News: The 2017/18 Season Preview, Discussion & Review Thread [R]

Aside from December there doesnt seem to be a tough stretch.

 

Last two matches look result friendly if we're in the hunt...

 

1. Shouldn't this be a Preview thread (and not Review)?

2. I motion for this to be a sticky thread.

 

I'll wager that at least 15 of the fixtures will be changed because of TV coverage.....

 

Don't underestimate the recent talents of united.

 

If you close your eyes and focus you can actually hear the sound of squandered chances and dropped points.

 

Nah Perisic is gonna change all that.

 

The 2017/18 #PL season will kick-off on Friday 11 August at 1945 BST with @Arsenal v @LCFC

Aug/Sep UK TV picks: https://t.co/n0KG7m3AvQ pic.twitter.com/iDvfcXqW3K

— Premier League (@premierleague) July 6, 2017

 

Five questions to determine the success of Manchester United’s season

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jul/09/manchester-united-jose-mourinho-romelu-lukaku

 

The question worth discussing is #3:

3) Who else will Mourinho hope to add while in the US?
A holding midfielder, a high-grade attacking forward and (possibly) a full‑back remain on Mourinho’s shopping list – in this order. Given how United outfoxed Chelsea for Lukaku, the west London club are resistant to allowing Matic to be sold to United and so strengthen Mourinho’s squad. Another school of thought is that Matic has never been the 54-year-old’s first choice, anyway. All of which means Mourinho has revived interest in Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier. The manager fielded no regular No10 last term, switching between Wayne Rooney, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard. Beyond Rashford, he could look at Real’s James Rodríguez, who has previously been played down as a target but, as Lukaku and now Dier show, things change in football.​

Since this was written we scratch James out of the speculation, which never made that much sense anyway. I like Dier but I'd hate to see us get fleeced by Levy -- better to bring in Fabinho and/or Wiegl anyway. As for a fullback I don't really see a need there unless we've given up all hope on Shaw.

More attention needs to be paid to the potential contribution of young(ish) players like Pereira and Fosu-Mensah. No one knows the answer but when we think about new signings we ought to keep in mind who we've already got.

 

As much as I like Shaw, he seems to be injury prone. (My original statement was that he seemed to be made of glass but his injuries have come from some substantial hits like the one that broke his leg so saying that he is made of glass was not fair) He has been injured more than he has played it seems.

 

That is very true, but in retrospect it seems clear he suffered on major injury (no one argues against that) and suffered subsequent injuries due to being brought back before he was ready.

Whether Luke will ever fully recovers remains to be seen. For me, he's one of several players on the squad who has to prove his full recovery during the summer tour.

 

That's not true. It's not like he was a picture of perfect fitness prior to his leg break. Hes struggled with fitness and musclar injuries since joining United. So far the kid has one good season under his belt.

 

Some retard on the US Mens boards had the gall to say that Ander is Liga MX quality

 

That is definitely racist. Where the he'll are our miss?

 

But Ander is Spanish not Mexican

 

Damn phone autocorrect.

That should be hell and mods

Ffs

 

At the age of 19, Shaw was named to the PFA Team of the Year (13-14 season). http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9286998/pfa-unveils-team-of-the-year

At the end of the 13-14 season, Shaw signed with United. He suffered an early season hamstring injury, the kind of hamstring injury that quite a few footballers suffer at some point throughout their careers. Giggs, Rooney and many others come to mind. He recovered after a month and had a decent season for United...at the age of 20.

At the beginning of the 15-16 season Shaw suffered the leg break in September, ruling him out for the rest of the season.

Then we have the 16-17 season, which did not go well for Shaw in terms of fitnes and muscle injuries.

The pre-Moreno Shaw was hardly a player who "struggled" with fitness and muscle injuries any more than most other footballers not named Ibrahimovic. The post-Moreno Shaw is another matter.

 

Roy Hodgson has revealed England's coaching staff warned Manchester United defender Luke Shaw over his fitness during the World Cup.

England boss Hodgson backed up new United boss Louis Van Gaal's subsequent claim that the Three Lions left-back signed from Southampton for £27million after the finals is not in good enough physical shape to perform at the highest level.

Hodgson even said it is a long-running issue dating back to the 19-year-old's time under ex-Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino, who also had concerns over his fitness.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-united-new-boy-luke-shaws-4125611



-----------

Shaw then sat out large parts of the remainder of the session. Asked why, Van Gaal said: "He is OK, but I am always a trainer-coach who sees individuals and what they need. He needs to be fit and is not very fit and fit enough to do what I want. He needs to train individually until he is fit."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/29/louis-van-gaal-luke-shaw-manchester-united

 

You seem to be forgetting that when LvG took over, Shaw didn't get any games for a long time because he wasn't fit enough to play. It had nothing to do with injuries, he was out of shape.

And your account of his injury history is way off. Prior to his leg break, Shaw missed 18 games for United due to 4 separate injuries. He didn't just have a hamstring injury once. He had several hamstring problems along with several ankle issues.

 

First of all, LVG was a really bad fit for United. His tactics were shit and United were unwatchable. Everyone on the squad with the exception of De Gea and maybe Borthwick-Jackson looked like they hated their manager's ********ing feelosofee and played ugly, regimented football, the kind of football that shackled a fullback like Shaw who likes to go forward.

Yes, Shaw was out of shape. But being out of shape in no way suggests that he's the fullback version of Phil Jones. Shaw famously improved his fitness in the summer prior to his leg break and was in full beast mode in the four weeks or so prior to Moreno cutting him down.

It's way too early to write off Luke Shaw. Which is not to say that he's destined to return to his 13-14 form. The damage done by the leg break was serious and he may never be the player he once was. All we can do is see what he's got over the next four months, now that he's put a long recovery behind him.

 

I don't know why I expected you to admit you were wrong about his injury history and not going off on an unrelated tangent.

 

This augurs well for the coming season.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-utd-news-fixtures-mourinho-13317848