Defence or Midfield

Midfield.

In the modern game, typically your entire system is engined by the midfield. Moreover while defence is an issue and RB is a huge problem, we still do have Martinez, Maguire, Shaw (wake up ffs), Lindelof and Malacia who are comfortable on the ball. But our buildup will never be good without a strong midfield.

I still think a RB is needed but midfield is much more important to how he team plays.
 
With the state of our midfield, I can’t believe we have put all our hope on De Jong to fix it. And what scares me more is Ten Hag might choose not to sign anyone if we don’t get De Jong. We should have been in the market for 2-3 midfielders to add some quality to our team.
 
Midfield by far. We should have brought in 3 first choice midfielders this season.

Though RB is a giant issue. Wan Bissaka has been seemingly frozen out, but he's shown far more in the Prem than Dalot ever has. It's problematic that we likely have to go back to him, but Dalot simply can't start.
 
Midfield by far. I'm actually baffled the club and Ten Hag prioritised the defence when it is the area we have the most numbers and quality (relatively). Though, we didn't fix the biggest weakness in our defence at right back.
 
This was widely discussed when we bought Martinez. Yes it's very likely he will do better than one of the Maguire / Lindelof, but I argued having more competent midfield would have bigger impact on the defense than replacing a CB. It's a simple mechanism, defenders getting exposed and challenged all the time will make mistakes, whether that is Harry Maguire or Ruben Dias.

Not to mention midfield would help us with attacking play and transition, but it's a different thing because we lack the numbers in attack anyway.

It's amazing that so far we somehow managed to strengthen in two areas we already have a good depth (defense and AM).
 
Midfield easily I’d rather have an open defence then a midfield that is about as composed as a new born baby taking their first steps.

its criminal that the midfield has been ignored yet again, but even worst that its even worst then last season since Pogba has left.
 
Borys said:
This was widely discussed when we bought Martinez. Yes it's very likely he will do better than one of the Maguire / Lindelof, but I argued having more competent midfield would have bigger impact on the defense than replacing a CB. It's a simple mechanism, defenders getting exposed and challenged all the time will make mistakes, whether that is Harry Maguire or Ruben Dias.

Not to mention midfield would help us with attacking play and transition, but it's a different thing because we lack the numbers in attack anyway.

It's amazing that so far we somehow managed to strengthen in two areas we already have a good depth (defense and AM).
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What's the point in getting this ball playing CB if he will be giving the ball to McFred basically. I have been singing the same song too. The difference two competent midfielders would make to our team defensively is bigger than any centre back could. Same as last season when we targeted Varane instead of a midfielder.
 
Both, they need to work as a team. Strengthening only one of the two will make no difference to the team!
 
The answer is obviously midfield (it always has been) which makes it particularly baffling that ETH has been allowed to sign two defenders in this window. Matic and Pogba have gone and we need two starting midfielders in the next three weeks or the season will be a disaster.
 
I’d say midfield but then improving there will only help is keep possession better, but as long as we keep playing Maguire at the back, we’re still going to panic at every attack, we won’t be able to play a high line, he’ll keep getting dribbled and outpaced by any half decent forward, he’ll keep heading the ball back to the opposition under no pressure and the rest of the squad will never be able to take EtH seriously if he keeps playing Maguire and that too with the armband.


So I’d say both are equally important.
 
I think the answer is pretty obvious. Sick to death seeing McFred on the pitch every single week. McTominay is simply a shite footballer and has no place in the premier league. Fred is slightly better but that’s not saying much.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
It's very obviously the midfield followed closely by the GK. Your defense is being squeezed at both ends and buying yet another CB to paper over the cracks hasn't worked for the second season running.

McFred is a championship level CM pairing - and the fact that there are no other viable options is incredibly damning. United genuinely have a bottom 2-3 central midfield in the league as a collective.
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Correct. Sometimes it takes an opposition fan with no agenda to tell it like it is.

The midfield pairing, as a combination, are definitely one of the poorest in the league. That's unacceptable and has a knock-on impact on the rest of the teams' ability to function.

Also agree that the second biggest problem is the GK, but until something is done with McFred nothing else matters
 
Midfield by far, we have no screening to help the defence in midfield, we need to get rid of mcfred asap and sign 2 proper cms. After that then we can tackle the cb and rb situation.
 
Azhar88 said:
So the defence is OK then....

Oh. hang on....



Last season he played only 22 times, why do you think he will be 'playing plenty' this season?
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I was responding to the person who was suggesting he wasn’t first choice. I don’t Maguire got selected ahead of him. I just think Maguire had a longer pre-season.
 
Midfield, I'd arguably say it's the most important part of the pitch over the course of a season.

With a strong midfield, defence won't be pressured as much and the attack should get more of the ball which would improve chances.

Obviously posession alone doesn't win you games, ala Van Gaal but it will make a team harder to beat.

Give City Mcfred, would they win the league? I don't think so. i think they'd still be a contender but their defence would leak more goals due to increased pressure, while their attack wouldn't have as much of the ball and would also recieve it slower so they'd end up farting around the box more.
 
Definitely the midfield - our backline would perform better if the shite in front of them didn't put them straight back under pressure with woeful ball retention and decision making.
 
Screw defense, we've spent a fortune on it. McFred NEEDS to be replaced. Enough is enough
 
It worries me that in press conferences Ten Hag is now giving off the aura of a manager stuck with what he's got.. "we have a great squad we can improve" etc... serious Ole vibes... it must be coming from above him that chances are, we're not signing his targets
 
jeepers said:
Yeah our ball retention across the first eleven, under pressure, is horrible. No composure. They absolutely crumble under pressure and even lose the ability to even think about the simple stuff like pass and go, making themselves available for a return pass and whatnots. I think McT is not technical enough as well, he always receives the ball the same way and there’s no flair/composure to feint or turn the opposing player. He only knows how to use his size/frame to protect the ball and he doesn’t even do that well, like a Fellaini or Pogba.
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exactly this, it's like every player is just trying to get rid of the ball so it's somebody elses problem, there's no purpose to it
 
The midfield by a country mile.

There seems to be this notion that 'the next defender' will just come in and magically solve all of our problems. I am not here for an in-depth debate about how good or bad our individual CBs are, but when you have France's starting CB, England's starting CB, Sweden's starting CB and national captain, Ivory Coast's starting CB and now ANOTHER £55m International CB and STILL you have the same old issues, I think it's safe to say that the issues are elsewhere.

As an aside, I actually thought Maguire was really good yesterday and I also saw promise in Martinez. I just think defending in our team is levels more difficult then other, more organised/better teams
 
I dont get why we signed a CB and not a midfielder. We are stacked in that position. If ETH cant get Varane fit and good again, then do something next year. Get fred and Scott out of that midfield.

Something even tells me McTominay is better at CB than CM. He plays decent there for Scotland
 
Definitely midfield. We've got far too many defenders.
 
Obviously midfield, the same as last summer which derailed our whole season. But surely we buy a right back now we seem to have moved on from De Jong to cheaper alternatives.
 
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