Injury.
Bruno Fernandes | United not interested due to doubts over passing ability
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Assumed that may have been the case. Thanks
Unlikely... Pogba is that furthest forward midfielder. What our midfield needs is the holding midfielder to replace Matic basically (Rice?) and then an all rounder who can control games, has good passing range, can also create and score on occasion, etc. A Gundogan type for example. Everything I've ever read or heard about Bruno Fernandes would only make sense to me as a Pogba replacement, not balanced if they're together.This coupled with Ole saying he wants to build the "hardest working, most fit" Man Utd side suggests the link may be true.
If we kept Herrera, can he work in a 3 with Ander and Pogba? Lots of energy right there
Dependent on fee.
I dont get the balanced midfield thing. Look at City playing both Silvas all the time. Great players but not the best players when it comes to defending. My point being that if the offensive midfielders have the work ethic you can easily play two of them.
Why could not we have a midfield of Pogba and Fernandes? We need more goals overall. This guy could help us with that.
According to whoscored.com he has played the majority of this season as a central midfielder, not a number 10. He has the passing range, the shot and he is willing to get into the box. If he has the work ethic and a good head on his shoulders he might just be your guy to get.
Why could not we have a midfield of Pogba and Fernandes? We need more goals overall. This guy could help us with that.
According to whoscored.com he has played the majority of this season as a central midfielder, not a number 10. He has the passing range, the shot and he is willing to get into the box. If he has the work ethic and a good head on his shoulders he might just be your guy to get.
I agree with the above, why do we need two so called defensive mids to let Pogba play? Liverpool and City don't, Spurs don't really either. We need quality is what we need, if you don't give the cnut away you don't need some cnut trying yo win it back constantly.
We have been Mourinho’d.
It works for City because as attack minded as the two Silvas are, they don't lose the ball easily. That's an incredibly rare attribute for attacking midfielders.
David not so much (huge age difference doesnt help anyway) but Bernardo is quite good defensively, for example the last match vs Liverpool, he pressed and run the whole game.
That is an insightful comment. I agree. It’s compounded in that Matic is not quick like Fernandinho and Kante, Wijnaldum, etc. and the ability to quickly cover ground in the middle and final third is critical when playing a high press.
If we keep Pogba and our formation is a 4-3-3, I feel very strongly that we need the other two midfielders to be elite, quick defenders with high work rates and able to maintain possession. A tall ask.
For me, the problem isn't Pogba in that setup its Matic. If we had a more mobile and competent DM we wouldn't need a Herrera to do half his job
Yes, plus they are the best drilled possession and attacking team in Europe IMO and they have one of the best and most mobile DM's in the game sitting behind the two #8's, we don't tick any of these boxes and Pogba is far more likely to lose possession carelessly than the Silva's or De Bruyne, it's horses for courses. Not sure why anyone would bring Liverpool into the discussion, they often field 3 grafters in midfield and no creativity at all.
Saying that though Bruno Fernandes is more a midfielder than David Silva whilst Pogba is more of a midfielder than De bryune.
Pogba & Fernandes are more attacking minded CM than pure CAM (can be argued) - however thats not the same with De bryune and Silva - both AM playing deeper due to the cover provided behind them by one man in fernandinho + possesion.
Whilst Ole doesnt seem to be drilling possesion all game and every game - he may be getting a CDM like Rice to allow the freedom of 2 CM's with attacking minded intent much in the same way that would balance out at City.
Ole comes in and Pogba finally starts playing and putting up stats his price tag warranted, and some people in the Caf want to send him backwards to accomodate an as of now unknown quantity?
The only position in midfield we should be upgrading is Matic. The other 2 are more than fine, provided we keep Herrera.
The only position in midfield we should be upgrading is Matic. The other 2 are more than fine, provided we keep Herrera.
Not every player we buy has to start every single game and neither does Pogba. Would be a good addition to the squad and I remember him as being much more of a box to box player at Sampdoria than the attacking/creative CM he currently is at Sporting so no reason that with a few tactical tweaks he can't play alongside Pogba with Paul still having freedom to attack.
I think regardless of the designation you place on the players role, I think both Silva's keep and protect the ball better, and it works as part of such a well drilled unit, we'd need to put a lot of work in to get where they are in terms of how they play and dominate games, and as you say we'd definitely need to upgrade the DM to someone a lot more mobile than what we have currently.
