VillaChris Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 4 hours ago, Zatman said: City signings have been underwhelming so far though. Still huge weakness at the back which if get Bonucci would make them better and also reliance on Aguero is still very much a problem Whatever happened to them trying to sign Aubameyang? I remember it broke they were in talks and then nothing was ever heard again. I think it will be the same as ever at Man. City. Near invincible at home (apart from a dip last season) but pretty mediocre away as Pep's results in CL away from home at Barca and Bayern Munich weren't usually anything to write home about. Man.United can certainly challenge for the league...especially as their fixture list looks quite decent for first 6 or so games and we know Mourinho teams are difficult to stop if they hit their stride early. I'd imagine he'll play mixed teams in the europa league aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 (edited) I'd put them as favourites at the moment. Pep doesn't know the league and has got to buy a lot more players, Arsenal are arsenal, still haven't got a striker. Spurs are Spurs.. Chelsea could be up there but again Conte doesn't know the league, and I think Leicester will fall down.. Edited July 16, 2016 by mikeyp102 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 linked with Joe Allen today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 On 7/16/2016 at 19:43, mikeyp102 said: I'd put them as favourites at the moment. Pep doesn't know the league and has got to buy a lot more players, Arsenal are arsenal, still haven't got a striker. Spurs are Spurs.. Chelsea could be up there but again Conte doesn't know the league, and I think Leicester will fall down.. I think the Man City side isn't bad. Plus Pep's teams tend to be very good at not slipping up against small sides. I have my tongue in cheek comments about him, but I wouldn't bet against him this season. United have an awful lot of work to do, I do not think they're particularly good at the back and their midfield isn't especially strong IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan. Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 It's a hard one to call. The United boat is rocked and so is JMs. They've made some good signings but their first 3 games are critical as they face City after... A good start is essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 21, 2016 Author Moderator Share Posted July 21, 2016 So, reports are that United have agreed a €120m fee for Pogba and L'Equipe think it's pretty much a done deal. I'm beginning to think Mourinho means business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Standard approach for him to spend all the money and claim tactical genius when it goes right. Yeah, yeah Porto blah blah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 21, 2016 Author Moderator Share Posted July 21, 2016 1 minute ago, CarewsEyebrowDesigner said: Standard approach for him to spend all the money and claim tactical genius when it goes right. Yeah, yeah Porto blah blah. The alternative was to walk in there and spend a year polishing LVG's turd (there's an image). The fact of the matter is there was a rebuilding job to do at OldTrafford. Standards had slipped massively. Players who would never be fit to wear that shirt for the past 2 decades were being regarded as regular United players under the new reality, when they simply weren't United players. They're getting back to something like the old United now. Bona fide quality and back to the standards they've been accustomed to. Yes this one cost them a fortune when he was on their books before, but in the grand scheme they're righting a wrong and as my United mate put it, it's a win-win because not only do they have the use of Pogba but it cost the Glazers a fortune, and that makes it all the more delicious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 They will need a lot more that Pogba and Ibra. Such a terrible, bland team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 3 hours ago, CarewsEyebrowDesigner said: Standard approach for him to spend all the money and claim tactical genius when it goes right. Yeah, yeah Porto blah blah. Net spend of £360m since he joined Porto. Quite a bit. Though, a large portion was his first spell at Chelsea. His net spend at Porto, Inter, Madrid and 2nd Chelsea stint (10 summer transfer windows) was £145m. A massive £14.5m net per year. And he only has 6 league titles, 2 European Cups and probably a dozen other trophies to show for it. But yeah, because he won spending a massive amount of money once it obviously means all of his trophies were won this way. But let's not have facts get in the way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 21, 2016 Author Moderator Share Posted July 21, 2016 31 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: They will need a lot more that Pogba and Ibra. Such a terrible, bland team. Well they had the stingiest defence in the league last season and now they've added one of the best strikers in Europe to a front line that includes 2 of the hottest prospects in Martial and Rashford. They're adding everyone's buzz-word midfielder in the middle to get it ticking over and have added a wizard just ahead of him. So while your first sentence is right, I believe they have a lot more than those 2 and I don't think your 2nd sentence is right at all. How funny would it be to watch the smug bastard that is Mourinho waltz back into the Premier League with that self-assured grin of his and win it straight off the bat with a side that has, relatively-speaking, struggled the past 2 years. Knowing how much hatred there is out there for Jose in general, I'd get a great kick out of watching it all 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 3 hours ago, BOF said: Well they had the