Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Read Mod Warning in OP 7/1/15

Happy with the win and the 1st half performance on Saturday. I'm also happy that LVG expressed his concern in the post-match interview that we slowed it down in the 2nd half and didn't move the ball forward quick enough. At least we are on a slight upward curve (2 league wins on the trot!!:eek:) heading into the vital and unpredictable West Ham game.

Few things from the last 20 or so pages...

NUTZZ wrote: »

I often wonder about this and if the match fixing probe he's involved with has a bearing.

I will be back with a TL:DR later on the Herrera situation, but I would not be too quick to completely dismiss this as a factor. The kid pisses excellence most of the time he plays for us, there is more than meets the eye to this and more than playing Rooney, RVP and Falcao in the starting 11. For me, the fact that he didn't even get a run yesterday speaks volumes. LVG said in the PM interview that at 3-1 he wanted to kill the game, considering the way the result went last time we were 3-1 against Leicester. Herrera should have been a shoe-in to be 1 of the 3 subs used by Van Gaal at 3-1. Nippy, aggressive, creative, forward-thinking, but not lacking in defensive qualities either. Already starting to go TLDR here, so that's all I'll say on Herrera for now.

irishfeen wrote: »

Daley Blind's game by numbers:

94% pass accuracy
5 interceptions
4 clearances
3 tackles won

Great Performance!

I'm delighted for Blind and for us, very solid and promising performance. Yes the RVP goal was offside, but Blind's pass into RVP was inch perfect, just as it was for that goal in the World Cup. I relish the thoughts of having a fit and in-form Blind and Carrick in the squad.

Pro. F wrote: »

Rooney and Blind had a cake walk in the middle with the way Leicester sat off them, but they weren't near authoritative enough for me. Rooney just does not know how to link up play with simple passes. Blind will be heaped with praise for his defending, assists and keeping it simple, but you can see he isn't nearly fluid enough in possession. The two of them will cost us against better teams.

You're not wrong unfortunately. Rooney's mentality renders him largely ineffective in CM. It is in his fabric to be the man who if not is hitting the net himself, is the man who gives the ball to the guy who hits the net. Rather than starting and being involved in a quick burst of simple passes that unlock a defence, he tries to play one ball to unlock the defence and way more often than not it is to the detriment of our play. He is a born goalscorer and goalmaker, CM is a waste of his talents and those of our genuine CM talents on the bench watching him.

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Fellaini has a right to feel like he has earnt gametime in there as well. We have enough competition in midfield without shoe-horning Rooney into it as well.

I know there's still work to be done in CM and a Pogba/Vidal type addition signed, but for me as a United fan it's still a bit surreal to be able to agree with this.

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Just from watching the highlights on game of the day I'm not sure how Blind got man of the match, Di Maria looks very average yet again, Rooney needs to be further forward, Jacuzzi looks to be regaining last year's form and Jones looked alot more comfortable in his preferred position.

This wasn't funny last week when you said it, just like it isn't funny now. In fact it hasn't been funny since about late 2013.

Fakman87 wrote: »

I'm embarrassed at the shambles our club has become. We've spent hundreds of millions on a bunch of mercenaries who don't give a damn about the club and now we're cheering on Swansea to do us a favour against Southampton.

The old way died with fergies retirement. Football will never be the same again.

If you are being wholly genuine in everything you said there, then you can relax a bit. Us spending large sums of money and breaking transfer records on quality players (and those lacking quality) is nothing new in the Premier League Era. In fact, we more or less set the precedent for it. However, there was no denying that our squad was overdue an overhaul by last Summer, an overhaul which still isn't complete. Thankfully though, the club were in a position to carry this out without having to rely on a sugar daddy owner for bankroll. We did this through an acute business model enabled by 20 years of success.

Out of those brought in last Summer, Falcao is the only one I would even remotely consider putting into the 'mercenary' category. Another poster said it better than I could a few pages back about Falcao, he leaves absolutely nothing on the pitch and gives 100% every time, a model professional. When he first came to United, he spoke in volumes about his happiness at being at the club. Now I do know that a lot of this would be general PR that comes with any new signing, but the guy is Radamel Falcao - He could walk into Old Trafford without saying a word and still be deafened by the reception. He looked genuinely chuffed to join Manchester United, as he fúcking well should be, and his goal celebrations are a thing of beauty.

'Cheering on' Swansea, or a team of their ilk, to beat one of our current rivals is nothing new in football either. The fact that that rival is currently Southampton is a lot more to do with their rise than our fall. We are competing with them for 3rd/4th, not 7th/8th like last season.

And finally, Fergie and the old way; You used Fergie here in the context of the money spending. Fergie, who broke the English transfer record for Rio Ferdinand and splurged the odd £20-30m whenever he felt it was needed. Fergie, who in the Summer before his final season said that he bought the best goalscorer available to him to make sure that we wouldn't lose the league on goal difference again. Or did RVP come up through our youth system?

I think you are being unnecessarily overdramatic here, extreme doesn't even cut it.