We spent a world record fee on one not that long ago and well...how has that worked out for us?
We currently have no CB's under 6ft at the club yet we just had our worst defence ever in the PL this past season
Lisandro Martinez | Signs for United
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We currently have no CB's under 6ft at the club yet we just had our worst defence ever in the PL this past season
He knows less than feck all.
According to him we're prioritizing De jong and Eriksen, there's interest in Martinez, Antony but ETH wants to evaluate the squad.
We have a strategy and are being patient in the market.
Midfield and attacking players will be the first signings of the window simply because we don’t need to get rid of players to sign anyone. To get a RB - AWB needs shifting. To get a CB - Bailly, Jones and Axel need to leave. At LB we have Williams and Telles.
Exactly
From a strategic point of view it makes no sense to prioritize a center back if we aren't putting one of our senior defenders in the market we have too many holes to fill to do that.
Midfield is bare bones and attack has zero depth and you'll need players coming off the bench especially in attack.
Midfield is bare bones and attack has zero depth and you'll need players coming off the bench especially in attack.
Perhaps he’ll play as a DM alongside De Jong if Ten Hag wants him. He’s apparently a very versatile player
We know that though don't we.Central midfield is THE priority but central defence is a very close second.
My point is though that those idiots at SKY are exactly that, idiots.
I don't know how center back is more important than attack, we have 5 senior center backs.
4 attackers who have over 50 career appearance at senior level and that's including Martial who we know fancy an exit. So how is center a close second?
5 senior cb's, how many of those would you have in the starting 11?
The issue is that ETH’s system relies heavily on his defense to play progressive passes. This CB area is kinda critical for his system.
For a side targeting top 4 our options would do, spurs don't have any better.
We sold Smalling and signed Maguire for exactly the same reason, if Maguire could do it at Leicester under Rodgers, ETH would back himself to get him going, Varane came from the Madrid side that play beautiful combination play that makes us realize how far we've fallen he isn't a dud all of a sudden, Lindelof problem isn't with the ball at his feet.The issue is that ETH’s system relies heavily on his defense to play progressive passes. This CB area is kinda critical for his system.
Many of our problems are going to be solved on the training ground not in the market in my opinion.
Yet ETH really wanted Timber.
Nope, we need another CB. Varane (who i love) is too injury prone now and Maguire is well…
You would have to ask yourself why Timber wasn't so keen to join, he didn't get assurance he was going to go in straight ahead of this guys.
I'm more interested signings that will be clear upgrades on weak areas like midfield.
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So, let's go out of our way to sign a short CB which will be an obvious limitation in the PL?
Or we could hope for the club recruiting a player with the required ball playing skills + aerial ability.
I remember how exposed we were when Maguire got injured towards the end of 20/21. He's had a bad season so has 99% of the squad.
He regular level is higher than any of our central midfielders and any of our rb options and when it comes to attack you need substitute which we lack, better to have more options in attack.
I'm not opposed to signing a center back but not before we get rid of some of the current options.
Anyone who watches Ajax regularly ? Any chance Martinez would be a defensive midfield option. With ETH comments about FDJ I think it's a given a defensive midfield will be targeted.
I have my doubt with Maguire to play high line. Lindelof problem is that he’s crap in everything including at his feet. Just because he’s better than Bailly at his feet doesn’t mean it’s not a problem.
I'm not even sure he's better than Bailly with the ball either. Bailly has always looked braver, more press resistant.
The only thing Lindelof is good at is long balls over the top for Rashford. He very rarely brings the ball forward into space and passes it sideways as soon as he's pressured.
He’s too slow. Kind of worked when our plan was to sit deep and hit on the counter but it won’t work if we’re being proactive. He’s just too darn slow and not even that strong physically.
Blind isn't any faster and played center back a lot for ETH.
With regards Lindelof I can't comment on the immediate past season but the season before when Ole had us trying to play out from the back both him and Maguire was fine keeping the ball under pressure.
Maguire looked better because he had Shaw next to him who was press resistant while Lindelof option was mainly AWB, the structure of play didn't help at all, Awb who didn't want the ball, or Mctominay dropping off to receive made him look crap at times.
Improve the receiver and structure of play around our center back and see how they become better.
Pique is slow, Hummels too it didn't stop them from playing in high lines.
The idea that 2/3 of the Ajax team would walk into united and be obvious upgrade on our team I don't get it.
Don't forget DVB was a key player there too.
Hummels was tremendously overrated to be fair, and often a weak link.
He was good enough to start games for world cup and Champions league winning sides.
he’s versatile though, can play CB, LB or CDM, so he would be very useful.
Yes but he wasn't that good. Anderson has played in Champions League games for us.
No need to mask him behind the great sides. Just call a spade a spade, he was overrated.
Anderson never had the kind of senior role Hummels had.
Hummels wasnt that good a defender. He had good attributes but was broadly a weaker link defensively.
Who was Hummels more senior than for Bayern? Ribery? Robben? Lewa? Schweinsteiger? Lahm? You're clutching at straws.
He was a starting center, was Anderson ever a guaranteed starter over multiple seasons at united.
We're deviating from the point which was that pace isn't a be all or end all quality for a center back in a high line.
I mentioned Pique, Hummels and Blind as options who have featured in a high line.
Il be honest if Hummels was a barometer I would panic.
These defenders either had a speedy CB partner in Timber/Alaba or they would have the luxury of being part of a team never dispossessed in the first place.
Ive not seen enough of Martinez but if hes slow thats a big concern given our only quick center back is a sicknote.
With the crazy Haller deal on top of others, will Ajax really need to sell the likes of Martinez, Timber and Antony?
It's not alien to him but he hasn't played there in 2 seasons. 2 seasons ago 50% of his games were as a DM. However, he's better suited as a CB, he's combative, great in his positioning and really great in transition from defence to midfield.
They won't sell Timber.
Varane had a injury hit season but he isn't overall injury prone, he always played 40+ games in Madrid.
I feel if united wanted to prioritize a center back they'll probably have shown more interest in a bigger profile like De Ligt.
United might heap players who don't feature but not 80 million Maguire or Varane on his big wages, if we don't think we can get more out either of this duo, we would be hearing the kind of rumours we're currently hearing regarding Awb or we did hear when we wanted to get rid of Lukaku which is obviously club driven.
Varane is literally injured even now again after playing internationals. Its silly to hope he can stay fit based on what he did in Madrid pre injury.
Im not saying Martinez is a bad transfer, just saying you can't compare so frivolously to other slow CBs for top teams who had their weaknesses catered for much more.
They don't even need to sell Haller(but i hope they do). So no.
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