Boubacar Kamara | Signs for Aston Villa

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reddevilz007 said:
Liverpool has Thiago, Fabinho, Milner, Keita, Chamberlain, Henderson, Jones.

City has Fernandinho, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Silva.

Chelsea has Kante, Kovacic, Jorginho, Loftus Cheek, Niguez.

Assuming Matic and Pogba are leaving, we have Fred, McTominay and VdB. McTominay wouldn’t be on the bench for neither Liverpool nor City, maybe Chelsea. Then you assume VdB is gone. Hannibal will probably compete for one of the two 10 positions.

So yes, 3 new CMs would be ideal (January and summer), and 5 is a good number to have.

Fred, McTominay, Hannibal (big if he is employed deeper) + 1 new CMs, then your ambition is probably for us to fight for the number 4 spot in the league again.
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You're doing a really weird thing of comparing our opposition's current options with our future options. Fernandinho is leaving, Saul is leaving, Chamberlain and Milner are likely leaving. What's more, the likes of City and Liverpool play 3 in midfield positions - we don't. Our current options are Fred, McTominay, Matic, Pogba, and VdB. VdB and Matic rarely feature but both have contracts beyond next summer and we have no idea how Rangnick sees VdB yet, so we don't assume he's gone. In fact, if Ten Hag genuinely is the favourite to takeover as has been rumoured, there's a very good chance he stays when Rangnick moves upstairs as planned. Pogba is the only dead-cert to be off.

Under Rangnick's preferred set-up of 4-2-2-2, we only play with 2. So for two positions, we have McTominay, Fred, VdB, Hannibal (who's fantastic at dribbling and has been compared by knowledgable sorts on here as being a similar player to Modric - why waste him in one of the 10s?), potentially Matic and as per your own preference THREE extra midfielders. It's ridiculous and a pointless conversation because it obviously won't happen and it never will happen.
 
goptun said:
You're doing a really weird thing of comparing our opposition's current options with our future options. Fernandinho is leaving, Saul is leaving, Chamberlain and Milner are likely leaving. What's more, the likes of City and Liverpool play 3 in midfield positions - we don't. Our current options are Fred, McTominay, Matic, Pogba, and VdB. VdB and Matic rarely feature but both have contracts beyond next summer and we have no idea how Rangnick sees VdB yet, so we don't assume he's gone. In fact, if Ten Hag genuinely is the favourite to takeover as has been rumoured, there's a very good chance he stays when Rangnick moves upstairs as planned. Pogba is the only dead-cert to be off.

Under Rangnick's preferred set-up of 4-2-2-2, we only play with 2. So for two positions, we have McTominay, Fred, VdB, Hannibal (who's fantastic at dribbling and has been compared by knowledgable sorts on here as being a similar player to Modric - why waste him in one of the 10s?), potentially Matic and as per your own preference THREE extra midfielders. It's ridiculous and a pointless conversation because it obviously won't happen and it never will happen.
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and you dont think City, Liverpool and Chelsea will look to replace these departures for next season? That’s just being ignorant.

So if Ten Hag does come in like you say, then there’s 3 midfield spots.
We have Fred, Mctominay, Hannibal, Bruno and VdB.

I dont rate McTominay, Hannibal is still unproven. Bruno will need some resting, his performance has been beyond horrific this season,
So lets say you only get 1 new CM, if he gets injured, we’re back to our current midfield that still gets runover by Liverpool and City. Great thinking buddy!

Matic is a goner and Pogba too.
 
goptun said:
Christ. Welcome to the real world - we aren't signing 3 new midfielders, this isn't Football Manager. Why do people always say this shit? 'we need at least FOUR new attackers cos that's what YOONITED is all about'. It's not going to happen! No team ever signs 3 or 4 players for the same position in one window! Get over it!

Kamara will be a similar age to Fabinho when he joined Liverpool and Hannibal Mejbri will actually be 19 by next summer. We're also working on the assumption that VdB will definitely leave - why? If McTominay, Fred, Hannibal Mejbri, and Kamara (and VdB) isn't good enough for two positions then one of them needs to go. 5 or 6 players for 2 positions is ridiculous and we'll end up in a similar spot to where we are now, with a bloated squad with players on high wages not contributing and inevitably becoming a headache with leaks to the press from disgruntled agents.

