The old Man Utd Thread

[Rev]

I think Pereira has gone in The Great Cull. Monaco, I think.

 

Man Utd are definitely a great project for FM at the moment. I only picked them up because some pundit said that it was impossible to make a massive change to the squad and compete immediately. Seemed like a fun challenge.

[ckny]

Can we take the FM chat elsewhere? I just spent 5 minutes on Twitter trying to find anything about Pereira leaving for Monaco 

[spork]

[feltmonkey]

Haha sorry ckny. 

[Mr Do 71]

 

[spork]

 

2 minutes ago, Mr Do 71 said:

 

 

Seeing how good some of the youngsters have been really makes us not signing tons of players a lot more reasonable. Martial has looked good as the number 9. Attacking players pressing very nicely and the front 3 are all moving around and moving the ball really quickly. Daniel James has a great workrate and attitude and anyone who says AWB is rubbish going forward has obviously not seen him play.

 

Baily was also stretchered off.

 

[Liamness]

Martial made a run in behind for his goal - whatever next?

[spork]

Based on 4 pre season games and not much else I'd be more surprised if we didn't get back into the top 4 next season. The way we've been playing and the way we've setup is so far ahead of where we have been in the past 6 years.

[Nicky]

ive watched all the games otehr than todays, and weve still looked terrible at the back. hopefully Baily's injury isnt too bad but hopefully it prompts some transfers

[Liamness]

@spork

 

Barring any additions, I would predict a 6th place finish. Yes our attack looks quite exciting, and yes, we've finally got some actual width from right-back. But we've got even less depth and quality in midfield than last season, with Herrera leaving and Matic being one year older. I would say our defence is still a bit of a concern, but maybe the best way to fix that is to improve the midfield so they are put under less pressure.

 

Looking to our rivals, Tottenham's purchase of Ndombélé looks like it could be transformative for them. Chelsea have lost the magic of Hazard, but look to be playing more as a unit under Lampard. If we don't improve, it's hard to see who will give way for us.

[feltmonkey]

You're putting us behind Arsenal? 

 

Regarding Bailly's injury, I didn't see it, but the BBC said it happened during one of those periods when a player is offside but the linesman keeps their flag down to see what happens. Is that correct? If so, I'm furious. 

[Marlowe]

1 hour ago, spork said:

Based on 4 pre season games and not much else I'd be more surprised if we didn't get back into the top 4 next season. The way we've been playing and the way we've setup is so far ahead of where we have been in the past 6 years.

 

Erm, we looked great in LVG's first pre-season. Never read anything into pre-season.

[Charliemouse]

3 minutes ago, Marlowe said:

 

Erm, we looked great in LVG's first pre-season. Never read anything into pre-season.

The year Spurs had 2 points after 8 games, was after an amazing pre season, so yeah,  results at this stage really mean fuck all.

[spork]

I'm not on about just the results. More the way we've set up and the way we've been playing. The way the likes of Greenwood, Gomes and Tuanzabe don't look out of place and just the general attitude of the squad.

 

When Ole came in mid season, he tried to up the tempo we played at and we pretty much went from being the team who ran the least to the team who ran the most overnight. We went on a huge winning run. We did this sometimes while looking good and sometimes while looking not so good. We then had a humongous injury crisis. Our new consistent front three selection of Martial, Lingard and Rashford all got injured at the same time. Rashford did continue playing through his injury but was obviously not 100%. There were others out at the same time and our injury list at this point was pretty big. At this point the tempo Ole had us playing at was reduced back to what it was under Mou, we stopped pressing so much and looked rubbish again. This pretty much coincided with the start of our bad form which we never really recovered from for the rest of the season.

 

Sure, maybe the good results were all down to the "new manager bounce" and the bad results were all down to Ole being rubbish. Alternatively, it might just be a case that it's difficult to go from playing really slow football where you hardly have to run to a new much higher pressing tactic. Pretty sure Klopp had lots of injury troubles at Liverpool when he joined a few months into the season and upped their intensity. After he had a proper pre season and get his players to a fitness level needed for his tactics things have gone a lot better for them.

 

So if we can assume that we will be playing a much more fitting high pressing tactic, and that we will be able to play that way without everyone getting injured again, I don't see why top 4 is out of the question, especially if Greenwood, Tuanzabe and Gomes can step up and do well throughout the season.

 

We've also suffered from having Young and Valencia at right back for the past what, 6 years? I can pretty much guarantee that when either of those have been at right back (with no actual right winger in front of them) that most teams will focus their attacks on that side. One thing I've read about AWB at Palace is that once he came into the first team, teams pretty much stopped trying to attack down his flank because he's incredibly difficult to get past. 

 

Yeah Matic is a year older, but so is future captain McTominay. So is Rashford, Dalot, Martial etc. Maybe Fred can put his first season behind him and perform in his second in the same way Lindelof has done? Maybe we'll still trying to bring in a CB who would mean Smalling, Jones and Rojo will be less likely to play? 

 

Yes we still have problems and it's not all perfect, but I think there is a lot more to be optimistic about right now compared to how things have been at any point since Moyes/LVG/Mou have been in charge. 

[spork]

 

When was the last time we scored a goal like this?!

[spork]

Also we are flying back from the tour now. Apparently we very rarely announce new signings during the tours.

