Why every formation excluded our best attacker this season?
Erling Haaland / signs for Dortmund
- Thread starter Samid
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Agreed but I think it's a number 10 we need more of because McTominay is adequate for a limited role.
Very good young striker, would he want to come to OT! Money is no problem I think if we need to by or pay wages, if he gets his pick would he go else where?
One thing is if he comes to OT, if we're interested in him he's going to play, may not get much if he goes to say a City, or Juve. Or a team like that.
One thing is if he comes to OT, if we're interested in him he's going to play, may not get much if he goes to say a City, or Juve. Or a team like that.
I'm a Molde supporter who's been following Braut closely since he arrived at our club at age 16. I've watched just about every minute of senior football he has played in his career.
Even bought a subscription for Austrian Bundesliga to follow him there.
First the stats:
Since 2018 he has scored 56 goals, plus 13 assists in all competitions.
(Austrian league+cup, Norwegian league+ cup, Europa League qualification, Champions league, Norway, Norway u21/u20/u19).
About 4000 minutes played. Goal every 71 minutes. Goal or assist every 57 minutes.
This season alone he has scored 22, plus 6 assists for his club (Austrian league, cup and Champions League) in 1042 minutes.
Goal every 47. minute. Goal or assist every 37 minutes (!).
(transfermarkt.com/erling-haaland/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/418560)
Insane numbers, even if most of the goals are from smaller leagues. Especially considering these numbers where achieved while Braut was aged 17 to 19.
But lets forget about his stats, because his skills are just as impressive.
You've all seen his huge frame. 194 cm and strong as a bull. Koulibaly (the Napoli defender known for his physical strength) was out-muscled last week when RBS played Napoli.
Unreal strength for a kid that turned 19 a couple of months ago.
I saw someone in this thread claiming he's got decent speed. Wrong. He is lightning fast. (Check out his 36 km/h run: twitter.com/ChriboEn/status/1188552414355492864)
Combine his extreme pace with his superior strength, and you got an unstoppable freight train, tearing through the oppositions defense (as seen in the twitter link above).
Luckily for Braut, his movement is world class. His runs in behind the defense lines are always timed to perfection,
and combined with his pace and strengt, he has got himself a lethal combination.
His movement inside the box is also impressive. He finds the right position, and again, with his superior streng and size, is really difficult to defend against.
So: a low defensive line- he will outsmart you in the box. A high pressing defense- he will outrun you.
Finishing: Excellent. Was pretty wild in front of goal when he first arrived at Molde, but made huge progress under the guidance of Ole, and he's now got great composure.
Prefers the left foot, but also got a solid shot in his right foot.
Technical skills: He might look a bit clumsy with those long legs, but his technique is surprisingly efficient. Has made huge improvement since he arrived at Molde, when he looked very rough and had a Lukaku-ish first touch. Much better now. He is no Messi, but he keeps improving his technical skills, and it's not something that is holding his game back.
Heading: Surprisingly, given his height and strength, he is pretty average in the air. Timing issue. With his explosiveness, smart movement in the box and his size, he really should have the potential to be world class in the air, and I know its something he has been working a lot on to improve.
And hey, as a bonus for this United team: His penalties are great.
Surprised to see many of you guys labeling him a poacher. He can be that too, but belive me, his skill set and playing style goes far beyond a classic poacher.
He will be banging in goals for one of the giant clubs for the next 15 years. RB Salzburg is his stepping stone club, next club WILL BE one of the giants.
Solskjær is the magic ticket for getting Braut to Man Utd. He has talked a lot of his good relationship with Ole, and still calls Ole for advice. This means you actually have a good chance of signing him. But if you sit on the fence, he will be out of your league once the summer window has passed. You'll be beating your head against a wall for the next decade if you don't make en effort to sign him up. He is the real deal.
Well, that was my take on Braut. Here is good and accurate scout report, if you don't trust the words of a somewhat biased (?) Molde fan:
totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysis/erling-braut-haland-2019-20-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics
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Nice post.
Agreed, but we need a new striker as well. Rashford/Martial is simply to inconsistent. Him and a creative mid in January. i actually think Oles job depends on it
If we can get him in January then we have to get him, no ifs or buts because goals win you matches and winning matches will bring titles. We don't have a reliable goalscorer, get him and another midfielder and maybe we can salvage something this season.
Wow, we are still in third place on xPTS. Perhaps if we do get a top finisher like Haaland we'll be good enough.
I agree with this. A striker that big, fast and prolific should be in the box and sitting on the backline most times. Chances are that he would be able to get the better of the centre-halfs at least once. Similar to Abraham and Chelsea.
The new Andy Carroll? What was he, £35m? Bet Ed’s furiously frotting himself at the prospect.
Couldn't have said it better. He is a physical beast. I've followed him closely myself, meeting him personally a couple of times in his Molde days. I'm a big guy, 192cm and 97kg, but standing next to 17-year-old Braut, I felt incredibly small. His frame is just so darn huge. Absolute freak of nature. His stride reminds me of, and this is not something I say lightly, Usain Bolt. Could have competed at the top, top level in track and field.
Oh, and fun fact: He holds the world record for standing long jump for Under 5's
They keep records on toddlers?
Thanks for the post
Him and martial up top in a 352 with pogba behind would be unstoppable
Why oh why should he join us. Anyone with an idea?
We could have peak RVN up front but still wouldn’t score many as our creativity in midfield is non existent; our fullbacks and wingers can very rarely get the ball into the box with real quality and coached link up play is severely lacking
but given the choice you'd still have peak RVN up front
Look nobody really knows but I agree with what the Molde fans here said.
This might be our only chance for the next years to get one of the hottest prospects of world football.
