Random Person:

Am I the only person who thinks that the way Barcelona and Spain play football is boring? Don't get me wrong I like when a team is passing it quickly and moving, like us at the beginning of last season, but they just pass for the sake of passing it. They keep 70% of possession, but how much of that is actually creating a threat. I much prefer a good lightning quick counter attack. much more exciting and effective.

im the man:

We should not be looking at the Premier League to see if we have gone backwards or not, we should be looking at the Champions League, and we all know what happened last season. We have the right type of team to compete with other English Teams (although we will struggle to keep up with Man City next year), but we do NOT have the right type of team to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Granted had Barcelona not existed we might have won the CL twice the last few years, but the reality is that Barcelona is where the Bar is at, and either we are ambitious enough to reach such heights or we are not. The transfers that we have gotten in over the last 4 years, despite losing twice to barca in finals (lessons you would think we would learn from), indicates either we dont have that ambition, or we dont have the resources (money), or we dont have the vision (manager). The bottom line is that we have 19 league titles which is a record, that's fantastic, and it will be great to maintain, but we have now achieved the level of success that we always wanted in the league. Now we need to focus on achieving the level of success that we have always wanted in Europe, and 9 Champion League titles should be our next goal. For a club of our stature in world football, we have seriously under-achieved with only 3 wins. We cant stand still as a club, because in this day and age, the romance of united will not keep us successful (and it has been proven that many top players see that very clearly). We need world class players with exceptional technical skill. The challenge for united should not be to get these types of players to play for us, but rather how to get the balance of these world class players right!

Cr4iger:

Normally it would be best to buy youngsters for the future..... But we have had a lot of players retiring, or about to retire (or leaving).... Players that have held this team up, without replacements for these players we won't win against the likes of Barca.... And while the youngsters can grow up to be the future stars, they won't be stars next season already... So we need to get some proven talent for our Midfield especially.... Then our youngsters can get their chances and maybe take their place later on.....

But we already have replacements coming through our bought for the future. For van der Sar, that was de Gea. For the full backs, we have Rafael and Fabio along with Fryers and possibly a new signing. For Ferdinand and Vidic, we have Smalling and Evans who are matured with Jones who is ahead of other young defenders of similar age. For Giggs, we have Young and Nani. For Scholes, we have Cleverley and Anderson. For Carrick and Fletcher, we may need someone for the next 2-3 seasons until Pogba and Tunnicliffe mature, but that's all we really need. Kagawa will take over Rooney once Rooney is in his 30's. Petrucci is for the future in that attacking midfield/deep-lying forward role. Up front, we have Welbeck who is becoming world class with Chicharito in the same direction. Will Keane is next up in line beyond these two.

We already have the replacements. It's just that some people want some trophy every season when that isn't remotely possible unless you're in as weak a league as the SPL.

Cr4iger:

I would want us to simply do whatever we can this transfer-window to land a good CM.... We need a LB for example, but everything after a CM is a bonus

This is what I also desire. Just one good defensive-minded CM (not CDM), and we're set.

im the man:

We should not be looking at the Premier League to see if we have gone backwards or not, we should be looking at the Champions League, and we all know what happened last season. We have the right type of team to compete with other English Teams (although we will struggle to keep up with Man City next year), but we do NOT have the right type of team to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Granted had Barcelona not existed we might have won the CL twice the last few years, but the reality is that Barcelona is where the Bar is at, and either we are ambitious enough to reach such heights or we are not. The transfers that we have gotten in over the last 4 years, despite losing twice to barca in finals (lessons you would think we would learn from), indicates either we dont have that ambition, or we dont have the resources (money), or we dont have the vision (manager). The bottom line is that we have 19 league titles which is a record, that's fantastic, and it will be great to maintain, but we have now achieved the level of success that we always wanted in the league. Now we need to focus on achieving the level of success that we have always wanted in Europe, and 9 Champion League titles should be our next goal. For a club of our stature in world football, we have seriously under-achieved with only 3 wins. We cant stand still as a club, because in this day and age, the romance of united will not keep us successful (and it has been proven that many top players see that very clearly). We need world class players with exceptional technical skill. The challenge for united should not be to get these types of players to play for us, but rather how to get the balance of these world class players right!

therealry:

Which of course means that only Barca was better than us those two years, in fact over that 4 year period. And don't down play the one final being against English competition, who put Barca out of the CL this season and how far behind United did that team finish in the PL this season?

This past season in the CL was awful, but people are under-rating our accomplishments in the prior seasons. It is odd how Real getting knocked out of the CL every season before they even get to the finals doesn't count against them. We lost in the finals to Barca and we stink ,but Bayern loses in 2 finals and they are one of the top clubs in the world. There is a failure in logic there. Inter won one CL title a couple of seasons ago, but what have they done since in CL? If you are talking AC Milan, really? We are behind them? Don't be silly. People give other clubs way too much credit and don't give our own United enough.

Yes we have some work to do, there is always work to do and we all want United to the #1 in the world every year, but that is not realistic.

