggs and O’Shea had to play all season in midfield. If you think about the three to choose from would be Clev, Carrick, and Modric with a supporting cast of Giggs and scholes. Kagawa from the little we know at this stage is a much more progressive player pressing forward.
Lets not forget as well Carrick is 31 soon so he is becoming a player we will need to keep fresh.
If anderson stayed fit and showed any sign of consistency of quality in a sustained period of time, we wouldn’t need another midfielder but we do, he’s just not got it in him to be a regular starter and i think time is ticking away on his career here. Massive improvement is needed from him this season or he’ll lose Fergie’s patience and the scot-man can be patient when he trusts a player.
I don’t fear for cleverly. He knows that at united, he’ll need to improve on last season in order to get a sniff of a chance. He needs to get physically stronger and stay fit. If you’re good enough and better than what starts in the team, FERGIE will throw you in. Cleverly knows he’s in the big time now, the pressure at united is more than he’s ever experienced, the watchful eyes of the world will be gazed upon him and he simply needs to take the mantle and prove he can fight for a place. No one is guaranteed nothing, not even those that arrive from the youth setup.
EXCLUSIVE IN THE SUN!!!
UNITED GET MODRIC FOR 25 MILL RISING TO 30 MILL!!
even all the fine details about the terms and length of contract are in it and its neil custis reporting on it and he is usually bang on…..my god im almost creaming my pants here, kagawa and modric struttin around with nani,young, valencia and wazza…my god that is 1 impressive front line with carrick holding deep in the middle….this is were i wreckon carrick will show us his best football
Also united agree deal for little striker angelo henrique…things are certainly lookin great for united and the bloody transfer market isnt even open
I must say i would be more than happy to push forward from there, i dont think we need a defender especially baines, he is sending fabio on loan hoping he has a good season, he is evras replacement no alba or baines…i think we have got enough in defence we just had way to many injurys last year…dont forget jonny evans can play left back and has so many times for the mighty northern ireland..weve also got rafa and jones plus valencia who can play right and then rio,vida,smalling and also jones who can play centre back so i dont think we need another defender..
Kungfu- if it’s true, we will all need a box of tissues.
COSTAS
disagree mate, modric would be an excellent addition to the team. yes it would mean we would have a pritty packed midfield but giggs and scholes are close to the end now, i wreckon fergie will use them sparinly this year. clev is to injury prone and so is ando…just look at the mess we have had this year with puttin a midfield out, hence scholsey seen the opportunity to come out of retirement….u say how would it work!!!it works at barca mate were basqeuts plays the carrick role, they play with 5 attacking players that keeps teams in there own half and defend from the front…ive no doubt this is in fergies mind as all to often we have got over run in the nidfield….i believe with players like modric and kagawa knocking it around in the centre with modric holding and young valencia nani and rooney tormenting defenders will be and overjoyed site at old trafford…ppl say they cant see the deal happen…nate i personally think its already done….it was all over the papers yesterday about 25 mill and ppl were like nah aint gona happen..no its exclusive in the sun…neil custis would nt exclusive on it nor pan out exadurated fine details if there was no truth in it…harry himself said it would be hard to keep hold of him this year and levy knows the same, he knows chelsea wont go for him no they go marin and hazard so thats the best he is gona get for a player who doesnt wana be there and what a piece of buisness from fergie
Fuckers in office have blocked The Sun…still don’t believe it. Can’t imagine Levy will let go without a long drawn saga, if at all
Samuel
I fear Fergie has run out of patience on Anderson, he started so well but he is just a really poor pro. He doesnt eat right, his fitness is shocking, and for a 22 year his physique is poor for a lad taht should be ripped. All the tools in his feet but mentaliy lacking what it takes.
Jeet
The sun shuold be blocked its a disgrace of a rag mate! Get on the MEN for half decent news on United.
Where’s King Eric?
I’m not sure ryan tunnicliffe is ready for that that huge step up. I could be wrong and he may well thrive on it but i see a lot of enthusiasm, work-rate, athleticsm and power but the further he goes into the big stage, the more he’ll find players who are more than a match but how does he conquere this hoodoo? well, his technical abilities. i still think he needs to work on his passing, composure on the ball, distribution (which is important as a midfielder). He’s clearly talented but FERGIE won’t throw him in for the sake of it until those improvements are noted and with time, i hope we see improvements.
redbilly
hope it is mucker, i think its fair to see pritty much all united fans have been waitin for a summer like this for a few yearsonly because its about central midfielders but i have to add nor modric or even kagawa have signed so until that happens the tissues are still in the wrapper
ROM has gotten me thinking Modric is going to happen…….. bracing myself for dissappointment now.
I’d like to think those who are not in favour of the Modric deal are thinking Fergie meant to only bring in 2 midfielders this summer and as such money would be wasted with Kagawa and Cleverley taking up those positions, am thinking a defensive midfielder in on the agenda, all signs point to that. Because we do need a replacement for Scholes; Modric would be a ready-made replacement for scholes. What we’re really talking about here is a replacement for Hagreaves which i think is on the cards.
Giggs12 – i totally agree with you. He always seems to double or even triple in size when he makes his return from his usual breakdown, sometimes i wonder if he just sits with buckets of ice cream and all sorts of prohibited food footballers are told to avoid. He still goes around partying like a playboy, crashes cars, more interested in his dreadlocks, he’s trying to replicated a rio de janiero lifestyle in the cold damp manchester.
Not professional enough, seems to lack the mental strength as you’ve pointed out, seems to lack fortune in terms of injuries as wel (i think porto nicely hid all the cracks before we shelled out 18 fucking million). I think he’s been played out of position, i’m not convinced he has the tactical knowledge to be a box to box midfielder but then he’s been shifted up to a more creative role and he looked more like disco stu than rivaldo. I just don’t get him as he’s an enigma, i wish he would prove us wrong but the inevitability is near for him. He’ll depart oldtrafford with an unfulfilled potential, him being partly to blame with his unhealthy lifestyle, his injuries, his mental strength or a lack of it and possibly being out of position.
