Ronaldo would have scored the chance Martial missed
Are we a CDM short of being an elite team?
- Thread starter Bastian
- Start date
Sell all the deadwood and get in a proper CDM.
Rice, that guy from Monaco, whoever.
Rice, that guy from Monaco, whoever.
Yes the midfield. That's the only missing piece now. We still barely have any.
He's make a decent midfielder, though.
I read this in Doc Brown's voice haha
Yea it's a glaring weakness that will cost us games. Aside from the miracles Fergie worked, how many title winning teams have had the likes of Mctominay, a totally washed up Matic and Fred at cm?
I think Scott could play a role in a good midfield, but he can't carry the other two. Fred will always divide opinion but Matic was in decline when Chelsea sold him to us.
I think Scott could play a role in a good midfield, but he can't carry the other two. Fred will always divide opinion but Matic was in decline when Chelsea sold him to us.
We do need a midfielder and the guys on the football side should push Joel Glazer to release funds for one. This one midfielder would make us a big threat for both the league and Champions league IMO.
We're so close to a incredible window if we can sign a midfielder. Not that I'm dissapointed with the players we've signed because I couldn't imagine us signing the 3 big names we did manage to sign.
But please give us the midfielder because that one player would make us a more complete team.
We're so close to a incredible window if we can sign a midfielder. Not that I'm dissapointed with the players we've signed because I couldn't imagine us signing the 3 big names we did manage to sign.
But please give us the midfielder because that one player would make us a more complete team.
with the firepower up front and then relatively strong defensive backline/gk against most teams the midfield two just need to be competent and just get the ball forward as quick as possible. Think against most teams playing Pogba in midfield prob the better option, especially if everyone is back and healthy
Did we feck, we had some excellent midfield options in that period with Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Fletcher and Anderson (who was class until he got fat). Leagues ahead of what he have now.We went from 08-12 without a midfield and we can damn well do it for another 4 years
For me the signing pretty much guarantees pogba will primarily play in the midfield 2
Hopefully were scoring so many goals ourselves the ones he inevitably gives away don't matter anyway
Hopefully were scoring so many goals ourselves the ones he inevitably gives away don't matter anyway
We’re a competent midfielder away from being in business. Still a huge priority for me.
This reminds me of 2009-2013 United where the caf would wet itself begging for a midfielder every summer but Fergie would just buy another striker and win the league.
Its a gaping massive hole in the side now.
CR7, Bruno, Pogba and Rashford contribute very little defensively (unless Rashford rediscovers his ability to run post-surgery). Pogba, Bruno and Fred are all really sloppy in possession.
We simply need some sort of defensive midfield option or our side is going to lack so much balance.
-----------------Henderson
AWB --------- Varane ----------- Maguire --------- Shaw
-----------------------------?????----------------------
------------------McT/Fred -------- Bruno
Sancho/Greenwood ---------------------- Pogba/Rashford
-------------------------CR7/Cavani
Crazy depth up top, but one really obvious weakness. If we try to shoehorn Ronaldo, Pogba and Bruno into the side and stick with a double pivot then I think we will simply get overrun in midfield.
CR7, Bruno, Pogba and Rashford contribute very little defensively (unless Rashford rediscovers his ability to run post-surgery). Pogba, Bruno and Fred are all really sloppy in possession.
We simply need some sort of defensive midfield option or our side is going to lack so much balance.
-----------------Henderson
AWB --------- Varane ----------- Maguire --------- Shaw
-----------------------------?????----------------------
------------------McT/Fred -------- Bruno
Sancho/Greenwood ---------------------- Pogba/Rashford
-------------------------CR7/Cavani
Crazy depth up top, but one really obvious weakness. If we try to shoehorn Ronaldo, Pogba and Bruno into the side and stick with a double pivot then I think we will simply get overrun in midfield.
Pogba will have to play more central when Rashford comes back, so it will be Pogba + 1 in the middle. I also want to see what VDB can do. Ideally we would bring a dm in but Ole does have other options, it's not just mcfred and matic like people are saying. Sometimes a manager needs to be creative and find an inhouse solution. Maybe try Lindelof there or something, he has played in midfield before.
Think Ole will probably move to a 352 lineup with less emphasize on midfield.
Matic,Fred, Scott, Donny and Pogba will do the 2 spots.
Matic,Fred, Scott, Donny and Pogba will do the 2 spots.
I won't even argue with this revisionism, just look back to some of the sign a CM threads on the Caf from that time.
Scholes had to come back from retirement, Fletcher was never the same player after his bowel disease diagnosis, Giggs is a winger pretending to be a CM.. We were crying out for Modric at that time.
