Which good players need to be upgraded for us to keep progressing?

Assuming we sign a CF who makes our attack more potent, the perspective I'd take is that what we then most need to improve on is our ability to control possession and progress the ball from back to front under pressure.

So I'd be looking at where we can make improvements in the team from that POV specifically. In what positions can we bring in players who will better help us control possession and control games?

I don't think any of Varane, Casemiro or Bruno are particularly brilliant in terms of that specific aspect of the game, but I also don't think there's any chance of them leaving the starting eleven any time soon. So in terms of those spots in the team I think you just try to bring in alternatives/understudies with more of that ability, while also upgrading other positions around them in the first eleven.

In terms of those other positions, as others have said upgrading Eriksen is obviously step one. After that, De Gea is then the next obvious weakness in terms of trying to play that sort of football, so I'd (somewhat reluctantly) have him next. Replacing those two players in the starting eleven with more pressure-resistant players would likely give us a lot more control.

People are mentioning Antony and Dalot but while they may be upgradeable in terms of quality, in terms of the more narrow focus I'm talking about they're okay. With Antony in particular whatever his other faults, I trust his ability to keep the ball under pressure at least.

So, for me it's Eriksen and De Gea first for the sake of bringing more control.
 
We need -

This summer -
A top class Striker - One from Kane, Oshimen, Goncalo
A top class CM to replace Eriksen - One from Bellingham, Enzo Fernandes, De Jong
A Bruno back up - Aouar on a free?
A DM back up for Casemiro

Next season -
2 Right wingers need to step up from Sancho/Antony/Pellestri/Amad. A first teamer and a back up. Need to be near levels of Rashford/Garnaho combination on the LW.
 
The thread title specifically asks which good players need to upgraded on. We clearly need to ensure we have cover everywhere (backup for De Gea, etc), but I suspect what is meant is which of our regular starting players need to be upgraded on…for us to keep progressing.

Martial by quite some distance stands out as such a player. Opinions all, of course, but we literally cannot progress without a top class CF, which Martial is not.

We need to upgrade Eriksen as well, but that need is vastly overshadowed by the need to upgrade Martial.

After that, what the needs are consist of expecting improvement from Sancho and Antony and ensuring depth at all positions. Individual squad players, such as McTominay, may need to move on and replaced.
 
A typical season is about 60 games. Eriksen and Martial only have the capability to play at their best for half of that time so they should be bench players that can be rotated. Apart from getting a new striker and midfielder, ETH is good at improving young players and I would focus on that as a way to improve the starting XI with Sancho, Antony, Garnacho, Amad, Dalot, Bissaka, Malacia, Hannibal, Mainoo etc.
 
Rozay said:
Dalot, Eriksen, Antony and Bruno. And of course, a striker.
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Replace him with our other 80m winger Sancho?

You've wrote a player off after a few months at the club and 5 goals in 17 games which isnt even bad
 
Martial, De Gea and Eriksen are the obvious ones. Antony and Bruno could also do with some serious competition for their spot.
 
Surprised so many are on Eriksen. He's been brilliant hasn't he? Just that calm, creative passer we've needed in there for ages, and a huge contrast to Bruno's wild style.
Plus is a lot harder working than I for one realised.
 
Sandikan said:
Surprised so many are on Eriksen. He's been brilliant hasn't he? Just that calm, creative passer we've needed in there for ages, and a huge contrast to Bruno's wild style.
Plus is a lot harder working than I for one realised.
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Absolutely - the guy has been just as important as Casemiro in turning round our fortunes. He also gives us a chance to integrate Mebrij or Mainoo as another number 8.
 
De Gea, Eriksen and Martial are the obvious upgrades I think.

Centre back I think is fine because Shaw has shown he can slot in there quite comfortably. Our two right backs seem to have improved immensely under Ten Hag, so will be tempted to see how much better they can get. Right wing is an interesting one, but I'd figure we might be better off gambling on Sancho/Antony coming good and focusing on the three aforementioned positions first.

