itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

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.

cleverley made his debut at the start of the season, ffs, or close to it. Anderson has been squad for years

That's kind of always been the way Ferguson operates really? I can only think of one example of him signing an established midfielder and successfully integrating him into the team and that's Keane. The others have either been kids brought through/signed young and developed. I suppose you could make a case for Carrick but it would be a long and boring and depressing case.

sneijder is a hell of a tackler but he's not gunna provide u the creativity utd ave lacked since lee sharpe died

Otherwise you're into the realm of yr Verons and Klebersons and what have you. (xpost)

i don't know if i can recall a midfielder who took three years in the squad before suddenly being good enough for the xi every week, matt, which seems to be what you're claiming as fergie's norm

real talk tho, united should've never of let william prunier go

Fletcher?

as separate to kids developed, tbh

Scholes?

I mean, "three years in the squad before suddenly being good enough for the XI every week" is kinda how young players come through anyway. Bale fr'instance. Possible I'm overrating Cleverly based on a handful of appearances though.

There isn't a team in the country, including City, that wouldn't be improved by putting Sneijder in the first XI.

spurs

And, as i said and you yourself made the distinction in yr post an hour back, kids is different

Kind of makes you wonder where Inter would be without him.

Sneijder > VDV.

And, as i said and you yourself made the distinction in yr post an hour back, kids is different

Dunno though, aren't we talking about a player who joined United aged like 12?

anderson? 20m purchase think he was 19, playing in ligue 1

Cleverly- tbh luke chadwick tbh

Chicarito- sub

Dunno who else we were discussing

Neil Webb

i'm not saying anderson couldn't be united xi standard, fwiw, i think fletcher and he would probably work well enough if the wings and strikers provided the product

Anderson has really been swapped and changed around various roles, probably a large part of why he's not tied down first-team status

yes united need a good pair of midfielders, and quickly. but they also need players who can find & don't bottle the final ball. too many games with loads of possession and no penetration.

also would be good to have a big proper centre-forward on the bench to get stuck in when the opposition park the bus and Utd run out of creative options.

ie after the first 20 minutes of every game

I've just waded through today's posts and feel like I'd like to join in seeing as we're talking about United, but I can't actually work out what anyone's talking about.

lol

TIT otm tho

a big proper centre-forward on the bench

I know just the fella. Actually, scratch that, he could be absolutely ideal for you.