Play him in a solid 3-midfield and he will do well imo
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) get the depressing job of reviewing United's 3-0 loss at Old Trafford to Liverpool. They discuss what went wrong, Casemiro's day to forget, and the pressure now on Erik Ten Hag. They also take some time to give McTominay a proper farewell, and give their overall thoughts on the Summer Transfer Window.
Last season we didn't, but so far this preseason we've gone back to a 4231 with two deeper midfielders.
Don't you think it's an extreme stretch to predict we're going to play this way after a few preseason games? Especially considering that our captain that always plays has not made an appearance yet?
Everything we've seen last season indicates the manager wants two #10s pushing high and not really involved in the buildup. So I don't think the plan is to use Mount as #8, even if I believe this would be the right approach.
I checked and you're right, heatmap suggests Mount and Bruno played more in a 4-1-4-1 shape last season, but I must be going crazy because I distinctly remember games where Mount was the one dropping deeper to pick up the ball next to Casemiro/Amrabat.
Not really, considering that in the first preseason match we clearly had Mount playing deeper while Hannibal was #10. Last season we would have had Mount pushing up as well and leaving Casemiro by himself. We've also effectively played six different lineups (three matches with two completely different teams each half) and I'm pretty sure we've had two deeper midfielders in all of them.
Last season right from the start of the preseason we were leaving one midfielder by himself. It was a very clear tactical change. It's equally clear that, so far at least, he's gone back to two this season. Is it a guarantee that ETH is going to continue that all season? Definitely not. But it's hardly an 'extreme stretch', and indeed it seems the more likely scenario at the moment. Whether it's 100% his own decision or whether it's due to discussions with Wilcox, Ashworth, etc, who knows.
Let's not underestimate the impact an 18-year-old Mainoo (at the time) had on the first team. We should also remember that Mason Mount started last season in an underwhelming fashion, especially in a deeper role. Don't get me wrong, I rate Mount as a player, and if he can stay fit this season, I'm sure he'll do well. However, I'm not convinced he would have performed the Mainoo/McTominay role better.
Ten Hag seems set on playing Mount as an 8, a position both he and Mount agree is his best fit. However, I believe Mount excels more as a 10, where he can leverage his work rate and off-the-ball movement to counter-press and create space, which aligns with what Ten Hag values in his attacking midfielders, as seen with Van de Beek at Ajax.
I'll put it like this: it's a good sign, but I'll believe when I see it in a serious game. Until Bruno is there on the pitch, we can't say much about the shape of the team.
Last season we also played Sancho as a false #9 and people read too much into it, and eventually it was just some minutes for Sancho who was not preferred on either right or left.
I am just very sceptical about what's hapenning in early stages of preseason, not to mention my opinion on ETH and how flexible / adjustable he has proven to be last season.
My vague guess is that this pre-season (and the FA Cup Final) is showing we'll look more like 4-4-2 in defence and try to be more compact to cut down on the sheer number of shots we faced last year, so a double pivot and Mount will have to settle for backing up Bruno.
---------------Hojlund/Zirkzee----------------------------------
--------------------------------------Bruno/Mount----------------
Rashford/Garnacho----------------------Amad/Antony
-----------Mainoo/Eriksen-Casemiro/Collyer---------
is my vague guess at the current front 6 depth chart, with McTominay 3rd choice for basically every position but the wide ones.
And presumably we'll sign a central/defensive midfielder, then you have Eriksen and Collyer as the 4th and 5th choices and obviously they bring different things to the table, assuming Eriksen doesn't leave to go start somewhere they can play him with a DM and a runner and rely on him for creativity, like he did at Brentford.
Number 7 
, who ever sanctioned this deal for 60m "last year on contract" of a mediocre player and gave him the iconic shirt should be investigated by the police.
, who ever sanctioned this deal for 60m "last year on contract" of a mediocre player and gave him the iconic shirt should be investigated by the police.One tackle that I noticed in the first half then two awful passes early in the 2nd half, otherwise anonymous. I suppose he was perhaps unfortunate Amad's pass was too far ahead of him.
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He’s had a good pre-season and is looking quite good at the moment. Gives us an option in there.
Wow, what a player, even if you try to disappear for 90 min, you can, but somehow he manages to be unseen. What a stupid signing and a fecking waste of money.
Didn't get involved enough today, but he's always moving, providing some kind of option.
We'll get him on the ball more with our first choice defence in there.
We'll get him on the ball more with our first choice defence in there.
