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Post by spens1 on Jul 26, 2020 22:39:01 GMT
What a result, 14th to 3rd who would have ever have thought it.
Board needs to give Ole whatever he wants now honestly if he could drag this lot to champions league (well, by this lot, i'm mainly referring to our shite bench)
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Post by spens1 on Jul 25, 2020 13:20:59 GMT
In an ideal world, Chelsea bottle it and we reach a gentleman's agreement to draw and condemn Chelsea to Europa League Football (1 cause its Chelsea, 2. cause i'd love to see us hijack the Havertz deal if Villa stay up, cause stuff paying 60 mill for Grealish. rather put in an extra 10-15 mill for Havertz then).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 24, 2020 23:55:55 GMT
some muppetiers are saying that if Sanchez goes, we'd have enough finances to go for two of Grealish, VDB and/or Rice. I'd personally go for the two attacking mids as much as I love Rice. However i'd imagine if we make some other sales (i.e. Lingard, Pereira etc) it becomes more possible.
Also I read that Ole was going through Mourinho's old list and saw Gabriel from Lille on there. I'd say he'd be a very good shout at the price honestly. I'd much rather Skriniar or Upamencano mind you but as a left footed CB he is very good. I'd personally love to see him brought in as the 2nd CB this window (provided Bailly goes with the other 3, cause we'd get about 25 mill for Bailly i'd imagine).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 23, 2020 12:28:54 GMT
Seeing Muppetiers suggesting that Sancho deal all but agreed (well their G5 has), 82.5 mill + 14 mill in achievable add ons, about 20 mill in improbable ones (balon d'or, champions league winner, probably something about if he gets a knighthood idk)
If that's the fee, i'm ok with that, its reasonable enough, if a bit much, but you have to pay for quality I guess. Though the idea would be for him to be our star player for the next decade and starter for up to 15 years potentially (if he finds Cristiano Ronaldo's fountain of youth).
They're also saying that Upamencano, Ake and/or Pau Torres are being looked at (most likely or, if selling Bailly as well, could be and) along with it being VDB which is more likely (i prefer that, VDB was my 2nd choice behind Havertz and since Havertz is Chelsea bound, he'll do nicely as the main backup at 45 mill, gives us enough of a chance to maybe pull in a Buendia or a Szloboszlai once the sales go through)
Szloboszlai especially could be back on the table as AC Milan went back on hiring Raginick so i can't see him going to Milan now and they apparently of 25-30 mill. I'd take a chance of him as the 3rd choice CAM option and the main Bruno backup, he's only 19, reasonably affordable, quiet big and technically already better i'd say than Lingard and Pereira plus actually isn't an idiot.
Its clear that Ole doesn't trust any of our backup attacking mids at the moment (and why should he frankly, they all having glaring weaknesses in their game and Mata is just old at this point).
Dalot is also on the market, I hope he goes and we bring in Aarons from Norwich, let TFM be third string and let him play as a depth option in the centre of the park as well and re-evaluate next summer (and send Laird back out on loan of course).
That Nuno Gomes stuff, it is true as well, just that Benfica are doing their thing and want 25 mill (i.e. the same price it would cost us to bring in Alex Telles more or less), so maybe we're after a left back after all (i feel bad for shaw, but i hope its a starting one honestly).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 23, 2020 12:12:48 GMT
That side is so short of a balls-out winner and leader on the pitch it's a real problem. Still, results did go for us and we have a cup final on Sunday against a Leicester side who have had extra rest and prep period. What the fuck could possibly go wrong? Yeah I think we gave Maguire the captaincy prematurely in all honesty. Should have made him earn it at first. Then again who do you give it to, at this point do you take it off Maguire and take a punt and give it to Rashford maybe? I'd like to say Shaw but he's never healthy enough, can AWB command enough respect (cause he honestly has been our best defender this season) nor is he always good enough. Matic isn't going to be here long term, Mata may not be if Fenerbache want him and he doesn't play anyway (i mean he couldn't get time against West Ham, which suggests all three backup AM's are done).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 22, 2020 23:02:03 GMT
Luckily results went out way so we're in 3rd but they need an absolute grilling for that performance, was honestly pathetic. Maybe its fatigue and maybe that's where rotation comes in but frankly we should have won that game handily.
Pogba had a shocker, that handball, I mean what else can you say about that, not sure what it was, was it a brain fade or what. One thing i can say, Ole looked like he was almost certainly going to go off on all of them at full time so there is that.
It all comes down to the last game, we need to win (or at least get a bloody draw against an out of sorts Leicester).
Nevermind a 100 mill net spend, we need to spend more cause we need that quality depth, if we're selling 4 CB's (including Bailly) we need Skriniar AND Dias honestly. at attacking mid, we need to sell both Pereira and Lingard and bring in two of Havertz (even though that looks like a done deal to Chelsea), Grealish, VDB or Maddison (I'd even take one of Buendia, Cantwell or Szlobozlai as the 2nd attacking mid if that's what it came down to).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 19, 2020 22:55:49 GMT
Defending was rather shambolic honestly. Maguire needs to start getting it together
Daniel James is not good enough to play regularly as is, he needs a loan out to get it together otherwise he's a major hinderance to be honest in these big games, its fine for him to get a playout against championship and lower premier league sides but when he plays a big team he bottles it.
Again though, Dean Henderson may need to be brought back as well. De Gea's performances game to game is really hard to read, he'll look like he's back then he'll put out a performance like this.
Also yeah the referees where absolutely against us but that isn't the point really.
