The Manchester United Thread

[sunilvk7]

In adversity, even more united

Hi everyone,

To tell the truth, it’s not easy to write here this week… I’ve just got home (I’ve already found a house in Manchester) after a really frustrating draw.

Honestly, I think football is being cruel with us. We did everything to get the three points, but in the end this is about goals and Fulham scored in the last minute… It seems impossible if you look at the stats, but we couldn’t win and it would have been a very important victory. It hurts even more because in the second half we managed to come back after Fulham’s early goal, and the game seemed to be under control with Carrick’s goal. But when the score is so tight you may suffer at the very end, as it happened this time.

It was the same a week ago against Stoke City, with two players injured and one goal after a deflection. It seems that luck is not on our side, but you know that I don’t like to give excuses. We have to get better and improve our shooting accuracy, because we got many times to the box and could have scored more than two goals. I’m sure we will make it, but there are less and less games to play so the sooner the better... There is something we can always count on: the team’s passion and sacrifice. We did fight until the end, and that’s what I felt on the pitch, but once again we can’t give excuses. The way to carry on is to stick together, the team and the fans, learn from mistakes and be positive, and we will show the character this team has always had.

Despite this draw, I don’t want to forget the minute’s silence at Old Trafford, which was touching. It’s very impressive to see how the club remembers the victims of that terrible accident in Munich, and it says a lot about the club’s respect for the legends of the past. The way this club has overcome the difficulties since then is an example to all of us.

The week at the training ground was really good. I know my team mates better and I feel a great atmosphere in the dressing room. I hope we can show that next Wednesday against Arsenal. It’s a very tough game, but I have good memories from my last visit to the Emirates a few months ago and I hope I can enjoy a good game as well.

It’s not easy to win regularly. Atl?tico’s defeat in Almer?a is a good example. Sometimes things don’t come up the way you expect and winning becomes very difficult. The fight in la Liga is now very tight with three teams with the same points. Barcelona came from one goal down to win 1-4 in Sevilla, always a difficult task, whereas Real Madrid beat a combative Villarreal, 4-2 at Bernab?u.

I keep being amazed for Bayern Munich: 45 games unbeaten in the Bundesliga; that’s the best example of consistency that I can remember. It’s something remarkable. It says that they are working well in the last few years, as they showed by reaching the last two Champions League finals.

Before saying good bye I want to send a big hug to my friend Oriol Romeu. I’m sure you will be fit again in less than a month, my friend. Overcoming the adversity is easier with a good attitude. Even more if you get a lot of support, same as I feel from you guys on the social networks. You are strong and you will be back soon, Ori.

Writing to you today is really complicated as I’m still frustrated after the match, but I want you to know that we will give everything until the end of the season, because that’s what you deserve.

Thank you so much for your messages of support. I feel I’m facing a new challenge in my career and I look forward to keep improving and to learn from every situation. The results may be better or worse but I’m going to give everything I have to help the team in every game, trying to enjoy football as I’ve always done, in the good and the bad moments.

A million thanks. Have a nice week.

Hug,

Juan

PS: I want to send all my support to those affected by the severe storms in Spain, many of them in the North of the country, and in particular to my people in Asturias.​

In adversity, even more united | One hour behind - Blog grada360.com

Its refreshing to see such a nice fella in football.

 

[rephlex]

Mata is a classy, classy player. He spends his free time studying for his engineering degree/masters as far as I am aware, has an incredibly disciplined lifestyle and is professional. I get the feeling he'd fit in well with RVP who seems to have the whole ultra-professional ethos going on. Exactly what you need when it comes to helping the youngsters progress following their example.

 

[TJD07]

Mata is a classy, classy player. He spends his free time studying for his engineering degree/masters as far as I am aware, has an incredibly disciplined lifestyle and is professional. I get the feeling he'd fit in well with RVP who seems to have the whole ultra-professional ethos going on. Exactly what you need when it comes to helping the youngsters progress following their example.

He's the type of player any manager would kill to have, great talent and a perfect professional off the pitch.

 

[sunilvk7]

He's the type of player any manager would kill to have, great talent and a perfect professional off the pitch.

And he is working his socks off on the pitch too. Whether he played always like that or he is out there to prove something I don't know but he is going for tackles, always available for passes and sprayed passes all over the pitch.

 

[epic terrorist]

Top professional, perfect example for youngsters to look up to

 

[Mike.]

People talk about us losng leaders and influence, and rightly so. Which makes buying someone like Mata all the more important. You need cool heads when the **** hits the fan. Very few players would have handled the his situation at Chelsea well. There is a reason players like him are universally adored by everyone, fans and players alike.

 

[CJACKO11]

He's the type of player any manager would kill to have, great talent and a perfect professional off the pitch.

