Sergej Milinkovic Savic

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,669
He can play defensive and attacking midfield, Box to Box..

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic Characteristics

+ Strengths
Long shots-----Very Strong
Defensive contribution---Very Strong
Through balls---Strong
Aerial Duels-----Strong
Dribbling--------Strong
Concentration-- Strong
- Weaknesses
(Player has no significant weaknesses)

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's Style of Play
  • Likes to dribble
  • Gets fouled often
  • Likes to do layoffs
  • Indirect set-piece threat
From that, it sounds exactly like what Jose wants, however I always saw him as more Pogba like and attack minded
 

AltiUn

likes playing with swords after fantasies
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
23,754
I'd much rather us buy 2/3 players in multiple positions of need, then spunk £90m+ on an unproven player. For example: Seri-£35m, Tierney-£25m and Umtiti-£53m would cost about £110m and that for me would be much better business.
Yeah, sure, sounds good on paper but 2/3 of those players wouldn't join us. Seri suffers in cold weather, he's admitted in the past that it affects his game and training:

"I have ingrown toenails and when it’s cold I need special treatment,” he admitted. “I don’t see myself playing in a country where it’s cold. I hurt everywhere and I struggle to train."
source: http://dailythepatriot.com/why-jean-seri-cant-play-in-cold-weather/

and Umtiti is currently playing in a way better Barcelona team, possibly a team on the cusp of winning the CL. He's also in the middle of contract negotiations (which I suspect we're being used by his entourage for a better salary) so a deal for him, despite his release clause, would be difficult to do. In an ideal world we could pull off a deal where we get 3 quality players for the price of 1 but I don't see it happening.
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
13,722
I've found him to be pretty poor and lazy defensively. Luckily for him he usually plays alongside Parolo and Lucas, as well 3 CBs and 2 WBs so his weaknesses don't get exploited too much.
 

TrueRed79

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
1,905
From our own top transfers, can you explain Mikhitaryan, ADM and Veron if you do not believe in EPL proven ''nonesense''.
Luke Shaw. It is a nonsense thing to say 'PL proven' is such hyperbole and only used around here when talking about signing players from abroad. Just give it a rest.
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,965
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
I could only see us signing him if we sold Pogba, which hopefully won't happen. Imo they're too similar and aren't defensively minded, so I don't think we'd solve any problems and could potentially create another. Unless Jose thinks he can make Pogba or SMS more rounded in their game.
 

Litch

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
10,344
Superb player. I guess the problem for me with any signing is I'm still unsure what our best formation is or more so our pattern of play.
 

Laurentiu amt

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
511
Yeah fair point, the price is a bit much I agree.. Again with Seri, I don't doubt his technical ability but from the 3 or 4 times I have seen him play he doesn't offer any sort of defensive presence. Maybe it's a small sample size, but considering Pogba is also a liability off the ball I worry about having Matic cover both him and potentially another midfielder who isn't carrying their weight.
To be honest, with Seri we will have a better ball retention and distribution. If that works, then the defending part will be less influential to an extent.
 

United Pro

Full Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
2,702
Location
London
Yeah fair point, the price is a bit much I agree.. Again with Seri, I don't doubt his technical ability but from the 3 or 4 times I have seen him play he doesn't offer any sort of defensive presence. Maybe it's a small sample size, but considering Pogba is also a liability off the ball I worry about having Matic cover both him and potentially another midfielder who isn't carrying their weight.
Yeah that's a fair point and I'd agree with that. From what I've seen, the 2 real weaknesses to Seri's game is his defensive ability and occasionally losing the ball in dangerous positions. But again, it depends on what Mourinho wants. If he wants a technically sound midfielder to dictate the play, Seri is one of the best available options. If he wants a hard working ball winner of the Kante mould, perhaps Lucas Torreira is a shout (I believe he has a 30m euro release clause).
Yeah, sure, sounds good on paper but 2/3 of those players wouldn't join us. Seri suffers in cold weather, he's admitted in the past that it affects his game and training:



source: http://dailythepatriot.com/why-jean-seri-cant-play-in-cold-weather/

and Umtiti is currently playing in a way better Barcelona team, possibly a team on the cusp of winning the CL. He's also in the middle of contract negotiations (which I suspect we're being used by his entourage for a better salary) so a deal for him, despite his release clause, would be difficult to do. In an ideal world we could pull off a deal where we get 3 quality players for the price of 1 but I don't see it happening.
I just named those 3 players as examples. We'd have a list of 4/5 players for each position, but the point still stands. If we can get 2/3 quality players for the price of 1 fairly unproven player, it sounds like a much better bet.
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
13,722
As I thought, Lazio played a lot better with L.Alberto in Savic's position and F.Anderson in L.Alberto's. Promising player but has a lot of flaws. It will be interesting to see how Lazio line-up when he returns to full fitness because Savic will go right back in leaving one of L.Alberto/F.Anderson to move because Lucas and Parolo are key to the teams balance so they won't.
 

