Has Di Marzio always been first to break legitimate news when it comes to Italian clubs ?
Sergej Milinkovic Savic
- Thread starter R'hllor
- Start date
That's my point, why sell Pogba? Savic has had 1 good season. Fred is ideally what we need to improve our midfield
He thrived best on the left of a midfield diamond which is essentially a box to box role. A role that only exists in a 4-2-3-1 that Jose favours if a 10 is present. Whilst SMS has proven comfortable st the tip of a diamond at Lazio. That is why I believe they can fit together in JMs favorite tactic.
Would be an insane amount of money for a player who probably isnt the type of midfielder we need. No thank you.
I have to admit to knowing zero about this player lol
So are we looking at a switch to 4-4-2?
SMS
Pogba Fred
Matic
SMS
Pogba Fred
Matic
Di Marzio has said we view him has too expensive.
The chances of Mourinho making wholesale changes to his tactical system are, to the say the least, unlikely.
Is he worth that price?
No midfielder is worth 100 mill plus.
@Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber
The only way I can see it work is if we change to a 3-5-1-1 system, 4-3-2-1 or a narrow 4-3-3 system. With Matic, Fred and Pogba in CM and SMS and Sanchez behind Lukaku.
The only way I can see it work is if we change to a 3-5-1-1 system, 4-3-2-1 or a narrow 4-3-3 system. With Matic, Fred and Pogba in CM and SMS and Sanchez behind Lukaku.
I was impressed with his YT highlights. Technically very good.
I guess we will hear from him soon.
People: Mou is so stupid to sign Sanchez, why do we sign players who don’t address our issues and play roles which already exist in our team
Also people: We must sign Savic, him and Pogba can fit together don’t worry
How do people not learn the lessons of the past. Spend 100m so we can spend all season desperately trying to shoehorn him into our side and playing 11 different formations to try to get it to work. Why don’t we sign players who will actually fit and add balance to our squad not further ruin our balance
Also people: We must sign Savic, him and Pogba can fit together don’t worry
How do people not learn the lessons of the past. Spend 100m so we can spend all season desperately trying to shoehorn him into our side and playing 11 different formations to try to get it to work. Why don’t we sign players who will actually fit and add balance to our squad not further ruin our balance
To be fair, I think a midfield of Pogba SMS with fred/Matic holding can work.
I don't think Sanchez on the left wing and Martial also on the left wing would work though. They'd probably bump into each other
I'd happily see us pay £100m for a prime Scholes or Iniesta or Xavi or Modric or Keane
The problem isn’t that he suffers in a 4231 it’s that our team suffers because he won’t defend. The 2 cms in a 4231 have a very important role, they are crucial to the balance and success of the formation and they must provide defensive cover as well as support the attack. Pogba has spent all season not working very hard defensively and having pretty poor positional discipline and the straw that broke the camels back was the Spurs game where we played 4231 and were completely overrun in midfield. Since then Mou never played a 4231 for the entire rest of the season.
Pogba is the continuous problem of trying to get the best out of him while also not detracting from the balance of the rest of the team
This 100%
Definately bullshit. Yesterday it was being reported that we were unwilling to pay €80 million. The press know feck all.
It can work if Savic and Pogba decide to work their arses off.
Pep has made a midfield if Fernandinho, Silva and KDB work.
Mourinho would have to revolutionise the way his team plays if that's how he wants to go.
Last edited:
People said the same thing before Sanchez signed. They said Sanchez can play in the middle, he can play on the right etc
The fact is when you’re trying so hard to fit a player into a side isn’t it a sign he’s not really the right fit? We just sign quality with no thought of actually building an effective side and this is exactly the reason why we have had problems every single year since Fergie left.
But people want the same thing to continue! Whoever is the biggest star available on the market people just want us to sign them, why don’t we actually build a balanced side like Liverpool, Spurs etc. People hate that their teams are so much more fluid and effective than ours yet we want us to shoot ourselves in the foot by bringing in yet another tactical headache. We should be signing players who clearly compliment our existing players and who bring new qualities we lack, not just the biggest star on the market and then figure out later how it will all fit together
Because people want us to sign players that fits how they want us to play. Which does not correlate to how we do play. So the root cause, of this problem that you mention, is not the players we sign/want to sign per se.
Thinking about that, Pep had the best defence with team playing Silva and KDB as midfielders. Was convinced that midfield would ship goals last summer.
Sanchez shouldn't written off yet, you're judging him already like he cant play central or left or right for us. The man has been uncharacteristically poor in all 3 positions, but the key word here is uncharacteristically. We know what he can do and should only really judge him from next season onwards.
