Can we skip the midfield?

[Andy_Cole]

Saw a lineup on another thread which got me thinking.

De Gea
AWB Varane Lindelof Maguire Shaw
Bruno Pogba
Greenwood Ronaldo Sancho

Could it work? The 3 CBS would push the ball from deep. Play one of our work horses in bigger games (Fred/ McT) instead of one of the front 5 just to basically be another defender.

Is this idea ridiculous?

 

[Ish]

We'd get torn to shreds IMO. Move Lindelof up as a DM at the very least in that type of formation to stand any chance.

 

[JPRouve]

How do you effectively regain possession? Do you bank on the opposing team going easily in your defensive third and somehow miss more than average?

 

[UpWithRivers]

Ole is that you?

 

[Nytram Shakes]

I assume this is a joke?

Saw a lineup on another thread which got me thinking.

De Gea
AWB Varane Lindelof Maguire Shaw
Bruno Pogba
Greenwood Ronaldo Sancho

Could it work? The 3 CBS would push the ball from deep. Play one of our work horses in bigger games (Fred/ McT) instead of one of the front 5 just to basically be another defender.

Is this idea ridiculous?

Yes

We got overran in midfield by Wolves only having 1 of Fred/ McT, dropping both even for an extra centre back would be mental. As for only playing 1 of Fred/ McT against the bigger teams is just asking to conceed all the goals!

 

[kthanksbye]

We have

 

[Von Mistelroum]

I suggested something like this in another thread too but I wasn’t serious although I’m not sure it would be much worse given how poor Fred and Matic are

 

[Judas]

No xx

 

[V.O.]

You have to wonder how good our transfer window might actually have been when some of the most active threads over the past couple of days have been 'Should we play Lindelöf in midfield?', 'Should we play Jones in midfield', and now finally 'Should we just not bother with a midfield?'

 

[esmufc07]

You have to wonder how good our transfer window might actually have been when some of the most active threads over the past couple of days have been 'Should we play Lindelöf in midfield?', 'Should we play Jones in midfield', and now finally 'Should we just not bother with a midfield?'

 

[Kaos]

These FIFA lineups simply aren't going to work. Pogba and Bruno aren't holding players nor will they ever be. We'd get torn to shreds in the middle and would rely exclusively on teams fecking up chances like Wolves did and scoring on the counter or against the run of play. It would be suicidal, especially in the big games.

 

[MadMike]

How do you effectively regain possession? Do you bank on the opposing team going easily in your defensive third and somehow miss more than average?

I assume the tactic is, let them waltz through midfield practically unopposed and hopefully the defence will hold it together, repel all attacks at the edge of the box and magically not concede 5 by the final whistle.

Sounds fanciful thinking

 

[OleBoiii]

Who needs the midfielders?
I dooooooooo.

Hey, he's not happy at all! He lied to us through thread posting!

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

This is giving me nostalgia of the later Ferguson years, where he'd only buy defenders and forwards and then play Phil Jones and Ryan Giggs in midfield.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

No. But we need to stop crying with midfielder. It’s only one fecking position, we need to deal with it and must find a way to get the best out of the current squad without that new midfielder. Football is flexible, Chelsea won UCL first time with John Obi Mikel FFS. They won UCL last season with Timo Werner. There are ways to win something and challenge for big trophies without a complete squad.

 

[BluesJr]

Cute idea, but no. Football is won in the midfield now. We as a club haven't realised this yet.

 

[Ish]

I assume the tactic is, let them waltz through midfield practically unopposed and hopefully the defence will hold it together, repel all attacks at the edge of the box and magically not concede 5 by the final whistle.

Sounds fanciful thinking

Let’s just outscore them . Should make those 10-12 score lines very exciting for neutrals and fantasy managers.

 

[NotQuiteManc]

Midfield is a problem, for sure but I am more worried that the players are not playing as a team (yet). More often than not, the game is won due to individual moments of brilliance.

 

[meamth]

If we can clone Fred, It can work.

 

[JJ12]

We need to find a combination between Bruno, Pogba, Fred, McTominay, DVB and Matic.

The coaching staff need to put their thinking caps on to make it work tactically.

Id imagine Bruno will need to sacrifice his attacking intent slightly.

 

[meamth]

We need to find a combination between Bruno, Pogba, Fred, McTominay, DVB and Matic.

The coaching staff need to put their thinking caps on to make it work tactically.

Id imagine Bruno will need to sacrifice his attacking intent slightly.

Now we have Ronnie up top, might want to focus on delivering crosses now.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Wolves already skipped our midfield.

 

[croadyman]

Let’s just outscore them . Should make those 10-12 score lines very exciting for neutrals and fantasy managers.

Yeah outscoring is our only hope of winning games with such a poor central midfield

 

[croadyman]

We need to find a combination between Bruno, Pogba, Fred, McTominay, DVB and Matic.

The coaching staff need to put their thinking caps on to make it work tactically.

Id imagine Bruno will need to sacrifice his attacking intent slightly.

Hard to put trust in our coaching staff to come up with something so innovative when they are so inexperienced at this level

 

[Amadaeus]

jeez, United fans are so spoiled. Mctominey and Fred are decent midfield, so I don’t know why we have to skip such a position. In a double pivot, they complement each other and provide a solid foundation. However, in a single pivot, they don’t have enough support from Pogba or Bruno. The problem is that neither Fred or mctominay are holding midfielders, which effects our midfield when we try to shoehorn all our attacking talent into the side.

If we are looking for balance, they should be played in a double pivot together against tough team, or get bissouma or rice to play the cdm in a single pivot system. At the moment, because Bruno and Pogba offer little support, a single pivot system will not be as effect as a double pivot system against tougher opposition unless we add one of those aforementioned player or a player similiar to them to the team.

With mctominay out, a solution could be to play three in the back and have one of our cb provide midfield support to Fred.

Varane - Linderlof - Maguire
Sancho/AWB - Fred - Pogba - Shaw
bruno
Greenwood - Ronaldo

but against weaker team, a midfield of Fred and Bruno, and Pogba with our four natural defenders should still be enough if we ask Pogba and Bruno to drop deeper and play compact and a More disciplined role

 

[Chesterlestreet]

No, not really.

There aren't many "easy" opponents in the league these days.

If most of the supposed weaker teams approached their games like Bielsa - then yes, possibly.

But they won't.

 

[El Zoido]

McTominay will have to step up another level I feel. I think he’s got it in him, but it’s not ideal.

 

[Lynty]

McFred is a great engine and shield to an already formidable back four.

When we've got Ronaldo, Pogba, Bruno, Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford and Sancho (Martial if he feels like it) to rotate in the remaining four attacking positions, there's enough quality there to produce matching winning moments against anyone. Villareal last season would have been a completely different final if we could throw on players of this quality when we need a goal.

We don't have to be carbon copies of City or Barca to win trophies. Be can be Atletico with more resources and better players, and I'm ok with that.

Edit: We still need to improve midfield in future transfer windows - but we can definitely challenge for silverware with the players we have. If Ole can make us difficult to score against, I'm confident we have enough quality to find goals without a creative midfield.