Getting two wingers

[CM]

I think that we had enough game time to identify which players stays and which players leave, he doesn't need preseason to do that. Also how can anyone take this seriously when the likes of Jones and Young keep getting contracts and we had already ruled out signing more then 5 players?

What is it that you're actually looking for him to say? If you've watched his press conference it's clear he already has a good idea of what he wants to do here and that comment about pre-season is largely immaterial.

If you're expecting a full squad clearout in one summer, then yes, you will be disappointed. The reality is it's a far bigger job than that, and that will require time.

 

[devilish]

What is it that you're actually looking for him to say? If you've watched his press conference it's clear he already has a good idea of what he wants to do here and that comment about pre-season is largely immaterial.

If you're expecting a full squad clearout in one summer, then yes, you will be disappointed. The reality is it's a far bigger job than that, and that will require time.

I think that's quite self explanatory isn't it?

"The players deserve to get the chance to come in for pre-season and show what they’re capable of. Are they fit enough? Are they hungry enough? Do they want this enough? Do they want to give everything to the team? Or do they think only about themselves?"

Time is not the issue here. Its evident that we'll need time. However if we think that we're going to move forward by just adding 3-4 players to this pile of tripe then we're mistaken. Others have better squads and a better manager then we do and will strengthen the side as much if not even more then we do.

 

[CM]

I think that's quite self explanatory isn't it?

"The players deserve to get the chance to come in for pre-season and show what they’re capable of. Are they fit enough? Are they hungry enough? Do they want this enough? Do they want to give everything to the team? Or do they think only about themselves?"

Time is not the issue here. Its evident that we'll need time. However if we think that we're going to move forward by just adding 3-4 players to this pile of tripe then we're mistaken. Others have better squads and a better manager then we do and will be signing as many players then we do.

It's not self-explanatory because I don't see what's so wrong with those comments.

You're getting your knickers in a twist over something that's likely insignificant. He name-dropped Greenwood, Dalot and Rashford in his most recent presser as players he'd like to invest his time in, is it more likely he's talking about those players or Ashley Young?

 

[devilish]

It's not self-explanatory because I don't see what's so wrong with those comments.

You're getting your knickers in a twist over something that's likely insignificant. He name-dropped Greenwood, Dalot and Rashford in his most recent presser as players he'd like to invest his time in, is it more likely he's talking about those players or Ashley Young?

I find this talk about kids as funny. First of all we have developed just 1 WC player since the class of 92. That WC player had to move to Juventus to become a top player. Secondly the class of 92 were older when they broke into scene, they were surrounded with top players like Schmeichel, Irwin, Keane and Irwin and on top of that they were managed by SAF not some rookie who got his arse spanked at Cardiff.

Also what's stopping Ole who from playing Greenwood and Dalot now? If these kids are that great then why the hell we're keep insisting on Mata and Young? I fear we're using the academy once again to avoid spending the much necessary money we need to bring this club back in shape.

 

[Member 109952]

Sign Sancho, Zaha, and Wan Bissaka, and we'd challenge for the league.

Unfortunately we'll be looking at signing Rice, another defender and probably another striker, and then wonder why we struggle to create feck all week after week.

 

[Isotope]

Then let’s just buy the old Bayern and have geriatrics on the wings!

Why the sarcasm? Do you like what you see in our attack, chief?

 

[Isotope]

That was my next point, what two wingers are available ? Sancho & Hudson Odoi would cost a bomb and probably unavailable to US. Costa ? Bailey ? Lozano ? Chiesa ? Maybe on the market but not a sure fire thing, Coman, Asensio, Sane, etc would be less risk but also unavailable, with our recruitment policy we'd probably end up with Perisic and Willian !

Don't we have scouts? Even posters in here can come up with good names.

 

[RedCurry]

This Hudson-Odoi kid. Is he a Ribery type, or striker wannabe winger type?

He’s like a worse Willian.

