₦airaland Forum

Chrisus:
Guys, watch out for James Garner.

Chong, Garner, Greenwood and Gomes should be drafted into the first team full time.
I rather give Garner Matic's minutes and Gomes, Mata's minute for them to develop. If we mange these youngsters properly, by next season or two, we will have little or no reason to spend.

Oasis007 is TFM injured? I can't recall seeing him during the preseason.

Larride, you have time and patience to explain yourself.
We sold Lukaku, Herrera left and before him, Fellaini but we didn't replace them. Lukaku guarantees at least 15 goals, Fellaini guarantees at least 7-10 goals and Herrera, 3-5 goals but how have we replaced them? Pereira? For all his talents, he loses the ball easily.
Garner is far from the first team.
Fred flatters to deceive.
Gomes is not really trusted sadly he is the most talented of the lot.
Chong is not ready.
Greenwood is promising but is he ready?
Sanchez looks past it unless a miracle happens.

Only McTonimay has improved and looks ready.

Guys, it's not me or others being pessimistic but, it's the truth laid bare...

Nobody is crying over Lukaku, most folks are only complaining because the clueless board won't reinvest the funds from his sale.

That a fan is not pleased with the business done so far doesn't make such fan a pessimist, we are all hoping for the best but you just can't look at that midfield and think all is well, take out Pogba and we will be lacking big time in terms of creativity. We need improvement in midfield and probably a striker to go with it.

Spurs have improved their midfield with Ndombele and are already making moves to replace Erikson if he leaves but you guys think folks are pessimist for requesting that the club replace Herrera and Fellaini with a more superior player.

I just wish we completed more deals now because next summer, Chelsea will enter the market and you know that means.

Miremoses1:
Marcelo is having fun out there. No defensive bundle, no problem.

Abeg drop link.

Link please...

Leyqute:
Agreed. But it’s Manchester United. It’s almost impossible to keep Utd’s transfer business under wraps. Ed isn’t the only person in the negotiation room and words tend to get out.

Before you know it, a janitor who works at the building is contacting the Sun. He overheard something after cleaning the opposite room and wants to drop some hot gist for some cash. He’s now a “source”.

Other teams don’t sign players on a whiff too. Negotiations must have started a while ago, only that no one is interested in the janitor’s “hot gists”.

How long does it take Madrid to sign players?
Even those that drag end up getting their targets ala Barcelona but we can't keeps ours under wraps and even when it's out there, we don't seem to close out deals. It's embarrassing to say the least.

airmark:
To Man utd and Sarri.

Tah!!!

airmark:
Danilo is a useless player for any top team. That was how lordfalcao asked us to buy him, now the apari realised his uselessness, he threw him away with cash to get someone else.

Sarri is stupid for bringing him in. The smoker makes some ridiculous decisions that one would be wondering if he knows what he's actually doing.

Useless or not, he is easily worth 25m

Leyqute:
Also, City aren’t re-building. We are.

City have broken numerous transfer records years ago when they were trying to get it right. Now they only need a couple of signings.

It's not about the price, even when we went in for Dan James, it took us weeks to complete the deal, good a thing no other club went in for him thus resulting in a bidding war.
We need to conclude our business in a more swift manner.

GloryIsaac:
Not really. The Rodri and Cancelo news have been out since, even before the deal was agreed thanks to Fabrizio Romano and Di Marzio.

The only difference is that Man City news doesn't sell as much as Man Utd and there's also a vast difference in fan base.

Cc patrickmuf

The Rodri deal was without much rancor, that's easily one of the deals of the summer.
Cancelo deal dragged a little because it was a player exchange and a little cash. They have differences in their valuation of the respective players and that was it.
Can't we go about deals same way? And if you say Man City news don't sell because of the fan base, why then do Madrid nit haggle over transfers same way we do after all they're a big club with a huge fan base.

afrodoc2:
So Man City quietly signed Rodri and Cancelo with minimal fuss and little or no rumor, but Ed and his band of misfits will be haggling over a player for almost a month with the whole world knowing.

And someone here said all big clubs have issues signing players when in all honesty, Ed Woodward has clearly shown he is incompetent.