Sanche7

Full Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Messages
2,796

Absolute class player and only 22. Hopefully he will be one of the two midfield signings we make in the summer.
Nope, don't think so. All the links to him have died down maybe after we learnt Lazio is going to want 100 mill Euros or thereabouts for him.
Great player mind but he is almost exactly like Pogba. I watched a few Lazio games because I really wanted us to sign him, but from what I saw he plays in a more advanced position ( where we should be playing Pogba) and although he us good defensively he strolls around a lot and he is not the most mobile. Also he has an inconsistent first touch.

We need the opposite if all that.
Someone who has a good touch, ability to control games while being defensively solid, someone who is mobile and agile with ability to maneuver the ball in tight situations.
I used to hope and pray that he signs for us but after really watching him, not so much.
Awesome player, but not what we need especially when we have bigger concerns
 

Dante

Average bang
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
25,280
Location
My wit's end
Buy Modric or Kroos. They're too similar to play together in the same team.

Or maybe Silva/de Bruyne since they both like to play in the same area of pitch and could never work in the same lineup.
 

Gabe

Full Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2001
Messages
2,322
Location
Gold Country
Nope, don't think so. All the links to him have died down maybe after we learnt Lazio is going to want 100 mill Euros or thereabouts for him.
Great player mind but he is almost exactly like Pogba. I watched a few Lazio games because I really wanted us to sign him, but from what I saw he plays in a more advanced position ( where we should be playing Pogba) and although he us good defensively he strolls around a lot and he is not the most mobile. Also he has an inconsistent first touch.

We need the opposite if all that.
Someone who has a good touch, ability to control games while being defensively solid, someone who is mobile and agile with ability to maneuver the ball in tight situations.
I used to hope and pray that he signs for us but after really watching him, not so much.
Awesome player, but not what we need especially when we have bigger concerns
His lack of mobility is also what cools my interest.
Although, technically he is excellent and retains/distributes very well.
But, who knows it could still happen.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
4-3-3 or 3-5-2 with Pogba/SMS raiding forward, my god that would be sexy.
 

Infra-red

Full Member
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
13,536
Location
left wing
4-3-3 or 3-5-2 with Pogba/SMS raiding forward, my god that would be sexy.
I'd feel sorry for poor Matic though, left behind all on his own trying desperately to cover the acres of space vacated by his two ill-disciplined midfield partners as they roam around 25 yards further up the pitch.
 

JoaquinJoaquin

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
8,609
Buy Modric or Kroos. They're too similar to play together in the same team.

Or maybe Silva/de Bruyne since they both like to play in the same area of pitch and could never work in the same lineup.
Both of those 2 would be great signings but I just can't see Madrid selling. We do need a midfielder of that style though that's for sure.
 

Trizy

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Messages
12,009
Still think we need a technical midget -

City - Silva
Barca- Iniesta
Madrid - Modric
Bayern - Thaigo
Juventus - Pjanic

All of them have one. And they're the top 5 teams in Europe. Who's available though is the bigger question.
 

breakout67

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
9,050
Supports
Man City
Looks like someone made a serbian clone of Pogba. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,669
I'd feel sorry for poor Matic though, left behind all on his own trying desperately to cover the acres of space vacated by his two ill-disciplined midfield partners as they roam around 25 yards further up the pitch.
Playing a back 3 with an aggresive CB who steps up into midfield would make alot of sense. I also like this formation as we can do away with the wingers as we don’t actually have any real wingers anyway.

Pogba and SMS with Matic in that setup would he awesome
 

jesperjaap

Full Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
5,791
I could only see us signing him if we sold Pogba, which hopefully won't happen. Imo they're too similar and aren't defensively minded, so I don't think we'd solve any problems and could potentially create another. Unless Jose thinks he can make Pogba or SMS more rounded in their game.
Totally agree from what I have seen of him....and he is playing in a more advanced position for Lazio similar to Pogbas at Juve. Dont understand the clamour, really talented player but nowhere near the talent of Pogba....downgrade talent wise and from what I have seen he seems to wonder around languidly in a similar fashion to Pogba too. Pogba certainky needs to buck his ideas up....but personally I think he needs another season and a quality partner with Matic behind. I really like Perreira but dont think he is going to make it, similar player making waves in the championship....Neves possibly?
 

