Luckhurst: United prepared to move for a holding midfielder in January

Think he'll be really good in a 5-3-2. So he'll effectively be in the DM / CB hybrid role people are talking about. Sort of like what Matic does now. Won't be as exposed aerially because Maguire / Varane can deal with long balls. Lindelof is actually very good in mopping up and in 1v1 battles when the ball is on the ground.

A right wing back is pretty much a necessity in that system, so we'd have to bank on Dalot to improve or AwB to suddenly become Trent.

We'd also have to drop a forward and we suddenly have too many of those now. So:

------------------------- GK ---------------------------
------ Varane -- Lindelof -- Maguire ------
---- AwB ---------------------------------- Shaw --
---------------- Pogba -- McT ---------------------
--------------------- Bruno ----------------------------
--------- Greenwood ------ Ronaldo ----------

No space for two of Greenwood / Rashford / Sancho / Cavani in that side. But I think that's an overall better team than our current 4-2-3-1.
We bought a lad for 75m to sit on the bench? Just to shoehorn Lindelof back into the guest team after we’ve spent 45m to upgrade on him?
 
We bought a lad for 75m to sit on the bench? Just to shoehorn Lindelof back into the guest team after we’ve spent 45m to upgrade on him?

That's not the right argument though. If we somehow cloned all our players and played the 5-3-2 above against our standard 4-2-3-1, who will win? I think the 5-3-2 edges it unless you have McFred in the 4-2-3-1 and drop Pogba entirely.
 
We need a GK, two CMs, a backup RB, a CF who isn't in his mid-30s....not going to happen all at once though is it?

Going into this window, we also needed a CB and a RW, sorted both of those positions, now it requires patience.
And who is to blame for us going into this season needing a CB and RW? Why did we not sign the CB we clearly needed last season instead of wasting 40 odd million on a midfielder the manager never wanted and another 20m on a teenage winger the manager doesn't trust or feel inclined to use?

We would have been better off spending the money we wasted on VDB and Diallo on a CB or DM and then go into this window not needing so much. It's all water under the bridge now and Ole has got to think creatively to conjure up a solution that doesn't involve expecting 50 plus games from McFred or hoping that Matic pulls back the clock and gives us 20 or so quality performances because chances of those things happening are close to zero.
 
Surely we could have still sold Donny for a decent fee this summer, even if we need somewhat of a loss. Its clear ole doesn't trust him in the pivot so he is second or third backup for bruno which is pointless. We should have cut our losses and used the funds to buy a midfielder who can play in a double pivot. Adding that to the money we could have got for lingard makes the lack of midfield signings seem so avoidable
 
Surely we could have still sold Donny for a decent fee this summer, even if we need somewhat of a loss. Its clear ole doesn't trust him in the pivot so he is second or third backup for bruno which is pointless. We should have cut our losses and used the funds to buy a midfielder who can play in a double pivot. Adding that to the money we could have got for lingard makes the lack of midfield signings seem so avoidable
If he’s not fitting it here, what makes anyone believe that some elite club or other is going to take him for the 30m+ we paid for him?

Please don’t cite the James example. He got games and minutes ahead of DVB so I’m not surprised clubs like Leeds went in for him
 
Lindeloff reads the game well.
The pass he made to Bruno for his goal against Leeds was Pogba like.
He can defend. His one weakness is heading. Varane is far superior.
We have Bailly as cover for CB and Lindeloff can be too.

Yet if we do not make a specialist CDM signing today, the Ronaldo signing looks exactly what I thought at first.
A Glazers revenue generating exercise.

Fred is average.
McT is a box to box player
Matic is done.

The Southampton and Wolves match showed our lack of depth in the department.
The way people frown at this idea you would think its an outlandish idea that has been tried and tested by teams that have won Championships before. Declan Rice, the touted solution to our DM issues, started out as a CB, players like Dani Alves played RB and CM effectively so too did Pepe when Jose wanted a thug to rough up Barca or Edmilson back in the day for Brazil and Barcelona.

I think Lindelof has the skillet to be a short term solution to a troublesome position. One thing is for sure our current options just aren't good enough so it shouldn't hurt to give it a try. Doing nothing and persisting with the Fred, Matic and McT trio will do more damage than trying a creative left field solution like trying Lindelof there.
 
Next summer we should see several players move on including Jones, Matic, Mata, Martial, and possibly Bailly. Maybe we can get someone in January if available.
 
I would be all for giving Lindelof a go at CDM. He can't be worse than Fred or Matic, not physically possible.

