The Manchester United Thread

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Sport Witness @Sport_Witness Someone is telling people Gundogan has agreed to sign for Manchester United, that's our take. http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/done-deal-man-united-agree-terms-to-buy-midfielder-22m-fee-wages- …



Good read on the Gundogan story/links. Thoughts?
 
Pogba's set on Barcelona and will wait at Juventus until that can happen I believe.
 
I dunno, I'm still not that happy with the prices being quoted for otamendi, but I guess we have lack of alternatives.. Shame, would've loved hummels here..
 
Sherkey said:
I dunno, I'm still not that happy with the prices being quoted for otamendi, but I guess we have lack of alternatives.. Shame, would've loved hummels here..
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Yeah..35 million is high but no other realistic quality options...
 
Theatreof Dreams said:
He was good at Porto and early years at Valencia, now he is just the finished article. With his best years ahead. Cant wait till its announced, just a shame he will miss the start of the season.
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I wouldn't be so confident of getting this deal done, every year we have seen reports from South America that so and so player is a done deal only to end up elsewhere.

We have signed Gaitan, Garay at least 10 times by now.
 
If we're talking about almost signing players, I'll see your south Americans and raise you a Wesley Sneijder.. xD
 
sunilvk7 said:
I wouldn't be so confident of getting this deal done, every year we have seen reports from South America that so and so player is a done deal only to end up elsewhere.

We have signed Gaitan, Garay at least 10 times by now.
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Despite the hefty price, I really don't think we can go another season with our current CB's and have to face reality that there is little alternatives right now, if we don't reinforce this area another season of top 4 beckons, not a lot more.
 
zzeezzy said:
Despite the hefty price, I really don't think we can go another season with our current CB's and have to face reality that there is little alternatives right now, if we don't reinforce this area another season of top 4 beckons, not a lot more.
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Maybe I didn't put my point correctly, I'm not saying we don't need him just that I don't trust South American journos and assume we have signed him.

He is excellent CB and IMO the best in La Liga at least in the second half of the season. Also I prefer him above Hummles. Hummels is quality CB without a doubt but he lacks pace and we push very higher up the pitch, but his passing is just amazing. Otamendi has pace and physically not shabby either. Also he has no injury concerns and will join after finishing the season on a high.
 
As regards Matts Hummels .....

I have no stake in this debate (as a Liverpool fan I actually really hope you buy Hummels |)); but if I where a Utd supporter he'd be the last player I'd want major money splashing on.

Never gotten the hype. Whenever I've seen him he always strikes me as another Mertesacker. Great if your defending the 18 yard box. Big, strong, good in the air. Old school centre half who gets something in the way. But one with very little to no pace that can be easily exposed outside his own area. VERY easy to get behind the pair of them. Which in this league of all leagues is the very LAST thing you need.

Given the porous state of the rest of Utd's defence, you could do a LOT better for your money than go blow a massive amount on him IMHO.

But then if De Gea does indeed go back to Madrid, Utd's defensive problems multiply immensely. There's your offseason priority. But the lure of Madrid to a Spaniard is something no amount of money is going to hold back so I don't see how you win that one.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
As regards Matts Hummels .....

I have no stake in this debate (as a Liverpool fan I actually really hope you buy Hummels |)); but if I where a Utd supporter he'd be the last player I'd want major money splashing on.

Never gotten the hype. Whenever I've seen him he always strikes me as another Mertesacker. Great if your defending the 18 yard box. Big, strong, good in the air. Old school centre half who gets something in the way. But one with very little to no pace that can be easily exposed outside his own area. VERY easy to get behind the pair of them. Which in this league of all leagues is the very LAST thing you need.

Given the porous state of the rest of Utd's defence, you could do a LOT better for your money than go blow a massive amount on him IMHO.

But then if De Gea does indeed go back to Madrid, Utd's defensive problems multiply immensely. There's your offseason priority. But the lure of Madrid to a Spaniard is something no amount of money is going to hold back so I don't see how you win that one.
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Interesting post, on the De Gea subject I agree completely but one thing I do wonder is whether having a more communicative goalkeeper who organises the defence better would perhaps solve some of these issues. Also we have to remember that hopefully if we reinforce the defence with an experienced CB that will help as well. (Mark Ogden did mention this as well)
 
I think people are making too big a deal of De Gea. Yes hes a fantactic keeper, and would be a big loss, but a goalkeeper will only look good if he's getting the opportunity to make save after save after save. Our problem is stopping teams from getting into clear shooting opportunities in the first place. If we cut that out, we only need what I would call a top competent keeper, not nescessarily a "world class" one.

Valdes is the prime example. I wouldnt class him as a truely world class keeper. He's a good shot stopper and good in reflex situations but he's far from a top all round keeper. He struggles catching a ball and coming through bodies to claim it. Yet he was the keeper for arguably the best footballing side we have ever seen. Barca kept the ball that much that shots against were few and far between, and when they did lose the ball they had Puyol, Mascherano and others to organise defensively and stop most attacks from even getting a shot off.

We have already started laying the foundations of a very possession based system. We have no trouble what so ever in keeping the ball now for long periods. We lack two things. Firstly more cutting edge going forward to make all this possession count. No good having all the ball and not being able to score (Chelsea, Hull ect...), and no good having a useless defense where when you do lose the ball, the opposition is more than likely to walk straight through you and get a clear chance at goal. Addressing those two situations is more importand than trying to keep one world class goalkeeper. Avoid the shots in the first place and we are lauging, and taking our chances when we have all the ball is equally if not more important. The last few games we have had around 70% of the ball, and a lot of chances, but are still losing and drawing games. Our defensive troubles wouldnt have been half as evident if we was scoring 2 or 3 goals a game to still pick up wins.
 
sunilvk7 said:
I wouldn't be so confident of getting this deal done, every year we have seen reports from South America that so and so player is a done deal only to end up elsewhere.

We have signed Gaitan, Garay at least 10 times by now.
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Yeah I tend to agree. But I think its different this time. Not just South American journos, but Ladyman and Ballague keep reporting it also.
 
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