He's hardly going to miss such an obvious weakness. I personally think we need a box to box midfielder. The 3 most used midfielders are all too defensive and have no goal threat.
LvG Says He Needs A New Winger Soon....
- Thread starter drmuji
- Start date
Seems that's what VG wants midfielders to protect the defense, and offensive players with pace
Don't think thats our issue. What we're missing is a top goal scorer Sultan.
I keep bringing this stat up but it highlights our problem perfectly.
Since Jan 1st 2015 our leading PL Goal Scorers:
*N.B. 31 PL games during this period
Mata on 8 goals (2 pens) - 2018mins
Rooney on 6 goals (1 pen) - 2550mins
Herrera on 6 goals (1 pen) - 1755mins
Fellaini on 4 goals (0 pens) - 1031mins
Smalling on 3 goals (0 pens) - 2330mins
Falcao on 3 goals (0 pens) - 963mins
Martial on 3 goals (0 pens) - 655mins
So Fellaini of all people is only 2 goals behind our top goal scorer if you remove the pens and he's barely played 1000mins in the possible 31 games. We're clearly missing a top CF and looking at that list of players it's also glaringly obvious that we're missing a goal scoring winger. Seems unreal that Smalling is only 3 goals behind our top goal scorer.
Sané is simply too young for a team like United. Not every 19 year old will come good immediately like Martial. He's in a perfect place to develop at Schalke, if I was him I would wait a few years before a move to a bigger club. But man, does he look exciting...reminds me a bit of Hazard.
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Some of the names being mentioned on here! We are the one of the very biggest club in the world and should be shopping accordingly.
A top goalscorer is vital for any top club. However, a striker needs service. I personally think it's the way the team is setup. It's pretty obvious we're not creating enough chances. It would be interesting to see how many assists have come from midfield and wings since LvG took over.
I think the obvious answer is we need both, which is pretty achievable and would make a big difference.
We aren't too bad on the left (I think Depay would thrive working with more active attacking players around him, and we also have Young....and Rooney), and over on the right Mata can and should be used down the middle to allow for the pacey winger. He isn't the type to complain about being rotated, so there's still a spot for Herrera and Rooney there too.
We aren't too bad on the left (I think Depay would thrive working with more active attacking players around him, and we also have Young....and Rooney), and over on the right Mata can and should be used down the middle to allow for the pacey winger. He isn't the type to complain about being rotated, so there's still a spot for Herrera and Rooney there too.
This guy cost Atleti €20m this summer but already looking like one of their shrewd purchases.
Came from Monaco previously so should work well with Martial.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ines-old-and-new-atletico-to-announce-himself
VICENTE CALDERON, MADRID — It was a standing ovation, an almighty one. Ten minutes earlier, there'd been something similar for Jackson Martinez, but this was different. It wasn't just a standing ovation, it was a deafening ovation. Led by ultra groupFrente behind the southern goal, "Carrasco, Carrasco" roared around the stands, 50,000 in unison effectively making it official.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had announced himself.
Some, of course, will insist he'd actually done so four nights earlier, when Atletico Madrid hosted Astana inside the very same arena. That night, Carrasco had put on a personal exhibition of now-you-see-me-now-you-don't football, but that was Astana—a Kazakhstani outfit playing more than 3,000 miles from home and who'd sent a second-string side to prioritise their league campaign.
This, though—this was Valencia.
Last season, Nuno Espirito Santo's side twice unsettledAtleti. At Mestalla, Los Che launched a breathtaking 15-minute assault to hammer them; at the Calderon, they happily indulged in a scrap like few other visiting sides do to leave with a point.
For Diego Simeone's men last term, it wasn't just that Valencia weren't intimidated by them; it's that Valencia could match them, punch for punch. Sharing certain qualities with Atleti—strong, intense, direct in method, in your face—Nuno's outfit became an uncomfortable opponent for Simeone and Co., almost bordering on a like-for-like adversary.
But not on Sunday.
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images
Admittedly, this season's Valencia just isn't like last season's, and on Sunday at the Calderon, Atletico made it clear there remains a gulf between the sides, reinforcing that it's they who lead the race to become Spain's third power. Off the field, Valencia might be making ground, but on it at this very moment, Atleti are pulling away faster than Carrasco's footwork—the footwork that's delighting one half of the capital.
Indeed, after torching Astana in his first 90-minute appearance of the season on Wednesday, Carrascoproduced a repeat performance here, in the process achieving something that's often beyond brand-new signings during settling-in periods: domination of a rival, a theoretical equal.
Personal domination.
