Mason Mount's Many Misfortunes (please don't make another waste of money post)

I already made my mind up, he is bang average. He is not an unknown quantity. The new Lingard it seems, he will be young forever.

We should have a veto at club level outside the manager, and someone should have used it in this case to stop the manager from buying tomorrow's deadwood on high wages. Both parties should agree and someone should have raised concerns.
 
The season hasn't even started yet...
Too true. The haters on here before a ball has been kicked is disgusting. Lets play half a dozen or so games first before we judge whether Mount, the team TH tactics etc are useless or not.
 
Seasons not even started and i see posters already getting on Mounts back. Ffs get behind the players, new and old give them a chance before you make up your tiny minds.
supporters my arse.

Get behind the players, new and old? Is this getting behind the players too?.....

We need to shift mctominay or fred for £30mil and maguire £30mil. Williams £5mil.
martial £25mil
 
Issue with Mount is that he's not a 8, not a 10, not a winger and it's really difficult to judge.

Also, when you see Chelsea having Caicedo and Lavia, maybe people think that we should have spend the Mount money on another player.

So I suppose that this is purely personal taste and how we hope the team plays (with a more traditional 8 or another 6)

Think we need to give him time, but I suppose that him, and the money spent, Onana and the 12 years of De Gea + Hojlund scoring abilities will be the thematic of the season
 
I already made my mind up, he is bang average. He is not an unknown quantity. The new Lingard it seems, he will be young forever.

We should have a veto at club level outside the manager, and someone should have used it in this case to stop the manager from buying tomorrow's deadwood on high wages. Both parties should agree and someone should have raised concerns.

I thought this post was satire at first, but it's actually serious. What an embarrassing post.
 
Mount will do well for the club, can see him getting a goal today
 
I already made my mind up, he is bang average. He is not an unknown quantity. The new Lingard it seems, he will be young forever.

We should have a veto at club level outside the manager, and someone should have used it in this case to stop the manager from buying tomorrow's deadwood on high wages. Both parties should agree and someone should have raised concerns.
Good lord.
 
Seems like Erik brought him in because he runs around a lot. Just like Weghorst was brought in for the same attribute. His strikers need to run around a lot, his midfielders need to run around a lot but his goalkeeper needs to be Paul Scholes.

Seems a bit backwards to me. Why not get a silky smooth midfielder, a striker who can actually score goals and a goalkeeper who does what his position suggests?
This is funny. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Terrible post but funny as hell. Kudos to you.
 
Couldn’t we have just used the old Donny for that and saved ourselves a couple of quid?
There are serious doubts about Mount the CM for me, but what isn't in doubt for a single second is his speed of thought, tactical understanding and ability to exploit situations. In fact, before any physical attributes, this is the primary for Mount - there are few who see and react to the happenings on a pitch faster than him in the entire league, let alone in our team.

He's a player managers will always find a use for because he'll find a way to adapt whilst still offering attributes everyone wants in a team, namely dogged determination, adroitness and the discipline to go again and again with full concentration and no lapses.

Before we factor in his physical attributes, we should look at his guile and focus - he remains unperturbed even when having a torrid game; he doesn't flap, wilt or fade; he's a guy you can bet on to to be in the running to take on a chance in the 95th minute where others are already switched off and/or exhausted; he's the guy still running when everyone else has stopped. His physical qualities aid this, but primarily it is intelligence and mental fortitude he has in bucketloads and what affords him the potential to be a resounding success here in terms of effectiveness and bang-for-buck.

He is the antithesis of a player like Van de Beek - by their very natures VdB is not equipped to do what Mount does - Donny wilts in pressurised environments, Mount thrives in them. Van de Beek might even be tidier, more technically able player in terms of passing and connecting play, but he has no nerves at this level of play and I'm not sure his mind can keep up with the pace things need to be done at for him to be effective.

On top of that is the character to fail or make mistakes and not let them affect your game. Mount's head won't drop and he'll be just as determined from one play to the next; we have very few players with that kind of constitution and I would expect Mount to make a name for himself popping up with decisive actions late in games where others are giving up. I'll never expect the same of VdB.

Mount is a perfunctory player; no thrills, very little flash, but extremely effective. In fact there's an irony to his understanding of play being fans will chide his finishing yet fail to recognise he read an entire play and worked himself into the position for the take on, which he is then being criticised for. He has a lot of subtlety interlaced with the grunt work, and if we can get it to click, there are very few in the league who can replicate his combination of physical and mental attributes.

