Manchester United 2016/2017 Pre-Season

Mourinho on Tuanzebe : "Sometimes you watch 90 mins, but just watching Axel Tuanzebe for 10 minutes is enough. He is that good. His potential is crazy".

Decent workout for the lads.
Pereira looks a class act. Its a crime LvG didnt give that lad a look in last season. You watch Lingard running around all over the pitch without actually affecting the match and then you watch this kid, the difference is astounding. Really think he will come back to haunt us if we let him go like we did with Pogba.

Januzaj, Memphis, Wilson, Keane. Quicker we get them out of the club the better its going to be. Depay just doesnt look cut out for this level. Perhaps his confidence is rock bottom. One way or the other time's ticking for him and needs to do something real quick to make it here.

Ma boy TFM looked quite decent as well playing full back.

Januzaj, Wilson and Keane, I agree, they are useless. What a waste of time Januzaj became... But Memphis, he is very talented, physically very strong, he just seems to have his mind somewhere else.

Mourinho's arrival should help him in my opinion. If not, then he should leave.

I hope that the Carling Cup and the FA Cup will be more for the young lads with Mourinho. He seems to care about these young players.

I liked the look of our new players.

Seeing Luke Shaw back playing was the biggest highlight for me. Oh how we missed this beast of a player last season.

And isn't it great not seeing that philosophical dinosaur and his clipboard in the dug out?

RED wrote:I liked the look of our new players.

Seeing Luke Shaw back playing was the biggest highlight for me. Oh how we missed this beast of a player last season.

And isn't it great not seeing that philosophical dinosaur and his clipboard in the dug out?

This!

I was very patient with van Gaal, maybe the most patient Man United supporter from this forum. But at the end, I couldn't take it anymore.

Now, seeing Mourinho and how calm and confident he is, I realize how fake van Gaal was. Fake is the word.

He was afraid of everything and full of hesitation. Man United completely lost its identity under van Gaal.

Massive improvements shall come with Mourinho. Not sure if he will lead us to success, but at least he has the balls to speak the truth even at press conferences.

Wilson not included. Seems like a clear message that says he can look for a new club. Sad it turned out this way. The way he was playing in u21s he looked so good and destined to make it big at United. Hope he will become a really good player wherever he goes. Lad's only 20 after all.

Varela and Blackett too, but i guess no surprises there. The news that broke some days back saying those 2 are going to axed in favor of TFM and Tuanzebe seems true. Varela especially can become a decent player for a decent side i think. He is brilliant actually going forward. Wish he was half as good defensively, we would have kept him in that case. Anyway best of luck for their careers.

Ashely Young is still there Forgot about him.

Ya lol. Hard to see where he is going to fit tho. His position is already taken by 2 expensive signings. So unless Depay is a goner Youngy might just struggle to get minutes this season. He is terrible on the right wing, otherwise could have played there. Like him personally, a great human being. But .. hmm lets see.

What's likely to be your starting 11 ?

At this stage of his career Mata should be a starter imo.
You guys are after Matuidi right ? Rooney behind Zlatan as CF I'm eager to see it.

Mata should be ideally starting above Rooney. But its not going to happen. If reports are to be believed he is up for sale (again). sigh!
May be we will keep him if he is willing to be a backup. He really likes the club.

Rooney behind Zlatan well, not too fond of that idea as both of them are slow and similar and might end up occupying each other's positions. Hopefully Mou can prove us wrong.

Most of our players were so inconsistent in the last seasons so you can't really say who's the best in a specific position.

You could have done it for example, with Evra, Vidic, Rio, Neville, Carrick, Scholes etc.

But now, the only obvious starters are in front. If the formation will be a 4-2-3-1, it should be like this:



I believe Mata is in better form than Rooney but they are both world class players.

I think Zlatan as 9 combined with Rooney as 10 > Zlatan as 10 and Rooney as 9.

A few words from Mourinho about the pre-season and the next friendly game against Dortmund:

"They are a team that has played five matches and a team that has five matches in their legs. They started training a couple of weeks before us and they didn’t have so many players like we did in the Copa America and the Euros.

“So basically they only have two or three players out, they have the whole team working together for about a month and I repeat they have played five matches. So I expect to see two teams in different moments of their preparation, but it is good for us because it is more of a challenge.

“We are not here in pre-season playing for points so if you don’t win then you don’t win. You try to have conditioning in the team and to know the players better. For example I want to see the different formations and different players in different positions with different combinations."

Mourinho confirmed yesterday if I remember well, that Bailly and Jones will start the friendly against Dortmund.

I hope to see Rojo in 2nd half. I like him, don't really know why, but I prefer him 10x times over Jones. I see more potential in Rojo, I like his style of play, the way he controls the ball, his offensive qualities make him look more clever than Jones. However, both of them are inconsistent regarding what's most important at a defender.

Valencia

Rojo

Lack of match fitness (BvB were more advanced in their match fitness by 4 games), humidity and a crap pitch played a huge part in that shambolic performance. I wouldn't read too much into it. Under LVG we beat RM and Barcelona, then went on to have crap seasons.

A big factor, a telling one in fact, is that Utd need to find a way to get rid of Rojo and Jones, both are (as per) a defensive liability- Just not good enough. Also Memphis continues to underwhelm. Makes the basics look tough, he should be worried about being sold this summer, imo.

I love Shaw! Bailley looks the business, although it's still early, he looks a good defender. Mykhi bags his first goal for the club. The only positives in the match.

This match will add more food for thought for Jose and I am confident he'll further address our glaring issues in the squad.

Both of them needs to be offloaded. Jones and Rojo.

I liked certain aspects of our play actually. Theres a lot more flow to our game from last year and its like the shackles have finally gone along with lvg. Its great to see. We have a lot of expressive players in our side like Herrera and Shaw. Unless we dont give them the freedom to do their job they wont perform. I think mou is giving that which is heartening really.

And as far as the final result, Its obvious team isnt fit enough especially for such hot conditions and BVB were playing their 5th game. So dont mind the scoreline at all.
Important thing is to keep on improving until that Charity shield game.
Herrera was really good and so as Valencia and Bailly and Blind. Rashers looked good when he came on. Luke shaw needs some more game time and he will be fine.

I agree with you guys. I didn't watch the first half, but the 2nd one was conclusive enough for me. What is more important for me is that Mourinho knows how to take the game and the defeat, he will manage to help the boys work at their fitness and create a decent form until the FA Community Shield.

He understands perfectly the situation, he doesn't put pressure on the players and he has patience with them. He mentioned in a post-match interview that at the moment he doesn't even try to "create a team". He just wants to create individual form for every player.

Leicester should have a difficult match against us! But until that game, we will have a friendly against City at Beijing and other two games after the China Tour!

Hasn't been the best preparation heading into the new season. Wigan, City match called off, then who? Everton v Utd testimonial for Rooney and the Charity shield against Leicester. If I'm missing a match correct me.

Galatasaray.

I think we were a little bit unlucky with the cancellation of the match against City. But I think the boys worked hard in China, they should be fine.

Waiting for Ibra

Zlatan arrived in Manchester and he is ready for training with the others. Darmian also returned to training and Borthwick-Jackson recovered from the injury and will be able to join the rest of the team.

Excited to see how he adjusts to life at our club. Hope he will be a model pro and inspiration for every one else in the squad.