So we didn't sign a central midfielder

[Cina]

Nasri is apparently on £170,000 p/w, at least, thats what I've commonly seen in reports. Thats not the same as Rooney.

The thing with Rooney, is that nobody knows the definitive figure. It seems if someone has an agenda against Rooney, they'll say he's earning £250,000 a week. The Rooney 'fanboys' will say he's on £180,000 because both of these figures (and somewhere in between) have been reported. So if you ask me, I'd say its fair just to say he's earning £220,000 a week. Unless someone has a picture of his wage slip, I'm not going to argue a toss about this with anyone. In truth, plenty of 'richest footballers in the world list' place Rooney pretty damn high up too.

Anyway, our next highest earner is reportedly Ashley Young on £130k. Inflation of wages is inevitable and with the clearout we had i'd say its possible we could've paid Nasri what he wanted, so we either didnt think he was worth it (which I disagree with), or we were simply delaying the inevitable in that we didnt want to inflate our own wages further by paying Nasri something fairly close to Rooney.

There's no way in hell Young is on 130k, it's all rumors, and yes, nobody knows what Rooney is on.

But Nasri on 175k is basically DOUBLE what players like Vidic, Nani, Rio (ok not double him) are on, who are all better players than Nasri, and that's not even taking into account the likes of Ando, Carrick, Evra, Valencia, Young who aren't really a level below him either.

Seriously, it'd be daft to give Nasri that much cash given the wage structure at this club.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Quantity not quality?

Which of Anderson, Cleverley, Giggs, Carrick and Fletcher don't offer quality.

There's this bizarre belief on the board that only winning the most competitive league in the world would be a bad season. If we win the league this year, we have done incredibly well. We might not be favorites against Barce, but of course we can beat them on our day.

They offer quality in patches.
Lets face facts, carrick and fletcher have gone backwards in recent seasons.
We're still waiting for anderson to show some consistency.
Cleverly has made an impressive start but we cant pin our hopes on him.

Of course just winning the lge would be fantastic but we're ambitious and everyone knows we need another european cup and fergi is on a quest to beat this barca side.
Just look at the way we've played this season, its very barcaish. Centre backs switching with full backs and bombing forward.
One touch, give and go, no more than a few touches on the ball.
Its great that we're bringing these styles into our play but it would help a shit load more if we brought in a world class midfielder.

And our last two games against them does not suggest we can beat barcelona on 'our day'.

 

[rcoobc]

The real muppet in me hopes to see, in 3 years time, a world-class midfield group of Anderson, Cleverley, Pogba and Morrison (and maybe Tunnicliffe as well?)

feck Wesley Sneijder.

This.

 

[adexkola]

We won't do much in Europe, unless by some freak occurence Barcelona and Real Madrid are knocked out before we meet them. Chelsea and City give me concern in the league, but we should be able to win that. Still, how the feck does anyone expect us to win in Europe with the current personnel we got in the center?

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

We won't do much in Europe, unless by some freak occurence Barcelona and Real Madrid are knocked out before we meet them. Chelsea and City give me concern in the league, but we should be able to win that. Still, how the feck does anyone expect us to win in Europe with the current personnel we got in the center?

Win in Europe - as in win a game in CL?

or

Win in Europe - as in with the CL?

Only a muppet would think we won't win a game in Europe.

Never should we EXPECT to win the CL.

 

[RonaldoVII]

I say we're almost guaranteed to face Inter in the CL now.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

My heart says, 'feck it, Anderson and Cleverley look great...'

My head says central midfield is the one remaining weak spot in our squad, and the only area we lack a genuine world class option at the moment. Hopefully we'll manage to develop our own as we have opted not to buy. Pogba is very, very encouraging, but still some way off being ready.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a midfielder signed in January, like we did with Vidic and Evra a few years back.

 

[Bryan_Munich]

I say we're almost guaranteed to face Inter in the CL now.

Hope so.

 

[Walrus]

I was a Modric muppet. Once it became clear we weren't going to get him I wasn't too keen on Wesley.

I thought we'd sign a young 'one for the future' type midfielder though.

This is the catergory i put myself in.


Could never see Sneijder being the type of signing we would make nor the type of player we needed. Modric or Schweinsteiger were my top two choices.

Whilst at the moment everything is peachy, we are left quite thin on quality in the middle. Anderson and Cleverley are performing very well so far but injuries, form or fitness could be a big problem. For Cleverley its his first campaign with us and Anderson has never been first choice til now, so neither will be used to the amount of games they potentially will be playing.

Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs and Gibson are the others (and possibly Jones occassionally) - I just dont think there is enough strength in depth for a team competing for the PL and CL there.


Doom and Gloom mongering aside however, other than that I am very pleased with our squad at the moment, a top quality CM signing would just be the icing on the cake.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

My heart says, 'feck it, Anderson and Cleverley look great...'

My head says central midfield is the one remaining weak spot in our squad, and the only area we lack a genuine world class option at the moment. Hopefully we'll manage to develop our own as we have opted not to buy. Pogba is very, very encouraging, but still some way off being ready.

Anderson and Cleverley look good when we are not put under pressure. Fletcher and / or Carrick are needed against stronger teams that what we have played.

 

[#07]

I say we're almost guaranteed to face Inter in the CL now.

Love it. Hope so. Lets face facts the quotes that came out this morning show Sneijder wasn't that into us. If we'd have coughed up the money he would've come running but he wasn't like Arteta, taking a paycut to go to a different team. Much like Nasri he was chasing paper and to be frank I think you need players that actually give a stuff about your side. He's a great player but backs against the wall chasing men in a tight game vs Barca isn't his bag.

We're fine with what we've got. I don't understand why people think our young players will go backwards. Did Wilshere go backwards last season? Why should Cleverley or Ando, especially since the latter was first XI til he got injured last winter and has been playing consistently well (and scoring) since the Everton game in the run in of last season. We have good young players who are only gonna get stronger: Sir Alex believes in them, Capello believes in them, their teammates believe in them, why should we not?

 

[adexkola]

Win in Europe - as in win a game in CL?

or

Win in Europe - as in with the CL?

Only a muppet would think we won't win a game in Europe.

Never should we EXPECT to win the CL.

Win the Champions League. We should expect to win the league, but not the CL? At the very least, we should have improved the area of the team that collapsed against Barcelona in the final.

Anderson and Cleverley look good when we are not put under pressure. Fletcher and / or Carrick are needed against stronger teams that what we have played.

Eh? Last season that was precisely our problem, collapsing under pressure. Giggs, Fletcher, Carrick, Gibson... none of them could stop it from happening when we played most games away from home.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Win the Champions League. We should expect to win the league, but not the CL? At the very least, we should have improved the area of the team that collapsed against Barcelona in the final.



Eh? Last season that was precisely our problem, collapsing under pressure. Giggs, Fletcher, Carrick, Gibson... none of them could stop it from happening when we played most games away from home.

You sound angry with the club for not making a purchase.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

Win the Champions League. We should expect to win the league, but not the CL? At the very least, we should have improved the area of the team that collapsed against Barcelona in the final.



Eh? Last season that was precisely our problem, collapsing under pressure. Giggs, Fletcher, Carrick, Gibson... none of them could stop it from happening when we played most games away from home.

No, we shouldn't expect to win the league.

Fletcher was out for large parts of the season.

Anderson never got a good run in the team.

Cleverley wasn't at the club.

The whole team collapsed vs Barcelona. Not only the midfield.

 

[#07]

No, we shouldn't expect to win the league.

Fletcher was out for large parts of the season.

Anderson never got a good run in the team.

Cleverley wasn't at the club.

The whole team collapsed vs Barcelona. Not only the midfield.

 

[Randall Flagg]

No, we shouldn't expect to win the league.

Fletcher was out for large parts of the season.

Anderson never got a good run in the team.

Cleverley wasn't at the club.

The whole team collapsed vs Barcelona. Not only the midfield.

Exactly, he passed off the comment like the league wasnt even important.

As for Barcelona, I think we can simply count ourselves unlucky to be even trying to compete with them.

If we had cracked Europe like we have now 10 - 15 years ago, there was no one team anywhere close to how great Barcelona are right now. And we most likely would have added a couple of CL's

 

[Walrus]

No, we shouldn't expect to win the league.

Fletcher was out for large parts of the season.

Anderson never got a good run in the team.

Cleverley wasn't at the club.

The whole team collapsed vs Barcelona. Not only the midfield.

Define "expect".

I doubt Fergie looks at his squad at the start of the season and says "Right, this year is a transition, not bothered if we dont win anything, just have a good'un lads."

Ambition is the key thing that drives a club like United. We should go into each year expecting to win everything and striving to achieve that - just because Barcelona have a better side doesnt mean we simply write off the CL and focus on the prem.

 

[Shimo]

We can win against any team in the CL especially in a one off. It would be extremely difficult against Barca but, they aren't invincible. The season is a long one and who knows how much better we'll get, how much better Ando/Cleverley might be and how much strong Fletcher will come back. Then again we may not do that well but, there is no guarantee buying any other CM out there would help us do better when the time comes.

