9th, a tad optimistic. All I want is 40 points.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 10
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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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Who?
So composed on the ball - was really impressed with his opening few touches and passing forward. That was followed by some shaky moments against Welbeck (who as we know, on his day is hard work for any defender) but he struggled against him physically on occasions.
It might be a lazy opinion but given the chaos ahead in midfield, I wouldn't mind to see him play as the 6 / Holding Midfielder (until some new faces are brought in).
It might be a lazy opinion but given the chaos ahead in midfield, I wouldn't mind to see him play as the 6 / Holding Midfielder (until some new faces are brought in).
Uusally I'm dead against playing people out of position / in new positions but the DM role does seem to make sense for him...... Especially given how shit the other options are !
So much improvement in our build up play by our new pricey midget CB, I already feel the good Marcos Rojo vibes. 
On the serious note, he seems comfortable and probably too much, and will be targeted for sure for his size. Blatant penalty and brainless piece of play, but Argies and CBs right? What can you do except not buying them for 70m euros.
On the serious note, he seems comfortable and probably too much, and will be targeted for sure for his size. Blatant penalty and brainless piece of play, but Argies and CBs right? What can you do except not buying them for 70m euros.
I'm surprised to see the reactions on here, I actually thought he was pretty good tbh. Couple of shaky moments, but in comparison to the likes of Koulibaly who looked miles off it, I thought he handled his debut pretty well.
Welbeck just played really well, i'm not sure how Martinez could stop that alone?
The big issue was Brighton were getting a lot of space in front of our back 4, then being able to play passes between the fullbacks + centre backs.
Welbeck timed his runs REALLY well. He's strong and quick so you'll never stop him if he times it well. Look at the first goal, it's a perfect example. Sometimes you just have to say well done.
Obviously there was a couple of occasions he could have done better, but then there were some great moments also. Aerially he did quite well, he definitely has a good jump on him - I can see why he wins a lot of duels now.
For his first full game in a new league with only 45 minutes pre season - he did pretty well tbh.
In the 2nd half he helped us control the match, he swept up things nicely.
The big issue was Brighton were getting a lot of space in front of our back 4, then being able to play passes between the fullbacks + centre backs.
Welbeck timed his runs REALLY well. He's strong and quick so you'll never stop him if he times it well. Look at the first goal, it's a perfect example. Sometimes you just have to say well done.
Obviously there was a couple of occasions he could have done better, but then there were some great moments also. Aerially he did quite well, he definitely has a good jump on him - I can see why he wins a lot of duels now.
For his first full game in a new league with only 45 minutes pre season - he did pretty well tbh.
In the 2nd half he helped us control the match, he swept up things nicely.
Shock horror on the redcafe when people realize that sometimes common sense is applied.
I thought he did decent considering it's his first game in a new league. Good control of the ball and dealt with most things. Also saw him win a good few headers.
Moves the ball quickly but does not have blistering pace like Baily or Varane if he plays with Malacia whose 5’6 we will get targeted on the left for third man diagonal runs and concede more than 58 pl goals like last year, anyone see Malacia try to mark Lewis Dunk, Shaw height will get him picked most games especially alongside Martinez, We might progress to a 343 short term with this team; D De Gea, Varane, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot, Ericsen, Fred, Shaw, Sancho, Martial, Rashford
Subs ; Heaton, Malacia, Lindelof, Baily, , Bruno, Garner, Garnaucho, DVB, Ronaldo
Right now we need results and not conceding 2 goals per game.
Got bullied and his decision making was odd at times. Showed some good passes in the first 10 minutes then his confidence simply disappeared.
Jeez. tough crowd for Martinez. Literally his first game for us, im sure Vida and Evra had a pretty shaky start. He wasn't that bad at all.
I'm starting to wonder about how human beings process football games, including yours truly. I agree with you about Martinez, but most of the ratings in different places have him as one of United's worst players. On the other hand, I thought Koulibaly looked pretty impressive in his debut (didn't watch the whole game though).
