MyOnlySolskjaer
Creator of Player Performance threads

Ander Herrera Agüera
Aug 14, 1989 (26)
Bilbao

1.82 m

I like him (who doesn't?) but he always makes me think of the expression "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". It's as if he has good vision but doesn't have the technical ability to pull off all those fancy through balls and ends up hurting the team by giving the ball away. A bit like myself when I'm playing FIFA.
Hopefully he has a great season
He could've been on the right side of the midfield, or further forward as a name on the no.10 role. Think he has less to worry about than Schweinsteiger at the very least.Didn't appear to feature on Jose's Magic whiteboard, fear for him more than Mata to be honest
Think he'll struggle for game time if we sign Pogba to be honest. It looks like it'll be 4231 and he's probably one of the least likely partners for Pogba deeper, and he isn't really a #10.
Didn't appear to feature on Jose's Magic whiteboard, fear for him more than Mata to be honest
He could've been on the right side of the midfield, or further forward as a name on the no.10 role. Think he has less to worry about than Schweinsteiger at the very least.
I think that might be the case, get the goals, then as you say kill the game off. We still need someone who can do the first task though. I hope 100m Pogba is it.Ander's strongest attributes are his pressing and his ability to keep the ball moving. However, as I said before, he is very simple with his passing. It's very rarely more than 10 yards, and against a team such a Dortmund today, where they press in numbers, all it needs is a switch of play, which normally results in taking out 3 or 4 players.
I think he's going to be a very useful player for Mourinho. Not sure he'll start, but due his energy and pressing, which I think is brilliant, I could see him coming on to kill a game off.
I think that might be the case, get the goals, then as you say kill the game off. We still need someone who can do the first task though. I hope 100m Pogba is it.
Well of course, but can you imagine if next season we get the usual calls he is a waste of money.For 100m he bloody should.
Well of course, but can you imagine if next season we get the usual calls he is a waste of money.
True, but the way the agent seems to be doing this deal I am not entirely surprised SAF wanted rid. Not Pogba, the agent. Juventus know we are desperate and Raiola wants his substantial cut.Tbh we will never be able to shake that off even if he becomes the best player in the world. Why? Because we already had him on the books once so for that reason in technical terms he will always be a waste of money.
Think some were saying Pogba is better in a three, not sure if I read right. You wonder how Jose will react if Wayne starts dropping deep and starts the old hollywood passes. He isn't even good at it. We will need to see what happens when the season starts.at least looked sharp and as he can control the ball, which is a good sign, he moves the ball quickly too, with dortmund pressing, we needed to shift the ball quickly, I believe he's creative player too but right now he's playing it the way Van Gaal wanted him to play, being reliable passer, that's not only important for LVG, I believe Mou who himself is very pragmatic will acknowledge that, however Ander needs to build on that so he can start and I believe he can do that, people may see him as an average palyer so far but we know he has it in him but he needs to go step by step, he knows that doing everything on his own palying "hollywood" passes will not guarantee him a place in mourinho side, he needs to play along another sitting midfielder who will be there to stay so Ander can make runs through the midfield and link up with players, that's also one of his strengths.. not sure if he can play with Pogba in a sitting role himself, I believe he did really great job agains chelsea last season in that deep role, we just lacked the cutting edge in the final third, so maybe he can do it but he's more suited to midfield three..
However, as I said before, he is very simple with his passing. It's very rarely more than 10 yards, and against a team such a Dortmund today, where they press in numbers, all it needs is a switch of play, which normally results in taking out 3 or 4 players.
That's easier said than done because he was the only real outlet for the defenders/midfielders/attackers, who were getting pressed.
I.e he would offer himself as a option, control the ball very well and then move it along. In his position he would literally have to drop a shoulder and dribble from deep every time (because he absolutely wouldn't have the time to 'switch' play) and basically be a playmaker when the team is simply not set up for that.
If we had 5-6 players that was capable of good feet AND movement, then we'd be great at breaking down opposition's pressing. You need players, who are nimble, good first touch, can move AND pass the ball. Through out the game on the pitch at any given time there was only 2-3 players capable of that (Shaw, Miki and possibly Mata in the first half and Januzaj and Rashford in the 2nd half).
Herrera's problem is that he's a great fit in a proper midfield 3 (one deep lying, Herrera in the middle and a creative but defensively disciplined advanced midfielder in front of him). He's not a specialist but a great glue guy. What he does is underrated but because Utd are expected to dominate most games, we only need two defensive minded midfielders sitting deep and basically have four attackers. We'll never be able to build a proper philosophy or be able to control matches at our own pace against the top top teams. We'll just revert to playing it safe i.e defensively disciplined and compact where there'll be no room for the likes of Herrera.