Why is it that Manchester United has so much trouble signing new players? The news today is that Gareth Bale would prefer a move to Tottenham over United. Surely this can’t be true. No disrespect to Tottenham but who are you more likely to win trophies with? Who has the better calibre of players? For me United win hands down!
Then there is the Hargreaves saga. I feel like this one has been dragging on for years. The figures being quoted now are between £20 and £23 million, I feel that we are in real danger of overpaying for a player that, although good is not 100% fit and has only recently made a name for himself. I’m sure Bayern will reject the offer yet again and the whole thing will continue in the summer.
In other news it seems that Ronaldo is on the verge of signing a new deal with the reds. His new contract will put him on in excess of £100,000 per week, not bad work if you can get it, has anyone ever thought about a career change? In all seriousness, I feel that this is a shrewd move by Ferguson, Ronaldo will only improve and dramatically in my opinion, it would be great for him to commit his future to United letting him concentrate on his football.
I know twinkle toes has been playing fantastic football, but I would like to praise the 21 year olds’ professionalism over what has been a turbulent year. As we have seen so many times before at United his has risen from adversity to become the hero. The Portuguese superstar has answered all those critics after the world cup by playing beautiful football, developing his game at every opportunity. He gets booed at every away game he goes to and he responds simply by playing football. Ronaldo we thing you’re the greatest, so please sign that deal!
We have the FA cup against Portsmouth at the weekend, we have most players fit and so we now have options when selecting the team. For me I would play Heinze and Park, resting, Evra and Giggs. I also think Saha should get a run out over Larrson. Keep these boys back for the Premiership and surely we can win the next 2 games. What does everyone think?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Rossi Makes an impact in Italy
The Italian/ American wonderkid has done it again. Every so often we hear how great a potential Rossi is, but when will we see it for United?
Rossi has taken the reserves by storm, scoring a hatful of goals, being dubbed the greatest youngster United have had in their ranks in years. Ferguson attempted to give the star an introduction to premiership football by loaning him to Newcastle, but Roeder stupidly decided not to give him an opportunity to shine.
Parma have showed us just what he can do when he is given the chance, his clear determination was evident on Saturday when he scored one of the most fabulous goals to make any manager proud. Hi talents seem abundant and we need to hang onto him. Here is the goal.
Of course the vultures are already sniffing around, with Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Roma all reportedly interested. Could we blame him for wanting to leave? He has waited patiently for his opportunity at United, but there comes a point when a player has to think about his future and say enough is enough, I fear that next season could be the time for him to make that decision.
I realised this morning that in football we often scour the globe for a fix, that player that can make all the difference to our title hopes, the Schevchenko’s, Veron’s and Cisse’s. That one player that can make the difference, the one that will set the world on fire, when often we don’t need to look further than Carrington training ground. United should know this more than any other club.
Look at the 90’s. Ferguson took an unprecedented step in the 90’s and placed his faith in a bunch of academy boys with an average age of about 12. Joking aside, these young guns cost nothing and became the most successful players of the modern game. It just shows what can happen when you give players a chance.
People will say that United’s achievement was a fluke, but in all honesty when has any other manager tried it? Managers always seem to opt for oversees talent in the belief that they will be better, stronger and more suited to the English game. This is a myth and an expensive one at that. Wenger, as much as I dislike him, I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he is doing at Arsenal, he focuses on youth development and rarely overspends. I guess what I am trying to say is when we go on about signing Huntelaar and Torres, perhaps we should be shouting the name of Rossi!
P.S for those of you who are interested in football finances, here is a good summary from Deloitte!
Rossi has taken the reserves by storm, scoring a hatful of goals, being dubbed the greatest youngster United have had in their ranks in years. Ferguson attempted to give the star an introduction to premiership football by loaning him to Newcastle, but Roeder stupidly decided not to give him an opportunity to shine.
Parma have showed us just what he can do when he is given the chance, his clear determination was evident on Saturday when he scored one of the most fabulous goals to make any manager proud. Hi talents seem abundant and we need to hang onto him. Here is the goal.
Of course the vultures are already sniffing around, with Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Roma all reportedly interested. Could we blame him for wanting to leave? He has waited patiently for his opportunity at United, but there comes a point when a player has to think about his future and say enough is enough, I fear that next season could be the time for him to make that decision.
I realised this morning that in football we often scour the globe for a fix, that player that can make all the difference to our title hopes, the Schevchenko’s, Veron’s and Cisse’s. That one player that can make the difference, the one that will set the world on fire, when often we don’t need to look further than Carrington training ground. United should know this more than any other club.
