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

Mitch Connor wrote: »

will be interesting to see what midfielder we go for in the summer.



Hey, we could always give that Herrera lad a shot!

How that chap must feel at this stage. Yeah, I know for all of us here it'd be great to get paid £70-80k per week to sit pitch-side and watch United play, but Herrera is a quality player who is going to waste at the moment. I've taken all Louis' latest quotes from the presser and compiled them in the box below, highlighting the part I feel is strong evidence that Herrera hasn't a hope at LVG's United...

LVG wrote:

Signing a creative player should be our priority this summer. I'm looking for balance and I need it in midfield.

In the last few games I’ve played Adnan Januzaj and Angel di Maria in the midfield positions, and you need a certain balance for that kind of creative player.

Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie are also creative players so then you have four of them, and you still have to look for balance in your team.

Wayne is playing in midfield because there is no one else. He's happy to do so otherwise he should come to me and say he's not, but he never does. He's always friendly to me and wants to perform.

But of course when the whole world is writing that he has to be in the striker's position then he will be thinking ‘hey, maybe'.

That to me is as good as Louis going onto Lufthansa.com and booking a one-way flight to Spain for one Herrera, Ander.

I'm all for Louis identifying weaknesses in his squad and addressing them, but not at the expense of our current quality players' morale. Never mind Herrera, who else is included in "There's nobody else"? Mata? Fellaini? Di Maria? (who has played very successfully as a creative CM both here and in Madrid).

I don't like it lads. However, I'm willing to give our manager the benefit of the doubt in that he knows a whole lot more about his team and players than I do. And one of those things he knows a lot more about is Herrera's situation with the trial back in Spain.

Already, that impending trial has caused one 'casualty' that I know about, the firing/quitting of Japan's manager Javier Aguirre (who was manager of Real Zaragoza at the time they are alleged to have done the fixing). The reason - 'implications to do with match-fixing in Spain.'

So if the Japanese International team are exercising caution and doing a bit of damage limitation, what's to say that Manchester United, one of the genuine powers of world football, aren't doing the same with Herrera?

Imagine for one minute if Herrera had come straight back from his rib injury into the first team like he should have done, and carried on with his impressive pre-injury form and by now was the staple of our starting 11 that he should be. If this trial coming up finds him guilty, how would that reflect on the club? Now that I think about it, it might even be out of LVG's hands and came down from the very top. In the event of Herrera being found guilty, maybe the best thing for the club is that he has been used very sparingly since the allegations came to light.

So why didn't we just terminate his contract instead? Well until he is found guilty, it would certainly be classed as wrongful dismissal and Herrera would have a winnable lawsuit on his hands. Why didn't we sell him in January? Innocent until proven guilty, and maybe other clubs didn't want him either with the trial looming over his head. Well stankratz, Javier Aguirre was sacked from Japan, how's his unlawful dismissal suit coming along? Well, I'm finding conflicting reports online that he either jumped or was pushed, but him departing his job is a sign to me of just how serious these allegations are.

Anyway, it's great that Louis is thinking of the Summer already, but I'm more miffed about Herrera being blacklisted than 3-5-2 and Rooney in CM combined. Although, if it turns out in the end that it was done for the good of the club then I'll understand. For me, there's no other reason for the disappearance from our first 11 of Ander Herrera.

He came into the club, played consistently well (apart from when playing with that rib injury) and then got injured. While he was on the injury list, these allegations came to light, now he is back from injury over 6 weeks and hasn't been started once. This is despite our MF not exactly setting the league alight, and Wayne Rooney our best goalscorer, playing in MF.

Something's not right and I don't think it has anything to do with Herrera's fitness, abilty or attitude.

Liam O wrote: »

Surely he'd be out of the squad if the match fixing thing was anything, Fellaini hasn't been playing despite being the teams best player earlier in the season.

I haven't the stats at hand LiamO (ok, I'm sitting at the internet so I do have the stats at hand, just not the time at the moment to go in search of them:pac:), but to my mind's recollection Fellaini has been played as a sub more often. It's like everyone else in the squad has gotten decent minutes as a sub but Herrera. Maybe if he was dropped out of the squad completely, it would raise too many flags with the media/fans/whoever. Then Louis and the club might have to address that. With the way it has been, him sitting on the bench, Louis can state something about "What I see in training..." and can use him in last resort situations, like he did when Blind got injured last week.

Lord TSC wrote: »

I really like Herrera, but I think that his abilities have been blown out of proportion a little bit in his absence, a bit like Nani, Kagawa, etc...

Yep, this is always the danger with a quality player not getting played, they can be elevated to currently unrealistic heights.

I have absolutely no desire to go down the Nani rabbit hole right now, but for me Kagawa rarely impressed sufficiently when given the chance. I see comparisons mentioned between Kagawa and Herrera in how "they get better the longer they don't play", but for me there is no comparison; Herrera showed more in 2 months at United than Kagawa in 2 years, and I was a fan of Kagawa.

There have been posters suggesting that LVG should be replaced if we finish outside the top 4. I'm not denying that serious consideration will have to be taken and a very frank discussion had should that eventuality come to fruition, but who do we get in if LVG goes?

Last time we had to replace a manager, we were kind of spoiled in that there were numerous 'better' managers than the one we just got rid of. Now though, we've gotten in that proven manager with a European pedigree and shiny CV, what if he fails?

I would suggest that LVG is already feeling the pressure within the club. Well, it's Manchester United, he should feel pressure, but I mean that "Why aren't we doing better?" kind of pressure.

Last week, the Glazers came to town and watched us struggle against Burnley. I didn't see it picked up here, but Louis said something in the post-match interview to suggest that he has had to defend his performances to his bosses, the Glazers. The part I'm talking about is from 3:10 in the below video if you care to watch...



Now it's quite possible that LVG and "the board" were just shooting the shít after the game - "So Louis, how are you finding the Premier League?" - "Ah yesh, it is difficult, every team is a struggle." But I don't believe that after that game, as Louis said it was, was the time for small talk.

It is just as possible that the Glazers wanted to know why United are struggling against teams like Burnley, QPR and West Ham after they spent €150 million on players last Summer. This is of course nothing new in the world and isn't a terrible sign for LVG; Owners and investors will always want to know why their company isn't performing as well as the money invested suggests it should be. However, still a sign of internal pressure.