Ellmeister Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Good SNF game yesterday. Looks like Arsenal still can't handle strong teams but their fightback spirit at the end against a tired Everton was definitely better than last season. Also respect to Leicester, I haven't seen highlights yet but BBC sport commentary sounded like they had their chances and it wasn't a one sided game. So far all the newly promoted have shown character!
dwarf Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 If the Di Maria deal materialises - YES. We need him. In the WC quarter-final he conceded possession something like 60 times in the match, and yet he was still making things happen and of course scored the winning goal. I like wingers who make thing happen and look forward to seeing him in a United shirt. We're still in need of a world class centre back and central midfielder though.
Fierce_LiNk Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 If the Di Maria deal materialises - YES. We need him. In the WC quarter-final he conceded possession something like 60 times in the match, and yet he was still making things happen and of course scored the winning goal. I like wingers who make thing happen and look forward to seeing him in a United shirt. We're still in need of a world class centre back and central midfielder though. Di Maria would be a weird as fuck deal. The only reason we're pursuing it is because Real Madrid won't give him moar money. If they gave him moar, we wouldn't have a chance of nabbing him. He was the best winger in the world last season, I was cumming day and night watching him play. It reminds me of the Van Persie deal, mind. We're going after him because he's there, rather than because we actually desperately need him. We can't not go for him because he's that good, just like we couldn't not go for Van Persie, when perhaps we actually needed moaaar in other positions. We need a CM and another CB desperately. I would kill for a new right back, too. In terms of CM, if Strootman were fit, I think he would have been the one. Carvalho or Vidal looked like real candidates earlier on this summer and I think Vidal would have been a good fit. CB wise...we should have gone for Garay. Too late now, because he was the right man. Had a great world cup, too. Pissed off with that one as he is easily better than every defender we have.
Fierce_LiNk Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Horrible, horrible game. Smalling is also injured now, so our defence is even more of a joke. Cleverley gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a Premier League player. The only plus is that we got a point. Sunderland bossed us in midfield and were tight as fuck in midfield. Lee Catermole was easily man of the match.
Blade Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Anyone see the legend of a cat at the Barca game? Haha
dwarf Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Ray Hudson just went off on a wild one about how it's supposed to be the year of the horse according to the Chinese, and how the cat was proving to be bad luck to the Barcelona players until Messi broke the voodoo. Gotta love Ray. 2 great goals btw!
dazzybee Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 No one mentioning who's top of the league. And playing utterly glorious football Di Maria is exactly what Man U don't really need, though always nice to have. It's like arsenal buying Sanchez, great player, but far far bigger holes to fill. I'd be worried being both sets of fans whether they'll get sorted. Man U proving what has been apparent for a long time, they are borderline awful! And this new system... Maybe it will take time... Or maybe, just maybe, it's utter bollocks!
dazzybee Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Another thing. There were 48 passes leading to our third goal, twice as many as any goal all of last season. If that was a different club people would be creaming over it. Also, all 11 players made a pass in the move too!
Wii Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) Isn't it nice that nobody's getting carried away after only 2 games of the season? Don't see any Swansea fans claiming that they'll be playing Champions League next season or Hull and Villa fans that they'll be in the Europa League but then they're not Walter Mitty. Edited August 25, 2014 by Wii
Esequiel Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 No one mentioning who's top of the league. And playing utterly glorious football Di Maria is exactly what Man U don't really need, though always nice to have. It's like arsenal buying Sanchez, great player, but far far bigger holes to fill. I'd be worried being both sets of fans whether they'll get sorted. Man U proving what has been apparent for a long time, they are borderline awful! And this new system... Maybe it will take time... Or maybe, just maybe, it's utter bollocks! Yeah.... winning at a poor West Ham side 1-0 and beating (albeit beating them well) a QPR side that will most likely be relegated this season.... Woo top of the league! Lets see what happens on the 31st
Fierce_LiNk Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 No one mentioning who's top of the league. And playing utterly glorious football Di Maria is exactly what Man U don't really need, though always nice to have. It's like arsenal buying Sanchez, great player, but far far bigger holes to fill. I'd be worried being both sets of fans whether they'll get sorted. Man U proving what has been apparent for a long time, they are borderline awful! And this new system... Maybe it will take time... Or maybe, just maybe, it's utter bollocks! I saw the highlights and thought it was a good performance. Hope Chadli comes good, for the national team more than anything. I can see him making it. Actually, I've sorta changed my mind about Di Maria now. True, we need a defender(s) and central midfielder(s) more than anything, but...we also need quality wingers. Somebody on Redcafe made a good point yesterday. Would we be better off spending that money on multiple players like Nani, Young, Valencia, Bebe, Obertan, Zaha...or is it better to pay extra and go for quality? Imo, we are shit on the wings...we're also shit just about everywhere else except in goal and up front! I'm fed up of seeing Valencia get the ball and not run past a player, or not taking shots. He used to have 8 good games out of 10. Now, we're lucky to get 1. Young is infuriating because I feel that he could have made it, but he's too inconsistent and goes through shit patches of form. Nani is THE definition of inconsistent and either doesn't play any more or doesn't do anything when he does play. So, yeah, thinking on it A LOT, I can't say that we don't need him. The order of priority probably goes something like...Midfielder, Defender, Winger. We're paying the price for pissing about in the transfer window last summer, as we had an opportunity then to clear out some of the players who shouldn't be here and bring some new ones in. Or to try out youth. Now, instead of having one or two seasons in transition, we probably need three or four. Maybe five.
