Manuel Ugarte | Romano - he’s signed | Awaiting Club announcement

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We need an aggressive defensive midfielder to be next to Mainoo. Mainoo can grow, we have very good playmakers out the back as well. Ugarte is good on the ball, he's just not creative but that's fine. He keeps it well and isn't a liability or a time bomb. Defensively off the ball is our biggest issue and he helps that a ton.
 
Great video. It’s clear that Ugarte is much better on the ball than Big Scott
 
zenith said:
A bit tired of some folks constantly bemoaning the lack of a quality passer over an out and out destroyer types. I swear half the caf would have not wanted Keane at the heart of our midfield because he had 'limited passing ability'. I mean we do have bruno, mainoo and mount for that.

What we don't seem to have its the energy, athleticism and bite in our midfield to counter teams and get possession back or at least harrow the oppositions midfield.

I know it sounds very anti football these days but I'd love to see us playing with quick passing, flying wingers and lethal strikers who are capable of attacking in waves if required and not always look to pass teams to death which Seems like an unhealthy obsession and to me at least. Wish we'd see a throwback to united with a battler in midfield and that's something very eagerly awaited.
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Well, Keane was the heartbeat of the team and the first pass of our attacking moves back in the day but i get your point in general. If this guy can cover a lot of ground, win a lot of tackles and just keep things ticking over in the midfield then he sounds ideal to go alongside players like Mainoo and Bruno.

91% passing accuracy is very good, even if it is just recycling possession and giving it to the better players. Basically we just want a Casemiro that can actually cover a lot of ground.
 
Irwin99 said:
Well, Keane was the heartbeat of the team and the first pass of our attacking moves back in the day but i get your point in general. If this guy can cover a lot of ground, win a lot of tackles and just keep things ticking over in the midfield then he sounds ideal to go alongside players like Mainoo and Bruno.

91% passing accuracy is very good, even if it is just recycling possession and giving it to the better players. Basically we just want a Casemiro that can actually cover a lot of ground.
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Yeah you are absolutely spot on
 
zenith said:
A bit tired of some folks constantly bemoaning the lack of a quality passer over an out and out destroyer types. I swear half the caf would have not wanted Keane at the heart of our midfield because he had 'limited passing ability'. I mean we do have bruno, mainoo and mount for that.

What we don't seem to have its the energy, athleticism and bite in our midfield to counter teams and get possession back or at least harrow the oppositions midfield.

I know it sounds very anti football these days but I'd love to see us playing with quick passing, flying wingers and lethal strikers who are capable of attacking in waves if required and not always look to pass teams to death which Seems like an unhealthy obsession and to me at least. Wish we'd see a throwback to united with a battler in midfield and that's something very eagerly awaited.
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The team's performance improved noticeably when Eriksen, a player with exceptional passing ability, played regularly. While Mainoo and Mount excel at carrying the ball and have great short-passing skills, they lack the long-passing range needed to find Rashford, Højlund, and Garnacho when they make runs behind the defense. Therefore, we need a holding midfielder capable of making long, line-breaking passes to complement either Mainoo or Mount. I personally have doubts about Ugarte's ability to fulfill this role, which means a lot of the burden for creating those passes will once again fall on Bruno.
 
I like that he wins things a bit higher up. The positional discipline i think could come too but that natural aggression and tenacity to supplement our players, add steel would be welcome. I think even if he isn't that technically gifted playmaker-ish more all rounded midfielder he's a very welcome addition to the squad, one that we can say would adapt well to the league. And there's enough there in his non-defensive aspects to merit his signing, e.g. press resistant
 
If he is physical, smart, athletic with bite in him this is what we need. As long as he is decent passer of the ball he will work great. The squad is crying out for a player like that.
 
BenitoSTARR said:
Exactly, they aren’t an easy club to arrange that kind of deal with and as you say it’s been widely reported that other clubs have tried and not managed to agree to terms. Theres a lot of barriers to it happening so I’m not optimistic on it.

I think we will more likely go for an Ugarte type and try to dominate games by pressing higher and narrowing the space in the final and middle thirds more. Rather than using possession and positional play to dominate and pin teams back I think we’ll be happy enough losing possession with more risk and trying to win it back quickly.

I don’t think with Bruno in the side we can bring in any controller and expect us to be more possession oriented. It’s not playing to his strengths nor his nature and he’s our best player.

I mentioned Stiller in my earlier post as someone who, if we’re mainly considering ball progression as the desired strength of our CM/DM, would be a good option.

