Still 3 games and 3 weeks for tielemans and Mainoo to take it but yeah given the 4 are not that far apart in level, would make sense to go with form and fitness which is them in the moment.
Andrey Santos | 2026/27 Performances
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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Hopefully Santos wins his 5 CL’s here instead of Madrid
As you imply, Tielemans and Mainoo will get their chances in the coming preseason games, but right now it looks like the starting CM spots vs Hull will be earnt by merit in these games, and Mount/Santos has used their head start very well.
I've liked what I've seen, like I said before, he reminds me of Carrick with his forward passing.
But we have also seen Andreas Pereira dominating as a #6 in preseason, because you get time on the ball which you simply dont in a PL match. Preseaon Pirlo and all that
But we have also seen Andreas Pereira dominating as a #6 in preseason, because you get time on the ball which you simply dont in a PL match. Preseaon Pirlo and all that
Small sample size, but I like him much better than Casemiro on the ball. In terms of decision making and execution. He passes forward alot, breaking lines but still maintains 90+% accuracy. Case is often very aggressive and creative but his decision making and execution can be lacking, 82% accuracy. You can understand why madrid use to move Case up the field, away from their build up. I don't think that happens to Santos. The real challenge is replacing Casemiro's aerial dominance. Santos is decent in the air but no where near Case.
Yeah, Casemiro was a real presence in the box for sure.
Not a lot of aerial threat with him and Mainoo in the middle!
He is definitely alright on the ball(I don't expect him to be sending that many balls through the middle in the league games, this is a risky play), what I care about the most is his defensive contribution - which for now is on a really good level. Positioning, sniffing out danger AND getting there in time to mitigate it. I would risk a statement he's already better than Casemiro off the ball, but admittedly I don't think he was good there at all last two seasons (apart maybe from last ditch tackles).
But it’s not like he’s new to the league. He’s already put in some excellent performances for Chelsea against the likes of City.
He was, but also worth remembering that his goal tally last season was anomalous. He only scored one league goal in 24/25 and only one in 23/24.
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It's minor but he controls the ball with the sole of his feet and drags it to a different direction/tempo to then release a pass quite quickly. It's a very basic technique of course but shows he's alway thinking about playing it progressively.
Small sample size but I think we can safely say he's not going to eat up ground fast or beat the last man in a sprint. Nor will he be a box to box machine like Kante and that's fine. Just manage your expectations of what one player can do because on the flipside, his style and positioning can help his teammates in other ways.
In addition to his accuracy of passing, what stands out with Santos is the sheer volume of passes. Against Atletico, he made 75 passes and had 90 touches, which exactly what you want from a player dictating the game from deep. We haven't had a midfielder putting up those kinds of numbers for a while. I'm trying not to get carried away because it's only a pre-season friendly, but those are the stats of a proper deep-lying playmaker.
Honestly watching him, how on earth wasn’t he a guaranteed starter at Chelsea.
A 3 of him, Caicedo and Enzo would have been terrific.
A 3 of him, Caicedo and Enzo would have been terrific.
I'm not sure if it's true but there was a poster that commented on him a while ago that Chelsea had like 8 or 9 games in a row where they won (or unbeaten?) with those three starting, then for whatever reason, he was sent back to the bench.
I think next preseason game will be Santos and Youri. Mount already had 90 mins this week. Santos and Youri will be an interesting combination next week.
Why would you change it? They have both worked well together so far. Both have had a preseason together and have built up an understanding.
I think a telltale sign of how good a player is on the ball is the rest of the team deferring possession to him. Only happens when he's proven himself. At some point in the game yesterday, he had 2x the number of passes of the next midfielder.
Obviously, still need Bruno back in, as well as the rest to really tell but the signs are good.
It’s preseason.
Players needs to have minutes. Only reason I think maybe Youri comes in first half. Needs to check and test partnerships
Probably because Palmer likes to play as the AM and Estevao is their new golden boy on the wing. That leaves 2 spots for CM and they have 2 very expensive players whos agents will be looking for new clubs if they arent a starter in the 10th placed team. The real question is whether they might have been able to sell one of those players if they rate Andrey Santos, so they could have got a big transfer fee in and an emerging player to be about as good as one of them. Chelsea obviously thought the better option is to cash in on Andrey Santos instead for a smaller amount.
What excites me is that he is so good at doing quick 10-15 yards passes through the lines centrally, and who do we have there? Bruno - who can then make the decisive pass, especially if we can play it quickly before the other team is organised. Think that can become a common winning move for us
It's about time we signed a wookiee.
Pre-season is about getting the whole squad ready for the season, not results or continuity. Santos and Mount have had some pre-season games already, whilst Tielemans still needs game time with the squad.
Possibly a pre-season Pirlo, but Santos had looked really good. Dare we consider the possibility that we have our midfield man?
He's playing at a similar level he did in the first team for Chelsea when he was given the chance. He's a smart player who gets the ball forward and defends well.
Its unlikely to be 'preseason Pirlo' phenomenon
Very impressed with him so far. What I have enjoyed most is how he injects tempo into the game, he looks very calm on the ball, then you see him take a touch and make a quick, sped up, forward pass. He done it with Dorgu against Rosenburg, done it a few times with Mount against Athletico. On top of that, a small thing I enjoyed was one time he took the touch and looked like he was going to make another quick forward pass, but instead he fakes and rolls his foot over the ball. Not the most significant moment, but add it to what we know about his progressive passing and pass completion percentage, it paints the picture of someone, who isn't forcing balls through that aren't on, but is making quick, smart decisions.
