In plenty of threads there are questions and suggestions on who will play and what formation, but it is going to be very difficult to keep everyone happy Lots of you guys suggest we need a LB, but if this is the case then surely you are thinking of a back 4 Upfront it sounds that most people seem to think Carroll/Suarez are a cert If one of these was to get injured a bit light relying on Ngog/Kuyt although Gerrard is an emergency option But that leaves only four places left in midfield! Lucas seems to be a popular choice and an automatic pick in most peoples eyes Gerrard the same That leaves two Surely Downing is going to be used as it appears he has been bought to get the best out of Carrol and will provide some width So what about the rest? One place to fight over, i would think it would be adam to play deeper allowing gerrard the freedom to bomb forward There is then space on the bench for a few replacements but most won't even get on there So left are Aquaman Meirelles Kuyt Henderson Cole Spearing Maxi Poulsen as the main contenders,the rest have no chance, i cannot see all these being able to be kept happy, i think the bottom 4 need to go (Spearing on loan) It is a real shame in some cases, i would like to see Cole given a chance to succeed but will he ever get a chance,Maxi is a shame as he has been a good servant,and its also a shame that there is not space in the starting lineup for Kuyt My opinion is that either Meirelles or Aquaman needs to be sold, too good to be bit part players and a good price could be got to be used to get better back up strikers I would keep Aquaman as he is a bit more of a flair player and there are plenty of box to box CM as backup instead of Meirelles Personally i would of preferred not to have bought Henderson at this moment and used money for other areas But i think they may have bought him as a long term replacement for Gerrard I think we payed over the odds for Carrol and Henderson, i can understand Carrol as the situation at the time dictated the situation but Henderson is not an immediate need and he would not cost anymore in a year or two's time. To be perfectly honest he could do with going out on loan as well as i believe his opportunities will be very few Thoughts Ps for those wondering I am a S****horpe United fan as that is where i am from initially and my Home town club but obviously as a youngster i also needed a decent team to follow so Liverpool were always my other team especially when Clemence and Keegan came over to you.So i have followed Liverpool avidly now for 40 years. I have lived in Chester for the last 20 years though so do follow even more closely now and get to the odd game when not away with work,but Scunny will always have that special place deep down.
good points well made. I think the spine of the team will be Reina Johnson Carragher Agger ......? Lucas ......? Gerrard Downing suarez Carrol It only really leaves 2 positions.I dont know that we need to sign a left back as we have several players who can play there and also given the chance think Insua may come through. So just one position in midfield and I would like to see that go to Adam. However,I think the real interesting fact is how KK has built up the bench.He can now call upon Kuyt,Meireles,Henderson,Maxi (if he stays),Aqualani,Cole as well as good defensive options. I would imagine,as you say,Henderson has been bought as Gerrards replacement but given the latters injury record he is likely to get quite a few games. There are afew players who could go out on loan and a few who are surplus (Paulson etc) I would still like to see another wide man (N'zogbia would have been ideal) and a back up striker although Kuyt would fulfil that roll,he has never given less than 100%.Would have liked us to sign a player like Boban. Strength in depth is what we need and we definately have that,enough to challange for the title..maybe not but a top 4 place,definately.4 weeks to go.YNWA
I can see Maxi, Poulsen and Cole going. I think they are surplus to requirements. I think he'll employ a front 3 at home of Downing left, Suarez right, with Carroll through the middle. A midfield 3 of Gerrard, Adam and Lucas. Away from home he may choose to pack the midfield, bring in Henderson for Adam maybe. The important think is he's given us options, over the last few years thats a luxury we haven't had. If he wants to play a midifeld 4 why not have Downing, Gerrard, Aquilini and Johnson?
That is the point I was trying to make,strength in depth and flexibility...we finally have it.Johnson could easily fill in in midfield with kelly/flanagan behind him but would he need to. Just heard a rumour on SSn we are looking at Catermole of Sunderland...I really hope not.
