United Thread 2014/15

[Daz_Blue]

Re: Paul Parkers rag assessment

Rooney a disaster, Smalling a nervous wreck… United are just awful.
Paul Parker By Eurosport Aug 19, 2014 14:21
.
Saturday's defeat showed that there are a lot of things wrong at Manchester United.

A lot.

They're missing quality players, experience on the pitch, and men with the big game mentality.

But right near the top of their list of problems is leadership, because Louis van Gaal's decision to make Wayne Rooney his captain was ridiculous.

Robin van Persie was the outstanding choice to be the club skipper - an experienced man to take on a job which is increasingly important in modern football. In the days when teams don't stick together for years, when you have new faces coming and going every season, the importance of a man to draw everyone together on the pitch can be crucial.

And Wayne Rooney was never going to be that man. He's the absolute archetype of a player who thinks that leadership is simply about shouting and screaming.

Who in their right mind would actually think that? It wouldn't work on a factory floor, so why would it work on a football pitch? Because one thing's pretty clear: Rooney isn't shouting to make his words of advice, encouragement and inspiration heard - he's just losing his rag an bellowing at his fellow players.

To make matters worse, most of those players alongside him know full well that this is a player who has a track record of sulking and demanding to quit the club every time things don’t go his way. Why would the players get behind someone they wouldn't trust to still be there come the end of January?

I was lucky enough to play with captains including Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson, men who were strong, determined, and loyal - all qualities you need in a skipper, all woefully lacking in Rooney.

That was just the start of the problems, though. Take the defence: it was a shambles. The only player who looked remotely comfortable at the back was Tyler Blackett, a 20-year-old kid making his debut for goodness sake.

Phil Jones just blunders his way round the pitch with seemingly no idea where he's meant to be, and Chris Smalling was a nervous wreck. To be a top defender you need to know when to challenge for a ball, and when to sit back and just shepherd play into the safe areas. Jones and Smalling have no concept of that at all, going at everything like headless chickens, trying to win every ball and - inevitably - getting found out because of it.

Then there's the midfield, which is at least two players short of competence, and totally bereft of creative players who actually want the ball.

Up front, Van Persie's return from injury will cause trouble - because I still don't believe that he and Rooney can play well together. Rooney is only ever any good up front as a conventional centre-forward, he simply doesn't have the guile or craft to play the number 10 role - and when he tries it, his attempts end up looking nothing short of brutish. Juan Mata or Shinji Kagawa are the only people in the squad right now capable of playing there - so where does that leave Rooney once RVP is back?

As for who United should bring in, a lot of people have suggested that Angel Di Maria could be the man. I disagree completely. He's totally one-footed - so much so that you always know he'll pause and switch feet when closing on goal - and for the £50 million or so being talked about he's simply far too inconsistent.

Guys like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale actually go some way to justifying their huge transfer fees, simply because of their consistent performances every week. But Di Maria goes missing for several matches at a time - just as he did at the World Cup. And yet United are supposed to pay top whack? It doesn't add up.

I'd suggest United went for a man with real presence in midfield - and I think Alex Song would be an excellent choice. Not only does he know what the Premier League will be like, he's also shown in the past that he can link up well with Van Persie - and I think he'd be ideal, exactly the steady presence United need. On top of everything else, given that things haven't gone well for him at Barcelona he'd surely be desperate to leave.

As for the defence? The signing of Marcos Rojo wouldn't be a bad start, but I'm still unable to believe that a club of Manchester United's stature can't sign Mats Hummels.

So Dortmund want £30m or £40m for him - so what? Pay it. It's just ridiculous not to go for the players you need at the level that United want to be at. How on earth do they expect to achieve anything without doing those sorts of deals?

Even those players might not be enough, though. Van Gaal seems determined to persevere with his 3-5-2 tactics, a system I played during my career. At QPR we made it work for us, finishing fifth in the league, but I always felt it was a very negative way of playing, more about destroying than creating, and I really don't believe that it's possible to make it work in the English top flight.

Possibly, just possibly, if Van Gaal had his entire back five from the Dutch national team then he might be able to pull it off - but the personnel are crucial, because with 3-5-2 everything has to start from the back. With the players in the squad at United right now it's a disaster.

As if all that weren't bad enough for United fans, it's ominous how good Manchester City and Chelsea looked in their opening matches - City in particular, coming through comfortably in a tough opener against a good Newcastle side. The gap between United and the top clubs in the country hasn't been this big in a generation.




And he's absolutely spot on

Wow!
When a such a strong 'off message' article comes from the mouth of an ex-player of the self appointed 'Worlds Biggest Club' then the alarm bells really must be ringing.
He's absolutely spot on of course - I am ever so glad to say.

Are you sure it was not Peter Parker spinning a web of lies ?

 

[Burnage Red]

Has anyone seen the rag div with their badge tattoo'd on his forehead in the Sun? Sorry can't post the link for some reason but he's foreign and can't speak a word of English and has only been to the swamp ONCE in his life.

