[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Absolutely brilliant vs. Barca, gonna end up a bargain for us.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Absolutely brilliant vs. Barca, gonna end up a bargain for us.

He was fantastic. A joy to watch. Best player on the pitch IMO. Hilarious it took this long for someone to comment on his performance. Everyone is far too busy spitting bile at the likes of Lindelof and Fellaini. Miserable twats.

 

[Blind]

If he made the move to Real or Barca instead of us, I think he'd be recognised as the best midfielder in the world by now, his decision making and sheer class on the ball has definitely gone up a level since the start of last season.

 

[Kostur]

Yup, he was absolutely destroying them.

 

[Stacks]

Absolutely brilliant vs. Barca, gonna end up a bargain for us.

Well if clubs are willing to spend 50 million on Sigurdsson then he already is

 

[Zoo]

Pogba and De Gea are our best players. So no surprise that they were our top performers against Barca.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Need highlights of his performance.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Pogba and De Gea are our best players. So no surprise that they were our top performers against Barca.

De Gea wasn't our top performer. That's nuts. Only one save was anything other than routine.

 

[Womp]

Him and De Gea are on another level to any other player in our squad imo. Forget potential, he's already world class and only going to get better imo.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

He was fantastic. A joy to watch. Best player on the pitch IMO. Hilarious it took this long for someone to comment on his performance. Everyone is far too busy spitting bile at the likes of Lindelof and Fellaini. Miserable twats.

Ha ha, so true, came in expecting this thread to be at the top of the page.

 

[Rozay]

Him and De Gea are on another level to any other player in our squad imo. Forget potential, he's already world class and only going to get better imo.

I think Valencia is the only who matches them, pound for pound in terms of quality. Him, Pogba and De Gea are a level above. Our main problem is that we need at least one in the forward line who is of that calibre.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Ha ha, so true, came in expecting this thread to be at the top of the page.

It's only at that top when people think he's played bad.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Fantastic player, So happy to have him. Just shows what having world class players will do for your team. Now we just need similar in other positions.

 

[Godfather]

So so glad we have him. Only real world class player (apart from DDG) we have in the squad.

 

[Sammyjunn]

So so glad we have him. Only real world class player (apart from DDG) we have in the squad.

After several hundred million euro's since Fergie left, it is embarassing.

 

[Manny]

That first 30 minutes felt like him telling his teammates that they hang with Barca.

Fantastic player, So happy to have him. Just shows what having world class players will do for your team. Now we just need similar in other positions.

So true. It lifts the players around them to be better, more professional and provides a target to aspire to. I can see him being vital to Periera's development.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Fantastic presser and sums up Pogba at the end. World class

 

[Lawman]

Him and De Gea are on another level to any other player in our squad imo. Forget potential, he's already world class and only going to get better imo.

Add Valencia to that list hopefully Bailley and Lukaku join them but the squad is in need of quality additions and given the damage Moyes and LVG did (especially LVG) as he got rid of our core squad players and brought in guys at a lesser level for a couple of hundred million. That damage still needs repaired. Evans Fletcher Hernandez Rafael Nani were no worse than Rojo Bastian Darmian and Depay then you can add Morgan Falcao and ADM to that hall of shame signed by LVG the only moderate success has been Blind Martial and Rojo and even then they are not great.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

People have always been obsessed with our lack of supposed "world class" players. The last time we won the league and made the CL final, how many "world class" players were in our team? 2 or 3 defenders, who were all on the decline. Plus Wayne Rooney.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Fantastic presser and sums up Pogba at the end. World class

Apologies for going OT, & I'm probably looking too much into it, but that quote about the defenders was weird.

"In a couple of days you will have an understanding of why I have been playing Lindelof and Smalling"

Maybe Smalling is off?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Apologies for going OT, & I'm probably looking too much into it, but that quote about the defenders was weird.

"In a couple of days you will have an understanding of why I have been playing Lindelof and Smalling"

Maybe Smalling is off?

It was a really strange comment. So strange I may start a thread about it. Not that we've much else useful to discuss!

 

[LawCharltonBest]

It was a really strange comment. So strange I may start a thread about it. Not that we've much else useful to discuss!

Do it!

 

[Rozay]

People have always been obsessed with our lack of supposed "world class" players. The last time we won the league and made the CL final, how many "world class" players were in our team? 2 or 3 defenders, who were all on the decline. Plus Wayne Rooney.

Yep. And the only thing that prevented us winning either of those last two CL finals was running into a team with far better players than us.

The league is different because Real and Barca don't play in England of course.

