SimonButtle

Agree to disagree mate seen Barca many times (live and followed them intensely since 2010after living there for a year). No doubt it can be impressive but most of the time it's boring for me

:jump for joy: :jump for joy: :jump for joy: :jump for joy:

Yay!
 
I can hear Marco's smile.

surely there wouldve been something from Whelan already if there was anything in it.

Im not so sure, i remember seeing Kone upfront, Maloney as a floating type forward, and as you pointed out McManaman against the fullback, that's a front 3 in my book, BUT tactics change so many times during the 90mins depending on the flow of the game, so let's just agree to disagree on this
 
Thoughts so far: I have loved watching us pass it about the pitch in both games but it would be nice if we did something with it. It appears we are no more clinical than we were under the previous manager. Jelavic has got until January to start performing imo, otherwise we ship him out, and in the first 2 games i don't think he has done himself a huge amount of favours so far, hard work yes, but the important stuff is still missing. I think he should play in the COC and if he has another poor game then Kone should start against Cardiff. One side point, when Martinez first went to Wigan he tried in the summer and winter window to sign Vic, yet since taking the managers role, Vic has hardly featured under Martinez, should we look to move him on and free up funds if he is not going to be used?
 
I also think Pienaar and Barkley need to cut out the long shot's all the time. The chances that Pienaar had to slide a ball through from the edge of the box the other day, and he chose to just shoot 9/10 hitting the CB. We need Gibson back in the team, but for how long he is fast becoming a bit part player because of his injuries, McCarthy(if signed) is really a replacement for Gibson rather than Fellaini, maybe that's Roberto's plan, who knows.
It's going to be a frustrating season for us fans, i think we could yo-yo up and down the table a little bit, part of me thinks Martinez is trying to change too much at once, and the other part thinks they are top class pro's and should be able to adapt, and if they can't then they know where Lime Street Station/John Lennon Airport are. All we can do at the moment is be patient and see what happens and look again at christmas time.

Still not convinced about him being anything more than a bulldozer but I'd like to get some more pace in the side, so a loan would make sense.

WBA came for a point, took a point, job done for them.
 
But for us, that was so disappointing. Tbh, it wasn't much different from a lot of what we had to endure under Moyes last season - slow build up, no penetration, samey same play all the time (knock it about, get it out wide and hope something happens with a delivery in), poor quality into the box, and then when something decent was put in there was no one there to put it away, nothing through the middle really, lack of creativity, play breaking down in the final third. The only difference being that we took more passes to get to the breaking down of an attack. If we can just speed up our play and add incisiveness then I think our creativity will improve no end, and we'll start getting the results we deserve. But, right now, it's no wonder we're struggling for creativity when we play so slowly and allow the opposition to get organised in front of us.
 
Even though we didn't play very well we were still the better side, got a clean sheet finally and should have won. That makes this result even more frustrating.
 
Cardiff away next, and then Chelsea at home... if we don't get our shit together quickly we could find ourselves in a sticky situation early in the season. That's not what we need when we've got a new manager trying to implement his ideas.
 
 
Howard - Was barely called upon but on the occasions we needed him he was fully up to the job and made a couple of great saves.
 
 
Coleman - Our brightest spark in an otherwise uninspiring attacking display, and even he wasn't all that good. Gave it a good go going forward and had a couple of attempts at goal, but could have done better in creating opportunities for others. My MOTM, just.
 
Jagielka - Shoddy. He misjudged high balls and bouncing balls. Just all over the place.
 
Distin - I dread to think what would have happened if he hadn't been playing today because he was covering for the shambolic Jagielka whenever WBA did actually threaten us. His pace was invaluable in recovering what looked like lost situations.
 
Baines - Barely noticed him in the first half but got right into the game in the second half and became a good attacking outlet. But, as has been the case for quite a while now, his delivery into the box was mostly poor. His corners looked to have improved though.
 
 
Mirallas - Incredibly poor up until about 5 or 10 minutes before he was substituted. Until that point you'd have struggled to even know he was playing, and when you did finally realise he was playing it was because he was fucking up another attack! It's been a slow start to the season for Kevin and I really hope it changes, and fast.
 
Osman - He didn't really do anything wrong in this game, but that's probably because he didn't really do anything full stop! He just coasted through the game and I really believe that him being in the centre of our team is why we're not varying our attack and are just relying on going out wide. How he has managed to play so many minutes in these first two games is crazy!
 
Fellaini - Since the end of this game I've heard plenty of people saying he clearly couldn't be bothered today and he wants out... And I'm wondering whether I was watching a different game or whether they're just seeing what they want to see. Because I thought he had a pretty good game for us and really put a shift in. He tired quite badly toward the end of the game, admittedly, but until then he put himself about, made himself available to the defenders so he could start off attacks, he passed well, he snuffed out WBA attacks.
 
Pienaar - He was very bright and involved all game long today. In the first half when Baines wasn't at the races he drifted centrally to great effect and caused problems, and then in the second half he linked up brilliantly with Baines and Barkley as well at times. It's just a shame his decision making was absolutely woeful otherwise he'd have been my MOTM quite comfortably.
 
