playng CM you mean and not trying very hard Ferguson dumped him left wing cos he wouldn't work hard and almost sold him. that's the truth of it. he threw a massive hissy fit and would not track back in the role. I clearly remember the game it happened in. he's been shunted by not delivering. first his heading was not very good and he was criticized by media and in fairness he worked on it and when ronaldo left valencia must have put 10 goals his way that year... since then he's not really got that many again. the truth is his work rate goes up and down. He is a better no 10 than no 9 but he is a natural footballer and as natural a one as england has produced in 25 years at least.... but he's prone to laziness. trust me.. if ferguson thought he needed to buy RvP to win the league there was a reason and it was not to play rooney at CM or LW. there was a reason hwy he bought berbatov and threw rooney wide. If van gaal throws hm up top i've no doubt he'll score a lot, but you'll find van gaal looking and buying another striker for all the same old reasons.
Think United's surprise striker will be Llorente. Juventus are looking rid of a lot of players and United have money to burn.
I know some will disagree but Flannagan simply isn't good enough. Yeah, need to find something/someone else to criticise. I hear the tea lady at Melwood is average as well.
Barcelona boss Luis Enrique insists Pedro is the one who has to decide if he wants to move to the Premier League. Enrique has confirmed that the Catalan giants have received offers for the Spain forward, with reports in Spain claiming both Chelsea and Manchester United are in the hunt for Barca's fourth-choice striker. Enrique is hopeful Pedro will stay, even if his €30m release clause could leave the club powerless if the player wants out.
The thing with Spanish and even Portuguese teams like Porto is its easy for them to pick up South American talent early. 1) our work permit laws don't allow us 2) it's easier for them to adapt due to language and playing style in Spain than england not often do you find a s.american come from their home country to England and be a success. Most of the time they've stopped over in Europe somewhere. This gets them used to European football and provides a nice bridge to the English game. Porto pick up cheap s.americans (with help of 3rd party owners) and then they flourish in a non competitive league like falcao, Martinez, Rodriguez to name but a few). Similar with atletico, bar Torres you have Forlan, aguero, falcao, Vietto and now Martinez as well. All s.americans who will thrive in the Spanish league but would struggle of came directly to England.
Economical with the truth again. You gave a good player in Garcia for Torres, in effect making the actual price closer to around £27m. And 8 yrs ago most would say that was worth more than it is today but the going rate for a recognised talent like Torres. Also, more people (even those who only ever watched MOTD) certainly knew who Torres and Suarez were and both were recognised targets for the best clubs. Suarez perhaps less so, but definitely Torres. He was considered by Barca to replace Etoo. No comparison to Firmino at all. If he had remained at Hoffenheim I doubt many on not606 would have mentioned him. Going back to your original point, if he had been British, playing in the Championship and doing what he has over the last 2 years, I still doubt anyone would have paid £29m for him. It was a poor example to an otherwise good argument.
Then I suggest you watch his performances over the past 2 years and see what did then you'll see why I hold this opinion. You have players like Lallana and Lovren moving for £20m plus for less than 1 decent year in the PL, and you're upset with Liverpool paying £22m for Firmino?
Sorry mate but most of that post is balls. You can criticise Rooney for many things but his work rate isn't one of them. I'm not a huge fan(boy) of his but United are always a better team with him playing, even when he's having a poor game, as he works incredibly hard for the team. Rooney had his two most prolific seasons for United playing alongside Berbatov.
Harsh on Flanagan - it's hard to judge defenders in our current set up because Rodgers is clueless in that respect. I hear she puts the water in and then the bag rather than the other way around [shakes head and sighs].
i agree they are a better team with him but the facts of his fallings out with ferguson and his up and down form cannot be denied. after that its just my opinion that when he doesn't play a while he's hot as hell for a while then he falls back into routine. its worked for me lots in FF. just pick the guy when he's coming in. drop him when he stop scoring as he doesn't shake out of it. His record for utd suggests that without him they have a huge hole in thier side and as a result his wage packet reflects his record... and utd's need to keep him when city came knocking.
Rumours about Digne today... Blanc has confirmed he wants to leave PSG. Would be a tidy addition at LB and much better than Enrique. Tancredi Palmeri has 'confirmed' that Liverpool have contacted Dortmund about Reus - but the player prefers Madrid. I can confirm my interest in Angelina Jolie - but she prefers Brad Pitt.
