Did we get relegated?
What do we still need? Post Summer 2017 edition
- Thread starter Devil may care
- Start date
Did we get relegated?
Didn’t happen.
We need out and out Wingers, so which of these would you choose.
Leon Bailey
Pulisic
Cengiz Under
Goncalo Guedes
Suso
Leon Bailey
Pulisic
Cengiz Under
Goncalo Guedes
Suso
No we did pretty well to be honest - 2 points off being PL Champions (City again
) and lost to Bayern in the CL final (won the League cup) but progress and we played some lovely attacking football.No we did pretty well to be honest - 2 points off being PL Champions (City again
That was one lengthy, lucid and detailed dream. If I’d have had football related dream itd have been all over the show and I would have ended up signing Sue Boyle and would have been competing in America’s Cup sailing in a giant Big Mac wrapper with the rest of the squad.
Sounds more like Football Manager than a dream to me... though signing Kroos do sound more like a dream..
He was in my first draft, but I decided against him since while he obviously has the height he doesn’t really have the physicality to do the role Jose wants I don’t think - Carroll is much more of a twat so I included him instead. Carroll would be dearer of course, but I doubt Pelligrini will be building a long-ball side, so if we can’t get Mandzukic or Arnautovic then maybe we could get Carroll for around the £35m Liverpool paid for him? Things can always get worse.
Bailey or Pulisic
A bargain at that price. Perfect backup. But we might need a backup for Carrol as well, seeing as he is always injured. Extending Fellaini's contract and develope him as a 3rd choice striker. He checks all the boxes: Tall, Strong, Tw*t, elbows, available, experienced. Mata is at £200k + a week, so give Fellaini the same and he might stay.
It's clear that we need a CB, RB, LB, CM and RW.
My question would be, what's the best system for our team.
Sanchez wasn't good enough as LW (even when we used to rotate Martial and Rashford there, we were a bit better).
Lingard was better at the beginning of the season behind the striker.
Also, it seems Pogba is not able to play at his best in a midfield of 2.
So, what formation would you prefer? 4312. 433, 4231 or 352?
My question would be, what's the best system for our team.
Sanchez wasn't good enough as LW (even when we used to rotate Martial and Rashford there, we were a bit better).
Lingard was better at the beginning of the season behind the striker.
Also, it seems Pogba is not able to play at his best in a midfield of 2.
So, what formation would you prefer? 4312. 433, 4231 or 352?
@Fer - It has to be 433 or a Diamond for me.
Thing is, and this is a dig at Mourinho, unless he's willing to be somewhat more adventurous, we just won't get the best out of any of our attacking players.
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If football manager came out today I'd go for this:
Sell - Blind, Rojo, Shaw, Darmian, Mata, Martial : Release - Fellaini
Buy - Sandro (40m), Toby (50m), Dalot (17m), Fred (45m), Torreira (22m), RW (>89m), ST (20m)
That is me being semi realistic with what seems to be going on within the club. I'd want to keep Martial, but if him leaving, means a RW coming it, it fixes the balance of the side. Also, I'd keep Shaw and get rid of Young
RW Needs to be established. ST needs to be a willing backup
Thing is, and this is a dig at Mourinho, unless he's willing to be somewhat more adventurous, we just won't get the best out of any of our attacking players.
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If football manager came out today I'd go for this:
Sell - Blind, Rojo, Shaw, Darmian, Mata, Martial : Release - Fellaini
Buy - Sandro (40m), Toby (50m), Dalot (17m), Fred (45m), Torreira (22m), RW (>89m
), ST (20m)That is me being semi realistic with what seems to be going on within the club. I'd want to keep Martial, but if him leaving, means a RW coming it, it fixes the balance of the side. Also, I'd keep Shaw and get rid of Young
RW Needs to be established. ST needs to be a willing backup
A striker who can score more than 16 goals? Let's face it Lukaku isn't on the same level as Kane or Aguero. Don't think we'll ever win the league with Lukaku leading the line.
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That would be a great transfer window. But now that we signed Dalot and Fred, I would be satisfied if we sign 3 more players (CB, LB and RW). I really hope we signed a world class RW, that would make a big difference in our team.@Fer - It has to be 433 or a Diamond for me.
