What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

As it stands I see us finishing 6th again.

Why?
1. Matic. Slow, Can't turn. He will expose our defence, even if we sign Maguire. If Matic is still starting games. We will lose the midfield battle vs most teams.
2. If he stays, Pogba will get blamed for not being Makélélé/Kante and Pogba at the same time. His job is to create/score goals. He has never been good at the other side of the game. That is why he thrived with Pirlo and Vidal. - Matic, Herrera and Fred are not on Pogba's level.

Wolves. Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker
Leicester: Ndidi, Maddison and Tielemans
Everton:André Gomes, Idrissa Gueye, Sigurðsson
Spurs: Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso* (Potentially)
Chelsea: Kante, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley.

Looking at Utd:
Pogba, McTominay and Fred.
Pogba, Matic and Fred.
Pogba, McTominay and Andreas.

I don't think Utd have an adequate midfield 2/3. I think The teams I've mentioned above have better, more all rounded midfields. The issue for Utd is the gulf between Pogba and everyone else. I think Everton, Wolves etc. Have players of a similar level so they work better. I think with Matic. Utd will struggle to win the midfield battle.


IMO Maguire for 80m is a waste of money. He will improve us but I fear that the improvement will be incremental with our weak CM/DM midfield options.

I think Utd need to get 2 midfielders before this window closes instead. A Centre midfielder and Defensive midfielder. I think the DM is more important.

Someone like Thomas Partey alongwith Bruno Fernandes. I think these two players would give Utd a much better chance of finishing in the top four than spending 80m on Maguire. I believe Lindelof will come good. and I think Tuanzebe is ready to step up. He should be ahead of Rojo/Jones now at least.

Honestly cant believe we have tried to sign Neves from Wolves. He has so much of what we need and we aint even bothered.
 
Young isn't slow. That's a weird thing to say.
Aah come on, he might be not be lumbering along but in the world of wingers and full backs he is now slow. Compared to AWB and Shaw and a lot of of top class attackers/wingers he would be attacked a as weakness. Time waits for no man and Ashley is 34.
I would rather he stay in the squad to come on further forward for 15 minutes with the game won to give a first teamer a rest. Like I said I would prefer a younger player to back up Shaw.
 
I don't actually think Shaw is that good either. Not that great in defence or attack, just ok on both. Not good enough for a title winning team. I think he gets an easy ride on here just because we have so many other bigger issues.
 
I don't actually think Shaw is that good either. Not that great in defence or attack, just ok on both. Not good enough for a title winning team. I think he gets an easy ride on here just because we have so many other bigger issues.

Shaw could absolutely play in a title winning team, he'd look so much better if martial was a proper player in front of him. It'll be interesting watching him play with James ahead of him
 
1 less season untill the club is sold.

There was a buyer already, reportedly - Mohammed bin Salman (future Saudi King) wanted to buy United. From what I recall too many people were against this deal. When, should it have happenned, the owner would never have cared about net profit, just about prestige and titles - as a royal family they de facto own trillions of dollars in Saudi oil reserves.
 
If your prediction come true then what will improve next window? We'll just be less attractive to players and more desperate

Roll on next summer window was being sarcastic as it will be the same shit just a different year.
 
Aah come on, he might be not be lumbering along but in the world of wingers and full backs he is now slow. Compared to AWB and Shaw and a lot of of top class attackers/wingers he would be attacked a as weakness. Time waits for no man and Ashley is 34.
I would rather he stay in the squad to come on further forward for 15 minutes with the game won to give a first teamer a rest. Like I said I would prefer a younger player to back up Shaw.
He's the best substitute fullback in the league.
 
Double team Pogba and leave our limited players have the ball before panicking and losing it. Such a simple team to set up against.
I’m seriously pissed with the window, hopefully we at least get Maguire in to help us be less awful at defending and attacking set pieces.

Haha decent sides just put any one of our outfield players (except Pogba, on certain days when he is feeling it) under the slightest bit of pressure and they are forced back. Eventually it gets played to DDG and he lumps it forward to no one. Then we half-assedly chase shadows again until the ball is in our box and its panic stations.

And your second point -- I agree with you. I am not thrilled by the potential Maguire signing, but at least we won't be as pathetic at set-pieces.

