lionsden

People still haven't learned from last season never to discount a team gaining huge momentum without any champions league distractions as a title challenger. Their current form, result wise nonetheless, is title contender form and they are gaining maximum points during the busiest time of the year. People were discounting Liverpool last season as a genuine contender right until january when they realised they had look like a mug if they continued to do so. The Moyes debacle is clouding people's judgement. united are not a shit team. anyteam with Rooney, Di maria, RVP,Mata and Falcao has a chance of winning the league. that's abundance of goals right there and goals win games.

He actually name dropped Boga in the discussion lmao. If he wasn't a football manager, he would have made a good politician because he does talk an awful lot of bollocks.

We have dominated youth football for the past 4 years and evidently have some of the best young players in Europe in the academy and on loan but I fear none of them will ever make it here. It will be a shame if players like RLC,Boga,Baker,Solanke suffer the same fate as those before them.

Hazard, Matic,fabregas, JT and Costa have to be rested against Derby. it's that simple

Van Gaal had options today. he could have played falcao, Fletcher, Herrera and Januzaj (who's already an established first team player) ahead of wilson. I know damn well Jose isn't playing an academy lad regardless of the level of fitness of the senior players. He would play a Costa on crutches and play mikel on the wing to avoid starting a youngster for a big game or any competitive match for that matter. The truth is Mourinho would never ever have started Wilson if he was in Van gaal's position today and anyone who denies it isn't being truthful with themselves.

But he got his chance and the team won and that's the point. Van gaal and many managers have proven that ultimately the onus is on the manager to give youths a chance. Jose would rather bring a youngster that he's hyped up all week on in the last 8 minute of a dead rubber game and makes sure the entire world is aware of it while van gaal starts them in a massive game. Thats the difference between

Thank you but it's easier to make excuses for Jose than to accept that he's not a manager that gives youth solid opportunities. van gaal never made a big deal out of it in pre match either because he's used to nurturing youngsters throughout his career.

And man utd isn't? especially in attack where they have Rooney,RVP, Di maria,Falcao,Mata,Valencia,Januzaj,Young. A 19 year old attacker still manage to start a big game. The bottomline is some managers show their commitment to bringing through players from the academy on the pitch rather than in the press.

And Man utd are on course to win this game and firmly in the top 4. That "experiment" doesn't seem to be backfiring. And let's wait and see if Mou wins the premier league.

I'm realistic. Blind positivity is for irrational and delusional people. I base my views on patterns and historical evidence rather than false hope. When Jose start showing genuine commitment to bringing through a youngster (not by words but by actions) then I will start showing optimism until then I will toast to my pessimism/realism. Today we have seen van Gaal start a 19 year old academy lad, Wilson, in arguably their biggest game of the season despite falcao being available for selection. Can you ever see Jose do a thing like that?

Van gaal starting Wilson. Can anyone imagine jose ever starting a youngster in any league match, nevermind such a big game and that's with falcao on the bench. hell will freeze over before it happens

Why do some find Pardew's comment controversial or offensive? he said Wenger has been the best premier league/English football manager after Ferguson which is absolutely spot on and undisputable as you can't argue against facts. These are the facts: 3 premier league titles (Jose only has 2), 5 FA Cups to Jose's 1 measly fA cup and 2 carling cup. In addition to that he transformed the defensively rigid and extremely pragmatic and boring George Graham's arsenal side into a dominant fluid, attacking team that was a breathe of fresh air in a league that was renowned more for its physicality. Also he developed and produced many great footballers and even in his barren spell between 2005-2014, he's never failed to qaulify for the Champions league despite operating on a positive net transfer and spending way less than his main rivals. That's his legacy and Jose has yet to eclipse his achievement in English football (big emphasy on English football for the highly emotional readers who like to react without understanding context) Now if he had said Wenger is a better manager than Jose, that would be completely different and a stupid thing to say

He will join the first team next season and literally rot on the bench getting one or two rare appearance in league cup and coming on in the last 4 minutes of a couple of games we have already won or for time wasting until he's sent back on loan again for the 2016/17 season to be replaced by Solanke who suffers strikingly similar fate . I tried to be optimistic, I really tried but I'm done getting my hopes up.

Who is this frank lampard guy that you all speak of. Isn't he that mab shitty player?

You said it yourself, he went from winning back to back ballon dor to an ok/average player at milan. Thats very bad decline. Normally when ballondor winners or contenders still in their 20's decline, they go from elite level to partially world class or at worst, just a level below world class. Dinho pretty much went from being the best player in the world to average/mediocre.

Probably but ronaldinho runs him close considering how sharply he fell after winning back to back WPOTY. They both declined well before they even reached age 30. The difference perhaps is ronaldinho had incredible natural talent and flair which he still displayed occassionally and never sulks or zaps positive energy out of a team

How do you determine these things. So far the youngsters that have featured haven't put a foot wrong and have done the least that's expected of them with the limited minute. If they haven't been given a decent chance in a competitive game against good oppositions and failed the test, how can you reach such conclusion with absolute certainty? Please enlighten us, the youth expert.

Yer effort like giving the four of christensen, baker,solanke and rlc a combined total of 120 odd minute in all competitions this season. Yer I can see the effort

Did he show the same potential or possess as much talent as rlc and boga?.The idea that a teenager cannot cope with first team football is a myth that has been disproved countless times throughout history. People act like the youngsters that made it at a young age (which was only possible because their managers had a pair of balls) were performing hudini tricks and walking in water at youth and reserve level before being promoted and given a chance. Majority of the players that made it young show similar level of performance and pitential to some of our current crop. A lil more faith and trust by the manager is what makes the difference sometimes

One thing I will say is im absolutely delighted to see the back of him. He's the player I was most excited to see leave the club after torres. He's not our problem anymore. I just pity the poor psg fans who have to endure his amatuerish,lackadastical and brainless defending

He will just come back with "those players were special and most of them werent playing for a big club"so save yoursf the stress.And people wonder why we have failed miserably to bring through a player since JT. Choulo's attitude is consistent with the manager and hierarchy at the club and thats why. Thank goodness ranieri had a better attitude towards youth development otherwise who knows what would have become of terry

Also the game presented a great opportunity to rotate and rest the senior players that have been run to the ground this season. What would have been his justification had one of our important players (fabregas,costa and matic) picked up an injury in that game. Why even risk it when there's absolutely no need.Any other manager in his position would have rested more players and start atleast one youth player

The whole pre match ceremony and the wine/champagne comment were very cringe worthy and even more so considering the youth player that he so ethusiastically used, to express his commitment to bringing through an academy player only got 8 minutes of playing time. After all the hype the least he could do was to introduce him once we were ahead 2 nil in the 1st half or even start him. God knows what will happen the day he manages to start one of the academy lads in a competitive match. The whole world will know about it.

So Jose made a huge deal out of giving RLC a debut both pre match and post match interview in a completely dead rubber game only to bring him on in the last 8 minutes. it's overly cautious and unneccesary approach. Why even play some of the first teamers like Fabregas,Costa,Matic at all nevermind starting them in a meaningless game.

This is just fantastic news. On a side note, I take issue with Jose's comment about prioriotising "the English talents" over their foreign counterpart. Shouldn't the right strategy be prioritising the best talent period? So if it came down to chosing one attacking talent, He had rather go with izzy brown instead Boga for example. More importantly it sends out a totally wrong message to the non English youth players.