The Manchester United Thread XV

What's all this about low fat chips being banned by David Moyes (according to Rio Ferdinand in the Sun, as reported by the BBC this morning)? For want of chips was a title lost?

The chips story though makes Moyes look ridiculous. He was like an angry Mr Bean in a Scottish way. I still feel embarrassed we ever let him set foot in OT.

Lose 1-0 to Leicster, DM7 snaps his Tibia clean in half, Falcao ruptures his ACL, DDG shatters his knee cap on the post trying to save the peno that puts us 1-0 down, following Rojo being sent off for a tackle leading to the pen and Blind joining him in the changing room early after arguing with the ref to earn a second yellow.

Di Maria's goal wasn't a fluke. Poor goalkeeping in hindsight. Second he saw that nobody would touch it should have shifted goal side and taken a chance even though it was a very tricky ball.

Di Maria's crossing is very good, so I'm not surprised he's putting in wicked balls like this, only signing from you guys that I've been jealous of today. Blind did well but he was under little pressure from QPR who just camped back, generally showed good composure though.

We'll give you Willian if you give us Di Maria and 20M though.


worth a try

Rojo looked great at LB which is good, but we have Shaw to play there?

The ball ADM put in for RVP was absolutely sublime. The ball was under his feet and with the outside of his foot he knocked it 30 yards inch perfect with backspin for RVP to shoot. Perfect.

Rojo played very well, i'm starting to wonder if Shaw was a Van Gaal signing or if the deal was all but done before he arrived. Maybe when Rafa inevitably gets injured we can play Shaw on the right? Pretty sure City/Chelsea have done this before. We'd still have Blackett, Jones, Smalling and Evans for CB.

Rojo played very well, i'm starting to wonder if Shaw was a Van Gaal signing or if the deal was all but done before he arrived. Maybe when Rafa inevitably gets injured we can play Shaw on the right? Pretty sure City/Chelsea have done this before. We'd still have Blackett, Jones, Smalling and Evans for CB.

Wouldnt be too hard for Rojo to play better at CB than our current crop tbh..

Rojo played very well, i'm starting to wonder if Shaw was a Van Gaal signing or if the deal was all but done before he arrived. Maybe when Rafa inevitably gets injured we can play Shaw on the right? Pretty sure City/Chelsea have done this before. We'd still have Blackett, Jones, Smalling and Evans for CB.

I don't think Shaw was much of a LvG deal, I think it was already in the works before he came, but I don't think he was in opposition of Shaw joining us. I wouldn't really like to see us play Shaw on the right tbh, I have faith in Rafael's fitness this season.

Shouldn't get too carried away to be honest. That would have been business as usual under the actual GOAT. However because of the events since he left, that victory feels like all our Christmas' have come at once. Theres no need to exaggerate to fend off the trolls. We've won more trophies than they've had hot dinners.

Im not a complete grump, there were some positives. Blind was terrific wasn't he, I really feel like he adds something to the team, he really fights for the ball, like a mini Vidal, but not quite as good, expensive or injury prone. I thought Rojo was pleasing as well. He looked quick. The troll/fisherman that came in here saying he was guaranteed to fail...he'd walk into the Liverpool team to be honest. Rafael da Silva and Wayne Rooney were solid as well.

Di Maria is very creative isn't he. People can't say he isn't better than X, Y or Z. He's just as good as Bale and Hazard and Neymar to be honest. They are players playing in confident winning teams. If Di Maria had more goals we'd be talking about him being as good as Ronaldo. He's certainly top 10 players in the world for me.

I'd argue that actually three of our goals could be said to be lucky. Di Maria's first was just a cross which nobody got on the end on. I remember Damien Duff doing it to us in Mourinho's first season in a League Cup tie. Sickner that was. The second goal if you look really closely, Herrera sort of scuffs his shot. And the fourth was more jam than a doughnut I'm afraid, lucky Mata was right place right time.

Strange formation. At times van Persie was on the wing or deeper, same with Rooney and Mata. Have to start winning games. Leicester and West Ham have to be wins when you are this club to be honest. To Lucio, we deserved a easy start this season after having to play Chelsea, Manchester City and your lot in the first four games last season. Cracking win for the Villa by the way, Wilfred must be delighted. He'll enjoy his dinner tonight.

There has to be some criticisms I'm afraid. First of all, defending. We were so poor. The mix up at the start with De Gea and can't remember who it was. Then at the end with Blackett and Evans which allowed the lad to fire across goal. Not good enough. CBs should know everything about each other, from where they are going to pass it, to who their favourite pornstar is. Not good enough at this level. I've never liked Evans as a player. I remember when we drew 2-2 to Porto in the Champions League in 2009, he was at fault for both goals. Lucky Ronaldo got the winner in the second leg. Evans is no better now than when I saw him that night.

Personally I'd like to see: Rafael, Jones, Rojo, Shaw as our first choice back four. Evans and Blackett aren't good enough and if you are playing against Aguero or Costa with a defence with more splits than a vegas divorce court as ours had today, then there is going to be trouble. He needs to go all out for Hummels in January. Offer 37M, no way they would turn that down, and he'd be worth every penny.

He's a very stubborn manager. At some points in life you have to cave in, and bow to criticism, otherwise you do more damage to the team. I know he said todays formation was due to injuries, but it worked better than last week. If he goes back to 3-5-2 and we lose or draw at Leicester next week I'll be on here more angry than you've ever seen me. It just doesn't add anything. There is no precedent for that formation in this league. It was only done at Netherlands because of injuries and the quality of Robben.

People need to stop being so biased with Januzaj. The reality is he is a greedy bastard and his career hasn't developed since his two goals at Sunderland last year. He might not been taking girls to Nandos dressed in a tracksuit now, and he may have a new haircut but he hasn't come on since then. You cannot, I repeat, cannot complain about not getting chances. In this league nobody is entitled to start every game in their favoured position. I said the same about Kagawa. You might only get 10 minutes here, then 30 minutes three weeks later, and they count as appearances. You have to take those chances. He really messed up at the end, and it's how he's been for a while. Mata can't play in the position he played at Stamford Bridge but he still does ok. The club doesn't evolve around one player. You take your chances, even if only bits here and there or you are moved on to smaller clubs: like Kagawa, Welbeck and Cleverley have been.

Finally, too many long balls today. Not to the extent of Burnley, but we should have enough quality to pretty much pass rings around most PL teams apart from perhaps Chelsea and City and possibly Arsenal. But there were too many occasions when Rooney or Di Maria played a long ball. I thought Herrera and Evans were poor with their passing today, gave away too many short passes.

So that's my balanced view. He needs to start Falcao and start winning successive games, I fully expect three points and at least a two goal win at Leicester next week. But thanks to the team today, it was an enjoyable game.

Whoscored indicated we're actually on for the possession trophy atm.


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