Centre Back... Who do we go for?

@Ekeke
Akanji looks a monster. Have you seen him play much? From those highlights he looks like he can pretty much do everything, what are his weaknesses?
 
Bastian said:
@Ekeke
Akanji looks a monster. Have you seen him play much? From those highlights he looks like he can pretty much do everything, what are his weaknesses?
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I havent seen him a lot no, thats why I'll be keeping an eye on him in the future. I don't know that he is good enough. He just impressed me in the champions league this week and I know he's doing well for Dortmund who are top of the league too. And yeah, from what I've seen he does look like he might have everything. I'm sure the frequent watchers of the bundasliga will know more about him
 
Skrinniar and Maguire. We need 2 IMO. get rid of Jones, Lindelof, and Rojo.
 
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Still annoyed we didn’t get Lenglet for £30m. Best value on the market by a long, long way. He looks fantastic.

I’d love us to get De Ligt, and hopefully by either an improvement of fortunes on the pitch or a glamorous manager we can be realistic in our pursuit of such talent. That said, I think De Ligt plus one more senior centre half is ideal, with Rojo and Jones at the very least shipped. Bailly is on notice too in my opinion.
 
Rozay said:
Still annoyed we didn’t get Lenglet for £30m. Best value on the market by a long, long way. He looks fantastic.

I’d love us to get De Ligt, and hopefully by either an improvement of fortunes on the pitch or a glamorous manager we can be realistic in our pursuit of such talent. That said, I think De Ligt plus one more senior centre half is ideal, with Rojo and Jones at the very least shipped. Bailly is on notice too in my opinion.
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Many of us wanted Maguire when he was leaving Hull for pennies instead of bringing in a kid with a huge question mark over his head coming from a far weaker league, with painfully obviously positional issues and having only like 30 appearances for his club at that moment.
 
Smalling - Frenkie - Koulibaliy

Good luck opposite team.

Sell Jones, Lindelof - Keep Bailly & Rojo as back up alongside TFM & Tuenzebe.

Back up

Bailly - TFM - Rojo

In my opinion we need DM type players in a back 3 to provide quantitive back up on the defence and qualititve back up on the attack. Much like felliani does for us but better.
 
I think and believe Kalidou Koulibaly and Matthijs De Ligt would be the ideal CB partnership. Like i said earlier with De Ligt. He is missing top speed/acceleration. And to compensate it. Koulibaly top speed and acceleration will be a good match to De Ligt. And the plus with De Ligt is. He is a good playmaker CB.

And to make places for 2 new CBs. I would sell Rojo and Lindelof. CB options with Kalidou Koulibaly, Matthijs De Ligt, Smalling, Bailly, Jones and Tuanzebe will be a really strong CB group. So the big question is who is United manager when the January transfer window is open.
 
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Aloysius's Back 3 said:
Smalling - Frenkie - Koulibaliy

Good luck opposite team.

Sell Jones, Lindelof - Keep Bailly & Rojo as back up alongside TFM & Tuenzebe.

Back up

Bailly - TFM - Rojo

In my opinion we need DM type players in a back 3 to provide quantitive back up on the defence and qualititve back up on the attack. Much like felliani does for us but better.
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Who's frenkie?
 
Aloysius's Back 3 said:
Smalling - Frenkie - Koulibaliy

Good luck opposite team.

Sell Jones, Lindelof - Keep Bailly & Rojo as back up alongside TFM & Tuenzebe.

Back up

Bailly - TFM - Rojo

In my opinion we need DM type players in a back 3 to provide quantitive back up on the defence and qualititve back up on the attack. Much like felliani does for us but better.
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Christ. Now even our fans want to play DMs out of position to fill the team with them like Mourinho
 
Ekeke said:
Christ. Now even our fans want to play DMs out of position to fill the team with them like Mourinho
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A DM isn't out of position if he falls in to CB role on the defence.

It's what I had wanted from LVG's back 3 - to have a CDM that drops in to spread a qualified back 2 out wider with those 2 also having a central cog who can play a pass to initiate attacks from deep.

Great thing with de Jong is that he is also a great dribbler. Smalling or Koulibaliy give the ball to him from deep & I have no problem assuming that de Jong makes the right decision to get attacks flowing.
 
Aloysius's Back 3 said:
A DM isn't out of position if he falls in to CB role on the defence.

It's what I had wanted from LVG's back 3 - to have a CDM that drops in to spread a qualified back 2 out wider with those 2 also having a central cog who can play a pass to initiate attacks from deep.

Great thing with de Jong is that he is also a great dribbler. Smalling or Koulibaliy give the ball to him from deep & I have no problem assuming that de Jong makes the right decision to get attacks flowing.
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Thats exactly where a DM is out of position, else we'd have been playing Carrick there for his career.
 
Ekeke said:
Thats exactly where a DM is out of position, else we'd have been playing Carrick there for his career.
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This is what I'm talking about - not a CDM playing as a CB but a CDM who can drop to make a back 2 a back 3 to cover space whilst having the ability to take the ball forward & act as a pivot for attacking play. We don't need to play with 3 at the back through the whole game - only when we need that extra man to shore things up.



