Just went and watched Brighton under 21s vs Nike academy at the Brighton training ground as it's literally in my back garden. Strangely Nike academy which is made up from 17-20 year olds released from clubs across the country were far the better side, Brighton training ground tho is immense, 16 all weather pitches , huge indoor facilities... Will try and put some pics up.

Sam Wallace ‏@SamWallaceIndy 12m12 minutes ago

Mario Balotelli training separately from first team squad at LFC (so too Borini & Enrique) while club look for buyer

Seriously though, who's going to want Mario?

I think you can probably dump him for a few million to some midtable Serie A team, as long as you subsidize his wages.

think even for mid-table clubs in serie a balotelli is highly -ev
characters like that bring so much disharmony to a club

Racist

at 7M... someone.

I doubt you get that much for him.

It's a shame that LvG doesn't have confidence in Rojo at that left-footed centreback spot. I really thought he showed that he was able to handle himself there in the Premier League environment whenever he got the chance last season but I guess there is something Gaal doesn't like.

Blind is definitely a smarter player off + perhaps crucially on-ball (Rojo's left-foot is pretty good tho) and of course much better suited to precisely follow coach instructions. Rojo is more of a, let's say free spirit, but physically stronger + more aggressive than Blind (is that a problem? If LvG wants to change defensive approach away from conservative I think aggression is needed) while a much better footballer than Smalling/Jones as well as generally being better suited for more modern defending. Which seems to be Van Gaal's ambitions if he really will dumping one of the traditional centreblocks in favor of Blind.

I don't think Blind is ahead of Rojo. It's just that he had an extended time off due to Copa America, and then had visa problems and couldn't join the team on tour. Once he has a few weeks training with the team under his belt I'm pretty sure he'll be first choice LCB.

What exactly is the 433 formation that you guys are starting to fear that LvG will be using?

imagine the comedy if Utd's defense functions exactly like last season except DDG stops saving 99% of the shots on target!

Good to see you on Twitter Bjorn, just give you a follow.

I hope so but if memory serves me correctly I interpreted it pretty bad whenever here and there that he preferred defenders that I don't seriously rate ahead of him.

Not that I can't see arguments for Jones or Smalling over relative newcomer Rojo learning the ropes (just not both of them starters for Manchester freakin United!) I just disagree and start seeing worrying signs that Rojo probably isn't very highly rated by the coach.

We'll see what happens.

I think most of us are actually hoping he plays 433. It's just that the variant he's been playing on tour is more of a 4231 (he still calls it 433) with Memphis playing centrally, just off Rooney, more like a SS than a CAM, and two of Carrick/Scweinsteiger/Schneiderlin holding. I think most United fans were expecting/hoping for something more like this:

-------Schneiderlin--------
Schweinsteiger--Herrera-
Mata----------------Memphis
----------Rooney------------

Or Carrick instead of Schneiderlin.

follows are hard to come by I'm learning! Not that I've really given it a go tweeting apart from my first few days there and now it's unclear just how much I'll be active after all. I'm still finding my way I guess you can say but I do know that I usually get very excited the first weeks of a new season and can't stop offering takes on every team I see so I could see things (my twitter-use) picking up again.

lol, that ship tanks fast.

RE 4-3-3
Utd played their best football last season with Rooney playing up top. Unlike the when he played CAM-CM behind 2 strikers.
perhaps if this formation can be a little fluid mid game it's your best option

It's Young on the left in the dreaded lineup then?

heh is that cricket you're tweeting about?

Haha I think Cricket is capturing me yeah. We'll see if it sticks but with enough time right now I've spent hours and hours watching the Ashes

I made this slightly drunken post:

What I was actually alluding to in the bottom part and which was thankfully not totally understood is that I didn't want to root for England if it was working-class chavs like their footballers (slightly joking of course but I don't always hesitate in somewhat throwing personal views/values and morals overboard when it comes to sports-entertainment and aesthetics - pro doping mostly and yes in some ways anti-helmets in Cycling are the first terrible things that come to mind).

So far in pre season it's been 4-2-3-1 with Young wide left, Mata wide right and Memphis central behind Rooney. The problem with the 2 is all of Schneiderlin/Carrick/Schweinsteiger (who he's mainly used) are primarily holding CM's so we keep neat and tidy possession but like always offer little to no penetration which is a big problem when Rooney is completely past being able to beat defenders, Young is meh and Mata never really had that in him anyway. Benching Herrera and Sellinh Di Maria takes away most of our ability to break the lines.

I like Rojo a lot, think he should be our starting LCB but he had quite a few injury problems last season and hasn't really got settled. Time will tell what LVG thinks.

I'd play Herrera on the right side since he seems to link up very well with Mata. It'd also be nice to have Pedro as an option on the right but that's what I'd like to see.

Yes. I don't think anyone has problems with Young playing these days though, he's earned the right to get games until he starts sucking again.

Yeah I just put Herrera +1 in CM, wasn't really thinking about which side I'd prefer him on. You're right about him probably fitting better on the right though.

I hope we get Pedro too, it's too late to be hoping for some massive signing now and he'd offer pace and goals from the right and should be fairly easily attainable.

what's he on 80k £/wk? A 6 month loan to an MLS side is possibly feasible as long as there is no loan fee to go with it.

wont be less than £100k/wk

80k according to google (6m euros per year)

Balo to Leeds, that's a show i'd watch.