A top quality, clinical striker

VanHaal'sRedArmy

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I know our scouts have been looking at Håland and RB Salzburg, but hope they've come away impressed by his strike partner Hwang Hee-Chan, only 23 but more mature and ready to move on to a bigger club soon. Would like to see a good Korean player at our club again since Park went away; very pacy and physical and would add a bit of creativity to the forward line.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Martial is clinical, isn't he? I very rarely see him miss, given the chance. He could, however be more instinctive in and around the box, but that will hopefully come with experience.
 

Negative Red

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The need for this type of forward is grossly exaggerated. Its better to have an attack and midfield that can score goals in double figures consistently, Than to have one guy carrying all the goal getting burden
This is undoubtedly true, but seeing as though we don't have a single player in attack or midfield that can guarantee this, just one forward that could would be very nice.
 

meamth

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Haller looks like genuine quality for West Ham. Why can't we buy technical big forward like him?? :(
 

mark_a

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Martial is clinical, isn't he? I very rarely see him miss, given the chance. He could, however be more instinctive in and around the box, but that will hopefully come with experience.
This comes back to supply, he's not getting enough chances, which comes back to us being light in midfield. And that will be the player we didn't sign this window. In an ideal world we'd have got another quality proven midfielder and a goalscorer to take pressure off Rashford and Martial. Not to take away from those 2.
 

CR1

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We don't need another striker or central forward signing right now IMO. We already have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood plus James and Lingard who can play there if need be.

Next transfer widow, get a CDM like Longstaff or someone else, as well as a stop-gap back-up LB. Also, obviously get Sancho if at all possible.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Martial is clinical, isn't he? I very rarely see him miss, given the chance. He could, however be more instinctive in and around the box, but that will hopefully come with experience.
His coolness in front of goal is kind of a myth. He has taken some goals very Henry-ish, but he's also missed quite a few one on ones. Everton and Newcastle last season spring to mind. I actually find Martial at his best when he's taking it first time, without much time to think about it.

We don't need another striker or central forward signing right now IMO. We already have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood plus James and Lingard who can play there if need be.

Next transfer widow, get a CDM like Longstaff or someone else, as well as a stop-gap back-up LB. Also, obviously get Sancho if at all possible.
Rashford is not a natural finisher, Greenwood is 17, and Lingard and James are midfielders. We are most definitely light up front.

Longstaff isn't a defensive midfielder. Hayden plays there for Newcastle.
 

Bestietom

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His coolness in front of goal is kind of a myth. He has taken some goals very Henry-ish, but he's also missed quite a few one on ones. Everton and Newcastle last season spring to mind. I actually find Martial at his best when he's taking it first time, without much time to think about it.


Rashford is not a natural finisher, Greenwood is 17, and Lingard and James are midfielders. We are most definitely light up front.

Longstaff isn't a defensive midfielder. Hayden plays there for Newcastle.
To win the Premiership you need a prolific goalscorer. Liverpool and City have a couple in their teams. You need a 20/25 goals a season forward as well as others chipping in with 10 and more.
 

tomaldinho1

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I think Martial is good enough in front of goal, I think the setup behind him is the issue. Our strikers generally live off scraps on the counter attack and of all our strikers I back him to score if he's one on one, his mindset is far calmer and he has that confidence.

Auba is the one I think it's ridiculous we didn't even try for because he can play across the three and has been smashing in goals galore - he's a genuinely top level striker and in his peak.
 

theklr

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Martial should be good enough. He was just out reffed against CP(red card and penalty not given)
 

Gandalf

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Haller looks like genuine quality for West Ham. Why can't we buy technical big forward like him?? :(
Been wondering the same thing. We could have replaced Lukaku with him and cleared a profit and we would have the scruffy goal scoring, instinctive CF that Ole wants. He has good technique, pace and would give us an aerial threat in attack for when we need to go plan B, if we had someone like him on the field on Saturday he would have converted at least one of the crosses James put in in the last 30 minutes. The lack of a player of this type could cost us 10 points or more over the course of the season and that could be the difference between 4th and 10th this year with the chasing pack getting tighter to the top 6.
 

FrankDrebin

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I think the one major element Martial lacks,and especially Rahsford,is a strikers natural instinct in the box and Ole has alluded to this consistently since he's been here.
Though I think Martial has done a top job overall since he's become more of a number 9,his all-round play is refreshing in-comparison to our last forward, I wouldn't put it past United going for another striker in January.

Personally I would continue to keep an eye on Piatek or ,better yet if things dont go to plan, Jovic at Madrid.
 

ILC

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Cavani please. Will be free in a few months, top quality.
 

Gandalf

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I think the one major element Martial lacks,and especially Rahsford,is a strikers natural instinct in the box and Ole has alluded to this consistently since he's been here.
Though I think Martial has done a top job overall since he's become more of a number 9,his all-round play is refreshing in-comparison to our last forward, I wouldn't put it past United going for another striker in January.

Personally I would continue to keep an eye on Piatek or ,better yet if things dont go to plan, Jovic at Madrid.
I would definitely make it clear to Real that if they do come back for Pogba next summer not to bother making any bids that don't include Jovic coming the other way.
 

