Do we have the best XI in England now?

Infordin

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Since the transfer window has closed I thought it'd be interesting to read people's opinions on this subject again.

Would you say United have the best XI in England? Which teams in Europe have a better XI? I'd probably say 5 (you can guess which ones).
 
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Juventus, Barcelona.

Much of a muchness between sides like Atletico, City, Chelsea, Spurs/Dortmund. In the sense that there are positions they are superior to us in, and there are positions in which we are superior to them.
 
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Why not make a new thread?

Edit: this looks pretty stupid when it was moved to a new thread :lol:
 
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Infordin said:
Since the transfer window has closed I thought it'd be interesting to read people's opinions on this subject again.

Would you say United have the best XI in England? Which teams in Europe have a better XI? I'd probably say 5 (you can guess which ones).
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In the Premier League I'd say Spurs, Chelsea and City. In Europe, Real, Barca, Atletico, Bayern, Juve and PSG.
 
Just to put some PL squads up here for comparison. Tried to cut them off where players are unlikely to play more than 5 games:

Courtois, Moses, Alonso, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger, Kante, Bakayoko, Pedro, Hazard, Morata (Fabregas, Cahill, Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Willian, Batshuayi, Christensen, Caballero)

Lloris, Aurier, Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Wanyama, Dembele, Eriksen, Alli, Kane (Dier, Son, Llorente, Trippier, Davies, Lamela, Winks, Vorm, Foyth, Janssen)

Ederson, Walker, Mendy, Kompany, Otamendi, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, D.Silva, B.Silva, Sane, Aguero (Danilo, Stones, Gundogan, Sterling, Jesus, Yaya, Mangala, Bravo)

Mignolet, Clyne, Robertson, Lovren, Matip, Can, Henderson, Mane, Coutinho, Salah, Firmino (Lallana, Alexander-Arnold, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum, Klavan, Moreno, Milner, Gomez, Sturridge, Solanke, Karius)

Cech, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Koscielny, Xhaka, Cazorla, Sanchez, Ramsey, Ozil, Lacazette (Giroud, Elneny, Walcott, Welbeck, Mertesacker, Holding, Iwobi, Coquelin, Chambers, Ospina)

De Gea, Valencia, Shaw, Bailly, Jones, Matic, Pogba, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Lukaku (Rashford, Ibrahimovic, Herrera, Smalling, Rojo, Lindelof, Darmian, Carrick, Lingard, Fellaini, Blind, Romero)

Pickford, Coleman, Baines, Keane, Williams, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Sigurdsson, Rooney, Sandro (Jagielka, Martina, Holgate, Klaassen, Vlasic, Calvert-Lewin, Davies, McCarthy, Mirallas, Lookman, Besic, Funes Mori, Lennon, Stekelenburg)

One thing I would say is our depth stands out, but the quality of the top 6 is fairly similar across the board. A lot will depend on the star players and the solidity of the defences. Maybe injuries too.
 
I'd say Madrid are ahead of us on paper obviously, and PSG now with the money they've spent. Other than that, no-one stands out. Barca are nothing special bar their forwards, as are City. We aren't miles away from Juventus or Atletico either, especially if we sign Griezmann next summer or in January.
 
Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Barca, Juventus, Atletico, City, Chelsea.
 
I think Chelsea, City and Spurs in the PL have a better first 11 than United. I disagree with Liverpool. It's a big grey area though because no side is consistent enough to fully cement their place at the top. I do think the frequency Chelsea get written off on here is crazy though, they're a great side and when fit still arguably the best side.
 
I'd still say Spurs do overall. CM is the only position I think we're stronger.


Vertongen and Alderwirld partnership are better than the Bailly and Jones one imo

Rose and Aurier are very good full back options. Shaw isn't currently as good as Rose.

Kane is better than Lukaku

Alli is better than Mkhitaryan

And Eriksen offers them a set piece threat which United definitely don't have.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I'd still say Spurs do overall. CM is the only position I think we're stronger.


Vertongen and Alderwirld partnership are better than the Bailly and Jones one imo

Rose and Aurier are very good full back options. Shaw isn't currently as good as Rose.

Kane is better than Lukaku

Alli is better than Mkhitaryan

And Eriksen offers them a set piece threat which United definitely don't have.
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Goalkeeper we're much stronger. In terms of wide forwards and as you say CM likewise.

I think Bailly & Jones can form a really good duo, but Spurs' obviously have the benefit of a settled and more injury free partnership.

I also believe Mata is better than Eriksen, but I might be in the minority holding that view.
 
Liverpool have no defense and an average midfield, City have no defense and a disjointed midfield, Arsenal have no defense and an average midfield.

United, Chelsea and Tottenham have the best first teams, solid defence and midfield with some talent in attack.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I'd still say Spurs do overall. CM is the only position I think we're stronger.


Vertongen and Alderwirld partnership are better than the Bailly and Jones one imo

Rose and Aurier are very good full back options. Shaw isn't currently as good as Rose.

Kane is better than Lukaku

Alli is better than Mkhitaryan

And Eriksen offers them a set piece threat which United definitely don't have.
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3 set piece goals in 3 games, maybe Mkhi will become our Eriksen?
 