Personally disagree that Fred isn't good enough. He's already shown more than enough to suggest he is good enough in a functional side with a clearly defined role in the first 11. How many CMs do City and Liverpool have, out of interest?
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Thre is a strong possblity we could lose several players this summer through contracts, age, lack of game time, a good three of those minimum could be central midfielders, which would literally leave us with McFred and Hannibal. A midfield pairing that whatever side of the fence you are on, the jury is still out from many pundits and fans on both of them. I simply stated I feel we shoul dhave signed two midfielders in the summer, we signed none and our midfield has generally been totally over ran. I only suggested we may need to sign three if all of the other midfield options we have beyond McFred and Hannibal leave, why is that folly?

Yes I agree our squad is bloated, where is it bloated.....in the attacking positions mainly, where we signed a world class player in his late thirties when we already have one and £80m on talented young winger when we already have four. Not saying they werent good signings, but not strengthening our midfield was a huge mistake this summer.

Liverpool have Moreton, Elliot, Keita, Milner, Henderson, Thiago, Curtis JOnes, Chamberlain, Fabinho have all played this season
Chelsea have Kante, mount, Saul, JOrghino, Kovacic, Loftus Cheek, Barkley,
City have played loads of players played in midfield with there system Im not even naming them

Seriously wtf are you even talking about saying the top three dont have huge squads with loads of options in comparison to the possible "four options" you seem to think will suffice? Absolutely ludicrous post....oh and if we signed Kamara in the summer he will still be 22, Fabhino was 25 and had champions league experience and had been playing for his country for five years, again a ludicrous comparison and this is comign from someone who advocating us signing Kamara in the summer and has never been a huge fan of Fabhino
 
goptun said:
You're doing a really weird thing of comparing our opposition's current options with our future options. Fernandinho is leaving, Saul is leaving, Chamberlain and Milner are likely leaving. What's more, the likes of City and Liverpool play 3 in midfield positions - we don't. Our current options are Fred, McTominay, Matic, Pogba, and VdB. VdB and Matic rarely feature but both have contracts beyond next summer and we have no idea how Rangnick sees VdB yet, so we don't assume he's gone. In fact, if Ten Hag genuinely is the favourite to takeover as has been rumoured, there's a very good chance he stays when Rangnick moves upstairs as planned. Pogba is the only dead-cert to be off.

Under Rangnick's preferred set-up of 4-2-2-2, we only play with 2. So for two positions, we have McTominay, Fred, VdB, Hannibal (who's fantastic at dribbling and has been compared by knowledgable sorts on here as being a similar player to Modric - why waste him in one of the 10s?), potentially Matic and as per your own preference THREE extra midfielders. It's ridiculous and a pointless conversation because it obviously won't happen and it never will happen.
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Seems like all his managers think the opposite, why waste him in CM when he can be an influence on attack? Same thing with Grealish, people kept wanting us to get him and play him in a central midfield role. All his managers play him from wide. Real Madrid thought the same thing when they signed Modric. Only after failing as a #10 was he moved back to play a holding midfield role and drastically improved his defensive responsibilities and became a quality player in that role.
 
pocco said:
Phillips is a donkey and immobile. He has been horrendous against us and I'm pretty sure he got dropped by Bielsa when they played their second game against us last season. In these videos alone, Kamara looks far more mobile than Phillips.
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Phillips is quality, watch more football.
 
Kamara seems very underwhelming. I don’t think he is good enough on the ball to play in a Manchester United midfield.
 
We need first 11 quality players for our midfield, the players we already have can be moved to squad player roles (McFred). I don't really see it with this guy Kamara, Haidara is a more interesting option if we are buying in january.
 
