itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

lennon has been really good this season, so i guess not

was talkin first team, available players tbh. Not sure pienaar and dempsey occupy same pitch space, but i'd have niko on left or behind a striker before dempsey

really? niko is kinda lame tbrr

kinda lame in that he can't really run, sure, but much more intelligent and technical player. better finisher and better passer than clint.

Don't really think that leaving the Fulham first team and going and sitting on another team's bench is what Nakh had in mind.

yeah i guess i could see him at villa or maybe a decent bundesliga side

just looked up info on krancjar cuz i forgot about him completely

Andy September 2, 2011 at 2:52 pm

If Krancjar was given a run in midfield, he would be far more effective than Modric. If he was paired with either Sandro or Huddlestone in the centre, it would be ideal. He scores far more goals than Modric, he provides more assists. He has a better range of passing than Modric and is more attack minded.

Don't really think that leaving the Fulham first team and going and sitting on another team's bench is what Nakh had in mind.

AKA doing a Pienaar

see, thing is, niko is actually a lot more effective than modric, ito goals certainly and killer balls in and around the opposition box too i'd imagine.

But luka threads everything together from the fullbacks to parker through the wings and into adebayor, and works so much harder off the ball

Niko should prob be playing to give bale a rest, i dunno is he in any way a player that would replicate modric's role in the centre.

LOL Hibees

today is a great day for watching scottish journalists shouting at cameras while trying not to fall over

And it's usually the booze that causes them to shout (anti-Catholic obscenities) and fall over

Yeah the only time Kranjcar was a straight replacement for Modric was back when we were playing Luka out on the left. He isn't anywhere near good enough to replace Modric in central midfield and if anyone should be playing there in his place it should be Rafa.

i love niko but wouldn't mind if spurs sold him actually. would prefer he go abroad, he could probably do well in italy right?

http://i.imgur.com/jiOUl.jpg

http://www.goal.com/es-us/news/2214/mercado/2011/12/08/2793114/mercado-chicago-fire-al-sadd-y-lekhwiya-pretendientes-de-rio

Mercado: Chicago Fire, Al-Sadd y Lekhwiya, pretendientes de Rio Ferdinand

argh argh no no no no do not want

Why not? He's a good guy. Where's this story come from anyway? He's surely going nowhere, especially with Vidic done in.

Yeah, can't see that happening. He's more likely to retire at Utd

tbf it's a stupid rumor, but it's stuck around for a while. I first read it on someone's phone in a bar in Seattle after the Fire's defeat in the US Open Cup final like 2 months ago. the coach was sitting two tables over so we showed it to him and he said he had no idea where it came from. still, I wish it would go away.

"do not want" because big-salary old-timer defenders are huge wastes of time/money in this plucky upstart league of ours

oh i see the Guardian is reporting quotes from Vidic's agent that he's done his cruciate and will likely be out for the season. Yay.

id rather vidic was there, kids + shite at cb could render city champions by february

and i like vidic, probably the best cb in the world by average level in the last five years and rather subtler than his rep suggests

vidic out for the season, maybe they'll give Jones a consistent run there.

dalglish is descending into madness.

id rather vidic was there + shite at cb could render city champions by february

Of course, a player getting injured in Dec. and missing the rest of the season is no good. otm on 2nd point.

For all the conclusions being drawn about the Glazers at the moment (and not wanting to defend them), United spent a fair bit of money in the summer. They've just had appalling luck with injuries - Vidic, Hernandez, Cleverly, Anderson all out long term, give or take a goalkeeper that's an entire first-choice spine gone. If you took Kompany, Dzeko, Silva and De Jong/Toure out of the City team they probably wouldn't look like a Premiership-winning side either.

Not to say that City aren't stronger man-for-man and certainly they have better options upfront, but they aren't that immune to a potential injury crisis as it is.

That said, pretty sure United would have a stronger and deeper squad without the Glazers there, especially through the middle.

stop this united defending, it won't wash around here.

even city are preferable.

I prefer Utd to any of the other big clubs in England, and that now includes City.

Not that I like them or anything, on the contrary I'm enjoying their shitness

i prefer them to...

richard littlejohn

Spurs are still not a big club btw

City are beautiful and thrilling and hilarious and only a churl cd not love them

Can't see Utd challenging City at all now tbh. I doubt Jones will get a consistent run in the centre either as our lack of a consistently fit right back means either him or Smalling will have to be used there quite a bit. Not to mention the lack of midfielders. Praying for a real midfielder at Christmas but it's more likely Fergie will describe Anderson and Cleverley coming back as being "like new signings"

hernandez cleverley and anderson are not the spine, they're the subs. This is a false injury crisis- if they were fit it would be a personnel crisis.

Wrong. All three of those players were first choice at the start of the season

ferdinand + jones/smalling/evans is more than adequate to fill one cb and one rb spot from, tbh

Evans has needed a run for a while, still think there's a defender in there somewhere tbh

Yeah those players were definitely considered first choice back in the heady days of late summer when United were whipping everyone. Maybe not Chiquarito but playing Welbeck instead of him was just baffling anyway.

cleverley made his debut at the start of the season, ffs, or close to it.

Anderson has been squad for years

What's hernandez starts ratio?

ie if they're 'first choice' then you're p much agreeing with my point-

Hernandez had that head injury at the start of the season. Him and Welbeck haven't really been fit at the same time. The fact that Cleverly was first choice is pretty damning but he was still first choice

Evans has needed a run for a while, still think there's a defender in there somewhere tbh

Good luck finding him

Exactly. No Utd fan thinks our midfield options are acceptable. It's been the mangers blind spot for years now, dunno what more there is to say about it really

That was an xpost. And i sort of agree about Evans. He usually looks decent alongside Vidic but none of the other partnerships really seem to work

never replaced robson imo

Never replaced Arthur Albiston imo

ought to ave splurged on dixie dean imo will always get u goals does dixie

current side is crying out for a neil webb

Mantra among disgruntled Utd supporters on phone-ins is (Cockney accent) "We should have bought Sneijder in the summer". They'd have won the league then.