A United win would seriously dent City's title ambitions but I want a draw which may also sent their ambitions, this is simply because Man U may start to gain confidence and although we're ten points clear of them we've seen those kinds of gaps be pulled back before

 

Yeah, that is another issue. Also, utd will likely strengthen in defence in Jan, so we need to make that gap wider between both manchester clubs. 

a draw is the best result for us here provided we win vs QPHAAA

Strange that we think United are doing quite well when this is their worst start to a season since 1990, they even had more points at this stage last season.

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by Jonty

thing is Jonty, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are all doing so bad, United are still in with a top 3 shout! best outcome is for both city and united to drop points. I really want united to fall outside the top 4 again just to see if FFP can force any penalties on them for over spending. missing out on the CL is massive for them. even if their global brand is massive.

I don't see how arsenal or liverpool are going to turn their fortunes around any time soon. They are both playing terribly at the moment and neither look at all solid defensively or offensively, and with sturridge coming out saying that he fears his muscle issues are hereditary and he admits he's injury prone, it's going to be difficult for them with balotelli not performing at all. Arsenal look unbelievably shaky and, without luck on their side, look like they can be beaten by any half decent side. This is the best opportunity for a team like southampton to take advantage of other sides lack of form and maintain their position in the top four. 

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by enigma

They will spend a fortune in January again

yes I think unfortunately united will only get stronger and probably will be back in the title race next season. I like them as a rival (love to hate them) however I must laugh at the hypocrisy of them saying we are plastic because we just chuck money at it. City have proved that money doesn't necessarily get you far, just look at their CL record. united needed massive investment after Ferguson left and its now starting to show just how bad they have been. believe me, they are going to get better... unfortunately.

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by Itsintheblood89

Strange that we think United are doing quite well when this is their worst start to a season since 1990, they even had more points at this stage last season.

 

Which is funny because they've played all 4 clubs that are currently anchoring the table, achieving 1 win, 2 draws and a loss.

The thing is with utd, they have an aging side. They will go shell out on more defensive players, but their more key players like rooney, van persie, carrick, fletcher etc are getting older and  eventually will need replacing. I think it will still take them another 2 seasons to reach the top, but with their current batch they can get into top four. 

2 CB's and a Vidal in the midfield and they will be right up there again.

We know they have no issue spending big and I'd not be shocked if they spent another 60-70 odd million in January.

Vidal just signed a new contract I think. I hope they make that Falcao deal permanent too. extortionate wages and a £44M fee for a player who is half as good as he was 3 years ago.

Yeah I don't see Falcao as a huge threat but then again he's only just back from a year out so might be a bit soon to dismiss entirely just yet.

Not many top players with CL football will leave in Jan so if they do want a world class player they will have to pay well over the odds.

If you go back through my comments once Chelsea signed Costa and Fabregas I knew what type of season we could possibly have domestically so there's no knee jerking going on here, I said we could lose the league comfortably, Go out of the cups early BUT I always pinned my hopes on a CL run, If Pellegrini can do what Van Gaal's Bayern did in 2009/10 and sneak into the knock out stages somehow someway, He may keep his job come next year, Why? Each year our revenue goes up allowing us to spend more and stay within FFP, The other factor? If we have the season we have, I can see us shipping off players such as Gael Clichy, Toure, Navas and bringing in around 30/40 million for them and then spending around £120 on the likes of Reus, Barkley, Isco, Rodriguez from Wolfsburg or Kieron Gibbs and re jig the entire shape of our squad, Pellegrini will either earn the trust of the owner and have him spend big or we will be searching for a new man and give him some players as a sign of intent for next year.

 

I have to say this is why I love this place, I expected to come on here this morning and see a wrath of 'We should walk the league' type of comments but its been nothing of the sort, Humble bunch of lads on here, Having said that, It would take a miracle for us to turn it around and Mourinho will make sure you keep the foot on the gas and win the league by 10/13 points.

Interesting discussion about Man Utd. It poses the question of, for all the well known history of SAF bringing through a crop of young players in his first and middle years at Manchester United, he left them with an ageing team and a team without (seemingly) a second crop (or even a few) of home grown players coming through. The result is that United are forced to spend very big to secure the success that SAF's end-of-reign team could not achieve once he retired. You can't argue with the facts of SAF's achievements but the poor state of the team after his retirement needs to be part of the story of his years at Utd.

