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[Guinness]

Winning 5-4 away in a derby with a B team. I don't think I can't handle so much awesomeness.

Great, great game by FM star Neal Maupay (17yo).

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

World class players like Mata will help United but unless they fix their defence and CM we're going to see the same old shit when they play somebody decent. If they're going to spend big money they should spend it on the most vital positions, if they bought Mata and added a decent CB, CM and LB then I think I'd start to worry.

I generally agree but you kinda take what you can get in January. I'd be worried if those positions weren't dealt with in the summer, naturally.

 

[brokenbeans]

I'm sorry but I'm taking on the role of a doomsayer when it comes to United now.

Moyes do something to change me back.

 

[Salazar]

If they're going to spend big money they should spend it on the most vital positions, if they bought Mata and added a decent CB, CM and LB then I think I'd start to worry.

That's what's gonna happen, bro.

Laboured is right. January is opportunism time.

 

[Ushojax]

I generally agree but you kinda take what you can get in January. I'd be worried if those positions weren't dealt with in the summer, naturally.

Of course if a player like Mata is on the market, you buy him. I'm just curious as to whether this is part of a larger set of signings this window or just an opportunistic one. There are players out there if Moyes has money to spend on other areas, Hernanes for example.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Of course if a player like Mata is on the market, you buy him. I'm just curious as to whether this is part of a larger set of signings this window or just an opportunistic one. There are players out there if Moyes has money to spend on other areas, Hernanes for example.

My conspiracy theory with Mata is that United thought they could get Rooney to sign a new deal. Now it seems he has indicated unequivocally to the club that he will not sign a new deal under any circumstances. The club is now buying Mata as his summer replacement given that he's available now.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

Messi makes teams shit themselves. No other player I can think of has instilled this kind of fear in the hearts of his opponents. Ronaldo was incredible, but Messi is just insane. Well, in recent history at least, can't really compare him to other great players (e.g. from different positions or times).

He doesn't make good teams shit themselves. He prays on the fear of the weak. When he scored 4 goals against Arsenal, all four goals could have been prevented if Wenger had man marked him or our DM(I think it was Diaby or Song) was doing his job.

 

[brokenbeans]

My conspiracy theory with Mata is that United thought they could get Rooney to sign a new deal. Now it seems he has indicated unequivocally to the club that he will not sign a new deal under any circumstances. The club is now buying Mata as his summer replacement given that he's available now.

That ain't a bad theory.

Then buy the new defence in the summer.

 

[Jack cw]

Greatest of all time? The Ronaldo scored 40 odd goals when he was 18 for Barca. Took Messi time before he broke that. Had Ronaldo stayed healthy he would of had much more records. People seem to forget how great he was.

Also Messi isn't the greatest footballer. Totti, Zidane, Maradona would easily out play him. Messi is an unbealievable finisher and dribbler, but he is not the greatest footballer. The others do things Messi can only dream of.

Chubby Ronaldo was indeed incredible but we never know what could have happened if he hadnt had his injuries. All specualation. Fact is, Messi is the most skilled football player to date because of his finishing and technique. He decides matches alone and his contribution leads his team to win something. All those midfielders you mentioned are among the best ever, but Messi is like the Michael Jordan of football.

 

[arkon]

It's not just his finishing and dribbling though. He's got the vision and the passing ability to split defences. It's what separates from the likes of CRonaldo.

 

[dc89]

U16 match today between City & Barca.
If you fancy watching some foetus' play football you can do so on Barca's YouTube channel.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Juve are you going to fucking buy Nani or what?

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Think Murray's done

Federer's forehand is still one of the best things to watch in sport

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

Chubby Ronaldo was indeed incredible but we never know what could have happened if he hadnt had his injuries. All specualation. Fact is, Messi is the most skilled football player to date because of his finishing and technique. He decides matches alone and his contribution leads his team to win something. All those midfielders you mentioned are among the best ever, but Messi is like the Michael Jordan of football.

Messi is great simply because of the goal numbers. Maradona can do everything Messi can do and more. Maradona was playing against some of the greatest defenders of all time in an era when the laws of the game favoured defenders. You just got to touch Messi and the ref will call a foul. Maradona made Napoli relevant and took Argentina to two world cup finals in a row.

Spoiler

I will give you a tenner if you can name anyone else on those Argentina teams.

if he had been eligible for the Ballon d'or he would have won five or six in a row,

 

[FootballFan]

look at barcas weaknesses, set pieces, lack of height, getting powered off the ball and physicality. things bayern exposed last year. yaya gives you all of those as well as pace on the break. you think he gets muscled off by muller letting alba to get exposed and shit on?

when he is stomping on your throats in the champions league in a few months, you'll see how pep crippled your team by selling him off. biscuits maybe a better pure defender, but yaya would make your team more complete and fill more voids. that's why you bought song in an attempt to fix those things after fucking up what you already had

We won the Cl after yaya was sold too you know... and song was brought in to replace keita, not yaya.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Messi is only good at dribbling and finishing? Nonsense.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Messi is great simply because of the goal numbers. Maradona can do everything Messi can do and more. Maradona was playing against some of the greatest defenders of all time in an era when the laws of the game favoured defenders. You just got to touch Messi and the ref will call a foul. Maradona made Napoli relevant and took Argentina to two world cup finals in a row.