Thing is, and this is a dig at Mourinho, unless he's willing to be somewhat more adventurous, we just won't get the best out of any of our attacking players.
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If football manager came out today I'd go for this:
Sell - Blind, Rojo, Shaw, Darmian, Mata, Martial : Release - Fellaini
Buy - Sandro (40m), Toby (50m), Dalot (17m), Fred (45m), Torreira (22m), RW (>89m
That is me being semi realistic with what seems to be going on within the club. I'd want to keep Martial, but if him leaving, means a RW coming it, it fixes the balance of the side. Also, I'd keep Shaw and get rid of Young
RW Needs to be established. ST needs to be a willing backup
It seems that we are not buying "expensive" defenders. So Alderweireld (75m) and Sandro (60m) could not come.
So which CB and LB could we sign? Tierney? Lenglet?
So which CB and LB could we sign? Tierney? Lenglet?
I'd still go along with this, though given that Valencia is the captain, I can't see him missing too many games at RB.
We will only buy an RB (and Dalot doesn't count, due to age), if/when Valencia is on his way out OR if another player is able make the RB position his own.
Exactly the same applies to the LB position and Ashley Young.
And then of course the RW position is a must.
Given that we just bought Fred, CM is a low priority. Lest we forget that Fellaini will probably sign for us.
LB, CB, and a RW. 3 more and we are right.
Agree although would love another central midfielder but guess I’m being greedy.
Tierney, Alderweireld and Bale would be very nice. Personally I’d trade in Martial unless he renews contract before window shuts.
LB, DM and RW.
DM because i think we need someone to rotate with Matic, and overtake him at some point in the near future. Not sure who that player is though.
CB would be nice, but we have six options for two positions.
DM because i think we need someone to rotate with Matic, and overtake him at some point in the near future. Not sure who that player is though.
CB would be nice, but we have six options for two positions.
Yes, we need a No.6 to rest Matic...
Herrera, Fred, Pereira, McTominay and Fosu-Mensah can do that job next season.
IMO, a LB and RW are priorities this summer.
Next summer, I would go for a young midfielder like Neves and Alderweireld for 25m.
If you want to sign a CDM this summer, then Carvalho for free could be an option. But I would prefer to wait, and sign a young midfielder next year.
We have a lot of players who can do the job as DM, but if Matic gets injured we will be in deep sh*t imo. Rodri would have been perfect, but he is at Atletico now.
I do agree that we will have a better opportunity to sign a DM next season, and i don't expect we will get one this summer.
Maybe we'll see Herrera as backup, probably not a priority signing this season.
Quite disappointed if the reports of us not going for a LB are true, seemed like a priority. If we aren't going for a LB I have no idea what our squad plans are.
All the clubs normally use 18 players (11 starters and 7 substitutes) in the main competitions, even tough the squad is 23 players.
So, we should have 18 quality players like the big teams.
De Gea
Romero
Valencia
Dalot
Sandro
Alderweireld
Bailly
Smalling
Matic
Verratti
Fred
Pogba
Lingard
Martins
Sanchez
Griezmann
Rashford
Lukaku
Attack: If we manage to sign a top attacker like Griezmann/Bale/Dybala, we would be stronger even if Martial goes. We could sell Martial for 70m and sign Griezmann for 100m plus Martins for free.
Midfield: Madrid have won a lot of Champions Leagues lately, also, Barca was the best team in the world with an amazing midfield. So, that's an important are we need to improve. Mainly because Pogba has been above average, Matic looks tired and we don't know what to expect from Fred. So Thiago and Verratti could be available, so I would go for the latter who could end up replacing Matic in the future. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Herrera decides to leave (with Carrick released and Fellaini hopefully gone).
Defense: We just need top players for the first eleven, Alderweireld and Sandro are the obvious choices with Darmian, Shaw, Blind and another defender (Jones/Rojo) gone.
With those players, we can play 433, 4231, 352, 4312, etc. Also, we would have different type of players for different games and situations.
So, we should have 18 quality players like the big teams.