Tunnicliffe is two years of United first team imho, he is developing like Clev.
FERGIE will never buy a pure defensive midfielder. He doesn’t want players who are purely good at one thing and that is to nullify the opposition. He wants midfielders that will effectively do that and then have the ability to dictate games with accurate passing and sometimes having the confidence to score goals. He prefers a box to box midfield player but with tactical awareness and good positioning. He’ll not sign tiote or any player of that ilk.
Moscow
You claim that Sir Alex has an exaggerated sense of his own importance and abilities .
Further, you imply that Sir Alex turned away Sneijder, and did not try to add quality to
our midfield last summer. You also sarcastically applaud Pogba’s limited contribution,
as if Sir Alex had thought that Pogba would and should start before Sneijder or Scholes.
First off, straight up you are a cunt.
Nothing you say or do now will change that. Don’t bother.
You are artificial. By definition, a ‘plastic’
You are selfish, ungrateful, rude, cancerous and vile.
We did try to strengthen the midfield last summer. Sneijder, Nasri or Modric. We didn’t get any of them, and despite also losing Fletcher and Cleverley, our young Pogba was unable to force his way into the side. He wasn’t ready. Scholes offered himself back to United, and his top stats (as per this thread’s article) show that he was worth the punt. Pogba would NOT have achieved the same or contributed as much as Scholes did.
It is you who is an arrogant mockery, not Sir Alex.
You deliberately chose to rudely and sarcastically mock Sir Alex.
You are a cunt.
@Albert Ross: Don’t bother with Moscow – if it’s who I think it is (from some other fora). One of those who wont rest till we spend 80 mil om Bale…and will call SAF ugly names till we don’t. Fucking bunch of ingrates.
Costas, Yup, I agree with you. Whether from inside or outside, we need to replace Fletcher/Hargreaves, and fast.
Samuel, There was deep discussion on ROM last season that 2011-12 will make or break Anderson’s United career. For a while, it looked like Anderson had finally arrived. He was working well with Cleverley and looked a right good player. And then Cleverley got injured. Anderson has regressed badly since then. He looked disinterested when partnered with anyone else. He also has a hopeless injury record and his habits don’t help either. As you said, dedication is needed to succeed at a place like United and Anderson seems to have none of it. Sir Alex has already put up with a lot of his past infractions and it doesn’t look like his attitude will improve immensely. Kagawa’s arrival signals that Anderson’s OT career is coming to an end. I don’t feel a lot of sadness at all. He brought this upon himself and it will be fully deserved if he was let go.
As for Tunnicliffe, he has already gone on loan to one place which is good news. But I still think one more loan move may be on offer before he is ready to make the step up. Or even a season playing for United in the Carling Cup and fringe games. That will do him a world of good before being thrown into the deep end and asked to play for the first team. Of course, Cleverely’s progression has been perfect, so I see no reason to think Ryan’s will be any different.
On Cleverley, Fred posted a nice set of stats ages ago where he basically said that Cleverley “could be” considered injury-prone when looking at his past record. Last season had nothing to do with past thought, it was down to one asshole who wasn’t even punished for it. I certainly hope he can have a good pre-season and have a full season under his belt. However, until that happens, people will always be skeptical of his fitness given his injury record up till now. It is the same case with the Twins as well.
@Giggs12
It’s funny, but for all my moaning about our injury prone players, I am one of the few that feel that Tom won’t be injured so often next season!
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely agree that we need more cover at CM. I just don’t believe that Modric should be that extra person. Because as good as he is going forward, we go to a place like Anfield with him and Carrick at CM and we’ll have the same problems we had with Carrick and Scholes. Only difference will be that Modric won’t run out of steam as soon as Paul would. In my opinion, the 56 goals we conceded this season should be a wake up call about how we line up in midfield. Unless Fergie’s answer to the problem is building a partnership in there that maintains possession for the majority of the game.
If the Modric news is true it will be a huge step in taking our title back next season. Need cover for Evra and it will be an excellent summer for transfers.
To be honest, I am going to be shocked if we are to sign Modric. But I just don’t see the need for getting another playmaker since we already have Kagawa, Cleverley, Scholes and Giggs. What I would like to see however is a another player who can do what Carrick does. A tough bastard in the middle who will shield the back 4. I do think the Gaffer is going to adopt a 4-5-1 formation in Europe this time around considering the battering we got last season and we will need a proper defensive midfielder. It looks like we are in for a busy summer with various sources saying that we have put in a bid for Baines and Tiote along with Modric.
Jeet – thanks for your sensible and calming advice! I nearly didn’t respond to him, but as no one else had, I thought it was my duty to myself and United to at least mention my discontent in passing. I considered being abusive, but chose rather to only express the truth!
I think you may be right in recognising him, for he clearly is a trolling wum.
@Albert Ross: I thought of responding myself, but recalled some of his bile (and I can assure you, that compared to how he usually expresses his opinions on SAF, this post of his was positively mild) and let it be – pearls before swine and all that. Like I said, some poeple are just born without a sense of gratitude/appreciation. Like you said, ever more succinctly, CUNT.
Samuel @ 08:28: ” Kwadwo asamoah is a left footed box to box midfield player. Powerful and energetic, similar in some way to michael essien but i believe he has the potential to be better due to his technical abilities. He can be a driving force and is passing skill is good and he can also defend. I think asamoah and kagawa would bring a different dimension to the team with their dynamism and mobility, we’ve missed that for a while now hence why we get over-run.”
A better version of Michael Essien ? Fergy ! Fergy ! sign him up !!!!!
Costas, Well, that hasn’t worked out so bad for Barcelona. However, as someone said, they still have Busquets doing all the dirty work. We definitely need a replacement for Fletcher/Hargreaves. I see it coming from inside while others want one from outside. Either ways, it is needed.
