but pretty comfortable and a decent result, should be able to win the tie at Old Trafford. Defence was very good, attack did ok with what little of the ball they had but our midfield once again just played aimless long balls without even looking to see who they were passing to. Nani caused Marseille plenty of problems while Smalling looked impressive once again. The sooner Valencia and Park come back the better as we are having to play Rooney out wide where he is far less influential.
Our midfield has improved by miles, we made a few minor errors but I've actually noticed a change since the Crawley game. Rooney was given the task of playing on the wing, the referee's decisions didn't go his way but had a decent game.
Aye t'was a thriller, but then most of our away European performances have been like that the last few seasons and it hasn't done us too much harm. I expect us to progress. Defence was excellent, attack was ok but our midfield annoy me, they insist on playing aimless long passes without even looking
Man Utd have a solid defence and a good front 3. That's what keeps you guys going. Your midfield is completely shocking. Btw, I sell by body for money, anyone interested?
We're ok on the wings though we need Valencia and Park to return, it's just in the centre of midfield where we are poor. It's frustrating because Fletcher and Carrick are capable of so much more while every time Anderson starts to improve he gets injured.
What did you guys expect from our midfield? Cant you just accept it is shocking and stop moaning. We all knows its terrible but what can we do about it now? we still have a good chance in this tie but its very open. Park will be back for the game and so will AV and Anderson and Giggs so that should make an improvement.
Nani was alright, but even he was very frustrating to watch tonight..... Fletcher and Gibson seem to just smack the ball in the air. Berbatov summed up the night with that slack ball to Rooney with the outside of his boot. So poor. Park and Valencia can't come soon enough...
When Park and Valencia return in europe we should go Nani Rooney Valencia(if deemed fit) Park..Scholes...Fletcher Evra...Vidic...Rio...Rafeal ............VDS This is surely better than what we are serving up
I wish we had signed a quality midfielder in January, when it was an evidently yawning, desperately needing to be filled gap. We didn't. But that gap has been yawning for some time. Is it because Fergie genuinely believes the players we have there are good enough to help our team, as opposed to hinder it on a regular basis? I doubt that. Is it because we genuinely can't afford to sign a top central midfielder? Yeah, more believable. As for the game today, we did as well as could be expected with what we have but with a strong midfield, given how poor Marseille looked defensively from start to finish, I reckon we would have won. That's what is frustrating. I hear "value" and I see Bebe and Obertan. I think value and I look to see players who could come in and improve our team and I don't think that it needs a brilliant player to achieve that goal in central midfield right now. That area of the pitch continues to ooze mediocrity.
Merry I really doubt Ferguson believes the mids are great but I doubt it is that we have no money as you don't need to spend so much money to improve our central midfield. I think its because Ferguson wants to keep Scholes here as long as possible as as giggs and buying a top central mid means he gets less games. A team with no money does not wast 27m on Bebe, Obertan, Hernandez, Smalling even thought the 2 latter are great additions. I have always stood by this, when Scholes retires we will see better mids coming in but I can't see that until after next season.
There is no logic in the statement that we have no money 163.8M is sitting in the bank, glazers can use 100m but that leaves over 60m and this is not taking into account no money has been taken from the club as well as Glazers making a profit of 60m after bond payments. The money is there, its merely our manager being stubborn but people don't want to criticize him as he is a legend. Though Ferguson will make the right decision in the end.
When you can show me a legal financial rule that says that the remaining ã60 million you speak of must be spent on transfers, I will take my hat off to you. As far as I'm concerned, cash in bank is money that is readily available to spend as you see fit (within legal realms). That ã60 million may not be available to the Glazers to withdraw at this present time but it isn't by any means a part of our transfer kitty either, and that said kitty has been pretty flimsy in recent seasons, given the ã80 million we received from the sale of Ronaldo. No, i still believe that fergie is just hanging on in thaqt department, hence the constant contract renewals of players who cannot play to anywhere near their brilliant peaks any more or for half the games.
Its all speculation at the minute as the Glazers are very secretive like they work for the MI5. No money has been redrawn even though I expect them to but wouldn't mind if investment was still put into the squad. Unless some how Pogba and Cleverly and morrison develop fast we will need some top talent in. The summer window will be a interesting one as we will sign a new keeper but I hope we sign a midfielder as well at least.
I doubt SAF is just hanging on by any stretch of the imagination. The only reason he hasn't retired already is that he still wants to win the 19th PL and another CL if possible. If the Glazers were handicapping his funding he'd be out the door in a shot. And I honestly don't think the Glazers would consider handicapping him - they know that if SAF comes out and criticises them for not allowing him to spend the money he's made on Ronaldo and a string of other youngsters he's brought through and sold off, then pretty much every fan would join the green and gold protests and the club could collapse overnight. Besides which, if the purse strings are tight, there's no way SAF would have spent ã7 million on Bebe - that buy shows every sign of being a punt on a potentially promising player, cos SAF knows the money is there burning a hole in his pocket, and he didn't want to risk missing out on the next Ronaldo by taking too much time actually scouting the lad. Not a great decision, but one that shows that there is money there to spend. I honestly think SAF is not a big fan of signing high profile and supposedly world class midfielders after having his fingers burnt with Veron and Kleberson. He'd sooner by someone young like Anderson, or solid like Carrick, than take a big punt on a player whose price would likely double as soon as we show any interest. Seems to me like he's waiting for the summer, and hoping that the implementation of the FFP rules will stop Real, Chelsea and Citeh throwing too much cash around allowing some value to come back into the market. P.S. nohlman I think you mean the CIA...
When I said hanging on, I meant in terms of hanging on to those players in order to stave off the inevitability of having to spend big in order to replace them, as opposed to hanging onto his job. His managerial future is only in question in terms of how long he can continue, not in terms of any pressure from anyone else. As for Bebe, it was just another example of looking to get a young player in and hope they became world class, which pretty much underpins our entire transfer policy right now. That is not the sort of player that is needed to replace Giggs and Scholes and Fergie must know this. The type of quality needed to replace those pair would cost a lot of money - the sort of money we don't spend any more.
Sir Alex signed 3 players last summer. Smalling - has been excellent Hernandez - very exciting Bebe - too early to judge (but some people seemed to write him off before he'd even completed his move to Old Trafford)
