But Hazard we pulled out because of his agent fees; Fergie didn't want to pay absurd agents fees. We would have gotten him had we paid.
Angel Di Maria | £59.7M fee agreed I Maybe tomorrow...or the day after...
- Thread starter goin4glory
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
- Status
We're trying out 3-5-2 for two reasons, imo;
1 Our wingers are shit/underperforming
2 We have too many strikers (LVG's usual formation uses one striker which would mean dropping/moving one of Rooney and RVP)
So replacing a number 10 or a striker with a player like Di Maria would be great for squad balance, imo. Just because the squad is imbalanced, it doesn't necessarily mean we have to buy more defenders and sell attackers. We could improve the balance with Di Maria if we sell the right player. It would help us play 4-3-3 on occasion, because Di Maria is great out wide, but he is also more than capable of slotting into a 3-5-2.
And how would he fit in without benching one of Mata, RvP or Rooney? In any formation. Do you really think he's such a big improvement on either of them, as to justify his price tag? It's a no CL season on top of it all. None of those players would accept sitting on the bench.
RVP
Di Maria-----Rooney------Mata
Herrera-----Fellaini
Di Maria-----Rooney------Mata
Herrera-----Fellaini
He fits in a 4-3-3 with the "three" behind RVP interchanging all the time.
I was just pointing out that it would improve our squad balance and options if we signed him. At the moment we don't have great wide players. Seeing as you ask, I think he's a massive improvement on all of those players out wide in a 4-3-3.
The fact that RVP, Mata and RVP don't fit well together unless we play 3-5-2 isn't really a good reason to not sign a great wide player. Unless you think we should play 3-5-2 in every game from now on, because of that conundrum?
If the team that signs him uses him on the wing its a waste. He is so much better in midfield.
He is primarily a winger in my opinion. If we get him, then I hope we play him either on the left or on the right.
I'd play him centre mid. He's played there all season for Real and did brilliantly. But that's IF we manage to sign him!
He's playing a system that doesn't use any wingers.
Agree. While he can be effective and reliable in the center, he is much more useful out wide. We all saw how he played against Atletico in the Champions League Final, he was unstoppable.
He played in a position in which LVG has already complained we have too many options.
You could replace Mata with Ronaldo and RVP with Messi and that line-up would still not look great due to the presence of Fellaini.
When he plays on the wing he is pretty similar to ozil in that he is very consistently productive (ie gets lots of assists, even if he plays bad) but doesn't perform in the big matches and can be frustrating in general. He was a bit better than ozil for performances in big games but still very frustrating and wasteful. I definitely would not consider him to be world class on the wing but he definitely was this year in midfield. He played at a level much higher than I thought he was capable of. He still would be a good player for most teams on the wing but I think he is so much better in midfield.
He'd be similar to Herrera in CM. He'd add pace, energy and ability to beat people in the middle.
I would get rid of Kagawa, if we can get him.
I would get rid of Kagawa, if we can get him.
Thats with our current, fit options. It will change when we sign Vidal.
Just don't bother explaining it. We can keep saying it till we're blue in the face and people still won't listen.
If we get di maria we should play a midfield diamond. di maria played on the left side of a flat midfield 3 for madrid alongside alonso and modric a few times last season and did really well. we should use him in a similar way. that way we can utilize both his work rate and his ability as a winger.
Herrera----Carrick---- Di Maria
Mata
Van Persie---Rooney
Herrera----Carrick---- Di Maria
Mata
Van Persie---Rooney
hes playing that now. he just started using it with netherlands. before the world cup they played 4-3-3 and he only recently changed over to 3-5-2. so he can change his system according to the players he has. why should we pass on the opportunity of singing a world class player, esp when he can fit in multiple systems?Just don't bother explaining it. We can keep saying it till we're blue in the face and people still won't listen.
No he didn't, he played on the left side of a midfield 3 and sometimes was deployed as a winger. I don't think he ever played in the hole.
It would make a lot of sense to replace Kagawa with Di Maria if that was possible. I love Kagawa but he doesn't give us many options, he's good as a 10 but not as good as Mata. Di Maria can play out wide, in the centre or even up top.
I don't think he can though. You're saying he can play in a midfield 3, I completely disagree.
We need players that can fit into the formation LvG wants us to play. At this moment it's 3-5-2 and if we played that formation Di Maria would be on the bench. He's barely played on the left in his career and has only every play central midfield for Argentina (a few times). Yet you think that we can get away with playing him there?