Look at the 90’s. Ferguson took an unprecedented step in the 90’s and placed his faith in a bunch of academy boys with an average age of about 12. Joking aside, these young guns cost nothing and became the most successful players of the modern game. It just shows what can happen when you give players a chance.
People will say that United’s achievement was a fluke, but in all honesty when has any other manager tried it? Managers always seem to opt for oversees talent in the belief that they will be better, stronger and more suited to the English game. This is a myth and an expensive one at that. Wenger, as much as I dislike him, I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he is doing at Arsenal, he focuses on youth development and rarely overspends. I guess what I am trying to say is when we go on about signing Huntelaar and Torres, perhaps we should be shouting the name of Rossi!
P.S for those of you who are interested in football finances, here is a good summary from Deloitte!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Man Utd V Arsenal Review
Well what a disappointing weekend, Wenger got it right when he said we were 10 minutes from winning the title. To be honest I thought we looked off the pace throughout and never deserved to win. Anyhow we must press on and we must remember, we are still 6 points clear at the top of the table.
Yesterdays performance demonstrated to me how much we miss a real fighter in the midfield. Keane would have got amongst Arsenals midfield, preventing them from playing the football we all know they love to play. From the of we allowed them too much space on the ball meaning they could go forward in strength and numbers. The two goals was cruel on us, but perhaps it will galvanize the team back into winning ways next week.
It was the perfect opportunity to take the club 9 points clear at the top after Chelsea’s performance at Anfield. They looked disheartened, their body language was not that of champions but of a team in crisis, the constant bickering in the board room seems to be finally affecting how the teams play.
As for the underdogs Arsenal and Liverpool, they will be fired up after this weekends results and it is up to us to ensure we keep them at arms length by getting back on a winning run, we really don’t want it to go down to the wire, as exciting as that may be!
Yesterday shows we need Hargreaves and a lack of transfer activity in January could harm our prospects of winning the title comfortably!
Yesterdays performance demonstrated to me how much we miss a real fighter in the midfield. Keane would have got amongst Arsenals midfield, preventing them from playing the football we all know they love to play. From the of we allowed them too much space on the ball meaning they could go forward in strength and numbers. The two goals was cruel on us, but perhaps it will galvanize the team back into winning ways next week.
It was the perfect opportunity to take the club 9 points clear at the top after Chelsea’s performance at Anfield. They looked disheartened, their body language was not that of champions but of a team in crisis, the constant bickering in the board room seems to be finally affecting how the teams play.
As for the underdogs Arsenal and Liverpool, they will be fired up after this weekends results and it is up to us to ensure we keep them at arms length by getting back on a winning run, we really don’t want it to go down to the wire, as exciting as that may be!
Yesterday shows we need Hargreaves and a lack of transfer activity in January could harm our prospects of winning the title comfortably!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Smith richardson and Beckham.. what's going on?
I couldn’t start today’s post without a mention of Beckham. He has been a firm favourite of mine throughout his United career and I still have a huge admiration for him today. It seems he is struggling to find friends and form at the moment and I can understand why he won’t sign a new contract. Real only want him for the shirts he sells and would be quite content in having him sit on the bench for another 2 years to do so. He is still a great footballer with bags of talent, a team like Tottenham would be great for him. Of course I would love him back at United, but I know many disagree, someone has said this on the blog before… “the heart says yes, but the head says no.”
An anonymous poster left a great synopsis on Larsson yesterday, if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you do so. It has made me realise even more so how lucky we are to have such a player even at 35. I say it again, if only we had him 10 years ago!
In other news it seems that Richardson is determined to make his mark at Man Utd. Many people on the forum have taken a real dislike to him. They believe he is a little to big for his boots, which I can see, the thing is he doesn’t get games and games are what will turn him into the player I truly believe he could be. Perhaps a loan spell would help him out!
Smith is another player I haven’t heard much of in recent weeks. He was supposedly on an extreme fitness regime to bring him up to speed. That should surely be coming to fruition now, yet we don’t even see him on the bench! How so? Smudger is a great player and I think he would suit our forward line perfectly in certain situations. When we are playing the physical teams with hard back lines.. eg Chelsea he has this great ability to get stuck in and ruffle big players feathers, pulling them out of position for others to exploit. The last thing we want to be is like Arsenal, a team that can only play one way.
Right enough from me for today, please let me know your thoughts with some excellent comments!
An anonymous poster left a great synopsis on Larsson yesterday, if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you do so. It has made me realise even more so how lucky we are to have such a player even at 35. I say it again, if only we had him 10 years ago!
In other news it seems that Richardson is determined to make his mark at Man Utd. Many people on the forum have taken a real dislike to him. They believe he is a little to big for his boots, which I can see, the thing is he doesn’t get games and games are what will turn him into the player I truly believe he could be. Perhaps a loan spell would help him out!