Giggs12, By no means will I say no to Modric mate. I wanted him last season as well and I am a big fan. However, as Costas said, with the signing of Kagawa, we need a B2B MF as well. Unless Sir Alex is also looking at one more signing apart from Modric in which case that would be fine. Still, I cannot see the Modric deal happening financially. If it does, then count me in the I am extremely happy crowd.
The Sun has deal details. They’re saying it is for 25mil rising up to 30 mil based on success with United. They also say he will be earning 125K per week. Well, that sounds good you know. Even if it is all made up, at least they’re not throwing exorbitant wages abound. They should be commended for trying to make it look authentic.
I have had enough of Ando. The guy has been here for 6 years and he still doesn’t have a proper season under his belt. It is annoying and frankly pathetic. I thought last season was going to be the one when he would finally step out of Paul’s shadows but nope he did not. He started out well but tapered off as usual. His biggest drawback is that he is very very inconsistent. I am not lambasting him but his attitude needs a major fix. The guy needs to work his backside off to show the Gaffer that he still has it. There are youngsters in the reserves who will pounce on his exit.
Jeet – that swine needs someone to rip him a new pearl-necklace.
Perhaps that’s enough with the piggery-jokery, it’s boaring.
By the way, my manners seem to have taken a walk today – Thanks, Samuel, for the brief on Asamoah!
Balaji, yes, The Sun have made the deal look quite authentic but they are the only ones who are making this claim so I wouldn’t read too much into it. But we all know the Gaffer likes Modric and with Spurs not playing in the CL this season, Modric might be tempted to leave.
Costas
Haha. Of all the people not to think Tom won’t be injured as much next season afrmter your injury rants last season. How ya doing pal.
Giggs12
Yep, Manchester is a buzz with this modric rumour. Those questioning his compatibility with Kagawa, they are two very different players. I remember you telling me it was a done deal in the gorse last season and James21 said the same after a conversation with David O’Leary. He even posted it last season.
Anyone still up late last night who may have seen my post saying that the M.E.N was gonna have some positive news for reds.. It appears we are going to build a city style FanZone outside OT! Obviously it will be bigger and better but will also draw in more revenue. Other rumours suggest Bains and Tiote still to come!
@Balaji
Barcelona had another problem though. Their depth in defence was pathetic. As soon as Pique went missing, they couldn’t defend to save their lives. United are still ok in that area even with Vidic missing. However, if we want to start playing like them, we have to put together a midfield personnel suited for that style. We saw what a negative effect Tom’s absence had on our play last season. So maybe that’s why Kagawa was brought in and MOdric may be a consideration. But if it was up to me, I’d look for a player similar to Fletcher and Hargreaves. Because we won’t win every game on possession alone. Sometimes we’ll have to defend properly.
Costas, I completely agree mate. As I said, a replacement for Fletcher is a must from anywhere. Especially in the PL, teams aren’t going to give us as much respect as Barcelona get in Spain. They’re going to have a right royal go at us and we need to be set up with some hard men to take care of the light-weights in that situation. This is where Fletcher and Hargreaves were so good. As I said, I want Jones to be this guy but wouldn’t be too bummed if we get Tiote as well who I do rate.
Utd4life, Agreed mate. As I said, I would be stunned if we pull off the Modric deal, financially there are lots of obstacles for United there. We’ll just have to wait and watch.
@MIke
HI mate. I am good, thanks. About to go on vacation for a few days.
How are you?
I want to be fair and I am still not convinced that TC is injury prone. Maybe he needs more work in the gym. He’s still young and has room for improvement in terms of conditioning. I am less optimistic about Ando. Just about given up on him showing up fit, in shape and lasting for more than 5 games!
Hearing reports we have signed a Chilean stiker by the name of Angelo Henriquez.
By the way, when does UTD’s pre season start? And where will they be playing? Does anyone have know? Thanks.
Reported by SUN
Like Costas I too think that Modric is over-rated, is he better than carrick? Well don’t think so although they might be considered different players.
We need Darren fletcher back
Has Pogba really gone? It’s a pity if true, I like the look of the kid but he don’t have patience anyways it’s his loss not ours.
Where are the twitter warriors to confirm or deny the Modric news
Costas
I’m good mate. Enjoying the last days of my week off. Where you off to? A lot of people talking about Asamoah.. Haven’t Juventus signed him?
Giggs12
Yes mate, young striker for the future by all accounts. City are after his winger team mate. So, FanZone for £5 pints or should we stick to Lime/gorse/Platts.
@MIke
That was my impression too. I remember hearing that Juve were going to use Pogba in the deal for Asamoah. It’s not a done deal yet, but I think Juve will still get him. Maybe the recent scandal has pushed back their transfer dealings.
I am off to Mykonos for 3-4 days. I am sure some in here have heard of this island. Hope you had a good time.
saying Modric is like Kagawa is like saying Iniesta is like Messi.
Costas
Nice mate, I’ve actually been. Did a little cruise around the islands with my girlfriend at the time when I was younger. Have fun.
Does anyone have anymore information on Powell? That’s another signing I thought we’d already nailed but since heard the dippers were dipping their scabby oar in?
whoever believes we are interested in modric is very naive.
The papers have put a spell on you !
They are trying to sell papers during a dry week.
FFS how do people end up believing this shit?
No quotes no nothing.
Look at the Kagawa-transfer rumours;
- We heard his contract is up
- The club confirmed he was leaving
- SAF was at the german cup final
- Dortmund said “theres only one team in the premier league Kagawa wants to join”
- Theres only one popular team in Japan – United
-Then we came in for him.
With Modric – nothing suggests we are interested !
Anyone who signs for Juve now won’t be doing so for footballing reasons that’s for certain. Who would like to sign for a club in a league that’s going through all the shit.
Haven’t seen Asamoah play myself and don’t trust youtube but yes he was pretty close to signing for juve but his recent tweet (twitter is hazard-ous :lol ) might mean that he is having second thoughts about it.
