Preseason observations

Call me optimistic but I think that Kobbie Mainoo could become a starting player alongside or sometimes instead of Casemiro in a couple of months. The potential and the physical attributes is there.

If we end up buying Amrabat I could in a few occasions see a midfield involving both Kobbie and Sofyan when we need legs and a lots of energy. Maybe I’m far ahead of things but something tells me that EtH has a future plan for these twos.
 
seegoblu said:
Couldn't help but notice that RM attacked our ball carriers immediately...except for AWB. They hardly man marked him and gave him room to carry the ball until he crossed midfield then they pressured.

AWB presents no threat to the defense and allows the defense to play 10 on 9 on the rest of the pitch.
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Many teams did this last year also. It's just a fact that no one fears AWB to make a good attacking play. I was hoping he would have improved this area, but no.
 
bosnian_red said:
  1. Our right side just feels off. Whatever combination of players at fullback or wing, I'm unconvinced by any of them. Antony has tunnel vision and insists on his floaters despite having a shit shot, but rarely choosing to pass in the final 3rd. Wan Bissaka has a lot of good points but is horrible at progressing the ball as required and just plays it square to the CB or the winger where the winger has to recycle possession back anyway. Dalot I like more in possession but he's pretty meh in other ways and hasn't rediscovered that early form from last season. Amad is young and small still, and my guess he might face similar limitations to Antony. I hope to never see Bruno on the right again, it doesn't work, it looks awkward as hell and it hurts us more than it benefits us.
  2. Our midfield doesn't have someone who can carry the ball to a high level. TBF this is one that most don't have, but look at how Camavinga played yesterday... Would be a game changer for us.
  3. Final 3rd decision making. The reason I keep wanting to give Sancho more chances is that he's the only guy who lifts his head up in the final 3rd and can find those passes. Rashford is fine in his role as being the scorer, Antony doesn't know what he is good at and fecks up countless opportunities.
  4. Garnacho is the only one who plays like a proper winger, can go both inside and outside, can get past players.. huge potential
  5. Onana will make a big difference in our playing out from the back and when we are pressed high. Unfortunately when we are pressed in midfield/attack it's still a bit of panic. But it's a massive improvement in deep areas.
Players and positions I'm confident/not concerned in for the season:
  • Onana
  • Shaw
  • Martinez
  • Varane (when fit)
  • CB depth
  • Casemiro
  • Bruno
  • Rashford
  • Garnacho
Mount is probably fine, but we need to find the right balance in midfield and that remains to be seen how it settles.

My concerns lie in what happens at RB, RW, CF, and how we address the lack of dynamism in midfield.
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That pretty much nails it.
 
Just a thought after looking at what's been tried... Mount in the #10, Bruno at RW, Sancho at false #9, Eriksen persisting at #6, the pursuit of Amrabat, Rashford up top, the pursuit of Hojlund (who's left footed and likes to drift right but not ready to lead the line on his own), AWB having the freedom of the entire right flank...

All these experiments and transfers would be perfect for testing out how players might perform in a resurrection of Rangnick's failed 4222. It's basically the formation Real Madrid played against us yesterday.

First team:
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Second team:
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Loan for Mainoo. Transfers for VdB, Martial, Fred, etc. Then, next season, Mainoo can step in for Eriksen when he's finally past it.

Like I said, just a thought...
 
Devil You Know said:
Just a thought after looking at what's been tried... Mount in the #10, Bruno at RW, Sancho at false #9, Eriksen persisting at #6, the pursuit of Amrabat, Rashford up top, the pursuit of Hojlund (who's left footed and likes to drift right but not ready to lead the line on his own), AWB having the freedom of the entire right flank...

All these experiments and transfers would be perfect for testing out how players might perform in a resurrection of Rangnick's failed 4222. It's basically the formation Real Madrid played against us yesterday.

First team:
image.png


Second team:
image.png


Loan for Mainoo. Transfers for VdB, Martial, Fred, etc. Then, next season, Mainoo can step in for Eriksen when he's finally past it.

Like I said, just a thought...
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2nd team is awful for that system :lol: first is spot on.
 
We'll have to see what Hojlund has got before we can start projecting him as a regular starter. But assuming his start off the blocks is fantastic he seems to me at least a lone striker, rather than in a two striker setup.

Rashford Hojlund Antony

You have to assume Bruno and Mount. You have to assume Casemiro in front of a back four against most opponents. Against City and maybe Arsenal a midfield two, so Casemiro and Amrabat, probably dropping Antony, unless can pull himself together.

Against the bottom 16 clubs:

Rashford Hojlund Antony
Bruno Mount
Casemiro
Shaw Martinez Varane Wan-Bissaka
Onana

What we do against the three other top three clubs really comes down to the form of the front three. If they're firing on all cylinders, we have a go at City and Arsenal; but if they're firing blanks we probably have two sitting midfielders and hit them with Rashford's and Hojlund's pace on the counter.
 