Spoiler

I will give you a tenner if you can name anyone else on those Argentina teams.

if he had been eligible for the Ballon d'or he would have won five or six in a row,

Fucking hell.

 

[GHG]

Seriously, who gives a fuck about Messi? Ronaldo is the GOAT as proven by him winning the Ballon D'Or last week.

Beating the former GOAT makes him the new GOAT by default.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Seriously, who gives a fuck about Messi? Ronaldo is the GOAT as proven by him winning the Ballon D'Or last week.

Beating the former GOAT makes him the new GOAT by default.

I don't think you quite comprehend the meaning of 'greatest of all time' in the context of an annual award.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

Seriously, who gives a fuck about Messi? Ronaldo is the GOAT as proven by him winning the Ballon D'Or last week.

Beating the former GOAT makes him the new GOAT by default.

haha, Scottish logic

Spoiler

Scotland claimed to be the best in the world because they beat England after the 66 World Cup

Also Ronaldo didn't beat Totti

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Decent post from Red Spen on RAWK

When we won the champions league in 2005 the next transfer window represented our best chance in years to close the gap in the premier league we didn't and finished 3rd and the following season 4th (21 points behind) and this began a steady decline in terms of league placing's over the next few years. We now stand at the threshold of the most important transfer window probably since 2005 in terms of what it means for the football club IMO... We invest well now in a couple of key positions then we have every chance of finishing 4th and bringing in all the riches that come with it and in turn keeping out the likes of United, Spurs and Everton which sets them back massively.

Spurs have one of strongest squads in the league and did all their business in the summer and have 2 players in every position. Everton have brought in Mcgeady and on the verge of replacing Jelavic while United are on the brink of signing Mata which will be a big shot in the arm for them.

If we fail to strengthen while others around us are bringing in players to go straight into their first XI's its going to make our task doubly difficult. I am much happier about the way we are conducting our transfer business watching every single penny we spend BUT if there is one window to maybe overspend by the odd million here or there its this one as its not just about us finishing 4th its about what it does to the other teams chasing that spot.... We could cement that position for the next few years just by purchasing well this window.

The manager and players have done remarkably well so far this season but the fine margins between success and failure are thinner than ever this season.

I would hate for us to look back over next few years and say "if only we had strengthened that January when we were 4th"

In my opinion its a massive 9 days for this football club as this season more than any in the last few years gives us the opportunity to be rubbing shoulders with the European elite and having more chance of signing players like Costa and Willian than having to settle for Moses and Cissokho on loan.......

Disagree with the 'most important transfer window since 2005' point though, since we seem to say that every window. For me, the most important was summer 2009. We needed to replace Alonso and add players to give us another title push/win it. But we failed to sign backup for the increasingly injury-prone Torres, replaced Alonso with Aquilani, failed to sign a leftback to cover the injury-prone Aurelio, and didn't have anyone to cover Johnson since Arbeloa and Finnan had left.

Riera and/or Kuyt should have been improved on as well

 

[Clegg]

MATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATA

 

[GHG]

I don't think you quite comprehend the meaning of 'greatest of all time' in the context of an annual award.

I forgot to also note that Ronaldo winning the Ballon D'Or also makes him better than another supposed GOAT Maradonna as he never even won a Ballon D'Or.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

MATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATAMATA

MOYES

I forgot to also note that Ronaldo winning the Ballon D'Or also makes him better than another supposed GOAT Maradonna as he never even won a Ballon D'Or.

Does it make him better than Ozil though?

 

[Fintan]

I'm wondering if the whole Mata thing will turn into another Thiago situation.

Let's hope so.

 

[FootballFan]

Greatest of all time? The Ronaldo scored 40 odd goals when he was 18 for Barca. Took Messi time before he broke that. Had Ronaldo stayed healthy he would of had much more records. People seem to forget how great he was.

Also Messi isn't the greatest footballer. Totti, Zidane, Maradona would easily out play him. Messi is an unbealievable finisher and dribbler, but he is not the greatest footballer. The others do things Messi can only dream of.

Would have/could have, there's no way of knowing if without the injuries ronaldo would have kept it up at that rate or even improved, we compare with what we had, not with what could have been.

Fact is messi has done better than fat ronaldo career-wise, is it because of injuries? Maybe, but he has done better and that's what matters.

