If we sign James, we'll still need a striker. Which makes me wonder, will we bring in Griezmann to play that role? I think he's better as a second striker, so If not, surely we won't sign him and James, as we're still missing a striker. Going into next season we'll have Rashford, maybe Martial (who I expect to play from the left), and we'll need another. I wouldn't mind bringing back Hernandez, and signing James and Griezmann, I guess that would transform our attack at least.
James Rodriguez | joins Bayern Munich | 2 year loan
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I would prefer Griezmann and a physical striker to replace Zlatan. However, from what Pogba has said i think Mourinho is asking him to focus less on scoring goals and more on solidifying the midfield. He has said in interviews when asked about his lack of goals that he is focusing on what the Manager wants him to do rather than what outsiders expect.
From what i have read and seen from Mourinho, he believes Pogba can play in a 2-man midfield. He believes Pogba to be a complete midfielder. Yes he is stronger offensively than defensively but his defensive game is decent. So its possible that Mourinho may get a more defensively minded midfielder to partner Pogba in a 2-man midfield.
As far as our play this season is concerned, Pogba plays in a midfield 2 with Hererra in certain games and a 3-man midfield with Hererra and Carrick/Fellaini in other games. Mourinho believes that Pogba can play in a 2-man midfield to a competent level in certain situations.
Griezman is most likely not going to happen. I think the initial interest was due to neither Martial or Rashford being much of a goal threat earlier in the season. With Rashford's recent showings, Jose has probably moved on to other areas that need upgrades.What we would likely see upfront would be a #10(possibly James), a quality CF, and depending on who leaves, a backup CF/AM. Other addition would likely be in defence i.e. DM, CB and LB
-------Bailly--Bonucci--Rojo------
Valencia--Herrera-James--Shaw
--------Griezmann-pogba-------
--------------Rashford----------
Valencia--Herrera-James--Shaw
--------Griezmann-pogba-------
--------------Rashford----------
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It's not about the players it's about the balance. And forget that a club like man united will except us to park the bus with top players , spending obscene amount of money and without the balance we will be forced to park the bus as we won't dominate the midfeild without a perfect balance in the team.
More over we don't have enough good defenders and defensive midfeilders too to park the bus and not conceed a goal.
With these set of players and wingers you need work horses players on the wings to even invite pressure and then counter with pace and space which mkh and martial won't be capable off.
There are better balanced teams in the epl than united which will also be fighting for the title and only a balanced team is consistent enough to win the title and beat other top teams fighting for the league. An unbalanced 4231 will be beaten and schooled a lesson despite top players .
From some reports, he wants out.
He wants consistent game time and Zidane can't offer him that.
I don't think he wants to stay.
Rashford is still young, so we'll definitely need a new striker.
Without Zlatans goals we'd be screwed this season. We need goals to come from more areas of the pitch than solely the striker, which is why I still would like the Griezmann deal to go through, he's deadly in front of goal with his movement. I agree we need some form of 10/SS, ST, DM, CB and LB though. To be fair, I rate James, and I could see him getting 15 goals if he's played as a 10. His left foot and shooting technique is sensational.
Well, took them a while, and stil, if Bale was fit, the 433 with the BBC would be their first choice, no matter how good or superior the 442 has been for them this season.
They basically needed evidence that they needed Casemiro after the fiasco of playing Kroos as a DM with Modric and Isco/James in the midfield but in a way they keep finding ways to shoehorn players, the 2 basic points are that Casemiro plays as the DM and Modric is the brain, with that premise they can basically throw in any player they have in the remaining 4 attacking positions because they're so good it will work.
I also think Pogba is the best guy to build around but never as a DM and that role will be critical, it depends if you go for a 4231 and 433 with 2 DM or 1, if you throw a single guy there, you need someone really good, like Kante good as he will need to cover almost two roles, if Herrera gets a chance to build a DM duo (same role Khedira did at RM) then you can afford the luxury of getting a more limited player, basically a destroyer with stamina, strong, kinda tall and who can put a 3 meter pass 90% of the time, finding a player like that won't be hard when you can surround him with at least 3 good players who help him.
James is worth considering because there's not many players of his caliber for the taking (and at what could be a discount, too). He's no what United craves, but if the market doesn't present great options in other positions, then it would be wise taking a chance on him
The arbitrary argument to not sign Real Madrid players. It's annoyingly similar to not wanting to sign South Americans or Argentinians or some other region that often pops up on here.
My new favorite reason not to sign someone is because 'when was the last Italian striker to do well in the Prem?' (re: Belotti). It's a bit absurd.
