I agree, I think if we had a top DM we'd actually be fine in that regard. Currently anyone with more pace than Matic (so everyone in the league) finds it relatively easy to play through the middle of our team and find a yard around our box. Wouldn't matter if we had peak Stam and Maldini as a CB pair, without protection they'd be constantly exposed to any striker who makes half decent runs.
ESPN - Mourinho wants to sign Skriniar and Romagnoli in Jan
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I agree, I think if we had a top DM we'd actually be fine in that regard. Currently anyone with more pace than Matic (so everyone in the league) finds it relatively easy to play through the middle of our team and find a yard around our box. Wouldn't matter if we had peak Stam and Maldini as a CB pair, without protection they'd be constantly exposed to any striker who makes half decent runs.
Good luck with that, Jose!
Under Moyes, under van Gaal, to be honest, even under SAF.
Jose came in when the club looked super unattractive to top players and immediately go in both Zlatan and Pogba. Now the latter may be a board signing, but he's not joining this club under the previous two managers.
We signed Di Maria, Falcao and Schweinsteiger under Van Gaal. Just because they flopped does not mean they were not big names.
I don't think Dalot and Fred would be a good partnership in central defence. I wonder what you see in them, that I'm completely missing?
I'm talking the real deal though. Di Maria was pushed out of Madrid, but yes, probably our biggest signing since RVP. Falcao was coming back from a career threatening injury and Schweinsteiger was just a name at that stage.
I remember losing out going for plenty of players. We're not the draw we're made out to be. Especially in the 3 years post SAF.
Beat City to Sanchez, so please get back on thread....
Can't see us going for either of them, even if Jose wanted to.
I can understand Jose going for it if he feels that they are going to help sort our season out. If the club were going to back him they should have done and would in the summer if they had any faith in him, as then he would have had no excuse to moan that he didn't have his players in he wants and potentially we would be better off now.
If the club does back him and gets him his centre back or centrebacks, whether it be Skriniar, Ramognoli or whoever else that may be if these two are unattainable; as a lot of big teams don't like doing business in January and still sacks him in the summer or before, there is potentially a chance of buying more players which may not be wanted by the next manager.
I personally think that a Director of Football should be put in place before we make any more signings.
I can understand Jose going for it if he feels that they are going to help sort our season out. If the club were going to back him they should have done and would in the summer if they had any faith in him, as then he would have had no excuse to moan that he didn't have his players in he wants and potentially we would be better off now.
If the club does back him and gets him his centre back or centrebacks, whether it be Skriniar, Ramognoli or whoever else that may be if these two are unattainable; as a lot of big teams don't like doing business in January and still sacks him in the summer or before, there is potentially a chance of buying more players which may not be wanted by the next manager.
I personally think that a Director of Football should be put in place before we make any more signings.
Getting top 4 will be big for us this season. If Jose is going to be here until the end of the season and he thinks we need one or two central defenders to get top 4 and it makes financial sense in terms of wage/transfer budgets... then I don't see why not.
If the next manager comes in and clears them out then so be it. I also think it would be beneficial if he had a higher standard of centre backs to pick from.
If the next manager comes in and clears them out then so be it. I also think it would be beneficial if he had a higher standard of centre backs to pick from.
So Mou has basically admitted of already wasting 60m on two CBs that are pretty much useless. Special one indeed.
Returning to the subject. Both Romagnoli and Skriniar are decent CBs at the right age to spend good money upon. However, I doubt any of them would want to move away from their club especially to join a struggling one. They both love their respective clubs quite dearly.
Returning to the subject. Both Romagnoli and Skriniar are decent CBs at the right age to spend good money upon. However, I doubt any of them would want to move away from their club especially to join a struggling one. They both love their respective clubs quite dearly.
This is why I feel we should have kept TFM at the club, rather than sending him and tuanzebe both on loan together was a mistake.
We don't need to ship out bailly and Lindelof, we need more protection for them in defensive midfield and some proactive tactics. Jones is the one to be shipped off.
We shouldn't be spending much money if we are planning on bringing a new manager in.
This is hopefully his last season here. What we need to do before splashing out such money is get a DOF
This is hopefully his last season here. What we need to do before splashing out such money is get a DOF
Not sure why fans are happy for the team development to stagnate as it currently is. Blame Jose all you want, but if the club aren't backing nor sacking him, then it's 100% on Ed and co for this mess.
Don't talk sense. It's smalling's fault that our defense is always exposed !!!
Note: Happy to see there are people here who are seeing the real issue.
