So we didn't sign a central midfielder

[Verminator]

The strange thing is, we don't seem to have acknowledged that market inflation has occurred.
Considering the prices paid by the likes of City (how many of their signing were even on the radar of the big clubs?), Real, Chelsea and Bayern, with their stockpiling of midfielders, there is a premium to be added to quality mids.
As the window draws to a close, we are the equivalent of a shopper on Christmas eve, looking for a cheaper turkey. Eventually, the one legged 50 pounder that won't fit in the oven, or the processed roll will be our only options.

If we are serious about buying, we will have to pay up, or do without. (Give the butcher £100 for his family's dinner)

I can't see us improving this window. Promoting from within though, may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as I believe Lingard and Januzaj could break into the first team in style, this year.

(Sacrifices a goat in a Carrick-fitness ceremony)

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

Tomorrow we play a rival team that can start with 11 midfielder who will all walk in to United's midfield. Insult to injury.

 

[Siorac]

Calling Moses a midfielder is stretching it a bit to be honest.

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

Calling Moses a midfielder is stretching it a bit to be honest.

Well you can just put Van Ginkel in his place.

 

[shaggy]

Valencia
Young
Giggs
Zaha
Kagawa
Carrick
Cleverley
Jones
Anderson
Powell
Nani

Well that was easy

 

[Brwned]

Chelsea's incredible Europa League run and 3rd place finish really outlines how having lots of midfielders is the key to success.

 

[Nighteyes]

Only Ramieres, Lampard, Mikel and Essien are actual midfielders.

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

Valencia
Young
Giggs
Zaha
Kagawa
Carrick
Cleverley
Jones
Anderson
Powell
Nani

Well that was easy

Four out of these are out and out wingers. One a central defender. One on the verge of retirement. Rest lacking in quality. Leaves you with Carrick & Kagawa.

 

[Siorac]

Only Ramieres, Lampard, Mikel and Essien are actual midfielders.

That's not a particularly inspiring collection of central midfielders, with Lampard 35, Essien way past his best and Mikel being nothing more than quite useful but a bit average... yet it's still clearly better than our set of CMs

 

[kps88]

Four out of these are out and out wingers. One a central defender. One on the verge of retirement. Rest lacking in quality. Leaves you with Carrick & Kagawa.

That Chelsea lineup you posted could similarly be taken apart.

 

[Nighteyes]

Four out of these are out and out wingers. One a central defender. One on the verge of retirement. Rest lacking in quality. Leaves you with Carrick & Kagawa.

And everyone in the the pic you posted was obviously a CM??

 

[Nighteyes]

That's not a particularly inspiring collection of central midfielders, with Lampard 35, Essien way past his best and Mikel being nothing more than quite useful but a bit average... yet it's still clearly better than our set of CMs

It's better but not by much and Carrick's the best out of the lot

 

[Wumminator]

I know we've won five out of the last 7 premier leagues and got to 3 CL finals in that time, but like... why have we not got as many players can put into a midfield 11 as Chelsea? Jealousy level.... rising!

 

[Ramshock]

Tomorrow we play a rival team that can start with 11 midfielder who will all walk in to United's midfield. Insult to injury.

thats a shitty list of midfielders. half of them arent proper CM's

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

Carrick - Lampard
Kagawa - Mata
Nani - Hazard
Cleverley - Oscar
Zaha - Willian
Young - Schurrle
Anderson - Ramires
Valencia - Moses
Powell - De Bruyne
Jones - Mikel
Giggs - Essien

Just compare the quality & strength in depth.

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

I know we've won five out of the last 7 premier leagues and got to 3 CL finals in that time, but like... why have we not got as many players can put into a midfield 11 as Chelsea? Jealousy level.... rising!

Its really not about the quantity as much as the quality. We have numbers, but lacking in quality. Nobody can deny that.

 

[Wumminator]

Carrick - Lampard
Kagawa - Mata
Nani - Hazard
Cleverley - Oscar
Zaha - Willian
Young - Schurrle
Anderson - Ramires
Valencia - Moses
Powell - De Bruyne
Jones - Mikel
Giggs - Essien

Just compare the quality & strength in depth.

Who gives a feck? They can only put fecking 4/5 of them on a pitch at once. They had most of those players last year and flopped it massively

 

[Godfather]

Who gives a feck? They can only put fecking 4/5 of them on a pitch at once. They had most of those players last year and flopped it massively

They were the definition of a club in transition though. They got one of the best managers in now and further strengthened. We should have done the same imo

 

[Massive Spanner]

Its really not about the quantity as much as the quality. We have numbers, but lacking in quality. Nobody can deny that.

