OMFG WE'VE DONE IT! BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER IS A UNITED PLAYER! I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER BEEN THIS EXCITED FOR A SIGNING! I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!
Aye, didn't think we'd pull that one off, ideal player we need for midfield, right back looks sorted now as well, something has got to happen with De Gea soon as well as Real have just sold Casilas. Striker needed as well but from what it looks like, no one is available that we want. But yeah, top news on Schweinsteiger!
Well, at least Rooney won't be playing in midfield now with Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger signed up, gives us so many more options and not reliant on players like Carrick when he's injured. Fellaini, Mata and Di Maria might get a chance of playing a bit more forward as support to Rooney but I still think we do need a striker if anything happens to Rooney, great signings so far.
Van Gaal with an explosive press conference this morning, said that he'd told RvP what was coming and that he needed Darmian because he wants a right back that can actually defend(ouch, Rafael) and the biggest one of all that Valdes is to be sold since he doesn't follow his philosophy in that last season he refused to play in the reserves.
Later Valdes came out with a tweet showing he'd played in three reserve games. I think the point is not that he played in three games, the point is that he refused to play in any more and you can't pull crap like that with LvG. I love that about LvG, he's absolutely ruthless, just think he's finished off Valdes' United career just like that which shows that reputation means nothing to him. I absolutely love that!
Also it has to be said Valdes isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, how does he think airing his dirty laundry in public like this is going to help. If he was really committed to playing he'd try to convince LvG behind the scenes and not tweet and Instagram it. But he'll soon learn that in a battle with Van Gaal, there can be only one winner and it's definitely not going to be Valdes.
"Who'll pick you up when you're spread too thin, when the walls you built are closing in around you? I found you...."
He certainly doesn't mince his words, he's cut from the same cloth as Fergie in that way, when a player gets on the wrong end of him he's out the door sharpish. It's true about Rafael tho, he's had so many years to learn from his mistakes and he never learnt, best off cutting our losses with him and having Valencia as back up.
If that's the deal with Valdes it's a shame as this could be his last chance at a big club, but in all fairness what was he expecting? De Gea could not be rotated last year, a player of his quality had to play every game so Valdes could only expect to be backup. I remember reading an article when we first signed Valdes, someone said that he wouldn't be happy playing second fiddle to anyone. Looks like De Gea with Lindergard for next season unless something big happens.
Looks like Di Maria is on his bike, if we get £45m+ for him i'd take it, the guy isn't suited for the Premiership in my opinion, I was never that much a fan of his in the first place. If we can get Pedro for £22m then it's a good replacement for me, this should be the break through year with Januzzi I think, and he could be used to support Rooney or Depay up front, after watching the game last night central defence is still an issue.
Looks like Di Maria is on his bike, if we get £45m+ for him i'd take it, the guy isn't suited for the Premiership in my opinion, I was never that much a fan of his in the first place. If we can get Pedro for £22m then it's a good replacement for me, this should be the break through year with Januzzi I think, and he could be used to support Rooney or Depay up front, after watching the game last night central defence is still an issue.
hes a great player. i wonder what happened to him in the epl?! he fit right in for the first couple of months then just fell right off after he got that knock to he hip...shame. hes entertaining to watch. laziness maybe? is de gea staying? will he be no.1 if he does? what do the united fans on here think about LVG? great? nothing special? over-rated? for me its the third. he just spends so much and in seemingly all the wrong places...
Looks like Di Maria is on his bike, if we get £45m+ for him i'd take it, the guy isn't suited for the Premiership in my opinion, I was never that much a fan of his in the first place. If we can get Pedro for £22m then it's a good replacement for me, this should be the break through year with Januzzi I think, and he could be used to support Rooney or Depay up front, after watching the game last night central defence is still an issue.
hes a great player. i wonder what happened to him in the epl?! he fit right in for the first couple of months then just fell right off after he got that knock to he hip...shame. hes entertaining to watch. laziness maybe? is de gea staying? will he be no.1 if he does? what do the united fans on here think about LVG? great? nothing special? over-rated? for me its the third. he just spends so much and in seemingly all the wrong places...
