If we buy Ozil or Griezmann then you will see less/none of those 3. None are good enough for a place in the starting 11.
Castles: Mourinho given green light to spend in January
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If we buy Ozil or Griezmann then you will see less/none of those 3. None are good enough for a place in the starting 11.
Ozil or Griezmann wouldn't necessarily be solutions either. We are living in a world where Lingard is more effective than many of the players we are being linked with.
Can we get a manager who doesn't play long ball football? Woody how much would that cost us? I'm sure we can scrounge up some money on a Kickstarter fund
I’ve slowly come around to lingard now. It was our record striker signing who stunk the place out. It’s not the amount of money we spend. It’s the scouting -Jesus for 25 million or lukaku for 75 and the style of football we are trying to play. Having to play counterattack and long ball at home is fairly sickening, we spend as much as city on transfers and wages, they are just getting more value out of theirs recently.
Unless we are looking to upgrade from a 1-man team to a 2-man, any purchase is pointless.
I don't have an issue with the money as long as the player fills the role properly, which I agree Lukaku hasn't quite done yet. Still, its not as if he's had an awful year or anything. He is on pace to score over 30 goals in all comps so a bit of perspective may be in order.
I wouldn't blame the scouting per say. Mourinho asks for a certain type of player to fit his footballing philosophy. Plus, when City got Jesus, we had Rashford coming through and we needed a more established striker.
We also tried to sign Jesus, but he chose City and Pep. We allegedly offered more money than City but he still chose them.
How much more money are we gonna plough on injury prone underperformers.
Does anyone think another signing will change Mou's footballing style ?
In most other seasons we'd be pretty content with how the team has progressed and played. Unfortunately, City are just on another level at the moment.
sadly rightly so, just imagine Martial in this City team..
He wouldn't ever get in, not intelligent enough and blows hot and cold a lot.
David Luiz and Alex Sandro would be immense additions in my opinion. Both available too.
City have overspent on strengthening their defence and we need to do the same. We can’t persist with an aging Ashley Young and the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. We’ll never win anything.
As for an attacking option, Perisic would be perfect for us.
City have overspent on strengthening their defence and we need to do the same. We can’t persist with an aging Ashley Young and the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. We’ll never win anything.
As for an attacking option, Perisic would be perfect for us.
We need to strengthen key areas because we're out of depth in several positions such as midfield and the fullback positions. If one of Valencia or Young are injured, we're in serious trouble. If Shaw gets his chances maybe less so at LB. After watching us struggle today against a very good team, it's crucial we get another midfielder to either partner Pogba and Matic in an attacking sense or a player that can fill in when Pogba is not available. Herrera just isn't that player. He's not looked the same this season. Fellaini is one dimensional and hasn't been fit for too long.
Did they and the caf not say that about Sterling even just last season? Pep will get trhe best out of Martial.
Then that further backs my point that it isn't necessarily our scouting that's the problem.
How many CB’s do you think we need? Bailly returning is the boost we need. Agreed on Alex Sandro.
We need an improvement on Smalling and Jones and David Luiz is it.
If Mourinho is persisting with 3atb, who suits that system better than David Luiz? He’s a proven PL winning defender too. Probably the best in the league last season. Adding him into the team will only strengthen us.
Please show me how Lingard is more effective than Ozil or Griezmann.
In what way is Lingard more effective than either of those players? And for that matter how's he more effective than Perisic, another player we've been linked with?
- Weigl or Moutinho (Moutinho would be dirt cheap 6 months left on his Monaco contract and can play the 8/6 hybrid role very well. Weigl is the dream signing and the turmoil at Dortmund must not be helping.).
- I think we will lose out on Savic
- Luiz (if he becomes available get him) a back 3 of Lindelof-Luiz-Rojo is damn good
- Sandro or Rose
- Malcolm / Mahrez / Bailey
- Grizz or a sneaky bid for Draxler.
We shouldn't buy anyone in January. We don't need more players of the profile Mourinho brings here. They are not bad but there is a very clear emphasis on physical attributes over technique. Bailly, Matic, Lukaku and even the current version of Zlatan are not bad players at all but they will never help you play slick fluent football. Their touch and or dynamism is just not of the level required especially when you add that to players like Smalling and Fellaini. We need someone to take charge of long term footballing strategy so we don't end up with a list of one dimensional players like that when Mourinho leaves.
Matic is a player of the highest technical accomplishment. So I really don't understand his inclusion. And what if he goes after Ozil, the complete antithesis of what you are suggesting? We are also rumoured to be heavily interested in Alex Sandro, who is probably the best LWB in the world. Would you be against that too?
Ozil is useless in 90% of big games. Griezmann has been pretty shit in a lot of big games as well. Our problem in big games is how we approach them and then Mourinho going after the wrong type of players (i.e., buying lukaku, never subbing him and resorting to hoofs whenever we inevitably concede a goal because we start off defensively). So yeah. What would having Griezmann in that team instead of Lingard change today? Next to nothing IMO.
No I wouldn't of course. As you can see, my argument was not that he shouldn't be x or y player. My argument was that his record suggests a clear pattern which is why he shouldn't be trusted. We should have people higher up deciding our footballing long term strategy, not any one man, let alone one who already bought that specific profile of players.
