The search for a left back...

Suvvernmanc said:
Laird does look a talent. Quick and attack minded. Strong too.

Brandon Williams looks like he has it in his locker to be very good. He is very tenacious and has real fight in him. Something that is very welcome in what has been criticised in recent years in this UTD squad. He likes to get forward but can defend too.

Watching him in the reserves, he does have a natural fitness about him. He runs and runs as he did tonight. Hopefully he will progress and surpass Shaw who hasn't progressed like most thought he would. The injury to his leg might really have fecked his early progress with us up.

Would be great to have 2 attacking full backs coming through with real potential to make it long term here!
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What a dream if we have a team like this:
Henderson

Laird
Axel
CB
Williams

Garner
Mct
CM

Rashford
Greenwood
FW

At least 8 of our youth starting for the first team.

@Suvvernmanc

Editing my post as I need approval from mods as a newbie.

Somehow forgot about Mctominay!
Didn't include Pogba because:
  1. Am not a fan
  2. I think he will leave at the first opportunity that suits him and us.
Also not a fan of Pereira. For me Lingard would be a good sub so yeah, part of the first team squad.
 
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Varun1 said:
What a dream if we have a team like this:
Henderson

Laird
Axel
CB
Williams

Garner
CM
CM

Rashford
Greenwood
FW

At least 7 of our youth starting for the first team.
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Pogba and Mctominay can be in that list. We have a squad full of academy players at the moment. Andreas and Lingard are regulars too
 
Suvvernmanc said:
Laird does look a talent. Quick and attack minded. Strong too.

Brandon Williams looks like he has it in his locker to be very good. He is very tenacious and has real fight in him. Something that is very welcome in what has been criticised in recent years in this UTD squad. He likes to get forward but can defend too.

Watching him in the reserves, he does have a natural fitness about him. He runs and runs as he did tonight. Hopefully he will progress and surpass Shaw who hasn't progressed like most thought he would. The injury to his leg might really have fecked his early progress with us up.

Would be great to have 2 attacking full backs coming through with real potential to make it long term here!
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It's a good point you make about Williams and his stamina levels to bomb up and down. Laird is also very good in that regard.

But the real positive is that Williams has given us a alternative option to Shaw which will be beneficial to our cause to achieve top 4.
 
I think alaba and bernat have contracts due to expire in 2021

Might be a deal To be done there?(suspect cl football would be a necessity for alaba)

Chilwell, Gaya, Grimaldo could be other options though I think all have at least 3 years left on their contracts

If left back is a priority there are a few decent players who with enough money thrown at their club, them and their agent could be got
 
Right now my observation and feeling is saying Jamal Lewis from Norwich. He is athlete, creative and can pass players. So i am scouting him. He is playing not a good defensive team in Norwich. So his confidence is not high. Has been and out of the team. But it is no doubt his offensive and attacking ability. Link up play and passing combination is really good. A left back to keep eye on. Come to United and his confidence will rise.
 
Not a priority position for me after Williams emergence.
 
Adnan said:
I know you're a fan of Shaw but surely you realise that he can quite easily be upgraded.

Tierney might be injury prone but he at the very least looks after his diet and has a low body fat in comparison to our overweight LB.
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I think Shaw could definitely be upgraded if we are lucky and smarter in the market, but Shaw isn't terrible like some make him out to be. He is strong in defence and very comfortable with the ball which is important when playing for a top club. What he needs imo is more urgency to his game.
 
Mcking said:
I think Shaw could definitely be upgraded if we are lucky and smarter in the market, but Shaw isn't terrible like some make him out to be. He is strong in defence and very comfortable with the ball which is important when playing for a top club. What he needs imo is more urgency to his game.
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Fair post..
 
