Wesley Sneijder

Status
Not open for further replies.
Why do we actually need a defensive midfielder? Whenever we have had a strong central midfield in the past, we've never played with one. I think SR is thinking of the Carrick of 2 years ago, that Carrick was a passer (a good one) and not a defensive midfielder, but over the last 2 years he'd been a (mediocre) centre back playing in front of our centre backs, almost the definition of a defensive midfielder.

In my opinion Sneijder would fit in perfectly:

Valencia Anderson Sneijder Fletcher Nani
......................Rooney

This system would give Sneijder/Anderson freedom whilst letting Fletcher play a Roy Keane type role (Nani could go right, with Rooney left and Hernandez/Berbatov up front).

Or

Valencia Fletcher Sneijder Nani
...............Rooney
...Hernandez or Berbatov

Fletcher would obviously be more restricted.
 
finneh said:
Why do we actually need a defensive midfielder? Whenever we have had a strong central midfield in the past, we've never played with one. I think SR is thinking of the Carrick of 2 years ago, that Carrick was a passer (a good one) and not a defensive midfielder, but over the last 2 years he'd been a (mediocre) centre back playing in front of our centre backs, almost the definition of a defensive midfielder.

In my opinion Sneijder would fit in perfectly:

Valencia Anderson Sneijder Fletcher Nani
......................Rooney

This system would give Sneijder/Anderson freedom whilst letting Fletcher play a Roy Keane type role (Nani could go right, with Rooney left and Hernandez/Berbatov up front).

Or

Valencia Fletcher Sneijder Nani
...............Rooney
...Hernandez or Berbatov

Fletcher would obviously be more restricted.
Click to expand...

Well the first lineup there would probably end up like this:

Rooney

Sniejder

Nani-----------------------------Valencia

Ando-------Fletch​

which is basically playing Fletcher as a defensive mid and Ando as a box to box midfielder. Just think with a good defensive mid like maybe De Rossi, the stability that lineup would get. Carrick is the best at that position we have playing in our lineup right now.

As for your second lineup, they would get killed against a top team because there is no one defensively sound except maybe Fletcher.
 
RDCR07 said:
Well the first lineup there would probably end up like this:

Rooney

Sniejder

Nani-----------------------------Valencia

Ando-------Fletch​

which is basically playing Fletcher as a defensive mid and Ando as a box to box midfielder. Just think with a good defensive mid like maybe De Rossi, the stability that lineup would get. Carrick is the best at that position we have playing in our lineup right now.

As for your second lineup, they would get killed against a top team because there is no one defensively sound except maybe Fletcher.
Click to expand...

I agree regarding the first formation, although I think if Anderson's offensive game progresses from his Porto days (which it hasn't really yet) he could play further forward than Sneijder, with the latter playing a more restricted "Scholes" role. I also don't think Fletcher would be playing particularly defensive midfield, more of an Essien role (which on top form Fletcher is awesome at).

The second lineup I disagree. I don't understand why people have this opinion that 4-4-2 would now get killed vs a good team. Rooney would play off Berbatov or Hernandez and almost fall back into midfield when we lose the ball (almost as he does now). We used this system to good effect with Scholes/Keane in their prime and if we had a similar midfield (ie Fletcher and Sneijder on top form, granted it wouldn't be as good) I don't see why it wouldn't work, particularly with Valencia/Nani putting in a shift helping out their full backs (see Becks/Giggs in their prime).
 
Fletcher's never shown anything like the positional awareness, discipline or all-round intelligence to play the Keane role, never mind to play alongside Sneijder.
 
Sarni said:
Problem: we cannot afford him at all when they could easily get £40m from a club like City or even Chelsea.
Click to expand...

This.


We'll get Charlie Adam, who would be good as a sub but we need a world class pair of centre mids...
 
I seem to recall these stories last year too.

NB. Another defender too, really?
 
Great player when he's in the mood and fit, but even with his poorer form this season and Inter's dissappointing season, he'd still be an extremely high profile signing. Thats unlike us
 
VoetbalWizard said:
he'll turn 27 in june.

won't happen. age profile not right.
Click to expand...

Unless we have a Kroos like player coming through, then we need to spend and its not like he's buying unproven talent at age 27. A world cup finalist and a CL winner there isn't much he has to prove and he's just hitting the peak in his career. Having Sneijder is like having Giggs against chelsea, every time he plays. We need a creative passer of the ball and Giggs isn't going to go on forever.
 