Maxi and Poulsen out Look at the last two seasons, how much has Gerrard missed through injury. A year older now. Suspended players other injuries ect ect. We need squad depth and we have players that want to play for the club and have no illusions about whats required. it is also about combos. You may miss one player through injury that messes with a setup. It wouldn't be ideal to play a mid of Downing Adam henderson and Aqua early on this coming season for obvious reasons. So in that respect we should always be able to make up a midfield of tried and tested and new signings. We will have some redundancy in midfield for injuries and suspended players and we'll also have more options for and during games to change things, because of a lack of this depth we've seen when Rafa was in charge we found it hard ot change things when we struggled to break a team down, those lack of options didn't help. Now, with the players at our disposal our options have greatly increased. Maxi and Poulsen are gone so no worries about those two either but I'd rather have maxi there if needed tbh, he came in handy last season when things were looking better and he seemed ot be enjoying the footall.
I think that you are looking at the situation far too rigidly. Instead of thinking about a permanent core with a smaller number of players coming in and out then try thinking about say 3 units that can be interchanged. It's not so unusual in Europe, also FSG will be used to that idea from US sports. If any player's ego gets in the way of that then KK has his answer as to their usefulnes to the team.
It is finally a great problem for us, well Kenny and Steve to have. I have thought over the past few years that utd don't have a good team, but they have a good squad! Bringing in and rotating players that are just as good if not better than were on the pitch and changing games to their need. We can do the same now with several options. People picking certain teams are wrong, as Dalglish will approach it with what team will win each game, however specific players like Suarez, Kuyt, Gerrard and Carroll will probably be certs.
IMO it can only be a good thing that we (at last) have a squad of decent players who can interchange during the season and give KK options to decide on the best team for any particular game rather than just having one set 11 with very little option even off the bench during a game. Having to rely on Cole, Ngog, Poulsen et al to try and dig us out of a hole last season just wasn't what was required and it cost us on more than one occasion. We have suffered immensley thanks to Rafas policy of having Torres up front alone and having absolutely no cover for him or Gerrard thus when they inevitably suffered injuries not only did we lack any cover but we also had to rush them back into the team before they were fully recovered. I think we all knew that not qualifying for Europe this year would mean keeping a bigger squad happy would be tougher due to a reduced number of games so decent domestic cup runs would really help us this year. At the end of the day I'm hoping that squad unity will be better now simply because Kenny has signed players who actually want to play for us as a club rather than players who are just chasing instant glory without having to put the graft in thats required to get to the top. Fingers crossed for the season ahead and unlike this time last year I think we can all see the glimmer of light at the end of what has turned out to be a very long tunnel
Too many fans to keep happy. The glass is always half empty. Did we keep Torres happy? Alonso? Masch? Mrs Voronin? Players like being at winning clubs. Ask Michael Owen.
I would ask Michael why he didn't help a team win a league instead of jumping on board and basking in reflected glory twice in his career
I don't understand why everyone is calling for Maxi to go. His form at the end of the season was incredible and after watching the first couple of pre-season games it looks like its carrying on. Think it's 3 goals and 2 assists in the 2 games? Not bad considering he only probably played about 60mins each game. Adam, Downing & Henderson shouldn't be able to just walk into the team, they need to earn their right ahead of the current players, and Maxi has been better than all 3 from the back end of last season.
We should keep Maxi for cover. I do think either Meirelles or Aqua will have to go, along with Poulsen. I wonder what Spearing is thinking. He has a massive amount of competition. Hard to see when he will get a game. Welcome to the site mate!
I reckon the players that should go are the ones that don't offer anything.Therefore thus far the ones that don't offer anything are Poulsen,Jovanovic,Degen and El Zhar.Jow Cole has to prove that he offers something,He's in competition with Maxi and Pacheco.Both Mereiles and Aquilani are hanging by a thread,both are competing with each other.Spearing and Shelvey are in competition with each other.