Doesn't matter too much since its just the cup, priority should be securing top 4 so we're back into the champions league.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 15, 2020 11:27:19 GMT
Bailly could be on the list out outgoing CB's as well (that's 4 of them out). Are we going for Milan Skriniar (i really hope so) or something that we need 4 outgoing CB's or are we targeting two incomings instead (a starter and then Rodon as a backup perhaps?, though i'd prefer Salisu for that).
Or we could go all out and buy Skriniar and Gabriel from Lille and just have 4 quality CB's and not be reliant on Tuanzebe somehow remaining healthy.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 15, 2020 11:25:33 GMT
For the love of god finish it off in the first half and actually take your chances please.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 13, 2020 22:59:51 GMT
Yeah no excuse to conceed that late really. Just a lack of concentration honestly.
Lindelof and Maguire i did say aren't a good partnership even if individually they are good CBs. They share the same strengths and weaknesses and when they play together the weaknesses get magnified.
Still, level on points with Leicester but we need to go out from here and win every game.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 12, 2020 23:28:55 GMT
If ESPN are to be believed (not sure where they are on the tier list), we're in for Milan Skriniar (and have made a 70 million dollar bid, so something like 50 million pounds i think that works out to). Skriniar hasn't had a good time in that back 3 this year so maybe Conte may do it.
On our side, yes please just do it, Skriniar would be our best CB by far (yes, even more than Maguire), he's the world class CB we've needed for years. This would be a bit like Vidic and Ferdinand. I hope this means that we're confident that Villa have no leverage and we can get Grealish for like 35-40 mill or that the Sanchez sale and other sales arranged has given us more finances than we thought (so instead of Ake, we can go for Skriniar instead).
It would certainly give us a champions league winning level backline i'd say.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 10, 2020 23:26:28 GMT
Fee looks like its getting prepared, was around the muppetiers subreddit and they said 82+14 is a possibility (and that once you add up the more improbable clauses it could go up as high as 120 mill, but the 96 mill fee was the more realistic ones).
Van Der Beek is still waiting on Real Madrid and could go there now as James Rodriguez and Isco are on their way out (Rodriguez to Everton, Isco out cause the extension talks broke down). The two replacements talked about are Camivinga and VDB (shame too, i want VDB more than Grealish).
Some good news is that both Smalling and Sanchez are leaving (both loans with obligation to buy). Smalling's deal is 3 mill up front with 17 mill later in 3 installments (yes even i can't believe roma is that broke) so the total is 23 mill (if you include this years 3 mill loan fee). Sanchez's wages will be off the books which should get us 3 players in itself pretty much (good ones) on top of Sancho (or at least, if VDB is off the table, clear up the path for a CAM and quality CB, one would imagine that could be one of three CB's I mentioned above and Grealish/Van Der Beek which would basically fix up most of our issues).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 10, 2020 0:40:14 GMT
Looks like Sancho deal may be close seemingly, its gone a bit quiet and its always the calm before the storm. It seems like the clubs are getting closer and it maybe a case where player terms have been or are close to being agreed.
I hope we look hard at a CB as well (I really do). Especially if Italian media's claims are true and Skriniar could make way. I'd say screw it, Skriniar on the right and Maguire on the left may be one of the best centre half pairings in the world (and would be about par with Liverpool's). Even if that means we're not looking so much at Grealish and looking more in the way of a Dominik Szoboszlai from Salzburg (quality young CAM, would be more cover for Bruno but not immediately as good as Grealish or VDB is now) for 30 mill instead if needed (then again i'd argue if two CAM's is a target, then we should go for Havertz and Szoboszlai than the duo of Grealish and VDB given that the combined cost for both would be about the same). Anyway less of my ramblings and more transfer rumours
Jesse lingard is being linked to West Brom (by the sun) if they get promoted, West Ham (though we know that Moyes does want him, he was pretty high on him even when he was manager here iirc) and everton (no idea how the hell he fits there).
Dalot could also be let go for the right price if the express is to be believed (98% chance it isn't, its bottom tier) but honestly, i'd sell him and bring in Max Aarons instead (let Jose have Dalot back for the same price he bought him for, 20 million).
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Post by spens1 on Jul 9, 2020 23:31:28 GMT
Classy win, Grealish was completely ineffectual which isn't too much of an issue (we targeted him) but it does go to show you, he's still a significant step down from Bruno and Pogba in the sense that if we aren't playing those two and we just have Grealish with like Fred and McTominay then opposition can shut out Grealish (then again i kind of hope we just offer 70 mill for Havertz or just go out and get VDB who I think is a better overall footballer, or even have a look at Szobozlai from Leipzig).
Also on our performance, loved the versatility that Rashford showed with his creativity (a side we don't neccesarily see that often). Finally, after long last we're seeing Shaw going up that wing and becoming more and more like that young LB we bought from Southampton and the one who was our best player around 2015-16 and of course, What else can we say about Greenwood, he is an absolute superstar, long may he reign as united's #9. Martial despite not scoring was absolutely tireless and brilliant as well, desperately unlucky to not score but his face when he got substituted has meme potential honestly. I think if he keeps on working into those positions he'll get the goals.
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Post by spens1 on Jul 8, 2020 11:06:57 GMT
Take this with a grain of salt as its in the daily fail and metro but they're reporting that we're looking for a long term CB partner for Maguire in the form of Mings, Ake and Romagnoli as the three top options.
As much as i love Romagnoli as a defender (he's a left footed CB as well) and he's probably the most talented CB overall out of the trio (is Mings even a proper CB), i'd say he's not quick enough to cover for Maguire's deficiencies (which is basically speed and being slow off the turn).
I don't know how Mings is an option other than he's athletic, big and strong. Sure he's a decent option but he's not as good as Lindelof and maybe even not as good as Bailly which should be a red flag immediately. Add onto the fact that he's 27, why on earth would we buy him over Ake since both are likely to go down anyway.
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