Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

jayo26 · 24-07-2017 08:57AM

Vidic had a dodgey first six months with united if I recall correctly..... Lindleoff hopefully will be fine.

jimmytwotimes 2013 · 24-07-2017 08:59AM

jayo26 wrote: »

Vidic had a dodgey first six months with united if I recall correctly..... Lindleoff hopefully will be fine.

Best he's had his eyes opened in preseason anyway rather than at the start of the league. Hard to imagine he'll be as bad as first impressions suggest so judge after a few months.

24-07-2017 09:03AM

pjohnson wrote: »

Was gunna say we should send Smalling on his way to give Tuanzebe a chance......then I saw Lindelöf's "tackle". Guess we'll need all those CB's still. At least until Rojo can partner Bailly anyway.

Two things wrong here.

1: Smalling is a good defender and excellent on the ball, has proven this with a sustained run in the squad already. Just needs another. Selling him would be criminal considering the quality of CB available currently.

2: Lindelof needs time to settle. I have a feeling already a complete overreaction.
He's young and it's only pre-season.

jayo26 · 24-07-2017 09:04AM

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

Best he's had his eyes opened in preseason anyway rather than at the start of the league. Hard to imagine he'll be as bad as first impressions suggest so judge after a few months.

Exactly id prefer him to make a few mistakes now then to fly thru pre season and have a clanger against Westham or something.

Cookiemunster · 24-07-2017 09:12AM

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Funny that. I said the second half performance was poor last night. Cookiemonster took a shot at me over that specifically and you continued after that saying I would be trying to stop fans having fun. nice.

Ah get over yourself.

24-07-2017 09:19AM

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Two things wrong here.

1: Smalling is a good defender and excellent on the ball.

I'm sorry but Smalling is not "excellent on the ball". I don't know how anyone that watches United games can come to that conclusion.

Liam McPoyle · 24-07-2017 09:20AM

jayo26 wrote: »

Vidic had a dodgey first six months with united if I recall correctly..... Lindleoff hopefully will be fine.

So did Evra.

They both turned out alright.

24-07-2017 09:22AM

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sorry but Smalling is not "excellent on the ball". I don't know how anyone that watches United games can come to that conclusion.

I just did

Cantona's Collars · 24-07-2017 09:22AM

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Funny that. I said the second half performance was poor last night. Cookiemonster took a shot at me over that specifically and you continued after that saying I would be trying to stop fans having fun. nice.

It was your attitude that caused the tension here last night,you are just too negative man.Lighten up a bit.It's a preseason friendly and Jose will address this attitude in the players.Once the season starts,all these games will be forgotten...... We aren't Liverpool who count these things as trophy wins.

TheDoc · 24-07-2017 09:24AM

Mitch is on the edge, can smell it

Cantona's Collars · 24-07-2017 09:27AM

TheDoc wrote: »

Mitch is on the edge, can smell it

Football...... A serious business.:)

24-07-2017 09:30AM

M!Ck^ wrote: »

I just did

Well you would want to start watching more games because he is anything but excellent on the ball. In fact he's dreadful on the ball.

Honestly don't know where you're getting excellent from.

RobertKK · 24-07-2017 09:32AM

Smalling holds onto players excessively at times.
That is my biggest issue with him.

24-07-2017 09:46AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Well you would want to start watching more games because he is anything but excellent on the ball. In fact he's dreadful on the ball.

Honestly don't know where you're getting excellent from.

As I said, from most games I have watched him where he gets a sustained run in the squad.
Good first touch and steps out into midfield and plays forward passes. Positive in possession.

So yes he is good on the ball.

RobertKK · 24-07-2017 09:50AM

I wonder if United are after Verratti, I still think they want a marquee signing.

24-07-2017 09:53AM

RobertKK wrote: »

Smalling holds onto players excessively at times.
That is my biggest issue with him.

His defensive positioning can be odd on minor occasions if I was to critic him also.
But on the ball he's excellent. Contrary to certain opinions I'm reading this morning.

brinty · 24-07-2017 09:55AM

zerks wrote: »

Football...... A serious business.:)

Or as Fergie use to say

Football... bloody hell....

posturingpat · 24-07-2017 09:55AM

RobertKK wrote: »

I wonder if United are after Verratti, I still think they want a marquee signing.

I'm sure Mourinho would love to have him, doubt he's actively pursuing him though, if Veratti's going anywhere it'll be Barcelona.

24-07-2017 10:02AM

M!Ck^ wrote: »

As I said, from most games I have watched him where he gets a sustained run in the squad.
Good first touch and steps out into midfield and plays forward passes. Positive in possession.

So yes he is good on the ball.

Steps into the midfield because the opposition allow him, turn back and pass to the RB or to his CB partner sounds more like him.

Mourinho even said this when talking about his tactics for the Europa league final

I even joked with Smalling - "With your feet, we're for sure not playing out from the back!"

24-07-2017 10:09AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Steps into the midfield because the opposition allow him, turn back and pass to the RB or to his CB partner sounds more like him.

Mourinho even said this when talking about his tactics for the Europa league final

I even joked with Smalling - "With your feet, we're for sure not playing out from the back!"

First point: That's just not true. Interesting to see the stat for passes into midfield for him.

He joked with Smalling..

