Based on the performances of our other attacking and creative players this season.
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 18
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 2
He’s just not that type of player at all. He was at his best at Chelsea playing as an attacking midfielder, occupying half spaces to receive the ball on the turn high up the field. He’s far more Donny van de Beek in his profile than a Christian Eriksen type of player. And signing him for the sum and salary we did to try and morph him into something he’s not was just rather silly.
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It’s not a case of “being negative before giving him a chance” — it’s just simply looking at clear player profiles and coming to a sensible conclusion that, tactically with the players we already have, this is a huge misgiving and we’ll struggle to make it work. (We already did when he and our other two first choice midfielders were fit)
But we did not? We clearly wanted to use him in a similar role as we used McTominay the past month or so. And that is inline with his strenght the way you describe them. It is just a bit different from the setup people expected. And you could always argue that the setup is naive or poor.
I was talking about him replacing Eriksen. But yes, McTominay is probably the closest thing to what Mount will (and does) offer.
The set-up is poor, which is what the second half of my post alludes to. Long term, I see very little way a Fernandes, Mount, +1 midfield will truly work with what we have.
I don't see him establishing a deeper role that Eriksen can adapt to or replacing Casemiro. He could rotate with Bruno or play a wider role in a tactical switch during a game. For some easier games I could see him play midfield.
I've always wanted to us to not overplay Bruno, he looks burned out and probably needs replacing soon. Mount could develop into a key player, he's 24 and has time.
I've always wanted to us to not overplay Bruno, he looks burned out and probably needs replacing soon. Mount could develop into a key player, he's 24 and has time.
Different angle to that story is that when Eriksen came to United he was always playing as the most advanced midfielder, and adopted very well to "new" role here. I do see a lot of central midfielder attributes in Mount, but he seems to move only vertically - hard to tell if that's his instinct, or is he just following instructions.
It’s fair enough to have doubts about it. I have doubts too, largely because whereas Bruno is a very hard worker defensively, he is not a very good defender. I’m also unsure about Mount in that respect, but I’ve seen too little of him to conclude. I do think he could be an upgrade to McTominay, given time, and an alternative to Eriksen.
I think the buggest problem with discussing this season, is there have been so many anomalies that it’s nearly impossible to have clesr ideas about what would happen under a normal preseason/season.
RE: bold — what do you see in his game? Everything I see in Mount suggests an off the ball attacking midfielder type of role. He’s never been a high volume passer, pretty easy to bypass in a duel; but he’s great at counter pressing and being in a decent positions in breaks.
Ultimately this is all moot I guess, he’s our no.7, young and signed for a high fee/salary — we’ll persist with him for a while regardless of what happens. I don’t see him successfully being part of a functional midfield that can truly challenge to the level we need, but let’s hope he can.
His short to medium passing with both feet is very good, can play it quick (first touch) and is good technically - imo if he's told to "keep the ball moving through midfield", he's very capable of executing it on a high level. He's also very mobile (for a midfielder), and has good engine (I'm surprised he wasn't deployed in more of a ball carrier role). That imo is enough to give him a go in midfield.
What we don't know is his positioning off the ball, tackling, anticipation etc. If you watch Bruno play in deeper areas, it's very clear he's just doing random stuff, he runs into players but has no defensive instinct, is very weak and commits stupid fouls often. If Mount is the same then I'd say no chance ETH will pull this off.
Just to be clear I think getting Mount was a mistake, we needed a different type of player to replace Eriksen (correctly identified as a weak link). But I rate Mount and I believe we can make it work, but I really don't see how this works with Bruno - because moving Bruno away from #10 is not an answer to any question, unless we move towards a team without him completely.
Obviously I mean City.
Their dominance pre-dates Rodri - in fact, his arrival and integration into the side saw them lose the league after back to back title wins.
His support in that deeper midfield area comes from a member of the back four moving up alongside him. The two more advanced midfielders, particularly given just how much time the team spends in possession, most certainly play at least as high as United's and are best described as no.10s.
City being a particularly well-drilled unit and us not being anywhere near them isn't an issue with us using two no.10s specifically.
