Square pegs in round holes

PoTMS

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Why do we always seem to be buying the wrong players? Now I’m not saying signing Sanchez was wrong as he’s world class but why didn’t we address the need for another midfielder either in the summer or January? Why did we neglect right wing where we have absolutely fecking no one? It was blatantly obvious to everyone we are weak in those areas. Instead we move our best player this season in favour for our new signing rendering him useless.

We seem to have no transfer strategy. The fact that Mourinho feels like he doesn’t need to strengthen his attacking lineup boggles the mind and only goes to prove this. It goes back to that thread created the other day where we were struggling to find the last indisputable successful transfer we made. We came up with RVP in 2012.
 

charlenefan

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He was meant to do all that In January? :houllier:
 

PoTMS

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He was meant to do all that In January? :houllier:
It’s more our transfer strategy, we seem to have none. Pogba - I meant didn't any of our scouts anticipate that he couldn’t play in a midfield two. Why didn’t we have a competent three man midfield when we bought him if that’s where we intended him to play and once we realised that, why didn’t/haven’t we done anything to address it? He’s been here for three transfer windows already.
 

Josep Dowling

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It’s more our transfer strategy, we seem to have none. Pogba - I meant didn't any of our scouts anticipate that he couldn’t play in a midfield two. Why didn’t we have a competent three man midfield when we bought him if that’s where we intended him to play and once we realised that, why didn’t/haven’t we done anything to address it? He’s been here for three transfer windows already.
The strategy is poor. We seem to buy players then work a system round them rather than buying players to fit a system. I don’t like it when we play 4-2-3-1 but he’s done it to fit Lingard in who was in great form and also play Sanchez and Martial at the same time.
 

charlenefan

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It’s more our transfer strategy, we seem to have none. Pogba - I meant didn't any of our scouts anticipate that he couldn’t play in a midfield two. Why didn’t we have a competent three man midfield when we bought him if that’s where we intended him to play and once we realised that, why didn’t/haven’t we done anything to address it? He’s been here for three transfer windows already.
Jose clearly wants to make Pogba someone capable of playing in his preferred formation, nothing to do with a transfer strategy there
 

settembrini

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I don't understand the majority of our recent transfers either. Mourinho seems determined to spend in areas where we are already strong and loathe to spend in areas where we are weak.
 

amolbhatia50k

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We've got a supposedly great midfield with apparently an elite midfielder in it that shrinks and shrivels everytime its up against a team that makes things difficult.

I do think that balance is a problem since we signed Sanchez. Martial was doing superbly on the left and we've unsettled the rythme we had. But these players also need support from midfielders. Even the best strikers need support from creators from midfield.
 

DavelinaJolie

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Because he'll be working with a transfer budget and saw other needs that needed addressing first?
 

BluesJr

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Our best performance recently was away to Everton where we clearly used Pogba in a different position and it worked like a charm. Instead of learning from that we haven’t and it’s cost us big time. There is absolutely no way we’ll play 4321 in the CL so why are we doing it now?
 

manunited1919

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Because we had the opportunity to sign a world-class player in January. He will be a great signing and our football will improve once he gels into the team.
 

Devil may care

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We need to play 4-3-3 but lack midfield depth and our best attacking flank is the left and we bought another player who he wants to play there while the right conrtinues to be dead space for us.
 

PoTMS

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Because he'll be working with a transfer budget and saw other needs that needed addressing first?
So our first signing of the summer was a centre back, where we are relatively well stocked, ahead of all the other positions we needed to strengthen in, right wing in particular, where we haven’t even bothered to strengthen in 5 years. And please, transfer budget is the least of our worries.
 

devilish

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We need to move to 4-3-3 as its evident that 4-2-3-1 is not working for us. Pogba can't play in a 2 men CM, there's too much of a gap between defence and midfield and that gap won't be filled by Jones and Smalling whose combined football IQ is that of a pigeon.
 

Ralph1386

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With the players we have at our disposal, this is the best and most efficient line-up we can field that plays to everyone's strengths:

------------------------De Gea------------------------
Valencia---------Smalling--Bailly/Rojo------------Shaw
--------------Matic------McTominay/Herrera/Blind/Carrick----------
---------------------Pogba/Lingard-----------------------
Alexis----------------------------------------------------Martial
----------------------------Lukaku--------------------------------

So a 4-3-3!
 

