Nice article about Mkhitaryan's rise
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...chester-united-kaka-zidane-and-his-dad-hamlet
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...chester-united-kaka-zidane-and-his-dad-hamlet
The Manchester United Club Thread **Sponsored by Comedy Central**
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Caporegime
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Really interesting read.
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Caporegime
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Mourinho criticizing Shaw again, what is that 3/4 times this season? :/
Best run of results for three years apparently and yet still we are 6th in the table. To think we endured 2 years of van Gaal's philsophy before we got to this point. The team is playing the best football it has managed for several seasons and at last there is a dynamism and determination about its play.
i wouldn't underestimate what a player like Pogba is doing for us. He always tries to advance the game and yes he does overplay at times but he also looks like he can create and score unlike any United midfielder since Scholes. It also puts in context how fanciful the notion of allowing Rooney to play in midfield was. He couldn't lace PP's boots and I am glad he is being shown to be excess to requirement.
Pleased that Jones has found some form to back up the potential at last. Also that Hererra has had a decent run of games and now looks like he is "first pick" for JM. I'd be tempted to thin the squad a little as I can't see a way back for Schneiderlin, Schwienstiger or Depay. I'd sell Fellaini tomorrow but no-one will buy him and JM seems to like his scale and utility. His (MF) departure will be be a significant chapter end in what has been a very mediocre 3 year period.
Overall at the half way point I think we can see progress. Still a very long way to go but its actually quite nice to watch them play at the moment - not something I have thought for a number of years - including the last couple of SAF's tenure.
i wouldn't underestimate what a player like Pogba is doing for us. He always tries to advance the game and yes he does overplay at times but he also looks like he can create and score unlike any United midfielder since Scholes. It also puts in context how fanciful the notion of allowing Rooney to play in midfield was. He couldn't lace PP's boots and I am glad he is being shown to be excess to requirement.
Pleased that Jones has found some form to back up the potential at last. Also that Hererra has had a decent run of games and now looks like he is "first pick" for JM. I'd be tempted to thin the squad a little as I can't see a way back for Schneiderlin, Schwienstiger or Depay. I'd sell Fellaini tomorrow but no-one will buy him and JM seems to like his scale and utility. His (MF) departure will be be a significant chapter end in what has been a very mediocre 3 year period.
Overall at the half way point I think we can see progress. Still a very long way to go but its actually quite nice to watch them play at the moment - not something I have thought for a number of years - including the last couple of SAF's tenure.
It's too early to say anything definitive, but after a rocky start I was hoping Mourinho would eventually start to sort things out and that appears to be what's happening. Traditionally he's started with clubs well, peaked and then gradually got worse, but not this time. I'm really hoping he'll be here for a long time, but only time will tell if that will be possible.
Of course, having very talented individual players is a large part of the above, but there's no reason we can't maintain these sorts of signings year on year. Over the last few games, we've seen more promising signs from the likes of Rashford, Martial and Mkhitaryan, 3 hugely talented players who until now have been on the fringes of the squad this season.
The style of football is a throwback to the SAF era, general domination of the ball with increasing pressure, and a willingness to play it forward directly instead of keeping possession no matter the cost. I think that is what Mourinho will have been aiming for, he knows that's what the club and fans expect, certainly against weaker teams.
I'm happy with Pogba, it's always going to be hard for a central midfielder to have the same sort of impact as a forward, but he's a colossus in the middle of the park in most games and covers a lot of the pitch (defensively and offensively). More improvement to come, too.
Zlatan is playing much better than I thought he would be, on paper quite possibly the best player in the league at the moment, or thereabouts. He seems to score or assist at least once in every game.
The current form has also confirmed that we don't need Rooney, which has been a big cloud hanging over the club for ages. He can still probably play a bit of a role later in the season but beyond that, I think plans will be made for him to go.
Onwards and upwards...
Of course, having very talented individual players is a large part of the above, but there's no reason we can't maintain these sorts of signings year on year. Over the last few games, we've seen more promising signs from the likes of Rashford, Martial and Mkhitaryan, 3 hugely talented players who until now have been on the fringes of the squad this season.
