Mats Hummels

I don't get it. Fairly reliable journos keep saying he is a target. Yet there's never any real talk about it.

Hopefully this one escalates after the season ends. My favorite defender and IMO the best.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I don't get it. Fairly reliable journos keep saying he is a target. Yet there's never any real talk about it.

Hopefully this one escalates after the season ends. My favorite defender and IMO the best.
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Do you really think his defending is better than Smalling's these days? He's making too many mistakes for that to be the case. Still very good on the ball
 
Rozay said:
As I said in another thread, huge question marks over him (and Gundogan). We have has beens up front already, if we start adding in other areas with players who haven't produced their best for a couple of years we take a risk of heading in the wrong direction as a team.
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Agree. I don't think either player are right for us.
 
Ekeke said:
Do you really think his defending is better than Smalling's these days? He's making too many mistakes for that to be the case. Still very good on the ball
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I think he is. From what I saw from Dortmund in the CL and Germany in the World Cup.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I think he is. From what I saw from Dortmund in the CL and Germany in the World Cup.
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I havent been watching Dortmund closely, but have been watching their highlights and he seems to make defensive errors leading to goals a lot more often than Smalling
 
What is sure, it's that Hummels, to shine, needs a Vidic type of player next to him. A warrior, when he's more a Ferdinand style. I think that he can play well next to Jones who is more a fighter than Smalling, or Rojo who relishes more the duels, but it's true that if we want to recruit Hummels this summer, we'll have to settle a partnership at the back and it's still unclear how he can fits with our current center back

In an ideal world, you would recruit Hummels and an other defender, but with Smalling having a good season, and Jones maturing (a bit) we can still see
 
Ekeke said:
I havent been watching Dortmund closely, but have been watching their highlights and he seems to make defensive errors leading to goals a lot more often than Smalling
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I think the two together would make a decent partnership. Anyway hopefully we see Hummels in the PL next season one way or another because i think he will prove alot of people wrong
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I think the two together would make a decent partnership. Anyway hopefully we see Hummels in the PL next season one way or another because i think he will prove alot of people wrong
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Yes I think they'd balance themelves out quite nicely as a pairing. I'm just not convinced that Hummels is a better out and out defender at this point. And god forbid if LVG swaps Hummels in for Smalling and tries to play Rojo/left footer
 
Chaky_Best said:
What is sure, it's that Hummels, to shine, needs a Vidic type of player next to him. A warrior, when he's more a Ferdinand style. I think that he can play well next to Jones who is more a fighter than Smalling, or Rojo who relishes more the duels, but it's true that if we want to recruit Hummels this summer, we'll have to settle a partnership at the back and it's still unclear how he can fits with our current center back

In an ideal world, you would recruit Hummels and an other defender, but with Smalling having a good season, and Jones maturing (a bit) we can still see
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He did fine with Boateng, who is more similar to Smalling rather than Vidic.
 
Chaky_Best said:
What is sure, it's that Hummels, to shine, needs a Vidic type of player next to him. A warrior, when he's more a Ferdinand style.
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This is bad news then, my opinion is that Jones, Evans and Smalling need that too. They haven't turned to poo overnight.
 
Id have to disagree with Hargreaves here. Pique isn't the fastest either(although he can be deceptively quick) but he's probably been the best defender in Europe this season despite playing a high line.

Owen Hargreaves: 'Manchester United should not sign Mats Hummels'

"He's a ball player, but he's not the quickest and if you're going to be high up the pitch, he's not the quickest turner and I think he could get exposed," Hargreaves, who made 39 appearances for United, told BT Sport.

"Teams are going to be after him, but you've got to look at it and consider what you need. How is he going to fit in? I think Man United need a powerful defender - a Boateng-esque player, who is very physical and very aggressive and that is definitely not Hummels."

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footbal...m=related-box-widget&li_campaign=related_test
 
So basically Hargreaves thinks we need Smalling and Jones? Because they are what he is describing in that last line. I am not heavily on the Hummels bandwagon but he seems to have somehow missed that we have two CB's already in the mold he says we need and that we are in need of a ball playing CB to compliment one of them, as neither are very good at bringing it out and this seems to be something LvG demands his CB's do.
 
if you're going to be high up the pitch
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Never happened with Van Gaal, with Holland as well, for this players like Vlaar and De Vrij looked like better than what they are for real
 
Hargreaves is clueless, just the typical PL pundit stuff, he is slow, can't play in a high line bullshit. It's not like he is playing already in a high line for Germany and Dortmund and had some fantastic games there. He is not fast at all, but he is also not slower than a lot of other defenders who played in the PL and for us, especially with Smalling it shouldn't be a problem at all. I also don't think we need another agressive defender type, an intelligent leader who is good with the ball is what I want and what we need.

