Haven't we learned enough about Pogba and his current midfield partners? It won't work. Ole doesn't trust Donny either.
Yes but he plays much better on the left or further forward. Could we get by with him playing deeper? Maybe but it's handicapping multiple positions
Did you see the game yesterday? He doesn’t have the defensive sense you need and nor should he. It’s a waste to play him there.
Fred, McTominay and Matic for 1 or 2 positions plus if we are absolutely stuck there’s Van De Beek. McTominay is going to miss a couple of games at most.
He's had similar level performances at CM for club and country compared to further forward too.
You want to pin our poor performance yesterday all because Pogba played in midfield?
If Mctominay is back earlier that would be good. Guess the international break helps that. I agree panic buying could turn out bad, why not do a loan for Saul or something and just pay a bit extra to avoid the clause where we have to buy him?
Our poor performance came from one reason… lack of control in midfield. I love Pogba, our best player imo and I want him to sign that contract more than anything. Him in a midfield 2 just doesn’t work because he isn’t a CM.
Jack Wilshere on a free? Maybe 34 year old former Chelsea player Ramires on a free? How about Darron Gibson...so the Old Trafford faithful can shoat "SHOOOOOOOT" with great nostalgia.
I’d take them tbh.
Sure, but how patient can we be? We take so long to rebuild that the players we start rebuilding with are suddenly past it or moved on by the time we bring in the players needed to compliment them. Let's say we don't bother with a holding midfielder until next season, then we've just thrown away our title chances this season and thrown away a year with Ronaldo for no good reason. Then suddenly we buy a DM next season but now we've lost Pogba on a free, Ronaldo is a year older, Cavani is gone etc. We've always got a glaring issue, we just leave one problem after another rather than actually giving ourselves the best possible chance of success.
You can't pin that on 1 player solely.
Quick math doesn’t equal making up numbers. Sancho was £73m paid over 5 years. Varane is £34 fee without addons also paid over time. Ronaldo was only £12m upfront.
There's a huge difference in getting one of the many available midfielders across Europe and signing one of the scrubs you mentioned. Your entire point has no meaning
When you are playing 2 in there they both have so much responsibility. The facts are we had zero control and got steam rolled over and over because Pogba has very little defensive anticipation and Fred had a bad game.
We had no control, but I'm not pinning that on 2 players specifically.
Sadly I agree, no matter what we've done elsewhere, which has been outstanding, that hole in the midfield will be our undoing.
Glad someone else sees it too, for all Fred’s energy he’s basically a headless chicken with zero positional sense and a first touch that’s barely better than Lukaku yet he’s our best bet at defensive midfield.
The point was that we are Beggars. So surely Beggars would accept anyone of the number of players available no matter how poor or unsuitable they are.
Right, like I don't care if Fred buzzes about and gets the ball back 5 times in a game if he's giving it away 20 times with shocking passing & first touches that act as through balls to our opposition's striker. I'd rather have someone that doesn't even win the ball back, so long as they can pass and don't give it away 10 times as often as they win it, we'd still be better for it.
he was shocking in the first half defensively against Wolves. They played around and thru him like he had no clue how to defend. Traore skipped around him on that one long run early in the first half which almost led to a goal. Just can't see how you can defend him playing centrally.
Adama was skipping past a lot of players during the early periods of that game.
Maybe however this particular occasion he went in to help double the ball with Fred and not only was Pogba late but he also let Traore split them. Tell me the last time Pogba played in the CM for United and put in a solid performance?
That stretch around New Years when he was probably our best player.
Are City in transition because they don't have a striker?
They have a manager who can come up with solutions to those problems. Also, midfield is arguably the most important part of the game.
against Burnley, Fulham and Sheffield United.....one tough opponent with Liverpool
It is clear our club doesn't think so. Other than Rice and that Newcastle ginger I don't remember us being seriously linked with any in the past couple of years.
I think that's unfair on McTominay. He's still improving, and he's put in a number of good performances, and plenty of solid ones. I think he, much more so than Fred, would look better and better next to a capable midfielder with a good football brain.
I think you saw Edi apart that panic buying late in last summer's window didn't work out well for us, I just hope that we see more midfield performances like Leeds and less like Southampton & Wolves but not many play like Leeds do they.
That's just life under the Glazers for you, stuck in transition limbo while the oil clubs mop up the trophies. Next year we'll have to replace Pogba too.
He's about to turn 25 ffs. People treat him like a youngster when he's not. He's the new Lingard. He has no defensive talent at all, he loses his man constantly, is awful in the challenge & will get sold on any slight dummy. He doesn't read danger and he's average at best going forward.
