Yep, was a tongue in cheek comment about youth thing as I know its a subject that you and other(s) like to debate!

Only he and the board know why he jettisoned two top class, albeit not delivering, experienced attacking players and didnt replace them

Hopefully not one of those given a debut never to be seen again.

He looked decent.

So now you would like us to sign another striker, even though you have said previously that there would be no point as we only play with one up front, so it would be pointless in signing anyone else!

Make up your mind!

In the case you are talking about, maybe LvG thought he would be fine with the amount of strikers at his disposal?
He would have been very wring on that, but that might have been part of the reason for not replacing Falcao or Hernandez/RvP.

The young players would benefit from having a player of Falcao's former quality, they learn from that. Takes pressure off themselves and they have someone to look up to and learn from.

I agree, him and Varela have impressed me in the full back positions when they have been given a chance.

I am not getting my hopes up though about them getting more of a look in, if José arrives.

This is something that I have been advocating for a while, another experienced striker would do wonders for us on and off the pitch.

I didn't mean experienced, I mean world class. Talent breeds more talent, it raises the bar and other players raise their game as a result and can even play above themselves. With players like Suárez and Sturridge we had players like Raheem Sterling playing well and contributing towards our 13/14 title challenge, lose Suárez and they lose some of that drive.

Dont try to be smart, it doesn't suit you.

I have never said I didn't want another striker. I have said that when Van Gaal this season decided that he was only playing one up front and decided that Rooney was undroppable then there was no point bringing in another striker to not play either. Ive been through this a million times.

From last summer in order to kick on I would have replaced Falcao and Di Maria and I dont understand why we went from the situation of signing them in the first place to deciding we didn't need either of those type of established quality players in the space of a season.

Same diff. They needed to sign a goalscorer. I think its hard to deny that really, whaetever system they play.

The talk doing the rounds was that Borthwick-Jackson had some sort of panic attack during the Shrewsbury cup game, leading to him being subbed at half time.

They don't know what caused it but it spooked the coaching staff sufficiently for him to be missing ever since.

Oh yes there is that aspect to think about as well, and it would be great to have that extra body so that others could learn and improve from.
If say Rashford could learn a few things from having (frlm a purely hypothetical basis) Ibrahimovic around for a season, and improved just being around and playing with him, then that would be to our benefit in the long run.

No there's a difference between what's considered world class and experienced. Sometimes it can be both but not necessarily.

I didn't say they don't need to sign a goalscorer though, and I haven't denied anything.

It is nice of you to come round to my point of view eventually for once.

We have needed an extra for a while, we got very lucky with Rashford adapting to first team level as well as he has done, as really seeing as he was behind Wilson, Fletcher and Keane (and possibly even Powell) n the supposed pecking order for the striking position for our younger players, he really shouldn't have been as good as he was, so that was a huge break for LvG.

Bringing in another striker would have kept Rooney on his toes (and as we have seen LvG prefers Martial out wide rather than up front, as he had the option of doing so v Spurs, but decided in his wisdom to rather play Young up front than him), and it would have meant that we wouldn't have been scrambling around as we were for strikers when Rooney got his injury.

Not replacing Falcao (and in turn RvP and Hernandez) was a mistake, as this left us really short of options in the striking department, and we are still suffering to this day because of this decision.
Rashford, as good a talent as he is; is playing above himself at the moment, and we really could do with someone more experienced to just take the pressure off of him a tad.

Fair do's. Wasnt talking about you denying it, just any Man United fans in general.

Would you say Ibrahimovic covers both the world class and experienced tag? If so then he could turn out to be beneficial on and off of the pitch.

Possibly, yes. He'll be a gamble, of course, could either turn out to be RvP or Falcao but he's in that bracket.

I'd be shocked if anyone said that Ibrahimovic wasn't world class and experienced.

I havent.


He is playing only because of injuries. If we didn't have any injuries he wouldn't have been anywhere near the team and Rooney would still be up front on his own.


You are talking the same way as the last time we had this discussion and it no more true no that it was then. Rooney wouldn't be "kept on his toes" because Rooney is never dropped. As long as we were playing one up front in the rigid Van Gaal formation nothing was going to change.


It was only a mistake if we were going to play with a more attacking formation but Van Gaal has bizarrely decided one the way we have been playing all season. I would have replaced them and Val Gaal should have but then Van Gaal should be playing a more expansive game than he is.


Yet you have only just finished saying a couple of days ago that you didn't want a manager coming in and signing a striker that would hurt the development of Rashford.

Rooney played an hour tonight, from the bits I saw he still looks some way off being ready to return to the first team.

Expect him to play Saturday then. In goal.

Rashford as good a young talent as he is, is not at the stage yet where he can lead the line for a full season, so bringing in someone older, more experienced with whom he can learn from, and that can help us in terms if options to select from, as Rooney alone can't do it anymore.

He came off and went down the tunnel with a medical person, hopefully nothing too serious.

With Spurs beating Sunderland, and our win tonight, we only need two points from our remaining two games I think it is to secure the title, which would be a boost to those at that level.

I'd rather Rooney didn't come back anytime soon.

Yes he's been a great servant, yes he's broken records, yes occasionally he has a great input. For me though, the guy is shot and absolutely no good up front on his own.

This diabolical formation and constant messing about with people in the wrong positions is frustrating me more than anything else.

I mean FFS, Martial on the wing and Young up front. Darmian and F-M in the WRONG sodding full back positions.

I actually feel incredibly sorry for Darmian. He was heavily criticised for 2 if not 3 of Spurs' goals but the guy's confidence must be shot to bits. He is a very very good full back, an Italy international and he cannot get a sodding game in his natural position and is constantly either coming off ahead of his time, or coming on when it is so difficult for him to get used to the pace of the game.

I have seriously had it with LVG. Time for a clean slate and start again.

Yes I'm ranting, so sorry for that, but I had to let it out! It's just absolutely incredible to me how many ridiculously simple decisions he gets wrong. He is incompetant as far as I'm concerned.

Funny you should mention Darmian, for me he is the perfect example of how Van Gaal has mismanaged the squad. In his first few games he genuinely looked like the real deal. Since then he's succumbed to philosophy and looks a shadow of that player.

I struggle to accept that he's not good enough and that another manager wouldn't get more out of him, and the same applies to a significant number of our squad.

What would people here make of a potential deal for Ibrahimovic?