We are actively looking to sign a more attacking RB because AWB was such a great signing. 1 on 1 defending is not the only part of defending. AWB is regularly coached through games on his positioning by Lindelof
Ole and his dross signings
- Thread starter Rajma
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You do realise the club can say no to a transfer right? If you think ole is given spending money and then goes around making bids like on a computer game you have no clue how the process works. I can understand arguing a player isn’t good enough as a reason to have a go at ole but saying he is good but ‘ole’ paid too much is odd to me
According to WhoScored ratings, Wan-Bissaka has been the second best right-back in the league after Cancelo and I'd agree. He's been good, I think you have pre-conceived notions about his technical ability or the way he runs. He's not that bad going forward and he's excellent defensively.
Bruno. Excellent signing.
Maguire by far our best centre-back who has been consistently been solid and reliable.
Wan Bissaka is our best right-back...a good tackler who at his age has a greater scope to improve.
3 signings who have walked into the first team and improved us.
The other signings? the jury is still out.
Maguire by far our best centre-back who has been consistently been solid and reliable.
Wan Bissaka is our best right-back...a good tackler who at his age has a greater scope to improve.
3 signings who have walked into the first team and improved us.
The other signings? the jury is still out.
No I dont have pre-conceived notions about the way he runs. I do know teams target their press against him and Fred.
The fact Leicester have improved their defence by getting rid of Maguire tells us everything. The fee we paid means he is undroppable but he is by no means a bad player just not a really good one either. He is marginally better than Lindelof and Bailly but for a world record fee it is not unrealistic to expect the finished world class article. Same with AWB, not a bad player but the price we paid was eye wateringly expensive. We are still desperately weak at the back when it comes to set pieces, which is not good enough. Our pre-season business was utterly awful. Cavani is seldom fit, avoids criticism though because Martial is so disinterested which means a half fit journeyman in his mid 30s is seen as a more exciting option. Telles has been poor overall but at least has had an impact on Shaw in terms of motivation. VDB was an expensive vanity signing that wasted much needed funds when other parts of our squad needed strenghtening.
Ole really must be the world’s greatest coach because according to half of the “fans” on this forum, he has dross players, has signed dross players and yet is still out-performing every single team bar a team who have been financially doped on a level unseen in any other league or sport in the world.
Even SAF would have been bottom half with this team if the players are as bad as this forum wants to make out
Even SAF would have been bottom half with this team if the players are as bad as this forum wants to make out
Leicester dominated the midfield yesterday.
Ndidi and Tielemans are MILES better than Matic and Fred.
Ndidi and Tielemans are MILES better than Matic and Fred.
I don't think you can call Cavani a journeyman, probably top 10 strikers of his generation and had scored 354 goals in 545 games before joining.
At the twilight of his career, having not played much football in the previous 12 months
Maguire is not a terrible signing, stop getting your brain twisted by social media memes. AWB is also one of the top right backs in the league - overpriced? Yes. Dross? Not a chance.
Cavani was free, albeit on huge wages and, whilst he’s not been the best striker ever, he’s scored some important goals and did ok especially in the middle part of the season.
James was bought as a squad player and he is absolutely fine in such a role. The apparent demise of Lingard and Mata, along with the lack of development from Pereira, meant he played more than he should have done as a starter last season.
Telles was bought as a back up full back, and that’s where he is. On the bench. I don’t rate him very highly at all, from what I’ve seen.
Van de Beek is a mystery. Seems like a competition winner. I don’t know if he was signed by Ole or someone else, but it would be strange if it were Ole’s call as he has barely featured.
Bruno has been a fantastic signing.
I don’t think that’s a terrible lost by any stretch of the imagination. Could be better yes, but it’s not utter dross.
Cavani was free, albeit on huge wages and, whilst he’s not been the best striker ever, he’s scored some important goals and did ok especially in the middle part of the season.
James was bought as a squad player and he is absolutely fine in such a role. The apparent demise of Lingard and Mata, along with the lack of development from Pereira, meant he played more than he should have done as a starter last season.
Telles was bought as a back up full back, and that’s where he is. On the bench. I don’t rate him very highly at all, from what I’ve seen.