 

[Manny]

People have always been obsessed with our lack of supposed "world class" players. The last time we won the league and made the CL final, how many "world class" players were in our team? 2 or 3 defenders, who were all on the decline. Plus Wayne Rooney.

We were still running on fumes from 07-09 period. Experience counted for a lot as does reputation, and the 2011 run didn't have any particularly difficult teams. We had Marseille, Chelsea and Schalke before losing to Barca.

 

[AP88]

People have always been obsessed with our lack of supposed "world class" players. The last time we won the league and made the CL final, how many "world class" players were in our team? 2 or 3 defenders, who were all on the decline. Plus Wayne Rooney.

Exactly; United's success was about the identity, the collective and compatibility, with a few key exceptional components within the team. Post-Fergie/Gill, it's been about trying to incorporate big name signings and individual marketability, and that's why the fall from grace in the league has been so sensational.

Spurs remind me more of the old United; faith in young British players, both in terms of recruitment and game time, cleverly acquired Northern European talent (Eriksen, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Janssen *who I think will be better this season*) and importantly a perfectly balanced system that blends a solid defence and a dynamic attack.

Pocchettino is gradually building a world-class team and identity rather than buying world class individuals, and a byproduct of that is players from within that unit are now becoming world-class themselves, as used to happen with United. Had Alli joined City or Chelsea, he'd be on loan in Holland now; Pocch has created an Anglo-friendly environment in which the best Young British talent can settle and prosper, similar to the one SAF created at Old Trafford. If Barkley goes there, expect him to flourish.

Identity is what's been lacking from United in the past few years, and I don't think Jose is the man to cultivate one; luckily though, he's one of the few coaches in the world who can win without it.

 

[Sammyjunn]

People have always been obsessed with our lack of supposed "world class" players. The last time we won the league and made the CL final, how many "world class" players were in our team? 2 or 3 defenders, who were all on the decline. Plus Wayne Rooney.

Berbatov, Nani were very close to that level too.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Exactly; United's success was about the identity, the collective and compatibility, with a few key exceptional components within the team. Post-Fergie/Gill, it's been about trying to incorporate big name signings and individual marketability, and that's why the fall from grace in the league has been so sensational.

Spurs remind me more of the old United; faith in young British players, both in terms of recruitment and game time, cleverly acquired Northern European talent (Eriksen, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Janssen *who I think will be better this season*) and importantly a perfectly balanced system that blends a solid defence and a dynamic attack.

Pocchettino is gradually building a world-class team and identity rather than buying world class individuals, and a byproduct of that is players from within that unit are now becoming world-class themselves, as used to happen with United. Had Alli joined City or Chelsea, he'd be on loan in Holland now; Pocch has created an Anglo-friendly environment in which the best Young British talent can settle and prosper, similar to the one SAF created at Old Trafford. If Barkley goes there, expect him to flourish.

Identity is what's been lacking from United in the past few years, and I don't think Jose is the man to cultivate one; luckily though, he's one of the few coaches in the world who can win without it.

Harsh but fair. The whole Spurs thing is suck a kick in the bollocks. The only saving grace is how badly it must also be winding up Arsenal fans!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Berbatov, Nani were very close to that level too.

No closer than Mikhi, Mata, Martial and Rashford are now.

 

[Sammyjunn]

No closer than Mikhi, Mata, Martial and Rashford are now.

Mwah strongly disagree with that. Rashford, Martial, Mkhi were over the course of last season below average, Mata is valid.

But not only even that alone, we had effective players like Park, Giggs, younger Carrick, Valencia, who were very good in the system. Players with specific qualities we lack a lot nowadays. And Mourinho is excellent but no Fergie obviously. So that needs to be compensated with better players.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Mwah strongly disagree with that. Rashford, Martial, Mkhi were over the course of last season below average, Mata is valid.

I'm not judging any of them on the performance of a single season though. Berbatov and Nani had some pretty shit seasons too. We're talking in the context of the strength of our squad right now.

 

[Sammyjunn]

I'm not judging any of them on the performance of a single season though. Berbatov and Nani had some pretty shit seasons too. We're talking in the context of the strength of our squad right now.

Well you used to season when we won the league title and CL for your argument right. And even then no, I wouldnt have Martial, Rashford on Nani's level for example. Berbatov and Nani have been essential in our succeses in Fergie's latest seasons.

 

[Red_toad]

Apologies for going OT, & I'm probably looking too much into it, but that quote about the defenders was weird.

"In a couple of days you will have an understanding of why I have been playing Lindelof and Smalling"

Maybe Smalling is off?

They're going to play in supercup would be the obvious thing. But let's all get carried away and make crap up.