Minus Jose

 

[Alcaraz]

Mata is a great player to have both on and off the pitch. Total professional. Controversy-free. Plays his heart out every game

 

[TJD07]

Minus Jose

Who's that guy? <)

 

[iNickStuff]

I'm sure we'll love Mata (and already do) in a similar way that we have done with Vidic.

 

[zzeezzy]

So with Vidic and Rio most likely out the door... the question remains... who would you guys like to see come in as a CB? Wouldn't surprise me if it was Garay.

 

[Joel`]

Loved that celebration, hopefully he stays for long time and breaks every record.

It's such a shame that Moyes knows only one way of attacking, Rooney, Mata, RVP and Januzaj is a dream upfront and Carrick played with balls yesterday (maybe twitter questions worked him up a little). There is no way we should have used just crossing as a weapon. Fletcher also played some very good passes and with little work we could attack teams in many ways, shame Moyes is stuck with cross till we score and defend deep tactics.

I would be as happy as anyone if Moyes wins leagues and cups but from what I have seen till now, I', losing all the confidence in him. We don't have a CM was a valid excuse but yesterday Carrick and Fletcher were better than anyone Fulham have and still we played **** tactics and not even a single attack through middle.

The thing is, it's not even like this is the only way Moyes knows how to play. We've even played some nice fluid stuff at times this season. It's just like after the Spurs game we seemed to lose all confidence, and when we lost that we've become more and more simple in the way we play.

 

[TheFalse9]

So with Vidic and Rio most likely out the door... the question remains... who would you guys like to see come in as a CB? Wouldn't surprise me if it was Garay.

Mangala could be an option if City don't move for him, and perhaps one even if they do.

 

[Mike.]

So with Vidic and Rio most likely out the door... the question remains... who would you guys like to see come in as a CB? Wouldn't surprise me if it was Garay.

Actually, I want us to sort midfield in the summer first. You control the mdifield, you protect your centre backs and create a strong support base for your forwards. If we do that then we actually create the right enviroment for Jones and Evans to create a formidable back line.

Whoever we bring in at CB, first and foremost, needs to be made of granite, we suffer too many CB injuries.

 

[dasty]

Well no, because you you got give the manager the first season to know all his players, he went out and gave everyone a chance. He was going to need more than one season. And no one is acting all dine and dandy either, they just arent falling to pieces.

The irony of you telling me to come back to reality and then writing that. Firstly no one has ever said it's not his fault. Secondly if you dont think he (or any manager) needs a massive warchest for the rebuild, then you're on crack because we need about 5 players.

What you dont think any new manager was not going to rebuild this team. Open your eyes mate, 3 of our back line alone are creaking (Rio is already semi retired). We dont have a strong mid, and our wide players bar Mata and Januzaj are flaky to say the least.

The only possible way he goes is if somehow he has a colossal meltdown with key members with long term futures at the club (Evans, Mata, Jones, Welbeck, Januajaz, De Gea etc)

Did I ever say that we do not need to strengthen our team massively this coming summer? I'm saying that I do not trust Moyes with that massive warchest. And I do not trust him to rebuild our team because of his football philosophy. Is it that hard to understand? Not to mention that I have stated numerous times that Moyes is a manager that I do not trust on spending big because of his dismal record in Everton when doing so (Bilyaletdinov, Johnson, Yakubu etc).

And you don't think that there's any other manager that can do a better job than Moyes? You must be on crack.

 

[Mike.]

Did I ever say that we do not need to strengthen our team massively this coming summer? I'm saying that I do not trust Moyes with that massive warchest. And I do not trust him to rebuild our team because of his football philosophy. Is it that hard to understand? Not to mention that I have stated numerous times that Moyes is a manager that I do not trust on spending big because of his dismal record in Everton when doing so (Bilyaletdinov, Johnson, Yakubu etc).

And you don't think that there's any other manager that can do a better job than Moyes? You must be on crack.

Coleman, Mirallas, Arteta, Pienaar, Baines. Not as if Ferguson never bought duds either or is your memory that short (oh hi Seba Veron)?

Moyes has bought 2 players, Fellaini and Mata, jury is out on Fellaini, Mata certainly a success so far.

His footballing philosophy at Everton was actually very good. We're not actually playing like his style yet (aggressive 4-2-3-1 with drifting wide players attacking channel (Pienaar), powerful holding mid and mobile scoring playmaker (Fellaini and Arteta combo) crafty dangerous 10 (Osman), supported by powerful, highly aggressive creative full backs (Coleman, Baines).

The talk of us playing like Everton as a criticism is ridiculous. If we were playing like Everton, we would be play much better than we are now. Our defensive record would certainly be much much better.

In Mata and Januazaj we're getting there with the wideplay, Rooney at 10, Fellaini the holding mid. We need that all star mid (been saying that for 4 years) and also a very strong left back. That's just for the first 11. We also need more quality depth.

A style with many similarities to Fergusons way, unless you are saying you have no faith in how we played for the best part of 20 years?. We still need a number of players to do so. More to the point, if you didnt think he was going to get one this summer, you dont know our club too well.