Though he started the night on the right, it was when he switched to the left that he made this occasion his own. Full of tricks, his confidence soaring, the Belgian terrorised Valencia right-back Joao Cancelo. In the most bullish of moods, he lured the Portuguese (and others) toward him before flashing by. When they crowded him, he danced through them; when there was space in front, he blazed through in a slalom.
It was what Atletico had seen in Carrasco when they took him from Monaco. A dynamic and unpredictable ball-carrying wide man, the 22-year-old would give Simeone's XI something else, something different. In midfield, they had strength and they had passing vision, but they didn't have something more explosive.
Now they do.
In essence, what the club now has in Carrasco is an embodiment of the evolving mentality at the Calderon. All summer, Simeone spoke of making this team faster, sharper and more threatening, demanding his side add some electricity to their efficiency.
Carrasco is that quality.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Yet concurrently, Simeone stressed the importance ofAtleti not losing their sense of who they are.
Regardless of attacking transformations, this team would still be required to out-fight and out-work their opponents, the relentless intensity still an expectation. In short, the idea was to oversee an enhanced Atleti rather than an entirely different one. And it's why Carrasco's performance on Sunday was so noteworthy.
Though the dazzling highlights remain most vivid in the memory, this was a performance of two-way commitment from the Belgian. In addition to the tricks and highlight-reel content, there were tackles, defensive runs and regular bouts of pressing, his stunning solo goal a direct result of his harassing of Enzo Perez.
On the sideline, Simeone would have been delighted, for this was a truly sparkling all-round performance. Thenumbers said so, too: Carrasco took the joint-most shots on goal of any player from either side, he completed the most dribbles, he made the second most interceptions and he laid the third-most tackles.
Atletico, the old and the new.
"Carrasco is growing based on the effort he made to suit the characteristics of the team," said Simeone afterward,via David Manuca of Goal.com. "He is a player that has certain attributes, that why he is at Atletico."
You sense he couldn't be in a better place, either. This is a club and a manager who took Antoine Griezmann from raw talent to bona fide star in less than a year, and already there are similarities in the way Carrasco is following the Frenchman's path, learning to embrace the Atletico way after initially struggling with it. Learning to embrace a ferocious Simeone.
"It was a little difficult to adapt," said Atleti's Man of the Match on Sunday of his early months at the Calderon, viaAinhoa Sanchez of Marca. "But now I'm good physically and in all other departments as well."
That he is. And the Frente love it. The Calderon loves it.Atletico Madrid love it.
"Carrasco, Carrasco," will be roared some more.
He started for Belgium v Italy last night and played well getting an assist for the third goal.
Came from Monaco previously so should work well with Martial.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ines-old-and-new-atletico-to-announce-himself
VICENTE CALDERON, MADRID — It was a standing ovation, an almighty one. Ten minutes earlier, there'd been something similar for Jackson Martinez, but this was different. It wasn't just a standing ovation, it was a deafening ovation. Led by ultra groupFrente behind the southern goal, "Carrasco, Carrasco" roared around the stands, 50,000 in unison effectively making it official.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had announced himself.
Some, of course, will insist he'd actually done so four nights earlier, when Atletico Madrid hosted Astana inside the very same arena. That night, Carrasco had put on a personal exhibition of now-you-see-me-now-you-don't football, but that was Astana—a Kazakhstani outfit playing more than 3,000 miles from home and who'd sent a second-string side to prioritise their league campaign.
This, though—this was Valencia.
Last season, Nuno Espirito Santo's side twice unsettledAtleti. At Mestalla, Los Che launched a breathtaking 15-minute assault to hammer them; at the Calderon, they happily indulged in a scrap like few other visiting sides do to leave with a point.
For Diego Simeone's men last term, it wasn't just that Valencia weren't intimidated by them; it's that Valencia could match them, punch for punch. Sharing certain qualities with Atleti—strong, intense, direct in method, in your face—Nuno's outfit became an uncomfortable opponent for Simeone and Co., almost bordering on a like-for-like adversary.
But not on Sunday.
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images
Admittedly, this season's Valencia just isn't like last season's, and on Sunday at the Calderon, Atletico made it clear there remains a gulf between the sides, reinforcing that it's they who lead the race to become Spain's third power. Off the field, Valencia might be making ground, but on it at this very moment, Atleti are pulling away faster than Carrasco's footwork—the footwork that's delighting one half of the capital.
Indeed, after torching Astana in his first 90-minute appearance of the season on Wednesday, Carrascoproduced a repeat performance here, in the process achieving something that's often beyond brand-new signings during settling-in periods: domination of a rival, a theoretical equal.
Personal domination.
