Con

I'm very doubtful Vlaar would go to Southampton. Big hassle for a club that is not much better and he wouldn't even be the team captain. Obviously he'd go to Man Utd if Van Gaal wanted him. That must be the reason why we are holding back on contract talks. I think Vlaar is better than anything Utd have got right now. Main flaw is he is injury prone, with us he has an annual calf injury around Christmas time. 

Con - Heinze was miles better collocini. Demeichelles whilst started slowly but was actually really good towards the end of the season.

Okay, two good examples I hadn't thought of, although Heinze was mostly a LB or RB.

Demichellis is a very good one. He's probably the best South American CD there has been in the Premier League, but even so he'll need to follow up his good season last year with another because he was a bit dodgy in his first.

Man Utd sign a £16 million centre back Marcos Rojo.

Is this their centre back problem fixed? As good as 24 year old Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic? I cannot comment  because I've not seen Rojo play at centre back.

My guess is he's not only not as good - when Utd got Rio from Leeds Utd they could have had anyone they wanted and did -  he might not even be what Man Utd are looking for to get them into a Champions League place. He's not proven in the Premier League. How many South American centre-backs have proved a success here? Collocini for Newcastle is possibly the best, but still too inconsistent for the big clubs. Luiz was too inconsistent and has just been sold to PSG. Let's be honest even the most ardent Man Utd fan has to agree they're scraping the barrel with this signing. If it turns out that he's the best South American CD the Premier League's ever had then they got lucky.

Meanwhile... 

Bundesliga - Mueller turned down 'astronomical' Man Utd offer: “I knew that I would have earned more money. ... The sums from other clubs which circulated had been astronomical."

Are Man Utd now just another club... will they ever break back into the top four? They should this year but my feeling is they need another centre back. 

Evans-Rojo still does not convince me.

SAT 23 AUG 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE

• Aston Villa 0 : 0 Newcastle 
• Chelsea 4 : 0 Leicester 
• Crystal Palace 2 : 1 West Ham 
• Southampton 3: 2 West Brom 
• Swansea 2 : 0 Burnley 
• Everton 2 : 2 Arsenal 

SUN 24 AUG 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE

• Hull 0 : 2 Stoke 13:30
• Tottenham 2 : 0 QPR
• Sunderland 1 : 2 Man Utd 16:00

MON 25 AUG 2014 - PREMIER LEAGUE

• Man City 1 : 0 Liverpool 20:00

Long is good at harrying defenders and tackling defenders and midfielder. He closes them down fast so they don't get a chance to play the ball around and get comfortable.

Not all strikers can do that. Darren Bent is the classic example of a striker who doesn't do this. Forwards like that are used if your team is playing the High Press tactic. So while Southampton this year have a new manager the signing of Long suggests to me that they will play pretty much the same way as they did under Pochettino.

They've not replaced Alan Hansen yet. At least the Alan Hansen of 10 years ago. I wouldn't want him back.

Ruud was a great pundit tonight. Got charisma and very insightful ... but they ganged up on him when he said Naughton should have been sent off for the deliberate hands block of the shot on goal. I totally agree Naughton should be sent off for that but apparently that's not "common sense" according to Shearer. "Common sense" meaning that the referee should not send someone off for deliberately cheating...

This is nothing to do with Van Gaal and everything to do with Man Utd's mid-table defence. It's also a young defence and although you could not call it "inexperienced" they do lack experience for a big team. But how do you strengthen when no Champions League player will want to sign? In such a situation you must score lots of goals. That's how Liverpool got into the Champions League again. Man Utd have nobody like Suarez. 

BTW returning to an earlier subject about where Luke Shaw will play, people mocked my suggestion Van Gaal was going to convert Luke Shaw to center back, yet I notice that Arsene Wenger has done exactly that with Calum Chambers who played next to Koscienly against Crystal Palace today!

Surprised by the Man Utd line-up today.

I know their defence is terrible but I expected a more positive attack because that is what is going to bail them out this season if they don't get at least one CB.

Where was James Wilson and Januzaj?

• 01 de Gea
• 12 Smalling
• 04 Jones
• 42 Blackett Booked
• 21 Herrera (Fellaini - 67' )
• 35 Lingard (Januzaj - 24' )
• 24 Fletcher
• 18 Young Booked
• 14 Hernández (Nani - 45' )
• 08 Mata
• 10 Rooney

Only Januzaj was on the bench.

As a striker I don't think Rooney is much better than Bony so they need to bring that youth through fast or buy better.

Maybe I was wrong to change my mind about Man Utd after Van Gaal got the job...

Dodgy corner which lead to a Stoke break-away but otherwise he used the possession he got well. He kept possession and did the professional thing to kill time at the end of the game holding the ball up in the corner. Involved in a move that lead to a Bacuna chance that Bacuna really should have done better with. He's done enough today to get on earlier next week.

I think the game is moving - managers like Pulis (and O'Neill I think) are becoming an anachronism - when you spend a couple of hundred million on your new toy, you want to decide who the players will be - I think the days of managers having full control of clubs are over. I'm not sure if I like that or not, but it's a shame I think to see someone like Pulis, who in fairness seems to care about the long term health of the clubs he manages, and who seems to consider leaving a club stronger than he found it to be part of his job, pushed out because those dreams now belong to the bloke with the chequebook.

 

Head coaches - here for between one to three seasons - with their main focus being their own CV - and no involvement in recruitment. Better or worse?

Better. You don't want the tail wagging the dog.

Man Utd

Last season Campbell got 6 league goals for Cardiff. That's not bad at all in a struggling side. He could get 10 goals this season.

Dwight Gayle got 7 goals for Palace last time out. He's young and very sharp and will be sold to a bigger club probably after this season. I expect 15 goals is his target.

