Sancho looked better on the right in Germany and that’s why we bought him for that position. At the time we had a surfeit of left sided players. Rashford *is* out of form (and has been for awhile), so ETH should be buying a left sided starter, not buying another right sided player as backup. Squad depth will happen when players push each other for the starting berth, like Malacia and Shaw. Buying players intended as depth will result in more players like Telles, who quickly become deadwood. Sancho was fantastic on the right, I don’t think Antony is an upgrade on him. It would behoove us to sign a left sided player better than Rashford before shifting a player who was so good on the right we bought him to play on the right. My point about Diallo and Pellistri is that prospects and youth being promoted give us depth; buying for depth is a luxury only the oil clubs can afford.
Have we signed anyone yet? | Yes, with stupid tax
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I think people actually underrate the squad we have in comparison to others. Us simply signing De Jong or an equivalent would completely change our depth chart in midfield. People also seem to be forgetting that we signed both Eriksen and Martinez who can play in those positions as well.
For midfield:
1. Fred proved during preseason that he can deputize as a holding midfielder. Considering he is also a good number 8, he provides a consistent option for us in midfield.
2. Eriksen can play next to Bruno, he can play slightly deeper as well. I actually suspect we brought in Eriksen to play as an 8 in a 433, swapping out with Fred in big games.
3. We are clearly looking for a holding midfielder. It is the beginning of August and we have been working on a massive deal since June where all the complications for the deal came from Barcelona.
4. Preseason showed us that we have a few young players who can step in if needed.
5. Outside of the 4 midfielders I see us playing with most often ( Bruno, Eriksen, Fred and FDJ/Equivalent) and the youngsters (Zidane Iqbal potentially, maybe even Garner), we would then still have VDB, Mctominay and Lisandro Martinez as depth in those positions. That is a lot of depth.
In Attack:
Most teams have 5 players capable of playing across the front 3. Very few teams have all 5 of these players as world class.
One thing with us and the market at the moment is that there are very few truly world class centre forwards, so most forwards need to be supplemented with depth.
Our current depth in this position looks like this:
Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Martial and Elanga. With Garnacho breaking into the squad. It should be remembered that Chelsea allowed Mount and City allowed Foden break into the squad.
Ideally, Ronaldo would consistently start, with Martial supplementing both him and Rashford with Sancho coming off the right.
However if Ronaldo should leave, I feel the Martial is good enough to start at CF, but we should sign a forward at a similar quality to him to supplement. In addition, we would also be giving Amad and Garnacho a chance to break into the team, Amad moreso as cover for Sancho and Garnacho across the front line.
In addition, both Eriksen and Bruno can play on the flanks. Depth doesn't just come from having a big squad, it comes from versatility in your players
Our fans are part of the problem here. They want to sign youngsters for fees with the idea that they will become good in future seasons, yet aren't patient enough to let them prove themselves in the squad. Amad hasn't had the chance to do so, neither has Garnacho and Elanga may need more time to get confident in his skills and potential position.
I feel we should sign another attacker, but also leave room in the squad for our youngsters to break through
I think that's debatable because I saw many saying he was better on the left at Dortmund. He's very good on the right, don't get me wrong, but he is less of a goal threat. Why do you think ETH wanted a left footed RW? I think Sancho would have been our LW and Antony RW and there'd have been lots of goals from them.
We probably should have sold Rashford to come up with all the monies for Antony, then. But we don’t shift players; we let them hang around until they hit their pensions.
is usain bolt still looking for a club?
I think Rashford's a good player and will get back on track in his progression. Especially when a lot of your game relies on athleticism, sometimes an injury like the one he had takes a little while to truly get back from. One thing I will say about him is that ETH should put a little bit of focus into getting both Rashford and Martial to be able to play across the frontline. It would make us a lot more flexible as a team.
At least it is positive that we are being linked to some other players, now with reports about Gakpo, Ruiz and Sane in recent days. We absolutely need to sign 2-3 more players minimum and we don't seem to be making progress on our main targets.
Sane?! Damn....i wish that is true
Rashford has been mediocre since a few months before the Euros started. It might be that injury (his back?) holding him back, but he hasn’t looked like he remembers how to shoot or dribble in a long time, which shouldn’t be due to a back injury. Preseason he looked sharp, I hope he gets back to his best cuz we need him.
Wanna?
