Does Man Utd have a player(s) that other teams fear?

RedPnutz

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Most of the top teams seem to have at least one.

When we faced Chelsea, we made sure Herrera shut Hazard down entirely.

Real have Ronaldo, whom Sir Alex had Phil Jones shackle, and of course Ronaldo was such a player for us last time.

Barcelona have Messi and maybe you could argue Neymar and Suarez.

Who do you think, if we have one, would be a player that opposition teams will want to shut down?

I used to think Martial might have been the one. Is it Pogba?

Thoughts?
 
If Mkhitaryans second season vs first season improvement is anything like his time at Dortmund then maybe him, Pogba, Rashford, and Martial.
 
RedNed77 said:
If Mkhitaryans second season vs first season improvement is anything like his time at Dortmund then maybe him, Pogba, Rashford, and Martial.
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If Mkhitaryan's second season is even slightly similar to his 2nd season at Dortmund, he'll be sold in January.
 
There's nobody who I'd consistently say is our main man, aside from Ibra last season, who we've released.
 
Pogba and DeGea.
The latter's presence alone puts many strikers off, the knowledge that he's between the sticks and that he's a great shot stopper makes players put in that extra effort in their shot to make it more powerful/putting it in the corner, and that makes them miss more often.
 
This might sound funny but the only player I can imagine our opponents fearing last season would be Fellaini and that is simply because of his style of play and the manager backing him with the tactics.

I am sure he would be among the highest discussed players in the opposition training grounds before our matches. Must be something, irritating the opposition coaches and your own fans equally.
 
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idmanager said:
This might sound funny but the only player I can imagine our opponents fearing last season would be Fellaini and that is simply because of his style of play and the manager backing him with the tactics.

I am sure he would be among the highest discussed players in the opposition training grounds before our matches. Must be something, irritating the opposition coaches and your own fans equally.
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Inclined to agree with this. He causes a lot of trouble when played high up with the set tactic of him bringing balls down
 
idmanager said:
This might sound funny but the only player I can imagine our opponents fearing last season would be Fellaini and that is simply because of his style of play and the manager backing him with the tactics.

I am sure he would be among the highest discussed players in the opposition training grounds before our matches. Must be something, irritating the opposition coaches and your own fans equally.
Click to expand...
Yep, Fellaini will usually pin the shorter fullback who have no chance aerially against him, similar to zlatan. This itself creates havoc in the opposition penalty box.
 
DDG is an interesting one. I suppose his presence might cause a sliver of doubt in attackers.
 
Fellaini. Teams specifically change their tactics to try and mark him out of the game. Sir Alex did it and so did Mourinho, when he put Zouma on him.
 
Ibra is the only player that opponents may genuinely fear, as he can score goals.
Nobody else I'm afraid.
As an opponent in the EPL, I'd be happy if we played Mata, Miki, Martial up-front. At 5 league goals per season, each of these are the most goal shy attackers in the league.

kthanksbye said:
Pogba and DeGea.
The latter's presence alone puts many strikers off, the knowledge that he's between the sticks and that he's a great shot stopper makes players put in that extra effort in their shot to make it more powerful/putting it in the corner, and that makes them miss more often.
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DDG certainly scared the living daylights out of CFC, who put 4 past us.
And what about AFC - the serial bottlers - they put 2 past DDG in 1 match, and in our home game, they scored a late equaliser.
I accept though, that he is one of the best GKs in the World.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Fellaini. Teams specifically change their tactics to try and mark him out of the game. Sir Alex did it and so did Mourinho, when he put Zouma on him.
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lopiop said:
Yep, Fellaini will usually pin the shorter fullback who have no chance aerially against him, similar to zlatan. This itself creates havoc in the opposition penalty box.
Click to expand...
idmanager said:
This might sound funny but the only player I can imagine our opponents fearing last season would be Fellaini and that is simply because of his style of play and the manager backing him with the tactics.