If anyone can post the image or link it'll be worth a laugh!

Haha what a loon, nobody in their right mind wou.... oh.

 

[1.618034]

Edited for accuracy...

Zdravkov Levidzhov, a €20-a-day construction worker in Bulgaria, spent considerable time and money to change his name and says that the ink job is the perfect form of ID.

The 50 year-old admits the idea to change his name ‘with a hangover’ the morning after the famous dramatic 1999 Champions League victory over Bayern Munich and went to see a lawyer.

The court eventually let him change his name to Manchester, but refused to allow United as his surname, saying it could be used as a trademark and his official name is now Manchester Zdravkov Levidzhov-United. Or Mr Manchester United for short.

Speaking to The Sun through a translator, the football-mad Bulgarian says it confirms his commitment to the Red Devils.

"The tattoo's my ID card," he said. "People don't look at me in a funny way, they look in admiration."

"Now, whenever someone asks my name, I point to my forehead and smile. It makes me stand out and proves my loyalty to United," he added.

Speaking to The Manchester Evening news earlier this year, he said it took three years of savings on his €20-a-day job as a construction worker in order to make his one and only visit to Old Trafford five years ago when United defeated Bolton 2-1.



He explained that only in today's more progressive society has such a change become possible.

“Back then (70s), in the Communism era, if I had told someone that I would like to rename myself after a football club from the ‘evil’ captialistic world they would have certainly put me in jail.”

Levidzhov-United changed his religion from the Catholic Church to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which said it would accept him with the name Manchester United.

“Now at least the Lord knows the name I would like to die with,” he said.

With a cat called David Beckham, the football-obsessive said he if he ever had a children he would also name them after the famous English club.

Not much chance of that, is there Mr Small Time?

 

[Sky Blue]

Well if most of the papers are to be believed, we are going all out to 'smash' the British transfer record for Di Maria, when we don't really need another winger, no matter how good they are.

Meanwhile, Van Gaal only seems interested in signing Kevin Strootman who is injured and won't be available to even kick a ball until January. And Bayern Munich are probably going to snap up Benatia a central defender who we really should be going all out to sign but probably won't even bother coz we have everyone tied up on the Di Maria sideshow.

You're out of the closet now then rag?

It would seem with that post he has 'revealed' himself.

Why not just come on here and announce your allegiance in the first place? It does my head in when the snidey cnuts try and hide it.

A decent contributor,regardless of their loyalty,will always be welcome in my book.

Obvious from the off....probably realised how shit he was at the pretending, childish, bollocks.

 

[Blue Til Death]

Just highlights what a complete dickhead wio is, he needs to try and land on this planet now and then when making his hilarious predictions. A 5 year old, I could expect not to mention the Champions and likely winners of the title this season, from a grown man, even one with so little brain cell activity its lamentable and demonstrates his stupidity....!
He needs to concentrate on his shambolic defending with melted wellies team, he's like one of them toys that scoot around and change direction when they hit something...;-))..!

 

[KentBlue]

I like sniffing out the bastards when they post on here, pretending to be Blue. I imagine myself as Columbo, all dishevelled and rambling, grubby old mac and looking like I've never used a comb. And I picture myself doing the whole routine ("Ah, just one more thing, sir. I notice when talking about the vermin you say 'we'". Also, when I made reference earlier to Aguero you visibly winced. Sorry to keep you, sir. I'll just be on my way"). Then there's a close up of the silly prick's face when he realises his wumming is unravelling before his very eyes, and none of us were fooled by him.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Re: Paul Parkers rag assessment

Rooney a disaster, Smalling a nervous wreck… United are just awful.
Paul Parker By Eurosport Aug 19, 2014 14:21
.
Saturday's defeat showed that there are a lot of things wrong at Manchester United.

A lot.

They're missing quality players, experience on the pitch, and men with the big game mentality.

But right near the top of their list of problems is leadership, because Louis van Gaal's decision to make Wayne Rooney his captain was ridiculous.

Robin van Persie was the outstanding choice to be the club skipper - an experienced man to take on a job which is increasingly important in modern football. In the days when teams don't stick together for years, when you have new faces coming and going every season, the importance of a man to draw everyone together on the pitch can be crucial.

And Wayne Rooney was never going to be that man. He's the absolute archetype of a player who thinks that leadership is simply about shouting and screaming.

Who in their right mind would actually think that? It wouldn't work on a factory floor, so why would it work on a football pitch? Because one thing's pretty clear: Rooney isn't shouting to make his words of advice, encouragement and inspiration heard - he's just losing his rag an bellowing at his fellow players.

To make matters worse, most of those players alongside him know full well that this is a player who has a track record of sulking and demanding to quit the club every time things don’t go his way. Why would the players get behind someone they wouldn't trust to still be there come the end of January?

I was lucky enough to play with captains including Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson, men who were strong, determined, and loyal - all qualities you need in a skipper, all woefully lacking in Rooney.