I think Chelsea, City and Tottenhams first XI are better than ours, but not a lot and if we actually addressed some other pretty obvious weaknesses in our team (left-back and another winger) i´d rate us above them. That said i wouldn´t bet on us actually winning against any of the top teams (apart from Arsenal) considering how poorly we did in the big games last season.
 
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City, Chelsea and Tottenham are still ahead I believe so if we were to win the league it would be a huge achievement.

Possibly next year we could say we're the strongest if we sign fullbacks if required and Griezmann.
 
Jib said:
Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Barca, Juventus, Atletico, City, Chelsea.
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Madrid and now PSG stand out as well above us at present, but the rest? An argument can definitely be made either way, all those teams don't have an awful lot between them imo.
 
I think Juve/PSG/Bayern/Madrid have the best starting XI's in the world

After that I think Man Utd is competitive with mostly anyone
 
MrSingh2002 said:
City, Chelsea and Tottenham are still ahead I believe so if we were to win the league it would be a huge achievement.

Possibly next year we could say we're the strongest if we sign fullbacks if required and Griezmann.
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But the other teams will likely address their weaknesses too.
 
Real Madrid
Barca (Supercopa aside, they're still prime-Messi Barca)
Athletico
Juve
Bayern
PSG
Monaco
Chelsea
City
(Maybe) Spurs
 
I wouldn't swap our starting XI with anyone's in the PL, yes other teams may be stronger in other areas but overall? Nah...
 
Only City has a better starting lineup in the league IMO, other teams got some players better than ours as Hazard, Kante and Sanchez but overall you can't really say all their main lineup players are better than ours.

Real, Bayern, Juve, PSG all have better starting lineup. Barca are miles ahead of us in the attack but we're equal, if not better in midfield and defense.
 
Chelsea. Moratta took them to the next level.
And adding that here because that's the only place people never get it without white text.
 
nyanza said:
Chelsea. Moratta took them to the next level.
And adding that here because that's the only place people never get it without white text.
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Even with the white text I can't make out whether you're on a WUM or not.
 
The Premier League is a much of a muchness. No stand out side of discernible difference in quality.
 
charlenefan said:
I wouldn't swap our starting XI with anyone's in the PL, yes other teams may be stronger in other areas but overall? Nah...
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I agree, its bizzare how people saying our overall starting 11 is weaker than chelsea, city, spurs lol, its like really?

DDG
valencia jones bailly blind
matic pogba
mkhi mata/herrera martial/rashford
lukaku

Out of that 11, who would replace who? I say, mane would come in for mata, LB? don't think anyone has a standout LB, kompany is a maybe would play ahead of jones, hazard or sanchez would come in for either rashford slash martial apart from that we stronger.

Spine wise there is not really a stronger team than united, DDG, jones, bailly, matic, pogba, mkhi, lukaku. I do think our spine overall gives the edge everyone in the PL, you add herrera to go in a 3 man midfield against the bigger teams, think we can overrun teams and play football knowing a midfield of matic, pogba, herrera and mkhi are going to control and squeeze the life out of teams
 
Make a combined team with any of Chelsea, City, Arsenal or Liverpool and we have more players in the 11. Comfortably. Keeper and defence alone is a guaranteed 3/4 picks. Then you have Matic, Pogba and Lukaku who are likely to start for most if not all of those 4 sides.

Spurs are a bit trickier. I reckon Alderweireld, Rose, Alli, Eriksen and Kane would all start for us and Vertonghen would be bloody close as well. Difference between ourselves and Spurs is that we have far greater strength in depth, particularly in the midfield which is a real weakness for them.

After that, I'd have us well behind Real Madrid, but closing on Barca, Bayern, Juve and Atletico. Can't wait for the CL to start so we can see where we really stand.
 
Martial better than Dybala :lol::lol::lol:

On topic though, in England there isn't much between United, City, and Chelsea. United are arguably weakest of the 3 in wide areas but have the strongest spine, City are vulnerable in the middle of the park, while Chelsea are trying to integrate new young players into a successful system that they are unfamiliar with so there may be an adjustment period.

All 3 are comfortably in the 2nd tier of Europe I'd argue, behind Real Madrid, Bayern, Juve, and PSG.
 
Oneunited26 said:
I agree, its bizzare how people saying our overall starting 11 is weaker than chelsea, city, spurs lol, its like really?

DDG
valencia jones bailly blind
matic pogba
mkhi mata/herrera martial/rashford
lukaku

Out of that 11, who would replace who?
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I would replace Jones and Bailly with Vertonghen and Alderweireld, Blind with Rose, Herrera with Dembele, Mkhitaryan with Eriksen, and Lukaku with Kane.

That's 6 players, it's pretty close IMO.
 
In England, a full strength Spurs is a more solid and balanced starting 11 than United's. City and Liverpool arguably have a better/more fluid attack but they clearly lack the balance from back to front.

In Europe, Real Madrid, Bayern and now PSG clearly have a stronger first 11. Could make a case for Barcelona and Athletico but I'd say we have a better midfield and defence than Barca and a better midfield and attack than Athletico.
 
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