The Summer 2019 Rebuild

[parkthebuslads]

There's only a rebuild if the owners have the desire to see us return to the very top and the willingness to find the funds necessary to do so. The clubs actions over recent years tells us that the business model is instead centered on us being inside the top 4 and as such our transfer policy will reflect that, with the possible exception of a Pogba whose commercial value is a policy breaker.

So imo, no rebuild, just another window seeing 2 or 3 in and out.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I mean what's all this obsession with 20 yr olds? This ain't fifa manager. We need experienced players to get things going.

My opinion is that most of our players are so far behind in terms of quality and more importantly used to playing slow, lethargic football, that the chance that we can mount a title challenge next season or the season after that, is almost non-existent. What may yield the best result in the long term is accepting that buying the team into the title race in one or two transferwindows is not possible without backing from a oil rich Country and instead buy young and develope(assuming we change managers) the players so that we can have a better chance three seasons from now.

 

[horsechoker]

We'll sign about 3 new players and a new manager. There needs to be an off field rebuild as much as an on field one.

 

[calling.varun]

1- who's the new manager

DDG
Dalot Koulibaly Skriniar Shaw
Fred Neves Pogba
Zaha Icardi Martial

Imagine that with an attack minded manager.

To be honest mate, I have been waiting for that attack minded manager since Fergie left

 

[Roboc7]

Still don’t see a rebuild happening, we will appoint a manager who will fall into the same trap of trying to change as little as possible in order to get back to the top as quickly as possible.

To be fair even if someone does want to rebuild it won’t be easy. New contracts have been dished out to players which will make them almost impossible to offload, same goes for a number of new signings.

 

[Winrar]

There won't be a rebuild. There is never a rebuild. All that will happen is:

1. Woodward will stumble about like an ass looking for the most reputable unemployed manager
2. The new manager will need time to evaluate the current team
3. The same old shite (Jones, Smalling, Fellaini, Lingard ect) will get another season
4. We'll fumble about until the end of the transfer window and eventually buy someone who is considered deadwood a year later

Meaningful change won't happen in one summer. Long-term planning is required to avoid the mistakes we keep making, but that would require replacing Woodward with someone who knows what they are doing.

Bottom line is, keep your expectations low for the foreseeable future.

Nail on the head.

Unfortunately the only way I see us progressing out of our current vicious cycle in the short term is if Saudis take over, and that's another can of worms.

 

[Murray3007]

as much as I would like see to see a new manager come in and rip this squad to bits I just don't see it happening, would like to see us give a younger manager a chance a Marco Silva have been impressed ever since he arrived in England with all the teams he's managed, spent his money well at Everton also. even Eddie Howe like the way he try's to play the game, Jardim another who done a fantastic job with Monaco obv didn't end well but when your always selling your best players it will happen,

As for players coming in, would always prefer players who have played in the premiership as usually easier to adjust, Toby seem's to be the name for CB but I just dont see him being the player we need, his performances this season have not been that great, would go all out for De Ligt or Škriniar, and even someone like Lascelles who has impressed me everytime I watch him with his organising.
CM would be looking at Neves for a start, even Gomes at Everton who I believe is just on loan from Barca hes been fantastic, Ndombele for Lyon is another who looks very promosing.
RW seems the most tricky position to fill Sancho looks fantastic, Pulisic another who could play there and would tick all the box's for the owners and Ed,
ST Wilson at Bournmouth has been fantastic this season and would improve our 1st team for me, more of a team player and can actually control the ball.

departures - well ad hopefully keep De Gea, Dalot, Shaw, Rashford and Martial. if any the rest left then not sure if would be the end of the world if honest. they either dont have the quality we are looking for or dont have the right attitude. a new manager might see someone of the attitude change.

