Premiership-Challeging First-team Team. Who is good enough?

[Untd55]

Who do you think is currently good enough or has the potential to be good enough to actually be a first-team member of a title-challenging team ?

Good Enough
Pogba - Not many midfielders with his ability. Needs to improve decision-making.
Rashford - Much better on the left-wing. Needs to improve finishing consistency and decision-making.
Martial - Always thought he should play central to use his best asset: finishing. Needs to improve decision-making and stop getting niggly injuries.
Wan Bissaka - Defensively, he is the best in the league. I think he can improve his attacking side to be sufficient, particularly, he will be helped if he had a quality right-winger ahead of him.
De Gea - Though he seems to be declining, he is still good enough.

Potential
Greenwood - The only player I will put here as he has not played enough, but he is obviously far above our other youth players. The first team I have actually been impressed by a youth player that has been hyped up to such a level for a long time; usually, they are so disappointing.

Unsure
Fred - I have a feeling that Fred would benefit the most from improved teammates. I have a feeling that he could actually be good enough. He is good at passing and has a good-level of on-the-ball ability.

Not Convinced
Maguire - I am not convinced by him and never have been. He just does not seem to be anything special, but I suppose we can make up for his inadequacies with a better midfield.
Lindelof - Same reasons as Maguire as I do not think Maguire is much better than him.
Shaw - Too injury-prone. He can be a good squad player, but needs to be replaced by someone more reliable in the first team.

Not good enough for first-team
James - Useful player, but is limited. Fast and decent at crossing, but lacks technical dribbling ability and does not make enough of an impact on games. (Needs replacing in the first team)
McTominay - Too limited technically. He can do a defensive job, but his passing and on-the-ball ability are just not good enough to be a consistent first-team player. Consider that we used to have Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves (Needs replacing in the first team)

I am not really convinced by any other players to be good enough for the team that I have not mentioned.

 

[Josep Dowling]

I think Maguire is good enough but he needs a better partner than Lindelof. Lindelof is too weak and slow for me.

We need an attacking LB or at the very least Shaw to lose at least a stone and told to stop eating. Even if he isn’t actually fat he is far too bulky for a wing back.

 

[Yagami]

For me, as far as a premiership challenging XI, only Rashford, Martial, Pogba, and Maguire.

I like AWB but I'm not fully sold on him yet. I like Shaw but he's too injury prone, and his lack of contribution in the final 3rd is a worry. Maybe Fred, too. So these three im less confident of compared to those above, but I wouldn't write them off either.

Greenwood is special, but I don't know about him being premiership challenging first team material yet.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Assuming they're on their most current good form...

EPL Challenging Team
First 11 - Pogba, Rash, Martial, DDG
Regular - Green, McT, James, AWB, Mag
Squad - Romero, Pereira, Will, Young, Matic, Fred, Shaw, Lind

N after that, we have the...

Uncertainties - youth
BS proven injury record liabilities - u know who they are
Deadwood/expired players - no need to say who

We need more at the top of this pyramid. N need to continue getting rid of the pyramid bases, too much.

 

[ifightdragons]

De Gea and Wan.Bissaka are certainly not good enough for either Liverpool nor City. Wan-Bissaka has potential, but is a wildcard defensively and not good enough on the ball.
Rashford would be a bencher at Liverpool and City, with some odd starts here and there. Maybe a starter in a few years if he learned how to be consistently good through an entire season.
Martial and Pogba are our best players. And they've never had a consistently good season in their careers.
Maguire was great at Leicester, but has suffered since joining United.

So I'm tempted to say no one would get in a title-challenging squad at this moment in time. Maguire would be the safest bet though.

 

[11101]

???
AWB - Lindelof - Maguire - Shaw
Fred - ??? - Pogba
??? - ??? - Rashford

De Gea is not commanding enough for the modern PL. Our CBs would be fine with a keeper who will step out and deal with crosses.

McT is a solid squad player but an upgrade would see even more from Fred and Pogba.

We also need a forward who will reliably score most chances. I like Martial but I dont think hes quite good enough to be relied on for 20+ goals every season. Greenwood could be it but not yet.

