Invest in a midfielder now and possibly get 4th and CL

[gerdm07]

I'm an investor and this seems like an easy decision. We are 5 points off 4th with 2 matches in hand and a decent run could see us finishing 4th and get a CL spot. A CL spot can be worth $100 mil (kind of guessing here but think I'm close) or more next season. If we invest in a good tidy midfielder in January for say $20m and pay him $10m, I calculate our chances of finishing 4th goes up to 50% or more. In other words, our expected return would be about $20m ($100m x 0.5 - 20m - 10m). Invest 30m and get 20m in profit is an obvious choice. With no extra midfielder our chances of 4th are probably 10 to 20%.

We don't need a great midfielder, just someone tidy, mobile and young enough to get serious minutes. I don't know of names off the top of my head but I'm sure there a good possibilities.

Come on Rangnick and board, be smart, invest a little, get a good return, and give us some hope.

 

[ElectroManiac]

I don't think buying a midfielder will be enough to propell us to 4th place tbh. I agree we need to buy one, but our issues are far more deeper than just buying a mf

 

[romufc]

I don't think buying a midfielder will be enough to propell us to 4th place tbh. I agree we need to buy one, but our issues are far more deeper than just buying a mf

Some people think we are 15 points of 4th or something?

 

[Hammondo]

It would need to be a pretty good midfielder.

 

[DWelbz19]

A decent holding midfielder + Pogback from injuries should see us pip 4th.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

We aren't getting top 4. It's done. We have the easiest run of games, we should be actually Winning them. March is going to kill us. We've yet to take on any big teams and we are struggling hard trying to beat the likes of Watford. We got very very very lucky beating AV the first time. Tonight will be no different.

 

[Offside]

I don't think buying a midfielder will be enough to propell us to 4th place tbh. I agree we need to buy one, but our issues are far more deeper than just buying a mf

I think we will probably finish 4th without signing anyone.

 

[LoneStar]

Your whole argument is based on the fact that this midfielder would propel us to top 4. You say you are an investor, but this sounds more like gambling to me. Let’s be honest, it’s a big if and not a certainty by any means. There’s Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham all competing for those two places. Our fixtures are only going to get tougher. I wouldn‘t bet on us to make top 4 even if we sign a new player, given our current performances. The new player would also need time to settle in to the club.

It would make total sense if Rangnick was set to be our permanent manager next season, but no one knows who it will be. So as for your investment, that would effectively mean a wipe out if the new manager doesn't fancy him. Also I wouldn’t hold high hopes of top 4 regardless of who we sign this season.

 

[Leftback99]

Buying a midfielder would not make us 50% or better to finish top 4. Currently around 25% with bookies.

 

[Deery]

A decent holding midfielder + Pogback from injuries should see us pip 4th.

I think so too, even getting Pogba back might be enough.

 

[red_de_pologne]

nah.. we're good..

rather fall out of CL, lose Ronaldo, and then try for a marquee midfield signing like Rice

yes it's mind boggling logic.

We could sell Pereira, buy a DM in Zakaria and make a profit, but .. let's wait.

 

[Frank White]

Some people think we are 15 points of 4th or something?

We might not be 15 points off but we do have eyes and we play some terrible football and more often than not get out played for huge portions of the game. Wouldn't even call it pessimism at this point just more like realism to say we probably aren't getting top 4 based off the way we play atm.

 

[Borys]

With the current football we present against weakest opponents, I seriously doubt single player will make enough difference to put us in top 4. I have very pessimistic view on our final league position.
You say we're 5pts off top 4 but Tottenham is ahead of us with 2 games in hand, and Arsenal 3 PTS ahead with the same number of games. Out of those two we are in the worst starting position if you consider current form as well.

 

[Jippy]

I'm an investor and this seems like an easy decision. We are 5 points off 4th with 2 matches in hand and a decent run could see us finishing 4th and get a CL spot. A CL spot can be worth $100 mil (kind of guessing here but think I'm close) or more next season. If we invest in a good tidy midfielder in January for say $20m and pay him $10m, I calculate our chances of finishing 4th goes up to 50% or more. In other words, our expected return would be about $20m ($100m x 0.5 - 20m - 10m). Invest 30m and get 20m in profit is an obvious choice. With no extra midfielder our chances of 4th are probably 10 to 20%.

