2 defenders, 2 midfielders, 1 striker

[dbs235]

I thought Mourinho said "2-3- players" and "there will be no extravagant signings".

I expect him to cover the bare essentials. The 2 will be a LB and a CM/DM. I doubt he needs a CB or an AM/Winger (like, wtf?), but he might get a RB or a striker depending on what happens with Ibra. I feel he'd rather push the striker purchase to summer '18 rather than this year.



Exactly

So does that mean no Griezmann then?

 

[AndyJ1985]

People are kidding themselves if they think 2 or 3 players will take us from 6th place to title winners and CL winners. I mean, they are the goals aren't they? That's ultimately where we want to be?

 

[sammsky1]

Zlatan is the right fit for now.

I try to look at what 'will' happen, rather than some ideal scenario. Zlatan is the kind of guy who wants to play every game, probably because it keeps him competitive at his age. His backup will get the odd game here and there - which makes Rashford the ideal player, due to his own playing demands. Signing a backup (like Alcacer at Barca) will fail if he isn't getting enough games.

The issue for next season is spreading goals around the team, which should come from the 3 behind contributing more and adding more goals in the form of Griezmann.

As I said, no way we can go into next season expecting Zlatan to be our only main man with 30+ goals.

We need another guarantee when he has an off day like today, which can't be Rashford who still has several years of tutorship ahead before such responsibility.

SAF could fall back on the strikers of the calibre of Solskjaer, Sheringham, Forlan, Tevez and Welbeck when his gunmen like Cole, Ruud, Rooney, Berbatov or Van Persie drew blanks. We need that level of cover, especially when we have a 36 and 20 year old as our core options.

 

[MadMike]

So does that mean no Griezmann then?

Who knows, that might be the case. Personally I always manitained that Griezmann is not a Mourinho type player and his arrival will mean we'll have to switch our formation to accommodate him. It's all up to Mou and Woody, we know feck all.

People are kidding themselves if they think 2 or 3 players will take us from 6th place to title winners and CL winners. I mean, they are the goals aren't they? That's ultimately where we want to be?

The teams inability to finish games at home is a mental issue. That's the team's problem at the moment. Signing players alone won't fix it.

I would actually argue that when you try to integrate more than 3-4 players, you are very likely to take a step back before taking 2 steps forward. It can take time. We saw that at the beginning of our season.

 

[sammsky1]

People are kidding themselves if they think 2 or 3 players will take us from 6th place to title winners and CL winners. I mean, they are the goals aren't they? That's ultimately where we want to be?

Need upgrades in 1st XI as well as more strength in depth.

Our quality of substitutions underwhelmed me today: none inspired me to think they would win us the game.

 

[MadMike]

As I said, no way we can go into next season expecting Zlatan to be our only main man with 30+ goals.

We need another guarantee when he has an off day like today, which can't be Rashford who still has several years of tutorship ahead before such responsibility.

SAF could fall back on the strikers of the calibre of Solskjaer, Sheringham, Forlan, Tevez and Welbeck when his gunmen like Cole, Ruud, Rooney, Berbatov or Van Persie drew blanks. We need that level of cover, especially when we have a 36 and 20 year old as our core options.

I agree. But... When your main striker is having a stinker, you have to have the balls to take him off too. I don't blame Ibra for having a bad day but, when it's so obvious he's having one, does he have to take all the free kicks and the pen?

What's the point of having a good substitute striker, if your main one plays ALL the games and never gets substituted. We could have put Rashford on the left and moved Martial up front today at 2nd half. We didn't.

 

[sammsky1]

I agree. But... When your main striker is having a stinker, you have to have the balls to take him off too. I don't blame Ibra for having a bad day but, when it's so obvious he's having one, does he have to take all the free kicks and the pen?

What's the point of having a good substitute striker, if your main one plays ALL the games and never gets substituted. We could have put Rashford on the left and moved Martial up front today at 2nd half. We didn't.

If we had Kane or another, then you can bet your pants he'd get onto the pitch!

 

[MadMike]

If we had Kane or another, then you can bet your pants he'd get onto the pitch!

There already are some options, maybe not the best, but he's just not using them. Martial, Rooney and Rashford.... they all have to play WITH Ibra, often out of position, even if Ibra is playing badly.

For example he could have taken Roo and Ibra off for Herrera and Rashford... then put Rashford and Martial up front with Mata on #10 and let Pogba from the LCM and Herrera from RCM provide the width along with the fullbacks. A midfield diamond if you will with Carrick at the base.

Rashford and Martial through the middle could have gotten us a goal. These options are not bad, not for a game like this. Chelsea have Batshuayi as first sub to Costa. Tottenham have Janssen behind Kane. Liverpool's first attacking sub is Origi. They are all ahead of us and scoring more goals.

My point is few teams have a fantastic second option to their main. But you have to use what you have when your main man is stinking up the pitch.

 

[sammsky1]

There already are some options, maybe not the best, but he's just not using them. Martial, Rooney and Rashford.... they all have to play WITH Ibra, often out of position, even if Ibra is playing badly.

For example he could have taken Roo and Ibra off for Herrera and Rashford... then put Rashford and Martial up front with Mata on #10 and let Pogba from the LCM and Herrera from RCM provide the width along with the fullbacks. A midfield diamond if you will with Carrick at the base.

Rashford and Martial through the middle could have gotten us a goal. These options are not bad, not for a game like this. Chelsea have Batshuayi as first sub to Costa. Tottenham have Janssen behind Kane. Liverpool's first attacking sub is Origi. They are all ahead of us and scoring more goals.

My point is few teams have a fantastic second option to their main. But you have to use what you have when your main man is stinking up the pitch.

Totally agreed. Maybe Ibra has a clause in his contract .....

 

[RedMaestro]

Rodriguez would probably be my first choice. The only downside is, that he is already on a high wage, so overall he'd be pretty expansive. Still I think risk with him is almost minimal; he proved to be quality for a long time. He is also not one of those transformed wingers, but a fairly well rounded footballer for a FB.
Kolasinac had one good season with various inconsistent periods and injuries in between. He never proved for an extended period of time, that he has the quality to play for a top club. At the moment he plays as wing-back in a struggling team; despite his body he can be shaky at the back. He is still fairly raw and not fully established himself despite being around for a while now.

Fair enough. can't argue with your points, since I also like Rodriguez too. I've especially liked his performances in the national team. About Kolasinac - he's been the best player for them so far this season - at least that's what I remember from their team - he's also most of the doing nice performances for the NT. But like I said, if Alex Sandro were available, then these player's wouldn't even be a question.