The College Dropout

THERE IS A GOD!!!!

Just that. A shit goal. A shit mistake. Fucking Moyes.

Fuck me Sunderland will nick this

His hold up play was decent when he joined aye. Wasn't ever particularly good but it was decent. It's fallen to pieces and his general hold up play is legitimately terrible now. Has been so from the start of last season.

I'd be delighted with 7m.

There is no salient point save players join Manchester City or Chelsea purely for financial reasons. I still think Manchester United's history is a massive pulling point and the same goes for Liverpool. Whereas Arsenal have Arsene Wenger as their pulling point. I guess we have SJP and the loyal following as ours. Manchester United will still attract top quality players without the CL I would guarantee. At the end of your day I agree with that last part. I think for us, it's money mostly too.

In recent memory, how many top transfers have been dependent on the manager? I can only think of RVP. Thiago perhaps? The bigger issue for Man Utd is the negotiations. They don't know what they are doing.

Autocorrect on the iPhone man. There's 100 words there for you to understand the context I'm referring to. I meant world class. But go on keep nit-picking at small issues rather than address the salient point.

Who is Santa Cazorla and what are you talking about? You know what, don't bother to reply. Cheers.

Okay - both key players at the time. Did Clichy sign under Mancini? Mancini's a good manager but he's not in Wengers league. But then again you're clearly just nit-picking. You haven't spoken about Wenger/Klopp losing their best players and not attracting world Xmas talents (Ozil aside). Or what built the core of Man Utd's latest successful side. Because you know I'm right, you just want to pick small issues.

I sure he did and I'm sure he'd be good there but it's clear he's best as a #10. Januzaj may well be a kid, but it's clear he's a great player already. If you're good enough you're old enough. Rooney is a better player than Mata. If Rooney stays it's not worth the money. If Rooney goes, then by all means, please send Mata this way. In Europe I think Mata's a better player. He's got that extra bit of guile to his game. In the PL Rooney's a slightly better option. For a player that has played nearly 120 games in 24 months, Mata seems to be a very fit (in terms of injuries) lad. He's not a Man Utd. player though IMO. Man Utd have always been flat-track bullies, stronger, faster at the very least. He's not that.

Behave - players go to Chelsea because of the money. Players go to Real Madrid for the club. Klopp and Wenger are some of the highest rated managers in Europe, they lose their star assets every single year because of money. Half an Arsenal side went to Man City to play for Mark Hughes ffs. Look at the players that have made up the core of Man Utd's success in recent years. Put in similar positions, who couldn't they sign now? Maybe RVP? To a lesser extent Ferdinand perhaps? VDS, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney they could all sign. Players jump to play for Guardiola/Mourinho because the richest 2 clubs in the top 3 divisions in Europe. Let Mourinho manage Dortmund and the players would still leave.

I do think nationality helps. Wenger with the French lads, Mou with the Portuguese and Brazilian (nobody mentioned Chelsea's midfield consisted of 4 Brazilians), Benitez Spanish etc. But in general the manager isn't a big deal. You sign for the club and money. Pretty certain Hazard signed under RDM.

The player chooses whoever is willing to pay most. You had Kewell choosing L'pool over a prime Arsenal for an extra 10k. It's not the Manchester United way to fight for the complete player anyway (unless from a British club). Perfectly capable of signing an Ajax Suarez, a Yohan Cabaye, Spurs Modric. Who did Cabaye want to come and play with? It comes down to money and negotiations.

I wouldn't feel so bad about Sunderland in the league cup if we ever looked like bothering with a domestic competition under Pardew. It's my main problem with him.

Yep. I don't even want them to have the excitement of a cup final. Couldn't bear it.

yep. All this 'would players want to come and play for Moyes?' is just a veiled insult to him.

I would cry if they won the league cup tbh. Legitimately cry.

Wonder how long that pull will last, especially if they don't qualify for the CL. Assume most players outside the UK have never heard of David Moyes. The manager thing is over-rated. Who was Chelsea manager when Hazard had his choice of clubs? HBA came to play for Hughton. Cabaye for Pardew. I don't think Suarez cared who was L'pool manager at the time. Man Utd. rarely buy the finished article unless it's from a smaller British club. They can still attract the next Vidic, Evra, Cabaye, Suarez etc. type players. Even the likes of Atletico Aguero if nobody else comes up with the money.

It's that old rickety defence for me. They don't have one real quality CB anymore that they can rely on. They need a Kompany more than a Fernandinho. They do need both which I guess is the big problem.

It helps when a club can actively seek someone from around the world to replace their 35 year old midfielder. Roy Hodgson unfortunately only has a selected pool of players to choose from in which Lampard is still high on the list, and rightly so as even at 35, he's still better than the majority. He still provides a goal threat even at 35. Im not a fan of his but at least he offers the team something. Barry offers minimal and even at his peak offered little more. similar number of goals scored in the league excluding penalties. But if we are going to pretend Barry offers next we have a long way to go.

David Luiz doesn't know what he's doing at CM incase anyone says he's good there.

He hasn't impressed whenever I've seen him. In the big matches David Luiz is getting the nod over him at CM. And they've just bought someone to play in his position.

Lampard looked every bit the 35 year old when we beat them. I think finally his engine is beginning to seriously wane.