I think signing a DM is off after recent developments but it would be nice if could get Bissouma or Tchouameni. Understandable if it doesn't happen because we have pushed the boat out and got three top class players in.
I still think there is currency in trying Lindelof in the No. 6 role, I think he is a better passer than McTominay and Fred and he is also someone who could hold fort even when paired with someone like Pogba who I think now has to drop back to a more central role. Of course he could continue on the left but I think we now need to surround Ronaldo with pace and dynamism to keep teams from pushing up against us.
It will be interesting what we do from now but I think it's too late to sell a player and launch a bid for a competent midfielder. It's still a worrying aspect of the team and will limit what we can achieve as a team because we still lack balance.
I still think there is currency in trying Lindelof in the No. 6 role, I think he is a better passer than McTominay and Fred and he is also someone who could hold fort even when paired with someone like Pogba who I think now has to drop back to a more central role. Of course he could continue on the left but I think we now need to surround Ronaldo with pace and dynamism to keep teams from pushing up against us.
It will be interesting what we do from now but I think it's too late to sell a player and launch a bid for a competent midfielder. It's still a worrying aspect of the team and will limit what we can achieve as a team because we still lack balance.
People are just high on the buzz from Ronaldo, can't wait to see Ronnie shoot some "What the feck was that?" looks at our midfielders playing passes to the opposition and out of play.
Yup, very liberal use of the word "excellent" in that list. Especially Anderson, who'd already peaked as a footballer by 2008.
An elite goalscorer like Ronaldo can cover up team flaws. That's the truth. Our midfield needs to be big workhorses now to cover a bit for a few of the star attackers, but if Ole can get the harmony right, then it's fine.
You right and as great as Ronaldo is we still have Sancho, Bruno, Pogba, Rashford and Shaw in addition to Greenwood and Cavani. McFred are certainly the kind of workhorses needed for a top heavy attack like ours so we will be more than fine. The DM signing ship has well and truly sailed because we can't make any sells in time to buy a DM.
I agree that we need a midfield upgrade, but having Cavani alone would have won us that game.
Think we need to accept modest bids for Martial and Jesse. And buy a midfielder with that money.
Think we all realised that not having a focal point was crucial
We lack a Kante or Fernandinho in his prime big time. I was all for signing Ronaldo but we need a DM more and I think it will cost us this season
I think if we sell James and get West Ham to stump up for Lingard, we'll sign a CM.
Any chance Casemiro wants to rejoin the gang?
I’m not sure anymore. Giving Ronaldo nearly 500k a week has surely affected us outgoings or not
Yesterday it looked like no more signings, yet somehow we've stumped up the transfer fee and wages for Ronaldo? Cmon, we sell Lingard alone we'll probably look at a CM, selling James on top we'll 100% sign one.
Strong forward line, strong backline, poor whatever we have in between. Well we certainly will be fun to watch this season!
So, since Roy Keane left in 2006 we've signed 10 CMs.
Carrick, Herrera, Hargreaves, Fellaini, Anderson, Fred, Matic, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Possebon.
Damn I miss Keane.
Carrick, Herrera, Hargreaves, Fellaini, Anderson, Fred, Matic, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Possebon.
Damn I miss Keane.
This window we sorted our weaknesses big time with Sancho and Varane now with Ronaldo it’s extra firepower up top with this squad looking our best in years, yet it’s obvious where our main weakness is and that obviously is CDM.
We are a top CDM short of matching any side out there for me but also for me is such a glaring weakness.
Is there a chance we sign one ? Obviously players will have too leave but with Ronalds 500k P/W it’s hard to see us signing one. I feel this is where we need to be ruthless and get one for me it’s the difference between being challengers on all fronts and potential challengers
We are a top CDM short of matching any side out there for me but also for me is such a glaring weakness.
Is there a chance we sign one ? Obviously players will have too leave but with Ronalds 500k P/W it’s hard to see us signing one. I feel this is where we need to be ruthless and get one for me it’s the difference between being challengers on all fronts and potential challengers
That is a bad list. Only Carrick has been a roaring success.
There's no question that's the weakness. Can we do a deal? It's too soon to tell.
Selling James and Lingard ought to give us £35m and loaning out Martial ought to create wage space. If we do the deals over the weekend we could sign Bissouma for £40m, I think that would give us the balance we need even when we play Pogba in midfield against poor sides or have to bring in McTominay for the big guns. I am not confident we can do those deals but I think we need to.
Feels so greedy wanting one more but it would really be the icing on the cake.