Fans argue that Man Utd cannot attract big players anymore

Oli Fisher

Man Utd fans debate whether they can still attract big names, while our Liverpool readers discuss Saturday’s huge game at Spurs in Your Says of the Day.

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The decline of Man Utd

It said nothing new, some of us have been saying the same for years. AND others here have been arguing its nonsense, in reality players are falling over themselves to come to us. * looks at happyhurling *

Its simple really, top players want to be part of a great team. That means in with a good chance of winning the CL and playing alongside great players. If you think about it, in Fergies latter years and after his retirement how close have we been to CL final. And what great players would a top signing be playing with. You could point to the few veterans left in SAF final side but top players could see they were not the players they once were and would soon be leaving. And since SAF left what great players have we had. Unhappy ADM, final payday Zlatan, misfiring Falcao, embarassing Rooney etc.

Money is the only attraction at the moment unless the Glazers do like City Chelsea and set aside a massive rebuilding warchest and convince players about our “project”. And I don’t mean the Disneyland project.

But its not all doom and gloom, it could be worse, we could be Arsenal.

MacGuffin

Jose Mourinho TEAMtalk

I’m not sure this has changed much recently, or that our approach should be constantly trying to sign big name players.

In the last few years we’ve tried to buy our way out of trouble, bad investments and a lack of good players coming through the youth system have left us needing to. Also the role of agents and the media mean that everyday there is a story about someone turning down Jose or Man Utd, or about a player who wants a new contract being linked with a transfer then changing his mind to sign a new deal.

We built all our success on academy graduates (ours or others), cherry picking the best domestic players (Rio, Rooney, Carrick, Sheringham, Yorke) from lower clubs, supported by a handful of foreign players, who most of the time weren’t star players before they came (Schmeichel, Solskjaer, Stam, Van Nistelrooy). In fact, most players that were “stars” before they came (Veron, Falcao, DiMaria) didn’t work out.

I think if you look at most the serious targets we’ve been linked with recently (Alderweireld, Maguire, Perisic), they were all willing to come if we’d have agreed to the price asked).

mike2005

United has never been a destination for the big players,like Barca,Real Madrid,and PSG.There are simply just not enough world class players available to go around,and far too many teams with loads of money,including those in China.That has resulted in players going for fucking stupid money-apparently we had a deal for Bale agreed in the region of £225m.When you see players like Maguire being talked in the region of £80m-you know you are fucked.Not even City and Chelsea are signing world-record breaking players anymore.i.e.Neymar,Mbappe,Coutinho,etc.Its all about developing young players now it seems,for most teams.

redblood

Fred Manchester United

Maybe this thread should be named “Why steveosnakeeye’s status as a welcome poster on the Manchester United TT Page is under severe threat” no?

@steveosnakeeye. Come on mate, don’t deny you were looking for a rise here and being a slight todger..

In any case I don’t think many on this opinion board are under the impression that we are a “destination club”.

Sure we are a famous club but we’ve never been the club of choice for world class players like Ronaldinho or Zidane to spend the peak of their careers when they make the “big move”.

Nice try Stevie boy.

hatters

Hatters I agree we have never really signed world class players and the ones we did ie Veron/ADM/Falcao did nothing.

United have made more stars than they have signed.

ika

 

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Tough test awaits Liverpool

There’s an awful lot to process for me when I try and think about who should play and where that may take us over the next 7 games. We have some new players who need time in the side to gel but we also need points. Can we do both? Perhaps. . and I think this is where I’ve arrived in terms of what I would like to see. The word from the press and the fact that Fabinho played at least one of the international matches suggest that maybe he’s ready/fit, respectively. To be clear, I’m not knocking Keita when I say he’s had some very poor spells in matches, I know he will take time to settle in and I think he needs to play in this match. It could be one where he has a big performance and he’ll aid us in turning the play over quickly. You guys all know this is key to scoring goals against Spurs especially.

That bloody midfield 3 though, it’s just so hard to pick. I’m gonna go ahead and write out the team that I want to start.

Alisson
TAA – Gomez – Van Dijk – Robertson
Milner – Fabinho – Keita
Salah – Firmino – Mane

One thing of note for me, if Gomez and the rest of the defence continue to improve, we could be looking at the best back 4 that we’ve ever had in the PL.

That midfield though. The thing I didn’t want to do was take Wijnaldum out, he’s been really good for us so far but from the bits I’ve read, Fabinho is ready and we didn’t spend all that money to have him on the bench. Klopp has a plan for him and maybe it’s time to start him. If he is indeed ready then I can’t wait to see what he brings to the table. For one, we could definitely use the extra shielding against a team like Spurs.

The front line is so boring and picks itself :PPP
Nah seriously, let’s just hope that we see Salah smiling and enjoying his football again.

The news that Loris and Dele Alli will miss this match is great for us. I wouldn’t ever wish an injury on anyone but if they cant play one game against us due to a mild injury then I guess this comes down to a bit of luck for us.

Will we win? I’m feeling more positive than I was before. it isn’t just this game though, it’s the 7 games and as said above by others, they could be very telling with regards to how our season will go. I guess this is maybe why I’m more worried than you lads. I predicted that we’d win the league but we could come out of this with 4 losses NP. Where would that leave me with my prediction then? Feeling a little silly is where.

