They say it because Chelsea won the Champions League and FA Cup last season and the Premier League the year before. Of course they've got a strong enough squad to win the league this year.

Man Utd should get Cabaye.

Gil wrote:This is their team next season

De Gea
Valencia Vidic Evans/Camel Evra
Nani Carrick Cleverly Kagawa
Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
RVR

Yeah, maybe when we play Wigan at Old Trafford, but our first XI would look nothing like that against quality opposition.

Also, Valencia's positioning and heading ability is poor for a RB, he's nothing but cover, unless he's spent his summer religiously watching matches of the greatest right back performances in history.

Give Valencia No.7 just to play him as a RB.

Is Carrick counted as a DLP or a DM?

mtfootball wrote:Is Carrick counted as a DLP or a DM?

Both.

So would he need someone like Khedira B2B in front of him or a B2B playmaker like Modric?

mtfootball wrote:So would he need someone like Khedira B2B in front of him or a B2B playmaker like Modric?

Both against big teams, just Modric against small teams.

Kick wrote:Give Valencia No.7 just to play him as a RB.

We was going to give Debuchy the no.7

Plus you gave Sidwell the no.9 numbers mean f*ck all quite frankly.

MindGames7 wrote:

mtfootball wrote:So would he need someone like Khedira B2B in front of him or a B2B playmaker like Modric?

Both against big teams, just Modric against small teams.

So would it not be a better option to get a pure DM in, which allows Man Utd to play a playmaker CM just in front?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Kick wrote:Give Valencia No.7 just to play him as a RB.

We was going to give Debuchy the no.7

Plus you gave Sidwell the no.9 numbers mean f*ck all quite frankly.

Sidwell was a GOAT 9

mtfootball wrote:

MindGames7 wrote:

mtfootball wrote:So would he need someone like Khedira B2B in front of him or a B2B playmaker like Modric?

Both against big teams, just Modric against small teams.

So would it not be a better option to get a pure DM in, which allows Man Utd to play a playmaker CM just in front?

No. 4-5-1 is the formation that must be played against big teams, otherwise your midfield gets owned.

Carrick is just as good as any DM, off the ball, and he's just as good as any DLP, on the ball. He's wonderful. Watch some of his matches or look at some of his stats and I think you'll agree with me. It's easy to not notice just how much he contributes in both areas because he's a very subtle player. Him and Busquets at Barcelona are almost identical players.

Wouldn't Man Utd be playing 4-2-3-1? Similar to 4-5-1?

mtfootball wrote:Wouldn't Man Utd be playing 4-2-3-1? Similar to 4-5-1?

Well yeah, as long as you have three midfielders in the midfield area, the shape doesn't really matter much. When we were successful in the Champions League we used to play like this:


The more players that you have that defend well and pass the ball well, the more likely you are to win. Look at Barca / AC Milan / Spain / Chelsea / Liverpool / any team during its most successful period, they all play as many midfielders as they can fit in when they're against top quality opposition.

Carrick is awful off the ball, i'm not going sit here and let you get away with that lol.

He is basically the english Gago, very creative and great range of passing etc etc but put him under pressure and you render him useless and if he gets caught out of position he's not very good at covering or tracking back.

There's a reason why Man Utd suddenly looked better when Scholes came back because they had someone who could control the midfield and feel comfortable under pressure.

Carrick is a wonderful passer but defensively great he is not.

Hands up who knew who the eff Oscar was before Chelsea were linked with him. I sure as hell didn't

There'll be the usual die hard Brazil fans here who knew him from the day he was born, but 80% of this forum had NO idea who he was before a month or so ago

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Carrick is awful off the ball, i'm not going sit here and let you get away with that lol.

He is basically the english Gago, very creative and great range of passing etc etc but put him under pressure and you render him useless and if he gets caught out of position he's not very good at covering or tracking back.

There's a reason why Man Utd suddenly looked better when Scholes came back because they had someone who could control the midfield and feel comfortable under pressure.

Carrick is a wonderful passer but defensively great he is not.

