Not sure he's an option. His loan at Wolves didn't exactly go as planned, so I don't think Jose will consider him for the first team.
Mourinho Presser
- Thread starter Raoul
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Not sure he's an option. His loan at Wolves didn't exactly go as planned, so I don't think Jose will consider him for the first team.
Should give the likes of Mitchell to play and impress first before buying another LB.
That's correct. Which would be a pity, as he played well for us under LVG.
Morata was likely the first choice. RM's just won UCL and doesn't have to sell, Ed probably knew they were just fecking with us
I think Shaw will be ready soon though. No need to buy a LB when we have Blind and Darmian and Shaw on his way back. Even in a pinch we have Mitchell
Those aren't good enough options for a team who should be looking at winning the league. Shaw isn't really ready to be part of a league winning defence.
Bingo
we sold off the majority of our squad just a few seasons ago.
It's obvious just signings alone is not the answer.
I agree. I really think it's from the lack of understanding that team members function in relation to each other. Sometimes, for example your midfielder is passing sidewyas because your attackers are not making runs or creating space. Sometimes he indeed is just not a very creative player. The problem comes when a team fails to create chances, the blame is always on both and they both need an "upgrade". Obviously that doesn't always apply but I see it more and more every year. A team fails in a certain area and the fans and what is even sadder, pundits opinion, is that upgrade is needed in position x and y and z and whatever. It's treating football like a video game.
The other aspect of it is obviously the grass always looks greener. When people act as though there are dozens of players who are better than what we have, it only makes sense if we were finishing in the second half of the table. It just is a logical impossibility that there is so much out there that is clearly an upgrade. There might be system players who can improve us despite their overall level not being a stand out such as Lindelöf or Lukaku and those are the transfers that scouts and managers earn their money at, but I find it amazing that a fan can understand football to that level. This is why it's really just odd to see fans treating such transfers as some sort of instant sign of an upgrade.
He'll miss the first half of the season and then will need even more time to return to form.
Relying on him for next season is wishful thinking more than anything else.
But a lot of fans assume it is improving because they are too familiar with the mistakes of those we already have. Familiarity magnifies everything. If your team is doing well, fans act as though all their players are the best in every position and vice versa. It's insane to look at the players who make up our squad and their international profile and see people acting as though half of it needs to be "upgraded".
Is Shaw ever fecking fit?
That is highly speculative at this point.
Mourinho himself just said Lukaku does not contribute to the build up and stats shows he has one of the lowest numbers for distance covered, so doubt he will be running around the pitch to create space or pressure defenders.
Yeah. I can't even remember why he's injured?
Can't possibly be his broken toe still can it?
Jose's comments are worrying on the transfer front. People can say we only need to embed 3 or 4 players that's fine, unfortunately we signed a cb and are looking at a dm. That leaves Lukaku and a possible winger, is that enough I wonder. Zlatan for now is gone, his goals need replacing. Rooney contributed little but hasn't been replaced. Are we realistically going to score many more. We scored 54 last year in the league. That's 23 off the next team above us and 31 less than Chelsea. I know we were hard to beat and threw the last month of the league but still. It wasn't bad luck, it was poor finishing and I'm not sure we are fully addressing it this summer. Bringing in Matic and Perisic ain't going to fix it in my opinion. I hope I'm proven wrong and players step up this year, especially at home.
Shaw will be back in a few weeks. You can quote me on that. He's already training. Albeit away from the group.
And for those complaining about our defensive options....our problem last season wasn't conceding goals. It was scoring them. Additionally we've added lindelof to that group.
We need a CM and a winger. Otherwise, we are good.
And for those complaining about our defensive options....our problem last season wasn't conceding goals. It was scoring them. Additionally we've added lindelof to that group.
We need a CM and a winger. Otherwise, we are good.
Quite. Each summer we make a load of signings, then struggle and look disjointed, at least in certain areas of the pitch. The muppets look at clubs that build their existing teams into stronger and stronger units, with signings that tweak rather than completely overhaul, and conclude that the answer is to try and sign those clubs' players - they're obviously better than ours! The answer is to resist the temptation to splash out, and give your squad a few seasons to really become a cohesive unit in line with the manager's vision.
