Absoloute nonesense... I have already thrown out Memphis and you persist in mentioning him. He doesn't start, so that point is, well a non-starter.
"WE CONTROLLED"? We were let have the ball in the middle third as teams retreated into, a very effective, against us, 8 or 9 behind the ball. United would often have 6 or 7 on 2 in the middle third of course stats say we controlled. In reallity we were showing how ineffective we were with the ball. All that possession and no end result. Constantly going sideways and backwards as we played across the front of defence.
But still not able unlock a sitting defence. The goals we did get mostly came from defensive blunders or a flash of brilliance like you suggested. Ibrahimovic, Greizmann and Mahrez would increrase the instances of brilliance, no doubt. But wont stop us being embarrassed like we were so often last season. We would efectively be Joke City, good attack, ok defence and crap midfield. But another way to increase the chances is to play effectively, in the right areas at the right times from the midfield. That spark, vision or guile which we severly lack. Which aslo has the added bonus of protecting the defence better too if the right players were bought. Which is whats needed to stand up to the teams we see ourselves/need to match up against. Its not all about attack its about defending also.
0-0 PSV home, 3-0 spurs & arsenal, 2-0 stoke, 3-2 west ham, 1-0 sounthampton, 2-0 dippers and the december losses to norwich and bournmouth are all games in perticular where we should of done better. Never mind the standard we'd like to be at the Real, Barca, Bayern.
Kante would be a huge step in the right direction i think. If thats the keane end of it, how do we fix the bigger problem of a scholes?
But to suggest that at 18, 20 and 23 we need to change them. Is Alan Hanson teritory. For a group of players who will get much better the more they play and develop and confidence grows. Their speed alone if used effectively, already carries signifigant threat in our league. Vardy proves that.
You will always argue for Ibrahimovic, Greizmann and Mahrez or somebody akin to this. And thats fair enough, I get where you are coming from. Its just a point of view i can never agree with. I will always argue strengthening the spine where i see glaring deficiencies and developing youth is the way forward for this team. I dont see the point in breaking the one positive of last season without giving them a fair chance. Them 3 plus CBJ*, TFM* and a few other fringe deserve the chance to flurish which i think they will. Remember Adnan and his lack of games and the effect.
I debated against Zlatan but in fairness someone made the point, for one season his swagger/mentality could envoke a winning philosphy in the club as a leader, Cantona esque and help improve the young fellas. Thats a fair point. Not to mention the shirt sales.
We are kinda at polar oppisites of the same arguement. So there is no point in going on and on, I wont be changing my mind. You seem to want to buy the stars and i want the spine improved instead not to the detriment of our promising youth who i believe are our way forward.
We both want the same end result just have differing theories on how to get there.
Rashford is still too young to rely on for an entire season as our first choice striker. Like you, I see a very bright future for him. But I (and maybe you) also saw a bright future for Macheda. Whether Rashford becomes the next Shearer or the next Macheda isn't the really the point. The point is that we take too great a risk in wrecking him and the club underperforming is relying too greatly on him.
What I like about going with Ibrahimovic now is that we get the benefit of one, maybe two, seasons of him while allowing Rashford to develop without undue pressure. If my facts are correct, he's still only 18. Even Martial was 20 when he picked him up and most of acknowledge Martial is a still a young player.
I still don't get how you can conclude that adding Ibrahimovic, Greizmann and Mahrez (to Martial on the front line) would still result in us getting embarrassed. These three would be a quantum upgrade over Rooney (remember him?), Lingard (nice player but a squad man at best) and Memphis (potential is there but he was dire in 15/16).
You argue the "spine" thesis but you misunderstand a few things about a spine. Most clubs are going to sit back and let us have the ball until the last third. That's the way it's been years, even before Moyes. We're not going to have trouble with our buildup play out of the back and out of the middle third. (Keep in mind we're not in the CL this season.) Where we had trouble last season and may again unless we address serious deficiencies on the front line, deficiencies that caused us to be unable to beat defenders on the dribble, taking shots while being defended or passing through defensive lines.
The play of the front line (Rooney, Memphis, Lingard et al) is what let us down this season (set piece defending on the other end, but I don't see anyone suggesting wholesale makeovers of the back line). The spine you need to think about is the horizontal spine of the attacking three behind the striker and the striker itself. The spine of the central defenders and the central midfielders is obvious critical too, but when you only score 49 goals in 38 league games the spine that's broken isn't your vertical spine of the CB and CM, but your horizontal spine of your front four in a 4231.
If Ibrahimovic, Greizmann and Mahrez aren't good enough to address our front line problems, I'm open to alternative suggestions.
As for youth, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. I'm completely on board with you keeping Martial, Shaw, Borthwick-Jackson, Fosu-Mensah, Rashford, Lingard, Pereira, Memphis and Johnstone with the first team. I'm not sure what to do with Januzaj, Wilson, Keane, McNair and Love. I'd let Blackett go. But there's only so many young players a club can keep and play on a regular basis and still be a leading contender for the league trophy. Rashford will get plenty of match experience but if we start him every week I really don't see him being able to score 20+ goals in the league, a tally which Ibrahimovic can easily reach. I just don't see enough potential in Lingard to reach the conclusion that we should pass up on Greizmann because we already have Lingard. Mahrez v Memphis is a closer call because we all saw what Memphis did before he joined United, but we also saw what Memphis did last season. I like the idea of Memphis as a super sub for us but if someone else wants to argue that we should pass up on Mahrez because we already have Memphis and to apply our energy on Kante instead I can agree with that. But Memphis better show up next season -- he was ridiculously poor this last season.
Screw the shirt sales. Ibrahimovic is such a massive upgrade on the 30 year old Rooney and the 18 year Rashford that we'd be insane not to bring him if that's possible. We're not picking up Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldo, Bale, Lewandowski, Muller or Kane. We've brought in a Swede before late in his career and if memory serves me well it worked out quite well for us. Be not afraid, dude. He'll give us 1, maybe 2, great seasons, after which time Rashford will be ready to step up.
horizontal spine.