I think there are two sides to this issue, numbers wise one can argue that we have enough depth but imagine if we are ever forced to field a back 4 of
--------------------------Darmian-----Jones------------Blind-------------Rojo----------
away at West Ham because of injuries. We have endured worse when we had better quality in depth than this. I'd rather we upgrade on Rojo and Darmian.
Exactly. I would only keep one of the trio (
Jones, Blind and Rojo) around. As centre-back number 4 my choice would be
Jones. He's strong, knows how to defend (no bullshit) and has age on his side. He seems to be loving life here. I'm under the impression that Mourinho also rates him.
Blind has been caught a lot of time at the wrong place at the wrong time, there's almost always one or two silly mistakes in his game and i do question his athleticism. I don't think he can compensate that by playing
out from the back...
Rojo is much worse, no words needed. He simply needs going!
Overall the problem is that there're a lot of players who're capable to play everywhere and nowhere. We miss specialists:
Centre-back (the aformentioned Blind and Rojo)
Right back Darmian is ordinary and physical week, Valencia not a starter, we need one!
Defensive midfield neither of Carrick and Blind should be a starter, one needs going.
Number 10: Rooney is okay having around, third striker and can help out as a number 10, but Mata...
The problem is these players aren't per se really bad ones, but we only need one of them in each position.
If we want to keep the numbers tight, something like this should be on the agenda, imo.
.............................Ibrahimovic/Rashford/Rooney
Martial/Memphis/Young.......Pogba/Rooney.......Mkhitaryan/Valencia
.................Schneiderlin/Carrick.....Herrera/Schweinsteiger
Shaw/Mr.X...........Bailly/Mr.X...........Smalling/Jones......Mr.X/Darmian
.....................................De Gea/Romero..........................
Bring in a backup player as a left back, a (backup) centre back and most importantly, a new right back. It doesn't necessarily need to be a backup as centre-back, if someone like Mustafi could be possible, i'd get him in a heartbeat, competition heating up isn't actually a bad thing. I'm not that sold on Bailly, Smalling and Jones, all three of them have to prove themselves, imo.
Selling guys like
Blind, Rojo, Mata, Fellaini could recoup some of the money. Just do it!
I like that team, hope Mourinho has something similarly good in mind.