Disagree.
He’s been average wide left. He’s a goalscorer who should be playing centrally.
He may have the odd decent run when he’s out there but he’s invisible the majority of the time.
Erling Haaland / signs for Dortmund
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
- Status
He’s been average wide left. He’s a goalscorer who should be playing centrally.
He may have the odd decent run when he’s out there but he’s invisible the majority of the time.
Like I said it's debatable.
Key statement everyone keeps missing out. Theres this myth that rashford is useless as a CF because of his performances there this particular season. I remember last year shortly after Ole took over, rashford was brilliant leading the line till it all went downhill for the WHOLE team after the PSG game. Now that Martial has taken over as our main striker people are starting to downplay the fact Rashford is very competent as a striker if he isnt isolated up front. If we got a quality AM, I have no doubt rashford could perform to expectations if martial was injured. We sign an attacking midfielder which is the biggest hole in our team and suddenly we dont look so scarce upfront.
yes lets sign haaland in january but if we dont secure any other midfielders then we are incompetent.
Also a lot of our problems at AM could be solved with Pogba there. Hoping he gets back quickly so we can see how he performs behind martial. Big relief if Ole decides to use him further up the pitch.
Last edited:
Yes and who then plays LW, we have limited options we should leave Rashford to develop on the left and invest in another striker
Did you forget that is james best position? also before you ask who should play on the right we have greenwood, pereira and linagrd which is poor. So when you really think about it we are more limited on the right wing and attacking mid.
Pretty much. People simply just haven't realised how huge a proper number 10 would do not only in term of adding quality to the starting line up but also in term of flexibility and cover for that front 3.
You get a competent and creative 10 and we aren't holed in this situation where Martial is the only 1 who can play as out CF but instead Rashford can be placed there if needed and even the young Greenwood would find himself in an environment where he can strive as a young and upcoming striker.
A proper creative attacking midfielder will bring flexibility to our squad and players won't be forced to be holed in 1 position only each specifically. Haaland before a proper AM doesn't necessarily sort out our biggest issue which is that creativity in advanced midfield.
Unless Pogba comes back and we set up back to a 433 with Brighton Fred being a mainstay then I don't see any other scenario than first and formost focusing on acquiring a creative midfielder.
No.
It is Rashfords preferred position so leave him to play there with James as cover. We need to sign a RW AM and a striker for the attack.
We need 2 viable options for each position in the attack if we want to start seriously competing, but for now sign a backup/starting striker and an AM and if possible a RW Olmo would be great as he could play both AM and RW.
We also need a DM to be honest, we need a lot of work
Moving Rashford around isn't going to help him, let him develop in his preferred position and move him only in emergency situations (which should not be an injury to one striker)
You need to stop this, repeating "people can't see" "people haven't realised". Everyone knows what the problem position is and everyone also knows we are not signing players in a queue system.
I don't think anyone has stated that Haaland alone would be the solution to all our problems. He would be part a long term plan of creating a team that would consistently challenge for the big titles. Creativity and quality has to be added to the midfield as well to get there. The reason why we must get him now, is that this probably is our one and only chance to get him. He is on the prospect list of every big club out there, except maybe PSG, and we cannot wait for him to prove himself on any higher level before signing him, because he will be out of our reach then.
Why do we need two options for every attacking position? Not many teams have that and those that do face problems about a lack of game time harming development in Dembele, Isco and Coutinho or seeing players wanting to leave like Sane and CHO (Stayed due to an injury)
Teams play better with a settled attack, thats just fact. Its hard enough to get a quality front 3 than to find 6 if them while chopping and changing every other week
If Halaand is as good as the hype I'd sign him. However I do think there's a tendancy sometimes to equate scoring lots of goals only only with forwards. Whereas in truth the quality, creativity and control from midfield (and fullbacks too) is also a huge factor. And if you look at our team, our forward line is more impressive than our midfield IMO.
We had an out and out goalscorer in Lukaku but didn't create enough chances (as our creativity rests solely with Pogba). Why would Haaland score goals with the same lack of supply?
Maybe Halaand can perform better than Lukaku? Martial and Rashford are scoring goals without Pogba btw.
Martial hasn't stayed fit / hungry for more than a few months at a time.
Rashford looks like he's been playing with an injury for most of the past year and, although mint at the minute, has been highly inconsistent.
James is brand new and we don't know how good or how consistent he'll become.
I can't believe people are worried about fitting everyone into the same 11. It's not a concern.
Rashford looks like he's been playing with an injury for most of the past year and, although mint at the minute, has been highly inconsistent.
James is brand new and we don't know how good or how consistent he'll become.
