Probably isn’t ideal but when either Fred or McTominay put in a 5/10 performance every week you have to ask the question of how can he possibly do worse.
Amadou Haidara
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Probably isn’t ideal but when either Fred or McTominay put in a 5/10 performance every week you have to ask the question of how can he possibly do worse.
Educate yourself. Rice is a good, physical ball winner who can carry the ball forward with a dribble as he did very well for England. But his passing is very underrated. Thats the most passes into the final third from a midfielder in the league and 3rd, after 2x City defenders
I'm really surprised by this. Rice is a key part of a West Ham team that have surprised everyone by reaching the top 4, he's clearly improved on last season and is quickly showing he can live up to his potential and become a top top midfielder. Bellingham is right up there with the most promising teenagers currently playing anywhere in the world. Either one of them would be a huge improvement in your midfield.
He isn’t particularly a great passer, nor a DM. This when our most pressing need is a player who can dictate play from the deep. Buying for the sake of it without any planning once again.
I'd rather save the money for the next manager. Some people on here are so desperate for new players constantly they will accept anything.
I don't think they are going to give him a 30m signing this window unless they are thinking of giving him the job FT which I hope not.
I don't think they are going to give him a 30m signing this window unless they are thinking of giving him the job FT which I hope not.
If we don't trust his judgement on new signings I'm a bit unsure why we're keeping him around after this season is done.
Is Bellingham as promising or more promising than Sancho was when he was at Dortmund? I seem to remember hearing he was going to be a huge improvement on the right wing.
We'll know who the new manager is by now and will discuss this with them.
Educate yourself. Rice is a good, physical ball winner who can carry the ball forward with a dribble as he did very well for England. But his passing is very underrated. Thats the most passes into the final third from a midfielder in the league and 3rd, after 2x City defenders
I like Rice but that stat looks like a ranking of players who play in teams with a high defensive line, where the pitch is shrunk between attack and defence. The defenders tend to make a lot of passes into the forwards when the midfielders are marked out by the opposition in congested spaces.
Neither McTominay nor Fred are being played as a 6 anymore. This is why Rangnick keeps playing Matic now. He literally has no alternative to Matic in the role. McTominay and Fred are not dms, neither is VDB and he was terrible when tasked with the role against Young Boys, which is why I suspect Rangnick isn't prepared to play him there again.
I would suggest more promising, but I certainly wouldn't write Sancho off yet, he's going to be a special player
Educate yourself. Rice is a good, physical ball winner who can carry the ball forward with a dribble as he did very well for England. But his passing is very underrated. Thats the most passes into the final third from a midfielder in the league and 3rd, after 2x City defenders
He has for sure improved in a big way this season. As late as last season, his passing stats really were not good. Agree 100% on physicality - to accuse Rice of lacking athleticism is as off as it can be.
Wishful thinking. The way the club conducted itself in getting rid of Solskjaer and appointing a replacement is a strong indicator of the lack of foresight among the decision makers here.
As for Haidara, it's difficult to get excited for a player who is mostly about his energy when we fundamentally lack a midfielder who knows how to use the ball.
Ralf doesn't want to play the type of football that requires a player that can dictate from deep. The problem is knowing us, we'll probably get Haidara and then our permanent manager in the summer (Poch or ETH) won't like him and he'll end up on the bench while we look for a player that can dictate play.
Not to mention the two [supposed] main targets are pretty different in their philosophies and how they want to set up a side — Ten Hag + Pochettino
I think Haidara would be perfect for Poch who seems to be our main target. He would be quite similar to the role Dembele and Sissoko played. If it's ETH then it could be a bit of a problem. Not that Haidara is bad on the ball but he's not really used to a style based on a possession first approach.
Would probably bring the Bundesliga curse with him if we signed him 
Not really sold on him to be honest. We are desperate for a fix, but I'm not sure it's him.
Frankly, not that many good options right now. Unpopular opinion, but I'd rather save money right now so whoever comes in the summer can have more to spend. Tielemans + Neves, or Rice or Bellingham. Vlahovic too maybe.
Frankly, not that many good options right now. Unpopular opinion, but I'd rather save money right now so whoever comes in the summer can have more to spend. Tielemans + Neves, or Rice or Bellingham. Vlahovic too maybe.
Idk about that you know, I think that would suit Fred more. The good thing is technically he can also play rb so his versatility will defo be of use.
He was decent on his two games starting on the right to be fair.
He played him alongside Mata in CM. Hardly setting him up for success.
I still think we should play VDB alongside Fred/McTominay and Bruno as a midfield three. It really helped get control for that last 20 mins in the cup game. Obviously that was Bruno as false 9 but I’d rather see him as one of the three.
Just mimic the best two sides in the league. We don’t have a Rodri or Fabinho but we have Bruno to play the De Bruyne role and Van De Beek could play as a Gundogan style box to box goal scoring midfielder. Then Fred and McTominay can share DM role or be brought on to shore things up by replacing Donny or Bruno. They lack positional discipline and passing range but surely they can be told to just keep it simple and keep it moving. They need to follow instructions and hold position.
Every time I read his name I get John Cena’s theme song stuck in my head.
Fred can't dribble which was a huge strength of Sissoko and especially Dembele. Haidara is good at this.
I agree that he was given a particularly hard task with the other cms selected but it was still against a poor team and he was badly at fault for the goal and on many other occasions. Bit harsh to blame him solely but I don't think Rangnick ever saw him as a dm and that performance I'm sure would have solidified that in his mind. I actually don't mind the false 9 idea but I actually think Donny would be much more suited to the role than Bruno. I think Bruno would be better in the midfield 3 so he can play longer passes and push forward into the box. Then you would have Donny able to play short through balls into Bruno and the wingers/inside forwards whether that be Ronaldo, Rashford, Greenwood, Elanga, Sancho, etc, which he's actually good at. Donny is also good at making runs into the box himself and that was basically his main job at Ajax in the 2 seasons before we signed him.
