Anyone understand why we bought van de Beek?

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Nou_Camp99

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Like many have already pointed out to you..... He will be in the team soon enough.
 

Icemav

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I think Bruno is clearly better than Pogba in an advanced midfield role.

He is more productive than him and has better instincts closer to goal.

I still think Pogba's best performances at the club have come from him in deeper roles vs advanced roles.
Pogba for a period had stats similar to De Bruyne for goals and assists. I do not think that was from a deeper position though he has on occasion played well there especially in a counter attacking setup.
 

georgipep

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Yep.

Bruno was depth for Pogba. Then it became Bruno and Pogba can play together. Now its Donny is depth for Bruno.

I hope people spot the problem here.

Dysfunctional.
Ok, let me dissect your statement for some clarity:

Bruno was depth for Pogba. -> That is a fan-made assumption.
Then it became Bruno and Pogba can play together. -> That is true, Ole has said it.
Now its Donny is depth for Bruno. -> That is a fan-made assumption.

Do you spot the problem?

Also, according to whoscored & transfermarkt, Pogba has played the majority of his football as central midfielder (219/330 games he has played as CM), not attacking midfielder (8/330 and only at Man Utd) and not defensive midfielder (60/330) (although he has played both of those too but on much fewer occasions). He currently plays exactly as that. Matic is the DM, Pogba is the CM, Bruno is the AM.

Donny van de Beek is also predominantly a central midfielder (100/155 games he has played either as DM or CM, only 7 of which are as DM) according to whoscored & transfermarkt. I also believe that he will play in advanced positions for us, mostly as Bruno alternative but he is very capable of playing in Pogba's position too.

I don't get why people go down those rabbit holes they dig themselves... You assume something (without any factual evidence), then assume something else that contradicts it (again, without any factual evidence) and in the end starting blaming the club and/or other people for the contradiction?
 

Icemav

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Ok, let me dissect your statement for some clarity:

Bruno was depth for Pogba. -> That is a fan-made assumption.
Then it became Bruno and Pogba can play together. -> That is true, Ole has said it.
Now its Donny is depth for Bruno. -> That is a fan-made assumption.

Do you spot the problem?

Also, according to whoscored & transfermarkt, Pogba has played the majority of his football as central midfielder (219/330 games he has played as CM), not attacking midfielder (8/330 and only at Man Utd) and not defensive midfielder (60/330) (although he has played both of those too but on much fewer occasions). He currently plays exactly as that. Matic is the DM, Pogba is the CM, Bruno is the AM.

Donny van de Beek is also predominantly a central midfielder (100/155 games he has played either as DM or CM, only 7 of which are as DM) according to whoscored & transfermarkt. I also believe that he will play in advanced positions for us, mostly as Bruno alternative but he is very capable of playing in Pogba's position too.

I don't get why people go down those rabbit holes they dig themselves... You assume something (without any factual evidence), then assume something else that contradicts it (again, without any factual evidence) and in the end starting blaming the club and/or other people for the contradiction?
You are right it is an assumption from me.

We are talking semantics about CM vs AM. Pogba is recognized at excelling at the top of the 3 in a 4-3-3. The norm at Juve and where he has prospered here.

We have been talking since his arrival about whether he can do a later-career-Paul Scholes. Doesn't seem natural to him at all to play that highly disciplined role.

You could be right about Donny being a Swiss army knife. Be interest to see if Ole ever player Matic-Donny-Pogba with Pogba in the advanced role.
 
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Kill 'em all

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We bought VDB so we don't go from Bruno or Pogba to Lingard and Pereira when we need to rotate.
 

Bwuk

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So we don’t have to play Bruno every single game.
 

Steve 007

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I think everyone needs to remember our lack of ability to score a goal before we bought Bruno, Pogba was injured and we had zero creativity. Pogba is not in form but he’s still getting on the team-sheet. In my opinion he’ll be dropped after the transfer window shuts. He’ll then have two choices, fight for his place or throw his toys out the pram. I see glimpses of a great midfielder in Pogba but he has too many mediocre games, hopefully the pressure of Van De Beek waiting to steal his place will give him a kick in the right direction.
 
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Mercurial

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Simple question can somebody explain?
So we don't tire out Pereira&Lingard so much and let them have some well earned rest and focus fully on their brand recognition instead, also Ed believes he can sell shirts to recoup 37% of the fee, VdB also scored high on focus groups w certain demographics in Iowa and the midWest for cereal and cyrup I suspect! (As astutely scouted by Ed's economic scouting network)
 

georgipep

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You are right it is an assumption from me.

We are talking semantics about CM vs AM. Pogba is recognized at excelling at the top of the 3 in a 4-3-3. The norm at Juve and where he has prospered here.

We have been talking since his arrival about whether he can do a later-career-Paul Scholes. Doesn't seem natural to him at all to play that highly disciplined role.

You could be right about Donny being a Swiss army knife. Be interest to see if Ole ever player Matic-Donny-Pogba with Pogba in the advanced role.
Pogba plays that role for France too though. He is the United player who came back from vacation the latest, and with coronavirus. He is massively out of shape and Solskjaer confirmed that. I agree that last season he did stay on the ball too much and tried to do fancy tricks when the correct decision would have been to continue play with a simple pass and release someone else. But this season he is definitely doing that. It is obvious he is not as strong as he was and he cannot endure a game in the tempo Palace and Brighton served us. But I expect him to get back to his best soon enough and show that he is perfectly capable of playing in this position.