Off the ball reminds me of Ugarte a little (which isn't the worst thing). It looks like he is really quick to rally to the ball, even though he isn't the most athletic. I think it's because he looks like he "switches on" to danger a half second before everyone else and is already moving towards the trouble, rather than reacting to it. Worry is if he does get caught out having a little gamble, then he doesn't have the physicality to recover. Need to hope his defensive decision making is very good also.
Off the ball reminds me of Ugarte a little (which isn't the worst thing). It looks like he is really quick to rally to the ball, even though he isn't the most athletic. I think it's because he looks like he "switches on" to danger a half second before everyone else and is already moving towards the trouble, rather than reacting to it. Worry is if he does get caught out having a little gamble, then he doesn't have the physicality to recover. Need to hope his defensive decision making is very good also.
I feel the opposite! This is his biggest strength (pinging balls forward in the direction he's facing). I don't know how good he is back to goal but if he's facing forwards, he can find a team mate / a good forward run. This is the biggest missing piece when we played deep blocks / mid blocks. Apart from Licha no one else could find those guys in the pockets.
In terms of game models (risky passes because they get intercepted / receiver miscontrols) -- I hope we don't go full Arteta under Carrick and still prioritize central progression. I want us to specifically play this way and I think we will.
Agreed, I'd love to see a team taking risks and being confident in its own ability to pass through the middle in congested games. I'm really sick us playing hot potato every time we face difficult opposition.
Good that he is doing well in preseason , but we have to remember these are preseason games barely above walking pace. They don't really tell you much about the real quality of a player. Easy to get carried away watching them.
Our biggest strength under Carrick has quietly become central progression. Worry not—we're arguably the best team at progressing the ball through the middle since he arrived. Even two opposition managers said as much before the end of last season. Almost everything we create now comes through the centre. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like the Man United we've watched for years.
Now imagine adding Santos and Tielemans. That's where it gets exciting. Dorgu's ability to drift inside gives us the drive, power, and ball-carrying presence through the middle that Baleba provides. Suddenly, we're operating on another level.
Since Carrick took over, I'd say roughly 85% of our attacks have come through central areas, and many of our goals have been built the same way. Of course, opponents will spend next season trying to congest and neutralize those spaces. But with Santos and Tielemans giving us more technical quality, press resistance, and progressive passing, we've got enough variation to keep hurting teams through the middle.
That's a massive shift from where this team was not long ago.
He has an good eye for goal too, if played further forward. He didn't get to show this at Chelsea because he was used as the deepest lying midfielder, the way United have used him so far, but in the French league and Brazil youth national teams, he was great as a box crashing midfielder.
Yep. When he plays with Mainoo I expect we'll see some of that
I read that his goat threat was mostly from set pieces and second balls in the box so it will be interesting to see if we can see more of that in his time here. Not sure if you watched that video of his game against Atletico but does that performance and passing align with what you saw of him at Chelsea?
Based on an absolutely tiny sample size, my concerns with him is pitch coverage over large spaces, recovery speed/athleticism when the ball has gone behind him and his very progressive but maybe (?) risky passing between the lines.
Yeah pretty much. He was almost exclusively sharing the pitch with both Enzo and Caicedo so he always had Caicedo's legs next to him and Enzo's passing to defer to, so was never asked to be expansive with his passing nor was he ever asked to cover large spaces. His job was essentially to keep it simple, recycle possession and support Caicedo cover off the ball. The clip you posted more or less shows the Santos we saw at Chelsea. I do think he has more to his game though, and his role, when he played, was quite restricted. Hopefully Carrick can bring that out of him more.
I don't think he works well as your sole DM, I think ideally you'd have another, more energetic and quick defensively minded player next to him. Thankfully for us, we had Caicedo who is also a good passer, as well as an elite DM so they complimented and covered for each other really well.
Some person on twitter made an hour all touch compilation of his games for Chelsea last season and flicking through, the one thing I noticed was Santos' positioning where he was a bit further up the field than I was expecting when it came to breaks in play etc. It made sense because as you've said, he had Caicedo next to him. However, for us in pre-season he's been playing almost exclusively deep and in front of the defence i.e quite disciplined. Against Atletico he was literally splitting the CBs and playing from there when we had the ball. Regardless of where he's better suited or with whatever partner, I wouldn't be surprised if he's come in with the mission from the board/Carrick to play DM. It makes sense for us as we're severely lacking nous in that area of the pitch. It will be a test of his positioning and his own atheleticm when he realises we don't have the fastest CMs and CBs. Overall though, I'm looking forward and quite hopeful he's going to give us some intangibles that will get the rest of the team playing on the whole better though.
Exactly this. In addition to that, signing Tielemans along with already having Mainoo and Mount at the club, gave us an indication as to where and how Carrick wanted to play Santos.
For us he had license to go chase the ball and press a bit. Caicedo would seamlessly drop in and sit. I think he fits well next to Tielemans, who can do a lot of the deep lying midfielder stuff too, so potentially we could see Santos given license to roam and push forward when Tielemans is introduced into the line up. Do you know what kind of system Carrick wants to play? I want to understand where Mainoo fits into all this.
With one notable exception every manager plays 4-2-3-1 here cause of Bruno.
So between Santos, Tielemans and Mainoo, one of them will likely be sitting on the bench?
Yes.
That's what I'm expecting yeah. I assume we'll switch it up between them a fair bit.
Pretty normal for any top team to have good players on the bench. It's just nice to have that problem again.