Our Midfield

[bond19821982]

Pathetic and its only 3 games into the season.

 

[bond19821982]

Cant string 3 passes together. We are so open in midfield ans better teams will just ease past us.

 

[Sandikan]

How many times did Pogba lazily lose possession in that last 10mins. Incredible.

 

[Sandikan]

They seemed to just breeze through our midfield at times and against stronger teams that will cost us. Still can't get my head around not signing a midfielder or two.

It's going to be a season long debate - what was the more criminal lack of investment - midfield or up front

 

[OoopsMisclick]

pogba in a 2 man midfield... Won't work

 

[Kag]

Yikes.

There isn’t one player in that front six that values the football. Mata, perhaps, but he looks about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

I like the vision but McTominay, Pereira and Pogba aren’t the answer in midfield. If we’re going to use Lindelof and Maguire to build from the back then we need to overhaul the midfield (again).

 

[El Zoido]

Would like to see Pogba as a #10 and someone more defence-minded in the centre with McT.

 

[bond19821982]

How many times did Pogba lazily lose possession in that last 10mins. Incredible.

Look at the return passes he gets and then everyone expects him to keep it ,.dribble past couple of players and pass it to forwards.

McT, AWB (2 times ), Young - Thats what I can remember for now, where Pogba has to adjust to take the ball when 3 players are surrounding him.

 

[Stringer]

What exactly are the scouts doing if they can’t identify a single midfielder who is better than the clowns we currently have?

 

[Sandikan]

Look at the return passes he gets and then everyone expects him to keep it ,.dribble past couple of players and pass it to feedback.

McT, AWB (2 times ), Young - Thats what I can remember for now, where Pogba has to adjust to take the ball when 3 players are surrounding him.

He is brave in taking the ball on in any scenario, but there's plenty of times he has it in acres, does something unnecessary and then loses it.

 

[bond19821982]

He is brave in taking the ball on in any scenario, but there's plenty of times he has it in acres, does something unnecessary and then loses it.

He is the only who takes risks and its pays off. This is the reason why we cant let him play in a 2 man midfield. He should be playing far left or further up. Bring Matic (no choice) with McT and go for it.

 

[Onerealunited]

What has happened with Fred. He has not been in the match squad for any game this year

 

[RyRy11]

What midfield? It’s non existent

 

[In Rainbows]

He is the only who takes risks and its pays off. This is the reason why we cant let him play in a 2 man midfield. He should be playing far left or further up. Bring Matic (no choice) with McT and go for it.

I'm going to keep hammering home the idea that Gomes needs to be tried in midfield. He has the technical quality to keep possession, has good timing to pick the right pass, but is also less adventurous in deep areas. He or Garner need to get tried for that midfield role. It's clear our current options aren't cutting it.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

McT should not be the automatic starter on a squad with top 5 aspirations. Our lack of midfield depth and talent is appalling.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Terrible. Need to be fixed & rebuilt before we can even think about signing forwards or wingers. When we were in our winning streak, we had midfield of Matic, Herrera & Pogba. Our midfield is becoming average now which is the reason why we can't dominate the midfield anymore and struggle to create chances.

McTomminay - He's just a midfield who offers a lot of energy on the pitch but no passing ability to find his men.
Matic - His leg is gone, lazy & ball watching.
Fred - A midfield with no composure, zero skills with his ball retention and often misplaced pass
Garner - Still an 18 years old
Pogba - The only one who is good

Attacking mid:
Pereira - Someone who works hard but offer no end product to play in attacking mid role.
Mata - His leg is gone, offer no end product anymore, no ability to hold the ball & not offering creativity anymore.

 

[Ziggy Starduster]

I honestly think spending big/savvy on a really decent CM to play alongside McT and free Pogba to play further up, should be our first step.
Our forwards just lacking confidence through lack of consistent service. Pogba is our creative force yet hasn’t played our being too deep to make an difference.

 

[Judas]

McT is a squad player at best, but I see so many thinking we should be finding midfielders to play with him and not replace him? Weird.

 

[buckooo1978]

McT is a squad player at best, but I see so many thinking we should be finding midfielders to play with him and not replace him? Weird.

agree and who knows how good McTominay can be. At the minute his best attribute is effort which shouldn't be enough to start for Manchester United given the scale of the club

the reality is though that hes our most dependable midfielder at the minute....

next Summer Matic and Pogba will go. We also wouldn't miss Lingard, Fred or Mata. We really need three new midfielders and it's hard to see us signing 3 alongside a 10, a RW and a striker - more work should have been done in the Summer to strengthen that area.

Given the scale of change needed I think McT will features heavily for the foreseeable

 

[Fosu-Mens]

agree and who knows how good McTominay can be. At the minute his best attribute is effort which shouldn't be enough to start for Manchester United given the scale of the club

the reality is though that hes our most dependable midfielder at the minute....

next Summer Matic and Pogba will go. We also wouldn't miss Lingard, Fred or Mata. We really need three new midfielders and it's hard to see us signing 3 alongside a 10, a RW and a striker - more work should have been done in the Summer to strengthen that area.

Given the scale of change needed I think McT will features heavily for the foreseeable

Rice, Maddison and Longstaff the older. Would not surprise me to see this happening if OGS was still in charge by some miracle.

