Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

doubt it as he was bought by the previous owners who had less money but what difference does that make as no one will pay him that and if he wants to play football then he will know he has to lower his monetary sights. even so lescott as 3rd choice hmmmmmmm

Pretty much. He is not involved with England any more more because he plays once in a blue moon rather than actually not being good enough. I think he is at least someone like Jagielka's equal and Demichellis was ahead (even when playing crap) because Pelligrini knows him well and likes a defender who can play it out from back. That isn't Lescott's strength.

I reckon we could probably offer whatever Vermaelen is on (assuming Vermaelen left). As you say....how on earth is he going to play football without taking a significant pay cut now. His reservation would be whether he would play if he had one imo.

[Globalgunner]

Rumours are that Mancs may want to dump Fellaini for as little as 15m. We should be all over that. solve our DM position at a stroke

[Kano]

The game was different during the era before Cesc. Teams started to park the bus more, played a 5 man midfield with one striker up front and that shifted things. We dominated possession and we're playing in the opponents half for long periods so we hardly saw the counter attacks the previous era used to pull off all the time. I think it was wrong to say it was Cesc slowing us down when he's a split second type of player. One touch and a player's through on goal.

The simple fact is we moved the ball quicker at one point because we had pace across the team. Barcelona/Spain do not have so much but because of their technical precision above anyone else, the can afford not to. In the past few years all we have really had is Theo and a bunch of Xavi-lites who cannot replicate what they have done in Barca for years - nobody can, it's a one-off. Us slowing down was never Cesc's fault but a result of pace disappearing throughout the entire team over a few years, moulding into the new style of being midfielder heavy which has also seen the quality of our strikers slowly decrease across the years. It's no coincidence that in the same period we have also struggled to replicate the success we had in the late 90's to early 00's.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Apparantly, falcao may be available for as little as £35m as the Monaco owner has been sting for £3bn in a divorce settlement and they don't like falcao's attitude....

Also Cesc wants to come back home.

I would make both of those the top priorities tbh.

[AFC Leveller]

I had to larf when i read that Luis was going to PSG for almost 50m. WTF? werent PSG fined 50m for cheating?

Platini is definitely on their payroll.

[Gooner23]

Apparantly, falcao may be available for as little as £35m as the Monaco owner has been sting for £3bn in a divorce settlement and they don't like falcao's attitude....

Also Cesc wants to come back home.

I would make both of those the top priorities tbh.

Falcao for 35mil is a must get

[milla]

Rumours are that Mancs may want to dump Fellaini for as little as 15m. We should be all over that. solve our DM position at a stroke

Problem is Fellaini is not a DM :D

[milla]

The simple fact is we moved the ball quicker at one point because we had pace across the team. Barcelona/Spain do not have so much but because of their technical precision above anyone else, the can afford not to. In the past few years all we have really had is Theo and a bunch of Xavi-lites who cannot replicate what they have done in Barca for years - nobody can, it's a one-off. Us slowing down was never Cesc's fault but a result of pace disappearing throughout the entire team over a few years, moulding into the new style of being midfielder heavy which has also seen the quality of our strikers slowly decrease across the years. It's no coincidence that in the same period we have also struggled to replicate the success we had in the late 90's to early 00's.

You can play with load of AMs but they must have the skills and speed to play fast attacking football. Pires, Ljunberg, Hleb and Rozza were not just technical players, they were rapid back than.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Rumours are that Mancs may want to dump Fellaini for as little as 15m. We should be all over that. solve our DM position at a stroke

Ehhh??? Are you mad. There's a reason he's struggled at Man Utd whenever he's played in midfield - his passing and general ball movement are shithouse. He's not a DM.

The only position he's effective at is just behind the striker as a sort of battering ram. A slightly better version of Sanago. Seeing as we don't rarely play that way (FA Cup aside) there's no need to spunk money and waste a position on him.

For a DM, we'd be much better looking for actual quality like Bender or Martinez though personally I think we need someone with a bit more strength and powerful dribbling ability ...... basically exactly what a fit Diaby would have been.

[Power n Glory]

The simple fact is we moved the ball quicker at one point because we had pace across the team. Barcelona/Spain do not have so much but because of their technical precision above anyone else, the can afford not to. In the past few years all we have really had is Theo and a bunch of Xavi-lites who cannot replicate what they have done in Barca for years - nobody can, it's a one-off. Us slowing down was never Cesc's fault but a result of pace disappearing throughout the entire team over a few years, moulding into the new style of being midfielder heavy which has also seen the quality of our strikers slowly decrease across the years. It's no coincidence that in the same period we have also struggled to replicate the success we had in the late 90's to early 00's.

You've also got to consider how the game has changed since the 90s/00s. Team used to play without a dedicated DM and that restricts teams from exploiting space between the lines. What you can do with the ball depends on the space you have on the pitch. There is a reason why Theo struggles against teams that play a deep defensive line because he hasn't got the space to exploit. He can often be anonymous when it's that sort of game. We could have a team full of physically quick players in this era, but if they park the bus, surrender possession and hold their shape, we'd still struggle to open teams up. When teams come at to attack and it's more open, that's when we see the speed because there are more counter attacks and we used to see it a lot in the 90s/2000s because teams weren't afraid to try against us.

To avoid falling into that trap again, I'd like to see more traditional winger played that actually like to dribble so we create more space and force players to try and commit a tackle and come out.