Personally think Garner might be a little better suited to a deeper role than that. I think a bit more flair than Garner has is needed for the role you speak of. Mejbri might be a better long term shout for such a role, or even Levitt perhaps.
Denis Zakaria / signed for Juventus
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Personally think Garner might be a little better suited to a deeper role than that. I think a bit more flair than Garner has is needed for the role you speak of. Mejbri might be a better long term shout for such a role, or even Levitt perhaps.
Yep. Rose and Jesse Marsch seem to be the new in vogue managers that everybody wants in the future. I hope we keep an eye on them.
James Garner???
Possibly, but the percentage of youth players that actually make it is so small you just don't know. Garner is definitely a talent but plays a role that players usually don't make their own at a high level until mid 20's. I'd love to see him come through, but for a big club like United we should never not buy players because we think we have young, unproven players coming through.
If Garner is good enough, he will break into the team, if not then so be it. Competition should only be a good thing, the goal of young players should be to develop their game so that they can break through, not United choosing not to invest in the squad and taking chances on young players instead.
Same with Greenwood, Gomes and any other youth players. Bringing them into the squad now might do more harm than good. People always reference the class of 92, but compare the players they had around them vs what we have now. Poor examples and lack of leaders/role models, combined with a team lacking confidence is not a good environment to bring young players through.
Has looked average against Dortmund for the first 25 mins. Needs to improve to look like a significant improvement on Fred
good recovery run now to catch Hazard running towards goal and take the ball off him
Never seen him play, but Pogba doesn't need legs around him. Well, he does, but that won't necessarily get the best out of him. What he needs is someone from deep, who can supply him with passes in between the lines to stop him from dropping so deep.
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I have seen him play for Switzerland and he stood out. He was fantastic, but my opinion remains, we need a deep-lying playmaker, in my opinion.
EDIT:
I have seen him play for Switzerland and he stood out. He was fantastic, but my opinion remains, we need a deep-lying playmaker, in my opinion.
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we need legs in midfield
We need someone who can fecking pass a ball. Relying solely on Pogba to create in a United midfield is ludicrous. He needs creative players around him.
Im not speaking about what Pogba needs. We need legs in midfield as well as good passing. Herrera worked well because he was mobile and being imobile is exactly what is hurting Matic right now.
It is not an either or especially since Pogba himself can struggle with recovery and being able to get across the pitch quickly. He isnt as agile but is great when gets in his stride.
So we need someone who has a good engine and his quick and nimble like Herrera but can also pass a ball.
We also need someone who can protect the defence
Herrera worked well in what way? We had the same problem that remains now and that was that we created next to nothing.
If we can get someone who can do both it would definitely be a bonus, but priority should be getting a world class passer that plays deep.
We also had the problem that our midfield could easily be bypassed. The midfield isn't there to just create we had and still have 2 big problems in midfield. Creating and defending. We need more than one midfielder
Also need to create from the wide areas but thats another story
That was because Ander was doing Matic's job for him. We could have had Ander alone defending and then someone helping Pogba further forward
We definitely need both, but I wouldn't say our midfield has been easily bypassed this season, and that we've looked vulnerable defensively. Actually, I think we've looked OK as a unit, hence why I say a playmaker is more of a priority.
I know we all love Ander .. but would you have matched PSG's 4 year 300k/ week salary for him.. We knew letting him go was a mistake but i am glad the club didnt commit.. and he left as he got a better deal ..
Lets flog all the Smallings, jones, rojo and then rebuild ..
Lets flog all the Smallings, jones, rojo and then rebuild ..
The mistake was not replacing him.
That doesn't mean we need a deeplying playmaker. Creativity can come from other position depends on how we are playing. Wingers & Full Backs are one of those other position.
Look at Dortmund midfield in 4231 formation, I don't think you can call Witsel & Delaney as more a playmaker or more a creative player than player like Zakaria.
What? They are our very own version of The Sun.
Pogba will be gone next summer so I don’t see the point in bringing him into the conversation.
Bringing him into is just means that we should sign Zakaria in January to get the best out of Pogba this season which will give us chance for top 4. Whether Pogba leaves or no in the next summer, we still need Zakaria type of player anyway.
No doubt we need a Zakaria type of player (and I like him) but perhaps a better one? I'm thinking Thomas Partey. Getting even better this season, holding Atleti's midfield together. They're a selling club for the right price. I'd go all out there and leave Zakaria to develop a bit further.
Is this the new player 99% of people on here a few days had never heard of are now pining over?
