Partey absolutely isnt a DM to me, he doesnt win the ball enough with Saul being the ball winner in Atletico's midfield. Partey does more going forward with dribbling especially. So he's a normal CM really not like Ndidi or Neves.
Absolutely horrible midfield
- Thread starter flappyjay
- Start date
Partey absolutely isnt a DM to me, he doesnt win the ball enough with Saul being the ball winner in Atletico's midfield. Partey does more going forward with dribbling especially. So he's a normal CM really not like Ndidi or Neves.
United's midfield haven't been good in nearly 10 years. We had cleverly and Anderson forfeck sake. Pogba is probably the only good midfielder they bought since Roy Keane.
Even at their ripe old age both Giggs and Scholes would have eaten our CM for breakfast.
United's midfield haven't been good in nearly 10 years. We had cleverly and Anderson for
Our midfield wasn't shit. We just happened to be spoilt by two great English midfielders. Not getting proper midfielders to replace them when they are injured or close to retirement has always been our main problem.
Those are the type of games Carrick would have thrived in. He can play from deep with adequate space to pick his passes. Mctominay and Fred lack the passing range and because of that we don't move the ball quickly enough to disrupt their shape.
Agreed, they were a rare breed of footballers.
Not to forget that we had Carrick in their prime during that time as well. Throughout all of Sir Alex reign we always had 2 WC players in midfield who was also a leader. Whether it was Robson and Ince, Keane and Ince, Keane and Scholes or Scholes and Carrick. These days we only have Pogba and unlike the names I've mentioned he's no leader.
Full backs and midfield offer no attacking creativity, needs to be addressed.
Yeah united were spoilt for choice. I was never really a fan of Carrick, especially in his last 3 or 4 seasons with united and his sideways passing. But I did see why he was important in his last season with United. Surprised how easy he made it look. Compared to now anyway. Hopefully in the future they buy 2 or 3 midfielders that have a brain and a bit of talent.
interesting. Do you rank from an effectiveness standpoint or what you prefer watching?
They work well from how klopp uses them but after fabinho and maybe Wijnaldum the others are average. I don't look at henderson, keita, milner and say wow. The Chelsea midfield on the other hand really looks good, both from a defensive stand point and creative stand point. You wouldn't notice that Kante has been missing for a few weeks now, which also means they have depth. Pogba is out and we look even more clueless. That's my opinion on them
Our midfield has been poor for ages, even during the SAF era. But we had a few players who could carry us (RVP, Prime Rooney etc). However the team and tactics had a structure to it. Now we now have the same situation where the midfield is still poor and we don't have anyone with the star factor to get us out of tight situations and we dont have a structure on or off the pitch. Perfect storm.
In short, getting a creative player is not going to solve our issues, we need a identify first and foremost and then have players play in a tactic formation that makes sense!
In short, getting a creative player is not going to solve our issues, we need a identify first and foremost and then have players play in a tactic formation that makes sense!
Mctominay is an average and limited footballer who runs alot and yet for some kind of weird reason people here thinks he’s good enough for Manchester United and some kind god. We have people calling for him to be the bloody captain for god’s sake. Andreas is not good enough. Fred However have some qualities that is good enough for the highest level but he’s still lacking in confindence. How we only have these options are a disgrace.
We need a proper DM who can not only help us defensively but also help us retain possession with their eyes closed and bring calmness to our team.
If we added a prime Michael Carrick to our existing midfield and played him alongside a fully fit Pogba and either McTominay/Fred we would see massive improvements.
Prime Carrick was a genius at being at the right place at the right time to intercept the ball without having to go to ground. Was brilliant at passing between the lines and just bringing calmness to the team and setting up attacks. He was our link between our defence and attack. We need to sign a midfielder of his type, saying that it will be very difficult to find...
If we added a prime Michael Carrick to our existing midfield and played him alongside a fully fit Pogba and either McTominay/Fred we would see massive improvements.
Prime Carrick was a genius at being at the right place at the right time to intercept the ball without having to go to ground. Was brilliant at passing between the lines and just bringing calmness to the team and setting up attacks. He was our link between our defence and attack. We need to sign a midfielder of his type, saying that it will be very difficult to find...
