What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

We need two actual central midfielders.

bruno And mount are number 10s. Play them there. Rotate them.

if we had the backing and money then caicedo and Lavia would of been perfect.:(
 
I think if we want to play Mount and Bruno further up and press from the front, we need another DM. To cover and rotate with Case and to play alongside him on occasion.

I’d take Palhinha from Fulham before the scousers remember that he exists. He impressed me more than Caicedo when I saw him last year (defensively at least). Whilst obviously a lot more pricey, he’d be more useful in the long run than saving cash buying some shite like Amrabat.
 
Summer shopping list was:

1. #9 - top quality, reliable goalscorer.
2. Goalkeeper to replace De Gea
3. #8 to play alongside Casemiro and control games from deep midfield
4. #6 backup for Casemiro

One down three to go...
 
I think this transfer window we desperately need another DM like Onana or Amrabat ( or both) , and a solid, cheap striking option because Rashford is better on the left wing! ( Iheneacho, Orban, Taremi...)

In winter window or next summer we should replace Dalot with Frimpong and another central midfielder, since eriksen is not getting any younger and Mount may be a Flop. Eberechi Eze from palace would be my favourite.
 
Some kind of midfielder that can play somewhat defensively but also progress the ball from deep, with good technical ability.

De Jong then.

Oh, and a defensive mid because I can't see Casemiro lasting the season under that pressure.

Also a decent quality back up striker so we don't have to play Rashford there.
 
I feel there's at least two midfielders needed, maybe a deep lying playmaker as mentioned by everyone but also more of a purely defensive 6.
I'm a little worried so far neither has materialized.
 
We may need a panic buy again like we did last window.

The problem is I don't think there simply is anyone out there in the market who's guaranteed to improve us.

Maybe Kimmich but bayern won't sell, veratti is past it etc etc.

Just a very undesirable situation in my opinion.
 
Whatever we do, we need to stop buying players on the wrong side of their peak. Varane, Casemiro and Eriksen are all unlikely to be long-term starters and have just, very expensively, kicked the can down the road. You either win with them immediately or you don’t ever. Their best is not to come.
 
DavelinaJolie said:
Some kind of midfielder that can play somewhat defensively but also progress the ball from deep, with good technical ability.

De Jong then.

Oh, and a defensive mid because I can't see Casemiro lasting the season under that pressure.

Also a decent quality back up striker so we don't have to play Rashford there.
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Just get Amrabat for that midfielder who can progress it from deep. We then need to bring in Onana as that DM. Yes I know there is probably better out there than them but we haven't the time to scout this late. I have absolutely zero hope of us signing a quality backup ST whilst Tony is here
 
We need a better midfield, better strikers, better wings, better coaching and possibly better goalkeeper (that was a clear penalty). We got dominated today.
 
Remember that silly opinion, saying Gk will revolution our style of play?
 
Seems clear now that we needed two strikers and a winger as the minimum. I was sure we would go for Kane later in the window but obviously that wasn’t the case.
Still struggle to see where the goals are going to come from, can’t expect Hojlund to do everything when he’s back.
 
Hard to judge after a hopeless display like that but in general over the next few windows I’d say. Obviously if some other players struggle we’d need others too
Playmaking 8 (replacing Eriksen)
Second CF (replacing Martial)
Attacking RB (I would upgrade one of our RBs)
Backup CB (replacing Maguire)
 
After tonight we need before window shuts (in order of priority)

Backup bullying DM
DLP
Solid backup ST
Backup CB

Yes I know there's not a hope in hell we are signing SEVEN in one window,however sacrificing any of them still leaves us well short
 
Strong feeling that yesterday's performance will make things happening and we will definitely sign a midfielder before transfer window closes. That's a must. Hopefully we can sell some players more and have money to spend more than 30-40M. We are not going to finish top 4 with current midfield. For sure Chelsea will be better than last season and Newcastle had very promising start.
 
We definitely need someone to act as a back-up for Casemiro, or at least to alternate in that role.

We need an Eriksen replacement or somebody to alternate with him. A deep-lying playmaker. Unless we do try and play Mount in that position...? Not quite sure what the plan is for Mount.

