We do not need super players to improve, my names are:
- Tomkins
- Duffy
- Granqvist
- McAuley
- Evans
Would be an huge improvement
- Tomkins
- Duffy
- Granqvist
- McAuley
- Evans
Would be an huge improvement
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Centre Back... Who do we go for?
- Thread starter Macern
- Start date
We don’t need shit ones either.
Don't need centre backs, just play progressive and we'll win the league. Forget about Liverpool breaking the record on VVD or City spending a fortune on centre backs.
Anything to paint the manager as the devil, instead of improving the team regardless of manager.
I'd like Skriniar or Koulibaly
Anything to paint the manager as the devil, instead of improving the team regardless of manager.
I'd like Skriniar or Koulibaly
I think I get it now.
Agree, all would be a massive improvement on Smalling, Bailly, Jones, Lindelof in fact all our CB's are shiite.
What about Ake? 23 years. Not tall, but great leap. Left footed, good on the ball and great at set pieces. Valued at £40m.
I'm in too.I’ll get my boots
Rio liked this.
Has Harry Maguire signed a new deal at Leicester?
This guy is class, however I feel we need a more experienced CB,
Personally, I would buy Tierney as left back and play Shaw alongside Smalling. Dalot and Laird will fight it out to be our long term right back
Wow. Thank god you aren't in charge of our transfers mate
I’ve advocated this for a while - Shaw’s skillset is ideal to play central and he can pass a ball competently. Tierney would also be my choice of leftback replacement, and is a better crosser than Shaw so is an upgrade in that regard.
Ake is being mentioned, but Shaw has almost identical attributes and stature. Id say he’s potentially world class at centreback, more so than anyone else on the market that is getable.
Damn it - you now got me wanting to see something I doubt will ever happen
Hopefully it does.
Has Shaw even played CB? Having the right attributes doesn't mean he has the positional sense to play there at all. Not saying he can't, but how do you know that he can?
Shaw has basically no history of playing any position but, LB but, with his size and aerial ability I am surprised he has never been tried at CB.
De Ligt would be amazing, but might be hard to get.
Kristoffer Ajer is doing great at Celtic and seems like the kind of CB we need. 20 year old former DM converted to CB. Key part of the Norwegian national team, so if he keep it up this year he could be a great choice next summer.
Kristoffer Ajer is doing great at Celtic and seems like the kind of CB we need. 20 year old former DM converted to CB. Key part of the Norwegian national team, so if he keep it up this year he could be a great choice next summer.
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Shaw is finally establishing himself as our no1 fullback,after what feels like a decade of hoping and waiting, and now people are advocating him to play as our leftsided CB.Jeez.
Shame Clint Hill retired. Would've been perfect.
Shame Clint Hill retired. Would've been perfect.
Think we should get two, for sure. One ready made for top money.
The great scout that I am was gushing over Ake last season, and I wouldn’t mind him for the reported figures. Him, Pavard, Upemecano + Skriniar would be great.
Ake could probably be signed in January too.
The great scout that I am was gushing over Ake last season, and I wouldn’t mind him for the reported figures. Him, Pavard, Upemecano + Skriniar would be great.
Ake could probably be signed in January too.
Get two, get rid of two/three.
Any two out of;
Skriniar
De Ligt
Koulibaly
Romagnoli
Milenkovic
Would bin off Jones and Rojo at a minimum.
Any two out of;
Skriniar
De Ligt
Koulibaly
Romagnoli
Milenkovic
Would bin off Jones and Rojo at a minimum.
I think that this is the case for most young defenders (who aren't playing to their potential) - they need to play and learn, with experienced top class defenders. The more experienced defenders will basically take the flack in the event of errors, allowing the younger defenders to learn away from the spotlight. Furthermore, if a young defender makes an error, the experienced defender can cover for him and it won't lead to conceding a goal.
With the situation we have now, if Lindelof or Baily make an error, nobody is good enough to cover for their error, a goal is conceded and that player gets blamed for losing the match, which saps confidence. I think this is what has happened to Lindelof.
Right now, the only decent CB we have is Smalling and it was imperative that we bought another CB last Summer. Woodward really dropped a bollock in the Summer, in an effort to save some money.
If Smalling gets injured, we'll be forced to play Lindelof and Baily, who have conceded many goals.
Yep. Quite agree with all of the above.
Smalling is decent and seems to be using his experience more but for a number of reasons he rarely gets the opportunity to build that vital relationship with a stable partner.
I just hope that by the January transfer window we are still in contention for a top 4 spot.
So many mistakes have been made this season and already we are paying a heavy price and these mistakes are all self inflicted.
Mario Hermoso from Espanyol might be one to keep an eye on.
Unwritten football rule is; if you want defender, you go in Italy. Koulibaly and Skriniar would be my choice for new United central pair. Romagnoli and Rugani would be good also.