Unfortunately on the offensive side, that does mean we need someone who can put in a decent delivery.
 
We need to not spend crazy money on players who are not worth the price being quoted for them
 
As it stands I see us finishing 6th again.

Why?
1. Matic. Slow, Can't turn. He will expose our defence, even if we sign Maguire. If Matic is still starting games. We will lose the midfield battle vs most teams.
2. If he stays, Pogba will get blamed for not being Makélélé/Kante and Pogba at the same time. His job is to create/score goals. He has never been good at the other side of the game. That is why he thrived with Pirlo and Vidal. - Matic, Herrera and Fred are not on Pogba's level.

Wolves. Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker
Leicester: Ndidi, Maddison and Tielemans
Everton:André Gomes, Idrissa Gueye, Sigurðsson
Spurs: Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso* (Potentially)
Chelsea: Kante, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley.

Looking at Utd:
Pogba, McTominay and Fred.
Pogba, Matic and Fred.
Pogba, McTominay and Andreas.

I don't think Utd have an adequate midfield 2/3. I think The teams I've mentioned above have better, more all rounded midfields. The issue for Utd is the gulf between Pogba and everyone else. I think Everton, Wolves etc. Have players of a similar level so they work better. I think with Matic. Utd will struggle to win the midfield battle.


IMO Maguire for 80m is a waste of money. He will improve us but I fear that the improvement will be incremental with our weak CM/DM midfield options.

I think Utd need to get 2 midfielders before this window closes instead. A Centre midfielder and Defensive midfielder. I think the DM is more important.

Someone like Thomas Partey alongwith Bruno Fernandes. I think these two players would give Utd a much better chance of finishing in the top four than spending 80m on Maguire. I believe Lindelof will come good. and I think Tuanzebe is ready to step up. He should be ahead of Rojo/Jones now at least.


Agree with this except the Maguire bit. IMO our defence is just as bad if not worse than our attack. Sure AWB helps but we badly need a leader and a commanding figure there. Another season of calamity jones, smalling or whichever average defender we have will be disastrous.
 
And instead put it straight into the Glazers pockets as a dividend next year? Not like we're signing other players with it.


We spend money on the right players . That's the only way we will ever get back to the top . Spending 200 million to end up with Maguire , Fernandes and Longstaff etc would be absolute madness and get us nowhere.

For the life of me I cannot understand how people are not getting this .

We are where we are because for the last 6 years we have thrown crazy money to end up with players who have flopped underachieved and in some cases just didnt want to even be here .

We cant keep going on doing the same thing
 
We spend money on the right players . That's the only way we will ever get back to the top . Spending 200 million to end up with Maguire , Fernandes and Longstaff etc would be absolute madness and get us nowhere.

For the life of me I cannot understand how people are not getting this .

We are where we are because for the last 6 years we have thrown crazy money to end up with players who have flopped underachieved and in some cases just didnt want to even be here .

We cant keep going on doing the same thing

I agree we shouldn't spunk away big money on marketing quota signings as we have in the past however we've decided to hire Ole and so we should be backing him. Let him decide the players he wants and pay the money to sign them, that should be the benefit of spending so much time and energy on becoming the commercial juggernaut we now are.
 
I agree we shouldn't spunk away big money on marketing quota signings as we have in the past however we've decided to hire Ole and so we should be backing him. Let him decide the players he wants and pay the money to sign them, that should be the benefit of spending so much time and energy on becoming the commercial juggernaut we now are.


How do we know who Ole really wants ? We have been linked to so many players as usual. What if Ole feels we shouldnt pay over the odds on certain players ? Fergie always felt like that and Ole has learned everything from him
 
I don't think there is such a thing as a simple transfer anymore. Too much money at stake.

Why would the Maguire and/or Longstaff transfers be easy when their clubs don't want to sell? Fernándes? There is nothing concrete to suggest we are even interested. I suspect he was always an 'if Pogba leaves' option.

Let's wait for the window to close before we judge whether Ole is being backed.

I agree no transfer is easy because clubs want the most money as possible.

Well then it seems like we are only after Maguire, and as each day passes it seems we won't get him and he will stay - which can only mean our transfer activities are done.
 