We definitely need another attacker up front. Preferably somebody who is comfortable playing in the centre forward role. I think it's more than a little naïve to put all of our eggs in the Højlund basket. We need another player in that position to give us options, either off the bench to change things up or when Højlund is injured or if we need to change formation and put both of them on.

After that, we're looking at a centre back who can act as a back-up to Varane and Martinez. Lindelöf is a good option to have and we need another.

The first three positions are the priority. If we have any budget left, then maybe a right back who is more comfortable on the ball and more fluid. The other positions are far, far more pressing, however.
 
Superunknown said:
We definitely need someone to act as a back-up for Casemiro, or at least to alternate in that role.

We need an Eriksen replacement or somebody to alternate with him. A deep-lying playmaker.
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We knew this from the beginning of the summer. Many posters have said this ad-nauseum. Yet we bought Mount, who doesnt really fit either role. So yeah, its a bit concerning if it doesnt click together.
 
Highfather_24 said:
We knew this from the beginning of the summer. Many posters have said this ad-nauseum. Yet we bought Mount, who doesnt really fit either role. So yeah, its a bit concerning if it doesnt click together.
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Yeah, I have to agree that it is a bit concerning. I don't know an awful lot about Mount and I'm prepared to give ETH and Mount time to see how this works out. Maybe there's a plan there and it's just not visible to us right now.

But, we need options in both of those positions and, in my view, Mount isn't the obvious player to fix either of those positions.
 
Superunknown said:
We definitely need someone to act as a back-up for Casemiro, or at least to alternate in that role.

We need an Eriksen replacement or somebody to alternate with him. A deep-lying playmaker. Unless we do try and play Mount in that position...? Not quite sure what the plan is for Mount.

We definitely need another attacker up front. Preferably somebody who is comfortable playing in the centre forward role. I think it's more than a little naïve to put all of our eggs in the Højlund basket. We need another player in that position to give us options, either off the bench to change things up or when Højlund is injured or if we need to change formation and put both of them on.

After that, we're looking at a centre back who can act as a back-up to Varane and Martinez. Lindelöf is a good option to have and we need another.

The first three positions are the priority. If we have any budget left, then maybe a right back who is more comfortable on the ball and more fluid. The other positions are far, far more pressing, however.
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Yeah didn't think I would say this but after last night signing a backup CB gets delayed until at least January. We need to sign all of backup DM, DLP & backup 9 before window closes
 
croadyman said:
Yeah didn't think I would say this but after last night signing a backup CB gets delayed until at least January. We need to sign all of backup DM, DLP & backup 9 before window closes
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as mentioned in that dampened thread....all last night showed is what everyone already knew. It's why we signed Hojlund and that we are still short a player or two in midfield. Signing another defender right now would be like putting duck tape over a crack in a dam and hoping it holds.
 
bosskeano said:
as mentioned in that dampened thread....all last night showed is what everyone already knew. It's why we signed Hojlund and that we are still short a player or two in midfield. Signing another defender right now would be like putting duck tape over a crack in a dam and hoping it holds.
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Definitely short of two in midfield,think we can already see it should have been backup DM & DLP but because we wasted £60m on Mount there is not a chance in hell we get both
 
We have Mainoo, who I think ETH was / is planning to use as one of those additions to his midfield options. Amrabat or Onana is likely to be the second one. Essentially you have Mount, Mainoo and Amrabat (or Onana) and Eriksen's return from injury, replacing Sabitzer, Fred, VbB snd Mctominay.

Casemiro, Mount, Bruno, Mainoo, Amrabat and Eriksen should be enough players for three midfield roles.
 
croadyman said:
Definitely short of two in midfield,think we can already see it should have been backup DM & DLP but because we wasted £60m on Mount there is not a chance in hell we get both
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sell mctominay, get amrabat, and mainoo comes back from injury and we have our two. But considering everything is ice cold on the mctominay sale front who knows
 
FerociousCorgis said:
sell mctominay, get amrabat, and mainoo comes back from injury and we have our two. But considering everything is ice cold on the mctominay sale front who knows
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Feck, what happened to Amrabat was contingent on Fred/Donny leaving,now all of a sudden it's about needing to sell McTominay
 
the whole conceptual idea of needing a DLP is a bit overkill for the modern game simply b/c nowadays it's more open b/c of attack minded fullback and with more counter attacking...

