Squad needs a big clear out and a re-balance

[Mark Pawelek]

Agree with this, we should be doing better and we aren't far off if we have our first choice players available. But we need a better manager, a better midfield and depth in attack which is why I am shocked that United are watching players like Sander Berge, Olmo et al move without them lifting a finger.

We need better leadership at executive level to recognize the opportunities in the market and act on them.

We need a DoF who has the freedom to play the market. Which means the freedom to just buy a player when the price is, say, less than £5m; without first getting permission from other board members.

 

[Zlatattack]

I don't disagree with this per se but really in most squads i remember we've hardly ever had more than a couple game changers. Apart from City not many do, even Liverpool have little in that regard.

Not to say our fan base moaned and insisted it wasn't the united way when we had players who provided the option of different tactics.

I look at that team and it's really not that bad. The defence is better than a lot of Fergie years, midfield is alright at least it's not Anderson/Cleverley level and up front we've got two good forwards even though neither are natural No 9s.

We should be doing much better than we are and 2 decent signings (one forward, one midfielder) and a change of manager should see a title challenge.

Agree with this, we should be doing better and we aren't far off if we have our first choice players available. But we need a better manager, a better midfield and depth in attack which is why I am shocked that United are watching players like Sander Berge, Olmo et al move without them lifting a finger.

We need better leadership at executive level to recognize the opportunities in the market and act on them.

It's a shame we haven't been able to play this team most of the season. In fact i'm not sure if they've ever played together.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Not really sure what your obsession with Dzyuba is, he's a donkey. Also Ilicic, no chance we sign those kinds of players. You'd probably be having the exact same post 1-2 years later wondering why we're stuffed with aging players like like Dzyuba, Ilicic and players that aren't good enough like Liam Walsh and Koch.

I agree with you that the players I listed are often not good enough. But nor is the current squad; especially 14 of the 17 players I want to sell. They are not good enough. Don't see you complaining about them stealing a living.

Don't have an obsession with Dzyuba. The players I listed are examples of cheaper players. Not saying they should all be bought. I did say we should get players for free, on Bosman's (like LvG did a few times), should buy cheaply from relegated clubs like SAF did at least once, should look for value in the market when we need to bring in at least 10 senior players all at once. I listed 5 things we could do to get cheaper players. Actual players we get depend on scout reports, etc. I'm not doing detailed scouting.

Health of United's squad has sunk to abysmal levels because no one's been monitoring existing players - like Jones. Jones is a sick note, but no one at board level noticed because we have no DoF. All that time Jones has been sick he's not been developing as a footballer. That's the other issue with frequently injured players. Is Jones more useful to the squad than Dzyuba? No. Jones is the 7th centre back. Dzyuba would be the 3rd centre forward, and a plan B. Our 2nd centre forward is an 18 year old still learning his trade.

Not seen anyone criticize my points about injured players and United's injury prone squad but everyone here seems to think we should just buy new players (for gazillions) and the injured players will somehow be magically fixed by ignoring them.

 

[James Ward]

You are talking about buying players from relegated teams, Bosman transfers, looking at championship players, players relegated from all the major leagues? If they have any world class players they wouldn't be getting relegated.

Any players leaving on a Bosman are usually older players and if any decent player was available why would they go to United? Do you think Christian Eriksen would have signing for United. Not a chance.

Where do you think we are going to get world class players out of that? I do agree we need to sign a lot of youth players.

Who is going to buy constantly injured players? No one is unless they offer a pay as you play contract and why would they leave the cushy contracts they are on at United? Even if United offered Bailey for free not many clubs are going to go for him because of wages and why would he leave the contract he is currently on for half the wages?

Same with Jones, even for free not many clubs are going to offer what United are currently giving him so why would he leave?

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

Naive question: Why a DOF? Why not just trust the manager to do all footballing part, and the other people run the financial part?

I think there is a more or less common conception within the industry today, that there simply are too many tasks to do if there aren't someone above the manager to help out. For instance, the staff around the players are only growing and more aspects of the game is professionalised and requires attention.

In addition, the want for a person with competence in creating a strategy and implementing a long-term philosophy is also growing in popularity.

 

[Lash]

I agree with you that the players I listed are often not good enough. But nor is the current squad; especially 14 of the 17 players I want to sell. They are not good enough. Don't see you complaining about them stealing a living.

