It's so nice, for our players and club such a meeting means nothing really, a 5-10 minutes off their daily routine and you just know that for this kid it's something he'll never forget. All the best to the kid, he's lucky to have a good mate who helps him with everything.
Pre-match press conference - Watford
- Thread starter top1whoisman
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
well in the league there is only chelsea getting more points ( one more) past sth like 10 games.. Saw the table elsewhere, Liverpool or Arsenal for instance got around 8 points less, don't the exact numbers... also we play great football creating loads of chances, only in some games we failed to score but that happens, certainly playing better than under Moyes and Vangle altogether and later years under Fergie when we were dire to watch, he himself said if we convert those unlucky draws in which often referee decisions didn't go our way into wins we would be sitting top or challenging with Chelsea...We look like challenging?We've been pretty poor for the last month and we are 14 points behind. It's not just down to bad luck and poor refereeing. If Zlatan can't score sitters now I don't expect him to be better at age 36. Need to ease him out of the "always starting" role after replacing Rooney with a new real goal scorer.
I am sure you remember the start of the season, we lost so many points while trying to find our best side, nonsensical Fellaini and Rooney inclusions, unsettled Martial/Mhkitaryan, changing back four, Zlatan missing so many sitters etc... that's all IF IF IF but Mourinho has only came here, made some mistakes himself, but he seems to be learning from that and I'd be pretty surprised if we are far off from Chelsea in the second part of the season.
So no we don't look like we are challenging because we had a slow start into season and then some unlucky run of draws otherwise we look the best team in the league along with Chelsea now
Love that little fella.
Yeah for parts of the season we have played very good football, and we should have had more points by now, but in the last month for instance we have played some dull stuff.well in the league there is only chelsea getting more points ( one more) past sth like 10 games.. Saw the table elsewhere, Liverpool or Arsenal for instance got around 8 points less, don't the exact numbers... also we play great football creating loads of chances, only in some games we failed to score but that happens, certainly playing better than under Moyes and Vangle altogether and later years under Fergie when we were dire to watch, he himself said if we convert those unlucky draws in which often referee decisions didn't go our way into wins we would be sitting top or challenging with Chelsea...
I am sure you remember the start of the season, we lost so many points while trying to find our best side, nonsensical Fellaini and Rooney inclusions, unsettled Martial/Mhkitaryan, changing back four, Zlatan missing so many sitters etc... that's all IF IF IF but Mourinho has only came here, made some mistakes himself, but he seems to be learning from that and I'd be pretty surprised if we are far off from Chelsea in the second part of the season.
So no we don't look like we are challenging because we had a slow start into season and then some unlucky run of draws otherwise we look the best team in the league along with Chelsea now
I just don't see how we can really challenge for the title next season with just 2-3 new players. We need a Carrick replacement and another class midfielder so that we don't have to play Fellaini. Could also use another forward/wide forward to score more goals and get rid of Rooney. Maybe a centre back to partner Bailly. That's 4 new players already.
Loved this, thanks for sharing.
I think it’s definitely thread-worthy, no-one should miss this. The most inspirational 3 minutes in a long time.
I use a wheelchair and that was really emotional and inspirational for me. (Removed the tweet cause I can't embed it as I don't have 5 likes)
Thanks for this. Always great to see the club/players doing things like this.
we dont need centerback we have 4 great centerbacks, Balling will be a great duo and Rojones great backups and there's still little space for Axel or one of our other big hopes...
We need an attacker, Martial and Micky are top players when on form, just need to get them in form, Martial will come good with time, there's Mata who is also a class player, we can afford him to play out wide, with Valencia in the team, he can create and score differently to other options, Lingard and rashers as backups but there's space for Griezmann who in case Micky and Martial are in form can play through the middle..
then we need a back up fullback who could possible cover both RB and LB, Semedo would be wonderful, not sure how good he'd be on the left but Luke Shaw will come back hopefully..
Then the DM, whatever kind it is, should be a big guy who either wins the ball or can distribute it, hard to find exactly the same player like Carrick but overall we can do better than him and that should push us..
So three players: RB/LB cover (Semedo), world class attacking player capable of playing wide or a goalscorer (Griezmann - he could start out wide but would play centrally) and that DM
so three players for me, and get rid of Rooney and Fellaini, Bastian is already out for me along with Young
than we have Andy Pereira who will come back and be like a new signing..
More from the Foundation.
Martial seems lost.
Martial seems lost.
As clear as day.
He even looks to the direction of Spain when he said that.
