Yeah, why would people be excited about Mkhitaryan playing when he's barely had a chance eh? It's not like he did anything last season for Dortmund...
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Yeah, why would people be excited about Mkhitaryan playing when he's barely had a chance eh? It's not like he did anything last season for Dortmund...He's much a different player than Kagawa. Write him off when he's started in about 10 games, not when he's played a total of 104 minutes. He's pure quality and I have no doubt if given enough chances he'll transform our attack into something special.
United tend to buy players with high workrate. Perhaps thats why Lingard is played over him. I dunno.
Strange signing from Mourinho. If you're not gonna use him, why buy him?
Kagawa would have been a good player for us if used right. Was gutted to see him sold. But I suppose when we bought Mata, it made sense.
I don't think you've seen him play. He's renowned for his work rate and is very good at getting back and defending (most balls won in the Bundesliga in the middle third).
Indeed. Mkhitaryan wants the number 10 role. It belongs to Mata right now and rightly so
Miki's middle name is high workrate. You will see.
Mkhitaryan works hard and contributes a lot defensively.
He should be our RW surely. Thats where his best games came for Dortmund, was it not?
I couldn't agree more. What United have in surplus are players with Mkhitaryan's profile: Good technique; great vision; the ability to play fast, fluid attacking football, to create chances and set up team mates; diligent back tracking; high work rate and strong physique.
This thread never ceases to delight me.
But to answer your question in which position he excelled most at Dortmund: IMHO it didn't really matter because our attack changed positions all the time.
As stated before: His 'record' includes big struggles in 2014/15 where even Klopp failed to instill confidence in him, and his meltdown in the Cup final's pen shoot out. That cannot be downplayed. However, it is laughable if anybody were suggesting he's too weak to play Burnley.
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You make good points crossie, Klopp also said he's one of the best players in the world and this was after he became Liverpool coach if I'm not mistaken.
Anyway, Mkhi's EL form last year...7 goals 10 assists in 14 games (includes 4 games of qualifiers). Pretty amazing stats.
Anyway, Mkhi's EL form last year...7 goals 10 assists in 14 games (includes 4 games of qualifiers). Pretty amazing stats.
I couldn't agree more. What United have in surplus are players with Mkhitaryan's profile: Good technique; great vision; the ability to play fast, fluid attacking football, to create chances and set up team mates; diligent back tracking; high work rate and strong physique.
This thread never ceases to delight me.
But to answer your question in which he excelled most at Dortmund: IMHO it didn't really matter because our attack changed positions all the time.
As stated before: His 'record' includes big struggles in 2014/15 where even Klopp failed to instill confidence in him, and his meltdown in the Cup final's pen shoot out. That cannot be downplayed. However, it is laughable if anybody were suggesting he's too weak to play Burnley.
I like the fact that you recognize his strengths, but you keep saying meltdown in the cup game. Let me remind you that Miki took 0 penalty shots in his 3 years in Dortmund. Once he tried to take it in 13/14 season, but Klopp signaled for Lewa to take the shot. In 14/15 season, Miki came in as a sub in the semifinal game against Bayern, changed the game and it went to the penalty kicks. Miki did not take the penalty shot either.
In addition, Tuchel did not name the shooters, it was on voluntary basis and Miki did the right thing. I would blame Bender and Socratis for missing their shots.
I respectfully disagree entirely. His shooting skills are far superior to Bender's or Sokratis', how many pens have the two of them been taking for Dortmund, FFS? I find your argument really strange because apart from Auba and Reus (on rare occasions also Gündogan, and during his BVB, of course Lewandowski), hardly anybody has been taking pens for Dortmund. How does that justify to be such a coward?
Because Mkhitaryan crumbled, players like Bender and Sokratis were forced to step forward, and I bow to their attitude to take on responsibilities although they have subpar shooting skills! Moreover, Mkhitaryan publicly claimed more than once before the game that he wants to win trophies. In my book, players who make such bold claims must shoulder responsibilities themselves in these very moments when it matters most to win silverware. Unfortunately, Mkhitaryan utterly failed in that regard.
However, as written in this thread before, that doesn't take an inch away from his footballing skills, and I find it bizarre that some people seem to not be able to separate footballing abilities from whether a player is mentally up to the biggest tasks. These are two very different animals.
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Kagawa had opportunities to show he was an average player for Man Utd. Mkhitaryan hasn't had many so far. We don't even have enough samples to label him a flop
(this is a joke, don't take it seriously)Kagawa had opportunities to show he was an average player for Man Utd. Mkhitaryan hasn't had many so far. We don't even have enough samples to label him a flop
He's the new Tosic.
That just might be the tradeoff with a personality like his. Relative to other footballers, he's always been described as perceptive and intelligent, but also mild and reserved. If you look at the most successful penalty takers, they tend to be very confident by nature, in some cases out of proportion to their ability (e.g. Balotelli).
There is a lot more to penalties than shooting skills! It's more about nerve under pressure than shooting technique into hence some of the best penalty takers in the world have been defenders. When you get a striker with the correct nerve and superior shooting technique I agree it is a joy to watch. But defenders can be just as capable without this technique.
Wouldn't surprise me.
I think the exuberant mourinho who gives sexy talk about being the best to Lampard while he is in the shower is a thing of the past and not unfairly so. I think Ancelotti has a good approach in treating his players like adults and it looks to me like Mourinho is moving in that direction himself.
