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Post by Bestie on Oct 9, 2014 9:18:24 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29547836Sir Alex Ferguson: Louis van Gaal 'doing the right thing' at Man UtdFormer Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says Louis van Gaal is "doing the right thing" by building his own team at Old Trafford. Speaking to MUTV, Ferguson backed the Dutchman's decision "to clear the decks" at the club. Ferguson said: "He's got the experience and coaching ability to do that." Van Gaal spent more than £150m on new players during the summer transfer window, including a British record £59.7m on midfielder Angel Di Maria. And 14 players, including striker Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for £16m, have been offloaded since Van Gaal's arrival. Ferguson retired in May 2013 as Manchester United manager, but his successor David Moyes lasted just 10 months in the job. "Louis van Gaal has made a lot of changes and, thinking about that, actually maybe he's doing the right thing, to clear the decks and build his own team," Ferguson said. Van Gaal had a difficult start to his Old Trafford career, including a dramatic 5-3 defeat at Leicester last month. But since that loss, United have overcome a mounting injury list to secure successive wins over Everton and West Ham and move up into the top four in the Premier League. === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === Just me, or is this a little bit of, 'That idiot I picked to succeed me should have done it a year ago.'
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2014 9:23:20 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29547836Sir Alex Ferguson: Louis van Gaal 'doing the right thing' at Man UtdFormer Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says Louis van Gaal is "doing the right thing" by building his own team at Old Trafford. Speaking to MUTV, Ferguson backed the Dutchman's decision "to clear the decks" at the club. Ferguson said: "He's got the experience and coaching ability to do that." Van Gaal spent more than £150m on new players during the summer transfer window, including a British record £59.7m on midfielder Angel Di Maria. And 14 players, including striker Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for £16m, have been offloaded since Van Gaal's arrival. Ferguson retired in May 2013 as Manchester United manager, but his successor David Moyes lasted just 10 months in the job. "Louis van Gaal has made a lot of changes and, thinking about that, actually maybe he's doing the right thing, to clear the decks and build his own team," Ferguson said. Van Gaal had a difficult start to his Old Trafford career, including a dramatic 5-3 defeat at Leicester last month. But since that loss, United have overcome a mounting injury list to secure successive wins over Everton and West Ham and move up into the top four in the Premier League. === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === Just me, or is this a little bit of, 'That idiot I picked to succeed me should have done it a year ago.' Almost seems like it's the last thing he wanted to say...Compliment through gritted teeth
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Post by ManicRed on Oct 9, 2014 10:55:09 GMT
Keane was a legend.. now he is just a bitter sad dull irishman.. I must say this may be the general vibe, but Keane was a true warrior in even sense for us. Not going to argue that he was a warrior even a animal on the field. But all true warriors still show respect to friends and voes.. still doesnt change what he has become.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2014 10:59:38 GMT
It's a massive shame, as he was my fave player, and I'm sure many of yours. That won't change, I'll always respect him as a great player, but as a person he's a bit of a twat. My kids middle name really is Keane, after him. But found out it was also my Grans maiden name, so can also use it that way My cat is named Rooney too, he's 7 years old now so don't hate me, any other players you lot want to turn into wankers? I'll buy a goldfish or something small and name it for you
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Post by kstandhand on Oct 9, 2014 11:17:08 GMT
It's a massive shame, as he was my fave player, and I'm sure many of yours. That won't change, I'll always respect him as a great player, but as a person he's a bit of a twat. My kids middle name really is Keane, after him. But found out it was also my Grans maiden name, so can also use it that way My cat is named Rooney too, he's 7 years old now so don't hate me, any other players you lot want to turn into wankers? I'll buy a goldfish or something small and name it for you You need to be a bit more selective when naming your kids & pets. I've got three Labradors,Ole,Ruud & Jaap.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2014 12:19:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2014 12:45:56 GMT
Excellent article, feel free to move it if it fits better elsewhere, can't be arsed looking. No apologies for the length of the post before anyone starts, the Times is normally subscription, so suck it up. www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/the-game/article4232900.ece?shareToken=9458c1ef3de81446b9f910f10f80b078You might have seen the statistic. It is an eye-watering one, after all. Manchester United’s 2-1 victory at home to Everton on Sunday was the 3,704th successive match in which the club have named a graduate from their youth setup in the first-team squad dating back to October 30, 1937. There were five players who fit that category present against Everton – Patrick McNair, Tyler Blackett, James Wilson, Tom Thorpe and Darren Fletcher, and another two who have been with the club since the ages of 16 and 17 (Adnan Januzaj and Rafael Da Silva respectively). Up until United played Arsenal on May 1, 2011, there had in fact always been a youth graduate in the starting line-up, an unbroken run of 3,516 competitive matches. Those remarkable statistics were the product