The old Man Utd Thread

[FATEone]

Way more talented is pushing it, I'd have said way more loved by the media.....

It will be interesting to see how his hamstrings hold up next season, as we're one of the best counter-attacking teams in the Premiership...

I'd have hoped we'd have gone for someone like Fabiano, but it appears as though he heading for Milan....

No it's not. It's not pushing it in the slightest. When have the other two ever opened up Brazil or Argentina? Did you see any of him at Liverpool. A fucking shit Liverpool at that. Did you see any of him at Real Madrid? against Valencia? Barca? You either haven't or you're just blind or stupid.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

And why do people single out footballers? What about F1 drivers, the top golfers, movie and pop stars. Footballers aren't the only ones getting obscene wages while the economy crumbles around them.

Sure they earn too much but the World is fucked up in the way wealth is distributed regardless of what footballers get.

Because the footballers were popular at school.

[dizogg]

And all the F1 drivers got bullied.

[fatbob]

Apparently we are close to signing 20 year old winger Gabriel Obertan from Bordeaux.

Linky

[oli]

Apparently we are close to signing 20 year old winger Gabriel Obertan from Bordeaux.

Linky

There has been a hole in our team since David Bellion left

Oh I just got tickets to the pre season friendly with Valencia, seemingly there's some really good seats still available

[ckny]

Okay, now this really is 2003 all over again, this guy filling the David Bellion role. Can't even get in his own team, but now inexplicably linked with all the top teams. If Larry White doesn't want him why should we.

[fatbob]

Guardian Continues...

L'Équipe compared Obertan to Liverpool's French forward Daniel Ngog

[sith]

Why the hell do we need another young winger?

This transfer window is becoming very depressing now

[oli]

Maybe we can buy Kleberson again

[sith]

Maybe we can buy Kleberson again

Fuck that

Its all about Eric Djemba-Djemba!

[MojoChin]

Kleberson is still in the Brazil setup...We obviously missed something.

[NeoGeo]

Why the hell do we need another young winger?

This transfer window is becoming very depressing now

Giggs isn't getting any younger and Nani is struggling for form so I'm guessing Obertan would be for down the left.

[MojoChin]

Giggs isn't getting any younger and Nani is struggling for form so I'm guessing Obertan would be for down the left.

But a player who couldn't hold down a first team place for Bordeaux?! Means one of 2 things, either he isn't that good or was disruptive in the dressing room. Either way

Also Tosic has looked good for the Serbia U21's so why wouldn't he get a chance?

[Rev]

It's hardly surprising a 20 year old isn't playing every match. Plus he's good in football manager...

[MojoChin]

It's hardly surprising a 20 year old isn't playing every match. Plus he's good in football manager...

But apparently he was a regular from 17-19. What happened then? It seems he turned out like Kieran Richardson, lots of unfulfilled promise. Doesn't matter what age he is, if he isn't good enough for Bordeaux, he's not good enough for Utd. There is, of course, the chance that that promise may come to fruition but who's to know?!

[NeoGeo]

But apparently he was a regular from 17-19. What happened then? It seems he turned out like Kieran Richardson, lots of unfulfilled promise. Doesn't matter what age he is, if he isn't good enough for Bordeaux, he's not good enough for Utd. There is, of course, the chance that that promise may come to fruition but who's to know?!

Maybe Lauren Blanc prefers a different style of player in that position. Maybe he had a dip in form. Who knows. It wouldn't be the first time a skilled player gets overlooked. He certainly looks the part on youtube with a few Ronaldoesque bits of footwork.

[MojoChin]

Maybe Lauren Blanc prefers a different style of player in that position. Maybe he had a dip in form. Who knows. It wouldn't be the first time a skilled player gets overlooked. He certainly looks the part on youtube with a few Ronaldoesque bits of footwork.

I could hand pick clips of Pascal Cygan to make him look like a superstar.

[Rev]

But apparently he was a regular from 17-19. What happened then? It seems he turned out like Kieran Richardson, lots of unfulfilled promise. Doesn't matter what age he is, if he isn't good enough for Bordeaux, he's not good enough for Utd. There is, of course, the chance that that promise may come to fruition but who's to know?!

Reading his wiki page it sounds like you've just interpreted facts wrongly. He's had no significant drop in appearances or Bordeaux until he went out on loan, presumably to get experience of playing for ninety minutes, because all the appearances he has had have been pretty much all from the bench:

He made his professional debut in a league match on September 30, 2006, against Valenciennes, at the age of 17, coming on as a substitute playing 15 minutes. Valenciennes won the match 0–2. He scored his first goal on April 22, 2007 against Saint-Étienne in a 2–0 victory scoring the goal during injury time to seal the win. He made a total 17 total appearances that season, 16 of them as a substitute.

The following season, he signed a contract extension[1] and his playing time increased to 26 matches and 2 goals, though he was still limited to mostly substitute appearances, due to the abundance of other strikers manager Laurent Blanc had in his arsenal. For the first half of the 2008–09 season, his play was limited again, though when he did receive playing time, he continually impressed, scoring a brace in Bordeaux's 4–2 win over Guingamp in the Coupe de la Ligue. With Bordeaux contending for a title and Gabriel not likely to receive playing time, Blanc decided to loan him out to fellow Ligue 1 side FC Lorient for the rest of the season, where Blanc believed the player would receive more playing time.[2]

At Lorient, Gabriel made 15 total appearances scoring only one goal in a 3–1 win over Grenoble.[3]

[fatbob]

I haven't realy seen him play other than the obvious youtube edits, so its not realy fair to judge him. I trust our scouts as much as anyones though....