Ultimately seeing how our first two deals have been made I’m happy to trust INEOS with their decisions this window.

Smaller sample size and Amrabat’s minutes come from less competitive phases of games and competitions.

I’d comfortably say that the eye test here proves Zubimendi is better than Amrabat on the ball.
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You make some good points and I do broadly agree with what you're saying. But unless we sign another midfielder with the requisite skilset I believe the in-possession control will have to come via the CBs and fullbacks. I think Ugarte is a good player but he's not a player who will eat up ground quickly or provide the athleticism in midfield that is required for teams who commit a high volume of players into the opponents half in a higher defensive line. So yes he will add intensity to our play but he's not the best at covering large spaces and neither does he look particularly physically imposing standing at around 5'9, even though Google tells us he's 6ft tall.

He's a good player who plays with high intensity and work rate but not a physically or athletically gifted player and also isn't particularly good aerially. I think a loan with a option to buy would probably best suit us and I hope we also sign another midfielder at least because currently we lack physicality and athleticism in midfield. Ugarte's game mostly revolves around his defensive actions and I think there's better options for us if we want to target a player who raises our physical and athletic capability from midfield in a EPL that is physically and athletically very demanding. So I do expect Ugarte to have good games for us like Fred and Herrera in the past where they stopped the opposition from playing in a deeper block but I think the quality in-possession as far as imposing our own game on the opposition will have to come from the GK, CBs, fullbacks and midfielders like Mainoo who's still nowhere near the finished article. I'm also keeping a close eye on Toby Collyer to see how he performs during the preseason games.

I hope for a good start to the season and I will be back in a few months time. So if someone wants to engage in discussion, then it's not that i'm ignoring you guys but rather i'm away from home for a while due to work commitments and won't be able to engage in discussion.
 
I can’t say I’ve seen Ugarte play all that much but our midfield needs a little bit more tenacity and aggression because far too often the opposition are able to slice through our midfield with ease. Long term I’d love for us to have someone like Rodri who is equally good physically as they are technically but there isn’t many players in that mould around in the market at the moment.
 
Cantonagotmehere said:
If he is physical, smart, athletic with bite in him this is what we need. As long as he is decent passer of the ball he will work great. The squad is crying out for a player like that.
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Well if you look at the Sporting highlights there is more evidence of his ability to pass better
 
McFred said:
Good post - I think Ugarte is the one who helps rectify the crippling lack of physicality and athleticism in the midfield, and to me that is even more pressing than the ball progression point at the moment. I think we can get by with other avenues to consistently progress the ball (primarily through Shaw/Martinez) but while we have such a physical deficit in the middle of the pitch and can’t win any duels we are liable to concede against almost anyone, and that’s why I like the profile of Ugarte at the moment
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My thinking as well
 
McFred said:
Good post - I think Ugarte is the one who helps rectify the crippling lack of physicality and athleticism in the midfield, and to me that is even more pressing than the ball progression point at the moment. I think we can get by with other avenues to consistently progress the ball (primarily through Shaw/Martinez) but while we have such a physical deficit in the middle of the pitch and can’t win any duels we are liable to concede against almost anyone, and that’s why I like the profile of Ugarte at the moment
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Is he strong and mobile? I ask becuase in the clips he doesn’t look very big and the often players who were fine in other leagues get found out for a lack of physical presence and athleticism in the PL. Amrabat for example may have impressed elsewhere but he’s too slow and weak for this league.
 
I'd love a brilliant passer dictating play from the base of our midfield, but having spent all last season watching teams walk right through our soft centre I don't think there should be any fans not excited by the prospect of an energetic, tough tackling midfielder.
 
didz said:
And yet we still signed one to replace the other. There are several ways to build a good team.
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absolutely there are but in this specific case it wouldn't make as much sense b/c we have Kobbie who would play more of that carrick role much like he did for england this summer with Rice playign the lone 6
 
Globule said:
I'd love a brilliant passer dictating play from the base of our midfield, but having spent all last season watching teams walk right through our soft centre I don't think there should be any fans not excited by the prospect of an energetic, tough tackling midfielder.
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I still think we are looking, however getting a mobile DM has to be priority for this summer
 
Adnan said:
You make some good points and I do broadly agree with what you're saying. But unless we sign another midfielder with the requisite skilset I believe the in-possession control will have to come via the CBs and fullbacks. I think Ugarte is a good player but he's not a player who will eat up ground quickly or provide the athleticism in midfield that is required for teams who commit a high volume of players into the opponents half in a higher defensive line. So yes he will add intensity to our play but he's not the best at covering large spaces and neither does he look particularly physically imposing standing at around 5'9, even though Google tells us he's 6ft tall.