 

[Smores]

There won't be a rebuild. There is never a rebuild. All that will happen is:

1. Woodward will stumble about like an ass looking for the most reputable unemployed manager
2. The new manager will need time to evaluate the current team
3. The same old shite (Jones, Smalling, Fellaini, Lingard ect) will get another season
4. We'll fumble about until the end of the transfer window and eventually buy someone who is considered deadwood a year later

Meaningful change won't happen in one summer. Long-term planning is required to avoid the mistakes we keep making, but that would require replacing Woodward with someone who knows what they are doing.

Bottom line is, keep your expectations low for the foreseeable future.

This is what I'm expecting and dreading. We'll try and fix the team with a few minor tweaks and again be dissapointed when we need to rely on the dross in our squad.

We need several top players so that if one or two fail we're not still relying on the proven failures to deliver.

 

[JonDahl]

We've been rebuilding and "trying" to clear out the deadwood every Summer since 2014.

Hint: It's not happening. At least not in the way you expect, with a mass exodus of players coming in and out.

 

[Freak]

1- who's the new manager
Pochettino/Eddie Howe

2- which players do you sell
Jones
Smalling
Rojo
Young
Matic
Sanchez
Valencia

3- which players do you buy
Maguire
Milenkovic
De Jong
Jadon Sancho

4- how does your 19/20 Man Utd side line up?
---------------------De Gea------------------
Dalot-----Milenkovic----Maguire----Shaw
-------------------Herrera (c)---------------
Sancho----De Jong---Pogba----Martial
-----------------Rashford-----------------

Squad Players:
Romero
Bailly
Lindelof
Fosu Mensah
Tuanzebe
Fellaini
Andreas
Fred
Lingard
Mata
Chong
Lukaku

 

[RedEM10]

Some serious effort put into some posts here... fair play

Get a manager with modern ideas, football has changed and people want to see pressings, fast paced, technical football.

Sign whoever that manager needs to accomplish this. With the players we have to play a high line/pressing, fast paced attacking football

DDG
Dalot (Has done feck all but I think Tony has seen his best days)
Smalling
Bailly (Give him a chance under a new system)
Shaw

Perreira
Herrera
Pogba

Rashford
Sanchez
Martial

 

[Devils11]

New Manager : Diego Simeone

Players In :
1) Griezmann 120m
2) Koke 100m
3) Jose Gimenez 80m
-----------------De Gea-------------------
Dalot-----Baily----Gimenez----Shaw
--------------Koke---Pogba----------------
Rashford----------------------------Martial
----------Sanchez----Griezmann --------

 

[devilish]

In my opinion, United's biggest problem is lack of structure. You've got a finance/sales person as CEO taking decisions in areas (ie football) he's got absolutely no idea upon. Such situation allows managers, whose aim is mostly to bring instant success, to take the CEO for a ride.

Thus I think we need to separate the football side from the financial side with Woody retaining control over the latter but not the former. That means two CEOs (Woodward as financial CEO and someone else as football CEO) etc with a Glazer on top of the pyramid. Alternatively we create a triade with Woodward being a financial director, with a DOF taking control over football matters and a club legend acting as the deciding factor when the two disagree (SAF?).

So here's my plan

Joint CEO football side (experience and success in the field. Knowledge of United or the EPL is an asset)
1- Beppe Marotta (Juventus)
2- Vadim Vasilyev (Monaco)
3- Hans-Joachim Watzke (Dortmund)
4 - Pantaleo Corvino (Fiorentina)
5- Gareth Rogers (former Southampton)


DOF (experience and success in the field)
1- Emenalo (experience in the UK is a deciding factor + he's got experience working with Vadim)
2- Zorc (he'll be perfect if we also get Watzke)
3- Paratici (he's Marotta right hand man)
4 -Piero Ausilio (Inter)


Head of Recruitment and scouting department (experience and success in the field. Knowledge of the EPL is indeed an asset)
1- Mitchell (former Southampton and Spurs)
2- Ribalta (ex United now at St Petersburg)

Club director (required skills, knows United inside out, a critical mind, not swayed by 'United way' BS)
1- SAF
2- VDS
3- Scholes

Managers (required skills, great tactics, great man management)
1- Zidane
2- Pocchetino
3- Ancelotti
4- Favre
5- Howe

You would want the club to hit the ground running thus, it will be ideal to get former partnerships together. Thus if bring Marotta then we get Paratici, Zidane or at least Ancelotti and Ribalta. If we go for Vadim, we bring Emenalo then aid them with Pocchetino and Mitchell who'll give input about the EPL.

