The Manchester United Thread XIV

Wasn't trolling. You should know me by now. I will be bitterly disappointed with 4th. It's a disgrace for a club of our size and stature to not win a trophy two years in a row. Lowest I'd settle for is third and Carling Cup. It's a slippery slope, one year becomes two, then three etc. and before you know it you are Arsenal.

No excuses for Van Gaal. If he thinks the current squad is good enough and it fails, it's a reflection on him and judgement making. Great man, but Rodgers is right, title wins at Barcelona count for nothing now, he HAS to deliver trophies.



Yeah this for me. It's just not good enough. Standards shouldn't drop because of one bad year under David Moist. Had Ferguson of finished 4th and won nothing I'd of seen it as dreadful, and its no different under Van Gaal. Supporters of this club should be aiming higher.

Id take him,he can patch up lwb and cdm/cm for us....

Does anyone think fellaini is 100% going? Napoli definetely want him(coming from rafa benitez).

We never finished lower than second for years, and lower than third for eternity. One year under Moyes, we started to accept qualifying for Europa league is good enough. I'm starting to warm up to you Eboracum.

Under Ferguson, even second place was a disappointment. Finished third, and people started calling for his head.

I'm going to expect us to win the league starting from now. It's more thrilling and nailbiting to watch the game when we expect the team to win every games.

I'm not so sure. I was of that opinion last season but every time he plays all I see is a Watford player who acts instinctively but that often leads him to poor positions or ball watching. Squad player yes, I don't ever see him being ideal first choice though even in few years time..

I think Smalling was fine at CB last season, and has certainly been fine throughout pre-season Inter and Liverpool I thought he was our best defender. Had the measure of Sterling all game, few memorable moments I thought he showed really good judgement one on one with, as much as it pains me to say it, probably in the top 3 worst players to be one on one with in the PL. Only notable mishap I thought was when Evans frankly sold him a **** sandwich, leading the the Herrera foul in the box.

I think LVG will be pretty happy with him, he can play the ball, he's showed good judgement and he's a yard of pace which will be needed in this system. IMO, he's actually looked the most comfortable in a back 3. Certainly looks a great option in that central slot, but wasn't bad in the right sided slot, in comparison to Evans who looks very unhappy in that left sided one.

Not long till the start of the season. Been dealt a bit of a double blow with Verm and Vidal's knee. Weird to say but I almost think Verm is the worst of the two. Although it could be a bit of a blessing if it means Blakett gets games, he looks like he'd relish that step up. He looks composed and has the right build to play that left side of CB. Its just a case of whether the pay off will be worth the costs of someone so young.

Anything less than Top 3 is a dissapointment, I agree

What's the difference between 3rd and 4th, apart from automatic qualification for champions league which isn't much of an issue tbh.

There's only two aims tbh, either challenging for the title or coming top 4. I don't see how coming 3rd is a good season but coming 4th is a complete disaster.

After last season qualifying for champions league would be a great season considering there's almost no chance we'll properly rebuild this summer. We need European football then a summer to sign some decent players that will allow us to challenge for the prem again.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Smalling says that with 3 CBs he can commit himself more aggressively and it has really helped his game. LVG says he likes youngsters so let's go with Blackett. He is not noticeably less developed than any of our other defenders.

Yeah, if the difference between Blackett and someone else is like 3rd and 4th, then I'd prefer to go with Blackett. Its just a case of whether the difference is 5th and 4th in which case its a real issue, because we need 4th.

While I think Liverpool are nowhere near as solid as some people have made out, I think we're getting way ahead of ourselves talking about 3rd place and such. I really think at present, 4th is still no certainty at all for us. Having 2-3 players injured is nothing special, if you say we lost one of our CB's long term, Herrera medium term at the same time, then look at what else we could afford to lose. In that situation if Jones takes a knock during a game who are bring in Keane? What if we need to rest a midfielder back to Cleverly Carrick?

What's the difference between 3rd and 4th, apart from automatic qualification for champions league which isn't much of an issue tbh.

There's only two aims tbh, either challenging for the title or coming top 4. I don't see how coming 3rd is a good season but coming 4th is a complete disaster.

After last season qualifying for champions league would be a great season considering there's almost no chance we'll properly rebuild this summer. We need European football then a summer to sign some decent players that will allow us to challenge for the prem again.

Posted from TSR Mobile

We shouldnt look it that way. If the team want to challenge for title, they will put extra effort to go for the title, which was the case with us from 1990s. Thats why we never finished lower than 3rd. If we satisfied with 4th, as the case last season, we see how the team didnt put enough effort, and end up finising 7th.

I really believe this expectation thingy affect the mental of the players. Can you really explain how we stay top when Chelsea, and City got better players.

You're forgetting that he was rotated in and out of the squad, constantly picking up injuries and being played out of position.

As for Fellaini, I think it'll be a loan deal.

Effort? If it was all about effort then Crystal Palace or Everton would win the league. City didn't really seem to put that much effort in last season they won it purely on the quality in their squad and albeit a bit of luck with Liverpool falling short. Hardly to do with effort though.

We never finished lower than third because for the most part we had the best squad with the best players and even when we didn't we were at least in the top 4 of squad strength in the league and we had Fergie who had that winning mentality installed which allowed us to grind out those wins against the smaller clubs giving us enough points to win the league. Saying it's to do with effort is way off the mark. What Moyes did was alot more than result in a lack of effort. He was tactically inept, couldn't adapt when things weren't going our way, disrupted the whole balance of the dressing room and upset alot of players, and most importantly took away our winning mentality.

This season however, we aren't even in the top 4 of squad strength and relative to the teams around us probably have our weakest squad in premier league history. LVG may bring back a winning mentality and flexible tactics but we've barely progressed in terms of squad strength since two years ago where all the teams around us have massively improved, especially Chelsea and Arsenal. There's just no substituting for quality and without a few world class players there's no way we'll challenge for the league this season.

Posted from TSR Mobile

No way are you finishing above Chelsea, City or Arsenal.