Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

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shangri la wrote: »

442 is more vulnerable defensively than 433?

can you explain how that works in theory?

well anyone that says 433 nowadays means it like an attacking 451

Liam O wrote: »

United play a 4-4-2 despite most top teams playing a 4-3-3 most of the time. In the modern game to justify this you have to either accept that you'll be defensively vulnerable or else have two midfielders capable of getting stuck in and picking up the slack for the 4 very attacking players. There's a reason Carrick is in position to get so many interceptions, because he realises that if an attack breaks down and both CMs are forward that the defense is very vulnerable.

There has never really been a CM at United who doesn't do defensive work which is why I find signings like Sneijder and Ozil to be quite ridiculous unless Fergie plans on changing the system to accommodate them. You could look at Cleverly this season but he does work hard without the ball and won't have to drop Chico or Welbeck to get him in the team. A consistent Carrick and a slightly more attacking playmaker like Cleverly but maybe a bit more developed would be ideal. Fergie's become a bit too obsessed with young English players imo...

I should probably just come out and admit I can't stand Carrick and think he's one of the worst first team midfielders I've seen in my 20 years of watching United play. I don't post in here at all usually because I imagine statements like that just get you hate from uber-fanboys, but there ya go.

I think Cleverly is a decent player who'll have a great career, but he's going to take some time to be top class, if he ever reaches that level.

Completely agree with the point about hard-working CMs, but there's gotta be more than Sneijder, Ozil, and Modric on the menu (although I still want Modric above pretty much all else - love the guy - but know it's very unlikely to happen).

Sometimes when you listen to managers talking about transfers, you'd think there were only a few hundred players on the planet to choose from. There are *always* world class players available, some well-known, some not. Nobody has proven that more than Fergie and Wenger over the last number of years, yet they go on like football is dying and nobody can play anymore as soon as they're asked the question.

I know Fergie can't sound desperate, and not having full fate in him does seem kind of ridiculous when you reflect on what he has done... but I'd just feel a lot happier as a fan if he acknowledged the need for improvement more, instead of just jumping to the "hey, we have injuries" or "there's no value out there" lines to defend what is now a (relatively) "weak" midfield with seemingly nobody lined up to come in.

I miss fully-fit Fletcher from 2 years ago.

Lol at all the Liverpool fans who tried to rig the Player of 2011 Poll on Sky Sports:pac::pac::pac::pac:

Thanks to everybody who voted in our Player of the Year poll for the Goals on Sunday Christmas Special.

Liverpool fans will be pleased to hear that Luis Suarez topped the poll at midnight on Thursday night when voting was due to close.

Due to an error the poll remained open until 7.30am and in these hours a surge of votes came in for Manchester United winger Nani, which saw him overtake the Liverpool striker.

But as you'll see when you tune in to Goals on Sunday, we have recognised Suarez as the winner of the poll as he was top at midnight when the vote was due to close.

We'll also make it clear that Nani had overtaken him by the time the poll was taken down.

We'd like to point out that neither Ben Shephard nor Chris Kamara had anything to do with the voting process and they'd like to thank you for your contributions to the discussion.

http://www.skysports.com/tv_show/story/0,,12384_7393506,00.html


RVP should really have won it but happy it wasn't bloody Suarez.

Outstanding, outstanding day of football Nearly at the halfway mark, lets see if we can get on top by then! G'wan Sunderland!

player ratings link for the game this evening.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dGt5MFhUbHZ4cy1la1B6WlBCbE44OVE6MQ#gid=0

Line-up had me a little worried but Berbatov decided he wanted a hat-trick today so everything's cool.