I trust Ralf. If he signs a player you better believe he has the exact qualities he wants. And yes Kalvin Phillips is a very good player. Better DM than anyone we have but we need a CM who can do it all…
 
Mr PG said:
I trust Ralf. If he signs a player you better believe he has the exact qualities he wants. And yes Kalvin Phillips is a very good player. Better DM than anyone we have but we need a CM who can do it all…
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Philips would be great next to a more defensive player. He has it in him to pick out some nice passes. Plus having played for Leeds, you don’t need to worry about his fitness levels under Rangnick.
 
Funny how people discredit all these CMs we are linked with, yet they forget that McTominay is a starter for us.
 
reddevilz007 said:
Funny how people discredit all these CMs we are linked with, yet they forget that McTominay is a starter for us.
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Funny how people are prepared to set their own bar lower because McTominay plays for us.
 
Pickle85 said:
He's ok...will probably find his level at an Everton or maybe a Spurs but I think you need to watch more football if you think he's destined for the top.
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A good number of United supporters think players like Maguire and McTominay are top players. Top players they are not. Phillips is about their level IMO but a more rounded player than McTominay who never got an England call up
 
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United in sin said:
A good number of United supporters think players like Maguire and McTominay are top players. Top players they are not. Phillips is about their level IMO but a more rounded player than McTominay who couldn't even get an England call up
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I do agree with the sentiment behind this, broadly, but too be fair to McTom the reason he couldn't get an English call up is because he's Scottish, no?!
 
United in sin said:
A good number of United supporters think players like Maguire and McTominay are top players. Top players they are not. Phillips is about their level IMO but a more rounded player than McTominay who couldn't even get an England call up
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Don’t bite Darren please To late

Not having that mate, both Scotland and England wanted McTominay at the time, if I remember right Scott mentioned that his choice was made up when Alex Mcleish traveled down from Glasgow in horrendous weather to speak to him, and all Southgate could do was call…
 
Pickle85 said:
I do agree with the sentiment behind this, broadly, but too be fair to McTom the reason he couldn't get an English call up is because he's Scottish, no?!
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He's English born with a Scottish father. He's lived his entire life in England. Southgate spoke to him in 2018 but he didn't call him up.

According to Brian McClair Scotland just wanted McTominay more. Alex McCliesh visited Carrington to woo McTominay while Southgate went all out to get Rice to declare for England much to Roy Keanes dismay (and ire)
 
Pickle85 said:
I do agree with the sentiment behind this, broadly, but too be fair to McTom the reason he couldn't get an English call up is because he's Scottish, no?!
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He doesn't even play in midfield for Scotland :lol: what makes you think he's getting into the England side over the likes of Mount and Foden?
 
Adam-Utd said:
He doesn't even play in midfield for Scotland :lol: what makes you think he's getting into the England side over the likes of Mount and Foden?
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They're not playing his position? He'd be competing with Rice and Phillips, which is not quite that clear cut.
 
United in sin said:
He's English born with an English mother and Scottish father. He's lived his entire life in England. Southgate spoke to him in 2018 but he didn't call him up. According to Brian McClair Scotland just wanted McTominay more. Alex McCliesh visited Carrington to woo McTominay while Southgate went all out to get Rice to declare for England much to Roy Keane a ire
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I had no idea about this...thanks for the info!
Adam-Utd said:
He doesn't even play in midfield for Scotland :lol: what makes you think he's getting into the England side over the likes of Mount and Foden?
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In fairness that's more down to Scotland's lack at the back and his ability to play there better than other options. I certainly don't think he'd get in ahead of mount or foden (though foden is a totally different player so not sure why he'd be in ahead of him) but it's not beyond belief that Southgate may give him a cap at some point. I mean he's been pretty free with the caps to date.
 
RUCK4444 said:
Is he? All I see is Leeds getting hammered 5 nil every week.

He’s their best player but absolutely nothing special imo.
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Agreed entirely. Though Raph may have something to say about the best player part :D
 
Would have been hilarious had Southgate called him for England squad, when McTominay was called up for Scotland squad, he started just 5-6 league games.
 
hellhunter said:
They're not playing his position? He'd be competing with Rice and Phillips, which is not quite that clear cut.
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England play a 4-3-3 quite regularly and Mount/Foden play in that position with Rice or Philips as the CDM.

