Magic8Ball

This is always the question when they play, I think Spain even tried a 433 - I'm getting the feeling its and either or Yeah this is the problem, the only wide right that looks right for us is Ribery and he's way too expensive now we could go for Walcott in the summer, but I suspect he'll he no better there than Babel

Reminds me of Cheri Lunghi as the female footie manager - now where's the pick the Girl representing DIC

he was their #1 choice all along, probably the reason they had grant while waiting for Hiddink - this wont make Abrom' popular in Russia but it's been rumored Hiddink has been a friend of Abrom' for a while now

if that's true we should be looking at the wide support (left and right wing) for 4231 over the summer as well as Gaz Baz

how would these players fit in with the first team in a 4231 formation ?

let's see if I get this. with Pacheco and Nemeth we have 2 of the 3 behind the striker in a 4231 ? IF so who's the missing 1 of the 3 and who's the striker ?

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So why didn't they copy the blueprint to beat the mancs too ? - CONSPIRACY !!

isn't Hiddink a friend of the russian ?

well Rafa should get the contract he wants now.... he's just got more bargaining power

IF O'Neill takes over, will that increase our chances of getting Barry ?

Don't really think we can win the title this year with us needing to make up 5 pts on the mancs - the ironic thing is though they're winning the league the Benitez way Portsmouth 0-1 Man Utd Man City 0-1 Man Utd Man Utd 1-0 Sunderland Stoke City 0-1 Man Utd Man Utd 1-0 Middlesbrough Man Utd 1-0 Wigan Bolton 0-1 Man Utd Man Utd 1-0 Everton West Ham 0-1 Man Utd

and Gareth Barry

This is what annoys me, it's a friendly - surely it's time to play D Villa up front ( alone if necessary)

a left footed "CM" who can take free kicks, shades of the future ?

have you seen where Villa are ?!! Man I hope they don't finish top 4

first part correct, 2nd part (in bold) not correct conclusion from the first part. There's something bigger going on, as Rafa uses N'gog and Insua, Plessis, Darby, typically his buys but not the academy kids... the directors need to let Rafa influence the academy so he'll use the academy kids ( that's assuming they're good enough).

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...15875-21101375/

Man U have first option on Valencia - which sucks !

Hope it comes off with Brazilian Keirrison de Souza Carneiro coming in too

Earlier ( see above) I said there's a risk with all transfers. Buying anyone is a risk even if it's someone like Messi, sure he's great with Argentina and Barcelona, but would he be that great with us? - we just don't know. Hence buying "top quality" means there's a risk all be it arguably less than buying younger talent. But the thing is we cannot afford the really top talent even with our entire transfer budget. we can't afford Ribery or D Villa for example. We're forced to shop at the lower tier where there is more risk. IMO the best deals at the lower tier are the younger players who could yet develop into world class players, older players in this tier eg Keane are not worth the risk, too set in their ways. So, I expect Rafa will be mostly buying younger semi/totally unproven players going forward

sounds all to familiar. TBH I expect most transfers we make now to take 0.5 - 1.5 of a season to get going because Rafa will almost certainly be forced to buy younger more volatile talent, "unproven" if you like.

awesome, now let's add Barry to the CM list

Any player you buy is a gamble . Given that Rafa's done a good job improving our standard of play, and at this level it's hard moving forward with little money as you're not able to buy genuine quality, you have to gamble on players who can go either way. Say we had 100m to spend, do you think Rafa would have gone for Keane? Expect a few more of these hit and miss transfers going forward as we need: Alternative to Torres ( may already be at the club) Alternative to Gerrard ( may already be at the club) Player for plan B Another CM if Gerrard is now a support striker Wingers Left and Right who can score and share the goal burden with Torres and Gerrard Right Back Maybe a left back That's a lot of players to get with 30m - which means even though Rafa will prioritize, his purchases are likely to be more hit and miss than you'd expect if he went out and bought D Villa, Aguero, Silva, Valencia etc.

So far I've a seen a willingness to attack, a good cross and decent pace .. all good. But I've also seen poor positioning, poor touch, poor defending all bad. TBH what will sway the balance for me, is if he can pick out a decent pass, beat a man and shows signs of improving in the poorer areas above. what's clear is that so far, poor though he has been. he's mad an effort to improve.