@Van Piorsing our natural successor to the role that Blind should be playing for us instead of felliani purely for his aerial presence? Too bad he would be wanted by the whole of the world

@FootyGirl88 like the naglesmann tactics - he used a CDM who sometimes plays deeper in a back 3 to initiate defensive cover & deep attacking play. De Jong is the next one of the same style.
 
Aloysius's Back 3 said:
@Van Piorsing our natural successor to the role that Blind should be playing for us instead of felliani purely for his aerial presence? Too bad he would be wanted by the whole of the world.
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We managed to keep De Gea and scoop Pogba while the world was watching. I don't see a problem with trying a young, exciting player instead of slowly aging Matic and extremely narrow Fellaini.

The more tactical variants we'll have the more our football will be unpredictable for opponents to read and while we're at it we also need to think about a manager who will try something new like a serious clear out of defenders you mentioned. That will definitely help to keep a modern CDM. With the huge wages we already pay to some of our squad players this shouldn't be a biggest problem after selling few pointless players like Jones & Darmian.

To put it shorter: It's a great idea and hopefully Woodward will support some modern change in the brand we play.

EDIT: Even if Mourinho will stay somehow, he should also think about a new younger CDM and after signing a prospect like Dalot then who knows... Frenkie definitely fits some of that criteria even in his own system.
 
If there's any 6'4 monster CB's around 19 years old that no one has ever heard of emerging in Ligue 1 then just sign them. They're bound to be worth 200 million within a year.
 
Skriniar and De Ligt, that would be the perfect combo.
 
Ekeke said:
I havent seen him a lot no, thats why I'll be keeping an eye on him in the future. I don't know that he is good enough. He just impressed me in the champions league this week and I know he's doing well for Dortmund who are top of the league too. And yeah, from what I've seen he does look like he might have everything. I'm sure the frequent watchers of the bundasliga will know more about him
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I'll certainly be watching some Dortmund games. If he's anywhere near as good as those clips suggest :drool:
 
Anyone watching this new Serbian CB, Nikola Milenkovic. He and Skriniar could be the best pairing in the premiership if we could get them.
 
Amazing what happens when you can play out from the back. Unfortunately, in this case it was Pogba doing it from CB, which probably isn't really a long term solution.
 
How has maguire been this season - iv not ever really watched much of him apart from when he plays for England.

Does he play LCB or RCB for the foxes?
 
Rozay said:
Still annoyed we didn’t get Lenglet for £30m. Best value on the market by a long, long way. He looks fantastic.

I’d love us to get De Ligt, and hopefully by either an improvement of fortunes on the pitch or a glamorous manager we can be realistic in our pursuit of such talent. That said, I think De Ligt plus one more senior centre half is ideal, with Rojo and Jones at the very least shipped. Bailly is on notice too in my opinion.
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I try not to miss a lot of FCB games because I think that watching Messi is a privilege. Regarding Lenglet, I'm pretty sure he hasn't been up to the standars at FCB. In fact, my FCB fan friends don't like him that much and want him replaced either with Frenkie or De Ligt.

Bestietom said:
Anyone watching this new Serbian CB, Nikola Milenkovic. He and Skriniar could be the best pairing in the premiership if we could get them.
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This guy is so good that the DT has no choice but to play him at RB because he knows that he won't get dribbled by, a lot of succesfull attacks from the other team and he's even good switching from defence to attack quick. Excellent shout.
 
What about Tarkowski? How come we are never linked to him?
I don’t watch Burnley much, but he always seemed preety solid, and vocal too, which is something we lack in defence.

For those who watch Burnley matches, he’s not good enough?
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
What about Tarkowski? How come we are never linked to him?
I don’t watch Burnley much, but he always seemed preety solid, and vocal too, which is something we lack in defence.

For those who watch Burnley matches, he’s not good enough?
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Unfashionable name and not sure about his ball retention skills.

But he's a very hard working and good CB
 
My ideal CB signing would be Koulibaly. I think he ticks all the boxes and has impressed me the most out of the names being mentioned.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
What about Tarkowski? How come we are never linked to him?
I don’t watch Burnley much, but he always seemed preety solid, and vocal too, which is something we lack in defence.

For those who watch Burnley matches, he’s not good enough?
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Burnley are hyper defensive and their defenders would get exposed in bigger teams.
 
Ekeke said:
Christ. Now even our fans want to play DMs out of position to fill the team with them like Mourinho
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Hehhee.
LVG started it. Jose continued it. And now fans want to see more of it.
I'm waiting to see a GK as a striker. That'll be the farthest out of position that a player can be positioned.
 
Why no mention of Pavard? ball playing defender, young, excellent in WC, versatile, and probably the future France NT.
 
Isotope said:
Why no mention of Pavard? ball playing defender, young, excellent in WC, versatile, and probably the future France NT.
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He'd be my first choice, too. But he's probably going to Munich. I really hope we try at least.
 
Skriniar and Koulibaly. Sell Rojo and Lindelof, no contract extension for Smalling and Jones and leave Bailly for rotation. Tfm and Tuanzebe for cover.
 
The big question is whather we are willing to pay van Dijk money for a CB that doesn't sell shirts, as that is what a lot of these options are going to cost IMO.
 
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