John Blund

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Cavani please. Will be free in a few months, top quality.
Cavani would be a dream. He can also smash in those free-kicks for us. As for the "ugly" goals Ole is looking for - I don't think Cavani got many of them. He's more of a clinical Zlatan - tap-ins with finesse.
 

Carlsen19

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We don't need another striker or central forward signing right now IMO. We already have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood plus James and Lingard who can play there if need be.

Next transfer widow, get a CDM like Longstaff or someone else, as well as a stop-gap back-up LB. Also, obviously get Sancho if at all possible.
Watched Longstaff at the weekend. He's nowhere near good enough for us - McTominay is better than him and he's not good enough either.
 

Decomposing In Paris

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Martial has impressed me at #9. If he took penalties we might well have started the season pretty well. Every CF misses chances, but he takes a high enough percentage to compete with the best in the league. I wasn't sure he had the movement or intensity off the ball to be truly effective in the role, but he's looked good there too this season. How about we just get him fit and figure out a way to make some chances for him?
 

CR1

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Watched Longstaff at the weekend. He's nowhere near good enough for us - McTominay is better than him and he's not good enough either.
Ok, though he's some back from injury so maybe that's the reason? In any case more options should be considered, including stop-gaps. McTominay is being asked to play out of position, in my personal opinion he's an 8 doing ok at 6.
 

kthanksbye

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Don't understand how we've managed to land in such a mess.
Was just doing a few calculations the other day.
Salah Mane Firminho all 3 cost under 45m. That's a UCL winning front 3 for near 130m

Since SAF, we've bought
Mata, AdM, Falcao, Martial, Memphis, Mikhi, Zlatan, Lukaku, Alexis, James
Total 400m and we still don't have anything even close to a front 3.

And remember where we were 5 years ago. We had Rooney RvP Nani Chicha Zaha Kagawa, while Liverpool had Balotelli, Borini, Markovic, Suso, Sterling, Sturridge, Lambert and Coutinho. Just two good players and both of them aren't there anymore.
 

Bestietom

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Longstaff is not good enough for here. Garner is a better player, and he can't even get into the side yet. Why we havn't brought in a CF in place of Lukaku is down to Woodward who promised a replacement would be brought in for him.
I would expect a couple of players to be coming in January, but please not Longstaff.
 

wolvored

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Im impressed with James and wonder if he could do a 'Ronaldo' or 'Henry' and convert to a striker. He could be given a chance in the cups. I would also like to see Greenwood given a run in the middle. Rashford could be moved to the right.
 

chicha14

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We need to put in a cheeky bid for Diego Costa, he is PL proven, got loads of experience and knows how to get a goal out of nothing!
 

SaintMuppet

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We seem to buy ‘old and nearly past its’

Not sure why.

Rashford? No way, never be good enough.

Martial? Could be, down to his attitude.

We could do with a RVN about now, the guy never missed.
 

romufc

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Next transfer widow, get a CDM like Longstaff or someone else, as well as a stop-gap back-up LB. Also, obviously get Sancho if at all possible.
How many times have you watched Longstaff play this season?

But I agree position wise we need CM, DM, RW, LB
 

SteveW

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I dont think we should sign another striker. Martial, Greenwood, Rashford. Sign a right winger.
 

TRUERED89

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I think Martial is good enough in front of goal, I think the setup behind him is the issue. Our strikers generally live off scraps on the counter attack and of all our strikers I back him to score if he's one on one, his mindset is far calmer and he has that confidence.

Auba is the one I think it's ridiculous we didn't even try for because he can play across the three and has been smashing in goals galore - he's a genuinely top level striker and in his peak.
Unless Auba is central he becomes anonymous imo. Especially when Laczette starts with him.
We don’t even remember what one looks like do we. The constant excuses and rationalization of our forward play of late leads me believe we have.

Lukaku has largely been piss in front of goal and kills more moves than a junior high chaperone. Rashford isn’t even a center forward. He makes Chicharito look like an all-arounder yet everyone constantly rushes to his defense.

Even Zlatan was only decent yet a couple of my mates and everyone by in large seemed to act as if he was Cantona reincarnated when he was here. Yet he was well and truly Serie A level at best. Was at the top of the chances missed column as I recall.

Falcao had it in him but sadly injuries had taken their toll and he was just off the pace. Lovely bloke though.

The last proper CF we had was RvP. I want yous to think about his level in Sir Alex’s last season and then tell me what the main problem with this team is.

It’s glaring.
What the hell were Gill and the Glazers doing when City were getting Aguero, Silva, Kompany, Yaya, Zabaleta etc.. didn't even attempt to sign them iirc. This was before they'd won any PL's as well. "No value in the market" penny pinching has really killed us. With Hazard we were quite close too, but pulled out of that one as well.
 

romufc

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Longstaff is not good enough for here. Garner is a better player, and he can't even get into the side yet. Why we havn't brought in a CF in place of Lukaku is down to Woodward who promised a replacement would be brought in for him.
I would expect a couple of players to be coming in January, but please not Longstaff.
I agree, Longstaff has not shown why Newcastle quote £50m. I would rather invest in Garner and get a better box to box.
 