Injuries are my only concern, that's a reason to say no to Hummels, the other crap is just typical Hargreaves stuff.
 
Pyroblazer said:
Hargreaves is clueless, just the typical PL pundit stuff, he is slow, can't play in a high line bullshit. It's not like he is playing already in a high line for Germany and Dortmund and had some fantastic games there. He is not fast at all, but he is also not slower than a lot of other defenders who played in the PL and for us, especially with Smalling it shouldn't be a problem at all. I also don't think we need another agressive defender type, an intelligent leader who is good with the ball is what I want and what we need.

Injuries are my only concern, that's a reason to say no to Hummels, the other crap is just typical Hargreaves stuff.
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Exactly. Ferdinand was the ball player alongside the destroyer Vidic. Smalling - Hummels would work imo.
 
Silverman said:
Exactly. Ferdinand was the ball player alongside the destroyer Vidic. Smalling - Hummels would work imo.
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Ferdinand was quick, Ferdinand was a much better defender than Hummels (positioning, tackling) and we played a deep line anyway which suited Vidić a lot.

Please, just watch few of the BVB games this season. Their whole defense is a joke. No organization, no defending, nothing. Their attacking play is actually good (shit finishing and often the last pass, but the way how they attack was actually quite good, a lot better than than the statistics shows).
 
We need someone to take charge of the defence and organise them along with the keeper in order to leave as few gaps and holes as possible. Next season if De Gea leaves, finding an authoritative keeper is just as imperative as signing a world class defender. We need to make sure we have the right balance of players and a great organisation.

Is Hummels that guy? He certainly is a commanding figure but does he read the game well, can he put out a fire before it starts? These are the main questions we need to ponder before taking a plunge on a name.
 
Silverman said:
Exactly. Ferdinand was the ball player alongside the destroyer Vidic. Smalling - Hummels would work imo.
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who would be vidic and who would be rio in that pertnership??

personally i dont think we should go for him. I would prefer to sign an experianced defender who has been about and will organise. Chialini.....somebody like that. John Terry would be ideal but that obviousley wont happen. Just to get a couple of years out of them.

individually our centre backs are not as bad as people make out. the problem we have with them is their injury records. but they are big lads and still young. They should hopefully be now past the stage of "growing into their frames"

If you look at first choice back fours from current top teams squads then given the age of ours i personally wouldnt swap them. We just need somebody to help Smalling, Jones and Rojo fulfill theor potential. If Smalling Jones and Shaw all reach their potential then very soon we have 3/4 of United and ENglands back four for the forseeable future.

the shambolic defending at times has come about due to a change of shape, playing style and most of all injuries.

I think Rio benefitted enormousley from 6 months with Laurent Blanc. I think Smalling, Jones and Rojo could all, by the end of next season be held in higher regard than Hummels is now!
 
I think we have a very promising young defence, but it probably does need a leader.
 
Smalling has pretty much taken on the leadership mantle this season. He took a CB defense of Blackett and McNair and almost got a clean sheet at the Emirates and formed pretty strong/encouraging partnerships with both Rojo and Jones.

Maybe if we buy him a right back, he can stay in his position more often and do more of that leading.
 
Skills said:
Smalling has pretty much taken on the leadership mantle this season. He took a CB defense of Blackett and McNair and almost got a clean sheet at the Emirates and formed pretty strong/encouraging partnerships with both Rojo and Jones.