'There aren't enough goals in the team without Zlatan, Lukaku isn't enough.' But clearly, if you give them a chance, the same players who did ok last season will be improved after another season's worth of playing together. If you can't expect more goals from developing youngsters like Rashford and Martial each season, then José's obviously shit at his job.
Brilliant posts! Agree whole heartedly and also wanted to add that from my perspective, it is also important to note that players are human and take time to build relationships. Chopping and changing is not quite the kind of positive environment for people to interact and develop their team work and effective output. Confidence is also affected.
Four managers in six years, not including Giggs. The overhaul is nearly complete and it's been a massive undertaking. SAF, Moyes, LVG all made mistakes in not strengthening at all or failing to get players that didn't stick, but at the time were very sensible.
United have to chop and change to find the right core of high quality players to build around. they have a very strong spine now. it's young too which is exciting.
United have to chop and change to find the right core of high quality players to build around. they have a very strong spine now. it's young too which is exciting.
Varela played right back for us. Also, since the tattoo incident, I don't really have much faith in him. Mendy is the best option but looks like he is going to City.
He's going out on loan. Mitchell would be our 4th choice lb
A bit unrealistic to expect so many players who were not 'ok' but clearly poor to improve that much. Hopefully they'll improve their output a bit but they're hardly going to just add another 25-30 goals to their tallies. I don't think the problem most have is there not being 6 or 7 signings. The problem seems to be with the standard of player being targeted. If we were to get Sanchez or Bale I don't think anyone would care about getting any other signings. Frankly I don't even see a dm being that important. It could be useful for certain games but we need attacking, creative players of a level above Perisic if we want to realistically challenge for the league.
That was the problem area. I have absolutely no worries of Jose organising a strong defence, I'm sure he could even do that with Jones and Smalling over time. The issue last season was attack and while Lukaku is a brilliant signing he is a replacement for Ibra's 28 goals ultimately. We need another player scoring besides just Lukaku (and perhaps Ibra if he comes back in Dec). Martial, Rashford, Mata, and Mkhitaryan need to step up massively this season because frankly last season they failed massively, despite putting in a few good performances or runs of form here and there. If they don't and Perisic doesn't add enough goals (he only scored 11 goals last season remember, which looks like nothing compared to Sanchez' 30) I don't see how we realistically can challenge for the league which should be our goal. I won't be happy with a top 4 challenge next season, don't know about you and others' views.
Pretty sure it was Woodward who first said we wouldn't continue the high turnover and 'churn' of players like under LVG.
Jose is such an accomplished speaker and he has such an organised and yet flexible mind. I have great confidence that we will do really well under his guidance.
I get a hell of a lot more confidence listening to Jose talk about that squad than I did with LvG.
For me the best Part of Jose presser was when he said he "would like to have 2 more signing but atleast 1 more". He understands its very difficult to get the players we want, atleast he is not moaning like Conte who is threatened to leave (I dont think its media BS as he hasn't signed a contract until now). I think its a big plus having happy Jose and not felling out with board, We all know how he ended at chelsea. I guess he wants to stay here for longer than his time span at previous clubs 
Shaw is the new Fabio Da Silva. We keep talking about how great he is but we barely see that on the pitch
I agree with both here despite 2 seems to be against each other. As I said that Lukaku is a natural goal scorer, his link up play is not that good nor his involvement in team play. He is not world class due to these things, but as @ChaddyP put it, having a constant goal thread lurking maybe enough to draw defender's attention away for other attackers to exploit. Of course Lukaku has plenty of time to improve himself. He has the raw untapped physical ability. Compare to Drogba who is less natural goal scorer, Drogba get involved more & up to battle with defenders & use up maximum of his physical attribute. Lukaku for some reason feel like playing within himself thus giving off lazy feel around him.