We don't really have the numbers. Carrick is literally our only reliable midfielder, the rest are all either not midfielders or constantly suffered injury/fitness problems in the past.

 

[Wumminator]

They were the definition of a club in transition though. They got one of the best managers in now and further strengthened. We should have done the same imo

We have got one of the best managers in (Moyes) and further strengthened (Zaha). If you mean strengthen more than it is likely that we will in the next 10 days anyway so there's no point worrying about that now is there!

 

[Massive Spanner]

We have got one of the best managers in (Moyes) and further strengthened (Zaha). If you mean strengthen more than it is likely that we will in the next 10 days anyway so there's no point worrying about that now is there!

Surely getting Moyes has far from strengthened us given who he is replacing?

 

[Godfather]

We have got one of the best managers in (Moyes) and further strengthened (Zaha). If you mean strengthen more than it is likely that we will in the next 10 days anyway so there's no point worrying about that now is there!

No I obviously don't mean strenghtening any further. How could I have forgotten we signed Zaha. That will show those Chelsea cnuts.

 

[Theon]

Only Ramieres, Lampard, Mikel and Essien are actual midfielders.

And only Ramires would 'walk into our team', with Carrick likewise walking into theirs

Chelsea's centre mid is no better than ours really

 

[Wumminator]

Surely getting Moyes has far from strengthened us given who he is replacing?

Very good point.

 

[Wumminator]

No I obviously don't mean strenghtening any further. How could I have forgotten we signed Zaha. That will show those Chelsea cnuts.

Oh sorry I forgot we can't get excited for a genuinely talented English youngster because he didn't sign later on in the window.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Oh sorry I forgot we can't get excited for a genuinely talented English youngster because he didn't sign later on in the window.

I think most on here are very excited by Zaha, if you read his thread, the problem is that he's not really ready to be a first teamer here and (on their day) Nani and Valencia are both better players, so he hasn't really "strengthened" us this season, he's definitely one for the future.

 

[Godfather]

Oh sorry I forgot we can't get excited for a genuinely talented English youngster because he didn't sign later on in the window.

This really hits the nail on the head and is totally the point I was trying to make. Never ever in this sentence did you refer to anything totally unrelated or irrelevant.

 

[Wumminator]

I think most on here are very excited by Zaha, if you read his thread, the problem is that he's not really ready to be a first teamer here and (on their day) Nani and Valencia are both better players, so he hasn't really "strengthened" us this season, he's definitely one for the future.

If that's the case, have Chelsea strengthened? They've bought in Schurrle + Willian but Mata and Hazard are better players on their day so they haven't really "strengthened" this season.

Looking at our team last year, our wingers were by far the worst performing area of the team. Nani/Young/Valencia had torrid years.

 

[Wumminator]

This really hits the nail on the head and is totally the point I was trying to make. Never ever in this sentence did you refer to anything totally unrelated or irrelevant.

Well sorry, please tell me what "will show those Chelsea cnuts"

What can we do to get one up on them? Because for the last five years they've won the transfer window but we've always gone on and beat them on the pitc.

 

[Godfather]

Well sorry, please tell me what "will show those Chelsea cnuts"

What can we do to get one up on them? Because for the last five years they've won the transfer window but we've always gone on and beat them on the pitc.

And? Is this a reason for us not to strengthen the squad any further? To rest on our laurels? All I was saying is that we should have strengthen our squad and especially in that area that we lack some serious class for many years now. Chelsea have done that. And we actually signed Zaha last year in January. And he is no CM and won't play that much of a role (as of yet). Just for the record: He is an exciting young project, although I have no idea how that i related to our topic.

Maybe we will still do that. I'd happily take Fellaini at this stage for what it's worth.

 

[Wumminator]

And? Is this a reason for us not to strengthen the squad any further? To rest on our laurels? All I was saying is that we should have strengthen our squad and especially in that area that we lack some serious class for many years now. Chelsea have done that. And we actually signed Zaha last year in January. And he is no CM and won't play that much of a role (as of yet). Just for the record: He is an exciting young project, although I have no idea how that i related to our topic.

Maybe we will still do that. I'd happily take Fellaini at this stage for what it's worth.

Our weakest area last year performance wise was our wingers. So we've signed a winger.

