Mario Mandžukić

settembrini

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There are other ways to use a target man. Just because Jose chose to hoof the ball from the half way line doesn't mean Ole will.

When teams are in a low block, you will have to use crosses and none of our others can head the ball for toffee.

It's what the classic Fergie teams did.
Ferguson used crosses but his best teams almost never used big target men.
 

Enfant terrible

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I guarantee you he'll have a chant in a few months. He 'eats grass' from 1st to 90th minute.
Exactly. Đilkoš has a work rate of a thousand wild boars.

BTW

Mario Mandzukic & Cristiano Ronaldo together have been directly involved in 26 goals in the first 17 games of the past season in Serie A.

That wouldnt be a bad contribution.
He isnt the main striker, but he can bring physical presence and his attitude is always a positive force on the field.
 
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settembrini

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But he isn’t Fellaini? You’re making the assumption that because he is tall he must be exactly the same player.
No, you are making the assumption that I am assuming that. Obviously Mandzukic isn't exactly the same as Fellaini. I didn't compare them as players in any way except in the context of other people saying we needed him for a big physical presence as a plan B. Which I reject because we had that for years with Fellaini and it was awful.
 

TheGodsInRed

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Now I’m really confused. Why sign this chap as well as Dybala?
Because with Lukaku gone, we have limited players who can get 10+ goals a season.

He is a bit game player too. I think if we were in the champions league, he would be a good player to have, but at the stage we are at (should make top 4, but no where near the title) we might as well bed in the young players.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Not interested with this signing. We already have Martial, Rashford, Greenwood & May be swap deal with Lukaku & Dybala. Why do we need the 5th striker?
 

sammsky1

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Because with Lukaku gone, we have limited players who can get 10+ goals a season.

He is a bit game player too. I think if we were in the champions league, he would be a good player to have, but at the stage we are at (should make top 4, but no where near the title) we might as well bed in the young players.
So we are selling a lump to replace him with a worse quality lump.

i still don’t get it!
 

Rish Sawhney

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So we are selling a lump to replace him with a worse quality lump.

i still don’t get it!
If a strong centre forward who's good at holding the ball up and heading it is a lump then Mandzukic is a much better quality lump. Ignoring the fact that Lukaku can't even do that.

At this point you must be being deliberately obtuse. In what world is Mandzukic worse quality than Lukaku?

EDIT because I'm out of posts: "So why would Juve be willing to do that?"
Because they need someone younger and Sarri has eclectic ideas of what kind of player fits in his system. @sammsky1
Source: juventuz
 

sammsky1

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If a strong centre forward who's good at holding the ball up and heading it is a lump then Mandzukic is a much better quality lump. Ignoring the fact that Lukaku can't even do that.
So why would Juve be willing to do that? They are clearly not stupid so what is the rationale?
 

RussellWilson

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Ferguson used crosses but his best teams almost never used big target men.
Really? Must have missed Mark Hughes, Yorke, Sheringham, Saha.

A target man isn't just a big man that you hoof the ball to. It's a focal point of an attack that can keep the ball in the final third, bring others into play and use his body against physical centre backs.
 

mu4c_20le

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Do we need what he does? Does a club/team need what he does?
I think so. How many times have we struggled to break down teams when they sit back or Rashford/Martial get shackled and Pogba frustrated because he has no one to pass to? I think he can do a job for us, definitely. Not to mention the mans a winner and a big game player, something our young team sorely lacks.
 

NoPace

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Immediately our best striker against a bottom half team bunkering at Old Trafford and he knows how to press. Good model for the 3 young forwards to learn from too. Good one year signing.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I think so. How many times have we struggled to score when teams sit back or Rashford/Martial get shackled and Pogba frustrated because he has no one to pass to? I think he can do a job for us, definitely. Not to mention the mans a winner, something our young team sorely lacks.
You are referring to Lukaku for the struggle to score. Martial barely even get a chance to play in 9 under Ole & Mourinho.

Barcelona, city & Liverpool don’t have Mandzukic type of player. No, a team doesn’t need to have a type of Mandzukic player.
 

settembrini

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Really? Must have missed Mark Hughes, Yorke, Sheringham, Saha.

A target man isn't just a big man that you hoof the ball to. It's a focal point of an attack that can keep the ball in the final third, bring others into play and use his body against physical centre backs.
None of those guys were the size of Mandzukic or relied on their size to contribute as Mandukic does. I mean you've literally responded to me talking about big target men by mentioning Dwight Yorke. A guy who a) wasn't a target man and b) was about 5 ft 9.
 

bosnian_red

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Now I’m really confused. Why sign this chap as well as Dybala?
Because with Lukaku gone, we have limited players who can get 10+ goals a season.

He is a bit game player too. I think if we were in the champions league, he would be a good player to have, but at the stage we are at (should make top 4, but no where near the title) we might as well bed in the young players.
Mandzukic isn't someone who will get over 10 goals a season. Also he's not someone who will play most of the time or to be in the starting 11. He's literally being signed as our bench striker/target man when we need to add more physicality. Our midfield and attack options are (provided we sign Dybala):
Martial Rashford Dybala
Pogba McTominay Lingard

James ???? Greenwood
Fred Matic Mata
Chong, Gomes, Sanchez, Pereira as the extra's in midfield and attack. If we don't sign Mandzukic, then Sanchez goes in that 2nd 11 with Chong/Gomes/Pereira as extra's basically rounding out the squad for the midfield/attack, but if we sign Mandzukic then Sanchez is pretty much useless (which he is anyway). Basically 1 injury to the front 3/any sub, and James or Greenwood currently get subbed in. Not great depth. Huge potential, and I would personally be fine with that, but it makes sense for them to not be comfortable in that scenario (given that Sanchez is useless and will probably be injured most of the season if he isn't gone).
 