VoetbalWizard said:
he'll turn 27 in june.

won't happen. age profile not right.
Click to expand...

When did you join the board?

It might happen, In fact I think we tried to get him last summer and will go for him again this year. I think he's the player fergie was on about that decided to stay put. I could well be wrong but we live in hope.:drool:
 
marchi-91 said:
Unless we have a Kroos like player coming through, then we need to spend and its not like he's buying unproven talent at age 27. A world cup finalist and a CL winner there isn't much he has to prove and he's just hitting the peak in his career. Having Sneijder is like having Giggs against chelsea, every time he plays. We need a creative passer of the ball and Giggs isn't going to go on forever.
Click to expand...

Somewhat...but not exactly. Giggs, though his legs aren't what they used to be, can still make one or two meandering runs with the ball and use his dribbling to really put opposing midfields on the back foot. Sneijder isn't that great of a dribbler.

To be honest, someone like Modric (and mind you i rate sneijder a lot more than modric) would be closer to having giggs in midfield.

Iniesta would be the pinnacle because he can do it all, but that'll never happen.
 
Ekeke said:
Great player when he's in the mood and fit, but even with his poorer form this season and Inter's dissappointing season, he'd still be an extremely high profile signing. Thats unlike us
Click to expand...

Is it? Maybe it is but a high profile signing for how much? If you can get him for 25 million then it's not out of the blue. However, are we interested? We weren't that interested when we sold Ronaldo but then again things tend to change quickly and who knows what Scholes retirement will bring forward (if he don't resign)..
 
VoetbalWizard said:
Somewhat...but not exactly. Giggs, though his legs aren't what they used to be, can still make one or two meandering runs with the ball and use his dribbling to really put opposing midfields on the back foot. Sneijder isn't that great of a dribbler.

To be honest, someone like Modric (and mind you i rate sneijder a lot more than modric) would be closer to having giggs in midfield.

Iniesta would be the pinnacle because he can do it all, but that'll never happen.
Click to expand...

Thing about Giggs in those games was that he was playing a more attacking midfield role. Not so much pinging the balls around like Scholes, but the neat balls through the center of the park and along the ground to the wingers. It also takes the pressure off Carrick to provide all the creativity in the center like he does in a midfield with Fletcher. Modrid would be more akin to Scholes in that he's hold up play and passing skill is more diverse. With Rooney playing as that withdrawn striker, I don't think we need the extra dribbling midfielder. Just look at some of his goals we had with Ruud for example.

I think one of things that is starting to irk me is that we're still dependent on Giggs alot to provide that creative spark. Its not a massively bad thing but I'd like to be able to afford Giggs the ability of being a luxury player. That extra bit of talent that we don't solely depend on but can bring on to increase our strike force.
 
wr8_utd said:
Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder Was Born a Manchester United Player | Bleacher Report

Great article...except for the Nani bit at the end.
Click to expand...

I actually thought that was a rubbish article. Seemed like it was written by an FM muppet.

Quotes like "As for Rooney, adopting the playmaker role does nothing but hurt his own game" is nonsense. It doesn't do nothing; it actually brings out Rooney's all round abilities more.

And as you've already said, that Nani bit at the end was nonsense as well.
 
If there's one reason to think we could be doing this is that we've left it too late to sign a 'promising one' who needs time to progress. Not that signing a seasoned pro from overseas (Veron) or even the PL (Berba) is a guarentee for anything, but then it shouldn't scare us off if a certain signing is needed.

Maybe if Anderson had progresses as we hoped for as a midfield creator, we'd be looking at things differently. But he hasn't, and we have yet to find a way to stop Giggs and Scholes from ageing. When we went to the two Chelsea matches we had Scholes starting in one and Giggs in the other, because they are still easily the best we've got in what they do. We might not even have Scholes next season, and yet we are still too dependent on them for ANY creativity from midfield. The price may have to be paying good money for a player who may not have long term 're-sale value', but can do the business right away.

Well, fine, I'm a supporter, not the owner... It would be rather sad if I was troubled because of such stuff.

Fergie did say this season that when VDS, Giggs and Scholes retire it would be time to spend the money. One is going, one is not, the third we don't know yet. Maybe this summer is the time.

