What has Rio said since the CR7 stuff?
Declan Rice
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I rarely see Rice lose the ball, I have to say
He was just hinting in that podcast type thing with what’s his face… sorry vague and I’m crap with names, Howson is it?
And it wasn’t anything meaty, just something along the lines of ‘tune in on deadline day’ wink wink. Nothing to get too excited about (hope I’m wrong.)
I got that vibe from his ronaldo video too.
Stop bumping midfielder threads without any links whatsoever
Hahaha
Deadline day is going to be mental - united will be shifting a lot of players outwards and will probably make a mad scramble for a midfielder. However, Rice is not moving anywhere.
He struggles under press too. Which someone like Neves does not.
How would it have worked though? Both Pogba and Fred got bypassed way too easily many times and none of them could control the midfield. How would Rice have changed that?
He wouldn't change that on his own, he'd be playing as the most defensive midfielder next to two other midfielders who would also help.
Even if we get Rice or any other DM which we absolutely need, Ole really needs to change the way Bruno plays. No matter how bad the guys in the pivot has been, Bruno absolutely Infuriates me with his refusal to drop back and help the midfield move the ball further up, Ole really should stop playing him as a second striker.
I understood initially when we had very few goal scorers and creators but now we have enough of them in the team especially with Cristiano also coming in, the manager really needs to change the role of Bruno in the team, he is a midfielder for crying out loud, he should be helping control the midfield a lot more and no one should give me the he can not do it b******t, have seen him do it several times at Sporting several times and yes he wouldn't get as much outrageous stats as he does now but the team would be far better off for it.
Sometimes I just feel Ole is too scared to rock the boat and almost always prefers staying with the tried and trusted. But we need to evolve from being set up to maximize Bruno's effect rather than the rest of our attackers, our game shouldn't be centered around him any longer. I absolutely love the guy but we really don't have any control of games and I think him playing as a second striker is a major contributor to that. Move him back down to double 8 with Pogba ahead of a DM and tell him to be more disciplined and we would control games far better. It's one of the major reason am really happy Cristiano is coming, at least may be then Ole would finally see the need for us to control games more and maximize the creativity of our other outstanding attackers.
Sancho, Rashford and the likes really can't get into games if we are constantly playing on transition and don't have any control of games. They get very few opportunities to run at players and make impact on games compared to other wide playmakers in more dominant teams. Greenwood consistently impact games because he really is a finisher and only need half spaces to hurt you but the other creative forwards need to be given the platform to try things and fail sometimes, as long as the attacks are sustained and more frequent they would be able to impact games more often than not. Just please get Bruno to play as a midfielder, I absolutely love the guy but am getting really frustrated at watching united not being able to control games.
I understood initially when we had very few goal scorers and creators but now we have enough of them in the team especially with Cristiano also coming in, the manager really needs to change the role of Bruno in the team, he is a midfielder for crying out loud, he should be helping control the midfield a lot more and no one should give me the he can not do it b******t, have seen him do it several times at Sporting several times and yes he wouldn't get as much outrageous stats as he does now but the team would be far better off for it.
Sometimes I just feel Ole is too scared to rock the boat and almost always prefers staying with the tried and trusted. But we need to evolve from being set up to maximize Bruno's effect rather than the rest of our attackers, our game shouldn't be centered around him any longer. I absolutely love the guy but we really don't have any control of games and I think him playing as a second striker is a major contributor to that. Move him back down to double 8 with Pogba ahead of a DM and tell him to be more disciplined and we would control games far better. It's one of the major reason am really happy Cristiano is coming, at least may be then Ole would finally see the need for us to control games more and maximize the creativity of our other outstanding attackers.
Sancho, Rashford and the likes really can't get into games if we are constantly playing on transition and don't have any control of games. They get very few opportunities to run at players and make impact on games compared to other wide playmakers in more dominant teams. Greenwood consistently impact games because he really is a finisher and only need half spaces to hurt you but the other creative forwards need to be given the platform to try things and fail sometimes, as long as the attacks are sustained and more frequent they would be able to impact games more often than not. Just please get Bruno to play as a midfielder, I absolutely love the guy but am getting really frustrated at watching united not being able to control games.
Agree. Also the level of expectation is very different as is the forensic nature people examine your game. Might be controversial but if Scott was in a West Ham shirt, people would be talking about in a similar way....
He would have had his work cut out today. There's no doubt at all about his defensive stability. Positionally he is excellent.
But there were some serious holes behind Bruno and Pogba. There seemed to be a structural issue there and obviously Fred got done a few times but there were so many gaps it was tough. Interesting to imagine how Rice might have improved things.
That's not even going into the issues of building up, would Rice's steady game have significantly changed that?
Its games like today where he'd have to justify these outlandish fees. He would need more help but he'd have to be a big chunk of the solution.
But there were some serious holes behind Bruno and Pogba. There seemed to be a structural issue there and obviously Fred got done a few times but there were so many gaps it was tough. Interesting to imagine how Rice might have improved things.
That's not even going into the issues of building up, would Rice's steady game have significantly changed that?
Its games like today where he'd have to justify these outlandish fees. He would need more help but he'd have to be a big chunk of the solution.
There's a number of options we can target tbf, and Rice I can't see being sold as things stand.
So when you look at our current squad and the abundance of talent we already have, it would be very dissapointing if we didn't push the boat out for one more signing in midfield which is required IMO.