That was just the start of the problems, though. Take the defence: it was a shambles. The only player who looked remotely comfortable at the back was Tyler Blackett, a 20-year-old kid making his debut for goodness sake.

Phil Jones just blunders his way round the pitch with seemingly no idea where he's meant to be, and Chris Smalling was a nervous wreck. To be a top defender you need to know when to challenge for a ball, and when to sit back and just shepherd play into the safe areas. Jones and Smalling have no concept of that at all, going at everything like headless chickens, trying to win every ball and - inevitably - getting found out because of it.

Then there's the midfield, which is at least two players short of competence, and totally bereft of creative players who actually want the ball.

Up front, Van Persie's return from injury will cause trouble - because I still don't believe that he and Rooney can play well together. Rooney is only ever any good up front as a conventional centre-forward, he simply doesn't have the guile or craft to play the number 10 role - and when he tries it, his attempts end up looking nothing short of brutish. Juan Mata or Shinji Kagawa are the only people in the squad right now capable of playing there - so where does that leave Rooney once RVP is back?

As for who United should bring in, a lot of people have suggested that Angel Di Maria could be the man. I disagree completely. He's totally one-footed - so much so that you always know he'll pause and switch feet when closing on goal - and for the £50 million or so being talked about he's simply far too inconsistent.

Guys like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale actually go some way to justifying their huge transfer fees, simply because of their consistent performances every week. But Di Maria goes missing for several matches at a time - just as he did at the World Cup. And yet United are supposed to pay top whack? It doesn't add up.

I'd suggest United went for a man with real presence in midfield - and I think Alex Song would be an excellent choice. Not only does he know what the Premier League will be like, he's also shown in the past that he can link up well with Van Persie - and I think he'd be ideal, exactly the steady presence United need. On top of everything else, given that things haven't gone well for him at Barcelona he'd surely be desperate to leave.

As for the defence? The signing of Marcos Rojo wouldn't be a bad start, but I'm still unable to believe that a club of Manchester United's stature can't sign Mats Hummels.

So Dortmund want £30m or £40m for him - so what? Pay it. It's just ridiculous not to go for the players you need at the level that United want to be at. How on earth do they expect to achieve anything without doing those sorts of deals?

Even those players might not be enough, though. Van Gaal seems determined to persevere with his 3-5-2 tactics, a system I played during my career. At QPR we made it work for us, finishing fifth in the league, but I always felt it was a very negative way of playing, more about destroying than creating, and I really don't believe that it's possible to make it work in the English top flight.

Possibly, just possibly, if Van Gaal had his entire back five from the Dutch national team then he might be able to pull it off - but the personnel are crucial, because with 3-5-2 everything has to start from the back. With the players in the squad at United right now it's a disaster.

As if all that weren't bad enough for United fans, it's ominous how good Manchester City and Chelsea looked in their opening matches - City in particular, coming through comfortably in a tough opener against a good Newcastle side. The gap between United and the top clubs in the country hasn't been this big in a generation.




And he's absolutely spot on

So Dortmund want £30m or £40m for him - so what? Pay it. It's just ridiculous not to go for the players you need at the level that United want to be at. How on earth do they expect to achieve anything without doing those sorts of deals?

Interestingly, this stance never applied when we had to do this early in Mansour's reign.

The 2 faced cunts.

 

[nobody can eat fifty eggs]

I like sniffing out the bastards when they post on here, pretending to be Blue. I imagine myself as Columbo, all dishevelled and rambling, grubby old mac and looking like I've never used a comb. And I picture myself doing the whole routine ("Ah, just one more thing, sir. I notice when talking about the vermin you say 'we'". Also, when I made reference earlier to Aguero you visibly winced. Sorry to keep you, sir. I'll just be on my way"). Then there's a close up of the silly prick's face when he realises his wumming is unravelling before his very eyes, and none of us were fooled by him.

Sniff





;-)

 

[crazyg]

I like sniffing out the bastards when they post on here, pretending to be Blue. I imagine myself as Columbo, all dishevelled and rambling, grubby old mac and looking like I've never used a comb. And I picture myself doing the whole routine ("Ah, just one more thing, sir. I notice when talking about the vermin you say 'we'". Also, when I made reference earlier to Aguero you visibly winced. Sorry to keep you, sir. I'll just be on my way"). Then there's a close up of the silly prick's face when he realises his wumming is unravelling before his very eyes, and none of us were fooled by him.

"If it hadn't have been for those pesky kids on Bluemoon, I'd have got away with it!"

 

[Vienna_70]

They are gonna walk the league - the expert has spoken.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/501254/Rio-Ferdinand-Man-Utd-will-win-the-title-Chelsea-Arsenal-and-Liverpool-have-no-chance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football ... -no-chance</a>

As usual doesn't mention us. Prick.

I think it's brilliant how he can't even say our name or the players names like at the World Cup....it's like he got raped so badly by us that he just blocks us from his mind now so has he doesn't have to go back to those dark moments

As in "David Silva makes up the midfield"?