Cristalz: I'm sure I can see my reflection in Messi's shoes.
I hope he wins.

montelik: damn, after last year I was hoping for a tougher group so complacency wouldn't be a concern.

chamotex: Galatasaray away should be the only place we are allowed to drop points

Hugoboi:

Maybe UEFa decided to try a new face this time.

Hugoboi:

Maybe...but every player has his shitty day and his whole career shouldn't be judged by that. Against Everton, Rooney was atrocious. Does that make him a crap player?
I don't see why Nani is being written off while the likes of Young are still allowed to wear a United jersey. Which player in this modern day pushes the ball around with his eyes fixated to the ground. Infact, Young's transfer should be investigated. I won't be surprised if SAF made a 'killing' by the side from that transaction.

montelik: What do some think about a loan move for Essien of Chelsea. No doubt he has seen much better days, but he could provide some steel and verve if needed. No doubt he isn't anywhere near as good, but he would easily be an upgrade over Giggs and Scholes who are liabilities when we aren't totally bossing the game.

StarBoard: @dayokanu,
That same 2010/11 when we played Chelsea in the champions League,who did Fergie bench?Nani was dropped in favour of a returning Valencia for both legs, and United won home and away. I'm guessing that should say something about his value.

chamotex:

Essien's real age is probably above Scholes and Giggs' (no difference)

debosky:
So Fergie dropping Rooney for RVP last week says something about the value of Rooney?

RVP was rubbish at the Euros, did that stop Utd paying 250k for him?

Your weak logic doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The fact is that coaches pick players with the best form/attributes at a particular time, and it doesn't mean the others were rubbish. A player's performance over the course of the season is the best reflection - 10 goals and 14 assists is a high level of performance in any season in the EPL no matter how you cut it.

Nani is a maverick - by nature that makes him inconsistent, just like Robben. Your issue is more to do with the type of player Nani is than his performances. If you're looking for Valencia-type performances you're wasting your time because they are different types of players.

debosky: ^^

I jump am pass. . . .that would be worse than signing Silvestre from United.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has raised the possibility of record signing Dimitar Berbatov returning to Tottenham.

Berbatov has no future at Old Trafford and, after a day of speculation, it was thought the Bulgarian had settled on a move to Fulham. Cottagers boss Martin Jol spoke optimistically about the transfer on Thursday but Ferguson insists no deal has been completed.

"I do not know what has happened," the Scot said. "He has not gone yet. I do not know anything about it. There's not been any contact from him. We thought he was in Italy but it turned out he isn't. He could be anywhere. I really mean that. I wouldn't be surprised if he was at Tottenham. There are rumours going around. I do not think it is settled at Fulham."

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/fergie-hints-spurs-return-berba-084959899.html

coogar:
other clubs know united won't sell him so they didn't even try - spaletti of zenit tabled £25m bid but fergie rejected it! why would united sell nani? if nani was a player of another club, fergie would have bought him. that's our dna - we stock out and out wingers!

coogar:
guardiola wanted nani - it's all over the net, it's not a question of if it were true.....
nani exploded when he won our player of the season - got the highest number of assists in the league(20 in the premier league alone) - explosion is not only about scoring goals alone!

coogar:

nani would play to the instructions of his gaffer - you saw him in the euros, one of the best players @ the tourney! did he look out of place amongst the wingers in that tourney? he even did well than ronaldo minus goal scoring - he was always the one making the final pass.....13 key passes!

coogar:

nani put in a much better performance against the same rival in his debut season here.... man utd 4-0 arsenal(2008)! nani was so good arsene wenger accused him of showboating! giggs was frustrating, more frustrating than nani but ryan played in a much better team with keane, scholes, stam, yorke, etc. when united had a stronger team in 07/08, nani was mercurial!

coogar:

yeah, let's compare giggs to nani - nani has spent 21 seasons at old trafford so the comparison is justified. this argument is tedious! giggs gets this accolades because of his longevity not necessarily because of his performance. giggs would have been sold since 2007 if mourinho was our gaffer! which ryan giggs are we talking about here?

coogar:
he's as good on the left as he can be on the right! when he mauled arsenal and liverpool in 07/08, he did so from the left channel! we are lucky we have a player like him! he has bailed us out from sticky situations more than any winger has done for his club since we have had him here......

coogar:
i have told you - dembele was non-existent in the first half when it was a straight match-up between ando-clev and dembele-diarra. the united boys ran rings around him. martin jol said the same, the stats said the same. then vidic scored an own goal which completely changed the tide of the game. smart martin jol then pushed dembele further up the pitch to trouble our shaky defense partnership - dembele mauled our defence, not the midfield!