Van de Beek is a mystery. Seems like a competition winner. I don’t know if he was signed by Ole or someone else, but it would be strange if it were Ole’s call as he has barely featured.
Bruno has been a fantastic signing.
I don’t think that’s a terrible lost by any stretch of the imagination. Could be better yes, but it’s not utter dross.
This.
Not like this is just happening now under Ole
Not signing a starter this summer is an sackable offence and DVB instead of a DM should be too. Ole now has had 5 windows to sort out a RW and a striker that's really hindering us right now.
Treating this like a Ole problem is just crazy the club is a Trainwreck when it comes to signings and planning.
The over reaction every time we lose is laughable. Suddenly every player he’s signed is dross. Our defence is terrible all of a sudden, the same defence that had kept So many clean sheets recently. We were poor yesterday, but we’ve recently beaten Milan away, an in form West Ham and the Champions-elect. We’re second in the Prem and still in the Europa, not bad for a a side full of dross.
Feck me, the word dross is annoying Especially when it's used in regards to any player who's put in an underwhelming performance. We can argue about whether some of the players signed by Ole are right for what we need, not no I don't consider any of them to fall into the dross category. I was so sick of this word back in the Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho days, but our squad is objectively better now than it was in the days of the latter two especially.
Got to admit it's a lot of money on some pretty average players, Bruno and AWB aside the first team players he's signed have been pretty crap.
Yet both were brought by the previous manager.
Is it all Ole's fault though.
Let's rewind to season 2013-2014. An experienced CEO and the best manager the club had ever had ended up being replaced with Woodward and Moyes. Woodward had no idea of how to be a CEO of a club while Moyes had never managed a top club before. Moyes was allowed to stop any signings planned (ex Thiago) and to fire Sir Alex's men. That's a level of power not even prime Mourinho at Inter was allowed to do. We replaced the guys with his men including Jon Mourtough.
Moyes was fired few months later and he took most of his men with him. We went for LVG, a man who got fired at most of the biggest clubs in the world. LVG was allowed to bring whoever he wanted with little to no oversight whatsoever. At that point pressure was building against Woodward who then delegated transfer negotiation to Mat Judge ie someone whose got like zero knowledge about football. Evra would later on label Judge as incompetent and lazy. LVG had his contract renewed and then he was fired after winning the FA cup. Mou came in.
Mou had a similar record in terms of transfer signings. The club was now building a reputation of paying over the odds for players both in terms of fees and salaries. Mou was allowed to bring his own men but things starting to change towards the end of his tenure. In fact he was saddled with Mckenna and Carrick two people who had like zero experience in their new jobs. United's performance nosedived, Mou lost the dressing room and was sacked. Once again we first renewed the manager contract only to then sack him. Anyway Ole came in as a transitional manager and inherited Carrick and Mckenna whose only experience in their job was a disastrous term with Mou.
During that time some wise guy decided to give Jones a long term contract. God only knows why. If I remember well Rojo's contract was also renewed. Ole brought Phelan and a group of very inexperienced coaching staff with him. Ole did well and was given the job on a permanent basis. Talks of a DOF and technical director started to pop up at this point as scouts lamented how Mou shacked them.
Well our army of scouts were unleashed at that point and they went for......Maguire and AWB. These were very safe options, players who would never be world class but who wouldn't embarrass themselves at United. We basically paid 130m on two players who won't make the manager or the scouts look silly. The only gamble we took was James who was brought on Giggs advice. The guy had pace but little else. Meanwhile a proven EPL striker was sold off. The guy went at Inter who identified the reason why he was so unfit (dietary problems) and is now scoring piles of goals in the Serie A.
United were playing shit at this point and we desperately needed a top midfielder. We signed Bruno and he basically bailed not only the club but his manager as well.
Talks of a DOF and a technical director became frequent and it was evident last summer that a change in how we operate was imminent. The transfer strategy last summer were completely different to the year before. Caution went out of the window as the club signed VDB (Value signing), Telles (value signing), Cavani (value signing) and 2 kids. It seems that spending 100m on Sancho was stupid (which is) but spending around 50m on two kids with near zero experience at top level is not. Go figures.
