Rene Meulensteen urges United to replace Martial as starting CF

He did a good job as a coach under Fergie, but I'm a bit tired of his running commentary.

Rene has never been a good manager, nor a modest man, yet going by those who worked with him, he's a fantastic coach at training practices and player development. Thus, when he says something like 'I always told Fergie a great team needs a blablabla something etc', i shut my ears, while if he says 'so and so pmayer looks like he needs to work on this and that', I'll sharpen them. He often has interesting things to say about that, even if much of it is guesswork frim the outside.
 
Agreed.

Meulensteen has had an issue with Martial for a while. He was calling for him to be sold in the Mourinho days, has criticised him for being lazy, and even during lockdown was talking about him not being good enough & saying Utd don’t need Sancho they need Kane etc.
No wonder he's failed in football since Fergie retired.
 
Martial has been better than Kane this season and there's zero chance of us buying Lewandowski.

It's Martial's first full season as a number 9 and he's only got better and better as the season has gone on and is perfect for how we play. He's been the best striker in the PL in 2020 and I wouldn't replace him with anyone at this moment in time.

I know Rene is highly rated as a coach, but he's just a footballing boomer who has come out with some whoppers since he left us. If Martial was 2 inches taller he probably wouldn't be having this opinion.
 
I don't get it. Were supposed to sign a right winger we desperately need AND a top classic CF? I think we should take these comments with a pinch of salt.
 
He’s got 17 in the league and he’s been out injured at points.

It wouldn’t be hugely surprising if he hit 20 either.

With a full season of this new look United (Bruno FC) I’d be shocked if he didn’t get 20 league goals next year as long as he stays fit.
 
I don't get it. Were supposed to sign a right winger we desperately need AND a top classic CF? I think we should take these comments with a pinch of salt.
I think he’s suggesting we prioritise the centre forward & push Martial out wide. Martial & Rashford both look half the player on the right though.
 
Quote me where he suggests that. Also quote me the bit where he’s “urging” United to sign one

He says a striker who scores 20 goals a season every season consistently would help us and (from what I take) help the other forwards.

If a 28 year old van Persie was available, I would take him, Solskjaer would take him, Sir Alex would take him.

We signed Verón when we had Scholes and Keane in their 20s and after 3 straight titles. Berbatov when we had Tevez after a Champions League win. Absolutely nothing wrong with suggesting that. We’re still miles behind Liverpool andif he thinks another striker helps then that’s not a ridiculous suggestion.

And a 20 goal a season striker would help every team. Nothing controversial here.

In hindsight, both were wrong decisions and the team became worse after adding them.

The problem is that forwards are more important now than pure strikers.

We have Greenwood for the right forward position and after him, the quality drops significantly so this is the position we should primarily focus on.
 
How much would Danny Ings cost

It's an interesting question. His fitness record is certainly a worry but it could be shrewd signing. I'd also like Raul Jimenez.

It goes back to age-old debate about signing players as nailed-on starters or for squad depth. I tend to think with the academy we have we shouldn't really be dipping into the market for players we don't see as starting XI quality, barring punts at either extreme of the age spectrum, but it can't be denied Ings and Jimenez are quality strikers that would improve our squad. As to us needing a quality CF right now, when Lukaku left I would have agreed but I don't see where Rene's coming from with his recent comments.
 
Martials finally growing into his role as a 9...It’s not just the goals,but his link up play,work rate,ability to hold the ball up have all improved significantly....Hopefully he can go from strength to strength now....
 
I think he’s suggesting we prioritise the centre forward & push Martial out wide. Martial & Rashford both look half the player on the right though.
Well if he's suggesting we prioritise a CF ahead of Sancho, he's well off the mark. Not that this would surprise me at all going by his recent 'inputs'.
 
It's an interesting question. His fitness record is certainly a worry but it could be shrewd signing. I'd also like Raul Jimenez.

It goes back to age-old debate about signing players as nailed-on starters or for squad depth. I tend to think with the academy we have we shouldn't really be dipping into the market for players we don't see as starting XI quality, barring punts at either extreme of the age spectrum, but it can't be denied Ings and Jimenez are quality strikers that would improve our squad. As to us needing a quality CF right now, when Lukaku left I would have agreed but I don't see where Rene's coming from with his recent comments.
Jimenez would be very expensive. No point going there. Also, we'd him Ighalo already?
 
It's an interesting question. His fitness record is certainly a worry but it could be shrewd signing. I'd also like Raul Jimenez.

It goes back to age-old debate about signing players as nailed-on starters or for squad depth. I tend to think with the academy we have we shouldn't really be dipping into the market for players we don't see as starting XI quality, barring punts at either extreme of the age spectrum, but it can't be denied Ings and Jimenez are quality strikers that would improve our squad. As to us needing a quality CF right now, when Lukaku left I would have agreed but I don't see where Rene's coming from with his recent comments.
A signing like Sancho frees up Greenwood as a back up centre forward. I think Jimenez would be too expensive as a rotation player, as nice as it would be to have him.
 
Imagine saying that for a Striker who has 17 goals in the league playing with shit midfielder for almost half of the season.
 
Not much to see here, just another guy that made his reputation on the back of Fergie's genius.

Shows how great Ferguson truly was, making all these donkeys appear brilliant.
 
To be fair to martial he has 17 goals in the league and had to put up with the likes of lingard, Pereira, mata, james, fred and mctominay creating chances for him for the first half of the season......

I wouldn't mind signing a striker with
a good goal scoring record as depth/rotation. I think vardy would be an inspired cheap transfer, I cant see how Leicester could start asking for anything over 15 million for him because he only has one year left on his contract and is 33 years old.
 
