What CDM?

@Devil may care @Invictus Thanks for the replies!

Goretzka is sadly injury-prone, otherwise a very talented player. My argument for Saul was mainly based on Mourinho's 4-2-3-1, which I expect to see next season.
 
Devil may care said:
I like Goretzka as well, another excellent young CM in Germany, a league rife with quality in that department right now. I know Jose has gone 4-2-3-1 a lot but I'm really hoping he sticks with 4-3-3 as I think we are closer to being able to get that up and running at a high level.



Now I know Rooney is none of our ideas of the right #8, but realistically it's gonna take another season to phase him out. The DM role can be shared between Blind/Schweini/Schneiderlin for a season and then next summer we could move Joao Mario to Rooney's position and buy in a top #6.

If we add a young versatile attacker like Gabriel Jesus or Adam Ounas this summer we can develop them in the forward positions as a back-up along with Rashford with potential to take over as #9 and a wide forward role in a couple of seasons. That just leaves the choice of #9 to get right.
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I really hope Mourinho plays 433. I think our players would be more effective with that formation.

It's important that you mentioned Rooney in the starting eleven because it's the most realistic scenario.

Martial-Lacazette-Griezmann would be an interesting attack. They can change positions and even Griezmann could play behind Martial-Lacazette during the game.

A player like Kante could balance the midfield if we include Rooney in it. Blind, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Fosu-Mensah and Carrick (if he stays) can play in the CDM position.

I haven't seen Joao Mario... do you consider he is a better option than Mahrez/Sane/Demeble/Moura?

Agree about Saul. However, I think he will stay in Atletico.
 
VivaJanuzaj said:
Agreed, but together in a 4-2-3-1 they could do a great job behind an AM. And I have no clue why would he come to us.. Wishful thinking I guess.
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I prefer a deep-lying playmaker to play with Schneiderlin. IMO Kante and Morgan are a bit similar. But as you mentioned, the AM (and the wingers) would be focused on creating opportunities. So Kante wouldn't be a bad idea after all.
 
Fer said:
I prefer a deep-lying playmaker to play with Schneiderlin. IMO Kante and Morgan are a bit similar. But as you mentioned, the AM (and the wingers) would be focused on creating opportunities. So Kante wouldn't be a bad idea after all.
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I think it could still work though, they both are tactically and positionally intelligent, the pressing from midfield would be insane!
 
With Carrick, Morgan and Blind who i think should start as a more defensive CM and be covering the back four we are well stocked in this area i think. We should focus our attention on finding attacking players and a proper good CB to play alongside Smalling.
 
Mr Smith said:
Doesn't work that way anymore. The new TV deal means we don't have anywhere near the financial edge we used to.
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That is not true. TV money only makes up about 30% of the total revenues for a big club like ours. For a team like Leicester it will be about 80% of their total revenues. Our commercial and matchday revenues absolutely dwarfs theirs. That is why a club like Bayern has amongst the top 5 highest revenues in Europe despite receiving less TV money than the bottom team in PL.
 
Mr Smith said:
Doesn't work that way anymore. The new TV deal means we don't have anywhere near the financial edge we used to.
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Our bench players earn more then Leicesters star players.

Also I'am pretty sure that even regardless of money a transfer from Leicester to United would still be regarded by most footballers as a step up in their career and not down even in ther current situation.
 
TheGame said:
Whatever happended to Lars Bender? His name was muted for the top clubs a few years ago.
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played 26 games last season and 16 games this season so i am going to guess injuries.
think he is 27 now so at that age having missed a lot of football with injuries over the last 2 years I doubt a move to a top club is likely now.
 
If we play 433... Who do you prefer as No.6/CDM? Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Blind, Schneiderlin or Fosu-Mensah?
 
Amigos, this one is really simple.

N'Golo Kante.

Close thread. ;)
 
Kante, Krychowiak, Kondogbia, Matic, Danilo Pereria, William Carvalho, Lars Bender - any of these would be great in my book.

Nainggolan, Pjanic, Matuidi, Marchisio, Khedira, Vidal, Modric, Verratti, Dele Alli, Hamsik - they may be more muppet friendly, and would be fantastic to work alongside a pure CDM (rather than being the CDM themselves) and with what looks like it'll be Rooney.