MrMakaveli

We normally tend to do well when we are pitted against strong opposition, a few years or even months ago ago only a handful here were confident that we would get something when we visited the Etihad or the Bridge but now the mood is definitely more positive. That’s why as one of the optimists who was sure we would not get a spanking against City or Chelsea even under BR and at the beginning of JK’S tenure I’m not too fazed about the next block of seven matches, take them one by one is a cliche but will do nicely for me.

CaptKirk

Kirk our record againest top 6 was dreadful last year mate

Losses sway to spurs, utd, city and Chelsea

It has to improve this season as previous years it was excellent under klopp

Fabhino won’t stwrt this game. Keita has to

We can’t go into the game with a midfield 3 of Milner, hendo and winji

Sean the Sailor

Our record is indeed patchy in early kick offs but we haven’t lost our last 5 and Spurs have only once in the last 11 games so we are well primed for three points but gotta keep Kane quiet. He’s such a good player but can see him dropping deeper Saturday to compensate for the loss of Alli so it give us a better opp of controlling him and the Spurs offensive line. I think this is 2-1 for us.

Rob Fort Worth TX

All I hear is negativity right now on these boards. Its been a long time since i’ve enjoyed Liverpool FC winning the first 4 games and sitting on top of the league. Im off to Wembley this weekend and honesty can’t wait. We are in great shape and our robust team is in great form. We are currently the best team in the league and we will prove it on Saturday lunch time. We are the team to beat and can go six points clear at this stage of the season against one of our rivals. I’m going for a Mané hat trick. 4 nil win. Ynwa.

red_lion

Players can’t complain, a few seasons ago we weren’t even in the Europa league trophy and now we have a run of 7 tasty games. This is what we want, this is what the physios, medics, coaches, manager gets paid for. I think we could go through unbeaten and if so it’s a great early marker we would set for the league trophy. Spurs are our bogey team last few years so a nice win against them will give us the confidence we need. I’m not too bothered about PSG, to be honest, they will come with a swagger but I think we will surprise them at Anfield as we usually do.

mwake

Keep it simple, focus on the next match only, and try to get as many points as possible, as soon as possible.

As for tomorrow, I’d go with a midfield of Henderson (holding), Milner and Keita.

However in the next few weeks our whole squad will have to be called on to play full games, and that is definitely a good thing, as top players like Fabinho, Shaqiri, Sturridge and Clyne need to be playing regularly

songman

 

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Chelsea’s striker situation

I have Morata in my fantasy team: so I want him to start. Now fantasy team aside, I do see Giroud playing better than Morata. He is more physical, he can hold the ball, and his one-two with Pedro was awesome (against Bournemouth). He is a world cup champion without a goal (even though he played striker!). I think this shows that he can make other players scoring for the team.

Morata is taller than Giroud though, and I suppose he should be able to do what Giroud does. And for long term, if he can adapt and improve, he is our future. And so far I think Sarri will stick with Morata starting for awhile. I really hope Morata will do well and score goals this season. Otherwise Sarri may look elsewhere next summer. I can’t see us buying big in January.

aindro

Alvaro Morata TEAMtalk

Sarri would have looked at Bats, Giroud and Morata and decided who he most wanted in the squad.

I’m not sure Morata will come good now either but I’m not sure about Bat’s either who is struggling to get a start for Valencia currently and whose ability on the ball doesn’t really suit a Sarri team.

Sadly I think it’s a problem we will probably have to live with until next Summer.

nine nine nine

must admit that I thought that Sarri would have retained Michy as I felt he was suited to the Sarri way of playing. Clearly that was not the case; Sarri has made his choices so our opinions are of little value….!!

I think that Sarri will continue to stick with Morata and it really is not a bad option to have Giroud on the bench either. Maybe it could become a case of game by game because if a team has a tall strong defender then Morata normally struggles but that plays into Girouds game…? KTBFFH

CFC1905

Getting a 30 goal season striker is the difference between winning the league and finishing outside the top 4. As it stands we look a good pet for top 3. But still we need the striker that will drag us to the extra miles. It will be impossible to get him in January. Equally tying Hazard to a new contract could be our best signing next summer.

Chelsea.man

Nine

Why are you making assumptions that Sarri is making the decisions? Wasn’t Sarri not brought in to be a coach/manage a group of players, to get them to perform a certain style every week? and wasn’t it suggested that Marina + the board would manage the in/outs and make the decisions regarding the squad?

I personally think Sarri has been told to play Morata or at least to get the best out of him at all costs: 1) To make him more appealing on the market; 2) To bring his price back up nearer to what we bought him for. For these reasons I think the board probably told Batshuayi to go on loan due to the “Morata recoup project” named “project flop”.

Don’t you find it hard to believe Sarri could have made a final and total decision on Batshuayi in the short time(about a week I believe) he got to work with him?

bort

Maurizio Sarri Chelsea

I am sure the Board lays down some sort of instructions for the manager and he has has to find a way to work around it to keep them happy plus the players which of course if you dont get to play is impossible. I could never see Conte agreeing to that but personally I think the Board on behalf of the owner should have some kind of say. When they have interviews the employer lays down the procedures they wish adopted like for instance bringing up the youth, unfortunately the manager in most cases finds it very difficult to adhere to what was agreed to at those initial stages and its a trigger for the bad relations that follow. I remember this was in the media when Conte and the Boards relationship started souring.

Blueowner

 

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