Smith is another player I haven’t heard much of in recent weeks. He was supposedly on an extreme fitness regime to bring him up to speed. That should surely be coming to fruition now, yet we don’t even see him on the bench! How so? Smudger is a great player and I think he would suit our forward line perfectly in certain situations. When we are playing the physical teams with hard back lines.. eg Chelsea he has this great ability to get stuck in and ruffle big players feathers, pulling them out of position for others to exploit. The last thing we want to be is like Arsenal, a team that can only play one way.
Right enough from me for today, please let me know your thoughts with some excellent comments!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Manchester United Transfer News and chat
Hey guys, I know it’s not about United but did anybody see the game betweeen Liverpool and Arsenal last night in the carling cup? It ended up 6-3 to Arsenal and although I didn’t see it I really want to now, 9 goals is a real feast of action… If anyone finds it on youtube, be sure to let me know.
Anyhow back to the more important issue of United. A weeks break for the team can only be a good thing, all players should be well rested for this weekends tie against Villa (again). Plus it gives us the opportunity to talk transfers a little more and I know that is everyone’s favourite topic on this blog.
Jesus Rodrigo alerted me to a very “Real” possibility in terms of a forward. He goes by the name of Ronaldo and is having a tough time in Spain at the moment. It seems he and Backs are being blamed for the Crisis over there. Now we all know that Ronaldo loves United and we could offer an outstretched welcoming arm to a troubled player who just wants to play football. Does this scenario sound familiar? Ruud Van Nistelrooy?
I know many of you will say that Ronaldo is past his best, he is too lazy etc etc. But I for one do not think he is past it, he simply needs a new challenge. Could you honestly see him being lazy under the watchful eye of Ferguson? I for one think he would be a very reasonably priced option for a few years.
In midfield I am a little short of options, other than Parker, I don’t really know of any alternatives to Hargreaves, if anybody has any ideas be sure to post them on the blog. Yesterday I read a story about us going in for Xavi of Barcelona read the article here. Sorry but I can’t see this one happening in a million years!
For wingers we have a number of options, of course there is Nani, the highly rated Portuguese player. I think we have a strong chance of landing him if we are interested, mainly due to The Queiroz and Ronaldo links more than anything else.
Another option would be Downing, he is breaking into the England squad, but for me he is still a way off being world class. He is a player that is good, but could still go either way. He would be expensive and is it worth taking the risk? Of course it is much more likely that he would develop at United rather than Middlesbrough.
Then there is Lennon. Only 19 years old, has loads of pace and definite potential to become an England great. Problem is he has just signed a new contract at Tottenham and we all know the palaver that would follow should we wish to sign him. Lennon, like Rooney would be worth breaking the bank for in my opinion, with some players you just know that they are going to be stars and Lennon is definitely one of them!
In defence we have the Bale transfer saga. He is only 17 years old, takes a wicked free-kick and has bags of potential at such a young age. United would be a great place for him to nurture that talent. I am aorry to say this but if we were to sign him, I think Gaby Heinze would almost definitely be sold. This pains me because in his short time at United he has been a real favourite of mine. He gives his all for the team, is hard as nails and quite blatantly loves United. He reminds me of the Old SKool and would be truly devastated if he were to go.
Finally it is reported that we must pay £1.5 million if we want to extend Larsson’s loan until the end of the season. I personally think that is a waste of money. He is a great player but not worth some £500,000 per month to hold onto him. I am excited about seeing more of Rossi in the run-in. I have no doubt that he is ready for the big stage.
Anyhow back to the more important issue of United. A weeks break for the team can only be a good thing, all players should be well rested for this weekends tie against Villa (again). Plus it gives us the opportunity to talk transfers a little more and I know that is everyone’s favourite topic on this blog.
Jesus Rodrigo alerted me to a very “Real” possibility in terms of a forward. He goes by the name of Ronaldo and is having a tough time in Spain at the moment. It seems he and Backs are being blamed for the Crisis over there. Now we all know that Ronaldo loves United and we could offer an outstretched welcoming arm to a troubled player who just wants to play football. Does this scenario sound familiar? Ruud Van Nistelrooy?
I know many of you will say that Ronaldo is past his best, he is too lazy etc etc. But I for one do not think he is past it, he simply needs a new challenge. Could you honestly see him being lazy under the watchful eye of Ferguson? I for one think he would be a very reasonably priced option for a few years.
In midfield I am a little short of options, other than Parker, I don’t really know of any alternatives to Hargreaves, if anybody has any ideas be sure to post them on the blog. Yesterday I read a story about us going in for Xavi of Barcelona read the article here. Sorry but I can’t see this one happening in a million years!
