Where is Mata in all this ? Edit. Sorry saw 10s up high.
The numbers don't tell the story my guy. Of those midfielders, only Pogba is top class. The rest? Matic in decline, McTominay can step in but surely needs to be rotated over an entire season. Fred has potential but hasn't convinced. Pereira only shines in pre-season. We need quality desperately here. It's as if you've got one modern fighter jet and 4 pretty sub-standard ones and yet are boasting you've got an air force.
It's laughable. By far the worst I - and I guess the older guys here - have seen United have.
You don't believe in Rashford and Martial's potential to step up this season? Not a loaded question, some players make that leap, others don't.
I think Rashford will improve and may get something around 20 goals but I seriously doubt Martial's development. His application is just not there when he plays. Hard to even call it lazy, it's just non-existent. Frustrating as he's got all the talent in the world.
I'd say I'm hovering between scepticism and very cautious optimism. I've backed Martial in particular to step up previous seasons and it hasn't happened, or at least not to the extent I expected. I do think moving Martial back up top is probably the right move though, and I'm excited to see how he goes.
I wouldn't say so. 4 midfielders for 2 positions, 3 #10's for one position. Suits 4231 better to me.
Martial anywhere other than centre forward makes no sense to me, and it's frustrating at United that young attackers tend to be stuck on the wings, even if their ultimate position will be central. I just don't understand it, they're different positions which require learning different skills. Of the two of them, Rashford certainly does a better job as a *wide forward* but he too should be started centrally and just told to work channels as appropriate.
I agree I'd feel a lot better if we had a central player with a great goal record as a safety net.... I guess Sanchez is meant to be that, but anytime he's on the pitch it feels like a Special Guest Appearance in a sitcom.
I agree it's frustrating that our young forwards get pushed out wide so much, and it's also resulted in us not signing any wingers for the past 5 years.
I'd say that's at least in line with the United way.
more like
I wouldn't have an issue with it as long as the senior players were top quality. They aren't, so that in itself is a big concern. I do agree with Ole though, we can't rebuild everything in one Summer, but not bringing in another midfielder seems like negligence to me.
Especially the one where Peter's hurt himself and is grabbing his knee.Is James genuinely going to get match time on the right wing? There's going to be an all-out assault for Sancho next summer for sure, but CL football is the bare minimum for that to be successful.
that or his eyes bleed
It’s the quality of those 4. There is hardly a combination of two that really compliments each other. And then there are other complexities, like Matic can’t play when Mata is playing (and vice versa).
Overall I'm not concerned - we are not going to challenge for the title this year, so my main source of enjoyment would be to see the youth given a lot of playing time, so I'm happy with what we got. I'm actually concerned that we got too many players for some positions, especially central defense.
Gary Birtles - Best striker in the world material.
I'm not that old
It's true that we've played with two in the centre for all of pre-season, but if we've left ourselves relatively light the on the basis that a formation has worked OK in pre-season then it's a big gamble. It's one thing beating up on chumps in friendles playing for made up trophies, but the reality of Premier League football is quite another, and there's a fair chance that formation won't stand up on contact with the latter. If that happens and we have to switch to a midfield 3 when we're not playing Leeds reserves then we have left ourselves very short. One or two injuries or suspensions, especially to Pogba, and we could be in big trouble.
I think 433 is more likely (than 4231) against stronger midfields given the options, but that puts quite a strain on a squad that has 4 midfielders. I assume Ole believes he can overwhelm weaker teams with a relentless attack. But of course, our midfield will have to be better than theirs. So maybe in 60% of games we'll go with that. We'll know soon enough, coming up against a pretty solid Chelsea midfield and then away to Wolves who dominated us in midfield last season.
Don't think the top formation would have enough quality going forward, AWB and Shaw can bomb forward and provide support and width, but don't have the ability to help carve out consistent changes.
This is inevitable there is no way we can cope with just Pogba and Mctominay in a 2 especially when bang average players like Lingard and Mata will be the number 10. Change might even come as early as first game.