 

[Isotope]

Truth. Also if we keep Shaw we definitely need a LW. He doesn't offer enough going forward to play on the same side as a wide forward. We'd then have proper competition for the CF position

I agreed about the need for LW.

 

[Isotope]

He’s like a worse Willian.

Still better than we have now then?

 

[golden_blunder]

Why the sarcasm? Do you like what you see in our attack, chief?

Nah. I just felt like a bit of sarcasm this morning

 

[Isotope]

Nah. I just felt like a bit of sarcasm this morning

fair do's. Paycheck is 9 days away.

Must be tiring checking out these threads about replacing the whole team and buying 10 new players. This thread is new and important, please delete the others .

 

[Isotope]

Not really. Martial/Rashford should be good enough options there, though they both need to crack on next season. One of the areas we least need to strengthen to be honest

They both are not "good options".

 

[Jinn]

We need two wingbacks and a centre halve as well.

 

[Fer]

It depends on the formation we are going to use. I would like to see Sancho and Pepe, but if we play 433, we just need one.

Martial, Alexis, Rashford and Lingard can play as LW.

If we sell Alexis, someone cheaper like Neres or Lozano could be a good choice.

Between Sancho and Pepe, who plays more on the right?
I have seen Sancho also on the left.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

We almost really need three wingers. A LW and RW and one that is a proper winger that can galvanize both positions as second choice. I don't think Rashford and Martial can provide enough as starters or even backup on the flanks.

 

[lawliet354]

Willian and Perisic

 

[Isotope]

We almost really need three wingers. A LW and RW and one that is a proper winger that can galvanize both positions as second choice. I don't think Rashford and Martial can provide enough as starters or even backup on the flanks.

I really like this idea. I thought asking 2, was a bit too much for some. Never thought about 3 though.

I always thought that other than strikers, SAF always had fetish for stockpiling wingers also. At one time he bought the peak Young (just included as PFA Team of the Year), while we had the peak Nani and Valencia who were two of the best wingers in the League already.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

I really like this idea. I thought asking 2, was a bit too much for some. Never thought about 3 though.

Genuine flank players is probably the most really important aspect of what we need to improve for next season.

Lets face it, Rashers and Martial are just strikers playing out wide and neither of them look comfortable and I'd rather have actual wide players instead of half comfortable MR/AM. I don't mind the "apprenticeship" idea of super young strikers or super young CB's introduced to some times on the flanks. But what we have is just a jam of three players in Lukaku/Rashford/Martial with absolutely no hierarchy there. I think this is actually a bit of an under the radar aspect of our squads mentality. Martial and Rashford need rockets up their arse and having to fill in randomly in different positions at certain times when they probably need pine time hasn't helped in the last couple of years.

 

[BlueHaze]

Actually since we have a 25% sell on clause on Zaha I wouldn't mind getting him if we could sign him for around £40m. Double raid Palace for Zaha and AWB then get Sancho. I know this will never happen but that would be ideal for me. Sancho AWB down the right, Zaha and Shaw down the left. Then compliment it with Piatek up front and our attack would be mouth watering.

I wish I had Woodward's job..

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Zaha & Sancho

 

[Red_toad]

I don’t get why we need 2 wingers, Martial is very capable on the left, just our tactics ensure he’s got to beat 3 players all the time as we have nothing on the right to stretch play. It’s generally close down Pogba and Martial who both prefer the left and that’s our creativity nullified.

 

[Lentwood]

As bad as we are, I do believe that having two proper wingers and two proper full backs would make a huge difference

It would make the whole team so much more balanced and should open the game up for the likes of Pogba and get more out of Lukaku

 

[Suvvernmanc]

I don’t get why we need 2 wingers, Martial is very capable on the left, just our tactics ensure he’s got to beat 3 players all the time as we have nothing on the right to stretch play. It’s generally close down Pogba and Martial who both prefer the left and that’s our creativity nullified.

