Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [19th - 26th December 2014]

John Terry is a top player, who rarely gets injured, is consistent and always gives a decent performance.
As a Man Utd fan, I wish we could have a John Terry in our team.
I'm not sure if Chelsea fans realise how lucky they are to have a player like that in their team.

Ive seen lots of players mentioned for big money transfers (David Luiz went for £50M) - I find it strange that John Terry has never been mentioned as a big money target for one of the bigger clubs.
 
You realise that we have players like Jonny Evans, right?
And glass defenders like Phil Jones, Rafael, Smalling, who cant play more than 3 games in a row.

IMO we need an older head to organise our defence, who is not injury prone.
Chelsea have Terry.
Man City have Kompany.
We have err...nobody (Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra (who were our equivalents), all left in one transfer window).

Larent Blanc, Henrik Larsson, Teddy Sherringham were all at the end of their careers when they joined Man Utd, but they were there for their footballing brain.
 
sunama said:
John Terry is a top player, who rarely gets injured, is consistent and always gives a decent performance.
As a Man Utd fan, I wish we could have a John Terry in our team.
I'm not sure if Chelsea fans realise how lucky they are to have a player like that in their team.

Ive seen lots of players mentioned for big money transfers (David Luiz went for £50M) - I find it strange that John Terry has never been mentioned as a big money target for one of the bigger clubs.
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No thanks.
 
That was a great win last night, not because of the football we played but the fact that we didn't let Stoke bully us as that's all they tried to do really.
Hopefully Hazard isn't out for too long as he makes us tick :(

sunama said:
I'm not sure if Chelsea fans realise how lucky they are to have a player like that in their team.
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Of course they are :/
He may not be liked as a man by opposing supporters but every team needs a player and leader like him.
 
sunama said:
You realise that we have players like Jonny Evans, right?
And glass defenders like Phil Jones, Rafael, Smalling, who cant play more than 3 games in a row.

IMO we need an older head to organise our defence, who is not injury prone.
Chelsea have Terry.
Man City have Kompany.
We have err...nobody (Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra (who were our equivalents), all left in one transfer window).

Larent Blanc, Henrik Larsson, Teddy Sherringham were all at the end of their careers when they joined Man Utd, but they were there for their footballing brain.
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Arsenal have no one as well
 
Just saying a 34 year old defender is likely at the club he's going to end his career with. Very unlikely he'll move to another top club. There have been a very few rare exceptions but they're just that...exceptions. United need a leading defender, age is irrelevant.
 
Who do people think is even available though? Hummels, for example, has often committed himself to Dortmund and, being German, is significantly more likely to join Bayern than go anywhere else. Thiago Silva probably has a lifestyle and wages we couldn't match. Varane is apparently unhappy at Real because of limited starts and does look like 'the real deal' but he's only what, 21 or 22 so not the leader we need.

Dominating, experienced defenders that are actually available are incredibly difficult to find unless you pluck one out of nowhere like Vidic.
 
Shamikebab said:
Just saying a 34 year old defender is likely at the club he's going to end his career with. Very unlikely he'll move to another top club. There have been a very few rare exceptions but they're just that...exceptions. United need a leading defender, age is irrelevant.
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No , age is not irrelevant, but it may not be the be all and end all.

Age has to be taken into context with the style of defender he is and whether he has played in the EPL recently.

If this defender relies on his pace to recover situations, is around the ~30ish mark and has never played in the EPL before and doesnt want to move then its obviously going to be a risk (and probably expensive) - if he is mid-twenties, reads the game fantastically and maybe less enamoured with his current club, comparatively he may be cheaper and less of a risk.

Its also a factor that even great players go on for a season or two too long - look at vidic and Ferdinand for good examples and even Evra to a lesser extent. Part of this was because of injuries, but even Rio who is known to be a very good reader of the game couldnt hack it for the best part of two seasons before he left (at the top level). That has everything to do with age and not being capable of doing the same things he was doing perfectly a few years previously.

Stewy said:
Who do people think is even available though? Hummels, for example, has often committed himself to Dortmund and, being German, is significantly more likely to join Bayern than go anywhere else. Thiago Silva probably has a lifestyle and wages we couldn't match. Varane is apparently unhappy at Real because of limited starts and does look like 'the real deal' but he's only what, 21 or 22 so not the leader we need.

Dominating, experienced defenders that are actually available are incredibly difficult to find unless you pluck one out of nowhere like Vidic.
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Considering how badly Dortmund are doing , I wouldnt be suprised if a few of their big stars left in the summer , esp as they dont currently look like getting anywhere near CL places.

Im not convinced BD will sell to Bayern after the last couple of years , but I doubt Utd have that much of a chance of getting Hummels (or Verane for that matter, who may well end up at Bayern or somewhere like that).

I wouldnt be that surprised if we try for Vlaar (even if Utd have said "no short term fixes", he would be a decent squad member anyway) - Winston Reid perhaps (not so sure about him, probably just paper talk)? As everyone knows Vidic and Evra ended up being fantastic but they were woeful for the first few months after arriving, and Utd cant risk that on anyone else arriving in Jan, so preferably has to be someone who is familiar with the EPL and for the major purchase to be happening in the summer
 
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FrankJH said:
I wouldnt be that surprised if we try for Vlaar ...
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Isn't Vlaar just returning from injury?
My understanding is that the game he played against Man Utd a few days ago, was his first in a while...perhaps a Villa fan can clear this up?

I have become paranoid about glass defenders. We have so many of them, I'd rather buy an average defender, who is not made of glass, rather than a glass defender who is top class.

Lets do a roll-call:
Smalling - Glass. This guy is currently injured
Rojo - This is our most robust defender. But get what? He is also injured. Glass.
Evans - Glass. This guy spends a lot of his time injured. And to be fair, he isnt good enough to play in a team contending for the title.
Rafael - Glass. He can barely play more than 5 games in a row, before he needs a few weeks off.
Shaw - new signing. Injured. Glass.
Jones - I've saved the best for last. 100% Glass. He spends 80% of his time injured. Right now, he is not injured, but I dont expect him to be playing in January.

The situation is so bad at the moment that we are having to play Carrick in defence, with Blackett and McNair who are youth players. There is absolutely no way that our defence can improve, if the defenders keep changing every week.

I'm not saying we should attempt to buy John Terry, but somebody of his ilk would be a welcome sight. Someone who can play most games, is experienced, mature and can take responsibility for organsing our defenders. This is an absolute requirement if we want to compete for the title next year.
 
Merry xmas to all my friends here in OCUK who love me and my contributution to this side of the pond.

May you have an amazing holiday with your friends and family.

Love

jonney
 
sunama said:
cut.
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I don't doubt that the likes of Smalling, Jones & Rafael (and to a lesser extent Evans) are seemingly made out of glass - I do however think you are being a little harsh on Shaw (who appeared to have a very good injury record for the last two seasons at Southampton) and Rojo. I don't know what Rojo's injury record was like at Portugal, but in a completely different league its probably a little unfair to try and compare it anyway

They have been unlucky this season, unquestionably but that's about all you can say about the new guys
 
on the Man Utd defence ciscussion, I'd just like to add that while our 'main' defenders are polystyrene (I wouldn't even say glass) Mcnair and Blackett have done very well for their age so far. Blackett's blip at Leicester as an exception
 
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa.

Subs: Cech, Zouma, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Ramires, Schurrle, Drogba

Nothing suprising about that line up, full strength team.
 
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