BlueAngel444:
Pep is a typically check book manager.. what does he need cancelo for, even at about 55m when he has Walker, or does he want to convert Walker to a CB.

that's how he bought Mahrez and kept him as a squad player.

Pep and his crazy tweaks, I won't be surprised to see Cancelo playing DM just like he used Lahm at some point.

Unlimited22:
I hear say Sarri sell Joao Cancelo to City for 30m euros plus Danilo


The hell is that man smoking these days?

A fair deal if you ask me, Danilo is definitely worth at least 25m.

[quote author= post=81020730]We scrolled from top to bottom.
No City in the country known as the GIANT OF AFRICA can be found in the list.
What a shame!

Our leaders only know how to loot and stash our money in foreign countries, not in beautifying our darling nation.
There was a country!


But, Calabar should have had a spot at least![/quote]Not anymore, Ayade has failed in that regard, Calabar is now littered with dirts.

footiemaniac:
I am a big fan of Bruno fernandes, I would like to trust our coaching staff for not wanting to go all out for him. Maybe there is something we non-professionals are not seeing with our naked eyes scouting wise.

Why are the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona,Bayern, Juventus,PSG,Mancity,Athletico Madrid not scrambling to sign Bruno fernandes knowing that he will add goals to their midfield. PSG has gone on to sign 3 New midfielders(Herreira, Idrissa Gueye,Pablo Sarabia) likewise other big clubs. Spurs is not a big club yet.

If stats are anything to go by, Dusan Tadic(Southampton reject) scored 28 goals and 14 assists last season for Ajax,even with this stats, I am not sure any Manchester united fan wants Dusan Tadic at the moment because in hindsight they already know how he fared in the Premier League. Maybe our coaching staff are not really bothered about Bruno Fernandes stats last season. Nabil Fekir scored 18goals and 7 assist for Lyon 2017/2018 season but he his now plying is trade in Real Betis.

Nevertheless, I am very optimistic that we will have an okay season.

PSG have their eyes on FFP so it's no wonder they aren't after Fernandez.
He won't fit in at Barcelona because the manager will rather have him pass to their forwards than shoot. Rakitic's numbers have dropped since he joined Barcelona...
Liverpool are not going to spend crazy this summer, Klopp already made that clear if not, they'd have made a bid for Fernandez (Klopp likes the lad and will most likely go after him in January or next summer if he remains with Sporting)...
Man City are stucked in Fernandez's position so it's no surprise they ain't after him.
Chelsea are under a ban.
Juventus have Ramsey/Bernadeschi and Rabiot if the situation demands to play that position.
Real Madrid have their eyes set on Pogba and won't look his way.
Spurs are only after him because of the Erikson situation.
Bayern are after wingers that's why they didn't exercise the option to buy James Rodriguez, they rather go aftera winger.

Top teams not scrambling for his signature has little or nothing to do with his quality, most top teams are stocked in the AMF department and even at that, it is not a yardstick to write him off. For me, he is the missing link in our midfield, he can switch play from one end of the pitch to another almost effortlessly with both foot, he guarantees goals from midfield, one area we need improvement and is still very young.
When you watch our games you can't help but wish we had another midfielder with the qualities of Pogba, we labor to switch play. Wan-Bissaka will pass to Smalling who will have to turn his whole body to pass to Lindelof who in turn will pass to Shaw and then to Martial or Rashford, a move that could have been made with just a pass to the CM and next, a surging long ball to the feet of the winger.
Erikson isn't bad but if you watch him closely, you'd notice he has lost a yard of pace and his influence at Spurs is waning although rather than nothing, I'd take him without blinking.

purpleprincess:
Please do you have the NL FPL code?

No, I don't...

footiemaniac:
Liverpool where Champions league finalist the previous season,thanks to the defensive signing of Van Dijk in the January transfer window. You forgot that Liverpool finished 4th with a MASSIVE 25 points gap to the champions Manchester city, United even finished 6 points ahead of them. Liverpool were able to close 24 points gap to Manchester city with the signing of Alison, Fabinho and {Keita,Shaqiri(fringe player)} and went on to win the Champions league.

