Which midfielder should we buy to give Pogba more freedom
- Thread starter YouOnlyLiveTwice
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I think Kroos could be tempted with a new challenge.
I think this guy could be a terrific replacement for Carrick.
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/...d-a-question-of-versatility-in-young-players/
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/...d-a-question-of-versatility-in-young-players/
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Ever Banega.
Seri mentioned in one of his interviews that his bones struggle to cope up and he can't train in cold weather so better we don't go after this guy ?
Ngolo Kante.
Pogba - Kante
Matic
Way too defensive and lacking any real creativity other than Pogba.Paul will have to do all the creative work himself.Not to mention what we need is not to concede fewer goals but a CM who can control games and help out Pogba defensively and offensively
You are underrating Kante's offensive ability a bit. He used to start counters at Leicester and can always play good passes in space, which would be our strategy under Jose. What is important is that he releases the ball quickly and makes instant runs.
As long as we are managed by Jose, he will be ideal for us. Remember Jose's midfield at Chelsea of Makelele, Essien and Lampard?
One cannot compare playing for Leicester especially with the tactics they used and playing for United.Leicester sat deep almost every game and then tried to hit the other team on the counter.We play like that against the top 6 maybe, mostly when we are away from home.Thats only a small part of the season.Against a packed defense with more possession to handle Kante may struggle.
The best way to use him is to play him next to a DM with Kante as a destroyer, the way chelsea and Leicester use him.But that would mean Pogba playing as a #10, which he ain't very good at, neither can he play in a two with Kante.
Kante and Pogba are kind of similar in a way as both of them need a unique system as they are unique players.A Kante - Pogba - Matic Medfield could work if we have really good wing backs and other sources of creativity, or maybe a 4-4-2,but in the current team with almost all our forwards drifting inside and full backs who aren't great offensively, buying another pure DM / Destroyer would mean even more defensive football.And let's not forget, Mourinho usually plays with a 4-2-3-1 and his system depends on the brilliance of individuals rather than passing around the opposition team to score goal.
Edit : www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/26/ngolo-kantes-limitations-have-exposed-season
Seri/Vidal/Wanyama
All could play with Matic and Pogba.
All could play with Matic and Pogba.
Pogba Seri
Matic
Matic
I was thinking the same thing the other day.
I don't know if Banega is the right player (other than against us I haven't watched him play in years), but he's definitely the right 'type' of player that we need. Somebody who will take over as our main 'controller', while not being too defensive or too offensive.
Not for me. Need someone who can dictate tempo if Pogba goes invisible. A Modric type player would be perfect.
Well yes, no doubt. But I was going for someone who we might have a shot for.
Kante is what Herrera was supposed to be. Not idea offensively and it will indeed put pressure on Pogba, but with that platform he has no excuse of not performing.
I do think adding a playmaker could be detrimental to Pogba. What will he do if not be the creative engine? He has no other use.
I meant it to be slightly tongue in cheek, in that he wouldn't be my top pick, but he's certainly a good player. I thought he was very dominant vs our Matic/McTominay/Pogba midfield three last week, something which is supported by a quick glance at the statistics:
Passes: Banega (105), N'Zonzi (89), Matic (57), Vazquez (51), Pogba (49).
Chances created: Banega (10), Sarabia (3), Vazquez (2), Escudero (2), Navas (2).
Accurate Crosses: Banega (5), Navas (1), Martial (1), Alexis (1)
Accurate Long passes: Banega (7), Valencia (4), Pogba (3), Lindelof (3), McTominay (3)
Tackles: Banega (5), Matic (5), Lindelof (3), Vazquez (3), Young (2)
Banega was never dispossessed by an opponent, and had no instances of overturning possession through poor control (compared to Pogba, for example, with 2 and 3 respectively, or Alexis with 4 and 4).
I also noticed that Mourinho was quite effusive in his praise for Banega after the game, talking about the player "that everyone in football admires"...
If all we did this summer was sign Kroos it would be a fantastic summer, even if it meant praying daily for Shaw to have a fine year.
I feel the opposite. To bring out the absolute best in Pogba he should be 'released' from being the main playmaker, the one who controls the team around for the entire match. Let him choose his moments to inject himself and focus more on creating chances, while somebody else sits that bit deeper and is the general controlling force.
In the same way that Gerrard (and Liverpool as a whole) was at his best when he had Alonso doing the main playmaking job. Or indeed at Juventus where Pogba had Pirlo doing that role.
Yeah, I used to be a huge fan of Banega. He has all the talent in the world and should have had a lot more success in his career than he has. At one stage I thought he might go on to be the best midfielder in the world, and he should have reached Modric-like levels. I'll always remember him for being the only midfielder I've seen go toe-to-toe with 'that' Barcelona midfield and look like the best midfielder on the pitch more than once. Others had freak one-off matches, but he did it a couple of times. I was quite worried a year or two ago when Liverpool were being linked to him.
The question over him of course is his mentality.
Rakitic
Going slightly off the idea of SMS, seems too similar to Pogba in that you wouldn't want him to be the main creator.
A Rakitic/Kroos player in there would be great but I'd prefer a more mobile version of either player with the same passing range. Struggling to think of many that would fit us at the moment to be honest.
If we moved to the 4222 we saw against Chelsea it would be so much easier, but that would be a DLP whereas for a 433 we are looking for a controlling box to box. Something I don't think actually exists in today's football.
A Rakitic/Kroos player in there would be great but I'd prefer a more mobile version of either player with the same passing range. Struggling to think of many that would fit us at the moment to be honest.
If we moved to the 4222 we saw against Chelsea it would be so much easier, but that would be a DLP whereas for a 433 we are looking for a controlling box to box. Something I don't think actually exists in today's football.
