Hopefully, but I am not confident. Seems unlikely.
The Striker Situation & Addressing the Goal Scoring issue this Summer
- Thread starter Baby Faced Assassin
- Start date
Hopefully, but I am not confident. Seems unlikely.
I don't think I could disagree more! Those three are nothing like good goal scorers and Lingaard is nowhere near good enough for United; as his goal tally reveals
With Lukaku signed, that's Zlatan replaced.
The club still needs to replace Rooney or how I look at it, the potential signing of Griezmann.
We were supposed to have Zlatan & Griezmann in attack next season but with both out, two players are needed to come in & solve our goal scoring issues of the last 4 years!
The club still needs to replace Rooney or how I look at it, the potential signing of Griezmann.
We were supposed to have Zlatan & Griezmann in attack next season but with both out, two players are needed to come in & solve our goal scoring issues of the last 4 years!
I suspect the Rooney replacement list was Griezmann, James, Talisca in that order. Key unknown is whether Griezmann is still on to come next Summer or not.
We still need more goals - especially if Martial as another season like the last one. Lukaku will probably score 8 or so more than Zlatan in the league, but it still isn't enough.
I've been saying exactly this for a while, now.
Lukaku isn't enough. He's actually a downgrade on Zlatan unless be shows improvement next season. And I don't think Perisic is enough to fill the gap. You could argue that we don't attack as well as we can anyway so there's scope to improve in general as attacking unit, and I did last season. I'd love for the big improvement to come from Martial, Mkhitarian and Rashford.
But keeping in mind our attack under Jose last season we need to strengthen our attack more than Lukaku and Perisic would.
But keeping in mind our attack under Jose last season we need to strengthen our attack more than Lukaku and Perisic would.
I still can't comprehend how some people think that simply buying new attackers will sort us out in an attacking sense. We'd manage to neuter Messi and Ronaldo, nevermind Ivan bloody Perisic.
The sooner we play with more positivity and expression in a well-managed attack the more goals we will score. Martial, Mkhitaryan, Rashford and Mata can all hit the net, and that some of us have just readily accepted more of the same next season is frustrating.
We still need another attacker or two, don't get me wrong. Somebody that can really whip in a ball would be great. But until major changes are made in how we actually play our football then expect little improvement. We've got some fantastic talent already at the club and I wish they were appreciated that little bit more. Martial, in particular, will be a superstar. We need to get the best out of him.
When every attacker we buy scores less goals than the previous season when at their old (usually worse) club then you know it's not merely an issue with recruitment.
The sooner we play with more positivity and expression in a well-managed attack the more goals we will score. Martial, Mkhitaryan, Rashford and Mata can all hit the net, and that some of us have just readily accepted more of the same next season is frustrating.
We still need another attacker or two, don't get me wrong. Somebody that can really whip in a ball would be great. But until major changes are made in how we actually play our football then expect little improvement. We've got some fantastic talent already at the club and I wish they were appreciated that little bit more. Martial, in particular, will be a superstar. We need to get the best out of him.
When every attacker we buy scores less goals than the previous season when at their old (usually worse) club then you know it's not merely an issue with recruitment.
I hope for this:
------------James-----------
Mkhitaryan---------Perisic
-------------Lukaku--------
With Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Mata and Pereira in reserve
------------James-----------
Mkhitaryan---------Perisic
-------------Lukaku--------
With Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Mata and Pereira in reserve
I hear what you are saying Kag, The best thing would be for our current set of attackers, to increase their goal tally by about 100%.
The problem is, how would you go about doing this?
The easiest and most obvious way of improving is by buying new players and hoping that they hit the ground running.
Generally speaking, if you buy top class players, they do tend to deliver (Di Maria, excepted).
To give you an example, Martial 2 seasons ago, scored 12 league goals. Last season we bought in a Galactico class striker who scored 25% in far fewer games.
On the other hand, if you want to improve the likes of Mata, Martial, etc and get them to double their goal tally of last season (which is what is required), I can't think of how this can be done, in 1.5 months.
Furthermore, I just don't believe that Jose is the kind of manager who can get the most out of Martial. IMO, to improve, Martial will need to either go on loan or change clubs. At Ajax for example, I think Martial will come on leaps and bounds.
I really don't fancy James!
We need players that clock more miles, we were the team that clocked the least miles per game on an average in the league, too many Rolls Royce in the team & not enough solid hard working Audi's. And James is just another Rolls Royce.
Perisic on the other hand, not as exciting but a hard working creative winger at the peak of his powers is just what we need. Also buys time for Martial to develop.
Getting all Mourinho's main attacker targets first is probably more important than getting defensive midfield IMO for the first steps to address the goal scoring issue. This is why we need to wrap up Perisic deal first (which I'm assuming he's Mourinho's main target) before moving to DM.
Now that all other areas are more or less replenished, one thing that still worries me about this team is: GOALS!
Lukaku even if he scores 10 goals more than Zlatan did last season, won't be enough overall. Sure Mata, Mkhi, Martial, Rashford, Pogba & Lingard will have to improve their goal tallys significantly as well.
But we still need one more attacker, Greizmann would've been that player had Atleti not gotten the ban but since that option is discarded, my ideal candidate would be Bale but that all hinges on Mbappe leaving for Real & Bale's lack of urgency to leave Real also makes it unlikely. Perisic would underwhelm me especially for the 48m GBP price tag being touted at 29 years old but I can see the value in him providing service for Lukaku, meaning more goals (hopefully).
