[Idxomer]

He's showing the same flaws that made Enrique sell him.

Doesn't offer much with his passing and is easily bypassed in midfield.

 

[Ekeke]

I think the tone has been set. He’s very good at what he can do, and not so great at what he can’t do.

Doesn’t make him a bad player or anything, it’s just weird how we tend to sign players who are ridiculous in some aspects of the game and then average in others.

We clearly needed a real DM who wants to win the ball and he does that. But against a good team, if we're expecting to play some football and not just sit back and defend against teams like Arsenal and Liverpool, he needs a lot of help with passing and creativity and we dont have that partner for him. Bruno is our closest thing and its worked at times, but as someone who doesnt play CM every week and really excel there we've had plenty of times it doesnt work.

Mainoo has potential but has mostly been a ball winner this season, with a few performances where he ran the ball well as well. Its not a great combination at this point, Mainoo looks more likely to be an alternative to Ugarte as the most defensive midfielder.

 

[Davie Moyes]

Starting to lack intensity, not surprised as having to cover so much ground and Mainoo's limitations. I disagree with those above who are ready to jump in again highlighting his so called limitations. Our biggest issue is lack of intensity and physicality as a whole team which does not help him at all.

 

[DWelbz19]

We clearly needed a real DM who wants to win the ball and he does that. But against a good team, if we're expecting to play some football and not just sit back and defend against teams like Arsenal and Liverpool, he needs a lot of help with passing and creativity and we dont have that partner for him. Bruno is our closest thing and its worked at times, but as someone who doesnt play CM every week and really excel there we've had plenty of times it doesnt work.

Mainoo has potential but has mostly been a ball winner this season, with a few performances where he ran the ball well as well. It’s not a great combination at this point, Mainoo looks more likely to be an alternative to Ugarte as the most defensive midfielder.

I’d go even further to argue that Ugarte might be a slightly more insightful passer than Mainoo, too.

 

[ClassOf'99]

Carrying the Midfield since he arrived it was bound to catch up to him.

 

[Poborsky's hair]

Bad game, but he will come back. Shame, that I dont expect form him to have a stinker. we need 7/10 players every game.

 

[Leftback99]

The reality is he's pretty ordinary. Most teams in the PL have a CM as good or better like Brighton do.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Bit confused about the 'he's not doing enough on the ball' comments.

Will we eventually need someone much better than him? Probably yes but he's doing as much as you could ask for us in our system and with his team mates. He's pretty much the first or base passing option for our defenders and is sensible but fairly progressive with his passes. What else is he supposed to do when our players don't move or can carry the ball further than 1-2 yards? Apart from Maguire both Yoro and de Ligt barely move with or without the ball, Bruno is a ticking time bomb with what he does and then Mainoo is crowded out because of our shit movement. You've only got Dalot, Amad and Zirkzee to play anything reliable in. You can't expect incision from your deepest midfielder where there's zero movement and everyone is on their heels ahead of him.

 

[antohan]

I didn't get why he was hooked for Collyer. Collyer literally offers nothing more and it showed

On a yellow + rotation. It's a good thing we are giving minutes to Collyer. In fact, we should use him more and give Kobbie opportunities further up, where he has shown more promise.

Season's gone, I'd rather work on developing players in appropriate roles.

 

[ManchesterMats]

Ugarte has put in some great performances so far. But I feel like he would be better suited playing along side a player that is more confident with the ball than Mainoo.

And he need more help from the wingbacks. Mazraoui and Dalot should be able to transition to midfield more effectively. Otherwise we are just playing a back 5.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Wasn't good today and looked tired.

 

[pocco]

I think at best he’s a “does a job” level midfielder in the PL. That’s a fairly limited job though. He’s not somebody you want in midfield if you have aspirations of something greater, and the pairing of him and Mainoo is just severely lacking. Problem is, they’re the best we’ve got.

Hard to comprehend the money we’ve spent over the last 3 or 4 years and look at what we’ve been left with. I can almost laugh at the situation it’s that bad.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

He's shit. He's great. He's shit. He's great.... Yawn.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

I was iffy on him at first, mostly because I really wanted a controller in midfield, but I think he's great now. One of a handful of players in the squad that I absolutely think could be part of a team challenging for titles.

Love his defensive intelligence, how he plays possum on the press - watch him sort of dummy to close down one player, bait the pass, then spring into the passing lane and come up with an interception.

Didn't have a good game today, looks tired, but he'll continue to a big player for us.

Still absolutely think we need a controller beside him though. Angelo Stiller looks the best bet. Averaging nearly 100 passes a game at a high % while still being very creative/progressive, has a physical presence too.

 

[Pav1878]

I was iffy on him at first, mostly because I really wanted a controller in midfield, but I think he's great now. One of a handful of players in the squad that I absolutely think could be part of a team challenging for titles.

