I use the WB term very loosely. I think regardless of formation, you will want 3 guys hanging back to cover the GK. Depending on the filosofi, that would typically 2 CBs and 1 of a LB/RB/CM.

So it could be Darmian hanging back while Shaw bombs forward, while 1 CM does DM duties and provides additional cover. It could be Carrick dropping back to help 2 CBs while both Darmian and Shaw move up.

A lot of ways, it all depends on how LvG wants to do it. That kinda also depends on how the players respond (if they got the footballing intelligence to handle such fluid changes) and the opponent/formation.

Think Mata does better with someone ahead of him to be the reference point, so he can then link up play and ghost into the box to try and score.

The way things are going, DDG will spend 1 last season with us. Real will go with Navas and Casilla then snag DDG on a free. Ramos will stay at RM.

More likely we might go for Otamendi/Pedro/Romero

Otamendi and Pedro?

Those 2 won't leave BvB this season, I think.. Hummels is not Delph, he said he will stay there for the coming season already

I don't even bother clicking Metro links anymore. Full of nonsense LOL... maybe tomorrow they'll say Messi set to join for 200mil.

Agreed that I'm not keen to sell him to PSG, at least give him 1 more season to show his stuff. When he 1st came he was doing really well, it was only mid season onwards when his form went to the toilet. If we can get AdM firing on all cylinders, he will be scary.

Cavani is overrated, for me. His attributes (strength, heading ability, reputation) are very good, but 2 big issues:
1) He wants to be main striker. Can you imagine Rooney accepting that? So signing him means drama for sure since they both want to be front and center. Before someone says then sell Rooney la.. well then you still end up with only 1 high rep striker. So he better be damn worth it.
2) His salary demands were supposedly what killed a deal last time. We already have a bunch of guys on "Gaalactico" salary, most people here were happy to say byebye to RvP since his salary didn't match his output. What if we get Cavani and he has this issue? Before you say he is amazing etc etc... he hasn't set Ligue 1 on fire (you can argue it's due to Zlatan but the point remains), and he didn't have an amazing Copa America or World Cup either.

If he is so awesome, Real/City/Chelsea etc would all be sniffing around him and PSG would say pigs will fly before they sell him. They haven't (instead they sniffed around Falcao, who has a dubious knee to recover from), so to me that says a lot about Cavani scaring clubs away.

IF AdM is going to go to PSG, I'd rather get Thiago Silva since we need an experienced quality defender and someone else thrown in (e.g. Matuidi or Sirigu).

Striker? Get Benzema (if Real are really selling him). or Lewandowski (if Bayern are selling him). or Pedro (if we really want Rooney to be a good boy and now throw his toys out).

This issue will remain until Rooney becomes useless enough that LVG can axe him. For now, he is the captain and he is doing what the manager wants.... don't see that happening.

For 22million, he is cheaper than Benteke, Kane, and any other EPL striker we would bother with. He has experience in abundance, so he would be an affordable and reasonable "gamble"

heh Memphis off the mark in pre-season.. not bad. Mata assist-goal

haha Memphis uncontestedly off the mark in preseason now

Defense sloppy to concede that goal, whether you want to saw Shaw or Jones were not tight enough with marking.

That said, it's only pre-season and EPL will be a totally different kettle of fish.

Still no CB, and GK situation still looks iffy since VV is a goner and DDG may or may not be around for much longer.

Le sigh.. come on, Kayu!

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/9923...ay-for-Van-Gaal

LOL!!!! If he joins it would be too muchhhhhhh

HAHA! well played


Good.. past time we make other clubs feel the same way Levy makes us feel

He is old too, old too ...34 in October!

He is a very experienced winner though, proven track record that he wins the league in every country he plays in. IF he ever joined the biggest boost would be his force of personality.

Reminds me of Cantona in that sense, his contribution to the team is more than goals and assists.. it's also the effect on the team and on opponents.

Force of character!

You can say the same thing when we talk about signing any decent or big name striker now, it's more wishful thinking than a practical want

Exactly LOL

I don't disagree since I am a fan of Zlatan!