 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Marlowe said:

 

Erm, we looked great in LVG's first pre-season. Never read anything into pre-season.

 

and we finished 4th

[JPL]

19 hours ago, spork said:

Yeah Matic is a year older, but so is future captain McTominay. So is Rashford, Dalot, Martial etc.

The problem there though is that Matic is on the decline because of his age, while the others are moving closer to their peak. It’s not a fair comparison.

[feltmonkey]

He's not making a comparison, he's saying that the passage of time is not entirely bad news. While Matic declines, Rashford, Dalot, McTominay and others are getting closer to their peak. They're stronger and more experienced. McTominay in particular plays in a position where reading the game and making the right decisions is all-important. Experience is the best way to improve those skills. 

[JPL]

Ah right, I misunderstood.

[feltmonkey]

I think we do need to strengthen in the DCM position, preferably someone with more than 9 senior games experience, as promising as Longstaff might be. That and centre back. And probably right wing. 

[Gabzy]

We really should’ve got rid of Bailly while he was fit for those 5 minutes. 

[feltmonkey]

Like getting the engine warning light turned off by the garage and driving straight round to the webuyanycar depot. 

[5R7]

Well, transfer silly season is in full swing isnt it! Apparently juve want lukaku, and, are willing to trade... Dybala!?

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11771409/juventus-to-offer-paulo-dybala-to-manchester-united-as-part-of-romelu-lukaku-deal

 

[feltmonkey]

It's most likely complete horseshit. However, if it was true, I'm not sure it would be a great idea for us. Dybala is a great player, but can only play as a very advanced number 10, behind a striker. We'd be forced to either just play two in midfield, like a 4-2-4, or pull the wide men back. We couldn't play the 4-3-3 with a quick front three that we are all assuming we want to play. The main reason Juve are willing to let him go is that he doesn't fit into the 4-3-3 they are playing now. 

[spork]

Juventus have wanted Icardi from Inter all summer.

 

Inter have wanted Lukaku all summer. Conte will probably kick up a fuss if they don't get him like he did at Chelsea, especially is he goes to Juve.

 

Inter really need to sell if they buy Lukaku.

 

Juventus and Utd both pretend a Lukaku and Dybala swap is on the cards.

 

Inter quickly offer slightly more to meet our valuation of Lukaku and he becomes their player over the weekend.

 

Juventus then get to buy Icardi as no one else is interested.

 

[JPL]

It’s been a month since we signed Wan Bissaka and there are only 10 days left in the transfer window. What are they playing at? There’s been no sign of us getting the players we need and even less movement on getting rid of the dead wood in the squad, not to mention the technical director/director of football role being filled.

 

Am I worrying unnecessarily or am I right to think Woodward is a useless twat?

[spork]

1 hour ago, JPL said:

 

Am I worrying unnecessarily or am I right to think Woodward is a useless twat?

 

Both?

 

This is the week. Maguire and Bruno Fernandes. Maybe another player if Ed is feeling a bit frisky.

[feltmonkey]

No, you're absolutely right to think that, JPL.

 

The reports (which are most likely based on nothing more than thin air) are that we are close to signing Bruno Fernandez and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who are both good players but emphatically not what we need.  Unless there's some masterplan to retrain them as centre-backs.  We seem to have pulled out of attempts to sign Macguire and Longstaff.

 

So I think what was universally agreed was that in this window we needed a right back, a right winger, at least one centre-back, and probably two central midfielders, one of which needed to be a defensive mid.  We've bought a right back (hooray) and a left winger.  We're now apparently trying to sign two players that play in the same position as our best outfield player.

 

What I think will happen is that the Fernandez deal has already fallen through because we wouldn't pay the valuation.  The same is true of Longstaff and Macguire - they won't happen.  Milinkovic-Savic is only being courted as a replacement for Pogba if he goes.  I don't think we will sign any of them.  Pogba will go, but not until the transfer window closes and it's too late to sign SMS.  Woodward will think we can go back in for him at Christmas, but SMS will have a terrific first few months of the season, scoring 10+ goals, and his price will have shot up.  We will refuse to pay more than we were going to in the summer.  Woodward will then sack Solskjaer, who has been struggling along with a pretty inadequate squad.  We will make a mad appointment as manager.  Repeat until the heat-death of the universe.

[spork]

Nah, lots of noise pointing towards Maguire effectively being done, just us wanting to pay more in bonuses while Leicester want more upfront. 

 

Bruno Fernandes was sad and almost started to cry at the end of a friendly match last night. This is rumoured to be the last game he'll play at Lisbons stadium. It is thought that he will be playing in Portugals Super Cup/Charity Shield equivalent on Sunday before heading off (hopefully to us!). I'm guessing their super cup is a little more prestigious than ours. One of Chelseas recent Portugese signings did similar apparently. 

 

Bruno and Pogba can both play in the AM role, but they can both also play deeper. Bruno is high energy, can press well and can open up defences with his passing. We struggled a bit last season when Pogba either didn't turn up or was marked out of the game. Having more than one creative player pinging long passes to our quite fast attackers isn't a bad thing!

 

SMS has always been reported as being a replacement for if Pogba goes. Us tying up stuff with him also puts pressure on Lisbon to lower their demands for Bruno. Could we get him anyway? No idea.

 

This is the week!