This endless race for this top DOF and technical director came to an end few weeks ago and the club hired......Jon Mortough and Fletcher. The former was Moyes man and has been involved at the club for the past 7 'glorious' years. Fletcher on the other hand has around 20 minutes coaching experience in him.
So we've got a CEO who had never been a CEO of a top club before signing for us. We've got a DOF whose never been a DOF before getting the job. We've got a technical director who had never been a technical director (or anything else apart from a decent but not WC player) before. We've got Matt Judge whose prior of joining us had never been involved in football before. We've got a manager from Molde whose previous experience in the EPL was humiliating. Ole's first team coaches are two people whose experience in the job is pretty limited as well. His entire coaching staff bar Phelan is pretty inexperienced as well. Then of course there's a parody of bad signings, ridiculous contract extensions (we seem set to extend Bailly's contract as well btw), a crazy swap deal and silly salaries given.
There seem to be a pattern here ie a club whose got an aversion in hiring the best in the job, opting instead in hiring the random guy
Agree with Bruno, AWB had a great season last year defending as a right back, but still needs to learn how to get forward at the expectations of a top club. This season he has been inconsistent and ive seen many moments of lapsed concentration. Maguire, in my opinion, was an awful signing, and not because of the fee. It has only been inbtheblast 4 or 5 weeks ive seen him be solid, but he is so inconsistent, ariely questionable, can never connect a header from a corner, gets skinned so often and makes weird decisions on the ball. The amount of times i have seen our fullbacks, his cb partner or our midfielders bail him out of situations justifies how bad he is. Ill also throw in there, awful captain and leader (but not directly his fault). Just because he is in the team, it does not mean he has been good. He is the best of a bad bunch and badly needs a proper cb next to him to cover him more.
We had prime De Gea in goal in the previous seasons you've pointed out plus Jose a defensive manager was in charge. If we had prime De Gea now the defensive stats would be very similar.
I can't speak for Leicester but what you used is not a fair metric Sporting are currently top of the Portuguese league after selling Bruno was he holding them back then going by your logic? If we focus on Utd Maguire has been a big upgrade on Smalling.
We also had Ashley Young playing RB who was diabolical and the major reason for most defensive mistakes but lets pretend Maguire coming was a big upgrade in Smalling.
Our defense has not improved that much that is clear and why we still have to play 2 holders in midfield. But apparently Jose is the defensive manager
Like they did the year before and the fanbase threw a hissy fit crying about the club not backing the manager?
People forget who was getting in the team before these signings. Ignore the price tags, that's nothing to do with the manager.
Maguire and AWB was a huge improvement on our previous defence.
James and vdB were reasonable upgrades that filled the space of Lingard, Andreas and Mata.
Telles is a clear upgrade on Williams.
Cavani was an upgrade on Ighalo.
Most importantly, these signings were available at the time - and we took the opportunity to improve the areas where possible.
Maguire and AWB was a huge improvement on our previous defence.
James and vdB were reasonable upgrades that filled the space of Lingard, Andreas and Mata.
Telles is a clear upgrade on Williams.
Cavani was an upgrade on Ighalo.
Most importantly, these signings were available at the time - and we took the opportunity to improve the areas where possible.
When BVB hired Zorc, Barca hired Txiki and Liverpool hired Edwards none of them ever had the experience of a footballing role at a top club only Edwards and he was in Data analytics the other two were just former players hired in the roles which they grew in. Go look at Murtough`s history before writing him off being Head of Elite Development for the Premier League as well as one of the big figureheads of recruitment at Everton when they were good under Moyes is not a small feat plus he`s a big reason why our academy and women`s team is so good. He`s not an exotic name but over time he may be the right name and the Technical Directors at Milan and Chelsea are former players who had no experience in their roles but had the right football intelligence as well as knowing their clubs inside out and its serving them well. Sir Alex himself said Fletcher is one of the smartest players he`s ever worked with I`d wait before ruling them out.
