Silvestre leaving as well

devilish

Yeah that what we need when injuries start piling up at the end of the season.....

VoetbalWizard

you do have a point, it is a man short, just don't think we should spend veloso/richards money on it.

true, i did take gaz for granted that he'll come back 100% but you never know. i trust fergie to do the right thing.

that said, i thought we were going to buy richards from the beginning of the window regardless who left. however with sparky at city, i am not so sure if richards will be able to be had so the boss will shift his target accordingly.

devilish

I've never said that we should spend top dollar on a defender. In fact I would be happy to see us sign an experienced defender on cheap in the same way we did with Johnsen a few years back. Stating that I wouldnt be surprised if SAF does spend good money on a good defender. First of all because it seem to be difficult to carefully assess Gaz's condition (do you remember the back in 2 weeks time interview?), secondly because even if Gaz do return to his former best, he is already 33. Now Wes may end up succeeding him but only God knows whether SAF sees Wes capable of taking a permanent first team role in there. Not to forget also that with Wes as first teamer and Mickey at Roma, our defense will be starving for a capable AND experienced central back cover capable of leading the line against teams such as Barcelona, Real and Inter.

Lot 49

I'd take whatever we could get for Silvestre, we don't need him at all.

Will miss his funny shaped head though.

devilish

He was never a great defender but he is a much more reliable option then OShit, Evans and Simpson.

Lot 49

O'Shea is as good as Silvestre, both decent cover who aren't even close to challenging Evra for the first team.

Simpson and Evans are still young enough to improve and Evans has got the potential to be far better than Silvestre and I'd much rather we gave games to the young player who could be a future first teamer than the player whose going to be 31 next season and coming to the end of his career.

Alex

This isnt exactly bad or new news

devilish

Mickey suffers from lapses of concentration but at least he can defend and tackle properly. A player like OShea would have never played the amount of games Mickey had played with France.

Its too early to say whether Evans will make it. Its one thing to do well with Sunderland but Manchester United is a different cup of tea. Let us not forget what happened against Coventry.

Simpson will be offloaded either this year or the next.

032Devil

Mexes.


(+ a few extra quids).

Lot 49

O'Shea is fine defensively and a good tackler though, I can't recall many times when he's had bad games as a left back (tons when he's played in midfield of course). Silvestre has played 40 games for France, that's about 4 a season on average which is hardly incredible and it's not much of an argument anyway when you consider someone as shit as Wiltord got nearly 100, even bloody Boumsong has got around two dozen and he's the French Titus Bramble.

It is too early to say whether Evans will make it but it's guaranteed he won't if we don't give him a chance. I think he's got immense potential personally and it's critical we gave him as much playing time as possible next season. That will be easier to do if we clear out some of the dead wood like Silvestre, as much as you like him as a player just look at the facts. We've won back to titles and the European cup and how many games has Silvestre started in that period? 18. That kind of record makes Saha look like a vital player. We just don't need him, it makes sense to cash in now and get a few million for a player whose age means his value is going to depreciate rapidly than keep him for another couple of years where he's only going to get in the way of youth development.

I agree with you on Simpson though.

ninja_alan

If we do sell him we're gonna need a new defender. I don't know if there is anyone out there as good or better then Silvestre who's going to be willing to sit on the bench most of the time. He's a good squad player and before we get a new squad player in to take his position i can't see why we should sell him.

Yianni

Would everyone be content with this next season?

Neville - Rio - Vidic - Evra
Simpson - Brown - Evans - O'shea

Pretty much the same as the season that just passed, except we will have a fit Neville and both Simpson and Evans will probably get a lot more time to play in the first team.

The sale of Silvestre makes sense. I doubt O'shea will ever be used as a midfielder again. There's no need seeing as we are covered in that area of the field. So I can see him playing a bigger role in defence now.

Even after selling Pique and maybe Silvestre, I still think we are pretty well covered. I don’t see the point in spending money on brining in another defender, unless it’s someone like Lahm. 8 defenders should be enough.

ninja_alan

I don't think Simpson is good enough, and Evans has yet to prove himself at this level. If we sell Silvestre we're gonna need a new defender.

Sam#1

No.

Lot 49

This is what I want to see tbh.

Yianni

What level is that? He did play for Sunderland. I'm sure he has proved something.

Yianni

Hargreaves can also play at right back, and he isn't bad at it either. Brown did a pretty good job playing there last season. I'm not that worried about the right side. The left side concerns me more.

ninja_alan

Sunderland and Manchester United are two different worlds. I'm not questioning he's potential as it is clearly there, but i still don't think he's got what it takes to come in and play Barcelona, Inter etc in an important CL match. He might get there, but he's not there yet.

Yianni

People need to remember that Evans is replacing the departing Pique, so we aren't really losing a defender there. Pique didn't play a huge role either, in the league he started 5 times and came on as a sub 4 times. I'm sure Evans can handle himself the same way.

Silvestre only started 4 matches and came on as a sub once last season. So it's not like we are 'losing' a defender from the squad last season. We didn't rely on both Silvestre and Neville last season so by losing one of them, why do we then need to find a replacement?

The way I look at it, our defence is unchanged. Didn't stop us from winning the double.

Yianni

And Pique would have been able to handle the likes of Barcelona? The same concerns must be applied to Pique as they are with Evans.

Evans made 1 start and 1 sub appearance in the CL and 15 starts in the premier league. If either of the two had to come in and play an important match I think Evans would be the more prepared and ready player.

Elliott

Man, that's clever.

ninja_alan

Because if Silvestre leaves we will have to find someone that can fill in at both CB and LB. O'shea isn't good enough to do that in my opinion.

Yianni

We practically didn't have Silvestre at all last season. Why is it now that we need to find someone to replace him? I'd much rather see a striker be brought in first then worry about other areas.

It's going to be difficult also to bring someone in who will find themselves sitting on the bench for the majority of the season. First choice cover in the centre is Brown if he isn't already starting at right fullback. So we may as well stay content with the likes of Evans like we did with Pique. Come to think of it, if Pique was unhappy to play a small part in the squad, what makes you think the new person will be any happier? Only a home grown player will be content in waiting to play i.e. Evans, Simpson, O'shea, Brown.

devilish

OShea is not a good defender, in fact he is average at best. The very fact that SAF prefers to play anywhere but would think it twice to put him in the defense shows how good his defensive skills are

Its true that we won the EPL title and the European cup without Mickey. There again we did the same without both Evans and Gaz. Does that mean that they are crap or that we dont need them?

The truth is that there is a tendency for the defense to break down when we need it most. Now if the defense breaks down against Messi and co then Id rather have an experienced defender who had played 40 times with a great football nation such as France rather then stick to our midfielder/forward/defender/keeper who cant tackle and a defender who couldnt keep at bay Micheal Mifsud. Evans may have potential but he has yet to prove it at OT.

devilish

Thats my thoughts whenever I see OShea in our defense.

ninja_alan

That's why i want Silvestre to stay. I do agree that a striker is what's most important but if we start selling players in other positions we're gonna have to replace them. If Silvestre leaves we're gonna have problems with the LB position seeing as O'shea will be the only one that can play there if Evra gets injured etc.

devilish

Can you see us playing such defense in a CL tie when injuries start cropping in? FFS they couldnt keep Mifsud at bay, let alone Messi and Ruud.

Brwned