Not even 100% convinced that the manager has control of transfers so when it comes to paper talk I'm gonna shut the whole thing down until the club announce what we're doing. After the weekend's McDonnel fiasco and blatant outright lies I'm back to being "i'm out" on the media and just watching the team play and the club announce what things are happening when they happen.
I have no issues with him buying good young players in positions we need who also have further potential to grow.
However, he needs to offload some failures first. Lindeloff or Bailly need to be shipped out. One of Rojo and Jones too.
However, he needs to offload some failures first. Lindeloff or Bailly need to be shipped out. One of Rojo and Jones too.
If they didn't have faith in him, they wouldn't have given him a contract extension in January. You could argue they had too much faith in him, in that they entrusted him to retain a top 4 position without giving him the players he wanted.
They obviously want another Wenger: someone who can keep them in the top 4 with as little investment as possible.
Yeah, do it!
If this is this the case is and the board had too much faith in him, I think this is foolish on the boards part to just think that it is a given, that we with finish top 4 without giving him adequate funds. I think that is a big problem with this club that they are happy to be just aiming for 4th place, which is wrong as we should be competing for the top trophies.
Although I am not a big fan of Jose I think they should have backed him all the way or sacked him and then he wouldn't have excuses for playing Midfielders in defense, as he has more faith in them than the defenders at his disposal. Do you think that they are scared we are not going to finish top 4 and that they will buy him new defenders in January to do so then?
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So now it's national break and its time for english tabloids to push their lies around to trick their fans.
If by some miracle Jose is still manager in January, I think the board would be willing to rent Granqvist from that second tier Swedish team. Skriniar and Romagnoli, on the other hand, are only realistic in the summer, if at all. It's more likely this story is just more fabricated nonsense for the international break.
These are players we should be going for regardless of who is manager, especially Skriniar, this is why a DOF would help.
I agree with all this. If we signed potential and showed showed some initiative we could have had these lads and someone like neves for very little money. Why are we so behind in the transfer market in relation to the money we are spending? Either our scouts aren’t doing their jobs or they are and our managers won’t push for and play potential world class young players. Which is it?
Surely it makes perfect sense for us to be in for these sorts of players before their profile soars along with their transfer fees and we certainly aren’t pulling up any tress with our current transfer strategy. We can afford the best of the best youngsters in the word, why not go for a few more? ok depay and martial havent worked out but these lads probably just don’t have the mentality to play for United or will genuinely just will be late developers, even if martial delvers wouldn’t it great to have some potentially top class competition for him? So many other young players have come in and done really well in the league while some have obviously failed to live up to the hype that’s normal with any signing. Mentality has to be a huge priority for potential signings from now on. Win at all cost and a bit of a bastard on top of the obvious super high skill level required. We need more players dying to step up and use us as their stage again instead of sulking at the manager at the first sign of trouble, actually earn those massive wages. I miss Fergie.
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What, you don't agree that we should stop our manager from ever improving the squad that everyone agrees is lacking so that we struggle and serve the agenda of the cretins?
"No Jose, you signed someone last season. No one else signs anyone and they get on with it and play beautifully. Ignore our rivals have outspent us and bought 3 times the players though"
Well played to Ed Woodward then - instead of spending 80 odd million on alderweireld who is 2 injuries away from retiring - we can target a younger player that is already lighting up their leagues.
I always thought that anyway - when the whole Woodward wants varane thing - I don't think he meant Varane the player but a player that showed a trajectory like his to have enough years in front of him to dominate football. Goes in line with his protection over Martial & Rashford too. May not have the best eye for the club but wants us to dominate more in the long term than the short term if it had to be an option. Confuses me as to why he went for Jose then but possibly expected him to adapt towards the United ways - the reason he went for players like Bailly & Lindelof before complaining for alderweireld..
I always thought that anyway - when the whole Woodward wants varane thing - I don't think he meant Varane the player but a player that showed a trajectory like his to have enough years in front of him to dominate football. Goes in line with his protection over Martial & Rashford too. May not have the best eye for the club but wants us to dominate more in the long term than the short term if it had to be an option. Confuses me as to why he went for Jose then but possibly expected him to adapt towards the United ways - the reason he went for players like Bailly & Lindelof before complaining for alderweireld..
Don't see why we have to sell in order to buy. We're the richest club in the world. Besides, Jones and Darmien are out of contract in the summer... and ATM we shouldn't be extending. We need to sign Smalling and Shaw to new contracts... and Valencia and Young are probably worth another rolling year. Saying all that, we could soon be looking at a back line of Dalot, Bailly, Lindelof, and Rojo... we badly need reinforcements, and we need to not be left with the situation that we're having to buy/promote a whole new defence... may as well start asap.