Don't have an obsession with Dzyuba. The players I listed are examples of cheaper players. Not saying they should all be bought. I did say we should get players for free, on Bosman's (like LvG did a few times), should buy cheaply from relegated clubs like SAF did at least once, should look for value in the market when we need to bring in at least 10 senior players all at once. I listed 5 things we could do to get cheaper players. Actual players we get depend on scout reports, etc. I'm not doing detailed scouting.

Health of United's squad has sunk to abysmal levels because no one's been monitoring existing players - like Jones. Jones is a sick note, but no one at board level noticed because we have no DoF. All that time Jones has been sick he's not been developing as a footballer. That's the other issue with frequently injured players. Is Jones more useful to the squad than Dzyuba? No. Jones is the 7th centre back. Dzyuba would be the 3rd centre forward, and a plan B. Our 2nd centre forward is an 18 year old still learning his trade.

Not seen anyone criticize my points about injured players and United's injury prone squad but everyone here seems to think we should just buy new players (for gazillions) and the injured players will somehow be magically fixed by ignoring them.

Sorry, the "obsession with Dzyuba" was a bit of a dick comment. Just was an extremely uninspiring list and should have assumed you meant it with more nuance.

I do in general agree with your points and the players you list, I would like to see rid or a lot of them, but I think when it comes to the summer we will have a plan bigger than going for Dzyuba or Liam Walsh. Could you honestly imagine the shit fit people would have if those were our signings? Not to mention we've been linked with that lad on loan from PSG for the summer, so we're half doing what your saying in trying to find players to bolster the squad.

Grealish and Buendia - very feasible and good options mind you.

 

[Member 109952]

We've been saying this ever since SAF retired.

The reality is we're in a merry-go-round of buying quality players like Di Maria, Lukaku, Depay etc and selling them once they don't set the world on fire.

We have no holistic approach to building a squad, and 4 managers in the last 7 years leaves us with the squad we have now.

Anyone with half a brain can see that we either need a Director of Football, or a footballing board to oversee our transfer strategy and build an actual squad. Not just a missmatch of players. Look at Liverpool - that type of squad building takes a lot of work. Our transfer strategy is essentially look at the PL, find the best player in position x that we can actually buy (Maguire / Wan Bissaka), and then hope for the best.

 

[JPRouve]

Naive question: Why a DOF? Why not just trust the manager to do all footballing part, and the other people run the financial part?

Because managers are rare, what you have is a lot of talented head coaches that can't do all the footballing part.

 

[Sky1981]

Never been to business school, never mind graduated. I'm making a simple point: United management could fix most of the problems with the squad in one summer transfer window. But it needs someone to identify those problems. United need a DoF. Not to play FM - to use the transfer market instead of getting burnt in it. You clearly disagree with me and, presumably, agree with the club dogma - that it will take 2 or 3 more seasons to challenge? I disagree. United could challenge next season if they sort the squad out.

This is like saying "we should buy messi when he's 16"

We should find the next giggs and beckham

We should sign cheap aguero when they're young

We should sell jones for 10m (who's gonna buy him?)

Sell xyz for 15m, buy dybala for 25m. Profit?

All these are fm talk.

Not getting burnt in the transfer market? How?

It's like saying we have to get rich. Yeah, no shit. How? Who? What? You have a crystal ball? Does ed has one? Does our scout knows who's the next messi?

 

[SuperiorXI]

For how long now have we been saying the same old shit?

What's what quote? The definition if insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting different results.

The squad doesn't need a clear out, the whole club needs re-structuring by experienced experts in their relative field (not fecking Rio Ferdinand)

 

[JPRouve]

For how long now have we been saying the same old shit?

What's what quote? The definition if insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting different results.

The squad doesn't need a clear out, the whole club needs re-structuring by experienced experts in their relative field (not fecking Rio Ferdinand)

I was going to ask the same question,at some point our manager will have to do what most manager do and work with what they have. And please stop mentioning Guardiola.

 

[golden_blunder]

Disagree with the OP.

Wholesale changes don’t work. You can’t just introduce 10+ new players and hope that they gel.

Next point - united struggle to complete 1 deal at a time, what makes you think they can scale that up?