De Gea
Romero
Valencia
Dalot
Sandro
Alderweireld
Bailly
Smalling
Matic
Verratti
Fred
Pogba
Lingard
Martins
Sanchez
Griezmann
Rashford
Lukaku
Attack: If we manage to sign a top attacker like Griezmann/Bale/Dybala, we would be stronger even if Martial goes. We could sell Martial for 70m and sign Griezmann for 100m plus Martins for free.
Midfield: Madrid have won a lot of Champions Leagues lately, also, Barca was the best team in the world with an amazing midfield. So, that's an important are we need to improve. Mainly because Pogba has been above average, Matic looks tired and we don't know what to expect from Fred. So Thiago and Verratti could be available, so I would go for the latter who could end up replacing Matic in the future. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Herrera decides to leave (with Carrick released and Fellaini hopefully gone).
Defense: We just need top players for the first eleven, Alderweireld and Sandro are the obvious choices with Darmian, Shaw, Blind and another defender (Jones/Rojo) gone.
With those players, we can play 433, 4231, 352, 4312, etc. Also, we would have different type of players for different games and situations.
I have looked at some interesting transfer opportunities for this summer, utilizing exchange deals and the situation with Sporting having to release their best players. I know that exchange deals are very rare and that the Sporting situation is complex, but here are some possibilities:
Gelson Martins - A promising right footed right winger with great pace. We are lacking a proper right winger, and I think he would be worth a punt.
Bas Dost - It looks like Mourinho want a proper backup to Lukaku, and Dost would fit perfectly in this role. He is tall, strong and somehow tends to score a lot of goals.
Bruno Fernandes - We need to add depth to our midfield, especially if we are going to play 433 with Carrick, Fellaini and Andreas Pereira looking set to leave.
William Carvalho - Perfect backup to Matic as they are very similar players. He is probably too slow to become top class, but he is good enough as backup.
If we let Martial go to Juventus for Alex Sandro + some cash and sign a center back (Alderweireld), I recon we would be good for this summer.
Sold/released/exchanged out: Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Darmian, CBJ, Fellaini, Andreas Pereira, Carrick, Martial
Out on loan: Johnstone, TFM, Tuanzebe
De Gea (Romero)
Valencia (Dalot) - Bailly (Jones) - Alderweireld (Lindelof) - Alex Sandro (Young)
Fred (Herrera) - Matic (Carvalho) - Pogba (Fernandes)
Lingard (Martins) - Lukaku (Dost) - Sanchez (Rashford)
Other backup players: Joel Pereira, Rojo, McTominay, Mata
That leaves us with a 26 man squad with an improved starting 11 and solid backup in all positions. The net spend will also be very low. I am not suggesting that we should do this, but I find the possibility interesting. Thoughts?
Gelson Martins - A promising right footed right winger with great pace. We are lacking a proper right winger, and I think he would be worth a punt.
Bas Dost - It looks like Mourinho want a proper backup to Lukaku, and Dost would fit perfectly in this role. He is tall, strong and somehow tends to score a lot of goals.
Bruno Fernandes - We need to add depth to our midfield, especially if we are going to play 433 with Carrick, Fellaini and Andreas Pereira looking set to leave.
William Carvalho - Perfect backup to Matic as they are very similar players. He is probably too slow to become top class, but he is good enough as backup.
If we let Martial go to Juventus for Alex Sandro + some cash and sign a center back (Alderweireld), I recon we would be good for this summer.
Sold/released/exchanged out: Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Darmian, CBJ, Fellaini, Andreas Pereira, Carrick, Martial
Out on loan: Johnstone, TFM, Tuanzebe
De Gea (Romero)
Valencia (Dalot) - Bailly (Jones) - Alderweireld (Lindelof) - Alex Sandro (Young)
Fred (Herrera) - Matic (Carvalho) - Pogba (Fernandes)
Lingard (Martins) - Lukaku (Dost) - Sanchez (Rashford)
Other backup players: Joel Pereira, Rojo, McTominay, Mata
That leaves us with a 26 man squad with an improved starting 11 and solid backup in all positions. The net spend will also be very low. I am not suggesting that we should do this, but I find the possibility interesting. Thoughts?