I can't believe people are worried about fitting everyone into the same 11. It's not a concern.
I never said we should move rashford from his preffered LW position. I was just bringing awareness to the fact people have said we are limited in the Cf position when we really arent. Rashford could cover there if martial was unavailable.
Also rashford is a very versatile player so i see no reason why he cant cover positions when the team needs him too.
Simply we should focus more on an attacking midfielder as a main priority while looking for cover in other positions.
For all their flaws, Martial and Rashford have the ability to create goals out of nothing. Is Haaland similar, or does he rely more on service? I've honestly not seen enough of him to know.
Really?
We created ample chances versus Brighton and the 3 we didn't put away certainly didn't "come from nothing". Fred set up two of them nicely. Before that we could have had 6 versus Partizan.
Versus Norwich James was the provider for Rashford clean on goal, whilst Rashford/Martial linked up to create a good goal for their 3rd. James was a clean provider for a goal on the plate for Rashford versus Liverpool too.
There's little point in me going on. Rashford and Martial are in great form when starting together, but you're going way too far if you suggest it's just them creating goals out of nothing.
This thread will be interesting if Haaland becomes the new De Ligt. 
Not quite there yet. We need a Reddit ITK or some Instagram banter between Haaland and a teammate
Not quite there yet. We need a Reddit ITK or some Instagram banter between Haaland and a teammate
If you are going to watch just one highlight video of him, this is probably the best one out there right now (from RBS, Molde and Norway U19 and U20).
You should of course study him a lot closer to understand what he is about, but you'll see clearly he's more than a poacher.
You should of course study him a lot closer to understand what he is about, but you'll see clearly he's more than a poacher.
Yeah, you're right. Bournemouth aside, since Martial came back we have been creating more chances but there's been plenty of games this season, right up to Partizan away, where we looked utterly clueless. I'm thinking Newcastle, Arsenal, Rochdale, Southampton etc.
You only seem to be looking at the past 3 or 4 weeks, against teams naive enough to open up against us.
The whole team as a unit was poor in those games and Pogba would have changed feck all. Palace is a good example to refer to. Martial's return has provided an extra dimension to our attack though, which helps a lot in carving teams open. I think a player like Haaland can make the same impact.
Fair enough. Is Haaland technically gifted? I'm just trying to get a handle on what type of striker he is, tbh. I've seen some, possibly lazy, Lukaku comparisons and genuinely don't think we should revert back to that. It's just too one dimensional. As you've said, Martial has definitely changed the way we play so it would seem insane to risk undoing that right now.
Honestly mate, I haven't seen him beyond lots of youtube videos.
What I will say however, is I don't get how his playing style is comparable to Lukaku. His stats sure is, but when people complain about buying Haaland because it's another Lukaku, I'm a bit lost. From what I've seen it looks like he can carry the ball, interlink, assist and has the physicality that we desire up top. But hey, they're called "highlight videos" on youtube for a reason
On paper it appears theres every chance he develops a great chemistry with Martial/Rashford. The only qualm I have is that only 3 of him/Rashford/Martial/James can play together.
Haaland isn't the same type of player as Martial. We've seen how out team can't always create and that non creativity from midfield(especially with Pogba out) was offset a bit by Martial because he can link up play, technical and good on the ball. Yet even now we still to add to our creativity. You bring in a pure goalscorer and he'd struggle to reduce our lack of creativity in the middle of the park.
I say we sort out out midfield first than we can start worrying about bringing any type of striker because right now I think that a player of Martial ilk is more suited to help with the lack of creativity in midfield, and even in his case we still do struggle to flow properly if midfield doesn't step up(Brighton Fred is needed + Pogba).
Well, that means you have quality on the bench! An absolute requirement for any top side. James is still raw to be honest. Still quite a way from being consistent quality. I can't see any downsides to getting Haaland. Unless of course he turns out a flop. We have no player even close to his profile here at the moment...
He has elite level finishing. That low shot is the one of the hardest ones to deal with and he pulls it off most of the time. It is quite hard to pull off. Most players can't do it. That's composure.
A settled attack doesnt move its main LW to ST
6 doesnt mean 6 top players. Its about having a squad.
Is there a video compilation of his misses? I want to see if there is or two floating around because his quality level of finishing is really good. The way he picks his spot and shooting those grounders into goal with intent is a great skill. He doesn’t just smash them in without thought
Why would anyone load a vid of misses?
I don’t know. Maybe bloopers or something?
It's not an either/or situation. Signing Haaland won't impact the midfield signing. If no midfield signing is available we should ignore talent in other positions?