Lastly, South American players require passports for the UK so unless they are established internationals or highly exceptional young player they need to go play in Portugal or Spain first.

Sorry another point, there was an article today saying that there’s no guarantee that from the end of this year that UK clubs will be able to sign European players so easily never mind from other regions. Brexit innit

 

[baskinginthesun]

I agree with you that the players I listed are often not good enough. But nor is the current squad; especially 14 of the 17 players I want to sell. They are not good enough. Don't see you complaining about them stealing a living.

Don't have an obsession with Dzyuba. The players I listed are examples of cheaper players. Not saying they should all be bought. I did say we should get players for free, on Bosman's (like LvG did a few times), should buy cheaply from relegated clubs like SAF did at least once, should look for value in the market when we need to bring in at least 10 senior players all at once. I listed 5 things we could do to get cheaper players. Actual players we get depend on scout reports, etc. I'm not doing detailed scouting.

Health of United's squad has sunk to abysmal levels because no one's been monitoring existing players - like Jones. Jones is a sick note, but no one at board level noticed because we have no DoF. All that time Jones has been sick he's not been developing as a footballer. That's the other issue with frequently injured players. Is Jones more useful to the squad than Dzyuba? No. Jones is the 7th centre back. Dzyuba would be the 3rd centre forward, and a plan B. Our 2nd centre forward is an 18 year old still learning his trade.

Not seen anyone criticize my points about injured players and United's injury prone squad but everyone here seems to think we should just buy new players (for gazillions) and the injured players will somehow be magically fixed by ignoring them.

I think there are a few threads dedicated to injuries and the medical team on Caf. Probably why people aren't responding here when it's been discussed in heavy detail else where.

 

[James Ward]

Did you actually mention United should give Liam Walsh a contract, this has to be a wind up thread!!

Sign relegated players and from the championship, Bosman transfers.

We are Manchester United not Leeds United for God sake.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

I think there are a few threads dedicated to injuries and the medical team on Caf. Probably why people aren't responding here when it's been discussed in heavy detail else where.

Need to discuss how Jones has been unavailable through injury for 20% of his time with United. Why wasn't he sold long ago. United management are too loyal to players. Ex-player as manager probably makes that worse. I don't blame player injuries on medics. I blame the sunk cost fallacy on keeping Jones. They, presumably, want what they paid for him. Transfer market is dynamic; player values fall as well are rise.

 

[beingshe7don]

Need to discuss how Jones has been unavailable through injury for 20% of his time with United. Why wasn't he been sold long ago. United management are too loyal to players. Ex-player as manager probably makes that worse. I don't blame player injuries on medics. I blame the sunk cost fallacy on keeping Jones. They, presumably, want what they paid for him. Transfer market is dynamic; player values fall as well are rise.

United are waiting on Phillip Jones to be knighted while he's playing for United.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Did you actually mention United should give Liam Walsh a contract, this has to be a wind up thread!!

Sign relegated players and from the championship, Bosman transfers.

We are Manchester United not Leeds United for God sake.

Is he worse than a sick note Pogba? Walsh can actually play, kind of. Pogba can't.

Telling the Cafe that United have too many sick notes in the squad, who should be sold, is not a wind up; it's rubbing reality into your face.

 

[beingshe7don]

What's the point of the clear out? We are not even getting enough players in.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

What's the point of the clear out? We are not even getting enough players in.

In practice I suppose I agree with everyone saying this. In principle, I insist the club needs to clear out at least 14 players. Likely this is impossible without a DoF; because only a DoF would see it as necessary and urgent.

If we sign someone this January, as it looks like we certainly did, I'm praying its a DoF.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Did you actually mention United should give Liam Walsh a contract, this has to be a wind up thread!!

Sign relegated players and from the championship, Bosman transfers.

We are Manchester United not Leeds United for God sake.

Because we prefer to keep sick notes on astronomical salaries.

 

[SungSam7]

Graelish £38.5m? I didn't know this was 2010.

You wouldn't even get him for that entering his final 12 months...

 

[sp_107]

——————De Gea———————

AWB-- New player-Maguire-New signing

. McTominay—New signing—

New signing——New signing——Rashford

———————New signing——————

We're 6 quality players away from looking like a title winning team. So we definitely need a clear out and re balance

People comes up with comments like "this is not FM, You are delusional etc" but I agree with what you said.
We need 5-6 top class 1st team players and we can use players like James/Fred/Mason/VL/Martial as squad players.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

You wouldn't even get him for that entering his final 12 months...

