₦airaland Forum

Dadehmola: Elampiro, This your obsession with pace, power, endurance and "agidi" is a cause for concern.

I know you would gladly pick Kevin Nolan over David silva anyways..

I beg, I no like that guy game. He's not worth £37m. Mourinho made a fortune from Mata and Luiz deals. I have little regards for players who can not dribble or drive the ball forward.

* and the day Rooney's passes to the sides would be accurate, the story will change. He can't play through the middle. Yet today, we didn't see any playing thru the middle from Mata, despite having too forwards in front of him and Herrera and Fletcher behind him.

*

Dadehmola: Mata's performance today was shocking. This was a player who could arguably bench iniesta some 2-3 seasons ago.

Lai lai. I have never for once saw Mata that way. May be I don't like his type of football. in his hey days, I will take JS Park over Mata.

coogar: story!

ronaldo was the main man ever since ruud left man utd. ronaldo carried us through from 06/07 till 08/09.

rooney became the main man in 09/10 & we won nothing. he scored plenty of goals but forgot to score in the games that matter.

in 10/11, berbatov was the main man. he won a golden boot & was assisted at times by chicharito. rooney wanted out that season as he couldn't bear the fact he was outplayed by a bulgarian & a mexican.

in 11/12, SAF decided to give rooney one last chance to redeem himself in an advanced role. berbatov was relegated to the bench even though he scored more goals than the number of starts. we finished trophyless yet again with rooney becoming anonymous in the games that matter(wigan, everton & city)

in 12/13, SAF had enough of rooney project. he went all out to splash £24m on a 29-year old striker and he made van persie the main man. we won the league by a distance with rooney becoming peripheral at OT!

13/14, moyes made rooney the main man again and he disappointed moyes. we finished below everton & spurs and were out in all competitions bar champions league. van persie came back from injury to score a hatrick that got us a q/final match with bayern munich....rooney single-handedly lost us that game in munich as he stunk out the whole of munich with the most pathetic display by a united striker in european history!

it's 14/15......with rooney leading the line and us starting the season with a loss at home. so i ask again, when has rooney single-handedly steered united into glory like ronaldo, ruud, berbatov or cantona, etc have done?

* We have done these arguments over and over again. I also pulled out stats and tables to buttress my points. Rooney was the main man in 10/11. Berbatov played less matches and scored against few opponents- weak oppsiions. Rooney scored in tougher matches. Whoscored rated Rooney far above Berba.

* in the seasons we won the leagues, Rooney scored many goals and assists to help get many points in the season. In 2009/10 and 2011/12, how many goals did Berba use to help Rooney to win the league? Rooney always does not have a back up to help with good assists and goals.

* despite the above, 2011/12 was probably our best season in terms of points and goals. If Scholes didn't retire we should have been champion by March.

* In 2009/10, injury to Rooney cost us. After the Munich match, he was played hru pain and the remainder of the season. If Berba filled the gap, we would be champion.



Any way na you know. Your sentimental opinion. I have mine. Yours doesn't affect me, same with mine for you.

Argument closed!

Dadehmola: Mata is a player who can unlock the opponent's defence by taking up intelligent positions and threading passes. He can also score goals but the dude appears to be really struggling. I was expecting to see a rejuvenated mata under LVG but from even from the pre-season games, I still haven't seen the player who was virtually the chief creator in every Chelsea attacking move whilst he was there.

Like I said earlier, it's still early days sha. Here's hoping he discovers his form.

Players like Mata thrive in teams with strong midfielders. Our midfield has been poor, anyone number 10 plays with a slow midfield will be poor. Irrespective of this, Mata is not a player I think we should have spent £37m. The number 10 wasn't our worry.

coogar: look at his history here, what have we won in the seasons rooney has been the main man? start from 03/04 till 13/14......

In as much I don't want to go into details, I will point out one fact. Remove Rooney from the team, we wouldn't win so much. Ronaldo struggled in the matches Rooney didn't play. In the last 5 years ( we won 2 titles), Rooney had the highest goals+assist in the whole of EPL- in 5 years. I ran into that start recently.

In 2010/11 Rooney goals won us more points than Berbatov goals. Rooney also played more matches than Berba and Chicha despite coming in late to the season. So, Rooney was the main man. Besides, we were second or third on the table until Rooney became fit.




I am not going to run pages with you. I have mentioned my observation. It is funny you did not put one blame on Young today and you are defending Mata. But you won't stop blaming Rooney and Januzaj. Keep it up. If Torres comes to United today, you will spill your last blood to defend him.

Dadehmola: Yeah, but we know Rooney will never be a robben who would pick the ball up from midfield and dribble his way into the opponents danger zone, in the process creating spaces for his team mates to run into.