For our midfield, we should be getting ready made players in, not ones that might be ready in a year or two or someone that might be another Fred.
Doucoure for me is a no brainer, he usually puts in big performances against top 6 teams and ready for the step up.
For our midfield, we should be getting ready made players in, not ones that might be ready in a year or two or someone that might be another Fred.
Doucoure for me is a no brainer, he usually puts in big performances against top 6 teams and ready for the step up.
Looked really fecking basic in that video to be honest. We need someone with passing range.
Atletico have one of the most secure midfields around so no he isnt holding it together. He's a cog in the machine like the others.
Zakaria and Fabian Ruiz
Doucoure has been poor this season and has played his role in Watford's diabolical start to the season.
Does that make him a bad player, is this the benchmark for judging players, by a few games?
Poch has been poor, yet people still wanted him.
And Doucoure has not been that bad, he was man of the match yesterday and played well against Arsenal. He can't do it all himself, Watford are a poor team. Their defence is terrible. He is a player that should be moving on. 5 years old I would not think he was good enough, but today he is a realistic signing and will much improve on what we have got.
I dunno, not sure he's good enough for where we want to be. That said, if Watford are relegated he might be available for cheap to beef up the squad so in that situation he would be an okay addition.
A
Agreed on that. We need a deep-lying playmaker who can pass through the lines and knit the defence to the forwards upfront. Fabian Ruiz has to be our top target for that role but would be tough as a lot of clubs are circling around him and Napoli never sell on the cheap. Then you add a midfield destroyer who will do the hard yards and clean up loose balls, Thomas Partey, of Atletico would be ideal. He's young, quality, got champs league experience and his buy out clause is relatively low at EUR50m. Having those two releases Pogba to his most effective role, attacking midfield and actually mirrors when he was at his best with Juventus with Pirlo & Vidal beside him. With these three, we'd not only be able to attack but defend better and be the match of any midfield in the EPL. Zakaria would be my no 2 option if we can't get Partey but would definitely break the bank for Ruiz.
Agreed on that. We need a deep-lying playmaker who can pass through the lines and knit the defence to the forwards upfront. Fabian Ruiz has to be our top target for that role but would be tough as a lot of clubs are circling around him and Napoli never sell on the cheap. Then you add a midfield destroyer who will do the hard yards and clean up loose balls, Thomas Partey, of Atletico would be ideal. He's young, quality, got champs league experience and his buy out clause is relatively low at EUR50m. Having those two releases Pogba to his most effective role, attacking midfield and actually mirrors when he was at his best with Juventus with Pirlo & Vidal beside him. With these three, we'd not only be able to attack but defend better and be the match of any midfield in the EPL. Zakaria would be my no 2 option if we can't get Partey but would definitely break the bank for Ruiz.
ExactlyI! I can't understand how people can continue to watch our performances this season and think we need a ball winner. Yes, we could do with both, but a deep-lying playmaker - as you said someone who can pass through the lines, is much more of a priority.
I mean, ideally we could do with a DLP and attacking midfielder but that could be hard for January. Either that, or the players we want aren't available in Jan.
Except that noone would be mad enough to go from Athletico to United
We need legs that can pass and tackle
Can he pick a pass while his teammates stand behind the opposition without offering a passing option? If not he's a waste of money.
Problem is in January most players are not available
Players like Zaha & Doucoure, will be imo, they will be instant upgrades on what we have, and will slot straight into the team
Are you sure Zaha wants to come back to us?
Re Doucoure I don't know
None of the top 6 will be in for him for the price Palace want and United have a 25% discount. It would be a struggle to find a better winger for 50-60m.
Doucoure reminds me of Mane at Southampton, in the sense that he always performs against the big teams, but maybe doesn't turn up against the smaller teams, to me thats a player that needs a step up in challenge. We could take the risk in buying abroad and maybe unearth a gem, but I think, at the moment, we should be taking the route of buying the best PL players outside the top 6 that can come straight in and potentially take their game to another level
Re Zaha . There were rumours that he personally doesn't want to come back.
Re Doucuore - We signed Schnederlin from Southampton. He looked very promising but things didn t work out for him. So there s no guarantee it will work out for duocuore
Theres a much higher chance of signing a already established player in the league that they will continue to perform at a better club. And Schnederlin did not put anywhere near the same level of performance against the big teams as Doucoure does, in fact it's the opposite, he was more of a flat track bully type player
This guy first caught my eye playing for Switzerland v Northern Ireland in a play off game a couple of years back. Watched him v Denmark a couple of weeks ago and he was very impressive too. A perfect replacement for Matic imo.
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