Manchester United Thread

Wouldnt be surprised if Jose favors Valencia in the back over Darmian. Also, it is possible imho that Blind will get more of a free role through the middle with the enhanced protection guys like Zlatan and Pogba will provide. He is arguably one of our best long passers but obviously is relatively vulnerable. Now if this is truly going to be more of a typical Jose team you d think Carrick or Schneiderlin would be preferred. Haven't seen stats recently but I assume Carrick is still one of our most efficient passers.
 
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Agreed re: Valencia. For the record think he's a great pro, but not convinced he should be a first choice RB for a major club. Positioning not great, all other attributes okay. But he always leaves his man a couple times a match, notably on long diagonals.

I hope Jose gives Schneiderlein a go. He's a class player, who just couldn't get going under LVG - hardly rare. Carrick is okay, but has two terrible matches for everyone successful. Was reminiscing over the great 06/07 season when he was fantastic...that was 10 years ago and it's definitely caught up to him.
 
Standard Zlatan. Scissor kick goal 3 mins into his debut. Some decent touches after that, little else.

Huge scary elephant in the room - Rooney was awful, despite scoring twice. Slowed everything down, unfit, poor first touch as always and caught on the ball continually.

-Mhikitaryan-Zlatan-Martial-
-----------Rashford---------

That's our best looking front 4 imo. We'll probably never see it.
 
Agreed. On the plus side tho.. Mata, Rashford and yes.. Fellaini :RSCARF:

It's funny if you look at our roster and you d take their prime performances from before we got them we got one scary ass team. Will be interesting to see if Mou can finally show us why we bought them all.
 
Highlight of the post-EUROs summer came in the Rooney testimonial: Lukaku basically unable to hold it together when he learns, on the bench, that Martinez is the new Belgium manager.
 
It depends what part did Lukaku had in his sacking. Although Martinez doesn't seem to hold grudges and if a player has guilt then it speaks for it self. I was watching Martinez on ESPN (Euros) he had such a postive opinion on the Belgium NT. He felt they were the best potential , so congrats to Martinez selection.
 
He's eloquent, good with the media and insanely positive. Like worrying levels of optimism.

His teams tend to attack well, defend terribly, lose more than they win.
 
Lami said:
What has Martinez proved to grant him a team full of talent like that?
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The fact that the Belgian FA doesn't have the money to pay the coach these players deserve.
Our national team has outgrown Belgian football.

And that is not me speaking, but the vice-president of our FA.



Edit: sorry for the typo's.
 
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gerd said:
The fact that the Belgian FA doesn't have the money to pay the coach these players deserve.
Our national team has oudgroen Belgian football.

And that is not me speaking, but the Vive-president of our FA.
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That is a sad case IMO. Can only hope you do well under him.
 
Not a lot learned from that. We weren't great, Leicester were solid but didn't look like scoring except for set pieces. Oh and Fellaini assists of course.

Rooney was terrible. Pub footballer terrible. Big problem for Jose.
 
Well that was a pleasant Sunday :))

work to be done ofcourse as most have said, it was still LvG's Man Utd for the most part but the implementation of a direct approach is what helped us over the line with the two goals.

Zlatan will get us out of a lot of sticky situations this seasons similar to Van Persie did in SAF's last season I imagine.

Rooney is a massive elephant in the room again however we have the players in the squad already to replace him with Mkhitaryan yet to come into the side and Lingard looking to potentially step up and Mata always a goal threat we have the options this year.

#Pogback :...
 
IMO, we're better off playing Rooney in the last 30 minutes when the opposition has less energy and he can look better against them.
 
Lami said:
IMO, we're better off playing Rooney in the last 30 minutes when the opposition has less energy and he can look better against them.
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I actually agree with this, he still has an excellent 'footballing brain', which could be useful if not held back by his lack of physicality.

Great small detail on the Pogba transfer - he drove himself from the airport to Carrington. Keep forgetting that he knows the way.

In theory we should have a very good team now, if players in a system work as well as their 'once best' level:

--------------De Gea-------------
-Valencia--Smalling-Bailley-Shaw-
----------Schneiderlien----------
--------Pogba----Herrera---------
---Mhiki-----------------Martial-
--------------Ibra---------------

Can swap out Herrera, pull Ibra back behind Rashford when needed. Feel like 433 is a little dead right now, so maybe Jose will go with 4231. Either way, on merit, no way Rooney gets in that team :(
 
gerd said:
No Fellaini in your team, beach?
That is a shocker.
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I actually thought he looked okay yesterday, despite gifting Leicester a goal. But his awareness, passing, control and defensive capabilities just aren't good enough for a top club in midfield.

We'll keep him cause he can be useful as a battering ram and would be hard to sell.
 
dplane said:
Beach why do you not rate Blind? Probably our most intelligent and consistent player.

On the funny side : Zlatan Facts (@ZIatanFacts) | Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/ZIatanFacts?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
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I like Blind alot, but as a squad player. I genuinely can't remember how good he was in midfield. I know he was player of the season in the Dutch league before joining us, but I don't recall him actually being great there under LVG.

And as a CB? I'm not sure he's physical enough to be truly top level. He's neither particularly quick nor particularly good in the air. And I like Mourinho's comments about having specialists in key positions.
 
beachryan said:
I like Blind alot, but as a squad player. I genuinely can't remember how good he was in midfield. I know he was player of the season in the Dutch league before joining us, but I don't recall him actually being great there under LVG.

And as a CB? I'm not sure he's physical enough to be truly top level. He's neither particularly quick nor particularly good in the air. And I like Mourinho's comments about having specialists in key positions.
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Thing is tho.. Who really was consistently great during his tenure? Smalling maybe? The fact that most can't really remember how he played imho is good as well. The fact is he makes very few mistakes and more often than not makes up for his lack of physicality (though that's less of an issue than his lack of speed.. I'll give you that) by brilliant positioning. The man has a calming effect. Case in point his controlling play with a madman like Bailly next to him. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel with Smalling AND Bailly next to each other.. That almost seems to be asking for trouble.

Regardless of whether you agree or not, at least I think you can say that even as a squad player he d be sorely missed. Imho he d be first choice with a lot of other clubs, and good ones at that.. Especially ones with high ball circulation.

Admittedly I still haven't seen enough of Schneiderlin at United to make me excited about him but i hope he ll show his form again this season. With Pogba coming in he should have no issue getting ahead of Carrick in the picking order.
 
More oddities from the FA...due to 2 yellows Pogba was due to be suspended from the Coppa Italia's first match this season. Not the league, note.

But the FA have banned him from the first premier league match anyway.

Reminds me a bit of Rooney and Scholes remaining the only two players banned in a domestic league following a pre-season friendly (notably one Gerrard had received a red in the previous season).

Tis odd. I can get if he were suspended in the domestic league, or the CL missing out the next match of that, but this feels a bit of another 'major player at major club case'.

Can you imagine a championship player who received a red in the League Cup being banned in domestic league if they moved to the Bundesliga? Nope.
 
I doubt he`s 100% fit anyhow traveling on holiday; Miami-L.A.-NYC.
I know you love the conspiracy theory stuff at least you won`t moan about spending and calling MC head this season lol.
 
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