Then we all should forget about complaining team performances, This is a result of so many bad signings in last 7 years. We must start from scratch and build most of the midfield and Attack, SAD but it's true and we need big money for this.
Plenty of teams do much better than us with a lot less money spent than that. We just need to have higher standards from our scouting team, since they essentially give the go ahead to Woodward who sorts out the money side and potentially overpays
Holy shit, you just made me think about it. In the last 25 years we've only signed one midfielder who was an unmitigated success (Carrick).United's midfield haven't been good in nearly 10 years. We had cleverly and Anderson for
Obviously we had Scholes, Butt, Fletcher and Giggs (for 1-2 seasons) who came through our youth ranks, but still. Every other midfielder that we've actually bought over the last quarter of a century either failed or at best were very inconsistent. Hell, Pogba is probably our next most consistent and he's been mostly 50/50.
That's an incredible statistic at any time, but especially when we've had the most successful period in our clubs history during that time. Signing midfielders certainly hasn't been our strong point.It is clear as day we need 2 Midfield signings and if Pogba leaves in summer, at least three. But one signing we have to make during winter is that of a deep lying play-maker. Even one of Kalvin Phillips and Sean Longstaff would do.
Agreed but I dont have any confidence on our current scouting team. Can you give me one example where our scouts did an excellent job in last 7 years?
To become a successful team we need a mix of top class expensive players mixed with few top class bargains as we cant spend billions on building a team of super stars.
Last edited:
No I cant. I've been banging that drum for a long time. Even under Sir Alex I dont think we were that great with signings, but obviously compared to now we were better
It just speaks more about the consistency and longevity of the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Carrick. CM was always an area we should be looking to bolster even going as far back as 08 when Scholes was already 34. But that trio just kept going and papered over the cracks. When we were relying on them where they were well into their mid-30s we are bound to have this problem today.Holy shit, you just made me think about it. In the last 25 years we've only signed one midfielder who was an unmitigated success (Carrick).
Obviously we had Scholes, Butt, Fletcher and Giggs (for 1-2 seasons) who came through our youth ranks, but still. Every other midfielder that we've actually bought over the last quarter of a century either failed or at best were very inconsistent. Hell, Pogba is probably our next most consistent and he's been mostly 50/50.
Totally agree, we have zero quality in transition from midfield to the final third, the forwards are living off scraps.
We also have nobody in midfield in Pogbas absence , who can carry the ball forward at pace without getting knocked off it, as well as nobody who can keep possession and dictate the tempo.
It's quite baffling how it's been allowed to get to this point.
We currently have no solutions, the only thing I'd maybe try is introducing Gomes quicker
We also have nobody in midfield in Pogbas absence , who can carry the ball forward at pace without getting knocked off it, as well as nobody who can keep possession and dictate the tempo.
It's quite baffling how it's been allowed to get to this point.
We currently have no solutions, the only thing I'd maybe try is introducing Gomes quicker
I've suggested before that we should forget about Pogba as a CM, and put him in an attacking role. He carried us plenty when Ole was interim as an AM with goals and assists, I wonder if putting him even higher and giving him less defensive duties can produce the same effect.
McTominay is rubbish. I cannot believe people actually think he is good. People are just desperately trying to see a positive in this team so they are overcompensating with praise for McTominay.
The guy simply cannot pass. He loses possession whenever he is pressurised. He is average at defending and attacking.
People call him a box-to-box midfielder. You are not a box-to-box midfielder just because you are equally average at both ends of the pitch.
A bit of running with the ball does not make him a good player. The midfield will never be fixed if we continue with such trash.
He got dominated by the Longstaffs and Bournemouth's midfield. Just because he played okay in very defensive performances against Chelsea and Liverpool does not make him good enough. There are a lot of players who could have carried out the same role.
He is painfully average. Fred gets a lot of criticism for being average but McTominay gets lots of praise for being just as average.
Pereira - nothing needs to be said.
Pogba is the only good player in the midfield, but he is not always good himself. This is partly his own fault and partly the fault of having crap midfield partners.
The guy simply cannot pass. He loses possession whenever he is pressurised. He is average at defending and attacking.
People call him a box-to-box midfielder. You are not a box-to-box midfielder just because you are equally average at both ends of the pitch.
A bit of running with the ball does not make him a good player. The midfield will never be fixed if we continue with such trash.