Klopp did not panicked and sign 7 players last season because he finished 25 Points behind Manchester city, he knew Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Robertson and co will improve with proper coaching and tactics. I repeat, we have enough talent in our squad, let the coaching team gets to work and bring out the best in them, if they fail they have no excuse. Don't get me wrong, I will welcome further additions to this squad before transfer deadline, if it doesn't materialized the rest players should get to work, we are Manchester united.

Like you said, if Fergie can win the league with cleverly, oshea, fletcher, gibson, welbeck, wes brown and co, I don't see what is stopping us from competing now.

Keita isn't a fringe player, he was obviously bought to be a starter but injuries hampered his season.
Talking about talents, who exactly are you referring to? I hope it is not those teenagers? For talents, I can only point at Martial, Pereira (he has stagnated) and Rashford to a lesser extent... The defense is settled hence I am not worried. The likes of Lingard are not talented...I also agree that we have a good couple of youngsters coming through but it just might be a season or two too early for them...

Unlimited22:
Lol. You left out Loftus-Cheek and Barkley to include Bakayoko so that you'll say we have a midfield on par.

Continue

Wasn't intentional however, I wouldn't rate Barkley and Loftus-Cheek ahead of McTonimay and Fred/Pereira...

Lana1:
Having leaders in all parts of the team is just a slice of the cake. If you dont have a reliable team of determined players, it wont make much difference.

Sebi Modric and Ramos are leaders, so why have Madrid been losing left, right and center since last season?

For like 2 or 3 seasons, Liverpool had a fire attack. They were scoring anyhow but they were always conceding. Mostly winning games 3-2, 4-3 and sometimes even losing to the Burnleys 2-0. Till they made the necessary additions in midfield and defence like Allison, VVD and Fabinho and became UCL winners and almost even did a league and UCL double.

What matters most is the attitude and determination of the players. I really wish we can still get Fernandes coz there's still work to be done on the midfield and attack but at least, we have seemingly fixed the defence. We can only hope that we no longer ship in goals like before and have just enough to be seeing games off like 1-0 or 2-0.

We just need these guys to step up a bit.

The bolded isn't different from what I am saying.

Talking about Modric and Ramos in Madrid, you have to consider that they are aging and Madrid lost Ronaldo without replacing him in hope that Bale steps up but Bale is injury prone and Benzema can't be trusted to carry the goal scoring burden of any serious team.

Determination and attitude are fundamental but it will be wrong to think Liverpool players are only determined and have the right attitude, those guys also have the skills necessary to transition play from defense to attack effortlessly. For instance, you hardly see Widjnaldum doing fanciful stuff but he keeps things simple along with Hendo and Milner, they pass when necessary, mark and shoot when the opportunity presents itself. The time Pogba spends trying to entertain the crowd would've seen Milner play a simple pass to Mane or the other attackers.

We have made significant improvements in our defense but our midfield is still below par apart from Pogba. Pereira, Fred, Mctominay are couple of levels below their counterparts just same way our forwards are nowhere near those of our rivals.

Quick comparison.
Man Utd Midfield
Matic, Mctominay, Pogba, Fred, Pereira, Mata

Spurs midfield:
Sissoko, Ndombele, Erikson, Winks, Dele Alli, Dier

Arsenal:
Torreira, Ceballos, Xhaka, Ozil, Guendouzi, Iwobi

Chelsea:
Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Mount, Bakayoko

City:
KDB, David Silva, Rodri, Fernandinho, Foden, Gundogan

Liverpool:
Chamberlain, Keita, Milner, Hendo, Widjnaldum, Fabinho

From the above, the standard is clearly that of Liverpool, Manchester City and to a lesser extent, Spurs who have at least 2 midfielders you can count on starting every match day compared to us with just Pogba. If you want to stretch the argument, Chelsea's midfield is on par with ours.

In attack, we are only better than Chelsea and way behind Spurs, City, Liverpool and Arsenal. As much as we want the attitudes of the players to change, Rashford will hardly outperform Kane/Aguero/Auba sameway Son, Sterling, Lacazette, Mane will msot likely outperform Martial. Who else do we have? Greenwood? Chong? Dan James? Nowhere near Lucas, Firmino, Sane/Mahrez, Pepe...We can only hope that we have a watertight defense and our attackers manage to convert the chances that will come their way.