You might be aware the tactic against Ajax was defensive / professional in mind throughout the whole team.
And it sounded like Jose didn't want anybody taking unnecessary risks.
Which is a valid tactic if that's the plan. It was a final.

In general however team / players need to take risks but depends on the situation.

If that's the proof you are using to justify why you believe he's not good on the ball then that's up to you.
Personally I think it's a nonsense reason.

beno619 · 24-07-2017 10:28AM

Deleted User wrote: »

In fact he's dreadful on the ball.

If that was true he wouldn't be playing for Manchester United.

RobertKK · 24-07-2017 10:32AM

M!Ck^ wrote: »

His defensive positioning can be odd on minor occasions if I was to critic him also.
But on the ball he's excellent. Contrary to certain opinions I'm reading this morning.

Yeah I just wanted to point out the one thing that Chris Smalling does that drives me mad, as he does it repeatedly and I think we could pay dear for it in some big game.
It was my only issue with him last night as he did it again. The holding on just looks excessive.

DM_7 · 24-07-2017 10:40AM

I don't think Smalling is a good passer.

He has good ability to take in the ball or move forward with it.

Rojo is a good passer, Evans was always better at passing and got sold, Blind is better (but he should be as someone who played cm), Bailly is a better passer as well (but can play full back).

I do think he is a good defender and that is the most important thing, will always play a lot of games.

TheDoc · 24-07-2017 10:40AM

zerks wrote: »

Football...... A serious business.:)

In fairness I posted that, read some e-mails (was off two days last week) and read a banger of an e-mail that now has me totally on edge and I'm basically now that Keanu Reeves meme, where nothing makes sense anymore.

Anyone who works with Databases or SQL will appreciate, but just had a vendor outline in their platform, that NULL can equal 1, along with in some cases being just NULL. And then act like IT'S A TOTALLY NORMAL THING TO DO

And Jose thinks he has problems in the transfer market....fml

Mitch Connor · 24-07-2017 10:43AM

zerks wrote: »

It was your attitude that caused the tension here last night,you are just too negative man.Lighten up a bit.It's a preseason friendly and Jose will address this attitude in the players.Once the season starts,all these games will be forgotten...... We aren't Liverpool who count these things as trophy wins.

I said the performance in the second half was poor, and got jumped on for it. The performance in the second half was poor.

Mitch Connor · 24-07-2017 10:58AM

Apparently Marseille are in talks with Celtic for Dembele, at 20million. Would be a very interesting buy at that price.

dr.kenneth noisewater · 24-07-2017 10:59AM

Good read on the influence of Cantona
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jul/24/premier-league-25-best-player-eric-cantona

24-07-2017 11:03AM

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Apparently Marseille are in talks with Celtic for Dembele, at 20million. Would be a very interesting buy at that price.

I doubt he would be content in sitting on the bench at Utd

TheDoc · 24-07-2017 11:05AM

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Apparently Marseille are in talks with Celtic for Dembele, at 20million. Would be a very interesting buy at that price.

Until we come along and get quoted 60m.

Feeds into the point I made last week about the difficulties of this window, we might have all the money, but everyone knows it. While there was always an English club tax, and always a United tax, it's being blown out of proportion the last two windows.

I know as fans we "shouldn't" care about money stuff, but that would neglect to appreciate the considerations that need to be made by the likes of Woodward where it's not as easy as just throwing cash around.

It's a bit of a no win really for him and I feel sorry for him. I think he's made leaps and bounds since his first year in the job, and he is on a whole provided every manager what they wanted with little fuss. And been shrewd enough (from reports) to understand he needs to maintain strong relations with big clubs, so while being the most powerful chief exec at every table, being humble and boxing clever, appreciating that while one deal might not go well, they could be back meeting again shortly or next year. Something a lot of the top chief execs fail to understand.

So while there is money to be spent, Woodward is at the end of the day accountable for that expenditure and needs to be prudent and stand over it. So I wouldn't be overly surprised if there is some conversations back to Jose saying sorry, but we can't justify that expenditure. I don't for a second believe Woodward tries to exert any influence on football matters, but sometimes there is blatant valuation issues that the man in the street can identify.

Even looking at the preseason games, and the formations we are playing, I see nowhere that Perisic is fitting in. Absolutely nowhere.

I bend more to the Dier and Matic stuff because I see it from Jose's perspective and what he likes and wants. There is nothing shrewd or new there, it's pattern stuff you can see from his career. So while it's a bit meh and probably is a bit wasteful, I'd imagine Woodward is working to get one those two deals completed as opposed to Perisic. Which I wouldn't even call a luxury signing, just a weird transfer from a man with a pretty good record that tells me I should trust him, but just looks odd and out of place.

Lukaku is a massive capture that makes the window for me, a success any which way it goes from here. That big a signing for me, where we have seen down the years, most recently with Van Persie, where a lethal striker can plaster over issues elsewhere in the team to allow be addressed again. And who knows, I wouldn't have considered Veratti as possible at the start of the window, but something has me potentially hopeful something can happen there, and that was before he changed agent.

Mitch Connor · 24-07-2017 11:07AM

M!Ck^ wrote: »

I doubt he would be content in sitting on the bench at Utd

Possibly not - but it would be worth checking out. Also, with the amount of games United play if he is good enough he would play a good number of games. But yeah, if he want to be a certain first choice starter it wouldn't be at United.

Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017

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