stingiest defence in the league last season and now they've added one of the best strikers in Europe to a front line that includes 2 of the hottest prospects in Martial and Rashford. They're adding everyone's buzz-word midfielder in the middle to get it ticking over and have added a wizard just ahead of him. So while your first sentence is right, I believe they have a lot more than those 2 and I don't think your 2nd sentence is right at all. How funny would it be to watch the smug bastard that is Mourinho waltz back into the Premier League with that self-assured grin of his and win it straight off the bat with a side that has, relatively-speaking, struggled the past 2 years. Knowing how much hatred there is out there for Jose in general, I'd get a great kick out of watching it all Only one of those will ever be playing as a striker at a time. I'm assuming Martial will be hugging the left touchline, round about halfway, while Rashford rides the pine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Their squad is kind of insane ----------------------------------De Gea-------------------------------- ---Darmian-----------Smalling------------Bailly-----------Shaw---- --Mkhitaryan---------Pogba-------Schweinsteiger-----Martial---- -------------------------Rooney---------------Ibra---------------------- Subs: Rashford, Depay, Mata, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Blind, Young, Valencia, Fellaini, Lingard, Rojo, Jones, Romero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 How many subs are they allowed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 ill call it now, Pogba to flop just like Veron did at United 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 1 hour ago, Czechlad said: Their squad is kind of insane ----------------------------------De Gea-------------------------------- ---Darmian-----------Smalling------------Bailly-----------Shaw---- --Mkhitaryan---------Pogba-------Schweinsteiger-----Martial---- -------------------------Rooney---------------Ibra---------------------- Subs: Rashford, Depay, Mata, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Blind, Young, Valencia, Fellaini, Lingard, Rojo, Jones, Romero Imagine if Mourinho actually put Schweinsteiger in a 4-4-2 ahead of Smalling and an inexperienced defender? You'd have to question his sanity then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 10 hours ago, BOF said: The alternative was to walk in there and spend a year polishing LVG's turd (there's an image). The fact of the matter is there was a rebuilding job to do at OldTrafford. Standards had slipped massively. Players who would never be fit to wear that shirt for the past 2 decades were being regarded as regular United players under the new reality, when they simply weren't United players. They're getting back to something like the old United now. Bona fide quality and back to the standards they've been accustomed to. Yes this one cost them a fortune when he was on their books before, but in the grand scheme they're righting a wrong and as my United mate put it, it's a win-win because not only do they have the use of Pogba but it cost the Glazers a fortune, and that makes it all the more delicious Yep agreed and let's not forget that LVG spent an absolute fortune there anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 6 hours ago, rodders0223 said: They will need a lot more that Pogba and Ibra. Such a terrible, bland team. Not sure on that. They were poor last season but were top on November 21st (so a decent chunk into the season) and even in the penultimate game they were above City in 4th before they blew up at West Ham. Only were a few points off Arsenal who finished 2nd. There's no set rule saying where you have to finish to mount a title challenge e.g. not just Leicester but Liverpool of course almost won league after finishing 7th for a couple of years. So many factors can come into play. Mourinho will certainly give the self-esteem of the club a lift after the barren last couple of years and signing likes of Zlatan and Pogba will give a winning mentality in the dressing room which seems to have gone missing in recent years with all the young players they have. I'd have them as favourites to win the league currently tbh, Pogba will give them so much pace and power in CM which they didn't have last year with old men like Schweinstiger and Carrick in there. Still question marks over defence but De Gea is used to saving the day and Mourinho can probably make them a tougher unit to break down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicho Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 2 hours ago, Zatman said: ill call it now, Pogba to flop just like Veron did at United I don't rate him anywhere near what others do. Not quite a flop and certainly not as bad as Veron but definitely not worth the money. Is he going to score 60 a season or even 30? I don't think so. You put that kind of money down for Suarez, Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Bale, Lewandowski and Neymar in their primes not a potential unpolished gem. Players that turn a game in seconds and do it regularly. Hell probably be in the bracket with ozil, Sanchez, hazard, James Rodriguez, Di Maria, Isco, Griezman, Muller, Douglas Costa, Higuain, Benzema in terms of players who are very very good but not quite the best. (And thats harsh on some of them) But Two lists of players I'd rather have than Pogba. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Well, of all the players you mentioned only one of them (Isco) really plays in Pogba's position and he looks very out of place on that list. Zidane went for insane money at the time, he was worth every penny and didn't score 60 a season - because that's not his role. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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