Have we learnt nothing about playing players out of position? How many times does this have to happen before some of you realise that we need to sign players that fits our system. Not sign players for the hell of it and shoehorning them into our squad.
Di maria played in a midfield three this season. It was the season he got the most praise for. I would say this season was the only one that I would have considered him to have been at a world class level.
He has probably watched him 3 times
Didn't you watch him this season then? He played in a midfield 3 for most of the season.
Eh? Whenever I saw Madrid play last season they played 3 in midfield, with a deep DM. Then 3 upfront and Di Maria was always the player on the right side?
Get a feeling we are being used by Di Maria agent to speed up PSG offer. I hope I am proved wrong.
The fact we play Real and Roma in next week gives United opportunity to discuss player availability. So if not addressed by next Saturday then he aint coming.
The fact we play Real and Roma in next week gives United opportunity to discuss player availability. So if not addressed by next Saturday then he aint coming.
No they played mainly Alonso next to modric, di Maria the third midfielder roaming to either side, Bale and Ronaldo flanking benzema.
Eh? I watched them about 7 times last season because of it being on Sky and each game I watched Di Maria was right forward.
He was played in a midfield three a fair bit last season but I'm only guessing that he had some leeway to get forward and support the right side when needed.
Nope, Raul's right. Ancelotti created a sort of false central midfield position for him last season, technically playing next to Alonso and Modric but often functioning as a sort of extra winger, with a fairly free role. Then Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale/Jese played ahead of them.
He played there in a few matches, more so at the start of the season. In 2014 when the team started playing much better and conceding less goals was with Alonso, modric and di maria in midfield. Di maria played on the left in center midfield in a lopsided formation. Ronaldo plays on the left but he also goes into the center too and moves around. The beauty of ancelotti putting di maria in midfield was Di maria attacked through the middle and out wide on the left when Ronaldo moved centrally and also provided defensive cover on the left for Ronaldo. Di maria playing there really had many positives and it was a great move from ancelotti to put him there. Di marias ability but also his attitude made it work. In 2014 it was jese, Ronaldo and bale who played on the wings more.
I'd agree with RedSky's original point - that since we're most likely to play a system with three at the back this season, di Maria just doesn't fit. He's not a wing back, he wouldn't work as one of the two central midfielders, and it wouldn't seem wise to sign expensive competition for Mata, Rooney and Van Persie, given Van Gaal's already complained about being overstocked in those roles. Yeah, he'd be a great buy for 4-3-3, but Van Gaal's seemingly chosen not to play that system due to the players we already have, not because we lack the players to pull it off.
Pretty sure that was mostly when bale was out injured, he played on the wings occasionally but when everyone was fit, he was in midfield.
Just checked. He played first half of the season as Right Forward, then went into midfield normally used on the left of a midfield 3. Finished the season back at his Right Forward role. Looks like he was pushed into midfield to over for Khedira injury. Which makes sense as I didn't watch Madrid in the second half of the season.
12 starts in central midfield
14 starts as wide forward
12 starts in central midfield
14 starts as wide forward
Also I think Bale got over his injury problems and took the RW position.
I'm taking my information from transfer market. (I said starts, so discludes 6 sub appearances.
Yes, they used him as a winger when one of the front 3 was out, particularly after Jese got injured. But it was his role in the midfield 3 usually behind Ronaldo that earned him the most praise - that really started in January when Ancelotti switched to 433 because they were leaking goals.
He played centrally for Benfica too at times I think. Not sure how good he was at it back then though.
So in short.
If we signed Di Maria, we'd have to change formation (again) to 4-3-3 to make best use of him (either as a wide forward or a CM in a midfield 3), thus pushing Rooney/Mata as wide forwards to make it work. So we'd be bringing one player and forcing 2 of our 3 best attacking players out of position?
Alternatively, we could stick with 3-5-2 and bring in a player like Cuadrado who could play right wingback (ensuring that Mata, Rooney, RvP remain in their best positions) and if we ever did change formation to 4-3-3 could also take up right wide forward.
Which is the most likely in this given situation?
If we signed Di Maria, we'd have to change formation (again) to 4-3-3 to make best use of him (either as a wide forward or a CM in a midfield 3), thus pushing Rooney/Mata as wide forwards to make it work. So we'd be bringing one player and forcing 2 of our 3 best attacking players out of position?
Alternatively, we could stick with 3-5-2 and bring in a player like Cuadrado who could play right wingback (ensuring that Mata, Rooney, RvP remain in their best positions) and if we ever did change formation to 4-3-3 could also take up right wide forward.
Which is the most likely in this given situation?
- Status