Exactly. Reinforce, sure, but the majority of success is getting the best out of players, not getting the best players.
Is Fred enough to fix our midfield?
- Thread starter VP89
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Never seen him play so I'm gonna have to trust the manager on this one.
He's no Fabinho.
We do need another CM signing in my opinion. I would absolutely love for it to be Milinkovic-Savic, but it seems that we are put off by the fee.
Fabinho is no longer an option, Jorginho is likely going to either City or Chelsea, Arsenal are strongly linked with Seri, there are seemingly none of the real targets left?
Might be time to think outside of the box a bit. Maybe try and get Gueye from Everton or Ndidi from Leicester? They likely wouldn't demand to start every game, and are both Kante-esque players, great ball winners. They could be the best competition/cover for Matic in the defensive midfield role. Ndidi is only 20 too. Brozovic, Cyprien or Ziyech could be good choices too, for the other midfield slots. There's lots of options out there, we just haven't been linked with many of them yet.
Fabinho is no longer an option, Jorginho is likely going to either City or Chelsea, Arsenal are strongly linked with Seri, there are seemingly none of the real targets left?
Might be time to think outside of the box a bit. Maybe try and get Gueye from Everton or Ndidi from Leicester? They likely wouldn't demand to start every game, and are both Kante-esque players, great ball winners. They could be the best competition/cover for Matic in the defensive midfield role. Ndidi is only 20 too. Brozovic, Cyprien or Ziyech could be good choices too, for the other midfield slots. There's lots of options out there, we just haven't been linked with many of them yet.
Fred as the only midfielder to come in wont alter much to what we have now, a disjointed team. Top full backs would improve it the most. a right winger would would also improve it a lot. A quick skillful striker instead of Lukaku. Someone who can run behind the defence would also improve us. Back to the midfield we need a minimum of 2 as Fellaini McTominnay and Herrera are not of the quality we need and Pogba is inconsistant.
Don’t think there’s a great deal wrong with the three we have starting for us right now, but we certainly need depth and Fred, it seems, will add quality where it’s needed. I firmly believe having 2 genuine, natural attacking fullbacks will transform this side and everyone’s performance levels will rise with it.
I do think they have to be commended that they generally have brought players who fit their system well, I get the feeling with us that on occasion we sign the player first then worry about fitting them in later. I think it has been that way for a number of years.
How many games did that trio have together last season?
Haven't watched him apart from a couple of CL games, but it sounds like he's more of an Herrera-type midfielder. We badly need a playmaker.
That is why you have a DoF.
No, he's a ball carrying creative type. I'm sure we'll sign a more defensive midfielder too.
Is he? I have heard very conflicting reports.
+ Strengths
Key passes
Defensive contribution
Passing
Long shots
- Weaknesses
Aerial Duels
Fred's Style of Play
- Gets fouled often
- Counter attack threat
- Likes to do layoffs
- Likes to dribble
- Likes to tackle
The painful truth expressed by that world renowned journo Melissa Reddy.
We United fans will be sleeping in a pool of our own tears tonight.
Well, I'm basing this on the very solid scientific basis of anything I can find on Youtube. He definitely offers something we currently don't have. Direct and dynamic, decent range of passing, switches play, can dribble and fast.
Absolutely not a chance Fred will be enough,will be staggered if we are not genuinely in for Savic also!
Fellaini and Carrick out means we need at least two mids.
Should we have also looked to upgrade on De Gea? Not a clear upgrade no. He has performed well and could have been a great signing if it had meant that we went for a Pogba - Matic - Herrera midfield combination as standard last season. However, he replaced one of the players least in need of replacing and so was ultimately a good but unnecessary purchase.
Anyway that doesn’t matter. We have Matic as a starter in the holding role. Herrera is in the squad but has not commanded a starting role. He has mostly had opportunities alongside Matic because no one made that position their own, but he has been used in the holding role on rare occasion when Matic did not start - he can and has been used in that position, and he can and has been used as Matic’s backup.
Even if he is clearly inferior, that would be perfectly normal and acceptable - generally, the notion of having backups of similar quality is fantasy. It also, of course, makes perfect sense that the team would struggle during a period where an important starter underperforms while remaining a mainstay in the team.