Now lets focus on the team

GK: DDG, Romero, Henderson
DR: Dalot, Milenkovic
DC: Toby/Andersen, Smalling, Lindelof, Bailly, Tuanzebe
DL: Shaw, Tierney, Young

DM: Ndombele, Herrera, Matic (the latter won't leave now)
B2B: Fred, Neves/De Jong
AMC: Pogba, Periera

RW: Suso, Lingard
LW: Martial, Rashford, Sanchez (the latter won't leave now)

STK: Lukaku, Piatek

 

[Mcking]

1- who's the new manager

Don't know

2- which players do you sell

Jones, Darmien, Sanchez, Lukaku, and one of Rojo or Bailly

Others stay for another season before reassessing (Mata, Fellaini, Lingard, although they can do a job as backup. Young and Valencia stay as cover only and retire here, or get rid of one and keep Darmien for cover).

3- which players do you buy

Koulibaily, Skriniar, Neves, Zaha, Icardi

That's a shit tonne of money, but we need big upgrades across the park. Knock a CB off if needed but imagine just nailing those two positions properly.

If Liverpool can play as well as they did last season and spend 200m, we can surely spend 400-450m in a crisis.
Even Fulham, Leicester, West Ham, Everton spent around 100m, while we only spent the same as Wolves in summer. Just fecking do it and get the team quality up imo (with no knowledge of our books of course).
There's a few good looking prospects in fullbacks positions around at the moment, so keep an eye on those for the season after, in case Shaw completely stacks it or Dalot doesn't work out.

4- how does your 19/20 Man Utd side line up?

DDG
Dalot Koulibaly Skriniar Shaw
Fred Neves Pogba
Zaha Icardi Martial

Imagine that with an attack minded manager.

Man, I love that. Would fit much better in a fantasy forum though.

 

[Revaulx]

We need several top players so that if one or two fail we're not still relying on the proven failures to deliver.

Why do so many of our signings turn into “proven failures” in the first place?

It would be great if the new manager were to strike the right balance between giving underperformers a chance to show what they are capable of in a non-toxic environment AND making a quick decision to get rid if they continue to be crap. Jose showed how it should be done with Rooney.

 

[Mickson]

People having Shaw and Lindelof in their lineup

The players who are worth keeping are De Gea, Smalling (squad player), Dalot (maybe, but he's given a chance), A.Pereira (chance), Pogba, Lingard (squad player), Fred (maybe, must be given a chance), Rashford and Martial. The rest has nothing to do in a Manchester United shirt, as they are not good enough or maybe not fit enough (thinking Jones, Bailly etc). Promoting: Gomes, Chong, Mitchell, Laird, Garner, and Greenwood.

I really feel we need new full backs. Then we need a new world class CB who can guide Tuanzebe. Maybe Toby. We also need a new striker/winger who produces points on a regular basis and also one CM.

Keepers: De Gea, Henderson, and Pereira

Fullbacks: NEW, NEW, Dalot, Mitchell, TFM, Laird

Centrebacks: TFM, Tuanzebe, Smalling, NEW

CM: Pogba, Fred, A.Pereira, NEW, Gomes, Garner

Strikers/wingers: NEW, Rashford, Martial, Chong, Lingard, Greenwood.

