Hope that means Ole wants to experiment it in future games.
Considering Man Utd have extended Matic's contract by one year, I'd be quite happy with the acquisition of Camavinga. With Matic in the team, United could afford to allow Camavinga to adapt to the rigours of the EPL. Whilst acknowledging that the very mention of Matic may want some people want to tear their hair out, its perhaps worth mentioning that Matic has typically faded in the second half of the season, both at Chelsea and with Man Utd. This break from football could potentially do him a lot of good. Now, the addition of the aforementioned would ensure he wouldn't get played into the ground.
I can envisage Camavinga dovetailing quite nicely with Fred.
I feel the addition of two further creative options would maximise the effect of the trio. A ball playing defender like Gabriel Magalhães with a propensity to make incisive probing passes which break the lines allowing those in the third and fourth phase of the game to take advantage. And of course, the widely spoken about Sancho. I thought he was Chelsea bound until the purchase of Ziyech. In any case, whilst Sancho is a fantastic player in his own right, I feel he'd have a galvanising influence on Bisakka who as you all know, is consistently criticised for his influence offensively. Not many top teams have wide players who play on the side of their dominant foot. Instead of players inherently capable of hugging the touchline, we've seen a propensity of inverted players, and with that comes offensively orientated full backs. Some sides may have someone who plays on the side of their stronger foot, but they tend to be inside forwards with immaculate off the ball movement as opposed to having that sprinkling of stardust in in tight spaces when it comes to dribbling ability. In recent years, I think City is the most notable example of what I'm trying to say. Sane is closer to being a winger than a second striker. It was my feeling that Sane functioned better with a Delph/Danilo than being played with Mendy. Therefore, I'd like to see how a Sancho/Bissaka partnership would function. Sancho provides width, his ability dictates he'll attract more than one defender which opens up space for others, and his youthful exuberance would complement the attacking forays of Rashford and Martial. In this sense, the set up of United would be quite different from currently first place side, Liverpool who rely on creativity from their fullbacks. Although United's options at full back are by no means lost cases, I think its fair to say United's personnel means we don't have that luxury. In contrast, we'll have Bruno, and possibly Sancho providing creativity in abundance, and two ball players defenders at the heart of defence. Matip is fantastic at this, but it seems he's lost his place to Gomez, and Van Dijk continues to contribute as he did previously Van Dijk passing at Southampton ... This would also extenuate the potential departure of Pogba who is one of the most creative players in world football. Furthermore, since a midfield don't operate in isolation, I felt it necessary to mention an additional player at the back to help with ball progression, as well as out wide.
I've mentioned players from the academy in the past. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. Below is a post I made from three years ago where I mentioned Brandon Williams, Teden Mengi, Lee O'Connor, Elanga, Laird, and Shoretire. One player I've never mentioned below or elsewhere is the player you just mentioned. The reason? Quite frankly I don't particularly rate him.
Matic had arguably the best midfield performance in the post Fergie era in the game against Real Madrid in the Super Cup. He certainly bolsters our options, and with the manager seemingly a fervent admirer of both Fred, and Mctominay we can expect rotation. Concurrently, Pogba is such a household name that I can't imagine him being fit and on the bench for longer than 2-3 games. The man management of the gaffer will be put to the test.
For me it's always positive to have more than 1 focal point. This provides more consistency in case the only focal point is out of form or tightly marked, just like Pogba has been in the previous seasons. Moreover, Bruno isn't really a player who tends to do everything himself, instead he is good at pass and move and making use of spaces. I think he can build a great partnership with Pogba.
I could be wrong so take what I say with a huge pinch of salt, but It's possible he doesn't view Fred as a holding player, but rather something closer to a defensive box to box midfielder. In which case, a holding midfielder (Phillips according to him) in his view would be a significant improvement on someone he doesn't (Fred) perceive as a natural holding midfielder. I think it could potentially be an inherently risky strategy to look down on players in lower divisions. Take RB Leipzig as an example, Péter Gulácsi was languishing around in the English lower divisions. He's now considered to be a key player for RB Leipzig, a side which none of the sides in the Bundesliga have conceded less, and his performance against Spurs in the Champions League was quite possibly the best goalkeeping performance of the Champions League this season.
I think Phillips is good enough to play week in week out for a top EPL team too. He's just my choice for holding midfield as we have no one.
I knew you were going to target that particular part of my post and ignore every other part.
Agreed, great points. Also, people seem to forget that Pep was looking to sign fred before we got him, as a replacement for fernandinho, a player who is clearly an anchor in city's midfield. I think this in addition to what we've seen from him all season suggests he can do the role. Not guaranteeing that a bruno, pogba and fred midfield will work but I think we'll be silly not to strongly consider it before going out and splashing when clearly we have other priorities. Thanks to the break and hopefully us getting a fully fit squad to end the season with, we'll get to see this experiment play out.
Many share the same false memory that Pogba hasn't played and can't play in double pivot. I've seen it in multiple posts and I expect more to come.