...and Di Maria can do that. The reason I have been singing his name.

Nani did it once today. Anderson use to have a forward play. Now we are all left with soft passers.

Dadehmola: From the look of things, the defence might not be our only concern if our no10 isn't ontop of his game - We may actually find ourselves struggling to create chances. I can't remember Swansea'a keeper having any save to make that's worthy of mention. That we played at home even makes it worse.

I just hope LVG knows what he's doing..

I have never felt Mata would be great for us. I might be wrong at the end. What value did the £37m add to us last season? How can a team spend £37m on an established player who already was used to the EPL and got rubbished by City and Liverpool at OT? Our position didn't change on the log, instead we lost all hope of catching the top teams.

He has a great ability to bring the ball under control, but he's not a force of his own. We already had Kagawa who plays nearly same style as Mata.

* I always think when Rooney is played as a top 9, he's being under utilized. To play him in top two with Chicha is a shortage to the team. Under SAF or Moyes, Rooney would have dropped deep today.

* RVP is almost like Chicha. RVP could have less than 20 touches in a match. I think the formation might not suit us iunless Welbeck is one of the top two men or Rooney and RVP strike a good partnership. Otherwise, if it was what I saw in USA, then only one of Rooney/RVP/Chicha should play in the front two.

* May be Gaal has to change the formation so that we play either RVP or Rooney upfront. Chicha is always better as a super sub.

Robben terrorizes from the wing. May be Rooney should be told to drift far from Chicharito. Welbeck is the one playing close to what Robben does for Holland.

Dadehmola: I know it's too early to judge oo, but imagine the Netherlands playing 3-4-1-2 without a player like robben. What do you think ?

They won't post much threat. This is my fear when Rooney and RVP will pair.

Apart from Robben, they have other hard workers like Kuyt and Sneijder.

chrisley024: That's to cast a spell of confusion

I know sha. But they better go and perfect it.

RuuDie: But folks really dig this LVG fella oh.
I remember the reaction when Moyes 'accidentally' shifted Valencia to RB in one of our games and we lost with the decisive action and goal coming from that part of the field...

Valencia does very well when he starts from the right back. Having to play it to complement three CBs is a bonus.

How funny we have suddenly forgotten all the many outstanding Val's right back plays from 2010 to 2012/13 under SAF. Sometimes Rafael would be away for one to two months and he wasn't missed.




*** It is a bad thing to remember the few times he was asked to move from number 7 to number 2 mostly in the 2nd half under Moyes, and forget his outstanding performance in many successive games over several season under SAF.

Dadehmola: Why on earth should freekicks serve as our means of creativity against Swansea at oldtrafford?

But they were trying to be creative by getting one man to run beside the ball first then the other comes to hit. It was done every time we had a free kick. And we had many.

If we are going to stick to 3-5-2, Shaw and Val will be the regulars. A player like Welbeck suppose to be one of the front two. Unfortunately we have Rooney and RVP. Rooney and RVP won't bail us out except we have good wing men and midfielders to deliver the supplies.

Our games in the preseason became weak the moment Welbeck got injured. It became worse when Valencia left. Those were the games against Liverpool and Valencia- our worst preseason matches.

What was that annoying style that Mata and Young were doing every time we were to take a free kick. It got so annoying that I became I ashamed of our creativity or lack of it from the free kicks.

Bimfo: Mata is good.. But the problem about Mata is, If you Cant get him a Strong Number 4 that doesn't go forward, Mata will Flop..

And about ur 3-5-2 formation, it cant work in the premier league..

The stuff is, You gonna ave alot of the ball, but Possession teams like Arsenal and Swansea will forfeit their possession just to Hit by the Counter.. because when they execute the Counter, you Wingbacks wont be found anywhere near the defence.. So it leaves 2 defenders against 4 forwards..

It's too early to complain about the formation. Our midfielders and wing backs didn't play behind the ball. They played ahead of the ball most times, leaving only the defenders behind the ball. Valencia and Shaw wouldn't have been so careless. They should have helped Herrera and Fletcher to play more narrow in the middle be their positional discipline and ability to cover much ground. Lingaard and Januzaj didn't help the defense at all.

Olaone1: Elamps baba, what exactly happened to Harrera in the hole?

He didn't play in the hole.

He wasn't poor today. Only that he doesn't have power. Lol

Gaal is just getting use to the EPL now. He will adjust.

We started poorly by misplacing our passes. The end wasn't too bad. It looks to me we lost it when Fellaini came on for Herrera.

The major problem with the first half was the fact that our wing backs decided to press forward with little care about the threat Swansea could pose. Our midfielders were also hurrying forward too early. We needed to be patient from the start but we weren't.

