Our Young Core of Talent vs. The Deadwood

[The Nani]

——Martial—Rashford
—————Mason
———Gomes-McTom
—————Garner
Shaw—Axel—Lind—Dalot
—————Hendo

Joel Laird TFM O’Con Andreas Chong

Vs.

——Lukaku—Lingard
—————Mata—
———Pogba—Ander
—————Matic
Darm-Jones—Mike-Young
—————DDG

Grant TonyV Bailly Rojo Fred Sanchez

Who wins ?

I know who I’m backing.

If ever there were time for a clearout...

 

[Dolf]

The deadwood would still win. We need a mix of both

 

[The Nani]

The deadwood would still win. We need a mix of both

Disagree. I don’t think the senior players offer much at all consistently. Which is damning.

What we need is proper, quality signings added to the young talent already in place. And sell off as many of the others as possible to do it.

 

[OGSaviour]

the deadwood would walk through that midfield for fun

 

[The Nani]

the deadwood would walk through that midfield for fun

And yet I can’t remember the last time our midfield bossed anyone.

 

[King Andow]

Grant and Pereira are deadwood, not Dave and Pogba.

 

[el3mel]

The deadwood got 1 point out of 6 against the worst 2 teams in the league.

I don't think the youngsters will be any worse than Cardiff and Huddersfield.

 

[bosnian_red]

Get rid of Matic, replace with McTominay.
Get rid of Bailly, Rojo replace with Tuanzebe.
Get rid of Young, Valencia, Darmian, replace with Dalot and Laird.
Get rid of Mata, replace with Angel Gomes.
Get rid of Sanchez, replace with Tahith Chong.
Get rid of Lukaku, replace with Mason Greenwood.
Back up goalkeeper doesn't mean too much, but you can add it in if you want to save more on wages. Replace Romero/Grant with Henderson/Pereira.

On top of this, of course, we still need to buy a starting right back, starting center back, 2 starting midfielders and a right winger. None of these youngsters should be starting right away. Some like Greenwood, Tuanzebe, Dalot can be first choice back up players to rotate in and around, but a clear starting 11 should be there in front of them so there isn't that much pressure on them to instantly step in. That requires us to sign someone like Alderweireld/Koulibaly for CB, Meunier/Cancelo for RB, a big midfield revamp regardless since there isn't all that much potential there anyway, while the attack is tricky. Not entirely sure there are loads of options for us to fix the right wing with Sancho not looking realistic this summer, so maybe Greenwood might fix the problem for us before we thought he'd be ready anyway!

 

[The Nani]

Grant and Pereira are deadwood, not Dave and Pogba.

Tbf, I forgot Grant existed. Pereira is definitely not deadwood though. Good squad player.

The latter two aren’t committed and are probably off this summer. If that’s not deadwood I don’t know what is.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Thought it was cool that our front 6 were academy today. Game could have gone differently if mason put goals away and VAR was a thing, and it probably would have been a positive talking point then. Thought our attacking play had a bright start before the apathy took them after the peno.

 

[Mr.Kaya]

Normally you bring in some fresh blood around the more experienced core members you know, like a mix between the two is the best. Now in our case, our so called experienced core" is nowhere to be find so its a more tricky than that unfortunatly. Greenwood looks like a extremely talented prospect, that should get some more game time next season, but hes not a guy we can expect too much from already. That goes for the rest of your young prospects like Garner, Gomes and Chong too. Martial and Rashford needs to step up next season, but I still think we need to get a new attacker before next season starts. Those two + Lukaku isnt realiable enough as of now. Sanchez needs to be sold asap, so should Mata imo. Herrera is already gone, Pogbas future is in doubt, Matic is getting too slow, Freds too incosistent and then you got McTom who at least could be a squad player.

 

[ToToMarshall]

The “deadwood” team still walks it I’m afraid

 

[SAFMUTD]

The “deadwood” team still walks it I’m afraid

It depends, which team is Ole managing?

 

[OohAahMartial]

The “deadwood” team still walks it I’m afraid

Only on paper, on the pitch they literally will walk around it.

 

[The Nani]

The deadwood got 1 point out of 6 against the worst 2 teams in the league.

I don't think the youngsters will be any worse than Cardiff and Huddersfield.

In fact we saw a 17 year old come in on his debut and contribute more to the buildup and attack than any of our forwards in any one game this season.

The idea that because he hasn’t done it yet Garner wouldn’t step in and immediately look better than Matic is a total nonsense.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

We need senior players the young core can emulate. We had it when Ibra was here; now we have... Ashley Young.

 

[antohan]

We need senior players the young core can emulate. We had it when Ibra was here; now we have... Ashley Young.

The experienced core younger players can feed off is a significant issue to consider.

Feck me, I've been averse to the idea of bringing in oldies for a few years now, but if we could swap Sanchez for Cavani and Lukaku for Dybala (chuck a few mill on top) we would have both the movement and creativity we've been lacking and work ethic/experience for those around them to step up.

You could take it a step further and look for something similar in midfield, particularly if Pogba leaves. Our midfield looks extremely lightweight once Pogba and Herrera are out of the equation.

 

[The Nani]

We need senior players the young core can emulate. We had it when Ibra was here; now we have... Ashley Young.

Zlatan is not a fecking role model for any young player. In fact, I reckon a lot of the arrogance and nonchalance we’re seeing from underperforming players like Lingard, Pogba and Rashford is down to his influence.

Failing signing a proper leader and talent like De Ligt, simply clearing out those egos (not Rashford) so the managers and coaches can properly influence the younger talent would be very beneficial.