IMO it's a bit early to talk about summer plans, it depends on how we finish our season, if we finish 5th 6th and win nothing, then it will be important to invest in the team and spend big again, if we have a C.L football next season and won a cup this season then the manager can be a bit satisfied and can add just 1 or 2 new players. I mean yes its balanced like Jose said but we may still need to spend big AGAIN.
Great kid. Loved that
- Next season will be very good for Rashford. This season he's been very happy hence why he has played a lot and been part of the team.
- Mourinho is friends with Perez. If either Mourinho wants a Madrid player or Madrid want a United player, there won't be messages in the press. They'll be direct. He's not worried. If something has to happen it'll happen between the clubs.
- Won't tell Woodward/Glazers to bring Messi. Mourinho is objective, knows what he wants and the players he wants are attainable.
- He's happy with De Gea and knows that De Gea is happy here.
- Will use Mkhitaryan everywhere. Won't be fixed at just CAM now.
Thanks for sharing that.
No wonder Jose seems pissed off in pressers: Six minutes of a seven minute clip spent underlining the fact that he will not be talking about targets or who's in and who's out in the summer because that's between him and the players and clubs involved and also it's still only February and he's here to talk about football. He then appears to actually enjoy answering the penultimate question, a tactical one re. Mkhitaryan's starting position, but is brought crashing back to earth when the final question reverts straight back to summer targets … it's thankless!
You'd think at least some of the reporters that travel to Carrington for pressers might actually have some football related questions ready to ask him wouldn't you? Is this a symptom of the modern internet clickbait journo replacing the old-school print specialist football hack?
I don't see us spending big - in the way you mean it. I don't think Mourinho wants to bring numbers. I'd rather say he wants to bring qualities.
Someone posted earlier that we need at least 4 players. I'm inclined to go for 4, but not "at least 4". To me - we need 2 or 3 at best, 4 the most. Quality left back and attacker, where I can't identify a left back but the attacker I would believe could be Griezman - there's two. And the other two could be a midfielder - someone like Kante or Carrick, although they have more different roles. And the fourth could be another full back - right back.
Based on importance I think LB and attacker are priority. With the midfielders that we have and Pereira coming back, addition in that area is not as important. It also applies to the right back - Valencia has been doing really well and Darmian is a decent enough back up.
A lot of people say we need a striker - well you have a point. But I don't think we will bring any. Mourinho still rates Zlatan highly and we've seen he deploys Rashford in that position every now and then. That would leave Martial on the left - in case he stays and could push Pereira to play there too, even Rooney, who is greatly underperforming and is way down the pecking order.
What I am saying is Mourinho sees that the majority of players have potential and only hard work and guidance should get them on the right track. Mourinho as a manager believes he can get it out of them - Martial, Januszaj, Pereira, Rashford, Lingard.
We can't argue that there's potential in these kids, even though some of them have been pretty poor. And we can't argue that Mourinho is a top manager and managed to turn players into performers - Rojo and Jones most recent examples.
If I was a betting man - my money would go on 3 new additions.
Media keep asking about transfers week-in week-out when we are in Feb. Jose is giving enough hint on having already identified the players and that it is possible to get those but media are desperate to somehow get him to say more, say 'Griezmann.'
I will give you Carrick's replacement and another attacker, those two are an absolute given, so Griezmann and a DM. At centre- half Jones and Rojo did so well during our great run of form, we know what Smalling can give so why sign another CB now when we already have four that can and are playing well? Depending on what happens with Shaw over the next few months Jose could decide to sign a RB or a LB and that will be enough.
We have to remember what we have in stock right now and players coming back from loan, especially Pereira who can play in midfield and wide forward. Then there is Martial and Rashford in addition to Mkhitaryan and Mata in addition to Griezmann/another forward we are talking of six players for three positions. For me thats good enough considering the fact that Mkhi took so long to get going and shouldn't have such problems next term.
Us signing a fourth player should be contingent on what happens with Mata, Martial and Shaw because if either of them leaves then we simply need a replacement for them.
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Bloody nora, that'd bring a tear to a glass eye. You can't help but admire kids like this and it just goes to show how football players are idolised throughout the world and how important just meeting them can be to some. Thanks for sharing.
You've forgotten the need for another quality CM. When we need to rest our midfield 3 or if one of them is injured we only have Fellaini to bring in for Pogba/Herrera. Could use some competition for them as well.
We still have Carrick and Pereira is killing it in La Liga plus I'm also arguing on the assumption that we will sign a DM to partner Pogba behind Griezmann/Mkhitaryan. Herrera, Carrick, Fellaini and Pereira will all be available as rotation and squad options.
I guess i'll put this here.