There was someone in here yesterday calling him the worst transfer we've ever made. I can't with this forum sometimes.
You can see he has class but it will take time to gel in.
Thought he was one of our better players.
He showed some of his good ball handling with 2-3 really nice passes through the line, but also some hospital passes. I would say him and Maguire were equally ok when it came to passing yesterday. Looked comfortable on the ball but also lost possession when looking comfortable.
Defensive wise it was not so good. He looks poor at picking up runs in to the space behind him. This is something that worried me before we signed him and those worries got worse with this game.
Hard to tell if he’s rusty or if it is lack of ability. Time will tell. He has also not played with Maguire before.
For me the blame goes to ETH for picking him to his starting xi. He overestimated his abilities and thought he was so much better than Varane and Lindelof that he could through him straight in, even without a proper pre season or any minutes with his CB partner. New players need to start playing at some point, but with 5 subs I think it is possible to also sub CBs to ease in the new player.
Defensive wise it was not so good. He looks poor at picking up runs in to the space behind him. This is something that worried me before we signed him and those worries got worse with this game.
Hard to tell if he’s rusty or if it is lack of ability. Time will tell. He has also not played with Maguire before.
For me the blame goes to ETH for picking him to his starting xi. He overestimated his abilities and thought he was so much better than Varane and Lindelof that he could through him straight in, even without a proper pre season or any minutes with his CB partner. New players need to start playing at some point, but with 5 subs I think it is possible to also sub CBs to ease in the new player.
Good post.
I don't know what people are expecting from a debutant defender to the league who has barely had any pre-season with his supposed CB partner; who's also coming from a dominant, competent side with a midfield that was both functional and effective, which allowed its defenders to focus on defending instead of guesstimating how much those in front of them would feck up every defensive action.
A lot of things need fixing, not least that midfield and its absolute sieve-like qualities.
If we're stuck with McFred and can't do a deal for anyone better than Rabiot, I think it's inevitable that Ten Hag will have to do a Van Gaal and play 3-5-2 soon and Martinez seems he'd suit a back 3 more from my early impressions.
Looked encouraging for the first half hour, but once the composure of the team went around him he found it very tough. Should have given away a penalty too.
I felt for him when he was on the ball, you can tell he is always looking to play forward but the lack of options is incredible. Fred and, in particular, McTominay just go hiding and give the centre backs very little chances to play out through midfield. Eriksen dropping back helped, but I think Lisandro will find it very tough to play the game he is used to in this team.
I felt for him when he was on the ball, you can tell he is always looking to play forward but the lack of options is incredible. Fred and, in particular, McTominay just go hiding and give the centre backs very little chances to play out through midfield. Eriksen dropping back helped, but I think Lisandro will find it very tough to play the game he is used to in this team.
Give him time. Thanks to our brilliant efficiency in the transfer market, he is probably still trying to remember the names of the rest of the back 4, never mind how to play with them in the PL.
I honestly expect a player like that to be on the bench. If a new player with no PL experience is joining the squad, and is not ready fitness wise or hasn’t had time to prepare himself, I expect him to sit on the bench when there are other options.
He will most likely start the next game against Brentford. The problem is, if it doesn’t work out, both Varane and Lindelof will soon be match un-fit and it will be tough to let any of them start against Liverpool round 3.
Same with Varane, Varane I still believe is a very good defender but the midfield offers no potential at all, time and again. McTominay is the biggest fraud going defensively, positionally poor and lets players run past him time and again. Fred is better but ultimately is small and weak, it's doable being small but he doesn't have the meat of Kanté to go with it.
Look at Liverpool in 20/21 with all the injuries when they went from Fabinho and Henderson in midfield to Thiago, Jones and Wijnaldum covering the defence. They were a shambles. Then Klopp realises Fabinho is better in defensive midfield to protect the defence, rather than as centre back. They end the season with rookies like Williams and Phillips as centre backs, and they're comfortable... because Fabinho doesn't allow them to get exposed. If United had Fabinho, all of United's centre backs would be still rated quite highly I believe.