We've also recently played Foden as the deeper CM in a 4-2-3-1. Yes he'd be directly competing.
 
Adam-Utd said:
England play a 4-3-3 quite regularly and Mount/Foden play in that position with Rice or Philips as the CDM.

We've also recently played Foden as the deeper CM in a 4-2-3-1. Yes he'd be directly competing.
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He'd be competing with Rice and Phillips, not with Foden and Mount.
 
Pickle85 said:
I had no idea about this...thanks for the info!

In fairness that's more down to Scotland's lack at the back and his ability to play there better than other options. I certainly don't think he'd get in ahead of mount or foden (though foden is a totally different player so not sure why he'd be in ahead of him) but it's not beyond belief that Southgate may give him a cap at some point. I mean he's been pretty free with the caps to date.
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In all fairness McTominay is not better than Scotland's other midfield options in McGinn and the young Gilmour who actually replaced him in midfield against England at the Euros.

McTominay is shoehorned in the Scottish NT really. He offers some steele at the back in a back three but his off ball awareness and positioning remains suspect.

Gilmour replaced McTominay at the Euros in the anchor role in their midfield after a poor display against the Czech republic in a 0-2 opening loss. Scotland drew 0-0 with England and Gilmour held his own in midfield and was voted MOTM

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/jun/18/scotland-billy-gilmour-england

That display ensured McTominay remained on defensive duties in the final and decisive group game against Croatia despite Gilmour being out with covid. McTominay was one of Scotland's worst players in that game and they lost 3-1.

Gilmour made Scotland better against the best team in the group (England). This midfield and defence back and forth for McTominay in Scotland is not down to him being brilliant at both roles. In a fully fit Scottish team he's not among their best starting midfielders
 
United in sin said:
In all fairness McTominay is not better than Scotland's other midfield options in McGinn and the young Gilmour who actually replaced him in midfield against England at the Euros.

McTominay is shoehorned in the Scottish NT really. He offers some steele at the back in a back three but his off ball awareness and positioning remains suspect.

Gilmour replaced McTominay at the Euros in the anchor role in their midfield after a poor display against the Czech republic in a 0-2 opening loss. Scotland drew 0-0 with England and Gilmour held his own in midfield and was voted MOTM

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/jun/18/scotland-billy-gilmour-england

That display ensured McTominay remained on defensive duties in the final and decisive group game against Croatia despite Gilmour being out with covid. McTominay was one of Scotland's worst players in that game and they lost 3-1.

Gilmour made Scotland better against the best team in the group (England). This midfield and defence back and forth for McTominay in Scotland is not down to him being brilliant at both roles. In a fully fit Scottish team he's not among their best starting midfielders
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Disagree that he's not better than McGinn and Gilmour (who wasn't even a reliable starter for Norwich before Smith). Gilmour may turn out to be better - I like the look of him on the ball - but at this point I don't think he's better. I don't even rate McTom but do think he's better than both.
 
Pickle85 said:
Disagree that he's not better than McGinn and Gilmour (who wasn't even a reliable starter for Norwich before Smith). Gilmour may turn out to be better - I like the look of him on the ball - but at this point I don't think he's better. I don't even rate McTom but do think he's better than both.
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Couldn’t disagree anymore! There’s a reason why McTominay is thrown at CB for Scotland.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Couldn’t disagree anymore! There’s a reason why McTominay is thrown at CB for Scotland.
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Indeed, because he's better than their other options and Gilmour couldn't play CB. Classic example of a coach trying to squeeze his best players into a team without regard to position.
 
People forget Ralf likes young players, because he likes to develop them into his type of players. Can see him buying young players and players lika Sabitzer, Werner, who performed in the RB system.
 
Resch said:
People forget Ralf likes young players, because he likes to develop them into his type of players. Can see him buying young players and players lika Sabitzer, Werner, who performed in the RB system.
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It's funny, as people have been crying out for us to buy players before they're stars and not spending when other clubs have developed them. We now have a manager with a track record of such signings, but they're now not good enough.
 
he looks like the type of player Leicester or Liverpool would go for than sell him for 3 times the original price. So i think we should totally get him.
 
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