of painstaking research by two historians of United’s academy system, Tony Park and Steve Hobin, as part of a book called Sons of United, an illuminating account of the history of the Old Trafford production line. Park and Hobin will doubtless have taken a keen interest in what has unfolded at United in recent months. In the days after Louis van Gaal sold Danny Welbeck, Manchester born and bred, to Arsenal last month and signed Radamel Falcao, the prolific Colombia striker, as the England forward’s replacement in a season-long loan deal from Monaco that took the club’s summer spending past the £150 million mark, there were queues of people standing up to announce that United had lost their identity. Mike Phelan, Sir Alex Ferguson’s long-standing assistant at Old Trafford and a former United midfielder, was one of the most vocal critics. Other prominent former United voices followed suit. It was a feeding frenzy, a bandwagon that was fashionable to jump on but which overlooked a few significant facts. Firstly, that United have long had a habit of spending heavily and breaking transfer records. Sir Alex Ferguson did so on numerous occasions, notably to acquire Gary Pallister, Roy Keane, Andrew Cole and Rio Ferdinand among others, and David Moyes had spent £27.5 million and a then club record £37.1 million on Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata respectively. Secondly, that Welbeck had been sold not just to accommodate Falcao but to make way for Wilson, an 18-year-old striker who has been with United since the age of 7. And thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, Van Gaal was already in the midst of promoting plenty of players from the youth ranks. Sam Pilger, a journalist and author of Manchester United’s Best XI, pointed out this week that Van Gaal promoted seven youth players to the first team in as many weeks as United manager, a record that puts even Ferguson, one of the British game’s staunchest advocates of young talent, in the shade. It took Ferguson two years at Old Trafford to achieve that. Blackett, McNair, Thorpe, Reece James, Jesse Lingard, Andreas Perreira and Saidy Janko have all been given their debuts under Van Gaal. Wilson, Marnick Vermijl, Michael Keane and Nick Powell have all had playing time, too, the latter two now on loan at Burnley and Leicester City respectively. The critics might argue that the pressures and setup were different then. It is true that United were a different beast back in 1986 and 1987 but try telling Van Gaal that he is under less pressure now than Ferguson was when he pitched up at Old Trafford. Ferguson went on to build an empire, with a thriving youth academy at its core. Van Gaal is here to ensure that so much of that work is not undermined, to deliver further success and avert the troubling prospect of a second successive season without Champions League football. Desperate for results and a quick fix, it would have been easy for Van Gaal to shun youth. There are plenty of managers who probably would have. That he has dished out debuts like confetti probably helps to explain in part why Ferguson has been keen to laud the “brilliant” way in which Van Gaal has approached his new job. Van Gaal would argue this is nothing new. He blooded youth at Ajax with dazzling results, the team of Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert winning the Champions League in 1995, gave the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta their breaks at Barcelona and encouraged the development of Thomas Muller and David Alaba, among others, at Bayern Munich. Lesser known was his decision to promote seven ‘B’ team players into the first XI at AZ’67 – later AZ Alkmaar – for the 1986-87 season. The Dutchman was only assistant manager to Hans Eijkenbroek at the time, but with Eijkenbroek having to take a backseat as he battled hyperventilation, Van Gaal effectively assumed the responsibilities of head coach. The move paid off and AZ narrowly avoided relegation. Six months later, though, AZ began to run into trouble and before long Van Gaal, then 36, was out of a job. No one is comparing AZ to United or the job Van Gaal faced then with the one he has now but the story is instructive, if only for making you wonder whether, six, 12, 18 months down the line, the 63-year-old will still be showing as much faith in the likes of Blackett and McNair and whether those players will have turned a promising start into something more substantial. Van Gaal is certainly making all the rights moves so far, the excitement generated by the signings of Angel Di Maria and Falcao complemented by the promotion of plenty of young faces, but no seasoned United observer would argue that the future of the club’s home-grown brigade has been safeguarded on the back of an encouraging first couple of months. It is just too early to tell, too early for United fans to be crowing or the club’s detractors to be sounding the death knell. A long injury list has certainly forced Van Gaal’s hand to a degree and offset the shortage of first-team opportunities that United’s reduced fixture list, caused by the absence of Champions League football and the club’s premature elimination from the League Cup, might ordinarily have signalled. With United having only a game a week for the most part this season, it will be interesting to see whether Blackett and McNair can keep themselves in Van Gaal’s thoughts once the likes of Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling become more readily available. At the opposite end of the pitch, Januzaj – who is well advanced of McNair and Blackett in development terms – has already encountered the pitfalls of extensive competition for places, the Belgium forward’s chances having been severely limited. Wilson will be less expectant of games than Januzaj and understandably so, but while he got on as a substitute against Everton, the teenager will need more than a 17 minute run-out every six weeks for the first team if he is to kick on over an important next 12 months. A spell out on loan in January would probably do him no harm. In truth, the competition upfront is far greater than in defence. Marcos Rojo has plenty of potential and seems here to stay but this is probably as good as Evans – now 26 – is going to get and the jury remains out on Smalling, who seldom looks comfortable in possession. McNair and Blackett, while only 19 and 20 respectively, do not have established, experienced centre halves of the calibre of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic standing in their way. So United’s proud record of blooding youngters seems certain to be extended for some time yet. The challenge for Van Gaal and the club going forward will be to ensure that those players are not there simply to make up the numbers and create a slightly misleading impression of a buoyant conveyor belt of youth talent.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2014 11:15:19 GMT
