Manchester United

[Roboklopp]

Yeah Dom. Shoddy.

[PTP]

On paper the first 'hard' game they face this season is home to Everton on the 5th of October. The 5th of October!

End of October / November is when things start getting interesting for them. They play Citeh, Chelsea, Arsenal in the space of 4 games.

Given the money spent and their run of fixtures between now and then if they're not in the top 4 by then they're going to struggle mightily.

looking at their next five fixtures and given the start they have had, i'd say they really need to win all of their next five...

but that's a tough ask in this league for anyone - lets say they pick up 3 wins and 2 draws....

they'd be

played 8 - won 3 - drawn 4 - lost 1

not great reading when they've had a ridiculously easy start.

[dom9]

No excuse Dom, I was still up at 3am quaffing the vino

Yeah Dom. Shoddy.

If I'd been fired up on wine for several hours, I would have been more awake too.

[PTP]

So they have ended up with this rabble.

Loving the defenders.

Goalkeepers
1 de Gea
13 Lindegaard
40 Amos
50 Johnstone

Defenders
2 Rafael
3 Shaw
4 Jones
5 Rojo
6 Evans
12 Smalling
33 McNair
36 Vermijl
37 Janko
39 Thorpe
41 James
42 Blackett

Midfielders
7 Di María
8 Mata
11 Januzaj
16 Carrick
17 Blind
18 Young
21 Herrera
24 Fletcher
25 A Valencia
28 Anderson
31 Fellaini
35 Lingard
44 Pereira

Forwards
10 Rooney
20 van Persie
48 Keane
49 Wilson
Falcao

i'll maintain - if van gaal stops being an arrogant cunt and admits he needs to pick a team/system to suit the players he has then they could strong a pretty good XI and do well.

de gea

rafael
jones
rojo
shaw

blind
herrera

di maria
rooney
mata

falcao

is pretty strong and they have valencia/smalling/carrick/januzaj/rvp that gives them reasonable cover.



However going against them they have imo

1)A manager who whilst brings a big reputation seems completley oblivious to glaring issues as he so stubborn/arrogant that his methods work and that could go against

2) beyond the players above, they really struggle and the rest are ****

3) huge question marks over how shaw/rojo/blind/herrera/di maria/falcao will all fit in and settle - plus arguably still question marks on what is going on with Mata

4) rooney looks all over the place

5) got to be concerns with fitness off falcao and rvp and if they get injured they'll be in a mess

6) their defence is ****ing awful

7) they're paying a ****ing ridiculous amount of wages to a small core of players and i reckon it may lead to a bit of a division....and there are a few ego's about there so it could collapse spectacularly.

[EwarWoo]

i'll maintain - if van gaal stops being an arrogant cunt and admits he needs to pick a team/system to suit the players he has then they could strong a pretty good XI and do well.

Its not just players its also morale. They play like we did under Hodgson, no-one has any confidence, nor do they really seem to give a ****.

[PTP]

aye - that's where i think a bit of division will come in...

a few players like fletcher/carrick/valencia - whilst not superstars, have done well for united over the years and won titles. They come across to me as decent enough hard working pro's and i'd guess they'll be on 'moderate' wages.


now you have di maria/falcao/herrara/mata/rooney on ridiculous money plus a few other new signings, keeping these types of guys out the team...

if the results aren't coming/those players aren't justifying their fees, then it could get nasty pretty quickly


he's hoping anyway

[James P]

I love Phil Neville's logic in the BBC interview - he admits that Utd badly needed another centre back, but decided that there wasn't the quality in the market so spunked a shed load on the loan of Falcao.

On a similar note I punctured my tyre this weekend but decided to buy a crate of scented Christmas tree air fresheners instead. I can't go anywhere but my car smells ****ing amazing.

[RedReet]

Scary to think how strong they could have been with Ferguson still there spending this sort of dough.

[Pablo]

Scary to think how strong they could have been with Ferguson still there spending this sort of dough.

True. I think if Van Gaal were to majorly **** this up and be gone by Christmas he'd now at least consider coming in for the rest of the season on a temporary basis.

He'd have never done it after Moyes as the squad was so rubbish. He'd have flopped and he's not that daft, But now, with that squad, he'd probably back himself to do well enough to massage his ego even further.

[john316]

Scary to think how strong they could have been with Ferguson still there spending this sort of dough.

I wonder if he quit thinking the lack of real investment was going to continue? Would he have continued if he knew that within 12 months, they were going to be spending the GDP of a small nation (badly)?

[G]

But they're particularly injury prone.

Are they? I know Van Persie is but not sure about Falcao. He's had one bad Injury which he appears to be suffering no ill effects from. I take heart though from the current injury crisis at United which some in that field of expertise are putting down to Van Gaal's poor methods so hopefully he breaks the two of them before long.

[red g]

Are they? I know Van Persie is but not sure about Falcao. He's had one bad Injury which he appears to be suffering no ill effects from. I take heart though from the current injury crisis at United which some in that field of expertise are putting down to Van Gaal's poor methods so hopefully he breaks the two of them before long.

Bit early to say that, has he not only played 2 games since coming back from Injury?

[Kenneth]

United is the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for

“We met twice, we made an offer, but we did not agree on the price. For me it was too expensive. It has nothing to do with financial fair play. The player wanted to come to Paris, but this was not possible.”

[Bender]

@guardian_sport: Radamel Falcao joined Manchester United after Real deal failed, says father http://t.co/VXPjmLZKCQ (Photo: AP) http://t.co/UD7ZRT8agQ

[Roboklopp]

Meh.