Sell: Maguire 30m, Bailly 5, McTominey 30m, Martial to Saudi for 30m, Fred 20m, DVD, 15, Williams 5m + Elanga/Telles 25m = 160m

Get Kolo Muani for 80m and Höjlund for 70m. We can not be so naive that we believe that Höjlund with 9 goals in 32 league games will score 25+ goals in PL first season and give us the goals we need to reach the next leave alone or play 60-70 games. Kolo Muani would be a greats signing and let him rotate with Höjlund + he can play on the wings, he scored 15 goals and had 14 assist in the same amount of league games as Höjlund and is only 4 years and 2 months older. Them together would give us the goals we need and we need to have cover on each position if we want to fight on all fronts next season. Players like Varane and Casemiro wont get younger and we should take advantage while we still have them in their prime, we need to add 2 strikers this season and the some finals touches next summer window and we should be ready to give a real shot for the league with players like Onana, Varane, Shaw, Casemiro, Rashford, Bruno and hopefully players that has taken 1-2 or even 3 steps in the right direction in their development like Mainoo, Garnacho, Mount, Höjlund/Muani (hopefully both) and maybe even Amad and Pellestri.
 
Devil You Know said:
All these experiments and transfers would be perfect for testing out how players might perform in a resurrection of Rangnick's failed 4222. It's basically the formation Real Madrid played against us yesterday.
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:mad::mad::mad:

Hope that's only a pre-season experiment
 
Hannibal Mejbri is the best ball carrier in our team. Will be surprised if ETH doesn't find a spot for him. Hannibal, Sancho, Amad are the types of players we should be promoting. The one thing holding us back is that our most creative player Bruno can hardly carry the ball so we always just end up knocking it around with minimal penetration.
 
I think we would have still signed Amrabat even if Mainoo wasnt injured. Casemiro Amrabat and Mainoo as support.
Amrabat will be the main DCM in a year maybe two years time as Casemiro ages and Mainoo will slot in with him gradually. Gore will then step into Mainoos role as support.
 
Preseason are just fitness sessions. It’s the same for opponents. Let’s not read too much into it.
 
SWE-Chucky said:
We can not be so naive that we believe that Höjlund with 9 goals in 32 league games will score 25+ goals in PL first season and give us the goals we need to reach the next leave alone or play 60-70 games.
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We can’t forget that none of United’s successful eras have come without showing patience and letting players develop.

I don’t think anyone is expecting Hojlund to score 25 goals. Although looking at the type of goals he scores I think he’ll be getting more through balls at United.

But the point is if in 2-3 season he’s scoring 20 plus league goals a season he’ll have been a great signing. But you only get a young player to that level by playing him and giving him trust or you wait until his already doing it and pay £150m and face competition from several other clubs.

Don’t forget the Sir Busby Era was based on patience and development. The SAF era started on patience in the manager.

The first European CL under SAF was based on patience. He sold several premier league winners and replaced them with kids, widely criticised at the time. Won the league that year but European success took 6 years.

Even the second European title was based on patience. Getting rid of RVN and letting Ronaldo & Rooney develop.

Two footballing rules . Real Madrid will always win a CL every couple of years no matter how crap they are & Man Utd are only successful when they do things a certain way.
 
This pre-season as been terrible ,those saying don't read too much into it are in denial
 
Drifter said:
This pre-season as been terrible ,those saying don't read too much into it are in denial
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Denial if what exactly?? the manager keeps experimenting play styles and tactics, players returned at different times so it's obvious in the levels of sharpness. That combined with new players trying to fit in. You poeple worry too much.
 
STYLOISRED said:
Denial if what exactly?? the manager keeps experimenting play styles and tactics, players returned at different times so it's obvious in the levels of sharpness. That combined with new players trying to fit in. You poeple worry too much.
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We have our first PL game in 2 weeks? I am certainly a bit worried to be honest
 
It's hard to valuate really because Arsenal last season transitioned their pre season form into the league form quite well they kept the momentum going. I think one thing this pre season has shown is that some of the younger players aren't going to make it at the club to be frank.
 
Forget the Wrexham result (if anyone’s genuinely looking into that result seriously). That team should have been a ‘Man Utd XI’ team if past years are anything to go by.
 
We don't have a attacking pattern and I am worried about that, we just aren't scoring enough goals.
 
We played a midfield 3 of Mount-Casemiro-Bruno for the first time last night. And it looked pretty bad on first showing.

We dominated the midfield far better with Eriksen-McTominay.

Really hoping the 3 can show a better understanding against Lens.
 
We look disjointed at both ends of the pitch, I'm hoping something clicks in the first few games of the season. Things usually don't get rolling until October anyway but it would be nice not to lose a few straight out of the gate like last season.
 
arthurka said:
We don't have a attacking pattern and I am worried about that, we just aren't scoring enough goals.
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Sancho did okay individually. But the other attackers didn't play off him well enough. Maybe Donny did okay. But none of Bruno, Mount, Rashford or Antony dovetailed into attacking positions the way you'd expect when playing with a false #9. The understanding still isn't there.
 
Devil You Know said:
Sancho did okay individually. But the other attackers didn't play off him well enough. Maybe Donny did okay. But none of Bruno, Mount, Rashford or Antony dovetailed into attacking positions the way you'd expect when playing with a false #9. The understanding still isn't there.
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Yes we still look like we don't have a clue what to do on the last third.
 
I'm curious why so many people are drawing up formations that keep us in the 4-2-3-1 or some variant that insists on having three midfielders with two of them deep sitting. Every single pre-season game the following thing has been true :-

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Dalot, or AWB, or whomever is right-back has the responsibility to sit beside the regular DM so that Mount and Bruno don't have to drop back. If those two have to drop back we lose their high field positions and they're not going to be as effective in the press.

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