Clint-Iamyourpapii
I’ll speak for myself, i dont know if it is true or not, but am willing it to be true, i want it to be true, and i hope it is true.
@Redhound: No, it’s like saying Scholes is like Kaka
Scholesy is simply the best……………
Go guys go, go UTD go.
@Indian Devlil: Can we please make a conscious attempt at avoiding the phrase “footballing resons”?
Balaji @ 09:57: ” in the PL, teams aren’t going to give us as much respect as Barcelona get in Spain. They’re going to have a right royal go at us and we need to be set up with some hard men to take care of the light-weights in that situation. This is where Fletcher and Hargreaves were so good. As I said, I want Jones to be this guy”
The Barcelona game-plan is to keep the ball and, if it’s lost, then harry the opposition mercilessly. That works ‘cos the opposition can’t score if it doesn’t have the ball. BUT it’s a game-plan built on the supreme ball-skills of Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi – that means the key issue is: does UTD have guys with comparable ability ? Even with KagawaBunga and Modric, I don’t think so.
I agree, therefore, that someone like DarrenFletcherinho/Hargreaves is a key addition. One other point to keep in mind when comparing a “newUTD” with Barcelona is that UTD’s depth in central defence is much greater – Barcelona struggled without Puyol and had to play Javier Mascherano in that role. UTD are five-deep central defenders BEFORE Michael Carrick gets called in as an emergency fill-in.
Keeping with the Barcelona analogy – one has to wonder if Antonio Valencia could be “our Dani Alves” (without the theatrics) ?
A lot of speculation in this thread has an Achilles Heel – we just have no idea what SAF is planning in terms of formation/strategy. What did he learn when TheLads were schooled by Athletic Bilbao ? If we could answer that question then I think we might get a better insight into how his last, great team would involve talents like KagawaBunga and Modric in addition to TheWayneBoy, DannyTheLad, Chicharito, Valencia/Young and, as always, TheGingerNinja and Sir Ryan Giggs (and that’s not even considering YoungTom and Anderson).
I’d like to believe that the blue-print for UTD going forward was what we saw in the early days of last season before injuries drove the bus off the rails (to mix a metaphor !). UTD’s best goal last season was scored by Nani in the Community Shield and if TheLads can incorporate that kind of give-and-go into their game then we should be in for a great ride. Here’s hoping.
Daily Mail reporting Man Utd have agreed a fee for Chillean 18 year old Hebriquez.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2156203/Manchester-United-agree-3m-deal-Angelo-Henriquez.html?ito=feeds-newsxml (video)
Not only are we interested in Modric now, we’ve been interested in him for over two years. However, Tottenham won’t sell for a reasonable price (problem A), and Modric won’t accept personal terms as he can get better ones elsewhere (problem B).
I wish we’d sign him, I believe he would bring massive success to the club, but I don’t see it happening. We’ll buy an inferior player instead, and rue our bad luck and injuries and glorify Carrick’s passing abilites at the end of next season.
If we buy Modric…wich ibwouldnt…i would buy Eriksen…then we only miss someone like Eriksen, then we would have tehnically strong midlle and we could compete with Barca. Defensive midlle player? we dont need that
@Jeet – lol.. Will do mate
antiscouser
firstly yes levy will want a good price but the figure of 30 mill is a good price for modric, he isnt worth 40 million like sum say..levy knows the player wants to go and judging by the fact harry said it will b hard to keep him means that levy must have givin him some promises last year..no champions league again for them so i would say 30 mill is good and i can see it happening
u say he wont come cause he can get better terms elsewere!!of course he can he can get it at citeh or chelsea and sit on the bench or he can get a respectabal 120 grand a week like wats bein reported and play most weeks plus he gets the added benifit of being at manchester united…citeh need to slash ther wages not add to them hence why they pulled out of the hazard race..chelsae dont need modric now as they have signed amrin and hazard so weres he gona go then!!!!!!
u can bet he wants to sign for united mate and at that figure every week it will only be a matter of time
I was trying to remember when was the last time I was genuinely excited by the prospect of all of our summer signings. It must have been 2007, when Hargreaves, Tevez and Nani were signed. And look at our success that season. All 3 of them played in the CL final and scored penalties in the shoot-out.
Mike
I like all pubs bar Samm Platts i hate the place it winds me up!
Mike
I like all pubs bar Samm Platts i hate the place it winds me up!
a lok at a potential team next season
de gea
jones………………………….ferdinand…………………………………….vidic………………………………evra
………………………………………….carrick………………………………modric………………………………………..
valencia………………………………………………….kagawa-san……………………………………………nani
…………………………………………………………………rooney……………………………………………………………
o that post doesnt look the same as it did on my computer
………………..de gea
jones…ferdinand…vidic…evra
……….carrick,…modric……….
valencia…..kagawa-san…nani
………………rooney
u just cant help but be excited…………..i personally believe that if we manage to get modric and with the signing aswell of the little striker henrique(providing he gets a permit) then along with kagawa i think the summer may b down……………..HOWEVER i wouldnt bet against fergie making another addition to the side just dont no were
KungFooCantona
I think it’ll probably be a defensive player , either a defensive midfielder or a left back .
Do people really think we are going to sign Modric because it said so in the Sun???
I can’t believe I read the words “Neil Curtis” and “usually bang on” in the same sentence.
Neil Curtis is chief sports writer for a paper that specialises in bullshit and breasts.
I’ll be glad to have Modric because Ferguson has ruled out signing a holding midfielder. It’s a bit risky because we only have Carrick who can shield the back four.