My ideal three signings in the summer would be Costa for GK, De Jong/Fernandez for CM, and Osimhen/Kane for CF. Though that would cost us in the region of £200million, so it depends on how generous our new owners are I suppose.
 
Castia said:
Replace him with our other 80m winger Sancho?

You've wrote a player off after a few months at the club and 5 goals in 17 games which isnt even bad
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If I never watched the actual football, ‘5 goals in 17 games’ would impress me. However, I do - and I am totally unimpressed.

We can replace him with an improvement from himself for all I care, my response to the question is it is an area of the team that currently isn’t good enough. Any improvement to the requisite standard from Antony is totally hypothetical anyway, and likely based on little evidence of anything seen, just purely ‘well he will be better in his second season’. He might be, who knows.

And this isn’t me ‘writing off Mbappe after a few months’. There’s no indication at all that Antony even has the level we want in him. If Mbappe struggled, we can at least back him to return to a level we know he is capable of. I’m not sure we are sure Antony is good enough, and the evidence has suggested he isn’t. I think even I could do a job at LB against him.

If he improves then great. But as it stands, RW is currently a position of concern of mine. The only reason it wouldn’t be is ‘because it’s Antony’s first season’. There‘s literally no other argument IMO.
 
I don't believe Casemiro, Varane or Shaw can be improved on. For me there are only two or 3 players that can improve on Rashford as long as he doesn't have another dip like last season and it wouldn't be enough of an improvement to do so.

Every other position CAN be improved on.

The positions that are a priority for me would be -

Striker - Priority but hardest player to obtain.
Central Midfielder - I like Fred and Eriksen but I think this position is so important for how Ten Hag plays that getting top quality next to Casemiro would be one of the most significant changes.
Goalkeeper - Team who play out from the back + keeper who isn't very good with his feet = need a change

Outside of that one of Antony or Sancho need to push on at right wing, if not that'll be an issue but I still have hope that at least one of them will really excel.
 
VeevaVee said:
Another quality midfield option, striker, and probably a winger unless Sancho and Antony come good. We may also find ourselves needing a CB when Maguire goes. Torn on RB but doesn’t seem priority right now. We may also need a backup striker.
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I think a player capable of covering of covering both positions will be useful for us.
 
Rozay said:
If I never watched the actual football, ‘5 goals in 17 games’ would impress me. However, I do - and I am totally unimpressed.

We can replace him with an improvement from himself for all I care, my response to the question is it is an area of the team that currently isn’t good enough. Any improvement to the requisite standard from Antony is totally hypothetical anyway, and likely based on little evidence of anything seen, just purely ‘well he will be better in his second season’. He might be, who knows.

And this isn’t me ‘writing off Mbappe after a few months’. There’s no indication at all that Antony even has the level we want in him. If Mbappe struggled, we can at least back him to return to a level we know he is capable of. I’m not sure we are sure Antony is good enough, and the evidence has suggested he isn’t. I think even I could do a job at LB against him.

If he improves then great. But as it stands, RW is currently a position of concern of mine. The only reason it wouldn’t be is ‘because it’s Antony’s first season’. There‘s literally no other argument IMO.
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Again he must have about 12 starts at the club, barely had a pre season because he was coming off an injury at Ajax and on top of that the World Cup (which he looked good at) was a distraction. The manager knows the player that's good enough for me I have no doubt Antony will be an important player for us going forward.

Our right wing options are Antony and Sancho and then at a push we could even have Rashford out there you'd be mad to sign a RW for this team.

And for the last bolded part you don't spend almost 90m on a player and already have a replacement in mind 15 games into his career at united that's just madness, like proper hipster shit.
 
