Ozil would have been a great buy but we did not desperately NEED him especially with Rooney and Kagawa already sharing that role behind the striker.
We needed 2 quality central midfielders with good ball distribution and work rate and enough mobility to get around. I was hoping for 2 out of Fabregas,Modric,Strootman etc but we got Fellaini

"@OptaJoe: 93 - Manchester United were the only Premier League side to make fewer than 100 passes in the attacking third this weekend. Breakdown."

Omo... Ross Bark was there and we went to buy Fellaini for 27m.

*face in palms*

RuuDie: Omo... Ross Bark was there and we went to buy Fellaini for 27m.

*face in palms*

thank moyes for that one. barkley would have been sold for half of that maybe less, that aint gonna happen anytime soon now

i would take strootman and ander herrera in january

afrodoc: i would take strootman and ander herrera in january

they are too similar
I'd take pjanic from roma instead in addition to hererra

coogar:

then he should get the fück out of the team. he slows united down. you can hardly point out to what rooney brings to the team. the only time he comes alive is during setplays.



how many quality balls came when we lost to everton? was rooney not on the pitch? what did he contribute?



yes, RVP wasn't fit yesterday - that's his first game in about 2-3 weeks. he had a groin injury. rooney had a head injury. does he use his head to run for the ball or he makes 70 yards pass with his head?



during the era of holy trinity, fergie played 4-3-3 of rotating forwards. at city, aguero has negredo or dzeko ahead of him when he drops deep. against spurs & everton, rooney was supposed to provide the attacking focus, he did not so why compare him to suarez & aguero?

Rooney slows down our game? Wonders shall never end!
Rooney is our best player. Like it or hate, it's your headache.

For me, first step towards "recovery" - by this i mean playing in a bit better fashion than we have so far - is getting Rooney out wide to that left wing, by hook or by crook!

The number of times we shift the ball to the right at every given opportunity is becoming an eyesore... expecially given that it is usually AV25 that is there.

Anyhow sha... I still refuse not to BELIEVE!

chamotex:

So in other words we lost because Rooney didn't play

It is you who said this, for the second time now.


However, when some guys here were blaming his work rate and said we can't get 3 points unless RVP is involved, you were silent. Now I know where your allegiance lies. Now RVP returned and we lacked creativity and work rate. Had Rooney played it would have been pages upon pages how he was either too far or too close to RVP, how he doesn't have the brain for the hole, how he didn't make the perfect pass for RVP. I have said the two strikers need each other.

coogar:

that's the verdict....
except that rooney played against west brom, man city & everton and we lost but let's keep blaming everyone else apart from rooney.

And you blamed only Rooney in all of these matches and many more. Even in our 4-2 over Leverkusen you blamed Rooney. Our 2-1 win over Sunderland you blamed only Rooney. Our 0-0 draw against Chelsea you blamed Rooney. In some of those matches he was the official Man of the match. Against Leverkusen he scored two, gave an assist and got a 97% accuracy. But you ran pages upon pages criticizing him.

Na wao!!!

I just knew we would draw an EPL side as usual. How can we ever win the fa cup with such luck?

dayokanu:

he currently leads assist stats in the EPL despite just coming in

Good. But the stat I saw was goals and assists in all competitions. Number of matches so far vis a vis goals and assists in UCL, EPL and other cups.

Secondly, Ozil had 47 assists in 5 years = less than 10 goals season. How many did he score? Other number 10s were hitting goals and providing assists.

Oghos1: ozil was good enuff to confine kaka, den close to his prime to d bench. He is that good. All players have downsides. All!!. Ozil's own is his workrate. And as time went on, and modric's status within madrid increased, he was preferred to ozil.
And with di maria consequently misfiring. Ozil was pushed out wide.
He still delivered tho. But there were a lot of shittie performances in between.

yea. Sort of.
And arteta's work in that team is being severely underrated.