Bwuk

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He’d be a fantastic squad option. Leadership, a great fighter and winning experience.

He can play across the front 3 as well.
 

mu4c_20le

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You are referring to Lukaku for the struggle to score. Martial barely even get a chance to play in 9 under Ole & Mourinho.

Barcelona, city & Liverpool don’t have Mandzukic type of player. No, a team doesn’t need to have a type of Mandzukic player.
Well Liverpool narrowly missed out on the league and from what i remember salah and firmino struggled at times so maybe they do
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Well Liverpool narrowly missed out on the league and from what i remember salah and firmino struggled at times so maybe they do
And they won CL with both city & Barcelona won the league. Three of them don’t need Mandzukic type of player to win trophies.
 

RussellWilson

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None of those guys were the size of Mandzukic or relied on their size to contribute as Mandukic does. I mean you've literally responded to me talking about big target men by mentioning Dwight Yorke. A guy who a) wasn't a target man and b) was about 5 ft 9.
I literally said in my post a target man isn't necessarily a big man rather a role or type of forward. Yorke was a brilliant target man, amazing at holding up the ball and in air.

I'm guessing you never saw the likes of Yorke and Hughes play.
 

sammsky1

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If a strong centre forward who's good at holding the ball up and heading it is a lump then Mandzukic is a much better quality lump. Ignoring the fact that Lukaku can't even do that.

At this point you must be being deliberately obtuse. In what world is Mandzukic worse quality than Lukaku?

EDIT because I'm out of posts: "So why would Juve be willing to do that?"
Because they need someone younger and Sarri has eclectic ideas of what kind of player fits in his system. @sammsky1
Source: juventuz
So Sarri doesn’t know as much as the cafe. Sorry. Don’t buy that.
 

Pexbo

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I just looked at his age and thought “oh 1986, same age as me that’s fine”.

He’s (we’re) 33?! When the feck did that happen?
 

Ole’s Wheel

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Juventus smoking that crack. Let’s not think twice about this + Dybala.
 

settembrini

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I literally said in my post a target man isn't necessarily a big man rather a role or type of forward. Yorke was a brilliant target man, amazing at holding up the ball and in air.

I'm guessing you never saw the likes of Yorke and Hughes play.
1. Don't be childish.

2. I can't follow your train of thought in this discussion at all. I was talking about big target men because the discussion was about Mandzukic, a big target man who people were saying we should buy as a plan B. You then said that Ferguson played target men which I agree with but is irrelevant because Ferguson never used any that were like Mandzukic. A big guy who people want to use as a Fellaini type plan B when our plan A isn't working. Your response was then to list four random forwards at United, all very different payers, none of whom resemble Mandzukic. Why is Dwight Yorke, a small, skilful, quick player who liked to drop deep and then dribble and pass his way through defences relevant to the idea of United buying Mandzukic to use as a big physical target man?
 

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And they won CL with both city & Barcelona won the league. Three of them don’t need Mandzukic type of player to win trophies.
And we don't need to emulate them in all that they do. One of Barcelona's shortcomings is the lack of a plan b or alternative style. As a defender, it is difficult to change when you go from one type of attacker to another in the same match. I think that's why. Player like Giroud is effective off the bench.
 

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His experience would be invaluable to the younger players too, be a good back up and allow us to keep Rashford fresh, think we'll play Greenwood RW when he plays.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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And we don't need to emulate them in all that they do. One of Barcelona's shortcomings is the lack of a plan b or alternative style. As a defender, it is difficult to change when you go from one type of attacker to another in the same match. I think that's why. Player like Giroud is effective off the bench.
We don’t need to emulate them & having Mandzukic in the team is not the only option or way to provide us an alternative plan.
 

bosnian_red

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Juventus smoking that crack. Let’s not think twice about this + Dybala.
Bit of a weird thread that. No need to overthink it, he's coming to be a squad option as a classic 9 who would give us a different option to the rest. He's not going to be a starting option, especially not at his current level (last season was not a good one for him). Definitely has his uses though, so it makes some sense. Definitely makes Sanchez entirely pointless (normally is anyway), while Dybala makes Mata pretty pointless.
 

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I made a comparison because people keep saying we should buy him as a plan B even though we had years of Fellaini doing the same thing as a plan B and most people thinking (rightly) that it sucked.
It’s good to have a plan B in principle. It’s bad when that plan B is Fellaini.
 

SinNombre

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Mandzu is fine for the backup 9 as long as we do not give him more than a 2 year contract.
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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Sign this man up already!

Fred, I don’t care if you’re sold or you simply relinquish the shirt, give this man the number 17!

Super[Sub] Mario!
 

ManchesterYoda

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I would rather keep Lukaku as super sub. It's the role he's best suited for as the only thing he's strong at is finishing.