 

[Andersonson]

DDG
AWB
Maguire
Pogba
Rashford

They are good enough to be starting players.

Good enough to be in a squad: Romero, McTominay.

Unsure: Martial

Cleary not good enough: Matic, Mata, Lingard, Shaw, Bailly, Rojo, Jones, Fred.

To early to judge Greenwood, but he has bags of potential.

 

[Dominos]

This is a silly question in a way.

Do we think Liverpool would still be top of the league if Lindelof was playing alongside Van Dijk? I do. That technically means he's good enough to be a first team regular in a title challenging team. Likewise I think you could throw most of our players in the squads of the best teams in the world and they're hardly going to turn their teams to shite just by their sheer presence. You don't need a squad of 22+ world class players.

The way to look at it is where are our weakest spots, and where can we realistically upgrade? I think with say 4 signings - CB, CM, and a couple of attacking players to give us more creativity then this team would really start to take shape. Add in the improvement of our young players. Of course any signings have to be good which given our transfer record I don't have much faith in.

 

[Dominos]

DDG
AWB
Maguire
Pogba
Rashford

They are good enough to be starting players.

Good enough to be in a squad: Romero, McTominay.

Unsure: Martial

Cleary not good enough: Matic, Mata, Lingard, Shaw, Bailly, Rojo, Jones, Fred.

To early to judge Greenwood, but he has bags of potential.

See what posts like this are basically saying is if Martial was in Liverpool's squad right now as back up to Mane and Firmino, they'd be a worse team for it? Or if Shaw was back up for Robertson, they can kiss the title goodbye..

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Starting: Pogba, Rashford, Maguire

Regular: Martial, Wan-Bissaka,

Squad: Greenwood, Romero, McTominay, James

Unsure - De Gea, Fred, Tuanzebe, Williams (need to gauge their form for the rest of the season)

Not convinced: Shaw, Lindelof, Dalot, Lingard

Get Rid ASAP: Alexis, Matic, Young, Rojo, Mata, Bailly, Jones

 

[Hawks2008]

Starters: Pogba, Rashford, De Gea, AWB, Maguire

Greenwood also looks destined for the top

Rotational: Fred, McT, Lindelof, Shaw, James, Martial

Williams and Tuanzebe look like they can be decent options for us in future.

The rest can all go and I don't think anything of value would be lost.

 

[Andersonson]

See what posts like this are basically saying is if Martial was in Liverpool's squad right now as back up to Mane and Firmino, they'd be a worse team for it? Or if Shaw was back up for Robertson, they can kiss the title goodbye..

Is it worth having Shaw in the squad for £150,000 a week if you have Robertson? Or would you do instead keep Milner who is on a lower wage and is better?

And same goes for Martial. Maybe I would like the money being spent elsewhere. But im unsure of him, he has games where he is top class, but its rare.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Who do you think is currently good enough or has the potential to be good enough to actually be a first-team member of a title-challenging team ?

Good Enough
Pogba - Not many midfielders with his ability. Needs to improve decision-making.
Rashford - Much better on the left-wing. Needs to improve finishing consistency and decision-making.
Martial - Always thought he should play central to use his best asset: finishing. Needs to improve decision-making and stop getting niggly injuries.
Wan Bissaka - Defensively, he is the best in the league. I think he can improve his attacking side to be sufficient, particularly, he will be helped if he had a quality right-winger ahead of him.
De Gea - Though he seems to be declining, he is still good enough.

Potential
Greenwood - The only player I will put here as he has not played enough, but he is obviously far above our other youth players. The first team I have actually been impressed by a youth player that has been hyped up to such a level for a long time; usually, they are so disappointing.

Unsure
Fred - I have a feeling that Fred would benefit the most from improved teammates. I have a feeling that he could actually be good enough. He is good at passing and has a good-level of on-the-ball ability.

Not Convinced
Maguire - I am not convinced by him and never have been. He just does not seem to be anything special, but I suppose we can make up for his inadequacies with a better midfield.
Lindelof - Same reasons as Maguire as I do not think Maguire is much better than him.
Shaw - Too injury-prone. He can be a good squad player, but needs to be replaced by someone more reliable in the first team.

