Is our squad average?

P4rthen0n said:
I really hope not. He's having a great season at Benfica.
He has improved a lot since coming to us last season. He would be a steal for 20M€ (it's his supposed buy back clause).

However, you tell me what you would prefer:
1) spending big on someone who's already at the top level (think Nuno Mendes from PSG who is only 22);
2) gamble 20M€ on someone with great potential and who's still improving but you don't know if he'll become world class.
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It was smart business by United to put the buy back clause in. It gives us a great option in the summer.

I guess the answer depends on money and what we need to prioritise really.
 
Above average individually (that means better than at least 50% players in PL) but below average as a group.
 
Remember the geese said:
I was thinking of White in particular. I assume when everyone is fit Calafiori, Saliba, Gabriel and Timber all start. Partey too to a lesser extent. Does he start over Jorginho or Merino? Maybe. Maybe not.
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This season he has been. Though partey is 31, I'm sure they will phase him out at some point.
 
I’d say it’s a mess as much as it is average

Talented but raw - Amad, Hojlund, Mainoo, Garnacho

Past it/checked out - Eriksen, Casemiro, Rashford

Erratic - Bruno, Dalot, Maguire

Injury prone - Mount, Shaw, Maz (although touch wood he has been fine so far…)

Jury still out - Zirkzee, Ugartee, De Ligt, Yoro (possibly one for the “raw” section given his age)

Not good enough - Antony, would have have Zirkzee in here but his performance yesterday gave me hope, never rated Malacia here before his injury. Bayindir doesn’t look too clever either so we’re massively reliant on Onana staying fit.

Onana and Martinez could go in erratic but the former has been great this season

With the right system I think those “erratics” become solid players.
 
Quite average for me. Especially in advanced areas and midfield. Far too many inconsistent performances and individualism on show. Although there are tentative signs players are now looking up for better alternatives when facing the goal.
 
It's amazing that Amorim transformed them to an extraordinary team last night. Can beat Man City again.
 
It's average if you froze time and just looked at it today but we're clearly looking to build towards something, not just spend big to bring in big names nowadays.

The age of the core players is very good - it's probably the best squad in terms of promise that we've had post Fergie, even if right now it's arguably the worst.
 
Captmfla said:
It's amazing that Amorim transformed them to an extraordinary team last night. Can beat Man City again.
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Let's not go overboard. Until we scored we were a bit out of control and we've outscored our chances by quite some margin. Unless anybody believes Amorim has improved our finishing in 3 weeks time (he has not, it's just how the "luck" factor plays out), we have a long way to go. The positive signs are there but the expectations need to be set for a "transition" season (with a lot of experimenting and failures on the way) rather than "we are back" kind of mentality.
 
Borys said:
Let's not go overboard. Until we scored we were a bit out of control and we've outscored our chances by quite some margin. Unless anybody believes Amorim has improved our finishing in 3 weeks time (he has not, it's just how the "luck" factor plays out), we have a long way to go. The positive signs are there but the expectations need to be set for a "transition" season (with a lot of experimenting and failures on the way) rather than "we are back" kind of mentality.
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Its not that he has improved the finishing... we just create more chances, the higher volume of chances you create, more likelyhood of scoring.

Apart from the Ipswich game, we have created alot more than we did under Ten Hag.

We have scored 5 tap ins under Amorim, which is easier to finish than 1 chance every 60 mins under Ten Hag.
 
No this isn't an average team and nor is it a team that can compete with the top teams in the world. You can have a bunch of good players with a smattering of world class talent ie. Liverpool, but currently we don't have a Salah in the team. With 2-3 excellent additions and if Amorim can truly work his magic on the existing players then we could be in that position in a year or two.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, a bunch of happy players who are winning and seeing improvements in their work are looking miles better than the slugs we had under the last manager.
 
romufc said:
Its not that he has improved the finishing... we just create more chances, the higher volume of chances you create, more likelyhood of scoring.

Apart from the Ipswich game, we have created alot more than we did under Ten Hag.

We have scored 5 tap ins under Amorim, which is easier to finish than 1 chance every 60 mins under Ten Hag.
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This isn't exactly true, against everton we accumulated xG of 1,2 and that is 12th best this season. The biggest difference is we put the chances away and are a lot calmer on the ball (in possession). It doesn't take away any praise from Amorim, we never had so much possession under previous managers and that is definitely his impact. Finishing is not. However, the general "calmness" of the team has gone 2 levels up I agree.
 
Aside from Amad, our attack is below average. It's disgusting how much we've spent, both on fees and wages, to end up with trash like Hojlund, Zirkzee, Rashford and Antony. Garnacho is pretty mediocre too if we're being perfectly honest. Although I'd keep him. The others mentioned should be sold at the first opportunity.
 
The attack is genuinely midtable level, albeit lots of young players. We are desperate for some quality up there. Even Lukaku or Juan Mata level would make a massive difference. We’ve currently got a bunch of donkeys.
 
Hojlund is awful and so is Rashford. Zirkzee won’t make it because he is just not good enough, although he has better technical ability than the latter.

Dalot is another that needs to go.

In the past few years there has been more misses than hits in the transfer market.
 
Also Bruno is an average player to be brutally honest. A player who rarely shines in big matches. A one trick pony. If we really want to challenge at the very top then we don't need players like Bruno.
 
We have a pretty ordinary collection of players, wholesale changes are going to be required so it’s a lot of time and money to sort out unfortunately. The
 
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