I'd agree with you - however, two comments:
1. I believe you're reading too much from preseason games if you think Fred can play holding position. We will get destroyed if we play him there, and it makes literally no sense to play our best midfielder out of position. I would rather have Martinez there because a) Fred plays where he is best utilised and b) we have decent CB depth so Martinez will not be that missed and we can still use his on the ball attributes.
2. Sound like our whole window depends on bringing DM/holding - I wish that was true, but ETH pursuit for de Jong indicates that we want him in that connector role, but what is our setup exactly in that case? Because de Jong plays ahead of Busquets, so I don't know how we are going to play it out, considering what I described in point 1.
Personally I believe getting a DM solves A LOT of our issues, and enables us to have multiple functional midfield setups. But again I'm not sure if that's what we after. All of the mids being mentioned are more on the attacking side (prefer to play higher) as well.
It would probably be wise to focus on less complicated deals to begin with, whilst the FDJ saga continues to rumble on in the background.
We desperately need a midfielder, so why not put in a bid for Lyon’s talented young playmaker, Maxence Cawueret?
A new forward? Maybe make an offer for VfB Stuttgarts, Saša Kalajdžić.
New CB, well we missed out on Botman, but there are others. The point is it’s not difficult.
We desperately need a midfielder, so why not put in a bid for Lyon’s talented young playmaker, Maxence Cawueret?
A new forward? Maybe make an offer for VfB Stuttgarts, Saša Kalajdžić.
New CB, well we missed out on Botman, but there are others. The point is it’s not difficult.
Ruiz to PSG, Sangare staying, no other links. We are actually going another season with McFred! 
Or we are paying 80 million for Neves. I don't know which is worse.
Or we are paying 80 million for Neves. I don't know which is worse.You see how good the likes of Bruno Guimaraes has been for Newcastle, there must be a hundred midfielders around Europe better than McFred. It’s completely unacceptable to start the season with these 2.
If only we had assembled a decent scouting department over the past decade. Although that would've required having a competent DoF, which would've required having a competent CEO, which would've required having owners who aren't useless cnuts
We didn't even try for him, which is baffling. He looked like he would slot right in. You don't need an expert scout department for that. But I suppose what we had is the opposite of that considering they arrived at AWB as a solution for our RB position.
I can't wait to hear more about how this squad is good enough because they got second place a year ago and lost the EL final.
DeGea
McTominay
Maguire
Shaw
Rashford
They all need replacing-soon.
McTominay
Maguire
Shaw
Rashford
They all need replacing-soon.
Fred and Dalot too.
Get in some fecking players
Oh my God, why such an overly critical post?
You may get thrashed here by some because you're being too pessimistic, blaming the transfer policy too prematurely, not believing enough in our potentially wonderful players, and being too much of a glory hunter.
Bunch of idiots in this thread honestly trying to convince others that this shitshow of a window has been acceptable. How brainwashed do you have to be
Childish approach from a amateurish team. We are certainly close to being done.
Bruno too if he continues like that.
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you
The desperation is real.
To a level at which the club owners are happy with. Signing a backup LB, a free agent and a CB from dutch league is a good window for many here.
Realistically we need starting CF, 2 CMs, CB, RB, GK and RW plus additional attacking player for depth.
We need a right back.
Something will happen when in the next 3/4 games you maybe will get 1/2 pts in total
So can we only sign the absolute perfect player or can we sign some good players with the expectation that a world class manager like ETH can make them better? Is this a concept lost by the deluded who believe Murtough is the next coming? Ruiz, Neves, Tielemans and Sesko are 4 players that immediately fill needs without having to wait on de Jong or others.
This has been copied and pasted for last few seasons
Totally agree.
So we are not moany gits now eh?Would not call that desperate. Looks a beast
Its pretty pathetic. It’s the usual suspects as well who accuse those of wanting more signings and ambition, as being spoiled. One in particular who was convinced that Ole was the man, have patience etc etc is now banging on about Murtough being the next coming. These type of top reds never learn.
Not another CB. Apart from that yeah agreed
Is this our worst transfer window since the Summer of Moyes ?
Maybe. The one where we signed Dalot, Fred and Lee Grant was pretty shit too. Oh and the one when we signed Amad, Pellistri, Donny, and Telles. Or that window when we signed Ighalo, Dan James, AWB, and Maguire.
Ah feck it, they've all been a disaster
I honestly can't recall the last time we had one which turned out to be decent.
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