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Doubt we'll get the outgoings you want and getting 3 sporting players wouldn't be that way I'd personally go. Don't think any are good enough, even for back up.
We wouldn't be touching any of them if Sporting wasn't in a mess, so no real need to consider them for me
Just me or does anybody else think we might be done with transfers this year?
Not just you. I would still be surprised if we didn't get even one more player but it's still a nasty gut feeling.
Being realistic:
Sell/Release: Johnstone, CBJ, Darmian, Blind, Shaw, Jones, Fellaini
Loan: Henderson, Tuanzebe, Fosu-Mensah, McTominay, Pereira
Buy: CB - Giménez
LB - Philipp Max
CM - Neves
RW: Bale
Not a fan of Young, Smalling, Rojo and Lingard since they're not good enough but I'm fine with them being squad players for now, we always struggle with injuries. Would like to see Timothy getting minutes ahead of the CB's but that's not happening so loan him.
De Gea, Dalot, Bailly, Giménez, Max, Matic, Fred, Pogba, Sánchez/Martial, Bale, Lukaku
Romero, Valencia, Smalling, Lindelof/Rojo, Young, Neves, Herrera, Lingard, Mata, Martial, Rashford
Then buy one CDM and another RW in January, maybe a creative CM too.
Sell/Release: Johnstone, CBJ, Darmian, Blind, Shaw, Jones, Fellaini
Loan: Henderson, Tuanzebe, Fosu-Mensah, McTominay, Pereira
Buy: CB - Giménez
LB - Philipp Max
CM - Neves
RW: Bale
Not a fan of Young, Smalling, Rojo and Lingard since they're not good enough but I'm fine with them being squad players for now, we always struggle with injuries. Would like to see Timothy getting minutes ahead of the CB's but that's not happening so loan him.
De Gea, Dalot, Bailly, Giménez, Max, Matic, Fred, Pogba, Sánchez/Martial, Bale, Lukaku
Romero, Valencia, Smalling, Lindelof/Rojo, Young, Neves, Herrera, Lingard, Mata, Martial, Rashford
Then buy one CDM and another RW in January, maybe a creative CM too.
I'm sure he just signed a new deal with Atletico.
Didn't know. We need someone dominant in the air and already good enough to start, maybe Skriniar or Koulibaly. Missed out on Niklas Sule.
Yeah I have this nagging feeling.
I think it’s inconceivable that United, with our wealth, ambitions and history aren’t signing an elite right-wing. For some reason, that I’m not quite sure, I have a nagging feeling we aren’t going to bring in much.
So far we haven't adressed anything, Dalot is a good prospect but will need time, he's barley played 15 senior games, and with talk of no LB coming in we are probably going to be starting the season with the two aging hasbeen wingers as our fullbacks yet again.
Fred isn't really an upgrade on Herrera as the ground coverer in midfield, we are still short of a CM that can control the game, and in attack we seem like we'll lose one of the most promising young talents in Europe and replace him wiith something like Arnautovic or Willian.
I'm not massively bothered about Alderweireld, but I'm not sure what our supposed best CB pairing is anymore, I mean we still use Smalling as a regular starter and Bailly seems to be iced out. The Lenglet rumour has gone cold but he'd be a decent addition at a reasonable price.
Fred isn't really an upgrade on Herrera as the ground coverer in midfield, we are still short of a CM that can control the game, and in attack we seem like we'll lose one of the most promising young talents in Europe and replace him wiith something like Arnautovic or Willian.
I'm not massively bothered about Alderweireld, but I'm not sure what our supposed best CB pairing is anymore, I mean we still use Smalling as a regular starter and Bailly seems to be iced out. The Lenglet rumour has gone cold but he'd be a decent addition at a reasonable price.
I still feel we need another centre mid. Hopefully a young up and coming player.
Next player we need is a right winger .
Finally we need an experienced centre back to control the defence.
Next player we need is a right winger .
Finally we need an experienced centre back to control the defence.
RB. You are right, we didn't improve our RB position, Valencia will play most of the games. However, Dalot was a good risk to take... he can have some minutes and become our main RB next year.
CB and LB. We haven't addressed this problem YET. We still have time to make good signings. But, we should have signed Alderweireld and Sandro by now.