Out: Romero and Grant (not good enough also bad age), Jones (never fit), Bailly (never fit), Shaw (not fit enough and not good enough to be the first choice), Rojo (not good enough), Lindelof (never gonna be good enough, would get good money), Young and Valencia (nothing to offer anymore), Fellaini (not a United player), Matic (shit), Herrera and Mata (not good enough), Lukaku (would work as a sub but not a United player in style also would give us a lot of money), Sanchez (seen his best days, would get good money), Darmian and McTominay (not good enough)

De Gea
NEW, Tuanzebe, NEW, NEW
Fred, NEW, Pogba
NEW, Rashford, Martial

Bench: Henderson, Dalot, Smalling, A.Pereira/Gomes, Lingard, Chong, Greenwood

 

[Smores]

Why do so many of our signings turn into “proven failures” in the first place?

It would be great if the new manager were to strike the right balance between giving underperformers a chance to show what they are capable of in a non-toxic environment AND making a quick decision to get rid if they continue to be crap. Jose showed how it should be done with Rooney.

You'll always have some failures thats just football. I'm mainly talking about the ones who have failed since Moyes rather than Jose signings. We have so many europa level players left over.

Valencia, Young, Rojo, Jones should be gone. Lingard, Rashford, Mata, Fellaini should be fringe players with far fewer games.

We've had a cycle of giving players a chance under a new manager and all we're doing is adding to the trash pile every time. We need to be ruthless when the next manager comes in as not signing until we sell isn't working.

 

[VeevaVee]

Man, I love that. Would fit much better in a fantasy forum though.

Unfortunately so, but they're probably all available. Even if we only got one for each area we'd be in better shape, although we really need a right sided forward and a striker. Could put Sanchez up front or on the right I suppose. A new manager might get him ticking.

 

[Revaulx]

You'll always have some failures thats just football. I'm mainly talking about the ones who have failed since Moyes rather than Jose signings. We have so many europa level players left over.

Valencia, Young, Rojo, Jones should be gone. Lingard, Rashford, Mata, Fellaini should be fringe players with far fewer games.

We've had a cycle of giving players a chance under a new manager and all we're doing is adding to the trash pile every time. We need to be ruthless when the next manager comes in as not signing until we sell isn't working.

Oh yes I agree. It’s the ridiculously high failure rate of our “marquee” signings, especially (but not exclusively, e.g. DiMaria) under Jose, that’s so appalling.

One thing that annoyed me in Jose’s early days was that he’d spent the second half of the previous season out of a job, but knowing that he’d likely be taking over at OT. He didn’t appear to have put that time to good use getting up to speed with the strengths and weaknesses of our squad. Unlike Pep; painful as it is to admit.

 

[Powderfinger]

More than anything, this club needs an off-the-field restructuring and an attitude adjustment.

1) Hire a Director of Football, stop giving Woodward and the commercial team influence over the buying and selling of players.

2) Let the DoF hire a young, tactically progressive manager who he will be comfortable working with. I can see many different managers fitting. The important thing is that he and the DoF have a good working relationship.

3) Set some reasonable expectations. From the club management to its ex-players in the media to the supporters, it would really help if people stopped expecting the new manager to have you competing for the league immediately and stopped implicitly comparing the state of the club to the SAF era. Don't complain if the DoF doesn't make a huge immediate splash in the transfer market. Don't expect the manager to compete with City in his first season, etc. Give them the time to figure out which current players can be part of their vision going forward and to acquire the *right targets* that fit the football they want to play. One of the biggest problems with club since SAF is this short-term outlook - everybody wants new players all the time and immediate results and this attitude leads to bad choices being made in terms of signing players and hiring managers.

 

[red4ever 79]

1,. Hire a DOF. Throw the kitchen sink at VDS. He knows the club, knows how football should be played, is respected worldwide, and has done a good job at Ajax
2. Hire a young coach/manager who has a playing style which fits our identity, and is also passionate about bringing through and working with youth players
3. Transfers. Do not renew these expiring contracts this summer Mata, Herrera, Jones, Young
4. Sign a top class CB, a RB, CDM, RW and a striker

 

[red thru&thru]

Ideal world...

Ceo: Edwin van der Sar
DoF: Paul Mitchell
Manager: Marco Rose

These changes need to be made before any player changes are though about.