Though he started the night on the right, it was when he switched to the left that he made this occasion his own. Full of tricks, his confidence soaring, the Belgian terrorised Valencia right-back Joao Cancelo. In the most bullish of moods, he lured the Portuguese (and others) toward him before flashing by. When they crowded him, he danced through them; when there was space in front, he blazed through in a slalom.
It was what Atletico had seen in Carrasco when they took him from Monaco. A dynamic and unpredictable ball-carrying wide man, the 22-year-old would give Simeone's XI something else, something different. In midfield, they had strength and they had passing vision, but they didn't have something more explosive.
Now they do.
In essence, what the club now has in Carrasco is an embodiment of the evolving mentality at the Calderon. All summer, Simeone spoke of making this team faster, sharper and more threatening, demanding his side add some electricity to their efficiency.
Carrasco is that quality.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Yet concurrently, Simeone stressed the importance ofAtleti not losing their sense of who they are.
Regardless of attacking transformations, this team would still be required to out-fight and out-work their opponents, the relentless intensity still an expectation. In short, the idea was to oversee an enhanced Atleti rather than an entirely different one. And it's why Carrasco's performance on Sunday was so noteworthy.
Though the dazzling highlights remain most vivid in the memory, this was a performance of two-way commitment from the Belgian. In addition to the tricks and highlight-reel content, there were tackles, defensive runs and regular bouts of pressing, his stunning solo goal a direct result of his harassing of Enzo Perez.
On the sideline, Simeone would have been delighted, for this was a truly sparkling all-round performance. Thenumbers said so, too: Carrasco took the joint-most shots on goal of any player from either side, he completed the most dribbles, he made the second most interceptions and he laid the third-most tackles.
Atletico, the old and the new.
"Carrasco is growing based on the effort he made to suit the characteristics of the team," said Simeone afterward,via David Manuca of Goal.com. "He is a player that has certain attributes, that why he is at Atletico."
You sense he couldn't be in a better place, either. This is a club and a manager who took Antoine Griezmann from raw talent to bona fide star in less than a year, and already there are similarities in the way Carrasco is following the Frenchman's path, learning to embrace the Atletico way after initially struggling with it. Learning to embrace a ferocious Simeone.
"It was a little difficult to adapt," said Atleti's Man of the Match on Sunday of his early months at the Calderon, viaAinhoa Sanchez of Marca. "But now I'm good physically and in all other departments as well."
That he is. And the Frente love it. The Calderon loves it.Atletico Madrid love it.
"Carrasco, Carrasco," will be roared some more.
He started for Belgium v Italy last night and played well getting an assist for the third goal.
So after 16 months and 3 transfer windows Van Gaal decides he needs some wingers with pace. You couldn't make it up.
I've heard it rumoured that we, amongst plenty of others, have checked out Calum O'Dowda at Oxford. I live down that way and have seen a fair bit of him and his potential is frightening. Plays wide left and is a wide player in the real meaning of the word, plays right on the white line. Has limited tricks and is a push it and run player like Bale but he is lightning quick with a whipped in delivery at the first opportunity he gets.
Plays for Ireland U21 and there was some rumour this end that Juventus, of all teams, were tracking him. No player realistically can come from L2 into a top PL club but we've signed a few from there over the years like Greening and Powell and this lad while not performing in L2 to the level Powell was, I think, has much more potential under the right tutorlege.
Plays for Ireland U21 and there was some rumour this end that Juventus, of all teams, were tracking him. No player realistically can come from L2 into a top PL club but we've signed a few from there over the years like Greening and Powell and this lad while not performing in L2 to the level Powell was, I think, has much more potential under the right tutorlege.
No. He bought Di Maria and Memphis for that. One couldn't cut it and left and the other isn't ready yet. He's hardly realised it now as you're making it out to be.
Plus he probably saw Martial filling that role when required. Martial has played fantastically up front but still moved out wide. I think LVG probably planned to have him wide fairly frequently this season
This. If we look at Valencia's early United career we will notice the perfect example of buying shrewdly in the 2nd/3rd tier, even with his flaws Tony was still unplayable on his day and complimented the players we had then perfectly - our refusal to strengthen the midfield is the reason we didn't win more during that period. In my view a player like Mane coming in for Mata, on the right, with the latter moving into the hole, would transform our attack immeasurably.
An attack is only as good as it's component parts and, as we have seen with Kagawa/Mata, some players are only as good as the system they are a part of. I don't mean to declare that United shouldn't be in for superstars like Muller/Bale but that we shouldn't delay the team's progression by waiting for them. I constantly hear people saying we need upgrades on Valencia and Young but they forget the fact that we have no one currently putting up the figures they were posting 3-5 years ago aside from Mata at a push.