Desert Eagle said:
Martial, De Gea and Eriksen are the obvious ones. Antony and Bruno could also do with some serious competition for their spot.
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Ok, let's play this out. Who exactly, who is realistic (thus no Alisson or Neuer) and would be a vast upgrade on De Gea and would be worth the cost within a budget that would still allow us to bring what would likely be an 80m striker and an upgrade on Eriksen, such as De Jong?
 
lex talionis said:
Ok, let's play this out. Who exactly, who is realistic (thus no Alisson or Neuer) and would be a vast upgrade on De Gea and would be worth the cost within a budget that would still allow us to bring what would likely be an 80m striker and an upgrade on Eriksen, such as De Jong?
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Talk about loading a question. So you want a vast upgrade after spending 80m on a striker and 70/80 million on a midfielder. So you want a realistic amazing keeper option that costs 10m? 20m?

If we have around 150 million to spend then I would prioritize a striker and a keeper first and go for a younger/cheaper option for midfield. So take your pick of any top class keeper on the market.
 
Not really any players in the starting XI, aside from the obvious gaping hole at CF. But we need an alternative option in midfield for when we play games like Arsenal away, Eriksen and Bruno are great together against weaker opposition, but neither provides enough defensively, and Eriksen gases himself trying most games. And beyond that, we just need depth in the squad, and quality depth, that can be proper utilized in EtH's system.
 
Desert Eagle said:
Talk about loading a question. So you want a vast upgrade after spending 80m on a striker and 70/80 million on a midfielder. So you want a realistic amazing keeper option that costs 10m? 20m?

If we have around 150 million to spend then I would prioritize a striker and a keeper first and go for a younger/cheaper option for midfield. So take your pick of any top class keeper on the market.
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We live in the world of reality, not fantasy. If we had 300m to spend this summer there probably would be room in the budget to upgrade on De Gea after we upgrade on what are undeniably higher priorities. But even then there really aren’t any keepers who don’t play for Liverpool, Bayern or Real who would represent a significant upgrade on De Gea and even if we somehow could turn the head of Alisson et al, bringing one of them over would be a budget buster for a position that’s not only far from one of weakest, but is actually one of our strongest.

The word “priority” has a specific meaning that needs to be better understood on this forum. In terms of strengthening the squad, the obvious priority is CF and that’s not a random opinion. That’s a fact. We probably need an upgrade on Eriksen, which could be considered a debatable opinion but is a widely shared one, and we all know ETH wants De Jong. And unless our new owners (I’m assuming the same will get done.) have an unlimited checkbook, they’re going to focus on our actual priorities.
 
Looking at the Best 11, obviously we need a striker, a Martial but 99% available and reliable. Someone <26 years old as we have enough old men in the squad.

Then a MF, box to box type, who can replace Eriksen or Casemiro if necessary, as neither one can play 50 games a season, and Eriksen is too weak in front of strong MF opposition. I am not sure De Jong can replace Casemiro, Fred and McTom definitely not.

RB, Antony, Sacho, all have some limitation, but enough problem for now, wait until next next season.
 
UpWithRivers said:
We need -

This summer -
A top class Striker - One from Kane, Oshimen, Goncalo
A top class CM to replace Eriksen - One from Bellingham, Enzo Fernandes, De Jong
A Bruno back up - Aouar on a free?
A DM back up for Casemiro

Next season -
2 Right wingers need to step up from Sancho/Antony/Pellestri/Amad. A first teamer and a back up. Need to be near levels of Rashford/Garnaho combination on the LW.
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How about CB cover too although think it's unlikely we are signing 5 players in one window
 
Strootman's Finger said:
Not really any players in the starting XI, aside from the obvious gaping hole at CF. But we need an alternative option in midfield for when we play games like Arsenal away, Eriksen and Bruno are great together against weaker opposition, but neither provides enough defensively, and Eriksen gases himself trying most games. And beyond that, we just need depth in the squad, and quality depth, that can be proper utilized in EtH's system.
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Starting XI definitely lacks a progressive CM,however that's the only other big issue there after a top class striker
 
lex talionis said:
We live in the world of reality, not fantasy. If we had 300m to spend this summer there probably would be room in the budget to upgrade on De Gea after we upgrade on what are undeniably higher priorities. But even then there really aren’t any keepers who don’t play for Liverpool, Bayern or Real who would represent a significant upgrade on De Gea and even if we somehow could turn the head of Alisson et al, bringing one of them over would be a budget buster for a position that’s not only far from one of weakest, but is actually one of our strongest.