VeevaVee

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Sanchez is what we needed. So was Matic. The team was in very poor shape after LVG/Moyes. I do wish we'd buy more quicker, but so far Jose's buy have been something we've needed. Even with Lindelof, when we finally sort out our defence backup cbs will be important too.
 

Sylar

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Our best performance recently was away to Everton where we clearly used Pogba in a different position and it worked like a charm. Instead of learning from that we haven’t and it’s cost us big time. There is absolutely no way we’ll play 4321 in the CL so why are we doing it now?
Agreed. Its mad how our managers seem to stumble into the obvious.
LVG did the same when he stumbled into a 433 where we beat Spurs, city, liverpool, villa.
Then went away from it.

433 would suit a back four (Shaw lb please), pogba out wide on the left, and two to protect our defence and free pogba.
And push martial further up top out wide. And sanchez either on the right or up front depending on what we wanna do.
 

DavelinaJolie

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So our first signing of the summer was a centre back, where we are relatively well stocked, ahead of all the other positions we needed to strengthen in, right wing in particular, where we haven’t even bothered to strengthen in 5 years. And please, transfer budget is the least of our worries.
Uh huh. Stocked at centre back. How was Smalling today? How injury prone is Jones? Do you want to rely on Rojo? It's not stocked with quality or reliability. Sure, question signing Lindelhof (we all do), but the position wasn't "well stocked".

As for transfer budget... It's not like they are going to go out and spend 300mill each summer. I'm sure he is given some kind of budget to work with.

He brought in a defensive Mid, an area of strong need. He brought in a striker, an area of strong need. I can go along with not addressing full/wing backs, that was an area of need that wasn't addressed. But when you've spent over £150m (if i recall correctly) on three players I think there may be a limit on how many more you can buy in one window.
 

flappyjay

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Sanchez is the better player but in terms of a position we should have strengthened Mahrez would have been a better fit for us
 

Bwuk

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Our transfer approach is ridiculous. Complete scatter gun.
 

slayerfer

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It can take years to build a great team that is capable of winning/reaching the Champions League final (meritoriously I mean).

Look how many years and transfer windows it took to create the team that won the 07/08 Champios League:

We signed Ferdinand in 02/03
Ronaldo in 03/04
Rooney in 04/05
Vidic, Evra, Park and Van der Saar in 05/06
Carrick in 06/07
Nani, Hargreaves and Tevez in 07/08

And at the end of that season we won the CL and became a force in Europe.

I think people are too anxious and don't realize we're in the middle of a rebuilding process. IMO if we sign the correct midfielders, right back and right winger in the next 2-3 summers we won't be that far from being a force again.
 
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Raoul

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Why do we always seem to be buying the wrong players? Now I’m not saying signing Sanchez was wrong as he’s world class but why didn’t we address the need for another midfielder either in the summer or January? Why did we neglect right wing where we have absolutely fecking no one? It was blatantly obvious to everyone we are weak in those areas. Instead we move our best player this season in favour for our new signing rendering him useless.

We seem to have no transfer strategy. The fact that Mourinho feels like he doesn’t need to strengthen his attacking lineup boggles the mind and only goes to prove this. It goes back to that thread created the other day where we were struggling to find the last indisputable successful transfer we made. We came up with RVP in 2012.
I don't think we buy the wrong players. We do however seem to believe that the size of a transfer fee is equal to expected success, which is of course wrong.
 

Ralph1386

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It can take years to build a great team that is capable of winning/reaching the Champions League final (meritoriously I mean).

Look how many years and transfer windows it took to create the team that won the 07/08 Champios League:

We signed Ferdinand in 02/03
Ronaldo in 03/04
Rooney in 04/05
Vidic, Evra, Park and Van der Saar in 05/06
Carrick in 06/07
Nani, Hargreaves and Tevez in 07/08

And at the end of that season we won the CL and become a force in Europe.

I think people are too anxious and don't realize we're in the middle of a rebuilding process. IMO if we sign the correct midfielders, right back and right winger in the next 2-3 summers we won't be that far from being a force again.
Good point
 

YouOnlyLiveTwice

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If we want to play 4-2-3-1, we might as well have saved ourselves some money by buying a player like Khedira. At least he puts in a shift.

