When I read the fake news yesterday, that Bruno and Pogba was injured, I could barely see how we would be able to beat Bmth. It might be an overreaction on my part, and all teams rely on their best players. But I do think we really need to improve our options if we can.
Jack Grealish / signs new 5 year contract
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
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Perhaps Haaland wasn't sure he was going to start ahead of Martial in a difficult league. No matter how much we tend to underrate Martial's qualities, it's obvious he has come lips and bounds this season playing as a 9 and he is very crucial for us.
Yea, he is going to get plenty of games, but it's still difficult for me to get behind a potential transfer.
Firstly, I hope he doesn't get in the way of Sancho's signature. If he will, then it's a no-no for me. If we do manage to sign both him and Sancho though, I feel the squad would be too attack heavy. We'd have Rashford, Martial, Sancho, Bruno, Greenwood, Ighalo and Grealish as quality options for the four attacking positions.
Obviously it's great having
plenty of options and can be managed, but looking at our squad, I don't think having such a heavy attack is what we should be looking for right now. It is easy to look at Lingard, Pereira and Mata, and say he would be getting in ahead of them if Bruno is unavailable, but what if Pogba is the one unavailable? It would be Fred or bust. We'd be in a position where we have quality like Grealish as an option but unable to get him in the team and has to settle for what we were before his arrival. We should be looking for a midfielder rather than an attacker which is how I view Grealish.
I'm about 60/40 on this transfer, but present Thiago or any quality player of that mould, and I'd be 100/100. A Thiago would be able to replace Bruno as well as Pogba, and we'd still have Sancho, Martial, Greenwood, Rashford and Ighalo for the front three ignoring the likes of Lingard, Mata, Pereira and James.
Grealish is a good stone, but he'd be killing a bird that we don't need to kill. A quality midfielder that could play deep as well as advanced in the mould of Thiago on the other hand, would be the perfect stone to kill two birds. I just feel these Grealish links is just thanks to chance, him being English and potentially available rather than what we should be looking for. I feel we could be smarter in these market.
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What has been the single most important factor in our resurgence? I think most would agree it's Bruno. Therefore, the single biggest thing we need to do from a squad management point of view is to ensure that Bruno's role is de-risked.
Sancho is a better player than Grealish. But I think we can survive with our forwardline squad options better than we can survive with our midfield bench options.
The likes of James and Fred are functional at best, but even Liverpool have functional players in certain positions because they play a particular way which prioritises magic in other players who the system revolves around. Every club is different in that regard. United appear to need our magic in the AM position for everything to work. There are several goalscorers in this squad, but it's been shown in the past that Pogba can't maintain form when carrying the burden of midfield on his own.
If we're only able to buy one out of Grealish and Sancho, Grealish is the one who would keep our season going for longer next season in case of injuries. We already have the quality to beat anyone in individual matches. This is about stretching that out for 60+ games.
Sancho is a better player than Grealish. But I think we can survive with our forwardline squad options better than we can survive with our midfield bench options.
The likes of James and Fred are functional at best, but even Liverpool have functional players in certain positions because they play a particular way which prioritises magic in other players who the system revolves around. Every club is different in that regard. United appear to need our magic in the AM position for everything to work. There are several goalscorers in this squad, but it's been shown in the past that Pogba can't maintain form when carrying the burden of midfield on his own.
If we're only able to buy one out of Grealish and Sancho, Grealish is the one who would keep our season going for longer next season in case of injuries. We already have the quality to beat anyone in individual matches. This is about stretching that out for 60+ games.
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Sancho has played CAM more for Dortmund this season than Grealish has for Villa this season. He also has a better record from CAM this season too.
He’s also the better LW and no question the better RW. So as well as being a starter you could give Bruno a rest move him to CAM and play Greenwood RW.
Thing is thiago himself would not be coming here to play as a squad player, when he has options like Liverpool and city where he'd work straight into their first team and moreover grealish can also cover for Pogba he's played there before in the championship.
