The old Man Utd Thread

[ckny]

Will be very interesting to see who Giggs picks. Fellaini won't make the bench!

[exwhyzed]

Norwich may be fighting for survival but we've got something to prove. They were bad against Liverpool but managed to capitalise on their customary defensive cock ups to make the game close.

[Gabzy]

The pictures of Giggs, Scholes, Butt and Neville leading the training session today filled me with joy let's hope the players really go for it tomorrow.

[angel]

I hope you murder Norwich, i cant stand them. Theyre classless for sacking Hughton, their new guy Adams is a whinger and believed that he was unlucky against Liverpool, and keeps coming out with this defiant crap about taking points. Yet his team plays like garbage, theyre dirty, the scowl at every single decision, and what exactly is he bringing to the table that Hughton didnt bring? Hes got a cheek saying hes been drilling tactics, as if they hadnt done it before.

tl;dr stuff the canaries, them to go down with Cardiff and Fulham.

[ckny]

The pictures of Giggs, Scholes, Butt and Neville leading the training session today filled me with joy let's hope the players really go for it tomorrow.

Scholes in his official coaches track suit with 'PS' printed on made me laugh. Certainly wasted no time removing the memory of Moyes. Can't wait for tomorrow!

[Jackson]

I hope you murder Norwich, i cant stand them. Theyre classless for sacking Hughton, their new guy Adams is a whinger and believed that he was unlucky against Liverpool, and keeps coming out with this defiant crap about taking points. Yet his team plays like garbage, theyre dirty, the scowl at every single decision, and what exactly is he bringing to the table that Hughton didnt bring? Hes got a cheek saying hes been drilling tactics, as if they hadnt done it before.

tl;dr stuff the canaries, them to go down with Cardiff and Fulham.

Classless, compared to the controversial circumstances surrounding Man U this week? Right.

[ckny]

Anyone else wondering how Phil Nev survived the chopping block? I mean, it's obviously because of the Class of 92 and all that, but still. Strikes me as being overly sentimental, and to me just fuels the notion that the players had it in for Moyes but saw Nev as one of their own?

[Liamness]

He was just a first team coach, they are rarely seen as culpable for bad results.

I do worry about the fact that we now have four ex players coaching the team. You can look at a side like Bayern who do quite well out of bringing former players back into the fold, but they are more involved with the long term decision making than the actual coaching or team selections. Moyes was not good enough to manage United, but he was not helped by being surrounded by a number of senior players, and ex-players who were used to the way Ferguson did things. I think if we bring in a manager who is prepared to bring their own staff in, as well as bench or move on senior players if necessary, that would not be the worst thing. I just wonder how the fans would take that.

[Guest]

I reckon that there's a good chance we'll win the next 4 matches. The players will be well up for it with Giggsy in charge. Fast attacking football is what we want rather than the slow Moyes boring shite.

We might even make Europe after all !

[Liamness]

I think we would've had a good chance beating them all under Moyes, and you always get a bit of a bounce with a new manager. Regardless I am looking forward to hopefully seeing some exciting football, been a while since we have seen some genuine abandon in our forward play. It could all be a bit Sherwood-esque, but at least it should be interesting to watch. Talking about Sherwood, we need Spurs to drop three points to have a chance at getting into Europe. They have Stoke away today, then West Ham away next weekend, then Villa at home on the final day. I think Stoke are our best bet out of that lot tbh.

People are really talking up Giggs before he's even taken charge of a game. Ferguson seems to think he should be given the job full time. Steve Bruce has come out and said he could be 'like Guardiola' in terms of a club legend revitalising the team as manager. I think at most he should be considered as a possible assistant manager to whoever we bring in, to be perfectly honest. Meulensteen has said he'd be open to returning as a coach too, which would be great. As I said before though, whoever we appoint should be given the freedom to bring in their own people.

[Graham S]

A Dutch newspaper is saying it's Van Gaal, and MUFC gave one of those denials that quibbled with semantics rather than the substance.

Bit weird Ferguson seems to be backing Giggs for the permanent job.

Also Moyes texted this to the UWS forum

"Andy. Would you please let it be known how much I appreciated the support I got from the real United fans. They were incredible. I am sorry I couldn't give them the results they are all used to. Thanks. D Moyes."

[aidey6]

It wouldn't surprise me if it is Van Gaal. As it appeases the shareholders that they've appointment a manager with a proven track record.

Also in the fact that United don't have to pay over the odds to get a manager from another club side, thereby saving themselves a few million buying him out of his contract.

[bear]

Do the shareholders really matter? I thought the Glazers owned such a large chunk of the club that the other shareholders have no say in things.

[exwhyzed]

Appease shareholders lol. They don't matter at all to the Glazers at this point in time.

[Marlowe]

Hope it is Van Gaal. The more I read about the guy, the more I like him. He has an excellent record when it comes to bringing through young players (arguably better than Ferguson), he's a firm believer in playing attacking possession football, he knows his shit tactically, and he isn't going to be afraid to drop under-performing players. There's also the fact he's something of a character, an arrogant bastard with a sly sense of humour – exactly what we need after a season of "we played well", "hopefully we'll do better", "they possibly do come here favourites".

[spork]

Giggs' first team..

De Gea;

Jones, Vidic ©, Ferdinand, Evra;

Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley, Kagawa; Welbeck,

Rooney.

Subs: Lindegaard, Smalling, Fletcher, Mata, Nani, Young, Chicharito

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Januzaj nowhere to be seen, great. Cleverley's getting a game though, I guess that's a good thing.

[SF-02]

4-4-2 with Mata and Januzaj dropped. Didn't expect that.

[Liamness]

Even with the most optimistic estimates of how many midfielders we might sign over the summer, Cleverley will still have a role to play next season. He can be a decent player when playing with confidence, and he's actually trying to make things happen here, moving into space well and asking for the ball (and then sometimes passing it forward).

The system and the players in the system seem like a backwards step to me though, seems like Giggs has picked the big names / his mates for the most part.

[aidey6]

Yeah, it's almost as if Fergie picked the team today, Valencia is still having problems beating the 1st man

[sith]

I'm falling asleep watching this.

[MrPogo]

Some quality cheating there to get the penalty.

[Azrael]

I'm struggling to see the foul/contact that lead to the penalty, looked as if Welbeck kicked the ground and fell over. What am I missing?

[Gabzy]

Yeah, just looks like he kicked the ground and fell.

Pretty tragic display so far from Valencia, dozens of chances to cross and can't beat the first man once. We've had most of the possession so I guess that's good? Hmm.

[spork]

Didn't get Welbeck get pulled down by the defender? Whether there was actually enough force to bring him down is debatable though.

[Marzipan Travolta]

The stats all feel a bit Moyes-era at the minute. Norwich do at least seem to have a bit of The Fear in them and they have to try and score now so 2nd half should be better.

[Azrael]

Didn't get Welbeck get pulled down by the defender? Whether there was actually enough force to bring him down is debatable though.

Aye, having seen it some more it does seem Whittaker had made contact, think the reason for Welbeck going down was more to do with him kicking the ground mind.

[footle]

I'm surprised the Liverpool fans didn't sponsor a "Giggs out" banner.

[Gabzy]

4-0! My gosh

[paddyo]

Immense feeling of pride and joy when the camera pans over to the bench and shows giggsy, butty and scholes

Also love the txt from moyes to uws, really classy thing to do he has got a point though, the fans have been amazing this season and really made an effort to both lift the team and support moyes