*Official* English Football Season 2016-17

[Tangles]

Manure fans were very negative on talkSPORT about Rooney. One described him as "a poor man's Ray Wilkins" in midfield. Not sure what that means but I assume it wasn't a compliment.

Among fans I know discussion about him is polarized. Some see him as a long time player who as such shouldn't be questioned. Or as a player who will obviously be as good in midfield as Scholes just because. Others see him as a former top player on the decline. There is little middle ground. IMO too many forget that Fergie would have punted him yeas ago.

I like to think I can separate the old Rooney with the one if the last 2 years. His downsides now outweigh the upsides. He's a squad player now but his wages and ego don't match that reality.

 

[Uppercut]

It's often hard to tell how calculated his actions are. As with Fergie, for a long time there was a tendency to talk about "mind games" when we were really seeing petty outbursts. That said, I do think he's usually genuinely trying for a reaction when he needles his own players.

 

[GIMH]

Fixtures day here in the chalk and slate league, always get excited by fixtures coming out, then I look at them and realise we are playing everyone twice

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The Carneiro/Vilanova stuff was definitely too far for me. I also really don't like mass feigning of injuries to waste time. There are a lot of other examples, I'm not a purely result-oriented fan, but I'm definitely willing to put up with a manager being rude to Wenger and playing defensively in big games.

Stop being so reasonable, you're ruining my preconceived biases of MUFC fans.

 

[sledger]

Lionel Messi handed jail term in Spain for tax fraud - BBC News

 

[Magrat Garlick]

We've barely processed 24 June and now all this piles up in one day...

Suspended jail sentence and a whopping fine seems about instinctively right for tax fraud though, regardless of how hard you want to stick it to The Man these days

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Rooney will probably play in the League Cup, the Europa League and as an overage player in the Johnson's Paint Trophy (or whatever it is now) Academy XI.

 

[Furball]

I thought that list of 49 academy players given a chance by Mourinho was absolute bullshit, and it turns out he's included the likes of Arjen Robben on it

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Those halcyon days when Mourinho coached FC Groningen!

Also can't believe he proclaims it as a badge of honour to be involved in the whole Mikel mess. What a sordid story that was.

 

[cpr]

Long term game. Made £10m on a dud for the club he truly loves.

Meanwhile we've officially signed that Targaryan or whatevs...

 

[Cabinet96]

£103m bid for Pogba. Just get relegated please. 7th and 5th wasn't enough.

 

[vcs]

It's incredible isn't it. All these players queuing up for them, just because Mourinho came in, it seems everybody has forgotten how their football was the finest antidote to insomnia last year. Maybe that was the whole purpose of being so incredibly dull and forgettable.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Long term game. Made £10m on a dud for the club he truly loves.

Most of that money went to bribes so that FIFA wouldn't investigate, though.

Chelsea also at fault but still struggling to see who was less bad.

(IIRC at one point Scudamore forced a "gentlemen's agreement" because following the rules would be damaging to the Premier League brand)

 

[Furball]

£103m bid for Pogba. Just get relegated please. 7th and 5th wasn't enough.

Pogba would be insane to leave Juve.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Fmd, 103m for Pogba? I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment someone expressed here about him having a great agent. Pogba's good but that's just exorbitant.

 

[Uppercut]

Pogba would be insane to leave Juve.

Why? They can't compete with PL clubs on money and they can't compete with RM/Barca/Bayern on quality.

Despite thinking he's possibly the world's most overrated player, I'd love to see Pogba at United. He's still a massive upgrade and has crazy potential. I don't really care what we pay for him. We've been bleeding billions in interest to pay for the Glazer takeover for years, what's the point in getting pissy because we're paying £25m too much for someone.

 

[Furball]

Because Juve arguably should have won the CL last year and he's not going to win the CL moving to England.

Juve are putting together a brilliant team, if they had a better striker than Mandzukic then I'd back them to win the thing next season.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Everyone knows Manure are going to win the League this season. They'll play good football and score a mountain of goals in the run of the mill games. They'll be the usual JM joyless bunch of spoilers in the games against City and Arsenal and win the League by 10 points.

 

[Uppercut]

Because Juve arguably should have won the CL last year and he's not going to win the CL moving to England.

Juve are putting together a brilliant team, if they had a better striker than Mandzukic then I'd back them to win the thing next season.

Dybala doesn't count as a better striker than Mandzukic? Had Morata last season too.

Juve will only ever be outsiders for the CL. 5th favourites at best and only competing in the 4th best league. I can understand why someone would prefer that to United, but others would pretty reasonably take the money in the PL while they wait out a move to one of the superclubs, and saying he'd be 'insane' to leave is way too strong.

 

[King Pietersen]

Liverpool have accepted a £15m bid for Jordan Ibe from Bournemouth.