Hopefully Kagawa is played in his best position, the attacking midfield role that Rooney occupied last season, and we push Wayne up front:
De Gea
Rafael Rio Vidic Evra
Carrick Modric
Valencia Kagawa Young
Rooney
This may also spell the end for Welbeck and Hernandez as I don’t believe they are good enough to start for Man United. Welbeck should be loaned and Chico can be kept as the super sub, a role which he excels at.
mancdud
yeah he is chief sports writer for that bullshitty paper but he is also a well known journo with contacts at high places…..why bother puting EXCLUSIVE beside the story including the fine details if its a made up story!!!!!!! look im not saying its defo happening but there must be somthing there for it to be exclusive on the back pages cause wouldnt he look a complete cunt if it was a made up story…believe it or not journos as much as i hate them really on there rep and fake ass stories with and exclusive sign on it is gona hinder those reps….look at guilleme ballague…many say hes a dick full of shit but in actual fact he is always bloody right we just dont wana admit it…he broke the news about ronaldo a year b4 he signed for madrid and i was the same..full of shite u r…he also did the same for guadiola….3 days later what happened……i guess we will find out in time
@vidic
not sure mucker i think the defensive midfielder will depend on fletchers recovery….who is out there to be had though….javi martinez isnt coming as the money involved there would be silly…so unless ferie has a name in mind maybe mvill(i think hes defensive)or sum1 along those lines….as for a defender i dont no, i dont want baines as i like evra so again im stuck on who fergie would go for there mate but it could happen
Clint-iamyourpapii … ‘trying to sell papers during a dry week’
are you forgetting the euro’s start today?!?
Plenty of things to write about this week i think you’d find!
As for modric, fergie has always publicly said he admires him and even said he was his player of the season in 2010/11 season (i think it was that season :S), tottenham have said that due to a second successive season of not qualifying for champions league football then they have to sell modric and chelsea no longer will want him due to the players they have brought in.
Other then chelsea, other competition couod be arsenal (never will happen cause they are rivals), city (tbh i think they wont bring anyone big in this summer due to FFP, and the fact hazard didnt even have advanced talks with them shows they are only registering interest to drive up the price), liverpool (LOL, more chance of me being our new number 7) .. So seems like its all set up for us considering hes never been interested in leaving the EPL
As for some of you saying we wont pay for modric cause we have no money, shut up! We agreed a £32 million fee for hazard and had him in the bag until chelsea fluked the champions league.
If you ask me irekon modric has been agreed for a year now. An almost guaranteed transfer to chelsea last summer somehow fell apart and our move for sneijder suddenly fell apart aswell after him publicly expressing how he likes man utd. We also didnt bother with the chance to improve our midfield in january when it was clear we needed improvements, and brought back scholes. Whilst he was incredible and the reason we ended with the points we did, no one knew he would have that effect and definitely didnt expect him to sign another years contract, which he definitely is good enough for. But at the same time he will notnbe able to handle how often he played for an entire season next year. So therefor modric would be a brilliant addition
I’m disappoiinted we haven’t gone for Fellaini, I watched him at Old Trafford and he was winning aerial duels left right and centre, bullying Scholes and Carrick, pushing in between Evans and Rio and seemed very comfortable on the ball. I think he would help bridge the gap to City’s midfield as Silva’s creativity aside (we are working on that), their real superiority over us is the power and authority of Yaya Toure. Fellaini would be a match for the Ivorian, and we could finally utilise our world class attackers like Nani, Rooney and Valencia without having to worry about getting overrun in midfield.
City use 4 attackers, for example Nasri-Aguero-Tevez-Silva quartet who don’t worry about the midfield because it is shored up by Toure and Barry. This is why I would have loved us to sign Javi Martinez, and instead of Kagawa (don’t get me wrong I think he’s a great little player), sign a more established trequartista like Sneijder behind Rooney.
I have criticised Fergie’s formation and tactics a lot but the fact that we have signed an attacking midfielder like Kagawa and the Modric rumours if true are very encouraging signs for the future. Our days of dominance in Europe can return with a 3 man midfield and I hope Fergie appreciates that this is the only way to bridge the gap to Athletic Bilbao let alone Real/Barca.
@mikekeeganmen: Reuters reporting Poland coach Franciszek Smuda has revealed Robert Lewandowski is on his way to #mufc
Last summer he publicly stated his preference for Chelsea.
I’m not saying it won’t happen but it very unlikely.
I would prefer the danish lad eriksen to modric. Eriksen is young and can score more goals than modric.
No doubt modric is a very good player but We need a Fletcher type player.
I say buy eriksen from ajax and sign a fletcher type player. But if modric joins us then I will welcome him with full joy.
Moscow says “This may also spell the end for Welbeck and Hernandez as I don’t believe they are good enough to start for Man United. Welbeck should be loaned and Chico can be kept as the super sub, a role which he excels at.”
Welbeck and chicho not good enough! I think you have not watched them play then. Welbeck just needs to improve his finishing then he will a top striker in europe. Even with the arrival of kagawa , Danny and chicho will still play an important part in our campaign.
I am glad you are not the manager of our great club
@AnnieEaves: How Manchester United could get Luka Modric for less than £30m, and why that would be right. http://t.co/qGkZ67rK #mufc
Chelsea needs to thank drogba in a big way. If not for drogba they would have been knocked out of champions league next season. No player would have loved to join them. And I bet chelsea would have become a history. But unfortunately luck was on their side and they showed some resilience and won the competition.
Robben can fuck off
Nobody else wants Modric, that is why it’s more of a possibility. And it isn’t just based on a story in the sun, a lot of people said this was gonna happen for a long time from people ITK.
Ash
I really wouldn’t worry to much about the chavs. We’ve seen off better Chelsea teams than this one!!
Look at you all? Getting your panties in a twist at transfer news! What happened, eh? Yous were gonna be contenders! A shot at the championship of denying all tittle tattle! Yous blew it!
Albert Ross
As for your aggressive post, let me answer it in stages:
1) “You also sarcastically applaud Pogba’s limited contribution, as if Sir Alex had thought that Pogba would and should start before Sneijder or Scholes.”
This only serves to prove how ridiculous Ferguson’s claims were when he said we didn’t go for Sneijder to protect the development of Pogba. Not only was it bullshit as shown by the fact that he didn’t get a look in when we played Park and Rafael in midfield against Blacburn, but proved to be ill advised as we have simply polished him up for Juve. I hope he lied making those claims because if he really believed what he said I’d really fear for his sanity.