Us playing two DMs is due to lack of an actual DM instead of our defence having big big weaknesses put Ramos/VVD in place of Maguire we`d still need to play Fred/McTominay in big games simply because WE HAVE NO ANCHOR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PITCH and thats not on Maguire who`s been solid as an individual and BTW AWB has also been a huge upgrade on Young.
Actually we play 2 DMs because we dont trust our CBs one on one vs pace. Playing an anchor isnt always required, especially against relagation fodder but we play 2
I’m far from being a Maguire’s fan, but it’s simply not true that he hasn’t improved us. Even if he wasn’t better than our previous options (and he is, even though not by the margin that I’d hoped that he would be), the simple fact that we now have a centre back who can stay fit literally for the entire season is already a huge improvement. Same goes for AWB.
Should we have targeted other players who would suit a proactive and modern way of playing more? Yes. Did we overpay for them? Yes. Did they improve us though? They certainly did.
Van de Beek turned out to be a horrible transfer though, and this is something that I, personally, wasn’t expecting to happen. Still, if you add Ole’s other signings, he’s done alright — not great, but better than his predecessors. Plus I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t have a final say in the matter anyway.
Should we have targeted other players who would suit a proactive and modern way of playing more? Yes. Did we overpay for them? Yes. Did they improve us though? They certainly did.
Van de Beek turned out to be a horrible transfer though, and this is something that I, personally, wasn’t expecting to happen. Still, if you add Ole’s other signings, he’s done alright — not great, but better than his predecessors. Plus I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t have a final say in the matter anyway.
We're signing another right back so AWB doesn't have to play 60 games per season and it makes sense to go for one who offers something different.
Yes ahead of signing players who we need like RW and no 6. Time will tell. I reckon AWB wont be our starting RB in 2 years lets see
There is not one player he has bought that couldn't be part of a premier league winning team, our problems are elsewhere (CM and FWD)
Are you suggesting that Prime DDG is better then 145m worth of transfers? In that case then the signings we made are even more overrated then I am portraying them to be. Also shouldn't we consider a manager who plays McT and Fred in midfield as pretty defensive as well? Finally why Leicester are conceding less goals without Maguire then with Maguire?
Regarding your comment about Bruno, top attacking minded players tend to indirectly persuade players to rely heavily on them which in turn makes that team predictable. Its not uncommon for a squad to flourish once these players leave. It happened to us with Cantona, it happened to Juventus with Baggio and it happened to Inter with Ibra. Things are different with defenders though. A top defender is something rare to come by. He can single handedly keep defence tight by himself. We always ended up worse off when we lost these sort of defenders. Which makes me wonder why Leicester are better off without Maguire then with him.
He should have added them.
Cavani is hardly fit & his dad is just as bad as Raiola. Flop.
Telles. Best thing he’s done is invigorate Shaw.
Bruno. Success.
Bang on. Why people don’t get this I’ll never know.
No one thinks Maguire is a terrible defender but when he signed his weaknesses were highlighted & have since been exposed on multiple occasions.
When you see how colossal Soyuncu & Fofana were at a fraction of the price accompanying the fact they don’t have the turning circle of a ship at anchor like Harry it further proves our recruitment is broken.
When you pay what we did you go for the finished product; given the option of the Leicester back 3; cumulatively less than Mags or Harry it’s not even a debate.
And now they’re throwing a hissy fit we spent too much, don’t really get the point you’re making
Probably the best post I’ve seen on here. The Glazers should have sacked Woodward should years ago, who keeps employing people who lack experience just because they know the club, or people who clearly aren’t the right fit.
Im just calling as it is.
Your biased dislike for Maguire clouds your judgment on him. He's been a good solid signing and the majority of performances reflects this...He's by far our best centre-back at the club.
He like Bruno and Wan Bissaka have come into the first team and improved us immediately. It's so obvious.
The other signings? not so much as of yet...
I have never rated Maguire. In terms of one on one defending he is abysmal. Vardy absolutely skinned him. He also moves so lethargic. I would buy a pacy physical centre back and play and Lindelof instead.
This thread is nonsense.
AWB can lay claim to being one of the best RBs in the league. I'd say it's between him and Reece James.
