It will be good once Rooney gets the record out of the way (he is I think only five goals away from it currently).

If there is a problem to be solved, that's Mourinho's job. It doesn't matter how often you 'outline' it, I'll be amazed if we don't see Rooney and Ibrahimovic as a front two, at least some of the time.

If we're playing a team sitting deep, there'll be no room to 'get in behind' through the middle, regardless of pace.


You were implying that anyone expecting to see Ibrahimovic not dropping deep was a 'moron'.

I was suggesting that I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay up top. Therefore, the insinuation is that I am a 'moron'.

Whether he does or not, speculating about it doesn't make anyone a 'moron'.

try to focus on what i actually said instead of trying to read through the lines and work out what i was implying, i said this ''only a moron would expect a soon to be 35 year old 6 foot 5 inch striker to be running in behind and trying to beat offside traps on a regular basis in a physical fast paced league like the prem''. Thats very different from ''anyone expecting to see Ibrahimovic not dropping deep is a moron'', which is what you posted above.


thats not what you said tho is it, this is what you said right here:


i can only go on what you said, not what you were ''suggesting''. you didn't specify in that comment how the partnership would work, if ibrahimovic would be dropping deep with rooney running beyond, or if ibrahimovic would be making runs behind the defence with rooney feeding him passes. all you said was that you could see rooney playing just off ibrahimovic, no mention of how the partnership would function, you didn't suggest that ibrahimovic would ''stay up top'' anywhere in that comment so its dishonest for you to claim that you did.


you asked me this:

i responded with this:


i was talking about how i expect mourinho to use ibrahimovic as per your question, if it turns out that mourinho does indeed instruct ibrahimovic to play on the shoulder of defenders in a style suited to a striker with pace then i am guilty of calling mourinho a moron, i am not guilty of calling you a moron. i was talking about how mourinho plans to use him, i wasn't referring to your views on the subject. you didn't suggest yourself that ibrahimovic would be used in the above way in any of your posts so you don't fall into that category of people, in fact you didn't specify how you thought the partnership would function at all...

I hope you're right but unfortunately I'm a little worried because of Jose's recent form of getting and playing Falcao after it's clear he was shot and so I'm with Banana on this one. I think playing Rooney and Ibra up top in the same team will hurt us, the way it did when SAF played both Giggs and Scholes in the middle towards the end of their careers. Ibra has never really relied on pace, so he still has his craft, but it's almost embarassing seeing Rooney trying to glide by players nowadays. Maybe further foward he'll have more joy but the only way it can work if both play together is if the team is packed with pace in the middle and out wide.


I'm pretty surprised you said that TBH. The only snail CF I can remember winning the PL golden boot was our very own Berbatov. And even he scored five or so of his goals in one match IMS. Harry kane isn't lightning quick but both he and RVP were faster than either Ibra or Rooney are now. Certainly Vardy and Ageuro's pace isn't an overrated aspect of their goal tally. Pace on the flanks is always desirable and in many ways, since I started watching united at least, this is our DNA, but what good is it having greyhounds on either wing if the men in the middle are blowing a gasket trying to keep up?


Yep. That's why I think there could be something in the Matudi rumours despite thier source. And I wouldn't say no to him even though he poses next to no goal threat or William Carvahlo, who seems a tad slower, but is younger.


Please. No one hates Rooney. Well, expect maybe Banana But surely even you accept that LVG's policy of playing Rooney like he was a first-team sheet tatoo hurt the team last season? Surely it's fair for us not to want the same thing to happen this season if Rooney under-performs again? No hatred involved. Just love of the club.

Rooney has become the latest scapegoat for some reason, well we know the reason why and it isn't because he was being selected last season. The only player who didn't get selected over the course of the season on a regular basis because of his poor form was Memphis, everyone else did. Yet Rooney is the hate figure, the scapegoat and in part I think that's down to the falling out with Fergie. It doesn't matter if he did or did not put a second transfer request in, he fell out with Fergie and the fans have turned on him for that.

Which would make sense were the same argument not true for the national team and I'm pretty confident falling out with Fergie would only have enhanced him in the eyes of the England fans.

Rooney wasn't reaching the standards required of a captain, top earner and main striker at a club the size of Manchester United and the fact that he wasn't ever dropped and was then moved to midfield was symptomatic of the falling standards. In one press conference Mourinho has warned Rooney in no uncertain terms :-

- You are a striker and will only play up front
- I want specialist players in each position not multi function players
- Rashford and Zlatan combined are the ideal age for a striker
- I only want happy players, if I don't start a player who thinks he should be starting he can ask to leave.