dwarf Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 You don't look at the United wingers at the moment and think, 'shit, he looks dangerous'. Di Maria does. He has a great cross as well, Valencia and Young, nine times out of ten, can't cross the motherfucking ball. So many of our attacks last season consisted of getting it wide and playing a hopeful low ball into the box. It was excruciating to watch, pure conjecture in approach. Moyes always hammered away saying the opportunities were there, but they really fucking weren't. We fed off scraps, there was no incisive play. Di Maria is direct and has all the ability of the great wingers United have enjoyed in the past. We DO need him. Also lol @ Daz - about 90% of the passes of that goal were sideways to and fro at the back under no pressure, the actual penetration didn't happen until much later in the move, and even then one of those 'passes' was dubious because it came off a defender who made a lunging tackle and it happened to go to your man. Sure it was a decent move, but the only thing to write home about was the cross. Spurs had tons of space to work with before they finally ventured forward.
Happenstance Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 We started off well but City just have a much stronger and well oiled team. I'm not surprised this is how its going this early on in the season with the changes and loss of Suarez.
MadDog Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Was always going to be tough, but we weren't actually that bad, we just defended like retards.
Hero-of-Time Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 It was frustrating to watch. We played really well until they scored. After that we let our heads drop and couldn't get back into the game.
pratty Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Yep, all bias aside I genuinely thought we actually played ok for most of the game. City are just so good, hardly made any mistakes, their passing is nearly always spot on, their passes for the 2nd and 3rd goals were inch perfect, there probably wasn't much we could do about them. Didn't help either that we went down to 10 men as soon as we got back in the game which killed any momentum before it really got going. Wasn't a good time to play City with Lallana out and Moreno playing his first game and Lovren only his second or third, but at least it's out the way, City away is probably the hardest league game we'll have all season. Wasn't impressed with Joe Allen, can't knock him for effort but I don't think he offers enough going forward. It's like we're playing 3 holding players at times, and the irony is our most creative midfielder Gerrard plays the deepest. As a result we get lots of the ball but little penetration. We need a more creative player centrally behind the front 3, like Coutinho, or Lallana when he's fit. Tonight I would have probably put Gerrard there if we had to keep Coutinho out wide.
Fierce_LiNk Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) I think that match said more about City than it did Liverpool. Jovetic is, what, City's fourth striker? He was one of the best players tonight. They've got unbelievable depth now and they're just going to add to it. They've replaced the likes of Lescott and Barry in previous seasons with Mangala, Demichellis, Fernandino and Fernando. The only squad that can come anywhere near to them is Chelsea, everybody else is at least a clear step behind. The only hope that a team like Liverpool or Arsenal have is if there are serious injuries to key members at City and Chelsea like Kompany, Aguero, Toure, Costa, Hazard, Oscar, etc. If that happens and if the rivals can keep their squads fit, then maybe they can do it. Otherwise, I just can't see anyone beating City. They've got a potential Champions League winning team there. On the plus side....ANGEL DI MAFUCKINGRIA!!!11 Edited August 25, 2014 by Fierce_LiNk
dazzybee Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Can't wait for spurs to heap more misery on Liverpool next week. Said in preseason Liverpool will be fighting for 6th this year. Europe hasn't even started either, with all the new players, it's going to be a really really difficult season for them. I'm going to the game on Sunday. Can't wait!
Hero-of-Time Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Said in preseason Liverpool will be fighting for 6th this year. Europe hasn't even started either, with all the new players, it's going to be a really really difficult season for them. Before the season started I said to my mates we were going to struggle to break into the top 4 this year. Sixth sounds about right. Last season, at times, we had serious defensive issues and only won because we scored more than they put past us. With Suarez now gone we can't depend on doing that now and need to be a lot tighter at the back.
Fierce_LiNk Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Before the season started I said to my mates we were going to struggle to break into the top 4 this year. Sixth sounds about right. Last season, at times, we had serious defensive issues and only won because we scored more than they put past us. With Suarez now gone we can't depend on doing that now and need to be a lot tighter at the back. This is the where the Balotelli deal looks like it could make a bit of sense, imo. Every teams needs a bit of a bastard up front, or at least somebody who can cause trouble. Liverpool had it with Suarez, now they should have it with Balotelli. Sturridge and Sterling look great, are pacey, but they haven't really got enough bite there to push defenders around or piss them off a little. It's almost very one pace, just "run straight through or around them". Balotelli gives them the presence that they need. We're almost the opposite at United. We have Rooney, Van Persie and Welbeck who have presence, but very little pace anywhere else. This is where Di Maria looks like an excellent deal. (and Luke Shaw when he's finally fit)
Hero-of-Time Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 This is the where the Balotelli deal looks like it could make a bit of sense, imo. Every teams needs a bit of a bastard up front, or at least somebody who can cause trouble. Liverpool had it with Suarez, now they should have it with Balotelli. Sturridge and Sterling look great, are pacey, but they haven't really got enough bite there to push defenders around or piss them off a little. It's almost very one pace, just "run straight through or around them". Balotelli gives them the presence that they need. We're almost the opposite at United. We have Rooney, Van Persie and Welbeck who have presence, but very little pace anywhere else. This is where Di Maria looks like an excellent deal. (and Luke Shaw when he's finally fit)
Recommended Posts