Our best player again. The only reason opponents are not cutting right through our midfield like last season (and every season before that). Very impressed by him in a terrible team.
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 27
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 7
Won the ball, didnt do much with it
MotM though that wasn't too hard to achieve.
Man of the match again and for me, a beacon of hope for what can happen when Amorim hopefully gets his kinds of players in
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Need more players with his mentality.
Gonna miss him next game.
Agree, but that has little to do with Ugarte and a lot more to do with our wingbacks.
Best player on the pitch again, thing is we really need to sort out the wingback situations to benefit from him, because Dalot one side and whoever the other just don’t offer us enough attack output so we basically have 6 defenders.
One of the few players in the squad that I wouldn't be open to offers for in the summer. He looks like a player that can stick around for the next five years or so and play at a high level for us.
He's a very good player.
High quality player, dont know who signed him seem to have got lucky with him
I'm glad that he's started well under Amorim and is a useful player for us now, unlike under ETH, but please don't delude yourselves into thinking Ugarte will have a long-term starting XI role for us if we want to become the best team in the world again.
As long as Amorim is here, he will be a good player for us, but not someone that gets into the strongest possible XI if United become a serious team again that's a legitimate contender for the PL and CL.
As long as Amorim is here, he will be a good player for us, but not someone that gets into the strongest possible XI if United become a serious team again that's a legitimate contender for the PL and CL.
Rojo has spoken - sell himHe looks alright in our team but that is not saying too much.
He is going to miss a lot of games with these nigggly little fouls.
He is going to miss a lot of games with these nigggly little fouls.
I wouldn't sell him. He can be very useful in certain games and game-states, and I've warmed to him after initially really not wanting us to sign him.
However, I still maintain that the money was a bit too much and a slight overpay, considering we almost let PSG recoup the whole fee they paid for him after he had a bang average first season for them and was phased out by Enrique eventually.
Also, some of his deficiencies have been hidden in some games where we didn't face many, if any opposition transitions, because we set up to be very compact and defensive, like against City or Arsenal. But that doesn't mean Ugarte can suddenly cover big spaces quickly. We just haven't been hit on transitions that much, due to how some of our games played out. That will change, though, when we will be able to exert much more control over games, than we are now. Meaning that Ugarte will have to deal with way more opposition transitions than he does now, and that will expose one of his biggest weaknesses.
He also commits to way too many duels IMO and he racks up way too many yellow cards as a result, because he doesn't have the physical profile to be able to commit to so many duels.
I think we can be, there is value in having a player that can stop opponents from playing. The bigger issue is that we are getting nothing from whoever is his midfield partner, maybe use Eriksen more? I don't know.
For this system to work you also need pure attacking wingback and CBs who are proficient on the ball. How we will do that, with PSR and more dire needs upfront, I don't know again!
He’s got a specific skillset (one we need) but you seem to be saying because he’s not an elegant midfielder or some amazing box to box he’s not that amazing. It doesn’t really make sense, like saying Gattuso was not good enough to be in a team widely considered the best around for a couple of seasons.
I think what you mention in your first paragraph is one of the reasons why I said what I said in the previous post.
The perfect midfield partner for Ugarte ideally has great physicality and athleticism, and an excellent passing range as the two most important and most needed aspects that Ugarte himself is lacking. However, such complete CMs that can basically do everything you want from them to a world class level are extremely rare and hard to obtain.
Rodri is the only player I can think of right now, who would be an almost perfect partner for Ugarte, but then I think a Mainoo-Rodri pairing would be better than that anyways.
If we ever move to a 3-man midfield with Ugarte still at United, then his place would be questionable again. The left-sided #8 would be Mainoo's position, the #6 would need to have the elite level passing range plus the duel winning capabilities which Ugarte is lacking, and the right-sided #8 will probably be Bruno, or his replacement, if it's many years into the future.
I know that I may be seen as way too harsh, especially when Ugarte's been one of our few players that have been doing well lately, but that's how I see it realistically. The things Ugarte is missing aren't things that can be developed later on. If he was 190 cm tall with longer legs, and could pass like Carrick, he would be a 100 million player without much doubt, though.
Sadly it's a matter of time before the rest of the dross around him drag him down or he's overworked. If him or Maz get injured we will legitimately be in a relegation scrap.
I would happily see him demoted to squad player and not one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Unfortunately, we have to sign about 10 fantastic players before that happens and he will likely retire before we are the best team in the world again.
PL contenders? Yeah, he will see that out.
After a stuttering start he's been probably our best player this season along with Amad and Mazroui. His passing is limited but his workrate and tackling are elite. We've needed an Ugarte for ages.
Why should anyone really care about this currently though?
Ideally, in this system, he doesn’t have to be all that creative or fancy. Liverpool a few years back were one of the deadliest teams in Europe in their attack (and they are now again sadly) but their midfield was mostly just very good/functional workers who did their job. I see no reason why Ugarte can’t do likewise.