Maguire, a guy who's never injured, one of the better CBs in the league. He's been a great acquisition. It's not even 2 seasons ago we were playing the likes of Rojo and Jones.
James is a good squad option and you can see he's playing better this season than last.
Donny, I think will come good next season - let's give him a season to bed in at least.
Bruno is Bruno.
Cavani is a useful squad option to have as we're a bit short up front. If he goes back to South America, it's time to get a new striker.
AWB can lay claim to being one of the best RBs in the league. I'd say it's between him and Reece James.
Maguire, a guy who's never injured, one of the better CBs in the league. He's been a great acquisition. It's not even 2 seasons ago we were playing the likes of Rojo and Jones.
James is a good squad option and you can see he's playing better this season than last.
Donny, I think will come good next season - let's give him a season to bed in at least.
Bruno is Bruno.
Cavani is a useful squad option to have as we're a bit short up front. If he goes back to South America, it's time to get a new striker.
So if we played a midfield pivot of Fred/Pogba with a VVD/Ramos in place of Maguire our performances at the back would just magically improve then?? Surely even you can see how silly that sounds and we don`t use McFred in midfield in the smaller games when Pogba is fit anyway so I dont get your point
We`ve only used McFred mostly in the big games but in the smaller games when Pogba was fit he`s started mainly next to one of Matic/Fred/Scott that`s not being defensive. Nobody has suggested that AWB/Maguire are world class players but they`ve been good individually and the former still has room to improve to suggest they are big problems when we have zero structure in our midfield pivot, no RW and no performing ST is being very unfair. Even VVD/Ramos would look less good than they are with McFred/Matic in front of them and any attacking RB would likely struggle with practically no RW to properly link up with. If AWB is still performing poorly with a top class RW in front of him(and BTW he hasn`t been bar a few bad games) and if Maguire is still performing poorly with a Declan Rice in midfield next to Pogba(like AWB he hasnt been poor not an 80m CB but not poor) then we can firmly classify them as shocking signings.
Leicester simply have a world class scouting network. They`ve lost Mahrez, Kante, Maguire, Chilwell amongst other top players and still managed to be a solid top 6 team he`s not the only key player they`ve sold that they look better off without. If a player leaves a team and they seem to be better off without him but he still manages to improve the club he`s joined all these mental gymnastics are an extremely unnecessary part of a discussion unless this player HEAVILY flops in the club he joins which neither of the players I`ve mentioned have
Maguire and AWB haven't been good signings? Really?
Some people just love to wallow in self pity, ffs.
We had a better defensive record (conceded less goals) with a midfield of Pogba and Herrera with Smalling and Lindelof at CB
You think I give a f*ck about some knee-jerk thread created by someone probably after we lost a game? As if that's the deciding factor whether our defense is good enough or not.
In Ole's first full season in charge we got 3rd position, and now we're likely gonna finish 2nd with ~10 more points than last season. We also conceded 54 goals in a single PL season (2018/19) before he signed Maguire and AWB. Our defense has been a lot better since those 2 arrived and it's only going to get better as soon as the manager gets rid of unreliable players in the midfield and finally sign a DM.
I'm mostly Ole out, but I don't think his transfer market activity is a fair stick to beat him with. Maguire was laughably overpriced but that's not really his fault, and like him or not he is still a solid centre half who's improved us defensively. AWB is still one of England's best right backs and defensively one of the absolute best - he's limited going forward but still very young and has time to improve that part of his game. Telles is exactly what I expected him to be - a decent cover option at LB, and the fact he's fired up Shaw to the form of his life has made that £13million completely worth it. VDB has been very poor but I'd still give him another season to judge fairly. Bruno Fernandes meanwhile has been our best signing since RVP and arguably since Ronaldo/Ferdinand/Rooney if you wanna go further back.
Compared to Mourinho and LVG his signings have been decent IMO. People often forget the dross Guardiola signed - but unlike Ole he has the luxury of managing an Oil Club that quickly splurges cash to replace the duds he signs.
Compared to Mourinho and LVG his signings have been decent IMO. People often forget the dross Guardiola signed - but unlike Ole he has the luxury of managing an Oil Club that quickly splurges cash to replace the duds he signs.