Chelsea's best area last year was their attacking midfielders. They've signed more attacking midfielders.

That's pretty much how I see it.

 

[Godfather]

Our weakest area last year performance wise was our wingers. So we've signed a winger.

Chelsea's best area last year was their attacking midfielders. They've signed more attacking midfielders.

That's pretty much how I see it.

And the year before our wingers, who were exactly the same as last year were totally flying. CMon mate I know you have the red tinted specs on but even you must see that we lack sth in CM. Moyes does, at least that's what he said.

 

[Wumminator]

I wouldn't mind a new CM. I do enjoy signings.

But I just can't stand people going over the top. Our midfield is still very good and as someone else said, probably as good as Chelsea's if we're looking at central midfielders.

 

[jem]

This isn't United's problem, it's Chelsea's. They clearly don't have a clue what is actually involved in preparing a bid. They just rush through and "sign" the player. What's so good about "signing" people if you haven't meticulously prepared a bid? Fools.

But at the same time, I would get no satisfaction from signing players whom we patently don't need (unless it's a rare talent like Van Persie or Ozil.) I don't know much about Willian, but I've never been given the impression that he's a top-tier player or that he would be of a higher standard than Fellaini (regardless of position.) That's why GE's post seemed a bit hysterical to me.

 

[jem]

Tomorrow we play a rival team that can start with 11 midfielder who will all walk in to United's midfield. Insult to injury.

That very same rival which has consistently finished behind us over the last 7 years? That same rival that love to have any/all of our strikers and a good number of our defenders?

 

[Sarni]

I wouldn't mind a new CM. I do enjoy signings.

But I just can't stand people going over the top. Our midfield is still very good and as someone else said, probably as good as Chelsea's if we're looking at central midfielders.

Nonsense, our midfield isn't very good at all. Carrick is a very good player but no one else comes close to that level and it's worrying that we're likely to start yet another season relying on Carrick being able to play 40-50 games.

 

[Massive Spanner]

If that's the case, have Chelsea strengthened? They've bought in Schurrle + Willian but Mata and Hazard are better players on their day so they haven't really "strengthened" this season.

Looking at our team last year, our wingers were by far the worst performing area of the team. Nani/Young/Valencia had torrid years.

Nah not really, that's why I found the Chelsea & Willian comparison a bit strange in the first place.

We signed Zaha in January by the way, I doubt he was bought, way back then, because we knew our wingers would have a rubbish season overall. I don't see Zaha making much of an impact here this season, that's why I think saying he "strengthened" us is slightly OTT.

 

[Feed Me]

Nah not really, that's why I found the Chelsea & Willian comparison a bit strange in the first place.

We signed Zaha in January by the way, I doubt he was bought, way back then, because we knew our wingers would have a rubbish season overall. I don't see Zaha making much of an impact here this season, that's why I think saying he "strengthened" us is slightly OTT.

We haven't strengthened the squad for the here and now by bringing Zaha in. It's as clear as day we need a class CM to strengthen us in the present. We haven't done this, and I'm doubtful that we will now. We've had a poor summer and it's disappointing because SAF's replacement should have been backed more than this.

We're going to be fine, but we're 3rd favourites for a reason this season.

 

[Ash_G]

Our problem is that our midfielders really give little defensive protection. Chelsea's central midfield options are no better than ours overall, the difference is carrick aside our midfield lacks players who will give the protection required often enough. In the league you can get away with a functional midfield that is solid but lacks creativity as you can get that from the players ahead but you can't get away as easily with a midfield that leaves opportunities for the opposition to exploit it, especially when the actual attacking impact you get from clev and ando isn't actually that good.

 

[Sphaero]

I wouldn't mind a new CM. I do enjoy signings.

But I just can't stand people going over the top. Our midfield is still very good and as someone else said, probably as good as Chelsea's if we're looking at central midfielders.

No it isn´t. It is not even decent, because it has a serious lack of depth, not in numbers but in quality. You have one world class CM, who has carried huge weight in the last season for United and was the sole reason, why it was not the weakest area. The problem is, that you have no cover for him, which is looking at the season ahead of United simply mind blowing and will hopefully be fixed in the next weeks.

Who do you intend to play instead of Carrick, if he gets an injury? Nobody hopes for it, but you have to plan for that case. Anderson? Jones? That is simply not good enough going up against the top sides of the EPL or Europe, who are filled to the brink with players capable of ripping midfields apart, if you give them the room for it.