CHOULO19

Honestly that's not what I meant. I'm sorry if my post came out like I was implying that you are waiting for a shallow rich guy; that's not what I was going for, I promise. What I meant is that, it seemed to me that you are waiting to meet a guy, realize he is perfect for you and stay with him forever. But that just does not happen. Trust me, there is no such thing as love at first sight, or even love after the first date. So my advice was, give the guys that you now find "regular" (commoners) a chance. Go out on dates and get to know them. Date that guy your friends were trying to set you up with and maybe after 10-15 dates he'd start to look much more like prince charming to you. That's how people find true lasting love. That's just "my two cents". I hope this helps you in anyway even if you chose to not follow it 100%

Yeah...Let's not! PS: Nish, I'm going to wait a bit before approving your second article. We've just posted the first; people haven't had the chance to view it yet.

I'm making this thread so we can coordinate who writes what news for the main site and more importantly who has to do the previews for which games. The team for this so far is made up from: @, @Strike, @Hutcho, @NishC300, @Barbara, and myself. But anyone else who wishes to help is more than welcome. So does everyone mentioned above still want to do this or does anyone want to back out?

I'm going to make a thread in the General Chat and pin it so that we can discuss who does the match previews each week. PS: Not sure about your counting, though... EDIT: Here is the thread.

Well then at least Napoli. I'd bet my house (I don't have one ) that Gonzalo won't end up here this summer.

What's the motivation for him to lie? Like you said, it weakens our negotiating position for Rooney. If the truth is that we are in for other players then he really should have said that. Jose has been completely honest since arriving here. He said he'd only make 2-3 signings and he has. He talked about FFP and that we won't spend silly money and we haven't. I believe it's true because it makes a lot of sense and is in total coherence with everything Jose has been saying since arriving. Jose wants to play 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers and a deep number 10 (so more of a 4-3-3, really). He practically said so since arriving. He's also said that he thinks our squad is ready, on many occasions and I fully agree with him. If we can get Rooney, it would be a good deal since he is great player who is very versatile; he can offer something different than what we have; give us an extra option. If not, then our current squad is enough for next season. It wasn't a surprise that Jose said on Wednseday that it's either Rooney or bust because he's been saying a lot of stuff along the same lines since arriving. We might sign a youngster and send him on loan like Bruma for example, but unless we come across a great transfer opportunity, I doubt we'll be trying to add anyone to our team bar Rooney.

Somehow I think this is more of a publicity stunt to get Arsenal to pay his full buy-out clause. Jose wanting to bring Higuian here makes absolutely no sense. He didn't even pick him at Madrid!

Disappointing because I honestly believe that Josh won't develop elsewhere as much as he would here. The reason for that is that Josh needs great players around him to show his true talent. His best asset is his vision and passing and naturally that requires players around him that actually have proper movement. I think if he stayed, played in the Capital One, early FA games, and got subed into matches we're winning in the PL he would be much better off. I was hoping that would happen but never really thought it would.

This is interesting. Apparently Stoke are offering their fans free travel to all their away PL matches next season: http://m.skysports.com/article/football//8831234 Nice touch.

^^ Just read that. Disappointing but hardly surprising. I wonder where we're sending him out this time..

I bet this is what happened to him: And it didn't work So maybe you should stop waiting for the prince and give some "commoners" a chance. You never know, you might end up just as happy Besides, prince charming is sooo overrated: (Since Tom is on vacation, I thought I'd fill in for him )

Happy birthday, mate. Have a good one

But the thing is, Mata won't be moved to accommodate someone, but rather the whole team and system. The problem we had with 4-2-3-1 with Mata as the number 10 is that he very rarely dropped deep to receive the ball because he is uncomfortable with his back to goal which meant that we were outnumbered in midfield when we had the ball and we had serious issues with getting the ball from defense to attack. Benitez tried to solve this problem by switching to 4-4-1-1 and having the wingers play further back and used triangles with the fullbacks and pivot to get the ball out of defense. It seems from the first preseason game that Jose, on the other hand, is trying to get that number 10 to drop deep to receive the ball from the pivot and move it to the front three or even be a bit similar to a DPL and play long balls from the midway line. KDB did this A LOT in the game and even Piazon did it in the first 20 mins when he played there.

"Learned" was used in the common dialect in the US in the 18-19th century. I've read it in a lot of books from that era. I reckon it is still sometimes used in some southern states.