Make no mistake, Ferguson left when he knew he had got that team as far as it could go. he then called upon David Moyes I believe because he knew the players left at the club were limited and perhaps thought that Moyes was the ideal person to deal with a limited resource.

Kinkladze - Re: your comment on us being humble - I think that most of us on here remain level headed and I don't think ive seen one post say that we are going to romp the league. reason being that we know all too well what happens when you get ahead of yourself. you only have to look at Liverpool at the tail end of last season, virtually having bus parades before the season had finished and then they monumentally f**ked up. I mean really big time, biggest bottle job since Newcastle in 1995/1996.

anything can happen in football and although we are in a very good position this season, its still down to the squad/manager to deliver the results on the field. all ill say is so far so good.

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by Itsintheblood89

falcao is already 28 (29 in jan) and, one could say injury prone, playing in a physical league. If utd decide to spend nearly 50 million to secure his services, it will be a massive decision that could affect them negatively (if he doesn't perform) when they could spend on other areas that need more work. 

 

on a side note: does anyone think that young, english winger for newcastle will become anything? looks a tidy little player, but haven't seen enough of him. 

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by enigma

Here's a point of discussion I raised with a United supporting mate earlier, is Van Gaal really doing a better job than Moyes?

 

Yes they're playing better football, but wouldn't you expect that much after they brought in Falcao, Di Maria, Herrera, Blind, Rojo, Shaw et al? Could Moyes not be doing as good a job or better if given this squad, and not having the burden of following Ferguson?

 

I also noted in the second half against us they all but gave up on trying to play through the middle and reverted to the Moyes tactic of cross after cross after cross.

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by Jonty

If you go back through my comments once Chelsea signed Costa and Fabregas I knew what type of season we could possibly have domestically so there's no knee jerking going on here, I said we could lose the league comfortably, Go out of the cups early BUT I always pinned my hopes on a CL run, If Pellegrini can do what Van Gaal's Bayern did in 2009/10 and sneak into the knock out stages somehow someway, He may keep his job come next year, Why? Each year our revenue goes up allowing us to uspend more and stay within FFP, The other factor? If we have the season we have, I can see us shipping off players such as Gael Clichy, Toure, Navas and bringing in around 30/40 million for them and then spending around £120 on the likes of Reus, Barkley, Isco, Rodriguez from Wolfsburg or Kieron Gibbs and re jig the entire shape of our squad, Pellegrini will either earn the trust of the owner and have him spend big or we will be searching for a new man and give him some players as a sign of intent for next year.

I have to say this is why I love this place, I expected to come on here this morning and see a wrath of 'We should walk the league' type of comments but its been nothing of the sort, Humble bunch of lads on here, Having said that, It would take a miracle for us to turn it around and Mourinho will make sure you keep the foot on the gas and win the league by 10/13 points.

Only a £120 for all those? :-p sorry I couldn't reaist.

Title is far from over imo.

Say you drop into Europa League but win it surely that will help you with FFP? Say you don't win the league but win the FA Cup would that and/or the Europa League not be enough to keep Pellegrini in his job?

Only a £120 for all those? :-p sorry I couldn't reaist.

Title is far from over imo.

Say you drop into Europa League but win it surely that will help you with FFP? Say you don't win the league but win the FA Cup would that and/or the Europa League not be enough to keep Pellegrini in his job?

It's a tough one Bobby, Pellegrini has a much better relationship with the Chairman and the Spanish CEO's than Mancini did, However the fans won't be as loyal to Pellegrini as they were with Mancini due to Mancini being the first love/the guy who popped our Premier League cherry, But in theory he should be sacked if we win the FA Cup or Europa League and nothing else. 

 

Regards to the £120 for those that i mentioned, Reus has a £23 million buyout clause according to Karl Heinz Rumennigge and ask Dortmund who they would rather sell him to us/Liverpool or Bayern?  If Real fail to win the CL players like Illaramendi, Isco, Khedira will all be blamed and shown the door, Isco on talent and age is worth around £30 million but with Real it will only cost £20 million, Barkley will be the most expensive since he's English, A starting bid would have to be in the £40 million region and then the rest is down to how Everton view that offer. Gibbs would be easy to prize away from Arsenal as we all know, Assuming they don't do something stupid like winning the CL or getting to the semi finals and give him belief that Arsenal can challenge for trophies in the future, No more than £20 for Gibbs and with the £20 million change leftover, A cheeky bid for Graziano Pelle maybe? 

