Associate
- Joined
- 19 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 1,917
- Location
- Manchester
Scholes ripping into Arsenal lol
Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [21st - 26th March 2014]
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
I was just thinking about how many new players we'll need in the summer, those leaving or possibly leaving:
Those who should probably leave/will want to leave:
We'll need at least 5 or 6 new players. :/
Hope Moyes has got some good and realistic targets lined up...
Our other issue is, we've got too many players who want to play in the number 10 role. We've got to decide how we want to use Mata/Rooney/RvP and then get players to play in the other positions around them.
- Vidic
- Evra
- Ferdinand
- Giggs
- Anderson
Those who should probably leave/will want to leave:
- Hernandez
- Young
- Fletcher
- Valencia
- Cleverley (replace with Powell)
- Kagawa (replaced by Januzaj)
We'll need at least 5 or 6 new players. :/
Hope Moyes has got some good and realistic targets lined up...
Our other issue is, we've got too many players who want to play in the number 10 role. We've got to decide how we want to use Mata/Rooney/RvP and then get players to play in the other positions around them.
Without any European football (which is looking more and more likely) will you need as big a squad as you're carrying now? Even this season several senior players have barely featured, with 10 or so less games next season they'll have even fewer opportunities.
You need to replace certain players in defence and improve/freshen up in midfield but there's a few players that can go without needing to be replaced.
edit: and I said before, losing RvP wouldn't be such a terrible thing imo. Bring in a younger replacement that actually fits into a system with both Rooney and Mata, who surely will be the players you build your side around.
You need to replace certain players in defence and improve/freshen up in midfield but there's a few players that can go without needing to be replaced.
edit: and I said before, losing RvP wouldn't be such a terrible thing imo. Bring in a younger replacement that actually fits into a system with both Rooney and Mata, who surely will be the players you build your side around.
I've never disliked Everton but they're certainly a lot more likeable under Martinez. I don't think there's anybody that dislikes Martinez.
edit: Just seen Everton's fixtures. Moyes going to turn up at Goodison and beat them to deprive them of CL football for another season.
edit: Just seen Everton's fixtures. Moyes going to turn up at Goodison and beat them to deprive them of CL football for another season.
Last edited:
Maybe we'll be okay with a smaller squad, we certainly wouldn't need to replace everyone we sell/release. We do have a fair few promising young players who can feature once we have games wrapped up, etc.
I actually think Mata would be more effective behind RvP, Rooney spends a lot of time getting annoyed and coming deep into midfield (or full back
), I think he'd get in Mata's way more often. But, Rooney is here to stay and he will probably spearhead the attack, but I still can't see RvP leaving. If we can find a couple of really class wingers, then Mata behind Rooney would be quite fine.Would a different manager be able to get RvP, Rooney and Mata all working in the same team though? Wouldn't surprise me...
I don't think so, just compare that front 3 to Sturridge/Sterling/Suarez, the pace of the latter lot adds a whole new dimension. If Man U were to make it work it work with those front 3, will need to be extra good out of the back. Unfortunately though, Moyes has inherited a load of plays that have won several medals and don't really have any bite. That William Carvalho is apparently all signed up though, i haven't seen much of that guy but no doubt he'll be decent. Sporting have always had good youth..
William Carvalho has been linked to us for ages now, and other clubs too. He looks good but he's basically a younger Nemanja Matic. He's what Fellaini was meant to be.
You have no pace in attack and playing those 3 means you're having to shunt Mata wide, although I was never convinced by the Mata signing anyway.
Mata's a good player , he just doesn't do enough of the dirty work really. Thats why Mourinho shoved him out, it was a challenge to Mata when he came to build on his attacking brilliance by getting him to defend more and get back into position. He just sulked though by the looks of things instead of trying to work on his stamina.
Just had a look at that Carvalho, he's a lot quicker by the look of things, far more dynamic than Fell. Problem with Carrick and Fell is pace, just the whole United squad is lacking any pace. Eventually, i assume Fell will take over that Carrick role of sitting in the middle with a quicker lad in the middle roaming around him. Again, comparing to Pool, Gerrard is the only one who doesn't have any pace. Even Hendo and Allan are pretty nimble round the pitch, make a big difference over 90 mins..
Just had a look at that Carvalho, he's a lot quicker by the look of things, far more dynamic than Fell. Problem with Carrick and Fell is pace, just the whole United squad is lacking any pace. Eventually, i assume Fell will take over that Carrick role of sitting in the middle with a quicker lad in the middle roaming around him. Again, comparing to Pool, Gerrard is the only one who doesn't have any pace. Even Hendo and Allan are pretty nimble round the pitch, make a big difference over 90 mins..
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 9,510
Damn we are in trouble of losing our CL spot now. We have City and Everton coming up. Can't see anything but a loss against City. If we lose the Everton game we are in serious trouble.