Taking Sanchez out of the equation.. because he's turd.. we have Martial for the left. Mata and Lingard both play more centrally for us and have never been wingers or right forwards for us, so we do only have 1 winger in martial. Sanchez needs to go imo so we literally need 2 wingers. A right winger is a must (Sancho please) and I think another who can play either side (Lozano would be my choice) for extra depth. That would leave us with these players (6 players) for the 3 positions:

LW- Martial, Lozano
STR- Rashford, Lukaku
RW- Sancho, Lozano, Chong

We don't have enough quality in the attacking areas and watching us play proves that. Man City have Sterling, Sane, Aguero, Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Mahrez. Those numbers isn't too much. They might have players demanding more football because they are top players on top money.

Martial is not consistent enough and needs competition. He needs a good kick up the arse in fact. 2 wingers are most definitely needed !

 

[sp_107]

Not really. Martial/Rashford should be good enough options there, though they both need to crack on next season. One of the areas we least need to strengthen to be honest

Excellent crack on after every year in last 4 years. We are done with the Hope, we need performances now

 

[Invictus]

I'd love to see us play with Ribery - Robben style on the wings.

Reckon the combination of Sancho and Chiesa would be good for implementing the style you want, mate — one in the summer and one in 2020 — something along those lines should be doable, and will hold us in good stead over the long haul. Sancho is more decisive and gifted obviously, and needs no introduction on Redcafe because practically everyone wants us to sign him, and for good reason, but Chiesa also has a great skill set and could emerge as one of the best wingers of this generation, and is showing considerable potential at Fiorentina with 16 direct goal involvement in 2018/19. Plus, he's quite industrious and tactically astute for his age (which signals that he could be molded along the lines of Ribéry), and despite being wingers in generalized way, both Sancho and Chiesa are different enough to bring an eclectic mix of features to the team — on top of being comfortable on either flank and having the ability to switch the ball diagonally/horizontally (which was a key feature of Bayern when they head Robben and Ribéry at their peak).

Though one thing to bear in mind is that Bayern had Alaba and Lahm as the supplementary outlets for Ribéry and Robben from deeper positions, Müller as the raumdeuter to create room for them, Mandzukić as the foil up top, Schweinsteiger's distribution — and an overall scheme that was very well drilled and compact in two banks of four, mostly notably under Heynckes. That provided the perfect environment for “Robbey” to thrive, and for Sancho/Chiesa to excel at United, we'd have to strategize an effective scheme around them in similar fashion. And we'll also have to be patient because they have an average age of just 20 (for reference, Ribéry was 24 when he joined Bayern and Robben 25, and they still took a bit of time to reach peak levels). In an ideal world, we would have immediate solutions, but because we missed the last 2-3 mini-cycles to acquire the best players, we'll have to be more forbearing and methodical in our approach, especially considering there's a dearth of prototypical wingers in contemporary football.

 

[Kaglish10]

It depends on the formation we are going to use. I would like to see Sancho and Pepe, but if we play 433, we just need one.

Martial, Alexis, Rashford and Lingard can play as LW.

If we sell Alexis, someone cheaper like Neres or Lozano could be a good choice.

Between Sancho and Pepe, who plays more on the right?
I have seen Sancho also on the left.

Only Sancho is impressive out of the list. The likes of Pepe, Lozano and Neres are just not good enough for us.

 

[Kapardin]

Only Sancho is impressive out of the list. The likes of Pepe, Lozano and Neres are just not good enough for us.

Not like they are any worse than what we have though, mediocre wingers would be a step up from our lot.

 

[Isotope]

Reckon the combination of Sancho and Chiesa would be good for implementing the style you want, mate — one in the summer and one in 2020 — something along those lines should be doable, and will hold us in good stead over the long haul. Sancho is more decisive and gifted obviously, and needs no introduction on Redcafe because practically everyone wants us to sign him, and for good reason, but Chiesa also has a great skill set and could emerge as one of the best wingers of this generation, and is showing considerable potential at Fiorentina with 16 direct goal involvement in 2018/19. Plus, he's quite industrious and tactically astute for his age (which signals that he could be molded along the lines of Ribéry), and despite being wingers in generalized way, both Sancho and Chiesa are different enough to bring an eclectic mix of features to the team — on top of being comfortable on either flank and having the ability to switch the ball diagonally/horizontally (which was a key feature of Bayern when they head Robben and Ribéry at their peak).

