Not reading anything into it, just reporting what I saw.
We have a gaping hole of 'lacking in quality' and you think we should splurge 50m on a role player?
Yeah indeed. Physicality shouldn't be an issue as the French league is pretty physical as well. I'd be more worried at Morata coping with the physicality of Prem rather than Moura tbh.
If we didnt lack quality we wouldnt have finished 6th last season and drawn so many games. All the other teams also have young players that have grown a year older and closer to their peak, but it is of little use when your peak is low. The competition is also improving and adding more quality players. Mkhi, Herrera, Mata and Valencia are already in their peak window and will likely start to decline in 1-2 seasons. So we need to add quality faster than we are losing them and faster than the competition. We simply dont have the luxury of adding more mediocrity - we have too much of that already.
The fact is that we are going to be competing in the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, and Champions League this season. If we want to compete in all four (or even three out of four) then it will be crucial to have a deep squad. Mourinho knows that, for positions like wingers, having a minimum of two players capable of starting on each side is crucial when playing for more than one trophy. Let's say we sign Morata, Perisic, and Fabinho on top of Lindelof. I still guarantee that all four of them, Rashford, Martial, Mkhitaryan, Fellaini, Mata, Blind, and Rojo all play major minutes this season. We will need a deep squad.
Mourinho does not rotate his players much. Once he settles on his starting XI, he will use the same set every game unless injured or absent. He expects his players to be fit to play 2x a week.
I wouldn't read too much into it. End of a long season. Alli was godawful against Scotland.
100% This.
As I have highlighted in other threads, complaining about not having enough "special quality" as you put it, is all well and good, but if the players that will add quality in those positions are not available then we have to work with what they've got. Everywhere in the transfer forum I see people moaning about the lack of attacking quality, but I don't see many attempts to put forward genuinely attainable names. Also it's worth remembering that we earmarked (and had a deal with) exactly the kind of player you're talking about, the only one close to the quality needed available, and that fell through due to circumstances beyond our control. We can't just beat our chests and say "a club of our stature should have better players" and expect those players to fall into our laps.
drama queens, the lot of them. Would want a fragrant 'kerchief to wipe their arse when all they need is good 'ol toilet paper. If they weren't fellow fans, I'd hope they remain stuck with sand paper (that's Lingard by the way).I just think people are in denial a little. Missing out on Griezmann was a big blow and our fans are struggling to come to terms with the fact that there's no obvious player out there we can sign as a direct alternative.
We had Zlatan carrying the team in goals and assists for most of the season and you think we dont lack quality? Herrera finishes as our assist leader and you think our problem is just finishing?
A little bit too much stock is put into paper formations. 442, 451 etc. There was a poster here a year or two ago that banged on daily about how it was in fact utterly irrelevant. I wouldn't go to that extent, but I do agree with him that top level football is about far far more than fecking numbered formations. More pertinent is to look at how Mourinho wants his players to play, rather than talking about the 'subtleties' of different (rather irrelevant) formations.
I can give you some names: James, Ozil, Forsberg, Lemar, Brandt, Isigne
No answer needed. Even if no better players were available, that's not a very good reason to spend 40-50m on Perisic. Those advocating for his signing haven't exactly put forward a very strong case either. A 28 y/o who has never excelled at any of his clubs, had one of the worst conversion rates among players in the top 5 leagues last season and the best things people can say about him is that he's a hard worker, two footed with decent pace. This just doesn't sound like a 40-50m player to me, and it certainly doesn't sound like the attacking player we need.