I love the way he absolutely thumps it into the net. Rarely mishits his shots or tries to be too clever. Just thunders it passed the keeper
We'd be mad to pass up an opportunity to sign him. The combination of size, speed and finishing is very rare.
We'd be mad to pass up an opportunity to sign him. The combination of size, speed and finishing is very rare.
Please just check out Haaland before you assume that he is this or that kind of player. I have posted some links to decent analysis of him. He does have excellent link up play, creates space for his teammates, can hold on to the ball, pass a defender, knows where his teammates are, has the vision to spot a good run and elite off the ball movement to give his teammates an alternative. He does have 6 assists this season and should have had the double if some of his teammates were better finishers.
About his finishing, I only have statistics from CL: 7 goals in 11 shots (best conversion rate in the CL for players with 4 shots or more in the tournament)
Some questions for reflection:
Do you believe we could win the league or CL with Rashford/Martial/James as the leading attacking line? Or do you think we need to get in a at least one world class attacker to get there? Will Martial ever be a consistent 20+ goalscorer in the PL? Is there a chance getting in a top talent and adding more competition in the attack, could actually help improving our current attackers too?
...yes, I know we need to upgrade our midfield too...
Last edited:
Lukaku has really scarred some of usThere is - it is 24 seconds long...showing all his misses over the last 2 seasons!
Seriously - he doesn't miss a lot - his ability to hit the target is really impressive. Yes he scores a lot of poachers goals - but that left foot of his in terms of Power and accuracy can probably match any striker in the Premier League
Funnily enough, that was one of Ole's best attributes too.
The missing creativity could not be bought with one player, beacause it is United as a mixture of coaches and players, which is not creativ enough. Haaland would give this team a much needed option to create, as a type of CF United is missingh at the moment. Sancho too.
We should sign this guy. We have a rare opportunity to sign a possible generational talent and are we going to pass it on and let another team snap him up. Most people here would lose their mind if he starts scoring lots of goals for another team when we could have signed him.
Ole said the perfect striker wasn't available last summer and I think Haaland is what Ole is looking for. He can press, play in a fluid attack, knows how to find his teammates and is a beast craving goals, he has a winning mentality. We need a player that is hungry for goals. Sometimes when we play we look like we're tired of scoring so we need more players like Haaland.
Yes even in midfield we need players that want to attack and that's an even bigger priority than Haaland. But this guy is available to us right now and a striker like him may not come like this after a while so we need to snap him up while we can. This lad is probably the only quality player that can genuinely improve our squad among the players that may be available in January. People complaining about creativity are welcomed to make a list of creative midfielders that are available in January that would fit the type of team Ole wants to build
Ole said the perfect striker wasn't available last summer and I think Haaland is what Ole is looking for. He can press, play in a fluid attack, knows how to find his teammates and is a beast craving goals, he has a winning mentality. We need a player that is hungry for goals. Sometimes when we play we look like we're tired of scoring so we need more players like Haaland.
Yes even in midfield we need players that want to attack and that's an even bigger priority than Haaland. But this guy is available to us right now and a striker like him may not come like this after a while so we need to snap him up while we can. This lad is probably the only quality player that can genuinely improve our squad among the players that may be available in January. People complaining about creativity are welcomed to make a list of creative midfielders that are available in January that would fit the type of team Ole wants to build
Watching his highlight videos, it's clear Salzburg is a very coordinated attacking team that sends a lot of men forward. If you look at his goals videos, it's usually 3v4 or 4v5 overloads in the box, and almost everyone high up in the opposition area.
I wonder how much that affects his stats, especially when you consider the other Salzburg attackers also have very good numbers this season. I know the guy is good, but it's hard to tell just how good he is at this point.
I wonder how much that affects his stats, especially when you consider the other Salzburg attackers also have very good numbers this season. I know the guy is good, but it's hard to tell just how good he is at this point.
I believe that people who don’t want us to sign Haaland misses a great point.
We are not in the position to sign quality players we were 3-4 years ago. They will look elsewhere at first in many occasions. So if possible World Class prospects like Sancho or Haaland get available due to personal relations or disputes with their current manager, you don’t pass the opportunity, because we also lack in other positions.
You buy them. Secure your quality players, show ambitions and then you look for AM, DM an so on.
You Snooze, you loose.
We are not in the position to sign quality players we were 3-4 years ago. They will look elsewhere at first in many occasions. So if possible World Class prospects like Sancho or Haaland get available due to personal relations or disputes with their current manager, you don’t pass the opportunity, because we also lack in other positions.
You buy them. Secure your quality players, show ambitions and then you look for AM, DM an so on.
You Snooze, you loose.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Status