Manchester United Thread

[Kraken]

the term has nothing to do with the Munich disaster, its just an excuse because Manu fans hate the pun

[RBBKopite]

Forget RVP, Kagawa is the best player you scumbags have bought in several years. He may even drag your ancient midfield and the rest of ManUre to a top 4 spot.

mate, can you not use that term again.

im not sure if you know where it came from, but just have a quick look about it if your unsure.

You and mack did ask (relatively) nicely so I'll just refer to your team as "England's second most successful club" from now on. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well but definitely holds more truth to it.

 

FYI: The story about the term I used to describe England's second most successful club being a direct disrespect towards the Busby Babes chanted by West Brom fans is pure bollocks. Nothing but urban myth. I spent the best part of 5 years living in the UK and was friends with numerous Stretford End lads, all of whom used either United or Man U to describe themselves and according to the myth the nickname Man U is never spoken by fans of England's second most successful club.

 

 

I guess red Manchester jerseys are made of thinner fabric than anywhere else....

You ever seen a thick-set tea towel?

Edited August 22, 2012 by RBBKopite

[mltezr]

with rooneys injury apparently being longer that the 4 weeks, it looks like the rvp signing was a good one now.

i think there is an international break in there so he shouldnt miss alot of games but you never know.

[Kizza]

Wouldn't have hurt us too much anyway with Berba, Chicha and Danny.

[Davo]

As soon as I heard the 4 week estimate I thought it was way too optimistic. It looked like someone hacked his leg with an axe. It's a shame because I was looking forward to United playing a system of 3 free moving forwards similar to the Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez days.

[Davo]

Well I'm pretty happy with the Champions League draw this morning. Galatasaray and Braga aren't going to be pushovers and the trip to Turkey is one of the longer ones in the comp but it should be easier than last season. Cluj will be a lot like their Romanian counterparts Otelul Galati were last season and should be the whipping boys of the group.

 

I was looking at the league matches around the Champions League group matches and there are going to be a few tricky weeks.

 

Matchday 1

Wigan (H) Saturday 15 Sept

Galatasaray (H) Wednesday 19 Sept

Liverpool (A) Sunday 23 Sept

 

Liverpool at Anfield 4 days after Galatasaray is tough although the upside is that it's a home match so no long trip. Last season's match at Anfield was similar with Ferguson resting Rooney and Nani for an upcoming European match and having to bring them on late to salvage a draw. After scraping through Europa League qualifying they'll most likely have a European match mid-week later in the week than United.

 

Matchday 2

Tottenham (H) Saturday 29 Sept

Cluj (A) Tuesday 2 Oct

Newcastle (A) Sunday 7 Oct

 

We're lucky that it's Cluj here so I can see a lot of players being rested since there's a big league match either side.

 

Matchday 3

Stoke (H) Sunday 10 Oct

Braga (H) Tuesday 23 Oct

Chelsea (A) Sunday 28 Oct

 

Chelsea away is always a massive match but they have an away match all the way over in the Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk on the same day while we're playing at home so they probably have the tougher run in.

 

Matchday 4

Arsenal (A) Saturday 3 Nov

Braga (A) Wednesday 7 Nov

Aston Villa (A) Saturday Nov 10

 

Arsenal away into Braga away is a tough 4 days although Arsenal are playing Schalke away on the Tuesday so it'll be interesting to see how the managers approach the Arsenal v United match as it might depend on how desperate things are in Europe.

 

Matchday 5

Norwich (A) Saturday 17 Nov

Galatasaray (A) Tuesday 20 Nov

QPR (H) Saturday 24 Nov

 

We got pretty lucky here because I think Galatasaray away is going to be the toughest match on the squad and there are two relatively easy matches either side.

 

Matchday 6

Reading (A) Saturday 1 Dec

Cluj (H) Wednesday 5 Dec

Manchester City (A) Saturday 8 Dec

 

City have an away match against Dortmund which could be pretty important considering the quality in their group while United have Cluj and will hopefully have already qualified for the next round. If not a second string side should be able to get the job done in Romania so United definitely have the better run into their toughest league match of the year.

[Kizza]

If we don't top the group then we should have a good hard look at ourselves....

[Davo]

Yeah hopefully we'll have topped the group before the last game so we can rest some players before the City game. Hopefully City aren't already eliminated from the group either, not only do I want them to be coming off a tough away game before they play us but I also just like seeing the English clubs do well in Europe.

[Kizza]

Arsenal should get through at least, with us. Hoping Celtic squeeze through too. Without the draw of an Old Firm for the next few years, Champions League is much needed.

[Davo]

Thing is we're talking like City are screwed (and they potentially are) but with such a tight group anything can happen. They have the team to beat Ajax and Dortmund minus Kagawa and if they sneak a 1-0 against Madrid they're looking good. Also I think Chelsea and Juve should be able to get past Shakhtar and Nordsjaelland so hopefully they'll get through too although either of them could top the group which will be important when they draw the next round. Celtic have a tough group so if we assume Barcelona come first then they'd have to finish ahead of Benfica which as we saw last season, isn't an easy task.

[Kizza]

Definitely a game of two halves last night.

 

Very average first which exploded in the second.