I just hope we can get at least one MF and ST who will be guaranteed starters before the window is closed on Thursday.

eph12:
Levy will prefer to risk that than sell to us.

No he won't. He took that stand when it came to Alderweireld because they had an option to extend his deal by a year.

footiemaniac:
I don't know why people think making wholesale changes to a squad in one transfer window will have any positive impact . Even when we were far behind Arsenal unbeaten squad and Jose Mourniho's chelsea with Roy Keane's wahala, fergie did not go out and buy 7 players at a go. He signed Ji-sung Park and Van der sar in the summer of 05/06 and Evra,Vidic jan transfer window, then only Michael Carrick the next season to win the league ahead of that strong Mourinho's chelsea.

Only one or two major signings(Alison and van dijk) can make a huge impact in a team,ask Liverpool. I understand the pessimism because the major signings we have made so far is defensive and not the blistering big name wingers that will excite fans. After all the excitement in signing offensive players in Di Maria,Falcoa, Sanchez,Depay etc what did we get in return?

We have talents in our squad, the coaches are there to bring out the best in those group of players, that is what they get paid for, not to start giving them 6-7 brand new players every summer. Who is to say the players we have been asking the club to sign will settle quickly and be better than what we already have. If Lindelöf can improve and now making every fans proposed 1st team line up, don't see why the rest can't improve this season.

I remember last season, how fans were celebrating buying a solid Brazilian midfielder (FRED),not british midfielder oo, under the nose of Mancity. Now, I cannot even see Fred name in any of your line up, everywhere is now McTominay our home grown talent that was given a chance. Now i am even seeing bruno fernandes that we have not even signed on our line up.The management team has backed Ole so far, if he fails no excuse from him or me.

If Liverpool can win Champions league with a midfield of Henderson,Wijnaldum, Fabinho , Milner,I don't see why we cannot compete with a Midfield of Pogba, Fred,McTominay ,Matic, Perreira if they all work hard for each other.

You have raised valid points but if you look at that Liverpool team, you have Salah and Mane up front who are leaders in their own right, in midfield, they have Milner who is a leader and the likes of Fabinho, Widjnaldum who are very competitive and in defence they signed VVD to bring leadership and composure.

During Fergie Era, we had leaders at every position that is why we could go a summer adding just one or two players and we were good. This teams currently doesn't have a leader up front and Pogba who should be the one holding the midfield together is inconsistent or really not interested in staying.

Majority of folks crying for new signings aren't doing so because we just want the board to splash the cash or we don't exactly think the players we have are that bad but in comparison to those we are up against, we need improvements all over the pitch.
Spurs have Lloris and Alderweireld in defense, Erikson in midfield and Kane up front. In their midfield, they just signed Ndombele and are after Bruno Fernandez/Lo Celso should in case Erikson leaves. In attack, Son is at the peak of his power and can comfortably lead their attack in the absence of Kane. We simply don't have similar quality.

Of the big teams, it's only we, Chelsea (Their attack and I trust they will have sorted that out if not for their transfer ban) ) and Arsenal who have deficiencies in our team.

Ravioli:
Bros it's easier for midtable team to buy than us

I don't want to believe so because Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Spurs get about business without much stress...

Here's Silva politely asking for more even after the Everton board has backed him throughout the summer.

You might argue otherwise but a few words from Ole can pressure Ed Woodward to move more swiftly in the market.

Rashford is a fool. He thinks it's all about pace.

Matic is past it.

Matic does a Fred. Bench, bench, bench...

Link please...

Going into the new season with Jones, Rojo and Smalling is stuff of nightmares...
Ed Woodward should be shot if he doesn't sign Maguire, Fernandez and conclude the swap deal with Juventus.

If Leicester keep Maguire this season, they will struggle to get 60m for him in the coming years. See Lyon and Fekir.

Oasis007:
Hit or Miss?!

Hit all day...If Rashford doesn't step up, play Martial from the LW, and bring in Greenwood.