There was a buyer already, reportedly - Mohammed bin Salman (future Saudi King) wanted to buy United. From what I recall too many people were against this deal. When, should it have happenned, the owner would never have cared about net profit, just about prestige and titles - as a royal family they de facto own trillions of dollars in Saudi oil reserves.

Reportedly he also killed a Journo around that time. That was in the news wasn't it?
 
All feels a bit frantic now if the media is anything to go by. It initially looked like we had a plan and methodology with James, AWB before attentions turning to Maguire.

In more recent weeks and with Maguire deal dragging it feels like panic is setting in as were now being linked to more and more players that perhaps weren’t part of the plan.

We need to regain control. Stop haggling over Maguire (richest club in the world) and move on to the next (planned) target

It’s a sellers market where were considered. Do we need Maguire yes. Do we need Maguire enough to pay over the odds yes. Is it my money no. Do I care how much we pay so longs as we get the players identified no
 
I agree no transfer is easy because clubs want the most money as possible.

Well then it seems like we are only after Maguire, and as each day passes it seems we won't get him and he will stay - which can only mean our transfer activities are done.

I think its extremely unlikely that we won't sign more players this window
 
All feels a bit frantic now if the media is anything to go by. It initially looked like we had a plan and methodology with James, AWB before attentions turning to Maguire.

In more recent weeks and with Maguire deal dragging it feels like panic is setting in as were now being linked to more and more players that perhaps weren’t part of the plan.

We need to regain control. Stop haggling over Maguire (richest club in the world) and move on to the next (planned) target

It’s a sellers market where were considered. Do we need Maguire yes. Do we need Maguire enough to pay over the odds yes. Is it my money no. Do I care how much we pay so longs as we get the players identified no

Unfortunately the powers that be may answer differently to those questions.

we're going worse off into the season than year before, it's unbelievable. Unsettled Pogba, we now know the level of Sanchez, we know the level of Fred, Perreira, our 70 million striker doesn't fit our team, Rashford is still inconsistent and has no real backup, we're super light in the midfield, we failed to buy a RW.. We're in for a long season I'm afraid.
 
This transfer period is somehow strange, as there is not even one real story going on. Normally you came to the Transfer thread and went straight to the *hot* saga of the summer (Hazard, Thiago etc.). Now i don´t even bother to read into Bruno Fernandes, Milinkovic Savic, Longstaff threads etc. as there is no hope anyway. Maguire is the only target with confirmed interest by the club and even that is unlikely.
 
I don't actually think Shaw is that good either. Not that great in defence or attack, just ok on both. Not good enough for a title winning team. I think he gets an easy ride on here just because we have so many other bigger issues.
I
I have always wondered what some say this? A title winning team is usually not made up of 11 superstars in every position but more like the chemistry and tactics of a manager. Man City just won the league with Mendy(their first choice CB being injured for large parts of the season). Zinchenko and Delph filled in. Is Luke Shaw any worse than either of them? What about Alonso who also won the league with Chelsea? Luke Shaw while not being the best LB in the world is certainly good enough to play in a team that wins the EPL. Just depends on the output of the other players and how the team bonds.
 
Who's better?
Davies/Rose, Mendy/Zinchenko, and in the case of Liverpool and Chelsea I would say they need to upgrade there back ups in that position as well. After that it's a moot point as we should have better back ups than the rest of the league.
In any case it's obvious you rate what Ashley has got left in the tank more than I do. I think it's time to move on maybe not this window as we need other stuff doing but soon.
 
Actually we will never start the season getting what we exactly want. We signed 2 players while almost in need of 5 but we are likely to get only one more, and again start the season with some dead wood in the squad and that's the case for six years now and continues..

Nothing more to add!
 
Davies/Rose, Mendy/Zinchenko, and in the case of Liverpool and Chelsea I would say they need to upgrade there back ups in that position as well. After that it's a moot point as we should have better back ups than the rest of the league.
In any case it's obvious you rate what Ashley has got left in the tank more than I do. I think it's time to move on maybe not this window as we need other stuff doing but soon.
I disagree on those. But even if not, it's a paper thin difference in quality. Our squad options at fullback are very decent. Young is a big part of that.
 
In my opinion we need a new central-defender, a new centre midfielder although I hope McTominay continues improving and makes this role his own, a right winger and preferably a cdm to alternate with Matic and eventually take over when his contract expires next summer.
 