We know la, it's not a realistic expectation..(signing a 34yr old striker on big salary when Rooney is almost 30 and we just offloaded RvP?). Just wishful dreaming

SAF: After CR left for RM, SAF trusted Rooney to be the main striker and team talisman up to the 2010 contract fiasco, and to be fair Rooney delivered very well up to that point. He stepped up to be top notch as a striker for us for... 2 seasons? But after that fiasco, if you look at the business SAF did, he obviously planned to phase him out over time. Look at the signings that he made, all were done to prep move on from Rooney. RvP as striker, Kagawa as playmaker, Young as LW. You can laugh at some of the signings, but when they joined their reputations were all up there as good enough. I won't mention Chicharito since he was signed before that stuff happened. That's why in his last season as manager SAF made his comments that Rooney wanted out again (which Rooney disputes), but it could well be SAF wanted the club to axe him and that was his move to instigate it.

Moyes: Knew Rooney since Everton days, and he obviously rated him highly. Alternative would have been to sell him to Chelsea, which would have been horrendous timing given SAF just retired and the team and club were trying to transition from that. Moyes also signed Nani on a long term contract on big wages and kicked out the entire SAF backroom team, so he isn't above iffy decisions.

LVG: Considering RvP had an unremarkable WC aside from his amazing goal vs Spain AND an unremarkable season for us for 2 years, given his age and salary on top of that.. I don't think it says a whole lot that he was sold instead of Rooney. It says that all the people raging about "RVP is LVG godson deswai always playing" were plain wrong. LVG made it a make or break season for RvP. Probably the same reason Falcao kept being played even-though his form was wtfisthisrubbish bad. They both got more minutes than a lot of us expected (or wanted, given their form), but if you look back it was to give them a make or break chance to deliver.. or get booted out at season end.

This season will be make or break for Rooney. Why?
1) He is obviously in the same position RvP was last season. Dubious form/goals in recent times, so front and center in striker role and a clear mandate. Score this season or be booted out like RvP/Falcao.
2) LVG is now more comfy in his position. He has more of his signings in, he has had more time to understand the team too. Last season he needed Rooney to be his on pitch representative and Jack of all trades cos of team balance issues and being new to the club/team/league. Now the balance should be better, and he will have more confidence/understanding in the team and league.

Stats are good to give added info and perspective, but are not the only thing to take into account. (Otherwise Liverpool and their "moneyball" method adoption would have had better results). There are other factors as well, and that's why I think Rooney better deliver the goals this season.

It's a process. Since LVG took over he has sold a lot of guys we wanted out, rehabilitated a lot we didn't expect to do as well as they did, and signed some gems. You can't axe every single "bad" player in the team immediately and fill all those positions with better replacements immediately.

I like Kagawa, but LVG sold him because he didn't follow instructions well enough on the pitch. No room for that, so as much as I like him, bye. Same for Valdes.

If you read this (link) it just shows how much discipline matters.

Extract:
"We knew how to play against Barcelona and we did that for the first 10 minutes, but you need to do it for 90 minutes," recalled United's then-goalkeeping coach Eric Steele of the 2009 final in Rome. "You have to press them high. If you allow them to play, you may as well throw a second ball on."

Two years later, United didn't learn their lessons for the final at Wembley.

"Again, we didn't follow our game plan," said Steele. "The full 11 need to be committed, but certain players got into pockets and you could see others getting disillusioned.

This post has been edited by sunblaze: Jul 25 2015, 06:33 PM

Just a pre-season game, so don't read much into it the score

Some interesting things though:
1) 4-2-3-1 looks like the formation of choice based on these games
2) Blind looks decent at LCB, but we really could use a CB signing to improve further
3) God demn but playing in that heat looks like shit.. the team is going to improve for it

highlights

for anyone curious to see the goals

You can say the same thing about players we've had in the past. Keane and Vidic both got more than their fair share of cards. Scholes for his "tackle" too. If you're talking about bans, Cantona and Ferdinand were banned for what felt like an eternity.

Even in today's game you can see Costa getting carded a lot. Rooney is just as prone to getting carded, for his temper.

Sometimes, the ability and output from the player is such that you just reluctantly accept the cards and bans if they come because in the balance of things the player is still "worth it" as long as he delivers.