Talk circles about it all you want, but bottom line is football players who rupture their cruciate ligament very very rarely get back to what they were before. Let alone someone who's ruptured it twice. I would absolutely love to have the Bison back. It would be awesome to have the best midfielder in the world in our team. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Feeling much better now (although slightly hungover ). Went with my sister and brother in law to a pub to watch a local Blues band, but they're so incredibly good, I couldn't stop smiling all night

What does what he gave to the club has to do with anything? He was the best midfielder in the world and was unfortunate to get two long-term injuries that practically ruined his knees. It is very sad, but it is reality. I've watched him with Madrid last season, he is no where near his past self. He could still be a decent squad player as he can cover at several positions across the back and midfield.

Happy birthday, Sam. Here's to a many more years of inside stories and exclusive news

Honestly, I think you're missing the whole point: We're not after Rooney because we are desperate for a striker, we are after him because he's Wayne Rooney. Why? - Well first, the obvious reason: He is a top player. With all the criticism aimed from some people at Rooney these days (Lazy, 'has-been', on the decline...etc), you'd think he's worse than Heskey. But it is an undeniable fact that Rooney has continued to perform and deliver (in terms of goals and assists) over the years at all the various positions that Ferguson has throw him in. Claims that Rooney is not a top player are borderline delusional, imho. - Secondly, and why Jose thinks that Rooney could fit in our squad is that Wayne is very versatile. He can play anywhere across midfield and attack (except DM obviously). Anywhere he is played, he always offers exceptional work-rate and unmatched defensive cover among strikers. When played as a second striker, he practically allowed united to play with both two strikers and 5 players in midfield. Rooney basically gives Jose the option he was talking about of playing with two strikers as a "plan B" while also being great first choice striker and providing cover and depth at several positions. Very few footballers can offer what Wayne Rooney does. - Away from footballing reasons, Wayne Rooney is one of the most marketable footballers in the world. He has tons of fans in the UK and outside and will only increase the club's fame and sell A LOT of shirts. - Onto the, imo, more important reason. Signing Rooney would weaken united. He is arguably their best and most important player. Taking him away from united enhances our chances and wins us the first battle in the title race before the season has even started. - Our bid for Rooney has put Moyes, who has not even had time to settle in, in a tight spot. Moyes' start at united will be crucial for their title hopes. Jose knows that; and with this bid, regardless of the outcome, Moyes will fail his first real test and will already have HUGE pressure on him by the fans even before the actual football starts. He's already failed to land all of united's targets in the transfer market, and now he will either lose one of his best players and a club icon or he will have an unhappy 220k/wk striker who he practically called second best and surplus to requirements at united....Advantage Mourinho. So for the reasons above, I won't even discuss Yilmaz, simply because he is not an option. Like Jose said: "Either Rooney, or bust". If we can get him, it would be a great a deal for the club and a huge boost to our title challenge. If not, our squad is more than ready for the new season and Jose has already struck the first psychological blow to united. A minor note about the Rooney to Torres comparison. I find it completely baseless and illogical. Torres built a career as a striker based on his pace and finishing alone. He relied on his speed to beat defenders and finishing to score goals. He brought nothing else to the team. He lost his pace due to the knee injury and as a result lost his confidence and with it his ability to finish and thus had nothing more to offer for his team. Rooney on the other hand is an all-around player. He can obviously score, but he can also assist, link-up, create, press and defend. Rooney has amazing stamina and work-rate, but he also has great technical ability, tactical understanding and discipline and excellent footballing IQ. That does not all go away over night.

United are just trying to drag this on in hopes of getting a higher price or that someone else might show interest. They'll have to face reality eventually.

He was given ONE start.

Yeah finished with same points as Term last season, but I sacked a lot of old players this season and brought in younger ones with lower skill levels. Need to wait for them to develop.

Of course. One of their best players is unhappy at the club and wants to join their direct rivals. Moyes' first major action at utd is to greatly weaken them and strengthen a title challenger. That's a huge psychological blow for them.

True, but like I said, considering the competition, I think it is highly probable. Which automatically makes him the best choice for the DM position. And it seems that Jose thinks that's good enough with Essien and Ramires filling in when needed. Still on break with the rest. Think they'll join up with the team in the US.

I think this transfer is more about weakening utd than strengthening our side, tbh. And like Alex said, regardless of whether we sign him or not, Jose has already dealt the first psychological blow.