I'm not going to argue with that. It's a real problem for me that the board has employed three managers with competing philosophies post Fergie. This has resulted in a huge turn over of players, and a constant retraining of personnel. So essentially I agree with you. But it's also worth pointing out that we have to keep moving forwards, and we have to keep showing faith in the manager in lieu of the afore mentioned structure. The practical reality is that such a structure doesn't exist at the club, and there are no indications that it will any time soon. So what choice do we have, other than to let the manager pick his players, and filter the viability of deals based on a cost benefit analysis?
Not ideal, but surely the reality of the current system.
I can see how what I wrote may have been misinterpreted. What I meant is that in Mourinho's mind, Lingard is doing his job and it would take an exceptional player to compel him to buy another central attacker at a time when a LB, CM, and Winger are a priority.
We need to use our money right in Jan as it will shape what the rest of the season will be like for us.
Getting an attacking midfielder and a left footed right winger is a must. We won't be able to complete the season without them. I can even postpone LB signing for summer unless someone great is available, but CM and RW are a must.
Getting an attacking midfielder and a left footed right winger is a must. We won't be able to complete the season without them. I can even postpone LB signing for summer unless someone great is available, but CM and RW are a must.
Bailly ?!
Essentially that's what it comes down to. Although I am not sure I would call Moyes a manager with any discernible philosophy
.I think he is a fine defender with a lot of power but his footballing ability is not good enough if you want to be more comfortable on the ball as a team which is necessary if you don't want to be playing on the backfoot every time a decent opponent comes up. As I said, if you plan on playing like Atlético Madrid or Leicester when they won the league, he is brilliant. Other than that, too short technically.
If you need a footballing ability we have signed Lindelof to cover that aspect. Meanwhile Bailly is a fantastic signing that will benefit any upcoming manager with his strenght and pace. Defending is the most important aspect of being a CB, other things like building the play from behind come after it. If you can't defend well there's no point of you being a good passer .Not to say Bailly isn't treating the ball as a bomb in his leg anyway, he does the minimum required.
I understand your point of Lukaku, don't agree with Matic but can get your logic, but saying Bailly in this group is very strange for me all honestly, excellent signing.
I am not convinced with the notion that there is such a thing as the highlighted part about any position in the pitch. Your first job is to complement the team and play to its vision and style and that changes from team to team, era to era, tactic to tactic, etc ... If you are going to cede territory and possession enough to the point where you will get attacked often, then you need a defender who is great at heading, tackling, and all the put your body on the line stuff. If you are going to play on the front foot and build towards not having to defend, then you need defenders who help you push up and be trusted with the ball at their feet. In this latter case, those qualities are much more important than being good defending. I don't think Piqué would have done as good a job as Vidic did for us in those years, not even close but vice versa, Vidic could never play for a team like Spain or Barcelona. I happen to think that the best clubs all now play higher up and on the front foot, by that I mean the very elite in Real, Barcelona, Bayern, PSG and if it continues like this, that mob from the other side of Manchester. They all possess defenders who are extremely comfortable on the ball. I see a pattern there and I am assuming all these managers cannot be wrong in prioritising that in their defenders.
Ozil and Griezmann outperform lingard in basically every measurable way, it's really not a debate on whose better unless you have some evidence i've never seen.
We set up to play on the counter and our quality in the centre of the pitch was shocking. Lingard was never offering himself and his team mates know he's a mid table donkey so rarely have faith to give him the ball. Both Griezmann and Ozil are far superior at playing under pressure and in tight spaces so of course they'd have made a difference today. Launching long balls towards Lukaku was due to have such a piss poor options in centre mid with Herrera (whose gone on a rooneyesque decline this season) and Lingard.
Again, if we want a defender with ball playing abilities, then that's what we get Lindelof for, to cover our weakness in building up play from the back, so having a strong pacey defender beside him isn't a problem at all if he's not great with his feet.
When your opponent have 11 players comfortable on the ball, you also need 11 players comfortable on the ball regardless of their starting position on the pitch. Eventually, the ball gets passed them and they have to actually use it properly.
Oh they're obviously better players, but lingard has done alright and there's only so much you can expect someone in their position could do in a game like today. The main thing I'm saying is that buying Ozil specifically wouldn't change much. Would help with small games, would be invisible in big games as always. No help. Griezmann is obviously quality but I don't think he would do well with Lukaku anyway. But that's another issue as IMO Lukaku just has to go, and in that scenario, would be delighted with Griezmann.
If im being honest I think Sterling has more about him than Martial. It's a hard one but I think Martials control lets him down. But I do think he has the potential to be a lot better than Sterling in the future.
Yes. We clearly play much better football with Pogba than without. That's undeniable. Whether that's acceptable is another thing.
If we have another midfielder or No. 10 who can actually do something with the ball then it could mean that we can always play more adventureoulsy (or as long as both Pogba and new guy aren't injured)
Just as a general point, Mourinho wanted 4 in the summer and got 3, so I don't think it's unreasonable to sign another player in Jan