Suppose Villa are relegated?

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

We do and as what you said that the current squad is not good enough, miles behind Liverpool & city.

However, it’s impossible to do everything in 1 and 2 summer windows. We don’t have Arab money and Ed is very slow in negotiating, you can see from what we did in our last two summer windows. Thus why we are now focusing on developing young players and improving the current players.

Realistically by end of this year summer window, I’ll be happy enough if we can upgrade that no 10 and our right forward and at the same time sort out Pogba’s issue whether we can keep him or need to replace him. 3 top players needed, and at least we are 95% got one sorted out already.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

I don't disagree with this per se but really in most squads i remember we've hardly ever had more than a couple game changers. Apart from City not many do, even Liverpool have little in that regard.

Not to say our fan base moaned and insisted it wasn't the united way when we had players who provided the option of different tactics.

I look at that team and it's really not that bad. The defence is better than a lot of Fergie years, midfield is alright at least it's not Anderson/Cleverley level and up front we've got two good forwards even though neither are natural No 9s.

We should be doing much better than we are and 2 decent signings (one forward, one midfielder) and a change of manager should see a title challenge.

We've been in this very same position for six years. We've signed and sold countless players and hired and sacked several managers.

It's not as simple as signing a couple of players and getting in a new manager. The problem starts with those in charge of signing the players and manager.

 

[beingshe7don]

In practice I suppose I agree with everyone saying this. In principle, I insist the club needs to clear out at least 14 players. Likely this is impossible without a DoF; because only a DoF would see it as necessary and urgent.

If we sign someone this January, as it looks like we certainly did, I'm praying its a DoF.

I could be cynical but even if a DOF comes in, how sure are we that he isn't controlled by Ed (behind the scenes). Does that solve the issues of not having enough money available for transfers? In some ways, the DOF will definitely help but I don't see it making that big of a difference.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

We do and as what you said that the current squad is not good enough, miles behind Liverpool & city.

However, it’s impossible to do everything in 1 and 2 summer windows. We don’t have Arab money and Ed is very slow in negotiating, you can see from what we did in our last two summer windows. Thus why we are now focusing on developing young players and improving the current players.

Realistically by end of this year summer window, I’ll be happy enough if we can upgrade that no 10 and our right forward and at the same time sort out Pogba’s issue whether we can keep him or need to replace him. 3 top players needed, and at least we are 95% got one sorted out already.

Your points are well made, but what about the unbalanced squad? 7 centre backs; 3 or 4 of them injury prone. 5 attacking midfielders (with the addition of Bruno F). It's OK to talk about developing younger players but I don't think Ole will play any of the central midfielders again this season. I don't expect to see Garner, Levitt, Galbraith or Mejbri in central midfield. Ole will play Pereira out of position before he'll play a kid there. That leaves Fred and Matic playing every match as the central pair until March when Pogba and McTominay come back. Short of a striker too.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

I could be cynical but even if a DOF comes in, how sure are we that he isn't controlled by Ed (behind the scenes). Does that solve the issues of not having enough money available for transfers? In some ways, the DOF will definitely help but I don't see it making that big of a difference.

The point I'm trying to make is money isn't the biggest issue. Lack of squad management is. It's a ridiculously unbalanced squad with too many injury prone players. 7 central defenders. 5 attacking midfielders (plus Sanchez). No proper right winger. Not enough strikers.

 

[Mr. Christian]

We always like to see kids make it into the first team but Ole is taking it to another level. We need at least 3 world class players in this squad. Players on the level of Pogba; players who will cost in excess of 80 mil each. Are we willing to take that step? With Ole in charge?
It seems like Woody is afraid to make those investments under OIe but also likes too much to sack him.

“Ole is taking it to the next level”
He made 3 additions in the summer and started the much needed clear out!

Change takes time, and there’s still quite a few that need to go. It’ll be interesting to see who Ole brings in, in the summer. Even if he brings another 3 in we’e talking half the team being changed, and members here are still banging on about sacking Ole!