The style of football is a throwback to the SAF era, general domination of the ball with increasing pressure, and a willingness to play it forward directly instead of keeping possession no matter the cost. I think that is what Mourinho will have been aiming for, he knows that's what the club and fans expect, certainly against weaker teams.
I'm happy with Pogba, it's always going to be hard for a central midfielder to have the same sort of impact as a forward, but he's a colossus in the middle of the park in most games and covers a lot of the pitch (defensively and offensively). More improvement to come, too.
Zlatan is playing much better than I thought he would be, on paper quite possibly the best player in the league at the moment, or thereabouts. He seems to score or assist at least once in every game.
The current form has also confirmed that we don't need Rooney, which has been a big cloud hanging over the club for ages. He can still probably play a bit of a role later in the season but beyond that, I think plans will be made for him to go.
Onwards and upwards...
While this is true, 2nd -6th is highly compressed (5 points) which works in ours / spurs favour particularly - the teams catching up.
Whether anyone will catch Chelsea is at this point impossible to even guess at (given Liverpool are losing Mane for 4 weeks or so, Coutinho and Henderson are not yet back from injuries - and Spurs /Us are too far back to consider it anytime soon imo).
Most Utd fans Im sure would be happy with a solid top four finish which is definitely do-able right now, anything more than that is a bonus. Things may well change many times before the end of the season.
Not sure if its true but 7 wins on the trot is also JM's best /longest run for 3 years also.
It might have taken JM a little too long to get a settled side (especially CM positioning) but now he has found it, its looking really positive. One of the acid tests is of course coming up in two weeks time when Liverpool come to town, but hpefully we will at least be able to give a better game than at Anfield a few months ago.
You are right, last couple of seasons under SAF where pretty dreadful - might have won the 20th title in his last season, but some of the games were pretty awful. Last month or so under JM has been really positive and against WHU the tactics /subs were spot on .
JM didnt have an easy squad to deal with to start with, the remnants of what SAF left, and then on top of that the un-developed ideas of Moyes and LVG just made it a hodge-podge of players. There is still quite a few wasting sqaud space but hpefully between Jan and next summer we can get rid of a few more. Still very light in a few areas imo , even if some are currently playing out of their skin.
If he is available, supposedly injured for last couple of games, I would rest Zlatan either for the FAC or EFL games and give Rooney a run out (even if Zlatan is on the bench for 1st hour or so)
Maybe play Zlatan in FAC, rest for midweek game with Rooney in his place, so he is fresh for Liverpool a week on Sunday? Its difficult balancing out the defence of the FAC and the semi(s) of the EFL - but with the Europa re-starting just after the two semis are done with vs Hull - I would be very tempted to give a few of the kids a good run out with Rooney up top.
Past the summer though - get rid as quickly as possible
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Totally agree Robbo. Never had too much doubt that he would get things right with this squad at some point but we are working well as a team at the moment and everything is 100x better than the past 3 years.
I have said this in the past but when we were under LvG and Moyes the players simply didn't work that hard. They weren't quick off the mark, they didn't close players down effectively and they didn't support each other either in defence or attack. You would see a lacklustre attack with 3 players turn into a lacklustre defence where we were outnumbered.
The fact that Rooney has been almost completely dropped has made a huge difference to the team in a number of areas too.
Pogba has been brilliant the last few weeks/months and he just brings a great swagger and arrogance to the team along with Zlatan. He will have 2 players around him and he will turn them and sprint away towards their goal. I can't state how important that sort of thing is to a team.
One of our biggest issues under LvG was his complete reliance and insistence on a possession game and keeping the ball. Given a choice between making a simple 5 yard pass backwards and a 20 yard ball that could lead to a goal he would take the safe option every time. Teams would set up knowing that we were not great defensively and that a goal would probably beat us. They knew that we would play the numbers game and if they made themselves difficult to break down we would struggle.
It scares the hell out of teams when you have players that can ghost past a man, who are always looking to get in behind or play in tight areas.
Players like Mkhitaryan, Zlatan, Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Mata are all players that want to do something positive. They look for those passes that will unlock a defence, they want to beat a man and run at defences.