He's spineless when defending his own box but his through balls to Rashford and Bruno are excellent.
Kind of wish we had kept Axel Tuanzabe and loaned/sold Dalot instead as he could have been tried there.
 
Then why does Neves also blitz him in attacking stats too? Do they do more attacking and defending? Tbf they probably do as we spent most of our games watching McTominay and Fred pass the ball sideways to each other.

I love your responses here. McTominay is not our midfield savior but it's interesting seeing all the adulation he receives while Fred gets all the flack for basically not hiding from the ball like McTominay does.
 
So this article is turning out to be bollocks at the end. Not because Ronaldo wasn't a significant signing, but was written well before the transfer when we were not in for him.

Still got a few hours but doesnt sound we are in for anyone else. Hope to be wrong and theres a CM in mind.
 
I love your responses here. McTominay is not our midfield savior but it's interesting seeing all the adulation he receives while Fred gets all the flack for basically not hiding from the ball like McTominay does.

Fred also gets lot of praise and McTominay gets lot of shit. So both of them gets praised and both of them gets lot of shit, just like any other ManUtd players.
 
We didnt actually need a right wing this summer though, greenwood was in great form there at the end of last season

On the ronaldo signing, it is certainly exciting but there have been questions around whether juve and portugal would be better without him in recent years
Portugal better, the one who won Euros and League of nations? Those kind of questions don't exist as far as I'm concerned.

As for Juve he was good for them and wasn't because of him they didn't do well in CL.

We absolutely needed a RW cause imo Greenwood is a striker although he does good at RW and we haven't had a proper RW for ages. Even if Mason was good there and he was we need cover.
 
If he’s not fitting it here, what makes anyone believe that some elite club or other is going to take him for the 30m+ we paid for him?

Please don’t cite the James example. He got games and minutes ahead of DVB so I’m not surprised clubs like Leeds went in for him
Well i think we should have been willing to make a loss on him to fund a midfielder. Saying that i think we could still get a good fee for him and he would be of interest to other european clubs. It seems clear we signed him without having an idea of how to use him so i dont think you can write him off as a player hecause he has struggled
 
Portugal better, the one who won Euros and League of nations? As for Juve he was good for them and wasn't because of him they didn't do well in CL.

We absolutely needed a RW cause imo Greenwood is a striker although he does good at RW.
Portugal won the euros five years ago, they went out in the round of 16 this year and were generally unimpressive.

At juve he scored a lot of goals but many think he unbalanced the team and his presence coincided with poorer team performance
 
Can't believe people thought Rio had any inside knowledge here. Like Roy Keane said on Sunday don't believe these pundits who pretend they know everything that's happening inside clubs
 
Portugal won the euros five years ago, they went out in the round of 16 this year and were generally unimpressive.

At juve he scored a lot of goals but many think he unbalanced the team and his presence coincided with poorer team performance
In any case having Ronaldo certainly hasn't been the problem. Not in this Euros nor before.
As for Juve that's just silly talk imo. How exactly did the unbalance the team?
 
Liverpool have fit centre backs this year and chelsea have tuchel all season as well as lukaku. Its a much stronger league this season. No CDM does definitely mean no title
You can't say anything definite, no CDM no title too. League is stronger and we're stronger too.
 
We're going to have to make do with a double pivot, but what that means of course is that an attacking player will have to be sacrificed.

But who? The Undroppables are Ronaldo, Bruno and Pogba. We either go with Pogba in the pivot so we can unleash two of Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford or we go with McFred but then only one of JS, MR and MG get the start. Yes, injuries and rotation will play their part over the course of a season, but on any given day if we are to unleash our best XI we'll have to leave off someone who should be starting for us. A great problem to have, but we didn't spend 70m to bench Sancho. Greenwood, well, is grown into a beast. Rashford will return...a beast.

The hope is that McTominay can grow into a DM, but at the age of 24 can he do it? I have my doubts.
 
Can't believe people thought Rio had any inside knowledge here. Like Roy Keane said on Sunday don't believe these pundits who pretend they know everything that's happening inside clubs

It's not Rio's fault people on here totally wilfully misunderstood what he said.
 
Kind of wish we had kept Axel Tuanzabe and loaned/sold Dalot instead as he could have been tried there.
It’s ok we can put the iceman there and then it frees up Fred to play in his preferred LB position
 
Sancho is hardly a world-class signing, let’s give him time to see if he makes it at this level and if he has the confidence to succeed. Notching home assists in the Bundesliga against wide open defensive units is not the same as the Premier League, far from it.
That can be said about any other league in Europe. I suppose we'll have to see if Varane is good enough for the PL as well?
 
Chelsea had Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic and yet they buy Saul.