 
Barkley - Didn't hit the heights of his Norwich performance but it was another encouraging display from him. He was energetic, composed, always available for the ball no matter what sort of pressure he was under, and he showed a willingness to track back and challenge which is something that has been a bit lacking from him. My one gripe with him today was trying to do too much himself. On three occasions he shifted the ball, and shifted the ball to try and work an opening for himself and then ballsed up the attack when all he had to do was lay it off sideways to a team mate who was completely open. I can accept it once or twice but by the third time you really need to have learnt and then do the right thing.
 
 
Jelavic - I thought he worked hard and did look up for the game, but things didn't really drop for him. I can't remember too many opportunities being created for him? Was it his header just before half time that looked like it was going to go in? If it was that's the only time I can really think he had a chance. And for the love of God, STOP GETTING PULLED UP FOR FUCKING OFFSIDE!!!!
 
Kone - Don't normally mention the subs but he deserves one. He looked quite dangerous when he came on and caused a few problems for WBA that we hadn't really managed to do during the game until then, i.e. stretch them down the middle. I just wish he'd come on and played with Jelavic, not as his replacement.

It's because we didn't show anything remotely close enough to the quality needed to break WBA down. I'd drop Jelavic for the next game and start Koné. Everything Mirallas and Baines did went wrong. Pienaar and Coleman at least displayed some effort, but they too lacked the skill required. As much as I love Coleman and his intensity though, he really isn't that good with the ball in his feet. Some failed step overs to go on to his left foot and drive a desperate shot in or if he's lucky he can get on to the outside and put a pretty shite cross in.
 
Oh, and Naismith might have been good in pre-season, he has been dire in the regular season again.

Wesley snipes from demolishion man coming on. Simon says score

I really hope Chelsea stick it up Moyes and United on Monday, and believe me im no Mourinho fan.

Interested to see Osman's performance today, will he step it up from last week in front of the home fans.

Bill has a real opportunity right now to get back in favour with ALL fans.
If he comes out after the game today, hopefully after a win, and says we will not be selling Baines or Fellaini this summer, regardless of how big any bid may be, we are keeping our best players while they are still under very well paid contracts he will gain a few fans. He can publicly reject every offer that comes in, make all the details public, but keep rejecting them and take the siege mentality he has shown against KEIOC and BU and turn it on these idiots who are trying to get at us. He could really galvanise the club and the fan base if he plays this right.
 
Jose does it, he convinces the players and the fans the world are against them when things get tough. Makes them really stick together and fight back. Bill could do just this, if he goes about it in the right way.

Dont get to many games, but heading down the m6 with my stepson (a baggie!!!) to take a seat in Gladwys Street.
 
Lookin forward to it...should be a good footballing game.

Love to get Moses and that Korean lad

I'm against the Barry signing for a few reasons (covered in the Barry thread) but if we're only looking to bring one more player in then I will be absolutely gutted if it's Barry. I could cope with it if he was brought in along with another, but only him? I just feel we need more from this window than what we've already done i.e. actually improve the first 11, which is something I don't think we've done in any way.

Post was interesting to that point .

Noooooooo...!!!!

Thank fuck we didn't get Delph, still hasn't scored in the PL.
 
Madrid lead Barcelona 1-0 in the Super Cup, Villa with a boss strike.

You can have as many mistakes as you wish, English is not your first language.

I think people on here might be bumming McCarthy up a bit too much, talking about him as tho he is a mix of Roy Keane and Bryan Robson, he is nowhere near all the adulation he gets on here.
 
I hope peeps are not disappointed if we do get him.

That he is, and in all honesty, you should probably see McCarthy as the guy to replace him long term. Gibson plays when fit. Which is rare.
 
£15m is high yeah, i'd be more inclined to pay £10m with all thing considered and i'd argue that additional payments based on appearances, caps, goals, shouldn't be over looked to a figure close to that.
 
He's classed as homegrown talent, so he comes at a premium.
 
Personally, i'd have loved Capoue and McCarthy together in the middle but that looks very unlike now that he's gone. I'd still want a tough tackler next to McCarthy, although he's very good at retrieving the ball from standing positions, I still don't think he has enough of aggression (controlled of course) and if a game needed if, he'll be one of the ones i'd expect to 'ghost', should things get a bit rugged.
 
Marrone would also be a good option, he has the defensive qualities that are needed to compliment McCarthy's game (imo). Strong runner too, so they could both pull out of CM, should the attacking options need reinforcements.

The Telegraph is reporting that ManU will return with a joint bid of 35m. In effect, this is 12m for Baines and the 23m buy-out amount for Fellaini. They suggest, though, that Tom Cleverley might be in the mix. Now, 35m plus Cleverley would not be such a bad deal.

I want a Gravesen type.

We should be in touch with Whelan now and basically agree a deal in principle (unless we already have done).

I had my fresh air taxed this morning, nearly took my breath away!