At the start of last season when we didn't land Ozil (last years will he won't he), people said we might do okay in the league but, no way we'll get far in Europe - well we got to the final. Cue the well we had an easy route - well if we had an easy route, we were still better than most in Europe or that our CM had nothing to do with it.

A top class player like Sneijder would have been nice to have but, I think we'll be just fine. Even if we don't win the league or Europe, this is about setting the foundation for the future, the next great United team and it seems we are well on our way for that. That can't be a bad thing.

 

[Cina]

We can win against any team in the CL especially in a one off. It would be extremely difficult against Barca but, they aren't invincible. The season is a long one and who knows how much better we'll get, how much better Ando/Cleverley might be and how much strong Fletcher will come back. Then again we may not do that well but, there is no guarantee buying any other CM out there would help us do better when the time comes.

At the start of last season when we didn't land Ozil (last years will he won't he), people said we might do okay in the league but, no way we'll get far in Europe - well we got to the final. Cue the well we had an easy route - well if we had an easy route, we were still better than most in Europe or that our CM had nothing to do with it.

A top class player like Sneijder would have been nice to have but, I think we'll be just fine. Even if we don't win the league or Europe, this is about setting the foundation for the future, the next great United team and it seems we are well on our way for that. That can't be a bad thing.

I recall everyone saying that for the last 3 years...

We'd have a better chance against Barca or Real over 2 legs, not a one off anyway.

 

[Sarni]

I've said all along that we might not be able to afford a suitable midfielder, especially after already spending £48m three players in June, although I was obviously not allowed to have that opinion and was constantly slated for that and reminded that we would definitely get someone.

The likes of Sneijder and Nasri are out of our price range right now and we wouldn't settle for second best in midfield because it hardly ever worked for us with all the experiments we've had over the years. We will probably have to wait another two or three years before we have a world class midfield again but for now I am very happy with Anderson and Cleverley who have done an excellent job so far this season, and could go on to become top quality footballers if they build on that. The only fear I got is that they will disappear slightly when the going gets tough and confidence hits the low.

 

[Cina]

Sarni, we don't know what we can or can't afford. We don't know if those players were interested, we don't know if SAF was interested, or he himself wanted to meet their crazy wage demands.

Assumptions are what made that Sneijder thread 13,000 posts long. Well, that and wr8_kermit.

I don't think SAF would've bought Young ahead of a midfielder if he actually really wanted one that much, and Sneijder and Nasri were not the only options, quite a few midfielders went for less money than them this Summer.

 

[Mainoldo]

Basically we fecked up in buying a Centre midfielder. We might get away with it. We got away with a lot last year so you don't know.

Positives- the kids look great

Negatives- It won't last due to obvious reason and when Carrick and Fletcher return we will play our old way!!

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

Define "expect".

I doubt Fergie looks at his squad at the start of the season and says "Right, this year is a transition, not bothered if we dont win anything, just have a good'un lads."

Ambition is the key thing that drives a club like United. We should go into each year expecting to win everything and striving to achieve that - just because Barcelona have a better side doesnt mean we simply write off the CL and focus on the prem.

No, we should go into every season trying to win everything, not expecting to win.

 

[Wumminator]

Basically we fecked up in buying a Centre midfielder. We might get away with it. We got away with a lot last year so you don't know.

We got away with a lot last year? Yeah I suppose in all the games we bossed v City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal we got away with a lot.

feck sake we won the league by 9 points. We were by far and away the 2nd best team in the world last season. We didn't get away with everything, we fecking destroyed 99% of teams in our path.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Watch this thread get bumped the second we lose a game.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

We got away with a lot last year? Yeah I suppose in all the games we bossed v City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal we got away with a lot.

feck sake we won the league by 9 points. We were by far and away the 2nd best team in the world last season. We didn't get away with everything, we fecking destroyed 99% of teams in our path.

At home maybe...

 

[Mainoldo]

We got away with a lot last year? Yeah I suppose in all the games we bossed v City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal we got away with a lot.

feck sake we won the league by 9 points. We were by far and away the 2nd best team in the world last season. We didn't get away with everything, we fecking destroyed 99% of teams in our path.

The teams we destroyed were playing average too... Were they not??

This season quality wise should be much better. Except for Chelsea we didn't 'boss' any big team!! Lets be honest..

However i'm not being negative, i am actually looking forward to this season..

 

[Wumminator]

At home maybe...

Does being at home make the win suddenly less impressive? We were NINE points better than the team in second. We ran away with the league and got to the CL final as well as a good showing in the FA Cup.

