Another performance with some good points an dlots of things wrong. Ole smiling in the last couple of minutes had me livid, Everton are a decent side but were a weakened side, we should have won the game, we were poor and he is smiling? Would you EVER have seen Ferguson smiling at such a performance especially the goal? The pressing is weirdlly like other managers perfore.....good for 15mins, then it ends unless we go behind, why is this? The selection, the tactics etc etc etc
BUT and I said this when the season started, it was a concern and its now glaringly obvious, the biggest fault with us at the moment comes from our absolute failure to move a couple of players on and buy TWO new central midfielders! We have seen our midfield dominated and bypassed easily by almost every side this season from the good to the mediocre. For me, at the moment out best central midfielder defensively is Matic, Matic that looked finished 18months ago, Matic who slows down play and Matic whose legs are going as is his energy, but at least he has the intelligence positionally, the nouse to shield the ball and keep it, the calmness in possesion and decent distribution....the rest simply are squad options............
McTominay I dont mind as a squad options box to box, but he simply cant play the pivot role as he doesnt have the intelligence reading the game. WOefully caught out of possesion and not seeing runners or passes before they happen against Villareal and it happened again several times again
Pogba simply doesnt have the diciplineand is also overly confident and slack too often at the wrong times in possesion to play there consistently
Fred can run around and win the ball but what else does he do? His shootin gis generally woeful, his dribbling is very average, hi spassing is embarrasingly inconsistent, simple passes even and like McTominay he simply doesnt have the intelligence to play the pivot as he cant sniff out danger ahead of time
VDB - Well he hasnt played there much, he is neat and tidy and has energy, he is actually intelligent but again he is better for me box to bod and is all aroind average.
People spok eabout our midfield having more freedom with a good centre back behind them, being able to play higher with added pace behind, maybe a single pivot, feeling safer with a good defence behind them...........Always hated these tactical expert views on here, what utter garbage. A good centre back we have has helped with distributign the ball from the back and improved us defensively....it adds little in front. I think Maguire has been poor, the rest of our defence have been avereage to decent and DeGea has been superb so far................but they are gettign cvruelly exposed simply because they dont have protection in front of them, that hasnt been improved and it was what we most needed. It also for me exposed Fernandes and Pogbas weaknesses even more. Both have excellent quality, bith, especially Fernandes though, often give the ball away....and the ease with which sides are hitting us on the break from these mistakes makes Fernandes less effective as he actually often puts us in trouble as possesion is key.
I think we have been pretty good at time in games WHEN we play with intensity and move the ball quickly....that is also often slowed or cutrailed in midfield.
I genuinely feel, with all our other weaknesses that are there, if we had of signed two quality midfielders (and we had plenty of time to move players on to do so) we would be challening for trophies this season. I actually dotn think we woul dhave won any bar the FA cup, but we would have been close. Comparing McTominay to Rice, questioning the age of Camavinga, asking if Bissouma is good enough or too much o f just a destroyer....all tings I have heard and foudn laughable....and two from those and several other options as well and we would be top in my opinion....yet we still have for all the quality a shambles in certain positions and players who havent done it either that ar etalented....................
Williams, DAlot, Jones, Fred, Pereira, James ad Mata should all hav eundoubtedly been sold in this last window.....we sold one and loaned acouple
You can add to that list Bailly, VDB, Matic, Chong, Tuanzabe, Lingard and Martial
ALso Cavani wil leave which is a shame and Pogba I fully ecpect to which isnt a shame in my opinion, not bothered in the slightest............................thats half the squad
Get a second choice right bakc now Lamptey ideal as adds the attacking threat, get two central midfielders Bissouma and Rice are obbious candidates though there are plenty more, move Greenwood up front to integrate taking over ROnaldo over next season, hopefuly ELanga/Pellestri/Amad one of them can take his place as a back up to Rashford/SAncho and find an option to take the burden off and challenge Fernandes as he shouldnt be undroppable an dhe certainly shouold get rests. SHoetire/Hannibal being two possible options we already have..........but FFS sort out ore woeful midfield