2) “You claim that Sir Alex has an exaggerated sense of his own importance and abilities.”
I didn’t claim this, but you could make an interesting case for it. After all, this is the guy who let the Glazers in through the back door because his ego took a hit on some horse.
3) “He wasn’t ready. Scholes offered himself back to United, and his top stats (as per this thread’s article) show that he was worth the punt. Pogba would NOT have achieved the same or contributed as much as Scholes did.”
Looks like we’ll never get to see what Pogba has to offer. For a club who claim to be champions of promoting young talent we lined up with Scholes and Giggs in a title decider, and lost playing cowardly football. Scholes made a huge difference to the team, but what does that say for Cleverley and the rest of our midfielders? What in turn does that say for Fergie’s judgment at the beginning of the season?
4) “You are selfish, ungrateful, rude, cancerous and vile.”
Because I want the best players to play for the club? Hear a few unpleasant words about Fergie and off you go. He is not God mate, he acts in his own best interests just like any other human being.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/06/08/3157581/breaking-news-lewandowski-is-going-to-manchester-united
Willie
Free yourself!! Rip off your clothes and get lost in this transfer gossip frenzy!! Keeps us entertained until 5pm tonight!! Then we can all console each other in August when the “no value in the Market” quotes reappear!
@United_Stuff: The quotes from Poland manager are “In my opinion, in a moment they will be gone from Borussia… ‘Lewy’ is going to Manchester United.”
Moscow….Thank fuck for your knowledge on team tactics or how SAF should play the team…
Manchester United should be grateful to you for your views and if ever SAF decides to retire we have a ready made replacement in you……
of course WELLBECK & CHICO are shit….How the fuck could SAF have missed that…..and they should immediately be sold to bring in players you want…. Perhaps we should suggest to SAF that he should take more notice of team tactics from the light blue lot at the Wastelands as they are clearly superior to us in all manor of footballing matters……
I could go on but I think you should be getting the gist of what I am trying to tell you by now…..
If we get half the number of players we are linked with we will wipe the floor with every one . Resistance is futile .
Ash
I’d imagine his inability to finish off chances, coupled with his Bambi-on-ice style of play is quite a big problem when you are supposed to be the striker leading the line at Manchester United. He grabbed 12 goals this season in 41 APPEARANCES, Berbatov was berated by many when he got the same amount in 09/10 having played a lot less than Danny Boy. I guess it’s the young English player effect that sways people’s judgment just like Liverpool who bought Henderson for £20 million.
As for Chicharito, his style is now extinct in Europe. No top European club uses a tap-in poacher anymore as it means they have to play 2 up front. As I say, he can be a super sub, our next Solkjaer if you like but his touch, passing and dribbling is not up to the standard that lone strikers should have.
Bottom line is they are both good players, just not good enough to play up front on their own, which is why they will struggle to fit into a team playing with 3 central midfielders.
i have just got back from Carrington and I swear i have just seen Lionel Messi and SAF together…… They was in the back of Merc and Scholes was driving….Honest……
LMAO
well thats what i just rang up and sold to SUN anway……
hi JEET HOWS IT GOING…..
Re: The Polish striker? Lost in translation. Wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet! I’ll go now lads, I’m spoiling your fun!
OFF TOPIC…..
Roy Hodgson only selected four strikers in his Euro 2012 squad;
Wayne Rooney
Jermain Defoe
Danny Welbeck
Andy Carroll
With Rooney suspended for the first two games and Defoe sent home for family reasons, we’re left with only two striking options.
Danny Welbeck’s right foot, and his left foot.
Resistance is futile ……
LIKE THAT LINE……..
Cue Borg / star trek gags
theres a few i’d like to beam up….to my bedroom for a start……
A bit premature of Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lewandowski
who edits this shit anyway?
Kagawa scores again!! Wish we’d got Hazard!! This boy looks shit!!
@CraigNorwood: Good finish from Shinji RT @DoronSalomon: Here’s Kagawa’s goal – http://t.co/TUQded9a
Pogba chooses not to grit his teeth and carry on with United
He is young and ultimately childish. He may be a world class player one day but at the moment it’s only potential which needs time just to nurture and mature.
He doesn’t understand this, maybe he wants to stay but when you have agents like he has you can expect the whole notion of better projects in play and ultimately that will be his life’s story if he carries on.
Pogba is still a kid. He needs however to grow up too and take responsibility of his actions. His agent has proved otherwise with his actions. Why would SAF play a player who is not committed to the cause?
If Pogba had signed up earlier he would have probably played more. The season is over and he still hasn’t made his mind up, though increasingly by the day he’s off because of his insincerity and confusion is taking the better of him.
It’s a sad reflection of the time we a in, but hey if he thinks hell make it somewhere else good luck to him.
We have lost better players.
19
Star Trek: The Next Generation was supposed to be a realistic vision of the distant future. But not once did Captain Picard enter the holodeck and say, “Computer, start program; P.E. class with 15 year old girls and lock the holodeck doors, please.”
Here is another thing on the Lewo reoumurs….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/08/us-soccer-euro-smuda-drinking-idUSBRE8570IF20120608
most likely just some pipe dreams
Moscow
Until proved otherwise, I accept that you are not lying.
You say “Ferguson’s claims were when he said we didn’t go for Sneijder to protect the development of Pogba”
Please link the Sir Alex quote you allude to.
You go on to say ” I hope he lied making those claims because if he really believed what he said I’d really fear for his sanity.”
You express hope that SAF is a liar, because if not, then he is insane.
I repeat: You are selfish, ungrateful, rude, cancerous and vile.
Are you a liar too? Please link that quote.
Mind that the Poland manager says “In my opinion”…seems like he reads RoM a lot.
“In my opinion, Nani is utter shite”
@TonyBee: All good, Sir – thanks for asking. A friend of mine is in Poland, lost his glasses and went to see an optician. He was asked to read those letters through the mirror. The doctor asked him “Can you read that?”‘
“Read it?! Its the Polish striker who’s signing for United!”