He has some good moments and he does well in our pressing but you just wish he was a bit better. I think he'll be pretty good this season and he'll do well when we press teams high up the pitch but, I wish he had a bit more to his game.
Easy buddy
I still have no idea what the strategic thinking behind buying Mount was. Tidy player. Does a lot of good things. Was that really worth £50m to us at the moment we signed him..? Just imagine we'd invested in a defensive midfielder instead.
He’s fecking useless but I’ll wait for you all to get sick of him by game week 10 and admit this. Something something CL with chelsea.
incompetence.
Even putting aside my dislike for this type of player — a no.10 whose best traits are running away from the ball and not on it — I still can’t see where he fits unless he’s going to be some sort of supersub. Bruno Fernandes is far and away a better player and will play that position soon, with Zirkzee/Hojlund upfront.
Don't care what anyone says, he's a clear upgrade on van de Beek.
He really is just another invisible midfielder. It's surprising how many of these we sign
He's awful.
The Jimmy Lumsden of football players. He's there, but not too sure what he brings to our club.
Looked well rusty today but I think he'll improve with time and could be an asset once he gets into his stride (I hope).
I think his positioning was useful to the structure of the midfield when the ball moved toward the final third. The issue however was his quality on the ball, not really offering much in possession and he doesn't have the dynamism to offset playing Bruno if both are ever contending for the same position.
He's typical Ozil beyond his prime where the team and tactics has moved beyond requiring the classic number 10 but the said players lack of ability / temperament to navigate deeper areas of midfield renders them useless in most modern systems.
The reality is the midfield needs repairing and Mount was purchased for this very reason so that inwards of itself is a detriment to his influence.
He's in the same boat as Anthony for me, meaning there's not much legroom for them to grow, can someone explain what an inform Mount does for United without the conjecture of what he's done at Chelsea? This is always the result of purchasing limited players.
He's typical Ozil beyond his prime where the team and tactics has moved beyond requiring the classic number 10 but the said players lack of ability / temperament to navigate deeper areas of midfield renders them useless in most modern systems.
The reality is the midfield needs repairing and Mount was purchased for this very reason so that inwards of itself is a detriment to his influence.
He's in the same boat as Anthony for me, meaning there's not much legroom for them to grow, can someone explain what an inform Mount does for United without the conjecture of what he's done at Chelsea? This is always the result of purchasing limited players.
still no idea why we bought him
Has to be one of the most baffling transfers of all time. Yeah, Sancho and maguire could also be questioned, but at least we either needed those players for certain positions and they also had some status when we signed them. Mount was always meh.
The invisible man. As initially feared when we signed him, there just isn’t a place for him in the side. He was never the profile of midfielder we needed and there’s still no place for him. Occasionally, looks tidy but offers so little.
Biggest issue I have with Mount, is that I genuinely have no idea why we signed him.
I think he had moments showing his pressing, but main memory was him overhitting two passes in the second half, that whilst I could see what he was trying to do the execution was awful. He also wasn't on his toes in the first half when Amad cut the ball back towards him.
I think he had moments showing his pressing, but main memory was him overhitting two passes in the second half, that whilst I could see what he was trying to do the execution was awful. He also wasn't on his toes in the first half when Amad cut the ball back towards him.
So we threw away 34m on Van de Beek, didn't use him for 3-4 years to then spend 60m on the English Van de Beek with 1 year left on his deal and now he'll have no real role on our team. What a signing.
200k per week backup for our captain and best player who has one of the best fitness records in world football.
200k per week backup for our captain and best player who has one of the best fitness records in world football.
I like him. Run in the team and consistency and he'll be fine.
Good squad player.
Is he though? It seems to me he's used as a false 9/ box crusher. It's bizarre. I have no idea what is he expected to do actually?
The intention last season was to play one DM with two attacking midfielders. Mount was obviously bought to play that second attacking role next to Bruno, so in theory his signing made sense.
Now, the fact that the entire system was utterly insane and obviously was never going to work is the bigger issue.
What happened to Wee Jimmy anyway? Feel like he completely disappeared from football after Moyes got the sack.
If his name was Mountinho you would all want him! Where those people at that used that line or told us to support Madrid when we said signing him was a terrible idea?
It's funny cos if we had waited and had actually convinced him to come here, he would be here on a free this season.
Anyway I kinda forgot he was playing until he was subbed off
Anyway I kinda forgot he was playing until he was subbed off
Some stat