He's a good player who plays with high intensity and work rate but not a physically or athletically gifted player and also isn't particularly good aerially. I think a loan with a option to buy would probably best suit us and I hope we also sign another midfielder at least because currently we lack physicality and athleticism in midfield. Ugarte's game mostly revolves around his defensive actions and I think there's better options for us if we want to target a player who raises our physical and athletic capability from midfield in a EPL that is physically and athletically very demanding. So I do expect Ugarte to have good games for us like Fred and Herrera in the past where they stopped the opposition from playing in a deeper block but I think the quality in-possession as far as imposing our own game on the opposition will have to come from the GK, CBs, fullbacks and midfielders like Mainoo who's still nowhere near the finished article. I'm also keeping a close eye on Toby Collyer to see how he performs during the preseason games.

I hope for a good start to the season and I will be back in a few months time. So if someone wants to engage in discussion, then it's not that i'm ignoring you guys but rather i'm away from home for a while due to work commitments and won't be able to engage in discussion.
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I think the plan is for Martinez to be our equivalent of that midfielder.

So rather than thinking about our first receiver being a DM and playmaking under pressure I think the plan will be to have Martinez get it off Onana and break the press with Mainoo/Mount as the players receiving on the half turn to progress us.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make Ugarte work and I think that will be it potentially so you almost have the deep playmaker being another 5 yards deeper which does two things for us which I’m ok with:
  1. Drawing Opponents Out - It forces an opponent to press our back line
  2. Creates Space In Opponents Half - For Rashford/Garnacho/Højlund
Now obviously need to see this with the relevant players to confirm but once that first pass is made into midifeld we then have Ugarte in a position to break up any counter pressing that then occurs and have players like Mainoo and Mount comfortable on the half term and very good at playing pass and move in those midfield areas.

Personally think if we were going to go for just a play breaker that Ugarte isn’t the best option around but he’s still a very good player for that and I can sort of see how Ugarte, Zirkzse and Yoro would enable us to play the transitional football a bit better.
 
How come sky sports have got him down as a defender? There’s a statement on there that says PSG are after a trio of signings while trying to offload there defender Manuel Ugarte.
 
This is a great, unsexy signing that will actually make the team much better. I think his impact could be similar to Palhinha's to Fulham, which I think was massive. Similar skills IMHO.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Is he strong and mobile? I ask becuase in the clips he doesn’t look very big and the often players who were fine in other leagues get found out for a lack of physical presence and athleticism in the PL. Amrabat for example may have impressed elsewhere but he’s too slow and weak for this league.
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He’s really strong - seen a few people mention Palhinha and that’s what he reminds me of as well from a strength and power perspective. Put it this way, I’d fancy him in a 50/50 against anyone in our current midfield, and I’d fancy him to last 90 mins better than all of them too.
 




Worth giving this guy on twitter a follow. Interesting compilations and analysis you don't usually get on youtube.
 
criticalanalysis said:




Worth giving this guy on twitter a follow. Interesting compilations and analysis you don't usually get on youtube.
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Not to sound unkind but that first video is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

Between 23 seconds and 44 seconds makes me really question what that person thinks "under pressure" means.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Not to sound unkind but that first video is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

Between 23 seconds and 44 seconds makes me really question what that person thinks "under pressure" means.
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Tie his lands and legs and ask him to do a Kerlon like seal dribble past 6 defenders. While we're at it, have a sniper threaten to shoot him if he fails. If he can't pass this pressure test, he's a phony and we shouldn't sign him.
 
bringbackbebe said:
Tie his lands and legs and ask him to do a Kerlon like seal dribble past 6 defenders. While we're at it, have a sniper threaten to shoot him if he fails. If he can't pass this pressure test, he's a phony and we shouldn't sign him.
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A player in his position doing random juggling and keeps ups would be more silly than your post.

Playing passes that McTominay would play 100 times out of 100 is also a useless thing to look at.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
A player in his position doing random juggling and keeps ups would be more silly than your post.

Playing passes that McTominay would play 100 times out of 100 is also a useless thing to look at.
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That's exactly it. He's a deep lying defensive midfielder and it's more critical how he enhances overall team play rather than how he gets out of isolated instances. Most DMs fly under the radar with nothing magical, but will improve everyone around them.
 
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