Far too many just remember the SAF era where there was a distinct plan and stability.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Your points are well made, but what about the unbalanced squad? 7 centre backs; 3 or 4 of them injury prone. 5 attacking midfielders (with the addition of Bruno F). It's OK to talk about developing younger players but I don't think Ole will play any of the central midfielders again this season. I don't expect to see Garner, Levitt, Galbraith or Mejbri in central midfield. Ole will play Pereira out of position before he'll play a kid there. That leaves Fred and Matic playing every match as the central pair until March when Pogba and McTominay come back. Short of a striker too.

It's probably easier to get rid rather than find the right replacement.

Just because Pogba & McTominay are injured especially Pogba is missing majority this season, that doesn't mean we can ignore the total number that we have. We have 4 numbers in midfield for 2 pivot roles, that's ideal number to have in a squad. If one of them leave then we need to sign a replacement.

When I'm talking about young players, they are not just the teenagers but also the likes of Rashford, James, McTominay, Bissaka and including improving the current players such as Fred, Maguire, Bailly and etc.

I'm more worry with the quality that we are going to field in our XI first, we must fix the issue in our starting XI first before focusing about our whole squad, I believe it's the first step of that needed for big clear out. I would rather see Matic as 4th option midfielder than see Pereira & Lingard as our first choice no 10 and James is still not good enough to be our first choice right forward, and if Pogba leaves then replacement is needed because he's one of our starting XI player.

 

[James Ward]

The point I'm trying to make is money isn't the biggest issue. Lack of squad management is. It's a ridiculously unbalanced squad with too many injury prone players. 7 central defenders. 5 attacking midfielders (plus Sanchez). No proper right winger. Not enough strikers.

If You offer Lingard, Jones, Smalling, Mata, Matic, Bailey, Jones, Shaw, Andreas, Rojo, SancheZ to teams even for free how many of them would take a huge pay cut and play for a lower ranked team than Man Utd.

Some might, but most will want to keep the wages they are currently on and what other club is going to match their current wages?

Then you could have the problem like Sanchez, getting 500K a week, if you told him he is suprlus to requirement, he could play in the reserves for the next two and a half years getting 500K.a week.

A player has to agree to leave. It's not as straight forward as you think.

If a player doesn't want to leave it's next to impossible to get rid of them. No one is going to offer more wages than their currently on unless they move to China.

It's not an easy task managing deadwood on big wages and getting rid of them. It has to be managed right!

 

[Tarrou]

we're being hindered by this policy of renewing the deadwood to retain their transfer value

nobody wants to sign these cnuts because they are always injured and massively overpaid, just let their contract run down and feck them off!

 

[beingshe7don]

“Ole is taking it to the next level”
He made 3 additions in the summer and started the much needed clear out!

Change takes time, and there’s still quite a few that need to go. It’ll be interesting to see who Ole brings in, in the summer. Even if he brings another 3 in we’e talking half the team being changed, and members here are still banging on about sacking Ole!

Far too many just remember the SAF era where there was a distinct plan and stability.

Ole is NOT the right man to rebuild United. He's not a strong enough personality and more so is very inept tactically speaking. I think at the best he could get us top 4 (maybe), nothing more than that.

 

[Mr. Christian]

Ole is NOT the right man to rebuild United. He's not a strong enough personality and more so is very inept tactically speaking. I think at the best he could get us top 4 (maybe), nothing more than that.

Strong enough personality? Do you know him? Have you worked with the guy? I’m after mature debate.

Not tactically astute? For points in two games from arguably the two best teams on the planet.

It is impossible to judge Ole given the current set of circumstances, namely he inherited a very mediocre squad, and requires another transfer window.

Come on you Reds

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Strong enough personality? Do you know him? Have you worked with the guy? I’m after mature debate.

Not tactically astute? For points in two games from arguably the two best teams on the planet.

It is impossible to judge Ole given the current set of circumstances, namely he inherited a very mediocre squad, and requires another transfer window.

Come on you Reds

People judge Ole on his mistakes.