In an attacking sense, with everyone firing, we don’t need an attacking left back. Pogba prefers to play from that side, Rashford and martial too. So long as the LB makes overlaps from time to time, I think his primary responsibility in our team should be defence. On the other side, we need an attack minded right back. I’d honestly like us to try AWB at left back, he’s incredible at tackling with his right foot so he will keep any tricky RW quiet because they won’t be able to cut inside. Might even be a case for switching AWB and Williams Just to see how it plays out.
 
sun_tzu said:
I think alaba and bernat have contracts due to expire in 2021

Might be a deal To be done there?(suspect cl football would be a necessity for alaba)

Chilwell, Gaya, Grimaldo could be other options though I think all have at least 3 years left on their contracts

If left back is a priority there are a few decent players who with enough money thrown at their club, them and their agent could be got
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Can only talk about Grimaldo. He would be very decent in a team like Barcelona or City where ball possession is a must because he is very weak defending. In possession he is very technical, like having a CM as a LB. Having said that he would be easily exploited playing for United. If you know Raphael Guerreiro he is very similar to him, but worse in the defensive aspect. He scores from free kicks too.
 
Lucas Digne. He's a good one & very good on the ball, good age as well because as soon as he finishes, Brandon can take his place.
 
Mcking said:
I think Shaw could definitely be upgraded if we are lucky and smarter in the market, but Shaw isn't terrible like some make him out to be. He is strong in defence and very comfortable with the ball which is important when playing for a top club. What he needs imo is more urgency to his game.
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He wont develop any urgency to his game though. I feel pretty certain of it. He has arguably regressed defensively, and certainly not developed defensively. He used to be a bit like Andy Cole 1vs1 when he was younger and we hoped he could develop more to his game, but instead he has become a different player. He does have good ball control in the most basic sense. His passing technique is decent. However, he is not a midfielder so there is no need for him to be comfortable at these things in the middle of the pitch when he struggles soon as he has to run back or run forward. He hasn't got the vision or ability to be comfortable in possession if he also has to use his energy on running. It is a trade off and it is not worth it.

We definitely need to replace him, and the quicker the better while he still has some value. It will only drop in the next few years. Someone like Chelsea might be interested now for 30m.
 
"Play Shaw and wait for Williams to develop" is the new "Play Valencia and wait for TFM to develop" hahaha, you never learn.

Manutd1990 said:
1 Lucas Digne
2 Raphaël Guerreiro (bvb)
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Yeah, we could really do with another injury prone defender. We don't have enough of them already...
 
We can barely sign a CM when we hardly have any quality ones.
We can barely sign a RW
We just about managed to get a CB

What makes fans think we will sign a LB considering the one we have is being paid over 200k a week?

It is so frustrating that the so called footballing people at the club cannot see what the club needs.
 
Solius said:
Not a priority position for me after Williams emergence.
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Agree with this. If Ole would only give Williams the slot now to make his own on a regular basis with Shaw as a back up then that works for me. Other pressing areas to attend to like CM, CAM and RW for me.
 
Agree with the consensus that it should be Williams and Shaw battling it out for the shirt, and our squad requires surgery in other places first before LB. However, if we were set on getting a new LB, my choice would be Alex Telles (assuming Chilwell wouldn't join us tbh). He's just a brilliant all-rounder and could quite easily play on the wing, in the heart of the backline or central midfield (sign him up!). Hell of a player. Failing that, I like Gaya at Valencia also.
 
LuckyScout78 said:
Right now my observation and feeling is saying Jamal Lewis from Norwich. He is athlete, creative and can pass players. So i am scouting him. He is playing not a good defensive team in Norwich. So his confidence is not high. Has been and out of the team. But it is no doubt his offensive and attacking ability. Link up play and passing combination is really good. A left back to keep eye on. Come to United and his confidence will rise.
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Liverpool have been linked with him recently.
 
neilv93 said:
Agree with the consensus that it should be Williams and Shaw battling it out for the shirt, and our squad requires surgery in other places first before LB. However, if we were set on getting a new LB, my choice would be Alex Telles (assuming Chilwell wouldn't join us tbh). He's just a brilliant all-rounder and could quite easily play on the wing, in the heart of the backline or central midfield (sign him up!). Hell of a player. Failing that, I like Gaya at Valencia also.
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Telles can't defend to save his life, was a flop at Inter and would be exposed again in the EPL. We have to go for Digne or Gaya.
 