Our pressing early in the season where Fernandes and Mount were being used together completely fell apart at the point Casemiro was required to contribute directly. His performances were shocking really.
Even ignoring City, again Arsenal are also successfully using the same midfield configuration.
Casemiro has also been our worst midfielder this year. The player who provided some very strong performances in the first half of his season last year would certainly have a positive effect on the team, but I'm not sure it's even worth trying given how long he was in the side early this season and just how damaging his performances were and generally remained.
Mount isn't exactly the kind of player I would have chosen to line up with Bruno, but I think he does have strengths and tendencies which are complimentary.
He is very secure in possession - technically, yes, he's nice and tidy but more than that he makes sensible decisions and avoids the kind of fanciful passes that Bruno will attempt. He is similarly energetic, and intelligent with his lateral movement and positioning and is very team-oriented - he identifies and occupies or attacks advantageous areas or will readily vacate or create those spaces for others. He does not provide raw athleticism but does still offer an element of verticality due to said energy and awareness - providing well-timed runs in behind or to attack the box.
Defensively he is superb and will put in the same kind of shift that Fernandes does but is a more intelligent defender. Mount has a much better understanding of when to press, offer a balanced position etc., has a fantastic reaction to a loss of possession and, particularly in contrast to basically every other player in the squad who plays in one of the more advanced positions and can be caught ahead of the ball when transitioning to defence, actually offers a proper recovery run.
It is not impossible to accomodate Bruno whilst playing him alongside Mount. Mount does help with balance in some respects as described by us both really. Using Mount doesn't stop us having players who excel in building the play and providing a secure and progressive platform behind them. Fernandes being wasteful and occasionally taking himself out the game defensively is an issue regardless of setup and, as said, Mount's far more reliable approach in both areas would help to mitigate that.
I don't agree that Bruno was used deeper to accomodate Mount - when they played together it seemed clear to me that the later was the deeper of the two and the former's role has never really deviated from that of a no.10
And this here is the problem. And where we never learn as a club.
Can't tal witk with you if you think Mount is better player than Case.
Its like compering Vauxhall and Ferrari.
Anybody who thinks we can play a midfield of Bruno, Mount and Mainoo and not get overrun is having a laugh. We needed a version of Eriksen but better defensively. The biggest problem with Mount is he is always hiding from the ball, whereas Eriksen always wants the ball and takes up great positions which is critical for any midfielder who is controlling the play, which Mount has never been able to do and will never achieve he is a number 10, but not as good as Bruno is for us.
Bruno runs and presses a lot but he is very easily dribbled past, he does not have the strength or pace to outmuscle anybody. Mount is better defensively but he is positionally very weak, thus it leaves us big gaps and leaves us very open.
I think we should try to offload him, he was never a player we needed. We need to play Maino at the base with Casemiro and Bruno, it will make us solid defensively and Casemiro can get forward and get us goals, he is great aerially as well.
Eventually we need at least two controlling midfielders who are great defensively to replace Casemiro, Eriksen (both aging) and Mount (already have Bruno who plays non-stop and is never injured.
Bruno runs and presses a lot but he is very easily dribbled past, he does not have the strength or pace to outmuscle anybody. Mount is better defensively but he is positionally very weak, thus it leaves us big gaps and leaves us very open.
I think we should try to offload him, he was never a player we needed. We need to play Maino at the base with Casemiro and Bruno, it will make us solid defensively and Casemiro can get forward and get us goals, he is great aerially as well.
Eventually we need at least two controlling midfielders who are great defensively to replace Casemiro, Eriksen (both aging) and Mount (already have Bruno who plays non-stop and is never injured.
Hopefully he plays another game for us this season
Mount (McTominay) occupy same areas that Bruno normally operates in, so naturally he has to accommodate slightly. That's not a problem though, the problem is Bruno is not good at buildup play and defensively, and both #10s in this setup have to be able to do it. Therefore imo we can maybe make it work with Mount as #8 and Bruno in pure #10 role, but there's simply no point in sacrificing Bruno offensive game for the sake of any setup. It's not worth it.