So who knows, could be a plum, could be a future good'un.

Having watched the U21 Euros though, Tosic realy stood out to me in the Serbian team, would like to see him play some more this season.

Talking of young talent at the Euros, surprised more people haven't been linked with Marcus Berg, he scored something like 7 goals there IIRC.

[BeeJay]

Kleberson is still in the Brazil setup...We obviously missed something.

Yeah, but Andrea Dossena is in the Italian first team too. Obviously we're missing something with him. He's almost player more games for Italy than he has for us in the last 2 years.

EDIT: he doesn't even have a squad number.

[MojoChin]

Reading his wiki page it sounds like you've just interpreted facts wrongly. He's had no significant drop in appearances or Bordeaux until he went out on loan, presumably to get experience of playing for ninety minutes, because all the appearances he has had have been pretty much all from the bench:

I went by the SkySports article that the story was lifted from.

The highly rated 20-year-old became a regular for Les Girondins at the just 17 but last season found chances hard to come by under former Red Devils defender Laurent Blanc.

Also, just looked at some of the youtube clips and have to say that their not that impressive, thankfully I won't judge on them. Looks like he's a near cert to make the move to Manchester so here's hoping he is actually good. I don't want him to force out Tosic though.

[Orion]

Talking of young talent at the Euros, surprised more people haven't been linked with Marcus Berg, he scored something like 7 goals there IIRC.

His club wants £12 million. Most clubs over here are being careful with their money atm. He is a huge risk. Last player who won the golden boot in the same tournament went on to be shite for Rovers.

Probably will goto Bayern who seem up for the risk and have cash.

[fatbob]

Knowing us though we will probs pay more than £12million for Obertan anyway.

[NeoGeo]

Lee Martin off to Ipswich for an undisclosed fee. Keane raiding United again.

[phresh]

There were rumours he might be going to Bristol so he's done better than that!

I suspect this French lad will go into the reserves with Tosic (and Wellbeck) playing more of a part in the first team. If he does well then he will make the step up. Just because you've got a shit load of cash doesn't mean you have to spend 20 million on every single player you buy. When we sold Ronaldo all I wanted was massive bids left right and center to cover the gaps but the more i've thought about it the more I like the approach Fergie is taking.

Evolution not revolution!

Although I disagreed initially I now think that spending some of the money on the proposed stadium expansion would be a smart move. If the reports were right it would take OT upto 95k capacity (apparently with a lot of 'cheaper' seats although i'll believe it when it happens). Biggest stadium in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. Sounds pretty good to me.

EDIT: Over twice the size of Anfield too

[Gringo]

It's defo a tough one for Fergie. Utd have got young players with enough potential to fill all our needs. Gibson, Nani, Tosic, Welbeck and Macheda. Problem is whether or not they will fulfill it. They probably wouldnt if big name signings are brought in to fill the voids left.

I still worry about centre midfield and the Hargreaves situation. I would defo like an out and out defensive midfielder signed if he is still wrecked which unfortunately I think he is

[phresh]

Fletcher was excellent last season though and the loss to Barca highlighted how well he had been playing for us in some respects. The Hargreaves situation is a tricky one as if he doesn't get fit then it does leave us with only Fletcher and Gibson, not ideal for an entire season.

It's the same with the RB situation, the media tells us we need to replace Neville who has barely played in 2 years. Brown, O'Shea and Rafael are more than good enough to fill the spot and bringing anyone else in would restrict Rafael's opportunities. Even Eckersley looks pretty good.

[Gringo]

I certainly wouldnt even entertain the idea of bringing another right back in. Got more than enough and Rafael has shown instant results imo. Not brilliant in every game but enough to consider him ready to play first team regularly if O'Shea or Brown are out.

[bowser123]

Although I disagreed initially I now think that spending some of the money on the proposed stadium expansion would be a smart move. If the reports were right it would take OT upto 95k capacity (apparently with a lot of 'cheaper' seats although i'll believe it when it happens). Biggest stadium in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. Sounds pretty good to me.

EDIT: Over twice the size of Anfield too

You catch any of the ceremony at Madrid today on Sky Sports?. Hugely impressive, I'm mightily jealous. They're filling stadiums to show off a corking new player and we're... well, you know what we're doing. Kinda only just sunk in he's gone and what it means.

The idea of selling the best and using to buy a stand really is folly, aint it? In honesty I have huge doubts over the South Stand. I can't see the cost of moving the train line anything over than hugely prohibitive, and maybe I'm being unduly suspicious and negative but the talk of a new stand only seems to occur around season ticket renewal time.

The implications being cheaper tickets, singing zones etc etc but all I see is more price increases and the incredible decision to make registering a credit card mandatory to being a ST holder. Never officially confirmed the Stand talk, but it's been as regular a pre season story as the Fabregas to Spain story.

Still, good luck to the lad, he's going to do amazing things in Spain.

[DC Lemon]

After seeing Ronaldo in that kit, I can't blame him for wanting to go there. Our new top looks so cheap and tacky compared to it.