What I do know is that only 1 player can play on the left wing whereas 3 can play in central midfield (or two if you take out the holding role). So SMS and Pogba can conceptually work together. You'd see SMS as displacing Herrera in this instance rather than competing with Pogba. SMS looks like he's a proper box to box type who isn't afraid to get himself about, track back for defence and drive forward. Basically what Herrera was expected to do but just a lot better.
No concerns with Savic - he looks the real deal in work ethic & defensive duties
If we buy all these midfielders and an additional center back, we're setting up to play 3-5-2.
Sanchez Lukaku
Sandro Pogba Matic Savic Sidibe
Lindelöf Aldeweireld Bailly
deGea
Sandro Pogba Matic Savic Sidibe
Lindelöf Aldeweireld Bailly
deGea
That doesn’t make any sense? How do people want us to play? If you sign lots of attacking talent does that mean you play slick, fluid football? That’s not how tactics work...
Are Liverpool full of superstars? Most of their team are workhorses why do people think if we sign big stars we will emulate that?
If 2 centre midfielders like to attack and both go forward is that the solution to our issues? More like suicide, we’d get killed on the counter. People will say Pep did it with Silva and De Bruyne but Pep plays a very high line and makes his fullbacks tuck in to make a 3 around Fernandinho to stop counter attacks, are we going to do that as well? You also need to be technically excellent so you don’t lose the ball a lot and protect yourself from the counter. Can you imagine Smalling playing so aggressively or our team dominating the ball so high up? Will our attackers keep hold of the ball and dominate the opposition? There’s a reasons Pep only manages the best teams
You can’t just add star names to a team and expect fluid attacking football, your team has to work together as a unit and compliment each other. If one goes forward another needs to cover, you can’t just get attacking players in and expect attacking football to follow
Last edited:
I was not quarreling with your statement at all. Only tried to give a suggestion for why people want us to sign players whom will not necessary fit or add balance to our squad. And that this is based on how they want us to play(without thinking about specifics like balance, pressing, movement and so on, only that it should be more attacking than we are currently playing and within a formation), not how we actually play. So they will like to play Sergej and Pogba in front of a CDM like Matic, even though this would not be a balanced midfield either based on their strengths and weaknesses. And playing Sergej and Pobga as a midfield would be suicide of course.
A midfield three of Pogba-Matic-Savic would be more solid than the midfield two of Pogba-Matic that was first choice for a good chunk of the last season. We weren't open then, either.
One way Pep made it work was by playing fullbacks that help the midfield. If only United were in the market for new fullbacks...
One way Pep made it work was by playing fullbacks that help the midfield. If only United were in the market for new fullbacks...
A PMS midfield - Has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.
I'll rephrase, no current midfielder is worth 100 million pounds
It might get cramped round the middle.
I agree with this. Our Mids were not bad last year, I believe we need a bit more alternative quality in the centre of the park, we don't control the midfield enough. We also need options and more energy on the flanks.
Bale as a RW would be a dream. A Left-footed strong, pacy attacking fullback is also needed desperately. Young/Valencia can share the RB slot if there are not enough funds after prioritizing other positions.
I don't think it was stupid to sign Sanchez, I think it made perfect sense. For me what doesn't make sense is why Mourinho plays him on the left knowing we have Rashford and Martial playing there, to me it makes sense to play him on the right wing but hey ho.
Can play 4-2-3-1 with Fred and SMS arriving if Sanchez play in the right.
Fred Matic
Sanchez SMS Pogba
Lukaku
Sanchez SMS Pogba
Lukaku
Or a diamond with Pogba and SMS rotating and Sanchez floating either side of Lukaku or playing through the middle when Lukaku drifts wide. We’d need two energetic full backs if we go down this line but we’d be a very strong team and physically imposing with a good mixture of ability. Full backs the key though in this formation.
—————Matic
Fred————————Pogba
—————-SMS
———Lukaku——Sanchez
I read somewhere that Fred was the midfielder who covered more space in the CL(i did not check those stats). Since he can run for hours, maybe we can get away without expending money this season in a new full back in the side of the pitch that Fred is going to play.
We can’t get away with our terrible FBs for another year.
<-Sanchez Lukaku->
<-Pogba...........Savic->
Fred Matic
Sandro Jones Bailey Fabinho
DDG
<-Martial Rashford->
<-Lingard.............Mata->
McTominay Herrera
Young Lindelof Smalling Valencia
Romero
Two possible 4-2-2-2 formations with realistic purchases. I'm not saying we'll go with it, but it's feasible considering our strongest current links. Obviously, there'd need to be sales first.<-Pogba...........Savic->
Fred Matic
Sandro Jones Bailey Fabinho
DDG
<-Martial Rashford->
<-Lingard.............Mata->
McTominay Herrera
Young Lindelof Smalling Valencia
Romero