It’s important when the defender you will presumably pair with is also weak in the airOf the 13 factors, KK wins 10, but somehow, the only one that matters is aerial dules won.
Kalidou Koulibaly
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Aerial duels are becoming less and less important.Of the 13 factors, KK wins 10, but somehow, the only one that matters is aerial dules won.
Only the bottom end sluggers still insist on lumping it, I’d say most of the top half in the league “play” these days.
Ole would probably opt for reece oxford
Yup, due to something Ole said a while ago, the clickbaiters are touting a whole host of uninspiring young English options.
Perhaps but we’re also missing a trick offensively. When was the last time we scored a header from a corner?
Look at City, probably the best ‘baller’ team in the country versus Brighton. Laporte came up with the goods. Liverpool have VVD who is a threat from corners. We don’t have anyone. So whilst it’s not the only consideration it should still be considered
If we have Koulibaly and Lindelöf we need a commanding keeper, DDG isnt that.
At least there’s one other poster concerned about this. Feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
This guy is not what we need.
Football will never modernize to the point that CBs don’t need to be good in the air. It’s such a silly argument.
It seems most here are just desperate enough to gloss over this guy’s deficiencies. I sincerely hope the board doesn’t do the same.
True, but then we don’t exactly lack height as it is. We don’t have a brave team that attacks the ball though, and our corner kick takers rarely ever get it into a dangerous area.
Instead of paying that much for Koulibaly, why not spend 60 mil on Maguire and 25-30 for Toby or Manolas? Together, they will cost as much as Koulibaly, but we add quality depth in the CB position.
Sell Jones, Bailly, Rojo.
Maguire, Lindelof, Toby or Manolas, Smalling, Tuanzebe
With these players, it would allow us to go with a quality back 3 if we want.
Sell Jones, Bailly, Rojo.
Maguire, Lindelof, Toby or Manolas, Smalling, Tuanzebe
With these players, it would allow us to go with a quality back 3 if we want.
That would be a much better spend of our resources
Absurd isn't it? He isn't even bad in the air if you've seen him play.Of the 13 factors, KK wins 10, but somehow, the only one that matters is aerial dules won.
But yeah let's avoid him, Smalling and Jones must be better since they can head the ball.
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I think for De Gea to improve his distribution and has more confidence to play out from the back or replace him with new GK commanding, organizing the defense and play out from the back and play them with Koulibaly and Lindelof at back would help us to dominate everyone under pressure and give the midfield more controller and composure, to push us to play high line closer to the third final.
Koulibaly is one of best passing CB, easily up with David Luiz in term of passing through the line. I imagine if he sees Pogba in an advanced role without Pogba coming down to collect balls, he would pass it to him so far then Pogba can do something with the balls in the third final destructively. Lindelof loves thrusting to midfield from defense as he did in December and January, especially when he played on RCB before moving to LCB to make way for Smalling so it limits the strongest aspect of Lindelof's ball playing.
Koulibaly and Lindelof partnership can open more dimension of passing and ball playing, they'll improve midfield greatly and erase pressure from midfield.
Koulibaly is one of best passing CB, easily up with David Luiz in term of passing through the line. I imagine if he sees Pogba in an advanced role without Pogba coming down to collect balls, he would pass it to him so far then Pogba can do something with the balls in the third final destructively. Lindelof loves thrusting to midfield from defense as he did in December and January, especially when he played on RCB before moving to LCB to make way for Smalling so it limits the strongest aspect of Lindelof's ball playing.
Koulibaly and Lindelof partnership can open more dimension of passing and ball playing, they'll improve midfield greatly and erase pressure from midfield.
Koulibaly and Maguire will go for the same amount I reckon, anywhere between 60-80 mil.
I laughed at that CBs don't need to dominate in the air. That will never happen as long as the game exists.
Well, actually it can happen when they force the game to be play on the ground at all times.
Areal duals are important but until we find a someone better, partner Smalling with Koulibaliy when you need more dominance in the air.Of the 13 factors, KK wins 10, but somehow, the only one that matters is aerial dules won.
I'd swap lukaku + cash for Skriniar
Agreed, but I think Skriniar just signed a new deal.
Koulibaly and Maguire are much better footballers than Skriniar though and would add a much needed dimension to our game.
I think we should be using Lukaku as bait to fix our striker issue. We can pay straight up cash for a centre back, there’s a couple of decent ones around. But strikers are at a premium which means we’ll probably have to give one to get one.
Koulibaly yes, maguire no
Ps at Skriniar's age koulibaly wasn't as good as Skriniar is
We need to sign someone with pace so we aren't vulnerable to getting rinsed on the counter due to our high line. Koulibaly would be the logical choice.
Agreed.
Maguire is much better with the ball at his feet, much better.
I don't rate maguire tbh. He is a slight upgrade to Jones in my books. We need a top defender alongside lindelof or tuanzebe. Skinny can be that defender, maguire no
Yep. Maguire and a high line just wouldn't work, unless he's played as a destroyer and has an immense partner like VVD alongside him.
I think Lindelof/Koulibaly could get a decent partnership going. Bailly has always looked much more comfortable in a higher line also.