Sick of this nonsense strategy. Even a top manager like Mourinho is guilty of not knowing the player that fits in his system. We need a DOF with a brain asap, i don’t trust managers anymore.
 

YouOnlyLiveTwice

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Agreed. Its mad how our managers seem to stumble into the obvious.
LVG did the same when he stumbled into a 433 where we beat Spurs, city, liverpool, villa.
Then went away from it.


433 would suit a back four (Shaw lb please), pogba out wide on the left, and two to protect our defence and free pogba.
And push martial further up top out wide. And sanchez either on the right or up front depending on what we wanna do.
Yep, complete lunatic. I was thinking by the end of that season Pogba would be perfect instead of Fellaini in that trio we had going with Carrick, Herrera, Fellaini. But no, he buys Schweini and Schneiderlin and we turn in to a big fecking mess.
 

AndyJ1985

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We've made a lot of poor signings, but we've also bought some very good players. The problem has been the manager not using them properly as well as the team as a whole not being coached to play in any particular way. We have no identity, we're nothing more than a group of 11 individuals. No one is going to thrive in our team no matter how talented they are. From Di Maria, to Falcao, to Pogba, and even players like Mata and Mkhitaryan. They all played better at their previous clubs. As soon as anyone joins our disjointed team they turn to shit. It's not coincidence, it's poor management. I mean what's our style? What's the plan? Who exactly would fit in to our team? Who are the round pegs to fit in to the round holes? If the players we already have can't play together as a cohesive unit, how will buying a few more players suddenly change that?
 

beergod

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Sanchez is the better player but in terms of a position we should have strengthened Mahrez would have been a better fit for us
Jose is trying to replace the mentally weak players with stronger ones. Mahrez may fit positionally, but his mentality is wrong for what Jose is going after. Sanchez was a perfect move in that he moved out a mentally weak problem child and replaced him with a winner. He wants more of his "soldiers".
 

Kazi

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Honestly Woodward is in charge of our transfers. He is so charming and good with his words that he is able to convince Mourinho that all of these guys are perfect for the team. Did the same thing with Moyes/Mata & LvG/Falcao.
 

Hoof the ball

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I feel sorry for Shaw.

He really picks up his form after Christmas and into January, then receives praise from Mourinho on the 19th January

"He's played very well," said Mourinho.
"And now with a good run of matches and continuity also, playing like he did against Everton, two days after a previous match, he's good, solid, physically much better, mentally much stronger, tactically understanding the game much better and what we need in different phases and circumstances.
"I'm really happy and [looking at the transfer market], I can say that in this moment I don't see many left-backs better than this Luke Shaw."
Admitting the above, Shaw, who has been consistent since that period of praise, is dropped against Spurs for no reason other than to accommodate Young, who also has been playing decent (not superb). Subsequent to the Spurs game, Shaw is recalled for an easy home game against Huddersfield, then subsequently dropped for today's tough away game.

Here's the thing. The logic doesn't follow. How can his statement of Shaw's quality hold any weight when he doesn't trust him in high pressured games? If it's true, what Mourinho said, and he there aren't many better left backs than this Luke Shaw, then it stands to reason that Mourinho must consider Young a better left-back, since, preeminence of first team selection in said games establishes that.

Shaw could be further along in his confidence and rhythm, but one can hardly blame him for losing his confidence when his good performances are rewarded with praise and contradictory actions.
 

Raoul

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It can take years to build a great team that is capable of winning/reaching the Champions League final (meritoriously I mean).

Look how many years and transfer windows it took to create the team that won the 07/08 Champios League:

We signed Ferdinand in 02/03
Ronaldo in 03/04
Rooney in 04/05
Vidic, Evra, Park and Van der Saar in 05/06
Carrick in 06/07
Nani, Hargreaves and Tevez in 07/08

And at the end of that season we won the CL and became a force in Europe.

I think people are too anxious and don't realize we're in the middle of a rebuilding process. IMO if we sign the correct midfielders, right back and right winger in the next 2-3 summers we won't be that far from being a force again.
True, but the galvanizing force behind all of this was Fergie. Great managers can take a group of very talented players to the next level. Right now, Jose is not doing the same thing, but rather struggling to bring the best out of our current lot.