Yeah. That's the problem with these popular opinions. Seems to them players are machine & easily predictable. The truth is they're still human & very unpredictable. Even professional scouts who follow players' career for long time may even make mistake. Here people just assume based on a season (for some cases, limited gametime).
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When the team encountered a close game, everyone dropped deeper, thus causing the defense to drop deeper and there being no cutting edge. Would be an obvious decision to get a player who plays higher up the pitch regardless. If the game requires a change or formation we're very well covered for forwards who can play deeper, so a simple substitution would be the thing to do.
Lukaku will have off days, but his physicality will ensure he contributes, teams won't be leaving 1 defender to mark him, as he's too quick and strong. Team knew last season, Ibra wasn't going to outpace their defenders.
We need a DM and two attackers if we've any ambitions beyond top four contention. I think we can get by with our full back options, but we need more ideas in attack, and with the quality teams around the top four strengthening, one of those new players in attack needs to be top class or we'll struggle.
Team plays deeper or defensively isn't a problem for Lukaku, most of his goals are against defensive teams and team that plays deeper. He has very good movement so he always gets into good position.
Check his goals for Everton last season,
We created loads of chances against smaller teams but missed the final cutting edge which Lukaku offers. One good thing about him is he doesn't wait for the ball to come to him when someone crosses, he attacks the ball which is a very good advantage to our wide players.
Also since we play with lone striker, I would love if he doesn't drop deep and offers one more outlet for the player in possession. He can run behind which is always a big worry for defenders, no naturally they will drop deeper leaving a big space for attacking midfielders.
That I can say I agree all. The thing I was talking about being able to be influential in big/ important game. It's not about scoring against big club X or Y or play against deep defense or high pressing team... It's about making life hard for those teams to help his (Lukaku's) own team to gain the edge, which for the time being, IMO Lukaku clearly lacks. It's clear Lukaku is a natural goal scorer with great instinct (I can say better than Zlatan). However, there is only that much you can do with instinct at top level since it relied on his teammates to supply. In even match game, he needs to be counted, and overall play is as needed as goal.
I agree with what you are saying, the way I see it's bit different. In big games we relied on Zlatan's hold up play to bring others into play, now I think we will rely on Lukaku's pace to run behind the defense to push the defense little deeper, thereby whole team getting breathing space. Before teams didn't have to worry much about Zlatan making the runs behind the defense (he is excellent at it when the space is smaller meaning closer to the goal, his timing of runs was amazing but not from the half way point) now they will. Lukaku is a very strong runner (not sure it came out as I meant).
Like you said, he should improve his game to have bigger impact in big games. His game has improved gradually, I think he will add more to his game going by how ambitious he is and how desperate he is to win trophies.
What's up with the dark circles and bags under Mourinho's eyes? Doesn't seem very rested!
I think I may sound confusing, but the idea of Zlatan duller instinct meaning he has to rely more on his hold up play & link up play vs Lukaku's instinct brute forcing a chance with attacking off ball movement.
Lukaku lack agility & acceleration, but he deceptively quick at top speed. Once he gets access to his pace, he can be hard to defend against as he's powerful too. Which is one of my previous point, that if he can improve his overall play, he can keep moving & access to better untapped potential/"pace". They way he playing right now, he's relying to much on instinct. Yes he has improved quite much the last couple years, but I still see much room for improvement, at least making use of his physical gift.
A result of lack of sleep due to his dad's passing?
Time different. Pog got caught keeping yawning in training session.
Actually if Mou has his way, it will be 5 signings (ie 4 + Ibra). I think we would still need a DM cover too (possibly after selling the Belgian with clown hair) but that's fair enough
Yeah, I was saying more or less the same but said in different way.
Would be extremely concerned if we bought Matic and left it at that. Our big problem last season was not scoring enough goals. And our solution is to replace Zlatan with an inferior striker? (I am very glad we bought Lukaku but he's not as good as Zlatan right now).
We badly need an attacking player to help us make us more creative and dangerous. And Perisic is not the answer.
We badly need an attacking player to help us make us more creative and dangerous. And Perisic is not the answer.