Gobshite has resurfaced : www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/adnan-januzaj-is-like-a-young-wayne-rooney--manchester-united-starlet-backed-to-become-one-of-the-best-by-david-moyes-9788868.htmlAdnan Januzaj has all the ability and temperament to develop into one of the best players in Europe, says former Manchester United boss David Moyes. The Belgian international is yet to start a competitive game under Louis van Gaal, but made a total of 32 appearances last season under Moyes, scoring four goals. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Moyes admits that the 19-year-old is one of the best talents he’s ever managed. "Adnan Januzaj is, in my managerial time, the best young talent up there with Wayne Rooney," said Moyes. "You can see what he can become. When we had Wayne at Everton you could see the potential. "Adnan Januzaj has got all that at the same age as Wayne,” he continued. “He's one of the best young talents in Europe and he will go on to become one of the best players. "When we went on tour last year he was one of the pluses. He did very well. There was a lot said about him. We came back and within a month we could not believe the change in him - he could go past people inside, outside, to the left, to the right." "Wayne was different but in the same way as we saw something special in him at Everton we saw that in Adnan Januzaj. I can only see the boy going right to the top."
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Post by swimmityswim on Oct 11, 2014 23:55:01 GMT
Excellent article, feel free to move it if it fits better elsewhere, can't be arsed looking. No apologies for the length of the post before anyone starts, the Times is normally subscription, so suck it up. www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/the-game/article4232900.ece?shareToken=9458c1ef3de81446b9f910f10f80b078You might have seen the statistic. It is an eye-watering one, after all. Manchester United’s 2-1 victory at home to Everton on Sunday was the 3,704th successive match in which the club have named a graduate from their youth setup in the first-team squad dating back to October 30, 1937. There were five players who fit that category present against Everton – Patrick McNair, Tyler Blackett, James Wilson, Tom Thorpe and Darren Fletcher, and another two who have been with the club since the ages of 16 and 17 (Adnan Januzaj and Rafael Da Silva respectively). Up until United played Arsenal on May 1, 2011, there had in fact always been a youth graduate in the starting line-up, an unbroken run of 3,516 competitive matches. Those remarkable statistics were the product of painstaking research by two historians of United’s academy system, Tony Park and Steve Hobin, as part of a book called Sons of United, an illuminating account of the history of the Old Trafford production line. Park and Hobin will doubtless have taken a keen interest in what has unfolded at United in recent months. In the days after Louis van Gaal sold Danny Welbeck, Manchester born and bred, to Arsenal last month and signed Radamel Falcao, the prolific Colombia striker, as the England forward’s replacement in a season-long loan deal from Monaco that took the club’s summer spending past the £150 million mark, there were queues of people standing up to announce that United had lost their identity. Mike Phelan, Sir Alex Ferguson’s long-standing assistant at Old Trafford and a former United midfielder, was one of the most vocal critics. Other prominent former United voices followed suit. It was a feeding frenzy, a bandwagon that was fashionable to jump on but which overlooked a few significant facts. Firstly, that United have long had a habit of spending heavily and breaking transfer records. Sir Alex Ferguson did so on numerous occasions, notably to acquire Gary Pallister, Roy Keane, Andrew Cole and Rio Ferdinand among others, and David Moyes had spent £27.5 million and a then club record £37.1 million on Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata respectively. Secondly, that Welbeck had been sold not just to accommodate Falcao but to make way for Wilson, an 18-year-old striker who has been with United since the age of 7. And thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, Van Gaal was already in the midst of promoting plenty of players from the youth ranks. Sam Pilger, a journalist and author of Manchester United’s Best XI, pointed out this week that Van Gaal promoted seven youth players to the first team in as many weeks as United manager, a record that puts even Ferguson, one of the British game’s staunchest advocates of young talent, in the shade. It took Ferguson two years at Old Trafford to achieve that. Blackett, McNair, Thorpe, Reece James, Jesse Lingard, Andreas Perreira and Saidy Janko have all been given their debuts under Van Gaal. Wilson, Marnick Vermijl, Michael Keane and Nick Powell have all had playing time, too, the latter two now on loan at Burnley and Leicester City respectively. The critics might argue that the pressures and setup were different then. It is true that United were a different beast back in 1986 and 1987 but try telling Van Gaal that he is under less pressure