You can talk about could haves and would haves all day. In the end that is what they are, could haves.

To say messi is not up there with the very very greats is just a joke at this point, he is still 26 and has another 10 years to break more records and move even further above the rank in the list of greatest players.

It's always like this though, people always afraid to say a player they are watching is better than their childhood heroes, so I understand your point of view and will just disagree and leave it there.

 

[GHG]

MOYES



Does it make him better than Ozil though?

Well Ronaldo voted for Ozil so...

 

[Clegg]

MOYES

Sorry.

I needed to get that out of my system.

 

[Jack cw]

Messi is great simply because of the goal numbers. Maradona can do everything Messi can do and more. Maradona was playing against some of the greatest defenders of all time in an era when the laws of the game favoured defenders. You just got to touch Messi and the ref will call a foul. Maradona made Napoli relevant and took Argentina to two world cup finals in a row.

Spoiler

I will give you a tenner if you can name anyone else on those Argentina teams.

if he had been eligible for the Ballon d'or he would have won five or six in a row,

Dafuq. Argentina played some of the most defensive football ever in 1986 and that led Diego to have space in midfield after they won the ball. He would be pretty average today as we never know how all of them would perform in current football. Besides Argentina had some decent players in their international squad and I remember Valdano, Ruggeri, Burruchaga or Enrique. Also, their coach was pretty good setting Diego to the 10. Anyway, Messi is a league better than Maradonna.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Let's hope so.

Yeah. I think it's happening though

It's always like this though, people always afraid to say a player they are watching is better than their childhood heroes, so I understand your point of view and will just disagree and leave it there.

Far too respectful

If you don't think Messi is one of the GOATs, top 5 at least, you're a mug and shouldn't be watching football.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

To say messi is not up there with the very very greats is just a joke at this point, he is still 26 and has another 10 years to break more records and move even further above the rank in the list of greatest players.

haha, Messi is already starting to break down. You give HGH to a 13 year old that is what is gonna happen. Messi will be longer retired before 10 years are up.

It's always like this though, people always afraid to say a player they are watching is better than their childhood heroes, so I understand your point of view and will just disagree and leave it there.

It works the otherway too.

Dafuq. Argentina played some of the most defensive football ever in 1986 and that led Diego to have space in midfield after they won the ball. He would be pretty average today as we never know how all of them would perform in current football. Besides Argentina had some decent players in their international squad and I remember Valdano, Ruggeri, Burruchaga or Enrique. Also, their coach was pretty good setting Diego to the 10. Anyway, Messi is a league better than Maradonna.

Decent but not great players. They had to play defensive because they were shite. Without Maradona they would not have won the WC or got back to the final. Maradona was playing against the likes of Baresi for years and making him look ordinary. If Maradona played today he would be unstoppable. Maradonna was constantly being hacked to pieces, today that shit isn't allowed.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

Yeah. I think it's happening though



Far too respectful

If you don't think Messi is one of the GOATs, top 5 at least, you're a mug and shouldn't be watching football.

He has been the greatest goalscorer of the past 10 years. That is a fact. Beyond that pls. Maradona wouldn't even bother getting out of bed to play against the likes of Ramos. Would be too easy for him.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

He has been the greatest goalscorer of the past 10 years. That is a fact. Beyond that pls. Maradona wouldn't even bother getting out of bed to play against the likes of Ramos. Would be too easy for him.

Maradona wouldn't be able to handle the fitness demands of modern football

 

[FootballFan]

He doesn't make good teams shit themselves. He prays on the fear of the weak. When he scored 4 goals against Arsenal, all four goals could have been prevented if Wenger had man marked him or our DM(I think it was Diaby or Song) was doing his job.

You do realise every goal ever could be prevented if the coach, defenders and goalkeeper did the right thing every time, right?

Goals are scored by attackers forcing defenders and goalkeepers to make mistakes. A good attacker will take advantage and force the defenders to make many them. Messi did that 4 times vs arsenal.

If almunia didn't rush, he wouldn't have been chipped, if nasri didn't touch the ball it wouldn't have bounced back to messi, if abidals run was covered the ball wouldn't have got to him to cross it in, if eboue stood further forward messi would have been offside etc.

Again, just could haves, should haves and would haves.

Ill give you a nice could have, if that goat(literally goat) maradona didn't coach Argentina in 2010, they could have won the world cup. I can do it too! But wait, let me guess, you wont talk about the could have for that, you'll only talk about what actually happened...since that is what matters.

 

[Jack cw]

Decent but not great players. They had to play defensive because they were shite. Without Maradona they would not have won the WC or got back to the final. Maradona was playing against the likes of Baresi for years and making him look ordinary. If Maradona played today he would be unstoppable. Maradonna was constantly being hacked to pieces, today that shit isn't allowed.

