Man Utd Thread:

[Syd The Sailor]

Agreed their scouting is excellent, they have bought consistently great prospects from all angles of the globe.
But it has cost them an awful lot of money, Reyes at 16 million, Walcott 12 million, Rosicky 6 million, Denilson 3.5 million, Diaby 2 million and plenty of others.
I know they have been successful, by and large, except Reyes, but it annoys me when people rave about the Gunners developing their own talent.
It was still the big two, United and Liverpool, who have established youth set ups across this country as well, who reached the FA Youth Cup final

The players Arsenal have bought though have been bought with the idea of them becoming 1st team players sooner rather than later. I dont know if you could say that about the players on Liverpool & Uniteds youth teams,historically you would be lucky to get 2 or 3 that become 1st team regulars, we will not know for a year or two but teams the size of Liverpool & United will always be bidding at the top end of the transfer market thus reducing even further the chances of these young players making it.

[Square Ball]

this doesnt happen very often on this thread, but your spot on with that on Syd, the team of Scholes, Nev and all was a one off and I dont think that that will ever be repeated.

[Norf Tyrone]

Congratulations to Manchester United (And their fans on this thread) worthy winners of the league this year. Over the course of a season the team that deserves it always wins and so it prooves this year again.

In my heart of hearts though I feel Chelsea are a better side in a head to head. José doesn't always talk sense, but I feel his post game interview yesterday hit the mark in many areas. In my opnion Chelsea to have won the LC, runners-up in the league, CL semis, and FA Cup finalists (At least) with all the adversities has been stunning. To have lost Robben, Joe Cole, Cudicini, Terry, and Cech for much of the season, as well as deal with the constant Roman/José stuff, and still compete has been testimony to José's skills as a manager. Not getting into an argument about best players, but in my viewpoint we lost unarguably the World's best keeper and IMHO the world's best centre-back for too long.

When we lost Cech and JT we lost arguably the foundation of the José plan, and perhaps thats where United were better this year. United went out with a good defence and a great attack. When they lost players at the back, they had the advantage of being able to bring in able stop gaps like Brown, O'Shea etc and go with the adage we'll score more than you.
Chelsea's philosophy is built on a great defence and a good attack. When Chelsea were in the same position they firstly hadn't got the same backing in a key position i.e. centre half. More crucially the guile to open up a defence and produce that certain wee bit extra that Ronaldo posessed was missing. People shouldn't underestimate how big Joe Cole's absence was in this regard. However this to me was José's main error...lack of cover. Selling Judas Gallas, and Huth and not really replacin them properly was a mistake.
In addition Essien, although providing fantastic cover at the back, was a huge loss in midfield.

One other telling factor was United's midfield, Giggs, Scholes, Ronaldo and Carrick. In the last few games Chelsea have flagged, especially their main creative/scoring players Lampard and Drogba. The cost of a World Cup, and a hectic season has told. United's main schemers Giggs, and Scholes had a summer of rest leading into the season and thus appeared fresher.

All in all, I am incredibly proud of Chelsea this season. Sure we'd like to have won more, but all you can ask is that managers and players give 100% and to me this happened. I also said that if we lose the title, I don't want to go with a whimper. Yesterday the players went down screaming. It's hard to know how the last 2 games will go (Man U and Everton), and perhaps United could win the league by 13 points(!!), but at least there is a platform there and it'll be interesting to see the pyschology of the players entering FA Cup final day.

Next year, the most obvious need for Chelsea is a centre-half (Or two), and a right-back. The biggest concern for 07-08 will be the ANC which will see Chelsea lose Geremi, Obi Mikel, Essien, Kalou and Drogba for 4 weeks. I would expect that José is already planning towards this, and will sign appropriately OR have loan signings up his sleeve for the event.
In addition to the new arrivals it's believe that Sahar and Sinclair will be promoted to the squad this summer. I'd expect Michael Woods and Michael Mancienne to go pre-season and see how they are developing.

So well done United, and well done Chelsea. Hopefully we get a great Cup final...and Chelsea win!

And one last thing.....

Ferguson, are you listening?
Can you keep the trophy glistening.
We'll be back next May
To take your title away
Waling in a José wonderland!

[96wasnotenough]

Hello all,
IMHO a striker and a right back are higher priority than midfield at the min.
Hargreaves is good, but not worth the money, Fletcher does exactly the same thing, maybe not as well.

Utd are supposedly after Huntelaar from Ajax too.I reckon Tevez would be a useful addition, and with two short strikers it will certainly keep the hooferpool "style" out of the gameplan.

[High Catch]

Admin, surely this username is hugely offensive and should be banned.  Fuckwit.

[his holiness nb]

Pardon the ignorance High Catch but whats offensive about it?
I'm not being funny, I just dont get it.

[Syd The Sailor]

Pardon the ignorance High Catch but whats offensive about it?
I'm not being funny, I just dont get it.

96 people died at Hillsborough

[his holiness nb]

Jesus Christ!!

What an absolute sc**bag of the highest order.

[full back]

Hargreaves is good, but not worth the money, Fletcher does exactly the same thing, maybe not as well.

Maybe not as well?
What planet are you on? Granted Hargreaves is expensive but to mention himself & Fletcher in the same sentence is a joke.
Berbatov, Bale & Hargreaves would be ideal signings during the Summer although I think Jol will fight tooth & nail to keep Berbatov, hopefuly the attraction of CL football will persuade him
BTW, the name is a bit much

[96wasnotenough]

Pardon the ignorance High Catch but whats offensive about it?
I'm not being funny, I just dont get it.

Utd beat Liverpool at Wembley in 1996 hence the name, needs to happen more often.
As for the mock outrage, some people are just determined to take offence it seems.

[96wasnotenough]

Bale- might be great prospect, but Utd dont need another left back, its a right back thats required, esp as the tache isnt getting any younger. If Bale comes, then Heinze or Silvestre or both will be leaving. Id take Juves money for Heinze. Berbatov will require big money and at 28 years old cant see that being sanctioned, youth seems to be the way to go at the min, cheaper to sign, pay them less and retain a residual transfer value.

As for Hargreaves, if he is signed he will expect to play, so who do you drop Scholes or Carrick?

[full back]

Ferguson will pick Carrick or Hargreaves depending on the opposition. It is no problem having a strong squad nowadays anyway. In order to be able to go on 2/3 fronts to win titles/cups it is vital to have a strong squad.
Scholes isnt getting any younger and IMO will be rested when possible next seaon. I would play Scholes & Hargreaves if I was in charge

[96wasnotenough]

Ferguson will pick Carrick or Hargreaves depending on the opposition. It is no problem having a strong squad nowadays anyway. In order to be able to go on 2/3 fronts to win titles/cups it is vital to have a strong squad.
Scholes isnt getting any younger and IMO will be rested when possible next seaon. I would play Scholes & Hargreaves if I was in charge

I prob would as well, but that leaves Carrick on the bench after a pretty decent first season. Given the fact thats its an international tournament year, he wont fancy that one bit. Going forward it be Carrick and Hargreaves, how will the Ginga Ninja handle that only he knows.
There also possible links with Nani or Quaresma at Sporting, as eventually Giggs replacements, the only RB ive heard touted so far is Micah Richards, Bardsley is coming back , but not sure he is good enough.

[realredhandfan]

f**k thats bad form.

[Spiritof98]

He's gone now, tarnishing the bad name of us clean Utd supporters.