Manchester United

Even we're above United. Good grief!!

Hopefully that will be rectified next week. 

We should have buried Burnley with all the possession, but too many players just average. Blackett, Fletcher and Young won't be around much longer once we get our best team on the park. Di Maria is class and will make a big impact when he settles in.

Blackett was okay but his distribution was rubbish. That was one of the problems actually. There was no link up play from dfence to midfield to the strikers. 3-5-2 just isn't working and I don't think it can work with the squad.

I think 352 can work with a line up like this, as Carrick and Herrera will cover forward movement from the wingers.
De Gea
Rafael/Jones Blind Rojo/Shaw
Rafael/Januzaj Carrick Mata Herrera Di Maria
RVP Rooney

Lucky to get a point given the regular calamities at the back and a complete inability to create chances.

Not one to get ahead of myself but...United have failed to win the first two games on four other occasions and they won the league all four times. LVG first season at Barca was 14th after 3 months and went on to win the league. First season at Bayern only won one of the first four games, 10th in November and went on to win the league. Copied and pasted from a text from a fellow red devil so assuming all correct. Fact is LVG is changing shit at United so will take some time. I encourage all the trolls to enjoy it while it lasts :)

I don't think anyone would question the fact that he is a fantastic manager who should bring success to United. I just don't think that even with the acquisitions he has made we have the squad to play 3-5-2. To play that way you need fantastic defensive midfielders and we don't have that.

Just concentrate on staying up first.

We're two games in mate. Had it worse with Moyes last year and were never in danger. Like I said enjoy it while it lasts

You're three games in.

Great result for you today.

We've fallen to 7th on the table. Terribly embarrassing.

Didn't Moyes have more points by this stage last season? Man Yoo were still in the league cup too (in fact, they hadn't needed to play yet).

I'd hate a Premier League without Man Yoo, too much fun in the rivalry and I can't see them going down anytime soon BUT can you afford another year out of Europe? Being an LFC fan, I know how hard it can be to get back in there once your'e out...

Being linked to Falcao, that is beyond exciting.

$65mil for Falcao. eish, you guys have a bottomless wallet this year. I hope you dont pull a Tottenham

It is not confirmed and until it is, it is only media speculation.

Skysports pretty much confirming a 1 year loan. Blimmin heck.

Why does he hate the Champions League so much?

What on earth will our team look like now? Is LvG willing to drop Rooney if he has to?

Managed to replace RVP before arsenal did. 

United - wow!

Falcao - £350k-a-week

Rooney - £300k-a-week

Di Maria - £250k-a-week

Van Persie - £220k-a-week

De Gea is the best player, on form and consistency, that United have. Any Prem team would be lucky to have him.

Teams won't mind conceding goals to RVP, Falcao and Rooney, because as they take the ball back up to half way for the kickoff again, they will look up, see a back 3 playing with 30 meters between each other and wing backs of Valencia and Young and think to themselves, 'easy, we'll just go and score ourselves at will'. If Blind lasts more than a few games in a row at a time then he will be doing well with all the work he will have to do in front of the back 3.

Im not happy about Welbs leaving, but if we can bring Wilson through faster as a result then its not all that bad. 

It will be interesting to see what formation LVG uses now, with 3 top strikers + Mata and Di Maria, its hard to fit them all in. My guess is that RVP is phased out and used when best needed. Back to 4-3-3 is necessary. Rooney could also play AM if Falcao plays too. Some days the 3-52 could be played but I think this is best.. Good balance

-------------------DDG----------------
Rafael - Jones - Evans/Rojo - Shaw
------------------ Blind ---------------
------ Carrick/Fletch - Herrera ------
Di Maria ------- Rooney ------- Mata

Lindegaard, Smalling, Evans/Rojo, Valencia, Carrick/Fletcher, RVP, Falcao

Plus Clevs, Januzaj, Anderson, Young, Fellaini.. (All could / should be sold but oh well)
Along with the youth of Blackett, James, Wilson, Varela, Janko, Pearson, Lingard, Vermijl

Just had another great laugh looking at the Woolwich thread. What a sad bunch of guys. If Welbeck does not score every game and have a blinder they will bag him with being ex Utd. Even an old video of Van Nistelrooy brings out the hate. The Islamists have  the same theme.

I have watched Danny Welbeck since he first played for the 1st team and  have always thought that he had tremendous talent.In my opinion we has never fulfilled that talent. Perhaps there was too much pressure on him, who knows. Maybe in a different side he could be outstanding, but as sad as I am to see him leave he probably did the right thing. He is one of the quickest players in the league but I'm not sure that he has the brains. 

I wish him well.

hhhhmmmmmm Falcao, I guess I could just survive if I earned 1.4 million dollars every fortnight. Anyone else on here struggle too? Great signing for sure, in fact some seriously good signings. A bit unbalanced on the left though. 

However as a QPR fan, I am quite happy to loan you Shawn Wright-Phillips for the rest of the season. You guys need a headless chicken running around on the right. And he doesn't fall over as much as Ashley Young.

Ha!

Godwin's Law for the 21st century?

Losing Welbeck is tough to take. I mean being born and raised in Manchester should count for something. I truly wish he does do well at Arsenal.

From F365

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em
Said Alex Ferguson in May 2012: "We invest in young players. That is what we are good at - we're not like other clubs who can spend fortunes on proven goods. We know that Manchester City are going to pay stupid money, pay silly salaries and all that. We can't do anything about it."

How do you United fans think the team is going to line up? Tekkers posts above his thoughts - do you guys agree? RVP and Falcao on the bench? If not, who do they come in for?

To some extent thats true and United have lost some of their identity in recent times in doing so. This is not usually how the club is run.

However, at least United have bought players who will develop going into their peak ages, which means better return on the investement

From City's past 4 seasons only 7 / 21 transfers in have been under 24,

• including Rodwell, Savic and Pantilimon who have been sold and Sinclair and Zucilini who haven't featured. 
• 2 players have also been 25 years old (Garcia, who has been sold, and Clichy)
• Only Jovetic and Aguero remain who were bought as 'young' players.

From United's past 4 seasons 11 / 17 transfers in have been under 24,

• including Henriquez, Powell and Zaha who are out on loan and Buttner and Kagawa who have been sold. 
• 3 players have also been 25 years old (Young, Mata, Fellaini)
• Jones, De Gea, Shaw, Herrera, Blind and Rojo remain who were bought as 'young' players.
• Rafael and Januzaj have also been brought through the club in this time, who are still under 24

I like 4-2-3-1

Rafael  Evans   Jones   Shaw

             Blind    Herrera

 Falcao       Mata/Rooney    Di Maria

                   RVP/Rooney

I don't really know if Falcao can play wide though. More realistically may be:

 Valencia      Blind/Herrera    Di Maria

                    Rooney     

             Van Persie    Falcao

This could be worth a seperate thread, a comparison of each club's young players and whether they were purchased or developed locally could be really interesting. I implore one of you footballing tragics (I mean this in a very endearing way) to give it a whirl.

No Rojo?

It seems to me that van Gaal is hell bent on this 3-5-2. If you assume he's going to line up that way, who plays where? Any way I look at it I can't see how your 'big 5' (rooney, rvp, falcao, di maria, mata) can all fit in. 

My belief is that one of those three strikers will be on the bench and whoever it is won't like it. And I also get the feeling that Mata will be on the outer once again. Wouldn't be surprised to see him and Fellaini sold in Jan.