We need:
2x Midfielders
1x CB
1x RW

We need to sell:
Rojo/Darmian/Jones/Lingard/sanchez/Lukaku

What will happen
1xCB
1xMidfielder

Sell:
Darmian/Lukaku/Pogba

Enter meltdown
 
We need:
2x Midfielders
1x CB
1x RW

We need to sell:
Rojo/Darmian/Jones/Lingard/sanchez/Lukaku

What will happen
1xCB
1xMidfielder

Sell:
Darmian/Lukaku/Pogba

Enter meltdown
I think we need to take our time with a rebuild. I don't trust managers who come in and make a huge number of changes.
 
In my opinion, this transfer window ideally needed us to at least attempt to bring in 5 first XI players....RB, CB, 2 MFs & RW....
The transfer window has been open since May, yet to date, we have managed to resolve just one of those positions, RB.

Conceding 54 league goals is shocking and we desperately need a CB that will command the defence...

We have lost 2 senior MFs in Herrera & Fellaini, and Pogba has publicly declared he wants to leave.
Even with Pogba, our MF is very inconsistent, lacks creativity, and lacks defensive capability too.

AWB is a terrific signing, and adding a quality RW would completely transform us down that side.
Sell Lukaku and reinvest those funds in a RW.

In short, we have two departments, Defence & Attack that are missing just one player, if we can bring in a quality CB & RW this would make an enormous difference to our prospects, but our MF options are woeful, and if we lose Pogba, its disasterous.

But we need to get at least 2 signings done before the window closes.
 
Depends what Ole plans on doing with the kids I guess, Fernandes would be great but it would hinder the progress of Gomes as well, maybe he plans on pushing Gomes through to have his breakthrough year as he does look more than ready.

The DMC is the big one and a CB, as long as we get them two positions sorted, then I am happy enough to give the young lads their breakthrough season and see where we are in January.
 
Reportedly he also killed a Journo around that time. That was in the news wasn't it?

I don’t have a slightest desire of digging into politics here, football is more of an interest for me. What is in the political news always can be truth, lies or something in between, but normal people never possess full info so it’s in vain even to discuss :)
 
I think we need to take our time with a rebuild. I don't trust managers who come in and make a huge number of changes.

I agree it will take time.

But we need more than AWB, James & 1 other in this window. 3 players in just isn't good enough.
And more importantly, we need more outgoings.

A rebuild only happens if there are significant changes.
In whatever order you want, there are players who have no future:
Jones/Rojo/Bailly/Darmian/Young/Lingard/Sanchez/Smalling/Lukaku/Pogba/Mata

Adding Pogba in to the list as its HIS desire to leave, whether its this season or next he wont be here for the long haul.

If it is Ole's desire, which it certainly looks to promote youth throughout then the above players need to go at whatever cost to make room for them.

I'd hate for us to give more game time this season to Young, than say Dalot. Or Jones/Smalling/Rojo/Bailly than say Tuanzebe. Or Matic than McTominey. Or Sanchez than Greenwood/Gomes

I get it will take time to build a world class squad - but some changes need to be drastic. We have the youth there. Just need outgoings.

With AWB/James/1other signing + Gomes/Chong/Tuanzebe/Garner/Greenwood that's 8 new inclusions in the squad with only 2 outgoings (Valencia/Herrera)

It's just not good enough keeping half of these players - sell them for whatever fee we can get.

Its the only way we will improve
 
Midfielders, first and foremost. It should be a higher priority than even a new CB. At least we have some semblance of mediocrity at CB but midfield is downright shit after Pogba and McTominay.

Who at the club thought it was a good idea to let Herrera/Fellaini go and play likes of Lingard/Mata/Pereira in CM? Our midfield is gonna be destroyed in the PL with current set of players.
 
This is definitely putting too much stock on a bunch of friendlies in crazy heat, but at the minute I'd say a #10 and a CB are absolutely must have signings and then a DM/CM type, then a RW 4th (which I would never have expected).


--------------Martial------------------
Rashford-----#10---------Greenwood
--------Pogba-Mctominay-----------
Shaw-Lindelof-Maguire-WanBissaka

The forward line is completely unbalanced but at least everyone's young and talented.