The word “priority” has a specific meaning that needs to be better understood on this forum. In terms of strengthening the squad, the obvious priority is CF and that’s not a random opinion. That’s a fact. We probably need an upgrade on Eriksen, which could be considered a debatable opinion but is a widely shared one, and we all know ETH wants De Jong. And unless our new owners (I’m assuming the same will get done.) have an unlimited checkbook, they’re going to focus on our actual priorities.
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Please give some objective metrics by which De Gea is better than all but three keepers in the world. He is poor with the ball at his feet and is amongst the worst in the world at commanding his area and claiming crosses.

Our actual priorities like I said are striker and goalkeeper. Those two positions will affect our team the most because they will most likely be guaranteed starters for almost all our matches. An Eriksen replacement though needed isn't a priority because we still have Eriksen who is good enough at the highest level. All this weird talk about fantasy and priorities but you keep mentioning FDJ like that is a realistic option after what happened last summer.

Even with 150 million or whatever you imagine the summer budget to be you can get a top striker for 80 million, a top keeper for 50 million and spend 20 million on a promising CM. If the striker and keeper take up our whole budget that's fine too, ETH will just have to use some youth players as Eriksen cover of which we have plenty ( Hannibal, Zidane, Mainoo, Savage)
 
Desert Eagle said:
Please give some objective metrics by which De Gea is better than all but three keepers in the world. He is poor with the ball at his feet and is amongst the worst in the world at commanding his area and claiming crosses.

Our actual priorities like I said are striker and goalkeeper. Those two positions will affect our team the most because they will most likely be guaranteed starters for almost all our matches. An Eriksen replacement though needed isn't a priority because we still have Eriksen who is good enough at the highest level. All this weird talk about fantasy and priorities but you keep mentioning FDJ like that is a realistic option after what happened last summer.

Even with 150 million or whatever you imagine the summer budget to be you can get a top striker for 80 million, a top keeper for 50 million and spend 20 million on a promising CM. If the striker and keeper take up our whole budget that's fine too, ETH will just have to use some youth players as Eriksen cover of which we have plenty ( Hannibal, Zidane, Mainoo, Savage)
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Would rather spend bigger on a CM than GK
 
jem said:
I love comments like this; as if we have some kind of role in the decision-making! It's clearly a topic for discussion, so nothing 'too soon' about it.
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We obviously don't and folk are free ro talk about whatever they want but I doubt any conclusions reached from this would hold any value.
 
We definitely need an upgrade on Eriksen who, for me just Isn’t the ideal player for the position he’s playing. Perhaps Dalot but he’s been excellent this season and if he continues to improve could be the answer. We need an upgrade on Martial, as much as it saddens me to say because he has talent in buckets, you just rarely see it. Then there’s the one who can’t be named. We also need squad players but we might find the likes of Amad, Pellistri, Hannibal, Mainoo and obviously Garnacho have big roles to play in the next 2/3 years and beyond.

Currently we need quite a lot. But if we sign one or two ‘right players’ with others coming through the ranks it might not look as pressing.
 
There is already a thread exactly the same as this titled something like 'what we still need'
FFS!
 
De Gea, Martial, Eriksen, and Antony look like the obvious four.

Maignan, Kane, De Jong, and hopefully Sancho delivers on the undeniable talent, as he'd be a massive upgrade on Antony.
 