I'm genuinely enjoying being a United fan for the first time in years at the moment. This football is far better than anything Fergie played in the last few years of his reign. I don't care if we don't come top 4 as long as we play good football. The only reason I think its super important is in keeping/attracting the top talent. If we can get CL this season and make some signings like Griezmann then we will have a team that can win the league in my opinion.
I have said this in the past but when we were under LvG and Moyes the players simply didn't work that hard. They weren't quick off the mark, they didn't close players down effectively and they didn't support each other either in defence or attack. You would see a lacklustre attack with 3 players turn into a lacklustre defence where we were outnumbered.
The fact that Rooney has been almost completely dropped has made a huge difference to the team in a number of areas too.
Pogba has been brilliant the last few weeks/months and he just brings a great swagger and arrogance to the team along with Zlatan. He will have 2 players around him and he will turn them and sprint away towards their goal. I can't state how important that sort of thing is to a team.
One of our biggest issues under LvG was his complete reliance and insistence on a possession game and keeping the ball. Given a choice between making a simple 5 yard pass backwards and a 20 yard ball that could lead to a goal he would take the safe option every time. Teams would set up knowing that we were not great defensively and that a goal would probably beat us. They knew that we would play the numbers game and if they made themselves difficult to break down we would struggle.
It scares the hell out of teams when you have players that can ghost past a man, who are always looking to get in behind or play in tight areas.
Players like Mkhitaryan, Zlatan, Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Mata are all players that want to do something positive. They look for those passes that will unlock a defence, they want to beat a man and run at defences.
I'm genuinely enjoying being a United fan for the first time in years at the moment. This football is far better than anything Fergie played in the last few years of his reign. I don't care if we don't come top 4 as long as we play good football. The only reason I think its super important is in keeping/attracting the top talent. If we can get CL this season and make some signings like Griezmann then we will have a team that can win the league in my opinion.
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Well yeah, that's because before this great run of form we had one of our worst runs of form
We've won the last 6 but before that we had only won one in the last eight!
Exactly - thats the primary reason to want CL (apart from actually testing yourself against the likes of BM, Real, Barca and even Atleti, Borrusia and PSG)
Of course the gigantic tv deals help, but the CL income is enormous - I think CL revenue per team is similar amount to EPL but for 1/2 the amount of games .....after a good run in the knockout stages.
dont forget Chevy / Addidas income goes down....20% if Utd dont make CL spots two years or more in a row.
Would just make it doubly difficult to attract the cream of the crop for squad improvements
Well yeah, that's because before this great run of form we had one of our worst runs of form
We've won the last 6 but before that we had only won one in the last eight!
The storm has calmed, unfortunately denting our chances in the process
We'll just have to enjoy the football as any title hopes will have to wait till next season. But then it will be even tougher!
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The storm has calmed, unfortunately denting our chances in the process
We'll just have to enjoy the football as any title hopes will have to wait till next season. But then it will be even tougher!
1995-1996 campaign Newcastle were 12 points in front and ended up second. 2010-2011 campaign Man Utd were 8 points ahead with only 6 games remaining and still lost the title.
Chelsea have Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal in the next month. Our hardest game is against a struggling Liverpool next week.
I wouldn't say Liverpool are struggling - they are 2nd in the league, scoring goals and winning matches.
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They really struggled against Sunderland and the city game was so rubbish it took a minute of brilliance for them to win. Do not forget the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea have no Europe to worry about at all. It is definitely a winnable game for us. Back in the middle of November I wouldn't have been so sure.
rememeber though Coutinho and Henderson both missed the sunderland game, both huge players for Liverpool. They both may be fit for our match.
They will of course raise their game just because its us anyway aswell.
Its a winable game for both sides, but right them off (even at 2-0 with 5 minutes to go) at your peril
While this is also true - neither of those periods (especialy 95/96 ) was anywhere as competitive as it is now.
Unless Chelsea have a few bad injuries / serious loss of form, I really cant see us catching them. Liverpool have a chance (depending on how they cope without Mane for 4+ weeks) but the form of City / Arsenal , I cant see either of them catching chelsea.
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Henry interviewing Zlatan, with a guest appearance from Pogba
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