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James really needs to replace his barber to have a cut that suits him. I really can't take him serious with it.
What's up with it? Maybe he should get a fade, just to be different.
Agreed. The Henry V look doesn't really work on James.
But if James can play football like King Henry took out the Dauphin he can sport whatever do he likes!
Garner and Fred play different positions. Our problem is that Garner is a sitting or defensive midfielder who is comfortable in a 2 man midfield, whereas Fred is neither defensive nor comfortable. Garner would not be brought back to replace Fred but to perform the role Fred and McTominay share between them (and neither of them do it well). Overall footballing abilities, though, I've seen Garner do more than Fred ever has.
Do you think there are things then, that managers and coaches see in a player, that you don’t? Do you think Garner would be a starter for Brazil for example?
Not trying to be confrontational- it’s just so ridiculously common for a fan on a message board say X (youth team player) is better than Y (established but unpopular first teamer). And yet it so rarely happens that X successfully replaces Y.
I’ve only seen Garner play in the FA cup matches (he’s seemed excellent in both) so I’m not trying to denigrate him. Maybe it’s the strength, positional or tactical aspects which football fans are less good at noticing but managers do?
100%
Hi. I appreciate the spirit of your comment. To answer, I don't watch Brazil. I saw them play for the first time in years when I saw them in Russia 2018. Their whole team moves and breathes as one, which is not what we see in Premier League teams (City maybe aside). That said, Garner and Fred play different positions in different systems. I think if you compare Garner to other holding midfielders, he looks good, and if you compare Fred to other offense-minded midfielders, he comes up short. I see Fred make mistakes, sloppy passes, missing tackles, getting brushed off easily, and shooting wildly. I don't see Garner making silly mistakes like that, so in my view, he's a better player.
I think that’s an entirely fair assessment! It will be interesting to see what happens to Garner next season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up somewhere like a newly promoted Bournemouth or Fulham on loan for the season. Or would you prefer to keep him at Utd but potentially playing a fair bit less?
I think we needed Garner here this season, and I hope we sign a new midfield in the summer that is vastly superior to Garner. I would still love to have him in the first team, even if not starting, but you're right that if he went to a newly promoted Premier League side he would get the battle-hardening he needs to really kick on at this level.
Bring him back but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest in the midfield aswell, we need depth, which we actually need to rotate. No point bringing him back if he doesn’t play. We have a habit of doing that to players.
What a load of utter waffle this is.
The long and short of it...we need to see if Garner is a PL footballer.
Another game to see what he's about with Nottingham forest playing Preston...
So true.
How did he play ?
James turns 21 in a few weeks. He's pretty impressive for his age and I'd like to see him given a chance to crack the McFred oligarchy. If he flops, so be it, but he's good enough to be given a proper chance. That said, we still need to bring in a top CDM.
Mediocre, a he mostly is as a number 10.
Raving about him again today.
I think Fred is one of the worst midfield signings we have made, especially considering the fee.....but I totally agree with your comment. Garner doing well for Forest by no means shows he can come into a much more pressurised envronment for us and peform better eve than Fred who I far from fond of player wise.
With the possibility of Pogba, Pereira, Lingard, VDB, Matic maybe all leaving we could literally be down to McFred net season minus transfers so I hope that maybe Garner is ready for a squad role and maybe added to a prudent free signing like Kamara leaving us to make a big deal still in cm
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I think it's important we start getting it right with these young lads, give him a season to see what he can do, if he's showing real promise then keep him and if he's looking a bit below what we're looking for then sell with a buyback.
Don't agree about the Fred statement, I think he has had some excellent games for us. He is often played as a more defensive minded midfielder rather than a more forward thinking player, to which he is more adept, although I do think he has had some very poor games also, to me he is a decent midfielder, but to challenge for trophies then he would need to be upgraded, but still a good player coming of the bench to give us some momentum.
Now, about Garner, I agree with you that he looks ready for a squad role, but to come straight in and dominate games, I'm not sure he's quite there yet. I feel that Garner is one of those players who will gradually improve throughout his career, so say in three seasons time he could be an outstanding type of DM, meanwhile you are correct in the fact that we will need another midfielder, or two, to give us some dominance in that area, which we don't have at the moment.