Well you know I disagree.

If you're ever watching United, try just watching what Carrick does for the whole game, it's really interesting and I think you might change your mind.

All players are worse under pressure, unless you're someone really special like Scholes. Scholes can't defend though. That's why we should never play 4-4-2 against top quality opposition.

And Carrick is very good defensively, I just plain disagree with you there. It seems like you've made your judgement by remembering the things he's done badly and forgetting the things he's done well.

Chelsea fan at work "Yo Alex, we signed Oscar, man. That's a big signing for sure"

Me "Who is Oscar?"

Lex wrote:Hands up who knew who the eff Oscar was before Chelsea were linked with him. I sure as hell didn't

There'll be the usual die hard Brazil fans here who knew him from the day he was born, but 80% of this forum had NO idea who he was before a month or so ago

I did, only cause I watched the U-20 WC to see Coutinho and Oscar played on that team

Lex wrote:Hands up who knew who the eff Oscar was before Chelsea were linked with him. I sure as hell didn't

There'll be the usual die hard Brazil fans here who knew him from the day he was born, but 80% of this forum had NO idea who he was before a month or so ago

I knew who he was as soon as he started getting Brazil call ups in 2011, I like to find out about young Brazilians, especially ones who make the national team that early.

Kagawa, Cleverley, Carrick?

MindGames7 wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Carrick is awful off the ball, i'm not going sit here and let you get away with that lol.

He is basically the english Gago, very creative and great range of passing etc etc but put him under pressure and you render him useless and if he gets caught out of position he's not very good at covering or tracking back.

There's a reason why Man Utd suddenly looked better when Scholes came back because they had someone who could control the midfield and feel comfortable under pressure.

Carrick is a wonderful passer but defensively great he is not.

Well you know I disagree.

If you're ever watching United, try just watching what Carrick does for the whole game, it's really interesting and I think you might change your mind.

All players are worse under pressure, unless you're someone really special like Scholes. Scholes can't defend though. That's why we should never play 4-4-2 against top quality opposition.

And Carrick is very good defensively, I just plain disagree with you there. It seems like you've made your judgement by remembering the things he's done badly and forgetting the things he's done well.

As you can see by my post count i watch a lot of football it's not nothing to do with not watching him enough.

It's a common thought amongst most football watchers that Carrick struggles to track back once out of position, he struggles under pressure etc etc.

These are not really opinions, watch him carefully these are facts.

I just think your basing your opinion too much on stats

mtfootball wrote:Kagawa, Cleverley, Carrick?

That would be ok... Kagawa and Cleverley are pretty comfortable in possession and have intelligent movement, but when they played together in midfield in preseason they basically didn't defend so no my first choice would be 1. Carrick, 2. Fletcher, 3. Scholes, 4. Anderson, 5. Cleverley, 6. Giggs, 7. Kagawa.

Phil Jones could do a good job in there too but he was better at right back last season.

Based on last seasons' performances anyway. Kagawa was a very attacking player last season, more so than Berbatov, Welbeck and even Rooney tbh.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:As you can see by my post count i watch a lot of football it's not nothing to do with not watching him enough.

It's a common thought amongst most football watchers that Carrick struggles to track back once out of position, he struggles under pressure etc etc.

These are not really opinions, watch him carefully these are facts.

I just think your basing your opinion too much on stats

I must admit, I've often seen him struggle when he has to track back into a centre-back position, but that doesn't happen very often. Almost all players struggle tracking back into their own box, it's one of the hardest things to do. Overall, he's usually intelligent enough to make an interception before he gets into that situation.

People think he struggles under pressure, but really it's just because he's so exposed all the time in Ferguson's 4-4-2 alongside Paul Scholes.

1. United
2. City
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal

I did Lex.

Watched him at the Under 20 World Cup , then got a chance to see him in the 5 or so friendlies Brazil played before the Olympics. Never watched him for Internacional.

I like him, but I don't think he makes them contenders this year, I think down the line if they have patience, they may have a dynasty , but I still expect Arsenal to be better this year.