Do you think Bruno, Mount and Mainoo could work? I really think the latter is better on the ball and more press resistant than Casemiro albeit for less experienced.
My main reservation would be height and physically, especially when Martinez comes back into the team. It would leave us with only one six "true" footer in the enitre back seven. If you take a look at the composition of all the big teams i.e City, Pool and Arsenal, they all have at least two to three six footer.
On the other hand, if it works, you'll get an excellent ball playing back six. With Mainoo, Martinez, Shaw and Onana being extremely secure in possession and very capable of progressing the ball.
How this club constantly makes this sort of costly mistakes with signings are just beyond me.
good, we need bodies on the bench
In two days time, we could have got this useless fraud for free. And then it wouldn't have felt so bad watching McTominay keep him on the bench.
We could have signed a pre contract to have him in the summer for free / he’s been injured for the majority of the season. Not McTominay keeping him on the bench.
Just prior to injuring himself, McTominay was the preferred option. Mount came on for little cameos.
As I remember, a player can’t sign a pre-contract in January with another Premier League club if their contract expires in the summer; they can only sign a pre-contract with a club from a different league.
After coming back from another injury.
Such a lovely fan base we have. Warms the heart.
The signing a freebie half a season early thing does not apply to transfers between prem clubs
Isn't that an issue in itself? 60m quid for a player who's contributed nothing, and who we could've gotten for free in 2 days time.
It's one thing to not rate a player but the cheap insults out of nowhere are idiotic indeedI feel he needs saving from himself sometimes. Fresh Bruno is a marked improvement over tired Bruno. His goals have dried up too. I’d like to see what Mount can bring in the 10 role.
Not sure if he will be fit enough but would be great to see him take some part in the Wigan game.
What's going on with Mount? Is he close to returning yet?
What has he 7/8 appearances and it cost us £55 odd milion . Well worth signing him when we could have told his agent wait 5 months and we’ll be back for him.
It's so ridiculous... Every now and then I think about this transfer and just shake my head.
All factors considered it might actually be our most preposterous transfer ever, which is a tough race to be in.
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Given he’s been injured that’s a bit of a dickish post
I honestly forgot we signed him
Not his biggest fan, far from it, but wish him a speedy recovery.
My theory on this transfer is it was ass covering from Murtough and co after they'd fecked up so bad the previous year chasing De Jong until late August. No matter what they wanted to make a notable signing early in the window so it looked well planned. They probably told Ten Hag that Mount was available "for a good price" or something and so he thought it would be a good pick up (which it would be for ~£30m). Then the price just kept going up and up and instead of walking away they said "feck it!", bought him anyway, and then went on summer hols thinking job done.
Mount seems is a solid pro but it's such a terrible signing on every level. Even with everyone fit he doesn't make the first 11. All that money on completely the wrong profile of player and even worse he's years past his best form and increasingly injury prone. Make it make sense.
Mount seems is a solid pro but it's such a terrible signing on every level. Even with everyone fit he doesn't make the first 11. All that money on completely the wrong profile of player and even worse he's years past his best form and increasingly injury prone. Make it make sense.
Has he had an injury set back ? a few weeks back they said he was back training on his own and was very near a return to full training , since then we have had official confirmation that Casemiro and Matinez are now back in full training , but heard nothing on Mount.
What exactly is this injury to Mount to when did it happen?
Wigan would have been the perfect game to come back for 60mins. He must still be injured or suffered a setback. No news on it. His injury record the last few seasons has been really bad. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come with his fitness. I think he’s a really good player and he will make his mark here eventually
That’s the problem with fan theories. They sound like poor fan fiction off Reddit. Be honest, none of us have a clue as to how the signing came about and probably won’t either for a long time or ever. Fact is, a few clubs were chasing him, including Liverpool and Klopp. He’s a good player, but where does he fit? What’s the actual plan?
In reality, under a better regime - injuries notwithstanding- he’s likely a good signing. A high quality rotational player, who’s versatile, experienced, home grown, and has a great work ethic. The 55m we spent on him is much less of an issue for me than the 60 we spent on a 30 year old DM or the 80 we spent on an unproven RW.