Anyone understand why we bought van de Beek?

[AsonUnique]

Certainly
1. Squad depth (midfield).
2. CAM 2nd choice, no more Lingard, Mata and Pereira there.
3. Bruno cover and rotation.

Question marks
4. Potential future CDM?
5. Back-up plan Pogba leaving?

Under Certainly you could add that at some point we will have a patch of injuries. People always forget it happens every year and this year is a very congested schedule, champions league and one pre season friendly. We need signings like this to compete with pool, chelsea and city, they are two deep across this board. This really allows tactical flexibility and depth in midfield.

With that said I don't see him as a CDM. At Ajax he did play in a pivot but due to their quality compared to their competition he had a lot of freedom to roam. He has the physical attributes but he plays his best in and around the box.

He's played 101 minutes and has a goal. Does anyone understand why this thread was created?

 

[LoneStar]

So Fred can move to left back or right wing.

Exactly. The reason we aren’t signing a CB is cause Lingard can eventually grow into that role. Workrate and all that.

So with those two playing different positions, we needed DVB.

 

[I_live_cement]

Errrm so those mf-players we had on the field today were all better than him. Seems he's lower down the pecking order than Fred FFS!

We're two games into the season.

 

[kouroux]

OGS should have the courage to bench Pogba. Bruno was atrocious but he has game winning moments which we will always make him a starter for me. Paul deserves to be benched

 

[Castia]

Because the squad depth is piss poor. Pereira got about 30 appearances last season when Pogba was out, we can’t drop to that standard.

 

[sammsky1]

Simple question can somebody explain?

As midfield cover when fixtures hit the fan starting in about 2 weeks time

 

[sammsky1]

OGS should have the courage to bench Pogba. Bruno was atrocious but he has game winning moments which we will always make him a starter for me. Paul deserves to be benched

Now this is a fair and worthy criticism that can be levelled at OGS instead of all the false agenda driven crap OleOUT crew come up with.

I agree that he needs benching for his own good.

 

[Sandikan]

I can see why the opening poster is asking the question, as at the moment we look like we need proper starter upgrades.
So to make one signing, and he's just a squaddie does raise questions.

Hopefully we can produce some magic this last week of the deadline, but it's hard to see.

Thank goodness we scrambled a win out today.

 

[kouroux]

Now this is a fair and worthy criticism that can be levelled at OGS instead of all the false agenda driven crap OleOUT crew come up with.

I agree that he needs benching for his own good.

I am always fair Honestly this would be the best for the team, maybe coming off the bench would impact Pogba and he'd react. Now it doesn't work.

 

[bosnian_red]

Depth and eventual Pogba replacement. You need a squad of quality players when you play in the CL. Can't just have a good starting 11 and unusable players to cover. People here seem to have forgotten that.

Anyway Van de Beek is young and he'll rotate around this season and then next year IMO take over from Pogba.

 

[RedStarUnited]

We may have resigned ourselves to losing Pogba over the next 12 months or so, in which case the signing makes perfect sense.

It doesnt make perfect sense. Have you seen how deep Pogba plays now? VDB isnt the right player for that position.

 

[norm87cro]

The guy hasn't even played a full 90 minutes for us and this kind of thread pops up? Personally I don't even have an opinion of him yet so maybe we should close this thread and open it again in lets say mid november when we have a decent sample of games to judge him properly.

 

[Hoof the ball]

That kid is a starter in our team. He should be. The one thing we miss is a genuine runner; someone who can run behind a defence. For the sake of balance, i'd rather have DvB with Fernandes or Pogba.

 

[TMDaines]

Fans: We need more depth in creative midfielders

Manchester United buy VDB.

simplyared: Why did we buy VDB?

More like simplered.

 

[NinjaFletch]

I don't think it makes much sense to spend £35m on a squad player when there's such obvious issues in the first team squad that need sorting and which would create more depth if they were.

It's a bit of a headscratcher to me

 

[RedStarUnited]

Im shocked how many people saying he is a Pogba replacement.

 

[M Bison]

This thread is up there with the burst-Rashy’s-bubble thread, caf-gold!

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Finally. A thread I agree with. Why indeed?

In fact, since that was probably our best starting 11, let's just sell everyone who didn't start the game. Squads are for softies.

 

[UmbroDays]

2 games into the season and we are questioning why we bought player to strengthen our squad.

He’s not a bench warmer talent wise. We could have changed formation or bought someone in directly to help the 1st team like a CDM or RW IMO

If we’re short of funds, it’s £££££ taken out of the kitty for someone who can strengthen our 1st team and drop whoever onto the bench.

If we’re going to just bring him on for 7 mins in a game and secondary cup games then he’s going to be mentally done with us if it gets no better.

 

[BAMSOLA]

Simple question can somebody explain?

1.To boost the amount of quality players in the squad.

2. To make sure that if an injury occurs to either pogba or Fernandes or God forbid both we have another quality creative/attacking cm to replace either (he can play as and 8 or a 10 and even a 6 at a stretch so could cover for Matic in an emergency).

