The old Man Utd Thread

[spork]

Biggest thing from pre season so far is that we haven't looked boring and lazy like we have for the past few years.

 

Also Greenwood is going to make that right side his own.

 

Also AWB makes 45 million look like a bargain.

 

Also Matic is past it.

[Mr Do 71]

 

[Guest]

How did that squeeze in? 

[Loik V credern]

All over Inter, who looked too much like Celtic, so one way. Mason Greenwood seems sharp, why can't United find an identity in young players swarming all over teams? They can't channel their energy as intelligently and as decisions, but in terms of pressing they can. Who wouldn't want to see that?* Kind of crazy to look at Jadon Sancho now as a definite starter and massive part of Dortmund's attack who before last season did anyone think that'd be the case now. I actually thought he was on loan, didn't realise he signed in 2017. The impression was he came on early last season as a sub and was just so effective, so skilled, and his end product demanded his selection.

 

*The negative reply to that kind of idealism is it's not good enough against the top sides, but united aren't anyway. City will batter anyone regardless. Dortmund pretty much pave the way for how it should be done, and have been doing so for a long time now.

 

i often return to this because the first goal is like something the AI might do to you on the highest difficulty setting of pro evo, it's completely ridiculous

 

 

[JPL]

6 year deal for De Gea then, putting him on £375k a week. He better not have any dips in form, like the end of last season, for those kind of wages.

[dizogg]

Just now, JPL said:

6 year deal for De Gea then, putting him on £375k a week. He better not have any dips in form, like the end of last season, for those kind of wages.

 

As we all know the more you pay a player the better form they have!

[spork]

2 minutes ago, JPL said:

6 year deal for De Gea then, putting him on £375k a week. He better not have any dips in form, like the end of last season, for those kind of wages.

 

That's going to be laced with bonuses rather than a flat amount per week.

[JPL]

4 minutes ago, dizogg said:

 

As we all know the more you pay a player the better form they have!

That’s what I’m worried about!

[JamesTW]

If there’s one thing you always get right it’s goalkeepers, you’ve had an outstanding one for about 90% of the last 30 years, at Liverpool we’ve had nearly the opposite, I really hate that sixth former looking get because he’s so good for you!

[feltmonkey]

I'm delighted De Gea has re-signed. Our best player is staying at the club, why would anyone be sniffy about that? 

 

@Loik V credern That's what we need, isn't it? Young players full of pace, energy and desire. If you can incorporate the intelligence of Mata and the through passes of Pogba you might have something. As you say, catching Man City shouldn't be the goal anyway, we need to just start improving and forging an identity again. If we're the fastest counter-attacking team in the league, then we will be successful. 

 

Also, I miss Zlatan. 

 

 

[glb]

These kind of things are more of a curio than proof, albeit with more complex algorithms to back up the conclusions than the casual ’what if’ football chatter a lot of us indulge in. But if there is a player Manchester United are justified in rewarding, De Gea would appear to be it:

 

 

Video is from 2018, but think any suggestion an in-form De Gea will be the likeliest difference between your side finishing top 4, top 6 or worse is a solid prediction.

[Gabzy]

How much did we pay for AWB? Palace still got robbed.

 

 

[Nicky]

 

[spork]

Let's be honest, the price is only going to matter when they play badly or make a big mistake that leads to a goal.

 

If they fix our rubbish defence then I don't personally care how much they cost 

[Loik V credern]

12 hours ago, feltmonkey said:

I'm delighted De Gea has re-signed. Our best player is staying at the club, why would anyone be sniffy about that? 

 

@Loik V credern That's what we need, isn't it? Young players full of pace, energy and desire. If you can incorporate the intelligence of Mata and the through passes of Pogba you might have something. As you say, catching Man City shouldn't be the goal anyway, we need to just start improving and forging an identity again. If we're the fastest counter-attacking team in the league, then we will be successful. 

 

 

 

I always got the impression that for De Gea playing for Real Madrid was his dream so i think it'd be a shame if he stayed with United his whole career, winning very little, not challenging for the league when the moment he could have left for Madrid would have coincided with their historic consecutive European cup wins. 

 

No one else thinks this because he's so good why would you want to let him go. I just remember this young gifted keeper who was absolutely slated in his first season by the media, not least Gary Neville when the side as steered by Ferguson were expected winners and it was phrased as though De Gea was jeopardizing that. But Ferguson soon left, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra soon left. Eventually the inexperienced talent was voted the best player of every season. It's unfortunate as he's come into his prime the club has fallen into a rut that they might not come out of until De Gea retires. United still won the Europa League with Romero, who is a fine keeper. 

 

I forget about Mata. And Pogba likes runners. There was a bit against Inter though that summed him up, ball came to him, a feint and flick to take it away from defender, the crowd cheers, then he just stalls for a second longer and is dispossessed. There's just an extra second of indulgence i don't think he'll ever remove from his game. You'd never see Modric do something like that, and watching Iniesta lose the ball was like a rare thing you only saw a few times in his career. Retaining possession under pressure and moving the ball forward has to be among the most important things for a midfielder. 

 

Wolves were the best counter attacking side last season and I'd want United to be as quick and direct but there were many games last season (under Mourinho and Solksjaer) where united were happy with not having the ball and watching too much of it does become like an acceptance of being second best. Like we're so rubbish with the ball we're not gonna even bother. Like, sitting off opposition in own half, then when retaining the ball immediately looking for runners, it's a method that was alright last season but long term I'd want to play a bit more as well and vary it. 