All our attackers are far too inconsistent. If any of them had done anything remotely close to what this guy has delivered in this CL season we would have been over the moon.
I am not convinced that Martial/Rashford are really good enough.
And of course we need the midfield also sorted out as well.
This might be our only chance for the next years to get one of the hottest prospects of world football.
All our attackers are far too inconsistent. If any of them had done anything remotely close to what this guy has delivered in this CL season we would have been over the moon.
I am not convinced that Martial/Rashford are really good enough.
And of course we need the midfield also sorted out as well.
Anyone thinking we shouldn't sign him because we've got Greenwood and bloody Martial are naive beyond belief. Greenwood is no sure thing as much as we want him to be and how his manager is hyping him up. Martial is Martial, you can't rely on him.
Even if they will be as good as we expect, they need competition.
Rashford and the likes have stagnated because they know they're number 1 no matter what happens. They've got nobody breathing down their necks challenging them.
Compare that to Yorke, Cole, Solskjaer, Sheringham etc, they all knew they had to be in top form.
I think Ole may not have a job by January. Or at least not this one.
Dont expect him to get sacked unless all hope is out for CL (either from EL or PL). Or, of course, if we are in the relegation zone sometime before that.
If he gets a CL spot he will stay for another season.
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And rightly so, he would have had to demonstrate some good management to achieve that. He won't though
Agreed. Looks like he works hard to make things happen as well, which is exactly what we need.
So cheap of true. Get it done United.....
Care to explain if people think Martial is doing such a great job as striker, why we need to spend 60m on this young one?
Why not? It's not as if we have superb squad. We should add good players to the squad and make the squad stronger.
2 reasons:
1. Haaland might be even better, if that's our judgement of his potential.
2. Him and Martial can play together too no?
Few things go against it, he was born in Leeds and grew up a Leeds fan. Keane ended his father's career
However, he would play under Ole again, who would trust him up front. Turning down the biggest team in the premier league would be hard, and he's stated he wants to play in the premier league.
Also $$$
Well most clubs are allowed more than one senior striker.
I don't think that could be a selling point to him. And 60m (it could be more) for a squad player?
1. We pay Martial 250k/wk, as rotational striker?
2. Maybe, but we don't really play with 2 forwards.
Yes. If we can live with 60m striker on the bench. I just think this is a pipe dream. He'd demand as the main striker, especially if he's coming to a non-CL team. Then no club in the world with the right mind would buy Martial and pay his wage as much as United.Well most clubs are allowed more than one senior striker.
Our players need competition, if Haaland is better than Martial he’ll play, if not he’ll sit on the bench and wait for his chance.
The alternative is Martial getting an injury like he did earlier this season and us having no reliable replacement.
He won't be squad player, he will be part of the squad and there will be competition for places.
Liverpool had Henderson, Wijnaldum, Milner midfield that reached CL finals and then signed Fabinho and Keita.
We had Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo and then signed Berbatov.
City have Sterling, Sane, BSilva, DSilva, KdB for attacking positions.
Barca have Messi, Suarez, Dembele and then signed Griezmann.
We have Rashford and Martial and somehow we are thinking too much about positions.
- Griezman is guaranteed coming as a starter, replacing an aging Suarez. And they're Barcelona, competing for trophies.
- I don't know much about Liverpool midfield, but I bet they don't pay any of those Henderson, Wijnaldum, Milner 250k/wk wage.
- City? those players are not even in competition. KdB and DSilva as CM (with DSilva is getting old, thus BSilva is coming).
- Ronaldo is on the wing, so off the competition. We're left with Rooney, Tevez, and Berbatov in a 2 forward system. Even then you see Tevez leave the next season because partly, SAF didn't want to pay his full price. And that's when we're in 3-4 competitions aiming for those titles. Which we are not.
I'm not against this signing, as I don't rate Martial as high as many. In fact, I don't rate him at all as our main striker.
It's just if we buy Haaland, Martial need to get shipped out, and replaced with a cheaper experience option that knows he's a squad player.
Remember those days when we strengthened in a position of strength and wanted to be the best?
If Ole had just one of those four, he wouldn't sign another striker for 3yrs (and neither would the board let him).
Competition for places helps bring the best out of our players and that's not a difficult concept to grasp. Lindelof would have been so much more consistent if he knew that defenders better than Jones, Bailey and Rojo are waiting in the wings.
So we are not competing for trophies so shouldn't sign players to make squad stronger?
BSilva is playing as a winger, they have Sterling ,Sane who plays as winger. BSilva plays as AM/CM hybrid just like DSila. In our case, Martial and Rashford plays in multiple positions.
When we signed Berba, it wasn't forgone conclusion that Tevez won't be signed.
Having stronger squad isn't a problem.
yeah, because manager wants weaker squad
and loves working with poor quality players.United does not have enough strikers and competition is not a problem for Haaland. In Salzburg he is battling with Hwang, Daka, Koita, Prevljak for two spots
Daka 14 goals and 4 assists in 18 matches
Hwang 7 goals and 13 assists in 15 matches
Koita 8 goals and 3 assists in 12 matches
Prevljak is injured most of the time but scored 32 goals 10 assist last season as a bench player.
At the moment Ole has to play his strikers, no competition and no time to rest. But you need both as a player. United needs a minimum of 2 CF and 4 Wingers. We have 4 players for three spots.....
Daka 14 goals and 4 assists in 18 matches
Hwang 7 goals and 13 assists in 15 matches
Koita 8 goals and 3 assists in 12 matches
Prevljak is injured most of the time but scored 32 goals 10 assist last season as a bench player.
At the moment Ole has to play his strikers, no competition and no time to rest. But you need both as a player. United needs a minimum of 2 CF and 4 Wingers. We have 4 players for three spots.....
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