If barca were smart they would move on Busquets and run with a midfield of Frenkie behind Kessie and Pedri.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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Him and Busquets can't play the same role essentially. Except he's not a Busquets replacement as defensively he's not on that level. So he's pushed higher which isn't his strength. Barca would need to get a more defensive player to sit in front or next to him, with Frenkie being the deep lying playmaker behind the others. Might work with Kessie.
Another 3 games to go. Hopefully he doesn't play all 3. A serious injury now would be catastrophic.
Exactly what I'm thinking. Anyone thinking that was a standout performance isn't familiar with Frenkie at all.
Spurs just signed Perisic who has a calf injury
Serious being the operative word.
can you guys imagine if we got rid of about 10 players, replaced them with young/ETH-style players, finished it with de Jong and then have ETH himself train them all summer 
So today Frenkie played as a single dm against Belgium and bossed the game. Food for thought.
Daley played a great game too and had two assists.
Daley played a great game too and had two assists.
They played a 352 thought which changes things. I wouldn’t expect united to play that formation.
If by smart you mean 'want to go bankrupt'.
Sounds like the plan that might have been used to release Pogba. Frenkie and another will need to be brought in as a set. Our current lot just weren't compatible with Pogba.
With the links to Timber and Torres I wouldn't be surprised at all.
I could see 3 at the back with
Varane, Torres, Timber, Shaw, Dalot, FDJ, Fred, Fernandes, Nunez, Ronaldo
We played that many times during Van Gaal and I would not rule it out under Van Hag. BTW it was more like a 3 4 1 2 line up.
If we don’t have enough midfielders, why not play it, or 3 4 3?
Aren't Barca asking their players to take a 50% pay cut (apart from new signings ) recent renewals)?
That would include de Jong?
That would include de Jong?
It's not that FdJ is not on this Busquet (much declined version) level. It's that FdJ is a player which make the team more Ajax/Dutch total football than Barcelona Cruyff influence. Barcelona would have to make a lot of change and a clean out, which they can't afford politically and financially.
With FdJ, you either put more attacker or more defender in (act as makeshift midfielder). While with Cruyff vision for Barcelona, it favora toward adding more midfielder like Pep's seen doing many time. The key difference lies with that Cruyff vision for Barcelona youth development take account of physique, and physical attribute of their player/market which tend to be smaller in size. It's better for them to work closer together in midfield while wide players doing the make the pitch big part. The pure Dutch total football likes to have athletic (with technical ability of course) midfielder, so they have number overloading in different part of the pitch (add another defender to counter counterattacking football without sacrificing a forward; or adding a forward taking from defender line without being too light at the back).
They would still need to sell.
Everything that's came out of there indicates that they want to get rid.
I think a 352 is very likely now, with the lineup Adam posted, it makes sense why were stocking up on defenders, and it gets Ronaldo a good energetic strike partner, and I could see Fred excelling with his pressing and De Jong being the metronone.
Yep it's nicely balanced, wingbacks could be better but can change that next window. Maybe get Malacia in this window too.
Has ten hag ever played with that formation before?
And I mean a run of games not just a one off.
I'm not sure to be fair! It's just a little theory I have based on our targets.
I also could see Elanga being a wingback too.
This does however ruin Sancho.
Shhhhh
That's a change to his tune. Before it was all "Barca are my dream club" and now he's saying "no, I'm breaking up with you".
I feel a change in the wind, captain aye….
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I never fancied her anyway!
Sancho can play as a striker in this formation, just pretty much having a free role.
I suspect we will switch things up and play a 4-2-3-1 in the easier games.
3 at the back seems to be quite popular the further you go into european competitions.
At Utrecht (before Ajax), yes. But he's also used it as a one-off at Ajax ( I believe in his second to last game this season).
Too much emphasis is placed on the starting formation anyway. Pause an Ajax game during any attack and you'll usually see Ajax set up in a 3-1-5-1 despite the team sheet saying 4-2-3-1.
Where is this?
This post just gave me Pogba PTSD, I can’t do this again.
Beautiful footballer.
I’m fully on the muppet train. I’m lubed up and Lakeland’s finest clothes pegs adorn my nipples.
Good to know, I suppose it would be worth a go if we get the right personnel as alluded here .
I think Carrick was better reading the game and with his positioning defensively....but with no disrespect to him as he had godo vision and developed into an important player, DejOng is on a different level as a player in other aspects,long before pressing was so prevelant Carrick struggled against it in his early years I felt, only came to terms with a fast paced game and pressing in his latter years when for me he was at his best for us.
Yes, seems strange we seem to be looking to sign a ball playing defender and a ball playing midfielder, two areas we have struggled with from deep even though we already have Varane and most of our midfielders are more offensively minded....but the biggest problem is how easily we have been ran through and failure to win the ball yet many seem to be happy with McFred as options alongside him.
I think DeJong is an excellent player who certainly improves us and would be a fantastic signing with a defensive midfielder signed alongside him, couldnt make a better signing pretty much.............but if we were only to sign one central midfielder this summer, then personally it definately wouldnt be him as the options alongside him are so unreliable, have been for years. Different player, but really DeJong is a Pogba replacement
Barca have him plastered all over the internet in new club kit, don’t get the feeling he’s leaving.
Yeah, I was thinking he’d not be happy about being asked to take a half pay cut (to help Barca buy other players/pay their wages) which might make him more amenable to a move. And hoping that we don’t get bent over by player or Barca
The main difference is United always wanted a player like Frenkie since Scholes left, while Barcelona have someone else assigned to do it essentially. Pogba was never someone who wanted to pick the ball up off the defenders. That's not his strength. He always wanted to be in the opposition's half. He wanted a De Jong and a DM behind him to get the ball to him in more advanced areas. We tried shoe horning him as the deep player, that's just not him and never had been him.
They're different players, but you could definitely say that De Jong wants to be used the same way Scholes excelled in the 2nd half of his career (in terms of positioning, freedom, role to be the playmaker off the defenders, etc).
You're correct, as it ensures that we are already present him with an enticing package without needing to give him too ridiculous of a contract .
Also xavi seems to have a hard on for Lewandowski and there is a host of other players they need to register, one way or the other they need to get rid.
Think he would work with Fred especially if we go with Timber as a sort of inverted RB taking up CM positions too. Then have Bruno play in the right half space being the link player for the RW.
He has this ability that not many midfielders have. Where he draws the opposition towards him when on the ball and by time they put pressure on him he passes the ball off and there out of the game or his pass has started off an attack from drawing in the press
Only other player like that is Sergio Busquests. Awareness on the ball is exceptional.
Be joy to watch him at Old Trafford.
Only other player like that is Sergio Busquests. Awareness on the ball is exceptional.
Be joy to watch him at Old Trafford.
Still think he's a pipe dream. Would be a dream midfield signing, there's very few around like him, but it feels too good to be true and that it'll fall through.
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