coogar:
nani has got both in his ammo - he has got flair and he's pretty efficient - his stats(productivity) shat on valencia's. nani can shoot better, [b]dribble better [/b]and make something out of the ordinary! apart from rooney, nani is the only other player that can wave the magic wand out of nowhere and deliver! it's not debatable and he's scored more goals against tough defences than any other winter in the league! abeg, tony valencia is 2 light years below nani! he's afraid to try and too conservative, in this business - fortune favours the brave!

coogar:

vidic should shut up and sort out his fitness problems first before pointing fingers. he scored an own goal, got dominated by fellaini and was given a horrid time by dembele and ruiz....what chutzpah has he got to point fingers? wow or victory? i want both and nani gives us both!

coogar:

so which of these big names has valencia murdered? nani sold it to kompany and kompany bought it. it was this same nani that won us the shield after we went 2 goals down. he got the equaliser and the winner(by raping kompany)!

coogar:
nani has mauled all those fullbacks way way before - do i need to jog your memory? you forgot nani's belter against chelsea last season? his numerous decapitation of baines in previous duels? why are you trying to rewrite history?

coogar:

rooney was a better player than ronaldo at 18/19, how did ronaldo leave rooney in the pits? why should we compare nani to ronaldo? i don't see city fans compare tevez/aguero to messi or do you?

coogar:
nani has about 18 months left on his contract - this is the time to renegotiate his contract, it has nothing to do with walcott or balotelli. nani deserves a raise especially when ashley young is on £120k/week!! if we wait till he shows something on the pitch, his contract would run down to 6 months - fergie should pay up and stop brainfarting!

debosky:

So Fergie dropping Rooney for RVP last week says something about the value of Rooney?

debosky:
RVP was rubbish at the Euros, did that stop Utd paying 250k for him?

debosky:
Your weak logic doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The fact is that coaches pick players with the best form/attributes at a particular time, and it doesn't mean the others were rubbish. A player's performance over the course of the season is the best reflection - 10 goals and 14 assists is a high level of performance in any season in the EPL no matter how you cut it.

debosky:
Nani is a maverick - by nature that makes him inconsistent, just like Robben. Your issue is more to do with the type of player Nani is than his performances. If you're looking for Valencia-type performances you're wasting your time because they are different types of players.

StarBoard:
Didn't expect that from you;but in a way it isn't surprising.
You'd compare the second game of a 38-game season vs a mid-table side with a knock-out quarter final tie of the champions league against a team that up till then found a way to have your number.
Interesting.

Interesting Perspective you have there.
Van Persie scored one of the two Dutch goals at the Euros, so I wouldn't classify that as rubbish.
The Dutch in general were rubbish,but I wouldn't say same for van Persie.
I'm thinking 31 Premier League goals the previous season had something to do with that.Even though I wasn't ( and still am not) in favour of that signing,that should be enough reason in his view./quote]

Glad you've seen some reason - this obviates the validity of a player's performances in the Euros as a basis for him signing/getting a raise.

[quote]
You're always fond of comparing apples and oranges.
van Persie was a top talent signed from a rival team.Obviously his situation is different from Nani,or isn't it?

And I'm expected to believe what you typed above?
We're talking about his over-all performances since he's been at United which have been inconsistent at best,and you're throwing words about.
No need to respond to that.
Apparently you haven't been reading what I've been writing.The emboldened tells me so.

Maverick my flat a$$.
Are we supposed to pay someone for inconsistency?

Would you dare ask your boss to raise your pay if your work was viewed by your boss as inconsistent during the last appraisal?
You people just throw words about for the sake of it without checking how realistic situations are.

debosky:

A football game is exactly that - a game, regardless of when in the season it was. Unless of course, United was not interested in winning the 2nd game of the 38 in which it dropped Rooney. The fact is, the manager picks the best team for the day - it's no reflection of a player's value.

debosky:
I didn't equate their positions - pay attention! What I equated was trying to use the Euros performance as a basis on whether to sign a player or not.

debosky:

Define what you mean by inconsistent - Nani scored 10 goals in 2010/11, 10 goals in 2011/12. Is that not consistency in goal scoring tallies? As I've repeatedly said, apart from game to game variations (affecting all players) it's the performance over the course of a season that determines whether a player has been consistent or not.

debosky:
Inconsistency (in Nani's case) is the other side of being a maverick. You pay for the maverick performances, knowing there will be some inconsistency in there.

debosky:

Are footballers now regular employees? Was Rooney consistent in the season he got £250k?