What has pissed me off about Di Maria is that almost immediately after signing for us he was coming out with shit like he didn't sign for PSG because they was banned from signing players, it was like United was his second choice. His attitude has also annoyed me, on the pitch he just doesn't look interested and against arsenal in the FA Cup that was when I thought he's not cut out for us. I don't however think it's all his fault tho, it can't be nice coming to a new country and having your house nearly broken into when you have a wife and young kid, and LVG has played him all over and never really found his best position. A small part of me does want him to stay and prove the doubters wrong tho.
i love LVG myself, the bloke is no nonsense and just speaks his mind. He certainly knows his stuff, and he has that you either love him or hate him appeal about him. He's not afraid to make big decisions as well which is needed at Utd. It's not LVG that spends all the money tho, he'll hand his targets over to Woodward and he'll do the business, that's just the state of the market at the moment. Fergie in his last few years spent big money in the wrong places in my opinion and he was always reluctant to be put in a bidding war for the top players with Chelski and Man Citeh who would just throw money around, pretty much like what we are doing now. Brilliant players who aged was being replaced by younger players who just don't have it in my opinion. We had the best defence in the world a few years ago with Neville, Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra as our back four, over the past few year we haven't had that consistency and we miss that leadership in defence, all four of them was leaders
yeah, i guess i just dont like him. you bring in that amount and kind of talent, i expect you to be playing some impressive football. granted, they finished 4th last season, but lets be honest, the football they were playing was mediocre at best. £150million and hes got them playing long ball bullsh!t. youre right tho, that LVG doesnt make the prices or do the dealing, so i cant really blame him for the ludicrous amounts that get paid... this is why i think wenger is an incredible manager. ok, he maybe hasnt won enough, but top4 finishes every year on a shoe-string while the rest just keep spending, is an amazing achievement. it shows me he has more of a grasp of how the game is played (both on and off the pitch) than most of his counterparts. i can only imagine the type of team the gunners would have if arsene spent as much as united have over the last 20 years. not to mention his unbelievable eye for talent. i mean thierry and vieira must still be the two greatest and smartest buys in EPL history...arguably anyway. but your description of di maria reminds me alot of ozil. too often he seems extremely lackadaisical and just plain lazy. as a german, i was suprised when it dawned on me that ozil didnt deserve to be starting matches at the world cup. he doesnt track, doesnt run hard if he has to chase a pass, and doesnt close players down when its needed of him. its a real shame because the man has skills and can be enjoyable to watch. nasri has the same issues...
yeah, i guess i just dont like him. you bring in that amount and kind of talent, i expect you to be playing some impressive football. granted, they finished 4th last season, but lets be honest, the football they were playing was mediocre at best. £150million and hes got them playing long ball bullsh!t. youre right tho, that LVG doesnt make the prices or do the dealing, so i cant really blame him for the ludicrous amounts that get paid... this is why i think wenger is an incredible manager. ok, he maybe hasnt won enough, but top4 finishes every year on a shoe-string while the rest just keep spending, is an amazing achievement. it shows me he has more of a grasp of how the game is played (both on and off the pitch) than most of his counterparts. i can only imagine the type of team the gunners would have if arsene spent as much as united have over the last 20 years. not to mention his unbelievable eye for talent. i mean thierry and vieira must still be the two greatest and smartest buys in EPL history...arguably anyway. but your description of di maria reminds me alot of ozil. too often he seems extremely lackadaisical and just plain lazy. as a german, i was suprised when it dawned on me that ozil didnt deserve to be starting matches at the world cup. he doesnt track, doesnt run hard if he has to chase a pass, and doesnt close players down when its needed of him. its a real shame because the man has skills and can be enjoyable to watch. nasri has the same issues...
The football we played last season was very hit and miss, some games we played outstanding then the next week it was pub team football, I think however much LVG is experienced in football he has never experienced the PL so it has been a learning curve for him as well.
Thing is with Wenger, he has that job security with Arsenal so he can develop players, managers like LVG who have just come in to steady the ship haven't got the time to develop the players as much as they would have liked. But yeah, he's an increasable manager and deserves a lot of credit for what he has done at Arsenal despite competing against the spending power of Chelski and Citeh. Ozil and Sanchez wasn't cheap tho!
sorry, but the way united have been playing for the last couple, or even few, years is an embarrassment to the team i grew up watching. even when they won the league a couple of years back i thought they won it about as ugly as a team could. like all non-united supporters, i dislike united, but back then you couldnt deny that they were a great team playing beautiful football. as for LVG, there maybe a learning curve. but really, if youre a pro manager and considered one of the best in your trade, that isnt really an excuse. good managers should be able to go anywhere and adapt to the new team while bringing their own game/style with them. and LVG not having the job security that wenger does seems like a negative to me? if he was that awesome he wouldnt be a fix-it manager. i guess thats what annoys me the most about him. he never stays anywhere long enough to show how inept he really is (a little harsh maybe?). loads of managers can come along and just throw money about until something clicks... just my opinions obviously. i am bias tho. i already dont like united, then they bring in a manager i dont like. its a perfect storm. plus, now i have to watch the legend that is schweinsteiger run around in a manchester jersey...