1. Kaka lost his steam before he got Madrid. Although I am not saying Ozil is crap, but I think he is overhyped.

2. Yes, Arteta. I forgot that guy. Now look at the quality of men in Arsenal's middle of the pack.

Oghos1: they are too similar
I'd take pjanic from roma instead in addition to hererra

play them in a double pivot with strootman to the left and herrera to the the right.
the pjanic that i know can not play in central midfield for us, he would just be another player to share the playmaking position with rooney and kagawa. AND that we dont need.
we need strength and quality in defensive/central midfield and i think strootman and herrera could give us that, especially strootman who i rate highly.
if we have a solid midfield you will see our attacking players blossom. most of our problems both defensively and in attack stem from our inability to dictate play and control possession in midfield

n0m0705: "@OptaJoe: 93 - Manchester United were the only Premier League side to make fewer than 100 passes in the attacking third this weekend. Breakdown."

RVP can play in the hole. That is what Rooney haters have told us in the past.

United's executive meeting in the summer

www.nairaland.com/attachments/1457052_uniteds_ceo_executive_meetiong_jpgc5a9d40bfd5f72ca18a28e7f647b2977

They spent many months arguing that Kagawa should play in the hole. Now they have shifted the argument that Ozil should have been the one playing in our hole.

So are they implying that Kagawa, their so much adored natural hole wizard from Dortmund, is now a write off? I knew it would get to this.

Ayagayagayagayo....

Can't this people see that United problem is not the hole?

Log out for now to face life.

Yes, with Moyes we are going places..

.Moyes: "We’ve got a window in January where if we think it’s right for the club we'll sign players. If not, we'll look again in the summer, I take my time & assess what are the best talents to bring in. MUFC is always looking to sign the best talent & that won’t change.

elampiro:

RVP can play in the hole. That is what Rooney haters have told us in the past.

That is the revelation according to coogar, starboard and co

elampiro:

RVP can play in the hole. That is what Rooney haters have told us in the past.

LOL i see unlike previous matches nobody blamed the man in the hole for the defeat this time around. There is too much beef on this thread.
RVP is a better finisher than Rooney, Rooney is better than him in the hole.

Ifonly valencia could work on his left foot.
He would been our very own ramires running tinz in cm for us
That guy's '1 footed'ness'' is shocking!!

“First, United are less creative and more direct.
They have played a slightly higher percentage of
forward passes (41.9% compared with 40.1% in
2012-13) but have less success when they pass
the ball into their opponent’s final third (54%
compared with 57.3%). And while football heat
maps too often resemble 1990s Global Hypercolor T-shirts with their catarrhy blotches of stat-gunk, United’s has noticeably changed, with fewer red patches in central zones – signalling that they are not playing through teams as much – and greater activity on the flanks, particularly on the left, indicating more crossing and less efficiency in attack.”

RuuDie: For me, first step towards "recovery" - by this i mean playing in a bit better fashion than we have so far - is getting Rooney out wide to that left wing, by hook or by crook!

The number of times we shift the ball to the right at every given opportunity is becoming an eyesore... expecially given that it is usually AV25 that is there.

Anyhow sha... I still refuse not to BELIEVE!

I've asked weda dey take d@ right wing swear for us b4.

n0m0705:
That is the revelation according to coogar, starboard and co

Please point to where that was stated.

Here are five stats which stood out...
1) Newcastle dominated the game in the air, winning the aerial duels
contested 61%-39%.
2) Robin van Persie and Adnan Januzaj created six goalscoring
opportunities between them, the rest of the Manchester United
team combined made just two.
3) Newcastle's full-backs Santon and Debuchy completed 8
successful dribbles between them, while Manchester United's Rafael
and Evra did not manage a single one.
4) Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic had to make 12
clearances, as many as Newcastle duo Fabricio Coloccini and Mike
Williamson combined.
5) Adnan Januzaj attempted five crosses, but not a single one found a
teammate.

[url]hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2013/12/08/manchester-united-0-1-newcastle-five-interesting-stats/[/url]
What has Rooney done in the hole to make him better than RvP there? Abeg make una no dey yan dust! We've all seen the best of Rooney in the hole, & this is not even making any case for van Persie

coogar:
then he should get the fück out of the team. he slows united down. you can hardly point out to what rooney brings to the team. the only time he comes alive is during setplays.

