Rival Watch™ 2013/2014

Same guy says any appeal would be heard Friday

 

Diego Costa will hopefully sort John Terry out

 

Multitasking M

 

Bumped the CL watch

 

I have a serious question for serious non win no biased people only please.... If you can't answer without being flippant or biased in either way don't bother ok


Are utd making a giant mistake if the rumours about van gaal are true?

The man is 62, he's got a good record in the dim past and recently for bayern it was pretty good right up until inter took the cl in the final and he could not get them back up and ended up sacked

Is this really the man to rebuild utd? I mean he supposedly turned schweinsteiger from a winger to a holding midfielder and debuted muller... But utd need a bit of a rebuild if I laid out a diamond formation or 433 for utd the back 5 would be de gea Rafael jones Evans and evra which is unconvincing and the midfield would be totally in question mata and Rooney and janusaj give hope but there's no depth given a lack of hunger with some players and they need a whole new midfield

Would a 62 year old who should be headed for retirement (maybe bored with international work load) be the right fit for this.... Should they not be looking for one of the new gaurd managers not one of the very old gaurd?

 

Unbiased?
I'll give it a go.....

I suppose they think his experience will bounce them right back to the top straight away. My own belief is that Utd probably need a more significant rebuild than most of their followers think, and a younger manager would be better for that.
I can't predict the future, though (if I could I'd have been rich after this season) so who knows?

We've always said the Fergie factor was an important aspect of their continued success with a relatively average set of players. Moyes' tenure would seem to suggest that it was even more significant than we thought, but it could just be that Moyes was on a hiding to nothing from the start, and someone else could do better.
Interesting times, this season. More to come in the next, I think.

 

I think moyes was never right and for me he's had better players than simply losing to every decent side would suggest

He's failed to even organise a good solid defense and that unforgivable if pulls can. If they simply drew half what they lost he wouldn't have done so bad

Well we will see but if Chelsea and city spend big building better sides it will be interesting to see how much the can improve

Van gaal's name might placate RvP or not I don't know... But it'll attract better players than moyes ever could so maybe from that perspective but I do feel it's short term and as such is not looking to a modern European set up and so in 2 years they might be back to the same situation

 

#vangaalforlife

 

Jose already at the antics.

"I will rest players for the Anfield trip. Trying to give the impression they won't be looking for a result.

 

I think Van Gaal in his prime would have been ideal for them, Van Gaal in 2014 at 62, I'm not so sure.

His old school style of disciplinarian management might get him the cold shoulder at United. They took it from Ferguson because he made / chose all of them, will they take it from an outsider? The treatment dished out to Moyes would suggest not.

He was largely responsible for creating the 'academy up' strategies at both Barca and Bayern, so the man certainly has nothing to prove. But the big question mark over him for me, is has he got another massive club job in him?

I reckon we're going to find out, as he looks a shoo in, given the lack of credible available alternatives.

 

I guess they may see him as a stop gap for 2/3 years hoping to use his experience to get them back into the CL and then hope that a younger manager (Klopp/Guadiola/Martinez) will be more available in a few years time to then take over and build another legacy in the way Ferguson did.

 

Let's see...

Van Gaal: Current favourite, knows and respected by RvP, probable appointment.

Klopp: Doesn't want it, probably thinks there would be too much resistance to his methods, understandable given the short thrift and bad attitude Moyes was given even if he didn't have anything like the same vision.

Ancelotti: Would put him joint fav with VG, maybe slightly behind but not exactly a spring chicken.

Blanc: Could be a natural choice, former player, has a very good track record in France, but is he ready to move on from his PSG project?

Simeone: Can't see it, surely he will want to build on what he has at AM to try and establish prolonged success there, even moreso if they miss out on one or both competitions this year.

Giggs: Too inexperienced, does he even have badges yet?

I think the big problem for Utd currently is that there are far too many of the old old guard stinking out the place, Giggs, Neville, Butt, even Scholes is back now and Fergie's still going to be consulted about the new guy. If they want to modernise they should take a lesson from us and get the ex players away from the current players and bring in a modern manager with up to date ideas. They need to wipe the slate clean of the Fergie era in that regard.

 

There's an outside chance of POT2 but it's slim as would need at least 5 of the likes of Arsenal/Porto/Napoli/Leverkusen etc to not qualify or not make it through the playoffs or of Basel/Zenit and Shaktar to not win their leagues or make it through the playoffs.

 

Arsenal, Valencia, Milan, Lyon, Inter are all pot 1/2 teams that wont be qualifying this year (Arsenal still have a chance to be fair). Would need a lot of other team above us not to qualify as well, plus I think we lose our 24 points after this season so that'll have a huge effect on our ranking. Can't see u getting in pot 2. We'll be pot 3 for sure.

 

So can we expect gerrard to be banned from the City of Liverpool once he retires in a few years? I mean thats what you are saying is it not, **** the old timers off completely.

Dont think it will work or ever happen. The reality is those players are vital to the future of the club. They are figureheads of what United means and will remain linked toi the club forever. regardless of whether they go elsewhere in pursuit of their careers they will always be United.

LVG to be followed by Klopp. Some of you should have a read up on LVG and you will see why right now he is the perfect choice. remember Klinsmann and bayern..... similar to Moyes at United....

Guess who came in and fixed it before laying the foundations for bayerns rise to the top...... can say the same for Barcelona and Holland and Spain and Germany....

Its what he does. You guys will hate him.

 

Probably but never say never

Teams already qualified for group stage above Pool (9)
Barca
Bayern
Real
Benfica
Athletico
Dortmund
PSG
Juve
Olympicakos

Teams very likely to qualify for group stage ranked above Pool (these 4 would make 13 in total so only 3 spare berths in pot2).
Chelsea
Schalke
City
Ajax

==========================================================================

So only 3 of the following, need to qualify direct or through the playoffs and your in pot3

Teams in tight battle for their league title to make the group stage ranked above Pool (playoffs at worst)
Shaktar
Zenit
Basel (Swiss champs will go in as this years CL winners will have likely already qualified (only Chelsea to confirm)

Teams qualified (or 99% almost) for a playoff round spot to make the group stage ranked above Pool.
Porto
Napoli

Teams in a tight battle for a playoff round spot to make the group stage ranked above Pool.
Arsenal
Leverkusen
Sevilla

 

But you're probably working on the ratings that are on the UEFA website which has us in 30th place or thereabouts? At the moment, that includes our 24 points from last time we were in CL. Next year, that will go and we'll get about 3 points instead from this year's performance which brings our score down massively so there will probably be more teams above us.

 

No and Gerrard might have a role in the future certainly not as manager until he's gained some experience in that regard, but for now do you see Carra for example anywhere near Rodgers coaching team? No, he's off doing his punditry thing. We tried to use the legends trick bringing KK back and look at how that turned out, he's now safely confined to a special caged section of the main stand on match days so he can't access the touchline. I just think you bringing back all those players at once is total overkill and bound to work against the methods any new, younger, dynamic manager will want to bring in as they'll have that group mentality over the individual. Plus how do integrate new young manager X's own back room staff with the Utd legends giving them daggers from the other side of the dressing room? It all just seems too stuck in the past and not very progressive.

 

David Moyes: Sacked Man Utd boss thanks Ferguson for chance

David Moyes has thanked Sir Alex Ferguson for giving him the chance to manage Manchester United

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27129396

I he following Jose's ploy of going OTT on the sarcasm

 

Doesnt seem to be an issue for the likes of Barcelona though does it?