Pogba is of course the muppet dream that ticks virtually every box I can think of for a midfielder. He's complete.
 
N'golo Kante.

No one else will do.

Most dominant little man I've ever seen. He's magnetic.
 
Mr Smith said:
Kante is more of a box-to-box midfielder than Schneiderlin. And also, why on earth would he come to us?
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Because we are one of the biggest clubs in the world in a country he appears settled in, playing for a fairly small club irrespective of what they have achieved.
 
With Carrick extending his contract, I think he won't sign a CDM. There are rumors about Matic, but I'm not sure Chelsea will sell him to a premier league team. Maybe next year if Carrick and Schweinsteiger are gone, we could go for a new No.6.
 
Carrick's legs are gone. I am glad he is still here but I can guarantee if we persist with him he will at one point be a liability to the team.

IMO we should play TFM there who looks built to play there. He has all the attributes: power, ability on the ball, passing (it is good enough), pace and can tackle very well. He would need a playmaker next to him, but we need one regardless. Carrick can also teach him how to position himself correctly, which is something that Carrick is great at. If we choose not to use him, I would prefer Krychowiak ahead of anyone else, with a playmaker next to him.
 
Kante would be the most sure fire way of improving the midfield. He's all action and all over opponents. He's where he needs to be to screen and nick the ball away for 90 minutes. He's got to be infuriating to play against. The pitch just isn't big enough to get away from the little bastard.

Schneiderlin is quality. I'm in the camp that doesn't judge him strictly on his time at United under van Gaal. But, Kante has shown something that is precious. What he showed all last year was good enough for just about anyone in the world. I wouldn't bet that's going to be one off. If you can get a player like that, you do it. Imagine if Arsenal pick him up. He'd do for them what Makalele did for Chelsea.

Replacing Carrick is going to be a process. His deep laying passing is the obvious thing we post about on here, but the subtle things he does to screen are massive. I fear not adequately replacing that ability. Kante brings that and more. No, he'll never pass like Carrick, but moves over the last few seasons make that drop off less significant.
 
If Rooney is going to play as CM, we would need someone like Kante or Krychowiak next to him, even Matic if he improves his game. I hope we sign someone soon because midfielders like Gundogan, Pjanic, Renato Sanches, among others are gone, and I bet that soon the top teams will go for Kante and Krychowiak.
 
Krychowiak is a very good player, but he seems PSG bound, so maybe Kanté will be Mou's Makelele at United?
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Joe Allen is having a great Euros....out of favour at Liverpool....
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He is having an amazing tournament. Didn't realise he was capable of playing so well. There is no chance of us signing him though and is probably a tournament form thing.

Kante is the man but he's going to be in such high demand I can't see him joining us. Although PSG just signed somebody else and Arsenal just signed Xhaka and Elneny so.....
 
N'golo Kante is a superior version of Makelele. Makelele could never do the things he does when he moves into the opponent's half. That performance against Arsenal was a testament to that.



That's a highlight reel from 1 match. Only 1.
 
Harry190 said:
N'golo Kante is a superior version of Makelele. Makelele could never do the things he does when he moves into the opponent's half. That performance against Arsenal was a testament to that.



That's a highlight reel from 1 match. Only 1.
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I have to say I'm pretty much sold on this guy. Was a bit skeptical at first but even now at the Euro's where he has to play a very defensive role he fully convinced me.

Our midfield isn't exactly Barcelona's so I don't see a reason why we shouldn't add to the setup we already have especially because a lot of them really underperformed or simply don't have the ability or athleticism we need. Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Feallaini and Carrick are all players I have severe doubts about them having the needed quality to bring us forward. So we certainly wouldn't be worse off if we added someone like Kanté to our midfield.

Apart from him we still need a good director of the game, someone like Kroos. Actually that would be my dream pairing in the central midfield area, Kanté and Kroos. Add the pace and defensive power of Kanté to Kroos passing and game controlling ability and you imo have a perfect partnership. Of course Kroos only becomes a possibility if Real is going to buy Pogba.
 
NoLogo said:
I have to say I'm pretty much sold on this guy. Was a bit skeptical at first but even now at the Euro's where he has to play a very defensive role he fully convinced me.

