Do you come with those nicknames daily? Proud of them?
Mario Mandžukić
- Thread starter roonster09
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
That worries me a bit. I'd be happy with Mandzukic on a contract until the summer (wanted him in August for a year with maybe a year option) but giving him 18 months - which in likelihood is what it takes for him to join now - would be risky. It's also risky to be making moves now for targets if we don't know who is going to manage them.
With Dembele I worry that he's not quite the level we want. And like Lukaku, he would come at a huge price and prevent us from going for the top class bracket in that position.
Can we not do better?
@Ban gets overly upset and emotional if anyone dares slag off his beloved Mandzukic. National team bias, bless.
Please put me on ignore so I don't have to read this kind of crap.
Screw Mandža, we should be all over Petković.
Strong, young, can score, knows how to play with the ball, knows when to hold on to it.
And he wouldnt even be that expensive.
Strong, young, can score, knows how to play with the ball, knows when to hold on to it.
And he wouldnt even be that expensive.
Agreed. One to watch definitely.
He's class above at Dinamo, but feck me, he shines when he plays for NT.
And he plays great as the Target man. Just what we need.
Dečko blista.
And he plays great as the Target man. Just what we need.
Dečko blista.
Španer. 
Instead of Dembele, get Mertens, whose contract is up next June, and may cost up to £20m (may be only £10m or a bit more). He's 32. By the time he's ready to retire, Greenwood should be the finished article. Mertens is still banging goals in for Napoli, this season and last.
Rashy you mean?
He's proud enough of it to have a gold chain of it around his neck in his leisure time.
I'm not sure with him either. I think we would do well in either securing a loan for 6 months or just going big for an actual top class striker or an outrageously promising prospect.
If we are half-assing it I'd rather go for Richarlison who can play all across the front line. But, again, we should be going for top top quality.
About 5 months too late. It was mind numbingly, headbangingly obvious that we needed some sort of experienced reinforcement in attack with our without losing lukaku. Going in to the season with Greenwood, Martial and Rashford as our goalscorers was outrageous. Martial gets a pass as hes injured, but the other two can not carry the expectation of getting goals nevermind not being good enough.
Mandzukic is simply a goal getter. He will relish the pressure.
Mandzukic is simply a goal getter. He will relish the pressure.
Last season he vanished from January onwards. He scored just 1 goal against atalanta.
Ah I was wondering why a fine poster like ban was acting so weirdly.
No love lost though. That area of the world does produce some very very good talent all with the right attitude to succeed. If Croatia or Serbia had the UK's population and finances then they would be winning the WC every 15 years.
Mandzukic was a decent talent. Its a shame that injuries had crippled him.
There is definitely a bias for young players from the PL among our fans though. Its one thing Im learning to appreciate about Mourinho, he had 0 of that. Had a more international approach. We definitely value a player more if young and English and thats gotta stop. We are putting up with someone as mediocre as Luke Shaw simply because he is english.
I see us doing the same with Greenwood now. Granted he is young but lets rely on proven international talent, how about that?
Mandzukic is exactly that. In fact that Croatian team probably has about 5 players we can use.
I've been screaming for Brozovic for so long. Such a no brainer, we havent even considered it. Went for Sean Longstaff instead. Ridiculous.
Mandzukic is a proven international. We dont have a good mix of youth and vets. We just have youth, very unproven youth. We do need a player like Mandzukic. We also need his experience and yes even his age. We really need to stop acting like every player is useless once they turn 21.
I see us doing the same with Greenwood now. Granted he is young but lets rely on proven international talent, how about that?
Mandzukic is exactly that. In fact that Croatian team probably has about 5 players we can use.
I've been screaming for Brozovic for so long. Such a no brainer, we havent even considered it. Went for Sean Longstaff instead. Ridiculous.
Mandzukic is a proven international. We dont have a good mix of youth and vets. We just have youth, very unproven youth. We do need a player like Mandzukic. We also need his experience and yes even his age. We really need to stop acting like every player is useless once they turn 21.
What United need is goals. Therefore do you think its a good idea to sign a 33 year old who scored just 1 goal since Christmas? Don't forget that he's currently playing in a league (actually not, Juve has frozen him out this season) that is far slower then the EPL
I have no British bias and while I do prefer players to be <26 I have no concerns in us buying 29-30 year olds if the price, attitude, player's conditions and wages are right. However this signing stinks like the Bastian/Blanc one.