3. To ensure we can rotate and rest either pogba or fernandes when neccessary and therefore make injuries to both less likely.

4. To raise the profile of both the club and the squad by proving that we can still sign top talents which he is. Not technically the best reason but quality players like to know they will be playing with other quality players so signing one makes signing another more likely.

5. Because in a worst case scenario of losing pogba in two season or so time it's been shown that a club will fare better if they have a replacement for a top player already at the club rather than buying that replacement once the top talent is on the way out/has gone and hoping that replacement hits the ground running.

6. Because you can never have too many quality versatile players. Technically you actually can but if you're looking to fit all of them in a squad of around 25 then that should be a very good squad full of good versatile options which is how you win stuff in the long run.

PS I got more but I trust these will do for now.

 

[Zlatan 7]

2 games into the season and we are questioning why we bought player to strengthen our squad.

don’t you know every player has to play every game otherwise they’re pointless

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He’s back up. He has a name and he was cheap.

 

[Zlatan 7]

He’s not a bench warmer talent wise. We could have changed formation or bought someone in directly to help the 1st team like a CDM or RW IMO

If we’re short of funds, it’s £££££ taken out of the kitty for someone who can strengthen our 1st team and drop whoever onto the bench.

If we’re going to just bring him on for 7 mins in a game and secondary cup games then he’s going to be mentally done with us if it gets no better.

If he’s not a bench warmer he needs to show Ole that and push someone out of the first 11

 

[Fully Fledged]

Squad depth.

 

[pratyush_utd]

He’s not a bench warmer talent wise. We could have changed formation or bought someone in directly to help the 1st team like a CDM or RW IMO

If we’re short of funds, it’s £££££ taken out of the kitty for someone who can strengthen our 1st team and drop whoever onto the bench.

If we’re going to just bring him on for 7 mins in a game and secondary cup games then he’s going to be mentally done with us if it gets no better.

Did you not read that we are 2 games into the season. VDB hasn't played football since March as Dutch season was curtailed.

Everyone here is crying to strengthen the squad and now that's also an issue

 

[UnitedSofa]

The CAF is an absolute joke

Complain we have no quality in depth

We buy quality in depth

People complain and ask why we bought him.

Tragic

 

[SER19]

And that's me done with caf for a few days. Guys gutted about the win and now questioning signing depth

 

[Idxomer]

Im shocked how many people saying he is a Pogba replacement.

Wishful thinking, you need someone better to replace Pogba.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Simple question can somebody explain?

We lost the semi final FA Cup last season because of lack depth in our squad. It's proven so many times that we can't rely on Ighalo, Pereira & Lingard as squad option and bench option, he was bought to upgrade one of them and he made the impact sub today, created the corner that led the goal. He offers us an upgrade of depth squad, better cover in midfield since we are playing CL now, more flexibility if we want to change the formation, versatility & impact sub.

 

[Tiber]

Good player.

More importantly Ajax were willing to sell him relatively cheaply after his Madrid deal collapsed. Same reason we are trying to sign a left back with one year left on his contract

 

[charlenefan]

Simple question can somebody explain?

To provide depth and quality to the squad. Is it really that hard to understand?

 

[Tom Cato]

Simple question can somebody explain?

Because we need options on the bench and players that can substitute for Pogba or Fernandes that is not named Andreas Pereira.

You KNEW the answer to this question, why are you asking it?

 

[UmbroDays]

Did you not read that we are 2 games into the season. VDB hasn't played football since March as Dutch season was curtailed.

Everyone here is crying to strengthen the squad and now that's also an issue

I love VdB, so don’t get it twisted. I’m a massive fan of Ajax and their players, so I feel pain for him. That’s where my discontent is coming from.

This is what I said in the other thread:

As per the other VdB thread, it’s true I have no idea why we bought him. Could have got a more developed rotation player, but he’s 23 and needs first team experience. Not 7 mins off the bench.

If he needs fitness, 7 mins off the bench doesn’t help.

If we need fillers for the bench, I just think we could have got established game changers at similar or even cheaper.

I doubt Ole told him he’ll warm the bench for his time at OT and VdB replied with his “Ole convinced me of what he was going to build” public statement.

 

[el3mel]

He'll be a great player to us. Season is long and he'll sure play a lot of games.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Squad depth?

does this really need asking

 

[cyberman]

He has barely played since March for feck sake.

 

[MadDogg]

If he needs fitness, 7 mins off the bench doesn’t help.

If we need fillers for the bench, I just think we could have got established game changers at similar or even cheaper.

I doubt Ole told him he’ll warm the bench for his time at OT and VdB replied with his “Ole convinced me of what he was going to build” public statement.

He'll start off getting his starts in the midweek cup games. As he adjusts he'll then be pushing for a spot in the league games.

 

[The Man Himself]

feck sake, we keep crying that we need quality in depth and then we get such shit threads. Unbelievable.

 

[vanrooney]

Nowadays there seem to be more fans of players than of football teams. today it was a decision between Fred and vdb and fred got the nod. There will be enough games for vdb- no problem.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Google 'Injuries in the squad' and tell me which team pops first in order.