robsblubot

heh as good as they were, they won't pass first round with their high-tempo PL-built style. Anyway, Kante is a very good player but not the only B2b out there and certainly not the cheapest buy atm after the season they had. A club looking for a bargain should always stay clear of winning sides.

I'd go for Blind in a heartbeat if the rumors - that Jose isn't a fan - are true. He's the typical player Jose doesn't appreciate: very technical. This would be the perfect squad player (the 13th player)! TBH still don't understand how Jose ended up at united - never seen United employ the bulldozer style Jose is known for.

Matic is too slow for b2b Reckon they complement each other very well as kante is the far more mobile player - even more so than ramires

H come on! Pelle is 30, so it kinda makes sense for him to prioritize money at this time - perhaps his last contract? i was actually surprised by our interest in him.

agreed, but we don't do that and haven't had adequate cover forever. The top clubs have no mikels in their rosters: only we, liverpool, and united do. Matic had a poor season, did mikel provide adequate cover? How did we play? Hazard was subpar, so who stepped up? My point is that if we say we are ok with mikel coming on, and often like last season, then anything goes: ginkel and others could do such a role. I'd prefer we had 2 similar players for every position (or at least cover) but that's not how the club is run.

disagree with the reasons above as I hardly think Mikel is a chelsea or any remotely top club player. However, the problem isn't so much quality, but characteristics. Ginkel looks like a player who does better a bit up in the field, unless he's been doing what asked and can play a more defensive role, in which case then he should def replace mikel.

because 10 clubs thought the same are in talks with him over the move. He's negotiating the best deal for him: all that bargain is going to go into the wages and bonuses in the winning bid. good players are expensive.

100x better than Mikel, so a pretty good rotation/first team option. One more CM if we keep Matic, or two more if not.

what bothers me isn't so much the fact that we don't acquire our targets, but the fact we seem clueless in finding out whether they are acquirable or not. I did reply earlier that the club should be indeed working on multiple fronts at the same time, but each takes time and money, so focusing on attainable targets is a must. Not that surprising with the folks there to be honest.

I'd just take a larger stack of cash thank you. mediocre #9

It's not sequential... they don't have to wait for the answer before they move on. I'm not confident we are getting our players because I think our people aren't really that great in the window, but they should be working on multiple deals at the same time fully knowing that the majority won't go though.

(the goal) that's why you do business before the Euros or not at all.

the key word there is the 'two' ... Fabregas just isn't powerful enough for the pivot. Considering I think Mikel should never play at this level, I'd say a B2B like Kante type of player next to Matic and Fabregas would work just fine.

good player, but if that's all we do, we will end up in the same position in the standings. Center midfield is just too weak compared to our opponents who all have better options. If we cannot sign the likes of Kante, then we can count Leicester as also having better midfield. Midfield is kinda important area of the pitch.

well, not many people would bet on oscar improving and/or delivering this time around, because the trend has been flat or even downward. Aside from faith, or some important information we don't have (e.g. chronic injury - which would be worse than lack of devel really), it's very unlikely he will turn it around with us. He might have a far better chance of doing so elsewhere in a different environment, perhaps even country. Sometimes players get too comfortable and lose their intensity on the pitch. I get the comparisons with Mikel, but it goes into my point that some players get undeserved attention, while others get a free pass. Oscar has had MotM performances for us and Brazil - and several for internacional, prior to joining us. Yes, none lately, but other players on the squad have only heard of MotM because it's something unattainable for them. In my mind I see everything in a competitive way: is this player capable of giving us an edge against the opposition? Some players have, like hazard in the past, given us that edge against any opposition. Others do so in only specific conditions: counter, no pressure, etc. While others never, ever have the ability to win matches. They can fill gaps but don't really give you an edge. I have other issues with Mikel's game that don't belong here. Perhaps Oscar enjoys so much attention because the expectations on him were so high; to become a player who could give us the edge as Hazard does (did last season).

Having watched Oscar before he joined us, I can guarantee he dramatically improved his tackling and defending in general. a lot of players have not improved and we employ some really poor players in certain positions - as in cheap and no other top club would ever play them. I don't disagree Oscar has been a disappointment - just with the attention he enjoys for that... since it isn't so rare in our squad of pretty average and some really poor players. Even our good players cannot have a bad season because of our absolute lack of depth.

He has been wearing the 8 and playing like an 8 for quite some time. people here have a difficulty with the notion that he is an 8 playing in a more advanced position. and that Oscar does not fit the mold elf what a true 10 ought to be - something Oscar isn't ironically - does not play or wear 10 for Brazil either btw. he's been poor, but I think the hate he gets around here has more to do with preferences and the team setup than Oscar himself. if Oscar is Mikel like why is Mikel a 9mi buy and Oscar north of 20mi?

that was the problem to begin with: we were very patient in replacing ramires and not strengthen the squad. No, I don't think we'd be title winning material regardless - it's the hangover after the title - but we might have avoided last season's fiasco.

hehe got the correlation wrong there: Mikel has a job at a top side because of Emenalo, his countryman. No manager in their right mind would actually try and sign him. I can certainly see Matic bossing the midfield against us for a season and a half, like he did for us. Then when he has a bad season, tired/fed up/unlucky, united will have the strength in depth to see it through.

If the player rejects the move, then officially the bid is rejected. Oscar did not want to go to china, so the bid was rejected. Had Juventus made the offer, he's be moving already.

why would he want to get into his 3rd term?! He will get paid regardless... Of course they want to do well, but getting the sack for these top managers only means a forced well-paid vacation.

It's the agents doing their lobbying - just part of their job. Big agents have media contacts and can generate some buzz whenever they feel it will help their clients.

worst attacking players today in the CL final: Ronaldo and Griezmann Even ignoring the pk miss, Griezmann had a pretty bad game and I wonder how well he would be able to do in the PL - seems to lack power big time.

Scolari, Dunga, and a bunch of other managers do the same. Whether it's a more for the benefit of the team or themselves is really not that important to me, or my argument to be honest. Bear in mind I am NOT a fan. I wasn't a fan even before Jose joined and was by no means surprised by his shortcomings - like you said, it's been happening for a while.

Just not sure your causality here is correct: Jose historically incites trouble only when the team is not performing and keeps more quiet when things are going well. Right or wrong, he's always done that (other managers do the same btw), mostly to remove pressure from his players. Obviously, this strategy only works for a short time and eventually you need to get the results, but the overall form at the beginning of the season was so poor that it was going to take a while no matter what you did. I am a firm believer that we would have end up at around the same position had Jose stayed. Even the obvious dissident players would've decided to rally behind him a bit just to stay safe, eventually; bringing Hiddink just expedited the process, but along it came his bad tactics, team selections, and outdated ideas... IMO of course.