Mount as a LWB is just asking for him to get injured. For all his faults, one thing Dalot can do is run up and down the pitch all day without getting injured. Mount is just starting to get a run of fitness now, we don't need to push things by making him play WB
10
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 1
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood), Imran (@Annihilate Now!) & Jamie (@Vault Dweller) celebrate a fantastic victory as Manchester United won 2-0 in the Derby. They celebrate the changes Carrick has made, discuss our new coaching team and find time to play a Stupid Game. Enjoy!
Mount as a LWB is just asking for him to get injured. For all his faults, one thing Dalot can do is run up and down the pitch all day without getting injured. Mount is just starting to get a run of fitness now, we don't need to push things by making him play WB
I don’t see Mount as a left wing back at all. He’s slow, doesn’t have a particularly great engine and can’t beat a man, before we even get to how well he would do in the defensive aspects. We’ve also see him play there a couple of times this season and he was non-existent.
His only position in this team is as a 10. I personally wouldn’t start him because I don’t think he’s as good as Cunha but if we are going to play him it has to be there.
His only position in this team is as a 10. I personally wouldn’t start him because I don’t think he’s as good as Cunha but if we are going to play him it has to be there.
If that eleven ever becomes succesfull, it will mean that I am going to award both you and Amorim with Genius status. In the mean time I feel safe in saying we never ever will start that way, and rightfully so. A starting 11 with four defensively competent people, one of them being Casemiro scares the living shit out of me. Then again, we beat Liverpool at Anfield with about that eleven with Current Form Dalot on for Sesko, so maybe you two already are geniuses, I don’t know.
Why so?
I think the way he carries the ball, protects it, drives and harries are all very similar.
The tactic of playing a false 9 was used by EtH to grab an FA Cup.
Cunha is more suited to that role than Bruno. So he does add that option to the squad!
Poor Zirkzee isn’t gonna get any minutes while Mount and Cunha are fit.
Cunha is more suited to that role than Bruno. So he does add that option to the squad!
Poor Zirkzee isn’t gonna get any minutes while Mount and Cunha are fit.
Rooney was a lot more rounded as a player, much more to his passing game.
What ridiculous numbers? In the Premier League?
Your post is a bit confusing because 1) Cunha has had better numbers than Bruno in the league consecutively for two seasons and 2) Even if Cunha had scored his exact xG instead of overperforming, he would still have better numbers than Bruno. At no point in Bruno's Premier League career has he had as high xG as Cunha's last two seasons.
Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but hopefully you see why it can seem confusing? If you are happy with Bruno's numbers, then it would only be rational to be happy with Cunha's numbers given that they are better irrespective of him overperforming his xG or equalling it.
How about you present actually numbers, rather than xG. Ohhhh we won on xG.
You completely missed the point. I suggest you read the exchange over. My point was that xG is a poor way to judge a football player or a transfer.
Not hard to look up the numbers, but fine. 23/24 season, Cunha: 12 goals, 7 assists. Bruno: 10 goals , 8 assists. 24/25 season, Cunha: 15 goals, 6 assists. Bruno: 8 goals, 10 assists. On Cunha's side, one of these goals were a penalty. On Bruno's side, 7 of these from the spot. So to me it doesn't make sense to question Cunha's contributions in the league while being perfectly fine with Bruno's when Cunha is more of a goal threat.
I actually forgot that he is here
I made a post in another thread about our options up top and completely forgot that he exists
Oh I didn’t say he’s a carbon copy. Just he’s likely the closest we’ve had since he went.
I do see some similarities - I think it's the way they use their bodies to protect the ball, while also still managing to move in the right direction.
MOTD2 highlighted his defensive work when we trying to hold onto the lead and see out the game. Doing stuff that previous players in that role wouldn't or couldn't do to help the team and win free kicks and throw ins etc.
Been very impressed with him.
Been very impressed with him.
I don't think there is any danger of this being a case of genius on my part. Even as the proponent of the theory I can recognise its weaknesses. However, my thought process is the following (I'll bullet point):
- The heat map for the "LWB" is typically the sort of heatmap you would expect for a player playing as an attacking wide left option. A role Mount is suited very well to.
- One of Mount's biggest strengths is his work off the ball, his pressing, his engine etc. He's either fit or he isn't. A fit Mount should be used according to his strengths.