Not much to see here, just another guy that made his reputation on the back of Fergie's genius.

Shows how great Ferguson truly was, making all these donkeys appear brilliant.

People can be brilliant in one area and complete morons in everything else, Ferguson's greatest talent was probably knowing what to listen to and what not to.
 
People can be brilliant in one area and complete morons in everything else, Ferguson's greatest talent was probably knowing what to listen to and what not to.

You are right, of course, but Rene was our attacking coach when he was here, so you'd expect him to be quite knowledgeable about these things.
 
Being a pundit has to be the easiest job in the world, you never really have to think too much or do much topical analysis as you can easily resort to played out cliches everytime irregardless of whether they're still valid or outdated.
Introducing Tim Sherwood
 
Yeah I can't stand the lazy pundit stuff. You hear Koulibaly's name bandied around a lot as the solution to all our problems. As if there'll easily be a spare £90 million lying around for a 29 year old once we hopefully sign Sancho.

Then the endless Harry Kane suggestions are painful. It's as ridiculous as suggesting Chelsea should go out and sign Mane and Salah in order to win the league.

Martial and Greenwood will tear up the league next season.
 
Lewandowski is 32, that ship sailed long time ago!

After this season, not sure how can anyone not support what's building with Rashford and Martial. If anything, in my opinion united need to get more secure in the MF and back. Defensively we still seem suspect and we get outplayed by the likes of Southampton in the MF (tired or not). I also don't see the obsession with Sancho, sure if we had money to burn go for it. He is english talent and united should always have the best english players IMO. But we do not have unlimited funds. I would prioritize a 'carrick' like purchase to spread the ball around while providing defensive cover more than anything else.
 
No one suggests replacing Firminho with a traditional #9 but we need to go oldschool? It looks to me like Ole is aiming to create a fluid front 3 and have a more traditional striker as an option off the bench, and on top of that Martial is progressing in his hold up play.
 
A tiny problem with that being a) our attack and mids aren't built for that formation and b) neither martial nor Rashford play RW to a semi Decent level
How are we going to play Pogba, Fernandes, Rashford, Martial & another world class striker in a 442? :lol:
How does that improve our team when 442 doesn't suit our attackers and midfielders?
I'm not suggesting we start to play 4-4-2 every game, but that it gives us more options. Even a 3-5-2 is a possibility in desperate times.

Right now we have precisely one team that could compete at the highest level, and that includes an 18 year old.

As soon as we have an injury to Pogba/Greenwood/Rashford/Martial/Fernandez we are going to look mediocre again. That front 5 works really well but with only 4 of them or 3 of them, we're Europa League vs Champions League. I'm not going to use Kane as an example because everyone has his current troubles in mind, so let's use in Cantona as an example instead

4-4-2

Martial - Cantona
Rashford - Fernandez - Matic - Greenwood​

3-5-2

Martial - Cantona
Rashford - Fernandez - Greenwood
Matic - Pogba​

Or just start replacing players from our standard formation.
 
There aren't really pure strikers out there for sale right now who would really add something to our team and Martial has tremendous potential.

But I think it's remarkable how most people aren't mentioning the fact that we are one silly injury away from resorting to Daniel James or Juan Mata up front, while also forgetting how much Rashford's injury has hurt us this season.

If we actually want to challenge for the league next year, a mature and experienced 20+ goals guaranteed attacker would be a dream addition, whether that's a #9 or a winger.

Imagine our team having the luxury to give Greenwood some rest during these busy weeks, while playing a 4-4-2 with Martial & Harry Kane (with Bruno and Pogba behind them) or a Rashford and Kane combination and rotate for a bit from match to match. Greenwood in particular is a massive question mark for next year, simply because of his age.

Compared to a team like Manchester City we're a couple of 70+ million attacking players light up front, yet we want to beat them and finish ahead of them over a series of 38 matches?
 
I wish pundits like him would shut the feck up.
 
Do any of these people who live resorting to lazy cliche even have any idea how many goals Martial has scored? :lol:

They keep harping on about bringing in a 20+ goals striker to replace Martial when the guy is on his way to 20 goals despite missing 2 months of football and not taking penalties. Not to mention for 2/3 of the season he'd played with no creativity behind. Are these lots just being deliberately obtuse or what?
 
Made a career out of Sir Alex wanting someone with a foreign name to feel a bit continental once Queiroz left.
 
He's had an amazing season. He's defo starting to become almost world class, just needs to maintain this consistency!

 
Martial isn’t far off world class for me. If he can keep up this consistency, which has let him down in the past, he’d get into any team in the world.
 
Our biggest problem is (still) what to do when Matic final wears out. We saw against Palace the difference he makes as a true out and out DM. McTominay is going to be an excellent box-to-box mid-fielder in time, but he's not what we need to replace Matic, even though he has the physicality.
:D Username checks out. I trust your insights.
 
He's had an amazing season. He's defo starting to become almost world class, just needs to maintain this consistency!


Yeah, keep this consistent to next season and then no doubt he's pretty much a World Class player.

Darn great. Surely France NT will start sniffing him up soon in their starting 11.
 
A lot of 'experts' have touted that a 'proper striker' would benefit United, but I'm not sure it would. The way we currently play, we have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood actually moving across the front three positions, so it is difficult for a defender to pick up such a fluid attack. With Bruno also picking up good positions around the box I think the way we currently play makes it difficult for a defence to cope. With an out and out striker, they would take up more central position generally, which would prohibit Rashford, Martial and Greenwood's (whoever is in the team at the time) movement. I agree that sometimes having an Ighalo type of player can be part of a plan B attack, but the fluidity of the current situation I think is the best for us. Sancho coming in would also fit in with this type of attack, and I think if we get top four he would arrive.