There's some truth to it, although I remember that in Lewandowski's last Dortmund season, Mkhitaryan wanted to take a pen (against Mainz IIRC), was pushed aside by Lewa and was sulking a bit after the game that the usual pecking order (Reus, Lewa, Auba or Gündogan in that order) was adhered to. I therefore doubt that Mkhitaryan is generally afraid of taking pens, and after such a terrific season 2015/16, he should have been totally up to it.
In any case, I'm curious if Mourinho will use HM tonight. IMHO it would be a perfect opportunity to ease him in, and JM wouldn't have the excuse that HM needs to adapt to the competition.
That has been the point in 99% of my posts in this thread: Footballing-wise he's great. Mentally, he struggles, sometimes to the point that he melts down.Hope he plays tonight we need better than Rashford and Lingard out wide IMO.
Yep I know I'm agreeing with you!
Football team uses sports psychiatrist to get the best out of the players. Many footballers have admitted to get better results after meeting them. Claiming Mkhi having mental issues is Mourinhos inability to get the best out of him. Its managers job to get the best out of the players he has. ADM has been called as a cat for leaving. Yet its our previous manager who has not used him instead giving chances to Young and kept him out of team. Give more chances to better players to get the best out of them.
Change the formation, use sports psychiatrist or whatever needed to get the best out of the best talents you have.
Change the formation, use sports psychiatrist or whatever needed to get the best out of the best talents you have.
Yup, this is our biggest problem currently and must be remedied.
Is it? We smashed 4 against them where Lingard played very well and we created many, many chances against Burnley too.
I think our biggest problem is we don't have a striker putting a ball in the back of the net.
I agree he could become the new Kagawa. Fantastic Player and we are too stupid too use him correctly.
Still hope he will come good. If Mourinho starts to Play him on a regular Basis this will feel like a new signing to me.
I was at the Burnley game and whilst Mata & Zlatan were constantly creating and getting into scoring positions, our wingers did absolutely nothing. The least dangerous players on the pitch. Lingard's header was the only moment of quality from either player.
Crazy really when we had so much ball in their half.
Yes Zlatan should have scored near the end but if you think the striker is solely responsible to score in a 4-3-3 system you're very confused. I expect much more more from our wide forwards.
Fair enough, can't really argue with that.
Yep, this is my biggest gripe too. You look at the other best teams in the world, the main players are usually the front 3 in terms goals and assists. MSN,BBC, Lewandowski,Robben,Muller etc.
I can't quite agree with you on the bolded part. It's too easy on the players IMO and too harsh on managers, i.e. in Mkhitaryan's case where it would he unfair to not just Mourinho but Klopp, too. And while I admit that Tuchel was apparently better in handling HM, TT deserves the most credit for giving HM the book 'The inner game of tennis'. HM described in interviews how much this reading helped him to relax and let go when he missed shots, misplaced passes, lost a dribble or tackle while it previously hung on and mounted pressure on him.
Where we most likely can agree on, however, is that managers must not undermine a sensitive player's confidence on purpose by playing mind games.
Quite worrying to hear. Explains why City broke him as they were hounding him and he kept giving the ball away. I'm not sure you can really fix a player that is so mentally fragile, especially at his age.
He was also injured...
So injured he started? What happened wasn't due to injury. Mourinho said post match that he knows which players he can't trust in those game now. No prizes to guess who that was.
Well he was injured before the game and injured after, I didn't see him get injured during the game.
Shaw was injured before Watford and injured after, same again.
Bailly also played plenty of games this season injured.
I'm not making excuses for him, he was poor, but I think its clear he wasn't fully fit.
I wouldn't want to watch Griezmann being wasted here on the RW. He would have to play as the second striker where he is much better.
Broke him? He played poorly, but not being a able to 'fix' one of the best players in the Bundesliga, sounds like you are going to far?
Drama queens.
Fans just want to see a new toy. Once he starts underperforming for 2 games in a row they will throw him out of the pram.
Fans just want to see a new toy. Once he starts underperforming for 2 games in a row they will throw him out of the pram.
If Mourinho doesn't fancy him, it seems odd given that we just paid 30m for him.
I wonder if it's possible he was first scouted as a van Gaal signing and Mourinho isn't too sold on him.
I wonder if it's possible he was first scouted as a van Gaal signing and Mourinho isn't too sold on him.
Tonight would be the ideal game to throw him into. If Mourinho wants him to prove himself then a tricky away at a hostile ground - outside of the PL - is pretty much the ideal 'make or break' scenario.
It doesn' t make sense to jettison him after 45 minutes if football. If we did that for every player we wouldn't have a squad left.
It doesn' t make sense to jettison him after 45 minutes if football. If we did that for every player we wouldn't have a squad left.
I think it'd been a part of our problems. While we've been creative so far this season, we've heavely relied on our middle to create giving Mata most of the creative responsibilities. If we don't have Mata in the side and Pogba isn't in full throttle we struggle to create, we end up relying on Valencia to do so and most of his crosses never get delivered properly.
It shouldn't be that way at all. We ought to be creative on all sides of the pitch, not only in the middle where Pogba, Mata and Zlatan operate.
Some of the creative responsibilities fall on the wingers as well and neither Lingard nor Rashford are doing it.
Hopefully going forward Miki and Martial will secure those wings positions and we'll be plenty creative and threatening from all sides of the pitch especially the front 4.
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