Not on the ball though. We need both, and this lad is not good enough for us in possession.
Amadou Onana
- Thread starter FrankWhite
- Start date
Agreed, there is a noticeable lack of creativity from deep and the midfield
Can clearly see why he would be useful watching us today
He is definitely not the answer to that first half. The answer to that first half is a midfielder good on the ball who can control tempo. Not Onana.
Please no - are we being serious?
Blindingly obvious to me. We'll end up spending around the same amount on Mount and someone like this guy.
I can't wait to see people posting in this thread at full time talking about our goalkeeper's performance.
Let's keep this bumped on the front page.
Let's keep this bumped on the front page.
Solid game tonight. Kept us in it. ha
What's his (first) name?
Not so excited about this but watching tonight's game I'll take just about anyone
Can he actually run?
No idea who this dude is
He's a phenomenal athlete. He's really quick and covers huge amounts of space. After seeing tonights match, I have zero confidence we're not going to ship more 7-0 style hidings this season. Wolves were slicing us through the middle.
Exactly, someone with power and pace, keep with runners. The amount of time the Wolves midfield caught up with and dispossessed our players when they were running back towards their own goal was astounding.
I realize I'm saying this after the Wolves game, but please sign him up. Casemiro for all his defensive intelligence doesn't give us any physicality down that middle and I worry for us against teams like Newcastle, Chelsea, the the likes of Brentford and Westham of we don't get players in that will at least match them physically.
After that performance we need Onana AND Amrabat desperately.
Clean sheet on debut is a good start. Lucky not to concede a penalty.
Really talented player and quite unique. Probably not ready for such a move but it’s an arms race to hoover up young talent now and we have a good relationship with Everton, meaning this should be doable.
Could have done with him tonight.
Think that gives Wolves a bit too much credit, they were just walking through the centre of us with a slight drop of the shoulder. He'd be a huge Mctominay upgrade.
Forget this guy, get Cunha.
Sounds very good. But what does it mean? As if one midfielder alone would be able to control the tempo of a match. We never really had any control of the ball because we went for long balls at first chance more often than not. So what is the "tempo controller" going to change?
We need a player in the middle of the park, who is ready to take on a battle if needed. Talk about controlling the tempo is, as I said, great sounding but the team it self isn't setup for control.
Good thing they're not counting concussions
I disagree. The answer to that first half is a midfielder other than Casemiro that can win a 50-50 once they boot up the ball due to our press...
He’d be a very very good signing imo.
We missed him and Amrabat tonight.
Yep. Our midfield was weak as piss.
Enter bid.
Controlling the tempo of the game means exactly what it sounds like. Controlling the pace of the game and starving the opponent of the ball. There have been several players who have been capable of controlling tempo of games on their own. Two have played for us in the last 15 years. Scholes and Carrick. The absolute last thing we need is a "battler". This isn't 1990 anymore. The best teams win midfield battles now by starving you of the ball and making you chase shadows. That is what we need. Every team with two half decent midfielders overruns us time and again because we don't control games and just punt it long hoping it sticks eventually. Adding yet another vertical "battler" with zero footballing brain or passing does absolutely nothing for us. Fred was a battler Mctom is a battler, Matic was a battler. Casemiro is a battler. No more battlers, more footballers.
Wonder would he have give us a 2/10 or 8/10 tonight?
He is shite, we just made him look great tonight. Wolves will get relegated.
I don’t think Cunhas going to get that much space to work with as he did tonight for the rest of the season
But Scholes had Keane, Carrick had Fletcher.
I agree with you about ball players. We need as many as we can get.
But you do need some physicality in there. Somebody who can move with the ball. Again though agree, they have to be of a certain quality technically.
With all due respect, I don't think, your view of things makes a lot of sense. You are talking about possession. Keeping possession is a team thing. You can put Scholes into todays team and we still wouldn't have more control than we did. And I was not talking about a mere destroyer. I was talking about a certain skillset - the skillset of being able to get physical when opponents try it against you. The skillset of breaking up play and win back a ball if needed. If such a player can do more on top, that is great. But just adding a "tempo controller" won't do anything for you when the rest of the team isn't playing accordingly. And please, remind yourself at the times of Scholes and Carrick. Fans were crying out for a mobile ballwinner back then and where delighted when Hargreaves was brought in because he was known to have that skillset (and more).
We already have players who can break up play and win the ball back. We win balls back high up the pitch with regularity. We supposedly have one of the very best ball winners in Casemiro. That is not an area that the team is lacking in. What happens when you win the ball back and give it right back 5 seconds later like we do so regularly? That is the problem. You can't do anything when everybody treats the ball like a hot potato.
Nunes would be a good fit for us, all rounder.
We made him look like Yaya Toure in his prime.
We have one. Who was bad today. And we have a player who can play the controller role in Eriksen. When he was brought on, nothing changed... Because adding a player with a certain skillset alone isn't changing things on his own.
Hmm, wouldn't sign off that statement but I agree, we do win it high up the pitch more often than we did under Ole. But having seen how calm and comfortable Wolves were today, it must mean something for the level of our pressing i.e. win balls back, doesn't it? I certainly wouldn't call it a strength of ours, press is still not very organized, but I'll give you that Bruno, Mount and Antony look busy a lot.
But even the best ball winners have days off. When he isn't on his game, we have absolutely nobody to break up play. I mean, you have seen the game haven't you? You must have noticed how easy it was for Wolves to dribble and pass through our center?!
I think it is. The only player we have with this skillset is Casemiro. And when he has an off day like today, we are fecked.
I agree. But that includes all players, isn't it? If all attackers are running in behind, then only a long ball is on and long balls, as good as they are, are more often than not picked up the defenders making use lose control. Again - obviously you need players who are comfortable on the ball but adding one of such players in todays game wouldn't change a damn thing. We had Eriksen and Bruno going for long ball most of the game, it didn't work. If this is Amrabat for example the outcome will mostly be the same.
Carrick at his best didn't have Fletcher. He carried the midfield in 2013 where Cleverley was his partner. I don't disagree with your point though. Even with Carrick at his best, against the best sides, United didn't control possession like we would have wanted. I remember playing Real Madrid in 2013, where Carrick struggled to help keep possession, and only Kagawa+RVP were doing well in that department.
Eriksen isn't that player. When people want someone of that skillset, they don't necessarily need a player that is really athletic. They just need to have more legs than Eriksen. Similarly, Eriksen isn't that good of a controller regardless. He's a good passer, but he lacks the ability to to keep possession through dribbling, not necessarily over long distances. A nice feint, being able to spin with the ball, using the croqueta, etc...
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This in some ways is of even more importance because United can't play this new system unless Casemiro is present so a back up option is a critical priority.
There's many questions over this system but signing Onana pretty much says the manager is going all the way in with this new approach.
There's many questions over this system but signing Onana pretty much says the manager is going all the way in with this new approach.