We have Matic, McT and Fred. We buy no one.

That's why they are favourites for the title, and we are not. They dont feck around like we do. If they see a gap, they plug it, and dont wait for next summer.
 
Portugal won the euros five years ago, they went out in the round of 16 this year and were generally unimpressive.

At juve he scored a lot of goals but many think he unbalanced the team and his presence coincided with poorer team performance

I think we will be better without Ronaldo, even if we don't get to sign Ribéry who has been a better player last season.
Great player but he obviously wasn't United through and through. In the long run we're better off without someone with his attitude. Just wonder who will replace him and his goals.
You lot slagged me of around jan when I said he was playing for a move....how right I was,we will now move on and be a better team without him......there will be more unity at the club.He"s had a face like a smacked arse all season,good riddance.......
Because he ruined chances for good team play, (by shooting when he should have passed, diving instead of muscling through in the box and laying off to a striker, etc) in an attempt to enhance his own tallies.

We're better off.
I acctually think our team will be stronger next season, 2 reasons.
1. The team spirit will be stronger getting rid of his neverending moaning.
2. It's better too have two almost as good players as Ronaldo than Ronaldo only..Benzema and Ribery (Who I rate atleast as good as Ronaldo when he is in a good team) for instance.
He has sold them a virus.

I honestly believe this is a great bit of business & that we will be even better without him.

Ronaldo is undoubtedly a fantastic player but an utter utter cnut! I don`t think our performances will suffer too much after the dust on this has settled. It always seemed to be about Ronaldo, he was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted on the pitch & I believe our other "star" players suffered because of it. Rooney & Berbatov will blossom & come into their own next season.

Also I feel a lot less like a whore being a Manchester United supporter & an apologist for the mosy unlikeable twat to have ever kicked a ball for us.

These are some of the posts from one thread back in 2009 when we sold Ronaldo. I remember reading similar posts from Madrid fans when they sold him and now we see the same from Juventus. It's nothing new, he just proves everyone wrong all the time.
 
See you all next transfer window, we are done. So glad I didn't waste my time on the Saul, Camavinga, Neves nonsense.
 
Well i think we should have been willing to make a loss on him to fund a midfielder. Saying that i think we could still get a good fee for him and he would be of interest to other european clubs. It seems clear we signed him without having an idea of how to use him so i dont think you can write him off as a player hecause he has struggled
It’s the Glazers mate, they aren’t giving away players for a loss. WHU didn’t meet our valuation for Jesse so we walked away from it.

This nonsense is quite ridiculous
 
Terrible plan and close to the transfer window following Ronaldo transfer. Just because we've made some other strong deals in the window, it doesn't mean that we should ignore one of the biggest glaring weaknesses in the entire squad and hope that everything will be okay. Not signing a viable DM option can very well cost us the PL title and other silverware we could win this season. It would be one thing if we signed a younger Ronaldo but he's 36 years old and has a couple years to offer at high level at best.
 
Chelsea had Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic and yet they buy Saul.

We have Matic, McT and Fred. We buy no one.

That's why they are favourites for the title, and we are not. They dont feck around like we do. If they see a gap, they plug it, and dont wait for next summer.
To be fair we had a few gaps to plug and didn't do to bad in that regard, Ronaldo included as a top goalscorer.
I think it's pretty obvious we're after Rice and to get him it's going to cost a fortune, something we couldn't do this window (as gutted as I am).
I still think we're good enough to challenge but the defensivve midfield issue will probably see us fall short.
 
Our fans will never be happy… is what I have taken from this thread…over and out!
 
Our fans will never be happy… is what I have taken from this thread…over and out!

We needed a midfielder.

We’ve had a fantastic window, I am happy, but we won’t win things with the midfield options we have this season.
 
To be fair we had a few gaps to plug and didn't do to bad in that regard, Ronaldo included as a top goalscorer.
I think it's pretty obvious we're after Rice and to get him it's going to cost a fortune, something we couldn't do this window (as gutted as I am).
I still think we're good enough to challenge but the defensivve midfield issue will probably see us fall short.
It's not obvious
 
I don't think VDB works as a #10, because he doesn't take risks in his game, like a tricky pass or shoot when there's opportunity... he isn't very proactive at all, he actually hides himself in games. Lingard should be bruno's primary-backup.

But playing in the double pivot could work, because he doesn't have to show up all the time. His quick passes and movement could improve our build up, especially with the likes of Matic, Scott or Fred by his side. Also, with DVB playing in the pivot, Pogba could spend more time as LW, which is the best for us.
 
