Matic transfer comment

[VancouverUtdFan]

Matic simply saying get rid of the deadweight and bring in more quality and proven starters for the remaining positions in need of addressing. He’s saying get an experienced/proven CB, LB, RB, CM, RW.

And that does not mean a specific age. If a player is 29 and proven or 22 and proven, it doesn’t matter. As long as they are cemented and you know what you’re going to be getting from them it’s fine. It just so happens to be there’s not many young proven players in the market so you do the best you can and target the ones who will fit in the best.

 

[SecondFig]

We finished Runners-up with over 80points for the first time in over 5 years. Liverpool finished lower than us in the league

Yeah, but Liverpool have been focussed in the CL for weeks. I'd rather finish 4th and be in the CL final than 2nd and trophyless (or 2nd and FA cup winners).

no team from the top 6 had a better head to head record than us in the league.

City do. They lost against Liverpool away and against us at home, but won all their other games (24 points out of 30). We lost away to Spurs and Chelsea, lost at home against City, and drew away with Liverpool (19 out of 30).

No way has he had his day... our team was crap when he took over, he has needed time to build his own team. Judge him on next season's result.

But he's not building anything. He hasn't built a good defence (we're just consistently saved by DDG), he hasn't built a solid midfield, and his idea of coaching attackers is to chuck them in without any clear strategy and then publicly criticise them when they don't play well. Hell, he's been here for two years and he still doesn't know his best formation.

 

[VancouverUtdFan]

But he's not building anything. He hasn't built a good defence (we're just consistently saved by DDG), he hasn't built a solid midfield, and his idea of coaching attackers is to chuck them in without any clear strategy and then publicly criticise them when they don't play well. Hell, he's been here for two years and he still doesn't know his best formation.

What are you on about he hasn’t built anything? He’s built the only reliable starters we have bar De Gea who he inherited.

Lukaku - for sure starter...most dependant attacking player

Mikhi - swapped into Alexis

Alexis - for sure starter...came midseason so next season is what he’ll be judged on / no excuses

Zlatan - for sure starter...was one of best strikers in league and joined us on a free ffs. Was only going to be here for a couple years anyways and 2nd season got cut short with that essentially career ending injury. Was on verge of retiring but went to MLS

Bailly - for sure starter...injured all year, so people not remember him when he plays? One of the best CBs in the country

Pogba - for sure starter...due to squad limitations he’s playing box-to-box which doesn’t suit him. Even with him being as inconsistent there as he is, look at our winning % with Pogba in the team regardless of his form versus without him. Night and day difference and goes to show how great he is

Matic - for sure starter...most dependant midfielder who holds everything together

Lindelof - not a for sure starter...hasn’t played enough. Young so can’t conclude if he’s a failure or not


...more like 6 out of 7 signings bar Lindelof are our only for sure starters on the entire team, other than De Gea who’s the only for sure starter Mourinho inherited. Mourinho has hit on virtually all of his signings and shows how bad the team was prior to coming here.

By any reasonable standards Mourinho’s transfers have been fine and they’re a big reason to why we’re not completely hopeless in the league anymore. More than his safety-first tactics anyway.

Guys like Lukaku, Pogba and Bailly have the right age and potential, and if they want out they represent a lot of resale value or even profit depending on the contract situation and further inflation of the market.

Matic has been solid as feck and looks like he has at least two more good seasons in him.

The whining about Sanchez is borderline idiotic, the guy’s a tremendous player with a great mentality. Ten or twelve weeks in he already showed it against the likes of City and Spurs. We actually traded him for Mkhi who didn’t cost much to begin with. Potential injuries aside it’s very likely he will be one of our best players next year, more likely than him turning out to be a bona fide flop like so many are already claiming anyway.

Zlatan... Well, we should’ve stuck with just Rooney and Rashford last season I guess. Maybe should’ve added a Demba-ba calibre of striker for 50 million.

Lindeløf has been uninspiring though, I’ll give him that. But we won’t lose much money on him given his age and contract length, and he was bought in a context where Jones is a perma crock, Bailly seems to have the same type of rashness as Jones combined with the injuries. And most importantly, Rojo being unavailable for an unpredictable amount of time.

These transfers are nothing like the shite Moyes and Van Gaal pulled, pissing away hundreds of millions in a less expensive and inflated market, with really only Herrera, Martial and some very shite leage finishes to show for.

 

[liamp]

Matic made the comments straight after the final. Interesting that we all want younger players but he wants more experienced players. A plea for Willian etc?

A final in which the average age of our XI was 27.36 and the average age of Chelsea's XI was 27.63. Can't be arsed to look up years of experience but I'm pretty sure it's fairly similar for both squads.

I guess he wants more players who have reached the peak of their development since he's 29 and wants to maximize whatever's left of his peak years. Thankfully for him, I'm sure Jose feels the same way at this point.

 

[T A]

We must be careful. Inter 2010 was a superior team but at the same time having all the risks of player's decline in it. It took them many years, 9 managers, 6 seasons without CL football to fully replace that aging squad and come back to light.

