I was surprised Dortmund did not go after him.
Niklas Süle \ signs for Dortmund
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He keeps the ball with himself too much for my liking. While the runs he makes are nice to watch , even if it fails 2/10 times, we will get punished. Defense wise he looks solid
German defenders 
Bailly - Sule - Rojo CB rotation
Spend that guwap, Woody
Bailly - Sule - Rojo CB rotation
Spend that guwap, Woody
Let's just write off Tuanzebe, Williams, TFM and Poole shall we?
They will be sent to loan and will return in 2-3 seasons time. By that time it will be evident that Smalling, Jones and Rojo aren't good enough and need to be replaced
Well that's one way to see it. If you ask me, he would want his defence to be perfect and he'll be keen to stop with this high defenders turnover. There's too many question marks. Is Smalling good enough and does he have the attitude to be a Manchester United CB? Is Rojo a CB? Can Jones remain fit etc?. Jose want his CBs to be reliable, capable to stand up and be counted, to be good on air and to be fighters on the pitch. Apart from Bailly we have no one with that criteria
It all a matter of whether he can get his men now. Lindelhof has a minimum clause, so does Gimenez whose not playing very much at Atletico Madrid. Having said that, will Gimenez want to leave now or will he wait to see if United can actually qualify for CL football before committing himself to us? Same thing about Sule who might have better offers then ours in summer.
Nevertheless I can see Mourinho replacing Darmian with someone like Lindelhof. Valencia provide him the attacking prowess he need while Lindelhof give him options. He can play him on the right for the time being, giving him a smoother transition from Portuguese football to the EPL and he'll make our team less reliant on Smalling, Jones and co.
Would you rather we write off seriously competing in major competitions?
Surely loan moves would benefit them more than playing maybe 5 games a season at United for a season or two?
I am not opposed to signing a CB but what we need is a top experienced CB not another kid. The lads we have in the reserves are probably the best set of CBs any club academy has, in the world? To no bring in another kid will most certainly stifle their growth. I'm not even convinced that anyone that goes on loan will come back under José. The ones that aren't on loan this season aren't getting a sniff anyway.
How many kids have we developed in this mess of a defense? Kids need stability, leadership and consistency. Smalling jones and co can barely hold their own let alone lead others
Let the kids go elsewhere and confirm the hype surrounding them with actual proof of what they can do. We had enough of the da silva twins, the joneses, the mcfails and the smallings who are all hype and little substance
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he is an absolute unit
How do you make that assesment, just with french players Lyon, Paris and Atletico have the same level of talent with some players who have actually played on big stages?
By that I meant that we have a good number in TFM, Tuanzebe, Williams, Poole and Warren, 5 players in the same age range that have some serious potential.
The solution is never to stop trying to strengthen the squad. If an academy player is good enough they will force their way into the side eventually. Not strengthening the squad to open up spots for youth players in the first team is suicidal.
Like all the big academies in the world, the difference being that our set of players never played a single game of professional football at the exception of TFM.
To be fair Poole played some for Newport County.
Fair enough, in other countries they play top flight football. And it's not a dig at our players but we have to be patient and not go overboard.
He has quite a languid style doesn't he? Much of that highlight video is him dribbling and playing it out from the back, which is nice but should not be no.1 priority for a centerback (despite what the hipsters tell you).
I'd like another CB but never seen this guy. I think Bailly really could be the best cb in the league over the next couple of seasons but none of the others are going to get there. I'd never seen bailly before either so have trust in mourinhos judgement, a fan of all his signings so far.
You'd assume he does all that stuff in a rudimentary manner, he's 6'5 and built like a brick shithouse.
I agree with your general point on the CB's, there is a definite question mark over several of them that Jose will address if required. My feeling though is that he'll defnitely get one CB in january and then see if the ones you listed have answered the question successfully over the remainder of the season before deciding on whether to buy another in the summer.
Well Jose has done this before so you could be right, but it's a shitty way to do things so I hope he's evolved and buys in a young attacking fullback to understudy Valencia, the attacking width from the flanks is great to see and means we can play 2 isnide forwards and not worry about using kick and run wingers.
I agree, we are seeing the same with Rashford where some think we should leave the striker position unconstested for him to just walk into.
It would be nice to have seen more of it in the clip - rudimentary or otherwise?
Sule, tah, ginter, rudiger... some good German defenders coming through.
Mustafi is only 24 plus hummles and boating are 27/28...
I like both tah and sule and would be happy to see either arrive but I can't see anything happening till the summer
Mustafi is only 24 plus hummles and boating are 27/28...
I like both tah and sule and would be happy to see either arrive but I can't see anything happening till the summer
It all depends on whether he'll find the right people in January or not. January is a tough month to do business. There again, if we can bring the people we want now then we will do it.
A- we would take competition by surprise
B- If we can edge it to 4th place or win the Europa league by bringing in the players we need now then that would be a massive bonus for the club
C- Mou hates to feel being kept under ransom. It made life difficult for him with Balotelli at Inter and it ruined his career at Chelsea. If he feels that some of our defenders are not doing the job then he'll want to be less dependent on them ASAP.
I disagree.
a- we've already got an attacking fullback with Valencia and he's not going away anytime soon
b- There is not many top quality complete fullbacks who could both defend and attack magnificently available. Considering that we've already have a proven attacking fullback then there's nothing wrong if we bring in someone who can give us something different. Lets face it, sometimes we need someone who can close the gaps and help us keep the score till the end of the game.
That's the thing though, Jones and Rojo are doing the job, so the question is can they sustain it, he wont find that out if he buys 2 CB's in January.
