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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
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Tbf, LVG was (surprisingly) really struggling with his English in the interview. I don't know if it is worth pondering each sentence too much. I'm not quite sure I trust the ' I need to buy a winger' bit.
I think quite afew players will be shown the door in the coming weeks. I would be very surprised if he doesn't try to bring in a specialist winger because his preferred system is 4-3-3.
He already refers to Manchester United as my club. 
Squashes the media circle of trying to hype up a battle with Mourinho in an instance in that interview. Says Mourinho is his friend and he'd rather focus on his team than worry about other teams/managers and that he respects all opposition managers. Good to see him shutting down the usual media trying to create drama.
Problem is we're selling average and trying to replace it with top quality and with Sanchez gone to Arsenal and Di Maria probably gone to PSG we're already going to struggle to improve on what we have
As has been the case since we closed the deal for Shaw we're done in terms of players coming in, maybe a few will go but no where near as many as people think i.e. Young, Nani, Fellaini will all still be here for at least another season
I could listen to van Gaal all day, when he speaks you take notice.
Nani, Hernandez and Fellaini could go if we can find a buyer. But if there's a winger on the market that LVG thinks will improve us going forward then I believe he wont think twice before bringing him in.
Yep but you can vet your arse they will beat it out of him if they have to. If he thought he could come to the prem and simply continue as Bessie mates with all the managers he's in for a shock and I'm sure he'll find his feet on the merry go round. He'll definitely be at other managers throats by the time he's heard someone slagging his team off for the 5th week in a row.
He'll get a rises out of the kind of managers who jobs will be on the line. Koemann is a disaster waiting to happen. They already reportedly don't like each other and all it would take is a snide comment from him.
Of course history shows that you'd have to be insane to take LVG on with words. It will be interesting to know what he says about another Howard Webb bottle job or a Martin Atkinson mystery penalty.
This.
Sorry, but as far as typos go, that is up there.
Yep, quite possibly. The link with Cuadrado is interesting as he can play both right wing and right wing-back, so effectively both formations. Di Maria will join PSG I think.
However, I do like the idea of trying the 3-4-1-2 to start the season as I think fielding Mata, Rooney and van Persie in their best positions could be potentially fantastic. I also agree with van Gaal in that at this moment in time, it suits our personnel best.
We're complete idiots compared to LVG regarding football, but it doesn't take an expert to see how absolutely shite our midfield is. It's not as simple as just saying 'oh sure LVG knows best'. I'm sure that SAF knew best too, yet as bad as it sounds, he's the one that let our midfield rot away into an embarrassment.
José is my fwiend.
Mata´s not really a winger in the mold of LvG apparently, so obviously we need to buy at least one for a 4-3-3, otherwise Adnan would probably be our best option.
I actually thought his English was a tiny bit better in this last interview than in his first press conference.
Does anyone know if Sky Sports are doing a big interview with him? Or was this the end result and they're never showing the rest of it?
Mata´s not really a winger in the mold of LvG apparently, so obviously we need to buy at least one for a 4-3-3, otherwise Adnan would probably be our best option.
I actually thought his English was a tiny bit better in this last interview than in his first press conference.
Does anyone know if Sky Sports are doing a big interview with him? Or was this the end result and they're never showing the rest of it?
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The most impressive thing about him for me is that he seems to analyse every single word he says, it's really hard to hear something idiotic from him, something, he'd have to backtrack on.
So by his words I guess we'll sign a winger but he wont rush it.
What does this even mean?
What does this even mean?
I'd guess it means he feels that the squad needs more signings, but he doesn't want to rush into buying a player for the sake of it like Moyes with Fellaini arguably, so until then he's playing a system which best suits our current group of players, even if that's going to change once we've got new additions.
That's how I'd interpret it anyway.
Good to hear he's basically already come to the conclusion that Valencia/Nani/Young are utter shite. And that the squad is horrendously unbalanced. And it took him what, 3 weeks? Took Moyes all season and he still didn't realise.
What I took from it is he's going with 3412 in the short to medium term but longer term he'll be looking at 433 - but only when he has the quality wide players he needs to make it work.
Yeah, I'd say that's fair. The 3-4-1-2 suits us best at the moment. I've got high hopes of it getting the best out of our front three.
Seems to lack urgency imo(not that I expect him to go "omg we need to buy now"), but the situation is kinda dire and no amount of playing a system will fix that
I don't know, although I'd rather he was willing to take his time and make sure we get the right players rather than panic buying and wasting money on a player like Fellaini that could be better spent elsewhere.
Even more impressive. He officially joined the club on 16 July and has overseen only 2 non-competitive fixtures.