Though one thing to bear in mind is that Bayern had Alaba and Lahm as the supplementary outlets for Ribéry and Robben from deeper positions, Müller as the raumdeuter to create room for them, Mandzukić as the foil up top, Schweinsteiger's distribution — and an overall scheme that was very well drilled and compact in two banks of four, mostly notably under Heynckes. That provided the perfect environment for “Robbey” to thrive, and for Sancho/Chiesa to excel at United, we'd have to strategize an effective scheme around them in similar fashion. And we'll also have to be patient because they have an average age of just 20 (for reference, Ribéry was 24 when he joined Bayern and Robben 25, and they still took a bit of time to reach peak levels). In an ideal world, we would have immediate solutions, but because we missed the last 2-3 mini-cycles to acquire the best players, we'll have to be more forbearing and methodical in our approach, especially considering there's a dearth of prototypical wingers in contemporary football.

Dang, mate. Just reading your post makes me boiled with excitement. If this is doable, to hell with other needs (well, except for rightback). We need to get these wingers on board ASAP. I personally think that (short-lived) Bayern under Heynckes was the most exciting team of that decade. Like you said, it was well drilled and combined with flair up top.

 

[Infra-red]

It wouldn't be difficult, or even particularly expensive, to upgrade on Martial, Mata, Lingard and Sanchez. Hopefully we do.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

It depends on the formation we are going to use. I would like to see Sancho and Pepe, but if we play 433, we just need one.

Martial, Alexis, Rashford and Lingard can play as LW.

If we sell Alexis, someone cheaper like Neres or Lozano could be a good choice.

Between Sancho and Pepe, who plays more on the right?
I have seen Sancho also on the left.

There is only arguably Rashford good enough on that list anyways, and him at LW is a complete waste.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

It's ok, Lingard and Young will do the job as they know the 'United way'.

 

[Invictus]

Dang, mate. Just reading your post makes me boiled with excitement. If this is doable, to hell with other needs (well, except for rightback). We need to get these wingers on board ASAP. I personally think that (short-lived) Bayern under Heynckes was the most exciting team of that decade. Like you said, it was well drilled and combined with flair up top.

To be honest, even though I admired that Bayern team a great deal, I'm a bit wary of implementing a similar-ish style at United because I just don't know how (or from where) we are going to procure/develop the most important piece of the puzzle. When you have two wingers in the team, you have to go with either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 to make up for the lack of direct goals from the wide players (in comparison with wide/inside forwards whose game is predicated on goalscoring). The issue then is that while there are some decent forwards in the mercato to occupy central attacking positions, you need an extremely dominant or complete central midfielder to dictate the game from the center of the park and act as the focal point of the team.

Bayern had Schweinsteiger who had developed into the box-to-box glue that held together both them and Germany, United had the titanic Keane to go with Giggs and Beckham, when Juventus used a 4-4-2 under Capello they bought Vieira (in decline) and Emerson to go with Nedvěd and Camoranesi, Dortmund with the not-very-traditional winger-ish pairing of Reus/Błaszczykowski had peak Gündogan (who was at that time the most talented German central midfielder since Matthäus and the fulcrum of the team under Klopp), and even Leicester had Kanté in a more reactive capacity to disrupt the opposition and strike on counters.

Verratti is probably the only one who is currently capable of doing what they did in a proactive way (albeit at a slightly lower level) and he's not very realistic because Paris Saint-Germain just don't let their best players go, De Jong could develop into that caliber of player as has made great strides this season but he's already married to Barcelona, someone like Koke hasn't developed as well as you'd hope in terms of putting in tour de force central midfield performances at Atlético, Rúben is not a very mobile player so you'll be a bit constrained with him as a pivot, and the likes of NDombele/Barella/van de Beek, while talented in a holding or box-to-box capacity, are a too naive/unpolished to withstand an intense burden of expectations wrt. passing/positional nous and tactical acumen and organisational ability on and off the ball.

