Wasn't aware of that, didnt think they did speculative stuff but let's see. Could just be hedging their bets.
Jurriën Timber | Arsenal player
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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.
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It's a pretty safe bet too. Hyped it up as a really big exclusive and then it's some surface level shit about a player everyone already knows is most likely to sign for us.
Don't remember how it used to be, but he's gone full on indykaila recently. Should be added to the ban list if this doesn't go through.
I understand the worry about height but I also think if you have a certain playstyle a flawed player can work as an important squad option. In games where we (hopefully!) dominate the ball players like Blind or Timber can be very useful. He's a kid he doesn't have to play every single game either.
Feels like they all eventually go down that route.
Has Timber played other positions than cd or dr?
Looking at his highlights he's giving me Kante vibes almost.
Looking at his highlights he's giving me Kante vibes almost.
Our best player. WE CANT LOSE HIM FFS. Man...I'll be gutted if he leaves.
MAKES ME WANT HIM EVEN MORE.
Well, that didn't sound right.
But yeah, he does look so classy on the ball.
Mane and VVD
I doubt he will be cheap. He's our biggest talent by far. Player of the year. Loads of clubs are interested in him. 40/45M Pound minimum.
@KirkDuyt what do you think?
@KirkDuyt what do you think?
Why is it assumed he'd primarily be coming here as a CB? What's his split between positions at Ajax? And why would he not be out new RB?
I don't think he was talking about players. He meant Liverpool has one team they habitually raid for talent and Bayern has two.
I misunderestood it and misread it. I could have sworn I read it as Bayern has two ajax.Worth pointing out that his recorded height varies, largely i suspect because of his being only 20. Transfermarkt actually has him listed as 6 ft tall. We've all been in threads where everyone was bickering about a players height because of outdated information. Michael Keane is only 5'8, Angel Gomes is legally a dwarf, that kind of thing.
1,79m... wow, that's short. How has he done in the dutch league when it comes to air duels?
While height is an issue in the main game, it's usually for aerial defensiveness from crosses. With playing a high line you really limit the amount of conceded open play crosses and usually get hit on the break by transitions/ counter attacking football. Therefore the main time you tend to defend aerially is from set pieces in which case if his partner has some height and one or 2 others in the team it doesn't concern me.
Taller than Cannavaro, Ayala, Baresi. Not sure but I think also Puyol... aggression and positioning counts for a lot on that front and it's something you can certainly work on massively as a player matures.
It's at the end of the defence section of the list of stats in the spoiler in the OP. Those stats are only taken from his CL games, but his aerial success rate is extremely low.
I Ten Hag wants him I trust that decision... he seems like a good defender so lets hope he can make up for lack of height in other areas
Making it sound like we're putting Kenny Baker in defence.
I mean I don’t want to defend him too vociferously because he’s had a bad season but people that just don’t like the big unsexy muttonhead centre back aren’t recognising that he’s having his worst season since he joined Leicester and are just saying this is the player he is. Despite it being a statistical outlier among all the seasons we have good data for, he’s comfortably above the average centre back in pass completions, progressive passes and carries despite having fallen off a cliff this year compared to others.It could be the beginning of a trend or it could be exhaustion following a World Cup year and a season he played virtually every minute of every game even when injured while also having a few personal issues off the pitch.
Thank god we’re really strong at set pieces then!
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Definitely. He'll be much better for us under ten Hag because of the way he wants to play than a bigger CB who's more limited on the ball.
Defending is still a team game, too. As long as we are cohesive in defending as a unit, individual flaws matter less, and, aside from the aerial side, he looks fine defensively to me.
You mention Blind and I still think him and Smalling were our best CB partnership since Rio and Vidic, and, as highly as I rated Blind, Timber looks a lot better. Potentially, anyway!
You can do this for every position... Maguire, Lindelof and Varane are all good level CBs who have all shown good levels historically. If we are worried about numbers then better to keep Bailly on the books because midfield, fullback and attack are so much more pressing.
Our CB options are miles better than our attack, midfield and fullback options. Even a keeper would have a bigger impact on our defensive record over a new CB.
Maguire just isn't the player we need if we want to play a high line. If we want to play on the counter as we did before this season under Ole, he's fine. If we want to play like Burnley and he can plant himself like a tree on the penalty spot and stand there nodding crosses away, he's great. But we don't.
We've seen dozens and dozens of times what happens in a high line. He dives in for a challenge on the halfway line, a quicker opposition player nips in front of him and they're now bearing down on our shorthanded defence while Maguire is stranded attempting the fecking three-point turn he needs to complete before he can think about moving back to somewhere near our box before Christmas.
It will take us a long time to be City/Liverpool level of dominance and even their centre backs have to deal with crosses and long balls.
Liverpool have it right with VVD, Konate and Matip. All good on the ball, all quick, all good 1v1. And they maintain the fundamentals of being a centre back - tall and dominant in the air. Liverpool didn't have to compromise on the fundamentals, they found centre backs who don't have significant physical weaknesses. I don't see the point in bringing in players who we're having to compensate for. We've spent years being told we can compensate for Maguire's lack of pace if everything is perfect around him and it's a waste of time, just make sure you bring in players with the right qualities and you don't have to compensate.
Is this actually true though? He's a CB primarily so there's no guarantee that he would be a better option as RB and even if he is, wouldn't we be better buying an actual specialist RB when that position is much weaker than CB?
He's played at right back before plenty for club and country, and has all the attributes to succeed there. He would simultaneously improve our depth at CB along with eventually transitioning there with his massive potential. There are no right backs available, our right backs are dreadful, so it really does make sense. At CB we are likely to just have Varane, Maguire and Lindelof, so we definitely need more bodies, and Timber is clearly somebody Ten Hag loves. So we sign him to be a current starter at RB, fill in at CB, eventual starter at CB when we sign whatever RB ten hag wants in time (which again, also depends on availability).
And besides, Timber is young and will need some adapting to do, no matter how promising he is. Right back makes sense as a transition in our team to get used to the league too.
They did have a CF who didn't score goals
What makes de Ligt the better defender? His physique?
Cheers. He plays rb so well for someone so infrequent in the position.
Don't know why we'd use him through the middle unless in midfield.
No player comes in and is a permanent CB at at top club at 20. He will be back up at best and cover RB if he comes in. Dont really see the point unless he is cheap because we will have to wait quite a while until he matures. Like an Amad signing
Midfield and attack(ST) will be dealt with anyway so Timber's signing doesn't affect much if at all
Also:
Maguire- Terrible investment at £80m. Slow CB that's incredibly error prone, incapable of playing in a high line and short on confidence. Won't improve magically at 29
Varane- Class but unreliable fitness record
Lindelof- Solid squad player material at best
You can't think an unproven U18 player is good enough to cover for such options
We should only get him if Eric plans to use him as CDM or RB
Basically it stems down to the fact I rate Maguire a hell of a lot higher than you / most posters.
That's because he was a RB before joining the first team(and occasional midfielder).
Not sure what that has to do with a centre back who's weak in the air?
Pep's Barca got away with Mascherano so I'm not saying it's impossible. But good luck to us trying to recreate that level of dominance, and in a completely different league.
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