My so called "toys" were not "thrown out of the pram" at any stage, and I am not in control, nor would I ever be interested in being so, in what can or cannot be said in here, that is purely for the mods to decide, certainly not myself.
I have nothing to decide in terms of what posters say, I, just like everyone else, can only merely comment on what others say, no more than that.

Well I hope that Mourinho share my dislike of all pre-season friendlies and just uses it to put out all the players whose future is in doubt so that he can get a look at them, although as it's a nonsense non-competitive game it will tell him nothing.

Is "Mik" an official nickname then or one that you have just adopted?

Mik is just short for trying to spell out our new signing's surname that is all, it is just me.

Jamie Jackson, in The Guardian, is claiming that Phil Jones has been told that he'll be first-choice centre-half, alongside Smalling.

Darmian/Smalling/Jones/Shaw is the first-choice back four, with Fosu-Mensah, Borthwick-Jackson, Bailly and Rojo(!) as back-up.

He also reckons that if we get Pogba, he'll play alongside Carrick or Schweinsteiger, with Schneiderlin a reserve 'at best'. Blind would be behind all of them.

No mention at all of Mata, Fellaini or Herrera.

I can't believe that he'd put Rojo ahead of Blind in the pecking order.

Bailly not first choice, and unless Jones stops being injury prone, then that just doesn't make much sense really.
He must have got his wires crossed somewhere there, as I don't think Bailly would have swapped first team football to be on our bench.

It does make some sense.

I know that we've paid a lot for Bailly, but he's still very raw, apparently. The bloke hasn't played an awful lot of top-level football, so I can see the logic of easing him in.

Having said that, you're right about Jones being injury-prone, so we might see a lot more of Bailly than Mourinho would ideally like. Or Rojo (*shudder*).

Mourinho already said that he wasn't sure if Bailey was ready yet. Its up to him to show that he is.

I wouldn't worry too much about Phil Jones being first choice as he'll probably get injured again the next time he has to tie his shoelaces.

As well as being plagued with injuries he has done nothing during his five years at Utd to suggest he is any better than a squad player.

Can't just be me surely?

That's exactly the problem. He hasn't really been able to show anything to suggest what he is/isn't really capable of because of the injuries.

Even when he's had the odd stint of not being injured, he's frequently been shunted around the pitch.

We just don't know. In the hypothetical situation that would see him having a full season at centre-half, with a consistent partner, and under Mourinho's tutelage, he might actually show what he's all about.

A fit Bailly is far better than a constantly injured Jones.

I don't think chucking him in midfield was a great idea before Fergie left either.

If Jose can keep him fit (big if) then we should get a better idea of what he can offer, if he can't then it's time to move him on imo.

He has been here a good few years now, so sooner or later it will be a make or break year for him, it could be as soon as this seas, as José has no loyalties towards him.

The thing with Jones is, that whilst all we see is a a player that is always injured or pulling the most ugly faces, coach after coach seems to rate him extremely highly. Fergie claiming even he could be come the greatest United player of all time. There has to be something that they in the game can see.

If we take ourselves back 12 months we were probably saying the same thing about Jones, and Smalling. That Smalling improved so much due to to not being injured should perhaps gives us hope Jones can to.

As for Rojo over Blind, the writing was on the wall for Blind from the moment that Jose said he preferred specialist players. Prior to the sale of Evans I stated he was a international and people used the stick that he played for Norn Ireland rather than say England. Rojo plays for the the top ranked team in the world, so again we are missing something, as you don't get to play for a national team like Argentina by being rubbish.

I'm hoping and this is just me that Jose will bring in a system which will allow the players to be flexible and more natural, I think we can all agree LVG was more football by numbers almost. With that I think we have to give all the players a bit of a chance to prove themselves once more. The rigidity of LVG clearly effected a lot players performances, whilst helping others.

What he needs is just something that seems totally beyond him, a season with no injuries, that way he could show just how good he actually is, as currently we don't really know as his career has been so stop start with us.

Yes, that's pretty much what I said.

Jones isn't injured and I repeat, mourinho had said he doesn't know if Bailey is ready

Fair enough.


What you meant you say I think was "Jones isn't injured yet".....
We all know it most likely will not be long until he is once again.

ha ha, very good batudude.

how are you feeling today?

I think you are failing to understand.

F®¢k me... Jones has been with you guys for 5 years??

Evans could have played for Timbuctoo and he would have still had the same issues. He looked like a frightened rabbit at times which is not good for a senior player.

I don't think he's been missed tbh.

If t was going on for some eight years, it suggests that there were feelings involved..

So not just some sordid little shag.

Seems that you think it's yours though, judging b your needlessly sarcastic remarks.

Stop picking on batdude.
It is incredibly tiresome.

Especially when you are in the wrong.

Neither David Moyes or Louis Van Gaal were at all critical of him though.

Mourinho - now he is a total Machiavelian character.