Unless Pogba stays and somehow becomes more disciplined or content with that type of role and controls games against even accomplished opposition on a regular basis, or we strike gold in the market (like Dortmund with Gündogan from Nürnberg), two wingers might not be very practically feasible for United because there would be far too many ifs or buts and hypotheticals involved in terms of starting XI composition/compatibility (none more so than the most crucial position).

 

[Inigo Montoya]

It wouldn't be difficult, or even particularly expensive, to upgrade on Martial, Mata, Lingard and Sanchez. Hopefully we do.

Thing is, Liverpool play with a left footed attacker/right footed attacker and one through the middle.
City play with: a left footed attacker/right footed attacker and one through the middle.

Common denominator, they're all fast,good on the ball,interchange if needed and also track back.

Do we have anyone who fits that right now?
Only Rashford but he needs to be in the middle. No good attacking leftie, a CF who can't trap a cow with a net and a talented player who can't be arsed to track back. I haven't even mentioned Alexis yet!

 

[Patrick08]

Bringing back Memphis? What's the cafe's take on it. Is he matured enough to come back and make an impact in the team again?

 

[Reapersoul20]

People wanting to bring back Zaha. Jesus Christ.

 

[Invictus]

Bringing back Memphis? What's the cafe's take on it. Is he matured enough to come back and make an impact in the team again?

Memphis is a central or wide forward, not a winger.

e.g.

To add, he is still quite inconsistent with the Netherlands and Lyon — a good player when the team is performing well and the general emotions are positive, but average or poor in scrappy situations — had very high expectations of him while coming through at PSV and he then did well at the World Cup under Louis, but he has shown in recent seasons that he is not suited to the elite level of club football, unless he stumbles upon a favorable niche role under the right manager who can keep him consistently sharp.

 

[Kaglish10]

Thing is, Liverpool play with a left footed attacker/right footed attacker and one through the middle.
City play with: a left footed attacker/right footed attacker and one through the middle.

Common denominator, they're all fast,good on the ball,interchange if needed and also track back.

Do we have anyone who fits that right now?
Only Rashford but he needs to be in the middle. No good attacking leftie, a CF who can't trap a cow with a net and a talented player who can't be arsed to track back. I haven't even mentioned Alexis yet!

I would have Ounas as our left footed attacker, Felix as our false 9 striker and Chiesa on the left side.

I know if we could get a quality creative midfield behind them, they would give us good amount of goals. Sancho I would love here but it's impossible. I don't think Dortmund would release him this season and if at all, it would be for a crazy amount.

But from what I've seen, Ounas isn't a slouch regardless of his little game times under Ancelotti who often prefers the ageing 32yrs old Callejon over him. He's got 4 goals and 1 assist in 7 starts for Napoli. His numbers are far better than what Lingard has given us this season.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

I would have Ounas as our left footed attacker, Felix as our false 9 striker and Chiesa on the left side.

I know if we could get a quality creative midfield behind them, they would give us good amount of goals. Sancho I would love here but it's impossible. I don't think Dortmund would release him this season and if at all, it would be for a crazy amount.

But from what I've seen, Ounas isn't a slouch regardless of his little game times under Ancelotti who often prefers the ageing 32yrs old Callejon over him. He's got 4 goals and 1 assist in 7 starts for Napoli. His numbers are far better than what Lingard has given us this season.

JPRouve has sung Ounas' praises for a while now. I don't think we'll get Felix unless it's crazy money.Sancho, same but I would like him.

We need creativity allied with a good attitude to work.

 

[JPRouve]

JPRouve has sung Ounas' praises for a while now. I don't think we'll get Felix unless it's crazy money.Sancho, same but I would like him.

We need creativity allied with a good attitude to work.

I did not, I did the opposite.