Pellegrino's City form.... Roman has sacked managers for less.

Pellegrino's City form.... Roman has sacked managers for less.

 

Having said that, I think Abramovich's trigger happy days are over, Mourinho will be there for at least another 2/3 years regardless, When a guy get's you challenging for the title with Torres and can sell the Brazilian Eliquim Mangala for £50 million and players he doesn't want for £38 and £28 million respectively, It's hard to get rid of a guy like that.

It's a tough one Bobby, Pellegrini has a much better relationship with the Chairman and the Spanish CEO's than Mancini did, However the fans won't be as loyal to Pellegrini as they were with Mancini due to Mancini being the first love/the guy who popped our Premier League cherry, But in theory he should be sacked if we win the FA Cup or Europa League and nothing else.

Regards to the £120 for those that i mentioned, Reus has a £23 million buyout clause according to Karl Heinz Rumennigge and ask Dortmund who they would rather sell him to us/Liverpool or Bayern? If Real fail to win the CL players like Illaramendi, Isco, Khedira will all be blamed and shown the door, Isco on talent and age is worth around £30 million but with Real it will only cost £20 million, Barkley will be the most expensive since he's English, A starting bid would have to be in the £40 million region and then the rest is down to how Everton view that offer. Gibbs would be easy to prize away from Arsenal as we all know, Assuming they don't do something stupid like winning the CL or getting to the semi finals and give him belief that Arsenal can challenge for trophies in the future, No more than £20 for Gibbs and with the £20 million change leftover, A cheeky bid for Graziano Pelle maybe?

Really if he got you top 4 and an FA Cup and/or Europa League you'd think he should be sacked? Really can't agree there winning trophies consistently is a great habit to get into.

I was actually taking the mick because you put £120 and didn't say Million lol

Manchester United needs a proper rebuild rather than a short-term fix to appease its fans and the board. Ferguson retired with an average squad that needed extensive rebuilding and it wouldn't surprise me that he left because he lost the motivation to rebuild again considering how much he had achieved already and he had proven himself as being one of the best managers ever in English football. 

 

Whoever was the manager after Ferguson was always going to struggle with the squad they inherited. Unfortunately for Moyes he was the scapegoat and he was sacked unnecessarily due to the impatience of many. Van Gaal is proving that the squad needs extensive rebuilding. He's got the attacking players now but the defence still needs vast rebuilding. Until Manchester United embraces a rebuild they'll continue to struggle for the foreseeable future one would suspect. 

 

We rebuilt between 2011-2013 and it's only now we're seeing some great progress. It's amazing though that our rebuild seem to occur during a time when we still won some major trophies though. 

Manchester United needs a proper rebuild rather than a short-term fix to appease its fans and the board. Ferguson retired with an average squad that needed extensive rebuilding and it wouldn't surprise me that he left because he lost the motivation to rebuild again considering how much he had achieved already and he had proven himself as being one of the best managers ever in English football. 

 

Whoever was the manager after Ferguson was always going to struggle with the squad they inherited. Unfortunately for Moyes he was the scapegoat and he was sacked unnecessarily due to the impatience of many. Van Gaal is proving that the squad needs extensive rebuilding. He's got the attacking players now but the defence still needs vast rebuilding. Until Manchester United embraces a rebuild they'll continue to struggle for the foreseeable future one would suspect. 

 

We rebuilt between 2011-2013 and it's only now we're seeing some great progress. It's amazing though that our rebuild seem to occur during a time when we still won some major trophies though. 

 

That is what the best sides do.

GERRARD: Sturridge possibly the best English striker I've played with http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2814747/STEVEN-GERRARD-Daniel-Sturridge-blows-away-s-probably-best-English-striker-ve-player-with.html @MailSport

This is so funny:

"Playing for Liverpool is hard. The really big clubs - Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester United - don't suit everybody, and Liverpool sit firmly in that group."

"We're on the TV every 3 days, not once a month like most. You can't hide, being a Liverpool player"

Not a mention that the midweek games have just started after years of not playing them :)