King Andow said:
Telles can't defend to save his life, was a flop at Inter and would be exposed again in the EPL. We have to go for Digne or Gaya.
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Because Digne is such a solid defender and didn't flop at Barca? Don't get me wrong, I like him and he's a great crosser/deadball-specialist but always looks suspect for Everton...
 
neilv93 said:
Because Digne is such a solid defender and didn't flop at Barca? Don't get me wrong, I like him and he's a great crosser/deadball-specialist but always looks suspect for Everton...
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Barcelona didn't want to sell him, he wasn't a flop. He improved and is a reliable player. I forgot about Tagliafico, too. Would be happy with any of these 3 rotating with Williams.
 
I would be very cautious to expect Williams to become our number 1 LB if we want to improve the overall attacking transitions.

Although he looked okay a few times with his left foot but we should not underestimate the importance of a natural left footed player for our LB position, this is especially important when majority of our attacking players are right footed.

We badly need width coming from our fullbacks especially when Rashford/Martial always tend to drift inside, we can't afford whenever a fullback has space to run and cross but chooses to bring it back with his right where that space is already overly crowded.
 
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King Andow said:
Barcelona didn't want to sell him, he wasn't a flop. He improved and is a reliable player. I forgot about Tagliafico, too. Would be happy with any of these 3 rotating with Williams.
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Meh, I like Digne but think he's at his level in Everton. Tagliafico, however, is an excellent shout and I also forgot about him too. Bottom line though, I'd happily have Williams over Shaw for now!
 
I will give Brandon Williams a go. And to be honest and hopefully Gary Neville is nit on this forum. I already like Williams more than G.Neville. My cup of tea than Neville as a side back. If Williams keep improving. I am 100 % Williams will be better with the ball/basic ball skills than the best of G.Neville. Same fighting and winning mentality as Neville. But with better ball and passing/combination skills.

Then i am followin J. Lewis.

And im sure Hakimi on loan to Dortmund is good enough for every top 4 team, from Real Madrid. If Zidane doesn’t have Hakimi in the future. I don’t mind to bring him to Old Trafford. Hakimi can play on both back sides. And maybe as RM and LM in crisis and need.

Williams, Hakimi and Lewis. Two to keep eyes on. Hakimi is ready for the top 2 in the league.
 
Surely LB is way down on the list of priorities with shaw/Williams/young all available for that position.
CM x 2 - number 10 - CF - RW in that order.
 
Seems like the move would be to sign a #1 LB and send Dalot on loan so he can actually get some games (maybe to that team that sends us an LB if it's Gaya from Valencia or Grimaldo from Benfica for instance).

LB - ShinyNewLB, Shaw, Williams
RB - Wan-Bissaka, Williams, Laird

would be be fine for next year, as Williams is right-footed and seems to have a good aggressive mentality without necessarily being a top class prospect, and he and Laird would get games with Shaw always missing stuff.
 
Rozay said:
Offensively, we get nothing from our full backs at all, and on this journey to becoming an all conquering team again, this is a weakness we would do well to improve sharpish. We have already rolled our dice at RB on Wan Bissaka, and given our financial outlay, he will likely be our RB for a while yet (although I suspect Laird will overtake him at some point) - so LB is the obvious area we should be targeting in the shorter term.

What viable left-back targets could we have? Can’t say I’m an expert on too many options at the moment. All the best young full backs seem to be right backs.
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Left backs are not a priority. Come on!!
 


Grimaldo has 22 assists and 6 goals since 2017-18 season.
 
Bump!

We should look at bringing in another LB now that Young has gone. Shaw cant be trusted as we know already, Dalot also has too many injury problems to be relied upon.
 
FootyGirl88 said:
Bump!

We should look at bringing in another LB now that Young has gone. Shaw cant be trusted as we know already, Dalot also has too many injury problems to be relied upon.
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Think Shaw would need to go too before we bring in another LB. Which I think is fair. I don’t think much of Shaw, but if he’s here, no point having 3 senior left backs. I’d bring in a top one and let Williams understudy, as I don’t think he’s a top tier talent personally, although can develop into a very good full back.
 
Don’t think we need one. Williams and Shaw is fine for now.

Unless we go all out for Grimaldo there’s not much point when other areas need investment more urgently
 
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