So you have abandoned your false claim of it wont make us title contenders?
You claim those teams park the bus but Mourinho's Madrid team still holds the record for goals scored in la liga at 121 . Can you score 121 goals parking the bus?
You also claim we need work horses, so lets compare the Madrid team to our current squad
Madrid/United
GK: Casillas vs De Gea
CB: Pepe+Ramos vs Bailly + new CB
LB/RB: Arbeloa+Marcelo vs Valencia + new LB
DM/CM: Alonso+Khedira vs Pogba+ New DM
CAM: Ozil vs James
RM: DI Maria vs Mkhi
LWF: CR vs Rashford
CF: Benzema vs new CF
Which work horse do we need that a solid DM will not make up for?
You talk about balance, but I have no clue what you are talking about. Feel free to expatiate
Again , we should buy what we need and what's makes our team balance perfect , and not a player who we want because it's a attractive sweet option.
Top managers never sacrifice team balance over a player a club wants just because it gives the fans Goosebumps but ain't contributing to improve the team as a greater than sum of it's all parts.
A 4 time ballon dor who scores 50 plus goals a season from the wings is no comparison to a 19 year old rashford or a 20 year old martial who's just learning the game. Di marias abilities with the ball is way more effective than an attacking midfeilder like Mkh who's delivery is way better than mkh. A no 9 like benzema ability in comparison with a rashford or a player who has not even come here yet?
Do you really think your 4231 with James can even.score 100 goals in this league with bus parking teams let alone 121?
Do you even think the transition from defense to attack will be as faster as with the likes of ronalo and do maria on the wing? Marcelo a top lb compared to a new lb who has not even.arrived yet ?
A 4 time ballon dor who scores 50 plus goals a season from the wings is no comparison to a 19 year old rashford or a 20 year old martial who's just learning the game. Di marias abilities with the ball is way more effective than an attacking midfeilder like Mkh who's delivery is way better than mkh. A no 9 like benzema ability in comparison with a rashford or a player who has not even come here yet?
Do you really think your 4231 with James can even.score 100 goals in this league with bus parking teams let alone 121?
Do you even think the transition from defense to attack will be as faster as with the likes of ronalo and do maria on the wing? Marcelo a top lb compared to a new lb who has not even.arrived yet ?
That Real Madrid team was something special...they beat a Barcelona team that were considered one of the best teams ever in almost every way in 2011/12. If our team has half the quality of that team then we will walk the league. I think that Madrid team were unlucky that they didnt win the Champions Leauge
The above comments about Jose's favorite formation and typical no.10 needed has me interested.
What price do people think we'd be looking at? Taking the following into account:
What price do people think we'd be looking at? Taking the following into account:
- Not a huge lot of games played
- Over paid at €80m to begin with
- Most likely asked to leave
Exactly, we can never be a defensive block in the midfeild with these midfeilders and the bench is even worse for that job, to play with a cam up front.
People saying he's not as good as Mkhi and Mata, or that he will be kept on the bench by fecking Lingard need to watch him play a lot more. I love Mata, and Mkhi is a good player on form, but neither are as good as James. Lingard isn't even remotely close and never will be. If he signs for us he'll be one of our best 3 players.
He's a decent player. More physical than most people think, excellent technique and not afraid of the big games. If we can get him for a reasonable price, he automatically becomes our most talented forward (after Rashford and assuming Ibra leaves).
Having said all of that, I voted no because I think we can do better.
Having said all of that, I voted no because I think we can do better.
Other teams better philosophy reigned supreme over reactive counter attacking team real Madrid had who would not keep the ball better as far as ucl was concerned, and this is what we should learn from and avoid in a team building in future years along with the lessons of 2 cl final defeats, specially when we don't have such quality on the wings.
The back up, please the sponsors, and paper over the cracks (again) option, for if we mess things up against Ajax and don't make the CL imo.
What we need are goals and assists from someone other than the centre forward, scoring 10 more goals would have seen challenge for the title and this guy provides us just that. If Mourinho decides he wants him then he would have some ideas as to how he will achieve the balance he surely knows we need to compete consistently.
And the midfeild behind him would get dominated and over run against big teams in the league and cl, without proper balance of defensive block and work rate on the wings.
The cheek of some people on this saying we don't need or he's not good enough....We have fecking Jesse Lingard starting for us?? I'd welcome him with open arms because he's an instant improvement on what we have and before all of you say well we have Mata and Micky....Well truth be told both have done feck all when played in the middle.