That penalty he should have given away was incredibly dumb. But I'm hopeful he was just a bit off the pace, can see how you'd want to shoulder barge somebody off the ball and get the home fans on side early. Thought he played ok that apart.
He was fine but I just do not understand how you can be a world class CB with that build.
I'm not particularly optimistic.
I'm not particularly optimistic.
Think I might have been a bit harsh on him earlier in the thread. He completed more passes than any other United player and did so more accurately than any of them (95%) Blocks, interceptions and tackles about the same as Maguire (who I thought played ok).
The defence were stretched at the start of the game due to Brighton’s high press and our midfielders complete no show. I’m not Maguire’s biggest fan but you can’t expect any defenders to cope without a solid foundation and even the likes of VVD would be made to look silly if he played in our back line. Martinez has the right mentality. Seeing them get hounded with little to no help from further up the pitch was tough but he didn’t look too phased and wanted the ball.
The problems in the Brighton game were quite clear. The false 9 was a disaster and didn’t work at al which gave us no focal point and no way to get out the press or break through the lines. Once ETH rectified that we completely dominated the second half and easily could have drawn level on another day. He won’t make that same tactical mistake again. The other big error was McFred and in particular McTominay who had another shocker in their. Maguire and Martinez did have shakey moments but ultimately both played well and showed they have the makings of a good partnership. I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face though but our CBs won’t truly look decent until we get a functioning midfield and a decent keeper behind them. Van Dyke would look shite in our current line up.
He is about the same height as Cannavaro, who is still the last defender to win the Ballon d'Or. So it's not impossible. But I do agree, that it is much more of challenge, and you need to compensate with excellent skills in other aspects of the game - particularly in anticipation, timing, etc.
He is no Cannavaro though - who was actually taller than Martinez. I do think his height is going to be an issue in this league as teams will target him.
Yeah, I was wondering who is that short dude in our defense. I will not judge until end of September. It will take some time to adjust. Hopefully he makes it.
Wikipedia has Cannavaro at 1 cm taller than Martinez, so that's not really going to make a difference.
I do agree, though, and I obviously don't expect him to be anywhere near as good as Cannavaro. We are most likely going to see instances of his lack of height and physicality becoming a problem in the PL, like we have seen with Lindelof on occasion. I was just pointing out, that you can actually be a CB of the highest caliber at that height.
You can yes but those that succeed at the top level are exceptional - Cannavaro is the perfect example. Would you think he might move into midfield eventually?
I don't know. I have routinely mocked people for suggesting we try Lindelöf as DM, and I feel like it's a mistake to assume that just because a CB is comfortable on the ball, he can play DM as well. As a ball-playing CB you still have everything in front of you. It takes a whole other level of awareness and speed of thought to succeed in the middle.
I am not sure how often he was actually used in that role for Ajax. Perhaps he could do a job in games were we set up more defensively. But I think it's clear that he was bought as a CB, and will continue to play there for now.
Toney is going to destroy him on Saturday.
He did alright. I see some potential but I can also see how this won't work. I think he'd be fantastic in a back 3
This is where I’m at too. He didn’t play that badly yesterday, and in fact showed some lovely touches and passes on the ball. But his weaknesses were also very clear to see early on. Ultimately he (and Maguire tbf) couldn’t deal with the pace, movement & physicality of a 31 year old Danny Welbeck. They were run ragged all day. Imagine what players like Tony, Halland, Kane, Nunez etc are going to do to them. I know it’s become a meme at this point, but he really does look like he has the attributes to be a far more effective PL midfielder then defender.
I do worry that he’s going to end up being the millstone around ETH’s neck in the way that Fellaini was to Moyes and Maguire was to Ole. I just don’t think a player of his stature and build can be a successful PL centre back.
With how shite Fred is I'd really be tempted to just go with Martinez at CDM and Varane at CB.
Give it time.
Back 3 literally goes against a lot of ETH theory - He wants to sit high, get bodies forward and win the ball back, unless the middle CB played like a DM/ Libero but I think he would need to be quicker than Martinez
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