I am not a particular fan of the player nor do I think he's the best use of funds, but there's no question at all that he can make a name for himself here if correctly utilised and become an essential cog in the machine to the point we have nobody else who can fill his shoes when he's absent. The question is whether we'll draw that out with the proposed system and positioning or whether it'll collapse and need amending. I have serious doubts about his raw quality as an #8, but I do think we and he will find a way to adapt and optimise if things aren't working initially and there aren't many players with the capacity to do that.
 
I'm confident he will get a goal tonight. He gets into scoring positions and sooner or later, he will tuck one away.

Also, feels like all debutants score at Old Trafford.
 
Wonder if that was centrally or on the left/right. Would be a good thing if it's not central.

It says left but usually who scored is not reliable.

I think he was more attacking player.
 
It says left but usually who scored is not reliable.

I think he was more attacking player.
It would be great if it weren't central (for the benefit of his experience as a 2-way CM), but if I'm not mistaken, he made all of his name in that AM role, which we're not intending to start off with.
 
The game is evolving. There aren't too many Scholes or Xavi or Pirlo in the game anymore. And the ones who are (like Modric) are not already taken by top teams. I am sure ETH would love to get one if he had but his way is to work around the deficiency by getting goalkeeper and CB comfortable in being playmakers. Let's see first how ETH's newly worked side does before complaining, shall we?
What is the game evolving into. People keep saying for example there's a dearth of top class strikers, center backs and now passing midfielders. Seems like the cost of players is shooting up but the individual quality of players is going down. Rant over
 
He could have chosen anyone in the world other than Mount to partner Casemiro and Bruno in our midfield. My problem is the type of transfers being made. He wants to play "modern" football and looks for a goalkeeper who's top attribute is his passing, thats fine. But then the midfielder that we desperately need, that he gets is a second number 10 just like Bruno. When looking for a midfielder his top attribute should also have been his passing. The inconsistency is doing my head in. If your goalkeeper has to be good on the ball so should your midfield surely?

I bet any money in the world we would be playing better ("modern" :lol: ) football than we are now if we sticked with De Gea but instead built a balanced midfield that can control the game. I like Onana, I'm all for it but for the love of god the same thing should apply to our midfield to.
I don't think he wants lots of possession or midfield control like you're all hoping. He likes counter attack football. Or as you guys call it, fast counter press transition football with quick vertical passing.
 
Let’s hope the Caf give the lad some time to play his way into form and the system. Completely ridiculous hope I know, as I fully expect this thread to get inundated with comments tomorrow like “what’s he actually good at?”, “what’s the point of him?”, “we’ll never win anything with Chelsea rejects”. Etc etc. And someone will definitely mention Caicedo in the match thread.

Meanwhile I am expecting a solid performance from Mason as he adapts to ETHs instructions. I think he’s an excellent fit for what we are clearly trying to do, and we need to give him time. I’m fully convinced that by the end of this season, he will be widely regarded as an excellent signing.
I agree 100% with all of this.

My lingering doubts centre around the system itself, not Mount’s suitability for it; if one is going to play with two 8/10 hybrids ahead of a 6, then it’s good to have him as one of them.

It’s whether the defence can step up to provide the creativity from deep that isn’t really Casemiro’s thing, while also stepping in to provide cover in midfield when it’s needed. The only one who’s shown himself capable of understanding the latter so far has been Dalot, who has his own limitations defending-wise.

If it works it’ll be great; I’m fed up with us always having to fall back to the tired old 4-2-3-1. Fingers crossed…
 
It would be great if it weren't central (for the benefit of his experience as a 2-way CM), but if I'm not mistaken, he made all of his name in that AM role, which we're not intending to start off with.

Yeah, looks like AMs playing as CM is the trend now. First few games still give a clear idea as we have bit difficult games.
 
What is the game evolving into. People keep saying for example there's a dearth of top class strikers, center backs and now passing midfielders. Seems like the cost of players is shooting up but the individual quality of players is going down. Rant over

I hear you man. I think the importance of athleticism is increasing a lot.
 
There's a part of me that worries he will be just like Juan Mata was for us, a decent player who never really seemed to suit our systems. Time will tell of course.
 
There's a part of me that worries he will be just like Juan Mata was for us, a decent player who never really seemed to suit our systems. Time will tell of course.

