Potential Matic Replacements

[RedRonaldo]

I have hope that Fred and Mctominay will make a world class partnership one day... but not right now, unfortunately. Doesn't seem like the club is willing to spend big on a Matic replacement.

They will never be worldclass partnership as they lacking basic passing and creativity required in midfield. But they could still form solid defensive midfield partnership to protect our back four, but that will also put heavier burden on our only starting AM (ie Bruno) to create everything on his own.

Basically if we have one very good DM and a decent back four, we could afford to play attacking football with 2 creative midfielder instead (ie City with De Bruyne + Silva, or Barca back then with Xavi + Inesta).

But if we continue to play with Maguire + Lindelof at the back, maybe we are not suit to play with high def line of attacking football, and we may need extra protection in midfield as well (ie Fred + Mctominay)

 

[NoPace]

Florian Neuhaus seems to be proper into the German squad and he's playing as a 6 for BorussiaMG (but has been an 8?). Bayern said to want him and BMG are pissed. I've only seen him a couple times this year so can't really say if he's good enough, but he can obviously pick a pass.

 

[Mani]

Florian Neuhaus seems to be proper into the German squad and he's playing as a 6 for BorussiaMG (but has been an 8?). Bayern said to want him and BMG are pissed. I've only seen him a couple times this year so can't really say if he's good enough, but he can obviously pick a pass.

Neuhaus is good shout, I like him as a CM, he got good passing range.

 

[Bestietom]

What about Soumare.

 

[Dante]

I have hope that Fred and Mctominay will make a world class partnership one day... but not right now, unfortunately. Doesn't seem like the club is willing to spend big on a Matic replacement.

This is the reason I'm coming back to the idea Neves might be an option.

Ole has found a midfield shape that works well defensively but not offensively. It's taken lots of experimentation to get this far so I wouldn't want to lose one for the other. That means I'd like to see us looking for a replacement who can do what our current pair do only better.

Neves may not have turned out to be the world beater we thought he would be a couple of years ago. But his fundamentals are still very good and there's definitely a decent player in there.

In a midfield 3 where he's the only screening presence, there are plenty of weaknesses in his game. But in a midfield double pivot where he and his partner press and cover behind each other in turns, he'd be perfect imo. The same way that Fred and McTominay look like better players next to one another, Neves would benefit from being a midfield tandem like we're seeing right now at United. The biggest plus is that Neves has the passing ability to make up for what the other two lack.

I think we need to start looking past players who fit a particular mould and who play the same way as our existing options. Instead, we should consider somebody who has the right tools to play our system, even if they might currently be underperforming in a different team's system.

A example like Wijnaldum comes to mind when I say this. He was misused at Newcastle but became a CL winner at Liverpool.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

1. Wilfred Ndidi - knows the premier league
2. Declan Rice - knows the premier league, a leader, room for improvement
3. Denis Zakaria - great potential; will need time to adapt to Premier League
4. Fed Valverde - great potential; will need time to adapt to Premier League; Cavani/Pellistri will make it easier for him to settle

My personal favourite is Valverde and would take him in a straight swap for Pogba but I don't think Madrid will let him go and I think he won't leave Madrid where he's been since academy days after being discovered by them. In which case, I'd go for Ndidi, who we know is a very safe choice having proven himself in the league

Ndidi is a no for me. He will just be another McT with his ball playing ability. Ndidi is better defensively than McT but his ball playing is average for midfielder.

I think the prototype here will be 4231 and the double pivot will likely consist Fred with Bruno in that no 10 means you want someone that compliment Fred‘s weakness. Composure and physical strength.

Someone like Partey or Dembele type of midfielder. Physically very strong, still good or composed on the ball and defensively still very good for double pivot.

Or deep playmaker but defensively also still very good like Carrick but none of the four in the list are like Carrick type.

Given that Rice seems to be Chelsea bond and will cost lot of money, I think Zakaria will be the most suitable and realistic one on that list. His style bit reminds me of Partey as well.

 

[NoPace]

Neuhaus is good shout, I like him as a CM, he got good passing range.

Fred-Neuhaus on paper looks like a nice double pivot.