We've got a very diverse side; full of key players in their 30's (Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Ferdinand, Evra..) and those who are still young (Cleverly, Welbeck, Jones, Smalling..) We are just in-between. This happens in football, this is when your key players are not what they used to be and your raw and future prospects haven't flourished yet (for instance for Barcelona a decade ago.) Its just a phase, in 3-4 years when Giggs, Park, Scholes, Carrick, Ferdinand, Evra etc have moved on in life and left football behind them; we'll have a completely new squad of players almost. Thats why it's just as important to plan for the future as it is to deal with the present.

Cleverbeck.:

me23:

Our record in CL is poor and the only way to fix that is to spend the money needed on quality signings.You dont get anywhere by buying cheap youngsters for the future every summer.

We have gotten to the final 3 times out of 4 years but we lost 2 of them to Barca.The one we won was against english competition.We got knocked out by Bayern in 2010 and last year was just a total disaster.

Right now,we are behind Madrid,Barca,Bayern and maybe even Milan and that wont change until either players with quality is bought or we simply wait a good 5 years for our youngsters to blossom and become what some people on here belives they will become some day,worldclass players.That can take a while though.

Why are you a United fan? Honestly you're a joke.

He's not a joke..... He's is somewhat right... Well at least for this season....

Normally it would be best to buy youngsters for the future..... But we have had a lot of players retiring, or about to retire (or leaving).... Players that have held this team up, without replacements for these players we won't win against the likes of Barca.... And while the youngsters can grow up to be the future stars, they won't be stars next season already... So we need to get some proven talent for our Midfield especially.... Then our youngsters can get their chances and maybe take their place later on.....

I know we have gotten to the final in CL 3 out of the last 4 years, but the OP didn't say we are bad, he meant that we should be setting our goals at beating Barca and Real and win the CL again..... Not just look at the PL.... We won the CL 2008, but that was an entire different team, a team the likes of Ronaldo....

So to summarize what I want us to do..... I would want us to simply do whatever we can this transfer-window to land a good CM.... We need a LB for example, but everything after a CM is a bonus..... If we do this.... Well then I think we can at least do pretty good in the CL, I don't think we will be better than Barca and Real, but then we at least have a good team..... Then we we can promote some of our youngsters and become the best team in the world :P

im the man:

We should not be looking at the Premier League to see if we have gone backwards or not, we should be looking at the Champions League, and we all know what happened last season. We have the right type of team to compete with other English Teams (although we will struggle to keep up with Man City next year), but we do NOT have the right type of team to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Granted had Barcelona not existed we might have won the CL twice the last few years, but the reality is that Barcelona is where the Bar is at, and either we are ambitious enough to reach such heights or we are not. The transfers that we have gotten in over the last 4 years, despite losing twice to barca in finals (lessons you would think we would learn from), indicates either we dont have that ambition, or we dont have the resources (money), or we dont have the vision (manager). The bottom line is that we have 19 league titles which is a record, that's fantastic, and it will be great to maintain, but we have now achieved the level of success that we always wanted in the league. Now we need to focus on achieving the level of success that we have always wanted in Europe, and 9 Champion League titles should be our next goal. For a club of our stature in world football, we have seriously under-achieved with only 3 wins. We cant stand still as a club, because in this day and age, the romance of united will not keep us successful (and it has been proven that many top players see that very clearly). We need world class players with exceptional technical skill. The challenge for united should not be to get these types of players to play for us, but rather how to get the balance of these world class players right!

This past season in the CL was awful, but people are under-rating our accomplishments in the prior seasons. It is odd how Real getting knocked out of the CL every season before they even get to the finals doesn't count against them. We lost in the finals to Barca and we stink ,but Bayern loses in 2 finals and they are one of the top clubs in the world. There is a failure in logic there. Inter won one CL title a couple of seasons ago, but what have they done since in CL? If you are talking AC Milan, really? We are behind them? Don't be silly. People give other clubs way too much credit and don't give our own United enough.

Yes we have some work to do, there is always work to do and we all want United to the #1 in the world every year, but that is not realistic.

me23:

Our record in CL is poor and the only way to fix that is to spend the money needed on quality signings.You dont get anywhere by buying cheap youngsters for the future every summer.

We have gotten to the final 3 times out of 4 years but we lost 2 of them to Barca.The one we won was against english competition.We got knocked out by Bayern in 2010 and last year was just a total disaster.

Right now,we are behind Madrid,Barca,Bayern and maybe even Milan and that wont change until either players with quality is bought or we simply wait a good 5 years for our youngsters to blossom and become what some people on here belives they will become some day,worldclass players.That can take a while though.

We have gotten to the final 3 times out of 4 years but we lost 2 of them to Barca.The one we won was against english competition.We got knocked out by Bayern in 2010 and last year was just a total disaster.

Right now,we are behind Madrid,Barca,Bayern and maybe even Milan and that wont change until either players with quality is bought or we simply wait a good 5 years for our youngsters to blossom and become what some people on here belives they will become some day,worldclass players.That can take a while though.

im the man:

therealry id love to come cross you some day