Can it be anything else? some people saying Lindelöf and Rojo?
. I'd rather have the chuckle brothers start every game than to see Rojo!Best CB pairing
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
. I'd rather have the chuckle brothers start every game than to see Rojo!you have to go with Lindelöf and Tuanzebe,
maybe it fails, maybe Tuanzebe isnt good enough, but we have to try, we've tried everything else.
maybe it fails, maybe Tuanzebe isnt good enough, but we have to try, we've tried everything else.
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The problem is they actually have to play to be better in 2 or 3 years time. If we genuinely want Tuanzebe to stand a chance of been good enough in the long term we have to play him now. Players get better by actually playing. Maybe he will make mistakes, but its not like we are going to compete for anything this season.
Look at Rashford, everyone was like he doesn't need to play he's young, and when he did play it was on the wing, then finally last season when he does get the chance to play up front people are saying why hasn't he progressed that much?
I have no idea why Lindelof is thought of so highly. I’d have Smalling over him.
I agree with you, and in an ideal world we could give Tuanzebe all the time he needs to realize his potential, (or not).
But Ole is trying to not lose his dream job. I imagine he is in no hurry to head back to the Norwegian league, so against Chelsea in three weeks he needs to play the absolute best two CBs that we have on that day. And that will continue for every league game until May. And I don't think anyone can convince me that Tuanzebe is a better option than Smalling or Jones. If he isn't happy with that and doesn't want to wait for his opportunities, then fair play and good luck to him.
And its not just Ole -- United as a club needs to improve and desperately needs to stop the slide. We don't the luxury of experimenting with youth and potential.
And yeah, it is annoying that there is no job security for managers at every level, and there is no patience and long term planning in football these days, but thats the way it is.
I get the point, but in this case we have already seen inconsistency from all our centre backs, so it wouldn’t be like we are dropping a proven reliable center back to play a kid.
At this stage we have 6 First team centre backs, their doesn’t seem to be any interest in buying any of them, so we can’t just kept buying more and more centre backs your only allowed a 25 man squad, and have a 25 man squad with 7 centre back in it wouldn’t be wise.
So we arnt really losing anything giving youth a chance. At worse we are replacing inconsistency for inconsistency.
Right now with no new signings you have to play Lindelof and Smalling. Jones is a better player than both but he's so unreliable fitness wise that it's a gamble every time he plays.. Such a shame.
Bailly's fitness is even worse though, he should probably be sold... Same with Rojo.
Get Maguire in, I think that's vital.
Although maybe with Maguire, Lindelof, Jones and Tuanzebe we could even gamble and keep Bailly instead of Smalling - Smalling is never going to be a great player, but any of these other 5 can be on their day.
Bailly's fitness is even worse though, he should probably be sold... Same with Rojo.
Get Maguire in, I think that's vital.
Although maybe with Maguire, Lindelof, Jones and Tuanzebe we could even gamble and keep Bailly instead of Smalling - Smalling is never going to be a great player, but any of these other 5 can be on their day.
What
Smalling Lindelof still for me if there is no new CB. Tuanzebe to play if any of them get injured/suspended/rested ahead of all the other CBs.
Probably this for me also. Though it will leave Victor playing LCB and that takes away quite a bit of his ball playing abilities.
If we are to continue to play with our FBs higher up the pitch than under Mourinho, it will mean splitting the CBs even further apart in possession, which means that the RCB/LCB issue will be more important than it was under Mourinho.
Both (especially) Maguire and Koulibaly are natural LCBs so here is hoping that we get one of them in. Then Smalling and Lindelof can fight it out for RCB.
At the mo, I will say Lindelof and Rojo with Tuanzebe as back up. People have serious issues with Rojo which, I feel, is blown out of proportion. He is clumsy from time to time, like all defenders have been bu the plays with his heart on his sleeve, he is fast, big and very strong. He is also committed to each and every tackle, can drive with the ball, has delivered some absolute hollywood passes to perfection.
He is committed alright, that's a big issue in itself. The man is ready to throw himself on the ground at any opportunity, it is a very dangerous way of defending.
Jones is a cracking player, he just can't stay fit and the lack of a run of games (pretty much ever) means the stupid mistakes keep happening. A reliably fit Jones would start for a lot of top clubs.What
At the moment it is probably Smalling and Lindelöf. Not that I really rate either of them.
