United Thread - 2021/22

[FantasyIreland]

shaw, Fernandes, Ronaldo, maguire, pogpa in my opinion. That’s half a team. Don’t kid yourself they are a very good squad and we are playing without a number 9.

 

[youngbob]

They have bought well and closed the gap on us and there is almost nothing between us squad wise and clearly they have better strikers. We will do well to finish above them this season.

There is an absolute chasm between us squad-wise. The respective first XIs are probably just about as good as each other, give or take a couple of players, but the strength of our squad vastly outweighs the strength of theirs.

Quick reminder that this is their B-team.

Henderson
Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Telles
Mata, Matic, Van De Beek
Martial, Cavani, Rashford

You could make a case for Rashford and Cavani on their day, and maybe Martial during one of his infrequent hot streaks, but the rest are considerably weaker than their first team counterpart at United. Fernandes and Pogba suddenly becomes Mata and Van De Beek. Varane and Maguire is suddenly Lindelof and Bailly. The partnerships are nowhere near as dangerous or effective.

At this stage of the season, it's easy for United to look good because they've got a fully fit first XI (save for McTominay) and they've been able to let it loose on the teams currently sat in 13th, 14th, 17th and 19th. But their squad isn't good enough to go deep in every competition like ours squad is, or like Chelsea's squad is - if they want to enter the title race properly, they're going to have to sacrifice at least two other competitions to get there, or players like Van De Beek and Dalot are going to need to have the seasons of their lives.

They'll finish comfortably in the top 4 and Ronaldo will score lots of goals, there's no doubt about that. They might win a derby at the Etihad again. They might even finish above us for the first time in 8 years if we don't keep up our early-season form. But that's all. In time, the United shirts you've seen recently will disappear again and the Green & Gold scarves will return at Old Trafford. Solskjaer has made them a better team but he hasn't made them good enough to win things.

 

[worsleyweb]

Sorry, just seen this. Not a chance Pogba gets into a Pep team. I’ve never encountered a player who is so consistently overrated by so many people. He’s been bang average since he’s signed apart from the last few games - and yet people are pointing towards the latter as evidence of his world class status whilst ignoring the former.

Plus Stones and Sterling aren’t currently making our first XI, so you need to have a rethink about those two.

Magurie is an equal to Laporte and 9/10 people not City fans would pick Pogpa over Gundog.

 

[youngbob]

@worsleyweb

First XI: 6 for City, 5 for United (just personal preference, of course).

Ederson or De Gea? Ederson.

Walker or Wan-Bissaka? Walker.
Stones or Varane? Varane.
Dias or Maguire? Dias.
Zinchenko or Shaw? Shaw.

Rodri or McTominay? McTominay.
De Bruyne or Fernandes? De Bruyne.
Bernardo or Pogba? Bernardo.

Mahrez or Greenwood? Greenwood.
Torres or Ronaldo? Ronaldo.
Foden or Sancho? Foden.

Squads: 8 for City, 3 for United (again just my preference).

Henderson or Steffen? Henderson.

Dalot or Cancelo? Cancelo.
Lindelof or Laporte? Laporte.
Bailly or Ake? Bailly.
Telles or Cancelo? Cancelo.

Fred or Fernandinho? Fernandinho.
Mata or Gundogan? Gundogan.
Van De Beek or Grealish? Grealish.

Rashford or Jesus? Jesus.
Cavani or Delap? Cavani.
Martial or Sterling? Sterling.

 

[Blue back home]

There is an absolute chasm between us squad-wise. The respective first XIs are probably just about as good as each other, give or take a couple of players, but the strength of our squad vastly outweighs the strength of theirs.

Quick reminder that this is their B-team.

Henderson
Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Telles
Mata, Matic, Van De Beek
Martial, Cavani, Rashford

You could make a case for Rashford and Cavani on their day, and maybe Martial during one of his infrequent hot streaks, but the rest are considerably weaker than their first team counterpart at United. Fernandes and Pogba suddenly becomes Mata and Van De Beek. Varane and Maguire is suddenly Lindelof and Bailly. The partnerships are nowhere near as dangerous or effective.

At this stage of the season, it's easy for United to look good because they've got a fully fit first XI (save for McTominay) and they've been able to let it loose on the teams currently sat in 13th, 14th, 17th and 19th. But their squad isn't good enough to go deep in every competition like ours squad is, or like Chelsea's squad is - if they want to enter the title race properly, they're going to have to sacrifice at least two other competitions to get there, or players like Van De Beek and Dalot are going to need to have the seasons of their lives.

They'll finish comfortably in the top 4 and Ronaldo will score lots of goals, there's no doubt about that. They might win a derby at the Etihad again. They might even finish above us for the first time in 8 years if we don't keep up our early-season form. But that's all. In time, the United shirts you've seen recently will disappear again and the Green & Gold scarves will return at Old Trafford. Solskjaer has made them a better team but he hasn't made them good enough to win things.

Great post mate

 

[worsleyweb]

Ha FFS, definitely on a wind up. I'm out!

Whatever - poor form. People talk about them as if they are shit. They have not lost away in the league for over a year.

 

[cheekybids]

@worsleyweb

First XI: 6 for City, 5 for United (just personal preference, of course).


Squads: 8 for City, 3 for United (again just my preference).

Greenwood over Mahrez ffs

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Magurie is an equal to Laporte and 9/10 people not City fans would pick Pogpa over Gundog.

Equal isn’t better

9/10 is pushing it, but I’ll concede the majority would, which underlines my point about him being overrated.

Thing is, I’m capable of objective thought when it comes to united players. Shaw, I completely agree with. Fernandes is fair enough. Ronaldo would score tons of goals in this City team. I think there’s a case for up to four United players getting in a joint XI.

But Pogba simply would not get in our team, especially when Foden and De Bruyne are fit. Not a fucking chance.

 

[Dubai Blue]

Whatever - poor form. People talk about them as if they are shit. They have not lost away in the league for over a year.

I get that and actually agree with your original point before you took it too far. I think they have majorly improved their team and I expect them to at least put a challenge in this season. But I don't have to think Fernandes, Pogba and Maguire would walk into our team to believe that.

 

[blue by birth]

Whatever - poor form. People talk about them as if they are shit. They have not lost away in the league for over a year.

Yes but then again they haven't won a trophy for 4 years.
It's ok avoiding defeat but too many draws can be very damaging.