 

[Rozay]

Exactly; United's success was about the identity, the collective and compatibility, with a few key exceptional components within the team. Post-Fergie/Gill, it's been about trying to incorporate big name signings and individual marketability, and that's why the fall from grace in the league has been so sensational.

Spurs remind me more of the old United; faith in young British players, both in terms of recruitment and game time, cleverly acquired Northern European talent (Eriksen, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Janssen *who I think will be better this season*) and importantly a perfectly balanced system that blends a solid defence and a dynamic attack.

Pocchettino is gradually building a world-class team and identity rather than buying world class individuals, and a byproduct of that is players from within that unit are now becoming world-class themselves, as used to happen with United. Had Alli joined City or Chelsea, he'd be on loan in Holland now; Pocch has created an Anglo-friendly environment in which the best Young British talent can settle and prosper, similar to the one SAF created at Old Trafford. If Barkley goes there, expect him to flourish.

Identity is what's been lacking from United in the past few years, and I don't think Jose is the man to cultivate one; luckily though, he's one of the few coaches in the world who can win without it.

The counter point is that we lost those two finals due to the other team having better players. I think that's a large part of the 'obsession'.

I don't think we need a team of world class players, but we definitely need more than one (outfield) to achieve our objectives I think. Spurs will fall short of winning the CL too, even if they have a good run next year, because ultimately, they will run into a quality gap that heir organisation cannot bridge.

Personally, just one world class forward would be fine with me. This is why myself and probably others are against, or unmoved by our Perisic pursuit. Only so far 'function' can take you, and I don't really care if he 'fits into the Manager's strategy' - we need a match-winner. One world class forward to go with our one world class midfielder, world class right back and goalkeeper is enough. Then you can add the right 'good' players around them to build a system etc, but the quality gap needs to be bridged. All this 'Jesse and Perisic will obey instructions' can only do so much.

I have faith in Martial being that forward who steps up and has opponents generally scared and making plans of how they can stop him.

 

[Rozay]

Mwah strongly disagree with that. Rashford, Martial, Mkhi were over the course of last season below average, Mata is valid.

But not only even that alone, we had effective players like Park, Giggs, younger Carrick, Valencia, who were very good in the system. Players with specific qualities we lack a lot nowadays. And Mourinho is excellent but no Fergie obviously. So that needs to be compensated with better players.

Seen this a couple of times last couple of days, but doesn't this mean 'kiss'?.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Seen this a couple of times last couple of days, but doesn't this mean 'kiss'?.

Yeah it can also be kiss, but I mainly use it as relativating something. So I see and understand the point you're making but I dont entirely agree with it, maybe it's only common here in Holland.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

They're going to play in supercup would be the obvious thing. But let's all get carried away and make crap up.

TL;DR

 

[Rozay]

Yeah it can also be kiss, but I mainly use it as relativating something. So I see and understand the point you're making but I dont entirely agree with it, maybe it's only common here in Holland.

Ah, fair enough. That's my new learning for the day then.

 

[Jib]

World class

 

[itso 7]

The counter point is that we lost those two finals due to the other team having better players. I think that's a large part of the 'obsession'.

I don't think we need a team of world class players, but we definitely need more than one (outfield) to achieve our objectives I think. Spurs will fall short of winning the CL too, even if they have a good run next year, because ultimately, they will run into a quality gap that heir organisation cannot bridge.

Personally, just one world class forward would be fine with me. This is why myself and probably others are against, or unmoved by our Perisic pursuit. Only so far 'function' can take you, and I don't really care if he 'fits into the Manager's strategy' - we need a match-winner. One world class forward to go with our one world class midfielder, world class right back and goalkeeper is enough. Then you can add the right 'good' players around them to build a system etc, but the quality gap needs to be bridged. All this 'Jesse and Perisic will obey instructions' can only do so much.

I have faith in Martial being that forward who steps up and has opponents generally scared and making plans of how they can stop him.

This, very much this. This is the template that Fergie also used that template successfully - two or three world class individuals supported by a very good, hardworking supporting cast. The challenge here is that the club allowed Fergie's last team to depreciate to low levels without adequate replacements in place.

 

[jking948]

I was at the match in DC last night (my first ever live, football match played by United!). Pogba was at another level. One thing I learned is that, live, your scope of vision is so much larger that you really get to see what "box-to-box" looks like for elite players. Pogba is clearly one of them, and outside of Real Madrid, would start for any club in the world.

Mourinho played a zonal marking system last night that resulted in Pogba tagging Messi for portions of the match. He did a very good job of preventing Messi's traditional burst into the box. But more importantly, even though it was just an ICC match, he was involved at every level of the match, every moment. I have always loved Pogba, but now that I have seen him in person, I am unbelievably impressed.