Bulldogg

Full Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
100
Location
Melbourne
Nice goal and assist from him this week he's scored 10 goals from CM in Serie A this season, I know at one point this season he was the top scoring CM in Europe not sure if he's still on top but 10 goals is very impressive (don't recall any free kick or pen goals either which further proves his goal getting ability). Pogba's best return in Serie A was 8 goals, Pogba averaged more assists which you'd expect as he played for a very dominate Juve side that scored more then everyone else.

I'd love us to sign Sergej but its stressful to think about the huge amount of money we'd have to pay to bring him only to potentially have a midfield with no balance assuming we use him in a midfield 3 with Pogba and Matic.
 

Crashoutcassius

Full Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2013
Messages
10,336
Location
playa del carmen
I don't think people are over rating this guy, just have wrong expectations here. I've seen suggestions that he is defensively disciplined here. I've also seen 100s of comparisons with pogba .. savic has one of the worst first touches in a very slow paced league and gives the ball away a lot with this... would this not frustrate people ? He is more like a technically better fellaini than a pogba, they use him creatively as a deep target man like we have done with fellaini, he is a big unit and a class attacker but he isn't the perfect all round midfielder that he is touted as ..

As that said mourinho could possibly make him that. But just be aware it is a conversion and he has a poor first touch for the premiership
 

ArjenIsM3

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
5,653
Location
Netherlands
I don't think people are over rating this guy, just have wrong expectations here. I've seen suggestions that he is defensively disciplined here. I've also seen 100s of comparisons with pogba .. savic has one of the worst first touches in a very slow paced league and gives the ball away a lot with this... would this not frustrate people ? He is more like a technically better fellaini than a pogba, they use him creatively as a deep target man like we have done with fellaini, he is a big unit and a class attacker but he isn't the perfect all round midfielder that he is touted as ..

As that said mourinho could possibly make him that. But just be aware it is a conversion and he has a poor first touch for the premiership
That would mean he'd be a direct replacement for Fellaini. Which is what Mourinho said he'd be after if Fellaini leaves. Would make sense right? That being said I would like us to go for a technical playmaker instead of another physical unit.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,669
That would mean he'd be a direct replacement for Fellaini. Which is what Mourinho said he'd be after if Fellaini leaves. Would make sense right? That being said I would like us to go for a technical playmaker instead of another physical unit.
We need both :-) Also Savic is very good technically, not a playmaker though, and actually with Savic in the side I think Pogba can relax with the pressure of goals and assists and focus on playmaking. As long as we also have a defensive master in there too (Matic v2)
 

Jib

New Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2015
Messages
1,767
We need both :-) Also Savic is very good technically, not a playmaker though, and actually with Savic in the side I think Pogba can relax with the pressure of goals and assists and focus on playmaking. As long as we also have a defensive master in there too (Matic v2)
We need a playmaker, not Savic.
 

Bulldogg

Full Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
100
Location
Melbourne
I don't think people are over rating this guy, just have wrong expectations here. I've seen suggestions that he is defensively disciplined here. I've also seen 100s of comparisons with pogba .. savic has one of the worst first touches in a very slow paced league and gives the ball away a lot with this... would this not frustrate people ? He is more like a technically better fellaini than a pogba, they use him creatively as a deep target man like we have done with fellaini, he is a big unit and a class attacker but he isn't the perfect all round midfielder that he is touted as ..

As that said mourinho could possibly make him that. But just be aware it is a conversion and he has a poor first touch for the premiership
Have you made that assumption that he has a terrible first touch because you watch him play or are you looking purely at the stats ? Lazio play extremely direct and play on the counter, 80% of the time they go through Sergej with long balls or just bullet passes hoping he can make something happen in one touch and send Immobile through in behind the opposition defence obviously it's difficult too pull these type of plays off and that hurts his first touch stats. Also most of Lazio's goal kicks are directed at Sergej that also hurts his first touch statistics cause it's difficult to control the ball in that situation all the time.

To say he has one of the worst first touches in Serie A is simply wrong, here's a clip from 2 months ago against Napoli. Player's with poor first touch cant pull these moves off. You have to take in account where and how he's receiving the ball and also his intent when the ball is coming his way which is always to create when your trying to always create it won't always come off. If his first touch was as bad a your making out trust me Lazio wouldn't start 80% of their attacks through him.