DVB in a the double pivot will quickly transition the ball to Fernandes and sancho. The other player in the pivots role should be to screen the defense and let DVB be a nuisance to the opposition team
 
It’s the Glazers mate, they aren’t giving away players for a loss. WHU didn’t meet our valuation for Jesse so we walked away from it.

This nonsense is quite ridiculous
Whats the nonsense?

We will end up losing money on donny down the line anyway but will have kept paying his salary for however long we keep him. Its about taking a sensible decision on whats best for the team

On lingard the point is our valuation was ridiculous! Now we are very likely to lose him for free having paid his substantial salary for another year while he contributes very little

By shifting those players we could have strengthened a glaring weakness and made the squad more balanced. Its a fairly basic point but possibly to complex for you to grasp
 
We're going to have to make do with a double pivot, but what that means of course is that an attacking player will have to be sacrificed.

But who? The Undroppables are Ronaldo, Bruno and Pogba. We either go with Pogba in the pivot so we can unleash two of Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford or we go with McFred but then only one of JS, MR and MG get the start. Yes, injuries and rotation will play their part over the course of a season, but on any given day if we are to unleash our best XI we'll have to leave off someone who should be starting for us. A great problem to have, but we didn't spend 70m to bench Sancho. Greenwood, well, is grown into a beast. Rashford will return...a beast.

The hope is that McTominay can grow into a DM, but at the age of 24 can he do it? I have my doubts.
There are no undroppables and certainly not a 36 year old. Both Bruno and Rashford were seriously overplayed last season. Pogba wasn't because he was dropped at the start of the season.
Were overstocked this season no argument, 7 players you'd be keen to get on the pitch but only 4 places to use them. But Cavani is gone next season, Pogba will probably be gone and Ronaldo gone the next season. At which point you're down to 4 players for 4 positions and most of them approaching their peak you'd hope.
And frankly Cavani and Ronaldo are closer to one player in terms of the appearances you can expect from them. Rashford will be out for another month and half and your probably talking January before hes hitting some form in the best case scenario. Sancho will need time to settle and I'd still be a bit wary of maxing out Greenwoods appearances, a couple of weeks away from the first team here and there can still help him a lot. Can't Pogba negotiate with other teams in January too? We might not want to be too reliant on him in the run in if it comes to that.
I dont think Ronaldo coming in is ideal for the attack in terms of getting everyone the game time they need. But then training everyday with Ronaldo cant hurt them surely? So hopefully it evens itself out and the problem will start solving itself in a years time.
Similarly McTominay and Fred cant start every game so Pogba will be playing in midfield semi often.
 
There are no undroppables and certainly not a 36 year old. Both Bruno and Rashford were seriously overplayed last season. Pogba wasn't because he was dropped at the start of the season.
Were overstocked this season no argument, 7 players you'd be keen to get on the pitch but only 4 places to use them. But Cavani is gone next season, Pogba will probably be gone and Ronaldo gone the next season. At which point you're down to 4 players for 4 positions and most of them approaching their peak you'd hope.
And frankly Cavani and Ronaldo are closer to one player in terms of the appearances you can expect from them. Rashford will be out for another month and half and your probably talking January before hes hitting some form in the best case scenario. Sancho will need time to settle and I'd still be a bit wary of maxing out Greenwoods appearances, a couple of weeks away from the first team here and there can still help him a lot. Can't Pogba negotiate with other teams in January too? We might not want to be too reliant on him in the run in if it comes to that.
I dont think Ronaldo coming in is ideal for the attack in terms of getting everyone the game time they need. But then training everyday with Ronaldo cant hurt them surely? So hopefully it evens itself out and the problem will start solving itself in a years time.
Similarly McTominay and Fred cant start every game so Pogba will be playing in midfield semi often.
I dont think so. Ole already said after the Wolves game that Ronaldo isnt coming here to sit on the bench, and Ronaldo himself probably has a stipulation in his contract to play in 75% of league and Champs league games i'd guess.
So yeah Ronaldo will be playing a lot.
 
Shame we couldn't get a DM but in all honesty Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho is by far way better than I expected.

Happy with the window, would be nice if the board/Ole are looking at possible DM's for January
 
I dont think so. Ole already said after the Wolves game that Ronaldo isnt coming here to sit on the bench, and Ronaldo himself probably has a stipulation in his contract to play in 75% of league and Champs league games i'd guess.
So yeah Ronaldo will be playing a lot.
Will we ever play with him and Cavani against a low block side? Having the two of them with width from sancho and possibly pogba with only one holding midfielder and Bruno underneath Ronaldo and Cavani to me is the best way to break down those blocks