Hopefully this ship sailed in the summer.
I cannot be convinced that another 'sticking plaster' signing is a good thing.....
Remember the "Long Term Plan"..?
If we are going to sign a striker, then please let's just get the guy that we actually want for the next 5 years...!
I don't mind us signing Mandzukic on a loan till the end of the season. However if we are signing him for a fee then we might as well have Sanchez returned.
I'd take Zlatan above Mandzukic right now, given that he's much more likely to accept a one-year deal
Yes, good call
Let's agree do disagree. I think he'd be more than useful to get in January. And he'd be a lot more useful than Alexis imo.
We need a striker for the long term, not a quick fix. What happened to the plan. 33 year old is not the answer, same as all British wont win us the Champions League.
Buying in January is tough as most players aren't available. Also ole might be on his last legs here so the club might be unwilling to back him up.
Having said that it doesn't make sense getting Mandzukic unless on loan
If the 63 scouts we have, do their job right we should be able to find players in the foreign countries to bring in. Cheaper than going for British players who cost a fortune now.
That goes without saying. However bringing players in January is still tough. It's a seller market
How can anyone be sure whether he is shot or not if he hasn't played a single minute of competitive football this season? I'll be honest and say that I don't know, but would at the very least be wary that a 33-year old who has thrown his body around in a very physical play style (bless him) for 15 years might have reached a point where it starts to affect his performance in a major way, especially after missing more games last season due to injury than in any other during his career.
He certainly would not interest any of the top clubs with his age profile and so little football played this season , but we are a mid table team going the wrong way in need of a temporary fix until the summer , I can see why we are interested.
He has scored 1 goal since Christmas mate.
If the reports of interest in him are true, this club is finished.
He missed 13 games through two different injuries and only played 14 games after Christmas. He still managed 4 assists. It's a bad run of form, but a very small sample size to declare him finished given the circumstances. He might be, he might not be. Judging on stats alone is dubious at best. That's all I'm saying.
The only issue is,due to our lack of creativity,he ,like others before him, will be hung out to dry in this team.
If Mandi is the only signing we make in January then I cant foresee a great deal of change in results.
Bring in a effective creative player who will hit the ground running too and I may think more positively.
If Mandi is the only signing we make in January then I cant foresee a great deal of change in results.
Bring in a effective creative player who will hit the ground running too and I may think more positively.
I love these wildly pessimistic out of this world posts like these.
Signed Mandzukic did we? - Clubs finished. Done for. Over.
(Not forgetting that a lot of our signings over the past few years have been aging, but yh, the clubs FINISHED, now we’ve signed 1 33yr old striker. - Oh but I’ll take Zlatan. Who can do it in the MLS but we don’t know if he can do a job in a completely different, more aggressive league. But yeah. We’re FINISHED)
I rated him highly during his time at Bayern, never really kicked on but has had a decent career nonetheless. I don't think he's the answer at this stage of his career though.
So since Christmas he had 2 separate injuries , he played 14 games and he scored 1 goal and then he was frozen out. Is this the man we will be relying for goals?
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No thank you, another has been mercenary. Way past his prime
That's beside the argument at hand. Its possible for a great topscorer to score goals even with a club whose struggling in creating chances. RVP did that with us for example. The real argument here should be
a- whether we still think that Ole is here for the long term or not
b- whether we've got a target in mind whom we can't get on January but will sign for us in summer or not
c- whether we're ready to spend big money or not
All these questions will impact our transfer strategy.
Id say my targets would be
100M+ - Harry Kane
60M+ - Belotti, Lautaro Martinez, Callum Wilson, Timo Werner
30m-40m+ Moussa Dembele, Osimhen,
10m-30m - Mertens, Malen etc
Loan - Mandzukic
They would come with a list like Dyabala, Neymar, Kane, Griezmann, Ronaldo, Suarez, Vardy, Cavani, Morata, Lukaku etc. The players that every fecking man and his dog knows about.
actually sometimes more is as bad as less. Probably such huge team will come out with all sort of names to justify their salary in such a competitive environment. Imagine if the manager asks for a striker and the scouting team came out with 40 names. Surely he wouldn't trust them after that.