We don't need a great midfielder, just someone tidy, mobile and young enough to get serious minutes. I don't know of names off the top of my head but I'm sure there a good possibilities.

Come on Rangnick and board, be smart, invest a little, get a good return, and give us some hope.

Do we really need yet another thread on our midfield?

 

[Chief123]

History tells us our owners spend when we miss out on top 4. Missing out might not be a bad thing.

 

[Infra-red]

I think we're too far gone. It would have to be a player who could have the same kind of effect that Bruno's mid-season arrival did - someone who could really lift the team and the club. I'm not sure there's anyone out there who could do that for us.

I see us slipping further down the table as the season goes on.

 

[VidaRed]

History tells us our owners spend when we miss out on top 4. Missing out might not be a bad thing.

They will spend more if we don't even qualify for the europa league.

Onwards to 8th! We need to drop a few points, I have full faith in our players to do the needful

 

[Chief123]

They will spend more if we don't even qualify for the europa league.

Onwards to 8th! We need to drop a few points, I have full faith in our players to do the needful

Relegation sounds an exciting prospect now....

 

[Chief123]

I'm an investor and this seems like an easy decision. We are 5 points off 4th with 2 matches in hand and a decent run could see us finishing 4th and get a CL spot. A CL spot can be worth $100 mil (kind of guessing here but think I'm close) or more next season. If we invest in a good tidy midfielder in January for say $20m and pay him $10m, I calculate our chances of finishing 4th goes up to 50% or more. In other words, our expected return would be about $20m ($100m x 0.5 - 20m - 10m). Invest 30m and get 20m in profit is an obvious choice. With no extra midfielder our chances of 4th are probably 10 to 20%.

We don't need a great midfielder, just someone tidy, mobile and young enough to get serious minutes. I don't know of names off the top of my head but I'm sure there a good possibilities.

Come on Rangnick and board, be smart, invest a little, get a good return, and give us some hope.

Not sure which midfielder you think we can buy for £15m that would make such a dramatic improvement to our team?? £15m doesn't even get you corner flags and bibs anymore.

 

[Shimo]

I look at it like we are 7 points off assuming Spurs win their games in hand.

There isn't a midfielder in the world that would transform us in a way to help get 4th or do well in the CL, especially not one that is available in the January window . One of the key items maybe is finally getting addressed, that in this league, playing with 2 in the middle of the park and having acres of space then between them and the front 4 is not going to let you control most games. The switch to a 4-3-3 will be a good start and even then it's not the formation, just recognition finally of where we lose the battle in most games.

That and maybe some of these players getting the sticks out of their asses, taking a look at what Elanga brought onto the pitch and realize, they need to work their bollocks off. That just having the Man United badge on the front of their shirt and whatever name is on their back is not enough for them to just magically dominate on the pitch. Then maybe we have a chance of making up the ground. From here on out though, there is almost no room left for pathetic performances.

 

[crossy1686]

History tells us our owners spend when we miss out on top 4. Missing out might not be a bad thing.

We spend badly though, throwing cash everywhere at players that are available but don't fit the club or the squad. Hence the mess we're in.

 

[VidaRed]

Relegation sounds an exciting prospect now....

To be fair, the glazers might actually feck off.

 

[SAFMUTD]

History tells us our owners spend when we miss out on top 4. Missing out might not be a bad thing.

Exactly, I'm more from the idea that we throw the season away. End up 8th so we avoid the europa league and God forbids the conference league.

Many players run out of contract in the summer like Lingard, Pogba, Mata and Cavani. Plus some others that well try to offload like Martial, Henderson and Van de Beek.

That's 7 senior players gone, it'll help us to lower the wages and hopefully the owners are willing to spend big to fill the holes in the squad.

 

[Gandalf]

I'm an investor and this seems like an easy decision. We are 5 points off 4th with 2 matches in hand and a decent run could see us finishing 4th and get a CL spot. A CL spot can be worth $100 mil (kind of guessing here but think I'm close) or more next season. If we invest in a good tidy midfielder in January for say $20m and pay him $10m, I calculate our chances of finishing 4th goes up to 50% or more. In other words, our expected return would be about $20m ($100m x 0.5 - 20m - 10m). Invest 30m and get 20m in profit is an obvious choice. With no extra midfielder our chances of 4th are probably 10 to 20%.