So does Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Bailly,Shaw and more defenders. That's a defenders job, defend with any part of your body, (other than yer hands obviously) and if that means sliding into yer oppo, then so be it. Jones is always injured because he has seriously bad timing and positional awareness so always gets caught out and has to work twice as hard to recover his position and Smalling is an enormous liability. With the introduction of VAR, how many penalties will he give away by trying to rip off the oppo's shirts?
All the best defenders in the world slide tackle, it has always been a part of being a defender and it always will. Rojo doesn't actually miss many of his tackles and the amount of last minute interventions he has pulled off because of Smalling getting done, or Jones missing another ball or midfield gettin over-run is actually higher than you might think.
"I'm Chris Smalling", "and I'm Phil Jones".
Lindelöf-Maguire
If no CB comes in it has to be Tuanzebe and Lindelof. Been saying it all summer
Likewise if Maguire comes in Tuanzebe has to be sent back to Villa to get a season of PL football
Likewise if Maguire comes in Tuanzebe has to be sent back to Villa to get a season of PL football
It doesn't really matter. None of the alternatives are good enough so whatever pairing would be sub-par anyway and should be upgraded upon. For what it's worth, only Smalling and Lindelöf can stay somewhat healthy while being known qualities, so it's the obvious pairing.
My opinion is, As a guy who watches a lot of EPL, the best pairing might be Harry maguire(if he signs) +Lindelof.
I dont rate smalling to be honest, a fit Jones is better than him.
As for Tuanzebe, he needs playtime, loan him out to an EPL side.
I dont rate smalling to be honest, a fit Jones is better than him.
As for Tuanzebe, he needs playtime, loan him out to an EPL side.
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Tackling ain't an issue in itself, it is doing it recklessly that is and Rojo is often prone to that.
I cannot believe that you rate him that highly
Honestly, Phil Jones can consider himself lucky with his injuries. This way some people STILL believe he's some top class CB who's been desperately unlucky. The idea that he's outstanding is incredibly funny.
I like how simply you see football but that's just not how it works. We got dominated aerially last season even with Smalling who is one of the best CB's aerially in the league. It's about how the defensive unit functions and currently we're a mish mash because DDG never leaves his line (which is the biggest problem for me) and we were just generally amateur from set pieces last season - there were numerous examples of players letting men have a free run at a header. Even if you had 2 x Vidic CBs, if your keeper never comes off his line, you invite dangerous cross after dangerous cross because you can put it on a plate around the 6 yard box. That's the difference for us vs other big teams - Alisson, Lloris, Ederson will all come for a ball if it's in their reach and that makes teams avoid putting the ball so close to them and consequently gives you that extra few yards of breathing room when defending.
In answer to the question Matic, Pogba, McT, Lindelof, Tuanzebe should all be more than capable of marking someone like Diop. I get that you can't expect a player like Shaw to but the others just need to wise up on blocking as that what every other team does against us.
Haha I'm not sure the condescending first part is necessary, but thanks for the response.
And I agree that if DDG was more proactive in coming for crosses that would help us defend set-pieces. But, do we have any indication that will change this season, or will he continue to be the same keeper he's been for his career?
If we can reasonably expect him to have the same tendencies, then shouldn't we be desperate for the best aerial CBs we have? Or is that also too simplistic?
stating the obvious:
Any combination out of the current roster must include Smalling: Height, strength, decent speed and overall defending, and availability. Without him, even a Championship team will be able score a couple against us. But his weakness is unforgivable at our level. That’s why I want Maguire at all costs.
Based on last season his partner is no brainer: Lindelof. Satisfactory at defending and best passer among our cbs. Given his partner is Smalling, Victor’s passing makes him look a bit better than he actually is. Availability, again, in the context of United, is another invaluable “attribute”.
I wish Bailly, Jones and Rojo all the best in their careers post-United. Have no time for them.
Any combination out of the current roster must include Smalling: Height, strength, decent speed and overall defending, and availability. Without him, even a Championship team will be able score a couple against us. But his weakness is unforgivable at our level. That’s why I want Maguire at all costs.
Based on last season his partner is no brainer: Lindelof. Satisfactory at defending and best passer among our cbs. Given his partner is Smalling, Victor’s passing makes him look a bit better than he actually is. Availability, again, in the context of United, is another invaluable “attribute”.
I wish Bailly, Jones and Rojo all the best in their careers post-United. Have no time for them.