 

[Dennis Viollet]

a lot of formation with Lukaku upfront? Come on man

 

[ForestRGoinUp]

To be honest. Can anyone tell me what has happened to our club, how did we deteriorate so much?
And when it comes to rebuilding or getting back to where we were .I have no idea what we will do.

the balance of the squad went from being mostly top 6 players with a few midtable players filling it out...to mostly midtable (or worse) players with a few top end players filling it out.

 

[Luke1995]

I'd love it if Gus Hiddink was in charge. Always thought of him as an exciting manager who likes attacking football. Did a beautiful job in South Korea, PSV and Russia.

Mata needs to go, when we got him in early 2014 expectations were high, he was supposed to be a great player in our midfield for years to come, and yet, almost five years later, he's never given us consistency. Pogba at least is younger and still has that world class potential waiting to appear under the right manager, but I feel like Mata is getting past his technical and physical prime and shouldn't be given a new contract.

Young, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, they also never became the players we expected when they were signed. Young was an incredible winger at Villa and other than a very good 2011-12 season has been losing his attacking qualities more and more with each passing year. The same happened with Valencia after 09-10. Jones had world class potential which was destroyed by injuries and became a good PL player but not for a club aiming to be champions of everything. Smalling is the same as Fellaini, good on the air, bad on the feet. Fellaini also needs to go.

I'd keep Herrera, Alexis and Lingard for a few reasons: Herrera is a very good option to have on the bench and come on when the other team is tired with his agressive running and maybe under another manager he could still improve his technique with the ball. Alexis has too much quality for us to give up on him after just one year, i'd hate it if he moved clubs and had a very good season somewhere else. Lingard has proved that under the right system his pace can be an asset and has show improvements since his first team debut, I guess he can never be accused of not trying.

Pogba is approaching his physical prime, don't give up on him now specially if Mourinho goes away. De Gea should obviously be kept and Rashford and Martial just need a better attacking coach.

As for signings, the strategy should be to look at smaller but mid table clubs with players who had a very good season. If we can't get the best players from Tottenham anymore for example, then let's look at Leicester, Leganes, Villarreal, Wolfsburg as some examples, the board just needs to be creative and not look only at big names. There are good players at mid table clubs just waiting for a big one to come calling but it seems like we do not have good scouts.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

My opinion is that most of our players are so far behind in terms of quality and more importantly used to playing slow, lethargic football, that the chance that we can mount a title challenge next season or the season after that, is almost non-existent. What may yield the best result in the long term is accepting that buying the team into the title race in one or two transferwindows is not possible without backing from a oil rich Country and instead buy young and develope(assuming we change managers) the players so that we can have a better chance three seasons from now.

Wrong. We have such a good set of flair players in Pogba, Martial, Rashford(if he uses his brain), Alexis, Lingard, Mata, Fred. Can't believe that we have low quality players. We need is a proper right winger, a ball playing CB and a Matic replacement and we can mount a challenge next season. Meanwhile we can keep adding 1 or 2 of these wonderkids you mentioned per season to secure the future.

All we need is positivity. A modern progressive manager will get these guys rolling. Did you ever imagine Arsenal being this good a few months ago?

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Ideal world...

Ceo: Edwin van der Sar
DoF: Paul Mitchell
Manager: Marco Rose

These changes need to be made before any player changes are though about.

Legit, who?

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

1- who's the new manager

Don't know

2- which players do you sell

Jones, Darmien, Sanchez, Lukaku, and one of Rojo or Bailly

Others stay for another season before reassessing (Mata, Fellaini, Lingard, although they can do a job as backup. Young and Valencia stay as cover only and retire here, or get rid of one and keep Darmien for cover).

3- which players do you buy

Koulibaily, Skriniar, Neves, Zaha, Icardi

That's a shit tonne of money, but we need big upgrades across the park. Knock a CB off if needed but imagine just nailing those two positions properly.