We don't need a great midfielder, just someone tidy, mobile and young enough to get serious minutes. I don't know of names off the top of my head but I'm sure there a good possibilities.

Come on Rangnick and board, be smart, invest a little, get a good return, and give us some hope.

Frankly I would be more concerned with the gaping hole where a right back should be. We certainly need better options in midfield but when it comes to Dalot and AWB you are talking about two players who should never play for the club again.

 

[Natener]

We aren't getting top 4. It's done. We have the easiest run of games, we should be actually Winning them. March is going to kill us. We've yet to take on any big teams and we are struggling hard trying to beat the likes of Watford. We got very very very lucky beating AV the first time. Tonight will be no different.

We probably would get some good results in March after making half a mess of this current run of easy games. United has been weird like that these years.

 

[romufc]

We might not be 15 points off but we do have eyes and we play some terrible football and more often than not get out played for huge portions of the game. Wouldn't even call it pessimism at this point just more like realism to say we probably aren't getting top 4 based off the way we play atm.

Not to disrespect you but did you also watch us last season? I dont think we played well, unless you are trying to say we played well last season?

We finished 2nd when we didn't play well, but must be my eyes deceived me last season.

 

[Bilbo]

I make Arsenal very slight favourites at this point, but christ where has everyone hidden their boll*cks? We can quite easily find some form and finish 4th or even 3rd. Have some optimism

 

[SER19]

In agreement here. Anything can happen in a cup competition and as rubbish as we are we're getting a bit harder to beat but desperately need a dm. poorer teams than us have won a CL

 

[Yagami]

Definitely think a 6 that can help control games and add some calmness and composure to us will be the difference between us getting top 4 and Arsenal or Tottenham.

If Arsenal get Arthur and we dilly-dally, I think we'll regret it.

Not sure which midfielder you think we can buy for £15m that would make such a dramatic improvement to our team?? £15m doesn't even get you corner flags and bibs anymore.

Plenty of good, press resistant midfielders could be bought. Problem is, either our scouts are really crap, or we as a club don't value that type of player.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

I'm an investor and this seems like an easy decision. We are 5 points off 4th with 2 matches in hand and a decent run could see us finishing 4th and get a CL spot. A CL spot can be worth $100 mil (kind of guessing here but think I'm close) or more next season. If we invest in a good tidy midfielder in January for say $20m and pay him $10m, I calculate our chances of finishing 4th goes up to 50% or more. In other words, our expected return would be about $20m ($100m x 0.5 - 20m - 10m). Invest 30m and get 20m in profit is an obvious choice. With no extra midfielder our chances of 4th are probably 10 to 20%.

We don't need a great midfielder, just someone tidy, mobile and young enough to get serious minutes. I don't know of names off the top of my head but I'm sure there a good possibilities.

Come on Rangnick and board, be smart, invest a little, get a good return, and give us some hope.

Arsenal also have 2 games in hand on 4th and we have 4.

 

[Amadaeus]

Invest in a Graham Potter, Pochettino, or maybe ETH and we will get fourth place. Honestly, we have a much talented squad than Brighton and the other team vying for fourth place. Problem stems deeper than our midfield. Ralf just need to find the right player, gameplan and formation and top four will be ours. The problem is Ralf doesn't seem to know what that is as he already ditched his 4-2-2-2 system. Let see if the 4-3-3 works.

 

[Lee565]

Fed up with all these seasons the owners keep happily writing off, This whole season has been a complete joke, wasteful and pointless signings, holding onto a doomed manager for too long and not even having any plan b, then hiring another inexperienced manger for the rest of the season and seemingly hesitant to back him in anyway even though he is supposedly going to be put in a position to help with recruitment and footballing structure of the club.

 

[TheRedHearted]

It’s been a huge gap for us and wouod balance our top heavy squad. Yes it’s supper important. A dm who can intercept, carry the ball forward or create quick transitions will help us immensely. Our team knows mcfred is weak and it’s worrying. It worries us, what makes us think it doesn’t worry the players? Back four have to remain tough regardless but let’s be honest, it’s restricting. Same for our attack.

The team look depleted but let’s be honest, that can switch over completely. Look at Arsenal and the beginning of the season, everyone on the football terrace laughing at them while I’m thinking “this could change so quick”.