- The number of defensively minded players is much less significant in my view, than the orientation of the system. Much of the defending from out wide is just about closing channels, pressing correctly, tracking runners, and cross prevention. All things that need to be done by a diligent, focused, responsible player, not necessarily one who is by trade a defender. I might point to City's use of Mateus Nunes as a full back. Or Liverpool's with Szoboszlai.
- The best form of defence is often attack, or at the very least ball retention. Dalot is quite limited on the ball. Not bad, but limited. Mount offers a massive upgrade in this area.
- Defence wins titles, but goals win games. We aren't winning any titles, but we should start getting in the habit of winning games, and to do that you need to score goals. Against Liverpool alone, Dalot had the ball come to him twice in the Liverpool area with a really good chance to shoot first time, or bring it down and bring others into play. In their penalty area, and not as part of a set piece but as a part of general build up play. Both times he fluffed his lines badly. If those moments had fallen to Mount, we very easily could have been 2 up.
- Watching the positions Dalot takes up in the majority of matches, you would be easily forgiven for wondering why a defender needs to be played in that role.
- It wouldn't be the right approach in every game. Famously Fergie would often tinker his tactics with minor but fundamental tweaks according to the opposition. One of those was instructing full backs to stay at home when playing in tight away games against tough opposition. Maybe only giving them the green light to overlap when chasing the game or seeking a winner. So there is cause for saying there are games where you'd want to pick a defender in that role and go for increased defensive solidity. Conversely however, there are also arguments to be made that in games where you are expecting to be dominant with the ball, and higher up the pitch, it's inherently self limiting to play a full back in a role that will essentially manifest as an inverted left midfielder/winger.
- Diallo is the obvious example of how the role could and should be played, and consequently how dangerous we often look down the right. Doing the same on the left seems logical to me. One of the criticisms I have of Amorim is his seeming unwillingness to take more risks with his selections. Shuffling either Mount to the left sided slot, so he can support the attack properly, or tuck into the midfield to create overloads - or Bruno to do the same thing (with Mainoo coming into midfield) are two very logical, if slightly unorthodox moves, that I think would make us a lot better in certain games. The entire system is unorthodox, hence why it gets so much attention, so the dogmatic selections are often quite frustrating to me.
- This entire thought train is based on the actual positions and functions both the eye test and the data tell us players are actually performing during matches. None of it fits if we get bogged down in nomenclature. Mount or Bruno as a left wingback sounds mental. IF they were orthodox wingbacks, but they aren't. We are playing a right footed right back at left wingback with instructions to come inside, get into the attacking third, and support the midfield. So why not play an actual right footed, hard working, midfielder there in matches where you expect to have most of the ball?
- The dynamic that could be formed with Cunha is one that I salivate at.
Many good arguments there, and you make a plausibly sounding case. If I should put into words why I don’t expect to see it except in cases of goose chases or injury conundrums, I would focus more on what Mount is actually good at and not so good, and what the team needs looking at he other players in there.
Mount is a good presser in the sense that he is disciplined and has stamina, he will press and understand how and when to press. He is a weak presser in the sense that if someone decides to try to pass him by dribling, one-two’s or sprinting past, he neither has the strength, the explosivity nor the defensive instincts to stop that player if he is any good at it. Looking at United’s current roles, his pressing profile suits the three attacking roles very well, because CB’s don’t tend to try to dribble, outsprint or combine past press, so it’s enough being at the right place at the right time and don’t sell yourself. However, I’d argue that at CM, and even more at WB, you need to be able to stop these players who will take risks, and who have the strengths to get past players. I think Mount have struggled in midfield due to this, and I suspect he’ll struggle even more at WB.
If United had Baleba inside of him and Van Disj behind him, I think the risk would be a lot less. But we have a halfway house version of Shaw behind and a Bruno on the inside who has the same defensive weaknesses and on top of that lacks the defensive positional discipline of Mount.
To me it says a lot that a couple of coaches now have tried Mount in CM and opted for Bruno there ahead of him. It also speaks volumes to me that the worst version of Dalot I can remember seeing is preferred ahead of him at his second best side, LWB every single time, whereas The slight (but more explosive, and therefore harder to bypass) Amad already is being used there at Anfield. Mount is being used in a position were he competes with our two new stars, Amad, Mainoo, Bruno and Zirkzee, while he is not used in positions where we are lacking the most both in quality and quantity (WB and CM). No coincidence, and I don’t think it’s because nobody has thought of it.