I think we all have to admit that it will be very difficult for Jose to recreate such a domination like 2010 treble even how extremely our board supports him with money backing. Unless Jose could build his own CL champion team (which imo very hard to achieve), i would like him to leave us a Chelsea 2007/Real 2013/Chelsea 2015 - a solid groundwork with full of balance and potential for sustainable glory future, instead of an old guard with one PL instant success year

 

[Keeps It tidy]

People want to be silly about this and say it is just a Football Manager thing but, the best time to buy players is when they are in their mid and early 20s. It is squad building 101. Look at that core of those late Ferguson sides Cristiano was signed when he was 18, Rooney at 18, Rio at 23, Vidic at 24, Evra at 24, Carrick at 25, Park Ji Sung at 24 Van Der Sar being the major exception out of them Plus the likes of Tevez, Nani, Valencia, Anderson, Smalling, Chicharito, Rafael etc were signed around those ages as well. And look at Real Cristiano was signed at 24, Benzema at 23, Isco at 21, Bale at 24, Kroos at 24, Modric at 26, Marcelo at 19, Ramos at 19, Varane at 19, Carvajal was bought back at 21, Casemiro at 21, Asensio at 18.

And the last few year our best player has been De Gea who was bought at 19 I remember back when people wanted us to sign someone more experienced like Maarten Stekelenburg

 

[SBD]

Like who? He doesn't even give sufficient minutes to players who have shown their quality - Shaw (788), Bailly (999), Rashford (1804) and Martial (1582). Compare those minutes to players like Sterling (2593), Sane (2424) and others of similar age and the differences are embarrassing. Davinson Sanchez has more than double the minutes of Bailly this season and he plays for a team that contains Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.

A couple of token appearances for Scott McTominay doesn't do much to rectify that.

Let's not cherry pick statistics to suit our own narrative.

Luke Shaw has been criticized by three different managers on how he manages himself. However, when Mourinho comes in, he's the one not giving him chances. Mourinho has played him in a couple of games but the performance by Shaw was horrendous. Eric Bailly played when fit but he was mostly injured this season.

We have four players vying for the 2 slots beside Lukaku. City have Sane and Sterling competing with who? B.Silva who just arrived? The Rashford and Martial minutes were accumulated playing mostly on the left. I'd say is a fair return considering both were rotating there.

Alderweired were mostly injured this season. Hence D.Sanchez was able to accumulate such minutes.

 

[Smores]

People want to be silly about this and say it is just a Football Manager thing but, the best time to buy players is when they are in their mid and early 20s. It is squad building 101. Look at that core of those late Ferguson sides Cristiano was signed when he was 18, Rooney at 18, Rio at 23, Vidic at 24, Evra at 24, Carrick at 25, Park Ji Sung at 24 Van Der Sar being the major exception out of them Plus the likes of Tevez, Nani, Valencia, Anderson, Smalling, Chicharito, Rafael etc were signed around those ages as well. And look at Real Cristiano was signed at 24, Benzema at 23, Isco at 21, Bale at 24, Kroos at 24, Modric at 26, Marcelo at 19, Ramos at 19, Varane at 19, Carvajal was bought back at 21, Casemiro at 21, Asensio at 18.

And the last few year our best player has been De Gea who was bought at 19 I remember back when people wanted us to sign someone more experienced like Maarten Stekelenburg

Thats a bit selective to be fair isn't it? When we've needed to we've signed players in their peak (27 ish) and going back there was a fair few. The players you've listed were added to teams full of experience already, sadly thats what we don't have.

 

[El Pasillo]

People want to be silly about this and say it is just a Football Manager thing but, the best time to buy players is when they are in their mid and early 20s. It is squad building 101. Look at that core of those late Ferguson sides Cristiano was signed when he was 18, Rooney at 18, Rio at 23, Vidic at 24, Evra at 24, Carrick at 25, Park Ji Sung at 24 Van Der Sar being the major exception out of them Plus the likes of Tevez, Nani, Valencia, Anderson, Smalling, Chicharito, Rafael etc were signed around those ages as well. And look at Real Cristiano was signed at 24, Benzema at 23, Isco at 21, Bale at 24, Kroos at 24, Modric at 26, Marcelo at 19, Ramos at 19, Varane at 19, Carvajal was bought back at 21, Casemiro at 21, Asensio at 18.

Benzema was signed when he was 21 year old...

 

[Treble]

Who are the players who should be replaced by experienced players? Aren't those players (Valencia, Smalling, Young, Herrera, Mata...) experienced themselves?

Apparently, the problem has little to do with experience and everything to do with quality. We need more quality, not more experience. Full stop.

 

[Marcky411]

Matic made the comments straight after the final. Interesting that we all want younger players but he wants more experienced players. A plea for Willian etc?

Jose's mouthpiece, if Jose says it the press will have feast with it but now Matic says it so it might be ok and also to get the board sold on the idea about buying more short term players on their last legs. Quite logical, but wasn't he bought for those reasons,the experienced player? We had Carrick in the dressing room and now on the touchline, Valencia,Young, Smalling and Jones, all experienced players with international experience playing for their country.
Buying someone like Willian, he really looks like a leader this team needs, other old player that can put Rashford, Martial, Lingard etc on the bench, what a joke couldn't believe what I was reading when I first read his statement. Wasn't he also the player, when things got tense between Pogba and Jose, telling Pogba and the rest to buy into Jose's tactics and playing style?

 

[Marcky411]

He's obviously echoing the sentiments of his manager. Mourinho is incapable of developing players anymore, I'm sure the average age of our squad will creep up again this summer and we'll have diddly squat to show for it this time next season.

My sentiment exactly and when Jose does leave or get sacked we will be in the same situation we were in when Fergie retired, needing to replace a lot of players on their last legs. To be honest the experienced players they are talking about have done it all before somewhere else and like Sanchez didn't really matter where he ended up, he was out for a final big payday, otherwise by any logic he should've sat out his time at Arsenal and joined City this summer but Utd were willing to pay more.