If Liverpool can play as well as they did last season and spend 200m, we can surely spend 400-450m in a crisis.
Even Fulham, Leicester, West Ham, Everton spent around 100m, while we only spent the same as Wolves in summer. Just fecking do it and get the team quality up imo (with no knowledge of our books of course).
There's a few good looking prospects in fullbacks positions around at the moment, so keep an eye on those for the season after, in case Shaw completely stacks it or Dalot doesn't work out.

4- how does your 19/20 Man Utd side line up?

DDG
Dalot Koulibaly Skriniar Shaw
Fred Neves Pogba
Zaha Icardi Martial

Imagine that with an attack minded manager.

Koulibaliy £80-90m, Skriniar £90-100m, Neves £50-60m, Zaha £50-70m, Icardi £120m+

Not a chance.

 

[VeevaVee]

Koulibaliy £80-90m, Skriniar £90-100m, Neves £50-60m, Zaha £50-70m, Icardi £120m+

Not a chance.

I included that figure and reasoning and also implied there's not much chance of it happening. This is what you think should happen, not what will.

 

[red thru&thru]

Legit, who?

Paul Mitchell is DoF RB Leipzeg. Was successful at MK Dons, Southampton and Spurs before. Also is a Mancunian.

Rose...

 

[devil in me]

Just sticky this thread and change the date every 12 months. It will be the same discussions until Woodward leaves/gets help, as they have been for about tbe last 5 years.

 

[Oneunited26]

To rebuild the squad remove the cancer in the mad man

Second - sell all of young, Valencia, Jones, smalling, matic, fellaini, mctominay, lukaku

That’s a good start and get the squad built around DDG, Dalot, bailly, Shaw, pogba, fred, perrera, mata Herrera, martial and rashford
Keep mourinho we won’t get good players because they don’t want to play for this mad man, and we could lose nearly all of those players for his outdated dinosaur dark ages taste in football players, tall, slow, clumsy and old

 

[Sandikan]

A new manager with a history of attacking football and getting the best out of players.
A summer like we had when Pogba, Ibra, Mhky and Bailly came in (whatever you think about how the 4 did after that)

keep the likes of Smalling and Young as occasional squad players.
Likes of Lukaku become rotationals rather than key players

 

[caid]

Feels like we've got 4 or 5 players suited to play any tactics but 5 or 6 who'll be badly exposed by it regardless of how we play. Who i'd sell and who i'd keep would be heavily dependent on the manager and tactics we go with. I can see Smalling being a good stop gap in some and utterly hopeless in others.
I'd let Jones, Darmian and Rojo leave now. Probably Lukaku too because i dont rate him. I'd consider keeping Valencia as cover and just being a good presence in the dressing room (if he is) but he wouldn't be starting with any regularity. Matic could be good again if he wasn't playing 90 mins every single match, unless were playing a high press or something, hes probably a lot less valuable in that situation. The rest i could see being useful in one set up or another but i dont think i'd be desperate to keep any. De Gea excluded i guess.
We definitely need a cb. I'd still be looking for a striker and probably a right winger. Full backs could be improved but wouldn't be my first priority.

 

[arthurka]

Just get Bob the builder in if that means Mourinho goes out.

 

[Drz]

So the season ends, we finish outside of the top 4 (looking likely), another trophyless season (again likely), the manager is sacked (hopefully) what you would do? Topics for debate..

1- who's the new manager
2- which players do you sell
3- which players do you buy
4- how does your 19/20 Man Utd side line up?