He wasn't doing anything noteworthy at Sampdoria though, the entire reason he's become a player linked to United is for his impressive attacking output at Sporting where he has a €100M buyout clause, he'll cost a decent chunk of that so to buy him and then try to make him more defensive would defeat the purpose, all the Sporting fans have said that since we started being linked to him.
That's fair but if Silva and De bryune work so well within a team that aims to keep possesion - whats stopping the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Pogba, Rice, Herrera etc being in a very good team that aims to counter press instead? After all we seem to play a counter football more than possession football.
If we get the defence right and the CDM right - we will have the ability to play 2 attacking minded CM that aim to attack on the other side surely? Especially when earlier on in Ole's season the players seemed to counter press doing defensive work as hard as the defenders themselves.
Pogba isn't ideally suited to that type of football, pressing is a smaller players game, he has a big frame to be pressing frequently, same with Rice, too much of a unit, the best pressing sides use smaller, nimble players to swarm with the counter press, Rice also lacks the distribution for the counter. On top of that if we want to get back to the top we have to improve our possession and control of games, we've relied too much on the counter and it showed against Wolves who sat off and said "create something".....and we couldn't.
The goal would not be to make him a defensive player the goal would be to make him more defensively responsible when playing alongside Pogba and he can play as he currently does at Sporting when he comes to replace Pogba via rotation.
I'm reliably informed that he can play a slightly more conservative more deep-lying play-maker type role which would be fine alongside Pogba, most modern CM's have to be versatile and his history shows he can be.
As for his fee, he should be available for a lot less than his release clause due to Sporting's current financial situation.
He's done it again. Always him
Scores again....from distance again... such a well taken goal. This kid is absolute class. Screw the system if you can sign him do it and worry about the system system later. He is literally carrying Sporting on his back. 85% of our goals are influenced by either his goal or assist.
Absolute class. Best I have seen personally wear the green and white.
25 goals and 13 assists this season. He is a midfielder...
That is pretty impressive even if it's the portuguese league.
Depay and Pogba were able to score long range shots like him...then they joined United and suddenly couldn’t hit a barn door from outside the box.
One thing about our league is it is very defensive. The dutch league for example has inflated stats because they don't believe or know how to defend in the Netherlands. All Portuguese teams do is defend which makes his stats this season remarkable especially when you take into account hoe HORRIBLE Sporting is.
Depay never hit as sweet a strike as Fernandes does nor could he do it as consistent.
Probably the only thing Bruno Fernandes will ever be better then Pogba at is his long range shots
He's not that good. It's the biggest difference I've seen between a player and the rest of the team at Sporting though.
I am saying me personally. I am 23 years old. And he is the best I can ever remember playing for Sporting. Also easily in the past 10 years.
Would you regular watchers say he might be Manchester United first 11 quality? I'm wondering if there's something to these rumours; especially if Fred and/or Rojo are included in the deal.
He can start. Absolutely.
Not a question that most people want to ask but could Bruno Fernandes replace Pogba ?
He is not as good not at all. They are different players though.
That's hard to answer, since it is harder playing at a certain level in the Premier League / United than in Portugal.
So ill give it to Pogba, for all he has won and showed in his career.
However Pogba goes missing on so many games, BF is alot more consistent on his performances.
So ill give it to Pogba, for all he has won and showed in his career.
However Pogba goes missing on so many games, BF is alot more consistent on his performances.
City is a possession based total footballing sides with better wingers and strikers who can hold the ball, while also pass the ball from the back. They keep possession for majority of the game and win it back quickly in high press and keep it again for long periods. The midfield has to focus on attacking and creativity without having the worry to defend maximum amount of time. And they don't switch off without the ball and press quickly to win it.
Our playing style is not the same, we lose the ball often and are not quick enough to press and win it quickly, leaves us more vulnerable to counter and thus we need controllers in the middle.
Watched a YouTube video of him - granted not the best indicator - but he seems like he’d be the most advanced in our midfield.
Not sure he’s what we need, but he looks very talented and his technique when striking a ball is superb.
Not sure he’s what we need, but he looks very talented and his technique when striking a ball is superb.
And once again he saves the day.
26th goal
26th goal
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With these stats, every team will be after him.
couple pages back we had posters saying he would not get into our team because we have Pogba or that we don't need him.
Not saying he is exactly what we need but clearly we cannot just have a team of tough tacklers and need someone in beside Pogba who can do something special.
Not saying he is exactly what we need but clearly we cannot just have a team of tough tacklers and need someone in beside Pogba who can do something special.
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