For some time now, Rooney and Chicharito don't pair well, mostly when Rooney isn't required to drop deep to supply. We greatly missed the work rate of Valencia and Welbeck. They would have helped us cover more ground, which probably would have helped Mata's game.

Nani showed occasional signs of his old self.

I am not shaken yet. Although not a good way to start.

It looks like Coogar expects too much. I am afraid.....

afrodoc: its not about whether he can play both flanks. in the last match he was a bit slow to cover defensively on the right flank, i hope it was just an off day.

I was pointing it out to you that it is possible he starts from the left today while Young starts from the right.

Lingard can play from both flanks. Same with Young.

#mufc subs: Amos, James, M Keane, Fellaini, Kagawa, Nani, Januzaj #MUFClive

Masive01: Please, how can i watch manutd vs swansea today?
Which tv station will show the match?

DSTV (SS3 today).

Or View Centres, hotels halls. Anyone you choose.

Fellaini £27m
Mata £37
Shaw £30
Herrera £2_ how much exactly was this guy bought?


The sum was enough to have bought Gareth Bale and Modric from Tottenham. Or return Ronaldo from Madrid.... Lol

chrisley024: Very painful we can't compare the huge amount spent under a year with the quality we've brought in.

It's like we bought nothing.

Exactly.

The more reason why Gaal has to be careful. We haven't even added Zaha to the list.

montelik: Lets all give our gut expectations for the season, no unnecessary caveats and ifs. What do think our season will look like come end of May 2015.

Personally I see a tough season, but with one plenty of bright spots and a clear optimism going forward. My heart say we can be involved in the title race, but my head says we will have to push to make a UCL return. This new 3-4-1-2 formation won't help us in the cups, where you can't afford to make mistakes, as one bad game and your gone.

I say Fa cup semifinalists, CC quarterfinalists , 4th position EPL.

I am ok with top 3 this season. 13 points from our first 5 games should be the starting target.

Our defenders are too few. Midfield is full but no top quality. Our confidence is in our coach.

Woodward has brought in Fellaini, Mata, Herrera and Shaw.

It's not easy as we think. Change of a manager as SAF was always not going to be easy. Moyes brought a different philosophy 'buy only the top class players'. Now we aren't in the UCL, so there isa bit of dent there. Only players who need big salary lift and others who aren't regulars in their big clubs will sign. I think what Gaal is doing is t chase the big players first, if they aren't coming, he will step lower the last few days.

SAF would have by now buy some promising players who will take years to develop. SAF would already have bought the likes of Obertan, Bebe, Tosic, etc for £7m to £17, and he's ready to go.

* Carrick, Anderson and Rafael missed the preseason.

PietroRico: If you ask me I think LvG has since asked woodhead to get him a defender sha.
The confirmed vermaelen and rojo cases are proof of that.

Vidal(another confirmed target) and juventus are behaving like dickheads, so he wants to REALLY evaluate the midfield to see if it would be worth the hassle bringing in someone of less quality and at the same time wait to see if those dickheads(vidal and juve) will come to their senses.

You cannot blame Woodward. He did his best on vermaelen. It wasn't within our control.

If Gaal has instructed Woodward to get him a defender. What about getting Efe Ambrose. At least he's a defender who can play both full backs and even central defence. Or K. Toure. Se bi na defender United want na.

chrisley024: If you think he hasn't identified his targets to be purchased then think again.

Did you read his comments?

Look at Blind sending SOS to Man United, but Gaal isn't moved yet.

The only target I know we are serious about is Vidal. You can't blame anyone for not landing him yet. Gaal mentioned Di Maria as world class, and it ended there. After that interview, the media on their own pushed Di Maria fee to £80m, others wrote £50m.

The coach is trying out his players. He is giving every opportunity to all of them, including those who missed the US trip. He has told the fans they have to be patient if the results are not as expected. I guess he doesn't want to do panic buy of players and end up with worse players than we have. Our old players are doing the fights of their lives to win back their positions. E.g Fellaini- although it was a one off outing. Young stepping up. So if we must buy, the player has to be a world class. The world class players are also not easy to get. Only two of them are available now, Di Maria and Vidal.

Gaal also looks ready to promote some young players, like Blacket and James. The next three matches are enough to weigh his team against EPL oppositions in competitive duels to determine the next move. We have an experienced coach guiding Woodward, so relax. We have SAF, Carlton, and all the rest who are more worried than us, they speak to these guys every day. It's not as if only two of them are involved. The board knew what happened last summer and are looking ahead from that bad experience.

^^^

Hope the over sabi posters who know more than the board members at Old Trafford can now shut up. Always looking for scapegoat in matters they are ignorant about. Woodward this Woodward that.


Drawing conclusions without having iota of the facts.