 

[Gordon S]

Watching Camavinga for Rennes now, haven`t had the best of games but his potential is nuts!
So confident and aggressive when defending. Comfortable in possession and also has a bit of swagger about him when he runs with the ball at his feet. Sincerely hope the rumours about our interest is true

 

[Bestietom]

I like Soumare also.

 

[Hammondo]

They will never be worldclass partnership as they lacking basic passing and creativity required in midfield. But they could still form solid defensive midfield partnership to protect our back four, but that will also put heavier burden on our only starting AM (ie Bruno) to create everything on his own.

Basically if we have one very good DM and a decent back four, we could afford to play attacking football with 2 creative midfielder instead (ie City with De Bruyne + Silva, or Barca back then with Xavi + Inesta).

But if we continue to play with Maguire + Lindelof at the back, maybe we are not suit to play with high def line of attacking football, and we may need extra protection in midfield as well (ie Fred + Mctominay)

But those other 2 in midfield worked hard as well.

 

[ovoxo]

Watching Camavinga for Rennes now, haven`t had the best of games but his potential is nuts!
So confident and aggressive when defending. Comfortable in possession and also has a bit of swagger about him when he runs with the ball at his feet. Sincerely hope the rumours about our interest is true

I wonder if Fred, Camavinga and Bruno could work.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

Watching Camavinga for Rennes now, haven`t had the best of games but his potential is nuts!
So confident and aggressive when defending. Comfortable in possession and also has a bit of swagger about him when he runs with the ball at his feet. Sincerely hope the rumours about our interest is true

I suspect Camavinga will take one look at his countryman Pogba, and then draw a line through coming here unfortunately. Fantastic player though.

 

[Luke1995]

This is the reason I'm coming back to the idea Neves might be an option.

Ole has found a midfield shape that works well defensively but not offensively. It's taken lots of experimentation to get this far so I wouldn't want to lose one for the other. That means I'd like to see us looking for a replacement who can do what our current pair do only better.

Neves may not have turned out to be the world beater we thought he would be a couple of years ago. But his fundamentals are still very good and there's definitely a decent player in there.

In a midfield 3 where he's the only screening presence, there are plenty of weaknesses in his game. But in a midfield double pivot where he and his partner press and cover behind each other in turns, he'd be perfect imo. The same way that Fred and McTominay look like better players next to one another, Neves would benefit from being a midfield tandem like we're seeing right now at United. The biggest plus is that Neves has the passing ability to make up for what the other two lack.

I think we need to start looking past players who fit a particular mould and who play the same way as our existing options. Instead, we should consider somebody who has the right tools to play our system, even if they might currently be underperforming in a different team's system.

A example like Wijnaldum comes to mind when I say this. He was misused at Newcastle but became a CL winner at Liverpool.

Yeah but for that to happen, the club's transfer strategy would need to change.

Usually, the manager always gives the board a list of targets. The club would need to have people in the board with knowledge of football, so the signings aren't based only on the manager's list...

 

[Bwuk]

We badly need to get this sorted this summer. We really need someone who can pick the ball up from deep and dictate.

Im not sure who the answer is, someone like Neves could be a shout though.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

68m net spend this window. We really should have gone for Partey. It was an opportunity. There aren't many good DMs out there and a world class one was available. Now the only DMs I see people suggest is Zakaria Ndidi Rice and Neves. One has been out injured for a long time and the remaining three will cost a fortune.

 

[Ali Dia]

Partey would have been a great signing for the right kind of money. We aren’t getting Camavinga. Neves or Rice are the 2 most obvious candidates left. I can’t believe we still depend on matic so heavily

 

[croadyman]

Partey would have been a great signing for the right kind of money. We aren’t getting Camavinga. Neves or Rice are the 2 most obvious candidates left. I can’t believe we still depend on matic so heavily

The trouble was we didn't show any concrete interest because Ole just wouldn't move away from Fred/McTominay being the answer when Matic isn't fit.

I would happily sell Pogba next summer if we could get a top class DM who is comfortable on the ball with that money.

 

[Son]

All of these midfield talks are so frustrating. The fact is we already have the best player imaginable talent wise in the squad.

So frustrating as he has never really found his true position. Pogba is no Toni Kroos at passing but then again who is? He should have been able to boss a midfield in his own way because he is ridiculous as a footballer.

Now we see injuries creeping in too. Sad to see as for all his talent I can’t even tell you much he does right now. Pogba has literally fallen off a cliff in his career as of late.