But Fred was with these two other midfielders - Pogba and Bruno and i didn't see how any of them helped. I just don't really see how we replace Rice with Fred in today's game and suddenly Pogba and Bruno's defensive deficiency is covered. There was a lot of gaps in that midfield for one man to cover
Bruno wasn't in midfield mate.
Agree. Bruno is a great player but he plays that far up the field, he's more 10 than 8. Offers very little defensive and play Pogs who equally so, that's why you can't play a CDM. There is no way one player can cover two players inability.
Because Rice isn’t a high risk presser like Fred who leaves big spaces alongside Pogba. That’s why Ole has always favoured Matic alongside Pogba who is more disciplined but unfortunately can no longer move!
The problem is - it's impossible to get clubs to sign their key-players so close the end of the transfer window. Even at £100 million - West Ham would be mad to sell Rice as they can get close to the same amount for him next season. The same with Neves - even at a huge sum, they can't afford to sell him as they have no replacement and wont have time to bring one.
He would be playing next to Pogba and struggle in the same way Fred and Pogba did with playing the ball out. Bruno plays as a second striker for us.
Unless you advocate Rice playing next to Fred/McT, which is a whole different set of problem. We simply need better passers in midfield.
I never said he was. You said Rice would be helped by two midfielders if he played instead of Fred in today's game. And I'm saying i don't see how Rice would have gotten help when one midfielder - Bruno isn't playing in midfield in the first place and the other midfielder- Pogba is terrible at defending to be able to help. Rice will still be left with big gaps to cover that's not possible
You can't seriously think anyone would ever pay £100m for Rice? Neves is different, that's the Wolves model.
Stop it I had completely forgotten about that and now I’m dying of second hand embarrassment again.In fairness, Carrick has never done anything remotely as good as this in football.
And we are not changing Bruno's best position anytime soon, so we have to get midfielders who dont need a fantasy 3-man midfield to work well. Rather we should target solid ball players like Camavinga or Neves. Rice would be a liability under heavy press like Pogba and Fred today in a 2-man midfield.
Bingo.
I love the little “Oh yeah, you go ahead, mate. I’ll let you have this one” pat on the back for Abidal.
Most people should note this, I strongly believe it's one of the biggest contributor to our in ability to control games, guy should be dropped deeper to play more like a midfielder. We have enough goal scorers and creators in the attacking 3 now to cover for his impact there.
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Not being funny but who??
It would be Rice and Fred, no? With Pogba on the left, Sancho on the right and Greenwood in front of Bruno.
Rice gives this team something that is lacking in the midfield which is balance. He should be a priority if James + another squad player can be sold. Offer West ham 50 million and Lingard.
I would rather see Rice next to Pogba than either McTominay or Fred. Rice has played against teams like Wolves and has retained possession to a high enough level. There seems to be a fascination on here about having some sort of a quarter back styled deep lying play maker, when we can't even progress play in a basic way at times, hence we get bogged down.
I've quite clearly said that we should look to play a 3 man midfield in a 4-3-3 formation if possible by asking Bruno to retreat from his second striker role. Wolves were playing in a 3-4-3 with the ball and quickly changed to a 5-4-1 without the ball and had comfortably blocked passing lanes to our forwards. Bruno should've come deeper to give us extra pass options but he was allowed to stay in a advanced position which meant both Trincao and Traore dropped deep to form a 4 man midfield off the ball and the two wing backs dropped back to form a 5 man back line. So we ended up playing high risk passes which were getting dealt with easily.
One of the advantages of playing a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, Is that it gives a team pass options, rondos/triangles. And we unfortunately are not making use of such a formation and have decided to give too much leeway to certain players which affects our positional game. And if a teams positional game isn't upto scratch, then you will struggle with even the greatest passers of the ball.
We should make a effort to change formation to 4-3-3 IMO. And look to sign a defensively strong midfielder and I like the look of Aurelien Tchouameni from Monaco. And my previous post gives more detail on why I think we need to change formation.
That's more balanced and better defensively but we were talking about just replacing Fred with Rice in this game and how that would have prevented the midfield from getting bypassed so easily
Good player but unproven in the prem. The problem with that formation is we don't have the players to play it. Bruno and Pogs leaves the 3rd midfielder out to dry.
Bruno in that formation would be far different from the Bruno we see now. He would have certain responsibilities in that role than the one he currently occupies and he is obviously a very good player with very good intelligence that he can play that way to a high level too imo. Pogs already showed he can be discipline when needed.
I agree, but there's an issue: Bruno's a significantly worse 8 than a 10, as can be seen by his performances for Portugal.
Absolutely, but i strongly believe the team needs more of that less effective Bruno as a number 8 than the role he is playing now. It just brings a lot more to the team, Pogba and Sancho can help out with the creativity while Ronnie/Cavani and Rashford/Greenwood can cover the goals as long as we dominate games more and have more frequent attacks.
Sorry, I think Pogs and Bruno are our best players but equally at times the most indisciplined.
Don't you think we can afford some indiscipline against the so called lesser teams?
In order for us to dominate teams he might have to play as one of a three in midfield rather than the support striker he is playing now.
As good as his influence has been , he will be a problem if we want to transition into a very dominant midfield because he is just not disciplined enough. He plays too high up and takes too many unfeasible risk for a midfielder.
Sometimes I wonder if having Donny and Pogba in front of DM in certain away games wont pay us better.
Either Bruno or Pogb in a midfield of 3, simple and we have good options than pogba to play on the left side.
We need a proper DM to play this 4-3-3. I'm not optimistic Ole actually wants to play that but if the early reports are true that he wants to then it doesn't make sense our midfield targets are the likes of Saul and Camavinga
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