• Losing 7 players by start of this season (2 of them sent out on loan). Not replacing like for like. We lost D-C, D-R (2), M-C (2), CF, AM-L. Ole replaced them with D-C, D-R, AM-L. Although Tuanzebe (D-C) and Greenwood (CF) were added - Ole does not regard them as league game starters. Arguably, Maguire was a luxury buy: because he cost £80m but replaced a position we had lots of players in. Instead, Ole could've spent the £80m getting a 2 of CF, M-CD, or AM-R, in which case Smalling would still be at OT.
• Entering 2019-2020 season with a ridiculously unbalanced squad. Too many attacking midfielders, and central defenders. Too few central midfielders to play 4-3-3 - apparently Ole's favourite formation! No right wingers. Can anyone remember the last time United began a game with a recognized right winger in that position?
• Relying on both Greenwood and Rashford to make good as centre forwards.
• At the start, implying he'd use youth players to cover squad weaknesses, but changing his mind early on during the season.

 

[bosnian_red]

Obviously it's a risk doing what Ole's done, but I do think it's good long term. I like the direction of the squad build up and it makes sense how we're looking to balance the squad.

Gk: De Gea, Romero, Grant, Henderson (on loan)
Henderson I think we all view as De Gea's future replacement. Question is when that will be, and will we have to sell with a buy back clause. Grant retiring in the summer.

RB: Wan Bissaka, Dalot
No issues.

CB: Maguire, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Jones, Bailly, Smalling (on loan), Rojo (on loan)
Bloated at CB but Ole has tried to fix that, mainly through sending people on loan. I'd personally sell Jones, Rojo, bring Smalling back as the starter next to Maguire, and have Tuanzebe and Lindelof as the backups. Whoever as 5th choice, that's fine. Or buy someone to partner Maguire.

LB: Shaw, Williams
Fine for depth, not sure on starter quality. Williams has potential, but not sure if it's to the required level. Fine for now, long term reevaluate if neither Shaw or Williams are enough for the spot. Ideally would want more attack minded left back to compensate for Wan Bissaka on the right.

Midfield: Bruno Fernandes, Pogba, McTominay, Fred, Matic, Pereira, Mata, Garner, gomes
Pogba and Gomes are off in the summer, Mata isnt much use apart from being a back up #10, Pereira should be no more than a back up. Next season could look like Bruno, McT and Fred starting, Matic, Garner and Mata/Pereira being the back ups. Not awful, too reliant on Bruno for my liking for creativity. Better balance would be signing a holding mid like Tonali to start, Fred will be squad option, and then sell Pereira.

Attack: Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Lingard, Sanchez (on loan, useless)
Not much use in Lingard, think hes off in the summer. Clearly lacking some numbers in the attack past that though. Rashford and Martial are the starters, right wing is rotating between Greenwood and James. That's fine if we sign a striker to compete with Martial (Raul Jimenez?). Could then have a group of 5 from Rashford, Martial/Jimenez, James/Greenwood. One guy goes down and we have an easy starter replacement. 2 go down and we still have James/Greenwood starting next to one of the more senior 3. Greenwood still has clear path to starting whenever he is ready.

So summary is:

• Buy deep lying playmaking mid (someone like Tonali)
• Buy more experienced goalscorer (Raul Jimenez)
• Sell some dead weight/those that are on loan

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Obviously it's a risk doing what Ole's done, but I do think it's good long term. I like the direction of the squad build up and it makes sense how we're looking to balance the squad.

Gk: De Gea, Romero, Grant, Henderson (on loan)
Henderson I think we all view as De Gea's future replacement. Question is when that will be, and will we have to sell with a buy back clause. Grant retiring in the summer.

RB: Wan Bissaka, Dalot
No issues.

CB: Maguire, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Jones, Bailly, Smalling (on loan), Rojo (on loan)
Bloated at CB but Ole has tried to fix that, mainly through sending people on loan. I'd personally sell Jones, Rojo, bring Smalling back as the starter next to Maguire, and have Tuanzebe and Lindelof as the backups. Whoever as 5th choice, that's fine. Or buy someone to partner Maguire.

LB: Shaw, Williams
Fine for depth, not sure on starter quality. Williams has potential, but not sure if it's to the required level. Fine for now, long term reevaluate if neither Shaw or Williams are enough for the spot. Ideally would want more attack minded left back to compensate for Wan Bissaka on the right.