That wasn’t my point though, Maguire is much more comfortable in possession and right now I think it’s vital we bring in someone with those characteristics. Obviously they need to be good defenders also. Maguire’s issue would be the high line, he’d probably be better partnered with Bailly or Axel in that regards.
Koulibaly though, he ticks every box in fairness.
There’s a lot of negative posts about Maguire on the forum and I don’t know why.
To me, waaaaay better in the air than Koulibaly, better on the ball, not far behind in passing and the one area Koulibaly is much better is his speed, although I think Maguire isn’t slow considering his size. He’s also a leader and British, which, while not a thing I personally think makes much difference, is definitely something that has been in Utd’s DNA forever - having a core of British internationals who’ve played in our leagues from the ground up.
I used to look at the England national team and there’d be 6-7 Utd players in the squad, now there’s only 2-3.
Id be happy with both but I’d probably lean to Maguire as the safer (and cheaper) option.
Of course if we had any chance to get De Ligt, I’d go all out for him.
To me, waaaaay better in the air than Koulibaly, better on the ball, not far behind in passing and the one area Koulibaly is much better is his speed, although I think Maguire isn’t slow considering his size. He’s also a leader and British, which, while not a thing I personally think makes much difference, is definitely something that has been in Utd’s DNA forever - having a core of British internationals who’ve played in our leagues from the ground up.
I used to look at the England national team and there’d be 6-7 Utd players in the squad, now there’s only 2-3.
Id be happy with both but I’d probably lean to Maguire as the safer (and cheaper) option.
Of course if we had any chance to get De Ligt, I’d go all out for him.
It’s a funny argument this, since we lost Rio & Vidic we simply haven’t come close to replacing them and we’ve been god awful at the back. It’s embarrassing to be quite frank.
If we get any of Koulibaly, Skrinier, Maguire or De Ligt we should be dancing in the streets.
As said i don't rate maguire at all. The last thing we need is a CB who needs to be nannied by other CB's to function well
Maguire or Koulibaly it should be.Happy with either of them.Maguire is not the fastest of course but great in possession,anyone just bounces off him,great header,good character.Koulibaly also one of the best,fast,great in possession but not good header of the ball.One of them we should surely need to buy.
Skriniar is very overrated,not a great header of the ball,clumsy with the ball,not a good passer and not that fast.
If not Koulibaly or Maguire,somehow unattainable,we should target young options like Tah,Saliba maybe Andersen,Milenkovic.
Maguire isn't awful by any means. I wouldn't say he's better on the ball. Better in the air yes.
His turning circle is a worry though, once he's running he isn't slow but he takes a while to accelerate.
I think most were put off by his pricetag being £70m+
To say Maguires a slight upgrade on Jones is laughable
Far more dominant in all areas, he’d improve our defence drastically, and is a very good passer of a ball as well as dominant in the air both are what we need. Not to mention is ability to carry the ball out from the back
Far more dominant in all areas, he’d improve our defence drastically, and is a very good passer of a ball as well as dominant in the air both are what we need. Not to mention is ability to carry the ball out from the back
That's more to do with the delivery than anything. A good corner taker would increase productivity from corners and free kicks a lot more than a new centre half that is great in the air would.
Not disputing that but barring smalling we haven’t anyone who will attack the ball. Fergies great teams always had a threat, Bruce, Pallister, Johnsonn, Vidic, Rio even bleeding Evra.
Modern defenders, don’t know what it is but they’re all shy of heading the ball.
DeLigt has it all, absolutely must buy if at all possible. If not I’d rather Maguire over koubilay
Exactly! This is why I rate Maguire and would love to see him at United. Not only is he very comfortable on the ball, he's great in the air too, and scores his fair share of goals from set pieces.
How good is Upamecano as an alternative to De Ligt?
What do you like about Skriniar, and why do you rate him so highly?
If signing Maguire (£70 million) for £30 million less than Koulibaly (£100 million) meant we could sign Sancho (£80-£100 million) instead of Pepe (£60-£70 million) would you go for it ? So hypothetically would you rather Maguire and Sancho or Koulibaly and Pepe ?
Spending £70m on Maguire would be utter madness.
I won't discuss Maguire as I don't think he's a top defender. So here's my thought about Skriniar.
Before these lovely 'ball playing' defenders term existed we had two types of defenders ie top defenders and crap defenders. Skriniar reminds me of that simpler time. He is tall, he's strong, he's not amongst the fastest CBs in the world (he's not slow though) but his anticipation & position is very Carrick like. Passing wise he's quite decent, he's elegant in going up with the ball but he is still strong physically wise to fend the strongest of strikers. He's still works in progress but potential wise he's a cross between Vidic and Rio + future captain material
Don't take me wrong, Koulibaly IS the best Serie A defender. However he's also 4 years older then Skinny and I assure you 4 years ago he was nowhere near to what Skriniar is today. Now it depends what you want. Are we expecting a CB to just slot in and sort the defence by himself. TBH I don't think anyone can but Koulibaly is the best of the lot on that. However if we want to build a defensive pair that endures time and might develop into yet another Vidic-Rio duo then Skriniar seems more appropriate.
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