Our midfield isn't exactly Barcelona's so I don't see a reason why we shouldn't add to the setup we already have especially because a lot of them really underperformed or simply don't have the ability or athleticism we need. Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Feallaini and Carrick are all players I have severe doubts about them having the needed quality to bring us forward. So we certainly wouldn't be worse off if we added someone like Kanté to our midfield.

Apart from him we still need a good director of the game, someone like Kroos. Actually that would be my dream pairing in the central midfield area, Kanté and Kroos. Add the pace and defensive power of Kanté to Kroos passing and game controlling ability and you imo have a perfect partnership. Of course Kroos only becomes a possibility if Real is going to buy Pogba.
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------------De Gea---------
Fabinho-Bailly-Smalling-Shaw
--------Kante----Kroos------
Mk----Rooney/Herrera---Martial
-----------Zlatan-------

That is doable even though I don't expect it to happen. A very well balanced team with lots of pace on the flanks and in the back four. A bit slow through the middle (Kroos, Rooney, Zlatan) but lots of creativity. Bit short on height (Kanté, Rooney, Kroos).
 
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TitusCrumble said:
Carrick's legs are gone. I am glad he is still here but I can guarantee if we persist with him he will at one point be a liability to the team.

IMO we should play TFM there who looks built to play there. He has all the attributes: power, ability on the ball, passing (it is good enough), pace and can tackle very well. He would need a playmaker next to him, but we need one regardless. Carrick can also teach him how to position himself correctly, which is something that Carrick is great at. If we choose not to use him, I would prefer Krychowiak ahead of anyone else, with a playmaker next to him.
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Exactly. TFM may be a little raw but he's definitely in the Makelele/Essien mould and will mature rapidly if he's given the responsibility. I'll never understand why so many posters want to spend £30-40m on the "flavour of the month" when we've got a potential diamond sitting there at OT. I'd already take him over Pogba (I know they play different positions) and he's only going to improve.
 
Personally I would go all out for Kante. Even if by some miracle we bought Pogba I would still bring in Kante.
 
Harry190 said:
N'golo Kante is a superior version of Makelele. Makelele could never do the things he does when he moves into the opponent's half. That performance against Arsenal was a testament to that.



That's a highlight reel from 1 match. Only 1.
Click to expand...


Kante has been very impressive at Leicester and so far during the Euros.....one season though, bit much to already call him a superior version of Makele, who was excellent at Celta Vigo as a box to box midfielder (offensively as well as defensively), brilliant as an all rounder at Madrid......Galatico mistake to sell him and finally generally a faultless anchor man at Chelsea. He only really got the credit he deserved when at Chelsea.

I have been really impressed with Kante this year, impossible not to be, but to call him a superior version of one of the best defensive central midfielders of a generation, lets at least wait a couple more years. Agree with another poster comparing TFM to a possible Essien type midfielder in the making. Mensah Kante Rooney for a £20m outlay is a far better midfield than what we had most of last season, especially in a 4-2-3-1 you could still have Schneiderlin, Carrick and even Blind as other options for the two holding roles then Schweinsteiger, Perreira, Herrera for the Rooney role and that isnt even mentioning Fellaini who I just dont want to see in our shirt to be blunt. SO we have the numbers, personally I would like to see 2 or 3 of our current midfielders moved on and TWO central midfielders bought in. Same problem as most of our areas within the squad at the moment, no problem numbers wise but quality wise we have a few either past there best, not good enough or have failed to deliver, and you cant fully blame LVG for many of the poor performers in my opinion either as I cant think of one player that was poor last year I am super confident is going to thrive under Mourinho, I still expect it to be the same faces, a couple of the youngsters like Mensah progressing, Shaw of course hopefully getting back to last years early promise and a couple of new signings doing really well.

Of the current line up I would guess at Mensah and (if he stays fit for more than 3 weeks) Jones actually being the surprise big players not expected to be this year. I just hope we get back to being an entertaining side playing positive high tempo football though as it really has been painful to watch us for a whiole now, even Fergies last year, champions or not, the quality of football was very very poor in comparison to virtually all of the years before it under him.
 
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