ManU thread 14/15

[Pogba4Now]

With Jones and Evans injured, we are left with Rojo and Smalling at CB. 2 liabilities.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Wonderful news: Smalling is injured!

"Smalling came out of yesterday's training session because he had stiff legs," reported van Gaal at his pre-match press conference. "I won't take risks with players - they have to be fit. Jonny Evans' bone is bruised a lot and we have to wait and see how it goes. I have nine injuries now and one player suspended with Blackett. All three of my right-sided centre-halves are out, so I will have to go to the youth education [system] and pick players from there."

"youth education"?! Holy shit. Michael Keane has gone out on loan so I wonder who would that be?

 

[chygry]

HAHAHAHA.. Is Carrick back from his injury yet? If not then it's quite bad. As i said earlier he's expected to play as a CB for a few matches, or who knows what van Gaal might be thinking.

Fletcher and Carrick as the centre backs again? Like it was a few seasons ago when half of our squad was out injured. I remember Rafael playing as a midfielder and we even beat Arsenal in FA Cup (i think it was) with a _really_ bizarre looking lineup.

EDIT: Had to google it just to make sure, actually Rafael and Fabio were playing as wingers.
"Man Utd

01 Van der Sar
03 Evra (Scholes 80 yellow card)
06 Brown
12 Smalling
15 Vidic
20 Fabio Da Silva (Valencia 46)
21 Rafael (Giggs 64)
22 O'Shea
28 Gibson
10 Rooney
14 Hernandez
"

 

[Pogba4Now]

Should've kept BrownShea.

 

[chygry]

I don't know about O'Shea (about keeping him), but Brown was always a solid servant to the club and seems to perform quite well for Sunderland. He was also a bit versatile, could play as a right back or in the centre of defense. We could certainly use a figure like him right now.

Haha at this state even Arsenal is in a better position defensively than us, i'm not trying to make fun of them, it's just the situation we are right now. : D

 

[Pogba4Now]

Either one of them would have been handy. At least they have experience that we're missing!

I wonder who LvG will call up to partner Rojo. He said: "We have nine injuries and one suspension with Blackett," said Van Gaal on Thursday. "The younger players can have their chance now."

Possible candidates:
- Carrick - I think he's almost back
- Fletcher
- Blind
- Vermijl - played alongside Keane and Evans against MK Dons and it obviously didn't work.
- Evans (If he recovers in time but I doubt it)

I would personally prefer Blind there.

Remember the game when we had to get Oliver Gill and Oliver Norwood on our bench because of an injury crisis? Ferguson was too nervous to start one of them so he started with 2 midfielders I think. De Laet played CB for a few games also.

 

[chygry]

Oliver Gill? Is that David Gill's son or something? I've never seen the guy play and probably never will. Same about Vermijl, luckily i didn't see the match against MK Dons. Would've been depressing i suppose.

I don't like Blind as a CB in a 4 man defense, he can play as a left back in the wider system, but naturally he's a DM and don't let those matches he player for Holland in the summer fool you!

Rojo and Carrick/Fletcher it is then.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Yes. Oliver Gill IS indeed David Gill's son. He never played and eventually left.

Some important news: looks like one of the academy players will probably start tomorrow based on what LvG said.

Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are all missing this weekend’s game through injury. Tyler Blackett, who Louis van Gaal gave his debut to this season, is unavailable after being sent off against Leicester.

The manager might be able to bring together a back four of Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Daley Blind and Rafael da Silva, but he also has the option of letting more youngsters have a go.

Tom Thorpe, the Under-21 captain, and Paddy McNair will be in the squad for tomorrow’s game against West Ham.

“They are in the squad,” Van Gaal confirmed. “That is always why we have a youth education. It was also our policy [to utilise the youth squads] and always the policy of the club too.”

Blind might an option for left-back, but he won’t be playing in the centre of defence.
“I don’t like having too many left-sided defenders or left-footed players in defence,” he told MUTV. “I think always of balance so [instead] I have to pick up a right-sided central defender from the youth education. Normally, I am always doing things like that. I have already said that we have a lot of vacancies when you buy only six players and let 14 players go. The amount of injuries is worrying me and they are not coming back. Smalling is already, for the third time, injured. Evans also. Jones had one injury in the national team, which was unfortunate. I am a coach who has a lot of experience and I believe I was never in this situation before so it is surprising me. I am evaluating myself and my staff and also the players and what is wrong. But I cannot imagine what we are doing is at another level to [what I did at] my former clubs. So I have already adapted to a certain level that I think we can play during a game but I cannot train at a lower level.”

Tom Thorpe and Paddy McNair! Who the fuck are they? Will have to do some research about them.

I don't understand what's wrong having 2 left footed centre backs. Most teams have 2 right sided centre backs, right? We had FerdiVidic for years.

It may be an unfamiliar situation for van Gaal to have 3 CBs injured and 1 CB suspended but he SHOULD have known better. History has show how injury prone our defenders are. We had to play Carrick, Fletcher and De Laet not only once, but several times and we had more centre backs then (FerdiVidic).

I think we do have enough centre backs (we have 5) and Jones/Evans or Jones/Smalling is strong enough but it is rare to have all CBs fit for us. Jones frequently gets injured because of his style: he is very aggressive and too brave at times.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Other news:

Manchester United fans have organised a plane to fly over Villarreal’s stadium on Saturday with a banner saying “Bring Ronaldo Home”.

United Reel have teamed up with their affiliated official Manchester United Supports Clubs – MUSC United Arab Emirates, MUSC Lebanon and MUSC Egypt to show a ‘United’ front to help bring Ronaldo home.

Members from all over the world have donated their own money and resources to fund a mind game message, flown by plane during the Villarreal v Real Madrid match in a bid to demonstrate to Cristiano Ronaldo how much the United Faithful still love and support him.

With the uncertainty regarding Cristiano Ronaldo’s future, United Reel deem it essential the player can not only feel but also see how much the fans still love him and how proud they are of his achievements since he left Manchester United.

United Reel has active supporters on every continent of the world and we are all united by our love for Cristiano both as a football player and as a person. We stand united in our views and we won’t stop until we BRING RONALDO HOME.

Crazy stuff. Money would have been better spent on a banner flying over Old Trafford with "BUY SOME DAMN DEFENDERS"

 

[MaestroZidane]

I can see Ronaldo pulling a Lebron and going back to United. Maybe in a couple of years or so.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Madrid is a shit team to be at for a footballer. He may feel that he can be kicked out at any moment like Di Maria.

They will less likely kick him out though, purely because of his marketing power.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I don't understand what's wrong having 2 left footed centre backs. Most teams have 2 right sided centre backs, right? We had FerdiVidic for years.

Van Gaal is obsessed with this, by the way. He played Tymoschuk at CB all the time ahead of better players because of his footedness.

 

[Mus]

To be fair, left footed players have feral right foots compared to their right footed counterparts lefts..

 

[Pogba4Now]

Rojo McNair centreback pair. Oh my goodness.

 

[Arnau]

Yeah right footed players are more familiar with his weak foot and profile. Probably 99% of the left footed CB has never played as RCB.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Fantastic Rafael, excellent finish from Rooney. We just need to score as many as possible because we could concede 10 goals.

 

[Pogba4Now]

What a shit game. We are very very lucky this was just West Ham.

 

[fender]

Great conduct for a captain.

 

[Pogba4Now]

I thought he would stop this bullshit once he became captain.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

hahahahaha, why would you ever think that?