The problem maybe very big but the systematic problem isn't to do with the players in forwards areas but in the first phase which I've consistently pointed out for several years. If your GK and CBs are suspect under pressure the opponent's press becomes more effective. And when that happens, you lose control of the game and can't sustain attacks. And i haven't even got to the defending transitions part. So when you as a team lose your best players in the build up phase at the back, then it absolutely has a negative impact on the players upfront for the reasons stated above and pinning teams back becomes a issue.
And I'm not saying I'm always right.
I used Haaland as a example of a player that Martinez has dealt with in a higher line in coordination with his team mates. And the reason I used him as a example was because he's not only physically stronger than Martinez but is also quicker. And Martinez didn't have a big problem against him in a system which shackled him in a high line in coordination with his team mates. Whether he was playing for Dortmund or anyone is irrelevant because we're talking about a player who is blessed with pace and power in abundance and rated as one of the best strikers in the world.
Onana and Hojlund were the priority positions for the summer which I've mentioned on here countless times. And if you read what the tier 1 journos were reporting, then it was one in and one out, and Mount was seen as a player to come in for Fred, who was leaving. Kim Min Jae was the reported Maguire replacement with Todibo another alternative. Amadou Onana and Youssouf Fofana were seen as the replacements for McTominay. Fred left but Maguire and Mctominay refused to leave, so it wasn't a case of prioritising Mount, but rather signing Mount because a midfield slot had opened up with Fred leaving.
You argued with me that we needed more craft and guile in midfield but I told you Mainoo was going to be introduced into the team, to which you, if I'm not mistaken, took a very dim view due to his age. But the kid is full of craft and guile and he's showing it on the pitch.
We weren't great by any means in those games but that's a really small sample size to draw any conclusions from and the season prior where they were both available for large parts is a much better sample size. We still haven't seen Onana, Martinez, Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo together in the team, or maybe we have, I can't remember. But having those players together creates the conditions for a more effective build up phase due to their technical ability on the ball.
Part of the reason we cant sustain attacks is because of how wasteful Rashford and Bruno are on the ball, I dont think that's even something up for debate so that's deffo a player fault even if the system in itself is not conducive to getting the best out of them. They have to shoulder large responsibility for decision making.
Again with Martinez, its just basic physics man. It's not really an argument to be had. If we're playing a high line against Bournemouth and Lewis Cook plays a ball over the top to Dominik Solanke. Solanke is going to out strength and outrun Martinez 99/100 over 50-100 metres because he is bigger, faster and taller than Martinez. Nothing to do with ability, just physics.
I think its pointless getting into a debate about our transfer dealings at this stage. To me though its quite clear its an area the club has failed at miserably for years and ETH is included in that. I wouldn’t trust or believe anything that comes out of press pieces.
I took a dim view in the sense that I felt it wasn’t enough and it was a lot to put on a young kid. I never doubted his ability as I hadnt seen enough of him. He’s brilliant but the fact he’s walked into our midfield and looks about twice the player of anyone else in it, says a lot.
Will we ever see those players together consistently is my concern? Martinez in each of his last three seasons has missed over two months of action, Shaw every other season seems to have massive injury issues. Therefore you may even now have to argue the case that these two need to be replaced as you cant have your supposed best players be missing for half a season.
Martinez got knocked out twice out of three runs? That can‘t be right because Ajax had 18 points in the group phase in 2020.
We weren‘t rubbish against Arsenal and Spurs: we could have won against Arsenal and played a brilliant first half against Spurs. The Wolves game we did suck, I give you that.
Martinez can play a high line brilliantly as he did at Ajax. He‘s proactive, which is missing from our current cb‘s. They are more comfortable sitting back.
I supported keeping DeGea on lower wages prioritizing other positions, but am so glad he‘s gone. Onana is so much better.
It is true we haven‘t seen his best ball playing yet, but we will. With DeGea it would not even be possible as we have seen last season. Playing out the back is a huge part of our strategy this year. When we play a higher line more consistently you will start seeing the best version of Onana.
Yeah so that was the year they didn't get knocked out the group stage.... I said 2/3 they did get knocked out.... I don't recall any of those games being good performances to be honest. Granted Spurs and Arsenal werent as bad as Wolves but the Arsenal game you basically saw the winner coming from about the 70th minute. We couldnt keep the ball, looked nervous and just kept letting arsenal attack us over and over. I guess taking into account how good Spurs have been this year that first half against them was ok but the second half was terrible.
You're making a fatal mistake there with the Martinez comment, in that you're using what he did at Ajax as a barometer. You can almost completely ignore that. He is playing against forward players on a different stratosphere to that which he played at in the Dutch league. He would be exposed like you wouldn't believe in this league, again through no fault of his own, just pure physics. See Solanke above…
I agree De Gea had to go and other than the manner of letting him go I had zero issue with it. I just don't think signing Onana for that cost should have taken priority over other positions. Spurs managed to find an arguably better keeper at a third of the price.
It was an Onana long pass that created the goal, the all important first goal against City. He has evidently been a major part of playing out the back and bar the occassional miss pass(vs the many misses early in the season) has come leaps and bounds. The defence trusts him and there is a good understanding there the last few months. Also became a good reliable shot stopper. Defense wise we are in the top 4 and that is also because of him. Against LFC I counted 4 crucial saves in the first 60 minutes alone. Speaking for myself, I also looked forward with confidence to any penalty shoot out with LFC if it came to that with him vs that LFC goalkeeper.
I was like you the first few months for sure, but either ETH is a good manager that knows how to build confidence and get him back to star quality that he was at Ajax, or maybe he simply really is a good player. (Probably a bit of both.) But Onana atm, not a major impact in our play is simply not true.
You're massively overstating his impact on our ability to play out from the back. He's obviously better at it than De Gea and he has got better as the season has gone on (his shot stopping included) but it is absolutely nowhere near a level where you can say it's made a significant difference to our play and that's not to put the fault at his feet but he can only do so much if there's crap in front of him or a poorly executed system in front of him. Last season we had the third best joint defensive record also so you saying " we're top 4" isn't really an improvement. We're on course to concede more goals and score less goals this season than last so I'm confused as to which metric you've analysed to be able to quantify this "major impact" he's had on us.