At the very start he told the Dutch media he gave Woodward a list of players and now he says he still need time to assess the squad? The longer we wait the more fearful I get regarding losing out on targets.
The longer we wait the more fearful I get regarding losing out on targets."If we play 433 we'll need more specialist attacking players on the wing - and for that I'll have to buy new players"
What a blunt way to kick Nani, Valencia and Young in the bollocks in one sentence.
I'd say it's more when one of Rooney or Van Persie go off the boil/leave.
"If we play 433 we'll need more specialist attacking players on the wing - and for that I'll have to buy new players"
What a blunt way to kick Nani, Valencia and Young in the bollocks in one sentence.
And your post serves as an even harsher way of planting one on Wilfried's Zahas
To be fair i think he did realise, he was constantly on about being given time to rebuild the team. The problem was he wasn't a good enough manager to get results in the meantime, unlike LvG. Time being earned and not given meaning we had no choice really if we wanted to progress.
Look, guys, quit worrying about transfer targets.
We're in the hands of a winner. Whether he brings them in our promotes from within, they're going to embody his methodology. Even if we don't bring in as many as we'd hoped, we should have patience because we'll eventually get those that we need.
To transfer his philosophy from his mind to the field, it is going to require the right kind of player. If this takes time, it takes time. We're in transition right now and there's some excellent United prospects potentially threatening to break through.
We're in the hands of a winner. Whether he brings them in our promotes from within, they're going to embody his methodology. Even if we don't bring in as many as we'd hoped, we should have patience because we'll eventually get those that we need.
To transfer his philosophy from his mind to the field, it is going to require the right kind of player. If this takes time, it takes time. We're in transition right now and there's some excellent United prospects potentially threatening to break through.
That´s my assessment as well. He just wants to try with the people available first. He doesn´t want to rush into things spending loads of money before really experiencing what´s possible with the current squad. After he´s done a thorough assessment of this squad he´ll be able to spend his money more wisely.
Just like with the WC he has a short time to prepare his team for the season. Therefor he´ll go by with what he kwows: Van Persie, Rooney and Mata are the best players. He'll build the team around them for the time being. As long as it works it's fine. In the meanwhile he'll be assessing the squad so he knows what he needs to do when it's doesn't work. His transfer targets will either be players suited to 4-3-3 or players that are suitable to both formations.
Nice interview there. They were talking about the loss of experience and how he'll approach managing a young side so I got interested and decided to find out Man Utds average age since so many old players left (don't know where else to put this). Worked out that it's 24.1 which is pretty damn young!
Used these players:
Used these players:
Amos: 24
Johnstone: 21
Lindegaard: 30
De Gea: 23
Evans: 26
Jones: 22
M Keane: 21
Rafael: 24
Shaw: 19
Smalling: 24
Varela: 21
Vermijl: 22
Anderson: 26
Carrick: 33
Cleverley: 24
Fellaini: 26
Fletcher: 30
Herrera: 24
Januzaj: 19
Kagawa: 25
Lingard: 21
Mata: 26
Nani: 27
Powell: 20
Valencia: 28
Young: 29
Zaha: 21
Henriquez: 20
Hernandez: 26
W Keane: 21
Lawrence: 20
Rooney: 28
Welbeck: 23
Wilson: 18
Van Persie: 30
Johnstone: 21
Lindegaard: 30
De Gea: 23
Evans: 26
Jones: 22
M Keane: 21
Rafael: 24
Shaw: 19
Smalling: 24
Varela: 21
Vermijl: 22
Anderson: 26
Carrick: 33
Cleverley: 24
Fellaini: 26
Fletcher: 30
Herrera: 24
Januzaj: 19
Kagawa: 25
Lingard: 21
Mata: 26
Nani: 27
Powell: 20
Valencia: 28
Young: 29
Zaha: 21
Henriquez: 20
Hernandez: 26
W Keane: 21
Lawrence: 20
Rooney: 28
Welbeck: 23
Wilson: 18
Van Persie: 30
Van Gaal is right. We effectively have no wingers except a young talent in Januzaj, no back up right back (a problem because of Rafael's injury proneness), no reliable centre backs (all injury prone), and only one, perhaps two good enough CM in Herrera and Carrick if he recovers well and gets some form back (a big if)
Yet so many think we're going to stroll back into the top 4 and/or challange for the title.
We got a lot better chance doing that playing 3-5-2 as it suits our current personnel best. Even then we are lacking pace up top and a couple of injuries away from a defensive crisis. Oh and a Herrera injury away from a midfield crisis too. Really need more players in.
Dependent on making a few of the right signings, yeah why not?
Moyes wasn't good enough to build a Manchester United team either. He wasn't good for anything at our level.
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