I do feel we need grealish a lot more than people realise though, not only would he push our first team players to be more consistent as they would be weary of the threat he pose for their spot in the team, he'd also offer something I think we've been missing in the team for a very long time which is the ability to hold the ball and cause havoc among defenders with his dribling skills. The amount of space that would be available for the likes of martial, rashford, Bruno et to exploit can not be understated. I also don't think it'd necessarily affect the signing of sancho, the more of their likes we have the better in as much as we can afford it.
This I agree with. Sancho offers everything Grealish would and more.
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There is literally two valid arguments for Grealish over Sancho. Price and PL experience.
Beyond that Sancho does everything else currently it would appear to a higher standard.
Bruno and Grealish are both conductors in the middle. Everything goes through them and they run the game for their respective teams. Sancho plays very differently from that.
If you replace Bruno with Sancho, you end up playing 4-2-4.
I don't think there's any argument and feel free to disagree.
Sancho on price, ability and versatility comfortably wins due to his potential imo.
I'm thinking Grealish is just the cheaper option if we can't get Sancho. I realise that doesn't make a ton of sense from a footballing perspective, but from a squad-building and brand (ugh) perspective I could see it.
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Grealish doesn’t play central and conduct. He gets a free role to find space and Smith realised he wasn’t good enough to do that centrally for Villa in the PL. Sancho can play No10 if you want to argue he can’t then you can’t argue Grealish plays RW and CAM etc.
To be honest I’m with you on this one. I more mean I can understand someone saying Grealish would be cheaper and has played in the PL more but that for me is nowhere near a convincing argument.
So for me it would be a valid point/argument but not enough to base the decision on.
Im assuming you mean value when you say price in which point I’d agree with you there too.
Did you see how Favre deployed him in a CAM role this season?
He could comfortably deputise for Bruno in several formations and can also play the SS role.
Ighalo is only here until January, and then we'd have six players for four positions. The four positions which do tend to get rotated the most from game-to-game and also substituted within games. I admit I'm a little worried about Greenwood in that position, but he's so young that having a year or two where he's only getting say 20 starts and 20 sub appearances might be the best thing for him. And who knows, maybe he'll push one of the others out of the way even sooner than that.
Grealish has played central midfield before, albeit only in the Championship. So depending on how he performs he himself could be cover for Pogba (or possibly he play as #10 and Bruno fall back into midfield). I don't think I'd want either of them playing that role consistently, but a few games here and there might be fine.
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Agreed 100% on this one.
If you’ve watched him play centrally you can’t argue against his performances. You could argue he wouldn’t get the space in the PL but Grealish hasn’t played CAM in the PL consistently either for a similar reason.
Yes I've been saying this for a long time and I think people need to realise this more that if we get Sancho we already have a solid cover for Bruno as well. So what we currently need is Sancho and a DM(because Matic is our only one and is not getting any younger). They talk about how we would go back to Lingard or Pereira if Bruno is out. But that wouldn't be the case if we get Sancho. I'd really don't think we would struggle to create with this team
Rashford........Martial.......Greenwood
....................... Sancho.................
........Matic.......................Pogba..........
That's new
No way in a million years that Grealish would be better than Bruno or Pogba. He is simply would be cover for them.
He's alright. We can agree to disagree and still agree on other things.That's new
Stupid post as usual.
Agree with this but even if we have Lingard as AM I would still back a front three of Sancho - Martial - Rashford to create and score goals especially if Pogba is creating from deep. But if Matic breaks down and we have the same options we have now we lose a degree of control and that exposes our defense and affects our fluidity a bit. In the scheme of things I think getting Sancho and a DM is what we need in this window.
I dont get this £40 mill for Grealish. If we are after him Villa will hold out for double that. Hes a quality player and wont come 'cheap' Dont forget the Utd 'tax'
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If you’re going to claim this is stupid you better have one hell of a convincing argument.
