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#321 (permalink) | |
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would like you all to call him "Glorious Leader"
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Beautiful Norway
Posts: 13,083
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I do believe that we controlled the midfield when Anderson and Carrick were on. As mentioned earlier, I think this is mainly because we converted to a midfield 3, but I dont think it's hard even for you to admit that we looked alot more composed with Carrick on the pitch. Right, lets forget about one of the midfielders who are injuried because it doesnt underline the point you're trying to make. Do you really, really think that Cleverley was the only one not available? Giggs - Started Scholes - Rested, never going to play so many games in a row Carrick - Played 90 minutes in nearly every game, obviously rested Cleverley - Injuried Anderson - Not played a game for 4 months, never going to start Fletcher - Ill So what would you do different? We finally had a chance to rest Scholes and Carrick, and Anderson was never going to get thrown into a game after being out injuried for such a long time. This entire argument is getting tedious though. We both agree that we could use a midfielder, the only thing we really disagree about is how our actual midfielders performed in the Bilbao-game. Bottom line: I have no doubt that someone like Martinez would improve our midfield, though in the Bilbao-game, I feel that all of Giggs, Carrick and Anderson gave an encouraging performance and that Jones was given a game due to lack of options. |
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#322 (permalink) | |
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Thus says Kemo
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Founder of IhateMakeleles.org and Gourcufffanboysareus.com
Posts: 40,894
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But I feel a Yaya Toure type is needed far more for a team like ours that loves to use wide men. |
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#323 (permalink) | |
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Born a freak always a freak.
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Somewhere in your mind, touching a nerve
Posts: 11,295
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#325 (permalink) | |
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Love Nani, Hate Ando
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It's a strange question to ask because I never actually suggested doing anything differently. I was using our choice of a midfield 2 last night as an example of why we need to sign one. Then you start rambling on about how Carrick and Anderson played well for 20 minutes, despite, in the end, agreeing with my point that we need a midfielder? (which by the way, is what this thread is about). Strange. |
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#326 (permalink) | ||
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O'Fortuna
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Praying for Carrick's ongoing fitness
Posts: 4,375
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You need organisation, communication and discipline to have any control when your opponent has the ball. We had no marginally better control when Carrick came on, but nowhere near enough to claim we were at any time the better team. Quote:
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#327 (permalink) | ||
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loco
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus stop
Posts: 5,469
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Safe to say you'd take pretty much anything right now then Chief
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#330 (permalink) |
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First Team Regular
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We've been unlucky with injuries and Fletcher's illness. In another world we would have had him, Anderson and Cleverley for most of the season, while in reality Cleverley has not been a factor since September, while Anderson and Fletcher went off the rader a while later. It could have been very different.
But looking at what we knew, maybe we weren't that unlucky. We knew there was a problem with Fletcher, we knew Anderson struggles for fitness, we knew we can't rely on Giggs all that much. The one unknown was Cleverley, but overall I'd say we went into the season with quite a few questions marks. Well, we got our responses, I guess. |
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#331 (permalink) | |
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Coach (But never a mod)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: india
Posts: 32,946
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#332 (permalink) | |
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First Team Regular
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Posts: 11,552
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#333 (permalink) | |
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O'Fortuna
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Praying for Carrick's ongoing fitness
Posts: 4,375
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My concern is we are having to rotate our midfield much more than we probably should, due to injuries, age and lack of cover for Carrick. That put's us in a position where we cannot always play who we would like to in consecutive matches. Hopefully we will get away with it till summer, but i dread the thought of losing Carrick for any length of time up until then. If we only make one signing this summer imo our top priority should be cover for Carrick. It is our most obvious and potentially damaging weakness and needs to be addressed asap. |
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#334 (permalink) | |
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First Team Regular
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Posts: 11,552
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#337 (permalink) |
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First Team Regular
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The problem is we just can't add and add. Whether it's about payroll or simple sporting issues. Because we do (did) have Fletcher, Anderson, Cleverley, Giggs, and of course Carrick (not sure if we also saw Jones as a strong midfield option in the summer). Yeah, we can see Giggs as part time (because he can't play game after game), but we can we see Anderson and Cleverley as 'part timers' and assume they'll miss long periods so we'll need extra bodies? Not sure it's possible to work that may. So it might be about replacing rather than adding. Someone may have to go.
Problem is, will anyone be going? Scholes was supposed to be 'it' last summer, clearing a spot, but the addition we ended up making was from within. We've waited for Hargreaves, I can't see us not waiting on Fletcher. Cleverley, certainly not. Giggs is staying, I reckon Scholes will too. Will we terminate our attempts to turn Anderson into a consistent performer? I doubt it. So it's not an easy decision. But one that has to be made. |
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#338 (permalink) | |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,185
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I think it's to early to put Cleverley in the injury prone bracket, his appearance record for Watford was actually good. He had a few injuries at Wigan but had a good run in the second second half of the season. All he has had with United is one bad injury which we don't seem to have treated correctly. Anderson is the one I would probably be looking to ship out if it was needed to bring in a new player. It's a real shame he has not progressed his obvious talent and there is no doubt the injuries have been a big factor in that but out of that group of players, he's the one I would probably dispense with. However, Anderson has a habit of returning to the first team and reminding me what a good player he can be when fit and how good he could be if he could STAY fit so I'm not completely sure. Also think we could bring in another midfielder due to the ages of Giggs and Scholes. Looking at whether another needs to be replaced is down to whether we want to bring in two new players ready for the first team this summer. |
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#339 (permalink) | |
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Coach (But never a mod)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: india
Posts: 32,946
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#340 (permalink) | |
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First Team Regular
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 27,222
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#341 (permalink) |
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Oppressed White Male
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,580
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I think Andersons time has run out, personally. I would be in favour of ditching him and probably Park (who I like and think has been a great servant for the club over the years) and investing in some true quality like Modric, who can cover in midfield or out wide (to replace Park) or play in the hole, as cover for Rooney - he ticks all the boxes.
