We must watch v different games Relayer. At LB, Naughts has not been solid at all for me. - But fairplay to him for giving it everything and playing his best in an uncomfortable position. Yesterday I felt that he hugged the touchline well. He looked like he wanted to make a burst down the line, but lacked the confidence as he had no support. This was because Bale was inside and Naughts was left Isolated and probably a reason as to why he got caught out on several occasions as you mention. But yesterday he received the ball by the touchline and cut inside, waiting for a player to make a run out wide or someone to get into space in the middle. It looked promising, but as i said, he wasn't supported too well. In the first Half, it looked like Holtby got what Naughts was trying to do, and he made the effort to help out on a couple of occasions. But this is one of the negatives we face with Bale being in the centre. We become unbalanced and everyone is shifted towards the right hand side of the pitch slightly. I'm not suggesting that Benny and Naughts become regulars, I'm suggesting that it might be worth trying out. They never seem to be in the pitch at the same time and as a result, we always seem to have this 1 lone man up against 2 of the opposition, which cancels us out down that side completely (when bale goes central). It'd just be nice to see if they can link up together so we can see if we've got different options, which in turn could also help squad rotation.
Naughton has played 19 first team games this year and failed to show anything in any of them other than a half decent presence at LB. I appreciate that there is another well-repeated example of a Spurs player developing faster out of the LB position, but there was a spark which prompted the change. Naughton hasn't provided anything like that - against a range of opposition in league and cup games. At this level, the guy needs to show a bit more self-confidence or he will just be swallowed up in the mass of 'almost-made-it' footballers. Trouble for him though is with Benny back and fit, his opportunities may be so restricted that his window of opportunity has been lost.
I think that Naughton will probably be moved on at the end of the season. He's done a very respectable job in covering both full-back roles in this campaign, but he's at an age when he should be starting regularly and he won't get that when everyone's fit. With Rose and Fryers as options on the left and Smith putting in some really good performances for Millwall, we can move him on and replace him without having to buy.
I think I'd prefer that tried on a training pitch first, not a match...thats if I wanted to see it at all!
They would be 17th. ManU with RVP would be 2nd Chelsea without Lampard would be 7th City without Tevez would be 5th So it says nothing really.
In all seriousness, there's little point making any long term plans for 'What to do with Bale' to get the best from him. It's inevitable his best days are going to be played for another club, with much more chance of winning trophies. I'm not suggesting he's coming to United, as good as he is I doubt we'd fork out the money required to get him, I just think that he's outgrowing Spurs now. He might give you one more season after this one but with him playing like he is it's obvious that he will eventually leave to win trophies. Real Madrid seems the obvious choice, Modric may end up part of the deal but I'd like to see him go to Bayern and play under Pep. Good game on Saturday by the way, thought the new kid looked very decent as well as the obvious Bale performance. Parker and Lennon are still as awful as ever for me though, not an ounce of progress made since their careers began.
No one's doing that though, are they? You fans of other clubs are all so jealous we have Bale all you do after he has a good game is start speculating about him leaving. How sad Lennon was excellent on Saturday, the second best player on the pitch after Bale and if you don't think he's progressed you're mad. Parker had a really good first half too but his over ambitious passing let him down in the second.
Are we supposed to take your comment 'in all seriousness' or just view it as one that is informed by MOTD. Parker & Lennon have made no progress since their careers began.
I just had a quick look at Hardacre's posts. Seem to have a record of inane comments. Not a popular lad.
Yid Vicious - why would I be jealous of Bale? That's like a billionaire looking at how much money Messi is earning per week and getting jealous. I'd rather have a team of good players than just the odd one. As for Lennon - I say prove it. Let's not bring up stats because they'll only support my argument - let's leave it at opinion, because from what I've seen of him he's got all the pace of Walcott but has never, ever had an ounce of end product. Parker, pfft everyone loves a trier I guess - he's very good at getting his shirt dirty I'll give you that. Spurf - Prove to me that Spurs have the ambition and power to fight off the bigger clubs when they come knocking for your top players, your owner has a history of selling them all!
Good effort, I've just had a look at yours and you seem to think he should give Spurs two more years. You obviously agree that he's outgrowing your club too but I'm not allowed to say it because I don't support Spurs?
I don't think anyone has stopped you from saying anything on here, but I don't have to take it seriously. Look through this thread, we just don't need advice from someone with a WUM record as long as your arm.
Not sure why everyone's being so hard on Terry. After all, he's got experience of Real coming in for the most talented player at his club, who also happened to be a dynamic, young winger. Man Utd failed to show the required ambition and their star man walked off to the bigger club. I guess it was to be expected though, as they'd already done the same with Beckham and van Nistelrooy.
Damn right. United couldn't match his ambition by miraculously moving our club to the Spanish capital and disguising ourselves in white as Real Madrid. We could only offer him 3 EPL titles and a load of cups including old Big Ears. There's no shame in losing a player to Real Madrid, I can accept them leaving for Madrid, I mean it's not like they're leaving us to go and play for Hamburg or Liverpool. Especially when they turn out to be Real Madrid's best player, you get a sense of achievement that your club developed the boy into a top player, the world number 2 by all accounts - imagine if our best player had gone to Madrid and left their fans underwhelmed with poor performances after we begged him to stay for about 3 years.
So it's different when Madrid buy your players, then? Why would that be? It's also terrible of us to consider selling a player so that he can actually be close to his family, isn't it? Given the recent incestuous behaviour by a certain Old Trafford legend, every player should stay as far away from family members as possible, eh?