He got dominated by the Longstaffs and Bournemouth's midfield. Just because he played okay in very defensive performances against Chelsea and Liverpool does not make him good enough. There are a lot of players who could have carried out the same role.
He is painfully average. Fred gets a lot of criticism for being average but McTominay gets lots of praise for being just as average.
Pereira - nothing needs to be said.
Pogba is the only good player in the midfield, but he is not always good himself. This is partly his own fault and partly the fault of having crap midfield partners.
There was a time when we had potentially a top class midfield with the trio of di Maria, Herrera and Carrick but I dont think we ever saw that combination under van Gaal? Saying that the trio of Herrera, fellaini and Carrick wasn't too bad, I can remember them in midfield when we played liverpool of the pitch at Anfield in which we won 2-1.
I disagree, the problem stems from the owners. If they really cared for the club and had a vision for it to be the best team in the world, instead of treating it like a cash cow, then they would have hired a DOF ages ago, who would have shared the same vision as the owners and would look to hire the right type of manager to implement that vision and would look to get the right midfielders in rather than an ad-hoc collection of average or past it former midfielders players from their previous clubs (i.e. Fellaini, Scweinsteiger and Matic), plus the odd marquee signing (Pogba) in an failed attempt to keep the fans on their side whilst they bleed the club dry.
This will not change unless the owners leave or have a change of mindset about the future of this club.
Thought we would continue with something of that sort the following season when we bought schneiderlin and schweinsteiger but instead Lvg went to a double pivote also used Ander less. Shot himself in the foot.
A different manager might not have McTominay, Fred and Pereira playing in the same midfield. Food for thought.
I thought his appearance in a red shirt was a portent of years of wrong directions and duff transfers. But I would take Belgium international and headless chicken wrecking ball Fellaini over Pereira and bloody Lingard any day of the week.
Ole seems to not rate Matic.. thankfully! Hes awful. But Ole going into this season thinking that Fred, Mctominay, Andreas, Garner and Pogba would be an acceptable amount of midfielders and also from a quality point of view is beyond stupid.
People where laughing since you wanted Neves.
Midfield is definitely nowhere near top 10. This is the worst midfield we've had since Moyes(declining Carras, retired giggs, Fellaini, Anderson, Cleverly). Not only is it bad in pure quaility but its very unbalanced. We don't have an actual DM. We have 3 defensive box to box CM's, 2 of whom are utter garbage or simply way past it. and 3 sub standard attacking mids. Only thing we have to show for ourselves is Pogba and he seems to be on the verge of leaving.
Midfield is where we clearly need reinforcements in january.
Having Pogba back will help but we also need 2 players aside from Pogba. A competant number 10 in case he gets injured and a competent 6/8. We dont need any world beaters as early as january because we will be getting Pogba back but we absolutely need some depth and definitely 2 additional players that are at least decent. Sure we can find that somewhere, heck most teams small teams like Bournemouth that we play seem to have players like that, players that just happen to be better than what we have.
Having Pogba back will help but we also need 2 players aside from Pogba. A competant number 10 in case he gets injured and a competent 6/8. We dont need any world beaters as early as january because we will be getting Pogba back but we absolutely need some depth and definitely 2 additional players that are at least decent. Sure we can find that somewhere, heck most teams small teams like Bournemouth that we play seem to have players like that, players that just happen to be better than what we have.
Apart from Mctominay i’d bin every cm we have.
Matic, Fred, Lingard, Mata, Pereira are all either utter crap, not good enough or past it.
pogba doesn't want to be here.
worst set of cm players I remember us having in my lifetime, considering ability, form and application.
Matic, Fred, Lingard, Mata, Pereira are all either utter crap, not good enough or past it.
pogba doesn't want to be here.
worst set of cm players I remember us having in my lifetime, considering ability, form and application.
The way I see it, we need 4 new midfield replacements at the very least if we want to compete
Problem is our formation. When you play a 4-2-3-1 it's usually because you have a great #10 that you want to give a free roll to and build the team around. We don't have that player. Perhaps Pogba could be, but Lingard, Mata and Perriera aren't good enough. The one problem we have is that rather than assessing the players that we have and building the best formation around those players, Ole seems to want to play a system which doesn't suit the players that we have available. In my opinion, our best players are Rashford, James, Martial, McTominay, Pogba (when healthy and motivated), AWB, and Maguire. So a team should be built to get the most out of those players. And any formation I can think of doesn't include a #10. So in my opinion we should either be playing a 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 3-4-3...