Thats a really strong theory you have there. So Greece was the greatest squad of all time, because they were more than shit and played defensive and won the EC cup in 2004? There were some great defenders in the late 80s and begining of the 90s, but so does Messi. This guy plays constantly against some of the best defenders and defensive midfielders and is able to score.

 

[GHG]

You do realise every goal ever could be prevented if the coach, defenders and goalkeeper did the right thing every time, right?

Goals are scored by attackers forcing defenders and goalkeepers to make mistakes. A good attacker will take advantage and force the defenders to make many them. Messi did that 4 times vs arsenal.

If almunia didn't rush, he wouldn't have been chipped, if nasri didn't touch the ball it wouldn't have bounced back to messi, if abidals run was covered the ball wouldn't have got to him to cross it in, if eboue stood further forward messi would have been offside etc.

Again, just could haves, should haves and would haves.

Ill give you a nice could have, if that goat(literally goat) maradona didn't coach Argentina in 2010, they could have won the world cup. I can do it too! But wait, let me guess, you wont talk about the could have for that, you'll only talk about what actually happened...since that is what matters.

Really guys...? Really!?!

 

[Salazar]

Maradona wouldn't even bother getting out of bed to play against the likes of Ramos. Would be too easy for him.

All those amphetamines and you think he slept in ?

Not gonna accept Maradona. It'd be like calling Flo Jo GOAT track athlete.

 

[bjaelke]

Samed Yesil's season is over after the Liverpool FC striker ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament for the second time in a year.

£1m suddenly doesn't sound like a steal

 

[The_Hitcher89]

£1m suddenly doesn't sound like a steal

Didn't that happen like a month ago?

 

[FootballFan]

Really guys...? Really!?!

They could have mate. We'll never know. Its the best thing about could have's

 

[The_Hitcher89]

They could have mate. We'll never know. Its the best thing about could have's

If we had Altidore and Jerome instead of Suarez and Sturridge, we could be top of the league

 

[GHG]

They could have mate. We'll never know. Its the best thing about could have's

England could have won the upcoming World Cup if Walcott didn't get injured and ruled out.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

England could have won the upcoming World Cup if Walcott didn't get injured and ruled out.

That's why we'll be winning it, with Sterling breaking all kinds of goalscoring and statistical records

 

[Milchmonster]

£1m suddenly doesn't sound like a steal

It's not like this couldn't happen to a 30m signing. It was still a steal considering he was the highest rated young striker in Germany with no health problems at all two years ago.

 

[GHG]

That's why we'll be winning it, with Sterling breaking all kinds of goalscoring and statistical records

Sterling to become the new GOAT. Could have been Walcott if he didn't get injured though.

 

[FootballFan]

We could have beat bayern if messi was 100% fit.








Too far?

 

[The_Hitcher89]

He's gonna break records like Moyes.

Ribery? Meh. Robben? Pfft. Muller? lol. Sterling? YES MOYES



The Lean Mean Dream Machine gonna spark out France, Holland and Germany in the knockout rounds

Spoiler

If that's possible in the draw

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

You do realise every goal ever could be prevented if the coach, defenders and goalkeeper did the right thing every time, right?

Goals are scored by attackers forcing defenders and goalkeepers to make mistakes. A good attacker will take advantage and force the defenders to make many them. Messi did that 4 times vs arsenal.

If almunia didn't rush, he wouldn't have been chipped, if nasri didn't touch the ball it wouldn't have bounced back to messi, if abidals run was covered the ball wouldn't have got to him to cross it in, if eboue stood further forward messi would have been offside etc.

Again, just could haves, should haves and would haves.

Ill give you a nice could have, if that goat(literally goat) maradona didn't coach Argentina in 2010, they could have won the world cup. I can do it too! But wait, let me guess, you wont talk about the could have for that, you'll only talk about what actually happened...since that is what matters.

Thats a really strong theory you have there. So Greece was the greatest squad of all time, because they were more than shit and played defensive and won the EC cup in 2004? There were some great defenders in the late 80s and begining of the 90s, but so does Messi. This guy plays constantly against some of the best defenders and defensive midfielders and is able to score.

Greece were a well organised team, that's why they won. They didn't make stupid mistakes.

Anyways this guy would love to meet Messi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk1iRg4Xt-M

He would kill Messi and only get a yellow.

 

[Ushojax]

That's why we'll be winning it, with Sterling breaking all kinds of goalscoring and statistical records

You are forgetting England legend Andros Townsend.

 

[GHG]

Ribery? Meh. Robben? Pfft. Muller? lol. Sterling? YES MOYES



The Lean Mean Dream Machine gonna spark out France, Holland and Germany in the knockout rounds

Spoiler

If that's possible in the draw

Joel Campbell will dump Sterling on his arse so that won't be happening.