Id take Banega and Reuben Neves in an ideal world.. I see us getting Seri and Jorginho, in real life
I haven't read through the thread, maybe this has been said before.. We need a skilled technical playmaker who can
a) sit on the centre circle and spray passes
b) carry the ball forward centrally against defensive oppositions while matic sits
c) can also assist Matic in putting out fires on the counter.
This will allow players like Pogba/Sanchez to play further up the pitch and hence be more threatening to the opposition defence.
This sort of player has to be intelligent and great /calm in possession even when pressed.
Players like Pjanic, Banega, Verratti can play that position but aren't good enough defensively
Eriksen, Thiago, Pastore, Koke, Saul, Vidal, Nainngolan, Milinkovic-Savic could play that position but sitting on the center circle and spraying passes is not their game. Presently, all of them prefer to get forward and be in the final third. We would have to convert them into the sort of player we need, which isn't ideal
Kroos, Rakitic, Jorginho, Dier, Seri in my opinion fit that description and would give us a good balance between attack and defense. But most of these players will be hard to get.
a) sit on the centre circle and spray passes
b) carry the ball forward centrally against defensive oppositions while matic sits
c) can also assist Matic in putting out fires on the counter.
This will allow players like Pogba/Sanchez to play further up the pitch and hence be more threatening to the opposition defence.
This sort of player has to be intelligent and great /calm in possession even when pressed.
Players like Pjanic, Banega, Verratti can play that position but aren't good enough defensively
Eriksen, Thiago, Pastore, Koke, Saul, Vidal, Nainngolan, Milinkovic-Savic could play that position but sitting on the center circle and spraying passes is not their game. Presently, all of them prefer to get forward and be in the final third. We would have to convert them into the sort of player we need, which isn't ideal
Kroos, Rakitic, Jorginho, Dier, Seri in my opinion fit that description and would give us a good balance between attack and defense. But most of these players will be hard to get.
I was watching Lazio against Milan last night, and to be honest after paying more attention to SMS, I'm not sure he is the one we need.
Someone mentioned Rúben Neves, anyone who has watched him regularly to give us some update? Is he ready for a step up? He looks like the type of midfielder we need.
Someone mentioned Rúben Neves, anyone who has watched him regularly to give us some update? Is he ready for a step up? He looks like the type of midfielder we need.
The only thing I remember him for is somehow managing to get run over by his own car!
Talented player but a total loon.
What do people think of Golovin?
^^Makes much sense^^
Except to to say, is Seri really very much better defensively than Verratti?
I've been impressed with the highlights that I have seen of Seri, but they mostly focus on his forward movement & passing
Exactly what ive been thinking since we played against Sevilla.
I loved the idea of signing him years ago when he first played at Valenica but then he went back to Argentina instead.
no, not a big difference. in fact Verrarti has surprisingly the better stats but it doesnt seem like that in-game to me. IMO Verratti always looks rushed defensively and a lot of times just lies down in front of the ball rather than getting a proper challenge in. i believe its due to his weak physicality. Seri on the other hand is a lot stronger but less aggressive and more patient in defense. in a way he helps his team mates make tackles because he stands his ground.
Verrarti is more skilled in distributing and keeping the ball no doubt. But i feel Seri is the more intelligent and patient of the two and would provide us with more balance.
Kessie. This guy is something special
I know Wolves fans were saying he wasn't their highest performing player, so I doubt he's ready to start for us.
The question should be which LB should we buy to get the best from Pogba? Of course we need midfielders but a LB is even more important because Pogba naturally likes to drift to the left hand side and if he has an attacking LB to combine with he'll be even more dangerous for the opposition. The likes of Sandro and Evra were very important for Pogba at Juventus given how their attacking play created space for Pogba to wreak havoc on a regular basis from that left wing.
Well we need a runner in CM to cover for him, so Kante would be a good option. Someone to ease the creative burden and make him harder to mark out of the game would be good too, someone in the De Bruyne mould but obviously not him. Then we'll need someone to link play in the middle for him, so hopefully Jorginho will be in. Then we just need to get another 7 players to suit him and we should be good.
Fair enough then. Maybe if we go and buy a proven B2B midfielder, we could go for him as an additional longterm replacement for Carrick/Matic. I like him as a player.
We should be all over him
Dier
I hope that most of our transfer money goes to a world class CM. We definitely need to invest in our midfield, we need someone able to control the tempo of the game. Also, a talented young player would be needed to rest Matic.
Thiago Alcantara, Verrati should be the kind of players we should aim to strength our midfield.
Thiago Alcantara, Verrati should be the kind of players we should aim to strength our midfield.
Think it's time to start thinking of a different strategy. You can't build a team around Pogba. He isn't a centerpiece.
Pogba is here now and there is nothing wrong with moving towards a 3 man midfield, so many top teams play with it. It's not about building around him (even though the title certainly suggests it), it's just building to our best players strenght. Pogba is a mix between an 8 and a 10. I don't see why we shouldn't build to play 3 in midfield, unless we decide to sell Pogba. It will push the club towards a more controlling way of playing, instead of getting dominated in midfield. Matic needs some cover no matter what, and i'm not sure we can rely on him to be a starter for next season anyway. We also need a player to take over the mantle from Carrick. We have missed a playmaker for so long, and it really hurts our game imo.
I haven't watched a lot of serie a this season but having just watched some YouTube vids of the lad kessie I have to say I would be shocked if mourinho wasn't all over him!
Looks the perfect fit for us: comfortable on the right side of midfield, solid defensively, strong, quick, decent shot, good passing range, bit of vision, young, wants to play for Utd...what more could you want.
Really looks like a mourinho type midfielder.
I will watch Milan a lot closer over the next few months but this lad looks very promising. Also has youth on his side to improve (unlike mousa dembele, who would be another good option) surely a mourinho signing!