4-3-3
-----------------------DDG-----------------------
AWB--------Lindeloff-------Maguire-------Shaw
----------------------New DM--------------------
---------McTominay----------Pogba-------------
James--------------Martial-------------Rashford
4-4-2
--------------------DDG--------------------
AWB-------Lindeloff------Maguire--------Shaw
James--------McTOminay--Pogba------New left footed player
-------------Rashford------Martial--------------
3-4-3
----------------------DDG----------------------
-------AWB---------Maguire----Lindeloff-------
New RWB----McTominay---Pogba------new LWB
----James-----------Martial----------Rashford----
Our other problem is that while AWB and Shaw are very good defensively, neither is very good in attack. Perhaps Dalot can play RWB but he hasn't really impressed either...
4-3-3
-----------------------DDG-----------------------
AWB--------Lindeloff-------Maguire-------Shaw
----------------------New DM--------------------
---------McTominay----------Pogba-------------
James--------------Martial-------------Rashford
4-4-2
--------------------DDG--------------------
AWB-------Lindeloff------Maguire--------Shaw
James--------McTOminay--Pogba------New left footed player
-------------Rashford------Martial--------------
3-4-3
----------------------DDG----------------------
-------AWB---------Maguire----Lindeloff-------
New RWB----McTominay---Pogba------new LWB
----James-----------Martial----------Rashford----
Our other problem is that while AWB and Shaw are very good defensively, neither is very good in attack. Perhaps Dalot can play RWB but he hasn't really impressed either...
interesting. I’m no football manager , but Personally, the fact we dont have a left footed winger and no real striker at the moment, so all the forwards cut inside leaving no width, As well as a flat back 4 rather than wing backs that bomb on, I would play a 4-2-1-3, with a rigid back 6, a pivot player and a free roam front 3. the two holding midfielders are there to cover chase and block, and the free form of the front 3 might give us a creative streak or some movement as we dont need them to hold shape because of that back 6. If everyone was fit:
DDG
AWB Vic Harry Shaw
Mctominay Fred
Pogba
James martial rashford
I think personnel limits us going forward a lot at the moment
Letting Herrera go was a monumental feck up, really infuriating. He'd be vital right now in a 3 with McT and Pogba 
. Absolute horror show! No Herrera wasn't prime Xavi but he could definitely pick a through pass in-behind a back line.
. Absolute horror show! No Herrera wasn't prime Xavi but he could definitely pick a through pass in-behind a back line.This is the sad predicament of where we are as a club as I agree with you that McT is the only midfielder I would keep also, the only one showing the mentality of what it means to be a United player.
We should have signed a midfielder in the summer, it could have been a cheaper young player like James, not a 60-70 million signing. Look at how vital James is now to the team, he is a starting 11 player basically.
However I have to be honest that we should be doing better, it's no wonder most fans are pissed off by the performances. I expected to see some patterns of play by now and it's not happening, which shows the squad still has no chemistry. It still feels disjointed, the team is fitter but the movement off the ball is still very disorganised. I want Ole to succeed but we need to improve our play sharply or there is no point in continuing like that, it's hugely detrimental to the whole club.
However I have to be honest that we should be doing better, it's no wonder most fans are pissed off by the performances. I expected to see some patterns of play by now and it's not happening, which shows the squad still has no chemistry. It still feels disjointed, the team is fitter but the movement off the ball is still very disorganised. I want Ole to succeed but we need to improve our play sharply or there is no point in continuing like that, it's hugely detrimental to the whole club.
Yeah and also Ruben loftus cheek is missing ! They have depth in midfield.
That is basically what we are playing now. A 4-2-3-1. But unless Pogba is fit and we can build the squad around him, then it's a useless formation unless we get in a quality #10. Playing Mata, Lingard or Perreira in that position as we have been (even when Pogba was fit) is useless. Perhaps with Fred putting in better performances of late we can go to that formation once Pogba is fit again. But until then I would hope Ole scraps this formation...