Maybe if we buy him a right back, he can stay in his position more often and do more of that leading.
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Smalling alone is not good enough either. People here praising our players just way too early after a few decent peformances here and there. I hope Smalling can continue like that, but he is nowhere near a world beater. Jones shouldn't be a starter in any team with title ambitions and Rojo also needs to prove a lot more. None of our defenders is an intelligent one who can also do something with the ball on his feet. We need a top signing here without a doubt. In the end it was De Gea who saved us several times and still we rarely got any clean sheets because any of our defenders fecked it up. Without De Gea we would probably conceded around 40-50 goals in the league, that's not good enough by any means.
That's why it's also important to keep Dave, I think even someone like Cech could struggle in our system. Our defenders just love to do some shitty backpasses and put DDG under pressure, he handled that really well with his technical ability, the Jones brainfart moment against Arsenal was just another example, a lot of goalkeepers would have looked really silly with us over the course of this season.
 
jojose said:
who would be vidic and who would be rio in that pertnership??

personally i dont think we should go for him. I would prefer to sign an experianced defender who has been about and will organise. Chialini.....somebody like that. John Terry would be ideal but that obviousley wont happen. Just to get a couple of years out of them.

individually our centre backs are not as bad as people make out. the problem we have with them is their injury records. but they are big lads and still young. They should hopefully be now past the stage of "growing into their frames"

If you look at first choice back fours from current top teams squads then given the age of ours i personally wouldnt swap them. We just need somebody to help Smalling, Jones and Rojo fulfill theor potential. If Smalling Jones and Shaw all reach their potential then very soon we have 3/4 of United and ENglands back four for the forseeable future.

the shambolic defending at times has come about due to a change of shape, playing style and most of all injuries.

I think Rio benefitted enormousley from 6 months with Laurent Blanc. I think Smalling, Jones and Rojo could all, by the end of next season be held in higher regard than Hummels is now!
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Chiellini or Thiago Silva would be my #1 picks but there is no way Juve or PSG would let them go.
Unless we can work out a swap with PSG for ADM to get Silva (or Verratti).

Juve will have money to burn when they sell Pogba this summer.
 
My 2 cents on Hummels:

He'd fit right in under van Gaal, a ball playing defender who's smart and can play in a high defensive line. Currently we've only got Smalling and Rojo who are decent at this, so I think this will definately be a quality he's looking for in a centreback (or he believes he can teach a player this). I wouldn't be surprised at all if we get him and I'd be pleased too, he can play with any of our current defenders. I still have a few doubts about him though:

He's right footed. I know he's good with his left and plays LCB, but I still think van Gaal would prefer a left footer to partner Smalling if one is available. This would mean he potentially has another leftback, without buying one to get in the way of Shaw too. This way he has his balance, 2 left footers and 2 right footers.

We have injury prone defenders. If, like many think, we sell Evans and bring in Hummels, would we have solved that problem? I don't think we have, Hummels injury record isn't the best and we would (especially with CL&cups) still need to rely on Blackett and McNair alot, which is fine for a few matches but isn't ideal longterm.

'We need a leader at the back' - I personally agree with this, but does van Gaal? Smalling has already been promoted to 3rd captain and might be our leader. LvG's motto is: if you're good enough, you're old enough. He's used (younger) Seedorf alot as example when talking about experience, and said he doesn't value it as much. Therefore he might prefer a Laporte, a 20yr old lefty, over the experienced Hummels.

I have no idea who he wants, because I don't know what aspect he will value most.
 
All our centerbacks are woeful bringing it out from the back, if anyone believes Smalling to be a ball playing centerhalf they should rewatch the West Brom gave where he continually struggled to bring it out with any emphasis.
Everytime I've sat down to watch Hummels for Dortmund (not that often admittedly) he hasn't looked the domineering 30mill+ centerhalf he's described to be, though for Germany he's not looked out of place, so with decent defensive coaching and better players around him you'd figure he'd do better here.

The fact we're trying more and more to play a highline does worry me, those comparing the Vidic & Ferdinand, for one Rio was one of the quickest centerbacks we've had, and Vidic certinaly wasn't some plodder at his prime either.
 
Shame, thought he would of been good for us,

I actually wanted Laporte more than Hummels anyway but I guess him being 20 people might say we need experience in there but the guys been playing first team football in La Liga for a few seasons now so age is a number and all, I also really don't want Otamendi.

New RB - Smalling - Laporte - Shaw

or

New RB - Smalling - Laporte - Rojo

Think that looks good considering we also have Jones in the mix and Paddy as back up,

RB:New RB/Valencia/Rafael?

CB: Smalling/Jones/Laporte/Paddy/Rojo

LB: Shaw/Blind/Rojo
 
I get the impression we decided against buying him....I suspect we will now go for the Ottemendi or Laporte.
 
So who's Michael Zorc and how reliable are Kicker?
 
Seems like this has been the case for ages. Hopefully that's the last time we go in for him.
 
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