Manchester United

I know. I wanted to find a photo from today's game, I might go look 4 - 1

Jokes about the result of a preseason game? Yikes

Looks like I have a nibble...

These Pogba-Barca rumours got any legs? Or just rubbish?

I don't see why he'd want to leave, I don't see why Mourinho would want to sell him and I don't see why Man United would want to sell him. He's been publicly speaking about being happy at United. I'd be astounded if he went anywhere.

In all honesty, your post is the first I've heard of it.

As much as I agree with your comments, the talk is swapping Pobga with Rakitic. 

The press are out for exaggerating anything to do with JM or Utd at the moment. Have to say I would like to get Rakitic.

The common refrain seems to be that Pogba and Mourinho do not have a good relationship, and that's the sole basis of the rumours. 

The stuff I saw had no real evidence behind it though, I certainly didn't buy it, so thought it would be easiest to come here and see what you guys knew. 

Except both Pogba and Mourinho have publicly said there's no issue. Its the media trying to make news, there's nothing to it. Pogba ain't going anywhere anytime soon. Mourinho might be, but that's a different story.

Right, starting to get excited/apprehensive now. Going to be really interesting to see who plays after the World Cup. Shaw will probably be starting at LB which is a real positive. Expecting Rashford to start up top, with Lukaku on the bench and Pogba probably not in the squad. I'm sure I will be proved entirely wrong with that prediction.

Can't help thinking that we need Sanchez to really come out of the blocks for us in these first few games. Should be beating Leicester at home regardless of who's in the squad come Saturday morning.

Sanchez is the right kind of guy for that job. If the team can defend well, he's the sort of player who will win the game all by himself.

Man Utd are in for an interesting season. Last year, you performed _way_ above what your stats indicate you should've. You got many calls that would normally go against you, and other stats went in your favour (i.e. shot conversion).

In saying that, you've also strengthened your squad considerably. 

Then there's the Mourinho factor, who seems to be throwing his toys out of the pram..

It's going to be a really intriguing season for a number of reasons ,really - Can Pep do it again? How quickly can Sarri + Emery implement their ideas? Will Mourinho last the whole season?

Pogba going? And if so would United really miss him? I've always felt he was too inconsistent and drifted in and out of matches too much. Kante made him look good at the World Cup.

A midfield of Pogba-Arthur-Rakitic/Vidal at Barca would look pretty frightening. That said, why would United go for it. 

Pogba is contracted for three years I believe, so Raiola isn't in a very strong position to push anything through. And if the reports are correct about Barca's bid being a mere 45 mil along with a couple of players they're desperate to get rid of, United have every right to feel insulted. Bordering on derisory. 

Don't agree, Pogba was one of the best players at the World Cup. I also do not think he will leave. Most of it is a media beat up.

I would not be too sure on that. Utd could swap Pogba for Rakitic and Dembele.  I would be happy with that.

Won't happen.

Timbo farmed out on loan for another season. Have no doubt he'll go great guns for Fulham. I just wish Mourinho would give him a chance. Especially with Valencia out and we are now going to have either Darmian or a central defender such as Lindelof starting at right back tomorrow.

Been following him reasonably closely since he arrived in 2014 and the kid has everything, just needs to be given a chance!

Dangerous game from the board to not back Jose in the market. A director of football might be needed to bridge the gap between the footballing decisions and the financial decisions. Will be a test of Jose's character this season. 

I am cautiously positive about the season as we aren't as bad as people made us out to be. Consistency this season is key. There were too many poor performances in which we were just toothless (Sevilla, promoted teams away etc) and if we can turn the poor performances into ok / good performances then we will do just fine. In order to do really well, some of the good performances from the past need to become great and ruthless. 

Yeah there's suddenly a lot of noise for a DoF coming from the UK as well. Seen some quotes suggesting Woodward vetoed Mourinho's wishlist as he deemed the existing players to be better or at least equal. If these rumours are true, Woodward shouldn't be the one making these decisions. Hence the shouts for a DoF.

The interesting thing from last season is that if you look at most of the stats, you should've been down near 5th/6th if not for positive reffing decisions + an absolutely crazy performance from De Gea. It will be really interesting to see how you go this year, as your squad is obviously very strong.

It seems like they've looked at Woodward/Mourinho and basically said 'you made this mess, you deal with it/clean it up' which is quite fair considering the amount you have spent over the last season and a bit.