CM. We need a top tier, someone like Thiago or Verratti. Both players seems to be available, Thiago would fit our midfield perfectly. If Mourinho prefers a young CM, then Neves would be a good option.
RW. We need a game changer here, someone like Dybala or Bale (with a fair fee and wages). If they are too expensive, we could try to sign a RW like Pulisic, Bailey, Malcom or even Mahrez if he doesn't sign for City.
If we sign the right players, we could end up with a squad like this:
GK. De Gea/Romero
RB. Valencia/Dalot
CB. Alderweireld/Bailly/Smalling/Lindelof
LB. Sandro/Young
CDM. Matic/Herrera
RCM. Thiago/Fred
LCM. Pogba/Lingard
RW. Dybala/Mata
LW. Sanchez/Martial
ST. Lukaku/Rashford
Valid points, but there's no reason to make a fuss this early in the window. We are still only halfway through June, and we have brought in two players that address recent problems of the squad's depth.
I agree that none are world beaters yet, but both are interesting. Usually in June there wouldn't have been happening much officially.
Add that DDG probably has accepted a new contract, which is a move worth every transfer this summer, imo. There was also rumoured that we were on the Griezmann ball, but rejected by Griezmann himself.
I think you are reading to much into Bailly's season ending. Remember that he struggled with some injuries, so his crumpling standing in the squad can have many explanations. He will be back next season, and hopefully with a new CB by his side that benches Jones and Smalling for the foreseeable future. It is a shame that they have not developed further, and I really like them, but I also liked Evans, Fletcher, O'Shea, ect. Enough is enough.
I am confident that the CB presented will be a quite clear upgrade, ho ever it might be. Lenglet is a good shout, but I don't think Woody's hands are tied on a CB with passing abilities. As discussed in other threads and this one, José has played with and without a ball playing CB, so EW is probably looking to make a deal with and absolute beast like Koulibaly, and or with Lenglet or Alderweireld.
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It's not just you.
I am worried, that we are going to start the new season saying that there was no value in the market and that all we really needed was a new CM.
Back in January, I think, Jose said that we won't need any more attacking players. So perhaps he believes that buying a CM and Fellaini re-signing is enough.
I'm ignoring Dalot, as I feel that he is not ready to play in the first team.
Don't understand why people are ruling out Fred already as being the top midfielder we need, stating we need to sign a big name player who's no doubt going to underperform for us. I suppose it's going to take a while until people watch him to realise how good he really is.
Because it's 2018 and you can't rely on unknown commodities with how far behind we were from the title last season. Signing Fred is great, but based on how much we've spent in previous windows and how a lot of deals seem to be going the whole "no value in the transfer market route" fans are worried we'll just fall further behind. Not to mention Jose had digs about fullbacks last season and by all account we're about to have the same two mediocre starters next season. Of course it's early in the window, but it's not like there's been one real bit of news that's been good every since we announced the Fred/Dalot signings. So naturally fans are annoyed
Based on how we've spent on previous windows, people still seem to think signing big names is the answer to our problems is what confuses me. It's not as if we've ignored signing a CM, we've just signed someone who everyone isn't familiar with.
Also, on the thing about news. I'm pretty sure there was no news on Dalot until a few days before we signed him. I wouldn't take the press as an indicator as to our transfer activity. Just relax and enjoy the world cup. It's obvious that we need reinforcements and they will come.
What on earth are you talking about? What does it being 2018 have to do with anything? Fred is not an unknown commodity - he was regarded as the best player for a team who are constantly challenging for their league and in the Champions League, is in the Brazil squad and (probably safe to assume) City were interested in him. Not that it matters - a good player is a good player. How do you think any player gets to the point of being ‘known’ or ‘established’? What about our previous windows or our current deals indicate a ‘no value in the market’ route? Are ‘all accounts’ really indicating we’ll be starting the season with the same two full backs? So what if there’s been no more news since the Dalot/ Fred signings? How long ago was that? So do you think that’s our business done, Woodward and Mourinho are happy and they’re not working on anything else? There is nothing natural at all about any of the concerns you just listed...
That doesn't really say much.