I have no idea who should be our next manager, Poch I guess would be my preference, I can see it being Allegri though with Zidane taking over from him at Juve

I'm increasingly starting to believe Pogba despite his talents is always going to hold us back while he's a starter in midfield so I'm warming to the idea of selling him for anything between £90m upwards and using that money to reinvest

In terms of buys, well where do you start? Can't address everything in one window though that's for sure

19/20 XI

---------------De Gea---------------
Dalot--Alderweireld-- Lindelof--Shaw
----------Fred--------Herrera----------
---------------Eriksen---------------
Dembele-----Lukaku------Martial

Essentially I'm buying Alderweireld for £25m, Eriksen for £80m (he'll be in the last year of his contract), Dembele (for £150m/swap deal with Pogba going to Barca). Midfield still looks meh but I don't know enough about players playing outside the PL to recommend any and in an ideal world Lukaku would be shipped out as well but curious at least to see what he's capable of under another manager as we're certainly not see the Everton or Belgium Lukaku at United.

Based on your premise and since Moyes I have felt we need a reboot, that means first getting a core of non-star/merc players that enjoy playing together for this club and get them to be competitive for the top 4 whilst showing cohesion on the football pitch with tactics adhering to an attacking ethos (one that should resonate with our academy and now our women's team).

1 - I like Poch. But I am not against the likes of Jardim or someone that can educate our players in the modern turn football has taken these past 5 years. More importantly I'd get whoever is pulling the strings at Dortmund's scouting department.

2 - This is a reset, and based on what I think is necessary. I won't mind selling Matic, Sanchez, Jones, Darmian and even Pogba (if I get the impression he is stinking/has stunk the place up). I'd talk to Lukaku, Rojo, Herrera and Fellaini, and explain to them that if they are not happy they can leave, but I rate them as model professionals and if the new manager wants them on the bench/in the squad I won't oppose it. S. McTominay would be sent out on loan to get over the incestuous relationship Mourinho tried to develop.

3 - The buying of the players is left to the manager who has to work with the new head of scouting brought in from Dortmund. My advice would be to avoid merc/star signings whilst we are building-up the core of the team and seeking cohesion on the football pitch, those can be peppered-in later; I don't consider it feasible to get rid of the stink within 12 months. I want the fans to be excited by what we are building. Cohesion and flair in attack will earn him points with me. Finally I'd ask the manager to assess A. Pereira, Tuanzebe and T. Fosuh Mensah for himself before going to market for their positions because I think they can at worst be decent back-up. I'd ask him to run the rule over F. De Jong from Ajax to come in for Matic.

4 - Line-up :

-----------De Gea-------------
Dalot--Bailly-- Lindelof--Shaw
----------F. De Jong----------
-----Fred------------Pogba-----
A.Peirera--Rashford-----Martial

Bench: M. Greenwood, T. Chong, Mata, Herrera, Tuanzebe, T.FosuhMensah,L. Grant

That is 18 players and Smalling + Lukaku, Herrera, Rojo and Fellaini that the new manager is free to sell to replace with new players, so 4 potential new additions (either from the academy or the market) to make his squad of 23.

PS: Regarding Smalling, I could never be comfortable advising to sell him until I am totally convinced we have a better ball-heading centre-back. Also, he has been through a lot, developing a split personality along the way. As a Utd fan I kinda feel for Mike.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Wrong. We have such a good set of flair players in Pogba, Martial, Rashford(if he uses his brain), Alexis, Lingard, Mata, Fred. Can't believe that we have low quality players. We need is a proper right winger, a ball playing CB and a Matic replacement and we can mount a challenge next season. Meanwhile we can keep adding 1 or 2 of these wonderkids you mentioned per season to secure the future.

All we need is positivity. A modern progressive manager will get these guys rolling. Did you ever imagine Arsenal being this good a few months ago?

Quality players and players with flair is not the same thing.
Pogba and DDG are class.
Martial and especially Rashford both needs some understanding of the game, but with the correct coaching/instruction and in a well defined attacking system they have the individual abilities to flourish.
Alexis will most likely not deliver anywhere near the same level he showed during the 15/16 and 16/17 seasons for Arsenal.
Lingard is a great squadplayer(can play in multiple positions) but not a starter for a majority of the season for a title winning side.
Mata is a smart and technical player, but not able to contribute when the team is not in possession.
The jury is still out on Fred. The same goes for Dalot, but more optimistic regarding him.