 

[izak]

Ruben Neves is ready for the step up, he's what we need, Someone that can pass(Long or short) with one touch accuracy, keep things ticking, hard in tackles, covers a lot of ground and most importantly he's EPL proven also at a good age too, won't need adaptation into a new enverioment.

 

[golden_blunder]

All of these midfield talks are so frustrating. The fact is we already have the best player imaginable talent wise in the squad.

So frustrating as he has never really found his true position. Pogba is no Toni Kroos at passing but then again who is? He should have been able to boss a midfield in his own way because he is ridiculous as a footballer.

Now we see injuries creeping in too. Sad to see as for all his talent I can’t even tell you much he does right now. Pogba has literally fallen off a cliff in his career as of late.

Have to stop looking to him, he’s had his chances

 

[Sea-Cow]

68m net spend this window. We really should have gone for Partey. It was an opportunity. There aren't many good DMs out there and a world class one was available. Now the only DMs I see people suggest is Zakaria Ndidi Rice and Neves. One has been out injured for a long time and the remaining three will cost a fortune.

Partey would have been perfect. If he recovers from this serious injury I think Ndidi could be a good, not great, option. But Leicster would look to fleece us of course, which they are right to do.

But Rice and Neves are not the answer. Both aren't close to good enough. They might be slight improvements on what we have now, but there has to be better options out there.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Partey would have been a great signing for the right kind of money. We aren’t getting Camavinga. Neves or Rice are the 2 most obvious candidates left. I can’t believe we still depend on matic so heavily

Did anyone see how he did against Chelsea yesterday?

 

[AchillesMaxx]

Partey would have been a very great addition to the team as Matic’s replacement. He has got good coverage while possessing great skill sets. I think we need a pure 6 who can compensate Bruno and Van Beek. This 6 needs to be deployed deeply in our midfield while we have Van Beek playing as 8 box to box and Bruno as attacking midfielder. He needs to possess good coverage and neat and tidy passes. Ruben Neves looks like an intelligent deep lying playmaker who has great range of passing but I am not sure of his defensive positioning and abilities. Declan Rice looks like a natural born leader who is an English and can play as a center back. We may get a Gen 2 Keano in him. I doubt Chelsea would go all in for him while they already have Kante and Jorginho in their midfield. If our trio consist of Van Beek, Bruno and Rice then the balance and mobility are guaranteed!

 

[Ali Dia]

Did anyone see how he did against Chelsea yesterday?

he’s just back from injury after 3 games out. I only saw the highlights and he didn’t really stand out.

 

[Sea-Cow]

he’s just back from injury after 3 games out. I only saw the highlights and he didn’t really stand out.

Ahh I didn't know that about an injury.

 

[dutchred]

Ryan Gravenburg at Ajax is world class

 

[croadyman]

I think there won't be any links to a replacement until Ole realises this should be his last season and finally accepts Fred & McTominay shouldn't be the long term plan either

 

[Red_toad]

I suspect Camavinga will take one look at his countryman Pogba, and then draw a line through coming here unfortunately. Fantastic player though.

Or he could look at his nailed on starter country man Martial and be very pro the move. Pogba has been replaced by Bruno, due to poor form/ injuries/ looking like he can't be arsed. If the lad is ambitious and think's he can get in ahead of Matic, McTommy and Fred, then he'll earn a lot of cash here and probably be successful long term.

 

[FatherWolff]

Tonali! I just love the guy. Within five years, I believe he will be one of the best defensive mids in the world.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

In retrospect, seeing how Pogba has become a bench player maybe we would have been better off spending a few extra millions on Partey instead of VdB

Bruno
Fred Partey
​

With Pogba as an impact sub and Mctominay to solidify the defense when coming off the bench. We could have been had a balanced midfield with quality

 

[Highfather_24]

Getting a DM who is not good at distribution of the ball, like say Partey or Rice...will not help us. A midfield of that DM alongside Fred or McT(who are also limited on the ball) will be very conservative against majority of our opposition. Also, ineffective against a high press.

Fred and McT are both box to box ball winners. They need to be alongside another CM who is defensively(positionally) sound, and is good on the ball. Someone like a Carrick or a Alonso or a Thiago. Getting a DM would be too def minded.

