To think that Wolves had the option to buy Vitinha for 20 million euros after his loan and they declined. How much would he be worth now?
Jason Wilcox - Director of Football
- Thread starter reddevilchennai
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He has had some good games but I agree overall he's another poor ETH buy. Too small for this position in the PL, its really that simple. I think he tries to make up for this by being overly aggressive in tackles and that contributes to his recurring knee injuries. He's good on the ball but not outstanding and not quick. For the money didnt improve us enough. Time to get rid when he's fit.
Agree Amorim needs to make best use of some of the squad. We know lot of players aren’t good enough - but many are.
We cannot have the situation where we need to change most players, he needs to use the players we have here and make them better - in particular Mainoo and Ugarte.
One of the things that’s often missed when you look at clubs like Wolves and Brighton, is the analysis of players that don’t work out. It is easier to incubate a young player at a club where there is less exposure and less pressure. That said, we should be able to find players with potential - but we should be prepared to give such players time and understand they would be consistent.
De Ligt has been a more than good enough CB.
He isn't the fastest but he is faster and more agile than Maguire, he is no Rio but has been able to get back in position.
Maguires ball playing is so overrated, he can hit a switch out to the wingback/fullback but that is it, his passes are normally behind someone or when he goes on a dribble he drives forward then passes it to someone behind him as he cannot break the lines.
De Ligt has shown he is able to switch play, even doing it from RCB to LWB.
Maguire panics as soon as he is pressed, did it about 2 or 3 times in the final.
I won't derail this anymore but De Ligt is far more technical than Maguire, he has still had sh1t moments but easily better.
I have watched about 20 games this season and have been far more impressed with De Ligt on the ball than Maguire.
Maguire is a better player, there's no doubt about it. De Ligt is a useful squad player but on starter wages. Poor buy so far. His passing is a weakness.
There's a hell of a lot of doubt about it. Overall their performances were about the same level this season, with both of them having periods where they were good and others where they were fairly poor. Hence why we seem to have about the same amount of people saying that one was better than the other, when in reality there was pretty much nothing between them.
Only time will tell whether De Ligt goes on to be better, worse or about the same level for us as Maguire has been. So far he hasn't shown either the true top level or bottom level that Maguire has had during his time here. The hope is that we might see something closer to the former and never any of the latter.
I disagree but it's a game of opinions. People used to argue with me Lindelof was better, hopefully this one I'm proved wrong.
Yes, our next CB signing (in summer 2026) should be a technically superior left-footed CB (regardless of Heaven's development) as a replacement for Licha. Good candidates are Castello Lukeba (Leipzig), Jorrel Hato (Ajax), Piero Hincapie (Leverkusen).
If Ashworth Wilcox Berrada are all sacked then Brailsford will have to come back doing recruitement.
Great insight there.
It'll be time for Murtough Madness again I reckon.
You know me mate, I was half joking.To tell you I like 3 at the back. Spend my best years playing that. Is that gone?
Watched Slovakia against Israel last night, exactly 5-2-2-1 formation by Slovaks like Rubén. Slovaks pressed could not get out of trouble, similar to United.
Do you think there is some secret formula how to get the best out of this Amorim system?
To tell you I like 3 at the back. Spend my best years playing that. Is that gone?
Watched Slovakia against Israel last night, exactly 5-2-2-1 formation by Slovaks like Rubén. Slovaks pressed could not get out of trouble, similar to United.
Do you think there is some secret formula how to get the best out of this Amorim system?
Haha yeah I know...
Not gone dw.
The secret formula is to coach it better.
Maguire has shown recently that he can be contributing going forward, his hijinks on the wing etc. he’s a better footballer than many give him credit for
Huge concern we still aren’t seriously linked with midfielders. Feel like the club have neglected that for years.
Since Bruno we’ve signed in midfield off the top of my head
Van De Beek 30m
Eriksen free
Sabitzer loan
Casemiro 60m
Mount 50m
Amrabat loan
Ugarte 50m
Absolute joke.
Also concerning lack of 1v1 dribblers
Since Bruno we’ve signed in midfield off the top of my head
Van De Beek 30m
Eriksen free
Sabitzer loan
Casemiro 60m
Mount 50m
Amrabat loan
Ugarte 50m
Absolute joke.
Also concerning lack of 1v1 dribblers
Didn't we pay a £10m loan fee for Amrabat? Only for ETH to not play him.
There were so many poor transfers in EtH's time that we forget this one.
Maybe we are doing it completely under the radar, obviously much like striker it depends on player sales
Which of our midfielders would you bench to a new one could partner Bruno ? Casemiro ? Ugarte ?
Bit of an exaggeration. We don't have European games next year, means one game per week. The squad has to be trimmed down.
Assuming we play the same formation we potentially have Mount, Cunha, Mbeumo and Amad for #10. Means, Bruno will drop as midfielder.