We have two definitive quality players in our squad, and a couple of players that are either young and should improve and/or could be quality under different management/style of play. We will not challenge for the title next season unless City gets points deducted for breach of FFP. It will take more than a preseason for our players to learn how to attack as a team.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Quality players and players with flair is not the same thing.
Pogba and DDG are class.
Martial and especially Rashford both needs some understanding of the game, but with the correct coaching/instruction and in a well defined attacking system they have the individual abilities to flourish.
Alexis will most likely not deliver anywhere near the same level he showed during the 15/16 and 16/17 seasons for Arsenal.
Lingard is a great squadplayer(can play in multiple positions) but not a starter for a majority of the season for a title winning side.
Mata is a smart and technical player, but not able to contribute when the team is not in possession.
The jury is still out on Fred. The same goes for Dalot, but more optimistic regarding him.

We have two definitive quality players in our squad, and a couple of players that are either young and should improve and/or could be quality under different management/style of play. We will not challenge for the title next season unless City gets points deducted for breach of FFP. It will take more than a preseason for our players to learn how to attack as a team.

Liverpool are going for the title this season. They have milner, Henderson, robertson, TAA, lovren in their first XI. If klopp can get these players to play good football then its possible that our next manager can do the same.

The players I mentioned are quality. Not the elite but have seriously a lot to offer than they are currently. And I don't see how you come to the conclusion that Sanchez is done.

Both Fred and Sanchez were wanted by Saint Pep. And why do you think signing all these youngsters will guarantee success? Mourinho has done a decent job in brainwashing our fanbase. We have very good players who are playing way below their levels.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Liverpool are going for the title this season. They have milner, Henderson, robertson, TAA, lovren in their first XI. If klopp can get these players to play good football then its possible that our next manager can do the same.

The players I mentioned are quality. Not the elite but have seriously a lot to offer than they are currently. And I don't see how you come to the conclusion that Sanchez is done.

Both Fred and Sanchez were wanted by Saint Pep. And why do you think signing all these youngsters will guarantee success? Mourinho has done a decent job in brainwashing our fanbase. We have very good players who are playing way below their levels.

Liverpools players have improved during Klopps tenure at the club, our players have not improved during the last years. Robertson is better than Shaw. TAA is still young. Milner and Henderson are workhorses, which are needed in Klopps style of play. Lovren is not part of the starting 11.

I agree that some of our players like Pogba and Martial does not suit a defensive approach to game. And most of our players will improve under a different manager, but given the current situation it is almost a given.

By quality, do you mean a starter for top clubs in the Premier League?

I think that most of our players are better than what they are currently showing and not as bad as JM tries to project them to be, but not as good as most people think they are. We have two very good players that would walk straight into all teams in the EPL, and we have some younger players that might be/become very good under a different system/manager(Martial, Rashford), and we have a number of subs/injury replacement/rotation/squad/Second string players(Pereira, Lingard, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw, Romero, Mata, Herrera, Matic, Fellaini), and we have some players that are either not the right fit or beginning to show their age(Darmian, Valencia, Young, Jones, McTominay, Rojo).
Dalot/Fred cannot be judged yet. Bailly is world class one moment and dreadful the next. Sanchez is not "out of form", he has declined. Lukaku does not have the technical (and atm physical) abilities to play a passing/technical football.

So without breaking the bank, we will never be able to improve our team enough during the summer window(Either through transfers, improving our players abilities given the limited time or adjusting the players to not play slow and defensive football) to have any chance at the title next season. And most like not the season after that either.

 

[OldPop]

I think many players can do more than they have shown, or we've just seen glimpses of this far. Because they need to get faith in both themselves, the coach and the management.

There is a need for renewal in all areas, some new players, but maybe less than we think right now, a new coach and a new management team. If that happens, I think we can fight for top 4 again.

In order for a new management team to believe in their project, they need to understand which names should be replaced and realize what investments are required, so I leave it to them.