Your last sentence makes no sense because I never said there wasnt a better manager. But are any of these actually available?

 

[dasty]

Coleman, Mirallas, Arteta, Pienaar, Baines. Not as if Ferguson never bought duds either or is your memory that short (oh hi Seba Veron)?

Moyes has bought 2 players, Fellaini and Mata, jury is out on Fellaini, Mata certainly a success so far.

His footballing philosophy at Everton was actually very good. We're not actually playing like his style yet (aggressive 4-2-3-1 with drifting wide players attacking channel (Pienaar), powerful holding mid and mobile scoring playmaker (Fellaini and Arteta combo) crafty dangerous 10 (Osman), supported by powerful, highly aggressive creative full backs (Coleman, Baines).

The talk of us playing like Everton as a criticism is ridiculous. If we were playing like Everton, we would be play much better than we are now. Our defensive record would certainly be much much better.

In Mata and Januazaj we're getting there with the wideplay, Rooney at 10, Fellaini the holding mid. We need that all star mid (been saying that for 4 years) and also a very strong left back. That's just for the first 11. We also need more quality depth.

A style with many similarities to Fergusons way, unless you are saying you have no faith in how we played for the best part of 20 years?. We still need a number of players to do so. More to the point, if you didnt think he was going to get one this summer, you dont know our club too well.

Your last sentence makes no sense because I never said there wasnt a better manager. But are any of these actually available?

Coleman, Mirallas, Arteta etc? Hello, I said big signings. Or do you expect Moyes to buy 55 players with his massive warchest? His biggest signings in Everton were

Fellaini - 20m
Yakubu - 11.25m
Bilyaletdinov - 8.9m
Andrew Johnson - 8.5m
John Heitinga - 7m
James Beattie - 6m
Nikica Jelavic - 5m
Per Kroldrup - 5m​

I don't really care what his Everton was playing but the Man Utd team that is under him now is playing football from jurassic park. One cross every minute against Fulham when you have no target man to aim for? Never thought I would say this but we would be better off with Andy Carroll than RVP if that's how we are going to play. And it's not something that had only happened once before. Our team had been crossing way too much ever since this season started. What is Moyes' response to all that? We got to the byline 8-9 times and we should have scored?

My last sentence made as much sense as you saying that I don't think we need to rebuild our team.

 

[Mike.]

Coleman, Mirallas, Arteta etc? Hello, I said big signings. Or do you expect Moyes to buy 55 players with his massive warchest? His biggest signings in Everton were

Fellaini - 20m
Yakubu - 11.25m
Bilyaletdinov - 8.9m
Andrew Johnson - 8.5m
John Heitinga - 7m
James Beattie - 6m
Nikica Jelavic - 5m
Per Kroldrup - 5m​

I don't really care what his Everton was playing but the Man Utd team that is under him now is playing football from jurassic park. One cross every minute against Fulham when you have no target man to aim for? Never thought I would say this but we would be better off with Andy Carroll than RVP if that's how we are going to play. And it's not something that had only happened once before. Our team had been crossing way too much ever since this season started. What is Moyes' response to all that? We got to the byline 8-9 times and we should have scored?

My last sentence made as much sense as you saying that I don't think we need to rebuild our team.

They are big signings, because their impact matters more than their price tag. You seem to think the big price tag matters. Two of our best players in recent years cost 13m between them (Vidic and Evra) He also just made our record signing, who is an instant hit. His transfer record is about as mixed as Fergusons. I dont care if our players cost 5m or 50m, I care about if they are the right player. Considering who he has scouted so far, are any of them bad targets?

So your argument about his philosophy is rubbish then. First you say you dont like his philosophy, then you say you dont care about how he played at Everton (which was his philosophy). Which is it then?

How we are playing now isn't how he/we want to play. Actually thats a lie about us crossing too much, the stats per game before the game are the same as it has been for us since the 2009/10 season. We've been crossing too much the last few years because those are the wide players we have.

 

[MANUMAD]

Actually we'd been crossing the same amount as we had under Ferguson since the start of 09/10 season. Which says a lot about the football we have been playing the last few seasons. Which also makes this game even more startling.

Erm, not exactly. I mean ok we ve been winging it under SAF since the days of Kanchelskis and Blonqvist but to say that we d been crossing the same amount as we had under SAF since the start of 09/10 is way off the mark as countless times we tried different tactics under SAF (not all successful and sometimes in one match) - and NEVER 81 (!) crosses.

Whereas all we ve been witnessing this season is metronomically doing the same ****** thing ...

 

[Mike.]

Players scouted/wanted/seen by Moyes (assuming some of the stories have legs)

Astori
Moreno
Mangala
Vidal
Kroos
Hermann
Kruse
Veitmann
Marchisio
Shaw

In all seriousness can we say any of them are bad targets?