 

Great to see Buttner and Powell get off to good starts and a nice 4-0 win even with players rested from the International week.

[Davo]

I like the look of Buttner. Doesn't look as strong or as physical as Evra but his footwork looks really classy. Also good to see Johnny Evans get a run at the back, hopefully Carrick won't be back there for a while. I'd imagine Kagawa and Van Persie are right to play 90mins against Galatasaray plus Cleverly, De Gea and Vidic got a rest so I guess Ferguson wasn't kidding when he said he'd play a full strength side in the Champions League.

[Kizza]

Vidic out for 8 weeks. Another 2~ weeks for Smalling and 4-5 for Jones.

 

Rooney to be in the squad for the Spurs game apparently.

 

Looks like we might have the numpty Carrick at CB this week.

[Davo]

Well Ferdinand and Evans were rested for the 2-1 Cup win against Newcastle so hopefully they'll be right for Spurs. It also sounds like we didn't do too bad defensively considering the most experienced member of the back 4 (Buttner) had only 1 Premier League start. Apparently Keane, Vermijl and Wootton went ok back there. Also Buttner picked up a knock and was subbed off so hopefully it's only a precaution although I think Evra was going to start against Spurs anyway. I'd imagine it'd be Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans and Evra at the back provided Rio's ok after the knock against Liverpool.

 

Nice to see Fletcher get 90mins and Rooney played the first 75mins so he should be good to go. RVP and Kagawa weren't even on the bench and Welbeck and Hernandez played 90mins so I wouldn't surprised if RVP played the whole match against Spurs and Rooney will sub with either Welbeck or Hernandez with Kagawa in behind.

 

In the midfield you'd have to think it'll be Carrick and Scholes in the middle with Valencia or Nani on the right and Kagawa drifting in from the left. According to some of the papers in the UK Valencia was seen leaving Carrington on crutches with a protective boot on his foot, apparently an injury picked up when he was fouled for the penalty in the Liverpool game. I'm not sure how serious it is or if it's just deflecting the suggestions that he took a dive but I hope he's ok. I'd much rather see him then Nani who's been pretty ordinary this season. Getting Young back to give Nani some competition for his spot would be nice.

[Kizza]

Vermijl or wootton played quite badly i think dont remember which

 

id expect lindegaard, rafael, rio, evans, evra, valencia, carrick, cleverly, young, kagawa, rvp

Edited September 27, 2012 by Kizza

[Davo]

Is Young fit to play? I thought he was still injured. It'd be great if he is back because as I said, Nani's been playing like there's no competition for his spot.

[Kizza]

Is Young fit to play? I thought he was still injured. It'd be great if he is back because as I said, Nani's been playing like there's no competition for his spot.

 

If hes still out then Kagawa shifted left and rooney in behind. give nani a message.

[mltezr]

there talk that rafael is injured and same with buttner. though they are unconfirmed. hope not otherwise we might have a make shift defence again for spurs.

[Pup55]

Gareth Bale running at a makeshift right back.

 

Boo yeah.

 

24 years since we won ay Old Trafford, but $7 on bet fair is f*cking juicy

[Kizza]

Unless he plays LB again

[Pup55]

Wooooo

[cgorac]

Fergie just ordered one of these after the loss to Tottenham

 

[Kizza]

Meh the whinging about injury time is just to distract from the horrid effort by the CBs and his poor midfield choices at the start.

[mltezr]

Meh the whinging about injury time is just to distract from the horrid effort by the CBs and his poor midfield choices at the start.

yeah exactly.

though something i found interesting to shut alot of people up:

last seasons injury tim

http://twitter.com/ManUtd_Malta/status/253401143667998720/photo/1/large

[Davo]

Meh the whinging about injury time is just to distract from the horrid effort by the CBs and his poor midfield choices at the start.

yeah exactly.

though something i found interesting to shut alot of people up:

last seasons injury tim

http://twitter.com/M...0/photo/1/large

 

I hadn't seen that before. Really interesting. Also I think part of why Ferguson said it was to draw attention to the fact that injury time doesn't always work in United's favour. Make enough noise about it and people will remember it the next time United win in stoppage time and blame 'Fergie Time'.

[smarty]

nice win last night but man was i shocked after 20 mins..

[Davo]

Yeah got the result in the end and rested a few players but the defence is still kind of scary. Ferdinand, Evra, Scholes, Valencia and Welbeck all got a rest so it looked like Ferguson had one eye on the Chelsea match this weekend. Still, it looks like United need to concede a goal before they wake up and start playing.

[mltezr]

Yeah got the result in the end and rested a few players but the defence is still kind of scary. Ferdinand, Evra, Scholes, Valencia and Welbeck all got a rest so it looked like Ferguson had one eye on the Chelsea match this weekend. Still, it looks like United need to concede a goal before they wake up and start playing.

personally i dont mind the idea of 'we will just score more goals than you'. thats what we did before. yes the defence might be leaking goals in, but as long as we keep on scoring i dont mind it. i guess it makes for some very interesting games this season.

[elpli9]

Kagawa is Awesome.

[blameturner]

Hey guys, thanks for the linesman tonight. Great addition especially at the death