Yes. The ball commes to the front by itself. No worrys mate. What an utterly flawd argument you make. And we can have Goalnaldo i goal.
No need for that tone, he just expressed an opinion. But since he mentioned Spurs and you seem to be so adamant about it, let me reverse the question: What's this world-class midfield/defence Spurs have that allows them to create chances for their prolific duo? Højbjerg, Bentancur and Dier alongside Davies, Sanchez, Reguillon and Royal, is that an assembly of top-class talent? Maybe, if you're willing to look closer, you'll notice a couple of things: Firstly, that Kane has been adding qualities to his game throughout his career to the point where he is now one of the best forwards in Europe. Besides the fact that he needs only a fraction of a second to find a good shot, he's also as comfortable coming deeper/playing with his back to goal as he's near the box. His range of passing has become incredibly good, and his decision-making is superb. And then, you have Son. Amazing balance that allows him to find good shots and passes while running with the ball. He can "see" a good finish both in and outside the box, and he can execute with both feet. Add to this fantastic dynamic runs on the ball through the lines. Above all, they both understand each other's importance in their partnership and they work for each other on the pitch. And, don't forget, they are consistent. Which means that both the manager and the team can rely on them. Do we have any of that?
It's not one or the other. Of course we need a midfield that can offer better ball retention. Sure as hell, we need a defence able to play in a high line and keep its cool during the first phases of our build-up. And, as was the case with the scousers, good attacking full-backs may prove essential to stretching the pitch in the final third. But, as someone mentioned earlier in this thread, there's a reason why the players who can make things happen in the attacking third have always been the best-paid footballers. Generally speaking, it's goals or "firepower", but when we get down to brass tacks, it's a lot more than scoring 15-20 league goals. Freaking Christian Benteke has done that. It's about having a variety of options that will allow the team to find those "easy" goals. Not easy in execution, but easy in the sense that you won't always need 100 passes to create a good shot.
Remember our last title-winning side? We were rotating two 35+ year-olds in the midfield, and we had a defence that shipped nearly 50 goals in the PL alone. We couldn't defend a set-piece to save our lives. First game, a horrible performance and one goal defeat at Goodison that could have easily been two or three. Next game, Fulham at OT: They get a very early lead. That's the stuff that can "melt"our players' legs nowadays. Back then, we stretched the field, got Evra in a good crossing position (all these things are true and we need to improve on them right now), but the cross wasn't even half dangerous. It was just that a certain Dutchman saw a finish with his left foot that very few players could. An "easy" goal. Not for him. For the team. One that calmed the nerves and allowed us to finish the business in the second half. And he continued to do that for the rest of the season. In fact, toward the tail-end of 12/13, when he lost his mojo for a few games, we were eliminated from both the CL and the FA Cup.
And since Conte is the talk of the town lately, with Rangnick not being able to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg while the Italian was available, let's have a look at how he led Chelsea to that magnificent run that won them the PL title. It's true that he scratched his initial plan and went back to the drawing board to come up with his 343 that did the trick. It's also true that he had the best transition midfielder in the world in Kante, a great ball-player in Fabregas and a still integral Matic. He took the best out of players like Moses, too. But all these weren't the sole reason why Chelsea outscored their xG by 23 goals that season. It was their ability to unbalance defences and create pockets of space which was the product of two factors: Hazard's efficacy in isolation plays and Costa's willingness to absolutely torture centre-halves. They both boosted their numbers through this: Hazard making things happen off the dribble and Costa scoring what we have always known as "forward's goals". When Conte finished 5th next season, the midfield hadn't changed. Guess who was driven out of the club, though. In fact, these two were also the main reason why Mourinho won the title two seasons earlier.
That's the issue with United, too. Not the only issue, but, nevertheless, one of the main issues. Don't get me wrong, a strong backbone is essential. The often ridiculed on here "patterns of play" are also of the utmost importance, and the people who were laughing at them were more wrong than they could ever imagine. But when you want to win titles, you need to score goals. And as much as you need the right patterns/strategy in order to avoid depending on low probability shots (which was often the case under Solskjaer), you also need the players and the naturally formed/blossomed partnerships, so that every single goal you score isn't the product of 30 pages of deep analysis (unless you're Pep, that is. He can do it. But as Robert Downey Jr. would have said: Never go full Pep).
So, yes, we need to learn how to beat the press in our build-up. We also need to improve massively on our possession game. But if what we have up front consists of: a) Rashford, who only wants to tuck inside from a wide left position and get in-behind, b) Martial, who wants to start centrally and come to the left and try to take on someone, and c) Ronaldo, who wants to get at the end of moves, very little things will happen. Zero ball protection, no ability in tight spaces/back to goal, minimal dribbling and 1v1 efficiency. Instead, players predictable as hell, with very few arrows in their quiver. You can have prime Xavi and Iniesta here. They can only pass the ball forward. If the only thing the receivers do is give it back to them and then either make a useless run in-behind, stand still or, the worst scenario, lose it within the next second, you're back to square one.
Look at the bigger picture. Football is not played on paper. For example, both Ronnie and Marcus have it in them to score 20 league goals. The big question is can the team sustain two pure goalscorers who offer very little in every other area/metric besides in front of goal. Can it be done? And if it can, with all the big spenders around us, will we be able to get all the supporting cast, or, as the OP suggests, we should change our priorities?