Yes we've spent a bit over the last few years (Pogba/di Maria/Falcao) but I'm a little perplexed when people suggest we've blown everyone else out of the water and that we should be romping to the title with the amount of money we've spent. 89 million Pounds for Pogba at the time was a huge deal but several deals abroad have now eclipsed that and Chelsea just spent 74 million Pounds on a keeper with 53 La Liga games to his name. City signed a keeper for 20 million, decided they didn't like him so spent 30 million on a new one 12 months later. They spent 120 million on fullbacks in one window last summer. Klopp came out on his high horse about other clubs spending and then spent more than any other club this Summer. Fulham have just come up from the Championship and spent 100 million. So I think it's a bit shallow to point the finger at United's spending.

I also struggle with the "positive reffing decisions" comment as I watched 35 United games live last year as well as many other PL matches and I wouldn't have arrived at that conclusion. It's hard to justify that argument over a 38 game season. 

I do agree with you about de Gea. He's a phenom and easily earns us 10+ points a season, but again you could make the "this team would finish Xth without XXX" for almost any team. 

The only stats that matter is that we were second, 4 points ahead of 3rd, 6 points ahead of 4th and won more games than anyone outside of City.

We also beat Liverpool, Spurs, City and Chelsea. What else counts?

ESPN actually did some fairly decent analysis on this;

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/11464...

Game one! Come on United!! Pogba named to start and as captain which pleases me no end. Just seen him run out for the warm-up and he looks fired-up!

Fred hasn't seen him come from his blindside. Attempts to kick the ball but Gray gets between him and the ball.

Heard it all now.

If you actually watch the game live and see the other angles not just the least favourable one you'll see it.

Bit annoying when you have a bet on exact score 2-0 and De Gea as your FPL goalkeeper and they score in the 93rd ...

Will take the win and not a bad performance to fit. Clear rustiness and still couldnt make that final pass to create chances but signs are good. CBs played well, unlucky for the goal. Pogba looked busy and motivated. Fred looks like a great addition - if that challenge mentioned is your main take away then please try again. Thanks

Just happy to see the season kick off so we can stop hearing about who we should've gone after in the transfer window. Reality is we have a very good squad, and Mourinho has been around long enough to get the best out of what we have. 

Hope we keep some of the younger players around the squad as well (McTominay, Pereira in particular) 

Mourinho has talked up Andreas Pereira before, so I hope he remains around the first team setup. Good little footballer with bags of potential - just needs his stage in the PL. 

Who's top of the table? 

Not f****** City!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/paul-...

You're actually denying that? Jesus christ

The Mirror lol. The Pogba/Mourinho thing is a media beatup and people believing it is getting very old, very quickly.

There is already an 11 page thread on redcafe about that quote, so clearly some people take it seriously. 

http://www.redcafe.net/threads/pogba-there-are-thi...

This is also what is being quoted. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premi...

I'm not bothered by the club's "lack" of new signings. I fully believe Mourinho has the players to win the league. Now it's his job to get the most out of them. And I don't think he can make the argument that his players aren't good enough until he has got them to their potential, which he has not.

My favourite part of the game on Saturday was the midfield of Pogba, Fred and Pereira; the latter of whom I thought was superb and my personal player of the match. Finally we had a midfield of 3 players with no glaring deficiencies.

My least favourite part of the game was when Fellaini came on. Unfortunately, you cannot teach an old dog (Mourinho) new tricks, and it looks like we're going to have to deal with another season of taking the slimmest of leads and subbing off our good players to sit deep, invite pressure, and concede stupid goals.

My 2nd least favourite part of the game was Sanchez. He was extremely wasteful on Saturday and has been his entire time with us. I don't understand why Sanchez can never be subbed. If his name was Martial he'd probably have been benched for 2 months.

Not a bad summary. Pereira showed exactly why Mou didn't want him going on loan last season. He'll provide ample coverage for midfield along with Herrera and McTominay behind Pogba, Fred and Matic, hoipefully Fellaini is relegated to a bit-part role when everyone is back but I don't see it happening.

FWIW I think Sanchez did look better once Lukaku came on so hopefully there's some improvement there. Big performance from Shaw was nice to see as well, hopefully he can back it up and get back to where he was before the leg break.