Not really. We have an almost porous midfield in many games. McT brings out his ace game only in a few games.In CM, we have decent options.
I think McT, Fred, Pogba, VDB, Garner are good options. Its not saying we don't want better.Not really. We have an almost porous midfield in many games. McT brings out his ace game only in a few games.
Our CBs need to be on top of their game for full 90+ minutes which is a very tough ask.
That is mostly coaching or tactics and not Lindelof’s fault. He was part of a similar setup under Mourinho and we didn’t have a such a problem. We had Lindelof and Smalling ahead of DDG and they defended fine. We replaced Smalling with Maguire both of whom are excellent in the air. Yet somehow now we concede by the bucket load.Not remotely close. CB all day long, we've got a massive flaw in the team with our current first choice CB partnership that opponents take advantage of match after match. Weak at set pieces, weak at defending high balls, weak against strong players and they always target the same CB... on top of that, lets assume worst case scenario and we have another injury to Maguire, what happens? We have to rely on a forever broken Bailly/Jones (hah) or Tuanzebe (who appears to be going out on loan) or go with one of the kids. CB is a huge problem area, Lindelof was a decent short term fix, but time to move on.
Yep you've convinced me to change my vote, very much echo your thoughts.A few weeks ago I was thinking midfield, as it seems pivotal to quite a few things that are going wrong with our build up, tempo, creativity in some games. If we get a grip of those things there may be additional benefits to our defending, particularly if the midfielder is of a certain type.
However, the more you look at our defensive options the more worrying it gets. We are an injury to Maguire away from a potentially disastrous season. I don't think it can be overstated how important he is, and while he is a fit player, we simply must have more to rely upon. In midfield the options are not perfect, the balance can be questioned, the quality of a few can be questioned but they generally will do a solid job, but I can't shake the feeling of how Maguire reliant we are. The rest do not organise, they don't seem to communicate and they don't deal with things aerially.
You bring up Lindelof with Mourinho. Ok, let's go there. First season with us, warning signs already there, he had a 47% aerial win percentage. He conceded 13 goals in 14 starts, we conceded a total of 28 goals that season. Ok, first season syndrome, probably down to him settling in. 2nd season for Lindelof begins... he starts in 11 games for Jose in the league, we concede 16 goals in those games, winning 5. Jose is then sacked. He did improve his aerial success rate in his 2nd season, unfortunately I can't look at just the first 11 games without checking each match individually. But his total season ending stat was 63%, I mean that's still bad for a CB, but better than his opening season.That is mostly coaching or tactics and not Lindelof’s fault. He was part of a similar setup under Mourinho and we didn’t have a such a problem. We had Lindelof and Smalling ahead of DDG and they defended fine. We replaced Smalling with Maguire both of whom are excellent in the air. Yet somehow now we concede by the bucket load.
I’m not saying he’s individually great at defending set pieces, but he ain’t terrible either. He is being scapegoated here for team failures. The biggest drop in individual aerial ability at the back has been Valencia to AWB. But I wouldn’t blame him either for us being so poor.
| Games | Goals Conceded | Clean Sheets | Clean Sheet % | Goals Conceded Per Game |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lindelof Starts | 25 | 29 | 7 | 28% | 1.2 |
Lindelof Doesn't Start | 68 | 57 | 31 | 46% | 0.8 |
This post convinced me to turn my opinion around. While I think a DM is necessary to get the team functioning at peak performance, it's true we have depth in midfield but are worryingly exposed with just an injury or two at CB. Maguire is just such a constant that I subconsciously assumed he'd be fit all of next season despite him finally picking up a sprain this season. In my head it was like a blip rather than a real danger. So yeah, to prevent worst case scenarios, I see why Solksjaer would prioritize a CB first if he had to choose.If rumours are to be believed, you're looking to pick up both Varane and Camavinga.
I think given Bailly's injury record and the slow progress of Tuanzebe's development you need a commanding CB, like Varane, a medium injury to Maguire at the moment could easily ruin your season. If Bailly was also injured suddenly your defence is looking very inexperienced. So I can see why Ole is targetting that.
The midfield is an interesting one, because you tend to play 4231 an out and out DM is not what you need, if Ole is looking to switch to a 433 then a specialist DM is needed, but there is no hint of that. Camavinga is excellent defensively, but progresses the ball well too, but he's also 18 and though he has plenty of first team experience he is still very young and can be dispossessed if forced onto his right. He is more of a long tern purchase packed with potential rather than nailed on starter, though I would expect him to get a lot of minutes. But a midfield choice of Fred, McT, Camavinga, DvB and Pogba gives you world class depth for the formation Ole prefers.
HendersonSubs: DDG, Lindelof, Telles, McT, DvB, Greenwood, Martial, Rashford
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Fred Camavinga
Sancho Bruno Pogba
Cavani
That's a hell of a squad