Midfield: Bruno Fernandes, Pogba, McTominay, Fred, Matic, Pereira, Mata, Garner, gomes
Pogba and Gomes are off in the summer, Mata isnt much use apart from being a back up #10, Pereira should be no more than a back up. Next season could look like Bruno, McT and Fred starting, Matic, Garner and Mata/Pereira being the back ups. Not awful, too reliant on Bruno for my liking for creativity. Better balance would be signing a holding mid like Tonali to start, Fred will be squad option, and then sell Pereira.

Attack: Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Lingard, Sanchez (on loan, useless)
Not much use in Lingard, think hes off in the summer. Clearly lacking some numbers in the attack past that though. Rashford and Martial are the starters, right wing is rotating between Greenwood and James. That's fine if we sign a striker to compete with Martial (Raul Jimenez?). Could then have a group of 5 from Rashford, Martial/Jimenez, James/Greenwood. One guy goes down and we have an easy starter replacement. 2 go down and we still have James/Greenwood starting next to one of the more senior 3. Greenwood still has clear path to starting whenever he is ready.

So summary is:

• Buy deep lying playmaking mid (someone like Tonali)
• Buy more experienced goalscorer (Raul Jimenez)
• Sell some dead weight/those that are on loan

I'm mostly agreeing with you. After Ole thinks his re-balance is done we can disagree about what precisely he should've done!

LB: Shaw not attacking enough. Williams not naturally left-footed.
Midfield: We don't have a high quality defensive midfielder who, I think, we need to play 4-3-3. With someone like Matheus Henrique, we could play both Pogba and Bruno as box-to-box with Henrique as a single pivot. Matic is hardly fast enough, and is not press resistance enough, to play the single pivot, and Garner really needs a loan move; ideally playing in this same formation.
Attack: We're missing another striker and a left-footed right winger. Dalot and James are not natural right-wingers.
Matheus Henrique is a deep-lying playmaker. Tonali is potential, still only 19; not yet good enough to start for us. Why would we pay £45m for him when we can get a youth with potential whom we can develop; as we're doing with Hannibal Mejbri?

We need a LB, DCM, CF and RW this summer. We can't afford it.

 

[tjb]

People comes up with comments like "this is not FM, You are delusional etc" but I agree with what you said.
We need 5-6 top class 1st team players and we can use players like James/Fred/Mason/VL/Martial as squad players.

We do need players, but I would also focus our attention on specific areas rather than trying to get those 5 or 6 at once. In addition to this, I believe that we have young players we can give opportunities in some of the role that have holes. At Centre Back for example, I think Tuanzebe has the capacity to make that role his own. Fitness has been the issue as far as he is concerned, and we are in a fortunate position where we have depth in the position. In addition, Smalling can be brought back from Roma, and can be used to delay our need for a centre back if Tuanzebe does not show signs of making that step up. At left back, both brandon williams and luke shaw can grow and make that position their own. Shaw on his own as an option is not trustworthy due to his lack of determination and injury record, but having williams play instead and potentially competing with him gives us depth and the potential for homegrown quality in that position. Aside from those two positions, I agree.

 

[tjb]

Strong enough personality? Do you know him? Have you worked with the guy? I’m after mature debate.

Not tactically astute? For points in two games from arguably the two best teams on the planet.

It is impossible to judge Ole given the current set of circumstances, namely he inherited a very mediocre squad, and requires another transfer window.

Come on you Reds

I agree with you. I would have been fine with Ole going as I still feel like Poch is a more assured pick for a manager than Ole, but let's not act like Ole has done anything wrong in his time here. He has had to deal with injuries and has granted the wishes of all utd fans by selling the players we have wanted to sell for years. It's not his fault that we don't have quality in certain positions in the squad, it was like that before him and he can't fix that. Tactically, it's pretty clear how he wants to operate. We have not won the games we lost or drew in the league on the account of our lack of depth in certain key positions brought by injury and the lack of quality that we have continously seen from some of our attacking players over the last 6 years.

I'm not saying he does not have question marks, but those question marks would not be answered by any manager at this stage of his reign given the failure of our recruiting and negotiating teams prior to and during his tenure. Norwich would be Norwich even with Guardiola there, people need to come to terms with the fact that there are players in our squad that would not start for Norwich. Since that is the case, how do you expect to challenge for the league or be an automatic champions league team. Even with that said, one can argue that Ole has shown his tactical mettle in some of our biggest games over his 1 year reign. Matching and consistently outperforming expectations against teams that were supposed to destroy us.