Daddy daddy want want
Young and promising means absolutely nothing. Bailly and Lindelof were both young and promising a few months ago.
Also, how does one go from having one of the best defences in the league (statistically) to one of the worst after a transfer window in which no defenders or midfielders were sold and enforcements were brought in (Dalot, Fred)? I wish someone smarter than I am can explain that to me.
Also, how does one go from having one of the best defences in the league (statistically) to one of the worst after a transfer window in which no defenders or midfielders were sold and enforcements were brought in (Dalot, Fred)? I wish someone smarter than I am can explain that to me.
Or better yet, let him break the transfer record on another player he can fall out with and fail to bring the best out of.
On a more serious note, I don't want the guy at the club but if we're sticking with him, let him sign good defenders if that's what he needs, and their age/price isn't an issue. The problem is that our midfield and attack is also consistently disappointing so spending 150 million on CBs may result in further disappointment in attack. I mean, how about a bloody right winger once every decade?
Romagnoli is overrated
Get me Škriniar and Kalidou Koulibaly and our defense is set for the next decade. Both are comfortable on the ball, very positional, can play out of the back, can dominate in the air and have real football intelligence.
While talking to Inter, please throw some money at Icardi as well. Give them Lukaku for free if it gets the deal done. Ta Ed.
Get me Škriniar and Kalidou Koulibaly and our defense is set for the next decade. Both are comfortable on the ball, very positional, can play out of the back, can dominate in the air and have real football intelligence.
While talking to Inter, please throw some money at Icardi as well. Give them Lukaku for free if it gets the deal done. Ta Ed.
To be fair, that's like saying pep wasted money on bravo and nolito and shouldn't be allowed to rectify his mistakes.
Some players work out and some don't.
Having said that I don't think even godin and bonucci back there would make us look like a great team. I like Jose but the style of play that he has us playing stinks. The sooner he is moved on and Ed stays the feck away from footballing matters the better off we would be.
Our first signing before getting anyone else should be a dof.
Jose has also been allowed to rectify transfers btw.
Mhiki -> Sanchez
Ibra -> Lukaku (Ibra was more of a stop gap)
And also signing Fred to fix midfield after already having spent 130m on CM in Pogba and Matic
Im convinced this is just a well placed article to start more Jose hasnt been backed talk after the Jan window.
Skriniar isnt going to leave Inter in Jan when he refused to leave in the summer.
Skriniar isnt going to leave Inter in Jan when he refused to leave in the summer.
Problem with Mourinho is, it is pretty clear from his desperation for CBs that he is not planning on changing. His strategy is to have an insurmountable defense and basically let attackers do their thing with no proper coaching. Unfortunately, he doesn't have Costa, Hazard or Fabregas in attack. Our attack needs coaching as individual brilliance is hard to come by, except for Pogba.
He thinks he can sign 2 WC CBs, then bore his way to 2nd or even win the league and get back to justifying his shite football with "Amazing season, I won x trophies". His biggest gripe is that the only excuse he had for his terrible style, viz., trophies and results, are not there and he feels vulnerable.
Those 20 minutes of the Newcastle game are not going to be his template. Not going to happen. The league's changed, solid defenses don't win titles, the team that scores the most goals does.
He thinks he can sign 2 WC CBs, then bore his way to 2nd or even win the league and get back to justifying his shite football with "Amazing season, I won x trophies". His biggest gripe is that the only excuse he had for his terrible style, viz., trophies and results, are not there and he feels vulnerable.
Those 20 minutes of the Newcastle game are not going to be his template. Not going to happen. The league's changed, solid defenses don't win titles, the team that scores the most goals does.
What a weird statement. He wants to change that's why he was hell bent on getting in a ball playing CB during the summer. Modern football involves building from the back and none of our defenders are capable of doing that. Signing ball playing CBs is the first step towards achieving that.
This is plainly wrong. Liverpool scored goals for fun last season and the season before that, but did you not notice how they improved as a team when they signed VvD? A great scot once said - "attack wins you games, defence wins you titles". Manchester city had to spend more than 200m to improve their defence. Liverpool broke transfer records for both GK and central defender. Chelsea won the league with proper defending and counter attacking football.
We have to improve our attacking output but our defense is so inept coupled with the presence of Matic, shows why it should not be left exposed. This season I noticed that we are not that defensive like last season - resulting in conceding so many goals.
Lol? So Di Maria who didn't even want to come here, Falcao who came here to use our hospital and get paid to recover before going to Monaco, and Schweinsteiger who used us as a retirement home?
Nobody else wanted these players in the first place?
If these are the best examples you have got, you need to reconsider where we stand
