The 18-man squad and what are we lacking?

[Bestietom]

The main thing we lack is a proper right winger, as we have done for close to a decade now. I like Greenwood a lot but it's clear to see his future is as a striker.

Besides that, we lack players who can change the game from the bench and also need better defensive cover. Our starting 11 isn't too bad but it's a squad game and we're going to really suffer once the cup competitions start kicking in if we don't do anything to change it before the transfer window shuts.

Your right, fans are very disappointed with only 1 addition. We still won't have any game changers on the bench and it is a very long season. Injuries could be a very big concern for us, especially in certain areas of the pitch.

 

[NoPace]

It was asking a lot from Woodward to bring in 4 players. It would take ages.

I have no idea why anything happens anymore. I don't know why Ole is the manager or Lingard, Mata and Pereira still on the team or Dalot isn't on loan getting games or we couldn't send Angel Gomes on a 2 year loan like Madrid always seem to do, or why we didn't sign Mahrez years ago or Ziyech either when we've been poor at RW for a long time, or a million other things.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Our first 11 is very good. Sure, we can upgrade some players but first 11 look good on paper. We have second keeper and two good backup players in midfield in Fred and VDB. We have Bailly in defence. That is 15. We are missing the rest.
Quality backup no9. Quality winger. Backup for both full backs.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

We desperately need more 1v1 dribblers.

There's an identikit way to play against us: defend deep, feel free to overload centrally as our full-backs offer no threat and both of our 'wide' forwards prefer to cut inside, use Wan-Bissaka as a pressing trigger in the first phase. It's the same pattern every game recently, and it works very well against us.

I remember Arsene Wenger saying that the way to beat a low-block is to 'create chaos' off the dribble. To create spaces, to take a defender out of that phase. We have maybe 2 players in our usual starting 11 who are good dribblers - Martial and Pogba, both wildly inconsistent.

Because of this we end up in a slow-motion, zombie pattern of Maguire holding it for 10 seconds before passing it 5 yards to Lindelof, who passes it 5 yards to Bissaka, who gets pressed and gives up easy possession - creating a big chance for the opposition. In attack we have a similar situation of side to side, unambitious passing, eventually going wide to Rashford or James or Greenwood - none of whom fancy their chances of taking on a defender...and there's no overlap coming from our full-backs - so they choose to pass straight back to where it came from and the process starts again.

It's a personnel problem first and foremost. We desperately, desperately need chaos creators in attacking positions. We need full-backs that can overlap, who are press-resistant. Until that happens, I don't see us improving against low-block teams.

 

[SinNombre]

Anyone wants to change their opinions after the first two games.

Does a mobile 6 go up in your list?

What about a quicker, more dominant CB?

Is a rightback creeping up in contention, with AWB regressing?