At the same time, I do not know if Pogba is the best solution for our midfield conundrum. Several posters have claimed that Fred-McT-Bruno is our best midfield combination and I half-agree with that, especially against the top teams. I do feel that this trio lacks the creativity to break down teams that accept us attacking but at the moment, to be honest, every team just goes at us. I can't wait for us to play Newcastle and WBA as they are the two teams that play deepest defense and if they are also apply high press and constant attack, then it is obviously something every opposition manager has identified as a weakness in our play: controlling the ball and dictating the play.
 

Cassidy

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Because if Bruno gets injured or needs a rest we dont want to play Pereira
 

sillwuka

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The signing pleases me. If Bruno or Pogba is having an off day he comes on.

Judging by his cameos he will find his way into our starting 11.
 

Thiagoal

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If we want to compete for major trophies we need 18 players that are all capable of starting without weakening the team!

I wonder if fans were complaining when we bought Veron or Tevez back in the day?
 

PieCrust

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He's a decent player and can play just about any position. It was a great depth signing which is one area that needed (and still does) improvement.
 

Faetheshire86

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Simple question can somebody explain?
I have wondered this myself.

Firstly this isn't an indictment of the players ability. I can't stress that enough. He's come with a big reputation and I'm sure it's well deserved. I said I would have started him against Brighton and I'm looking forward to seeing him start against them in the cup.

The reason the transfer confuses me is because if we had a player of Donny's ability in any other position (except for maybe left wing), he would be starting the next league game. Instead we will have a player of his quality, most likely sitting on the bench, while the rest of our team in other positions struggle.

The only way this transfer makes sense to me is if he was always going to be one of many and in the next week we are going to sign a quality winger, left back and at least one of a central defender or defensive midfielder (with the other and a second striker to be brought in next summer) - I won't be holding my breathe
 

Lee565

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Fans say he was brought for squad depth which is all well and good if we were winning trophies but how long will de beek who was close to signing for madrid, be content playing second fiddle to pogba and Fernandes in the first 11 if we are struggling to just get top 4 spot and putting in many more performances like we saw against Brighton and palace?
 
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dinostar77

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1. At £40mil he was excellent value in the current market. Don't forget pre-covid he was nailed on for a move to Real Madrid.
2. He allows Bruno amd Pogba to be rested without affecting the team dynamics too much.
3. If Pogba decides to leave next summer then we have a replacement at the club already.
4. If Pogba decides to stay and extend his contract, he cant hold the club to ransom as we have VDB as an alternative.
5. He can play 10, 8, 6.
 

Kuba

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Reading the title I was sure that it's gonna be sth like, you can see now even after 3 matches what a great and important decision Was to bring VDB in, because sometimes our "1st choice" midfielders like Pogba could have bad form not even being injured and in that case we can bring someone who is very creative and can make a difference instead being forced to Play our first 11 match after match having absolutely no quality on the bench.

Boy I was wrong....
 

romufc

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Squad depth and quality... can people not understand this?

Most managers, I don't care who it is, would be similar.

A team that got 3rd and played well post lockdown, there is no need to make changes for sake of it after 1 bad game. You do not drop a player after 1 bad game when the whole team was bad.

That is the reason Ole is persisting with this line up. It is unfair on players if they are dropped after 1 bad game.

The reason Lindelof, Pogba all started. Ole has said it in a podcast where he will give them 1, 2 and 3 chances, if the same mistakes repeated, changes will be made.

Plus we are only 2 games in, CL is coming soon so Donny will have enough games to play.
 

Strelok

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At this rate I'd say a replacement for Pogba. I thought it was Matic. And of course so we don't have to play Pereira or Lingard again.

I know a lot may find a midfield of Pogba-Bruno-VDB is too unbalanced but didn't Bayern won the last CL with no DM? Both Thiago and Goretzka are pure CM.
 

gica_7

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So that the first player to come off the bench is not Andreas Pereira or Juan Mata. For God's sake, yes, we need holes in our squad but that doesn't make VdB an unnecessary signing. The abnormal thing was not to sign him, the abnormal thing is not signing more.
 

simplyared

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We're playing Brighton and we're struggling to create anything. Pogba is not functioning so he's quite rightly subbed. We have a replacement for him sitting on the bench who we've just signed. According to people in the know he's quality. According to stats he's scored 40 goals and had 29 assists in the last 2 years and is 23 yrs of age (and improving). I know it's early days but surely, looking at the game on the whole why the feck bring on a defensive MF instead of a midfielder who has the tools required to change that sort of game. OP valid!
 

westmeath

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We're playing Brighton and we're struggling to create anything. Pogba is not functioning so he's quite rightly subbed. We have a replacement for him sitting on the bench who we've just signed. According to people in the know he's quality. According to stats he's scored 40 goals and had 29 assists in the last 2 years and is 23 yrs of age (and improving). I know it's early days but surely, looking at the game on the whole why the feck bring on a defensive MF instead of a midfielder who has the tools required to change that sort of game. OP valid!
We were overrun in midfield. Changing that is not what we bought Donny for. Fred was the obvious sub.
 

westmeath

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Bringing Fred on didn't improve our midfield. Are we so bad we are not prepared to change the game going forward and bring on a midfielder who can get us a goal or an assist?
This was a dire situation. For the likes of Donny to thrive, I think we need to have some element of control in the game.

Because we had played to that point with effectively ten men, Fred’s track record of disrupting the opposition midfield was clearly what was required. I agree it didn’t work very well but the logic behind the move is obvious, to me anyway.
 

Mark Pawelek

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Pogba alternative in case:
- he doesn't renew his contract and has to be sold.
- Pogba get's slack
- injury insurance

VDB can also substitute for Fernandes.
 

jackal&hyde

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Last season we started with Pereira and Lingard options at AMs. Now we have Bruno and DVB. Seems a really obvious answer.
 

Isotope

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He forced a corner in the last minute because of his movement upfront. That corner led to a goal.
 
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