What figures? Valencia has never scored more than 5 league goals in a season for us and Young has only scored 4 league goals since his first season. They're decent players but not the sort of calibre we should be aiming for again. They've both turned into utility players and that doesn't happen if you're an effective winger.
Sign Reus and Griezmann and play them in a 4-3-3 with Martial as number 9. All problems solved.
Yup. YFC is excellent, I'm a fan. What surprises me most is how cheap he was.
It was a ruddy phenomenal assist too.
Yes, that too as he played out wide for Monaco too.
This guy cost Atleti €20m this summer but already looking like one of their shrewd purchases.
Came from Monaco previously so should work well with Martial.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ines-old-and-new-atletico-to-announce-himself
VICENTE CALDERON, MADRID — It was a standing ovation, an almighty one. Ten minutes earlier, there'd been something similar for Jackson Martinez, but this was different. It wasn't just a standing ovation, it was a deafening ovation. Led by ultra groupFrente behind the southern goal, "Carrasco, Carrasco" roared around the stands, 50,000 in unison effectively making it official.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had announced himself.
Some, of course, will insist he'd actually done so four nights earlier, when Atletico Madrid hosted Astana inside the very same arena. That night, Carrasco had put on a personal exhibition of now-you-see-me-now-you-don't football, but that was Astana—a Kazakhstani outfit playing more than 3,000 miles from home and who'd sent a second-string side to prioritise their league campaign.
This, though—this was Valencia.
Last season, Nuno Espirito Santo's side twice unsettledAtleti. At Mestalla, Los Che launched a breathtaking 15-minute assault to hammer them; at the Calderon, they happily indulged in a scrap like few other visiting sides do to leave with a point.
For Diego Simeone's men last term, it wasn't just that Valencia weren't intimidated by them; it's that Valencia could match them, punch for punch. Sharing certain qualities with Atleti—strong, intense, direct in method, in your face—Nuno's outfit became an uncomfortable opponent for Simeone and Co., almost bordering on a like-for-like adversary.
But not on Sunday.
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images
Admittedly, this season's Valencia just isn't like last season's, and on Sunday at the Calderon, Atletico made it clear there remains a gulf between the sides, reinforcing that it's they who lead the race to become Spain's third power. Off the field, Valencia might be making ground, but on it at this very moment, Atleti are pulling away faster than Carrasco's footwork—the footwork that's delighting one half of the capital.
Indeed, after torching Astana in his first 90-minute appearance of the season on Wednesday, Carrascoproduced a repeat performance here, in the process achieving something that's often beyond brand-new signings during settling-in periods: domination of a rival, a theoretical equal.
Personal domination.
Though he started the night on the right, it was when he switched to the left that he made this occasion his own. Full of tricks, his confidence soaring, the Belgian terrorised Valencia right-back Joao Cancelo. In the most bullish of moods, he lured the Portuguese (and others) toward him before flashing by. When they crowded him, he danced through them; when there was space in front, he blazed through in a slalom.
It was what Atletico had seen in Carrasco when they took him from Monaco. A dynamic and unpredictable ball-carrying wide man, the 22-year-old would give Simeone's XI something else, something different. In midfield, they had strength and they had passing vision, but they didn't have something more explosive.
Now they do.
In essence, what the club now has in Carrasco is an embodiment of the evolving mentality at the Calderon. All summer, Simeone spoke of making this team faster, sharper and more threatening, demanding his side add some electricity to their efficiency.
Carrasco is that quality.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Yet concurrently, Simeone stressed the importance ofAtleti not losing their sense of who they are.
Regardless of attacking transformations, this team would still be required to out-fight and out-work their opponents, the relentless intensity still an expectation. In short, the idea was to oversee an enhanced Atleti rather than an entirely different one. And it's why Carrasco's performance on Sunday was so noteworthy.
Though the dazzling highlights remain most vivid in the memory, this was a performance of two-way commitment from the Belgian. In addition to the tricks and highlight-reel content, there were tackles, defensive runs and regular bouts of pressing, his stunning solo goal a direct result of his harassing of Enzo Perez.
On the sideline, Simeone would have been delighted, for this was a truly sparkling all-round performance. Thenumbers said so, too: Carrasco took the joint-most shots on goal of any player from either side, he completed the most dribbles, he made the second most interceptions and he laid the third-most tackles.
Atletico, the old and the new.
"Carrasco is growing based on the effort he made to suit the characteristics of the team," said Simeone afterward,via David Manuca of Goal.com. "He is a player that has certain attributes, that why he is at Atletico."