 

[Suvvernmanc]

Our midfield is so poor compared to our so called rivals. Take Chelsea for example. They have so many players and they are all very good players. You need competition for places and especially so when you play a pressing, fast attacking style. They have:

Kante
Kovacic
Barkley
Mount
Loftus-Cheek
Jorginho
Pulisic can also play the #10.

We have Pogba, Mctominay, Fred, Matic and Andreas. I think Andreas is better suited higher up the pitch as a presser and creative midfielder. Matic is just shit. That's leaves 3 players.

It was criminal to let Hererra leave or not to replace him, and the same with Fellaini.

We could do with 2 or 3 midfielders over the next 2 windows to get the numbers where they need to be.

There were load of options available in the summer too which was discussed here on the caf. Youri Teilemans springs to mind. Ndidi or Gueye were others.

We wont get the players we want in the winter window except a 'stop gap' type player but we might have forced ourself into doing that now. Eriksen coming in this January on very high wages I wouldn't mind too much but in the summer he will have the choice of many clubs on very high wages so not sure we will be his best option.

 

[Suvvernmanc]

I honestly think spending big/savvy on a really decent CM to play alongside McT and free Pogba to play further up, should be our first step.
Our forwards just lacking confidence through lack of consistent service. Pogba is our creative force yet hasn’t played our being too deep to make an difference.

Serji Melinkovic-Savic and Thomas Partey in the summer would be great. I wonder if Partey could be available in January.

 

[Judas]

Why would Partey come to us in our current state?

 

[tompo18]

Midfield for me is the area of a team I have always focused most on.

We've been lucky to have had some great midfield players over the years, Robson, Keane, Ince and Scholes to name a few.

It makes such a difference to have a player of the above calibre and if we could find someone it would immediately improve our whole outlook.

 

[buckooo1978]

Rice, Maddison and Longstaff the older. Would not surprise me to see this happening if OGS was still in charge by some miracle.

Rice, McTominay, Longstaff and Pereira dont represent great options for me

our Scouting network needs to be a bit more imaginative if these are our options

 

[Judas]

Rice, McTominay, Longstaff and Pereira dont represent great options for me

our Scouting network needs to be a bit more imaginative if these are our options

The scary thing is some on here would convince themselves they're happy if thats what our options were going into next season. A deluded bunch.

 

[Bestietom]

The scary thing is some on here would convince themselves they're happy if thats what our options were going into next season. A deluded bunch.

If we don't aim higher than players like Longstaff, Rice, Mc Tominay, and Pereira, We ain't gonna get any higher than mid table.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The scary thing is some on here would convince themselves they're happy if thats what our options were going into next season. A deluded bunch.

Pereira is rubbish and the rest are not exactly creative are they? The ones you are talking about are presuming Pogba will stay. If he goes and we sign those three we are back to not creating anything from midfield.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Rice, McTominay, Longstaff and Pereira don't represent great options for me

our Scouting network needs to be a bit more imaginative if these are our options

There were targets available other than Longstaff and Rabiot.

McTominay is a decent 5th option and Pereira a decent squad player given his positional flexibility.

 

[Roboc7]

Why would Partey come to us in our current state?

He won’t and this is going to be a huge problem in the summer let alone January. Reality is we will have to aim lower than someone like Partey (although we’ll probably manage to spend same amount or more).

We need 3 starting midfielders because Pogba surely goes. That will take years.

 

[Strelok]

McT is a squad player at best, but I see so many thinking we should be finding midfielders to play with him and not replace him? Weird.

IMO McT is becoming a better version of Herrera. Herrera was great in defence, providing energy, tenacity and winning the ball back but that's all about him.

Don't get me wrong I really like Herrera and losing him is a big lost but his passes were mostly sideway or backward. He can't dribble and I could not recall much of him driving the ball forward.

McT now can provide mostly what Herrera could, plus he can drive the ball forward. Not really good at it but ok.

IMO what we desperately need now is to replace Matic. A world class DM, keeping Pogba (and his head) and McT would be a decent midfield.

Of course an upgrade on McT would be nice but a world class DM first I think.

Herrera contributed with scoring important goals for us in big games, and he could cut open a defence with his passing. McTominay cannot do either and should be a squad player at best.

His pass to Rashford in the match against Chelsea (2017) was the last contribution with "scoring important goals in big games" or "cut open defence with his passing" I think.

He has transformed from an attacking midfield to a ball winning midfield in his last two years with us IMO. Most of his passes were sideway or backward as far as I could recall.

I didn't have a high regard about McT at first and thought he is at Championship level at best but I have to admit that I was wrong now.

I run out of quota so have to post here, cheers.

 

[Bestietom]

IMO McT is becoming a better version of Herrera. Herrera was great in defence, providing energy, tenacity and winning the ball back but that's all about him.

Don't get me wrong I really like Herrera and losing him is a big lost but his passes were mostly sideway or backward. He can't dribble and I could not recall much of him driving the ball forward.

McT now can provide mostly what Herrera could, plus he can drive the ball forward. Not really good at it but ok.

IMO what we desperately need now is to replace Matic. A world class DM, keeping Pogba (and his head) and McT would be a decent midfield.

Of course an upgrade on McT would be nice but a world class DM first I think.

Herrera contributed with scoring important goals for us in big games, and he could cut open a defence with his passing. McTominay cannot do either and should be a squad player at best.