ICHM

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It's not the strikers, it's the midfield and the quality of ball. How many times have we seen poor quality crosses or corners. We desperately need two quality cenytral midfield players, we should have got them this summer to bed in.
 

CR1

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How many times have you watched Longstaff play this season?

But I agree position wise we need CM, DM, RW, LB
The only thing I've ever seen of Longstaff are youtube videos.

However, scouting a player for months or even years by going to his games is not a guarantee for transfer success. As we have seen with countless flops both at United and other clubs.

Not saying a club's transfer activity should be solely based on youtube scouting, but I think the record shows that opinions shouldn't be disregarded only because they are based on that. Youtube gives you an idea of the type of player, his style of play and what his ceiling is etc.

Like I think I said though, I don't think Longstaff should be the only option for CDM.
 

talking robot

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Don't understand how we've managed to land in such a mess.
Was just doing a few calculations the other day.
Salah Mane Firminho all 3 cost under 45m. That's a UCL winning front 3 for near 130m

Since SAF, we've bought
Mata, AdM, Falcao, Martial, Memphis, Mikhi, Zlatan, Lukaku, Alexis, James
Total 400m and we still don't have anything even close to a front 3.

And remember where we were 5 years ago. We had Rooney RvP Nani Chicha Zaha Kagawa, while Liverpool had Balotelli, Borini, Markovic, Suso, Sterling, Sturridge, Lambert and Coutinho. Just two good players and both of them aren't there anymore.
We aren't playing money ball. My feeling is that we are failing to apply the most advanced data driven methods and science available for recruiting. A United die-hard buddy of mine is deep into this stuff (PhD Cambridge, Postdoc Yale, heading a new Data Science initiative at Harvard with a focus on football analytics), and he tells me we are light years behind Liverpool and other top class outfits in the analytics side of our recruiting techniques. His sense is that the problem starts with the top level of management who don't really understand (and thus don't appreciate) the cutting edge tech that is giving others an advantage.
 

M Bison

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I like Rashford and think people are overly critical of him, if ever you try and defend him you're accused of favouring players who are from the academy or English which is just nonesense. He's got ability and will get better and better with time, but he's not there yet and certainly isnt the finished article. I dont understand why he doesn't look in behind the defence (like Vardy) always seems to come deep and towards the ball which closes the space, thats a coaching issue but as i say, i dont believe he's the finished article and will get better and better.

If there was an RVP available, we'd be a different side altogether. Having someone clinical who can create something out of nothing, bring other players into the game with intelligent runs and also take-on a bit of the goal-scoring burden would be fantastic but it doesnt mean we should write Rashford off.
 

romufc

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We aren't playing money ball. My feeling is that we are failing to apply the most advanced data driven methods and science available for recruiting. A United die-hard buddy of mine is deep into this stuff (PhD Cambridge, Postdoc Yale, heading a new Data Science initiative at Harvard with a focus on football analytics), and he tells me we are light years behind Liverpool and other top class outfits in the analytics side of our recruiting techniques. His sense is that the problem starts with the top level of management who don't really understand (and thus don't appreciate) the cutting edge tech that is giving others an advantage.
We can talk about them being light years ahead but Liverpool had nothing to lose when they signed them 3.

Remember Liverpool signed alot of duds before they managed to get these signings and they got a very good manager.

We are in the cycle where Liverpool were 5/6 years ago. The problem is when we were on top we took it for granted and essentially that has cost us.
 

mitchmouse

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Martial is clinical, isn't he? I very rarely see him miss, given the chance. He could, however be more instinctive in and around the box, but that will hopefully come with experience.
he isn't inexperienced. it's not as if he's 17 and only played a handful of games. he is not an instinctive goal scorer
 

tomaldinho1

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Unless Auba is central he becomes anonymous imo. Especially when Laczette starts with him.

What the hell were Gill and the Glazers doing when City were getting Aguero, Silva, Kompany, Yaya, Zabaleta etc.. didn't even attempt to sign them iirc. This was before they'd won any PL's as well. "No value in the market" penny pinching has really killed us. With Hazard we were quite close too, but pulled out of that one as well.
On Auba, I agree he's best centrally but he'd probably immediately walk onto our RW (despite not being amazing there) and, despite James' amazing start, he'd be the best LW in our squad as well. It's a shame we didn't go for him or any of the other big name attackers that have been moving to the PL over recent seasons.

On your point to the other poster, it's an example of being a bit naive. Had all clubs done what we had and drawn a hard line with agents, football might look very different today but, in reality, it was madness when we allowed our rivals to sign players like the ones you have mentioned simply because they could make agent's happier. We'll likely never know how the obscene sums of money that exchanged hands but we look to have been set back hugely by our transfer activity over the last decade or so. I always wonder, when you read articles about Mancini's double salary, how FFP is ever meant to work because here must be so many ways to pay players, agents, mangers etc without doing it officially.