P.S. Bleacher Report... Isn't this some crap website that allows anyone to write stuff?
 
Somehow, I doubt we will try for Sneijder when Fergie personally said, time and time again that he is only looking for young players. Rather we go for somebody like Pastore, one that Fergie can mold into a United player from scratch.
 
Just heard it on Sky News for some reason - just paraphrasing the mail reports, but seems to have some credence if the reports in the Dutch Media are also circulating - it doesn't surprise me we'd move for Sneijder. We should have done it earlier. He'd improve our team no end and is exactly the type of player we should be looking at. £25,000,000 however doesn't seem enough for a player of his calibre, in context that is 10 million less than Andy Carroll. Now Sneijder could be blind and aged 102 he'd still be the superior player.

So if our interest is real - as it seems - old Uncle Malc needs to open his dusty wallet a lot further.
 
Jacob said:
Somehow, I doubt we will try for Sneijder when Fergie personally said, time and time again that he is only looking for young players. Rather we go for somebody like Pastore, one that Fergie can mold into a United player from scratch.
Click to expand...

At 60 Million Euros there is no chance
 
He would be quality. Modric would probably be slightly better due to his age but Sneijder would be perfect for us and we'd finally have someone who can score from midfield and take great set pieces. And 25m for a 27 year old Sneijder is a bargain imo which is why I doubt they'd let him go for so less.
 
With all the supposed funds laying around we should go all out for Sneijder and Schweinsteiger. An impossible dream but money talks the nonetheless.

Carrick/Fletcher---Schweinsteiger
-----------Sneijder--------------
Valencia-------------------Nani-
------------Rooney-------------

Champions league win in that.
 
Blair said:
Too much money and not young enough.
Click to expand...

He's just more or less one year older than Rooney and Ronaldo ffs! (16 months older than Rooney and 8 months older than Ronaldo).

When RVN moved to Madrid at 30, they still got 3 seasons of top perfromance from him.

I'd rather buy a player at 26-27 and get about 5 season of his best football from him, than buy a player at 20, improve him for 5 seasons only to lose him to Madrid at 25.
 
AdZzUtd said:
With all the supposed funds laying around we should go all out for Sneijder and Schweinsteiger. An impossible dream but money talks the nonetheless.

Carrick/Fletcher---Schweinsteiger
-----------Sneijder--------------
Valencia-------------------Nani-
------------Rooney-------------

Champions league win in that.
Click to expand...

Now that is pure muppetry. Schweiny has been a bit shit this season hasn't he?
 
AdZzUtd said:
With all the supposed funds laying around we should go all out for Sneijder and Schweinsteiger. An impossible dream but money talks the nonetheless.

Carrick/Fletcher---Schweinsteiger
-----------Sneijder--------------
Valencia-------------------Nani-
------------Rooney-------------

Champions league win in that.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, it would actually be better to acquire Sneijder and a proper DM in place of Carrick, then you'd have a one hell of a 4-4-2 with Nani and Valencia on the wings and Rooney+Hernandez up front.
 
Kaiketsu_Zorro said:
He's just more or less one year older than Rooney and Ronaldo ffs! (16 months older than Rooney and 8 months older than Ronaldo).
Click to expand...
Yes, but if I remember correctly SAF signed them when they were 17/18, not 27!

Kaiketsu_Zorro said:
When RVN moved to Madrid at 30, they still got 3 seasons of top perfromance from him.
Click to expand...
Irrelevant, that's R. Madrid, United's transfer policy is not the same.

Kaiketsu_Zorro said:
I'd rather buy a player at 26-27 and get about 5 season of his best football from him, than buy a player at 20, improve him for 5 seasons only to lose him to Madrid at 25.
Click to expand...
Well that's your opinion, SAF prefers to do the latter.
 
fletcher is not a defensive midfielder. Fletcher brings energy and bite to the midfield. he is not very good at tracking midfield runs and is not suited to the role as a screen in front of the defense. Look at his best games for us and he has always been used as a midfielder pressing high up the pitch.

Carrick is our current screen and I think he does a good job. Fans not happy with carrick can righly argue in favour of a new Dm.

Sneijder is a player that can play 4 4 2 and in the hole so he would be a good signing. he would bring guile and creativity in and around the box which is what we lack in our squad
 
Status
Not open for further replies.