United Ramble

It was quite the day many Manchester United fans will not forget. The day Manchester United signed Radamel Falcao.

United fans have been feeling down for a while. Hatred towards ownership and Ed Woodward is widely visible. With the team, which has dominated domestic football for the past 20 seasons, and became one of the worlds biggest clubs, was in need of help. Lucrative deals, such as Chevrolet and Adidas were nice, but what good do they do when the club doesn’t bring in Tier-1 stars? Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers even warned United that signing those stars without Champions League will be very difficult.

Challenge accepted.

First came Angel Di Maria, a player many expected to either stay at Real Madrid or join a club in the Champions League. But it was Monday, transfer deadline day, where Louis Van Gaal and Manchester United send a shock wave to the World about them being on top of the World- signing Falcao to a 1 year loan. Despite the deal being only a one year loan, it will become a 4 year deal by next summer. The clubs needed to bypass the Fifa Fair Play rules and since it’s a loan, Falcao technically remains a Monaco employee, thus doesn’t have to pay taxes in 2014 in the United Kingdom. The contract language is strictly for business.

Falcao signing represents so much for Manchester United, who after three matches sit near the bottom of the league standings without a win and just two points. The signing signifies the club still has big aspirations to be the best and won’t settle for anything less. And most importantly, it shows the club, despite some troubles last year or so on the field, still hasn’t lost it’s marquee name. The club’s name and history and what that brings still remains as strong as before.

Only a select few clubs globally could even suggest of signing players such as Di Maria and Falcao. And for a team without Champions League football to land both is truly a accomplishment.

The problem and real work for Van Gaal will be trying to figuring out where to play everyone.

There are many different formations you can plug that can work. Here’s one, that we could see if Robin Van Persie is given some time off to rest-

——————————- de Gea —————————

—– Rafael ——– Jones ————- Rojo ———–Shaw

——————- Herrera ———– Blind——————

Di Maria —————- Mata ———————-Rooney

————————- Falcao———————————-

With Van Persie,

——————————- de Gea——————————-

—– Rafael ——– Jones ————- Rojo ————— Shaw

—————– Herrera —————-Blind ————————-

—– Di Maria ————————————– Rooney————

——————- Falcao ———— Van Persie———————–

Or if Van Gaal stays with the 3-5-2,

—————————— de Gea————————————–

—————– Jones —– Blind ——Rojo———————–

— Di Maria ————- Herrera ———————— Shaw—-

—————– Mata ——————- Rooney——————–

——————Falcao —————- Van Persie——————-

Either way, it’s a good problem to for Van Gaal to have. Whichever formation he decides on, one thing is for sure, Manchester United will be fun to watch.