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[Agony]

Manchester United latest: Juan Mata emerges as Louis van Gaal's favoured No 10 as prospect of signing Angel Di Maria fails to improve

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The Spanish playmaker signed from Chelsea has made a big impression on the new Manchester United manager and can expect to play a key role in the season ahead

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Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney celebrate during the 3-2 win over AS Roma

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By IAN HERBERT

Sunday 27 July 2014

Louis van Gaal is understood to be deeply impressed by Juan Mata's football intelligence and technical ability and has made him his first choice No 10 for Manchester United.

Suggestions that the prospects of an Angel Di Maria move to United have improved are wide of the mark, with the club having no sense that his mooted transfer to PSG is in trouble.

But Mata has emerged as the foremost creative option. The Spaniard’s role at the club had seemed uncertain ever since he moved there last January and was promptly located on the right by David Moyes for his debut at Stoke City. It was in greater doubt when Ryan Giggs omitted him from the first line up of his own four games at the helm. Mata’s performance from the bench on that occasion, against Norwich City, underlined his professionalism.

Read more: Van Gaal denies problem with Zaha

Van Gaal resurrects Vidal interest

Di Maria to choose between United and PSG

Mata’s positive personality is of a kind that has always appealed to Van Gaal, who considers him to be a greater asset to United in the same position Rafael Benitez deployed him in, during his spell at Chelsea during the 2012/13 season. Mata will be the nexus of the fast, possession based football Van Gaal will look to take into next season. His contribution in the 3-2 win over AS Roma on Saturday was less substantial than in the 7-0 win over LA Galaxy – Mata later cited a dry pitch which made it play slow – though the way he took down Wayne Rooney’s sublime 30-yard pass with his left foot and despatching it in off the post with his right left the Dutch manager discussing the football brains of both players.

Angel Di Maria is among Manchester United's transfer targets Angel Di Maria is among Manchester United's transfer targets

As encouraging for Van Gaal as Mata's is, his interaction and obvious affinity with his compatriot Ander Herrera had been less expected. Herrera’s ability intuitively to shift the ball fast and intricately created the penalty which Rooney converted for United’s third in 31C temperatures here.

The connection between Mata and Herrera goes back ten years - “he is a good guy; my friend and we have known each other since we were 15,” Mata said - though their combined roles in the 2011 Spain Under-21 team which demoralised Switzerland to take the Under-21 European Championship cemented the relationship. Herrera scored that night but his link-up play with Thiago Alcantara and Mata was fundamental. Only the presence of Xavi and Xabi Alonso has prevented Herrera stepping up to Vicente del Bosque’s first team. His part in the two halves of football he played last week suggests that United’s decision to hold out for a £5m better deal last year was ill-advised.

Manchester United: Potential summer transfer targets

Herrera has impressed more than many had expected in United’s two tour games, demonstrating that he can comfortably operate slightly deeper, building the play and freeing up the No 10 role for Mata. He has that vision to know where his pass is going before he receives the ball that Van Gaal is looking for and has looked a tougher prospect than Mata, capable also of breaking up play. He is a tough character, too.

Read more: Report - United 3 Roma 2

Van Gaal must learn to live with tours

Smalling not faze by formation switch

The challenge will be for Danny Welbeck to maintain his part in the United front three. He has been sharp on this tour but Robin van Persie will walk back into the place Welbeck is holding. Tom Cleverley’s frustration at his own struggle to make an impression on Van Gaal at the Mile High Stadium seemed evident. It is three years since his pre-season performance against Barcelona in Washington DC. His career trajectory has changed.

Louis van Gaal during United’s 7-0 victory over LA Galaxy Louis van Gaal during United’s 7-0 victory over LA Galaxy

“I think I can be [van Gaal’s] type of player," Cleverley said at the weekend. “I have to show that in training and most importantly in the games. I think there is a place for me. I have to prove that.” Early days, but the player who needs a change of fortune after the most difficult year imaginable has not yet found one.