Rooney is in no doubt that to play he has to match the standards set by the other strikers at Manchester United and if he doesn't do that he wont be playing.

With the wages Rooney is on, I have no idea as to quite where he could possibly go (China???) even if he were to be come unhappy with his role in the side, if he were not to be playing.

He could go anywhere. There is nothing to suggest he needs to remain on his current salary.

I was a Rooney fan unti the last 2 years when I have seen him become less and less effective in any role given to him.
As captain he seems unable to motivate and does not pick up the baton and lead by example when it is needed.
The final straw for me was the meejah raving about him in a midfield role, particularly after the FA cup final, when to me he was totally anonymous.
Scapegoat or not, he gets one more season for me then happy for him to leave

Mourinho wont be carrying any passengers next season. If Rooney is playing it will be because he is on form.

I thought that 'Rooney playing off Ibrahimovic' was fairly self-explanatory, but fine, it wasn't explicit.

I accept that you didn't intend to infer that I'm a 'moron'.


I said that pace in a striker was 'overrated'. I didn't say that it was irrelevant, or even undesirable.

I don't think that Kane is noticeably quicker than Rooney is now. Latter-day Shearer adapted his game. Sheringham was never quick at all. Hernandez was pretty quick, and could finish, but was deemed not good enough.

All that I was saying is that, if there's pace in the team elsewhere (ie. out wide), then it's not essential for the striker to be lightning quick.

Yeah, it would be great to see the devastating counter-attacks of old, but I don't think that many teams can play like that, these days. Leicester managed it because they were expected to (and did) sit back. United don't tend to do it. We may be able to do it against the better sides (and we have Rashford for those situations), but most of the time, teams sit back against us.

Nothing to do with his performances then?

What do you think has been specifically poor about Rooney's performances, assuming that this is the assertion you're making?

The fact that he has had to move into the midfield for both Utd and England because other players have justified their role upfront based on their performances over his.

A fear of a lot of us was that Jose would be like Van Gaal and lick Rooney's arse and play him every second of every game no matter how bad he is. Van Gaal sold all Rooney's striking competition at the start of last season, saying Rooney would easily get 25 goals. Which of course he didn't. Lack of goals cost 4th place.

And when he was useless up front a midfield player had to lose his place to accommodate Rooney.

So Jose's words were celebrated by a lot of people! He plays as a striker and if he is as useless as he has been this past 2 years .... hopefully gets dropped like any other striker not scoring goals would. It'll be such a relief to see Rooney being treated like anyone else and not given special treatment.
In fact, after 3 years of managers kissing his arse, it will hopefully be a hell of shock to him this season to have to justify his place.

Fergie was edging Rooney towards the door, hopefully Jose finally pushes him through it at some point in the not too distant future!

Winning the FA cup after 12 years was brilliant, course it was, but Van Gaal referring to it as a 'title' irritated a lot of people cos he considered winning the FA Cup the same as winning a 'title' when it was winning a cup - obviously. Not at all like winning a title, (the title in this country is the PL) but it made him happy, which probably says something about the way he thought and why he said fans expected too much when they wanted to win something.
Not the attitude of a Manchester United manager. An attitude that Jose's got.

Mkhitaryan is confirmed. The official 'United (and sponsors) backdrop' picture is out.

Nice one!

Fair enough if it's only one striker that's slow. Can you imagine us playing with two Sheringhams? I think playing both Zlatan and Wayne will hurt us. Maybe Jose will be able to bring the best out of them. Maybe.


Oh dear. I should have said "no-one hates Rooney, apart from maybe Banana and Flukie". To say Rooney has been useless for two years is OTT bias.

Good news on Mkhitaryan. And he's already giving fantastic assists:

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Fe...2-05BADEEEB8EE

Nice to see signing number three done and dusted, number four might be a lot harder (and expensive) to pull off, but if we manage to do so, that will be a very good summer indeed.

Now to wait and see who leaves, as surely there will be at least one or two departing.

They have just done a "United Today" special on MUTV and an interview with him, so that is signing number three complete.

Yes it's good to sign players and improve our team, that is for sure!

I have to say have been impressed with our summer activities so far, we look to have done some good business, i just hope we can get Pogba and it will of been a fantastic summer transfer wise but somehow i won't believe that deal will happen until it happens. I think Maituidi would also be a good signing though i have heard that will only happen if we sell Fellaini, i would happily trade Fellaini for Maituidi, Mourinho is certainly wanting a better class of player than LVG ever did in his time with us, i hope it just works out on the pitch.

Is this fourth target Pogba or someone less obvious?

I think it's Pogba but would hope and expect that we have others if we can't get him.