We could 100 percent hit top four. We have been underperforming and our last game was hands down our best. The sad thing is a win would have lifted the spirits of the team but to draw after leading, I really hope Ralf still took the positives.

as for sancho, we keep looking at well drilled sides (like Dortmund in a terrible league) and think a player would kill it here. No, Sancho still needs development and confidence to do what he can do. That’s the only reason he’s not going at players at the moment. Ten Hag could sort him out. Maybe rashford too

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Defensive midfield is so deficient that a good DM would improve the whole team drastically. People were saying the same thing when Pereira was playing AM instead of Bruno ‘oh the whole team is shite’ and then we powered on to finish 3rd. A top class DM instead of Matic or McTominay and watch us rise immediately.

 

[Frank White]

Not to disrespect you but did you also watch us last season? I dont think we played well, unless you are trying to say we played well last season?

We finished 2nd when we didn't play well, but must be my eyes deceived me last season.

Think that's where the similarities end, even when we under performed we where still getting results. We've already lost as many games as we did the entire season and not to mention every other team seems to have got their shit together, well compared to us anyway.

 

[Abraxas]

If there was a midfielder available that we knew was quality, we knew would settle quickly then it's a fair argument. However there's still no guarantee it would propel us to 4th. It would help our chances, certainly. Saying it would help by 50% is completely arbitrary. Actually pretty close to being nonsense, you don't know who the signing is or the myriad of factors that determine if they hit the ground running.

I think we've got to identify the right couple of signings in midfield. Not place a time limit on it. If January can't get it done then personally I think it's a wiser solution to wait and get the longer term benefit of the best solution. If you go for the 4th choice guy just because he's available and it doesn't pay off all you do is reduce funds for the summer.

We've still got half a shot at 4th no matter what. It's not great currently but a couple of wins and things can change.

 

[romufc]

Think that's where the similarities end, even when we under performed we where still getting results. We've already lost as many games as we did the entire season and not to mention every other team seems to have got their shit together, well compared to us anyway.

So we have underperformed this season and are still in with a chance for top 4? how does that work? We can still get results.

I dont think we look any worse than last season, we were just as open last season, got loads of penalties that bailed us out. Who has got their shit together? Arsenal who can't field a team? Spurs who got destroyed by Chelsea? West Ham? Leicester?

 

[dove]

No successful investor "invests" like that. Absolutely no guarantees that new midfielder will settle quickly and give us any boost (Sancho?). It will very likely end up to be yet another mediocre signing and knowing that Rangnick is interim manager it's very likely that whoever comes after him maybe wants different type of midfielder... Risky investment.

 

[Frank White]

So we have underperformed this season and are still in with a chance for top 4? how does that work? We can still get results.

I dont think we look any worse than last season, we were just as open last season, got loads of penalties that bailed us out. Who has got their shit together? Arsenal who can't field a team? Spurs who got destroyed by Chelsea? West Ham? Leicester?

Well of course we have a chance at top 4 but so do about 4 other teams that seem to have half the problems we do atm. Forget about that non of are forwards are on it, are midfield is consistently out played and are defence is still shaky we apparently have a mass exodus of players wanting out too. Can you honestly say any of are players are inform right now, except maybe De Gea?

Think the top 3 are what we have atm so that leaves 4th open to West Ham, Arsenal, Spurs, Wolves and us. If you're optimistic about what you see right now then fair enough but personally don't think we've seen anything to warrant it.

 

[romufc]

Well of course we have a chance at top 4 but so do about 4 other teams that seem to have half the problems we do atm. Forget about that non of are forwards are on it, are midfield is consistently out played and are defence is still shaky we apparently have a mass exodus of players wanting out too. Can you honestly say any of are players are inform right now, except maybe De Gea?

Think the top 3 are what we have atm so that leaves 4th open to West Ham, Arsenal, Spurs, Wolves and us. If you're optimistic about what you see right now then fair enough but personally don't think we've seen anything to warrant it.

No. That is a worry I agree but I still think with a midfielder, we can push for top 4. If the Midfield is holding its own, we can pass the ball and protect the back 4, we will be better.

Look at Chelsea with / Without Kante
Liverpool with / Without Fabinho.

Even though our team is not that standard, I think a midfielder can propel us to top 4.