Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [13th - 17th September 2014]

Hadn't seen the Lukaku goal before, really lovely finish. I had seen the Naismith blasted over the bar chance that he should have scored easily though, was still funny the second time I saw it though/

Also Foster.... lol
 
C8EFadk.jpg


:D
 
West Brom have been really poor so far. They must be second favourites to go down at the moment.
 
Newbie007 said:
Didn't catch the Liverpool game and haven't see any highlights, how did we play? On paper it was a pretty decent line up but what was the formation?
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Mig

Manquillo--Lovren--Sakho--Moreno

Gerrard--Henderson

Markovic--Cout--Lallana

Balo


We weren't as dire as some are making out. Villa scored an early goal from a set piece, which we defended against poorly all match, and then dug in for 80 minutes.

As has so often been the case over the last two season, when teams sit deep against us we simply can't break them down.

In short, it was poor but no worse than some performances against similarly set up teams last season.


For me, when teams are doing that against us, we need to stick in an additional central midfielder and take any defensive responsibilities away from our wide men. The wingers were having to track back at times, meaning that any chances we did get on the break were through the middle, which Villa packed. It's been a problem since BR came to the club, for all his good points.
 
We very rarely play well when Gerrard is used in a 2 man midfield :( How did Lallana and Markovic play? From reports it seemed as if Balo was kicked all over the field. Oh well, I think we are still up points wise compared last seasons corresponding fixtures.
 
I liked Lallana, he was probably our most creative player but went off after an hour. Markovic was quiet, but got into dangerous positions a couple of times. Coutinho was poor again, worryingly.
 
I have a question for Liverpool fans:

When Suarez left a few months ago, I stated that I would accept a bid in the region of £90M. This would be worth it for me, to let the best player at Liverpool leave, as it makes good business sense. Anything less - I'd have kept Suarez (proven to be the best player in the squad).

I also stated that with the £90M, Liverpool should bring in an absolute top signing (someone like Messi, Ronaldo, Robben, etc).

The above didnt happen, but Liverpool did make many low-key signings.

I've looked at the table and can see Liverpool have won 2, lost 2.

So, given the state of your team at present,
1. in hindsight, do you feel that getting rid of Suarez was the right thing to do?
2. are you (realistically) confident that you can get into the top 4 this year?
 
sunama said:
I have a question for Liverpool fans:

When Suarez left a few months ago, I stated that I would accept a bid in the region of £90M. This would be worth it for me, to let the best player at Liverpool leave, as it makes good business sense. Anything less - I'd have kept Suarez (proven to be the best player in the squad).

I also stated that with the £90M, Liverpool should bring in an absolute top signing (someone like Messi, Ronaldo, Robben, etc).

The above didnt happen, but Liverpool did make many low-key signings.

I've looked at the table and can see Liverpool have won 2, lost 2.

So, given the state of your team at present,
1. in hindsight, do you feel that getting rid of Suarez was the right thing to do?
2. are you (realistically) confident that you can get into the top 4 this year?
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1. Yes. We got a very good price for a player who was going to be out for a lot of the season, and have been able to reinvest to make the squad as a whole significantly stronger.

2. Yes. I'm not saying we'll definitely get into it. United should be stronger this season with their signings, Everton will always be thereabouts, and Spurs may push for it too, but we are good enough to get into the top four.

You're looking at this after four games. We're level on points with Arsenal, one behind City and Spurs, and ahead of United even if they win today.

The depth we now have in the squad is excellent, particularly going forwards. Last season, had we had a couple of key injuries we would have come nowhere near City. This year, I don't think there is any player in the squad who is indispensable. Had we blown the entire Suarez fee on one player we couldn't say that.

Finally, which top player, who could actually replace Suarez, was available? Messi is laughable. Ronaldo wouldn't come back to the Prem except to United, and even if he did I wouldn't want to spaff £90m on him. Robben is far too old to spend that kind of money on. Falcao is injury prone - I'll be interested in seeing how he does for United.

Costa would have been a lovely signing, but Chelsea got in there and fair enough. He's the only one I think we missed out on though.

We could use a new, absolutely world class player to offer a real spark, but then again so could most teams. I'd rather be in the situation we are in now with a strong squad to build on than one like last year with a fragile squad and a single outstanding player.
 
manic111 said:
Falcao is injury prone - I'll be interested in seeing how he does for United.
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Amazing — player gets one injury, becomes injury prone.

A player that didn't miss a game for two seasons at Athletico, and before that missed an absolute handful for Porto.

He got a big injury at Monaco, but he's not 'injury prone'.
 
Everyone keeps on about LVG spending 150mil so he must get instant success:

Ander Herrera £29,000,000
Luke Shaw £27,000,000
Marcos Rojo £16,000,000
Ángel Di María £59,700,000
Daley Blind £13,800,000
Falcao £6,000,000

Yet Rodgers has signed 8 players for £120 million, surely the pressure is on him just as much as LvG, yet no one mentions it.

Emre Can £10,000,000
Rickie Lambert £4,000,000
Adam Lallana £25,000,000
Lazar Marković £20,000,000
Dejan Lovren £20,000,000
Divock Origi £10,000,000
Alberto Moreno £12,000,000
Mario Balotelli £16,000,000

I know which set of players I would prefer, and on paper seem better value for the amount spent than Liverpool.
 
Moses said:
Well, they're both kinda expected to get top four, no? It's not as though one could get away with murder and the other not.

And it's disingenuous to look at gross spend... net spend is a better measure, no?

I mean, in the summer just gone Liverpool brought in ~£80m (http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk figures)... so a net spend of ~£50m. And then £10m of that was on someone who was loaned out straight away, rather than being signed for the first team.

Manyoo brought in ~£37m... which means a net spend of ~£133m. Ignoring stuff like giving Sporting Nani for free for the year (which arguably made Rojo ~£5m more expensive than the £16m stated).
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You're forgetting that we will be getting lots of money for Cleverley, Nani, Felliani when we sell them. At least 10m or so.
 
Actual line-up:

Man United: De Gea, Evans, Rojo, Blackett, Rafael, Herrera, Di Maria, Blind, Mata, Rooney, Van Persie.

QPR: Green: Isla, Caulker, Ferdinand, Hill; Sandro, Fer, Kranjcar, Philiips, Hoilett; Austin
 
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