I am sure he would be among the highest discussed players in the opposition training grounds before our matches. Must be something, irritating the opposition coaches and your own fans equally.
Click to expand...


These posts depress me.
 
RedFish said:
Rooney in a testimonial.
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:lol:

No man.
I saw that testimonial and defenders who had long since retired had no fear of this guy.
In fact, I'd say Rooney was out of his depth against the likes of Carragher.
 
Bailly/Rojo? Maybe not fear but opposition attackers must have found it a nuisance to play against them.
 
Shark said:
There's nobody who I'd consistently say is our main man, aside from Ibra last season, who we've released.
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Agree @Shark going forward Pogba is our main man, gutted we didn't get Griezmann as DDG Pogba and Griezmann would have given us 3 genuine world class players. We are starting to look a solid 11 again and this is good for us going forward.
I think given the chance Jose would sign the likes of Griezmann Bale or say Verrati from abroad or the likes of very good players like Kane Alli or VVD from this league.
Although clubs are less and less relying on transfer money nowadays so buying players is harder from our own league and we have more competition signing them from abroad. Then we have the new money or sugar daddy clubs to contend with. Not complaining just stating how I see it and it makes it more exciting.
These two deals (Morata and Lindelof) look like happening I hope we sign Mendy and Fabinho and that would put us in with a chance of the title next season imo but a lot depends on how our signings perform as unlikely everyone would be a success. Just look at City last year with Nolita, Brava and Stones (arguably Gundogan although due to injury although his injury record was a major concern when they bought him) all flopping in the first season badly.

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof (?)
(?)
Herrera Pogba
Mykytarin Martial
Morata

I think we will look to add to these two (?) positions and perhaps Martials spot is under threat. But we are starting to look a solid team that Jose could add some special players to come the following season I stock the numbers he has had to this summer. Jose did say I'm sure he needed three summers to sort this team out and given the deadwood he has had this season I think he was correct.
 
Bigg st nuisance would be Herrera I assume. But Fellaini is a good shout.

Maybe that's why he's been played in key games by all managers post SAF.
 
Martial was getting double and triple marked at times this season, he may not have been perfect but it seems teams are still scared of what he's capable of. Liverpool and Southampton matches stick out in the mind. Aside from him, Mkhitaryan is often closed down extremely quickly by usually more than one player which indicates fear to me.
 
In his first season, Martial possibly would have been that player. Often had opposing fullbacks on toast as he ran at them again and again. It got to a stage where he was tripled up on in some games because he was our outlet, and a good one. Shame he hasn't been able to repeat that, otherwise it could be him.

Rashford's pace can do some damage, and we saw against Chelsea against very good defenders how devastating he can be. He just needs to iron out some consistency in that regard.

When Pogba gets the ball 25/30 yards out in a central position, you can see opposing players scramble towards him as they know he can hit them.


None of those are consistently threatening, but certainly have the ability to make defenders very cautious. Hopefully the consistency will come.
 
It was Zlatan of course, but we don't have one now and won't next season. This is one reason we won't be title challengers. I do think that, if we signed Belotti, he could offer us that. He's a really determined and string player who could be our new Van Nistelrooy.
 
Martial easily. I remember Klopp double, tripled up on him in the first match of this season- and as usual at the end of the match, people said Martial played awful.
 
Pogba, on his day, can be absolutely devastating to the opposition. You would be a fool not to fear his beastilyness.
 
Id say no one really since Ibra got injured. Can you imagine Klopp Costa or Wenger saying before the game, "were playing a poor Utd side but watch out for (...) as he may get a shot on target eventually". Maybe and I'm not going to jinx it by naming names, but someone we buy will bring back the fear factor. Back in the day we have had 7/8 on the pitch.
 
Rashford, you can't play high up the pitch when you have someone that fast and that willing to run beyond you.
 
Martial was always double marked last season. The teams that didn't paid for it
 
Pogba and Rashford are the ones most managers would tell their players to watch out for, I imagine.

Fellaini as well.
 
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