For wingers we have a number of options, of course there is Nani, the highly rated Portuguese player. I think we have a strong chance of landing him if we are interested, mainly due to The Queiroz and Ronaldo links more than anything else.
Another option would be Downing, he is breaking into the England squad, but for me he is still a way off being world class. He is a player that is good, but could still go either way. He would be expensive and is it worth taking the risk? Of course it is much more likely that he would develop at United rather than Middlesbrough.
Then there is Lennon. Only 19 years old, has loads of pace and definite potential to become an England great. Problem is he has just signed a new contract at Tottenham and we all know the palaver that would follow should we wish to sign him. Lennon, like Rooney would be worth breaking the bank for in my opinion, with some players you just know that they are going to be stars and Lennon is definitely one of them!
In defence we have the Bale transfer saga. He is only 17 years old, takes a wicked free-kick and has bags of potential at such a young age. United would be a great place for him to nurture that talent. I am aorry to say this but if we were to sign him, I think Gaby Heinze would almost definitely be sold. This pains me because in his short time at United he has been a real favourite of mine. He gives his all for the team, is hard as nails and quite blatantly loves United. He reminds me of the Old SKool and would be truly devastated if he were to go.
Finally it is reported that we must pay £1.5 million if we want to extend Larsson’s loan until the end of the season. I personally think that is a waste of money. He is a great player but not worth some £500,000 per month to hold onto him. I am excited about seeing more of Rossi in the run-in. I have no doubt that he is ready for the big stage.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Should we be looking for new midfield options? and Utd Villa FA cup highlights!
United land Pompey in the FA cup. To be honest I think this is one of the best ties we could have hoped for. Typically we do not perform against lower league teams and to face one of the big 4 so early is always a risk. That is not to say I don’t think we would win, more that we have more chance of going out. Pompey represents an attractive proposition for us, the way we are playing at the moment we should be through to the fifth round.
Hargreaves has said to the press that he believes he may be priced out of the market by Bayern Munich. I could see this coming a mile away. It is fairly obvious to see that Munich are holding United to ransom over their star man and why shouldn’t they? Imagine if Ronaldo started saying he wanted to join Madrid in a dream move, we would expect United to put up a fight and request well over £60 million for him or some equally ridiculous fee.
The question is do we persevere with our pursuit of a man we know would complete our squad, even if it means paying over the odds for him? £15 million I thought was ok, £20 million was steep, but if it was based on incentives then possibly, but £25 million is just getting ridiculous. We paid £30 million for Rooney who is 5 years younger. I am beginning to think we should look elsewhere, you can get a lot of player for £25 million.
How about Scott Parker? Surely he would be available for less than £25 million, he is English and works tirelessly for Newcastle. I know he is Newcastle captain but he would have a realistic chance of winning trophies at United and that is our trump card for signing players.
I even think Robbie Savage could fill in for a season or two such is his work rate and could be landed for a song. My point is there are other options available if we look the alternatives, Hargreaves is not the only answer to providing cover for our midfield and the sooner Bayern know this, the better.
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, here are the highlights of the United Villa FA cup game! By the way I have sourced all the games from the christmas period, so watch them at your leisure! (below)
Hargreaves has said to the press that he believes he may be priced out of the market by Bayern Munich. I could see this coming a mile away. It is fairly obvious to see that Munich are holding United to ransom over their star man and why shouldn’t they? Imagine if Ronaldo started saying he wanted to join Madrid in a dream move, we would expect United to put up a fight and request well over £60 million for him or some equally ridiculous fee.
The question is do we persevere with our pursuit of a man we know would complete our squad, even if it means paying over the odds for him? £15 million I thought was ok, £20 million was steep, but if it was based on incentives then possibly, but £25 million is just getting ridiculous. We paid £30 million for Rooney who is 5 years younger. I am beginning to think we should look elsewhere, you can get a lot of player for £25 million.
How about Scott Parker? Surely he would be available for less than £25 million, he is English and works tirelessly for Newcastle. I know he is Newcastle captain but he would have a realistic chance of winning trophies at United and that is our trump card for signing players.
I even think Robbie Savage could fill in for a season or two such is his work rate and could be landed for a song. My point is there are other options available if we look the alternatives, Hargreaves is not the only answer to providing cover for our midfield and the sooner Bayern know this, the better.
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, here are the highlights of the United Villa FA cup game! By the way I have sourced all the games from the christmas period, so watch them at your leisure! (below)
Manchester United V Newcastle United Match Highlights 01/01/2007
Here are the highlights of Manchester United's match against Newcastle on 1st Jan 2007 enjoy!
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