Go ahead...
I’m not the one trying to argue Grealish would be better than Sancho for us. You’re supposed to critique the post not the poster.
Also as usual? So do you believe I never make good posts then I don’t research just come out with a bunch of stupid things?
Grow up mate. You struggle to back up your argument and so insult me instead. Playground stuff.
There seems to be a belief that its Sancho AND Grealish . Isn't it more likely to be Sancho OR if that cant happen, then Grealish?
ie: both have gossip around them as we are negotiating with both, intending to land one. Eg like Lukaku and Costa?
ie: both have gossip around them as we are negotiating with both, intending to land one. Eg like Lukaku and Costa?
You may be right, but I think it will be a lot more than 40 thoughI doubt Villa will ask for 80mil if they get relgated
He's worth no more than 40 million.
For a player thats been relegated? Nah i can't see it. Maguire went for £15mil and Robertson went for £8mil i dont think I've seen a relgated player go for more than £30mil tbh.
Link Most papers are saying this. Even if they go down. A Leicester would probably pay less, but you just know Utd would get screwed.
Your making out the Pogba has played outstanding since he's been here and can't be dropped. I can understand your argument about Bruno to an extent. But even he will have a bad patch sooner or later. 3 players fighting for 2 positions is what we want.
They can all play in the same team against most teams in the league any way.
Yeah clubs always put crazy prices on their best players, but the reality will be much different especially if the club is relgated. Grealish might even have a relegation clause in his contract.
Pogba probably not since it's also not really Grealish's position. But Rashford and Bruno? Bruno has had an incredible start to his time here but it's still only early days. I agree that as each game goes on it looks more and more likely that he's going to remain at a top level (I believe he was consistent at Sporting as well), but for all we know he might have a month or so period each season where he struggles compared to his normal standard. Or he might take a while to get going after an injury. And we've seen first hand that Rashford can be quite inconsistent. Obviously he's young and that will hopefully improve, but it would be good to have that option.
The key thing is I don't think Grealish is that far behind them. It's like having Ole and Sheringham behind Yorke and Cole. The latter two may have been first choice but the other two were close enough to keep them on their toes, and also step in regularly and start themselves. That's how I see Grealish fitting in with us and why I would really like to see him join. In theory I would say that a couple of other positions could be a higher priority for the starting 11 if we can find the right player, but in Grealish I just see a fantastic opportunity that I think we'd regret missing out on over the next 5 or more years.
Obviously Villa are going to be talking up the price as much as they can. And if they don't get relegated they might even stick to their guns and demand that, in which case nobody will actually buy him. But if they go down there's not a chance in hell they will get 80m. Grealish seems to love the club but if they get relegated and try to price him out of a move it's almost certain he'll go on strike IMO. He's far too good for the Championship and he knows it. In which case I expect it will be somewhere between 40-50m.
We need both to compete for Europe and Premier League.
I don't disagree, and im all for bringing in as much quality as possible. Teams win matches, Squads win championships.
My point is I just don't know if he will be happy sitting on the bench and rotating, that's all.
If he is happy to do that then fantastic, sign him up.
If it's being part of our squad or playing Championship football for Villa I think I know what he'd choose
Assuming we sign him, I think he'll be joining here with the belief that he knows he's good enough to win a starting place, and that'll be a huge boost to us as a team. Having multiple players believing they're good enough to be starting; all pushing one another to reach their bests as a result.
I'm pretty sure if Haaland came, Martial would be benched or would have gotten his chances off the left flank. Haaland saw how bad of a season we were having and back in January, getting CL seemed impossible and he wanted to continue playing in the CL. Let's face it, Dortmund is one team that guarantees CL and can work as a stepping stone to join the bigger clubs. That's why Dembele, Sancho, Haaland and now Bellingham have gone there.
Was very worried about where this post was going then.
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