Mata is not the type of individual to pour scorn on a previous manager but there was no doubting his delight in the decisiveness of Van Gaal. “We feel the manager is a great manager who has brought a strong mentality,” he said. “As a player you want a coach like this, always demanding more and to play better and try to win the games earlier or in a different way.” The opposition gets tougher this week – Inter Milan in Washington and Real Madrid in Ann Arbor, near Detroit. Van Gaal may be about to learn who else he can believe in.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-latest-juan-mata-emerges-as-louis-van-gaals-favoured-no-10-as-prospect-of-signing-angel-di-maria-fails-to-improve-9631740.html

Finally a manager that doesn't believe that 3HUNNA is the best #10 in the squad

Peak for England fans because Woy will still play him there.

[Agony]

REPORT: JUVENTUS SET TERMS FOR VIDAL EXIT AS UNITED MAKE €60M BID

WRITTEN BY CHUDI ON JULY 28, 2014. POSTED IN NEWS

Vidal1Juventus have told Arturo Vidal that he can leave the Turin club, but only if he expresses this to them according to Italian paper Gazzetta Dello Sport.

Manchester United have been linked with Vidal continuously this summer, and whilst he was misquoted as saying that he wouldn’t be joining United, and United apparently cooling their interest in the Chilean, there is a lingering sense that a move could be on the cards.

And now Gazetta claim that United are ready to submit a €60m offer for Vidal, a fee thought to be large enough to get Juve to do business but before anything can take place the Italian club require Vidal to request a move away.

United are believed to be ready to offer Vidal €8m a year on a 4 year deal, double what Juventus gave him when he signed a new deal last year.

The offer of €60m is too good for Juventus to turn down according to Gazetta and Vidal’s agent knows this, arriving in Turin with the deal in an effort to convince the Serie A champions to let his client head to Old Trafford.

United now have to wait and see if they get their man or face having to look elsewhere, something that could prove problematic given that Roma are blocking their attempts to sign Kevin Strootman too.

United have made 2 signings this summer, bringing in Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera but Van Gaal is keen to add further faces to the team with central midfield one of a number of positions that need attention.

[Fresh]

Bane mode!!

 

-------------Rooney---RVP-------------

 

---------------------Mata-------------------

 

-----------Vidal------------Herrera------

 

-Shaw---------------------------- Rafael

 

-------Evans--Jones--Smalling------

 

------------------De Gea------------------

 

[The Infamous]

lmaooo

rooney scored goals i swear. he aint going nowhere

[Yoshie]

lmaooo

rooney scored goals i swear. he aint going nowhere

Rooney in the team isn't a bad thing.

'Rooney is the team' is a bad thing, LVG won't allow that.

[The Infamous]

yeah no i's in a LVG team tbh

[Mame Biram Diouf]

A year ago, during United's week-long stay in Sydney, several players spoke of the intensity and physical demands imposed by Moyes, who believed that the squad's fitness could be improved.

 

The approach was embraced before the players grew tired of the one-dimensional methods in the early weeks of the season, but the striking difference so far under Van Gaal is the focus on technique, tactics and ball work.

 

"I train the players in their brains, not their legs," Van Gaal said in Denver. "It is about brainpower."

 

Drills have included touch and shooting sessions that require the players to receive, control and strike the ball with their weaker foot, while small boxes have focused on slick movement of the ball.

 

All sessions are monitored closely by Van Gaal, Ryan Giggs and Dutch coaches Marcel Bout and Albert Stuivenberg and the demands for slick technique are incessant.

 

Some players have struggled to adjust, with the bar being raised high by a manager who places technique ahead of physical fitness.

 

 

[The Infamous]

"I train the players in their brains, not their legs,"

PMSL

[youcleanwepaint]

Bane mode!!

 

-------------Rooney---RVP-------------

 

---------------------Mata-------------------

 

-----------Vidal------------Herrera------

 

-Shaw---------------------------- Rafael

 

-------Evans--Jones--Smalling------

 

------------------De Gea------------------

that back 3 aint good enough and rooney as a strike partner for rvp isn't good enough..