 

breakout67

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
9,050
Supports
Man City
Have you made that assumption that he has a terrible first touch because you watch him play or are you looking purely at the stats ? Lazio play extremely direct and play on the counter, 80% of the time they go through Sergej with long balls or just bullet passes hoping he can make something happen in one touch and send Immobile through in behind the opposition defence obviously it's difficult too pull these type of plays off and that hurts his first touch stats. Also most of Lazio's goal kicks are directed at Sergej that also hurts his first touch statistics cause it's difficult to control the ball in that situation all the time.

To say he has one of the worst first touches in Serie A is simply wrong, here's a clip from 2 months ago against Napoli. Player's with poor first touch cant pull these moves off. You have to take in account where and how he's receiving the ball and also his intent when the ball is coming his way which is always to create when your trying to always create it won't always come off. If his first touch was as bad a your making out trust me Lazio wouldn't start 80% of their attacks through him.
I swear some people just make things up. He has fantastic control of the ball and I can only think they haven't watched him play if they say he has a poor first touch. It's so far away from the reality of his qualities.

Savic is on the slow side, and his recovery during a turnover is not the best, so it might get even worse in a faster league. So I would prefer Fred who covers a lot of ground and can be a genuine box to box player.

If we get Fred and Savic in the window, I would be extremely happy.
 

Sanche7

Full Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Messages
2,796
I swear some people just make things up. He has fantastic control of the ball and I can only think they haven't watched him play if they say he has a poor first touch. It's so far away from the reality of his qualities.

Savic is on the slow side, and his recovery during a turnover is not the best, so it might get even worse in a faster league. So I would prefer Fred who covers a lot of ground and can be a genuine box to box player.

If we get Fred and Savic in the window, I would be extremely happy.
I wouldn't say his first touch is poor, but it's inconsistent, sometimes he has a heavy touch, which could cause problems as he plays in the midfield.
But other than that his technique is really good, especially for a guy his size.

But I hope we don't sign him, he would cost 100 mill plus if he has a good WC. That would mean about 2/3 of our transfer budget on a single player and playing Valencia / Young as FBs for another year.

Also buying him and Fred would mean no cover for Matic as both are B2B. It would also mean Herrera becomes 3rd choice for the 3rd CM position.
And above all that, he is not the playmaker CM we crave for, not a guy who can control a game.
 

breakout67

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
9,050
Supports
Man City
I wouldn't say his first touch is poor, but it's inconsistent, sometimes he has a heavy touch, which could cause problems as he plays in the midfield.
But other than that his technique is really good, especially for a guy his size.

But I hope we don't sign him, he would cost 100 mill plus if he has a good WC. That would mean about 2/3 of our transfer budget on a single player and playing Valencia / Young as FBs for another year.

Also buying him and Fred would mean no cover for Matic as both are B2B. It would also mean Herrera becomes 3rd choice for the 3rd CM position.
And above all that, he is not the playmaker CM we crave for, not a guy who can control a game.
I'm not really seeing how his touch is inconsistent, unless you are comparing him to Messi. I would say Lukaku's first touch is inconsistent, in that the ball can go flying off his foot like a shot due to how heavy it can sometimes be. I don't see anything out of the ordinary for Savic's touch and at times his touch can be sublime.

Midfielders are allowed to lose the ball from mis-controlling, it happens to Pogba who has an amazing touch.
 

Bulldogg

Full Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
100
Location
Melbourne
I swear some people just make things up. He has fantastic control of the ball and I can only think they haven't watched him play if they say he has a poor first touch. It's so far away from the reality of his qualities.

Savic is on the slow side, and his recovery during a turnover is not the best, so it might get even worse in a faster league. So I would prefer Fred who covers a lot of ground and can be a genuine box to box player.

If we get Fred and Savic in the window, I would be extremely happy.
I guess everyone has a platform to spew what they like on the internet, what can you do. I agree with what you wrote about Savic, they are clearly his two biggest weaknesses and yes i'm certain he would be more exposed with that part of his game in a faster league. Lazio play with two holding midfielders behind him so he can get lazy at times simply cause he knows he's got the protection.
 

Enigma_87

You know who
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
27,730
Can he and Pogba play together? To me they bring absolutely the same to the team..:confused:
 

breakout67

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
9,050
Supports
Man City
Can he and Pogba play together? To me they bring absolutely the same to the team..:confused:
I think Fred to replace Carrick as a deeper midfielder that passes through the lines is good. Savic to replace Fellaini as a physical advanced midfielder is also good.

We also have the option to a play a spanish 4-4-2 with genuine midfielders in wide positions.