 

Any mention of going for top 4 has to go i think, it doesn't mean anything. United just struggle in the Champions League anyway. I'd like the aim to just be get the best out of these young players. That's it, which is basically the aim of all great coaches anyway. The success of the season depends on that for me. It's gonna be another kind of waste if they don't improve and excel. 

[spork]

 

Bruno, Maguire, Pepe... Anyone?

[ckny]

Who's Pepe? Surely not the Madrid red card machine?

[spork]

2 minutes ago, ckny said:

Who's Pepe? Surely not the Madrid red card machine?

 

Nicolas Pepe from Lille. A hardworking RW who can also play upfront. I think there were some light links to us earlier on in the window and then today someone usually fairly reliable in the media has linked us to him again. Seems like he is a bit inconstant and would cost £80m. Looks more like Lille trying to drive up his price rather than us genuinely being interested in him.

 

But he is a football player! And someone we might sign!

[dogsout]

Both Lille and his agent have been putting his name out there for transfers to everyone for ages now. I know Liverpool have been linked with him constantly (and we're not being linked to many this summer for obvious reasons). 

[JPL]

6 hours ago, spork said:

 

Bruno, Maguire, Pepe... Anyone?

Don’t give up now, there’s still 2 weeks to go!

[spork]

1 minute ago, JPL said:

Don’t give up now, there’s still 2 weeks to go!

 

I can only hold out for so long.

[JPL]

15 minutes ago, spork said:

 

I can only hold out for so long.

I need you Spork, without you I’m fucked. Hold on for 2 more weeks. For me. We’ll have signed Fernandes and Maguire by then. Keep the faith brother.

[Nicky]

more heavy rumours about Milinkovic-Savic being nearly done - however this is the bleacher report https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2846718-report-manchester-united-nearing-eur75m-sergej-milinkovic-savic-transfer

[JPL]

You know, I’d love him, Fernandes, maguire, Pepe and Longstaff. What do we seriously think is happening though? I reckon, at least, Fernandes, but other than that I don’t know.

[Nicky]

wouldnt surprise me if we put in a way overpriced bid for longstaff 5 minutes before the window shuts and that'd be it.

[spork]

I'm confident Maguire will be ours and that he will solve so many of our defensive issues along with AWB.

 

Signing anyone else after that? I don't think anyone actually has any idea!

[Rev]

18 hours ago, Nicky said:

more heavy rumours about Milinkovic-Savic being nearly done - however this is the bleacher report https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2846718-report-manchester-united-nearing-eur75m-sergej-milinkovic-savic-transfer

 

I’d like to take credit for this, as his partnership with Pogba in front of Casemiro made Man Utd win the quadruple on FM19 when I was playing as them.

 

Having won literally everything while being captain and playing a solid 50 games, Pogba agitated for a move to PSG where he thought he’d be a more important part of the squad. 

 

So, look forward to that.

[feltmonkey]

4 hours ago, Rev said:

 

I’d like to take credit for this, as his partnership with Pogba in front of Casemiro made Man Utd win the quadruple on FM19 when I was playing as them.

 

Having won literally everything while being captain and playing a solid 50 games, Pogba agitated for a move to PSG where he thought he’d be a more important part of the squad. 

 

So, look forward to that.

 

This sounds eerily similar to my FM19 game. Pogba and Milinkovic-Savic in front of Casemiro, missed out on the quadruple by a whisker, Pogba trying to engineer a move to PSG for reasons that make no sense (more first team football after playing 50 games. I told him to shut his face and rejected the bids. ) I also have De Ligt and Eder Militao at the back though. 

 

You can't base your opinions on Football Manager though, because I also had Sanchez scoring 20 goals in 2018/19.

[Rev]

55 minutes ago, feltmonkey said:

 

This sounds eerily similar to my FM19 game. Pogba and Milinkovic-Savic in front of Casemiro, missed out on the quadruple by a whisker, Pogba trying to engineer a move to PSG for reasons that make no sense (more first team football after playing 50 games. I told him to shut his face and rejected the bids. ) I also have De Ligt and Eder Militao at the back though. 

 

You can't base your opinions on Football Manager though, because I also had Sanchez scoring 20 goals in 2018/19.

 

I started from the last day of 2018/19, so that was nothing to do with me. That is pretty similar though. 

 

I also had De Ligt, but only as a back up. Rugani and Sule were the main pairing. De Gea, Shaw, Pogba, Martial and Rashford were the only remaining senior players. Dalot got some games. Asensio was the biggest signing because he got transfer listed, but then was played out of position most of the season. Ndidi covered for Casemiro. Quagliarella theoretically covered for Rashford and played about two games but was vice captain anyway.

 

Can’t make any promises, but sign all them and you’ll probably do alright. (And various crap wingers who didn’t really work out.)

[feltmonkey]

I've blown my entire budget on Mbappe anyway so no money to spend until Christmas.  I'm flogging back-up CB Pavard for £75m so I'll probably hoover up a bunch of regen wonderkids.  Ryan Gravenberch would be my tip, by the way.  17 at the start of the game, and covers for either Pogba or Sergej M-S with no dip in quality.  Oh, and Pereira is amazing played as an occasional number 10 on free-kick and corner duty.  He got a hat-trick of direct free-kick goals one game.

 

God I love Football Manager.  It's a beautiful fantasy world where Man Utd are not crap.