 

i'm expecting to see 2 cb's/cm/and winger pirchased

[Fresh]

 

Bane mode!!

 

-------------Rooney---RVP-------------

 

---------------------Mata-------------------

 

-----------Vidal------------Herrera------

 

-Shaw---------------------------- Rafael

 

-------Evans--Jones--Smalling------

 

------------------De Gea------------------

that back 3 aint good enough and rooney as a strike partner for rvp isn't good enough..

 

i'm expecting to see 2 cb's/cm/and winger pirchased

 

From what pre-season has shown us: we've been weakest between Shaw & Evans and between Smalling & Rafael. The congested midfield forced opposition wide which challenges the wing-backs to be in two places at once. IMO Shaw (Blackett) & Rafael (Valancia) were the weak links, and I'm not sure whether they weren't experienced enough in the system to be in the right place at the right time, or whether it's an inevitability of the system. Holland didn't look as vunerable with Blind and Kuyt so I'm going with the former, they've only had two matches so by mid-season I'd like to think they would have nailed it. I'm pretty sure you're judging Evans-Jones-Smalling by reputation because from what we've seen so far they've been solid, I don't remember any play through the middle and the off-side trap was on point. With Vidal providing better cover than Cleverly did, I think that back is strong. 

[Fresh]

Fellaini > Napoli rumours

 

Anderson, Nani & Kawaga also rumoured for sale 

[Fresh]

 

Fellaini > Napoli rumours

 

Anderson, Nani & Kawaga also rumoured for sale 

 

 

nah Sandro is goin napoli

 

 

You man want 20m we're asking 15m 

[The Infamous]

spurs 1-0 utd

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Peak

 

LVG didnt even need to see him in the flesh to know he doesnt want him

 

Not sure why Juve dont want Fellaini plus 25 for Vidal

 

Would be good in Italy, Ultras would love his elbow

 

/

 

Think Kagawa will only go if we get an offer close to what we paid otherwise he will stay imo

 

/

 

Will Keane the latest to come out and praise the technical and tactical side of LVG training and methods

 

[The Infamous]

why Juve dont want Fellaini plus 25 for Vidal

good one

[Mame Biram Diouf]

 

why Juve dont want Fellaini plus 25 for Vidal

good one

 

 

lolol

 

Would make some Kim Jun II North Korea world cup winning montage type video of Fellaini

[The Infamous]

why Juve dont want Fellaini plus 25 for Vidal

good one

 

lolol

 

Would make some Kim Jun II North Korea world cup winning montage type video of Fellaini

lmaooo proper propaganda

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Talking about his squad, van Gaal said: “I don’t buy players for the sake of it. I buy players to improve my selection.

 

“First, I must see what I need in all the positions from the system we shall play and, at this moment, I don’t know for sure.”

 

Many have questioned how Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie can all fit into the same United starting XI but van Gaal admits this was one of the main reasons why he employed the formation he did.

 

He went on: “That’s why I chose this system, I can play them all.  But (Javuier) Hernandez can also play in the striker’s position, so can (Danny) Welbeck.

 

“Rooney can play at No 10 and No 9 and he tells me he can also play at No 11 and No 7, but I prefer him at 9 or 10.

 

“When you look at the quality of your players you see Rooney, Van Persie, Hernandez, Mata, Welbeck, (Marouane) Fellaini, (Ander) Herrera – a lot of players can play this system.

 

“So with this system, two strikers can play, the No 10 can play, two midfielders can play, so the specialists become the wingbacks.”

 

[Lenny]

Van Gaal >

Such a great fit for United (FFS )

[Yoshie]

So excited for next season

[Fresh]

Shaw deemed unfit and has been set an individual training programme 

Zaha to feature at some point v Inter

Smalling to play the full 90 and may get the armband

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Rooney or Fletcher not playing (in regards to smalling getting it)

Happy for the big poofter