I would love to see Hannibal given some minutes, and to me he should replace Mata on the bench.
It'll be tough. Personally if we could get him a loan to a PL side and one that, more often than not, will have him featured in the first 11 then that will be the best bet.
If United fans get their wish and we do (finally) improve the centre of the park in the first 11 then players like Garner, who clearly need game-time to progress, as his recent loan spells have shone, may find it difficult to get a look in.
Now, its a obvious balancing act. United fans expect us to compete while simultaneously wanting the club/management to bring in a few more youth players into the fold. Personally, I'm more inclined for us to promote some of the reserve players but I'm also acknowledging the fact that challenging for honours, or even top 4 , may be on the receiving end.
If United fans get their wish and we do (finally) improve the centre of the park in the first 11 then players like Garner, who clearly need game-time to progress, as his recent loan spells have shone, may find it difficult to get a look in.
Now, its a obvious balancing act. United fans expect us to compete while simultaneously wanting the club/management to bring in a few more youth players into the fold. Personally, I'm more inclined for us to promote some of the reserve players but I'm also acknowledging the fact that challenging for honours, or even top 4 , may be on the receiving end.
I don't mind the idea of giving him shot but that means we must sign top class and proven DM. Having 2 leaders (Bruno & this top class DM) in midfield to help Garner in midfield 3 will put the pressure off from Garner's shoulder.
We would be a better side if Garner replaced Fred ....offensively and defensively.
Makes sense. Hannibal on loan to get a full season of adult football.
Starters: #6-Fred
Backups: McTominay/Matic/Garner
Unless we sign 2 CMs like we should and just move on from Matic.
Starters: #6-Fred
Backups: McTominay/Matic/Garner
Unless we sign 2 CMs like we should and just move on from Matic.
He can replace Scott as well
Fred and Mctom are 8s, Matic will be gone, we need to buy 2 midfielders
Yes but not even highlighting Fred you hit the nail on the head for me "A good player coming off the bench" a squad role basically. For me, we have a squad of 35players and in terms of good "starters" we barely have a 5 a side team in my opinion. We have far too many squad players starting regularly Lindelof, Fred, McTominay being three obvious ones but there are plenty more. We need to trim the squad numbers wise, lower the number of squad options to quality first team options. We need a squad of 15 top players and 10 squad options including yougnsters, off the top of my head I would say currently its more like 5/6 top players 15-18 squad options including youngsters and at least 9 lots of deadwood for various reasons that is near unforgivable considering the ivestsment we have made
I'd still like to see him get a season in the PL with someone else under his belt before I'd take a chance on him. Dan James showed just how steep a jump in class it is from the Championship.
Think that's what he meant. We'd get a 6 and bring back Garner to act as a 'new midfielder'. The 6 would be partnered with Fred as our starters and then Matic, Mctominay and Garner as backups
To be fair Poch would probably give him games if he's good enough, given his track record. I guess Tan Hag would too, although I'd rather he had a PL loan.
State of our midfield though, we probably need him in the squad
State of our midfield though, we probably need him in the squad
Fred 
An absolute fecking liability!
An absolute fecking liability!
He'd make sense as Tchouameni's back-up next season as we need 2 DM's.
Tchouameni can play in tandem with Garner and we can see which one adapts best to thre Premier League
We need a quality starting #8 to play with Tchouameni, Garner has never played above 2nd tier football, a season as a back-up is where he needs to begin his potential PL career.
If we had a proper DM and Pogba stayed then I would assume the starting 8s would be Bruno and Pogba. McT, Fred, Garner filling in for those players wouldn't be bad options. Problem is, like people have been saying we probably have too many numbers and not enough quality. DvB, Matic might stay and then we'd have 8 CMs plus maybe Hannibal too for 3 spots. Too many players but not enough competition.
If Pogba, Matic leave then we'd have the right numbers but probably not the right quality. Unless Hannibal or Garner can make massive strides of course.
I was thinking the same for Tchouameni as back up
As back-up for who? He's one of the best DM's in Europe, he's played CL football and is a starter for the French national team.
Plenty of players have played CL football and Fred starts for Brazil????
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