A final argument is that for me, it dampens some of Mounts biggest strengths - being able to read positions and space quickly in the condensed areas that our no 10 are expected to thrive in. Even Dorgu can read the main movement patterns for a WB under Amorim, but the demand on the no 10 position, often tucked right into the central crowded areas, is were Mount actually goes above any player we have with the exception of Bruno. This would be somewhat wasted in the WB positions, where psotioning is simpler, and need for explosivity to get past players 1-v-1 is bigger (not Mount’s strength).
Again, if United had Baleba and Van Dijk at LCM and LCB, and I could think almost exclusively of the attacking need from the LWB position, I might prefer Mount there ahead of Dorgu for some games and not for others. Right now, I’d preferred a lamp post ahead of Dalot in any position on the field, and that Mount sits on the bench seeing him play LWB just tells me that noone at Utd even veaguely considers the formation you suggested as a starting line up. IMO
The kind of player you hate to play against but absolutely love to have on your team.
007 but feels totally fine.
He shafted us a few times playing for Wolves, our players couldn’t stop him.
Great that he’s now wearing our shirt and giving other teams many headaches.
Double up on him and then you have more space for Mbeumo / Amad. Delicious.
Great that he’s now wearing our shirt and giving other teams many headaches.
Double up on him and then you have more space for Mbeumo / Amad. Delicious.
Can someone explain to me this 007 thing I don't get it?
O goals, 0 assists 7 games
Ah. Thanks. It's a bit of a lazy phrase, Cunha is very clearly an influential player. Goals/assists will come.
It's a James Bond reference.
Why is it lazy? It's a factual stat.
And the post you questioned clearly stated that while he's 007, it feels totally fine
Where has this ‘007’ shite come from? I’ve never heard of it before this season and sounds like childish meme bollox.
I absolutely love the swagger and aura this guy plays football with. Definite Cantona vibes while clearly nowhere near that level, just looks born to play for Manchester United.
Looking forward to him getting to know his teammates better and starting to link up with them more, then the goals and assists will arrive. He and Mbuemo had some great link up on Sunday though not as close to the opposition goal to convert into many chances.
Looking forward to him getting to know his teammates better and starting to link up with them more, then the goals and assists will arrive. He and Mbuemo had some great link up on Sunday though not as close to the opposition goal to convert into many chances.
That's exactly what it is
Because it ignores every other facet of football, it's reductionist and aimed at rage-baiting.
First goal against Brighton at the weekend would be nice
Really like him so far even without the statistical goal contributions
Really like him so far even without the statistical goal contributions
I think a goal would be huge for him. I think he defo wants to contribute in that aspect, and sometimes forces it. But hes such a good signing for us. He plays with a swagger and asks for the ball in areas where others would struggle.
I also feel like he is forcing things atm.
Like he wants to step up a notch now that he has made the big move he dreamed of.
But he will be important for us when he settles and finds his rythm out there, he is a quality player.
It's absolutely no coincidence that his two good performances have come in the 2 games against teams who play higher up the pitch and he's struggled when denied space to run into. It's much more apparent in his lack of penetrative passing compared to last year.
His high volume shooting but erratic finishing was also pretty predictable. Hopefully he goes on a hot streak again soon, but right now we're seeing the opposite end of the spectrum to the "everything he touches finds the net" thing he had going on last year.
His high volume shooting but erratic finishing was also pretty predictable. Hopefully he goes on a hot streak again soon, but right now we're seeing the opposite end of the spectrum to the "everything he touches finds the net" thing he had going on last year.
Still a representation of factual G/A stats though. I don't think there are many united fans that would argue against Cunha being absolutely immense in that game (and other games this season).
However, G/A stats have been discussed in football for a long time, they're taken seriously (and rightly so), and that's exactly what the 007 thing, even if a bit gimmicky, is. It's no more lazier than any publication or reporting of G/A stats for an attacker.
Man Utd 4:2 Brighton
Absolute baller, I love watching him
Glad he got his goal.
Baller.
Love the lad
Phenomenal footballer through and through
Lovely player
Guy is buzzing and smiling around
A proper footballer. Excellent ball control. He’s very smart on and off the ball with his movement. Great to see him score!
Fkn love this player!