we are better off in the 4231...let the front four attack, get the two full backs involved....have two sitting players in the midfield that can help defend counters and recycle the ball

Case is great b/c he doesn't have the legs to do the job on his own and he needs someone next to him who's younger and has the legs....Amrabat could help and so could Onana

you could tweak the shape and bring a FB into the midfield next to him during possession and build up with two 10's but then you run into the defensive issues when the FB has to defend his normal position and Casemiro is left alone in the middle.
 
croadyman said:
Feck, what happened to Amrabat was contingent on Fred/Donny leaving,now all of a sudden it's about needing to sell McTominay
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I was just speaking in general terms. Hopefully the fred/donny sale would be enough for amrabat and then a mctominay sale could then go towards like pavard/backup 9 or something. Im not an expert on the financials we have and with the leeches still dilly dallying on the sale of the club who knows what the numbers are
 
FerociousCorgis said:
I was just speaking in general terms. Hopefully the fred/donny sale would be enough for amrabat and then a mctominay sale could then go towards like pavard/backup 9 or something. Im not an expert on the financials we have and with the leeches still dilly dallying on the sale of the club who knows what the numbers are
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Whole club is dallying today which is shocking after that performance last night
 
bosskeano said:
the whole conceptual idea of needing a DLP is a bit overkill for the modern game simply b/c nowadays it's more open b/c of attack minded fullback and with more counter attacking...

we are better off in the 4231...let the front four attack, get the two full backs involved....have two sitting players in the midfield that can help defend counters and recycle the ball

Case is great b/c he doesn't have the legs to do the job on his own and he needs someone next to him who's younger and has the legs....Amrabat could help and so could Onana

you could tweak the shape and bring a FB into the midfield next to him during possession and build up with two 10's but then you run into the defensive issues when the FB has to defend his normal position and Casemiro is left alone in the middle.
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We need Amrabat & Onana
 
We don't have cash obviously (or we would have gone after kane to begin with) but if it were me I would throw huge amounts of it on kimmich and hope bayern bites.
croadyman said:
We need Amrabat & Onana
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They'd be decent covers but we need a first 11 player if we want to see noticeable improvement, they won't be that.
 
Red the Bear said:
We don't have cash obviously (or we would have gone after kane to begin with) but if it were me I would throw huge amounts of it on kimmich and hope bayern bites.

They'd be decent covers but we need a first 11 player if we want to see noticeable improvement, they won't be that.
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We have to make do until those pair of leeches do the right thing and sell this club
 
What happened to the French guy at Real Madrid? There were some rumors I thought a few weeks ago.

*Edit Tchouameni. And it looks like he played the full match for them this weekend, so that rumor was obviously suspect. My bad
 
ForeverRed1 said:
We need two actual central midfielders.

bruno And mount are number 10s. Play them there. Rotate them.

if we had the backing and money then caicedo and Lavia would of been perfect.:(
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People keep saying this, but we just made Bruno captain, meaning he will play every game. And we didn’t give Mount the #7 shirt to have him sit on the bench. They will both play every game until it’s too late.
 
Sea-Cow said:
What happened to the French guy at Real Madrid? There were some rumors I thought a few weeks ago.

*Edit Tchouameni. And it looks like he played the full match for them this weekend, so that rumor was obviously suspect. My bad
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No intention of leaving whatsoever
 
El Zoido said:
People keep saying this, but we just made Bruno captain, meaning he will play every game. And we didn’t give Mount the #7 shirt to have him sit on the bench. They will both play every game until it’s too late.
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That looks a dreadful idea already
 
I got told that Caicedo and Lavia weren't what we needed...

Honestly I'd go straight in for Thuram as well as Amrabat, and bin off McTominay. That gives you two quality players that can both contribute and gets rid of the Mount as a CM experiment. And keeping McTominay is just stupidity from Ten Hag. I understand the physicality he brings but in a midfield lacking quality ball retention and progressive passing McTominay doesn't help with either one.
 
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