 

[Highfather_24]

A lot are in favour of a DM because that suits a midfield of VdB and Bruno.

-----DM
VdB--Bruno

What they are forgetting is, this kind of midfield profiles doesn't suit our players. We won't have another pure DM. We don't have another creative player like Bruno. When VdB is not playing, and Fred/McT step in, the midfield will be too defensive etc etc.

We need to identify the roles of our midfielders, find their role in the squad, and recruit accordingly. We play a 4-2-3-1 so we need 4 sitting midfielders and 2 attacking ones.

6 : DM, Matic/Garner
8 : Fred, McT
10 : Bruno, VdB

Our 6 should be able to screen the defence, and control the tempo of the game with their passing. The 8 should be the box to box midfielder, and the 10 the creative player.

 

[sun_tzu]

A lot are in favour of a DM because that suits a midfield of VdB and Bruno.

-----DM
VdB--Bruno

What they are forgetting is, this kind of midfield profiles doesn't suit our players. We won't have another pure DM. We don't have another creative player like Bruno. When VdB is not playing, and Fred/McT step in, the midfield will be too defensive etc etc.

We need to identify the roles of our midfielders, find their role in the squad, and recruit accordingly. We play a 4-2-3-1 so we need 4 sitting midfielders and 2 attacking ones.

6 : DM, Matic/Garner
8 : Fred, McT
10 : Bruno, VdB

Our 6 should be able to screen the defence, and control the tempo of the game with their passing. The 8 should be the box to box midfielder, and the 10 the creative player.

FYI... I'm pretty sure Pogba plays for us as well

 

[Highfather_24]

FYI... I'm pretty sure Pogba plays for us as well

Just have a feeling we will sell him soon.

 

[sun_tzu]

Just have a feeling we will sell him soon.

Wouldn't mind that... could see him hanging round and leaving on a free (he can sign a pre contract in just over a year)
Don't think we will sell for a low fee and don't think somebody will pay a high fee when they can wait

 

[Hammondo]

Getting a DM who is not good at distribution of the ball, like say Partey or Rice...will not help us. A midfield of that DM alongside Fred or McT(who are also limited on the ball) will be very conservative against majority of our opposition. Also, ineffective against a high press.

Fred and McT are both box to box ball winners. They need to be alongside another CM who is defensively(positionally) sound, and is good on the ball. Someone like a Carrick or a Alonso or a Thiago. Getting a DM would be too def minded.

This exactly. I think it should be our priority.

 

[AchillesMaxx]

A lot are in favour of a DM because that suits a midfield of VdB and Bruno.

-----DM
VdB--Bruno

What they are forgetting is, this kind of midfield profiles doesn't suit our players. We won't have another pure DM. We don't have another creative player like Bruno. When VdB is not playing, and Fred/McT step in, the midfield will be too defensive etc etc.

We need to identify the roles of our midfielders, find their role in the squad, and recruit accordingly. We play a 4-2-3-1 so we need 4 sitting midfielders and 2 attacking ones.

6 : DM, Matic/Garner
8 : Fred, McT
10 : Bruno, VdB

Our 6 should be able to screen the defence, and control the tempo of the game with their passing. The 8 should be the box to box midfielder, and the 10 the creative player.

IMO I think we definitely need a 6 who plays as a destroyer rather than playmaking due to the flaw of our center halves! I also believe that VDB is an intelligent player who can dictate tempo as well. McT can play as a backup for 8 he has good shot in his legs while Fred can act as backup 6 as he is sucked in shooting.
DM(6) - Matic, Fred, ??
B2B(8)- VDB, McT
AM(10)- BF, VDB, youth promotion

DM(6) - Matic, Fred, ??
B2B(8)- VDB, McT
AM(10)- BF, VDB, youth promotion

 

[Highfather_24]

Dont really see Fred as a 6, he doesn't have the positional discipline for it.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Kalvin Phillips can pass and looks decent defensively.

 

[beingshe7don]

Kalvin Phillips can pass and looks decent defensively.

Leeds are not gonna sell him to us and neither will Kalvin move over here. He'll probably end up at Liverpool or something. We need to sign D Zakaria before he get signed by one of the best teams in Europe. He could be our very own Fabinho who could cover at CB when required. Bringing in Zakaria would be a game changer.