Lastly, less of a priority, a RB. Valencia is great & had a good season under Jose but to count on him completely for another season where our objectives are much more serious is a bit of a risk. Aurier seems like a target for Jose & isn't a bad option except for his explosive character that could potentially disrupt the dressing room atmosphere. Ideally I think everyone would prefer the club to sign Fabinho for this position given his attacking contribution as well but assume no one has succeeded in signing him means Monaco may have been asking for a massive price tag.
Lukaku even if he scores 10 goals more than Zlatan did last season, won't be enough overall. Sure Mata, Mkhi, Martial, Rashford, Pogba & Lingard will have to improve their goal tallys significantly as well.
But we still need one more attacker, Greizmann would've been that player had Atleti not gotten the ban but since that option is discarded, my ideal candidate would be Bale but that all hinges on Mbappe leaving for Real & Bale's lack of urgency to leave Real also makes it unlikely. Perisic would underwhelm me especially for the 48m GBP price tag being touted at 29 years old but I can see the value in him providing service for Lukaku, meaning more goals (hopefully).
Lastly, less of a priority, a RB. Valencia is great & had a good season under Jose but to count on him completely for another season where our objectives are much more serious is a bit of a risk. Aurier seems like a target for Jose & isn't a bad option except for his explosive character that could potentially disrupt the dressing room atmosphere. Ideally I think everyone would prefer the club to sign Fabinho for this position given his attacking contribution as well but assume no one has succeeded in signing him means Monaco may have been asking for a massive price tag.
still say we should have snapped up Hernandez
I know the thread technically came first but we now have 3 active threads all about the same thing 
I think we can see the plan:
Lukaku up top, using his physique and scoring goals.
Ibrahimovic to return in December and play as a #10, or an impact player off the bench until he is fully match fit (I predict he'll get the #7 shirt for 6 months - think of the marketing!)
Rashford (R) & Martial (L) continuing their development, playing a range of forward positions, maturing into top class players.
Mikitaryan and Mata linking midfield and attack with assists and a few goals.
Lindgard (a la JS Park) working his socks off to press teams into making mistakes at the business end of the pitch.
Griezmann - new #7 in the Summer, Zlatan heads to LA as the player that scored the Champions League Final Winner in the 97th minute (his two numbers)
We would all like to see Griezmann but not too sure if that'll happen. Lukaku is not going to be enough as far getting goals are concerned. We need another proven goal scorer or we could just move Mhiki in the No. 10 role and play a proper winger on the flanks. Jose, please go ahead and buy Dembele. He's a guaranteed star.
I still think we would score alot more goals if we made the transition to a 3-4-3
------------DDG--------------
--Bailly----Lindelöf----Rojo--
Valencia--Matic--Pogba--Perisic
----Mkhitaryan---Rashford------
-------------Lukaku--------------
------------Romero-------------
--Axel------Smalling-----Blind
Aurier--Herrera--Fellaini--Mitchell
--------Mata-------Pereira--------
-------------Martial----------------
------------DDG--------------
--Bailly----Lindelöf----Rojo--
Valencia--Matic--Pogba--Perisic
----Mkhitaryan---Rashford------
-------------Lukaku--------------
------------Romero-------------
--Axel------Smalling-----Blind
Aurier--Herrera--Fellaini--Mitchell
--------Mata-------Pereira--------
-------------Martial----------------
I have high expectations for Martial to take a step up and naturally progress as a player. He scores 15-20 goals along with Lukaku's production and our end result will be much more formidable.
Martial suddenly scoring 15-20 goals is not a realistic prospect. What besides hoping that it will happen would make you think he will pull that off this season when he wasn't capable of doing it last year ? Under LVG when he played all the time, was the star man and had high confidence he scored 11 goals, last season when he wasn't the automatic big boy anymore he scored 4 goals. Imo there is no way Martial will suddenly step up to be a 15-20 goal goalscorer for us, simply no way.
To elaborate on my point.
Defence was never our problem last season it was scoring goals.
What we have done so far this summer is further strengthen our already strong defence & make a like for like replacement for our last season top scorer.
Unless other attacking players make a significant improvement on their goal stats, United really need to add another attacker this summer!
It wont matter who we have up front if Mourinho keeps to his ridiculous negative tactics of last season, particularly against the better side.
In year one, he scored 17 total goals for us. He's already proven he can score that many. He's a huge talent and this is his third season in the PL. You naturally expect a 21 year old player to evolve and improve.
A huge talent like Martial either steps up and becomes a better player each season or they remain stagnant or even regres and become a bust. But I'm willing to bet based on his talent and natural progression that he'll have a great season, scoring goals for us.
By buying more defensive players for a squad that clearly sucked at scoring goals further strengthens the possibility of more negative tactics in the coming season.
Also, more goals should be scored with setpieces. There's a decent amount of aerial threat in this United team.
There was a decent amount last year aswell: Ibra, Pogba, Fellaini, Bailly, Smalling...
You need more than just tall guys to score from set pieces. Someone who can take a good corner would be a start.
He got 17 overall in his first season, so I don't see why it's unthinkable he could replicate that as a more mature player in a better team.