Love his defensive intelligence, how he plays possum on the press - watch him sort of dummy to close down one player, bait the pass, then spring into the passing lane and come up with an interception.

Didn't have a good game today, looks tired, but he'll continue to a big player for us.

Still absolutely think we need a controller beside him though. Angelo Stiller looks the best bet. Averaging nearly 100 passes a game at a high % while still being very creative/progressive, has a physical presence too.

Yeah but I just think his nose would be too distracting for our players. Wow.

 

[OleGunnar20]

Big fan of Ugarte. Once the team around him improves I think he'll be an important cog in the system.

He was poor today for sure, but this kind of player is never going to drag the team through on his back ala prime Bruno or current Amad. He's a cog in what we hope will become a functioning system.

I'm more worried about Mainoo's trajectory at the moment to be honest, as I'm not sure what we're hoping to mould him into.

 

[Rojofiam]

So, we bought a DM for big money who cannot cover big spaces, has a below average passing range, and doesn't bring enough physicality to the midfield, which are probably the three biggest things our midfield needed from a hypothetical new DM to partner Mainoo or any future number #8 signing, and in this thread people are somehow arriving at the conclusion that the bigger issue is Mainoo in front of Ugarte? Ffs...

By the way, Collyer provides 2 of those 3 things I listed above except for the passing range...but United fans are completely ignoring how bad of a fit Ugarte is, and prioritizing him over a gem of a talent in Mainoo, because he's showing passion and doing his relentless shin-kicking every game...

It's like prioritizing Wataru Endo over a 20 year old Thiago Alcantara when building a midfield for the long-term

 

[Rojofiam]

He's showing the same flaws that made Enrique sell him.

Doesn't offer much with his passing and is easily bypassed in midfield.

He's like a smaller Palhinha with shorter limbs too...who posters on here didn't want when I recommended him because he's not good enough on the ball. But Palhinha would've raised the physical flooring of the midfield massively and also would've made us better at defending transitions. Ugarte was at best a marginal upgrade over a washed up Casemiro and not starter level Amrabat in these aspects.

Now, not being able to pass or cover space is not a problem for Ugarte apparently and the real issue is we don't have a good partner for him...but the reality is that you could go out and buy any midfielder in the world, even a Rodri or a Rice, and them + Mainoo is an infinitely better midfield than them + Ugarte. And "them" can be almost any midfielder in the world, not just Rodri/Rice, who we obvously cannot attain.

 

[Zed is not dead]

I had my fair share of doubts about him, but I was quite surprised by how quickly he’s adapted.

However I’m still seeing one of the biggest flaws I used to see with him at PSG, and it’s not his passing, but his positioning. He can easily be dragged out of position and overcommit, leaving lot of space behind him once he’s bypassed.

He’s more of an advanced destroyer than a « mop up in front of the defence » midfielder

 

[Danny]

I had my fair share of doubts about him, but I was quite surprised by how quickly he’s adapted.

However I’m still seeing one of the biggest flaws I used to see with him at PSG, and it’s not his passing, but his positioning. He can easily be dragged out of position and overcommit, leaving lot of space behind him once he’s bypassed.

He’s more of an advanced destroyer than a « mop up in front of the defence » midfielder

He's a ball chaser. Which is okay in a solid team set up but not at the moment as it leaves to many gaps that others don't fill when he vacates. Good player though

 

[sglowrider]

He needs a rest. He just has done too many miles in such a short period. Was going to take a dip as a result.

 

[flameinthesun]

He needs a rest. He just has done too many miles in such a short period. Was going to take a dip as a result.

Definitely could do with a slight rest, however, I think it's just more to do with the fact he has to cover so much ground. If he plays with Mainoo, Eriksen or Casemiro he pretty much has to cover the ground of 2 CMs. At least with Bruno next to him he has someone who can run. As part of our medium-term goals, we should look at finding him an appropriate partner. They don't need to be all action like him but have to at least be able to cover more ground than the likes of Mainoo and Eriksen.

 

[antohan]

Still absolutely think we need a controller beside him though. Angelo Stiller looks the best bet. Averaging nearly 100 passes a game at a high % while still being very creative/progressive, has a physical presence too.

Agree on the partner profile, although I don't know this specific one much at all.

Things that look pretty clear to me: 1) Toby is a decent backup/rotation option and Case can go off to Saudi, 2) Kobbie is getting shoe-horned there and getting lambasted when I reckon he is a better fit in an AM role. Would like to see him there, stick Bruno in CM, maybe even Eriksen when we go back to a game a week but we have to give Kobbie that shot before his confidence gets shot. 3) All that exercise may be pointless without proper wingbacks. We may keep tinkering and arriving at wrong conclusions without the appropriate rails either side of the spine.

 

[GueRed]

Looks knackered already.

Probably just too many games..

Didn't Amorim say recently Ugarte takes longer than usual between games to recover?