Valencia can do that all himself anyway, despite what some say on here he makes no more defensive mistakes than any other RB or CB playing as a RB. He's a monster of a player right now and someone like Semedo or Sidibie are the ideal young RB's to come in and blood into the team under him, rather than playing some clogger out of position that can't run the ball out at RB, if we wanted that then just bus Jones over there.
Haven't seen much that much of him but He's a very solid defender, strong on set pieces. Young German players are always technically sound and strong at positioning. Its drilled into them from early on. Well disciplined.
I wouldn't want anyone holding back the development of Tuanzebe
He needs a couple of loans and then to fight for his spot, not have a spot just kept open for him, we aren't Tuanezebe or Rashford United, if they are good enough they'll earn their way in.
It won't be 2 CBs. It would be a CB and a CB whose replacing Darmian on RB. If there's lack of commitment or Jones returns to the treatment room, then yes, the RB (as CB) can move back to his natural role. The idea here is to make Mourinho less dependent on CBs who had consistently failed us
Valencia is an attacking minded FB though. Once he leaves we'll probably bring in somebody whose an attacking fullback. With the defence as unstable as it is Id rather have a 'clogger' that can't run the ball out then an flashy attacking rb who forgets that he's a defender and puts more pressure on his mates who'll have to cover more inches of pitch especially considering that we're playing with right forwards instead of wingers who are hardly very good in defending themselves
Once the defence is solid then by all means lets add a young attacking fullback.
PS Valencia is also playing out of position
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But there is also the question of whether they will be given a chance under José. He is notorious for that. He is not a risky enough to trust and be patient a developing player imo. Honestly, if he was in charge last season, I doubt he would have bought Martial and Rashford may not have even had a chance. While the youngsters must earn their place, they must be given a proper chance. Was it not the Chelsea scout that was angry at José for only wanting to work with developed players?
Not really. Pogba was good enough to earn his way in, wasn't given the opportunity and then left for somewhere that would give him that chance. We don't want a repeat of that.
The idea should be to do that in the summer once we see what Rojo and Jones can do across the season IMO, it's too much money and squad clutter to just give Jose a £30M saftey net IMO.
Valencia is pretty much our entire attacking width, if he gets injured we have no width in the team and playing a clogger at RB would be pointless, not to mention it's not like we'd bring him in for any reason other than Valencia being injured, Tony wont be dropped for any tougher games, he's a beast, Jose trusts him, I'd wager that he's one of 4 untouchables. What we need is a young attacking RB that can deputise for Valencia and be blooded in over the next 18 months, and who if Valencia gets injured will provide the attacking width this system needs.
Not now, 3 years ago when he started playing as a RB then yes, but when you've played this long and this well in a position you are converted.
A proper chance is to go on loan like Pereira has done and see if they are capable of playing senior football, right now United can't offer them minutes as we are in a dog fight to try and get top 4. Welbeck is the prime example of the loan system working and the same with the Class of '92. We shouldn't be in such a rush with 18 year olds IMO. Also Jose is the one that gave Varane, Morata and Zouma chances in recent times, if you are good enough he will use you IMO.
Pogba is a feak of nature, a generational talent. The ones we are talking about here are more like Welbeck and Pereira, good talents who should go on loan and take the natural progression towards the United first team. Top sides don't have 18 and 19 year old starting CB's and strikers, these are positions in the spine for experience.
Which is strange because Martial was courted by Chelsea before joining United.
The youngsters who are good enough according to him will probably be given a chance. Mourinho got slammed for 'ruining' Chelsea's academy players too, but not only have they produced little of note (at an elite level) through the years despite the Youth Cup wins, very few of them are featuring prominently under Conte.
This kid is supposedly Conte's priority target in January.
A defence of Zouma, Luiz and Sule would be one of the most physically dominant in the world surely?
Yeah I get that mate. But Jose isn't known for considering players that go on loan anyway. I'd be more optimistic if history suggested that. I understand that we're in a dogfight and it will be unfair to chuck a youngster in the mix, but what if we weren't in a dog fight? Jose is just too risk averse imo. To me, it's either an inability to mould a developing player or just simply no inclination to them at all.
When I remember KdB, Lukaku, T. Hazard, Moses, Marin et al, there was no doubting their talent and even though their loan spells were relatively impressive, it was clear that they needed to be trusted with chances. They were all frustrated and left because the manager simply had no interest in them. It's like when he paid for Sidwell, when he could have promoted one from within even if it was to make numbers. Or paying for that Reading defender and the guy now at Sunderland for the same reason.
Now I'm not saying that these kids must play or forge a career at United. United is not the be all and end all but we simply have a lot of potential not to bring at least one through. Of the 5 potential CBs, it will be a shame if at least one doesn't make it.
I will not be surprised if they are all angling for a move away for the sake of their careers, which will be the right thing to do.
It's just a concern personally.
But that's only natural though. Everyone would have some interest in a superb talent like Martial. Whether he would have been given the same vote of confidence he got under LvG is the question
I would assume Süle would take Cahill's place. Two physically dominant, natural CB's who are very comfortable on the ball in Luiz and Süle alongside the Azpi who is perhaps the best 1 on 1 defender in the league.
They would be faster, stronger and taller than everyone else.
That's not what was written in that post, though - 'I doubt we would have bought Martial' - which pertains to Mourinho not acquiring him in the first place. As opposed to 'I doubt he would have had the same kind of impact'. José gave plenty of chances to the likes of Varane, Morata, Zouma in recent years - which often gets swept under the carpet.
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