Mata was a panic buy for a floundering Moyes. By most accounts, Ten Hag has been a fan of Mount for years, and prioritised his signing early.

It's clear as day that Ten Hag has a plan for how to deploy Mount, even if most of us don't get it. I trust our manager to coach the best out of him and its mind boggling to me that so many have lost faith before our first kick of the season.
 
We could sign prime Ronaldinho and Yaya Toure and some people will be finding faults with it as well. I mean why not wait for the season to start, let Mount settle in after a few games and then pass your judgement?
 
Mata was a panic buy for a floundering Moyes. By most accounts, Ten Hag has been a fan of Mount for years, and prioritised his signing early.

It's clear as day that Ten Hag has a plan for how to deploy Mount, even if most of us don't get it. I trust our manager to coach the best out of him and its mind boggling to me that so many have lost faith before our first kick of the season.

That's fair enough I agree we should trust in Ten Hag, so far he's had a mixed time in the transfer market though - Casemiro and Martinez have been fantastic additions whereas Antony has been mediocre, to be generous and looks nothing like an 80m player.

That said I'm hoping we step up now he's had time to mould the team into his image. There can't really be any excuses now.
 
We could sign prime Ronaldinho and Yaya Toure and some people will be finding faults with it as well. I mean why not wait for the season to start, let Mount settle in after a few games and then pass your judgement?

I don't think there's anything wrong with speculating on an online forum, not like anyone is booing him.
 
It's insane how much criticism is levied at him and he's not even played a competitive game for us yet.
 
If he pays at even 70% of what he's shown in the past he will be one of the bargains of the summer when you see the prices some midfielders are going for.
 
There's a part of me that worries he will be just like Juan Mata was for us, a decent player who never really seemed to suit our systems. Time will tell of course.

Mata was always a poor fit.

Mount is a good fit as 1 of the 2 roaming #8s system that Ten Hag wants to employ. How he ends up playing remains to be seen, but his fit into that system can't be questioned.
 
Too much negativity on her about a player that hasn't kicked a ball for us yet in a competitive game. The manager rates him and will build him into his system. Mount has several qualities that I think can be enhanced under the right manager in the right system.

I'm actually backing him to get on the score sheet tonight.
 
Writing off players before they even have a chance to kick a ball has become the standard on here.

For Mount it will just be a matter of getting his sharpness back. He was a very good player at Chelsea but his level went down a bit as did the whole Chelsea team last season.

His hard working attitude on the field at least compensates for his lack of sharpness until he reaches the point of getting his sharpness and confidence back.
 
I already made my mind up, he is bang average. He is not an unknown quantity. The new Lingard it seems, he will be young forever.

We should have a veto at club level outside the manager, and someone should have used it in this case to stop the manager from buying tomorrow's deadwood on high wages. Both parties should agree and someone should have raised concerns.
We should be able to veto posts on the caf.
 
Mata was always a poor fit.

Mount is a good fit as 1 of the 2 roaming #8s system that Ten Hag wants to employ. How he ends up playing remains to be seen, but his fit into that system can't be questioned.
I disagree. Mount hasn't even kicked a ball for us competitively. Also, he was mediocre in the matches I watched last season of him alongside Kovacic, whom I was much more impressed by and thought would have been the better fit for us, considering his ability to progress with the ball. Right now in preseason it's Bruno being forced to drop back to help build up the attack.

I'll agree that the jury is still out, but there's absolutely no reason to censor or criticise the doubts people have of Mount. I hope he does well.
 
We should be supporting Mount and give him a fair chance. If you look at his performances at Vitesse he's involved in many areas of the pitch and I think ETH wants this type of game from him. Mount can be very good at advancing the play so we'll see if it works in the coming months.
 
I definitely think our play will be entertaining to watch, I expect a lot of "3-2s" (high score games) with Mount installed in this formation as an advanced #8. We're basically putting the bodies in high positions so unless we're very tidy and controlled in possession (there's no reason to believe we will be), it will cause a lot of turnovers and counter attacks against high line of defense.
 
I don't think he wants lots of possession or midfield control like you're all hoping. He likes counter attack football. Or as you guys call it, fast counter press transition football with quick vertical passing.
Ten Hag likes tactics that win him games. With this crop of players and the background of the club, that means more quick transitions and pressing.
Note that the players he brought in are all good passers, passing is still an important attribute to our style.