now than Ferguson was when he pitched up at Old Trafford. Ferguson went on to build an empire, with a thriving youth academy at its core. Van Gaal is here to ensure that so much of that work is not undermined, to deliver further success and avert the troubling prospect of a second successive season without Champions League football. Desperate for results and a quick fix, it would have been easy for Van Gaal to shun youth. There are plenty of managers who probably would have. That he has dished out debuts like confetti probably helps to explain in part why Ferguson has been keen to laud the “brilliant” way in which Van Gaal has approached his new job. Van Gaal would argue this is nothing new. He blooded youth at Ajax with dazzling results, the team of Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert winning the Champions League in 1995, gave the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta their breaks at Barcelona and encouraged the development of Thomas Muller and David Alaba, among others, at Bayern Munich. Lesser known was his decision to promote seven ‘B’ team players into the first XI at AZ’67 – later AZ Alkmaar – for the 1986-87 season. The Dutchman was only assistant manager to Hans Eijkenbroek at the time, but with Eijkenbroek having to take a backseat as he battled hyperventilation, Van Gaal effectively assumed the responsibilities of head coach. The move paid off and AZ narrowly avoided relegation. Six months later, though, AZ began to run into trouble and before long Van Gaal, then 36, was out of a job. No one is comparing AZ to United or the job Van Gaal faced then with the one he has now but the story is instructive, if only for making you wonder whether, six, 12, 18 months down the line, the 63-year-old will still be showing as much faith in the likes of Blackett and McNair and whether those players will have turned a promising start into something more substantial. Van Gaal is certainly making all the rights moves so far, the excitement generated by the signings of Angel Di Maria and Falcao complemented by the promotion of plenty of young faces, but no seasoned United observer would argue that the future of the club’s home-grown brigade has been safeguarded on the back of an encouraging first couple of months. It is just too early to tell, too early for United fans to be crowing or the club’s detractors to be sounding the death knell. A long injury list has certainly forced Van Gaal’s hand to a degree and offset the shortage of first-team opportunities that United’s reduced fixture list, caused by the absence of Champions League football and the club’s premature elimination from the League Cup, might ordinarily have signalled. With United having only a game a week for the most part this season, it will be interesting to see whether Blackett and McNair can keep themselves in Van Gaal’s thoughts once the likes of Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling become more readily available. At the opposite end of the pitch, Januzaj – who is well advanced of McNair and Blackett in development terms – has already encountered the pitfalls of extensive competition for places, the Belgium forward’s chances having been severely limited. Wilson will be less expectant of games than Januzaj and understandably so, but while he got on as a substitute against Everton, the teenager will need more than a 17 minute run-out every six weeks for the first team if he is to kick on over an important next 12 months. A spell out on loan in January would probably do him no harm. In truth, the competition upfront is far greater than in defence. Marcos Rojo has plenty of potential and seems here to stay but this is probably as good as Evans – now 26 – is going to get and the jury remains out on Smalling, who seldom looks comfortable in possession. McNair and Blackett, while only 19 and 20 respectively, do not have established, experienced centre halves of the calibre of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic standing in their way. So United’s proud record of blooding youngters seems certain to be extended for some time yet. The challenge for Van Gaal and the club going forward will be to ensure that those players are not there simply to make up the numbers and create a slightly misleading impression of a buoyant conveyor belt of youth talent. the one thing i think we can thank moyes for last season is maintaining the academy record. whether it was done consciously or not, doesn't really matter but he didn't ruin that!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2014 9:20:48 GMT
Daniel Storey @danielstorey85 12m12 minutes ago Marca running David de Gea to Real Madrid story. Contract expiring in 20 months does need sorting soonish. Agent: Jorge Mendes, obviously.
If he leaves before he's 38, I quit
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2014 9:39:59 GMT
Daniel Storey @danielstorey85 12m12 minutes ago Marca running David de Gea to Real Madrid story. Contract expiring in 20 months does need sorting soonish. Agent: Jorge Mendes, obviously. If he leaves before he's 38, I quit I don't even entertain thoughts like that. He's staying!
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Post by originalskinz87 on Oct 12, 2014 20:08:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2014 11:08:21 GMT
Di Maria and Rojo are both likely to play for Argentina at 1 p.m today, should be a few streams around if anyone has some time to spare and wants to watch it
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Post by Stew on Oct 14, 2014 11:18:09 GMT
Soooo Keane said that United fans are all glory hunters who live pointless lives? It's a bullshit, made up quote.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2014 11:22:56 GMT
Soooo Keane said that United fans are all glory hunters who live pointless lives? It's a bullshit, made up quote. Real quote from the book : I liked the United fans. I thought they were pretty switched on, even when we lost – they’d be going mad, but a nice mad
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