Di Maria's attitude has been pathetic IMO. Since last season he looked disinterested and like Howdo said all the stuff about PSG didn't help either but this not catching the plane and not reporting to pre-season was a new low. United are still paying his wages so he damn well turn up when and where he's told to. Moreover now they literally don't know where he is. I honestly can't wait to see him leave, if he doesn't have the enthusiasm to win back his place in the team from Ashley freaking Young than he's better off leaving and running off to PSG. I was talking to one of my mates and I was just saying I wonder where he'll run off to next should he fail at PSG as well and he said that Boca Juniors was a good place for shite Argentines. So you know what, I can't wait to see them unveil Di Maria in a year's time.
As far as Van Gaal goes, again like Howdo said he's been hit and miss last season but that's largely down to the fact that it was his first season and some of our marquee signings were doing jack shit for us *cough* Di Maria, *cough* Falcao. Plus our injury situation last season was insane. Though I will say his constantly playing players out of position does my head in at times. Like he was playing Van Persis and Rooney in midfield while playing Fellaini up front and now he's playing Periera, a no.10 as a left winger and Januzaj as a false 9 striker and now he says he wants to play Memphis Depay, a winger as part of a central midfield three alongside Carrick/Basti and Schneiderlin. I just don't get that and I know it's going to frustrate me like crazy once the season starts. But Van Gaal is a great character and I really wouldn't want any other manager out there right now to take over United so yeah its complicated but I love the guy and I know he's going to come good either this season or the next.
"Who'll pick you up when you're spread too thin, when the walls you built are closing in around you? I found you...."
As far as Van Gaal goes, again like Howdo said he's been hit and miss last season but that's largely down to the fact that it was his first season and some of our marquee signings were doing jack shit for us *cough* Di Maria, *cough* Falcao. Plus our injury situation last season was insane. Though I will say his constantly playing players out of position does my head in at times. Like he was playing Van Persis and Rooney in midfield while playing Fellaini up front and now he's playing Periera, a no.10 as a left winger and Januzaj as a false 9 striker and now he says he wants to play Memphis Depay, a winger as part of a central midfield three alongside Carrick/Basti and Schneiderlin. I just don't get that and I know it's going to frustrate me like crazy once the season starts. But Van Gaal is a great character and I really wouldn't want any other manager out there right now to take over United so yeah its complicated but I love the guy and I know he's going to come good either this season or the next.
looks like its all happening for you then. just read that ADM is about to take his medical for PSG. £44million. now back to louis. if you use disappointing marquee players as part of an 'excuse' for why they played like sh!t, youve got to take the next logical step in that thought aswell...which is that LVG chose to buy those players. which brings me back to my original point; LVG spends big on world class, already proven players, without thinking about how theyll fit into his squads (last pre-season was a perfect example as was his 2nd stint at barca). then when a problem creeps up, he just ditches them and moves onto the next big name. or he just leaves the club altogether. if he stuck around for a few years he might turn united into a force again, but he'll never stay that long. the man will be gone before he has to do any real managing. we can definitely agree that his player positioning is/was a little odd tho. he spent all that cash and still didnt get all his positions filled properly. how many left sided players can one man buy in a single season?! you did have alot of injuries, but thats why you invest in depth. and players who can play either side. transfers arent just about buying the best players you can? its far more important to buy the players you need. he doesnt mind plowing through the keepers either. if de gea leaves (which is probable) itll be a great example of how clueless i think van gaal is. DDG was (in my opinion) by far your best player last season. the kid is a beast. so he disregards lindegaard straight up and buys valdes for the no.2 spot then before de gea is even out the door he goes and buys another new no.1?!? crazy, crazy, crazy... i suppose youre right in that he is a character. always good to have some eccentrics in the mix. thats why i like mourinho. if you dont take him so serious, hes hilarious...
I don't see how you're calling Van Gaal clueless regarding the goalkeeping situation, he knew De Gea was going so he brought in Valdes. Now Valdes had an attitude problem and that's why he's on his way out, I don't think that's crazy. You do as the manager tells you and if you don't there's only one place you're going and that's out. If you've ever seen Lindegaard play, you'll know he's at best a second choice keeper so bringing in Sergio Romero wasn't a bad move either.
I'm not making any excuses for Van Gaal, I'm just saying coming in straight off the World Cup into a team that was left bare by Fergie and then destroyed by Moyes isn't the easiest thing in the world. I can't fault him for his performance last season. If we hadn't started the season poorly we could've been more competitive at the top but we dropped points against the lesser teams and that showed Van Gaal's inexperience in the Premier League and he admitted as much. We were more than competitive against the top teams in the league and a bit unlucky too at times but that's part of the game. Personally I think Van Gaal's tactics at times are a bit out there but last season there were matches where I didn't think we had a hope in hell which we managed to get a win out of, so I'm not too worried.
Oh and btw the Special One' Mourinho didn't win the League too in his first season back and he's had tons of experience in this league so people writing of LvG because he didn't get United the title last season is a bit silly but hey what're you gonna do, eh.
"Who'll pick you up when you're spread too thin, when the walls you built are closing in around you? I found you...."