De gea, bruno, sancho/Antony if neither can live up to their potential, eriksen and very likely an unpopular opinion but rashford, yes rashford is having a good season but he is still very guilty of running down blind alleys when dribbling and has poor decision making which is not ideal if we want more composure in possession and general control of games over a full 90 minutes, I am not saying we need to buy a new winger because I think we have a more capable 1st choice left winger in garnacho a year or two down the line
 
Bondi77 said:
There is already a thread exactly the same as this titled something like 'what we still need'
FFS!
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This thread isn't asking what we still need. It's asking which good players aren't quite good enough. That's not the same thing.
 
Martial is a must he doesn't score enough plus he's seems to be always injured, not fit or coming back from injury. We need a top striker that we can count him to play at least 30 games a season.

Martial is neither.
 
sullydnl said:
This thread isn't asking what we still need. It's asking which good players aren't quite good enough. That's not the same thing.
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If the players aren't good enough then we need to replace them...what is hard to understand?
 
Bondi77 said:
If the players aren't good enough then we need to replace them...what is hard to understand?
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It's hard for me to say, as the lack of understanding is on your end.

This thread is asking you which players you think are good but nonetheless need to be upgraded. Which players you rate, but don't quite rate enough for their current standing in the team.

That isn't the same as asking "what do we still need?" Because "what we still need" also includes upgrading players who aren't good and who you don't rate. It also includes filling already-existing gaps in the squad, like centre-forward. I wasn't interested in any of that, where the other thread obviously is.
 
sullydnl said:
It's hard for me to say, as the lack of understanding is on your end.

This thread is asking you which players you think are good but nonetheless need to be upgraded. Which players you rate, but don't quite rate enough for their current standing in the team.

That isn't the same as asking "what do we still need?" Because "what we still need" also includes upgrading players who aren't good and who you don't rate. It also includes filling already-existing gaps in the squad, like centre-forward. I wasn't interested in any of that, where the other thread obviously is.
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Geez...you need to find a hobby.
 
De Jong and Kane should be the priorities. Sign those two and I think we make a good run at the league and Champions League next season (assuming we finish top 4, which I think we will).
 
De Gea, Eriksen, and Martial. I would replace them with new starters. All 3 are good players, but can be upgraded with players that have a wider skillset, and are actually available to play. On a lesser and probably controversial scale, Varane could be improved on with a player that is better on the ball and less injury prone. Dalot is borderline. It depends on whether he can keep playing like he has this season. I'm not 100% convinced yet.
 
CloneMC16 said:
De Gea, Eriksen, and Martial. I would replace them with new starters. All 3 are good players, but can be upgraded with players that have a wider skillset, and are actually available to play. On a lesser and probably controversial scale, Varane could be improved on with a player that is better on the ball and less injury prone. Dalot is borderline. It depends on whether he can keep playing like he has this season. I'm not 100% convinced yet.
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Agree with you on the three most urgent needs but I think both Varane and Dalot are perfectly fine.
 
CloneMC16 said:
De Gea, Eriksen, and Martial. I would replace them with new starters. All 3 are good players, but can be upgraded with players that have a wider skillset, and are actually available to play. On a lesser and probably controversial scale, Varane could be improved on with a player that is better on the ball and less injury prone. Dalot is borderline. It depends on whether he can keep playing like he has this season. I'm not 100% convinced yet.
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I agree with this and would add a RB into the mix if possible. And if we can upgrade on those four positions as far as raising the technical level of the first 11, especially in the build up phase, then we will improve exponentially as far as being a more dominant team.

I know many will disagree, but the keeper has to go or else it will hamper ten Hag's positional play requirements. And I'm sure he will know this.
 
Add de jong and a top striker like osimhen or kane and we'd have enough depth to compete. Maybe a gk too

Dalot, Martinez, lindelof, varane, shaw, malacia

De Jong, Casemiro, Bruno, Eriksen, one of mcfred

Antony, Sancho, Diallo, Garnacho, Rashford, Martial, Striker

You could sell any combination of AWB, Maguire, Mctominay, Fred and have a summer of maybe 110m net spend and that would be fine
 
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