StarBoard:
And you really think that some games aren't more important than others?

And did you bother to ask where that position of the Euros came up?

What about the three seasons before then?

For real you don't have to say anything just because you have to.Does your boss expect you to be inconsistent at some point when he is hiring you?

Do footballers have regular contracts ot not?If yes, I guess you know the answer to your question.

As per Rooney, how many goals did he get the previous season before demanding the 250k?

StarBoard:
Story.
Provide a genuine link to prove Spaletti put in a 25 mill bid.Stop peddling speculative rumours.If Spaletti did, I'm pretty sure Nani would have wanted a move given that he would more than likely earn that same wage he's asking for.

I've checked through the net, I can't substantiate your claims on Guardiola.
Guardiola wanted Fabregas and courted him continuously for at least two years. I didn't see that with Nani. Please stick to the facts and not rumours. Please put a link.I've searched the net and can't find anything half as decent as a hint that your claim is true.

And as per explosion, why couldn't Nani do similar stuff last season? If he were paying attention to his gaffer at United, would we be having this discussion?Was Nani in the team of the tournament or not?
If not, then all you've said in the above don't mean nuttin to me, i'm sorry.

Wait, you mean to tell me you'd compared a game in an FA Cup second-round tie at home with a semi-final replay at a neutral ground?

You mean to tell me that ball-juggling can be compared to running at 5 Arsenal players in extra time and scoring the winner in the process after United were down to 10 men?
You mean to tell me the Arsenal team of 2007/8 was anything to write home about and compare it with the Arsenal side of 1999 that we pipped to the title by just one point,as good as our team then was?

Honestly I have no replies for you on this one.Like I said, let Nani decide an FA Cup semi-final when we are down to 10 men in extra time. Then I will compare him to Giggs,and endorse whatever raise he's asking for.

Circumstancial rebuttal at best.
And Giggs has put in great performances.Otherwise his longevity would be a non-factor.Or do you have any other reasons why he has lasted this long at United?

And how many times thereafter, 5 seasons after, has he repeated those feats?Herein lies the crux of my argument, but you refuse to get it

And name those sticky situations he bailed us out from;i seem to have a brain lag. . .or is it just that he hasn't done exactly that?. . .

Ah but the stats dont tell us Dembele was ineffective (according to you) in the first half.
The stats tell us Dembele had 96% pass completion,for instance. How does that conote what you claim?

Face it,stats don't tell us everything about a game.
Again,I might be wrong,but how does a midfielder maul a defence without getting past a midfield?Please explain, I might be short of memory chips in my head.

So you finally agree that Rooney is more important than Nani

Toni Valencia was 2 light years behind Nani yet he managed to be voted the clubs player of the season for last season. I remain to be convinced.

Nani's shooting is atrociouos.Let's not even debate that.
Nani for all his bravery (cries and moans like a biyatch) hasn't gotten anywhere near the stratospheric levels you claim his "potential"should have carried him. Instead he's haggling for an improved contract using his agent as his ammo instead of his performances.

Apparently you haven't had to recover from a serious knee injury when you're 30 years old and your body is battle-weary, so I don't expect you to make any sense of what your captain is saying. I'm also glad you said you want him to give us both because he 'hasn't given us wins by himself.

Ask Ashley Cole who Valencia is.OT vs Chelsea back-end of 2010/11.
vs Chelsea at OT Champions league ame season.

Nani won us a meaningless Charity Shield but when the title was at the line at the Etihad (when it mattered more) he hid under everybody else.Where was he then?

He met Baines on the 20th of August (just 11 days ago).What happened?

Blasphemous at best.
Ronaldo was tearing up the Dutch Eredivisie at that age.So try another line.
Rooney was nowhere near the Great One at that age or at any phase of his career,

Are Tevez/Aguero's styles similar to Messi to warrant comparisons?

If Fergie was daft enough to give Ashley Young that contract(which I still feel is fraudulent at best), then Nani should take up the challenge to prove the old man wrong,instead of bitching like a wimp about his contract.

StarBoard:
@A-40,
That same 2010/11 when we played Chelsea in the champions League,who did Fergie bench?Nani was dropped in favour of a returning Valencia for both legs, and United won home and away. I'm guessing that should say something about his value.

RuuDie: I'd take a half-fit Theo Walcott over a motivated Nani!