How many goals has Rooney scored? Who saved your bacon against Spurs?

Y'all can hate on Rooney all you want, but safe to say that if United didn't have him you would be fighting for spots with Norwich at the moment. Any recovery in league position is also highly dependent on the White Pele - take it or leave it.

Sure he's not everyone's cup of tea and has flaws (like any other player), but it is downright curmudgeonly to deny Rooney's contributions this season. The complete lethargy of Saturday's performance in his absence is enough evidence.

elampiro: They spent many months arguing that Kagawa should play in the hole. Now they have shifted the argument that Ozil should have been the one playing in our hole.

Dude everything cannot be reduced to a single argument around Rooney vs Kagawa in the hole. That you have Kagawa in the hole doesn't mean you should ignore buying a better/additional option if one becomes available. Failure to do so is foolishness and nothing more. That's the point.

Chelski had MAZACAR and still decided to buy Schurrle - more options are to your advantage. Pep had Schweini, Kroos and co, but still bought Thiago.

United didn't even have a wonderful midfield to begin with, so why would gollum (allegedly) pass up a player like Ozil that doesn't become available very often while chasing unrealistic targets like Fab4?

The numbers this season are more in
the red than black. Their points tally of
22 is their lowest after 15 matches since
2001-02. They have the same number of
league defeats – five – as in the whole of
2012-13. Average goals per game have
slumped from 2.26 last season to 1.43.
And of the stats Opta track – including
possession, cross completion, duels won,
shots on target – United are worse this
season than last, save for one: they
score a higher percentage of goals (36%
compared with 31%) from set pieces.

"Nothing
has changed. Last season, United had
the highest percentage of shots from the
best areas and they gave up the lowest
percentage of shots from the best areas.
That's not what their shot chart looks
like now. They are giving up more shots
in dangerous areas, and the chances
they are creating are not as good."

chrisley024:
I've asked weda dey take d@ right wing swear for us b4.

especially against everton!
-:[

debosky:
The complete lethargy of Saturday's performance in his absence is enough evidence.

He played against Everton too, didn't he?

debosky:
Dude everything cannot be reduced to a single argument around Rooney vs Kagawa in the hole. That you have Kagawa in the hole doesn't mean you should ignore buying a better/additional option if one becomes available. Failure to do so is foolishness and nothing more. That's the point.

Chelski had MAZACAR and still decided to buy Schurrle - more options are to your advantage. Pep had Schweini, Kroos and co, but still bought Thiago.

United didn't even have a wonderful midfield to begin with, so why would gollum (allegedly) pass up a player like Ozil that doesn't become available very often while chasing unrealistic targets like Fab4?

For once i agree with you and vice versa.
These peeps her believe that Ozil wouldn't have added anything to United.
Shocking conclusion.

elampiro: They spent many months arguing that Kagawa should play in the hole. Now they have shifted the argument that Ozil should have been the one playing in our hole.

So are they implying that Kagawa, their so much adored natural hole wizard from Dortmund, is now a write off? I knew it would get to this.

Ayagayagayagayo....

Can't this people see that United problem is not the hole?

Log out for now to face life.

Are you trying to sound funny?
Kagawa's downside of not being strong on the ball is where you pin your point always, yet the 'strong on the ball' Rooney can't do any better shielding the ball & laying off for a striker to latch unto...
Every man cannot be Hulk Hogan...
The recent two past games, how was the tactics?
Kagawa starts behind the striker & the formation is purely 4-4-2 just about 20mins into the game, the supposed left attacking midfielder becomes the second striker & the supposed 'hole' man turns to a wide left midfielder
You see a supposed 'hole' guy receiving the ball from de Gea & Vidic cuz the CM *Cleverley* likes to hide behind an opponent & will never make himself available for it
Una get brain na, unless no be the same games we dey watch tho

we have heard the
orchestra play these tunes a thousand
times. But while United have suffered
injuries to key players such as Robin
van Persie and Michael Carrick, the
most substantial change has been to the
club's conductor. David Moyes took over
a squad that finished 11 points clear last
season. Given they are so far behind
fourth place, it is only right to ask what
has altered.