Like I said Jeet, most likely just a pipe dream
Albert
http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item655109/Pogba-the-reason-behind-Sneijder-no-go/
Father: “It’s a boy, it’s a boy!!”
Nurse: “Let go off my finger, you moron!”
MOSCOW
sir alex has made manchester united into the club they are 2day. forget busby and the rest of the past managers who have graced manchester united, this man has brought us to were we stand 2day, with so much success which has put manchester united on the road that outdoes any who try to come close…….of course the manager has made some bad decisions down the years…ITS CALLED FAITH…why should he go spend 40 or 50 mill on a payer when he thinks that sum1 from the youth set in can be that person, sum1 who knows what manchester united is all about, incase u didnt realise u need to be more than just a great player to play for our football club….we didnt sign sneidjer, so FUCKING what….pogba may or may not go, so FUCKING what, there will be others like there always is..kagawa is 1 of then, hopefully modric is another……..wellbeck is a fantastic talent who will no doubt have a brilliant carreer with us as will chico, i bet ur the type of person who doesnt give them a chance because there not called ronaldo or they have some bad games…….lets face it sir alex knows a hell of alot more players than u do and the day that that man decides to leave old trafford will be worse than me getting a divorce
IN SIR ALEX WE TRUST
GOD there all going mental on the reuters about lewandoski goin to united! has any1 heard the poland manager actually say these words or is it just trife from the usual foreign stations that no cunt has heard of….would be a fantastic addition in my opinion along with modric if it were to happen…..HOWEVER i was really hoping to see wellbeck continue on this year up front with rooney as well as chico gettin in amongst it……and as for chico bein a “TAP IN STRIKER” that no club needs.. hahahaha…yeah those strikers are shit aint they, cause all of chicos goals have been really easy peasy tap ins havent they
Moscow
Danny is a top player whether you like him or not. If you have watched him play you will see that he is improving by each game. For god sake he is only 21. No one scores 30-35 goals in this young age.
As far as chicho goes, I will say he is also improving his game. He is also 24 and his peak is ahead of him. Just be patient. Don’t come to conclusion in one or two season.
Moscow – thank you for supplying that link, especially so promptly.
Unfortunately, it does NOT substantiate your claim.
Sir Alex does not even mention Sneijder in that article.
There is not even reference to a question put to him that involves Sneijder.
The journalist’s unevidenced conclusions are scant reason to accuse Sir Alex of being a liar, insane, arrogant, and a mockery.
Is this article the basis of your selfishly sarcastic mocking of our gaffer? It’s looking more and more like you’re a cunt. I’m rarely wrong on these things, so no surprise there.
At least you weren’t lying, just behaving in your way – plastic
plastic – malleable, moldable, pliable, pliant, ductile, flexible, soft, workable, bendable, impressionable, malleable, receptive, flexible; compliant, tractable, biddable, persuadable, susceptible, manipulable, artificial, false, fake, superficial, pseudo, bogus, unnatural, insincere, phony, pretend.
antonym – genuine.
You were easily manipulated against Sir Alex. Far too easily.
May I suggest a new approach? Support Manchester United. Who knows, you might enjoy it.
Stop being a cock, Jeet!
Moscow, why don’t you just buzz off to where your vile abusive rants against Fergie and United players will be appreciated, your usual old haunt?
Bong jour, willie
Is that Moscow from RedRants? Buzzkillington…………
Take that negative shit away to fuck mate lol. We’ve got AntiScouser for that purpose! 
Let’s put all these Pogba not being played and hence he is going to rest.
Management is the key. And some people simply do not understand what goes into managing a team before talking about some prima donna who should’ve been played more because he “thinks” he is a star and deserves to start for the first team of Manchester United. I don’t know what Sir Alex said but if he said we are not getting Sneijder because that will curb the development of youngsters like Pobga, then he 100% meant it. Oh, but then why wasn’t Pogba fucking played?
Management is not as simple as a player gets injured and you introduce a youngster into the team. If it were that simple, then there would be no need for Sir Alex Ferguson, you and I could do this simple job.
As I’ve said many times, the only reason youngsters weren’t played in the first team was because we didn’t have a stable setup for much of last season. Youngsters are better introduced when we have a fallback and when they have someone guiding them through the rough and tough of the Premier League. The plan was to have a stable setup of Anderson, Cleverley and Carrick guided by Giggs before introducing the youngsters around this setup. With the injuries to the former two, we never got the stability in the middle that Sir Alex would’ve desired. Add the Vidic injury to the list as well and your team doesn’t have a stable spine.
Ask any manager and he will tell you it is not wise to introduce young blood into an unstable setup. And Sir Alex has always been against doing this because it can have a bad influence on their growth. One of two things happen, either they play brilliantly and become world-famous. Or they get battered and bruised and lose a shitload of confidence and never play to their level again. And the latter is very risky since you can blow great players by playing them at the wrong time.
People talk about playing Park and Rafael in mid-field. Well, that is brilliant management in an injury-ridden season. We may have played badly but Park and Rafael have the experience to take it on the chin and move forward. Had we played Pogba and lost badly? The loss of confidence might’ve curbed the lad’s development. Sir Alex would’ve not wanted to risk it with Pogba because he might’ve realized that Pogba is a great little kid who is better off introduced into a stable setup. Hence, he didn’t play Pogba, Morrison and opted for senior players.
That is management. Sir Alex did give Pogba a few chances towards the end of the season when we got that little bit of stability back. And it would’ve been a lot more chances had Pogba not decided to act like a dick over his transfer dealings along with his agent. It is as simple as that and I don’t care if people don’t understand how it works, but that’s just the way it does.
@Balaji
Actually mate, that dreamy Park-Rafael midfield meant we lost to Blackburn (now relegated) at home.