You sense he couldn't be in a better place, either. This is a club and a manager who took Antoine Griezmann from raw talent to bona fide star in less than a year, and already there are similarities in the way Carrasco is following the Frenchman's path, learning to embrace the Atletico way after initially struggling with it. Learning to embrace a ferocious Simeone.
"It was a little difficult to adapt," said Atleti's Man of the Match on Sunday of his early months at the Calderon, viaAinhoa Sanchez of Marca. "But now I'm good physically and in all other departments as well."
That he is. And the Frente love it. The Calderon loves it.Atletico Madrid love it.
"Carrasco, Carrasco," will be roared some more.
He started for Belgium v Italy last night and played well getting an assist for the third goal.
Saw the entire game yesterday. And previous ones too. He's the real deal, believe me.
If United sign him can I claim a "finders fee"?
We were offered reus in the summer for like £60-£70m
That's exactly what you did, however.
Source? If Reus would have been interested in playing for United or any club for that matter he would be there now for half that because of his previous release clause.
Im pretty sure the officials would never put a price tag on Reus after he renewed his contract. The guy is not only a world class offensive midfielder, but also the by far most popular and profilic player we have, the face of the team especially outside Germany. If he leaves in the future it will be because he desires to do so and the club accepts it. The initiative won´t come from the club as it neither needs the money nor would have a full replacement (especially outside the pitch) ready.
All well and good but I know for a fact that he was offered to us in the summer.
Googling "Reus 60m utd" will give you enough links. ESPN ran the exclusive
No you don't
He had a release clause before he renewed.
If you don't believe me, at least believe Miguel. He was on top of our heavy push for Muller also.
We were offered Reus.
We were offered Reus.
At his best he was without a doubt but can he currently be called world class ? He's been a bit underwhelming for a while now.
Well, that depends on how define world class. If a lost year because of injuries is enough to lose that status, then he probably is not world class anymore. I don´t think that is enough if a player has performed so well for a long time and proven himself on the highest level time and time again.
One thing is for sure. If Reus is not world class anymore, both Aguero (who is actually even more injury prone) and Hazard (who is simply in a slump) are not either.
I remember that story. I also remember the responses to it by the journalists close to Dortmund, be it Dersch, Röckenhaus or Hennecke, who all said the same thing: "United made an enquiry for Reus during the negotiations for the Januzaj loan. Club responded by telling United that he is not for sale, no price tag named."
So, forgive me for not believing a story about us giving up our best individual player on freaking dead line day with no chance to find a replacement, when on top of that the player himself (who obviously had to be on board for a deal) did not show any interest to leave the club.
Hazard never reached that level for me and Aguero tends to get back to his best relatively quickly after recurring injuries. Only time will tell I suppose if all three of them can get back to their respective best.
I can honestly not believe that after all the absolute shit that papers publish every single day (not season, not month but day) that some people will read a story from fecking ESPN of all places and then claim it is "fact"
We need to be looking for a right winger, in my opinion. Already got too many on the left. We may not have the quality needed, but I think for now, the right wing should be more of a priority.
People will believe what they want to fit their agenda.
I wonder what he'll "need" next
Shaw...Valencia and now Carrick.
We now have some long term injuries.
The next Messi.
I've not seen enough of him to form a definitive opinion, but this kid does look the business. He was a real threat against Bayern Munich today. Definitely one to watch, but a summer deal seems more likely.
I think we've caught a bit of a break of sorts in that some decent right-wingers seem to be developing across Europe. It looked a bit grim even a year ago but now there's Sane, Berardi, Deulofeu and Felipe Anderson who all seem to impact games from the right, in addition to Reus and Griezmann potentially moving back to that position. There's even rumours Bale will be sold.
Odds definitely look better that we can find an option there to go with Memphis-Martial-XXX in a front 3 of goalscorers.
I would say get Bale and problem solved, we missed on him on his early days.
I still don't really see the point of Louis wanking himself silly over lots of expensive pace merchants until he gets us playing some football that would actually make them worth having. We may not have many fast players but on paper our team are capable of playing faster, more direct football than they often are - it's LVG's tactics that are responsible for that. What's the use of Bale if we don't ever mount an attack until we've passed the entire opposition team back into the last quarter of the pitch and there's barely room for him to even turn and face the goal, let alone space for him to run into? For the record, I have less of a problem with our style of football at the moment than most people, but you have to look for players who actually suit your system.
Bale is not a possession football player, and for the foreseeable future we'll be playing very possession-heavy football.
Bale is not a possession football player, and for the foreseeable future we'll be playing very possession-heavy football.
Would he really suit our style of play though? He's at his best counter attacking or running into space whereas team seem to be happy to sit back against us.