I do feel though that that may not be enough by itself. If Scholes retires for good this time, and Giggs surely can't go on much longer, not to mention Fletcher with whom I feel we need to make a decision unfortunately (ie if he isn't going to be able to play next season, realistically we need to bring in someone else or we are already a man down). A Martinez type player would do the job nicely, leaving us with something like; Carrick, Modric, Martinez, Cleverley as the four primary CMs, with others able to cover when needed like Giggs, Jones and if he ends up staying, Pogba. In other areas, the introduction of Modric (who can play the Rooney role, allowing the latter to move up top when needed) should also eliminate the need for a new striker. We can offload Berbatov and Owen to cut the wage bill down, maybe Macheda too. |
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#342 (permalink) | |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 3,264
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#343 (permalink) |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,636
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We do need some midfield enforcements. Personally if fletcher was fit and back go his best I think he and carrick would be an excellent partnership and both are quite reliable in the senders of being match fit. In that situation I don't think midfield would be such as issue but given the extent of fletchers illness we need 2 midfielders I would say.
I want to give ando more time but at the end of of the day he's just too injury prone. He'll never improve without more consistent runs in the team but he doesn't seen capable of staying fit. As some of said the fact that we have a scholes and giggs who can't play every game is an issue, if we didn't have one of them we could sign someone else and let ando be a bit of an injury liability. It's more about scholes though. Giggs I feel is still very physically capable and honestly is still one of our best players and easily one of the best centre mids around in the league, he might give the ball away sometimes but that's not down to age but his style. Scholes though obviously suffers from his lack of stamina and pace more. However he's still a lot better than ando an his ability to destroy teams that stand of make him a good asset. So yeah I guess if we need to clear the payroll to make room for reinforcements than ando is top of the midfield list to go. I agree about park going as well. With our three main wingers now not only be quality going forward but also very good coming back I feel park has less to offer. I think his role as fourth choice winger can be covered by either changing formation, or putting welbeck or say a twin wide. In terms of who I would sign well I wouldn't want a pure defensive midfielder but either a player similar to carrick or a box to box player like fletch. The other one would need to be a creative one. Who is much harder to say. Though it does depend on how the club assess fletcher and cleverley in terms of reliability next season. If they think fletcher can come back strongly and that clev isn't really injury prone but unfortunate than maybe we need just one midfielder if not than we need two. I do think our midfielders that we have are a better collection than they are credited for and without the injuries not only in midfield but at the back as well it wouldn't get the stick it does. But we do have re-occurring injuries there and we have a lack of midfielders who are reliable, fully physically capable and are quality. |
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#344 (permalink) |
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Role model
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Aliens are in control of my tagline & location, but they'll never take me alive!
Posts: 16,375
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I was thinking that we need someone in front of Carrick who can play 40 games a season.
I like both Anderson & Cleverly but between them they would struggle to play that many games. Maybe Pogba is the man for the job, if his contract is sorted out. Otherwise who? |
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#345 (permalink) | |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,636
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#346 (permalink) | |
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First Team Sub
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 6,081
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He looks like he could be world class in the sneijder role I do think we need another (a modric or Martinez) I think with carrick (31) giggs and scholes (37) cleverley/anderson/fletcher (fitness) pogba (contract) there are big question marks over our midfield I think he will bring 1 in and then another when giggs/scholes go |
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#347 (permalink) | |
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First Team Regular
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We're always careful about adding players to fill a spot if we think we already have someone who may return and do that job himself. It makes sense, although sometimes I think we're a little too careful. At times you have to make the decisions that will make an immediate difference. But our loyalty to our players means we don't rush to get replacements while they are still here. As things stand, I think we must be ruthless in the summer. The whole team is suffering from the total lack of consistency of our midfield. That's the one area in the team we can really improve by quite a bit. Whether it's acting as if Fletcher isn't coming back - unless we 100% know he is - or letting go of a player. We've waited and waited for what we already have to sort out our midfield. Well, between Cleverley and Anderson in the first few matches, Carrick's form since he started playing regularly again around November and Scholes's spark after his comeback, I feel it's been better than last season. But still not good enough, and not that likely to just improve by itself. |
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#353 (permalink) |
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First Team Sub
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Dark side of the moon
Posts: 6,960
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I was of the thought that we didn't need one last summer but with Giggs another year older and Fletcher's illness unfolding (plus the loss of future potential in Morrison) then I can't see us not reinforcing. If we think Fletcher can recover then just the one will do for me, if not then we'll probably need two.
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#354 (permalink) |
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First Team Sub
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 9,008
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Given the attacking prowess of our strikers/wingers what we need is another holding player ala Carrick. When Carrick doesn't play there is a gaping gap in between our midfield and defence.
Martinez sounds perfect, I've always thought Modric was the ideal price but I'm really not sure anymore I think he's too attack minded for what we really require. |
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#355 (permalink) | |
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Smells
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Scotland
Posts: 9,104
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I'm actually still the same in a way. I want us to sign a new midfielder, however I wouldn't be too concerned if we didn't and I'd put faith in our current midfield. Still, I do want a new midfielder more now than I did at the end of last season. |
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