@Ash
Higuain was banging 30 goals a season at his age. He can also play up front on his own without a striker partner. How difficult is it to understand that in an age where clubs can’t afford 2 strikers in the starting XI we can’t afford to have profligate strikers?
As for Chico, if he wants to improve his passing and dribbling, that’s not something you improve on at 24. You either have it or you don’t. Again, can’t play up front on his own. He is an Owen type striker, and his kind are extinct.
@Albert Ross
Well mate, turns out if Pogba wasn’t the reason then we couldn’t afford Sneijder, which also makes Fergie a liar as he continues to say the money is available to him. Honestly, why does a man who fervently defends corporate leeches who suck money out of the club merit such defence? I support Manchester United, and not Sir Alex Ferguson, unless he has suddenly become bigger than the club.
Moscow, And they can handle that loss. Imagine if Pogba had played in that same game and we had lost. Then people would be blaming playing a kid as the reason we lost at home to Blackburn and hence the reason we lost the title. None of that would’ve been good for a young kid like him. It is a two-way sword, management that is. You make tough calls and you stand by them. Maybe we could’ve played Pogba and maybe he would’ve produced a stunning performance. However, in this scenario, the negatives outweigh the positives by some measure and not introducing Pogba into an already unstable setup was absolutely the right call from any perspective.
of course he is bigger than the club
Moscow
I knew you will bring hinguain’s example. Hinguain was great in his first season then he was poor. Thats why real madrid are considering to sell him. Hernandez had a great first season, but unfortunately he was injured (Concussion) which took the confidence out of him. But as season progresses he was again scoring. Look at his mexico stats. 25 goals in 36 matches. Now that is something. Hernandez will again score 20+ goals next season.
Chicho>Hinguain
Balaji
I think we’ll just agree to disagree there mate, for me it was a scandalous line-up and I can understand you not wanting to put pressure on the young ones, but if Fergie hyped him up so much in the summer he would have done better than Rafael who is a bit suspect at RB, and Park who falls over a gust of wind. Honestly, could Pogba have been a worse option?
Ash
And yet, Higuain scored 26 goals this season despite being 2nd choice striker. Again, I think we’ll just agree to disagree in terms of player valuations.
I throw my 2 cents in here. @ Balaji – With our depleted midfield at that time. Trust me if Pogba had played that day and we had lost I doubt people would have been blaming him. Then again if Fergie had broken his principles and played Wayne that day we wouldn’t have lost. Same again earlier on in the season by leaving Vidic out vs cit-eh.
We kept to our principles and ended up with nothing.
cit-eh broke all of theirs (not that they had many to begin with) and won the title.
Looks like sticking by your principles means jack shit these days. Not just in football but in all walks of life.
I do think that the young midfielders at United from the reserves do feel a little hopeless. Fergie continuing with his square peg round hole philosophy and then bringing Scholes back. From a youngsters point of view as good as Scholesy is they probably think its never going to happen (them breaking into the first team).
For Various reasons Morrison, Pogba and now Norwood all want(ed) out. All of them have been talked about by the gaffer and all of them have had less opportunities than the likes of Greening, Wallwork, Thornely, Richardson & Gibson.
A youngster at United should be chomping at the bit to play in the first team. This whole notion of they may not be ready yet is a valid one but if there is an injury crisis then that notion goes out the window for me. One of Barsdsleys first starts for United was against Benfica facing Simao. Spector was thrown into the team a few times. So it has happened.
There has been little transparency from the club including the manager regarding our dire midfield. We’ve had excuses, the waiting game and the hyping up of some youngsters who don’t end up playing. The fans have are right to be perplexed and ask questions.
As for Welbeck quality outside the box but his finishing inside the box is fucking terrible and needs to be improved a lot. Fortunately time is on his side. That 11 game or whatever it was run he went on without scoring is only going to piss of the likes of Pogba and so on.
Strikers are supposed to score goals. I don’t think Welbeck will ever be a 30 goal a season man. He’ll consistently get 15-23 and may hit 25 every now and then. Now if him and Hernandez can learn to play together then on paper then that will be some attacking force.
Moscow
You said “Ferguson’s claims were when he said we didn’t go for Sneijder to protect the development of Pogba”
You have not linked any evidence for this, yet repeatedly you say it is the basis of your attack.
You are a liar. Your attacks are based on anything that comes to hand, true or not.
It is your target that reveals the true nature of your attack. Object based.
You are anti-Sir Alex. Therefore, you are anti-United.
Many Reds politely address issues that they have with Sir Alex.
Not you though, you are a rude cunt.
You want to deride Fergie, so you start arguments where you can attack him with LIES!
@Moscow against Blackburn had a ton of injuries,3 players suspended for going on the piss
To call the lineup scandalous just silly,let’s also not forget DDG had his worst game for the club otherwise Utd would have won
Moscow
It took 2 seasons for higuain to score 20+ goals but It hernandez in his first season scored 20 goals. Higuain is a good striker but In my opinion you are too negative regarding hernandez and welbeck without understanding their game.
Rooney doesn’t play well as lone striker so while he’s Utd’s main man will need someone playing ahead of him
Higuain is a big game bottler.
Notorious @ 14:23: “For Various reasons Morrison, Pogba and now Norwood all want(ed) out….. A youngster at United should be chomping at the bit to play in the first team.”
In the last decade, the stakes have been raised and the smooth transition from youth > reserves >squad >first-team just doesn’t happen any more.
Just look how good the second-stringers in the squad are – that’s a big leap to make.
Nowadays, it is a rare “kid” who has the goods to make the move – Fabio couldn’t do it, DannyTheLad couldn’t do it, Jonny Evans couldn’t dp it, and YoungTom couldn’t do it whereas Rafael, BigManSmalling and MrJones have done so but even those three have found that their playing time is limited/rationed so that they have to wait for injuries to the first-choice, first-team players to get an extended run in the side.
Costas- off to paradise beach?.
Mikekelly12 says:
Willie
Free yourself!! Rip off your clothes and get lost in this transfer gossip frenzy!!
Hahaha