Not good enough for first-team
James - Useful player, but is limited. Fast and decent at crossing, but lacks technical dribbling ability and does not make enough of an impact on games. (Needs replacing in the first team)
McTominay - Too limited technically. He can do a defensive job, but his passing and on-the-ball ability are just not good enough to be a consistent first-team player. Consider that we used to have Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves (Needs replacing in the first team)

I am not really convinced by any other players to be good enough for the team that I have not mentioned.

Maguire is really no brainer, he should be in the category of good enough. City or Pep wanted him to replace Kompany and the guy is no 1 England centre back right now above John Stones. Not sure what makes you think he is not good enough, he might not be as special as those world class centre back like Rio, Vidic & Stam but those three are special case because they are rare to find. Not everyone has to be special in order to be good enough for challenging title, pretty sure Maguire would start in every top 7 teams right now.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

DDG (benefit of doubt)
Maguire
Pogba
Rashford

Then you've got Martial (as a CF), AWB and Fred as questions marks for me. All could be with the right partners and set-up but none are guaranteed. Martial is obviously one of the most talented lads in the entire squad and when he turns it on, he's great, but in a 3 forward system, can he bang in the required number of goals? Can AWB do enough going forward and can Fred keep improving and showing why Pep wanted him?

Greenwood is an incredible talent but way too young to put on any of these lists.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Maguire is really no brainer, he should be in the category of good enough. City or Pep wanted him to replace Kompany and the guy is no 1 England centre back right now above John Stones. Not sure what makes you think he is not good enough, he might not be as special as those world class centre back like Rio, Vidic & Stam but those three are special case because they are rare to find. Not everyone has to be special in order to be good enough for challenging title, pretty sure Maguire would start in every top 7 teams right now.

this with bells on.

 

[RedIan]

DDG
AWB
Maguire
Pogba
Rashford
Martial (when he feels like it)

Greenwood. - Potentially

 

[SadlerMUFC]

De Gea and Wan.Bissaka are certainly not good enough for either Liverpool nor City. Wan-Bissaka has potential, but is a wildcard defensively and not good enough on the ball.
Rashford would be a bencher at Liverpool and City, with some odd starts here and there. Maybe a starter in a few years if he learned how to be consistently good through an entire season.
Martial and Pogba are our best players. And they've never had a consistently good season in their careers.
Maguire was great at Leicester, but has suffered since joining United.

So I'm tempted to say no one would get in a title-challenging squad at this moment in time. Maguire would be the safest bet though.

AWB gives away one penalty and all of a sudden his a a "wildcard defensively"??? The guy is second in the league in tackles at 4.3 per game (Ndidi is 4.4) and only gives away .4 fouls per game (Ndidi gives away 1.4). Talk about a reactive post to one brain fart...

"Rashford would be a bencher unless he learned how to be consistently good through a season". You do realize that prior to joining Liverpool Mane had scored 10 and 11 goals as a regular starter for Southampton. Numbers that are very similar to Rashford despite Rashford not having nearly as many starts prior to this year. I won't even bother looking up Salah's numbers. Talk about underrating our own players

As for Maguire, WhoScored had him rated as 7.01 for Leicester last year. This year for United he is rated at 7.00 so I guess you're right, he has suffered since joining United

 

[NewGlory]

This may be easier to answer if you ask who Klopp would even consider buying if he could. Otherwise - when Leicester last won the league they had the kind of players that gives a chance to almost anybody on our starting 11... So hard to judge without defining more clear bar

If you use "Liverpool test" or "Man City test" it is either nobody or Rashford. Maybe Pogba but he is so inconsistent and apparently needs team to be built around him that not sure Klopp or Pep would want the headache.

As much as I like Martial for us, and as much as he improves us, all three title-challenging teams (Liverpool, Leicester, City) currently have better CFs than Martial

DDG has declined so much that I am wondering if he is good enough for us, let alone title contenders