Bruno
Case
Ugarte
Collyer
Kone
For 2 positions. Unless Case leaves, we won't add a midfielder.
Collyer and Kone aren’t ready.
It’s essentially Case and Ugarte rotating for 1 spot because Bruno plays every game. And we’ve already tried this trio and know they’re not good enough.
Kone’s nowhere near ready. You must be one of the only people on the planet who doesn’t think Utd need a new midfielder. There’s no way Amorim is looking at our options and thinking we have what we need there. Whether we sign what we need will depend on sales and some very smart scouting unfortunately.
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That's not the point. I doubt we will sign anyone without offloading one of Case or Ugarte. Bruno is always available and that means, one spot for 2 players with Collyer as backup.
Good enough or not isn't relevant here . Its about squad management and trying to make use of what we have . Not everything will be fixed in one window.
Selling the surplus attacking players should be enough to buy a midfielder because Casemiro and Ugarte aren’t going anywhere. And “good enough” is very relevant when we’re talking about squad management and our midfield, because it isn’t good enough and that’s a big problem, so we’ll try to bring a midfielder even if that means Ugarte and Case being on the bench.
How can you compete with that midfield? Absolutely crazy if we start the season with that midfield. Bruno is hit and miss, Case is done, Ugarte limited, Collyer and Kone too young. We need at least 1 new top midfielder
Agreed. It's my biggest issue, we used to have Keane, Scholes, Butt and Veron.
And since then we've only signed Pogba as a technically gifted central midfielder. Bruno is a 10, but even so.
Technically gifted midfielders and possession football have been the way for so long yet we avoid both like the plague.
We aren't being linked to any, if that means anything
Casemiro is good enough when he plays 1 game a week.
Maguire was here when the midfield was better. De Ligt has not enjoyed protection from a competent and well meaning midfield. I rate De Ligt higher. He did not disappoint me as much as he has for some.
Yes, the great McFred midfield that everyone raved about the protection they offered.
I doubt it. He's been with us for 3 seasons and was good in the first and poor to mediocre at best in the last 2. Compare our midfield to the top 4, they're miles better and we need to realize without a top midfield you dont win anything. It has been our obvious weakness for the past years and unless we dont fix it, no striker or winger can help us
Well I don’t rate Ugarte even the tiniest bit whatsoever, so hopefully the midfielder would play alongside Bruno. Ideally Mainoo gets back to the level he was in his first season
Mate that list is absolutely abysmal. Noticed many people have completely forgotten about Mainoo but Casemiro can’t run and Ugarte is one of the worst midfielders in the division. Collyer also super limited and can’t stay fit and Kone likely to go out on loan
That team was still better than what we have now. Cast your thoughts to what you wrote regarding performances back then compared to now. It is almost night and day.
I didn't mention Mainoo because Ruben doesn't consider him as a midfielder. Again, my point is not about the quality we have but about the squad size. We won't get a midfielder unless one of Case or Ugarte leaves.
Maybe I misremember, but I've always found Ugarte satisfactory. Is he really a flop? What do you base this on please?
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Yoro De Ligt Heaven
That's the ideal back 3 for me next season.
Bruno and New midfielder
Mbuemo a new striker and Cunha as the front 3
Amad and Dorgu as wing backs.
This system will work far better with players that bother the opposition defenders and don't allow them to have it too easy.
Hojlund you can almost leave unmarked because you know he won't punish you if he gets the ball in space. That's how teams could easily overload us and push our wing backs into our own final 3rd
That's the ideal back 3 for me next season.
Bruno and New midfielder
Mbuemo a new striker and Cunha as the front 3
Amad and Dorgu as wing backs.
This system will work far better with players that bother the opposition defenders and don't allow them to have it too easy.
Hojlund you can almost leave unmarked because you know he won't punish you if he gets the ball in space. That's how teams could easily overload us and push our wing backs into our own final 3rd
We are not going from 15th to title challengers in a single transfer window. We are definitely be going into this season with a few positions on the pitch that are not as good as we need them. What we need to do is prioritise the areas of the greatest need, which is beyond any doubt our attack. Then next summer we can sort out CM and CB.
You are assuming that all our signings will click, which never happened even when we were top dogs. I agree the priority is attack but it we abandon our midfield again, we will struggle in the league once more and then blame it on attack, while the actual issue will lie further behind the forward line. Sometimes, a single switch can get the whole team to function properly and without a proper midfield, we will keep struggling, unless you have Messi/Ronaldo level players leading the line.
50 million signing who doesn’t make touch the pitch for the biggest game of the season. Midfielder who’s scared of the ball, can’t play a pass, can’t carry, can’t shoot. He just runs around kicking shins, and we paid 50m. We had Mejbri who did that for free, and Collyer who’s just as good
He really is not. His legs are well and truly gone and there have been ample games which show that. I cannot believe people still expect a midfield of Bruno/Cas to manage our PL campaign, after what we witnessed last 2 seasons.