That implies we have multiple sources of creativity elsewhere.
If we actually had wingbacks like Frimpong for instance that would boost the creativity and goal output of the team. Of course we don’t have these players yet but presumably that’s what we want to build toward.
While we don't, why lay the blame at just about the only guy doing his job right?
They stumbled upon something else, too, when they decided to build such a midfield. I'll describe it in just two words: TAA, Robertson.
At this juncture, he is what we need. Hopefully we can build more creativity around him. He also needs to improve in that. Just simple forward passes whenever there's an opportunity to like Keano did would be perfect.
Roy Keane was an amazing passer of the ball.
Yes, and I'm only asking for the simple ones.
Technically that’s four words
It wasn't always though. By his own admission it wasn't great for a few years but with experience came decision making. Even in his prime the passing ability itself wasn't incredible but his knowledge of where and when to pass was elite. Along with a top first touch.
Hopefully Ugarte improves in that sense as well over the next few years.
There’s been a lot of well-deserved praise for Ugarte recently. He’s shown significant improvement in the last few games and is starting to resemble the player we envisioned when he was signed. However, I can also understand why PSG were willing to let him go.
Off the ball, Ugarte is exceptional—easily our best midfielder in terms of defensive contributions and work rate. Unfortunately, his limitations on the ball are evident. This has placed an undue creative burden on young Mainoo, who, while talented, shouldn’t be solely responsible for dictating the game in midfield. Creativity should be a shared responsibility, especially inna double pivot.
However, given that Amorim appears intent on building the midfield around Ugarte, it’s worth considering whether Ederson, a player we’ve been linked with recently, fits the bill. While Ederson is decent on the ball, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of player who would significantly elevate our creative play.
This makes me think that a different profile—someone in the mold of a Paul Scholes—might be more suitable. Watching Eriksen in the first half against Spurs was a reminder of what such a player can bring to the table. Despite conceding goals due to silly mistakes, the team controlled the game, largely thanks to Eriksen’s creativity and composure. It was a performance that highlighted the importance of having a midfielder capable of dictating the tempo and unlocking defenses.
Going forward, perhaps the focus should shift to identifying a player who not only complements Ugarte’s strengths but also compensates for his deficiencies on the ball.
Off the ball, Ugarte is exceptional—easily our best midfielder in terms of defensive contributions and work rate. Unfortunately, his limitations on the ball are evident. This has placed an undue creative burden on young Mainoo, who, while talented, shouldn’t be solely responsible for dictating the game in midfield. Creativity should be a shared responsibility, especially inna double pivot.
However, given that Amorim appears intent on building the midfield around Ugarte, it’s worth considering whether Ederson, a player we’ve been linked with recently, fits the bill. While Ederson is decent on the ball, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of player who would significantly elevate our creative play.
This makes me think that a different profile—someone in the mold of a Paul Scholes—might be more suitable. Watching Eriksen in the first half against Spurs was a reminder of what such a player can bring to the table. Despite conceding goals due to silly mistakes, the team controlled the game, largely thanks to Eriksen’s creativity and composure. It was a performance that highlighted the importance of having a midfielder capable of dictating the tempo and unlocking defenses.
Going forward, perhaps the focus should shift to identifying a player who not only complements Ugarte’s strengths but also compensates for his deficiencies on the ball.
Calling Ugarte limited on the ball is nothing more than a lazy trope that he has done well to dispel from the minds of those actually paying attention to him. Mainoo had been poor this season and that’s to be expected from a kid in his second season in a struggling side after being exhausted and injured for the start of the season.
Ugarte has been fantastic recently, a one man midfield, so to blame other’s failings on his supposed limitations is just not fair at all. Mainoo’s not struggling because of Ugarte.
You realize we could've signed someone like Sander Berge this summer who would've raised the physical flooring of our midfield way more than Ugarte has, and is also a much better passer than the Uruguayan? A much better midfield partner for Mainoo as well as a result. For half the money we paid for Ugarte.
It's all about their fit into your current team and future plans. You're making it seem like we have to settle for Ugarte because we couldn't find a more suitable double pivot player this summer. Onana, Palhinha, Berge, Thuram, and Wieffer were all there and available, and that's just the options we could've explored last summer.
Because we misplanned the summer again by neglecting the midfield and the one midfield signing we made was a profile we should've never prioritized over other profiles that we needed way more than Ugarte.
I’ve seen it all now
It’s a big blow not having him available against Newcastle. We’ll really miss his physicality and ball winning ability in midfield. Casemiro and an out of sorts Mainoo don’t really have the legs, I can see us getting run ragged in the middle of the park.
I said the same thing in August. I received the same ridiculing responses back then. Berge is doing very well and is a nailed-on starter for the 8th placed team in the since then. Ugarte still can't pass and still doesn't have the legs to cover big spaces on transitions. Do you think that'll change eventually? Or do you think those aren't important things to have for our supposedly starting #6?
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