If Mourinho wants to play with three roaming attacking midfielders behind the forward, then Rodriguez makes sense, I suppose. Could see him playing in that right attacking midfield role like he did for Monaco, although I'm not sure he'd be a massive upgrade on Mata.
Jesus, it's not that hard to figure out what peoples arguements are, he offers A,B,C as a player, and others want X,Y,Z as they feel it better fits a 433 going forward, or allows Pogba more freedom, or people want more pace/directness in a forward.
Nobody, literally nobody is saying they dont want to upgrade on what we currently have this summer.
Wide forwards are generally positioned on the opposite side to their strongest foot because they are tasked with cutting in/running the channels rather than rounding the opposition fullback (see Ronaldo, Neymar, Hazard, Messi, Bale etc). Griezmann, if he joined United, would play through the the middle behind the #9 in a 4-2-3-1 or on the right in a 4-3-3, which is the same positions James would occupy.
I can't see any chance of the two of them arriving.
Who says that James can only play in front of a midfield two or is it conventional wisdom that a midfield two will always get overrun? Even if it is so, under Fergie we'd always get overrun with our midfield two but we did more than alright in our share of the big games. We also have the option of replacing Mata with James on the right which should be an improvement given the latter's propensity for individual match defining moments. We can still have the midfield 3 and play James on the right giving him freedom to roam and having Tony Valencia overlapping.
The only issues are the price that Madrid will demand and the fact that Mourinho needs to be absolutely sure that he is mentally ready for the fight. Madrid want rid and they want DDG so they shouldn't be allowed to dictate the terms of the deal. £45m take it or leave it.
I don't know anymore. Last summer it was supposed to be Mkhi that was supposed to solve our problems, people who watched him were saying he'll do this and that. I'm just going to wait and see(if we do sign him) and not get sucked into the over excited posts on here.
I really hope he won't take up too much of our summer budget, or that this means we get no cash for DDG.
Seems to me the reason most people are against this is because it means Griezmann won't come.
...................Rashford...................
Mkhitaryan...James...Griezmann
............Pogba.......Fabinho......
LB........Rojo.......Bailly........Tony...
Impossible idea?
Mkhitaryan...James...Griezmann
............Pogba.......Fabinho......
LB........Rojo.......Bailly........Tony...
Impossible idea?
The point is a 2 man midfeild should be a successful defensive block behind a cam for a Jose Mourinho philosophy. Vidal and Alonso is a successful 2 man midfeild, kante and matic is a successful 2 man midfeild, scholes and Keane or Carrick was a successful 2 man midfeild. Lampard and essien is a successful 2 man midfeild. Right players with right attributes make a successful 2 man midfeild. We don't have that and nither we are gonna put Herrera on the bench as he and pogba are not a successful 2 man midfeild. Pogba with exp will do well in a 2 man midfeild but currently he will take time so giving him midfeild protection allows us to also free him and also press high proactively to win the ball back quickly without having to drop deep and defend reactive.
Also playing James on the right does not make sense as its mkh position and also the fact it's not his natural position. Nither James is a regular goal scorer to play as a striker in a 3 forward role ,so it's another example of square peg in round hole with lack of balance as his strengths won't suit the system. James can never become a Sanchez or robben on the wing. Wide wingers will do a much better job than a cam turned winger without disturbing the midfeild balance.
That's what I think too, surely there's a way that both can fit into the team.
Or maybe we're not getting Griezmann?
Is James Rodriguez just a #10 or is more a wide player like Mkhitaryan?
Everytime I get exited about a player (Pogba, Ibra aside) i'm massivley let down as I fully expect them to play like they do in the youtube compilations for 90m of every game. Falcoa and Depay were big let downs for me after getting pretty hype about them. So maybe not being one bit arsed about this transfer is a good thing, maybe he'll win the Ballon'Dor with us.
He won't win the Ballon'Dor with us.
He won't win the Ballon'Dor with us.
I'm still trying to figure this out, if we bring in James, he would either play as a no10 or from the right. If he plays on the right, then I think Martial is a goner and Mkh moves out left. I'm also starting to think James means De Gea goes to Madrid for less money. I can't see Madrid paying 50m plus for a keeper.
Romero
Valencia Keane bailly shaw
Fabinho Pogba
James Greizmann Mkhitaryan
Lukaku
Or it's more likely James means Greizmann stays.
Romero
Valencia Keane bailly shaw
Fabinho Pogba
James Greizmann Mkhitaryan
Lukaku
Or it's more likely James means Greizmann stays.
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