I don't agree with your views on Fred and McTominay. They are absolutely not dms and don't understand how to play the position. They are poor positionally and don't know how to make themselves available to receive the ball. Fred is a ball winner without positional awareness and a limited ability on the ball, whereas McTominay is quite box to box and actually quite good in attacking positions when given space to get forward.
Maguire, Sancho, VdB, AwB, Fred, cost us a fortune and are being paid high wages. They haven't worked out for us, so why can't the board trust Rangnick with bringing in a few players this window.
He will supposedly be the one who will be dictating to the new manager next season on players coming in, so I can't see the reason he isn't allowed now. They are already saying ( media) that the board doesn't agree with the players he wants now, so why hire him.?
I'm not saying they are DM's. I'm saying they are the best option for DM we currently have. I think we should be playing the way we intend to going forward and identifying areas to upgrade instead of trying to fit the system to the players. At the very least I think Fred and McTominay have the legs to cover the ground. They just need to play with more discipline.
The board shouldn't have any say on our transfers. Plenty to suggest they didn't want to sign Bruno either. We were linked with him all the previous summer and we didn't sign him, then got him at the very end of January when things were going badly. Not sure whether it was Ole himself or our scouting team that identified him but clearly the board are the last ones who should be making any judgement on players.
Exactly, but unfortunately they are, and they should be blamed if we don't get that 4th position.
I disagree, as limited as he is, Matic is the only one who understands what he's supposed to do in the position and I think Rangnick recognises that too, which is why he started playing him consistently in more recent games when he realised Fred and McTominay couldn't perform the role properly. Matic is good at receiving the ball and knowing where he's supposed to be positionally, but he consistently becomes a problem as each game goes on. He doesn't have the legs to cover the space he has to for 90 mins, especially when Fred, McTominay and the defensive line don't help him out at all. We have no player good enough to be starting this role currently which is why I think we should get Zakaria to be 1st choice in the short term and to be a squad player in the long term since we need to replace Matic in the squad shortly anyway. 3 cms are needed in the next 2 years imo. 2 starters and 1 backup.
Cancelo has been one of City's biggest attacking threats. And Rice isnt in defence, he's in midfield supplying passes to the players in the final third. Thats what it is, it says it on the tin
Yep me 2. but they won't be told otherwise.
Haidara is a very massive upgrade on Mctominay and Fred, he is a natural box to box midfielders whose playing style is being in a double pivot, winning the ball and drive it forward with energetic run and dribble, simply put, he is a pogba type of player with superior pace and defensive contribution when we lose possession.
He is also press resistant, and a childhood fan of our club, meaning that he will play out his heart for the club.
Let's stay far away from £100m Rice please.
He is also press resistant, and a childhood fan of our club, meaning that he will play out his heart for the club.
Let's stay far away from £100m Rice please.
I agree about 3 midfielders needed but not in the next 2 years I'm talking ASAP. We need at least one or two now for the remainder of this season, or say goodbye now to 4th position.
I wonder how many of the moaners in here were also moaning about not replacing Matic on Saturday. £30m is nothing even if he will at best be a bench player, can't be anymore useless than Mata is.
That list is defenders and defensive midfielders because they are the ones not often in the final third and making passes there. Unless you mean to tell me Højbjerg is a passer extraordinaire along with Rüdiger and Laporte.
Probably because we spent well over 100 million in the summer (i think we spent the 2nd most in world football?) after two pandemic hit seasons, and they don't want to borrow money to give to an interim manager to spend. Plus we have an insanely big squad with an insanely high wage bill. We aren't a bottomless pit of money. So it's hardly surprising we aren't spending.
As for him dictating transfers next season. No one has said that. All we have is that he is a consultant next season. That could mean anything, from he is asked for some cursory input every few months to being in the room every on every decision. But at least on the surface, it looks like it will be Arnold, Murtough, and whoever the new coach is who has the biggest influence on transfers.
As for the board not agreeing with him? I think it is very clear the board is most interested in protecting themselves. Murtough is going to want to protect his position which would be under threat if Rangnick is given a large say over the running and vision of the football side of the club. And Arnold is going to want to keep the power over the football side of things that Woodward has enjoyed.
From what I've seen Zakaria plays much the same as Fred and McTominay as does Haidara. RR has already said he see's Fred and McTominay as ideal for his system. However, it's not just about what we've seen them do to date. They've clearly been tasked with playing as high-energy ball-winning midfielders.
What I'm arguing for is that they be given instructions of how to play in that role as a lone DM until either they fail or improve in that role. Neither have played more than one game as a sole holding midfielder and we haven't tried to develop McTominay into one (I recognise his attacking attributes). But like how we converted Valencia to full back or Ryan Giggs to CM or Andrea Pirlo moving from no 10 further back as his career developed footballers aren't unable to change and be moulded.
The key thing is I don't think Fred nor McTominay are being told to play in a disciplined way. Ole wanted 'complete' midfielders in the mould of Keane and Scholes who both do a lot of everything. RR wants them to press high and recover the ball. I'm suggesting we tell one of them to sit as a DM and focus on protecting the defence and keep it simple in possession. They will make mistakes (but they already do) but in theory they should be in a better position to stop a counter-attack than if their mistake is pressing high. If they can't follow instructions from the coach then they should be playing professional football.
I guess we can move on from this one then.
Rudiger joins the attack, its what hes known for
The point of the list is passing the ball up to the final third players. Which is what you want from your midfielders, especially DMs on the ball. It cannot get more simple than that