 

[Wumminator]

The teams we destroyed were playing average too... Were they not??

This season quality wise should be much better. Except for Chelsea we didn't 'boss' any big team!! Lets be honest..

However i'm not being negative, i am actually looking forward to this season..

Didn't boss any big teams? Did you forget the Arsenal game at Old Trafford where they didn't have a sniff? Or the game where our reserves thrashed them at Old Trafford. Or the home game against City? Or the FA Cup and league game against Liverpool?

Did we not stroll through the CL semi finals. Did we not beat the champions of France easily? feck me.

And the teams we bossed were not average. Chelsea were up there with the top 5 teams in Europe last year.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

Basically we fecked up in buying a Centre midfielder. We might get away with it. We got away with a lot last year so you don't know.

Positives- the kids look great

Negatives- It won't last due to obvious reason and when Carrick and Fletcher return we will play our old way!!

Oh nos, back to the old ways...!

Back to the 80's?

 

[jgraham]

My heart says, 'feck it, Anderson and Cleverley look great...'

My head says central midfield is the one remaining weak spot in our squad, and the only area we lack a genuine world class option at the moment. Hopefully we'll manage to develop our own as we have opted not to buy. Pogba is very, very encouraging, but still some way off being ready.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a midfielder signed in January, like we did with Vidic and Evra a few years back.

Pretty much my sentiments too, I'm loving seeing Anderson & Cleverly play so well together at the minute but there's a part of me that thinks it won't stay this way all season and I can't help but think that at somepoint during the season we'll lament our decision not to bring somebody in.

I hope to God to be proven wrong but I still believe a CM, not necessarily Sneijder should have been brought in. This will be emphasised enormously should any struggle we may have coincide with the lesser spotted Owen Hargreaves flourishing at City.

 

[Mainoldo]

Oh nos, back to the old ways...!

Back to the 80's?

I was born in 87..

So wouldn't have a clue...

But yeah that sounded good, we'll go with that!!

 

[Ubik]

Does being at home make the win suddenly less impressive? We were NINE points better than the team in second. We ran away with the league and got to the CL final as well as a good showing in the FA Cup.

Let's not let the nine point gap at the end disguise the fact that it went right down to the wire, it was tense as feck. It remains clear that we struggled away from home, and we can't rely on another blemish free record at Old Trafford.

That said, if Anderson really is undergoing a Nani-esque transformation into one of the best in his position (as is well within his capability of doing), then we're already stronger than we were last season. Cleverley has been a shock in how good he's been. Definitely cautiously optimistic...

 

[Mainoldo]

Didn't boss any big teams? Did you forget the Arsenal game at Old Trafford where they didn't have a sniff? Or the game where our reserves thrashed them at Old Trafford. Or the home game against City? Or the FA Cup and league game against Liverpool?

Did we not stroll through the CL semi finals. Did we not beat the champions of France easily? feck me.

And the teams we bossed were not average. Chelsea were up there with the top 5 teams in Europe last year.

In the last couple of games we have played better than any game last season...

You use the term bossed... We were never that convincing or dominate last season. I don't know what you was watching but the top half of the Prem was pretty poor i felt. Hopefully we'll see better football across the board this season.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

I was born in 87..!!

Unlucky

You might have been able to appreciate what you are experiencing today more if you had seen United in the 80's

 

[MikeUpNorth]

Does being at home make the win suddenly less impressive? We were NINE points better than the team in second. We ran away with the league and got to the CL final as well as a good showing in the FA Cup.

Yes, it's generally accepted that a home win is less impressive than an away win.

Our squad is obviously excellent, but I don't think there's anything wrong with identifying the midfield as our weakest area and the one most likely to cause us problems.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

In the last couple of games we have played better than any game last season...

You use the te.

No, we haven't

 

[krazyrobus]

Glad we didn't sign anyone. Waste of money.I'd back us against any team but Barca and buying Mondric, Sniedjer or Nasri wouldn't have changed that.

 

[Wumminator]

In the last couple of games we have played better than any game last season...

Do people genuinely forget how good we were last season at times? Like does it completely slip their memory?

 

[Kraftwerker]

Win the Champions League. We should expect to win the league, but not the CL? At the very least, we should have improved the area of the team that collapsed against Barcelona in the final.



Eh? Last season that was precisely our problem, collapsing under pressure. Giggs, Fletcher, Carrick, Gibson... none of them could stop it from happening when we played most games away from home.

In our weekend 8-2 demolition of Arsenal, only 2 starters were in the Champions League final side.

It's a completely different team at the moment.