Not impressed with De Gea? even rivals have stopped using him as a source of wummery. Not to mention Jones making a better midfielder.... he's a terrible midfielder. Or dismissing Cleverly and Anderson as "average" when they started the season off as such a great pair (attacking at least). Both have quality just suffered a few injuries, unfortunately for Anderson its a too common problem. But average? fk off! You also missed out Rafael who apart from from one mistake and a penchant for picking up yellows has been impressively solid despite still working his way back to fitness after injuries. Im going to have to search for a proper way to express how much TheLawMan fails.
De Gea suffers by comparison to Schmeichel and Van Der Sar. That's what he is measured against. De Gea is a good keeper, not great - IMHO he'll go the same way as Howard and Barthez. It doesn't help that he is behind an inconsistent and injury hit back four. I suspect he'll do better when Vidic is back, but he doesn't strike me as a top notch keeper. I'd have preferred Fergie to have gone for experience against, someone like Shay Given. The back four needs a re-build around Vidic and Smalling. The rest are either too old or suspect! Defensively, we have been found out too often this season, especially in Europe and the Cups. The fact we are out of all of them - including being knocked out by a team that is 7th in the Spanish League - should tell you something about the state of the back four! We're going to have to agree to disagree about Jones... I think he's wasted at CB. Great feet, good distribution... he'd make a fabulous defensive midfielder. Cleverly is a great prospect BUT too young to tell if he'll sustain early promise. Anderson IS average. Carrick IS average. The centre lacks the quality and consistency that was brought by Scholes (and to a lesser extent Giggs in recent seasons). As for your last comment - it's a forum for viewpoints, which we can agree or disagree on. No need to resort to personal abuse.
At 21 De Gea isn't as good as schmeichel he must be ****. I can see why people have questioned whether you have been watching united recently. We are missing a world class midfielder like scholes or keane and our defence has been to unstable to judge. What worries me if anything is the midfield has struggled when teams close us down quickly bit like the spurs game even though we came away with a win.
Bang on the money! Lets not be as deluded as Liverpool and "King Kenny". United were humiliated and still there are some who don't want to admit that the squad is not good enough.
And in reverse, our midfield seems to stand off too much and not close them down quickly. Carrick, at Spurs, if I vaguely remember, was more adventurous and in-your-face but now with every passing year, he's just getting more and more passive, regardless of his vision and passing ability.
It is very very difficult to be as deluded as the scousers and their clown manager they think they have had a great season because they have won the carling. They do not realise that the buffoon has simply not delivered on the huge amount he was given. They do not realise that cups like the carling is very much about luck and consolation because most of the prem teams do not play their strong sides in it. United has been sh*t in Europe. goes without saying. The key players just were not around or they didn't perform. As for the Europa there are enough quality in it to get found out if you are half hearted. if we win the title as a team in transition it wouldn't have been that bad.
Can agree with that, I believe swarbs mentioned it somewhere that fletcher has been missing is a problem. He is so good at closing down the opposition giving them less time on the ball.
If De Gea suffers from being compared to Peter and VDS don't compare him to these guys!! Simple really.
Yes, I have watched United play. To say we need a new back 4 and a new goalkeeper is ridiculous in my opinion. Yes we need a RB but that is It for the defence. We also need a CM but that is it as far as I'm concerned. So I suggest 2 signings in the summer.
Anderson has put in some very impressive performances but its a common misconception among the knee jerk plastic brigade to dismiss him as average. He's not average, he's been forced to adapt his game and curb his attacking tendencies, been blighted with injuries and even when fit he got dropped and rotated too often to really get going. But anyone who has watched him can see he has the talent. Dismissing De Gea because he measures up short against the Great Dane and VDS is just duuuuuuuuuurh. De Gea is 21 and a fantastic shot stopper, needs to bulk up a bit and gain more command of his area but he's no liability and has already single handedly kept us in some games. Also VDS and Schmeichel were hardly setting the world alight at that age, in fact they were complete unknowns. I disagree that Carrick is average as well, he's very good at what he does. It's just what he does isn't particularly suited to a 4-4-2. He's more a protector than an enforcer and lacks the ability to initiate attacks. I think a three man CM of Carrick, Anderson and Cleverly would be one hell of a force.
The thing with Anderson is every season picks up a semi serious injury. When a player spends more time in recovery than he does on the pitch, there's a problem. I really like Anderson as he's adventurous and aggressive in his attacking play. Remember that pass for Welbeck's goal against Arsenal? IMO that's a pass only top top players would have attempted if they even saw it. But we can't rely on him to be available for large chunks of the season. Spot on about De Gea, he's improved massively over the past few months and despite moving to a different country at the age of 20, speaking very little English, if he even spoke any at all. Disagree with you about Carrick though, he can easily play in a 442, we just don't have any other midfielder to play with him. Cleverly, Anderson, and Fletcher have spent the majority of the season injured so we've had to resort to playing players out of position all season. Carrick has played a deeper role covering the back four lately, but when Jones played alongside him,Carrick pushed farther forward and showed how lethal we can be with his passing abilities further up the pitch. We scored what, 14 goals in 3 games with that midfield combination? I don't think it was so much Jones being a good CM, but he just gave Carrick the license to roam around more freely than he usually does.
My concern with De Gea is that whilst he has undoubted talent, he is still learning, and behind a back four that is inconsistent and/or too old or not good enough. There are distinct parallels from when Schmeichel left in 1999. We spent the next couple of years going through some undoubtedly talented keepers - Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Tim Howard and Roy Carroll - before eventually settling on old hands and experience with Van De Sar in 2005. As I recall those 6 seasons between 1999 and 2005 were a relatively lean period for us - 3 PL titles, 1 FA Cup, and more worryingly nothing in Europe. The general consensus at the time was that defensively we were suspect, we didn't have an experienced pair of hands between the sticks. And that was with a far better outfield squad that the one we have now. I suspect he is the wrong keeper at the wrong time. I hope he proves me wrong! As I've said before, it doesn't help that Vidic has been out for so long, or that age has started to catch up with Rio and Evra - both of whom will need replacing. Smalling I can see, but I don't rate Evans - improved performances over a couple of months do not forgive consistently poor performances in previous *seasons*. Rafael and Fabio fall into the same category as far as I'm concerned. So from the back four, you could use Smalling+Vidic at CB, but I'd like to see decent cover for them. I'd like to see new RB and LB's who are consistent and dependable. And in the middle I'd like to see two central playmakers to replace Scholes and Giggs. It says a lot that at 38 Scholes still looks the best midfielder we've got and that Fergie is picking him. He brings skill and vision to the centre, and sadly Carrick, Anderson or Park don't. I know I sound like a miserable old git but after watching United for the past 40 odd years I can see a couple of transition seasons ahead.
Standard bullsh1t post. Every man and their dog can see United are in decline - as is the rest of the Premier League hence you still being top.
Yeah we have been in decline for so long now I'm kind of waiting for us to turn it around. I wonder how many trophies we can win with a good team.
Let me get this straight. Everyone is declining but they are all declining harder than MUFC? C'mon man, you do better than that.
If United have won the Prem the majority of seasons in the last 5-10 years then why would other clubs be declining 'harder' than MUFC? I find it astonishing you all think this United team is as good as teams of the past and the Premier League is as strong as ever. Keep dreaming.
Clearly they are improving. But they were that far behind United 5 years ago they are closing the gap. The teams who were on a par/competing with MUFC (Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool(?)) are they declining? So Style, in your opinion since you are asking me so many questions - is the Premier League as strong as 5 years ago?