When United try going in Italy we get Darmian.
I think time is up for jones and rojo. Bailly and lindelof deserve more time.
We should be looking to sign one top player and one of a good youthful profile I think, even if a lot of money, to see if we can build a solid defence for a few years,
Smalling, Bailly, lindelof, plus would be good options.
From our defence darmian, rojo,Jones can all go. Likely Valencia be a substitute rb if dalot progresses as is hoped.
We should be looking to sign one top player and one of a good youthful profile I think, even if a lot of money, to see if we can build a solid defence for a few years,
Smalling, Bailly, lindelof, plus would be good options.
From our defence darmian, rojo,Jones can all go. Likely Valencia be a substitute rb if dalot progresses as is hoped.
Lindelof has been doing really well. However, I've got to say that for Smalling to have played 200 PL games, and the shit tackle he put in today for the Everton penalty is the very reason why that shithead has to leave OT. We need someone with leadership qualities to marshall our defence. I think with a proper leader.... Lindelof will be one of the best CBs in the PL to come. He just needs to have someone whose more capable next to him. I would have liked Bailly to be that defender. Unfortunately, he's been too injury prone and error prone as well.
Our CB options are clearly not great. Lindelof however hasn’t shown anything to suggest he’s going to be one of the best CBs in the league, that’s pure fantasy. He’s doing the basics right at the moment and is improving - previously he was a calamity and a nervous wreck, but I have never seen any great qualities in him that will make him stand out in the future.
Unfortunately, despite the pen, Smalling is by far and away our best defender and needs to stay for continuity. Jones and Rojo need to go - and if we can get two CBs that are better than Smalling and he ends up a squad player next season then great.
Woah, a bit harsh that isn't
One mistake and you're a savage and an idiotWoah, a bit harsh that isn't
You clearly haven't watched many games in which Smalling has featured for United. It's not just ONE mistake. It's this sort of mediocre mindset is why the club is in such a situation. Since when did Smalling become the benchmark for level of CBs at United?
Good to be back eh?
But he’s better than all the other CBs we have at the club. Smalling is not the issue.
I am not pinning that on Smalling yesterday. Pogba lost the ball through his carelessness and allowed the attack to build.
Aye pogba fannying about on his own personal vanity mission was the instigator.
That being said, once the situation develops Smalling needs to do better. It’s a daft challenge and he needed to show a little more composure. He should have enough experience by now to not resort to rash challenges.
Jones and Rojo are a waste of a wage as far as I’m concerned. Both should have been gone before now. They are several levels below what we need.
I agree on Lindelof, improvement last few weeks but its not as if he could have got a lot worse if we are all honest. Hopefully he’s settling down but nothing currently suggests he’s going to be at the level we need. Hopefully he starts to show that as the season continues. Recent performances are a positive, but that needs to continue and improve.
There is a good defender in Smalling somewhere. But given his experience he still makes very poor decisions too often. Our best defender? Probably. Unfortunately not saying much...happy for him to stay but I’d probably say the next year or two he needs to be phased out for someone with more quality.
Bailly, still in that has potential to be a star but could go either way sort of territory. Got the raw materials but that’s the word, raw. He needs to learn off someone with more experience next to him...someone better than what we have.
On a side note I’d like to see Young and Valencia replaced ASAP with a really good RB option that could help Dalot develop. However well either have done...they just aren’t of the quality we need to move us to the level we want to be. Harsh? Perhaps...but in my mind there are huge weaknesses through what is supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in the world. Which is crazy to think about.
I think the fact that Chris Smalling is (correctly by the way) considered our best centreback is definitely part of the issue though.
He would be more than fine as third choice CB, or even if he had a world class partner. It’s just really harsh to blame our defence on him, when he’s our best defender - and you are right, he shouldn’t be our best defender, because we should have recruited better.
Jones and Rojo both need to be got rid of, Bailly is a player who probably needs a loan to a PL team as he’s not ready to play, and whilst Lindelof hasn’t looked like a rabbit in the headlights the last few matches, he’s ultimately not good enough.
We do need at least another CB, but Smalling needs to stay.
Smalling should have done better for the pen situation, no doubt there. He performed OK besides that though and is still one of the top3 defensive CBs in the league. He is untransferable IMO.
I agree on that Rojo and Jones are the two CBs that should be closest to the exit. It will probably be Rojo that goes nxt summer if I would hazard a guess.
I personally would not bring more than one CB in nxt summer (christmas window wont happen). The interesting part for me is what type of CB that we do bring in nxt summer. An Aldeweireld/De Ligt or a Koulibaly/Maguire type. It will say a lot about what direction the club is heading under Mourinho. As will which type of CM we will go for nxt summer. I think we will get two of "those" nxt summer, and it will be really interesting to see what profiles it will be. But that discussion is for another thread I guess.