All looked very nice at Christmas lol
All looked very nice at Christmas lol
Neville made a great point on Sky earlier. Utd need to figure out what's wrong and what they want to do before they can start trying to put things right. Right now I have no idea how Moyes wants Utd to play - 4-4-2, 1 up front, wingers, direct football? Everything seems confused at the moment. There's no settled system or style of play and that probably explains why their signings have made little sense.
Why spend £27m on Fellaini? Moyes found out at Everton that Fellaini's not good enough to play in midfield. He only proved useful when Everton stuck him up front and played long balls up to him. To spend all that money on him only to play him in a role that he failed at with Everton is madness. Mata's clearly a far better player than Fellaini but did Utd really need him? Of all the positions that Utd could and should have looked to improve, a number 10 was surely the least important. Rather than signing somebody to complement the few decent players they have, they've signed somebody that seemingly forces you to choose between the few decent players they have.
I think Utd need to move on from RvP and it's hard to see how Utd can get the best out of both of Rooney and Mata in the same starting 11 too. Mata's only at his best when he plays off the front and I think that in the biggest games Rooney too needs to be playing there - and they both need runners in front of them.
Somebody's going to need to make some big decisions in the summer.
Why spend £27m on Fellaini? Moyes found out at Everton that Fellaini's not good enough to play in midfield. He only proved useful when Everton stuck him up front and played long balls up to him. To spend all that money on him only to play him in a role that he failed at with Everton is madness. Mata's clearly a far better player than Fellaini but did Utd really need him? Of all the positions that Utd could and should have looked to improve, a number 10 was surely the least important. Rather than signing somebody to complement the few decent players they have, they've signed somebody that seemingly forces you to choose between the few decent players they have.
I think Utd need to move on from RvP and it's hard to see how Utd can get the best out of both of Rooney and Mata in the same starting 11 too. Mata's only at his best when he plays off the front and I think that in the biggest games Rooney too needs to be playing there - and they both need runners in front of them.
Somebody's going to need to make some big decisions in the summer.
Last edited:
Yeah, some massive decisions, i don't think Moyes wanted to sign both Fell and Mata, he was so pressurised by the media and fans to make some marquee signings though.
Squad depth again, definitely need a striker to come in and help out. Walcott would be nice to have back..gutting he's missing the WC. Shame.
Not a chance in hell you'd trust Mata in the centre of the park, Rooney would be a better option. Mata 'could' play in the middle, but he'd have to prove he's willing to track back, which he doesn't.
Someone really needs to give Rio a slap. Sure, he's lost some pace but imo he's checked out. He's already on the beach working on his next "5" nonsense. You would never have guessed he was a former England captain and one of the very best over the past 20 years.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 7 Apr 2008
- Posts
- 25,206
- Location
- Lorville - Hurston
what did he say?
It's pretty shocking the demise of him considering his counterpart Terry is having the season of his life.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Mata's over rated, he doesn't really suit any particular position. There is a reason Chelsea got rid of him and why they are playing better without him. He's not a winger, he's not good enough either under pressure or in terms of shooting to be like a withdrawn striker. His assist rate was mostly due to Chelsea's strength at set pieces, which was true before he joined and since he left. Anyone putting in a half decent ball to Terry, Ivanovic, etc, will get assists. Mata wasn't the important part of that equation.
He's absolutely not disciplined enough, or good enough to play deeper in central midfield.
Fellaini is similar, he's actually pretty poor as a defensive minded midfielder. Suarez has great movement, sure, but it took all of what 5 minutes before he was clumsily running into the back of him in the penalty box. His decision making is atrocious, the elbow tonight on Zabaleta that should have seen him with a 3 match ban. He's clumsy as well as violent as well as not great at reading the game, a match made in hell.
HIs most effective time at Everton was the first several months of last season as basically a lone striker, as he got further back throughout the season he was less involved. He's a huge clumsy oaf who against the right opposition with tame refs who let him get away with elbows and punches, will nick the odd goal. But he'll get the odd red card, concede the odd penalty and do not much else for the team.
Even at 10mil he'd be a terrible buy, not good enough for first team at frankly a top half team and for squad/rotation you want reliable, sensible if unspectacular. Not a complete oaf to come in when others are injured and mess everything up. Solidity, not stupidity. Shockingly poor buy for Utd and they'll be stuck with him for 4 years now. Mata less bad buy, more than good enough for rotation as he was at Chelsea. But he just doesn't FIT any system because he's not actually good enough in any position.
You get the impression that if he worked really hard, tracked back, bulked up a bit that he could turn into a semi decent player, but at his age and how he's been for so long and that Chelsea effectively got bored with his lack of work rate... I don't see him changing his game at all.
Relies on others to make him look good rather than is the guy people rely on.