Glenn Murray has all the attributes to be a great Premier League striker. Like Rickey Lambert he's worked his way up through the divisions scoring all the way. Last season he came back from a bad injury. This is his season to show what he can do. Another 15 goals.

So the team should break 40 goals in the league and if they can keep Joel Ward and Mile Jedinak they should be reasonably organised defensively. 

 

Man Utd look like an exciting team going forward but they haven't sorted out the centre back position - unless, of course, as I have suggested, they convert Luke Shaw to centre half. 

 

could be a Kevin Keegan at Newcastle kind of season.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_F.C.#First-team_squad

 

Rafael (BRA)

Jones (ENG)

Evans (ENG)

Smalling (ENG)

Varela (URG)

Vermijl (BEL)

Keane (ENG)

Shaw (ENG)

 

Or maybe they have high-hopes for 21-year-old Keane? Never heard of him but it is rather odd they have decided to leave the gate open at the back... unless, of course, Keano is the new gateman.

 

Evans plays for NI.

 

Sorry, I know that. Was a typo.

The fact Evans is their best centre-back is pretty shocking. Apart from Shaw it looks like Newcastle level defence, 10-8th best in the league.

Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Man Utd 6 v 2 Swansea, 12:45
Leicester 1 v 4 Everton, 15:00
QPR 2 v 0 Hull, 15:00
Stoke 3 v 0 Aston Villa, 15:00
West Brom 1 v 1 Sunderland, 15:00
West Ham 0 v 1 Tottenham, 15:00
Arsenal 3 v 1 Crystal Palace, 17:30

Sun, 17 Aug 2014
Liverpool 1 v 1 Southampton, 13:30
Newcastle 1 v 2 Man City, 16:00

Mon, 18 Aug 2014
Burnley 0 v 3 Chelsea, 20:00

What clubs want to do is buy awesome unknowns for £5 million and sell them for £20 million. That's how to progress, through developing decent up-and-coming players and selling them for a profit to the big boys. The way Pulis works, he wouldn't buy these untested up-and-coming players. He'd buy ready made players who cost a lot in wages. Great if they keep them in the league but if Pulis failed just once, Palace would be screwed. Parish is a fan, Palace have been in financial administration twice due to bad financial management, he's not going to put them in that position again, even if it means a more risky season with a more youthful squad.

Thing is with Long, when he stops scoring goals he'll still be working hard. Managers and fans like that. And at 27 he's not going to stop scoring goals soon. He's just entering his prime. I reckon double figures this year so that 12 million price tag whilst full, will not be thought excessive. It's about the right amount given his experience, moderate ability to score goals. and the Jay Rodriguez aspects to his game that so are important for the team.

Wow. Just wow.

Palace are ****.

They've got goalscorers.

Are there any promoted teams who wouldn't take Murray and Gayle? Oh yes, and this year they've got Frazier Campbell.

They're gonna score goals, and Bannan will deliver the goods. Just need the right manager.

It will be announced tomorrow.

Sanchez  is in a Travelodge in Aston practising his keepy-uppies with screwed up socks. (I am reliably informed).

 

Absolutely right. If he let Pulis take charge of the transfers he would do a MON and screw everything up on over-paid, over-the-hill, journey men.

 

Parish must want Palace to make better use of the skilled players they already have which is possibly good news for Barry Bannan and Johnny Williams. Scandalous how they were frozen out under Pulis.

 

.

Did that coincide with them moving from rock bottom 21 weeks into the season to end up finishing 11th?

 

I've shown that Barry Bannan had a role to play in that happening. Remember he scored in that vital victory against Hull. His form was great. He was gradually eased out because Pulis just didn't want to play a skilled ball-player in the middle of the park.

Barry Bannan will get 12 assists and 3 goals.

Chelsea

Man City

Arsenal

Man Utd

Liverpool 

Everton

Tottenham

Newcastle

Southampton

QPR

Sunderland

Crystal Palace

West Ham

West Brom

Leicester

Burnley

Absolutely right. If he let Pulis take charge of the transfers he would do a MON and screw everything up on over-paid, over-the-hill, journey men.

Parish must want Palace to make better use of the skilled players they already have which is possibly good news for Barry Bannan and Johnny Williams. Scandalous how they were frozen out under Pulis.

.

I don't think they'll go down but it's got the air of us around 2010 when we started selling key players and starting throwining youth in all over the team. 

CB is arguably the most influential position on the team, and they still have Fonte, who is also their captain. Not only that they have yet to sell Schneiderlin, who at DM is almost as influential as the CB. The third most influential player is the goalie, and this year they have signed a better one.

That doesn't sound bad to me.

I expect Southampton to surprise people again, but they won't be as free scoring unless they get some more striking options.

If we can say something positive about Southampton for once, Fraser Forster sorts out their goalkeeping problem. Artur Boruc almost made them solid in that dodgy position for them last year but now they've definitely got a safe pair of hands (Forster will take the starting position IMO).

If they keep their experienced CB partnership Fonte-Yoshida fit then they could have a solid season defensively. Likewise Clyne and Bertrand who are good enough at this level.

Defensive midfield, they will probably still have Schneiderlin who Pochettino values so much.  Ward-Prowse who's got 49 appearances already should be a revelation, and one or more of Tadic, Taider and/or Ramirez might be a creative success replacing Lallana.

Their biggest problem is who is going to score the goals until Rodriguez gets back. Even when he does get back they could use another threat. How good is Pelle? If he doesn't work out, how good is their next choice? It think they need another striker. Could be lots of drawn games.

Southampton like their tackle-goals. 

Rodriguez is the best in the league at that, now they've got Long as well, they'll have a double-barrelled attack.

Rodriguez-Long will be a very snappy attack.