The reason Matic wasn’t rotated more is because Mourinho simply wasn’t interested in rotating him, and had nothing to do with lacking a suitable backup option. Were we to sign another player for that role it would change nothing, Matic would still start a similar number of games with rotation happening very rarely.
"By design", Christ...
Not even close, this midfield badly needs a brainy CM that can be the General, and Fred isn't even the best of the type of CM he is.
I know, right. They really deserve credit for being such geniuses to invent such a thing as a quiet transfer. Fabinho hasn't even been offered to everyone earlier, and for Liverpool to out of the blue pay the reported fee Monaco always wanted, without a transfer saga is just remarkable. Transfer royalty is what they areThat all depends on Pogba's form and stability next year i think. He can be giving brain to the whole team, if he is turned on.
I agree. I wonder why no one's taking a look at Kovacic at Madrid. He's clearly stalled his career by going there, isn't getting much game time and could be available at a snip. He would complement our set of midfielders (+ Fred) very well.
Anyone know what kind of player fred?
Honestly we need someone creative like kroos/pjanic who has ability to pass the ball and control tempo.
Honestly we need someone creative like kroos/pjanic who has ability to pass the ball and control tempo.
Maybe?
Havent seen enough of him to know. Seems like he'll make us a little better going forward, but may make us weaker defensively than lining up with Ander
Havent seen enough of him to know. Seems like he'll make us a little better going forward, but may make us weaker defensively than lining up with Ander
All teams that do not have a strong positional/possession game struggle in the middle nowadays. Even Barcelona don't look in control of games and their goalkeeper is called into action much more than he would few seasons back. Real are the same and their midfield is according to many, by the far the best individually. It doesn't matter with those teams though because they score goals and when you are ahead in most games, it changes the complexion of the game completely. Basically you either build towards a possession/positional style of football where you look for total control, not necessarily Guardiola's level but definitely more than we have now which would require to first of all have at least 9 players on the pitch who are comfortable technically regardless of position. Or, you work in a way that bypasses the midfield and look to deliver the ball to the attackers as quickly as possible which was our blue print under Fergie and was the way Barcelona set up in 2015 and to varying degrees, the current Real. The only catch with that is that it needs the Ronaldos, Neymars and Messis of this world to make it efficient. If you are looking to control a midfield through sheer individual quality however, I am not sure that's possible.
We badly need a playmaking CM.
He seems like a better version of Ander.
Melissa Reddy That's like using Fox News to prove a point about Trump.
That's like using Fox News to prove a point about Trump.I think this is the point. In the transfer window fans tend to fix in names. But the coach need players to do a job in his system. Liverpool have Keita, so they bring someone like Fabinho. United have Matic, then a player like Fred makes more sense. City have an aging Fernandinho, they will sign Jorginho.
All those players are in the correct place and the managers are right.
Messi
We need a DM tackler to help out with the defensive duties who can also start attacks.
We need a B2B to link the defence and attack.
We need a CB who will start I.e. better than all our current CBs.
One WB to provide width would suffice, 2 is ideal.
Really we need two windows to fix the deficiencies in the starting XI and to improve the squad. Who goes is up for debate.
We need a B2B to link the defence and attack.
We need a CB who will start I.e. better than all our current CBs.
One WB to provide width would suffice, 2 is ideal.
Really we need two windows to fix the deficiencies in the starting XI and to improve the squad. Who goes is up for debate.
Our midfield with Fred looks fine. What makes our midfield look clueless is the lack of movement from the front three and the chief culprit being Sanchez. They rather hold their runs or drop deep to receive a simple pass. When there's such poor movement upfront, the midfield can only do so much.
Fred plus Milinkovic-Savic will sort us out.
I don't think a single player will fix our midfield. It's the balance of the entire team. We need better FBs for sure, and 1 more midfielder will not magically fix our issues. Anyway I don't think our midfield is in as bad a shape as most think.
We have Andres Perreira & Scott Mctominay.. relax
So a tweet from a Liverpool supporting journalist is some sort of truth.
There really is no cure for such gullibility.
No player can solve our midfield problems. In conjunction with improving the personnel, we have to improve tactically.